Archive of Our Own

It’s not like he had expected him to be in good spirits after that trial, but this isn’t what he had expected either.

Almost as soon as he’d exited the courtroom and turned the corner to leave, Apollo felt his right shoulder slammed against the wall behind him. The force responsible for this newly-inflicted pain was none other that Prosecutor Gavin, with a scowl on his face like Apollo’d never seen before. It was a look of complete betrayal and fury, and Apollo could have sworn he saw the faintest beginnings of tears swelling in the prosecutor’s eyes. He wasn’t sure how to remedy this, he never had been good at tense situations.

“Prosecutor Gavin…” he began, only to be cut off with the thunder that was the rock star’s voice.

“Was once, no, twice-- Twice you took away the people closest to me, was that not enough?!” Apollo’s eyes darted to the floor and he bit his lip. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t felt guilt about what he’d done to Prosecutor Gavin, but he’d never felt it this intensely. He tried to form words of explanation, of comfort, of something , but instead he was stammering, nonsense pouring from his lips like a waterfall. He took a deep, shaky breath as he tried again. “I was just trying to find the truth--”

Prosecutor Gavin’s other hand was curled tightly into a fist, and that fist punched the space about two inches from where Apollo’s head was. The attorney couldn’t help but let out a tiny yelp at the least, and holy crap, did he actually crack the wall? Apollo’s shivering gaze shifted from the fist beside him to the face it belonged to. If he’d thought that the prosecutor was at his angriest a few seconds ago, boy, was he wrong. His face was contorted in pure fury, far from the condescending grin he was used to (and missed right about now), and the voice that followed the near-assault was completely raw, far from the smooth, silky voice he was used to (and especially missed right about now.)

“ What point is the truth if it destroys everything like this ?!”

Apollo was utterly speechless, he had never seen Prosecutor Gavin break down like this before.

Okay, that was a lie.

--

Following the conviction of his former mentor, Apollo and Klavier had, surprisingly, become good friends, even before the latter had completely come to terms with the fact that the blame rested more so on the shoulders of his brother rather than his new rival. It wasn’t until much later that Apollo discovered that Klavier wasn’t the cool, suave celebrity so many made him out to be.

He wasn’t quite sure how it led to this, but Klavier had allowed himself to let go of his facade right then and there, “right then” being the week before Machi Tobaye’s trial (which neither of them knew of yet) and “right there” being on the hard floor of Apollo’s apartment. The prosecutor was practically reduced to sobbing as he allowed the attorney the ugly, true side of how he’d really been dealing with his brother’s sentence. Klavier talked of how Kristoph was his only family, how he wanted so badly to impress him on their first trial together, how if he had known he never would have allowed Phoenix to present that evidence, how he was just doing what his older brother said, and most importantly, how hard he tried to believe that it was anyone’s fault but his brother’s, even his own. Apollo only listened and offered a warm shoulder to lean on, something he would have felt too awkward to do with anyone else, but at the time it felt like the right thing to do. Apollo made a promise that he’d never put Klavier through anything like that again.

He never would have made that promise if he’d known he was going to break it.

It really was amazing how collected Klavier kept himself during trials. Sure, there were those brief moments where his fists would clench and he’d begin to sweat nervously, but those things were so minor compared to the storm that Apollo knew was raging inside of his rival. It’s for this reason that Apollo stayed quiet for most of the end of Machi Tobaye’s trial, also known as the trial in which he’d accused Klavier Gavin’s best friend of murder. What’s worse is that Klavier knew he was right, and was practically handling the rest of the trial for him. He was as condescending and confident as usual, or so it seemed, as he grilled his right hand man into confessing to the crimes of murder and smuggling. After the trial ended and Klavier turned to leave, Apollo could only see the faintest traces of the most heart-wrenching words Klavier could have said to him escaping his lips.

“You promised me, Herr Forehead.”

After a few days of space from each other, Apollo found himself with his arm wrapped around his rival’s shoulders on the floor of his apartment once more, making yet another promise.

--

So maybe it wasn’t a complete lie, Apollo had indeed never seen him like this. Open and unrestrained and almost completely broken, yes, but he hadn’t been angry .

“ What’s the point of the truth if it destroys everything like this ?!”

Apollo had the answer, for once.

“The point of the truth is to keep someone from hurting again. It’s to make sure mistakes don’t happen again, to actually heal wounds instead of putting a stupid bandaid over them, and to give people closure. There’s a lot of points to the truth, actually, and it hurts, and sometimes it hurts some people more than others, but it’s our job, Klavier,” Apollo felt like “Prosecutor Gavin” wouldn’t fit here, “It’s our job to pursue the truth together.”

The prosecutor’s brow shifted upward slightly, and Apollo thought he could even see his lip quiver a little. He could feel Klavier’s anger fade into something he was slightly more used to - sorrow. Instead of tilting his head upward to keep his tears from falling like he had in court, Klavier let his head slump forward completely, allowing his tears to drop on the concrete beneath his feet. His fist, Apollo noticed, had begun to shake quite noticeably.

“I-I... I thought…”

Apollo’s heart sank at the complete brokenness in Klavier’s voice.

“I thought that… ugh, sheiße,” he attempted to clear his throat, “I thought that you were the one to ruin my brother’s career, my best friend’s career, and in turn, my life. I thought I should hate you, and I admit that I did, if only for a short while. It seemed like the only reasonable thing, ja? What kind of arschgeige wouldn’t hate the person who put his own brother and best friend behind bars, ja? And then, I started to hate myself…”

“Klavier?”

“... for falling in love with you!”

Apollo would admit that the statement itself could have completely taken his breath away, but it wasn’t that alone. It was the choked-back sobs, the resignation, and the pain behind his shouted declaration that send shivers down the young attorney’s spine. He gathered up the courage to gently lift Klavier’s chin to meet his and lean forward, giving him a soft but long kiss on his tired lips. It wasn’t one filled with lust or longing or anything like that, no, it was exactly what Apollo intended. It was comforting. It told Klavier exactly what he was thinking, I’m here for you, and you won’t be alone anymore , along with one other thing, but Apollo figured he should at least say that part out loud.

“I love you too, Klavier.”

Klavier straightened up and looked down at him with honest surprise, under which Apollo could only shyly smile and wipe what was left of the taller lawyer’s tears away with his thumbs. “I mean it.” He began to see the faint traces of Klavier’s old smile returning to his face.  “And I promise that-”
“Ach, Herr Forehead.”

Apollo recoiled at the teasing nickname, which seemed more than a little out of place, what with the situation and with Klavier’s voice still being noticeably hoarse and all.

“No more of your promises, ja?”
The comment came as a jab to the chest at first, but Apollo wasn’t in any position to complain. Instead, he had a jab of his own in return.

“Alright, Klavier, I promise.”