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Apollo’s an idiot, and he wishes he could fade into nonexistence.
Klavier had come up to him after the trial for a chat (which Apollo was pretty sure was illegal, but whatever, if they didn’t actually talk about the case).
“Good afternoon, Herr Justice,” He’d said, and maybe it was the use of his name that had made Apollo make the dumb, dumb, idiot decision he had.
Klavier had asked him if he had any plans for the upcoming Valentine’s Day, and Apollo had told him he might head down to the Starlight and see a movie. It was a lie, a blatant lie, but was he really supposed to tell Klavier , hot guy extraordinaire, that he had nothing to do?
Apparently he could have without looking romantically inept, and really it just went to show that he shouldn’t have lied, and that he was an absolute moron, because Klavier had told him there was a discount for couples who went.
“Really?” He’d asked, hoping to convey that he wasn’t actually doubtful, just making conversation, but maybe it hadn’t worked and Klavier had laughed unfairly prettily.
“Really ,” Klavier told him, rolling his eyes. “ Aufrichtig, like I would lie to you.”
And then Apollo made what was probably the worst mistake of his entire life. “Do you want to come with me?” He said, and then he realised what he said, and then he felt like he was going to actually, literally dissolve into a puddle on the ground and get swept away into the storm drain, where he could live out the rest of his life and never see anyone ever again, especially not Klavier.
It certainly didn’t help that he looked so surprised at being prepositioned. “I-,” he began.
“As friends!” Apollo backtracks. “I’m not suggesting we actually, actually, uh, you know. I didn’t mean- I’m not- as friends!”
There’s a beat.
Klavier nods, but he’s decidedly not looking at Apollo. “
Ja, ja,
sounds great. I didn’t have anything planned anyway. I’ll pick you up,
gut?
”
“Yeah, I’ll be at the WAA.” Apollo is making strong eye contact with the brick wall next to him. “We can talk about what we want to see over the phone, uh, cool?”
“Cool,” Klavier repeats. “I’ll see you Friday.”
“Cool,” Apollo says again. “See you, see you then-,” He steps backwards over a bench and topples over onto the ground, but Klavier is already gone.
Apollo buries his face in his hands, and when he gets back to his apartment, he opts to lay on the ground some more. He needs some time to process his encounter, and he decides to create a timeline of events.
Maybe then he can figure out where it all went wrong.
- Klavier approaches him after the trial and asks him if he has valentine’s day plans.
- He tells Klavier he does, a lie to make it seem like he’s more exciting than he is.
- Klavier says there’s a discount at the Starlight for couples.
- For some fucking reason, Apollo decides it’s a good idea to PREPOSITION KLAVIER after YEARS of dancing around ever telling him how hot he is.
- Klavier looks like he’s going to do something drastic, so Apollo says they’re just going as friends.
- Klavier agrees??
- (The best possible next step) Apollo fakes his own death and goes to live in a cabin in the woods and only ever eats roots and squirrels again.
Obviously, his first mistake was the lie. He could’ve told Klavier he’d had nothing planned, and then the Starlight would never have come up and they could be normal still.
His second mistake was asking Klavier out. Apollo had clearly made him uncomfortable, and now they would never be able to have a normal conversation ever again, because Apollo had messed everything up.
His third mistake was going back. Now if he ever did actually for real want to ask Klavier out (or, more accurately, if he ever did ask him out - Apollo had wanted to ask him out since the first time they’d talked to each other, though it had been more superficial then) he would have to get around explaining that he had, in fact, been falling hopelessly for Klavier this whole time, which Klavier would no doubt consider gross and creepy.
Apollo remembers, suddenly, that he hadn’t taken his anxiety meds that morning.
Maybe he was blowing things out of proportion. Maybe this was a normal thing that friends did, and Klavier had just been a little shaken because he thought Apollo had actually been asking him on a date. Maybe Apollo could keep his secrets buried inside him until the day he died.
The days crawl by when he’s paying attention and fly past him when he’s not, like he’s a kid at summer camp playing statues. He doesn’t tell Trucy, because she’d for sure make fun of him. She makes fun of him when he’s not going on a fake date.
Late Friday afternoon comes both finally and too fast. Apollo doesn’t notice when it sets in - he’s busy marking up a copy of a case file, put deep into a warm, monotonous headspace by the rain outside, and so when the bell above the door of the WAA rings, he jumps.
It’s Klavier, of course, and Apollo snaps out of wherever he was immediately. Trucy waves, and Klavier waves back, sauntering up to Apollo’s desk (Apollo wonders how he always saunters everywhere, how he manages to make it seem natural and not practiced).
