For all his efforts, Apollo didn't get any more sleep that morning.
(Just stop thinking about it.)
His mistake in texting Athena was going to come right back and bite him, he just knew. If Trucy told her father about it, he was finished. First, Mr. Wright would have the thought that Apollo had actually been flirting with his underage daughter, but he'd cool off from that misunderstanding once Trucy had had her fun laughing about it. Then would come the girl's inevitable investigation into exactly who the message had been intended for. Trucy was sharp; she'd figure it out soon enough.
Apollo rolled his head off his pillow and clamped his hands onto the pillowcase, dragging it over top of his head.
Maybe, if he was lucky, Mr. Wright would just fire him without too much further hassle. It was hard to imagine him getting too worked up once he knew all the facts.
(Well… if it's my job or Athena, I pick Athena.)
…
He wasn't certain how much time passed before he thought things over again.
(Trucy might vouch for me. Maybe I can still hang around the office on the weekends, just to see everyone. I'm pretty sure she and Pearl have been conspiring to get me a date for a while, so she'll be happy about that, at least…)
It wasn't long before Apollo concluded that he was done sleeping for the night. He dragged himself out of bed, looking over at the clock. He'd throw together some breakfast and take a quick shower before heading out to see Athena.
Not many people tended to occupy the park this early in the morning.
Athena saw the odd person strolling down the main footpath, but there was, naturally, only one person in particular she was waiting to spot.
Apollo's unmistakable appearance showed up sooner than she'd expected. He had his favourite red hoodie on, though it was worn a bit more lazily than usual, some of its buttons left undone.
"Hey," Athena said with a grin, approaching him. She pressed a quick kiss to his lips and continued, "Early riser this morning?"
"Yeah, something like that…" Apollo said, smiling back. He sounded just a touch uncomfortable, but Athena supposed that could just be because of a lapse in his morning routine.
"So," she said, "This wouldn't be much of a date if we just stood here all morning, so… care to walk with me?"
Apollo offered his left hand. "I'd love to."
"Oh, good," Apollo interjected, pausing Athena's description of a particular moment in her own morning, "He's exactly the person I want finding out about us."
"Apollo," Athena said with a laugh, "He's not gonna kill you for dating me. And come on, you know he's not half as scary as he likes to act."
"He's still got that damn bird…" Apollo replied.
"Well, maybe if you didn't have these," Athena punctuated her words by grabbing a hold on Apollo's two antennae-like hair spikes and squeezing them together, "Taka wouldn't want to peck you half to death all the time. Animals get defensive if they think you're threatening them."
"They're not horns." Apollo argued back, batting her hand away, "You know that I only ever get attacked when Blackquill wants me to."
"Aww," Athena instead slung her arm over Apollo's shoulders and settled her head against his left shoulder. "Fine, I'll ask Simon to stop bullying you next time I see him." She adjusted herself to get comfortable with her head on his shoulder. "Speaking of which, I wanted to ask you something."
Apollo directed their steps into a turn in the park's footpath. "OK." he said.
"Have you been thinking about telling anyone yourself? About us…?"
Apollo chuckled. "Actually, I nearly dropped the bomb on Trucy this morning, when you texted me."
"Trucy? Really, Apollo? You don't want to go to her first, trust me."
"Yeah, the only thing that competes with her magic is her gossip." Apollo agreed. "Still, I think she might start to work it out for herself if we're not careful."
Athena laughed just a little. She was thinking over her response.
"… I'm serious, though, Apollo." she said. "We're gonna have to tell everyone at some point."
"Better later than sooner…"
Athena found Apollo's reply interesting.
"Apollo, remind me again why you're so hesitant. I know I've been doing it, too, but is there a special reason?"
Apollo caught her glance, slowing down. "C'mon, Athena, you think Mr. Wright would just be OK with his two employees dating behind his back?"
"I don't know, maybe…" Athena answered. "I don't think he'd just fire us on the spot…"
"I'm already lucky that he didn't tell me to box up my stuff after everything I did during the space centre case." Apollo elaborated. "I kept you and Trucy in danger-"
"Stop." Athena interrupted him, shoving a hand in front of his chest to block his movement. Apollo looked at her curiously. "Apollo, c'mon - we all forgave you for that. Nobody's keeping a grudge against you. We never did." she said, locking eyes with him.
Apollo held her gaze for a few moments. "Yeah, I know…"
"So tell everyone." Athena said. "What's the worst thing anyone's gonna do?"
"Nah, you're right." Apollo said, surprising her. "Losing my job and being chased off by a raging bird isn't so bad, really…"
Athena smiled, but groaned at his sarcastic tone and let him resume walking. She was quiet for the first few steps before sighing. "Hey, you wanna go grab lunch early? I didn't eat too much yet."
