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Today isn’t really Dimitri’s best day, he comes to conclusion.
It begins simple, the coffee machine in his office refusing to work this morning, despite the repeated attempts at cleaning it, calling the responsible service and failingly searching online, Dimitri gives up on having his morning Americano today.
Noontime, shot of espresso,
And well, he can have his afternoon coffee in the courthouse.
He is certain, he can go one day without caffeine, Sylvain’s voice rings in his head, ‘addiction to caffeine is as bad as nicotine dear Dimitri.’ Sylvain says as the cigarette between his fingers burns.
It’s not entirely true, Sylvain as Claude says, talks out of his ass. And Dimitri has to agree with Claude on this, Sylvain’s words regardless, cling on Dimitri’s mind.
That’s not the only occasion that drives him to his judgment of having a great day, the elevator had also betrayed Dimitri too, unserviceable, their 12 floors building has one Elevator, and Dimitri’s office is, of course, the 12th floor. It doesn’t help that they’re fully dressed, as a lawyer, it’s unbelievably unprofessional to arrive at a trial undressed, except of course his friends, Claude, do it anyway.
However, judges like Dimitri, if he shows up to the courthouse, soaked with sweat, he is sure they’d understand. Anxiety crawls up his neck at the thought. It’s really not that good of a day.
If that was not enough, he plunges into yet again another awful event. When they call him to replace a defendant attorney. Luckily, he is the most familiar with the case, had worked some with Claude on it, it was a strange case, and their client paid well. Remarkably well.
He does receive a ‘sorry for that buddy.’ text from Claude.
Therefore, Dimitri didn’t truly have the choice to decline, he had another trial afternoon anyway, he’ll be fine. He might as well head early for his coffee.
Except, everything wasn’t fine. The police department had found a piece of new evidence, the detectives involved are going to testify. The detective in question is Felix, Dimitri is certain it’s him because no other officer bothers till the last breath of a case and well, because he knows how much Claude endured insults from him the past few weeks.
He heaves a relieved sigh when the engine of his car works, because it might as well not. The ride until the courthouse isn’t completely silent as Dimitri hopped it would be. Claude calls him and demands Dimitri to elaborate on the ‘new fr*aking evidence : - (‘ text he responds with. And so, Dimitri explains to him the ‘ring’s head’ of the client’s daughter discovered in the scene.
Claude whistles at that and tells Dimitri he should ask for moving the trial to another month, Dimitri frowns at that and refuses, not when Felix is against him on the stand. He’ll win this.
When he arrives at the courthouse, his client shines so and very brightly in his purple suit, his assistant holds the expensive cup of coffee while he chides her. Claude likes them that way.
Dimitri approaches them carefully, he has examined the documents once more in his car, the new evidence wouldn’t hold critical against him, Dimitri is confident in this, hopefully, he’ll fix this to be a good day.
“Mr. Lorenz?” He asks, interrupting the scolding his assistant was having.
“Mr. Dimitri, you’re a bit late but that’s alright, it’s Claude’s fault really,” Lorenz answers quickly, “that asshole soaked in my mind how good you’re in such cases, I didn’t realize he’d throw-” “He had an accident.” “it all on you,” he says, not very fond of Dimitri’s answer.
“Anyhow, let’s discuss the new development in my case, shall we? I hope you’re aware that I’m completely innocent, this affects my reputation heavily.” He says loud and clear.
“Oh, I’m assured. With the way you are Mr. Lorenz, it’s hard to believe you could steal anything peacefully.” Dimitri speaks nonchalantly, unaware of the livid eyes honing over him when he walks past Lorenz, he only steps into an office room assigned for their company.
He is used to this routine by now, oddly, Lorenz is attentive at every detail Dimitri carries within his defense, most clients ask Dimitri politely to just handle everything, they trust him fully and Dimitri is proud of their trust.
When Dimitri sums up their plan, Lorenz applauds him, saying he is glad Claude had his accident.
He puts it so horribly, and yet Dimitri smiles at him, proud and eager to claim his victory.
So he leads them to the courtroom, crowded with the witnesses already, Lorenz’s assistant joins them with another cup of coffee, directing it towards Dimitri’s chest, “it’s yours, come on show me what you got, big boy.” Lorenz remarks, and Dimitri only flashes him a grin. He finally drinks his coffee, everything's coming together at last.
If he, of course, ignored the ‘what the fuck’ coming out of some witness’s mouth behind him when he walks into the room, it’s Felix.
He knows it’s Felix, he can feel his eyes boring into his back when he sits, and when Dimitri turns his face around to steal a look at him, Felix is in fact there, the scowl on his face is as deep as ever, arms folded against his chest and jaw clenched sharply, Dedue sits next to him, calm as ever too. Dimitri waves at Felix to earn himself some sort of curse he can’t read through Felix’s lips, but Dedue close to Felix, waves back. Which issues in Felix’s glare turning instantly on Dedue.
