I have an Ace Attorney oneshot request, though you don't have to do it if you don't want to. It's basically just Apollo realising he has feelings for Klavier and, in a panic, asking Phoenix on how to ask someone out because, HEY, he's dating the chief prosecutor! He probably knows something about romance! Turns out, Phoenix isn't dating Edgeworth and is simply pinning/has a crush, and then Phoenix asks why he's asking for romance advice because he just assumed Klavier and Apollo were already dating like how Apollo thought Phoenix and Edgeworth were dating. This is kinda long, I know, I just want some fluffy Klapollo and Wrightworth shenanigans
I love this prompt so much. Just saying. The idea of both Apollo and Phoenix being so oblivious to their own situations is hilarious.
Anywho, hope you enjoy! :D
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Word Count: 3150
~ ao3 link ~
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Apollo sat on the couch in the Wright Anything Agency, spinning a pencil between his fingers. He was working on a pretty straightforward case, files laying strewn across the table, but every time he tried to pick up a file he just couldn’t seem to focus on it, mind wandering to a certain prosecutor he knew he’d be facing in the trial. He wasn’t even sure why Klavier had decided to take this case, all of the evidence was pretty obviously leaning in Apollo’s favor, but he couldn’t complain. Not when it meant he’d get to trade banter with the man, subtle smirks across the courtroom, Klavier’s many rings catching the light when he objects-
He groaned, hiding his face in his hands as if he could shut out the imagery. This was so stupid, he just needed to work on the case! Why couldn’t he focus?
Well, he knew why. Didn’t make it any less frustrating.
Gavin was… charming, to say the least. He would strut around crime scenes, get way too invasive of people’s personal space, make flashy flirtatious comments, and just be an all around arrogant jerk. At least, that’s what Apollo’s initial impression of the man had been. How could it not have been when, in Ema’s words, Klavier fit the definition of a “glimmerous fop?”
And yet, there was more to him than that.
Klavier was dramatic to a fault, always putting on a show. He could be arrogant, but that was usually just an act he put on to appease fans. Same with the too-wide smiles and overly confident flirting. All of those things built up the general public’s vision of ‘Klavier Gavin, Rockstar Prosecutor,’ but they weren’t who Klavier really was.
Ever since the Misham Trial, Apollo had managed to start seeing through those walls. Who he found beneath them was… well, Klavier.
Klavier, who could nerd-out about different types of guitars and their pros and cons for hours. Klavier, who stumbled over his words and would accidentally slip into full-German when he got tired or was caught off guard. Klavier, who snorted when he laughed and got embarrassed about it afterwards. Klavier, who preferred small, local restaurants to big fancy ones despite absolutely having the money to afford those luxuries.
Klavier, who’d slid his way into Apollo’s heart without him even noticing.
Apollo sighed, leaning back against the couch and staring at the ceiling. He wasn’t getting anywhere like this. He hadn’t even noticed it had gotten this bad until the night before, laying in bed, flashes of Klavier’s laugh playing over and over in his head like a broken record. All he had been able to do was lay there in the dark as his entire world turned upside down. And worse, he couldn’t even talk to anyone about it!
Trucy would tease him relentlessly if she found out. She already joked about him and Klavier going on dates, he didn’t need to add more fuel to that fire before he was ready. Clay came to mind, but he was away at the space center until further notice, and Apollo wasn’t sure he could take the teasing from that side either. And there was no way he was telling Ema about this–he’d never live it down.
Well, that was it. His entire friend circle was out, so there was nothing left to do but sit and wallow in his own self-pity-
“Apollo?” He jolted upright, so startled he almost broke the pencil he was still aimlessly spinning around. Nobody else was supposed to be in the office, Trucy had gone off to practice magic tricks and Mr. Wright had gone out to lunch with Mr. Edgeworth-
And yet there Mr. Wright stood, having just walked into the office, a humored expression on his face at Apollo’s reaction. He must have just gotten back from their lunch date… wait. Wait, that was it! Of course, why hadn’t he thought of it sooner?!
“M-Mr. Wright!” Apollo basically screamed, then winced at the sound of his own voice. Wright didn’t seem all that phased, used to the assault on his ears by now.
“Lost in thought there, kid?” Wright chuckled, tossing his briefcase haphazardly across the room. Apollo was too distracted to make a comment about it, he had priorities. Wright walked over and slumped down onto the opposite couch, leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees. “Case got ya stuck? Want me to take a look?”
