A/N: Wheww! Okay I'm a day late but here we are! The original idea I had for this didn't end up working out [maybe I'll post it one day]. I have been wanting to write more of Athena and Klavier lately, so this is a nice 'two birds with one stone' way to do that ;]

This didn't come out exactly how I wanted, but I still like it? I like the concept a lot. I may come back to edit this later, cuz I'm sure it needs it, but for now here we go!

Klavier had brought it up, she would argue.

Athena was poking around the crime scene for their latest case; a missing man had finally been found dead, unfortunately, at the edge of a pond on the other side of town. Despite the macabre scene, Athena was glad to get outside on such a nice day. She raised a hand to block the sun from her eyes and looked around the scene. Her colleges were over by pond while Athena was searching the outskirts of the area.

Someone settled next to her. The gentle clacking of metal against metal was a familiar enough sounds by this point she didn't even need to check to see who it was.

"Fräulein."

"I'm not young enough to be a fräulein anymore." She corrected him. Athena was delighted to find that she knew more German than him, and took every chance to correct him. "But hey! What are you doing here?"

"Isn't it obvious." He smiled. "I'm the prosecutor for this case."

"Obviously." Athena mumbled. "Like you don't just show up when we're out investigating…"

"You make being a defense attorney almost look like more fun." He teased.

"Well, the agency could always use another lawyer if you're looking for a career change." Athena offered, teasing him back.

"Tempting. I do enjoy a steady paycheck, however."

Athena continued looking around with Klavier following after her. Even though she knew she really shouldn't, it was nice to bounce ideas for motive and suspect's off someone with a different perspective on the case. She noticed that he kept looking over at her coworkers.

"You won't get too far with that." He said as she brought up the idea that the suspect was the victim's brother. "Considering he's been out of the country for the past month." Klavier looked over again. Apollo and Phoenix were looking at the area around where the body had been found.

"If you want to go talk to them, you can." Athena knelt down to look at a footprint stuck in the mud. It hadn't been marked as anything, curious enough. "I don't think they'll be as willing to talk about the case though."

If Klavier was working the case, maybe Ema was too? She needs a cast of this footprint just in case.

"Oh, haven't you heard…"

His tone of voice struck something in Athena. She turned to look at him; his expression was much more mischievous than she'd seen on him.

"Heard what?"

The next thing she knew Klavier was handing her his phone.

"I was checking my usual news sites, like normal, when I stumbled across this."

It took Athena a moment before she let out a gasp. It was a picture of Apollo and Phoenix walking out of the courthouse, smiling at each other.

"Spotted! A Budding Office Romance?" was the headline above the image.
She scrolled through the very short article before shooting Klavier an annoyed look.

"This is ridiculous."

"Is it?"

"Yes!" She shot him a glare and he just grinned back. "Besides, it's one article." She scrolled back up to the top of the website again. "From a celebrity news site."

"That's why I was checking it."

"Isn't this the same site that said you and Apollo were dating?" She wondered aloud. She remembers that week at the agency; there were fans and paparazzi trying to get into the WAA constantly, trying to get an interview with Apollo. Klavier hadn't helped to dispel the rumors which only annoyed Apollo more. She'd never seen Apollo so ready to use his chords of steel on strangers.

"It was." He sighed. Athena caught on to the tinge of sadness and longing in his voice.

"This is also the site that said Trucy died as a kid and someone stole her identity all these years. And that you bleach your hair." Athena recalled. The last one may have a minutia of truth to it, but she wasn't going to say that to him. "So you can't trust this! It's all gossip and rumors." She shoved his phone back into his hands. "If there was something going on between them, don't you think I would have picked up on it?"

Athena gave a quick glance to the two aforementioned men; Apollo was listening intensely to whatever Phoenix was saying. There was no way anything more was going on between the two of them. She focused her gaze back at the man in front of her.

"You're just trying to throw me off so I wont be prepared for court tomorrow." She said, waving her hand in the air dismissively.

"You think so low of me." Klavier placed a hand to his heart, fake hurt, before handing his phone back to her. "It's not the first article. It's also not the only site to have something about the two of them."

