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“Are you kiddos sure you’ll be alright?”
Apollo looked up at Aaron Terran and Chantal Terran, Clay’s parents, and he gave them a smile. He always looked forward to their sleepovers, what Clay had dubbed as the “Nerd Sleepovers”, which sounded pretty awesome. They would watch cartoon shows and anime, play video games, and talk about books, comics, and manga that they recently read together. It usually ended with the three all laughing, and falling asleep cuddling with each other. Who hosted the sleepovers usually circulated, and this time, it was Clay’s turn. His parents had bought them a large pepperoni pizza, which the three were currently devouring.
Clay groaned. “Daaaad, we’re fine.”
“We’re more than okay, Mr. Terran!” Apollo added.
Ema, who was midway into her bite of pizza, simply gave Aaron a thumbs up.
Chantal chuckled. “I think they’ll be fine, Aaron dear.”
“Hey! Can never be too careful, can I Chanti?” Aaron replied.
“Actually!” Ema spoke up, having swallowed her pizza. “Can we get more food? I’m pretty sure this isn’t enough for us.”
“Ema! That’s more than enough food!” Clay said.
“No it isn’t! It’s only 12 slices!” Ema said.
“12 slices is more than enough!” Clay pointed out.
“No it isn’t!” Ema retorted.
“Ema, it’s an XL pizza! You know, XL, for extra large?”
“Not large enough!”
“Oh, c’mon!” Clay turned to Apollo and his parents. “Mom, Dad, Apollo, back me up!”
“It is a lot of pizza…” Chantal admitted.
Apollo and Aaron nodded in agreement.
“Oh boo! Of course your parents agree with you! They’re your parents!” Ema said with a frown.
“Apollo agreed with me!” Clay retorted.
Ema shrugged. “Favoritism.”
“Aw c’mon Ema, Clay likes us equally.” Apollo said with a laugh, then adding. “I’m sure we can find more food for you if you’re hungry.”
“Oh, yes!” Chantal spoke up. “We have a few bags of chips downstairs, I’m sure Clay won’t mind sharing some cheetos with you.”
“I’m cool with it.” Clay said with a shrug.
“Oh gee, thanks!” Ema said, and then adding. “Can you bring them now, Mrs. Terran? So I can have them, for…scientific purposes.”
Aaron laughed at that, and Chantal giggled.
“Alright, Ema dear. I’ll bring you kids some juice too.” Chantal said, then turning to her husband. “Come on, Aaron dear. Let’s give them some privacy.”
Aaron closed the door, and then the adults made their way downstairs, leaving Apollo, Ema, and Clay in the room.
Clay got up and carried his laptop over to his bed, propping it up so Ema and Apollo could both see. “Let’s watch some Steel Samurai! We’re like, on episode seven of season six, right?”
Apollo nodded.
“Okay, let’s watch!”
“Awesome!” Ema and Apollo said in unision.
As the Steel Samurai episode played, an entirely new episode that they hadn’t watched before, Apollo found himself enamored. At some point, Aaron had gone up to deliver the three some juice and chips, and the three ate as they watched. They laughed at the funny scenes, shrieked whenever the Evil Magistrate showed up, and cheered for the Steel Samurai and the Pink Princess during the fight scenes. It was one scene, a slow quiet scene where the Steel Samurai and Pink Princess were tending to each other after a fight scene, when Clay had finally spoken up after their cheers for the fight scene.
“You know, the Steel Samurai and the Pink Princess are best friends…” Clay trailed off. “Best friends, even.”
“They are, it’s awesome!” Apollo said.
“Yeah!” Ema added.
Clay smiled a little, turning to the two. “Do you think we’ll stay best friends forever?”
“Of course we will!” Ema replied.
Apollo shrugged. “Honestly, I can never see us not being friends.”
“Mhmm! We’re like, the three musketeers!” Ema said.
“The three amigos!” Clay replied.
“Alvin and the Chipmunks!” Apollo added.
Ema and Clay both looked disgusted.
“Ew.” They both said in unison.
“I still like that movie…” Apollo grumbled to himself.
Ema laughed.
