Dog Days
myalatti
Summary:
Three times Apollo's bracelet reacted when he didn't want it to and two times he did.
Or alternatively, being a human lie detector isn't as fun as you'd think it is.
Trucy stood in the front doorway, her hands clamped tightly around the doorframe to prevent any possible chance he had to escape. Her eyebrows were knitted together in annoyance - something quite unusual for the normally easygoing girl - and she stared him down, making him feel like he was the size of an ant. Smaller than that even, more like half an ant or even just the head of one. For someone not even five foot tall, she certainly knew how to be threatening and made him wonder just what he'd done to provoke this storm cloud.
"Come on, Polly! It's a concert, you have to dress up a bit more than that."
Oh.
He felt a bit bigger now, like a bull ant instead of one of those little black ones. "I'm wearing jeans, that's dressy enough for a concert, isn't it?"
"No way, you need a button up shirt instead of that tee. Or maybe some chains or something since it's a Gavinners show." Her grip on the doorframe tightened when she said chains, as if she was worried he was going to make a break for it.
"There is no way I am ever wearing chains," He protested. "But I'll wear a coat if it'll make you happy. It's pretty cold out anyway, so I'll probably need it." She smiled and dropped her arms, satisfied that he wasn't going to bail anymore. Not that she had reason to worry anyway, he never was, and he'd promised he would go so he might as well stick it out.
Speaking of, can you believe it? They were going to another Gavinners show. The band (bar one member, of course) were performing some special reunion performance at the biggest outdoors venue in the city and Klavier given him and Trucy tickets. Free this time, not just a twenty percent discount like that other fiasco of a show. Trucy had gone on about how considerate it was of him but Apollo knew that he'd probably just had a bunch of free ones to give out, that or he was making enough money from the overpriced tickets that it didn't matter that they didn't pay. Him, cynical? No, why would you even think that?
As soon as he'd been given the ticket, he had handed it to Mr Wright with the excuse that the last concert he'd been to, someone had been murdered so he probably shouldn't go again. Mr Wright hadn't had any of that though and handed them straight back, "you kids go have fun, I'm too old for that sort of thing." Never mind that he was only thirty-four, but details. So now he was being dragged along to a much too loud and much too crowded concert with absolutely zero desire to be there. Don't get him wrong, he definitely considered Klavier a friend now, but he'd been working all day and was so tired that he really didn't feel like dealing with the noise...
"Apollo is right," A third voice chimed in and they both looked up at Mr Wright who had been quietly reading on the lounge until now. "It is cold tonight and the concert is outdoors so you should take a coat too, Trucy."
"No, it'll ruin my outfit, I don't often get to go out and dress up like this." She whined and he sighed.
"Alright, it's your choice, but don't say I didn't warn you if you come home freezing," He stood up and crossed the room to ruffle her hair. "You look beautiful, by the way. You'll stand out more than the band does." She smiled at her father and Apollo felt a sudden surge of brotherly pride. She was almost seventeen, a young adult now and looked so grown up compared to when he first met her. He took a deep breath and swallowed the lump in his throat, why was he so sentimental? He only worked at the agency, it's not like they were actually a family, right?
"Oh, it's almost six, we have to go!" Trucy suddenly yelped and dashed over to Apollo, grabbing his arm and yanking him up from his seat. "It's going to be a long show, so don't wait up, dad!"
"Okay, okay," He laughed, ushering them out the front door. "Have fun you two. Oh, and Apollo?" He turned to the younger attorney who suddenly felt like an ant again. "Please take care of Trucy, it's going to be very busy there tonight."
"You can count on me, Mr Wright!"
"I know."
Pressure on his wrist.
He glanced down quickly and then back to his boss. He didn't seem tense nor was he scratching the back of his neck or swallowing or anything, but the bracelet had reacted and that meant he was lying. He didn't trust him to look after her, did he? The whole murder thing at the last concert probably was the driving force of his concern, but they'd been through a lot together since then so that should have been water under the bridge. That made it worse actually, that even after that he didn't trust him. It hurt.