“Yes- wait, I mean no, the case is insultingly simple, but yes!” Apollo stammered out, his poor boss simply raising an eyebrow. “Yes, meaning I was lost in thought, not about the case though. But I think you can still help?”
“Ah, you’re looking for some good ol’ Phoenix Wright wisdom then.” Phoenix leaned back, holding a hand up to make a finger-gun motion. “Alright, kid. Shoot me.”
“H-huh?” Apollo paused, and Phoenix chuckled.
“Figure of speech, Apollo.” Apollo blinked, and Phoenix sighed. “Forget it. What’s on your mind?” Apollo shook his head, taking a breath before opening and closing his mouth, trying to figure out the best way to word this.
“Well, uh…” Holy Mother, this was awkward. He rubbed at his bracelet, furrowing his brow. “So, uh, I’m gay?” There was a moment of silence, Apollo screaming internally because that was not what he’d meant to say why the fuck did he say that, before Phoenix burst out laughing.
“Yeah, that was pretty obvious.” Apollo stammered in response, flushing.
“L-look, that’s not the point, ok?” It took a moment for his boss to stop laughing at him, but when he did, Apollo continued. “Thing is, I… I like this guy. And I don’t know how to go about handling that because he’s a prosecutor and a really cool guy and I’m me and I don’t wanna mess up our friendship but also I can’t stop thinking about him and then I thought ‘hey, Mr. Wright is married to Mr. Edgeworth who’s also a prosecutor’ and so I thought you might be able to give me some advice because I have no idea what I’m doing?” The entire thing came out as a jumble of words, and probably wouldn’t have made any sense to anyone except for Phoenix Wright, who was used to deciphering Trucy.
Even so, Phoenix looked baffled. Apollo sighed, opening his mouth to repeat himself in a more understandable manner, when Phoenix cut in.
“Hold on, just- ok, wait. Slow down.” Wright leaned forward again, putting a hand to his head like he suddenly had a headache from the influx in information Apollo had just spat at him. “I’m gonna go in order here, ok?”
Apollo clamped his mouth shut and nodded.
“Ok. Number one: This ‘guy’ you’re talking about. It’s the Gavin kid, right?” Apollo felt his heart stutter for a moment, considering playing dumb, before he remembered his boss literally had a lie-detecting rock. Silently, he nodded again. “Ok. Ok. Follow up question, then… you two aren’t already dating?”
Apollo blinked. Then blinked again. Then he finally processed what had been said.
“WHAT??” He shouted, loud enough this time for Wright to flinch back, covering his ears. “Wha- what do you- ALREADY DATING???”
“Ok! Ok! Calm down.” Phoenix shouted back, putting his hands up in a placating motion one might use to calm down a puppy. Apollo tried to interject again, but Phoenix beat him to it. “To be fair, you thought me and Edgeworth were dating, so we’re even.”
Apollo felt like his eyes were going to shoot out of his head. Scratch that, like his entire brain was going to be shot out like a cannonball and sink to the bottom of the ocean.
“YOU’RE NOT-”
“Volume, Apollo, volume!” Apollo clamped his mouth shut again, letting his eyes do the screaming for him. Phoenix met his gaze for a moment before letting out a sound that sounded like a mix between a sigh and a laugh. “Ok, this is gonna take a while. Coffee?”
“I- you-”
“Coffee it is!”
~~~
By the time Wright returned with coffee, which took much longer than it should have since the coffee machine was literally in his office, Apollo had partially calmed down. Only partially.
“So, let’s start this the easy way.” Phoenix said, seeming far too chill about all of this, though Apollo could spot about three different ways he’d been fidgeting in the past five seconds. On a normal day it was usually only two. “What are your questions?”
“You aren’t dating Mr. Edgeworth?”
“No, I’m not.”
“...you’re both aware of this?”
“Yes, we are.” Phoenix, despite his obvious confusion, chuckled at that one. Apollo spared a glance at his bracelet, which sat unmoving on his wrist. Not a lie. Damn. Well, there went that logic. He paused for a moment, thinking, before looking up at his boss with a dead-serious expression.
“And you have no intention of ever dating?” His boss froze, and Apollo smirked. Gottem. Phoenix opened his mouth to reply, likely to deny the implications, but his eyes wandered to Apollo’s bracelet and he stopped. After a few moments, he sighed, a defeated look crossing his face.
