Damn Trucy. Damn her and her smug little face.

Athena had been in a much brighter mood after talking with Apollo, but from lunchtime onward, that had become quite impossible.

She felt like getting mad, but if she was honest with herself, she didn't even know who to be angry with in the first place. There was Trucy and her teasing, of course, but whenever she thought about that, arguments sprung up in her head instantly.

Apollo's forehead had to be every bit as thick as it was large. The better part of two years had gone by since he met Juniper Woods, and it appeared that he still didn't have the faintest idea of the positively massive crush the girl had on him. Athena tried to refocus her annoyance onto him, but that only caused another argument to pop up.

(Am I the oblivious one now?)

Athena was curled up on her favourite beanbag chair in her apartment, her knees tucked to her chest and a bowl of dry cereal in her hands. The TV was on, but she wasn't really watching it. Widget was resting on the floor next to her. One cheerfully voiced thought too many had driven her to tug the device off her neck for a while. She frowned at the little sphere, the display of which had switched into its sleep mode when it was detached from around her neck.

Why would Widget do anything like what Trucy said he did? Athena's thoughts were occupied with all of her friends practically all the time. Why should that one instance have been any different?

Sure, she missed Apollo terribly, and sure, she considered him one of her best friends, second only to Juniper. But that was it, wasn't it? She wasn't some fawning high-schooler, stealing glances at her classroom crush from behind a textbook. She was an independent adult with a stable job and two full university degrees at nineteen. She wasn't one to brag, but Athena privately considered herself an exemplary young woman in numerous ways.

So, that in mind, why was it that when she sat here and closed her eyes, regardless of what was on her mind, the first image to pop up in her head was that of Apollo, facing her down with a wide grin on his face?

(I guess I'll just keep my eyes wide open for the rest of my life, then. Can't be too hard.)

Her cereal bowl was almost empty. She set it aside and grabbed the TV remote, switching off the distant noise that she'd been largely ignoring. She had an idea. Scooping Widget back up from the floor, she clamped his chain back into place and tapped the display. The holographic interface lit up the dim room, and Athena brought up the same video chat program she'd spoken to Apollo on that morning. Running the numbers in her head, she reasoned that now would be an acceptable time to call him again. Unless he was in the habit of sleeping in despite having his own law office to run, she was confident she'd get a reply.

She just needed one good talk with him, one-on-one. It would probably only take a few minutes. She could say her piece without Trucy's intervention, and they could share a good laugh about it before she signed off to go to bed.

It took a few seconds, but the swirling icon in the centre of the screen finally vanished as the webcam feed on Apollo's end of the call appeared.

"Hey." he said, sounding pleasantly surprised by her call.

Athena opened her mouth to respond, only to feel her throat constrict. She coughed, and her red hair spilled over her face, having been let down after she got home.

"Uh-… You OK there?" Apollo asked with a chuckle as she brushed her hair back out of her view.

"… Yeah, all good here." she said. Once she'd tamed her unruly locks, she looked at the screen again. There hadn't been time for her to properly look at the chat window a moment ago, but now, as she did, she felt herself freeze up again. "A-Apollo-…" she uttered, taken aback. "Y-Your hair…!"

"Heh… Yeah, it's surprisingly hard to find gel consistently out here." Apollo replied, brushing his hand through his hair.

His dry hair.

It was embarrassing, but Athena almost didn't recognize the young man on her screen. Apollo didn't appear to have so much as a drop of gel in his hair. His face was as familiar as ever, but above it, a mop of brown hair he'd apparently seen only marginal success in combing straight was the only thing Athena could focus on.

"B-But…" she sputtered, hardly believing what she was seeing. "I-It's fluffy-!"

"… Gee, thanks." Apollo deadpanned, frowning. "I was wondering if your brain was still jumping right to 'fluffy rabbit' for describing me, so it's nice of you to keep me posted."

Athena tried to speak again, but forced herself to take a proper breath first. She tore her eyes from the distracting uppermost portion of the camera frame and focused on Apollo's face instead. "U-uhh… So, anyway, I called you."

"… Yes." Apollo replied after a moment, when she'd stalled for too long. "Yes, I noticed."

"Y-yeah. Umm… I wanted to talk."

"Gathered as much."