There wasn't much time to think about it though and soon enough he found himself whisked into a taxi and travelling towards the other side of the city, bracing himself for what was going to come.
"Let's go, Polly!" Trucy led them through the crowds of people milling around, chatting to one another now that it was the first intermission and around the back of the stage. There was a large doorway guarded by more security than necessary and the look of them made Apollo nervous. They were way taller than he was and even though it was nighttime, some of them were wearing those stereotypical bouncer sunglasses, which even though looked kind of stupid added to the threatening look. Anonymity, freaky stuff.
Didn't seem to bother Trucy though and she walked right up and explained they were friends of Klavier's. The main security guy didn't seem to believe her though and shook his head when she tried to get past, informing her that she'd have to do better than that. Balling her fists up, she tried again and asked him to send a request to the band and even showed him their tickets, though there wasn't anything special like VIP written on them. Eventually he conceded - though he probably just wanted her to stop bugging him - and disappeared through the doorway.
"He'd better let us in," She remarked when she was standing back by him again. "Otherwise we'll have to sneak in…mind you that would be fun. Let's do it, Apollo!"
"No, no," He held up his hands in protest, Mr Wright's words echoing in his head - please take care of her. The last thing they needed was to be caught trespassing, Mr Wright would never trust him again after that and he'd rather not be arrested tonight, thank you very much. "I'm sure he'll be back soon and then we can go talk to Gavin."
"Fine." She drew out the beginning of the word and poked out her tongue. He poked out his back and then they fell into a silence, well sort of a silence at least. You couldn't really call anything silent when there were thousands of people around you and your ears were still ringing from the entirely too loud music.
Finding nothing else to do, Apollo surveyed the area around him. The rest of the audience was still hanging around the now empty stage and he sighed with relief to be out of that mass of sweaty bodies, all shouting lyrics to songs he didn't know but probably should. Despite how noisy it had been, the show had admittedly been pretty cool. There were huge screens on both sides of the stage showing close ups of the band members and different levelled platforms and visual effects and everything. Klavier really knew how to perform too, he talked to the audience like they were his best friends and he really appreciated them being there. They lapped it up, cheering and deafening him whenever he started speaking. Or singing or even just breathing.
He did that with Apollo too though, now that he thought about it. Whenever they had coffee or lunch he'd look at him like he was the most interesting thing in the world and would listen to him speak, which was such a rarity in people these days. Watching him treat his fans this way though made him wonder if he actually did enjoy his company or if he was just keeping his rockstar face on. Not that he cared though, why would he care?
He felt something shift next to him and found Trucy had moved closer, she was shaking but still staring impatiently at the door. "Oh, are you cold now? Should have listened to your dad, huh?"
"Maybe," She grinned. "It's just because we're standing still."
He sighed and pulled his arms out of his sleeves, handing the coat over to her. The things he did for these people, honestly. "Wear mine, I'm pretty warm now anyway." She put the jacket on and they laughed at the size of it, the sleeves were way to big and made her look tinier than usual. It did the trick though and she stopped shivering soon after.
Five minutes later and the security guard finally re-emerged from the doors, shaking his head. He informed Trucy that unfortunately no ticket holders were allowed backstage, but it was said with a sort of manic grin that both scared and seriously disturbed Apollo. She glared at the man crossly as he took his post at the door once more and when she deemed he wasn't looking, nodded for Apollo to follow her behind a tree on the outskirts of the arena. He asked what they were doing, but she just held her finger up to her lips as a signal to be quiet.
Peering from behind their vantage point, they could see the guards were chatting amongst themselves and not working too hard. Pointing to a small window that was brightly lit up, she nodded and grinned. Oh no she wasn't going to do what he thought she was, was she?
