Rambles: Argh. Exams. Urgh. Hate it. I'm so unsatisfied with chapter 2. I hope this story gets more interesting.
No...No, no, no, no.
Apollo still couldn't believe it.
Klavier and Kristoph weren't similar in character at all. If anyone met them, they'd know who was who. But... Try shutting their mouths, stripping them butt naked and make Kristoph bend his knees a little to match Klavier's height. Plus pokerfaces. You wouldn't know who was who, right? They looked the same. Similar. It was just the miniscule measurement in height and their personalities that differentiated the two. So... It wasn't Apollo's fault he mistook the two when he was drunk.
...Bullshit.
Even if he was drunk, he could at least identify the clothes Klavier was wearing! Klavier was like...a gaudy doppelganger of Kristoph Gavin! Kristoph would never be caught dead in rock-themed clothes with a big G hanging down his neck like Klavier! It was just...not him!
And that accent!
Unlike the European accent Klavier had, Kristoph's was classic English. Calming and soothing to Apollo's ears. Not flirty and damn-he-is-here-to-tease-me-I-gotta-run to his ears. However... If they both had no accent and they just spoke normally, they did sound the same.
So, it was plausible to mistake Klavier for Kristoph in a drunk state.
It was totally normal.
...Heck no, it wasn't!
Apollo searched for every possibility that it was just a fairytale that Klavier bullshitted out of his mouth to tease Apollo. But, he couldn't find it. Klavier's face and tone told him that he was telling the truth. Every detail of it was the truth. How he hugged Klavier, how he brushed his hair, how he touched his face, how he kissed him back, how he vomit-
...Wait, that sounded wrong.
"No, no, no. We kissed. You kissed me back."
...Apollo was the one who liked Kla... Uh, Kristoph. So... Why?
"...Prosecutor Gavin?"
"Ja?"
Klavier answered. He had been waiting for the man in front of him to say something after he reported what happened when Apollo was drunk. Perhaps the shorter man was trying to process everything and piece the jigsaw puzzles into their places.
Apollo looked at Klavier in confusion.
"I kissed you back, right?"
"That's right."
"So, that means... You're the one who started the kiss, right?"
Klavier knew where this was going. With his ever glistening smile that has never failed to woo the ladies, he calmly replied.
"Ja."
"...Why?"
Finally. The moment Klavier had always pictured in his mind. He had practiced line by line for the perfect confession to capture Apollo's heart. Though, he slashed the plan away when he promised Phoenix to keep these feelings suppressed. But, it turned out he was fooled! Oh, he could just strangle the ex-lawyer with his guitar strings! No, no, no. Guitar was for musical purposes. Not for murder purposes. Keep calm, Klavier. The prosecutor inhaled a deep breath and exhaled, blowing all the negative thoughts away. Well, now...
The confession.
"I love you."
......What?! No! That wasn't how I was supposed to say it! Klavier Gavin! You've rehearsed the lines for so long! It was supposed to be more elegant, more beautiful and more... Heart-wrenching! Like how the audience feels when you sing a sad love song!
Apollo looked at the man with his mouth wide open, shocked to say anything. Today was the most tiring day of his life. Physically and mentally. His muscles were screaming from the decorating tasks he had to do for Trucy. Then, he had spent the day working on a case to get the man he loved to jail. Not only that, he became drunk, kissed Klavier, vomited and now Klavier was confessing his love to Apollo. It wasn't something new to Apollo for Klavier to spout strange romantic nonsense. He never believed in it. The man loved teasing Apollo for some reason the shorter man could never understand. Maybe it was because of the fact they were rivals.
"Stop playing around, Prosecutor Gavin. I'm not like some ladies that fawn over you."
"Not some, Herr Forehead. It's all."
Apollo raised one eyebrow at the man. Klavier sighed and corrected himself.
"Except for Fraulein Ema Skye."
The shorter man nodded in approval.
"But, Herr Forehead! I do have such feelings for you! I-"
Calling the man you love Herr Forehead? Wow, that's one way to convince me you love me.
"-even wrote ten-page script of how I'm going to confess my feelings to you! With illustrations as well!"
