Enjoy!
Loving Miss Juniper Woods
Part 2
"This... is all Athena's fault...!"
SLAM!
Apollo slams the front door to his apartment close, rather loudly to be in fact. Luckily, the people from next door are out at the moment, so he won't get complained at in the morning.
He places down his presents on the couch, and pinches the area between his eyes, thinking.
Apollo then glances around his apartment, thinking about what just happened.
Apollo's apartment consists of four red walls, with a dark cream carpet and some furniture.
There are two doors on the right wall, which one of them leads to Apollo's bedroom, whilst the other leads to a spare bedroom, for guests, though Apollo has been using it for storage recently.
His bedroom also has red walls, but a light brown carpet, and in the middle, is a king-size bed, with blue sheets and red duvet, with a bathroom on the left.
There is a bed side table with a lamp besides the bed, and for some reason, there is also a book, some fantasy/sci-fi kinda story that Apollo has been reading recently.
There are two wardrobes, one for formal clothes and the other is casual clothes, plus, there is also a second door, which leads to the bathroom.
The main room consist of a couch, which Apollo has put his presents on, a regular sized TV, and some filing cabinets, where Apollo stores his case files.
The left wall has two doors as well, one of them is always locked, the other one that isn't locked leads to the kitchen, which has marble flooring and paneling.
It's an average kitchen, with an oven, a fridge, some cupboards and an kitchen working top.
Apollo looks round again, then sighs, confused and angry at Athena.
This... This isn't something that he never had expected to happen...
Juniper has a crush on him?!
And Athena knowing for some months now? Does everyone know?!
"Don't...tell Apollo! He's too oblivious!"
Athena's drunken words ring through Apollo's mind loudly, if insulting the Attorney in Red.
As you could tell from the previous chapter, Apollo isn't a oblivious person, so I'll skip out on the explanation on this bit.
Apollo's angry for two reasons.
The first is what Athena said. Him, Apollo Justice, solver of cases, oblivious?! That's a blow to Apollo's already broken pride.
Yeah, Apollo SOMETIMES doesn't notice things, like how Athena being nervous at the Space Centre was just her remembering the past, not her murdering Clay, but most of the time, Apollo isn't oblivious.
He's solved cases due to his wit and deduction skills, so why would anyone call him oblivious?!
Apollo sighs sadly, knowing the answer to this, which happens to be part of the second reason.
He goes and sits down on his couch, to think about the second reason.
The other reason for Apollo's anger is... himself.
Juniper is a kind girl, and an aspiring Judge for the future. Apollo thinks back to what happened at Themis, and the Courtroom bombing.
He helped cheer up Juniper during Athena's first case, and then protected the flower girl during the bombing, then tried to defend her afterwards.
Maybe that's when she fell in love with him? Apollo doesn't know when.
Apollo's angry at himself for not seeing it sooner, seeing Juniper's affection for him. He shouldn't be worthy of her affections towards him.
She's a kind girl, gentle and soft-spoken by nature, but knows when to be serious.
Apollo feels like he's insulting her by not noticing her feelings towards him, causing Apollo to be angry at himself.
Apollo found her nice, and likes being her friend, but now, after what Athena said about Juniper's crush on him, he can't see her in the same light as before.
Don't worry, he still sees Juniper in a friend light, but...
It's hard to explain how Apollo's feeling about Juniper at the moment. It's awkward.
Maybe what Athena said is right, maybe Apollo IS oblivious. He couldn't see Juniper's obvious affections for him, especially tonight, when she was being shy around him.
Apollo sighs.
He doesn't know what to feel right now. He's never had any girl have affection for him at all before (almost possibly due to the fact of his spikes making him look like a devil, his loud voice and the tendency of yelling 'I'M FINE!' repeatedly.).
All the girls he met before are just friends, neutral ground, hating him or in jail.
Trucy is always round him, but doesn't seem to show romantic affection for him (good thing too, cause he heard while eavesdropping Phoenix from over the phone that he and Trucy might be related.), Athena is always too but Apollo sees her more as a sister, Pearl isn't round much and he doesn't speak to her very much and he hasn't seen Ema recently, though the moody detective is on some friendly basis with Apollo.
Juniper is literally the first girl that Apollo is (now) aware of that holds feelings towards him.