"On the count of three." She whispered and then mouthed the numbers. She reached the end of the countdown and as quietly as possible, made a break for it as quickly and quietly as possible across the large expanse of lawn towards the backstage window. Apollo hesitated but Mr Wright's voice was still ringing in his ears and he found himself following her, climbing up the wall and through the conveniently unlocked window. Just as he pulled his legs through, a different guard noticed him and yelled something out. The backstage doors were thrown open and it was suddenly a mad chase and they ran down the corridor trying to find Klavier's dressing room.
"Trucy, we're in trouble," He panted. "What if he doesn't even want to see us?"
"I'm sure he does," She shrugged, seemingly non-fussed that the guards were gaining on them. "I don't reckon that guy even asked him." They were in such a state that they almost ran past the room marked Gavin but luckily Trucy noticed it last minute and yanked on his arm (and almost dislocated his shoulder) so he wouldn't go any further. She knocked on the door and Apollo threw a worried glance towards the rapidly advancing guards, five more seconds and they'd be detained for breaking and entering for sure.
"Ja, hereinkommen." No clue what it meant but taking it as an invitation to come inside, Trucy opened the door up anyway revealing Klavier standing there looking...exactly the same as always. He greeted them with a small wave and an expression that was more confused than anything else. Apollo bent forward, hands on his knees and catching his breath while Trucy leant against his should till she recovered too. Klavier watched them amusedly and when he deemed them relatively alright to answer, asked, "What's going on?"
"Security wouldn't let us come talk to you so we came in through the window instead, but they saw us. Anyway Mr Gavin, that was amazing!" She gushed, yanking on Apollo's arm so he was standing next to her and very close to Klavier. So close that he could even smell him, and he smelt good. Cologne, and probably a very expensive one at that, but not too much so that it was overbearing.
"Ah well, if they had just asked I would have let you in," He laughed and Trucy gave him a look of told you so. "And danke, fraulein. Everything is going smoothly which is great, a bit better than the last concert you guys went to."
"There's still time," Apollo grinned and Klavier laughed, but it was kind of bitter. He still mourned the loss of that guitar; it was all he ever heard about when instruments were brought up. "But yeah, it's alright so far." The dressing room door was opened again at his point and he felt his stomach lurch and his heart almost leap out his throat; we're still not off the hook. There were about twenty security guards standing there but Klavier dismissed them with a wave of his hand.
"Alright, that's the kindest thing you've ever said about our music," He winked, completely unfazed all the people that hard just barged in. "By the way, were you guys standing with Ema? She was right near the front but I couldn't see you two."
"Ema? What's she doing here? I thought she hated you."
"Hates me but doesn't hate the music. Plus, I think she has a thing for our drummer," He shrugged his shoulders and Apollo kind of wished he'd seen her. She was always so wound up whenever they ran into each other, it was hard to imagine her liking anyone. "I thought you knew she was coming, aren't you friends?"
"Hardly," He snorted. "The extent of our friendship is her throwing food at me and then me eating it, which I guess isn't too bad. Free food is always good food."
"You make me laugh, Forehead." He smiled and Apollo felt his cheeks flushing red. To avoid blushing and embarrassing himself even further, he averted his eyes and trailed them around the room. There was a lounge chair by the wall and noticing him eyeing it off, Klavier nodded and he took a seat, glad to be off his feet. He didn't listen to much else of what they were saying, not that he needed to anyway as it was mainly Trucy telling him how she loved this part and that part and how the big G on the back of the stage had been really cool, totally stroking his ego.
He only realised how much time had passed when she shook his shoulder and told him it was time to go back outside.
"I...I might sit this one out." He yawned, the idea of rejoining that sea of people suddenly really unappealing.
"Aw come on!" Her hands were on her hips.
"Leave him," Klavier chuckled. "I'll take you out to Ema, she'll look after you. Let Apollo be boring," She nodded happily and he watched him steer her out of the dressing room, Ema would probably take care of her better anyway, he thought with a frown. "Also, Herr Forehead," Klavier quickly added before disappearing completely. "You can stay in here if you want to, it's the quietest place in the whole venue."
