Hiya folks! Here's chapter two! Before we begin, I'd like to say that, this took longer than the last one because I wasn't sure if I got the characters right in this chapter, so I just sort of went for it, so sorry if I got them wrong!
Also, thanks cookie1995! I'm glad you're interested in this fic and I hope to not disappoint!
Anyways, without further ado, enjoy the chapter!
Once he had regained his breath from running so fast and looked around him to make sure he wasn't being followed, Juno was walking the path to People's Park, which was the local park in the area. It took him a while, but eventually he saw the gate ahead and was heading through it.
Making his way down one of the many rocky paths in the park, Juno went to lay down, his back on a tree and sighing. He needed a rest for a bit to recover from the trial and his encounter with Molly.
As he breathed in the fresh, luxurious air of the park, he suddenly feels the his trouser's pocket rumbling. Guess Athena sent a text to let him know she's done at the agency now. He takes out his phone and reads out the text he received.
"hey juno, im on my way to meet you at the park! im also bringing a friend of ours along if thats ok!"
Huh, friend of ours? He merely shrugs. He didn't mind, it's not like there wasn't anyone he didn't like… Well, apart from Molly, of course. He knew from what Phoenix had told him, that Molly wasn't to be underestimated. She was clever and would pull anything to get what she wants. Even relationships can't stop her.
He knew that he was in danger. Molly would hunt him down non-stop, now that she had her sights on him. Juno started wiping away sweat, that suddenly came out of nowhere with his right hand. What was he to do? He can't drag anyone into this. It's his problem. His burden. It could raise any unnecessary issues that he doesn't want.
The best he could do… is to avoid Molly as much as he possibly could. Who knows what she may have up her sleeve.
Speaking of the devil… Juno was out of his thoughts as his eye caught a figure with black clothing and red hair. His eyes were now small dots as he grit his teeth, before quickly lunging at the tree behind him and climbing it like a squirrel on steroids.
Why the hell is she here?! He crouches down on the thick branch of the tree. He hoped that lost her back at the courthouse…! He facepalms himself in silence. Great, now she was definitely stalking him. He watches through the tiny gaps in the tree as Molly looks around for him, she seemed calm… although he did sense that she was currently irritated from the little trick he pulled back at the courthouse.
After looking around some more, Molly finally gives up and walks away, disappearing out of sight. Juno sighs as he holds his forehead with a hand. He really thought he was gonna be caught, then. Thankfully, she didn't try looking up the trees. Maybe she's not too smart then…
"Juno!" A familiar voice called to him, smashing down his train of thought in an instant. He was hesitating a little, before peeking through the leaves carefully.
It was Athena, searching high and low throughout the park for him. He doesn't even have to say anything as she turns in his direction and looks up at him.
"What are you doing in that tree?" She asks, putting her hands on her hips and raising an eyebrow. Juno jumps straight out of the tree and lands onto the soft grass, since he wasn't too far from the ground.
"I was enjoying the view of the park." He lies, dusting himself off. He wasn't gonna risk getting Athena in harm's way… or anyone for that matter.
"Uh huh… Then why do I sense that your heart is telling me otherwise?" She simply says. Juno freezes on the spot. ...He forgot about Athena's super hearing… which she could use to hear emotions. He knows that he can't bluff his way out of this one…
Juno looks at Athena, seeing she's concerned for him. She knows something isn't right. He knows Athena wants to help, but would telling her, be a good idea? Even so, Juno has no choice. Athena would pull out the truth from him, one way or another.
"Alright… I was hiding." He confesses with both of his hands up.
"...Hiding? What for?" Athena presses on, raising an single eyebrow at him.
Juno sighs. "Remember when Phoenix had to put himself in a 'fake relationship' because he was being stalked by a certain prosecutor during and after a trial?"
Athena recoils as her arm folds in front of herself, as if to shield her. "...You can't possibly mean…"
Juno simply nods. "Yep. ...She's after me now." He bluntly said, slumping a bit as he tapped the side of his head with his right hand's index finger. Well, now that's he's told Athena, that worry is out of the way. Juno gives her time to digest the information he had just given out… Only problem is, she's a bit quiet… too quiet, in fact.
"...Athena?" Juno suddenly asks out of the blue, suddenly noticing how Athena had her head tilted downwards and her hands were shaking. Did he say something wrong?
"Are you okay-" Was all he could get out, before Athena suddenly lifts up her hands and throws them down by her side.
"She- she's way out of order!" She snaps in a rage, gritting her teeth and holding her fists up. Widget was also displaying red with an angry face to boot. Hoo boy, now she's gotten angry… He better calm her down, before she gets any ideas or something.
"Seriously! What will it take to get her to stop?!" Athena continues, tightening the grip in her fists.
"Ok, Athe… try to calm down, kay?" Juno tries to reason with her, but this only makes her somewhat more angry than before.
"Calm down…? Calm down?!" Athena raises her voice, tightening her fists to the point of them shaking visibly. "Juno, she is stalking you and may not want to keep her hands off you, when she gets the chance… and you're telling me to calm down?!"
Athena punches her hand into a palm and bares her teeth. "If anything, I'm probably doing you a favor by punching her in the face!" Yep… this is not going well for sure. Thankfully, he knows how he can stop Athena from possibly going to hunt Molly and using her as a punching bag... or possibly worse.
"...But will you be able to take the consequences afterwards…?" Juno says, facing his head to one side with a serious expression plastered on his face.
"...What do you mean, Juno?! What consequences?!" Athena crosses her arms and raises an eyebrow.