What was wrong with her brain right now? Athena sat frozen, trying and failing to force herself into a normal frame of mind.

"OK." she said, mentally preparing a sentence and running through it in advance. "So... I had a pretty nice day at work. Trucy's still sure she can turn me into Gramarye assistant material, but I'm not really convinced."

Apollo laughed, and Athena felt a surge of relief.

"So, you can keep up 'psychologist' and 'lawyer' at the same time, but throwing in 'magician's lovely assistant' is too much?"

"Oh my God," Athena groaned, hanging her head and causing her long hair to sweep down over her face again, "How did you do all this stuff, Apollo…?"

Apollo laughed again. "Hey, if I made it look easy, then I should probably tell you - I was faking."

Athena huffed, pushing her hair away from her face once more. Once she finished, Apollo spoke up again.

"Now," he began, "Call me crazy, but I doubt that you called just to tell me about your day at work. My hearing's not as crazy-good as yours, but I think I can tell when you're holding something back from me."

Athena had to prevent herself laughing. (Trying saying that to poor Junie, smart guy…)

"Yeah." she said, glancing off toward the wall. "There's something else."

"Knew it." Apollo said, grinning. "OK, I've got time. Let's hear it."

Athena had to wonder whether or not Apollo would still be grinning once he heard her answer.

"So, I was talking to Trucy at lunch, and she…" Athena realized as she trailed off that this angle wasn't going to work. She sighed. "How do I explain this…? We talked about you, and-… actually, it's funny - we started talking about your hair, and Trucy said something… Widget was-… well, uhh…"

She was quickly beginning to regret calling Apollo. Somehow, even though she knew everything she wanted to say, her words were coming out as a fumbling mess. She realized after a few seconds of silence that Apollo was just staring at her blankly.

"Uh, Athena, if you're hoping I'll bail you out on this one, I'm sorry - I've got no idea what you're talking about."

Athena just closed her eyes, letting out a long, slow exhale through her nose. So, the comfortable method had failed. That left a much less gentle delivery as her only fallback plan.

"Trucy," she said, her eyes still closed as she forced her voice to be firm, "Seems to think I have a crush on you."

On any other day, Athena would've loved to get a look at Apollo's face as he made a strange sound somewhere between a large bird shrieking and a mouse being attacked by such a bird. Instead, she just reopened her eyes to see him staring back at her in plain shock, his face having lost its colour in less than a second.

"… Can I ask what brought that on?" he inquired, sounding as if he just wanted something to ease his shock.

"Just… something stupid Widget did while we were talking." Athena answered, feeling unable to look directly at Apollo again. Suddenly her apartment wall was looking much more interesting than normal. "I don't know why this little jerk decided to give Trucy a bunch of extra ammo out of nowhere, but it's been bugging me ever since, so I needed to talk to you about it before I go crazy."

She was relieved to see Apollo smile. "Well, if that's what you need, Athena, I'm there. I owe you that much." he said.

"Oh?" Athena replied, finally feeling confident enough to talk with him properly again. "That's all?"

"OK, so maybe I also owe you for a few other things," he admitted, "But that's not why we're talking, is it?"

"Maybe not, but if you keep running a bigger and bigger tab, I'm gonna have to put my foot down."

The pair laughed together this time. Even over a somewhat scratchy webcam microphone, the cheerful intonation of Apollo's laughter came through clearly, which helped even more to relieve Athena's discomfort.

"I guess you were happy to get out of the office and away from Trucy, then?" Apollo asked once he found a break to speak.

"Oh, you know it." Athena replied. "I'd bet you anything she'll be right back on her game as soon as I'm back in the door, so I'll take anything I can get."

"In that case, anything else rolling around in your head you'd like to get out?" Apollo inquired. "While you've got me here?"

Athena smirked. "You have no idea. Maybe I should just say… well, you remember what we talked about earlier. Sometimes I wish you guys could hear each other as well as I do. I know we tease you all the time, Apollo, but the office just isn't going to be the same 'til you're back."

"Yeah…" Apollo said, "I wish I could have you guys around, too. It'd help a lot."

"Hey, maybe we'll get some bigshot client who can pay us enough to fund an office vacation to Khura'in!" Athena suggested. She didn't really want to risk this conversation taking a turn into sadness.

