Disclaimer: All the rights to the Phoenix wright characters belong to Capcom.
Warmth through the cold.
Apollo Justice sat indoors, gloomily staring out the window with heavily lidded eyes and his vision blank as he could only sit and perplex like a goat blankly standing around in a pen. He could only hear the vague twinkling of the outside worlds heavy snowfall shine lightly as they caked the windowsill in its icy cold substance and the earth below was covered in a thick blanket of snow.
It was so chilly that Apollo could even feel the harsh cold seep in through a very narrow gap in between the window and the frame meant to hold the sliding window together. He sniffled as he hugged his arms and buried his chin in his chest while trying to warm himself from the bitter chills from the winter cold. His knees were also tucked up against his chest so he could curl into a ball as he sat in a swiveling office chair, watching each and every little pretty speck of snow fall from the grey-clouded heavens as if to add to the collection of white stuff covering everything down on the earth below.
Normally in this time of year, Apollo would be outside playing in the snow and having a blast but for some reason he didn't feel like it. He would have freely went outside but as his arms were still healing from the incident days ago, nobody didn't exactly deem it a great or even wise idea. Yet it was awful to see Apollo sulking like this.
It had been the bombing of court room number 4 a few days ago in which the young man had been badly injured as he tried to protect a certain young girl named Juniper Woods, a very sweet and charming young girl in school whom is rather sickly, from rubble that was starting to come down on top of her. He couldn't in his right state of mind leave that poor young woman defenseless even if he didn't exactly see himself as a hero or even a knight in shining armor so he done the most desperate act he could think of: shield her with his own body.
Actually the current date was Christmas eve, and the world outside were just getting their Christmas shopping done for the following day. However, the offices Christmas had already been sorted and everyone but two in the Wright anything agency were outside enjoying the snow and even bombarding each other with frozen water vapour-crafted sphere-shaped projectiles at each other.
He thought Juniper was a really sweet girl and he respected her for that, they were friends after all.
Although for some reason he had caught wind that he was oblivious. Oblivious to what, exactly?
There wasn't any secrets he didn't know about that he should have, where there?
Well, for whatever reason, he was feeling kind of glum as he stared out into the world covered in white. He really would have went out but he didn't want to prolong his recovery and push himself too hard even with his bandages removed. Christmas was coming and he was very surprised that within a few short days that the world had turned from decent to sheeted with snow.
Seriously, you would think it was summer since the world was so winter-less.
He felt very isolated and he sat alone in a chair just staring out the window whilst curled up into a ball but he couldn't ignore the rushing around behind him as rustling and crinkling latched on to his hearing even though his eyes were glued to the world outside. Apollo frowned as he wanted nothing more than to snuggle up in a blanket and sit in front of a fireplace while sipping hot chocolate from his favorite football mug. The thought caught his mind repeatedly off guard as he couldn't help but imagine such a warming and comforting thought.
However he was very unaware that a certain someone had hatched a cheeky little plot inside her mind.
Athena Cykes was sort of a rookie when it came to the Attorney at law business. She and her friend, Apollo, were both under the guidance of the legendary Phoenix Wright as they worked in the agency together even though there weren't that many people working there even though there have been a few late breakthroughs regarding some new employees. Simon Blackquil (a prosecutor who had a thing for samurai and other violent Japanese stuff) wanted to keep an eye on Athena, since he is like an older brother to her, and is reflecting on the idea of joining the Wright anything agency or at least be a regular visitor. Klavier wanted to join too, much to Trucy's utter joy and bliss, and was still thinking about it.
With her heightened sense of hearing and ability to hear others hearts and read their emotions, Athena had noticed that Apollo was feeling a little down as of late. She couldn't stand for her spikey-haired friend to be down even when he was recovering from his injuries and had recently fought off a personal demon of theirs and, with her back pressed against the doorway out of plain sight, she began to think of something.
A plan of some sorts.
She currently wore her winter attire which consisted in a yellow trench coat that came down to near her ankles, she wore a thick scarf with her little mechanical gizmo partner: Widget, attached to the wool, and she also wore very thick woolly clothing items that would and should prevent her from catching cold whenever she went out doors.