...What?
"But, when the moment finally came, my mouth just decided to move by itself. All of those rehearsals were for nothing!"
...I know that he's a perfectionist when music is involved, but in drama too? Wait... I'm not falling for his lies!
Apollo straightened his back and as if a switch was flicked in his head, his lawyer side appeared. He hit the couch and pointed one finger straight in between Klavier's eyes.
"Objection! Do you have any evidence of the script you mentioned?"
There! That would surely make Prosecutor Gavin all flustered and he will stop teasing me-
"Of course, wait right here."
...What?
Once again, the lawyer was flabbergasted at the prosecutor's action. He didn't expect Klavier to leave the couch and come back with a bunch of papers.
"Here, you may examine the evidence. Would you like to add it to your court file?"
Klavier handed the papers with a smile, amused at this courtroom roleplay. In a surprised state, Apollo examined the papers.
"O-Objection! I don't look like this!"
Apollo shoved one paper at Klavier's face with one finger pointing at a picture the guitarist had drawn by himself. Klavier took a look and smiled proudly.
"Oh really? I think it's a perfect replica of you, Herr Forehead. See this shiny forehead and pointy hair? It looks like yours. Oh, but your hair is now all messed up. You look better this way. A lot cuter."
Klavier playfully brushed Apollo's hair that was losing the super-hairspray Apollo had sprayed on this morning. The shorter man reddened and shook his head to get rid of Klavier's touch to the guitarist's dismay. Apollo skimmed the script.
You're the guitar to my heart. Rocking my soul and life. I think of you every single da-
...What's this? Poetry?
-ave a song for you. (sing Guilty as Charged; look deep in his eyes; circle around him while singin-
Oh God, this is a musical.
Apollo immediately placed the script behind him.
"I- I accept this as evidence. You may continue with your testimony."
Klavier suppressed his urge to laugh.
"Oh, the script wasn't enough to convince you, Herr Forehead?"
"It was...convincing enough."
"So, why bother continuing the cross-examination?"
"Well... You know how there are loopholes in testimonies when they sound perfect already? Yeah, this might be one of them."
Unable to resist the urge he had been holding in, Klavier bursted in laughter. Apollo's face reddened. After much laughter, he wiped his tears.
"Goodness gracious! Herr Forehead! Ahahaha... How often do you play lawyer games? What was the title of that game again...? Ah, right! The Ace Attorney or something of that sort, ja? Only those kinds of testimonies exist in that game! Ahaha!"
With a red face, Apollo could just watch the prosecutor in front of him guffawing. He wanted to shout objection so badly because all this time, the cases he had been solving was as impossible as the ones in that game. He was able to win because of his countless times of pointless objections. He learnt that skill from the great Phoenix Wright, by the way.
"W-Well, I can find a blaring hole in your testimony!"
Klavier sat straight, still wheezing from his breathless laughter.
"Oh really? Please do clarify."
Apollo knew he was bullshitting at this point, but he had no choice. Anything to crumble this lie.
"You always call me Herr Forehead! That's no way to call the person you love. And therefore... You're just teasing me again."
The light in Klavier's eyes slightly changed, as Apollo assumed this was a game to the guitarist. The prosecutor knew none of his words would assure the lawyer his confession was no lie. Because... It was something like one of those folk tales. The boy who cried wolf. The boy lied and lied so much that no one believed his cry of help in the end. It was the same thing now. The guitarist who teased and teased the forehead exhibitionist so much that he could not believe every word of his love confession.
So Klavier could just paste a smile on his face and hope... Apollo would believe him.
"I really do love you, Herr Forehead. I'm not teasing you at all. Well, the name calling was something I came up with in the beginning to make you all flustered. But, the more I call you with that name... It's something more of a nickname for you. Like how you call your lover darling or dear."
The shorter man's face coloured in a light pink. He looked down to avoid facing the serious look on Klavier's face. It was...not like the usual look the guitarist always pulled. Deep inside of him, he knew Klavier had been telling the truth. He wanted to believe in Klavier, yet.. He also didn't want to. After all...
He once believed in a man too. And it turned out that.. It was all a mask. It was all a fraud. And that very man...