Klavier swings a leg up on top of his desk and leans in. Their faces are so close and it’s- distracting. Apollo can see the strands of long hair that have come undone from his twist-thing, dangling down in front of his face. His eyes are the brightest blue he’s ever seen, but they’re somehow still so soft.
“Having trouble rebuking me, Forehead?” Klavier asks brightly.
“You wish.” Apollo says, maybe louder than he should have considering that he’s pretty sure it would only take him tilting the angle of his head for him to smack his own nose into Klavier’s. He bangs his fist on his desk, which kind of hurts. “You’re going to be begging for mercy in court tomorrow.”
He sees Trucy’s head shoot up on the couch in front of him, and- oh, shit. But she keeps her mouth shut.
“I’m sure,” Klavier laughs. “If you’re assured of your victory, you wouldn’t mind if I-,” He leans farther forward, and, god they’re so close, scrambles for the file.
“Not on your life,” Apollo snatches it away, and Klavier’s last grab for it puts his weight over the other side of the desk as he pushes off with the foot on the ground. He topples over, The heel of one of his boots clipping the shelves behind them. “You here to pick me up?” Apollo asks, crouching down and offering Klavier a hand. He swings his coat off of the back of his chair and over his shoulders.
It’s an old, burgundy thing, thick but not necessarily classy, and he feels a twinge of anxiety curl in his gut.
“Ach. I was, but maybe I’ll change my mind, du Arsch. ” Klavier says, dusting himself off.
“Where are you going?” Trucy pipes from the couch.
“There’s a discount at the cinema down the street for couples, and we both want to see that new crime thriller-,”
“ Cold Cases, Cold Bodies,” Klavier provides.
In truth, when Klavier had asked him what he had been going to see, he had looked up the theatre’s schedule in a panic, and all of the other titles had either been rom-coms or kid’s movies, and he very badly did not want to sit through a fade to black while Klavier sat next to him pretending to be his boyfriend.
“Yeah. So we figured we’d, you know, go together. Put on, uh, a ruse.”
Trucy looks smug, which is never a good sign, and he glares back at her. “Have fun,” She says. “Tell me if it’s any good.”
Klavier grins, waves again, and then he’s taken Apollo’s hand and is pulling him out the door.
Klavier’s car is, by all accounts, very nice. Apollo had tried to learn about cars a while back- a real man’s man knew about cars, he’d figured, but it didn’t take knowing about cars to know that Klavier’s bright red hatchback was nice.
Apollo’s phone buzzes in his pocket. It’s Trucy.
ur going on a FAKE DATE with klavier just b cause u both wanted to see a movie and theres a discount.
Yes???
AHKAJFHKJASDHKF KLAVIER IS RICH AS FUCK HE DOESNT NEED A DISCOUNT
Apollo stares down at his screen a few seconds, then at Klavier, before stuffing his phone in his pocket.
“Alright?” Klavier asks, and Apollo nods.
“Just Trucy.”
The rain isn’t too much of a hindrance. The Starlight’s close, even if it is farther away than he’d initially thought. The cozy inside of the theater is nostalgic, Apollo decides, from the carpeted walls to the way his shoes stick on the floor. He glances over to Klavier, who walks after him, looking almost shockingly in his element. The theater is full, but not crowded, and as the two of them step into the line for the counter, Klavier takes his hand.
It’s different than when Klavier has held his hand before, because there’d always been an end goal there (though Apollo supposes there is an end goal here, too - convincing passerby they are a legitimate couple). Klavier doesn’t pull him close or drag him away or lift himself up. He’s just got those guitarist’s fingers wrapped around Apollo’s own. His hand is soft and warm and his nails are maybe a little overgrown and Apollo’s shaking, not that Klavier notices.
Suddenly, he points to the list of movies that are being played tonight. “ Clueless !” He chirps.
“What?” Apollo glances up. “Would you prefer-,”
Klavier’s practically vibrating. “If you wouldn’t mind.” He says, flashing that pretty grin.
“How could I say no?” Apollo laughs before catching himself. “No, yeah, we can see, uh-,” Apollo has to look back up.
“ Clueless.” Klavier finishes.
Apollo relays this to the woman at the counter, who looks almost weirdly like Trucy.
“Are you two a couple?” She asks, with the same fake cheer and half-hidden malice of a customer service voice that Apollo had used himself in years past.
And then Apollo’s mind goes completely blank and the world gets fuzzy, because it seems very much like she just asked them to prove it with a kiss, which really he should have expected but he didn’t .
Then Klavier is kissing him, and it’s like his ears pop as he slides back into consciousness.
