Thank you everyone who has left a review. No really, thank you so much.
I know I always say that I'm grateful if people just read my stuff, and that's still true, but I won't lie—every time I see a new review, knowing that someone enjoyed something I made inspires me and it actually helps me write more.
SO HERE IS YOUR CHAPTER, I HOPE YOU LIKE IT. ;w;
"Polly, that was the lamest date ever. Are you telling me he didn't even kiss you?"
Apollo rubbed at his temples, "Why do I even bother correcting people at this point?"
It wasn't even mid-day, Trucy was raring to continue fitting the costume, and it was all Apollo could do to thank the heavens above that there was actual work to do.
"Trucy, you consider yourself my assistant, right?"
She bounced on her feet, "Yup! Anything you need me to do, I'll do it!"
He gathered some papers, "Great! I need to head over to the courthouse to find out who's prosecuting this case. Can you do some paperwork while I'm gone?"
He handed her the stack.
She glanced excitedly at the top page, "No problem, I've got…wait, this looks like…," she flipped through the pages, "Polly, this is my math homework!"
He picked up his suitcase and headed out the door, "Exactly!"
It felt great to be back in court. Well, technically he was at the information desk, not the actual court, but he was in the building, so close enough. He watched the girl behind the desk look through a self of binders, looking ill at ease and disoriented.
"Right, so…c-case AK-4. That would be…"
After a minute or so of running her hands across the spines, she pulled a thin, white binder down and opened it.
"Um…," she flipped through hurriedly, "…"
She reached the end and then stopped. Her gaze lifted slowly until it was level with Apollo's. "You're new, aren't you?" he did his best to sound friendly.
She nodded timidly.
He pointed at a completely different shelf, "Current cases are in that binder over there."
"Thank you!" she grabbed it immediately, "Let me seen then, AK-4…um, the person working on that case is Apollo Justice."
"I'm Apollo Justice. I need to know who the prosecutor is."
"Oh! I'm sorry!!"
"It's okay, I'm not in a hurry."
"…Um, I'm not sure how to pronounce this, it looks…German, maybe?"
Apollo's eyebrows rose, "Let me see."
She showed him the page.
(Franziska von Karma? Huh. I've heard rumors about her.)
He found out later, painfully so, that the rumors were very much true.
Apollo sucked in a breath through his teeth, making the air hiss, "That stings."
"Sit still then, you big baby," Ema swiped the alcoholic prep pad a few more times over the slight gash on his forehead.
"How is that woman still practicing law?!"
"You try suing her; see what she does to you then."
"…good point."
It was quiet while she applied the band-aid.
"…You're not going to ask how my dinner with Klavier went?"
She peeled the final adhesive and pressed the band-aid down, "None of my business."
There was a slight undertone of, (Don't care) in her voice.
Ema casually did her business of putting away the first-aid kit while Apollo just sat there for a bit, thinking.
"…Ema?"
"Hmmm?"
"Thank you."
And so this was how it went—pretty normal, or at least, whatever normal had been before the night of Kristoph's trial. At least the stress in his life was coming from the bizarre clientele the city had to offer, and not from his personal life.
Klavier seemed to be doing fine—he performed in court the same way he always had, with a sharp tongue and without pulling any punches, for which Apollo was extremely grateful. Never before had he thought he'd be relieved to hear Klavier shamelessly teasing him for his logical reasoning in public court—it was still embarrassing, but it was blessedly normal.
Of course, not everything was quite like it used to be.
Sometimes, whenever it struck his fancy—which was a lot more than Apollo liked to admit—he would just grab Apollo by the hand, often without comment or even in mid-sentence, and he'd just hold it.
Sometimes, usually when Apollo was explaining some document, he'd just latch onto the attorney from behind, put his arms around his waist and his head on his shoulder and read along with him.
And sometimes, on the rare occasion that Klavier felt daring enough and Apollo was particularly in the mood to allow it, if they were alone—only ever when they were alone—he'd put his head on Apollo's lap and just lie there, silent and content.
And Apollo, without too much complaint, let him.
He let Klavier do these things, partly because every now and then a flicker of Iris would cross his mind, and he'd figure that Klavier deserved at least this much. Mostly though, he let Klavier do these things because whenever it was too much, if Klavier touched just a little too far, Apollo would tell him to stop—and Klavier listened.
The first time it was said, Apollo was going over files pertaining to a case they were both working on. They were in Klavier's office, and he was looking over a list of the defendant's recent bank account figures. He could feel Klavier looking at him, but this in itself wasn't what made him look up, because by this point he was used to it. No, what made him look up was the way Klavier looked at him—he could feel an extra sort of pull, a sort of silent, (Look at me) printing itself on the back of his neck.
