The new Ace Attorney anime is out and it is wonderful. It's basically retelling the first game right now, but that's fine. Here's crossing fingers that it does well enough to get three more seasons and we get Apollo. ;D
Speaking! On with my fav Lawyer Boys~
Chapter 3
Klavier dropped off his stack of paperwork at the front desk of the courthouse clerk, more than happy to have it out of his hands and ready to be filed. He stretched his arms over his head and hummed as he turned around, more than ready to get out of the building and back to his office next door. He only had four more cases to get through, and then his paperwork woes would be done until his next round of assignments from Herr Edgeworth.
With Apollo busy on smaller cases (they'd had a quick lunch in the park over a shoplifting appeal, and then another dinner over an assault case), Klavier had more wins under his belt than he knew what to do with. Though, the short-handedness of the Prosecution's Offices had a tad to do with that as well. Klavier had more cases on his hands period, which of course, meant more wins.
They really needed to hire another prosecutor or two, though. As much as Klavier enjoyed his job, he did want to make a little time for that solo album of his. But, the law took priority, no matter his wishes. But until then, he'd enjoy his win streak and rub it in Apollo's face the next time they met for dinner or lunch.
Speaking of Apollo, Klavier spotted his red suit at the end of the corridor, his nose buried in a folder. He was leaning against the wall, reading and dead to the mass of bodies passing him by. He was so invested, he didn't notice Klavier sidle up to his side.
"Interesting reading, Herr Forehead?" Klavier asked, reaching up and pulling down the folder an inch. Apollo jerked, but settled when he realized who it was. He greeted Klavier with an annoyed frown that got a chuckle in return. "Though a busy hallway seems like a bad place for it."
"The waiting room was full, and I've got a meeting with the judge and another prosecutor in an hour," Apollo said. He closed his folder and put it under his arm. "There's not enough time to go back to the office, and there aren't many other places to go."
"The waiting room is full?" Klavier asked, eyebrow raised. "That's hard to believe."
"You didn't notice the extra crowd?" Apollo asked, almost smiling. He nodded his head toward the people milling about. There were a bit more than usual, not that Klavier looked around. Apollo tugged his arm up and started spinning the bracelet on his arm. "The Chick Case blew up this morning. Turns out there were three busses worth of character witnesses involved and the defense attorney called all of them in to give testimony."
"The Chick Case? The one where that man held up a store in a chicken costume?" Klavier scrunched his nose and shook his head. He couldn't remember what poor soul was prosecuting that one. "Wasn't he charged with armed robbery and two counts of assault?"
"Yup, but apparently his defense claims that he wasn't robbing the store, he was trying to do a floor show, and called in this huge troop of actors to defend him," Apollo said, shaking his head. He narrowed his eyes, and opened his briefcase to put up his folder. "It's got the entire lobby backed up, and they've had to push some court hearings to get through all of the witnesses."
"I'm surprised Herr Judge agreed to that," Klavier said. He crossed his arms and looked down the hallway. "It seems a bit extreme."
"Don't ask me," Apollo said. He looked down at his papers, a frown on his face. "Some strings somewhere got pulled, but either way, I'm not sure it'll help much."
Apollo looked like he wanted to say something else, so Klavier waited long enough for him to do so.
"Which is what I'm hoping," Apollo said. He glanced at Klavier, and lowered his voice. Klavier took the hint and leaned in so he could whisper. "Not that I don't feel bad for the guy, but I looked at all the evidence and spoke with some of the witnesses while I was looking for a place to sit and frankly, his case looks pretty bad. All they're doing is delaying the inevitable guilty sentence."
"So you think he's guilty?" Klavier asked, leaning against the wall next to him.
"Yes," Apollo said. He frowned and shook his head. "I mean, I can't say for sure because I've never talked with the guy face to face, but it doesn't look good, and even if he is really innocent, what they're doing now isn't the way to prove it. They're just tying up resources, wasting people's time, and in the end, when he's found guilty he'll get a worse sentence for making people jump through hoops.
