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Apollo groaned aloud, "Oh, come on!" This was the fifth time this week that he had heard one of the Gavinners' songs over the radio in a grocery store, a cafe, once even in a cab. That last one had been especially bad, as there had been no convenient exit unless he wanted to hurl himself into traffic. Which he did genuinely consider doing.
"What's wrong, Polly?" Trucy asked as she plucked a box of cookies from a nearby shelf.
"The ghost of Gavin is following me around even outside of work," he grumbled in reply. "And hey, only one box."
Trucy pouted as she placed the second box back on the shelf. "You know, so many girls would kill to be surrounded by Prosecutor Gavin. You should recognize your privilege, Polly."
"Is it privilege if I hate it? Also, do you still want salmon tonight?"
"I think so?" Trucy mused as Apollo scanned through the ailses. "And yes. And I just can't believe you hate all their music. You just haven't found one you like!" she claimed, pointing her finger upwards in a decisive pose.
"Yeah, yeah," Apollo sighed, inspecting an onion before tossing it into their basket. "I'll believe it when I hear it. But I'd rather save my poor ears."
~
The next evening, Apollo paused in the middle of cleaning his apartment as he heard a ping ring out from his phone. A message had popped up from Trucy:
I will be finding a Gavinners song you like if it kills me! Check this out, it's one of their best ones, but they don't really play it on the radio and stuff. Hope you're having a nice day off!
Apollo rolled his eyes at the streaming link attached to the message. Against his better judgement, he tapped on it and loaded up a song from Klavier's band, My Boyfriend is the Prosecution's Witness. Admittedly, it did divert beyond their usual style, but Apollo still cringed at the rapid pace and contrived lyrics. It was as if the music was being thrown at him like a fastball. As he went to return to his regular music instead, he glanced at the song's description and his eyebrows shot up. Nearly two million streams?! It had to have gone viral, an outlier. The Gavinners were popular, sure, but there was no way the rest of their discography was that popular. However, to his unfortunate surprise, that wasn't even their most streamed song.
was clocking in at nearly three million. Apollo shook his head, brow furrowed as he tapped through to the list of albums, looking for anything that had done poorly to justify his distaste.
One that caught his eye was actually a very recent single acoustic release, the top of the chronological list. The album cover was different than the others, missing the usual chain and metal motifs in favour of a softer image looking over a city skyline. When Apollo tapped on it, the Gavinners weren't actually credited as the artist. It was only Klavier himself. Apollo frowned in contemplation and pressed play. After a brief moment of silence, a softly spoken countdown of "...2, 3, 4," was uttered before a guitar began strumming out a melody. The steady patterns of notes were simple and pleasant to the ear, easing into the lyrics with a slow, steady progression. Klavier's voice, smooth and flowing like a stream, was quite a change from the overwhelming cacophony of his other music. The raw recording quality of the sound made it feel like he was in the room, casually strumming his guitar while sitting on the kitchen counter. Thinking that maybe his phone's tiny speakers couldn't do it justice, Apollo fumbled for his headphones. That instantly changed things, as the calm rhythm of the song was now flowing gently into his ears with no distractions.
Apollo even closed his eyes, letting the music wash over him and melt the tension from his exhausted body until he came to and realized he had let the song play about three times in a row. Biting the inside of his cheek as he looked back down at his phone, he quickly added it to his everyday playlist and resolved not to tell Trucy.
~
Months later, Apollo's peace at his desk was interrupted by a blue top hat popping up into view in front of him.
"Polly!" Trucy chirped cheerfully, holding her phone up. "Everyone's playlist recaps came out and look! The artists are sending out personalized thank yous to their top listeners. I got a little video from Octavia Lowe and the Baritones! Look, she's so cool!"
"They probably send the same one to everyone, right?" Apollo asked, raising an eyebrow.
"So?" she said, frowning at his clear lack of excitement. "It's still cool to hear something from your favourite artist."
"I guess, but I'd argue it's not all that personal," he pointed out. "It's not like you've met-" Apollo cut himself off as he felt a presence loom over his shoulder. His mouth curved into a frown as if he'd gotten another mountain of paperwork dropped on his desk.
