Chapter Text
It was a few weeks after the concert debacle, that awkward period between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Thankfully there hadn’t been much, or any, work since then. That or Phoenix was feeling in the holiday spirit and keeping his pitiful face out of the office for a while. The morning after the concert had been full of questions.
Why did he leave?
Where did he go?
Had something happened between him and Klavier?
Did he need to go to the hospital?
Phoenix had to physically pull Trucy away from Apollo’s desk, picking up his daughter by the waist and carrying her out saying something about how Santa wouldn’t come if she was being this nosy. While Apollo was thankful for the quiet, the piercing stare he felt was not welcome.
“Athena, please stop.” He sighed, looking up from the file he had been attempting to look over. His co-worker had that look on her face, that one that just screaming pyscho analysis. He loved Athena, but could not deal with this right now, he didn’t want to talk about it. “I’m fine, okay? I’m not dying or anything if that’s what you all thought. Just crappy concert food and too much noise.” The red-head narrowed her eyebrows at him, clearly not believing his lie. She wanted so much to find out what was wrong, Apollo could tell, but before she could ask anything he stood up and mumbled something about getting coffee.
He stared at the coffee maker for a little while, trying to put all his thoughts back in order when Phoenix entered. “Hey, kid.” The older man leaned up against the doorframe and crossed his arms, fixing Apollo with a gentle but still unnerving stare.
Apollo shut his eyes tightly, willing it all to go away. “Not you too, Mr. Wright. Please. I’m-“
“Fine. I know.” Silence passed between the two, the ticking of the clock and the distant voices of Athena and Trucy the only sounds for a few moments. Phoenix finally broke it by speaking again, “Why don’t you take off for a few days though, there’s not much going on around here and if Trucy keeps asking you what happened I may go crazy.”
Apollo let out a weak laugh, “Am I that pathetic?”
“No.” Phoenix answered immediately, shaking his head. “I’ve just seen that look before. I’ve had that look before.” He stood there for another moment or two, letting those words sink in. “I’ll call you if something important comes up. Just take some time for yourself until the new year, alright?” Apollo felt himself slowly nod as he mumbled what he hoped sounded like a thanks before moving to grab his things.
That had been about a week ago and while the first few days off had been nice, now it all just left him with too much time to think. Apollo was ignoring and dodging phone calls and texts from Klavier left and right, he wanted to throw his phone against the wall if it wasn’t so expensive to buy a new one. Why was he so persistent? Maybe if Apollo just answered one call, one text, maybe that would be enough to make it all stop. He smiled a little at his own naiveté; that would only just fuel the fire. Apollo needed to put it out completely.
As if sensing he was thinking about it, his phone buzzed with an incoming text. Sighing, Apollo opened it to find it was only from Athena, sending about the thirtieth text saying something along the lines of ‘I’m here if you need to talk’. While he appreciated her concern, it was not what he wanted right now. The man flopped on his bed, throwing his arm over his eyes as he let out a groan. Most people would die to be in his shoes right now, Klavier Gavin had practically serenaded him at his concern and he was relentlessly trying to get in contact with him.
What was wrong with him? Apollo closed his eyes as he forced himself not to think about it. He was supposed to be taking care of himself, not missing the relationship he had ended for good reasons. They were damn good reasons. He just…didn’t want to share them with anyone. He turned on his side, facing the wall now as he tried to avoid thinking about much of anything. That of course lead to him thinking about too many things and Apollo groaned as he practically gave himself a headache. He laid there with his fingers pressed up against his aching eyelids willing something to just make him stop thinking for a little while.
Feeling a weird buzzing in his pocket, Apollo found himself struggling to open his eyes. Somehow he had gotten his wish and actually fallen asleep. He groped around blindly for his phone before finally fishing it out of his pocket and answering it without checking the caller ID. “Hello?” he answered, his voice thick with sleep.
“Apollo, oh thank god.” Apollo sat up with a start. This was a call he had not meant to answer. This was a road he did not want to go back down. “Please, don’t hang up!” Klavier said this in a rush, like he knew what Apollo was planning on doing. “Please, please, schatz. Just…just talk to me. Please.”
“I…I can’t do that.”
“Then hear me out, please.” Klavier took a breath and Apollo could just imagine him running his hand through his hair. “I miss you. I miss you so much, I feel like a part of me is gone right now. I just...I don’t understand any of this. What did I do?”
Apollo quickly interjected before Klavier could spout of some nonsense, “You-you didn’t do anything wrong.” He had already hurt the other man enough, he didn’t need him thinking that he was the problem here. “I..I just...it’s hard to say.”
There was silence on the other end, long enough where Apollo could hear Klavier breathing as he gathered his thoughts, a familiar and comforting sound that brought Apollo back to the many nights that Klavier had slept beside him. He reached over and touched the other side of the bed at the thought, of course it was cold to the touch right now. He should hang up though, nothing good could come from this conversation. Just as Apollo gathered the courage to pull his phone away from his ear though and end the call, Klavier spoke again. “Will you listen to me though? Please. Just five minutes, Apollo. Please.”
Say no. Apollo gripped the sheets, the conflicting thoughts battling in his mind. Five minutes couldn’t hurt, right? What could Klavier possibly say in five minutes that could change things? Plus, Apollo figured he owed his this much. Some sort of closure or some such nonsense. “Okay.” he finally agreed, “Five minutes.”
“Not over the phone though. I need to say this face to face.”
“I really don’t think-”
“Please.”
It was just five minutes. Five minutes. What could be done in five minutes? Apollo swallowed before agreeing once more, “Okay. Where?”
“How about your street? I’m right here anyway?” Apollo raised his eyebrows at this as he scrambled to get off his bed and looked out the window. There he was. Standing there in the middle of the night, staring up at Apollo’s window on the phone with him. God. Still, there was no time like the present, right? “Just five minutes.” Klavier repeated the limitation again as he saw the hesitation on Apollo’s expression, watching his grip the window frame.
Apollo found himself nodding before he spoke, “I’ll be right down then.” He hung up before they could talk any longer and ducked out of the view. What was he doing? What the hell was he thinking? This was the exact opposite of what he needed to do right now, this was like walking into the figurative lions den! Still, he said he would meet him out there, so he was going. Just, in a moment. Just a moment before he had to force himself to listen to his head over his heart again, his stupid, stupid heart.