A cheeky grin stretched upon her lips when an idea came to mind. She knew all too well about her friend Juniper's massive crush on Apollo and decided that this could be the key in helping them both; helping Junie in having some quality time with him and helping Apollo out of a hole of despair.
She made sure to be absolutely quiet when she brought out her phone and began to quickly dial the number used to ring Junie and when the small, slim device began to ring, she simply waited with the phone being pressed against her left ear. Athena couldn't wait to put this little plan of hers into action!
When someone finally picked up, she was met with a soft sweet voice.
"Hello, Thena?"
Athena grinned upon hearing her childhood nickname. She felt happy to hear her nickname being used by her very best friend who she would do anything for when necessary and she could swear that the coils of warmth of happiness enclosed around her heart and tangled it in warmth and bliss.
"Hello, Junie, it's me," Athena smiled yet she spoke as softly as possible as to not let Apollo catch on to what she was planning "How are you doing?"
It took a second or two until the response was heard "I'm doing fine, thank you, but I am a little curious as to why you're calling me."
Athena smirked, her auburn brows lowering mischievously against her eyes. She knew that Apollo needed to get out of the house and what a better way to lure someone out then with a little fun or even a little friendly support? Her thumb massaging the slim back of her phone, she gave a very sly smirk "...Junie, are you nearby at the moment?"
This time the response was full of surprise "Why yes, of course! I was out getting some last-minute Christmas shopping done!" Despite Juniper's voice being so frail and meek-sounding, her soft spoken tone carried a hint of unknowing surprise and shock but then she sounded very suspicious "Thena...is there anything you'd like me to do?"
Athena couldn't prevent that sly smirk from growing into an even wider one as more thoughts of this idea crossed her mind. As mischievous as she was, Athena wouldn't usually be doing something so lovey-dovey but she knew that this would probably help both her friends out: Get Apollo out of his funk, and help Junie get ever closer to him since she had an all-too-obvious crush on the former (Apollo).
Her deep blue eyes wandered up to the ceiling and she shifted her feet a little, rocking her hips to try and shield her sudden flush from thinking of the idea of helping both her friends in a somewhat forced romantic way. She continued to keep her voice low as she rubbed the slim back of the phone yet her little digital partner, Widget, lit up in a happy expression and he flashed an envy shade of green.
"Yeah there is," Athena smirked as she half exclaimed and half whispered "I need you to be outside the office downstairs and try to have fun out there."
There was a pretty long pause following this request.
The yellow-wearing young lady figured that this silence was just her friend mulling the request over but she didn't have to wait long for the reply.
"...Alright, Thena."
Athena jumped up and down on the spot in utter glee. Her plan was sure to work! Now she just needed to convince Apollo to get outside for awhile at least although that might be harder then it sounds...
She bid her goodbyes and hung up on her childhood friend before sliding her phone into her pocket yet she kept her obvious enthusiasm to a minimum. Athena didn't want to get caught in the act after all. She whipped her long auburn hair a little and erased all signs of her previous excitement so Apollo wouldn't suspect a thing and she sauntered out of the hallway and walked into the room and approached Apollo whom still had his back turned.
Apollo seemed to tense his shoulders when Athena was right behind him and he didn't even turn his head to check if it was her but he did ask nonchalantly, no emotion residing within his voice "...Hey, Athena."
Athena stumbled backwards in surprise. She should have known that the young man would know when she was behind him! But she could tell that Apollo was a little distant by the way he was staring out longingly at the window yet he was staring in a way that would burn holes right through the glass shielding the both of them from the frigid cold outside. He seemed a little more tense around the shoulders as he hunched up in the office chair that the boss would normally sit in with a warm, wooly blanket wrapped over his shoulders with that steaming mug of hot chocolate sitting on the window sill in front of him.
The young eighteen year old woman sighed. It was time to put this plan into motion! She eagerly rubbed the palms of her hands together in friction readily and she asked in a calm, slow suggestion yet it carried a hint of enthusiasm all the same "So, Apollo, wanna go outside to meet the boss and Trucy?"
