Chapter Text
Apollo woke to the sight of fluorescent light piercing his brain. Whoever invented those lights should be in prison. He tried to roll away from them but a sharp pain reverberating throughout his entire body sobered him to his current situation. He was back in the hospital. Shit. He needed to get back, he had found something vital, he needed to tell Athena. Apollo attempted to jolt upwards, but the immense pain had rendered most of his joints useless. A figure sitting next to his bed looked up from a magazine they were absent-mindedly staring at.
“Wakey, wakey, Apollo,” Wright said, crossing his legs as he set the magazine down, “feeling better?”
“I-” Apollo started, his voice felt ruff and groggy, “I need to tell Athena–”
“Don’t worry about it. Court ended already, and we found the blood stain.” After Apollo’s brain had time to catch up he let his body fall back against the hospital bed.
“I’m glad you’re okay, I would hate for you to become the victim in yet another one of my murder trials,” Phoenix said, leaning back in his chair. They sat there for a while, Phoenix staring at the ceiling panels while Apollo was trying desperately to avoid them.
“I’m going… I’m going to take a leave of absents.” Apollo muttered.
“Okay,” Wright deadpanned, a hint of confusion just underneath, “what are you planning on doing with that time?”
“I’m not sure yet…” Apollo could feel Wright's eyes on him but he continued avoiding both Wright and the lights above, “I’m… I don’t know…”
“Okay,” Wright repeated, putting more efforting into the calmness of his voice, “where are you planning on staying?”
“I– I have somewhere” he was lying through his teeth.
Wright sat there for a moment more, seeming as if he was mulling something over in his head, probably whether or not he should continue to badger Apollo with questions.
“Trucy came by this morning,” He paused, “she would have stayed longer but she had to set up a show. I think the place was called Trick Shot, or maybe it was Magic Potion,” Wright trailed, “anyways, she brought you this,” He handed Apollo a small bag which he promptly opened. The bag was filled with what seemed to be an assortment of party favors; sticky hands, tiny plastic instruments, a few eraser animals, and a pack of brightly colored ‘good job!’ stickers. Apollo laughed even though it sent waves of pain throughout his body.
“She said it would make you feel better.” Wright smiled fondly.
“Tell her thanks, truly.”
“You mean Trucy ” Wright teased
“I hate you” he grinned. Apollo reached in and pulled out a plastic harmonica, handing the bag to Phoenix who drew out a mini saxophone.
“There is no way in hell these work,” Apollo laughed.
“Only one way to find out,” Wright raised the plastic to his lips and blew. A shrieking whistle attune to the sound of a million baby birds getting launched into the sun rang out.
“Oh god, my ears,” Apollo cried, “my poor ears,”
“Yeah, remind me to burn this later,” Wright cackled, reaching and pulling out a different instrument. Each time he would play it right before Apollo’s hands were able to reach his ears. Phoenix had soon reviewed every plastic instrument Trucy had brought and was now informing Apollo of his list of best to worst,
“Number one has to be the kazoo, it’s hard to go wrong with an instrument that is meant to be bad. Then probably in the number two spot would be the tiny piano. The keys were so tiny and I’m still confused about how it worked,”
“Yeah, still sounded better than your regular playing,” Apollo jabbed.
“I’m going to ignore that.” Phoenix side-eyed him, “anyways, third goes to harmonica, not very wide range but did work as intended. And last and notably least is that goddamn saxophone; I hope you rot in hell.” Wright glared at the instrument he had put in a different pile from the rest.
“What about the other ones?” Apollo noted. He had left out a few horns, a mini violin, and a guitar.
“None of those really count. They looked cool but they couldn’t play so that kinda makes them terrible.”
“So they are below the saxophone?” Apollo said, picking up half of the piles and returning them to the paper bag.