That previous sentence is the conclusion that Apollo has now in his head, after a massive train of thought through his head. He blushes a bright tomatoes red in response to this thought.
"Damn it..." Apollo mutters to himself, leaning forward, covering half of his red face with his hand in embarrassment. "This... is all Athena's fault...!"
He sighs again, and proceeds to lock up his home for the night, so he can go to bed. As Apollo does this, many thoughts about Juniper run through his mind, like a high-speed marathon.
There are some points that Apollo is currently thinking about, which the first is the history between him and Juniper.
He first met her at the Themis Law Academy in October for it's festival, and subsequently, the case of Professor Constance Courte, which Apollo helped Athena solve. During the moments when they went to visit Juniper in the Detention Centre, Apollo noticed Juniper feeling sad and knowing how that feels, cheered her up.
The brown-haired girl gave a bright smile to him back then. "Is that when she started to like me then? We had barely known each other back then...
But, I did help cheer her up in a situation that everyone else thought she was guilty of a crime she did not commit..."
Apollo's mind then remembers the School Festival Concert, after Prof Means was caught, and Juniper sang with Klavier playing the guitar at the end. However, his eyes meet with Juniper's as she scanned the stage before she began to sing.
Apollo didn't think of it much back then, but now, he swears he saw Juniper blushing.
Juniper then began visiting the office since her first trial up till Clay's murder and Solomon's trial, when she could. She and Apollo interacted with each quite some time, chatting with other until Athena turned up.
"Maybe she visit not only to see Athena but me as well...?
And then the whole mess with Clay's murder happened. Apollo was glad to see Juniper help to encourage him to defend Solomon, which unfortunately lead to the Courtroom blown up by the Phantom.
Apollo still remembers clearly protecting Juniper from the rubble above. Shielding her from a piece of rubble, and hurting him a lot in the process, Apollo carried a shell-shocked Juniper out of the collapsing Courtroom, and held her tight to comfort until medical help came.
And after that, Juniper's second trial, when Ted Tonate tried to blame the bombing on her, and Apollo's assault as well.
The attorney in red is very grateful towards Phoenix for defending Juniper, but something in Apollo's heart keeps telling him that it should have been HIMSELF to defend Juniper. Apollo realises this right now, after now knowing Juniper's feelings for him. He tries to get the feeling away, but it's still there?
Why?
Juniper is a friend to him, a very good friend. Why is he feeling this, towards Juniper?
"Dude! That feeling in your heart is jealousy, and that means you like her!"
"Oh, shut up, Clay!"
Those words ring through Apollo's head, past words from an old memory with a now dead friend, all too suddenly.
Apollo sighs, and remembers the memory with a small smile.
It was when they were in high school, when this memory occurred.
Apollo began liking this girl called Olivia Bus Pun (he can't remember what she looks like any more...!), one of the most popular girls at the high school at the time.
Around that time, Apollo started noticing her in the romantic sense way, but only minor.
When she began dating a football player in their school by the name of Jack Pearson, some negative feelings began appearing in Apollo's heart, so he told Clay about it.
Clay had told him that he was jealousy of Jack going out with Olivia, and he liked Olivia in the romantic sense. Apollo told him to shut up afterwards.
But, what Clay had said was true. Apollo was feeling jealous of Jack because he was going out with Olivia, because Apollo had liked Olivia.
Obviously, those feelings faded away, half by Clay convincing she wasn't worth it, and seeing Jack and Olivia, well, making out.
So, why, after all those years, have those words suddenly come back to him now?
Is Apollo jealousy that Phoenix defended Juniper?
Or is it something else entirely?
Maybe Apollo wanted to be Juniper's knight in shining armour for that trial? To be her defender, the one that will save her life from a Guilty Verdict?
Athena had said when Apollo was in hospital after the explosion but before Juniper was arrested that Apollo was extremely brave for rescuing Juniper, being her 'Knight in Shining Armour'
He remembers being slightly proud of that, on the mention of being Juniper's Knight.
Maybe that's it. Apollo was jealousy because he wanted to defend Juniper, because he began liking Juniper in a ro-
"HOLD IT!" Apollo mentally yells to himself. He suddenly looks round to see that he's in his bedroom, with one of the lights on. Apollo sighs again, and starts getting ready for bed.
He walks into the bathroom, to go brush his teeth.