“So…” A grin slowly made its way to Clay’s face. “Best friends forever?”
Apollo and Ema grinned too.
“Best friends forever!”
━━━━ ❰ ･ ❉ ･ ❱ ━━━━
“I’m…starting to rethink this, Ema.”
Ema rolled her eyes at that.
Apollo sat at the café table, rather awkwardly, fiddling with his hands as Ema let out an exasperated huff. It had been years, years, since Apollo had seen Clay. It was that way with Ema too, when he first saw her again at that investigation. It had been what, 10 years? And he knew he shouldn’t have been nervous, Ema and Clay were still friends after all, and they more than made it obvious that they wanted to reconnect after they added him to their groupchat, but he just couldn’t help it. He was nervous…though, Ema’s blunt reassuring did help a little. So that was something.
“Why are you rethinking this?” Ema questioned. “It’s not like you murdered his parents or something.”
“They’re still alive.” Apollo said.
“Yeah, which means they ain’t dead. So why are you nervous?”
“I don’t know, it’s just…” Apollo trailed off with a frown. “What if Clay doesn’t like me?”
Ema raised a brow. “…You think Clay screamed in joy when we called ‘cause he doesn’t like you?”
“Fair…”
“Trust me Apollo, you’ll be fine.” Ema reassured.
“I know, but it’s just…” Apollo sighed. “I’ve changed, and I don’t know, maybe he won’t like how I’ve changed?”
Ema reached over and reassuringly patted Apollo on the shoulder. “Apollo, people change. That’s just a fact. But…that isn’t a bad thing. We’ve matured, grown as people, and that’s okay. Hell, you’re pretty awesome. I know Clay will like you.” She paused for a moment, then adding softly. “And I’ll be honest, we were both bummed when you moved away. And we kept wondering about you for all these years. We really missed you, Apollo.”
Apollo stayed silent at that for a moment. It was so odd seeing Ema not be snarky for once. “…I missed you guys too.”
Ema smiled.
Apollo felt a notification on his phone, checking it and then gasping. “Woah! Clay’s here? Where is-” He stopped as he looked up, spotting Clay waving his arms wildly. “…Never mind, there he is.”
“That’s Clay for you.” Ema said with a snicker.
Clay ran over to them, grinning as he saw Apollo. “Apollo! ‘Pollo, it’s…” He stared for a moment, then saying in awe. “It’s really you!”
“Oh, Clay!” Apollo was smiling too. “I don’t usually hug people, but I’m hugging you!”
“Hey, I feel honored!” Clay said.
The three laughed, and Clay and Apollo hugged.
“Dude, it’s been way too long!” Clay said, separating from the hug.
All the nervousness soon went away as Apollo saw the grin on Clay’s face. “It has! Dear lord, we need to catch up!”
“Yeah! Like you becoming a detective, maybe?” Clay said, and then joking. “Let’s all be honest, we thought Ema was going to be the detective of the friend group!”
“Forensic scientist.” Ema corrected. “And I’m quite happy with being a defense attorney, thank you very much.”
“Actually, about that. You sure it’s fine being here?” Clay asked.
Ema nodded. “Yeah. Trucy said she’ll call me if any potential clients go to the offices.”
“Alright, awesome.” Clay said, then asking Apollo. “But damn, a detective! How is it?”
“I mean, other than some annoying prosecutors, it’s fine. I like it.” Apollo said with a shrug.
“Before you ask, work as a defense attorney is pretty cool too.” Emma said.
Clay rolled his eyes. “I didn’t ask.”
“That’s why I said “before you ask”, genius.” Ema pointed out.
“Fair enough.”
The three caught up, ordering food and then waiting for their food to be ready. When it was, they ate as they talked. And Apollo had to admit, it was…nice. He liked hearing about what was happening in the two’s lives recently. Wacky cases Ema worked on that Apollo wasn’t assigned to as a detective, hilarious workplace anecdotes from Clay, and even Apollo sharing his own stories over his time as a detective. He missed this, being around them. It was like they had never been apart.
“Oh! Actually!” Clay said all of a sudden. “Now that you’re back in our lives, ‘Pollo…” He then grinned. “You should join our next nerd sleepover!”
