Chapter Text
It was just a usual day in college when Rhea decided to talk to Apollo. He was waiting for his coffee at the vending machine and was beyond surprised that such beautiful and gorgeous girl decided to talk with him of all people, the awkward and weird one who was known for girls rejecting him on the spot.
But Rhea didn't back down and said that Apollo is genuinely interesting person to whom she wishes to talk more. She said she regrets that she's on different department, maybe they could meet each other way earlier. Since that moment, they talked every now and then, but mainly on topics related to their studying.
Rhea was older than Apollo, so she graduated earlier and went to pursue career in other town. While Apollo missed her, he quickly moved on and focused on his own career path as a lawyer. Apollo started to think that the friendship with Rhea was only temporary and that she would never come back to L.A.
Later, Apollo got in a whirlpool of events, including forgery, arresting his own mentor, being disappointed in someone he looked up to and losing a job after his first case as a lawyer. But that's when surprise came.
Rhea got to the door which was supposed to be Apollo Justice's apartment and pressed the door bell. She wasn't waiting for long as door got opened with Apollo peeking out of it. He wasn't exactly in the right condition and obviously didn't expect guests at this time. But Rhea just smiled and greeted him: "Hi, Apollo! It's been years, isn't it?"
Apollo gulped and stared at Rhea in shock. She didn't change at all: same beautiful golden curls which shined in the sunlight, same red rose accessory on her head which complemented her outfit, nice red top and beige silk skirt which she always tried to keep clean. Rhea noticed Apollo's stumbled face and commented: "It's rude to stare at a girl like this, y'know?". Apollo mumbled, completely embarrassed: "U-um, I-I... I-I'm sorry!! So sorry, Rhea!" Rhea just giggled instead: "God, you absolutely didn't change. Same awkwardness and lack of self-confidence". Then Rhea changed to her usual posture and asked: "Wanna go out?"
Apollo got confused and embarrassed even more. A girl, inviting him out? And not just any girl, the girl with charming beauty and amazing personality... His perfect crush, someone might say. He could only say: "L-like, on a date?" Rhea giggled again: "Do you know other meaning of "go out" people use? Of course, I invite you on a date! We can catch up with our lives and stuff..."
Apollo wanted to refuse. He was pretty short on money and didn't have any particularly fitting outfits. Besides, he didn't want to talk to anyone (except his friend Clay maybe) about what happened in his first case. But could he really refuse such an offer? After all, it'd be beyond rude to just dump Rhea when she came all the way to his apartment...
"Ah yes, the date. I,uh, that is... I might be interested. Y-you know, maybe. Theoretically." - Apollo spoke pretty incoherently. Rhea just continued like nothing happened: "I'll take that as a yes. How about tomorrow at around 5 PM? I'll message you the address later. I still have your phone number from college years". Apollo quickly nodded, waved goodbye and closed the door immediately, leaving stumbled Rhea behind the door. He just needed to be alone, think everything through.
Why Rhea came back to L.A.? Why did she go to his apartment in particular and asked him out so suddenly? Why now when Apollo was in the most vulnerable position? Maybe he should have resolved his life issues first... But Rhea's visit was so sudden and caught him completely off-guard. Did he really use his emotions before thinking? That wasn't like him at all! Even in the toughest situations, he always tried to find a rational way first and foremost... Rhea messed up his head too much. How she could even do that, he didn't see her for a year... Apollo stopped that line of thinking and decided that he's gonna figure what to do with the job later. Now he should get done with a temporary goal.
On the next day, Apollo chose one of those outfits he wore back in college and went ahead to the address Rhea sent him. It's pretty small coffee shop which he visited sometimes. Apollo was never a big fan of coffee but never minded the drink. Rhea was already waiting for him there, at the farthest table from the entrance. She smiled and gestured to Apollo to get and sit at the table.
They settled and Rhea started her usual chatting while Apollo was quiet. He wanted to ask so many questions but also didn't want change the conversation's flow since then he needed to answer the unpleasant (to him) questions. So he was sitting in this sort of trans, answering typical "how are you today" with simple sentences and just listening to Rhea going into nostalgy about their college years. That was until Rhea decided to ask Apollo: "So, how's your defense attorney career going?" She smiled and closed her eyes.