Apollo's not sure what to make of Juniper any more. Sure, she's kind, gentle and soft-spoken, and maybe, JUST MAYBE Apollo MIGHT have some kind of romantic feeling for her, there are a couple of factors that is stopping him from liking her.
The first thing is, Apollo isn't sure about his feelings for Juniper. It's quite hard to describe how Apollo's feeling about her. It's is true that Apollo MIGHT have something for the student judge, but what is it?
Besides, it may or may not still be the best time for a romantic relationship.
Although it's been a few months since it happened, and Apollo's gotten over it, he's still a bit sore from Clay's death, his best friend's death.
If a relationship did start between Apollo and Juniper, Apollo's mind will be in the right place, but nothing can say about his heart being in the right place or not.
The second thing is, what if Athena was lying?
People can say things when they are drunk, true or not, but most of the time, it's just drunken banter. What if Athena said while drunk wasn't true at all? What if Juniper just sees him as a friend, and this is all a lie, and Apollo's over-thinking it?
And the third and final thing is Apollo isn't really good at romantic relationships. He's had one or two before (he thinks), and the last one he was in didn't end well so much, even Clay had to step in and help.
Apollo prefers not to talk about that one.
Maybe Apollo is over-thinking it, and it's true. But maybe it is true that Juniper has a crush on him?
Apollo lies down on his bed, thinking about all that had happened tonight, and what to do about it.
If it is true that Juniper has a crush on him, what to do about it?
Maybe Apollo should try and get to know Juniper a little more... Establish their relationship a bit better...
And see what happens from there... You may never know, something might blossom from that...
Apollo has those thoughts in his head, as he slowly drifts off to sleep.
Apollo's dream:
It was dark, complete darkness. Nothing could be seen at all.
Apollo looks round, trying to see what's happening, while lying on the floor, unable to get up.
"What's happening...?" he mumbles to himself, confused.
"AAAAAAPPPPOOOOOLLLLLLOOOOOO!"
That scream rings through Apollo's mind violently, if someone was screaming in his ear through a megaphone loudly.
"What the...?"
Suddenly, an image appears above Apollo, during the aftermath of the bombing, Apollo carrying an unconscious Juniper outside the collapsing Courtroom. He places Juniper onto one of the Couchs, who the said girl is waking up.
Suddenly, the police burst in, and they go to Juniper, and arrest her, shocking the attorney in red, who is being dragged away by paramedics to the hospital.
The real Apollo is shocked at this image, not expecting it to appear.
"No..."
"...Apollo..."
Body able to move, Apollo gets up to see Juniper standing in front of him, eyes covered by shadows.
"...Why...don't you...save me...Apollo?"
Apollo is surprised by this.
"I tried to, Juniper!
I saved you from the explosion, but how was I suppose to know you'll get arrested? Besides, I would have defended you if my injuries weren't in the way! I would have done it!"
The dream Juniper remains silent for a while.
Apollo sweats nervously, not understanding what's happening at the moment. He can't tell if this is a dream or not.
"Why are you running away from the truth, Apollo?"
"Huh? What?"
Suddenly, the shadows around Juniper's eyes disappear, and Apollo can see her with almost crying eyes.
"Don't...you...love me?"
"What?"
"I love you, Apollo... Why don't you love me back...?"
"What?!"
Then, the dream Juniper came over, and kissed Apollo on the cheek.
"WWWHHHHAAAATTTT?!"
End of Dream
Apollo sits up, waking from the dream, shocked on what happened. He looks at his clock, which now say 8 O'clock in the morning. Apollo blinks, remembering what happened in the dream.
"This is more complicated than I thought..."
End of Part 2
A/N: Sorry for not updating, I was on holiday for a while and then work got in the way. I'll try to update more frequently but I can't promise anything.
If there any questions or a small idea which could make this fic better, suggest it! I'm always welcoming ideas to this. Besides, I want more Junipolly fics on this site, and need some ideas to help get this story along. I got some ideas for the next few chapters, and I'll try to use some of your yeah, the dream sequence was one of the hardest things for me to write, since I had a basic idea but didn't know what to do with it. I'll regret that for the rest of my life! XD
Expect some side shipping in the next chapter. Dunno which though.
This is DragonNiro, and I'll see you guys and girls later.