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Being part of the law firm of one of the most important scientific companies in Japanifornia filled Klavier with pride. While it was true that his position as prosecutor had been his brother Kristoph's idea, since he worked as part of the defense attorney group, Klavier had put a lot of effort into being good at his job.
The objective of the company was, initially, to care for and to investigate a group of people known as "sizeshifters", who have the ability to modify their size and become as small as dolls.
Anyone could be one, it is extremely rare, and it’s also impossible to detect, to the extent where is no correlation between members of the same family, your child could be one, and be the only one in the family.
As some of them are not able to control when to shrink and when to return to normal, as it depends a lot on their emotions, when it is discovered that someone possesses this ability, they are immediately brought to the facility where Klavier worked, apparently for security reasons.
However, the few times that he had passed through the corridors that lead to the laboratories, and if they had left a door half opened, what he saw was not exactly pleasant, too many needles and scalpels for his liking, so he always made his pace quicker.
It wasn't that he liked to ignore the things that were happening under the same roof where he worked but making complaints to a government entity wasn't exactly easy.
But there are times in life when you can't ignore what's going on around you no matter how much you want to.
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Klavier was trying to hear his boss, Herr Edgeworth, over the loud slurps of Detective Gumshoe, who was devouring a bowl of cheap instant noodles at the cafeteria table.
"Lately I've been noticing the heads of the lab getting more anxious and irritable, it seems that sightings of sizeshifters are becoming less common, and that has made them more difficult to... deal with."
One of the most important jobs for Edgeworth, the head of the prosecutors, was to manage communication between the buffet and the rest of the teams to maintain general order and increase efficiency.
"Don't worry Mr. Edgeworth, I'll make sure no sizeshifter gets away to make your work more enjoyable!"
Gumshoe smiled, from what Klavier could see, he admired Edgeworth a lot and whenever he wasn't investigating sizeshifter sightings, he followed him like he was his personal secretary.
"I hope so, detective." The chief prosecutor took a sip of his tea and fixed his gaze on Klavier. "Aren't you going to eat anything, Klavier?”
"I've arranged to meet Herr Forehead so we can eat together, he's insisted on comparing trials or something, I couldn't say no to him."
In fact, Klavier was excited. He has had a long crush on the lawyer he had faced in some trials, thinking about his voice and his sense of justice made Klavier's legs feel like water.
Apparently, Apollo felt something similar, and this was the first time they were going to see each other outside of court, just the two of them alone, and Klavier couldn't help but feel nervous.
"I see." Edgeworth had a small smile on his face that Klavier didn't notice, the young man reminded him of himself a few years ago, but he seemed more secure with his feelings.
After saying goodbye cordially, a few minutes before the time he had agreed with the other lawyer, he went to the external patio, where there were some benches to eat outside, between the parking lot and the main building.
And right on cue, Apollo came across the sidewalk with a few bags of takeout from a noodle place.
"I hope you're hungry, I've brought quite a few things." Apollo sat down next to him on the bench.
"You can't imagine it, bring it here." They began to eat while telling each other stories about work or hobbies. Klavier ignored the fact that Apollo hadn't brought any office documents, focusing more on the other lawyer's way of speaking, on his small gestures, his bracelet, the arms that were surprisingly muscular...
Little by little the space that separated them was diminishing, Apollo gave Klavier small touches on his shoulder and arms, unconsciously.
"Klavier, you have some sauce on your shirt." Apollo let out a laugh.
Klavier looked down quickly, indeed, there was a smudge that was thankfully hard to see on his dark shirt.
“Amazing, you have very good eyesight, Apollo.”
“Huh, that's the first time you've called me that. No more Forehead?"
"We'll see about that." He winked at him.
Apollo smiled softly and picked up one of the few remaining clean napkins.
"I'm going to try to remove as much as I can, don't move."
The moment the napkin made contact with Klavier's chest; his skin broke out in a pink shade. He didn't know where to focus his eyes on, but he felt unable to meet Apollo's eyes. It was the first time someone had made him feel like this, with just a casual touch.
But before he pondered a future relationship with his court rival, his entire body felt light and short of breath.
And a horrible chaos began.
Apollo's hand, previously seen from above and on his chest, was now hovering above Klavier, and much larger.
Wait, this isn't what I think it is, is it? This is not happening. Please. I can't be...
Apollo's hand quickly disappeared, and Apollo's large head could be seen, eyes widening until surprise gave way to fear.
"Shit! Klavier, you are a sizeshifter?”
But Klavier, in his stupor, did not had the time to answer as loud sirens began to sound.
“There must be cameras!” Apollo got up from the bench as a slew of people streamed out of the building, some with hand-sized butterfly nets(that sight alone made him want to cry) , some wearing suits that resembled police uniforms and others lab-coats, and, ahead of them all, Kristoph, who also strode closer.
Seeing his brother, Klavier froze at the look on his face. Klavier expected anything, surprise, sadness, anger perhaps, maybe pity and compassion, but he never expected to see such a pronounced indifference in his brother's eyes when he was in front of a group of people who wanted to take him away and to lock him up and do experiments on him, as if he didn't even know him.
Apollo, at the time more capable of clear thinking, grabbed Klavier and stuffed him into his jacket pocket and started running toward the sidewalk.
To avoid the men who were chasing them, who began to run as well, he got into a conglomeration of people, taking advantage of his height to go unnoticed.
One of the men managed to follow him between the people, and Apollo had to jump to avoid being grabbed by the jacket.
Apparently, Apollo was lucky that day, because a few meters ahead, a bus was about to leave, and Apollo got in discreetly, while the guy who had been about to catch up with him lost sight of him when he turned a corner.
Already sitting on the bus, Apollo pulled up his hood to look out the window, having sat on the side of the road to avoid being seen. Some of the passing cars were slowing down, and he recognized one of the guys on one, who was combing the area while driving.
Some of them were going in and out of shops, clearly trying to not get attention on themselves, but Kristoph was nowhere to be found.
He only calmed down when they reached the highway, where he knew that they would no longer be looking for them.
Klavier, for his part, was in what he assumed (and hoped) was Apollo's pocket, trying to process the situation. He had felt in his skin and bones the frantic movements that Apollo made in his escape, and he tried to comfort himself by curling up into a ball and listening to Apollo's pounding heartbeat.
He tried to focus on the texture around him and tried to breathe easy in the chaos and darkness. He didn't notice it, but the tears on his face had already dried. But that didn't stop his eyes in pain from irritation.
He hadn't even realized that he had cried, his brain a mess of emotions.
Suddenly, a light hurt Klavier's already battered eyes, but seeing Apollo's worried face made it worth it.
"Klavier, how are you, are you hurt?" Apollo whispered, something Klavier didn't know was possible for the noisy lawyer.
He swallowed hard and tried to speak as clearly as he could, but his voice shook.
"I'm not hurt, but please tell me those guys aren't around here." After that he took a deep breath. "I don't want to be taken away, Apollo, please..."
Suddenly, Klavier felt a nice pressure on his body, as Apollo was lightly squeezing the pocket Klavier was in, and the pocket was so big that he couldn't even stick his head out, especially being hunched in on himself.
The pressure was enough for Klavier's muscles to relax a bit.
Apollo's heart broke at the sight of Klavier's face, full with despair, and he could feel the tremor in his hand from Klavier's small form.
"I won't let them take you." He said firmly. "I promise you."
And Klavier, just hearing and seeing the conviction with which Apollo spoke, had no doubt in him.