Apollo hesitated on answering. He really wanted to go outside but he was very reluctant because of his healing injuries, even though he had removed them earlier in the week. His eye patch was unneeded as he had just wore that just to drown out his abilities to perceive nervous habits but his other bandages were worn for a perfectly good reason after all, while he had been discharged from the hospital and had faced the Phantom in court while appearing to be fine; that didn't exactly mean that he was in perfect shape.
That and it may bring back some memories of Clay.
He drew in a breath before letting out a heavy sigh while closing his eyes "No thanks, Athena. Maybe later..."
Athena simply narrowed her eyes in annoyance. Of course he was going to say that... He needed to get out there sooner or later, besides he needed to buck up and brave the world outside! She wasn't taking "no" as an answer!
"Apollo, you need to get out there!" Athena folded her arms across her chest.
Apollo frowned deeper. He felt his heart drop even deeper into a sadness that basically soaked his insides. Why he felt this way, he didn't know. He just wanted to lay down and sip his hot chocolate to heat up his body from the bitter cold that he felt within! He also wanted to lose himself into the bitterly sweet, dark fragrance of the blackness his drink would hopefully provide.
"Athena-" Apollo tried to explain but was quickly cut off by Athena's rampant emotions as she grabbed his arm "Apollo, I'm not going to leave you alone until you go outside!"
The young man frowned. It would be no use refusing to Athena when she was being this stubborn...there was little point in trying to brush her off so he might as well go outside until Athena was happy. Despite the slight case of depression he was bathing in.
He shook his head and began the slow, sluggish process of standing up and letting the blanket he was wrapped in drop to the floor with a faint 'thump' and he began to wander towards the coat hanger near the door but it was a little hard to notice since there was some magic props cluttered at the legs propping the oak stand up and around the pole.
He grabbed a red trench coat that hung from the coat hanger and began to put it on, wringing the cuffs of his loose sleeves.
Once he had buttoned up his coat, Apollo felt himself be hastily shoved towards the open door and he didn't exactly need to be a genius to know who it was shoving him. Athena didn't exactly show much mercy when it came to getting her way with stuff, even with Phoenix's stern talking to. She shoved Apollo out the door, ignoring his whines and squirms of protests, and pushed him all the way down the stairs and when they were at the door; they both got a facefull of the bone-chilling cold winds of winter.
That and they were greeted with quite the sight that left Apollo near speechless and Athena grinning with satisfaction.
Fragile, frail Snowflakes drifted down as softly as one could imagine and they fluttered softly to the white, steep ground that had been covered in the thickest of sheets one could even think of.
Midst the falling snow, however, was Trucy and Phoenix already having a snowball fight as they tossed their projectiles at each other while ducking behind a man-made fortress that each one had made as a barrier. There was also some children running around in the snow yet they were in at least ankle deep as they threaded through the white sparkles belonging to the blanket of frozen water vapor as if it were whipped cream. Some others, however, were actually playing on a makeshift ice rink across the road that sat beneath a gentle tree.
It just so happened that Juniper Woods, all wrapped in layer after layer of scarves, jumpers, coats and cardigans, stood there by the ice rink with her big shopping bags dropped by each side of her wellington boots even though her mouth had been covered by one of the many winter-wear she currently sported and her sweet pink wolly hat covered her head but she was still recognizable to the two attorneys at law. They could see that she was digging through one of her bags for something even though it wasn't clear what...
Athena was happy to see that Junie had fulfilled the request.
"...So, what do you want me to do?" Apollo asked awkwardly after a moments pause.
Athena rolled her eyes with a smirk. Apollo was as oblivious as always! She shoved Apollo forwards, thus making him stumble and tumble to the floor before rolling "Why don't you go and help Junie?"
Apollo had no idea what to do to get himself to stop rolling as he began to barrel down the road and a placid ball of snow began to build around his rolling figure. He felt a bit nauseous, rolling and rolling like that, and he could feel his face go green and his lips purse close and his mouth turned into a crookedly screwed one as if he was trying to prevent himself from actually throwing up. His hands would have flew to his mouth but he couldn't even bring them out since the snowball forming around him had already grew to the size of a boulder and had engulfed his body.
