Author's note:

Yes, I'm back with a new story and it's another OdoNaru because I can't get enough of these two. There's really a great lack of dom!Apollo fanfics out there and I found it quite disappointing, because I actually believe someone as passionate as him can definitely exert that sort of energy in a relationship ;) And who better to be on the receiving end of that love, than childhood idol and mentor, Phoenix?

Anyway, this is going to be a collection of short stories revolving around established Apollo/Phoenix. They'll be updated as and when I get inspired by a prompt or quote or anything, really. Enjoy!


20 Kisses: Hero Worship

by Dark Interval

First Kiss: Mornings


Athena burst through the doors of the 'Wright Anything Agency', beaming as wide and bright as the yellow of her uniform. As always, she ran all the way to work from her apartment, like 20 blocks away, in boots; but a little distance wasn't going to put a damper on her spirits. Apollo often wondered where in the world she got all her energy from, but whenever she invited him to join her, he'd give it a pass with a well-placed grimace. Humph, it wasn't her fault her partner was such a stiff.

"Good morning, everyone!" she sang merrily, clasping her hands together.

Silence.

She heard more than felt her morale crash around her.

Athena struck a dramatic pose, clenching her fists as the beginnings of tears pricked at her eyes. Terrible! Widget mirrored her depression. Again, her co-workers were ignoring her. Even penguins didn't like her. WHY?

Well, seeing as it was a Monday, Trucy was probably at school. But where were Phoenix and Apollo? It wasn't like them to miss work, and her boss practically lived here!

'Oh well… guess I'll go make myself some coffee…' she thought dejectedly.

Looks like it was going to be a long morning…

Suddenly, she heard a noise and visibly perked up. It was pretty faint, but there was definitely someone else in the office. The muffled voices were coming from her boss' bedroom down the hall and upon approaching said location, she realised the door was slightly ajar. The voices were also a lot clearer to the point that she was able to make out complete sentences, and by the sound of it, they were arguing. Actually, it was more of a one-sided argument. Especially when she only heard Apollo's voice, and by the sound of its increasing shrillness and exasperation, he was probably losing.

Concerned and unable to resist her mounting curiosity, Athena gently prodded the door open just a crack wider and peered into the room. The sight that greeted her however, made her feel all warm and fuzzy and she felt a blush slowly creep across her cheeks. All this time, she had her suspicions, but she never knew… She fought to restrain her giggles. Inwardly, she hoped Widget wouldn't pick up on her positive energy and ruin the moment.

So that's what her boss and partner were up to…

There, on the cramped single bed with its rumpled sheets and disorderly bedspread, sat Phoenix Wright, barely conscious and halfway in dreamland. He already had his pants, shirt and vest on though, courtesy of Apollo, who was ostensibly struggling with the task of helping his mentor get dressed. The younger man himself had only just struggled into his own clothes and hadn't had the time to style his trademark hair spikes yet. Unruly brown tresses flopped about uselessly; Apollo blew them out of his face in annoyance as he fussed over his boss' tie.

"Geez, what are you? 10? Can't you dress yourself? If you don't wake up right now, you're going to be late for the trial!" Apollo grumbled in-between tying Phoenix's necktie, while silently reminding himself not to strangle the guy in his frustration. Otherwise, Phoenix's client would have no one to represent them in court and that wouldn't be good.

Despite his protégé's complaints, Phoenix yawned loudly and reached up to rub the sleep from his eyes. A number of cute indiscernible noises escaped the confines of his throat.

"Mn… But, 'pollo… I'm so sleepy…" he whined miserably. Apollo felt a headache coming on.

"That's because you stayed up all night preparing instead of sleeping like I told you to!"

"Wahhh… Apollo's mean!"

The vein in his temple throbbed dangerously. Forget it. Dealing with Phoenix in the morning was like dealing with a cranky baby with an unchanged diaper. And wasn't the guy supposed to be the older one? So much for responsible parenting. He knotted the tie a bit too tightly and Phoenix choked.

"At least tie your own necktie!"

"But-But I don't know how…"

"Learn."

As Phoenix pouted and attempted to adjust his tie himself (albeit clumsily), Apollo sighed and decided to go easy on him. He could never stay mad at his idol after all.

"Here," he offered, straightening the thing in a more presentable manner. Then, he grabbed Phoenix's suit jacket from the closet and helped him into it, taking care to ensure that his attorney's badge was properly pinned onto the lapel.

Phoenix smiled appreciatively, laughed, and patted him fondly on the head, which caused Apollo's cheeks to crimson. The endearing sight made Phoenix's heart race and every inch of his body feel pleasantly warm. His fingers remained in Apollo's hair a little longer, combing and caressing, a loving and habitual gesture mostly.

"Thanks, Apollo. I don't know what I'd do without you."

Said man snorted, "Probably a lot worse."

The young lawyer dipped his head to plant a soft kiss on his lover's badge. It still warmed his heart to know that his idol was back, that this badge meant the world to Phoenix as it did to him. Running the 'Wright Anything Agency' together as its founding lawyers – Apollo felt like they were actual partners, and as sappy as that sounded, hopefully in more ways than one. It certainly felt that way at this point.

Blushing, Phoenix involuntarily covered his mouth and looked away the same time Apollo lifted his gaze to smirk at him, suggestive. Damn, this kid was either getting cockier by the day, or he was steadily losing his composure. Then again, it wasn't like he ever discouraged Apollo's affections, so he only had himself to blame.

