Original Thread: http://teagueful(dot)livejournal(dot)com/22910(dot)html?thread(equals)4057726#t4057726

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Trucy tilted her head and stared at him the moment he entered the Wright Anything Agency, Apollo knew something was wrong. "What is it, Trucy?" he asked, a bit exasperatedly. To be sure, he looked down at his suit and – nope, no embarrassing stains to be found.

"Where were you last night?" she finally asked, a knowing, smug grin on her lips. It looked remarkably like a smile that her 'Daddy' was fond of wearing.

"Eh?" Why did Trucy care? And what was with that grin? It worried Apollo. "You saw Klavier literally drag me out of the courtroom!"

She giggled at the recollection. "Yes, I did. I want to know what happened afterwards, Polly!"

Still uncomprehending why she was so interested, he sighed, clearly just humoring her. "What is there to know? He insisted that I needed to try this new Italian place, and since he offered to pay I couldn't say no to a free meal."

"So he asked you on a date? And paid for you? How romantic" Trucy smiled.

Apollo suddenly grew flustered. "W-what are you talking about, it wasn't a date!"

Trucy giggled again. "Uh huh, sure it wasn't! And I'm not a magician!"

"Haha, very funny, but I'm serious!" So he said, though he couldn't help but blush a little at the thought anyway. Not that he'd everwant for it to have been a date, the erroneous allegations were just embarrassing….

She smirked as she revealed Mr. Hat. "Mr. Hat, do you believe Polly?"

He seemed to reply, saying, "No, his face betrays him!"

Apollo sputtered, trying to grasp for words but failing, then finally walking past Trucy and declaring, "I'm going to do some paperwork!", which only caused the teenager to burst into more giggles.

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"Hey, Apollo, could I talk to you for a moment?" said Phoenix, smiling lazily.

Apollo looked up from the paperwork he was working on – it had been a few days since he had started, and there was still more to be done, which was mind-boggling in itself; how much work did this "agency" really do? - and relaxed, welcoming the break. "Sure."

Phoenix sat in the chair opposite from Apollo, and they sat that way for a few seconds – Apollo was almost certain he had heard a cricket chirp during the pause – before he spoke up. "You did say you wanted to talk to me, right?"

Phoenix laughed. "Of course, I was just… trying to find a way to phrase it without you freaking out on me, but either way it will probably happen so I'll just ask." With those words, Apollo's gut immediately sank; he just knew that Phoenix was going to say something that was going to embarrass the hell out of him. Phoenix leaned forward in his chair, looking earnest and concerned. "I just want to make sure that you and Klavier are being… safe."

Apollo was puzzled. "What are you talking about?"

He sighed, looking both nostalgic and wistful. "I remember how it was when I was your age, and newly in love… sometimes passion makes you forgetful, but I need to make sure that you both are using protection! I can't have you getting ill on my watch now."

Apollo's face turned as red as his favorite suit as he momentarily lost the ability to speak coherently. "Wh-wh-wh-whaaat?! B-b-b-but---," He wasn't sure what to dispute first, so he blurted, "We haven't done anything!"

Phoenix looked understanding. "Ahh, I see, you two haven't gone that far yet. Which is perfectly okay and normal! It's good to keep things slow."

"W-what? No, you've got the wrong idea--,"

"Apollo, you don't need to get embarrassed about it! It's actually rather sweet that you two are waiting. Just promise me that when the time comes, you'll use protection, okay?"

"But wait, seriously, we're not--,"

"I'm glad we've had this talk." With that, Phoenix stood up from the chair and walked out of the room.

Apollo hit his head on his desk and let out a muffled scream.

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When Apollo finally saw Klavier again, in the courtroom no less, he couldn't help but feel slightly embarrassed after what Trucy and Phoenix had said. When Klavier met his eyes from across the room and gave him a radiant grin, he couldn't help blush. When Apollo realized that was his reaction, he looked sharply away. What was he doing, blushing because of his smile?

Disturbed by his own reaction, he couldn't look over at the prosecutor at all throughout the trial. Even when the rock star displayed evidence, he looked strictly at what he was holding and never at his face. A part of him knew he was being rude, but what would happen if Klavier smiled at him like that again…? He couldn't be concerned with stuff like that during a trial!

This soon got on the judge's nerves, as he knocked the gavel and said, "Could you two please ignore your lover's spat for a moment? We're in the middle of a trial here and it's just distracting me."

"W-what?" The statement shocked Apollo so much that he glanced towards Klavier for the first time since before the trial started, and was surprised to see how… sad he looked, which was very unusual considering how upbeat the rock star normally was. Yet he seemed to perk up slightly, just because he looked at him! Apollo's stomach did a weird little flip at the thought.

Determined to ignore that, he turned to look at the audience only to see everyone looking – sympathetic?! Not a single person in the courtroom looked remotely surprised by the judge's statement! But how could that be?! Everyone was going crazy, Apollo decided.

"We apologize, Your Honor," Klavier spoke up, not even attempting to correct the judge, which was just as crazy. But if the judge really was annoyed by… whatever they were doing, then it probably wouldn't help to argue about it. "To get back to the case…" As Klavier spoke, he flashed another one of his brilliant grins at Apollo, and on cue Apollo's face turned crimson.