“I’ve never been in a courtroom you know?” Lorenz tells him, and Dimitri nods, needing his focus on the matter between his hands, but Lorenz keeps chatting about how organized is the courthouse, keeps spewing random thoughts as if he is nervous, which he swears he is not.
When the jury enters, the room quietens gradually. The judge follows them and takes her place in the room.
It’s deadly quiet now.
Lorenz stiffens by his side as the court clerk reads out the charges against him. The prosecution continues by outlining details of the case, calling and questioning each witness. When the case is complete, it’s Dimitri’s turn to call witnesses to the stand and by that time, Lorenz is more relaxed. Dimitri gulps down the rest of his coffee and stands up.
His first witness to question is Felix, Felix frowns at him when he walks to the stand, pledges to say only the truth and nothing but that.
“Well, officer Felix, I take it you found a new piece of evidence yesterday and it was only been confirmed this morning that it is Mr. Lorenzo’s daughter's ring? How come this evidence only was found yesterday. The case has been going for weeks now.” Dimitri says, calm and collected knowing when this ends, Felix will eat him alive.
“I don’t know, if you asked your client who did he pay for him to hide it.”
“That’s a very serious allegation, officer Felix.”
“You started.”
Dimitri’s mouthparts at that, almost laughing. His mouth quivers up to smile, Felix doesn’t look very pleased.
“Mr. Felix perhaps you are just trying to save your collapsed case, my client here has footage of him and his adoptive daughter to prove him and her innocent.” Felix’s eyes widen at him, and before he objects, Dimitri continues, “I have no further question, your honor.” Felix fixes him a glare.
Dimitri calls Dedue next. He cross-examines every witness. When he finishes and returns to his seat, Lorenz says he loves him and Dimitri heaves a breath he’d been holding for long enough. After all the evidence has been given, the prosecution and then Dimitri will make their closing speeches.
Dimitri feels good about this, smiles at the judge when he dismisses them until later, till the jury has made a decision.
While he explains to Lorenz the following steps they’ll be having, simple, nothing worrying up from this point. Until He hears the familiar stomping boot from behind him, here he goes.
“What the fuck Dimitri,” when Dimitri turns around to face Felix, Lorenz raises his eyebrow suspiciously.
“Ah, Felix.”
“What are you doing here? I thought Claude has this damned case.” He says irritably.
“Claude had an accident, Felix.” He answers hopelessly.
“So? Go there and tell the judge you don’t like your client.” He says quietly, completely ignoring that Lorenz is next to them.
“Felix, I’m afraid things don’t work that way.”
Felix simply scowls at him, “Then don’t take the case.”
“Excuse me?” Lorenz gasps beside him.
“Felix, I already did, I promise I didn’t know you were on it. I’m not trying to follow you around.” Felix’s frown deepens.
“You’re making it worse,” Felix mutters underneath his breath.
“Now what is this all about? You two have a history or something.” Lorenz taunts them, and Felix isn’t very impressed by that.
“Something like-” “history of slitting his throat.” “- That.”
Felix holds his gaze for some moments, then turns around and goes back to the courtroom.
“You know you should’ve told me that you slept with the police officer who is testifying against me.” Lorenz indicates not so bitter, eyes trailing over Felix’s body, Dimitri feels heat rushing to his neck.
“Let’s go back, the ruling should be soon.” Dimitri overlooks the smirk on his client’s face, tying his damp hair nervously to avoid him.
When they walk back to the room, Felix’s gaze is heavy on Dimitri, while the judge sums up the case, she goes over the facts of the case and announces the verdict, he hears Lorenz repeating, ‘not guilty, not guilty’ like a prayer.
Dimitri knows the judge won’t find him guilty.
“The judge had found the defendant not guilty.” Lorenz squeezes Dimitri’s shoulder at that. “Oh, thank goodness.” Dimitri smiles confidently at him. He knew this case was his to win.
Lorenz’s assistant comes to congratulate him later, so does Dimitri. Claude calls him to ask for any progress and asks Dimitri to congratulate Lorenz after he learns the final verdict, he hasn’t yet closed his phone before Felix is behind him, tapping at his shoulder, “another criminal walks free, congratulations.”
“Felix, I believe you should stop calling him a criminal since the judge proved him not guilty.” he sees Lorenz smiling at the corner of his eyes.
“Are you out clevering me, Dimitri?” Felix bites at the words. “Look at his hair, it’s fucking purple Dimitri, how do you believe he is not a criminal.”
“Pardon me?” Lorenz almost shouts at that, and Dimitri has to bury his face between his hands. “That’s not nice, officer Felix.” and pauses, examining Lorenz’s hair thoroughly “He was born that way.” Dimitri continues, tactful, only the knot between Lorenz's brows tells him he failed.
“I was not, can you two work your pinned sexual tension without addressing my lovely hair?” Lorenz says looking between both of them and Felix grunts, “Ngh- ug, bye.” He says and whirls away.