“You can’t say anything about it, you’re pining for a prosecutor too.” Apollo gawked, flushing, as a small smirk grew on Phoenix’s face.
“Those are two entirely different scenarios!” He insisted, voice raising in pitch.
“Really? How, exactly? Because how I see it-”
“Well, for one, I’ve only known Klavier for a few months max. You’ve known Mr. Edgeworth for decades. You were literally childhood friends, like c’mon! Sure, you probably didn’t like him like that until you two were adults, but that’s still a long time.” He expected a refute, but Wright wouldn’t even meet his gaze after that last sentence, chuckling awkwardly.
“Well, you see…” Apollo blinked. Then blinked again.
“No.”
“...yeah.”
“Mr. Wright, no.” Apollo groaned, torn between laughing at his boss’s expense and feeling bad for him. “Since you were children?? What grade did you even meet in?!”
“...fourth grade. We were nine. He defended me in class after someone accused me of stealing his lunch money because I was missing in P.E.” Phoenix rubbed the back of his neck, an embarrassed smile playing on his lips. “We uh… we hadn’t talked before that.”
“Are you telling me this was love at first sight in the fourth grade??” Apollo screamed.
“Please, Trucy told me how your face looked when you met Gavin for the first time. ‘Lovesick puppy’ is how she described it, I believe. You can’t tell me you don’t believe in love at first sight, kid.”
“I never said I didn’t, but that was like, six months ago, tops! And I’m trying to figure out how to act on it! Meanwhile you two are sitting there acting like a married couple when you’re actually just a pining hooligan!” Apollo’s words caught up to him, and he smacked a hand over his mouth. He’d just said that. To his boss. Oh, he was so fired.
Or he would be, if this wasn’t Phoenix fucking Wright.
“...acting like a married couple?” Phoenix echoed, raising an eyebrow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You mean it isn’t on purpose?” Apollo started, eyes wide, as Phoenix just stared back at him, dumbfounded, and shrugged. “You two have literally discussed the economic benefits of marriage, at length, numerous times.”
“Well, yeah, because Edgeworth is interested in that! If that’s your entire defense-”
“Oh, I’m not done.” He smirked, leaning back and crossing his arms. “He’s at every single one of Trucy’s performances despite mentioning how busy his schedule is whenever he needs to make plans. You’ve walked in here wearing magenta turtleneck sweaters that absolutely are not yours. You both spend your lunch breaks together at least twice a week, hell, you just came back from visiting him! Not to mention the sickening longing in both of your eyes whenever you’re within like, a mile of each other. Like seriously, if Mr. Edgeworth thinks he’s being subtle when he slides the phrase ‘that man’ in every other conversation, I’m not sure how he wins some cases. He literally has a chess board with pieces custom-made to be themed around you two just sitting in his office! Also, just look at him for two seconds when he goes up against you in court! He’s literally staring at you with that look in his eyes-”
“Apollo.” Wright cut in, voice sounding much harsher than before. Apollo immediately shut up, having gotten so lost in the rambling he hadn’t noticed his boss stiffening up.
“...too much?”
“What- oh, no-” Phoenix shook his head, sighing. “It’s just- half of the things your saying aren’t even relevant to what you’re trying to prove.”
“...huh?”
“You’re giving me examples of why you thought me and Edgeworth were in a relationship, right?”
“...well, married, but yeah.”
“Married-” Phoenix choked on the word, but recovered. “-regardless, you keep giving inaccurate examples of Edgeworth’s actions.” Phoenix reached down to take another sip of his coffee, and Apollo furrowed his brow, playing his own words back in his head to try to figure out what Phoenix was talking about. How was any of that inaccurate? He’d only listed off all of the ways they were quite obviously pining for each other, that should be proof enough! He was literally a witness to this, after all-
…unless.
“Mr. Wright…” Apollo started, hesitantly trying to figure out how to ask this in the most respectful way possible so as to not be stuck on toilet duty for the next… forever. “You, uh… you are aware that Mr. Edgeworth quite obviously uh… he very clearly has romantic intent Mr. Wright.”
Wright choked on the coffee he was trying to drink, sending half of it right back into his mug.
“I-” He was cut off by a coughing fit, catching his breath before continuing. “What, no, that’s just… that’s just Edgeworth, Apollo!”
