Chapter Text
One of the rituals he had loved dearly over the past seven years was getting the mail. It was a special time that he took every month to go over all the stuff that had been sent to him with his bandmates and share in the adoration from the masses.
But things are different now.
Gone were the days of the four of them getting together, Daryan committing murder put a damper on things and sent them drifting off in different directions. He had his reasons, and they all understood that it was a heat of the moment thing, but the fact still remained that no matter his intentions, a man still died and he was perfectly willing to throw his accomplice under the bus.
So Klavier did what he could to make a new ritual, one that was entirely his own.
He wouldn’t deny that it was considerably more lonely like this, but he could just choose to focus on the softness of the robe he donned and the sweet flavors of his wine. Vongole would be here with him, and that’s all that really mattered in the end.
It wouldn’t make the loneliness disappear entirely, but it made it a little bit more palatable.
Given he had stepped away for so long, he hadn’t really expected too much. Maybe Themis would extend another invitation, and hopefully no one would be murdered this time.
Though looking at the shoddy quality of the products being sent his way, maybe it’d be worth looking into doing something. Fame was fleeting, and Klavier understood that, but he wasn’t quite done with his stardom. He couldn’t bank on goodwill from people fondly remembering when he was popular.
As he sorted through the assorted trash that filled his mailbox, he came across an ornate letter. He looked it over, because he wasn’t expecting a letter from anyone, and no one put this much attention to detail on things as trivial as a letter.
Well, no one aside himself, that is.
He didn’t recognize the address, but he recognized the name. It was hard not to, when it was someone this famous. Even if she wasn’t too much older than he was, everyone in the legal world knew the von Karma name. He was sure there wasn’t a corner of the world where the legal community didn’t know her.
His joy was fleeting, as he soon realized the severity of this. What could an Interpol agent possibly want from him ? Who in his life had caused a scene at a global level, and was he being called to bring testimony about a seemingly innocuous event that now held potentially fatal intent?
Or was he himself being accused of something, and who among his peers has framed him for their crimes?
Careful not to ruin the beautiful envelope, Klavier gently slid his finger along the seal to open it. As much as this letter could ruin his life, he couldn’t bring himself to ruin it. It wasn’t its fault after all, and he wasn’t about to take out his worries on something so beautiful.
Klavier closed his eyes, took a deep breath in, and removed the letter from its envelope.
He needed a moment before he dared open his eyes. Life had settled down, aside from him being busy with legal work, and that was a peace that he desperately needed. The recent years have been so marked with tragedy, that he almost didn’t want to see it.
But he couldn’t run from the truth.
No matter what, it was going to find him, so he might as well accept the potential disaster, and just accept the kindness that was coming in the form of a warning. He had met her a few times while abroad, and this was an act of kindness that Klavier wasn’t going to deny.
He opened his eyes, and braced for the worst.
“You are formally invited to the wedding of Prosecutor Franziska von Karma and Master Maya Fey?” He read aloud, the words still processing in his head.
This was good news.
Klavier actually got good news for once in his life! It was bound to happen after the string of tragedies that have been his life.
With newfound confidence, he looked over the details. It made sense that the wedding would be in Germany. The von Karma family had long since hailed from Germany, after all. He couldn’t be too certain about the bride, but regardless, it was an easy enough place to get to. Klavier was a well traveled man, and it would be nice to see Germany again.
But to cut his reminiscing short, he saw the catch in this whole plan.
A plus one .
Now Klavier knew plenty of people. That wouldn’t be a problem, if it weren’t for the fact that this wedding was extremely important. For whatever reason, he had been given the invitation in the first place. He could not afford to bring anyone that would make a scene and embarrass him and ruin his one shot to make her think he was a respectable person with good taste in partners himself.
So that eliminated most of his celebrity contacts. He was not about to have them either not know who she was, despite her being a huge deal who everyone should know, or embarrass him by trying to be the person who’s upstaging the brides so everyone knows how important they are.
There were people from the prosecutor’s office, but he didn’t want rumors to be spread behind his back about office romance. Plus he couldn’t promise that all of his colleagues would behave. Some of them and their gallows humor would not make a good fit for the wedding.
Sebastian would be a good fit, but Klavier is aware of the long history between both of their families. Even after both of their fathers long since passed, Klavier wouldn’t want to make things too uncomfortable for either of them. He cared deeply about the wellbeing of his friend, and he hoped that there wouldn’t be any hard feelings between them over Klavier attending the wedding.
