Chapter Text
With the amount of times the report lady had lied, Apollo was forced to remove his bracelet unless he wanted his wrist to be crushed. Klavier in all of this was flashing his million-watt smile and sprinkling in a generous amount of cheesy lines and german words to the mix.
Even if he knew about the lies, he would have behaved the same.
“I’m glad to know Prosecutor Gavin’s new album was a success” Trucy was kneeling next to him, busy examining the odd shapes of dried blood the victim had left before dying. “Yeah” he played with the metallic band, waiting to put it back on as soon as he saw the reporter turn to leave, “Some part of me is… happy too, I guess”. The magician stood up in a bounce, “You can just say you’re jealous ‘Polly”
If it was only that…
“It’s more the amount of fake compliments and lies she’s saying that bothers me” and even without the bracelet, he could still feel his senses jump at every tell she gave away, despite not seeing all of her body clearly (due to Klav’s tall ass in the way) and the distance between them. “I’m almost certain investigating a crime scene is way more important than a surprise interview” The younger one looked where his stare was pointing and then at his hands, “Wait!” she covered her mouth with her hand, “You can see her tells all the way from here?!”
The two were standing at a distance where you would only understand what they were saying if you were to focus on it, Apollo’s accessory did it for him and it didn’t have an off switch, so he was used to it. Trucy on the other hand, while it was impressive that she could spot tells without the help of any item, had to focus herself, and therefore not receive information she didn’t want.
“Yeah, you weren’t listening to them?” she shook her head, understandably.
An idea started to mull in his head: If Apollo wasn’t wearing the bracelet, he was more in control of whether his perceive ability was to activate or not, kinda like how Trucy had described her way of going about it. So would it be the same for her if she was in Apollo’s position? Mr Wright had told him it was the metal that reacted to the ability so…
“Do you want to try my bracelet?” The offer made the kid jump, “Huh? A-are you sure? I mean- don’t you need it?” the attorney huffed, “I have a headache strong enough to last me a week and my wrist is throbbing. I won’t die without it” and practically dropped the bracelet into her hands, “Ok then thanks, ‘Polly!” and she slipped it on, excited to finally use what she had been denied to try on for so long… Although, the band was just a tad too large for her smaller wrist, allowing it to slide around, defying the purpose of the object. She pouted, Apollo noticed, “Oh uh, give it a few minutes, it will adjust” the look of confusion that Trucy wanted to throw him was stopped by the surging memory of Wright mentioning (at one point, long ago) that the metal could shrink or enlarge to fit perfectly on the wearer’s wrist. “So…” she looked at the band and then at him, “How does it work?”
“When someone tells a lie in your peripheral, the bracelet will tighten” It was his turn to kneel to check the marks left on the concrete, “From there, if you focus on the person’s actions as they speak it will tighten more…kinda pulsate I guess,” grabbing Ema’s bag that was in arms reach distance and pulling out a note she had left before moving elsewhere. “And whatever they are saying when that happens is usually the lie” he looked up at Trucy, who was intent on studying the carved pattern of the bracelet, “Rubbing it usually helps me concentrate” she hummed, “Wouldn’t it be better if you rubbed it behind you back?” Apollo raised a brow, the magician crossed her arms behind her back, underneath the cape, demonstrating the theory, “Like this, no one can tell you’re examinating them!” He blinked, in the distance, a car could be heard turning on, “Well… It’s not like I’m, actively trying to hide it from people,” Focusing back on the notes, he pulled out a pen and scribbled something, “plus, if the person doesn’t know me, they won’t be suspicious of it. They’d think of it as a habit or… a fidget” Apollo got to his feet, slipping the note back in the bag and pulling out his phone, “Yes but…like this, you’d be able to use your perceiving abilities against Prosecutor Blackquill” while that was a good point– “Somehow I feel like he’d realize it anyway…”
“Who would?” the chipper voice of the prosecutor of the case snapped both siblings out of their own bubble, “Oh, Gavin. Did the interview boost your ego enough for you to actually do your job?” the blinding smile flashed, “Oh Herr Forehead, being a rockstar is also my job, ja ? So I simply switched my focus on my other career for a while” Apollo rolled his eyes, “Sure, whatever. Ema left us a note on a few things she noticed odd in her back, I already added some more tests I think she should do” he walked to the other side of the white silhouette on the ground, careful to not step over any evidence, “ Ach , thanks” and Klavier bent down to pick up the paper, “Has anything in particular caught–” but he stopped before he could get back up, “Where is your bracelet Apollo?”
Both members of the defence team recoiled at how quickly Prosecutor Gavin had noticed the band wasn’t on Apollo’s wrist anymore, sure, it is an extension of his own body, you would never see him leave his house without it… but that was quick.