“...right. Tell me, who else does he always make time for despite his work schedule being so crammed sometimes he should probably have a team of people doing his job? Who else does he offer to replace a broken printer for ‘just because,’ or spend hours consulting on cases despite knowing he’s helping you beat him?” Phoenix went to respond, then blinked. Apollo could see the exact moment when the pieces clicked in his head–the way his eyes widened just slightly, his breath caught, and a slight tremor went through his hands.
“Oh. Shit.” Phoenix said, staring intently at the floor before bursting out in sporadic laughter, startling Apollo. “Wow. Wow, we’re both idiots, then.”
“Yup, you and Mr. Edgeworth-”
“No, no.” Phoenix cut in, still wheezing. “Me and you, Apollo. I mean, yeah, me and Edgeworth have… quite a bit to talk about, it seems, but that wasn’t the meaning of that ‘both.’”
“What-” Apollo began to ask, then it hit him. Immediately, he backtracked. “Oh, oh no, no, Mr. Wright that’s not-”
“You were so gracious as to list off the reasons you thought me and Edgeworth were involved, so how about I return the favor? The Justice and Gavin Chronicles, ey?” Phoenix smirked, and all Apollo could do was sit there, dread building in his stomach.
“You really don’t have to-”
“Ah, yes, but that’s what makes me so generous.” He did a mock-bow while sitting down. It looked stupid. When Apollo’s embarrassed glare didn’t ease up, the smirk fell slightly off of Phoenix’s face, shifting into a softer grin. “Look, bud. You like him, that much is obvious, right?”
No point in denying that one at this point. Apollo confirmed.
“Good. Now, you’re pretty good at putting pieces together, so let me give you the pieces, and you can choose how you wanna see them.” Phoenix leaned forward, looking far less smug about all of this than Apollo had when he’d been listing off examples. It almost made him feel guilty. “You mentioned me and Edgeworth going out to lunch, looking over cases together–you do the same thing with Gavin. Gavin flirts with you every time you step into a room, and sure, he does that a lot with people, but anyone with eyes can see the difference when it’s with you. He just seems more relaxed, and…”
Phoenix pulls a small green rock out of his pocket. Apollo distantly recognizes it as a magatama.
“He isn’t lying when he says stuff like that. Not in the slightest.” He puts the magatama back in his pocket, and instead gestures to Apollo’s bracelet. “I know you know that. Even if it was a joke, you’d be able to pick up on subtle tells, right? Tell me, Apollo, do his comments set off your bracelet?”
Apollo stared down at his wrist, knowing the answer immediately. No, they don’t. He knew because he’d specifically paid attention to it, he’d focused on it, looked for any sign that Gavin was just playing around with him… and he never was.
Something on Apollo’s face must have revealed his thoughts, because Phoenix shot him a smile before standing up, walking over to the door. It seemed like he was about to walk out-
“Hey!” Phoenix stopped, casting a glance over his shoulder. “Where are you going?”
“Back to the prosecutor’s office.” Phoenix replied, cracking the door open. “I just realized I left something pretty important behind. Figured I’d go find it.”
“You did?” Apollo raised an eyebrow, glancing over to where Phoenix’s briefcase was still haphazardly laying on the floor. “I thought you only brought your briefcase with your case files?”
Phoenix stared at him. Apollo stared back.
Then it clicked.
“Oh.”
“Oh, indeed, Apollo.” Phoenix chuckled, winking. “If Truce asks where I am, let her know-”
“Herr Wright!” Both Apollo and Phoenix froze at the familiar voice. Phoenix slowly opened the door to the agency the rest of the way, revealing the one and only Klavier Gavin standing outside, who then spotted Apollo sitting on the couch. “Herr Forehead! Figured I’d stop in and see how the case investigation was going, exchange notes, ja?” He held up a case file, beaming.
Phoenix sent Apollo a knowing look. Apollo glared back.
“Yup, cool, bye Mr. Wright!” Apollo squeaked, and Phoenix huffed a laugh, patting Klavier on the shoulder before walking out, leaving the two of them alone. Klavier stood in the doorframe, shifting his weight between his legs and spinning one of the rings on his left hand with his thumb.
“So… the case?” Klavier sounded so unsure that Apollo couldn’t help but find it endearing.
Well, if Phoenix could walk out of here with the intention of telling Edgeworth, Apollo wasn’t going to be the coward. Finding it weirdly easy to smile, chest feeling light, Apollo beamed back.
“Shut the door behind you, yeah? I’ve got something I wanna tell you first.”
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