Apollo raised a brow. “You still do that?”
“Of course we do! We stopped doing it weekly since high school, since life is a bitch, but we still make sure to do it twice a month!” Clay answered.
Ema nodded. “Yep, it’s pretty fun.”
Apollo frowned in thought, a little hesitant. “I don’t know…”
“Aw, c’mon Apollo! Join us! Like the good ol’ days!” Clay said.
“We’d love to have you.” Ema added.
Apollo thought for a moment, remembering the sleepovers he used to have with Ema and Clay, and that made him smile. But those were old memories, and now Apollo could make new memories. With Ema and Clay.
…Yeah, that sounded nice.
“You know what? Yeah, fuck yeah.” Apollo decided. “Count me in,”
“FUCK YEAH!” Clay cheered, bumping his fist in the air.
“Fucking hell- Clay! We’re in public!” Ema scolded.
“Ack! Sorry!”
Apollo laughed.
━━━━ ❰ ･ ❉ ･ ❱ ━━━━
Apollo put down the last bottle of coke, then stepping back to get a look at his handiwork.
He looked at their food and drink for the night, a large pizza, some chips, and a few bottles of soda. Though Apollo was sure that it wasn’t going to be enough for Ema’s ginormous appetite. His gaze went over to Clay and Ema. Clay was flicking through Netflix with a remote and Ema was texting the Fey Anything Agency group chat. It was like the good old days, when they stayed up all night and tried to hide it from their parents (or sister, in Ema’s case). Though, they didn’t really have to hide from their parents, and none of them planned to stay up all night.
“So, what’s the game plan Clay?” Apollo asked as he sat on the couch.
“I was planning for us watch the classics, and all the stuff we used to watch.” Clay said. “You know, blast from the past, a trip down memory lane.”
“Like the Steel Samurai?” Apollo asked.
Clay nodded.
“Dear lord, did we used to be Steel Samurai fanatics.” Ema said, not looking up from her phone.
“Hey, it’s a good franchise.” Clay said.
“Fair.”
“Hmmm…” Clay hummed thoughtfully, then asking. “Should we just start from the beginning?”
“Sounds good.” Apollo said.
“Yeah. It’d be nice to rewatch that series.” Ema said, finally looking up from her phone. But she then frowned when she saw the coffee table, and all of the food and drink on it. “Dammit Clay, this isn’t enough food for us.”
Clay raised a brow at her. “Ema, this literally an XL pizza.”
“So?”
“XL, meaning extra large?”
Ema scoffed. “So what? I can down this in a minute!”
“…I doubt you can.” Clay said.
“You wanna bet on that?”
“For the safety of your stomach, no.”
Apollo snickered.
Ema turned to Apollo, a brow raised.
“What’s so funny?” Ema questioned.
“Your stomach.” Clay said with a giggle.
“Asshole.” Ema murmured to herself, glaring at Clay.
“Nothing, it’s just-” Apollo snickered again, before gesturing to the two. “This, the two of you…I really missed this.”
Clay grinned at that. “Awww, ‘Pollo!”
“Damn, sappy as hell…” Ema muttered to herself, and when both Clay and Apollo glared at her, she sighed with a smile. “I missed this too, Apollo. With you.”
“Just wasn’t the same without you!” Clay added.
“Well…I’m here now, and we’ve got a lot of catching up to do.” Apollo said. “Now, what’re you waiting for? Play the episode!”
“On it, boss!” Clay said, picking up the remote.
Clay played the episode, the three of the immediately becoming invested as the deep voice of the narrator played. They remembered the major plot points of the story, though there were details that they had forgotten, which had pleasantly surprised them. And just like they were kids, they were just as noisy with their reactions to the episodes. Apollo was especially loud, though Clay and Ema didn’t seem too bothered. He had to admit, this was nice, getting to spend time with his friends. Even if they had been apart for years, they became close again, just like Apollo had never left them all those years ago.
Apollo glanced at Ema and Clay, who were both cheering on the Steel Samurai.
He smiled, before turning back to the TV screen and cheering along with them.