The petulant expression on his face, like a child who realized he had just been outsmarted, drew forth a chuckle from Apollo. With some sympathy for the non-morning soul, he tugged Phoenix towards him by the lapels of his suit and tenderly captured his lover's lips in a toe curling, star-seeing good morning kiss. A soft, irritable protest escaped Phoenix's throat, but that soon tapered down into a low moan, returning the kiss and giving in fully to Apollo's ministrations. Damn, the kid was a way better kisser than he gave him credit for. He realized he ought to be worried.

Releasing Phoenix's lips slowly, almost reluctantly, Apollo pulled away to rest his forehead against his. Intense dark brown met enchanting blue; Apollo felt it was impossible not to get lost in those mesmerizing pools. He could stare into Phoenix's eyes all day. 'I love you', they seemed to say, even when clouded over with sleep.

"Wake up, Mr. Wright."

"Yeah, yeah – he held back a yawn – I heard you…"

Apollo released him from his embrace and took a step back.

Bringing his arms over his head in a gratuitous stretch, Phoenix didn't even bother stiffening his next yawn. Urgh, so tired… No need to look in the mirror to see he had massive eye bags enough to rival those of Prosecutor Blackquill's. And speaking of that twisted samurai, he was due to face him in court today, which was precisely why he studied the case and his evidence so hard and lost sleep over it. Blackquill was terrifying; Taka was out for his blood; he still had nightmares of the judge until this day, and he felt so sleepy…

Seeing that Phoenix was more or less awake, Apollo turned around and headed to the dresser, a can of hairspray in one hand and the other holding up two spikes of his hair. He couldn't serve up a hot whooping of Justice without his trademark look after all.

"Anyway, now that you're finally awake, I wanted to discuss my - "

FLOP.

Apollo whirled around sharply. Phoenix had collapsed back onto the bed, snoring lightly and out like a light. Oh, for the love of - Apollo resisted an exasperated sigh and returned to Phoenix's side. He prodded his cheek. Sleeping like a baby. With a fond shake of his head, he brushed aside a stray lock of black hair and planted a soft kiss on the slumbering male's forehead. His lips lingered there for a few seconds, before reluctantly pulling away. Phoenix smiled in his sleep and snuggled into the pillow that smelled distinctly of Apollo, cooing happily. In spite of himself, Apollo too smiled and wondered why he even bothered.

"Sweet dreams, Mr. Wright."

Then, he grabbed the case files and dashed out of the room, nearly crashing into Athena in his haste.

"Whoa, Athena! When did you get here?!" he demanded, red-faced, the folder flying up to shield a good portion of his mortification.

How long had she been standing there? How much did she see? Or was he the one making a big fuss about the whole thing? Maybe if he prayed hard enough, she never saw a thing and would therefore not mercilessly tease him about it later; or worse, gossip to Trucy. He had almost forgotten how scary girls were.

Athena, meanwhile, regarded him with a thoughtful frown, hands on her hips. Perhaps it was the inner romantic in her, or because she was in an incredibly good mood today, but instead of teasing or calling Apollo out on his little secret, she simply put on her sweetest, most unsuspecting smile and said, "Huh? I just arrived actually - what's wrong?"

To her utmost relief, Apollo was too busy being nervous to perceive any inconsistencies in her response. In fact, he was the one desperately avoiding her eyes, though her answer did get him to immediately relax.

"N-Nothing," he recovered quickly, holding up Phoenix's case file with a wide grin, "just that we got ourselves a job to do."

Athena eyed him hesitantly. "Not toilet duty again, right? Please… No more…"

"No, it's actual defending this time," he assured her, flipping the file open.

"Mr. Wright's client, Mr. Deejit Nott, is being accused of murdering his five-year-old son in their apartment last Sunday morning. Since it was a locked room murder and the defendant was the only one caught leaving and entering the apartment on the security camera, Prosecutor Blackquill asserts that Mr. Nott's the only possible suspect."

Athena blanched, pulling at her face. Why did they always end up getting the most hopeless of cases?!

"Urgh… I've nothing against Simon and all, but even I'm not exactly keen to face him in court again this soon…"

"Well, neither of us would have to if Mr. Wright didn't just K.O," said Apollo wryly, irritably; but there was the barest trace of discord in his heart. Though Athena could hear the noise clearly, she already knew from whom Apollo's raging emotions stemmed from. It was quite sweet, actually.

"Luckily, I saw this coming, so I studied the case myself." He snapped the file shut with a sigh. "If I'm not the one picking up after Mr. Wright, then who will?"

"Aww!"

He paused, eyes darting about in surprise. He could've sworn he heard something.

"... Did you hear that?"

"N-Nope!" Athena answered hastily, while discreetly bopping Widget on its, uh, head. Apollo gave her a weird look, but otherwise didn't think much about it. It was Athena after all.

"Anyway, we better get going! The trial starts in half an hour!"

"WHAT?! Today?!"

All thoughts of her boss and partner dating each other fled Athena's mind in an instant. She knew it: it was going to be a long morning. Office romance would have to wait. If they happened to win the case, she just might ask him about it later.

The duo sprinted out the building, but not without Apollo leaving behind a quick gift in his absence. Placed on the office coffee table was a single cup of freshly brewed coffee with two lumps of sugar on the side. It was Phoenix's favorite blue mug, and it was hot.

Have a nice day, Mr. Wright.


Author's note:

Something fluffy to kick things off! Please support me and this story by leaving a review or following, thank you! :)

I'm also open to suggestions for future kisses, be it requests, prompts, or even in-game quotes. Generally, the projected aim of this collection is to hit 20 chapters, but who knows? That could very well change in the future if ideas keep coming ;)