When Apollo came into work the next day, he was so shocked at what he saw that he very nearly left the building to confirm that yes, it did still say 'Wright Anything Agency' on the front.

"Where did all our stuff go?!"

A ruffled looking Trucy, sans cape and gloves and wearing her hair up in messy pins, emerged from the supply room.

"Calm down Polly, geez," she took a moment to let out a considerable puff of breath as she stretched her arms above her head, "And it's not our stuff, it's my—well, I guess it is our stuff now, in the sense that it's mine and mom's."

"Okay, well then where did it go?"

Trucy flashed a smile and dramatically stepped to the side, sweeping her arm in a show of the room behind her, "Tada! Behold! My very own office!"

Apollo's hand immediately flew up to smack his forehead, "Trucy, you can't just—!"

He took a step forward and poked his head into the room.

It was like two opposing factions of magicians had set up camp and gone to war. it also looked like there had been no survivors.

There were hats and hoops, and all sorts of odds and ends, all stacked up on top of each other in a big conglomerate mess. Apollo instinctively grabbed at the door frame for fear of being sucked in by the absolute mass of it all. The sheer amount of magical paraphernalia gathered all in one place almost gave off the impression that it was sentient.

"Oh god, I think some of it's moving."

"Polly, you idiot, that's Machi."

Apollo looked closer and found that indeed, blending in with the ruffles of some of the costumes was the small figure of Machi, white, poofy sleeves pushed up to his shoulders. He turned quietly in their direction, slowly gathering the box at his feet in his arms. He carefully began picking his way over, meticulously carving a path towards the door comprised of wherever there happened to be space on the floor.

Apollo turned to Trucy, "You can't just move all your stuff in here."

She crossed her arms, "Daddy said I could."

"It's the supply room!...Please tell me the supplies aren't still buried somewhere under all this…"

There was a slight coughing noise and Apollo turned back to see that Machi had finally made it to the door.

With a small smile he made a gesture with the box in his arms, "I am finishing with the sorting. It is not taking long…"

Trucy grinned, "Well there ya go, Polly! All the paper and pencils you might possibly need. This can be our new supply room!"

"That's a box."

"Supply box then," when Apollo opened his mouth to object, she immediately overrode him, "Don't bother complaining! You remember how messy the lobby was—we can't have mom tripping over stuff while her eyes are healing. I had to move everything."

Apollo sighed and hung his head, the bridge of his nose pinched between thumb and middle finger.

He took a breath and then graciously accepted the box from Machi, "Thank you."

Machi just smiled at him, eyes wide and warm, which caught Apollo a little off guard. It was something he was still getting used to, this sudden openness from the young boy. He was still overall rather quiet, but Apollo was quickly learning that this was out of a natural inclination to reservation, not because he was hiding something; the times he did speak up indicated a distinct sense of warmness and honesty, something Apollo felt suited him, despite his first impression of him as a scared boy shivering behind prison glass.

Or, perhaps, not in spite of, but because of this reason.

In a moment of endearment, Apollo patted the top of Machi's head a bit and was relieved to see the boy's shoulder rise with an even wider smile, obviously pleased.

"Umm, Mr. Yoo-stice," he looked up at him with a sort of admiration that was unexpectedly refreshing for Apollo, "I am just now wondering, if there is a thing I can be doing for you?"

Apollo blinked and tilted his head a bit, "I'm sorry?"

Machi straightened a bit, an eagerness weaving itself into his movements, "I am working here now—I am trying to be of a use."

Apollo's eyebrows raised, not in mockery or suspicion, but in genuine surprise.

He turned to Trucy, "Oh really now?"

She bounced a bit, enthusiastic, "Yup! He's taking over Dad's gig at the Borscht Bowl. Not the poker bit, obviously, just the piano part. And! And! Guess what!" in her excitement she clapped her hands a few times, "Mom's gonna work here too! She's joining my magic act!"

Apollo couldn't help but smile along with Trucy—her joy wasn't anything if not infectious, "Well, um…Machi? I don't really have anything for you to do right now. But we do have a piano—you can practice on it if you want."

For the first time, Machi's smile waned a bit, "Ah, the piano. She is needing some adjustments. The tuning is, how you say…," he fished around his limited vocabulary for a more polite alternative, but upon coming up empty settled without remorse on, "bad."

"Oh. I suppose we can have someone come in and look at it."

"Many thanks, Mr. Yoo-stice!"

Apollo tried to hide the wince, "…you can just call me Apollo if you want."

"Apollo…" Machi tried it once, letting the syllables roll over in his mouth.

It still had too distinct of a sound, a little rounder and longer than his name was meant to sound like, but it was certainly better than 'Yoo-stice.'

Trucy chimed in, "You should just call him Polly—it's easier. That's what I do."

"I'd rather neither of you do that, actually."

"Aw, come on, why not? Especially since, you know, considering…"

Trucy gave him one of her looks, the kind that made the gears in his head start spinning.

He narrowed his eyes, "Considering what?"

She giggled like a school girl with a secret, and Machi suddenly gave her a worried side-glance before whispering, "Trucy…"

Apollo didn't need the pinch at his wrist to tell him that the two were keeping something from him, but it certainly helped.

"Trucy—"

"Okay, okay, no need to twist my arm!" she blurted out, and despite the fact that he had yet to do anything of the sort, she was hopping up and down and exclaiming, "Mom's adopting Machi!"

