"Sorry, I'm busy."
"Could we hang out another time? I'm studying today."
"I would love to, but you know how busy it gets here. Maybe another time."
Stop giving me these answers. You've been busy since last year.
"I'm not free today. Sorry, maybe another-"
"No. We're meeting right now. I'm coming over."
"No wait wait WAIT-"
Too late. He hung up the phone on his friend and kept his mobile phone back into his bag, throwing the closest coat he saw over his shoulders, pushing his arms through the sleeves as he grabbed his keys.
"I'm going out, Dad!" Clay yelled, before exiting the house. He strode to where his friend lived.
Apollo Justice can't be too busy to stop his studies for a few minutes for a YEAR.
Ever since his friend had gotten adopted, he'd been unnaturally "busy".
Yeah, adopted. His friend stayed at an orphanage for the past fourteen / fifteen years, but that didn't matter.
After climbing up the stairs to the sixth floor (Darn elevator was broken), he walked down the corridor and stood in front of the last door of the aisle.
He knocked on the door.
No reply.
He knocked on the door louder, plus spamming the doorbell.
Still no reply.
"Apollo, open the door! It's Clay dangnabbit!"
Finally, the door swung open.
Who the heck was this person?
He was relatively short. With messy brown hair, crumpled white t-shirt and black pants, and bags under his eyes. He looked like he hadn't been sleeping for days-
Wait a dang minute-
"Apollo! What the rocketship happened to you?!" Clay exclaimed, as it began to sink in that this wreck of a person before him was Apollo.
"Hi." That single syllable was Apollo's only answer. He didn't even look up to face Clay.
"Hi. Hello. Kon'nichiwa. Now answer my question." Clay frowned even harder when Apollo let out a tired chuckle. "No, Apollo, I'm serious. I want answers."
"Want to come inside?" Apollo asked instead.
"Apollo-" Clay started.
"Do you want. To come. Inside." Apollo repeated, this time not quite sounding like a question.
"Fine." Clay finally relented as Apollo stepped aside for him to enter, "You're just stalling for time, aren't you?" He sat down on one of the oyster-purple couches without even asking if he could. But Apollo wasn't complaining, so whatever the heck.
"Maybe I am." Apollo answered without any emotion or expression as he sat down on the second couch. Clay's frown grew even more.
"Can I have answers yet? And before you ask, no, I don't want a drink." Clay asked again.
"You knew I was going to ask that? Smart." Apollo smirked a little.
"I'm serious. Like, drop-down-from-space dead kind of serious. Now tell me, what's happened to you? You look like you've been through two train wrecks and a skip through the garbage dump within an hour." Clay tapped his foot on the floor, starting to get annoyed from Apollo's constant avoiding of the question.
"At least I don't stink like a garbage-"
"Answer."
"I'm just tired. That's all. I'm fine." Apollo finally answered. Clay wasn't convinced. Yeah, sure, the first word anyone would describe Apollo's looks with was tired, but he had a feeling it wasn't the entire truth.
"Get some sleep then." Clay suggested.
"Nah, too much work."
"Stuff the work, go to bed."
"Sleeping is overrated."
"Apollo."
Clay tapped his foot on the floor even more. That's it, he was hecking annoyed with Apollo now. Why the heck was he refusing to sleep anyway? Sleeping isn't overrated, it's needed for survival, that dumbbutt. Something was seriously wrong with him.
"Apollo, look here." Clay must've made a weird face, because Apollo was staring at him like he had grown two heads, "Sleep is needed to live. Literally. They rest you up so that you can function properly. If you don't sleep, you're gonna die. So get your butt off that couch and go to bed-"
Placing a hand on Apollo's shoulder was a mistake.
Apollo let out a yelp the moment Clay had pressed his hand on Apollo's shoulder. It wasn't even the normal back-slap he did, just pressing on the shoulder. Furthermore, it didn't sound of a yelp of surprise.
There had been pain laced in his voice.
"Actually, no Apollo, forget what I said. This talk isn't finished." Clay drew his hand away from Apollo. Apollo sighed, slouching down farther in his seat. Clay re-took his seat, but this time closer to his friend. "Why were you in pain when all I did was touch your shoulder?"
