"Hey, kiddo. Why the long face this morning?"

Apollo sighed loudly, poking idly at his oatmeal. "Nothing, Dad."

"That doesn't sound like nothing. Sounds like...'hey Dad, I need your advice, you're the only one who I can trust with such a delicate matter, you're the best, I love you'."

"That sounds like wishful thinking on your part."

"Ouch." Phoenix chuckled to himself, straightening Trucy's hat on her head as the young girl shoveled pancakes in her mouth. "You look so sad, though. Aren't you going out with Athena and the others today?"

"Hm. Yeah, just me, her and Daichi. We were going to the park to hang out, but…" the young teen reached over to pet Cherry in the seat next to his as the cat rolled a blueberry around on a plate, tail swishing determinedly.

"But?"

The brunet sighed again. "Have you...ever wanted something you really couldn't have? Like, not because it's not for you, but because someone else already took it?"

"Hm." The black haired man rubbed his chin, looking up to the ceiling. "Sure. But, what exactly is this 'thing' you can't have? Because you can have anything you want if you truly want it bad enough."

"Well...it's just…" Apollo looked away, a small blush on his face.

Phoenix peered at his son with raised eyebrows. "Well? It sounds suspiciously like you have a crush on someone." His eyes became dark even as he smiled at Apollo. "Who is it?"

"No one, Dad. Calm down."

"Are you sure? You can tell me anything, really, sweetie."

"No, I can't."

"But...I'm your old man! I'm all you've got!"

"There's always Miles."

"...oooooh, you traitor. I thought we had something. You're leaving me for some blonde, pretty boy prosecutor, I see."

Apollo choked on what little spit was in his mouth at his father's words. "I-no-wait-

"Calm down, it was just a joke. Seems to run in the family. But, really, if you ever need to talk to anyone," Phoenix passed his daughter a napkin as a blueberry fell out of her mouth. "I am always here, Apollo. I love you." He dodged backwards as Cherry ran after it, sighing.

"...love you too, Dad."

"Ah~! My baby!"

"I'm gone!" Apollo shot up and ran for the door.

"Come back and give your old man a kiss-*slam* Well. He could have just said no. You'll give me a kiss, won't you sweetie?"

He grimaced when Trucy left a blue kiss shaped mark on his forehead. "Love you daddy."

"Hm, love you too, dear."


"Hey hey hey."

Apollo and Daichi turned at the voice, as Athena bounded down the gravel pathway. "Yo, Thena! What took you so long?"

"Meh, Simon had to pick up Bobby cause his car's broken. Something about spilling a Big Swig down in the speakers or something." The redhead turned back and waved at her brother, who simply nodded and stepped back into the car. Bobby hung out the window and shook his hand a bit more enthusiastically. "So, what's on the agenda? Simon said they'd go to a movie and to just call when we need them to drop us off somewhere."

"I brought some snacks!" Daichi exclaimed. "Just some sandwiches and leftover brownies; chips, cookies, some drinks; you know," he said, kicking at the shoulder bag on the ground. "I gotta tell you guys something kinda important."

"Oh?" Apollo didn't like surprises, and so he began fidgeting with the hem of his shirt. "Is it bad?"

"Meh. Maybe to someone. Maybe, maybe not to you, Pollo."

The brunet sighed. "Oh god, what happened?"

"Last week? When you told us about breaking shit in the art room with Raven-

"Robin."

"Same difference-anyway, remember that?" Daichi waited for Apollo to nod, scooting over so Athena could sit on the bench as well. "Well, you know, someone overheard you guys."

"Yeah, I'm sure." Apollo thought back to Klavier and his dumb boyfriend who had happened upon him whilst he was destroying school property. But, it wasn't something Klavier would tell anyone about, right? Maybe Daryan, the rat bastard…

"Okay, well...maybe I should just...show you...hang on." The blue eyed teen reached into his bag and shuffled around for his intended target. "Ah-oh wait, nope, that'd be the history paper."

"We don't have a history paper due-Daichi."

"Uh...Mr. Warrington gave me an extension."

"Of how long?!"

"...eureka! Found it!" the teen sidestepped the question smoothly. "The journalism club hasn't actually published it yet, otherwise you'd know. I think they rejected it, some chick there keeps trying to publish real personal crap about people."

"Scuttlebutt. Yeah, she's a pain in the kneecap. What does it say?"

Daichi unfolded the newsmagazine to show the two the headline, 'Unwarranted Behavior! Two Lovers In Red Working Their Frustrations Out In A Passionate Dance of Destruction!'

Apollo's face turned as red as Athena's hair. "I-what-who-I mean-the hell is that?!"

Athena's face turned red as well, but for different reasons. "Oooooh! That wench! She never thinks about what she's doing to the people she writes about!" the redhead stood up and pushed up a shirtsleeve. "I'm gonna give her a piece of my mind! Come one Daichi! With your amazing hacking skills, we can find out where she lives and together we can teach not to mess with us-

"Athena-

"She deserves a beating! Ugh, If I didn't think her dumb rich parents would sue me or something-

"Athena, really, it's okay-

"I'll just have to get her in the middle of the night when no one's around and she's least expecting it-

"Athena, you're taking this way too far, it's okay."

