A/N: So I just started playing Dual Destinies (no spoilers, please!), and I think I'm in love all over again...

Thank you so very much to my two reviewers for their kind words of encouragement! :) Also, thank you to everyone who read, faved, and followed! If you like what you see (or even if you don't!), please do leave a review! They really do help boost my motivation! :)

Next chapter will boost the rating to M, just to let you all know ahead of time! Now, without further ado...

Disclaimer: May contain spoilers for the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney trilogy, Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, and Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth. Rating will eventually change to M for sexual content and violence.

Chapter 3: The Gavins

There was nowhere to run in that stifling ballroom, and precious few places to hide. Of course, attempting either would have been mortifyingly inappropriate in any context and infinitely more so at an event hosted by Manfred von Karma, but Apollo could not help but wish he could escape from that space nonetheless as the handsome, fair-haired gentleman gradually picked his way through the crowd toward them.

"Why, he looks like a prince!" whispered Trucy, squeezing her fingers into her brother's arm, her eyes wide and predictably excited. Apollo shrugged her off, feeling light-headed, warm, and terrified all at once as the "prince" finally appeared before them, smiling roguishly.

"Pardon me for my boldness," he said in a suave, honeyed voice underlined by his accent, "but I could not help but notice how our eyes momentarily connected across the great expanse of this room… Fräulein."

Apollo's eyes, brimming with humiliated tears throughout the address, very nearly betrayed him when they snapped open in shock as the gentleman turned not to him but Miss Trucy, taking her hand within his own before bringing it to his lips and gently kissing it. The resulting reaction brought a flooding of bright color into her pale cheeks as she attempted, with stuttering words, to respond to him.

"M-Miss Trucy!" Apollo interrupted weakly, sliding his arm protectively through hers as an image of Mr. Wright's horrified visage presented itself to his mind. But before he could construct some reason or another that would allow him to convey her away, the gentleman turned now to him with that same impish smile.

"Ah, do forgive me, Herr…" He briefly looked him over, his smile broadening. "Forehead."

"F-Forehead?!" cried Apollo, aghast, before he could restrain himself.

"I did not see you there and was thus unaware that this lovely Fräulein was no longer in want of a dancing partner," he went on, running a tan hand through his hair and whisking it outward in a fashion that made Apollo feel a sudden strange tightness about his heart.

"Oh, but Polly isn't my dancing partner!" Trucy interjected eagerly. "He's my brother and my chaperone for the evening! I –" Here she paused, flushing deeply. "I am still very much in need of a partner, as it were."

The stranger smiled again, and, to Apollo's horror, looked to be about to spirit his charge away to the dance-floor when suddenly, another voice called out.

"Why, Klavier! I trust you are not unduly accosting Mr. von Karma's esteemed guests? That would simply not do!"

Apollo looked round and espied, to his further dismay, the other fair-haired gentleman abandoning his party and walking rather briskly toward them. With this addition to their company, any hopes he had entertained of slipping away from the whole situation were now effectively dashed.

"I do hope my dear brother has not caused you any distress," said the newcomer once he had reached them, using his forefinger and middle finger to readjust his eyeglasses atop the bridge of his nose. "He really can be quite brash, you see, and I must constantly be on my guard to ensure he is not going about causing mischief." He turned to address his brother. "Klavier, they look excessively puzzled – have you not even the decency to properly introduce yourself?"

"I had just been about to get to it, dear Kristoph, when you interrupted," replied the younger serenely, returning his attentions to Miss Trucy. "Klavier Gavin, at your service, Fräulein."

"M-my name is Trucy Wright," said Miss Trucy with a deep blush. "It is quite a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Gavin."

"Nein, Fräulein Wright, the pleasure is all mine," Mr. Klavier Gavin said smoothly, once again taking up Trucy's hand and kissing it. "Now, before we were interrupted, I believe I had been about to apply to you for your delightful company this evening. May I lead you to the dance, Fräulein?"

"I-I would be most honored!"

"Ah – Miss Trucy!" Apollo cried after her, but she seemed not to hear him or else was deliberately ignoring him.

The elder Gavin, for his part, merely shook his head from side to side, sighing as he did so. "Klavier is incorrigible, as you see."

Apollo didn't quite know how to respond to that but was fortunately spared the occasion of answering when his companion spoke again.

"Ah, forgive me, for I have yet to introduce myself. I am Kristoph Gavin, a defense attorney from Germany." He proffered his hand to Apollo, who politely shook it.