Apollo looked up at Klavier.
That very man looked like the man in front of him now.
"...Apollo."
Apollo's eyes widened in shock, as Klavier called him his real name. The taller man had scooted closer to Apollo when the man was still busy thinking whether to believe or not to believe in his words. Klavier grinned playfully.
"I'll call you that if you stop calling me Prosecutor Gavin."
Apollo's cheeks changed to a darker shade of pink.
"...Kla...Klavier."
And just with that one simple word, the brightest smile graced upon Klavier's face.
Throb
And that smile was enough to give Apollo a heart attack.
"I- I will stick to Prosecutor Gavin."
Klavier sighed and shrugged his shoulders.
"Well, I guess that's fine, Polly."
Throb
This was a different kind of throb. If the throb just now meant oh-damn-his-smile-is-so-awesome, this throb meant more like oh-damn-I-can't-live-with-that-name.
"Klavier!"
Then, that angelic, yet devilish smile came back again.
"Ja, Apollo?"
Damn it... I'm being played with again...
Apollo grumbled to his heart, as Klavier laughed heartily. The guitarist noticed the time his digital clock was displaying.
"It's almost 1 a.m. Do you have anything to do tomorrow?"
Apollo thought for a moment before replying gloomily,
"I need to help Trucy clean the office."
The prosecutor remembered something along those lines from Phoenix. Yeah...from the man who fooled him that Apollo got the hots for him. And he totally fell for it. Klavier sighed. But, he was so sure too. Apollo even hugged and kissed him. Well, perhaps the shorter man was actually a flirt when he was drunk. Yeah, that was probably it.
"Shall we sleep?"
The prosecutor gestured at the queen-sized bed. Apollo paused for a few seconds before asking in suspicion,
"...Together?"
"Where else? It's large enough to fit both of us. Or would you rather sleep on the couch?"
"Actually... I don't really mind sleeping on the couch."
Apollo replied, as his hands groped around the furniture, noticing that it was pretty soft and comfy to sleep on. Heck even the couch was softer than his bed.
Klavier looked at the couch.
"I know that you're quite short, but I don't think the couch will fit you."
The lawyer tried his very best to calm himself down from reacting to the small comment concerning his height.
"Then, I will bend my knees."
Klavier sighed and scratched his head.
"Why don't you want to sleep on the bed?"
"You...might do something if I sleep close to you."
Light pink coloured Apollo's cheeks, as he averted his eyes from Klavier. The prosecutor widened his eyes with a slight look of hurt. The lawyer noticed how Klavier's face changed and he felt a bit guilty for what he said. Apollo immediately explained himself.
"Y-You said it yourself that you love me! And also... You took advantage of my drunk state and...kissed me."
Klavier didn't know whether to be happy Apollo finally took his confession seriously or to be disappointed Apollo saw him as a guy that would jump on him when he was asleep.
"I do want to do intimate things with you, Herr Fore- Apollo... I imagine it almost everyday. But I won't do such things if you don't feel the same way as I do towards you."
Apollo's face reddened at the thought of Klavier daydreaming of such fantasy.
"So, trust me, ja?"
The heart-throbbing smile came again, striking Apollo's heart. Before the younger man could nod, the prosecutor added,
"Anyway, I only kissed you because you seduced me."
The red colour on Apollo's face darkened. He abruptly exclaimed,
"That's because I thought you were Kr-!"
"...Kr?"
Klavier questioned the man's unfinished word. Apollo fumbled with his words.
"Kr... Kr... Crazily gorgeous! My eyes must have filtered your appearance so that you look ten times as stunning as you originally look!"
And that flattery was enough to fool Klavier.
"My, my. Ten times as stunning as I originally look? Doesn't that mean you find me good-looking in reality? I thought you never notice."
Klavier bent down with both hands resting on his hips and a glimmering smile, shortening the distance between their faces. Apollo realized the mistake he just blurted, but it was a lot better than Klavier finding out his feelings for the prosecutor's brother.
"...Trucy never stops telling me how handsome you look, so... I was just judging your appearance based on her thoughts."
"Hm.. Is that so?"