Klavier was sitting across the room at his desk, head resting against his hand. The pile of papers in front of him had clearly remained untouched.
Apollo cleared his throat, "Yes?"
Klavier just smiled, looking positively happy about something, but said nothing. Apollo shrugged his shoulders and returned to the files in his hand, but that same tugging pull brought his gaze back to the prosecutor.
He hadn't moved.
"What?" he sound slightly exasperated.
Klavier hummed contentedly, "I really want to kiss you."
Apollo dearly hoped that Klavier couldn't see the color of his face through the case files.
"…duly noted."
Only it came out squeaky and he cursed Klavier for laughing.
The second time it was said, they were standing in line waiting for coffee. Klavier motioned for Apollo to come closer and when he did the prosecutor leaned forward and whispered in his ear, "I want to kiss you right now."
Apollo straightened his tie and looked around embarrassed, "We're kind of in public…"
Klavier looked delighted, "Which means if we weren't…?"
Apollo nearly pulled too tight and choked himself. Thankfully, the line moved forward and he busied himself with placing an order instead of responding.
He didn't actually say it the third time around. Apollo was brushing his teeth when he heard his cell phone going off in its charger. Toothbrush still in his mouth, he flipped his phone open to see a text from Klavier.
I might kiss you tomorrow, just so you know.
Apollo's toothbrush stopped mid-stroke and for a moment he was afraid his heart had stopped.
Well, on the bright side, at least he'd been given a warning in advance this time.
Apollo was pacing back and forth in the defense lobby, because damn if Klavier wasn't hard to read during court. When he caught his client watching him nervously, he immediately stopped.
(Focus, Apollo, this is your job. You can worry about that later.)
"Mr. Justice, things aren't looking so good, are they?"
He rubbed at his eyes, "No, no, don't worry, I'll be looking into the issue of where the money went later today. As long as we can prove you didn't handle any of the fake bills, we can clear your name tomorrow."
"Really?"
Apollo made it a point to smile, something Phoenix had taught him was important, "Really."
His client looked relieved, "Alright, I'll take your word for it. See you tomorrow then, I guess."
Apollo waved goodbye as his client left, then went to go gather his belongings. It had been such a long day, and it was still far from over.
When he heard the door creak open again, he continued packing his briefcase without glancing at who had opened it, "Did you forget something?"
"I just wanted to check up on you."
Apollo immediately stopped when he recognized the voice and turned towards the door, "Oh. Hey, I didn't know it was you."
He tried to stay calm and collected, but as Klavier closed the door behind him he involuntarily gulped.
"You were pretty good out there today, Justice."
"Th-thanks."
"You didn't even flinch when I made fun of you for staring down the judge."
Apollo laughed nervously, but otherwise didn't know what to say.
Klavier stepped forward, "But you did seem a little distracted. Anything on your mind?"
Apollo could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as Klavier settled right in front of him.
He did his best to not break eye contact, although it was hard at this distance, "N-nothing in particular, no. Anything on yours…?"
He felt Klavier tip his chin up and rest a thumb on his lower lip, "Just one."
There were about two things going through Apollo's mind—one was a low, continuous tone, empty and sharp, like a television broadcast being cut off. The second was the rapid repetition of a highly offensive expletive.
He somehow managed to stumble over a sentence, "About…that," because even without it being said it was clear what Klavier wanted, "You realize that not once have I said yes, right?"
Klavier hummed in acknowledgement and softly brushed his thumb over Apollo's mouth. It was the first time the defense attorney had to consciously tell his legs to keep straight.
"S-so then why do you keep bringing it up?"
"Because you have yet to say no."
Apollo's heart jumped into this throat, because that was an excellent point, and all of a sudden he was very afraid, because even now he couldn't bring himself to say anything. He was afraid because he understood what would happen, how things would change if he didn't stop this immediately. It absolutely terrified him that this should've been a simple 'yes' or 'no' answer, and yet he had somehow been rendered incapable of anything even a single syllable long.
So when Klavier moved his hands to his shoulders and leaned forward, Apollo could only shut his eyes tight, as if bracing himself for sudden impact.
All things considered, he had expected the kiss to be…well, based on his past experience, more aggressive. Instead it was soft, gentle, nothing at all like the first two times.
Furthermore, he had expected it to be on the mouth, not the cheek.
Apollo blinked his eyes open in surprise as Klavier pulled away, slow and purposeful.
There was the slightest of grins on his face, "See you in court tomorrow."
Without another word, he turned and left Apollo standing in the middle of the room with his hand on his cheek and wearing the blankest of expressions. After a moment, all he was able to say was a single syllable.
"Shit."