"He would have been better off pleading guilty on the first day and taking the minimum sentence," Apollo said, rubbing between his eyes. He shook his head and murmured. "Sorry. I'm just thinking about having a meeting with Payne and the Judge after this fiasco and not looking forward to it."
"Well, I can offer a bit of comfort," Klavier said. He pointed at the door and smiled. "Want to wait in my office until your meeting? A three minute walk between buildings is plenty of time to get some coffee and clear your head from this crowd."
"You don't mind?" Apollo asked, perking up. He cleared his throat, and ran his hand back and forth over his hair. "I mean, if it wouldn't be any trouble, I'd love to get out of here for a little bit."
"No trouble," Klavier said. He flicked Apollo in the forehead and chuckled. "After you, Herr Forehead."
"Thank you." Apollo pushed off the wall and practically skipped out of the courthouse.
Klavier took his time following him, knowing his door was locked so it wouldn't matter how fast Apollo beat him there.
Klavier was enjoying his second cup of coffee when Edgeworth knocked on the doorframe of his office two hours after Apollo had left for his meeting. Edgeworth poked his head in and tugged his glasses down to the bridge of his nose. "You might want to go pick up, Mr. Justice from the courthouse. I hear he's taken refuge in an empty courthouse until people stop mobbing around his bike."
Klavier frowned, looking up from a court file. Apollo was fine a couple hours ago. What on earth occurred between now and then? Payne was annoying, but he wasn't often a literal pain. "Did something happen?"
"He may or may not have gotten into a fistfight," Edgeworth said, his mouth quirking in the side like he was more amused than he should be. "And he may or may not be nursing a rather spectacular black eye and a possible bruised rib."
"May or may not be?" Klavier asked, already standing up from his chair and grabbing his suit jacket.
"Officially, I've heard and seen nothing. It's all hearsay," Edgeworth said, definitely smiling now. He checked his watch and held up his briefcase. "And I'm heading out for the day, so if he happens to hide out in your office until Gumshoe calms down the angry cop looking for him, I certainly don't know about it."
"Have a good evening then, Herr Edgeworth," Klavier said, nodding. He joined Edgeworth in the hallway and locked his office up as he stepped outside. "I appreciate the heads up on the un-confirmable gossip."
A dash to the courthouse, and two empty courtrooms later, and Klavier found Apollo holed up in the gallery behind the Prosecutor's side. He'd sat on the floor, perfectly hidden by the rows of chairs if someone just glanced inside.
It was a good thing Klavier was a man on a mission.
"Dare I ask what happened?" Klavier tapped up the steps, checking behind him to make sure no one followed him into the room. "I know you've got quite the temper, but I'm hearing all sorts of gossip about a fight."
And he had. The throw-down between the Defense Attorney and the Mouthy Witness was all the water cooler talk. Edgeworth wasn't the only one giving Klavier a head's up that his defense buddy was in hot water.
It was nice to know news of their friendship was so accepted.
Apollo groaned into his hands, mumbling into them without looking up. His sleeve was ripped, and his briefcase was on its side behind his knees. "I thought I grew out of this when I was a teenager."
"Didn't you punch Herr Wright that one time?" Klavier asked, thinking it well worth it when Apollo shot him an angry glare. "I seem to recall that being an incident."
"He deserved it," Apollo said, pointing at Klavier's face. "And this is different. I think I broke that guy's nose."
"Well I have it on good authority that Herr Gumshoe is going to pull some strings and have people look the other way on this one." Klavier crouched next to him, crossing his arms over his knees. He smiled brightly, trying not to enjoy Apollo's misery too much, but it was pretty funny when you knew there wouldn't be any untoward consequence. It wasn't like Klavier had never been in a brawl before. "We're too overworked to worry about prosecuting you, so come on, tell Klavier what happened."
Apollo dragged his hands down and pinned Klavier with his eyes. He choked out a laugh and leaned back on the seat in front of him. "I really shouldn't get special treatment."