"C'mon, Athena - how often do we get clients who pay Mr. Wright at all?"

Athena smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "OK, you've got a point. Still, I can hope, can't I? There's no way Mr. Wright or Trucy would ever say 'no' if we did get the money for it. They tease you even more than I do, but-… they love you, Apollo. I hope you know that. And-… OK - looking at where this conversation started, it's gonna sound counterproductive for me to say this, but I love you, too."

Apollo's combination blush-and-smile in response could've made anyone in the world break out in a grin to match, Athena was sure. Yet, even as she watched Apollo try to formulate a reply, she had a strange feeling building up in her chest. Her words had come out perfectly naturally, like they'd always been what she had in mind.

(There, that wasn't so hard. You love Apollo, just like you love everyone else at the office. Even Charley!)

… Why didn't she feel convinced? She repeated the thought over a few times.

(You love Apollo, just like you love everyone else at the office. You love Apollo, just like-…)

This… wasn't working.

"… Athena? Are you… OK? You look like you just developed a sunburn in under ten seconds."

(Oh God, I'm blushing… stupid Apollo.)

Priding herself on being very in-tune with emotions, Athena was hardly unfamiliar with the feelings twisting around inside her at the moment. That said, she was not especially happy to be experiencing them. She'd worked with Apollo for a short while longer than a year prior to his departure for Khura'in, and considered him one of her closest friends, to be sure. So, that in mind, why was she just now finding herself sitting here and blushing at the sight of him like the hormone-riddled high-schoolers she got so tired of seeing in movies and TV shows?

"Be less cute!"

Athena's train of thought ground to a halt instantly. Half of her wanted to clamp a hand over Widget's casing and crush the little speakers that had allowed those words to be heard, and the rest just wanted to bury her face in her hands.

She opted to go through with the latter option. It was a few more seconds spent wallowing in embarrassment before Apollo's voice brought her back.

"Umm… hey, Athena? If you're alright, can we talk about something?"

When Athena replied, her voice was a low growl creeping out from between her clenched fingers.

"Sure, Apollo. Whatever's on your mind, I'd love to hear about it."

On the word "love", she'd reflexively tightened her already-tense palms over her own face, and she shuddered a bit at the feeling of her fingertips digging into her forehead. If she left any marks, they'd be covered up by her bangs, at least.

Apollo felt uncomfortable for himself, watching as Athena squirmed in her seat. This wasn't the way he'd thought his day would begin. He gave the redhead a moment to compose herself before he spoke up.

"So, uhh… w-we're friends, right?"

Athena's shoulders slumped. Still not showing her face to the camera, she replied, "Yes, that's right." in the same low voice as before.

"R-right, sorry… stupid question." Apollo muttered, shaking his head. "What I mean is-…" He tried to continue the sentence from there, but it quietly died partway out of his mouth. He sighed. How was he supposed to go about this? He was terribly afraid he'd overstep his bounds. "Since we talked yesterday, I've been thinking - and believe me; there's so much going on here that I don't get a lot of time to just sit down and think. It feels like talking to you guys really took some of the pressure off. So, thanks, for one, but there's more to it."

Athena was meeting his eye again by now. Apollo felt strange; it seemed as if his words were suddenly coming without effort, though he wasn't sure where all this was originating from at all.

"Some days it feels like I should always be thanking you, Athena." he went on. "True, you don't exactly hesitate to jump in and take Trucy's side when she wants to tease me, but…" He blinked, pausing for a second. "You're the most supportive person I've ever met. Nothing I've ever done has made you think less of me, even once." Apollo found he couldn't stop himself now. As if he was only just now realizing the truth of his words for himself, he continued on. "I keep wishing you were still out here when I'm out on a case, and not just because I know you've got my back when we're working. I just… I just like being around you."

To his surprise, Athena, who'd been silent as he spoke, smirked. "Congratulations, Apollo."

Confused, Apollo asked, "About what…?"

"You've figured out what 'friend' means." Athena jibed, looking like she wanted to laugh.

"Heh… maybe you're right." Apollo replied, smiling for himself and running a hand over the back of his neck. "I'm not really getting all these thoughts out quite right. Mind if I give it one more shot?"

"Sure, I've got time." Athena answered.