She'd said it all so fast that Apollo could scarcely absorb this new information, and for a moment he just stood there with his mouth slightly ajar.

Machi gave a sheepish look as he pulled his sleeves down, "Is true."

To be fair, Apollo's shock was fairly warranted—in the span of two days, his immediate family of one had quadrupled in size, "Which means…"

Trucy, on the other hand, seemed to be taking the news and running with it, swinging an arm around an embarrassed Machi's shoulders, "Yup! I get a big brother, and a little one!"

"Well, I mean, I guess it makes sense. He's never left her side as far as I know, and I don't think he's got any parents of his own."

Apollo continued typing up his report , despite the added difficulty of doing so while balancing an overly affectionate Klavier sprawled over the back of his chair. The prosecutor had made himself rather comfortable by draping his arms over Apollo's shoulders and snuggling right into the crook of his neck.

He gave a lazy acknowledgement of, "Mmhmm."

The sound vibrated pleasantly against Apollo's neck, and the attorney had to actively ignore the way the tingling sensation spilled down his spine.

He focused on typing, "It's just…I don't know, I'm getting the sense that he really admires me. When he looks up at me, it really feels like he's looking up to me."

Apollo had to momentarily cease typing as Klavier pressed himself further against him, "Does that bother you?"

He shifted the prosecutor back with a roll of his shoulder, "It doesn't bother me so much as it…feels weird? I think he really just appreciates what I did for him during his trial, but it's not like I did anything special—I just did what was right."

"Doing the right thing is an…attractive quality, ja?"

Apollo ignored the slight bite in the way Klavier said 'attractive' and continued with his report.

He found it harder to ignore when Klavier pressed a kiss right under his ear.

"Klavier…" he warned, trying to get on with his work.

Klavier gave a murmur of recognition, but otherwise continued trailing soft kisses across Apollo's jaw.

"Klavier, you're distracting me."

The prosecutor finished his trail of kisses on the corner of Apollo's mouth, lingering slowly for a bit, "So it's working?"

Apollo rolled his shoulders back a second time, this time a little more forcefully, causing Klavier's arms to bounce up and off. Undeterred, Klavier stepped around the side of the chair, picked up the keyboard in the middle of Apollo's sentence, and sat right in front of the screen.

Apollo leaned back into his chair, arms crossed, "Really?"

"When was the last time you kissed me?"

Apollo sighed, then stood up after a moment.

Placing his hands on the desk, one on either side of Klavier, he leaned in slowly, "Is that it? One kiss and you'll let me work?"

Klavier looked at him with half-lidded eyes, a lazy smile, "If you make it a good one, ja?"

Feeling a little bold, Apollo responded with a similar expression and leaned in even further, till their faces were mere centimeters apart, "Alright then—close your eyes."

Klavier's eyes slid closed without question, and Apollo—heart pounding a bit—almost felt guilty in the face of such open trust, but not enough to stop him from gripping Klavier by the shoulders and lightly tapping a kiss to his nose.

Klavier's eyes snapped open, "Nein! You're such a tease!"

Apollo smacked the hand that was sneaking towards the reports on his left, before picking them up himself, "I'm a fast learner."

As if some internal switch had been flipped, Klavier just smiled slyly and said, "Hmmm. I wonder what else I could teach you then, ja?"

What would've been a cough lodged itself in his throat and Apollo flushed red, "Wh-whatever, I need to go to the courthouse anyway."

He awkwardly began shoving the papers into his briefcase, backed by the playful humming coming from Klavier. The prosecutor was leaning back on his palms, pleased with himself.

"Guess I should make myself scarce then, huh?" Klavier hopped off the desk.

Apollo shrugged, "I shouldn't be gone too long; you can stay if you want. Mr. Wright knows you're here and you can use the computer to do any work."

Klavier shook his head and shrugged his jacket onto his shoulders, "Mmm, I should head back before the fräulein detective has reason to yell at me."

"Ema yells at you regardless of whether she has a reason," Apollo snapped his briefcase shut before moving in to give the prosecutor a proper kiss.

Klavier was more than welcome to receive it, "Ah, point taken. Perhaps I should take my time then…"

He began wrapping an arm around Apollo's hips, lightly touching a thumb to the attorney's chin.

"No, uh-uh," Apollo immediately thrust a hand between them, "Unlike you, I've got forms that need turning in today."

Klavier looked unconvincingly hurt, "Spoil-sport."

Apollo headed for the door, "Some of us actually take our jobs seriously, thank you."

"I'm hurt Mein Forehead, I take my job very seriously."

"The last time I checked, seducing me wasn't part of your job description."

Klavier smirked, "Not on paper, it isn't."

Apollo rolled his eyes and opened the door, right before hesitating.

He looked back, suddenly a bit wistful, "Although, if there's nothing you're doing tomorrow…"

Klavier's whole demeanor lit up, and his shoulders perked, "Are you asking me out on a date?"

"More like…business I have to take care of. And I'd be bringing someone along with us, "Apollo rubbed at the back of his neck, suddenly sheepish, "But it would mean a lot of you were there."

"So a business date?"

Apollo gave an involuntary smile, small in size, but full of affection, "It's a business date. You are free tomorrow though, right? It has to be tomorrow."

Klavier nodded, "What's so special about tomorrow?"

Apollo just smiled wider, a touch of mystery about him, "It's a Tuesday."