Once they were gone, he stuck his head out the doorway to make sure he was all clear before starting to look around the dressing room. Sure, he was probably invading Klavier's privacy, but the prosecutor had invited him to stay so he figured everything was fair game. He didn't find anything interesting though, just a whole rack of different outfits by the wall and several pieces of paper with what he could only assume were song titles on the dressing table. He leafed through them; they were all fairly similar except the top one was marked with a tick and scribbled next to it was the word 'use'.
He recognised some of the songs - My Boyfriend is the Prosecution's Witness and Guilty Love, but the rest he'd never even heard of before. The one that caught his attention the most though was titled I'm Like a Lawyer with the Way I'm Always Trying to Get You Off and he put the set list down, eyes wide. Who knew law enforcement could be so inappropriate? That reminded him of something else to talk about to Gavin though and he made a mental note to bring it up later.
At that moment, loud guitar started blaring through the speakers and he sat down again, finding nothing else interesting to look at. If this is what the quietest room was like, he shuddered to think how loud everywhere else was. Resting his elbow on the armrest and then his head in his hands, he felt his eyes start to droop closed. He just needed to chill for a moment, he'd been up since six trying to finish copious amounts of paperwork for the agency and he was exhausted. He blinked once, twice trying to keep them open, but not even the way too noisy rock music could save him at this point and soon enough he was fast asleep.
"Wirklich?" The voice cut through his unconscious state and he looked up sleepily for the source of it, though it was all kind of blurry at the moment. "Only you could fall asleep at a concert, Herr Forehead."
Right, concert.
Dressing room.
Shit, where was...? "Where's Trucy?" He was suddenly wide awake and mad at himself for staying in here, no wonder Mr Wright didn't trust him.
"Don't stress, liebling," Klavier replied. "She's chatting to the security with Ema, they love her magic tricks," He felt relief flood through him and if hadn't been sitting down, his knees would have buckled. If something had happened, he never would have forgiven himself. "You looked really concerned there for a second, why is it such a big deal?"
"Because I'm supposed to look after her but Mr Wright doesn't think I will." His voice echoed around the too quiet dressing room and he was surprised to hear how much he sounded like a whiny little kid. Way to impress the biggest rockstar in the country, Apollo.
"Ach, why wouldn't he?" There it was, the pressure on his wrist again. Not Klavier too! He shrugged his shoulders grumpily, getting fed up with this now. Picking up on the fact he wasn't happy (though you didn't have to have bracelet to notice that one), Klavier leant down so their faces were close and he could see the sweat from the hot stage lights glistening on his forehead and said with a smile, "You look good tonight, the blue shirt is nice."
Apollo supposed his intentions were good but this stupid piece of metal around his wrist had reacted again and instead of taking the compliment, he just felt miserable. He knew he should have worn red instead of blue. When Trucy had first explained all perceiving stuff to him, he hadn't thought about how it would pick up every lie, even ones he didn't want to hear. "Thanks." He muttered, crossing his arms over his chest and slumping down in the chair.
"Don't be so down, it doesn't suit you." Klavier straightened himself up and traipsed across the room, making his way towards the rack of clothes. He flicked through the various outfits, pulling a purple jacket with a G embroided in silver thread on the shoulder out and placing it on the dressing table. He kept looking and after painstakingly examining three more jackets - black ones this time though, he settled on one with gold buttons. Lastly, he pulled a white shirt off the hanger and hung it over the back of the chair
Then (because he couldn't be done yet) he held up the two jackets for Apollo to see and the attorney pointed to the purple one, claiming it was less tacky and loud. Klavier feigned offence at his comments but discarded the black jacket back to the rack anyway. Completing the cycle, as he wasn't going to stop any of his regular interval habits just because Apollo was there, he pulled off his old jacket and unbuttoned his shirt, letting them fall to the ground in a heap. He'd pick them up later.