“No. they are all tied for fourth. No sound is still better than that.” He scowled down at it then chuckled to himself as he helped Apollo clean up. They spent a bit more time having Phoenix sum up the trial, but soon the street lights outside the window began to flicker on. Phoenix at some point turned off some of the overhead lights after Apollo spent five minutes cursing their inventor.
The door to the room slid open and a nurse stepped in, “Ah Mr. Justice, I am here to take your vitals and charts.”
“I guess that is my cue to leave,” Phoenix stood up, reaching over to ruffle Apollo’s hair, “take care now.”
*****
Apollo did his best to keep himself busy, his mind kept drifting to the courtroom… and Clay. He spent over an hour flipping through channels on a poorly connected tv in the corner of the room. He knew he should probably be resting, but his mind was wandering and it was near impossible to catch.
Soon, a nurse entered his room and requested his dinner order. This made him realize just how long it had been since he last ate. When the food arrived he was off put by the texture of the vegetables but ate everything else.
“Excuse me, Mr. Justice?” A nurse poked his head inside the door, “You have a visitor, they said it was urgent.”
Oh! “Let them in,” Apollo tried not to show the concern in his voice, his mind racing to every conclusion he could possibly draw. The nurse took his plate and left. Even though he just ate, his body felt empty as nervous tendencies took over his leg, bouncing violently.
A minute later a knock on his door rang through his ear. Even though he was expecting it the sound make him jump.
“Come in,” Apollo said tentatively. The door slid open, catching near the end, forcing the person to kinda slam it. Klavier stood in the doorway. Their hair was unusually frazzled, and they were breathing heavily.
“What the FUCK!” Apollo shouted. What was urgent about this?! He had just spent what felt like hours stressing over anything from him forgetting to lock Clay's apartment door to Mr. Wright getting hit by another car and actually getting hurt.
“ You… ” Klavier sethed, “You… you dumb BITCH!” They shouted back, staring right into Apollo’s eyes. He felt as if Klav might be more deadly than any bomb could ever be.
“WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! GOING AROUND, BACK IN COURT RIGHT AFTER YOU ALMOST DIED?!?” Klavier stormed towards him. A person passing by in the hallway gave Apollo a concerned look before closing the door. Thanks for the help. Apollo internally cursed.
“APOLLO! DON’T TRY AND PLAN YOUR ESCAPE!” Klavier must have caught him glancing at the door.
“I–” Apollo sputtered, “I’m sorry…”
“Bitte entschuldige dich nicht, ich fühle mich schlecht…” Klavier rambled as they looked away, “Warum bin ich überhaupt hierher gekommen, du wirst es einfach wieder tun…” they raised their hand to cover their face. Apollo could tell by their tone that he might be in big trouble. He didn’t understand Germen, but that wasn’t going to stop him from blabbering excuses,
“I’m sorry– I,” He stuttered, still trying to come up with what he wanted to say while he was saying it.
“Stop,” Klavier sighed, hands falling revealing eyes still averted, “I’m the one–” their voice cut off as they looked over at Apollo, who had slung his legs over the side of the bed. Klavier’s eyes widened. Apollo had gotten used to it but the sight of his entire body being wrapped in gauze made Klavier's face flicker between what looked like mild panic, concern, and unbridled rage.
“You…” They looked as if their entire body would shatter if Apollo said anything, so he chose to completely freeze halfway through his motion.
“YOU,” their eyes filled with fire, erasing the gap between them in seconds. They grabbed the front of Apollo’s shirt, but the flame died the moment they made contact.
“You…” their voice trailed, they dropped their head, blonde curls falling to cover their face. They didn’t let go of him. Instead, slumping down further, falling into level with Apollo.
And for a moment, they clung there, hands grasping at the front of Apollo’s shirt.
“Why…” their voice trailed off, “why didn’t you… I should have been there, I should have…” Klavier’s voice hitched into sobs. This was the first time Apollo had ever seen them cry. It was beautiful, flaxen coils falling over their face, streaks of tears running off of their cheeks and onto the hospital bed. And at that moment, Apollo understood.