Klavier asked in a knowing tone. Apollo hated that tone. It was as if Klavier knew the real answer, yet he still asked, wanting to hear the real thing. And no, the lawyer was not going to serve the guitarist what he wanted to hear.
"...I'm going to sleep."
Apollo sat himself on one side of the bed, as Klavier watched him in slight disbelief.
"You're sleeping on the bed?"
"...As long as I don't seduce you, it's fine, right?"
Klavier couldn't help but smile at this small act of acceptance. Noticing how the guitarist had been staring at him with a grinning face, Apollo hurriedly hid himself under the blanket.
"...Good night."
"Gute nacht, Apollo."
He lied down on the other side of his bed, facing Apollo's back and pleased with just being by his side. Klavier knew Apollo didn't like him (yet), so Apollo sleeping next to him was a huge step. It might take time, but the prosecutor was ready to wait for Apollo's feelings to bloom, like how it was for the guitarist himself. He would shorten this distance.
This huge distance.
Damn.
For the first time ever in his life, Klavier found out how unnecessarily large his bed was.
"I- I will do my best in this case!"Apollo bowed down immediately. His forehead was a few millimetres away from banging on his mentor's mahogany desk. The older man stood and gently waved his hand to calm his apprentice down.
"Don't be so nervous, Apollo. I will be there to help you if you don't know what to do. I wouldn't want to leave my apprentice alone on his first case. Ah... It's not that I don't trust your skills. I want to see how well you're going to apply what I taught you in the real court."
Great... Now, the young lawyer felt even more pressured... He was glad Kristoph was going to be with him, but he didn't like the fact that being with him meant the mentor would be able to watch him screw up."
...I'm sorry. I think I gave you more pressure."
Those kind eyes gave Apollo an apologizing look. He was entranced by those pair of eyes that had never failed to read his mind, always knowing how he felt. That was precisely why the younger man always tried his hardest to suppress his true feelings for his mentor. And perhaps he was doing a pretty good job. After all, if Kristoph knew Apollo liked him, he wouldn't casually smile and touch Apollo. If he did those acts intentionally, knowing Apollo's feelings towards him, that would be like intentionally raising Apollo's hopes. So there was no way Kristoph knew.
Kristoph Gavin was a kind man.
Snapping out of his thoughts, Apollo looked up and was slightly surprised to find Kristoph bending down to look at the shorter man at his eye level with a reassuring smile. And like magic, the younger man's pressure was swept away and replaced with calmness. But then, the soothing feeling was immediately erased when Kristoph's hand laid on Apollo's shoulder.
"You'll do fine, Apollo."
The hand slid down to his back.
"I will be there beside you."
To his waist.
"So, don't be nervous."
His hand stayed there, sending Apollo light shivers. Damn, he felt his face burning.
"T-Thanks... But, I'm fine."
The taller man chuckled melodiously and stood upright. Apollo was disappointed that his touch left... Wait. What was he thinking? He shouldn't fall for his mentor!
"You always say that you're fine, when you're not."
He smiled warmly.
Throb
Apollo's heart throbbed. And all his plan of say no to fall-in-love-with-mentor faded. No matter how many times he told himself not to fall for his teacher, he would always find himself falling deeper and deeper into that warmth.
...What?
Apollo slowly backed away, as that very smile slowly deformed into a wretched smile. No more kindness in those eyes, only evil. And hatred. As if the former man he knew had completely changed. Or... Did he not change at all? Perhaps, he never knew him.Never.
Illusion.
Fraud.
Mask.
The words piled up one by one, engulfing Kristoph as the truth slowly revealed itself.
'Don't fall for him.'
The sentence flowed in the midst of the black sea of words. Multiplying itself like a strain of DNA, it wrapped itself around the wretched man. Wrapped in black.
In darkness.
"Apollo."
He flinched, as he felt a hand on his shoulder. Apollo immediately turned his back to find Kristoph behind him.
"Wait... Weren't you pulled into the black just now?"
The taller man just smiled wryly and spoke.
...
But no voice came out.
"What did you say?"
Again. The man repeated his words. Apollo tried to make out what he said from the movements of his mouth.