"...What would Prosecutor Blackquill say if he found out, that you were arrested for assaulting someone?" Juno states, tightening a fist by his side and closes his eyes. "Not only that, but I'm sure Phoenix, Apollo and Trucy would be sad to hear about it as well."
He opens his eyes and turns his head back to face Athena. No longer did she look angry, instead she had her head down at the grass of the park as her hands were hanging by her sides. Widget was displaying a deep blue with a sad face.
"...I'm sorry, Juno… I don't know what I was thinking." Athena says, now looking at him and rubbing her right arm with the hand belonging to the other. "...I just felt so angry for you and wanted to… do something about this." She looks back down in defeat.
"I'm not saying this to have a go at you." Juno simply says as he walks up to Athena and lays a hand on her shoulder, the touch making her pop her head back up. "I'm saying this, because I care about you, as a friend. I'm just simply thinking about your benefit, Athena. That's all."
"...Thanks, Juno." Athena says, with Widget returning back to his calm state as Juno lifts his hand off her shoulders and crosses his arms.
"I don't get it… You've always been able to keep your cool most of the time… How do you do it?!" She says with disbeilef.
He chuckles before wagging a finger. "It's all part of being an attorney. Even in the worst situations, you gotta keep yourself calm and blow past all the obstacles in your way!"
"Ugh, saying it… is easier than actually doing it." She groans, slumping over a bit.
"Eh…" Juno shrugs. "You'll get there, I'm sure."
"Hey, you two!" A voice calls out in the distance. Juno turns his head towards the source, only to see a certain red attorney running to the pair of them.
"Apollo! Glad to see you made it at last!" Athena greets the oncoming lawyer. "What took you so long…?"
"...I had to be cautious." He simply says, arms crossed. Juno rolls his eyes. He's still worried about that situation from months ago…? Then again, he couldn't blame Apollo.
"Seriously…? Dude, you are safe. I assure you." The dark blue attorney says, also crossing his arms.
"Safe?! She's nuts with a capital N! What if she's st-" Was all Apollo could speak before Juno cried out an "Objection!".
"She's not interested in you anymore." Juno simply states, with his finger sticking out into an point and his fist raised up at his side.
"...What do you mean by that?" The red attorney asks, looking pretty confused.
"What he means by that…" Athena interrupts, before taking breathing in for a moment. "Molly is now stalking him instead." She says, pointing to Juno, who simply looks away.
A moment of silence follows, as Apollo processes the information and looks in disbelief. Any moment now…
"Wh- What?!"
"What do you mean, she's now stalking Juno?! H-How did this happen?!" Apollo says, shocked.
Juno sighs. "I was making my way out of court. Next thing I know, I stumble into her by complete accident and she quickly set her sights on me afterwards." He says, pointing a thumb to himself.
"Thankfully, I managed to escape… but then she somehow almost finds me here."
"Almost…?"
"...I hid myself in a tree." Juno says as sheepishly scratches the side of his head, forcing himself to smile a bit as Apollo just shakes his head.
"I don't think that's gonna work for long, Juno." Apollo says, crossing his arms.
Juno raises an eyebrow. Why not? As long as he keeps hiding and avoiding Molly's sight, she'll give up eventually.
"You know how badly it went for Mr Wright… and Miss Fey." The red attorney simply says.
"But that's because they tried to fake a relationship to avoid her. I'm just gonna simply avoid her and then she'll be off my case. Simple." Juno responds, shrugging it off. It is that simple… right?
"Not so simple. What if she finds you? Heck, what if you had to go to court, she is a prosecutor, after all." Athena says, interrupting the two lawyers' argument. Damn, he didn't think about that one. Juno taps his chin as he tries to come up with some kind of counter-argument… but fails to think of one and slumps in defeat.
"Fine… you got me, but what else can I do? It's not like I can make her disappear, y'know." He says, sighing. He certainly wishes that he could do that… It would make life so much easier, but sadly… Life is indeed 'unfair' as they call it.
"You could always ask for help… maybe you could ask Boss? He's dealt with this situation before." Athena says.
"Nuh nuh. I ain't getting anyone else stuck in this situation." Juno says, making an 'X' with his arms in front of them and spread them outwards. "It's bad as it is, with a stalker on the loose."
"...So, you're going to hide all the over place, just to avoid one girl?" Apollo says, pressing a finger to his forehead.
Juno shakes his head. "Nope, I can simply use my sense to find out if she's near me or not." He slumps a bit, hands hanging at his sides.
"Wait, you can do that?" Athena says, head tilted to one side and playing with her crescent earring.
"...Kinda. The range isn't very long, though." He can't sense things too far away, especially someone's thoughts or emotions, since he has to be within close enough for that.
"Anyways… so where are we going for lunch?"
Athena shrugs. "I dunno. What about you Apollo?"
"...As long as it's not Eldoon's Noodles, I'm good." He says, cringing his face a bit. Juno wouldn't blame the red attorney. Eldoon always made the noodles with a random amount of salt everytime. Sometimes it's varying from too salty, not much salt or somewhere between.
Juno taps his chin for a moment before snapping his fingers. "We could always go to the burger joint nearby." He casually suggests. He's kind of craving one right now…
Athena and Apollo nods in agreement to Juno's suggestion, not long before the trio start making their way out of the park.
"By the way, you two… How did the trial go anyways?" Apollo asks. Juno opens his mouth to speak, before-
"It was amazing!" Athena cheers enthusiastically, not long before excitedly proceeding to describe the trial in detail. Juno just shrugs with a smile on his face and puts his hands in his trouser pockets as he walks. The journey to their destination wasn't going to be boring, that's for sure. Athena and Apollo always managed to keep him from boredom. Especially Athena, with her bouncy and enthusiastic attitude towards things, most of the time.