Apollo considered the idea. "I guess we could."
A half-hour's time found the pair sitting together in a small booth against the back wall of their favourite coffee shop. Apollo slowly sipped his ordinary coffee while Athena played with the straw poking out from the top of her own drink, which had a name containing about seven too many words for Apollo to bother keeping track.
Their lunch orders were on the way, and Athena opted to kick off their conversation again.
"Apollo, I just want to get it over with. If everyone knows that we're together,"
"Athena, I know I'm just being kind of stupid about it. That's just how I act sometimes." Apollo cut in.
"I don't think we're gonna get fired. We've got a pretty great record with the boss so far, right?"
Apollo sat back, glancing toward the floor. "… Fair point. I mean, the day I met Mr. Wright, I punched him in the mouth, and he still hired me after that…"
"Whoa, hold on, that actually did happen?" Athena blurted out. "I thought Trucy was just trying to make you sound cool!"
"Hey-," Apollo objected, "I'm cool…"
"No, you aren't." Athena said with a smile. "You're smart, cute, and a great friend, but cool? Not quite."
"Yet you're still dating me…" Apollo replied, knowing that Athena was only teasing him, yet feeling a little humiliated all the same.
"That's right." Athena said. She slid her drink aside to lean across the table and kiss him on the cheek. Once she sat back, she gestured toward her own face. "You've got a little something right about there…"
Apollo rubbed the back of his hand against the spot, smiling. He waited for Athena to keep talking.
Athena glanced toward the shop's kitchen area. Their food ought to be arriving soon.
"Listen, Apollo," she said, and when she spoke, her voice sounded a bit more serious, "I love you. But let's be honest… just how much longer d'you think we can realistically keep this up? Sooner or later, everyone's gonna have to know."
Apollo sighed, but didn't answer.
"… I told Junie."
"You did?"
Athena nodded. "Before I texted you. I just couldn't take it anymore. I felt so bad for keeping it a secret…"
Apollo raised an eyebrow. "What for? I mean, yeah, she's your oldest friend, but…"
"Oh, you are clueless, Apollo." Athena groaned. "How, exactly, did you never catch on to the fact that she had a super huge crush on you?"
"W-What-!?" Apollo stammered. "Juniper?"
"Well, duh." Athena said with a roll of her eyes. "It drove me and Trucy crazy. She's been crushing on you ever since you two first met."
"B-But, well… Why didn't she say anything…?"
"C'mon, she's such a sensitive girl, Apollo. She wasn't gonna jump up and sing it to you."
Apollo looked as if he didn't have the slightest idea of what to do with this information. "… Juniper?" was the only further inquiry he could manage.
"It's a good thing you've got me." Athena said. "But it makes me wonder how many other girls you've got chasing you that you don't know about… Is it the big forehead…? You're proving that it's as dense as a rock right now, but maybe there's something about it that I'm not getting."
Apollo seemed relieved when the waitress finally returned with their lunch. The pair ate in relative silence for a while.
"Just tell one person at least, OK? Today." Athena said to break the pause. "It's only fair."
Apollo put the remaining third of his sandwich down and sighed. "Alright, one person - but I get to pick who it is."
"Whatever you say." Athena agreed.
Did most people spend the majority of their weekends hanging around at their workplace? Apollo doubted it. The Wright Anything Agency just happened to be the place where several of his closest friends could regularly be found.
"I don't need Trucy embarrassing me in front of anyone else once she starts trying to figure out who my mystery date is." he said while waiting outside the office door for an answer to his knock.
The door swung open.
"Hey, boss!" Athena said brightly to Phoenix, who had been the one to answer the door.
"Hey," Phoenix replied, "What're you two up to?"
"Apollo wanted to see Trucy for something." Athena answered before Apollo could get a word in. He wanted to glare at her, but kept to himself to avoid suspicion.
Phoenix had a look that was uncomfortably similar to a smirk on his face. "Y'know, I think she was hoping to see you today as well." he said. Moving aside to let them in, he jabbed a thumb toward the ceiling. "She's upstairs - probably in her room."
"Thanks…" Apollo said hurriedly, heading for the stairs at the opposite end of the office's main room.
"Polly!" Trucy greeted him, giving her common exuberant hug. "I missed you guys!"
"Trucy, you saw us on Friday."
"Yeah," Trucy replied, releasing him, "And that means I didn't see you on Saturday." She hugged Athena next. "So, what's up?"
"Uhh… OK, so…"
Athena sat down on the edge of Trucy's bed to watch. She was eager to see Apollo floundering about his explanation.
"You remember that text I sent you by mistake this morning…?" Apollo inquired.
Trucy nodded, producing her cell phone. "Yep! You never really answered me, y'know…"
"Right, well, that's what I'm here now for." Apollo said.