Klavier smells like heavy copper, and his hands are on Apollo’s shoulders, comfortable, familiar, and then he’s gone, too soon.
They get one bucket of popcorn to split between the two of them, and the woman tells them to go to theater 7, which is all the way in the back.
“Sorry about that,” Klavier says as soon as they’re out of earshot. “I should’ve asked, we could’ve stopped-,” His hands flit around, coming close to Apollo but always short of actually touching him. “You looked like you were panicking, and I was trying to cover, but I shouldn’t h-,”
“It’s fine,” Apollo says, though he neglects to say that it was in fact very nice. “I was - panicking - a little bit. Thanks, for covering.” He reaches for Klavier’s hand again, by way of reassurance, and Klavier takes it.
Apollo eats most of the popcorn. Klavier is engrossed from the first minute to the last, giggling at all the jokes embedded in this dumb teen drama.
It’s endearing, he has to admit.
When they emerge, squinting into the light and stumbling from the fog in their heads and their legs’ lack of use, It’s nearing seven. Klavier looks down at him. “How do you feel about seeing another movie?” He asks, and this time they watch what they came here for. It’s not bad - nothing to write home about, and it doesn’t hold Klavier’s interest.
Halfway through, he leans back and threads his hand through Apollo’s hair. He looks half asleep, gazing at Apollo through half-lidded eyes. He says something in german, softly but with feeling.
“What?”
“Nothing important,” Klavier says. It’s a lie, and not an insubstantial one, if his bracelet is any indication.
He chooses to ignore it until they get back where they can talk normally. If there’s going to be a scene, he’d prefer not to have it here.
As soon as they’re out, though, Klavier looks down at him. “Do you have anywhere to be tomorrow?” He asks, with something like hope.
“No?”
“Would you like to go to dinner with me?” Klavier does a little bow, and Apollo honest-to-god giggles.
“I would,” he says, his heart beating in his ears.
“ Wunderbar!” Klavier crows.
“Yeah,” Apollo laughs, before remembering their interaction inside the theater. “You good, by the way?”
“Of course,” He opens the cinema door for his partner and gestures through. “Why?”
Apollo hesitates. “When you said, inside, that whatever you said was nothing important, it-you sounded like it was important.” When he says it out loud it seems like nothing. “Nevermind, I-,”
“I said ‘it’s a shame this isn’t a real date’.” Klavier says, stuffing his hands into his pockets and walking out into the parking lot, taking long strides so Apollo has to hurry to keep up. His car beeps somewhere.
“Klavier-,” Klavier turns to him, and they’re in the small space between two cars. Those bright blue eyes look worried, scared, even. Apollo kicks at the ground, gravel scrapes beneath his feet. “I was thinking the same thing.”
“Really?” Klavier asks.
“ Really ,” Apollo gives a shaky laugh. “Honestly, like I would lie to you.”
Klavier’s hand flutters to Apollo’s cheek. “You should know you’re very handsome.” Apollo flushes. “Where would you like to go for dinner?”
The two of them decide on a little italian place on the edge of town. The atmosphere is nice, cozy. Their conversation carries easily and without event, although Apollo accidentally reveals how long he has wanted to do something like this with Klavier.
Klavier drops Apollo off at his apartment, and standing in the chill of the hallway he grins. “I had fun.” He says. “We should do this again sometime.”
“Definitely,” Apollo says, and then in a fit of bravery where his brain leaves his body and he’s only words with no self-control, “Kiss me?”
Klavier pulls him up by the lapels of his coat, until he’s standing on his toes. Klavier still has to bend down, because god, he’s tall. Apollo wraps his arms around the back of Klavier’s neck and pulls them together.
He feels like he’s floating. Klavier is soft and warm and when he opens his mouth he tastes like strawberries. Apollo didn’t think real people could taste like strawberries, especially not after eating alfredo penne.
When they let go, Apollo feels like he’s blurred at the edges, letting everything that makes up his being buzz around him.
Klavier kisses him on the cheek again. “I love you,” He whispers.
“Love you, too,” Apollo says, voice gentle. “I’ll see you soon. Goodnight,”
“Goodnight, schönen. ”
Inside his apartment, now, his phone vibrates. It’s Trucy.
im going to bed now, tell me about your “date” in the morning
i expect details >:)
Oh no
bet u wont even be able to summarize the movie BITCH
too busy looking at klaviers face BITCH
Yeah :)
nerd
Yeah :)
:)
ily <3
Love you too truce
Now go to bed >:(
:( ur loser
but fine
He laughs, and goes to sleep happy.