His choices were limited, but he had to find someone to go with. He had to respect the fact that he had been thought of so thoroughly that she would expect him, a world famous rockstar, to have someone that he wanted to attend with. There was no way that he could attend alone.
But there was one person that he could ask. It would be a longshot, but maybe he could get lucky twice in one day, and things wouldn’t go horribly awry for him.
“Vongole, wish me luck.” Because he was going to need it.
—------------
Apollo had spent the day indulging in one of his favorite rituals. Wearing his comfiest pair of pajamas and sprawling across his couch as he played video games. There was no one to give him shit about how old these pajamas were, or the fact that he could still fit clothes he got in middle school.
Today was a day all to himself, and he couldn’t be happier.
Mikeko thought so too, because he was laying on Apollo’s stomach making biscuits. It hurt like hell, but that’s how you know you’re making your kitty so happy, so Apollo would let the little menace to his thing and he wouldn’t make a deal about it.
Even if it meant his stomach was going to full of puncture holes.
Amongst the silence, Apollo’s phone rang.
There were so many reasons why he could be getting a call. Like someone was in danger, or there was a case for him, or most probably yet, a robot was calling asking him to pay a million dollars in fees because he has secret warrants out for his arrest and this was the only way to solve it.
They didn’t even know they were calling a lawyer who would gladly challenge those claims in court and win .
He was also a lawyer who had friends who were cops who’d give him a heads up about any of this before some robot had the chance.
“Apollo Justice, attorney at law, how can I help you?” He answered, hoping for a case.
“Ah, Herr Forehead. Has anyone told you that you answer your personal cell so formally?”
Prosecutor Gavin? That wasn’t who he was expecting at all.
But it did mean he was even more likely to get a case. Prosecutor Gavin had seen his work and liked it. He no doubt had a client in need of a defense attorney.
“I only have the one phone, but what’s up?” He wasn’t going to dwell on the fact that Prosecutor Rockstar probably had three phones that he used daily, there was (hopefully) work to be done.
“Sorry to call you on your day off, but would you be able to come to my office later today. And could you come alone?”
That was… an odd and slightly unsettling request. But Apollo knew Prosecutor Gavin, so it wasn’t like he was going to go up there and get murdered.
Unless that wasn’t him, and they were using this as a way to lure him in, but even then the Prosecutor’s Office was full of security cameras. There were only so many murders that could happen in the building before they needed to get serious about it.
But this was probably a case he needed him to defend in, and it was probably personal, judging by the “come alone” part.
“Uh, sure! I’m not doing anything. I could get dressed and come over right now.” It meant that he had to stop playing video games, but this had the potential to be a very serious case. He had to treat it accordingly.
“Danke, I’ll let security know you’re on your way.”
“Danke- I mean thank you.” Fuck, it was always tense situations like these that got him all awkward… “I’ll see you then.”
“Auf Wiedersehen." And with that, Prosecutor Gavin hung up.
Apollo would take a moment to mourn his lazy afternoon. The next few days were no doubt going to be emotionally charged and once it was over Apollo could take another shot at his lazy day, and there was no way that he wasn’t going to need it.
But once the moment was over, he sprang into action. Mikeko wasn’t too happy about it.
“Sorry, Mikky. I was asked to come alone, so no girlfriends allowed.” He kissed his kitty head and set him down on the couch.
Mikeko meowed in protest, but wasn’t about to move from the warm spot that was right where Apollo had been laying. He had better enjoy it for Apollo, because part of him was going to miss laying there, even when it meant that he was leaving to get work.
Years of losing track of time doing Chords of Steel meant that he was quick to get ready. No one was timing him, but Apollo felt like it was record speed on his end. He gave one last quick check over himself before he left. He was no doubt going to meet with a client, and Apollo wanted to make a good impression.
He was looking sharp and spiffy, so now all he had to do was hope his gel stayed in place and his helmet didn’t ruin his hair too badly.
For good measure he’d make sure he still had hair gel and a comb in his bag so he could fix it when he got there.
And it probably wouldn’t hurt to throw an extra deodorant in his bag. He was going to pedal hard, and hopefully he’d get there in good time so he wouldn’t keep them waiting.
“Alright, look after the house for me while I’m out, okay Mikeko?” He asked his cat, who had lazily rolled over onto his back.
Not that it’d stop any intruders, but Apollo knew his girlfriend. The moment they saw that exposed tummy, they’d go to pet it and get the clawing of a lifetime.
Knowing that his apartment was secured, Apollo was off. He had an entire ride to wonder about his new client, and he couldn’t wait to meet them.