"You are an attorney as well?" he said with mild surprise. "My name is Apollo Justice, and I am presently studying law myself under my mentor and benefactor, Mr. Phoenix Wright – he is a rather reputable attorney here in England."

He couldn't be certain in the dim light of the ballroom, but he thought he saw Mr. Gavin almost imperceptibly arch his brows at that.

"Why, how pleasantly unexpected!" he cried with but a small smile. "So you are the bright young protégé of Mr. Phoenix Wright!"

Somewhat abashed by the praise, Apollo touched the wrist on which he kept his heirloom bracelet and muttered, "Unexpected, indeed! I was not aware you and Mr. Wright were acquainted, for I fear I cannot recall your name ever coming up in one of our discourses."

"We chanced to meet on several small occasions whilst I was here on business," Mr. Gavin said with a short laugh. "But I must admit I am rather better acquainted with his work than with him personally. The last time I was here in England – was it four years ago now? – when last I was here, I heard he had recently taken on an apprentice of sorts. I never anticipated I would meet the young man in question on my next visit abroad!"

"Do you travel abroad very often, Mr. Gavin?" Apollo asked, discreetly searching the floor for any sign of Miss Trucy and her wayward partner.

"Not terribly often, especially not these days. You see, my dear brother Klavier is presently pursuing a career in law as well, though he spends far too much of his time idling in his trivial pursuits when he ought to be thoroughly engaged in his studies."

"He aims to become an attorney as well?" Apollo asked with a trace of incredulity as he finally spotted the younger Gavin leading a rosy-cheeked Trucy across the floor.

"Yes, a prosecuting attorney, to be more precise." Mr. Gavin turned his head to follow Apollo's gaze and eyed his brother with apparent disdain. "We are quite different, as you may have seen, so I suppose it must be fate that we should stand on opposite ends of the courtroom as well."

For the remainder of the dance, Apollo and Mr. Gavin spoke at length about the law, all the while the former kept one eye trained fiercely on his charge and her partner. He thought he had been quite stealthy about it, too, until Mr. Klavier Gavin finally returned with Miss Trucy, both bright-eyed and pink-faced, and Mr. Gavin said, quite frankly, "At last, Klavier! I thought Mr. Justice here was about to drag you out by your cravat had the dance finished but a moment later!"

"Ah, Herr Justice, you have no need to preoccupy yourself with the Fräulein's well-being, for I have taken most excellent care of her," said the younger Gavin with a sweeping bow and a jaunty smile.

"Oh, Apollo! I had a most wonderful time dancing with Klavier!" Miss Trucy cried, and Apollo was startled at her use of his given name.

"A-and I'm simply overjoyed, Miss Trucy," he responded dryly, "but I can't say if Mr. Wright would entirely approve of your –"

"You need not worry about Papa," Trucy interrupted. "For you see, these gentlemen were personally invited by Mr. von Karma to come and stay in this grand manor whilst they finalize the purchase of their own estate here in England!" She was very nearly out of breath, yet she went on, "They are quite well-esteemed, and lawmen as well, and I think Papa should think quite fondly of them, should they meet! But can you imagine, Polly – they are guests in this beautiful manor house! Oh, but that I could spend just one day frolicking about so lovely an abode…"

Mr. Klavier Gavin gave quite the hearty laugh at that. "Well, well, Fräulein," he said, once again running his fingers leisurely through his hair, again tautening Apollo's heart with some strange power, "since you seem quite enthusiastic about it, then why not allow me to give you and Herr Justice a little tour about the manor, ja?"

"Klavier, really!" said the elder Mr. Gavin, shaking his head. "I daresay Mr. Justice and Miss Wright would prefer to enjoy the ball rather than be led about a drafty old manor!"

"Oh, Mr. Gavin, but I should very much like to see the estate, if you would so much as oblige us!" implored Trucy before Apollo could make known his affirmation of the elder brother's proposal that they stay within the ballroom. "And I think my dear brother would like it as well! Right, Polly?"

There were those doe eyes again, aimed directly at him, and now he had the discomfort of two other pairs of eyes upon him as well. With a resigned sigh, he murmured, "Yes, I suppose I would quite enjoy a quick turn about the manor."

Chapter 4 Preview: As Apollo struggles to understand these strange, forbidden feelings springing up within him, Klavier decides to give him a rather "hands-on" lesson in love.