And it was here that it hit Apollo. He was in the dressing room, the dressing room, the room where people got dressed of Klavier Gavin, rockstar and prosecutor extraordinaire, alone while said singer stood in front of him shirtless. Later if you asked him about it, he would say that he had never blushed harder in his life. This was insane.
"I like that one better too." He remarked, oblivious to Apollo's staring. He...he was just so...careless about it! Didn't even mind that there was someone else in the room, Apollo would have covered up in an instant if that were him. Then again, Prosecutor Gavin was attractive and therein lay the difference...wait, no he hadn't meant that, he was not attracted to him. He sunk down even lower in the chair, trying to think of something else other than Klavier while still keeping his eyes fixed on him. Bit counterproductive but whatever.
Eventually he noticed that the young attorney had not blinked in over five minutes and a smirk crossed his face, shit he'd realised. "Do I make you uncomfortable, Herr Forehead?" He purposely positioned himself so the harsh fluorescent lights made his pearly whites glint when he spoke and he became even more of a distraction than before. Apollo shook his head, willing himself to think fast and come up with something witty to say so he didn't make even more of an idiot of himself.
"Of course not, Piano," He scoffed, using the English variation of his name. Come on; come on think of something to say! "It's just I...I uh...have a bone to pick with you, yeah that's it," Klavier's smirk dropped and he cocked his head to the side in confusion. Scrambling to save himself, he thought back to that set list he'd been looking at earlier and the title of that one song. Remember he said he had something else to say? "Well, it's more of an observation than anything else. I'm not annoyed at you so don't get too excited."
"I'd be more concerned than excited to be honest, schatzi, but lay it on me."
He inhaled deeply so he could speak in one breath. "When I was out there with Trucy and those thousands of other people just dying to hear your voice, I realised that a lot of your lyrics go over the audience's heads."
Klavier's mouth curved up into a smirk again, an expression that said I knew you'd notice. "Oh yeah? Give me an example."
"There's that one song," He was on a roll now. "I don't know what its called, but I think it goes 'your head can be a prison and these are just conjugal visits'. Klavier, that's dirty." He laughed at the last word and Apollo grinned, he was starting to adjust to the semi-naked prosecutor in front of him and the whole scene seemed a bit more natural and less terrifying than it had at first.
He ran his fingers through his hair and Apollo suddenly had the urge to touch it, it looked so soft and shiny. "So you did listen to our music then tonight?"
"Hardly," He rolled his eyes. "I don't mind that song though, it's catchy and not as annoying as the rest."
"Ach, shot through the heart," He held one hand over his chest and the other on his forehead melodramatically, stumbling like he had indeed been used as human target practice. He turned to the dressing table mirror once recovering and started redoing that spiral ponytail thing, humming the tune to said song. Soon the humming turned into actual words and while they were sung under his breath, Apollo could still hear them. "...I'm boring but overcompensate with headlines and flash photography, but don't pretend you'll ever..."
Something was odd about that first line but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He was still singing, but Apollo ignored him in favour of replaying the words in his head, trying to work out what wasn't quite right about them. ...Oh. Cameras, headlines – Big Gavinners reunion concert tonight! The question on all the fans lips is who will fill in as the new guitarist? Read more on page four. Oh! He suddenly stood up from his seat, surprising Klavier and stopping him mid-verse with a finger point reminiscent of Mr Wright's. "That song is about you, isn't it?"
Hesitation. Lying.
"No, it's not."
"You're lying to me," His face fell and he turned away from the attorney, pulling the new shirt on and buttoning it up with stiff shoulders. His stomach knotted up and he knew he'd touched a nerve, a nerve deeper than he'd probably find out about tonight, but why? Everyone had something they were self-conscious about (even star prosecutors) and apparently he'd just discovered Klavier's. With a sigh, he placed a hand on his back and swallowing his pride said, "If you're boring, Klavier, then I have no idea what the rest of us are."