"Great." Apollo said. He took a moment to compose himself once again. "I'm kinda just putting the pieces together for myself now." he admitted. "There's that saying; something about not knowing what you have until it's gone. That's pretty much been me since you guys headed home. Flying blind has been working out so far, so I'm just hoping I don't screw anything up too badly."

"Aw, c'mon." Athena replied. "You'll be fine, Apollo. You always are. Besides, you've gotta be one of Khura'in's top celebrities right now, haven't you? People will give you loads of slack."

"I sure hope so. Honouring Dhurke's legacy is gonna be pretty hard if I get chased out of the country."

Athena laughed. "Yeah, I doubt you'll mess up that badly. But, hey - if you ever did, you could always just come back home to us. We're not gonna turn you away."

"Good to hear." Apollo said. Athena was proving his point quite effortlessly. He glanced away from his laptop and out the office window. "So, I should probably sign off and get back to work." he said. "Thanks again, Athena. For being my best friend. I mean it - I can't tell you how good it feels to have someone like you I can talk to."

Athena grinned. "Hey, take it easy, Apollo. You'll make a girl blush, throwing around that kind of praise."

"Well, you deserve-…" Apollo faltered. He was about to finish up their conversation when something caught his notice. "Uhh…" he uttered, drawing Athena's notice.

"What…?" she asked. "Something wrong?"

"Umm, well, when you said that…" Apollo muttered, gesturing toward the bottom of the frame. "Widget was… I could've sworn he changed colour for a second."

Speaking of colour, Athena's face drained of it almost instantly.

"Wait, wait…" she said, clamping a hand over the device around her neck, which was glowing a shade of green. "You mean he was just green, like this, right?"

"Uhh…" Apollo scratched at the back of his neck again. He couldn't actually see Widget with Athena's hand blocking out the device's display. "W-well, it was only for half a second, but… it looked more like pink or something to me. Does that mean something…?"

He wasn't certain if Athena heard his last few words. As he'd been speaking, she'd emitted a frustrated noise and buried her face in her free hand.

"… Athena?"

He heard her mumbling something under her breath. It didn't sound like English, and based on the amount of venom he could hear from her tone, it probably wasn't especially polite, either.

Athena ended her grumblings by sighing loudly. After a moment or two, she asked, "Hey, Apollo?"

"Yeah…?"

"You remember what I said about Trucy?"

Apollo nodded. "She thinks you have a crush on me, right?"

Athena, her face hidden from view, nodded. She didn't say anything. Apollo waited for a response.

It took several seconds for him to start picking up on the reason for her silence.

"W-wait, are you… A-Athena, d'you mean she's right…?"

Athena growled another string of unintelligible words under her breath.

"Uhh…" Apollo tried to speak up again, but for the first time in this conversation, words failed him. "… That's kinda new. I… I wouldn't have guessed."

"Neither would I." Athena grumbled. "I can pick out what other people are feeling in two seconds…"

"So your hyper-hearing doesn't work for yourself, huh?" Apollo inquired. He was trying to make the most casual conversation he could out of this discovery, but it was surprisingly hard to do so. Truthfully, he just didn't know what to say about the subject.

Athena was interested in him? When had that started? And why hadn't he noticed anything?

Still trying to play it off somehow, he spoke up again. "Well, I already told you that you're my best friend. Can't be that hard to go up one more step, can it…?"

His effort failed quite spectacularly. Rather than doing anything to indicate that her embarrassment was subsiding, Athena's entire face simply disappeared into a deep blush.

"Shut up already, you stupid, adorable jerk!"

Now it was Apollo's turn to blush, hearing Widget's synthesized voice blurting that out. It wasn't a conscious effort, but he found himself following the instruction for several seconds.

This seemed to confirm his theory. He genuinely didn't know how best to respond. Was there an accepted etiquette one was meant to follow when making a discovery such as this?

(C'mon, say something useful already, Justice…)

"I-… uhh… wow."

Silence.

(Oh, dear God, Justice, why don't you just punch yourself in the face, since Athena can't reach far enough to do it.)

He pushed the screen of his laptop downward partway to obscure his face. Dragging a hand through his ruffled hair and over his face for a moment, he thought things through. He had to clamp his mouth shut to contain a relieved sigh when Athena's voice sounded from the speakers again.