"But you're getting it anyway, so you might as well indulge," Klavier said, shrugging. He nudged Apollo in the side with his elbow. "What happened?"
"Mr. Wright's going to be furious," Apollo said, avoiding the question. He sighed and rubbed his hair. "Or he'll be amused I at least one the fight and pat me on the back. I'm not sure which will be worse."
"Apollo," Klavier tried again. "What's wrong?"
"I knew one of the witnesses for that Chick case," Apollo said. He stared at the back of the chair in front of him. "I ran into him after the meeting, and he recognized me. He was an old classmate and we didn't quite get along."
"And that caused a fist fight, because?" Klavier asked, spinning a finger in the air for the rest of the story.
"He had some choice words about Mr. Wright and uh," Apollo paused, covering his mouth. He glanced at Klavier for a second before focusing back on the chair. His next line was whispered. "And Mr. Gavin."
"I imagine that you don't wish to repeat those choice words."
Apollo shook his head. "No, not really."
"Well then, I'm convinced they probably had whatever it was you did to them coming," Klavier said, standing up. He held his hand down for Apollo to take it. "I think that you and I should visit that bottle of scotch I have in my office for nights like this."
"I don't think drinking is the answer," Apollo said, grabbing Klavier's hand. He allowed himself to be tugged to his feet and smiled sadly. The black eye had begun to yellow and Klavier wished Herr Forehead had heard about this earlier. "But hiding in your office sounds better than hanging out here."
"I heard they were stalking your bike?" Klavier asked.
"Reporters," Apollo said. He snorted and snatched up his briefcase. "We weren't exactly subtle about throwing punches, and a couple officers had to split us up."
"And you ran?"
"Not until after he did," Apollo said, choking out a laugh. His grin was self-loathing, but almost proud. "Instinct took over and all I could think about was 'I shouldn't be here when the rest of them show up.' So I made a run for it, instead of sticking to give a proper statement."
"Well, this definitely made for the better story and you're lucky to have friends in high places." Klavier chuckled. He slapped Apollo on the back, before slipping his arm around his shoulder. Klavier gave Apollo a quick side hug. "You definitely need at least one drink."
"Just one," Apollo said, glaring at Klavier.
"Just one," Klavier nodded back.
"I'm going to take a guess he had something stronger than grape juice," Herr Wright said, leaning against the doorframe of his office.
Apollo hung off Klavier's shoulder, singing the last line from one of Klavier's songs from his first album. The rendition was off key and horrible, but it was the attempt that mattered. Herr Wright's gaze was halfway between an amused friend and an angry parent; like he couldn't make up his mind which one he needed to be at the moment. Klavier hoped for the first, considering he was responsible for Apollo's current drunken state.
"To be fair, he was sort of having a bad day," Klavier said, wincing as Apollo tried to move. It was unclear what he wanted to do, but he was in no state to hold himself up. Klavier grabbed Apollo to keep him from falling over and hauled him back up into Klavier's side. "And I probably should have cut him off after the fourth shot."
"And you didn't because?" Herr Wright asked, switching completely to the protective parent role. The understanding friend was long gone and probably wouldn't take "Because Apollo really needed it, and after the third shot he proved to be a cute drunk who knew the lyrics to my songs" as a proper answer.
"He seemed like he needed it," Klavier said, deciding on a half-truth. He tightened his grip on Apollo when he started to yawn and mumble into his jacket. Klavier took a shot in the dark, hoping he wouldn't have to explain everything. "Herr Edgeworth didn't happen to call you about today, did he?"
"He said Apollo was likely to be late, but didn't give me the details, no," Herr Wright said, dropping his hands into his hoodie pockets. His glare increased, and Klavier felt like a beetle pinned to a board under the scrutiny. It was worse than one of Apollo's piercing stares. Herr Wright leaned forward. "Why is Apollo drunk again, now?"