This was the question Apollo dreaded the most and wanted to refused the date with Rhea because of it in the first place. He just spent days thinking about his mentor's betrayal, Mr. Wright forgery and how Apollo himself might be disbarred once someone finds out he presented the forged bloody ace....
"Apollo Justice is doing fine!!" Apollo yelled using his famous "Chords of Steel", trying to avoid further interrogation from Rhea. She just chuckled in response: "Your Chords of Steel are still working well, it seems!". "But can you tell me in more details, please? You were always so eager to defend innocent in court and now you just get away with something vague?" Rhea pouted and crossed her arms. Apollo's heart sunk. Of course she wants more details. And now he can't change conversation topic, no way. He needed to think and fast!
"Apollo?" - Rhea asked with concern in her tone of voice. "You've been out for a quite while. Are you alright?" Apollo let out a big sigh before starting to talk again. "I... I really don't want to talk about it in depth. My first case... It was too much, I never expected to end it the way it did. I got Not Guilty verdict, but at what cost? I have no job right now!" - Apollo lowered his head to the table. It looked like as he was about to have a mental breakdown. "Apollo... You always say you're fine but when you have troubles you never talk it through with anyone, just bottle up your feelings until you reach some sort of a boiling point! It's not right, you shouldn't do that!... I'm always here to listen, okay? I can listen to whatever problems you have" - Rhea said the best advice she could in this situation. She didn't know full context but there was one thing she got right. Apollo always kept problems to himself, just using his mantra "I'm fine" to gaslight himself into thinking that everything is not so bad. Until something happened and he would just rant off randomly for no reason.
Silence stall in the air. No one dared to say a word in this oppressive atmosphere. Well, until Apollo came to his senses and immediately stirred the conversation off this topic. "Um, either way, Rhea, why did you return to L.A.? As I know, you went to other town to pursue career, then why return?" - Apollo asked as if nothing happened. Rhea returned to her smiling state and responded: "It didn't go as good as I planned, sadly. So, I returned here when my father helped me to arrange my new position". " And, where do you work now?" - Apollo put a finger on his forehead, thinking. "A funeral director". Apollo was really shocked and it was pretty easy to notice by his expression. " What, shocked that girl can be funeral director? Everyone thinks so too so I have to work twice as hard to stay in my position". - Rhea crossed her arms with frustrated expression on her face. "I'm sorry, I was just very impressed. It's a pretty... dark profession, after all". - Apollo tried to make the situation better. "I studied to be forensic scientist, right? I was preparing to work with the bodies to an extent. I guess I'm just tough like that" - Rhea giggled like whatever she was talking about was not creepy at all.
"Right... I'm glad you found a good job, I guess. But why did you go out of your way to come to my apartment yesterday? Invite me to go out?" - Apollo asked a question which was lingering on his mind since yesterday. Rhea just smiled: "Because I really did enjoy your company. You were a breath of fresh air compared to others, who only cared about money and reputation. I've never seen such passionate people in my life, Apollo!" Apollo covered his completely red face with his hands. No one told him such compliment before. Or told much compliments at all. "God, Apollo, did you not hear a compliment before? What a poor soul!" - Rhea laughed. Apollo mumbled barely hearable "Thank you" and went for another cup of coffee. Rhea followed the suite.
When they were done with the drink, they left the cafe. It was already late and sky was pretty dark.
Rhea thanked Apollo for nice evening and took out something out of her pocket. It was her business card. "If you need to talk to someone or have some troubles, come and see me at my office. Maybe I can also help you with the job if you don't manage to find a new one!" - She handed business card to Apollo. He stuttered: "T-thank you, but I-I'd rather n-n-not work with the d-dead bodies!" Rhea just giggled in response. "It's time for me to go. It was nice to talk to you again, buh-bye!" - Rhea waved to Apollo and went in other direction.
Apollo came home and started to inspect the business card more closely. That office wasn't so far from his apartment. Apollo didn't know what to think of today. It was great to see Rhea again and just talk to her but he couldn't get out of his head what she said. "You just bottle up your feelings until you reach some sort of boiling point!" She was so right and that's what scared Apollo. He always thought his mantra could help him cope with troubles, with negative emotions, with lack of confidence but... It didn't always work. Apollo was cracking up eventually and pressure got better of him. He guessed he really needed to talk it through. Maybe Rhea's return was a sign to change something in his life.