"Apollo?" she inquired softly. The frustration plain in her voice before was gone. Apollo reopened the laptop to find the redhead looking straight at him.

"Yeah?" he replied, his voice a bit breathless.

"Do you… I mean, if you're comfortable with it, do you want to try… ugh, God, I'm awful at this…"

It was strangely reassuring to hear Athena sounding as uncomfortable as he felt.

… Was that mean to say?

"Just… do you want to go-…" Athena's words broke off one more time. She sighed, sounding more annoyed with herself than anything else. "Do you want to try dating…? Y-y'know, just to see if it could work?"

Athena's ocean-blue eyes couldn't quite meet his on account of Apollo's need to choose between looking at the screen or the webcam, but he did the best he could.

"Y-yeah-…" He coughed, clearing his throat. "Yeah. I'd like that."

Even getting the words out, he felt like he'd screwed up. Sure, he'd never really imagined that conversations like this would ever be as graceful or perfect as fiction would lead one to believe, but surely he could do better than this, right…? He was barely finishing a sentence.

Athena looked nervous. "I mean - it's probably not a good idea to try too hard right now, since we're so far apart; long-distance relationships and all, b-but I-…" Another sigh, "You're just a really great guy, Apollo. I'm feeling kinda stupid right now for only just figuring that out in full."

"Hey," Apollo replied, managing a grin, "You're talking to the guy who only just worked out the definition of the word 'friend'. You've got plenty of leeway to work with."

Athena laughed, and the awkward tension in their conversation seemed to lessen instantly. Apollo let her finish before speaking again. "Look - I know you, Athena. I said you're my best friend, and I really meant it. If you feel like you're ready for-… y'know, for us to take a step like that, then I'm sure you know what you're doing."

Athena raised an eyebrow. "You're sounding incredibly romantic over there, Apollo." she said dryly. "Pardon me if I swoon."

"Hey, I know as little as you do." Apollo responded, making sure to include a subtly challenging tone in his voice. He knew exactly how Athena would respond when he spoke that way. "Maybe we're just not the sweep-you-off-your-feet type."

Athena smirked. "You sure you want me to quote you on that? You just might find yourself pretty surprised when you come home."

"Oh?" Apollo replied, not about to cave in to Athena's lower caliber of teasing. "I guess we'll both have to see who's really up to the challenge when that day comes."

Athena's conversation with Apollo had gone down a very different path than she'd initially intended before she could stop it. Yet somehow, when at last they said their goodbyes, she didn't feel the slightest bit bothered.

So, was this what was meant to come next in her friendship with Apollo? Working out her own feelings had proven surprisingly difficult compared to analyzing those of others. Maybe she really did care for him that way. Throwing around words like "cute" or even "adorable" in moments of weakness certainly seemed to suggest the possibility. At the very least, they made it much harder to disprove.

She stood up and paced across the room to the small window. Sometimes she liked to gaze out at the city from here. It wasn't an impressive view; most of the space opposite her window was taken up by neighbouring buildings, but she liked it all the same. It helped her to think. If she and Apollo were really ready to do this, it was definitely going to be a tough journey. The closest contact they had right now was through two computer screens, and there was still no telling how long that limitation would last.

Weighing the pros and cons of admitting to Trucy that this conversation had ever happened would take her some time, too. Still, whatever she chose, she couldn't deny the wonderful feeling that bubbled up inside her, knowing that she had Apollo to support her. Returning the favour was something she had plenty of practice in doing.

And, of course, there was Juniper. She was stronger than some gave her credit for, but Athena worried about how her best friend might react to learning that her crush might just be taken. That was looking like a delightful conversation ahead.

Apollo was looking at his day differently than he'd been before Athena called, that was for certain.

A relationship with Athena was, if he was honest with himself, just not something he'd ever considered seriously. She was the best sort of friend he could ask for, and he cared about her as much as he believed he could, but was the truth that those feelings went further than just friendship? He supposed they could find out together when the time came.

Maybe they could drop some subtle hints with Mr. Wright about the possibility of an office trip to see him in Khura'in some time sooner than imagined.

Goodness, I surprise myself with my inability to balance time for writing with other, less enjoyable things.

Least it's here! Leave a review, if you feel so inclined.