"Ooh, so I get to hear who your date is, huh? I'm proud of you, Polly. I was starting to wonder if you were ever going to hit the dating scene."
Apollo looked exceedingly uncomfortable. Athena, however, grinned widely, enjoying every second.
"Right…" he continued. "Uhh, sorry again about that text, by the way. I figured I should explain myself properly."
"It's OK, Polly, really." Trucy said, starting to sound impatient. "Now out with it! Who's your special girl? … Or guy…?"
Athena suddenly had an idea. Apollo was hesitating again, and she took her opportunity. Hopping to her feet, she stepped over to him and tightly wrapped her arms around his neck, claiming his lips in a downright exaggerated kiss.
Apollo let out a hilariously unexpected squeak of surprise, his eyes widening as Athena went on dragging her hands over the back of his neck and forcing her lips against his ever harder.
Trucy, meanwhile, couldn't keep herself from breaking out laughing. Her initial giggles quickly descended into the kind of loud and continuous laughter that gave her trouble with staying on her feet. She doubled over, her top hat tumbling off her head and onto the floor.
"Athrrn-…" Apollo tried to speak, but Athena wasn't letting up. She took the smallest break from her kiss for a little breath before pushing him back toward the wall, pinning him there. Apollo inwardly cursed Athena's significant lead over him in physical strength. This was definitely not how he'd intended this to go. Trucy looked ready to collapse, still stuck fast in a fit of uncontrollable laughter, and Athena was still putting on the best show she could of what could only be called making out with him. He felt a stab of panic at the sound of a door opening somewhere behind him. He yelped when Athena suddenly grabbed his shoulders and swung their bodies into the space just in front of Trucy's open bedroom door.
"Oh."
Apollo stared in horror at Phoenix, who was staring right back through the door as Athena kept up her performance, her back turned to her employer.
Finally, Athena eased off. She pushed away from Apollo, settling a step away. Her face looked as red as his currently did, though for a different reason.
"There," she said, her voice exuberant, "How was that?"
Apollo needed a second to remember how to breathe.
Trucy, in the meantime, spoke up, struggling to get words out through her ongoing - and bordering on hysterical - laughter. "I guess we get to collect on some bets, huh, Daddy?"
"What…?" Apollo and Athena inquired together.
"No way - the entire time-!?"
"Oh, don't exaggerate, Daddy…"
Apollo was glad to at least know Athena was as surprised as he was to be hearing this bit of information.
If Phoenix was to be believed, he and Trucy had been theorizing for quite some time since Athena joined the office about the nature of her relationship with Apollo.
"Granted, you two didn't have the most normal first meeting in the world," Phoenix said, bringing to Apollo's mind the sight of a police officer hurtling through the air toward him, "But then, you also aren't the most normal people in the world."
Apollo was just shaking his head in disbelief. "Let me see if I understand this correctly." he said. "You two have been trading gossip since Athena started working here,"
"Waiting to see if you two ever hooked up, yeah." Trucy finished for him.
Apollo just stared at her. "… Since day one."
"Pretty much. Not just us, either, Pearly was in on it, too. She'll be disappointed that she missed the big reveal, actually." Trucy replied. She produced her phone again, presumably to send off a message to her best friend.
"So, tell me," Phoenix said now, "How long have you two been together? I'm guessing this is a fairly recent thing, but I doubt it only just started yesterday."
"Yeah," Apollo answered, scratching at the back of his head, "Actually,"
"Two months." Athena answered over him. "Give or take a day."
This time the shocked reactions came from the Wrights. Trucy gave a squeak of surprise that was strikingly similar to Apollo's, nearly dropping her phone.
"Two- Why didn't you say anything earlier?" Phoenix sputtered.
"I-…" Apollo began, thinking it over. "I thought you wouldn't approve. For a few different reasons."
Phoenix looked surprised. "Apollo, who do you think I am? What was I gonna do - fire you for falling in love with Athena?"
"I think that was the idea." Athena replied, surprising Apollo by pulling him closer to her side.
Phoenix chuckled. "Well, I'm not, just to let you both know. You two make a great team on the job, and I think I can trust that something like this will only help make you even better."
"Daddy," Trucy interjected, drawing the group's attention, "Remind me - who guessed what, again?"
Apollo and Athena glanced at one another curiously.
"Maya guessed it would take another year," Phoenix answered, "Edgeworth didn't think it would happen at all,"
Apollo stopped listening, instead turning and walking for the door. He didn't know how to feel about the idea that the Chief Prosecutor was in on this.
"Hey," Athena said to him, catching up, "Don't catch your breath just yet. We've still gotta tell Simon."
It took some delays, but it's here. I'd hoped to get this one done before Narumayo Week, but obviously that fell through.
Leave a review, should you feel so inclined.