A/N: I am back from the con and I need to catch up with this. No worries I will! And all the reviews are appreciated, they rock! I know there are typos but these are typed 30 minutes before the deadlines so... I'll do a general read through after 30 days are over.

Athena Cykes sat on her chair as a bored expression was splattered on her face. Her fingers were spinning a pen in between her fingers, the young lawyer had absolutely nothing to do. It has been a while since she has taken the lead on a case. Normally it would be Apollo taking on the bigger ones, she was only the assistant due to her lack of experience. Athena wasn't all that happy about that but Apollo was vain and cocky about his skills as an attorney versus Athena's rookie abilities, he always boasted about how he was a great attorney—that wasn't anything new for the younger attorney. After all, he was her boyfriend.

The two of them shared a peculiar dynamic. On court, they were the magical duo figuring out each and every case with Apollo's bracelet and Athena's mood matrix, the two of them brings justice into the court case by case—restoring people's faith in the legal system. At the office, they're two co-workers that compete to see who can get more cases—unfortunately for Athena, Apollo was currently in the lead. Outside of office hours, the two of them were a pair of lovebirds but of course, they nearly bicker on a regular basis like an old married couple.

Athena and Apollo were not necessarily secretive about their relationship, the agency knew about it aside from Trucy but she has a clue. Apollo preferred to be discrete about their work life and their private life, that was all. There was a fine line between a healthy partner relationship and a couple clouded by each other's feelings—he wanted to separate those two situations as far away from court as possible.

A sigh came out of Athena's lips at the thought of her relationship with her boyfriend. Recently, he seemed a little distant and there wasn't even room to tune into the emotions of his voice. He literally only said three things to her today, "Hello", "Have you seen Mister Wright?", and "I'm busy". It was not in her nature to worry about things like that but somehow, she couldn't help to. It probably wasn't her fault and he was perhaps busy with things, things she doesn't know about.

The boredom and the negativity was killing her. Last thing she needed to blow her self-esteem as a lawyer anymore was to be seen as an unworthy partner. Perhaps she should talk to Apollo about this. Without a second thought, she made her way to his desk.

He was busy sorting through things and at this point, far too attentive to whatever he was doing. Athena arrived and placed a hand on his shoulder before crouching down to his ear.

"Hey 'Pollo, I wanna talk. Meet me outside," she whispered to his ear before pulling away and walked away from his desk, towards the door of the agency. Swiftly, she was already out of the agency waiting for the other lawyer to meet her there.

"I'm in the middle of work, quick, tell me what's happening," Apollo furrowed his eyebrows while looking at Athena.

He took a better look at her. She didn't look the best, not happy that's for sure. For a moment there he felt a little bad, letting his brows soften a little as he awaited for her response.

"What happened to you, Apollo?" Athena's blue eyes looked straight into Apollo's, she was trying her best not to let her voice falter.

"W-What do you mean?" He knew exactly what she meant.

"Our relationship, it doesn't feel like one anymore. It feels like all we ever talk about anymore is work related things—heck, now you don't even talk about that," Athena touched her shoulder. "What's wrong Apollo? If something's wrong I'm here… You can trust me right?"

Apollo took some time to let those words process through his mind. She was right, he could trust her—no, he can trust her. After all, they have been through, after putting their trust on the line, and strengthening it later on. It has been a year at the very least since that incident on court, he never found a way to make it up to her. She slapped him because he was being hard on himself and the narcissist in him took that a step too far. Athena was right, he has been neglecting him because of his selfish reasons.

"It's Clay's birth week," he uttered those words with a deep exhale while looking up at the ceiling. "He was my roommate you know? But of course, he's gone…he's been gone for over a year already, can you believe it?"

"Yeah, it has been," Athena walked over to Apollo and took his hand into her own, pressing their foreheads together. "It's okay Apollo, you don't have to carry all these emotions on your own. I'm here, Mister Wright's here, Trucy's here, and Klavier too. You don't have to face these feelings alone, remember."

"I know," Apollo choked a little. "I just don't want all of you to carry my pain, I don't want to be a burden."

He was on the verge of tears and Athena could tell. Without thinking, she pressed her lips against his cheek chastely before pulling away with a smile. Somehow, that worked in a weird way—at least he was trying to smile now. He leaned closer towards the orange headed lawyer, drawing their lips together.

First contact, he felt an adrenaline being let loose—the feeling he has been missing in quite some time. He felt her hands pull his tie towards her while one arm loosely wrapped around his neck. Apollo grinned into the kiss while wrapping his arms around her torso.

It didn't take long until one of the parties needed to breath and pulled away. No words were needed as they enjoyed each other's presence in their respective embraces. The feeling both of them have been longing for ages, the feeling of being together and intimate. Even though it went against Apollo's policy of being discrete, for now that didn't matter—all he wanted was Athena all to himself.