"WOOOOOOOAAAAAHHHH!" Apollo screamed in panic "Woah-woah-woah-woah-woah! Stop this crazy thing!" he tried so hard to prevent himself from rolling anymore but he had already crossed the road, barely avoiding being smashed by the hood of an incoming car, and he had crashed into the tree that sat by the ice rink where Juniper stood and he was in a really embarrassing position. He had collided with the slender truck of the tree with the backs of his legs leaning heavily against it and his back was to the floor and he was staring up to the sky above, his eyes all swirly and spinning from how fast he had been rolling. He could even feel the snowball that had formed around him had burst into lumps of snow upon impact and had scattered around him.
Luckily the snow had meant that his crash was a little softer on his body so his currently-healing brittle bones were thankfully unharmed.
"Oh my goodness, Apollo!" A meek, soft voice exclaimed.
Apollo knew whose voice that was and his spinning world was just beginning to stiffen as he looked around vividly and discovered that his suspicions were confirmed when Juniper, still wrapped in her obsessive winter clothing, stood over him with her eyes wide with worry. Apollo could tell that she was coming down with a bad case of the sniffles despite the extra warm clothes due to the fact that her nose was all red and her sinuses were clearly blocked.
"Ugh..." Apollo moaned, his head still spinning "Why am I seeing pretty stars and fairies everywhere?"
Juniper dropped to her knees and held his head on her lap, her hands reaching to each side of the young man's head to hold it steady "Are you okay?" she asked softly despite Apollo's vision going slightly array as he moaned a little.
His vision was a little blurry but he managed to focus on Juniper's face as his wavering ocular senses steadied and he finally managed to pull himself together and he quickly scrambled to his feet yet he was blushing deeply in embarrassment with a hand rubbing the back of his neck to try and ease the overwhelming humiliation he felt towards himself.
"I, er, I'm fine th-thanks!" The young man chuckled sheepishly.
He didn't mean for this to happen. He didn't mean to roll into a snowball because Athena pushed him down a small hill that rolled across the road and slammed into a tree. Now Juniper probably thought that he was a weirdo!
Juniper smiled in relief but furrowed her brows "I'm glad to hear that, Apollo, but I thought that you wanted to stay inside to recover from your injuries..."
Apollo hung his head slightly. He was a little embarrassed now that Junie had just stopped his world from spinning like that but he continued to stare into her grey-brown eyes, lost in her eyes as he couldn't look anywhere else but in those mesmerizing pools. He finally looked away when he found himself blushing slightly and they both looked towards the two shopping bags which had basically started this whole thing.
Juniper and Apollo walked towards the paper bags on the ground and bent down to dig through the many items that had been stuffed in there. Apollo dug through one bag while furrowing his brows curiously but he wanted to change the subject "So, you seemed to have been searching for something before..." He looked towards her, seeing Juniper search through the other bag "What are ya looking for?"
Junie smiled faintly, continuing rummaging through the items she had previously, and she closed her eyes for a few seconds before opening them again to search "I was looking for my new pair of ice skates. I had brought two pairs of ice skates earlier since I love gracefully sliding across the ice like those beautiful people do on television." She explained although her face turned a bright shade of red when she did and bashfully looked away as if she was embarrassed to admit this.
Apollo looked up towards her. He never thought of her as the kind of person to ice skate, he thought. Why would she ice skate since he never was one to do this...even though, he had to admit it, that seeing people ice skate in the winter was kind of neat to watch when passing by. He smiled in a friendly way yet he still rummaged through the baggage in search for at least one of those ice skates.
"Thats nice." The young man with the spiky fringe that stood atop his head grinned.
Juniper smirked secretly. She was hanging out with Apollo! This was awesome! She knew that her usually soft heart was squealing in rejoice from how happy she really was. She pulled out a pair of white plastic skates with the lace between them tied together to make them inseparable for now and put them down in front of her, the two pieces of footwear forming an imprint in the snow.