They also recoiled at the use of his first name.
“Huh? How did you– wait, did you just call me ‘Apollo’?!” that seemed to strike a chord in both parties, Trucy noticed, because the attorney’s face was as red as his vest and the prosecution's wide-eyed and open-mouthed expression was hidden so fast, combined from his snapping back straight, that made Trucy almost squeak. “Ach, where are my manners, I must still be distracted by the reporter’s question, haha…” he flipped his hair and snapped his fingers.
Trucy’s vision went black around the clearly flustered man. Was this… did that happen every time someone lied to Apollo?
As the shorter man tried to get the other to answer his first question, she instinctively (even though she had never worn the bracelet before..?) reached for the golden band and rubbed it, keeping her arms behind her back to conceal the motion. She focused on Klavier.
“Well it’s part of your persona Herr Forehead, It’s easy to notice if it’s gone” that didn’t convince the lawyer. Trucy could see how tense Prosecutor Gavin was: it was easy to tell he was sporting a fake smile, and his pose was rigid, tense. “Yes, but you’d have to be looking at me to notice– and not my face,” Apollo pointed at his arm, “But my wrist!” Klavier’s mouth twitched at those words.
Trucy never noticed how similar that small detail was to Kristoph’s own tells. His not-caring smile also twitched a lot.
“I uh, tend to look at people when I speak, schatzi” an unnerved laugh escaped his lips, “But you really have to examine people to notice such details, especially when said change is more on the lower part of my body” With his arm down by his side, Apollo’s bracelet would be around his hips level after all.
It was then that Apollo caught on to what he had just implied, and Klavier flicked his hair again, “O-oh I would never stare, Herr Forehead. That’s not very gentleman-like”
The world blinked once again, something in that phrase was a lie.
She was aware Apollo asked people to repeat the statement, but she was undercover, she was figuring it out on her own and didn’t wasn’t Prosecutor Gavin to know, so she simply closed her eyes and replayed the scene in her head.
“O-oh I would never stare Herr Forehead. That’s not very–” the pressure at her wrist died down, so she figured the lie was before that point.
“O-oh I would never stare Herr Forehead–” Klavier had flicked his hair while saying this part, but it was too wide of a movement and it covered too many words, so that wasn’t the tell she was looking for. A noise of both frustration and determination escaped her.
“O-oh I would never stare–” it had to be this, it had to, but she couldn’t spot the tell.
She was used to knowing when someone had shown its tell, but focusing on it? This was new for her, it was annoying, but fun, harmless fun, right? It was Prosecutor Gavin after all, he wouldn’t hide anything bad from them, he was terrible at hiding things anyway.
“O-oh I would n-e-v-e-r s-t-a-r-e–”
It was almost painful now how hard the band pulsated, so she focused on his figure, examining every minute detail: Yes, he was in the middle of flipping his hair, yes, his eyes were looking away from Apollo, yes, the hand in his pocket tightened on the chain that hanged from–
Wait.
“... N-e-v-e-r s-t-a-r-e…” he tightened his hand around the end of the chain that finished into his pocket
She snapped her eyes open and interrupted the two men from their banter, “It’s the chain, right?” she turned to the bracelet’s owner, “His hand tightens on the chain, that’s Prosecutor Gavin’s tell, right?” Apollo blinked a few times, “Yeah uh… that and whenever he flips his hair… wait, you were using perceive on him?” she smiled and nodded, at the edge of her vision, the rockstar froze, “Mh-hm! It happened when he said ‘Never stare’ ” she bounced in place, the face of surprise on his like-bigger brother was way more important to her than Klavier’s petrified one. “I didn’t even notice that Trucy, wow, very subtle. And without the need of repeating the statement? You’re a natural” he looked happy, not mad she had succeeded first try, no, he was proud . He patted her shoulder and she couldn’t help the giddy warm smile. Sticking her tongue out and tilting her hat was a habit when anything made her this happy.
The proud magic moment was broken when both realized the real weight of Trucy’s discovery: Klavier had lied about ‘not staring at Apollo’.
“Wait, so you stare at ‘Polly when he’s not looking?” the questioned man was frozen, hoping to not be seen if he didn’t move. If his face was flushed before, now it was properly red, “ Ach – I uh… Um– I need to speak with Fraülein Skye– see you later!” and he bolted away, shouting at the unsuspecting detective on the other side of the crime scene. Trucy, giggled, even more when she looked at Apollo, and he was just as red, “I guess Prosecutor Gavin has a–” “SHUT UP!”
Trucy was banned from using Apollo’s bracelet again. Even though she found wearing it, even if for a brief moment, very… comforting… familiar even?