"I'm-"
"!"
His eyes shot wide open, as Apollo panted for breath. His eyes roamed all over the place, only finding dark purple everywhere. Oh right, this was Klavier's bedroom. Ceiling to be exact.
Apollo exhaled deeply.
...Was that a dream?
...Ugh... Apollo found his back sticky. When was the last time he had night sweats? It felt awfully real to the lawyer. Well, the beginning of the dream was real. That really happened months ago when he was still Kristoph's student. Afterwards... His true colour showed. The same face Kristoph had when he was in the court yesterday.
...What was it trying to say?
"Have you had enough dose of energy from looking at my face?"
Apollo was stunned, as a pair of blue eyes peeked under half-open eyelids.
"You're...awake?"
"Well, your thrashing woke me up. My, my, my. That forehead is just not for show, is it? It's probably made of steel."
Klavier's hand reached for Apollo's forehead that was covered with Apollo's jagged bangs and gently caressed it. Yes, his hairspray had lost its strength.
"I...was thrashing?"
Klavier nodded, his fingers now playing with Apollo's messed up hair. The lawyer realized how close his face was with the half-asleep man and quickly pulled himself away.
"W-Why were you hugging me?"
Klavier's eyes blinked a few times, as if trying to wake himself up.
"Hm... You're warm. And I was cold. So, I guess I reached for you in my sleep."
The taller man yawned and sat up to stretch his arms. Damn, how could such hideous acts look gorgeous when Klavier was the one doing it? With a smile, Klavier looked down at the man that was still lying down beside him.
"Then, all of a sudden, a certain someone knocked his forehead against mine in his sleep, gasped and stared at me."
Apollo's face flushed. Why, oh, why did he keep on creating troubles for Klavier? Klavier chuckled and noticed the guilty look.
"Don't worry about the forehead thing. But, I'm happy that you were staring at me. Finally getting conscious of me, ja?"
The lawyer flushed more and immediately shook his head.
"I-I'm not."
"Hmm, if you say so."
Again. That knowing tone. Argh... But Apollo was definitely telling the truth this time.
"I was staring at you because you look like Kr-"
"...Kr?"
...This was the second time his tongue slipped. He was mentally cursing himself for his idiocy. Mentioning Kristoph's name would surely raise questions from Klavier and also... That very man was just arrested. Being his brother, Kristoph might be a sensitive topic for Klavier.
"Kr..."
Argh, this was all he could think of.
"Crazily gorgeous."
Like his previous reaction, Klavier seemed to shine a billion volts in happiness for the compliment.
"Oh, Herr Forehead! You don't have to be shy whenever you tell me how good-looking I am!"
...And this was exactly why Apollo didn't like to compliment the other. He sighed.
"Are you that happy when someone acknowledges how handsome you are?"
Klavier's eyes softened, as he looked at the other.
"Hm... I wonder too. I hear people telling me the same thing everyday. Fans, friends, band mates, anyone. But, hearing it from you.."
"I feel really happy."
He smiled.
Throb
Again. That smile. Apollo hurriedly hid himself under the blanket.
"I'm gonna... sleep for a bit."
Hearing the muffled noise, Klavier patted Apollo's head.
"Alright."
From under the blanket, the younger man could feel the warmth beside him disappearing and hear the noise of the bathroom door opening and shutting. Apollo sighed.
...This is bad.
He felt it. The throb of his heart at that smile. And he knew this throb. He had experienced it a multiple of times with Kristoph. However... The smile was nothing like the warm ones Kristoph had always given and the evil ones Kristoph showed yesterday. The smile was just... Klavier. So, why was he feeling this way?
This feeling he knew.
Don't tell me I have...
'Don't fall for him'
...
Apollo often got blank dreams. So, to have a proper dream, that must have meant something, right? A warning, perhaps. A warning to not fall for him. But...
Klavier's smiles flashed in his mind.
Throb
His heart voluntarily skipped once again.
...Klavier is right...
I'm getting conscious of him.
Rambles: I have to say I enjoy writing this more than my first 2 chapters of this fics. And after this... I don't know what's after this.