It was then that a crazy idea formed in her head. It was supremely insane and Apollo would probably say no to this since it was unorthodox but she had this desire to do this. Especially with him! The young girl didn't know how it came to her mind or how it managed to escape her lips so fast but she asked it before she could really stop it from passing her throat "Apollo, would you like me to teach you to ice skate?"
Apollo was surprised, his brows raising and his eyes widening immensely. Was he just asked to learn how to ice skate!? The thought never occurred to him, in all honesty! Hmmm, it would be nice to learn something new and perhaps it would be good to humor her for now... It may also be a good distraction from you-know-who.
He grinned towards her "Um, if you're other skates are in my size then sure. I guess you can teach me!"
He dug out the other pair of skates and began to put them on his feet, not before removing his trainers and putting them down in the snow. Apollo never really thought he would actually decide to do this but since his good friend was here then it might even be fun. Apollo began to tie the laces with such speed and quick-handedness with his eyes hardened in deep focus.
He quickly succeeded in tying up his laces and stood up, eyes watching Juniper all the while as she approached the make-shift ice rink. After putting one foot gently down on top of the rock hard floor of ice, she put the other one on there too and began to shuffle her feet gently back and forth so she could get a good friction between her blades and within a minute, she was gracefully skating across the ice with such momentum.
Apollo had to admire how wonderfully Junie skated across the ice since she looked flawless doing it. He smiled with a compassionate look within his deep brown eyes, his heart warm enough to melt the snow around them all of a sudden.
Why was she so sweet and perfect? She had all the right to be bitter for being falsely accused three times and yet she continued to have the sweetest personalities out of everyone. Actually, he couldn't even see her mad.
He was brought out of his deep thought process whence he heard Juniper call out to him with pure excitement "Apollo, come on to the ice."
Apollo swallowed. He decided to get this over with since he didn't want to stand long enough to fall into the freezing cold water underneath the ice.
He cautiously approached the frozen round lake and very slowly put his toe down followed by the rest of his foot and then he tried the other foot. However, before he could even put his other foot down on the ice, he suddenly slipped and fell flat on his stomach with a heavy drop as he skidded on his belly.
Apollo could hear Phoenix, Trucy and Athena snicker behind him and this made him give a dry glare towards empty space. This was embarrassing.
He tried to move his legs so he could stand back up but this ended up with his feet slipping up and him constantly slamming his chin into the ice. He tried again and got the same result. A third time yielded no better results. A fourth desperate attempt rewarded Apollo with a sudden smack to the face as his head slammed down face first into the cold ice below. It did little to hinder the roughness of the icy floor, however.
He heard the delightful giggles of Juniper as she skated towards him and lowered her hand down towards him so he could take it. "Don't worry, Apollo, it's a bit tricky for beginners." Apollo reached up and took her hand firmly into his grasp and Junie lifted him up to his feet and made him lean against her to help steady him on the ice "Usually having a partner helps a little."
Apollo actually found himself smiling as he leaned against Juniper. It was really nice of her to be helping him in this way and he was really grateful for it.
However Juniper was smiling with a blush raising heavily on her cheeks, tainting them a bright scarlet colour. She couldn't believe this was happening! Apollo Justice was actually leaning on her! She would have pinched herself to assure herself that this was no figment of her imaginings. She hid her face in the pretty scarf that was wrapped around her neck in an attempt to hide the massive blush she was sporting right now.
The pair slickly skated along the thick layer of ice covering their makeshift ice rink, keeping their legs parallel to each other as their feet shuffled back and forth in perfect timing, clearly doing the only thing they could to keep themselves from slipping. The couple pivoted the blades of their skates back and forth on the ice as they eventually grew so comfortable doing this together that they held on to each other.
The pair twirled on the snow and ice with some precision thanks to Juniper's expertise on ice skating.
As a matter of fact, the flower girl and the red clad attorney skating on the ice were quite the sight to look at from afar!
Apollo found himself getting all hot in the face even though the rest of his body was freezing. What was happening, was he blushing a deep red right now!? He hesitantly glanced down at his feet not moving along with Juniper's skating blades rubbing up and down against the ice and, gulping heavily, he copied her feet movements slowly and delicately until he began to gradually grow confident in his own skating abilities.