"Don't worry, fraulein," came a lilting voice as Klavier rested an elbow leisurely on the shoulder of Apollo's chair. "Herr Forehead just doesn't know good music when he hears it." The prosecutor had visited the Wright Anything Agency to confirm the handling of a special case witness with Phoenix himself. Once he was in the office door, however, it surprised no one that he was lingering around Apollo's desk once his original business was concluded.
"Thank you, Klavier," Trucy grinned, nodding emphatically at him. "Finally, someone with taste around here."
"Oh, you can always count on me for that, little one," Klavier winked. "I wasn't topping the charts all those years out of pure luck, you know."
Apollo grumbled as he shuffled through his files. "You two do realize this is a place of work, right? I have two hours to submit the rest of these."
"Music also helps one work faster, Herr Forehead," Klavier pointed out, reaching out a finger to toy with Apollo's spiked hair like a cat, before getting lightly smacked away. "Don't knock it until you try it."
"I prefer the song of silence, thank you very much."
"Oh come on, Polly, you can't make fun of us for our music choices if we don't know yours," Trucy complained, reaching out to snatch Apollo's phone from his hands.
Apollo yelped as it was plucked from his fingers, having just been unlocked. "Hey! Trucy, give it here!" He stood up from his desk and raced around the room after the young magician, who was much faster than expected.
Watching and chuckling to himself, Klavier called out, "I'd say let me know his top artist, but I already know it's the Gavinners!"
"You wish," Apollo hissed, grappling Trucy as she tried to escape on top of one of the other desks. As he was in the midst of hauling her down, her feet kicking in the air, a familiar voice emanated from Apollo's phone. Everyone froze. Apollo's face blazed with heat as he looked quickly over at Klavier to see his wide eyes and raised brows.
"No way," Trucy exclaimed, voice quiet with giddy disbelief. She turned the phone, still wrapped up in Apollo's grip, to reveal Klavier warmly addressing the camera for his artist's thank you message. "Polly, your top artist was the Gavinners?! I'm taking full credit for this!"
Momentarily stunned, Apollo was too slow to act as Klavier practically sprinted forward to look at the screen. "Wait, Fraulien, that was the message from my solo artist listing, it's different than the Gavinners one. I- You-" he stammered, looking at Apollo with a light blush tinting his cheeks and a shocked smile. "You listen to my music? Not my band, my music?"
Apollo snapped back to reality and snatched his phone away from Trucy. "So?" he asked bluntly, but his voice was an octave higher than normal.
"He was in the top 1%," Trucy whisper-yelled to Klavier as she was put down.
With a joyous laugh, Klavier wrapped his arms around Apollo and spun him around. "I knew you were a man of culture, liebling!"
"Cut it out, put me down!" Apollo yelled, although he clung to Klavier's shoulders for dear life. "It's an error, a glitch, a-"
"Hey guys?" Everyone paused immediately, Apollo's feet still dangling in mid air as Klavier held him up. A bedraggled but smirking Phoenix Wright had stuck his head out of his office. "Doesn't sound like a lot of work is being done out here."
Klavier and Apollo disentangled themselves in a split second, practically jumping away from each other while they cleared their throats awkwardly. "Yup, getting right to it," Apollo mumbled as Phoenix nodded and disappeared back inside, although he seemed to be smirking at their antics. Smoothing out his vest, Apollo took a deep breath and held up his hands in a gesture for a truce. "Alright, buzz off you two, I need to get paid this week," he growled, face burning as he sunk back into his chair.
"I'll let you be," Klavier promised, still looking a little too giddy. "But do tell me," he added, pausing in the doorway and looking over his shoulder. "...if you ever want a private performance." With a wink, he slipped out.
As soon as he properly left, Apollo slumped over his desk, hiding his face in his arms. He pretended not to hear Trucy's mischevious giggle nearby.
"I don't want to say I told you so..." she started.
"Then don't," Apollo groaned into his paperwork.