"Cause that bastard called you," Apollo shouted, breaking into the conversation. His eyes were half lidded, and he lurched forward and grabbed the front of Herr Wright's hoodie in his fist. "Called you things I can't repeat 'cause Trucy's home!"
"Did they now?" Herr Wright asked, taking his hands out of his pockets in case he had to catch Apollo.
"He was a jerk," Apollo said, the venom slipping into his drunken slur. His fist twisted in the fabric of Herr Wright's hoodie, the other still locked firmly around Klavier's shoulders. Apollo trembled in his latent anger. "Glad I broke his nose."
"I'm sure he'll explain when he sobers up," Klavier said. He shifted Apollo to pass him off to Herr Wright. "But for now, I think it's time Herr Forehead slept this off."
Herr Wright took Apollo, taking it with complete grace when Apollo latched onto him in an awkward hug. Apollo buried his face into Herr Wright's hoodie and passed out on the spot. Klavier was happy that Herr Wright kept his hold tight, and kept Apollo from spilling on the floor.
"Thanks for bringing him here," Herr Wright said, rubbing Apollo's back. "Instead of dropping him off alone at home. I have a feeling he'll want someone to be around to nurse this hangover in the morning."
"That's what I was figuring," Klavier said. He smiled a little, wishing that he could be that person, but they were still too early in their friendship for that. Better Herr Wright this time. "Besides, I didn't think he should be alone this drunk, and I unfortunately can't stay the night."
"Thanks, Gavin," Herr Wright said. "I'll have him text you in the morning to make sure you know he's okay."
"Thank you," Klavier said. He held his hand up and smiled. "Night, Herr Wright."
"Bye," Herr Wright said. He tugged Apollo inside the office and shut the door.
Klavier dropped his keys in the bowl next to the door, shrugging out of his jacket as he locked up at home. Now that the amusement of babysitting a drunk Apollo had ended, all he had left was his thoughts. And none of them were things he wanted to linger on.
Shedding his clothes on the way to his room, he entered the ensuite naked save for his pendant, and turned on the shower. He ducked his head under the scalding stream of water before stepping inside.
"It sucks when everything you know about being a defense attorney you learned from a serial killer," Apollo had said sometime after the second glass. He'd been mumbling into the table. "I think that's why I hit him so hard. 'Cause it was true."
Klavier had listened to Apollo rant about the insults this man had thrown at Herr Wright about him being a homeless con artist to being a failed art student, but that was nothing compared to the comments thrown in about Kristoph. Add in Apollo's association with both of them, and he couldn't exactly blame Herr Forehead for throwing a few punches.
Either way, the third drink got Apollo past the bend and stumbling around Klavier's office. He smiled under the shower water, remembering the better portions of the night. Apollo had latched onto an album shelf and declared quite drunkenly, "Trucy's got all these. She makes me listen to them."
He put one into Klavier's stereo system a second later, and they both drowned thoughts of the fight and his brother out with old Gavinners tunes.
The evening had gotten much better after that. Up until Apollo declared he wanted a sixth drink, that is, and Klavier noticed he himself had only had one. It was around then he decided the boy needed to go home.
Klavier rinsed out the last of the suds from his hair, watching the bubbles collect on the bottom of his shower. He spent four more minutes under the water before turning off the tap and grabbing a towel.
He hoped everything worked out for Apollo, and he really did get out of any assault charges. Gumshoe was usually good for convincing people to let bygones be bygones, somehow, so Apollo had that in his favor. At the very least, he seemed to have the Head Prosector's support, so that was something. Klavier smiled, shaking his head. "Special Treatment." More like "Edgeworth saved himself the trouble of Herr Wright begging him to help Apollo out later."
Klavier fell on his bed, wet hair spread around the blankets. He checked his phone, on the off chance Apollo drunk dialed him, and threw it on the pillow when it was empty.
He closed his eyes and vowed that next time, he and Apollo would be good enough friends that he could crash at Klavier's place instead of needing to be dragged home to Papa Wright.