Athena looked down at Apollo. "But, but! Clearly you're upset!" She gestured wildly at her ears. "Why would you just let her get away with it?!"

Daichi looked at Apollo for a long moment before sighing. "I knew you would do this."

"Do what?"

"Take the passive aggressive route. You realize you're not the only one who's hurt by this."

Apollo shrugged, blushing again. "W-well, it's not like he knows about it! Let's just keep it to ourselves!"

"Robin is a really nice guy, Apollo," Athena started, sitting back down. "He wouldn't let anyone say anything like that about anyone else. He's really good to Junie."

"Unless it's it's true, of course," Daichi leered. "He is kinda cute."

"Bwuh?!" The brunet sputtered indignantly and whacked Daichi upside the head. "No! I just met him a week ago!"

"Hey, love at first sight and all that-Oomph-Apollo, can't breath buddy, it was just a joke, I'm sorry, mah bad-*cough*

Athena laughed at her 'brother's' antics, but inside she was worried. Apollo usually didn't care about what people thought, but his heart sounded like it might say otherwise. Her headphones didn't allow her to hear exactly what others' hearts were saying, but Apollo's was making the same keening hum that Klavier's did whenever the two of them were around each other. It was the same hum as Apollo's and Daichi's when they were with each other, too, like right then.

"Boys," she mumbled to herself as the two rolled around on the grass.


"He's just going through a phase."

"He's a teenager; his whole life at the moment is one big phase."

"Phoenix, all I'm saying is that Apollo will come to us in due time. He's a very strong-minded young man and probably wants to be able to solve his own problems. If it ever gets to be too much, you know he'll admit is eventually."

"He's too much like you."

"Are you saying that's a bad thing?" Miles voice held a note of amusement over the phone.

Phoenix sighed, knocking the mixing spoon on the side of the large bowl. "Absolutely not. You are perfect, but you were such a lone wolf once upon a time, and even now you have your moments. If it took you so long to realize you have people you can trust, I worry for Apollo." He sat the bowl of batter on the counter and took the phone to place it on the holder, pressing the 'speaker' button. "Apollo's a lot like you , Miles. Which, makes me happy, reminds me we're actually a family and this isn't some well thought out fantasy I'm living while I'm in a coma, but emotional growth is important, too."

"Especially since he's not growing elsewhere."

"Ooh, he'd hit the roof if he heard you," the black haired man grinned, chuckling. "But, still. I'm just worried. Maybe you can talk to him, he seems more ready to ask you for the advice he needs."

"Probably because I won't coo at him and call him every sugary name in the book."

"He's my baby, I can't help it. Trucy doesn't mind."

"Trucy is a female mini version of you, so there's no surprise there. Franziska called by the way," Miles began, a soft snicker escaping his mouth. "She said something about a debt to society?"

"...for putting up with Larry and Maya at the Dramatical Murder convention."

"I'm still surprised Larry is a fan."

"Larry's never been one to split hairs when it comes to attractive people and good romance. He told me he had a crush on you in elementary school. Until you actually started talking to us that is, then he realized you were madly in love with me and gave it up as a lost cause."

"Ugh, please tell me you're joking."

"You should ask him one day. I'm sure he'd tell you." Phoenix poured the bag of blueberries into the mix, licking the juice off his fingers. "Oh, maybe we should get Larry to talk to him. He and Apollo have this weird 'don't tell Phoenix and Miles' thing going on anyway."

"I think that was just because they had eaten all of the chocolate in the house that one time and proceeded to get ridiculously ill."

"Like that wasn't a huge give away. Oh, hey, how's Simon doing at the office?"

"He's ridiculously polite, does absolutely everything I ask of him and complains to no one. It's a nice change."

"Har har. I'm glad, he seems like a good kid. Trucy's convinced he's a time travelling samurai and wants to learn 'space magic' to help him get home."

"I bet Daichi had a field day with that."

"Ugh, that kid, you know? He's so...passionate about everything-don't you say it," Phoenix said immediately, folding pieces of the dough with the blueberry mixture in them. "I mean it-

"You mean like Apollo?"

"Ugh, Miles."

"He's quite in love with our son, Phoenix. Maybe that's what Apollo needs, someone to distract him from being angry all the time."

"Absolutely not."

"Why are you being so difficult about this? What are you going to do when Trucy-

"A LA LA LA, can't hear you, my denial is on the other line, can I call you back?" the black haired man hung up the phone before sighing loudly. He shrugged his shoulders and set to powdering the soon-to-be-baked hamantaschen with sugar. The less he had to think about the dark future, the better.


Miles laughed at his partner's antics and hit the power button on his cell phone. Apollo would come to either of them when he was ready, and not a moment sooner. Phoenix was right in his observation that Apollo was a lot like him. And, even though it wasn't quite meant as a compliment, it warmed his heart something fierce to know that such was the case, and that Phoenix didn't mind in the slightest.

He fingered the small black box in his breast pocket, and knew that nothing he had done up until now had prepared him for this-but also, that nothing up until now had made him as happy as he was either.