Chapter 1: Herr Forehead

This work is dedicated to AceFangirl, my amazing beta reader and friend.

I own nothing of Ace Attorney; if I did, this ship would probably be canon.

Enjoy!

Apollo was having a rather difficult day. He was scheduled for court today, and so far his trial was an absolute wreck. It began as a seemingly straightforward proceeding, but when he left yesterday everyone only became more confused. The evidence didn't match up to the crime scene, there was still question as to what the murder weapon was, and every witness so far contradicted each other. In short, it was a disaster.

The judge had just called another recess, and Apollo was stressing out in the Defense's Lobby. He was madly flipping through his piles of evidence and the stacks of files. In fact, he was scouring his files a bit too madly, because he accidentally gave himself a paper cut.

"AHH!"

Trucy, his faithful assistant, quickly hopped next to him on the couch.

"Polly, are you alright?"

"I'M FINE!", he shouted a bit too loudly, thanks to his Chords of Steel.

Even without her ability of perception, Trucy could instantly tell that Apollo was not fine. She tried to pry open his hand, and he gave a hiss in pain. Apollo had already looked as if he was on the verge of insanity, and the pain of his paper cut was certainly not helping. Trucy decided to do what she did best; she would solve the problem with magic.

Apollo barely even noticed when Trucy left the couch. He was too absorbed in his pain, both from the paper cut and stress, to realize she was pulling out her notorious panties.

"Hey Polly, look!"

He raised his head a little, and Trucy stood there, smiling as if nothing was wrong.

"Look what I can get you!"

She reached into her panties and pulled out something Apollo hadn't expected in the slightest. He assumed it would be something random, like a frozen chicken or a car tire. Instead, she procured something much smaller and far more useful.

"A band-aid!", she exclaimed with glee.

Apollo jumped off the couch, accidentally scattering his files and evidence everywhere. But that was the least of his matters, as his finger was searing with pain. He snatched the band-aid from Trucy and quickly put it on. It helped the bleeding slow down, and the pain was less intense. As thanks, Apollo wrapped his sister in a hug. Then, he released her, and started to pick up his files.

Just as he started rearranging everything back into order, a bailiff approached him.

"Mr. Justice, the trial will reconvene in about two minutes. You should probably make your way back to the courtroom now."

Apollo had barely organized anything, and was nowhere near ready to continue the trial.

"WHAT?! Sorry, um, okay. I'll be there in second."

Embarrassed that he had accidentally used his Chords of Steel, a strong red blush was covering Apollo's face. He haphazardly picked everything up and hurried back into the courtroom. He barely made it to the Defense's Bench before the Judge was banging his gavel.

"The trial of Barry Suspicious will now reconvene. Has the prosecution come up with an explanation as to how the murder was witnessed in two different places?"

"Ja, and I intend to serenade this court with decisive evidence!"

Honestly, Apollo wasn't really listening to his rival at all. He was still trying to get all his evidence and files together so he could be at least somewhat prepared. Although, that ended up backfiring because when the Judge asked him a question, Apollo had no idea what had just been said. The trial was already at another bad start.

"Umm… what did you just say?"

The god of rock across from him merely chuckled.

"Herr Judge asked if you wanted to cross examine the witness."

Blushing, Apollo asked, "And, who would this witness be again?"

This only caused his opponent to laugh even harder.

"Mein Gott, are you feeling alright? The witness in question is Ivan Lying, who claims to have seen the murder."

"Y-yes, I would like to cross-examine the witness."

Embarrassed, Apollo had already turned a deeper shade of red than his favorite courtroom vest. The witness was brought up to the stand, and they gave their account of the murder. Apollo had the witness repeat their statements multiple times, and pressed for every little detail, yet there seemed to be no contradictions. A bead of sweat trickled down his face as he suddenly became very nervous. If he couldn't find a problem in their story, the defendant would surely be declared guilty. Apollo couldn't afford to have a guilty client.

His evidence and files still weren't in order, and Apollo only scrambled them more as he tried to find something that would contradict the witness. He stole a quick glance over at the judge, who was looking awfully impatient. Time was running out. Rubbing his temples, Apollo desperately wracked his brains for something. He ran over the facts of the witness, and remembered where they saw the crime.

So, the witness claims to have been at Gourd Lake beach, right? But the murder was at 2AM… wait, wait, I got it!

"Your Honor!"

The judge seemed quite baffled that Apollo had said anything. He honestly expected the rookie lawyer to just give up.

"Yes, Mr. Justice?"

"The witness claims to have seen the murder at the North end of the Gourd Lake beach, correct?"

"Why, yes, I believe he stated that quite clearly."

"And the murder happened at 2AM, right?"

"Mr. Justice, please refrain from simply restating facts. If you're going to make a point, just make it!"

Apollo flinched at that.

"My apologies, Your Honor. What I'm trying to say is very few people would be at Gourd Lake at that time of day. Our witness being there is a miracle in itself. In fact, it's a miracle that's too good to be true!"

The judge looked even more stunned.

"Are you saying that the witness isn't actually a witness?"

Before replying, Apollo put on his best smug expression.

"Precisely! If no one witnessed the witness, then how do we know if he's actually a witness?"

Apollo knew his arguments were flimsy at best. And, when looked across the courtroom at his rival, it was obvious Klavier knew as well. Thankfully, the judge wasn't quite as bright.

"Well, as much as I hate to prolong this trial any further, it seems we can't prove the witness actually witnessed anything at this point. So, I will extend the trial to its final day. I request that the prosecution and the defense look further into this matter. Court is adjourned!"

Apollo sat in the Defense's Lobby with Trucy. They were taking a short break before they had to go to the crime scene again. The two were already exhausted, but tomorrow was the last day of the trial, and if they wanted a 'Not Guilty' verdict, they had better find some decisive evidence. Court had been a disaster; they had barely managed to snag another day. Apollo was stressed, tired, and downright in a bad mood. Just as he had closed his eyes, Trucy lightly elbowed him.

"Polly, if we want to find some new evidence, we better head out for the crime scene."

Apollo yawned, stretched, and then slowly stood up. They trudged to the exit, and Apollo was so tired that he almost ran right into his rival.

"Achtung! You should watch where you're going, ja, Herr Forehead?"

Apollo looked up, and then blushed furiously at the nickname Klavier persisted in calling him.

"I'm sorry Prosecutor Gavin, I wasn't watching where I was going."

"Don't worry about it."

Then, the blonde leaned forward, and gave Apollo a warm, sincere smile.

"Nice job in court today."

Suddenly, Apollo didn't feel so fatigued anymore.

Wow, I'm not dead? *gasps* I actually wrote something! Speaking of writing, I should probably explain the work. This'll be a series of intertwined oneshots that show the progression of Klavier and Apollo's relationship over time, through the use of nicknames that Klavier calls Apollo. This was inspired purely through my love of this ship and the fact that Klavier CONTINUALLY calls Apollo 'Herr Forehead'. Expect about six chapters, maybe weekly updates? Could be a little less or a little more. Anyways, please review, they leave huge inspiration for me to keep writing! Have a wonderful day~