Apollo's deep brown eyes lit up like a light and he smirked determinedly. He was skating now! Having some confidence within himself, he decided to release Juniper's hands and he began to skate on his own with a slight ease even though he was slipping a little bit on the ice beneath his ice skating blades. He shifted his weight towards the left side and he found himself sliding as he made a sharp turn towards the right before he darted around the round rink of ice.
He left a trail of streaks behind him as he skated with such speed and velocity. Juniper watched as the young man skated around with such a passion in his warm eyes, as a matter of fact he was shining brighter than a shooting star right now! However he began to slip up a little as he didn't know how to put on the breaks. He frantically turned his feet inward and outwards in an effort to stop but he found himself crashing into a mountain of snow.
Actually it was a snowman before Apollo slammed into it.
Junie worriedly skated towards the mountain of snow where her crush crashed into and asked, a hand covering her mouth "Oh my goodness, Apollo!" She was startled when Apollo's head popped out from the top of the lump of cold, white mush and he had a hilariously grumpy look on his face as he had a carrot sticking out of his mouth and an assortment of black brass buttons, a top hat and a pipe were scattered around him. Apollo didn't know weather his face was red from the cold snow coming into contact with his face or if it was from how embarrassed he was.
He moodily spat out the carrot in his mouth and tried to wiggle out of the heap of snow he was buried shoulder-deep in but found that he had little room to move. He grunted and growled in effort but couldn't break himself out of his snow prison.
Juniper threw off her skates and rushed over towards the horn-haired young man.
She ran up behind him and pulled him out by the shoulders. He was out of the snow in little time at all as he slowly stood up after getting the sensation back into his body but he was still embarrassed that he had let himself crash for the second time today. However he was happy that he had a blast with that experience.
Juniper rubbed Apollo's numb shoulders while asking worriedly "Are you alright, Apollo? That was a bit of a big crash..."
Apollo shivered. Honestly he was feeling a bit cold because of the impact but he didn't want to worry her anymore than she has been as of late so he smiled weakly "I-I'm alright, th-thanks..." However the fact that his teeth were chattering at certain parts as he said this betrayed the fact that he was cold. His thorns of hair withered and drooped down flat against his forehead and hung in front of his eyes, most likely due to the cold ice and snow soaking him to the bone.
He ducked his head in between his shoulders and shuddered, feeling a whistling gust of icy cold wind blow passed. He was freezing cold!
He hugged his arms to warm himself and chattered his teeth whilst shivering poorly. Why was he having the baddest of luck today?! He seemed to have been going through a horrible time right now which involved him being awful at his career, him getting badly injured and now him looking sickly and weak in public. What could make this scene more sad for his fledgling attorney-hood?!
Juniper saw him shivering from the cold and went over to her shopping bags to retrieve something, leaving Apollo confused. What was she doing, he wondered? She looked determined but she also had this compassionate look in her eye as she wandered back towards him with a square shaped bundle in her hands that was tied in a silk red bow tie. Apollo peered in closer to get a look at the item and discovered upon close examination to find out that it was actually a knitted rose pink accessory with cute little heart shapes.
"Wh-Wh-What is that?" He asked through more teeth chattering and shivering.
Juniper smiled softly as she began to undo the bow tying the gift "It was supposed to be you're Christmas present but I think you need it more than ever right now."
Apollo found that his jaw dropped. This was her Christmas present...to him?! He didn't know she cared that much! Of course, she was a kind and caring person whom he sort of admired in a friendly way more or less but he never thought that she would get him something for Christmas!
"W-wait what!?" He gasped in surprise as Juniper began to loop the item around Apollo's neck and tie it especially for him. He felt the nice warm knitting material embrace his neck in a sweet snug bundle as he felt the enveloping mellowing of the thick woolly fabric seep in through his neck and spread around his body gradually. He was surprised that Junie would be doing this with such compassion.