Maybe he was going crazy, too.

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After the trial – Apollo managed to win, but just barely – Klavier immediately pulled him away. Annoyingly he could hear Trucy's giggles in the distance. "Where are you going to drag me off to tonight? A Greek place?" Apollo asked, trying to act casually.

"Nope, French, though I'll keep that in mind for next time," they stepped outside of the courtroom, and parked right in front of them was Klavier's magnificent bike. Apollo instinctually balked at it. "Are you still afraid of her, Herr Forehead? You've been on her before! You should know now that I'm always going to take care of you, ja?" He grinned as he tossed a helmet to Apollo.

The combination of his words and his smile made Apollo's face flare up again as he fumbled with the helmet, barely catching it on time. Klavier was already sitting on the bike by the time Apollo had fastened the helmet on his head. Tentatively, Apollo sat behind him, and – purely for his own survival – slipped his arms around Klavier's waist, tightly, because he knew Klavier liked to go fast sometimes.

As they sped off, Apollo couldn't help but notice how warm it was to be this close to him. Even though he could feel Klavier's firm body under his arms and against his chest, it was comfortable. He realized with a start that he liked it. A lot.

He almost let go of him, but when he realized the danger he overcompensated by pressing even closer against him.

"You okay back there, or just wanted to be closer?" Even though he couldn't see his face, Apollo could hear the smug grin in his voice. He mumbled in reply, which just made Klavier chuckle.

He didn't budge from his position until they had finally parked near the restaurant in question. Apollo couldn't even say the name of the restaurant, but since Klavier had taken him here he assumed it would be good. They had been chatting inanely until they settled into their booth, and Klavier turned serious.

"What was that in the courtroom today? I've never seen you outright avoid me like that before. Did I do something wrong?" Klavier asked, genuinely worried.

"What?" He had been saying that a lot lately. In relation to the man in front of him, no less. Yet he didn't expect his at all. "No, you never do anything wrong," Apollo said, truly befuddled. How could this perfect prettyboy prosecutor-slash-rock star do anything wrong?

Klavier looked momentarily appeased by the comment. "Then… why?"

Why? Because he can't handle that stupid, ridiculously beautiful smile being directed his way!

Suddenly Klavier's face broke into a huge grin – just like he had described – as he laughed. Apollo blinked, confused, until he realized… he had said that out loud. Open mouth, insert foot. His face burned red again once more, babbling as he tried to explain himself.

"I didn't realize my smile had that big of an effect on you," Klavier said instead of acknowledging his babbling, looking incredibly pleased.

Apollo groaned. The last thing Klavier needed was to become even more vain. So he tried to change the subject. "But wasn't it weird in the courtroom today, when the judge said we were having a lover's spat? I mean, why do so many people think we're together?" he laughed, quieting when he saw Klavier's face become disappointed instead of laughing along. Apollo gulped. "…Klavier?"

Klavier shook his head, starting to smirk in amusement. "We are together, Apollo."

Now that was the biggest shock in Apollo's lifetime. "Wh-whaaaaaaaaat?!" Apollo knew he sometimes stumbled into things by accident, but surely even he would notice when he was in a relationship--

"Look at the facts," Klavier said, momentarily slipping into his prosecutor mode, "You never protest every time I take you out on a date – which is often – and you always look happy to be with me. I've received reports from Fraulein Trucy that every time you return from one of our dates, you can't stop smiling. Whenever I flirt, you flirt back. You have no problems whenever we're physically close, either when on my bike or when hugging goodbye. I can't stop smiling at you, and you can't stop blushing whenever I do it. All signs point to a relationship, ja?"

--well, damn, it seems that he wouldn't notice after all. He gaped at the rock star, too stunned and befuddled to know what to say.

Klavier grinned. "No objections?"

"But we haven't even kissed!" Apollo blurted, and then immediately felt embarrassed. Yet he couldn't control the shiver he felt as he saw Klavier's eyes darken and his body rise from his side of the booth to move next to Apollo. He knew exactly what Klavier was going to do, but he couldn't stop it – he didn't want to stop it.

Still, when Klavier's lips met Apollo's, Apollo was still rather stunned by the whole thing to move. Klavier didn't give up, inching closer to the attorney, and Apollo finally responded, kissing back. Klavier moved his arm behind Apollo and pulled him closer as he deepened the kiss, and Apollo discovered passion he didn't realize he had as he fervently matched his intensity. His own arms found their way around Klavier, and moments later he opened his mouth to let Klavier's tongue slip inside. Only when Apollo felt himself faintly moaning he decided to break off the kiss… only to then find out that he was practically in the rock star's lap.

Even Klavier looked a little shocked at the fervor with which Apollo responded. Of course, that only made his grin even wider. "That proof enough, Herr Forehead?" he asked, slightly breathlessly.

Apollo was too shocked at himself to form words, so he just nodded.

"As much as I would love to stay in this position, I believe our food is coming soon," Klavier gently removed himself from under Apollo. "But don't worry, we can resume this later." He winked suggestively.

Oh. Right. Food. He had completely forgotten about that. How could he have remembered when he just had the hottest makeout session of his life with the lead singer of the Gavinners and his rival prosecutor after discovering he had actually been in a relationship with him for at least months?

But he wouldn't want it any other way.