A moment passed, his phone within her reach, before she grabbed it. If there were people out there telling lies about any of them, she should know!

"Did you have all these saved?" Athena asked as she noticed all the tabs open were to different articles of the two lawyers. There were….quite a few. From a few different sources as well. Some of it was just sensationalized and a well framed picture, but some other articles were a little more...convincing. A weird feeling settled in her gut. "Just because they're all from different gossip sites doesn't negate that they're all from gossip sites! It's one big rumor mill."

"I know, I know." He said. "I thought so too, at first. The more I see the two, however…" Klavier looked over towards Apollo and Phoenix again, Athena's gaze following his. The two men were kneeling to look at something. Athena would never have questioned how close they were to each other, but after reading that article..."There's something there."

Since Apollo had returned from K'hurain he'd been back at the agency only part time. Phoenix had been very very glad to have him back. The two always seemed to be taking cases together when they could. Apollo had been staying at the office a lot later on his work days, with Phoenix staying behind as well…

The realization hit her like a train. She let out a loud gasp, bringing a hand up to cover her mouth.

"Is that why-? But, but-" She was trying to whisper.

Klavier leaned down to listen, looking very intrigued.

"I came to chat with you about it." He whispered back. "To get a first hand account. Judging by your reaction…"

"This is why they don't let me go out to drinks with them after work!" She practically hissed.

"That's because you've got a year to go before you can drink. Legally." Klavier noted. Athena didn't pay him any attention, her focus going back to the phone in hand. She scrolled through a few more of the articles with new eyes.

"Aha! Here!" She held up the image to Klavier. He blinked a few times, adjusting to see what was on the screen. "Apollo's first case at the agency back - I just thought they were happy they won one together!"

"Did you see the picture of them at the airport?" Klavier asked, reaching out and tapping around the screen a few times.

Any thoughts of continuing her investigation went out the window as the two huddled around Klavier's phone, clicking through articles and swapping their own stories.

Athena couldn't believe it. How could she have not picked up on it?

A loud splash and a yell finally tore them away from the phone. They looked over; Phoenix had fallen into the pond. Apollo had an arm around his waist, helping him up and out of the shallow water, while Phoenix was leaning heavily against the smaller man. Her boss looked very bashful at Apollo fawning over him. Apollo looked up, noticing the duo staring at them, and waved. The two other lawyers made their way over. Phoenix had to lean against Apollo, Athena noting a little limp to his walk.

"...Oops." Phoenix scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Are. Are you okay?" Athena asked quietly. Klavier was silent beside her.

"He'll be fine." Apollo sighed. "I don't think he sprained anything. Did you find anything helpful for the case?"

"Oh, uh," did she? How long has she been gossiping with Klavier? "Y-yeah, I think I did. I need to look a little more though."

"That's fine." Apollo adjusted his weight from one leg to another, causing him to lean into Phoenix even more. "I think it's time for us to call it for the day. I'm going to bring Mr. Wright home."

"Will you now." Klavier asked coyly. Athena gave him a harsh nudge in the side.

"Helping us out, Klavier?" Phoenix asked, looking between the two.

"I am on this case as well, Herr Wright." Klavier gave a nod. "I'm just making sure tomorrow will go smoothly."

"...Don't let him distract you, Athena." Apollo shot the prosecutor an annoyed look. "We'll see you tomorrow."

The two men meandered off. Athena waved weakly as they walked away.

"This is weird." She noted. Klavier nodded in agreement.

"A rather...odd pair. I must say." He was fiddling with a piece of his hair, looking off into the distance. "I wasn't expecting it to really be true."

"...It still might not be." Athena turned back around to the footprint she was inspecting earlier. "But now I won't not see it."

"You're welcome. We should discuss this more later." She rolled her eyes at the small bow and wink he graciously gave her before he turned to leave. "I'll send someone to help you with that." He pointed to the footprint in the mud.

"Thanks." She sighed. Klavier wandered off, leaving Athena all alone. She shook her head; all of this could wait until after this case was solved.