His shoulders relaxed slightly and he could see the corners of his mouth quirk up slightly. "But I am, I just say what everyone wants to hear, be it to the press or in court."
He cast his mind back to the articles he'd read about the prosecutor, some of them had definitely been…less than complimentary and for the first time he understood that that sort of thing did affect a person, no matter who they were. "You're not saying what I want to hear now," He started to rub circles, tracing his fingers lightly on the material of his shirt at first and slowly getting bigger till he was running his hand up and down his whole back. This was weird; he'd never thought Prosecutor Gavin could be anything but confident. "Where has the other Klavier gone? The gold-record selling prosecutor - which by the way is the most interesting job combo ever - who's never worried about anything? I miss him."
He reached over his back and grabbed Apollo's hand with his own (making the guy flinch at the unexpected contact), clasping their fingers together so he could turn around and face him. He could feel his face heating up again and he willed himself to chill out. "I'm sorry, that was rude of me."
"It's fine," He mumbled. Risking peeking up at the prosecutor, he quickly noted that he was looking at him with that familiar but no less complimentary expression of appreciation, the one he'd noticed with the fans before. But this kind of felt real and it was directed completely at him. Unfortunately though, it also made him blurt out, "Why doesn't anyone trust me to look after Trucy?"
Klavier chuckled, still holding onto his hand and using the other one to flick his hair spikes. "You really want to know?" A nod. "Well, it pains me to say this but the only reason I can think of is because you're short, I don't know if you could take anyone."
Awesome. There it was. "Great."
"And now you either want to kiss me for being honest or punch me in the face, don't you?"
"No," Yes, both. Mainly the latter though. "But you want to kiss me."
"Nein."
His bracelet tightened but it made him grin this time. "You do, you're lying," Klavier's eyebrows knitted together in confusion but he didn't say anything. Instead he leant forward, seemingly going to do it but then pulled away before he did anything. Aw, rude. "Hey, you know I won't complain if you do."
And this time he didn't pull away, placing his lips right on the middle of his forehead. They were soft and the kiss was gentle and probably a thousand times better than anything he could ever give to Gavin, so instead he just squeezed his hand tight and tried to keep his breathing as normal as possible.
The banging of the door opening followed by Trucy's loud voice made them spring apart, but it was too late. "Hey Apollo, I got to meet the rest of the...wow, Klavier Gavin kissed you? You are so lucky, I want a famous rockstar to kiss me one day!" He looked towards Trucy, finding her standing there not just by herself but also with Ema and all the other members of the Gavinners that he'd yet to meet. Awesome, these weren't exactly the best circumstances to get introduced to people in let alone famous band members.
"Ooh Klavier, is that the guy you-" One of them chimed in and was soon silenced by a glare thrown their way.
"Time to go back on stage," He snapped, letting go of Apollo's hand but tracing something with his index finger before he let go completely. It made him shiver and he looked down at his palm, there were no marks but he could swear he had lightly written a G on there. It made him smile, what a dork. "That other song may be about me," He bent down and whispered it before disappearing to the wings with the rest of his band. "But the third song in this set is about you, Herr Forehead."
He blinked a few times before turning to Trucy and Ema, the latter who was looking at him with a disgusted look on her face. Later she told him that not even for a million dollars would she kiss that glimmerous ("Glamourous, Ema.") fop and she couldn't believe he had either. Trucy asked if he was coming out with them this time and he nodded in a daze, following them outside and not really noticing anything that was going on around him. He certainly hadn't expected this today.
He only managed to shake himself out of it when they started playing the third song and the second worst blush in his life replaced his vacant stare. Thank god the stage lights kind of washed everything out, this was terrible.
"Now this is dedicated to one Apollo Justice in the audience tonight."
Damnit, it was the stupid lawyer song.