Juniper smiled sweetly as she helped Apollo's horns of hair stand back up on his head to continue giving that proud stance of his. She and Apollo's eyes met for what seemed like for an eternity and they were lost in each other's gaze until it was her turn to get all chilly as she shuddered from the numbing winds beginning to brew and pick up some falling snowflakes while they were still falling down from the heavens. She frowned as she felt this cold and wintry air touch her skin and she hugged her arms to keep herself warm through this nipping crisp winds.
They looked away when Apollo noticed her shudders and shivers.
Juniper knew she would get yet another cold but she couldn't care less right now.
"Are you okay, Juniper?" The red clad attorney at law asked softly. Junie smiled meekly at him but continued to shiver from the freezing climate surrounding them "To borrow you're words, Apollo, I-I-I'm fine..." she shuddered.
Apollo furrowed a brow. He didn't believe a word of that. She was cold and he could feel it! He found his arms gripping her shoulders and he pulled her in so she could feel at least some of the warmth he felt because of the Christmas present she gave her. He held her close and felt her shivering calm as she bathed in the warmth provided by the lawyer and she snuggled into him.
"...You didn't need to do this." Apollo smiled down softly at her as she looked up at him. Junie felt a blush come to her face as she averted her gaze to hide it, her heart rate quickening a few paces as she actually felt clammy and shy in this cold winter afternoon. She nestled in the sweet warmth Apollo provided and felt a content sigh escape her throat, finally feeling the attorney's body heat sink in through her weak body.
Juniper shivered again and sniffled. She would do ANYTHING for this kind-hearted person, without a single trace of hesitation. He was worth every bit of the trouble since seeing that smile that would give her courage and hope in the darkest of hours was what gave her energy to get out of bed every morning at the moment.
She shuffled her feet bashfully in the snow beneath "B-But I l-love..." she sighed. She couldn't tell him right now, he probably wouldn't feel the most comfortable. She looked back up at Apollo "I-I-I would do anything to m-make you h-h-h-happy, Apollo."
He felt a small exhale abandon his throat, taking the form of smoke as he breathed. He felt the wind play with his thorns of hair and scarf as he held her close. He felt his heart react to her strangely, as if she would make him race. But she wasn't lying anything, he was certain. Yet it was not his bracelet reacting like always, it was his heart: a body part he thought was mainly to keep him alive by merely beating. He caressed her cheek with a smile warm enough to melt the snow surrounding them.
"...I feel its my responsibility, as a friend, to ensure you're happiness too." He told her.
The flower girl was grinning from ear to ear after hearing this. Junie never felt so happy as she threw her arms happily around Apollo and the two shared a nice hug. The pair snuggled together, ignoring the frigid cold around them and managed to keep each other warm as they held each other tight to keep one another nice and snuggly...as friends.
They both stayed silent until Apollo began to feel uncomfortable and he pulled away when he realized that Junie was still hugging him despite that he was now warm again.
Snowflakes swarmed around them in a gentle flurry that fell from the grey skies above to the white sheet of snow below. The tiny little specks were quite pretty as they fell softly and slowly with such an angelic beauty that would make any nature documentary narrator go insane for this dazzling snowfall.
He smiled deeply at her and after a moment of silence, Juniper asked him with a joking smile "...You do know that Athena was responsible for this right?"
Apollo smirked mischievously. He had a feeling that she had something to do with this. He shrugged and assured Juniper "Aw, I'll get her back."
He closed his eyes and smiled as he held Juniper close to help warm her through the chillingly cold afternoon and as yet another gust of wind blew passed, he felt the sharp polar air blow at his new Christmas scarf and he had to say that it did indeed make him feel warmer but he had to admit that something or someone else shielded him from that nip in the air.
"Thanks for the scarf, Juniper."
He couldn't ask for a better Christmas gift and not all the teasing in the world from Athena nor Trucy could take this moment away from him...
A/N: I have been working on this for awhile. I'm proud of this, though, since I made this to be a one shot to add to the other JunieXPollo fics. I thought I would make a christmas fanfic even though it is September but hey, its not that long until Christmas actually begins so don't blame me.
I am sort of proud of this romantic one-shot.
I hope its a bit more in canon than "Can I have this dance" and I also hope that you guys like this. I love this pairing, btw.
-Chloemcg