"I wasn't in pain." Apollo denied almost instantly.
"I don't believe you." Clay replied. "Did you injure your arm?"
"Yeah. I did. Yeah." Apollo said quickly. Too quickly.
"You're lying again." Clay sighed, "Cheesus Fries Apollo, how much are you going to lie to me in...What, half an hour?"
"I'm not lying." Apollo huffed.
"Yes you are." Clay insisted. Just then, there was a clicking sound heard from the door.
"Clay, hide, now." Apollo sounded almost frantic, his face paling.
"Why-"
The door opened just as Apollo shoved Clay into the empty newly-bought closet and closed the doors. What the rocketship was going on?
"Apollo, are you done with the work?" Clay heard a slightly-accented male voice outside. Maybe that's who adopted Apollo. Damn, he wanted to walk straight up to that person's face and tell him how Apollo's been neglecting sleep and-
"N-No...Sorry Sir, I was...Distracted." Apollo replied, his voice barely above a whisper. Wait, "Sir"? Isn't he technically Apollo's father? Why-
Clay slapped his hand over his mouth to prevent himself from yelping when the entire closet suddenly hit something, causing it to shake violently.
He peered into the room from the small gap between the two closet doors. He could see a bit was blocked, which was probably Apollo leaning against the closet. The other man was rather tan, with long drill-shaped (How does that work?) hair falling over one shoulder. He wore a pale blue suit and thin-rimmed spectacles.
"I believe I did tell you that you were to finish the work by the time I returned from the courthouse, is that not so?" The man's voice sent a shiver down Clay's spine. It had a deathly note to it.
"Y-Yes Sir..." Apollo squeaked.
"Then why was it not finished?" The man walked closer to the closet. Judging from the way Apollo seemed to rise higher in the air a bit, he was probably grabbing Apollo by the throat and lifting him into the air, though not high enough to block his view entirely. His face was dangerously close to the other man's, and at any moment the doors could fly open and reveal that Clay had been watching the entire thing. And the man smelled of, ew,nail polish?
"Anyway, I have an appointment to attend to. And I expect the work finished by the time I return. Do you understand me?" Clay could almost swear he felt the closet tipping over ever so slightly from the force the man was applying on it, pushing Apollo against the closet. He heard Apollo let out a strangled noise, and the man dropped him to the floor.
"Excellent." And the man left the apartment like nothing happened.
Clay could hear Apollo panting from the other side of the closet. It was a few moments before Apollo shifted from the closet, standing up to open the door.
"Apollo..." Clay said, his voice full of shock and horror at what he had just witnessed. Apollo now seemed to have a new bruise on the side of his neck, which Clay only now noticed the number of bruises and cuts on it, along with his hands.
"S-Sorry for what you saw...You should leave." Apollo tried to force a smile, but Clay pressed a finger to his lips.
"Apollo, you're being abused. This is serious, we need to tell somebody!" Clay said urgently. At that, Apollo's eyes grew wide.
"No." Apollo's voice was shaky. "N—No. I can't tell anybody." He looked at his friend with a look of desperation and despair in his eyes.
"Why not? You can't let that man keep doing this to you!" Clay insisted, gently placing a hand on one of Apollo's wounds. He flinched and brought his arm away. Apollo looked like he was struggling to find the words to say.
"Promise you won't tell anybody else!" He blurted, taking Clay by surprise as he grabbed him by the shoulders. "Promise!"
"Uh duh huh?" Were the only words Clay could manage from the suddenness of it all.
"If—If anybody else knows, he-he said he'll kick me out! I'll have nowhere to live!" Apollo's eyes started glistening, tears threatening to fall. "Please!"
Clay stared at him for a while, before wrapping his arms around his friend, pulling him into a hug which was as tight as he dared, in fear of causing Apollo to be in pain.
"I promise." Clay said seriously, "But only because you want me to. If it gets worse, I'm calling the police. Got it?" At that, Apollo nodded into Clay's shoulder.
"Good. I guess I should be going then, you need time to complete that work you have to do." Clay pulled away from Apollo gently. "Promise me you'll meet up more often, though?"
"Whenever I can." Apollo gave Clay a small smile. At that, Clay smiled back, patting his friend's shoulder as a show of support before leaving the apartment.