Klavier, under all of their anger, was scared. They always seemed to end up as a pawn in someone else’s game. They watched as everyone around them did horrible things or suffered greatly at the hands of people they trusted, and they ended up being powerless to stop it all. Each and every one of their victories was fake or undermined by the fact that it was a loss for someone they cared about. Apollo could see it in their eyes, years of pain held together with anger and the worst song lyrics Apollo had ever heard.
“Klav–” Apollo started, words catching in his throat. He didn’t know what to say. But in his silence, Klavier grabbed his shoulders and pulled him close. They were very warm but kept their touch soft, fearing that they might hurt his skin further. Despite his shock, Apollo reached his arms around them, he let his face rest in the crook of their neck. Despite the fact that Klav was standing while Apollo sat, He seemed to fit perfectly there, his body relaxing ever so slightly in their embrace.
“I’m sorry-”
“Apollo” Klavier cut him off. Their voice was right by his ear, making him inhale sharply as heat filled his body.
“Please don’t try and apologize…” Their words were smooth but held a lot of weight, “I’m the one… I should have…” the waver in their voice returned.
“Klav, I’m okay now,” He didn’t want to bring up the fact that even if they were there, there would have been nothing they could have done. Apollo could swear he felt Klav inhale with his words. He decided to ignore the way his bracelet tightened against his wrist, instead, he focus on drawing small circles on Klavier’s back. This first made his bracelet almost cut off his hand’s circulation before promptly returning to normal.
“This isn’t fair.” Klavier huffed into his neck, “You’re the one who needs comforting.” They reached up to wipe some of the tears from their now very red face, not meeting Apollo’s eyes.
Klavier then quickly dropped their arms and rushed to sit in the visitor's chair as the door slid open and a nurse stepped in.
“Good evening,” She said, flipping through papers on a clipboard. “Your charts came back, they look very good, Mr. Justice.” She typed something into the computer standing in the corner, Klavier taking the opportunity to furiously wipe their face, effectively making it less wet but more frazzled looking.
“You should be clear to go home by tomorrow,” she smiled, “we just need to keep you a bit longer just in case.” She hummed as she unhooked and replace Apollo's IV bag. She then handed Klavier a few pieces of paper that made their cheeks flush as they read them.
“This is a list of all of the at-home care the doctor wishes you to follow. Any medications listed are available for pick up at the pharmacy downstairs near the main entrance.” She took a few notes on the clipboard before hanging it back on the end of the bed. “You are free to leave tomorrow whenever you’d like, just remember to sign out and schedule a follow-up.”
“Thank you.” Apollo nodded as she turned and left. The moment the door clicked closed, Klavier handed Apollo the papers and mumbled something.
“What?” He asked as he glanced down at the list.
“...you…you can stay with me…” Klavier was looking away, their ears reddening as they spoke.
“What?”
“JUST READ IT you bum” Their words fizzled and died as they continued to be unnaturally interested in the opposite wall. Apollo looked back down and began to read:
‘...Patient will require assistance applying certain medication, see pg. 3…... Refrain from raising hands above the head or overextending limbs to avoid damaging skin…...change bandages daily, washing carefully with non-running water…’
Oh. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what Klavier was proposing, and Apollo was no genius or he would have questioned why his left hand had become numb.
He didn’t want to go back to the Wright household after the way he had left, and there wouldn’t be room either way with Athena currently sleeping on their couch. He had ended up staying at multiple hotels after he no longer felt comfortable staying in Clay’s apartment while he was away. His pause when he looked up made Klavier backtrack,
“I mean– only if you want, I can call Wright, or help you find someone else-”
“No– I mean yes, I don’t mind staying with you, but only if it’s 100% okay with you–”
“Of course!” Klavier jumped at the volume of their own voice, “It’s– it’s the least I can do.” they glanced at the window and laughed, “We might have to take the bus though, I'm not sure the doctor wants you on a motorcycle.”