Dimitri smiles apologetically, “I’m sorry about that.” Lorenz just nods and waves it off.
It wasn’t the worst day, after all, he still has another trial and it’s less difficult, it doesn’t have Felix on it, thankfully.
The next case is easy to work compared to the one he took in the morning, yet exhaustion beats him after it when he retires to his office, he buries his face into his briefcase, not soft it is, yet he finds himself resting on it often. The court is the busiest at this time, lawyers and clients fighting turbulence spread through the room and Dimitri wishes he could just fold his ears.
He hears someone click the door open, and he raises his head instantly, pretending to study at anything, but he hears Sylvain's voice chatting with someone and he drops his head again in relief.
"Dimitri! Look who I found lost on my way." Sylvain greets shutting the door behind him. When Dimitri lifts his face again, he is greeted with a red-crimson Felix, "Shut up, Sylvain." Sylvain only grins at Dimitri, and what he assumes is an astonished look on his face.
"He even brought you something," Sylvain says, placing his documents on the desk next to Dimitri, still grinning, "Sylvain!" Felix chides, the tips of his ears red, betraying him. Meanwhile, Dimitri glances at Felix's hand, holding a cup of coffee, of Dimitri's favorite shop. “I might’ve mentioned how the new intern Annette broke our office’s coffee machine and Felix so thoughtful-” a smack, “Ow, Felix!”
"Oh." Dimitri lets out, "Thank you, officer Felix." he rests his chin on his palm and smiles at Felix, sweetly and teasing. Sylvain looks at him proudly, while Felix leaves the coffee too quickly near Dimitri and storms out grumbling, "Oh, fuck both of you."
Sylvain winks at Dimitri, and holds his palm up for a high five, Dimitri claps it and Sylvain winces in pain, "Too strong." Sylvain mutters.
Dimitri spends most of his time in the courthouse, working with other lawyers and greeting judges. As lawyers, judges make their career much peaceful when they’re easy going. Nevertheless, he longes to go back to his house, to cuddle himself between the sheets and into the warmth of his house. The warmth of Sophia.
At the mere picture, he gathers his documents quickly, shoving them to his briefcase and hurries to his car. Oh, to be in his home, surrounded by family and having dinner.
The darkness casts on the city and over Dimitri, the empty streets only remind him of how loneliness used to be before his family. He always manages to come home late, no matter how exhausted he is, Sylvain says he is workaholic and Dimitri is beginning to think he is right. He tries to head early, to catch Sophia before she falls asleep, yet he is always late.
When he finally arrives, there are already two miscalls on his phone.
He is home, he has a place to turn back to even if he had the worst of the days, he has someone to hold and love. It fills him with happiness he thought he never was worthy of.
He attempts to be as quiet as possible not to wake anyone up, his keys slowly turning to unlock their house. While he succeeds in opening it cautiously, the boots come off first and before he takes his suit’s jacket off, there is a pair of arms wrapping around his back drawing him to his husband’s chest, Dimitri smiles softly.
Felix welcomes him, “You’re late,” he whispers to his back.
He hums, “Yes, my client wouldn’t let go of me, says he wants to sue some stubborn officer for a remark about his hair,” Felix groans into his back, “I’ll have to come to the office and drag you back myself.”
“I wouldn’t mind that beloved. In fact, you can assist with some of the work,” Dimitri turns to hold Felix properly, and oh, he endured this day just for this moment, to have Felix between his arms and so close. His scent is so familiar, they share the same shampoo, they have absorbed each other’s scent at this point. It leaves joy in Dimitri’s heart when he breathes in Felix’s hair. In the morning, nights, and during trials, he smells of Dimitri.
“Shush no work talk,” Felix mumbles and brings Dimitri for a kiss. A long-awaited kiss, Felix rubs soothing circles at the nape of Dimitri’s, his fingers warm against him. Dimitri tangles the soft hair between his fingers, grips at Felix’s hair as he tilts his head back, mouth leaving Felix’s lips and moving down to his neck, Felix sucks a breath against him.
“I put Sophia to sleep, so you can get to nailing me against the wall and fucking me just like you fucked my case today,” Felix pins him with a dangerous look, “I saw him squeeze at your shoulder, I don’t want to hear any of it” Felix bites at his mouth, around his lips and underneath his shirt. “I couldn’t, w-wasn’t able to focus on anything but how good the suit wraps around you, around your shoulder and where he squ-” he gasps when Dimitri’s hand slips to his bulge.
“Oh Felix, sweetheart.”
“No, it’s officer Felix.” Felix bite his lips at the words, and Dimitri eyes him, hungry for his reward, “Please, Mr. Dimitri” Felix begs prettily.
Dimitri never denies his husband. He holds him tight as ever and tells him how good he is for Dimitri, how good he makes his days. Dimitri merely wants Felix to know he makes the best of his days.