madimpossibledreamer (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
madimpossibledreamer) wrote2024-09-08 01:43 pm
madimpossibledreamer) wrote2024-09-08 01:43 pm
Entry tags:
Putting the Clues Together
Main Points:
Ace Attorney AU Unexpected Evidence series
Summary: Apollo goes to ask Klavier for late night help and gets a surprisingly honest conversation with his rival.
Word Count: 695
Rating: Teen
And then there’s a moment where he panics, because that’s Kristoph sitting there, pouring over documents, getting his case together like the cool boss he is. Fortunately, Klavier doesn’t have to witness him losing his mind over here at the door because he’s a bit too engrossed in his work, and also fortunate that while maybe not as cool as the sunglasses or whatever, he chose the absolute most garishly purple pair of glasses he could find. Kristoph would not be caught dead in that pair. Or the ponytail.
It’s...weird seeing him like this. Never mind the garish clothing; like this, he could almost take Klavier seriously. He knows that his ‘court rival’ is annoyingly smart and ridiculously kind and all that, but it’s still easy to fall for the façade, to see the over the top dramatics and not look any closer.
For a moment, it feels like an intrusion, like something behind the curtain he’s not meant to see. And then, as he looks further, there’s signs of applied makeup trying to hide how tired the man is, and he suddenly feels irrationally angry, because Klavier for all the image is just a guy and he should get to have bad days and not have to watch his every waking move for the media. And, like, he even knows that’s not all an act. He hadn’t been able to get that conversation with Ema out of his head, so he’d looked it up, and they have pretty open interviews about mental health and most of the band being some flavor of queer, but it’s hard to tell in moments like this if that makeup is for the outside world or for himself. Apollo had to deal with Kristoph’s expectations, too.
He’d feel like a bit of a creep just standing here any longer watching the guy, though, so he says out loud, “If this is a bad time I can come back later.”
Klavier’s startled, but it’s actually kind of adorable to see that yeah, it’s not an act, he really does light up when he sees Apollo. It makes the worries he’s had about being a burden or Klavier feeling like he has to be nice or whatever go away. “Ach! Forehead. Gute Nacht, sorry, I didn’t…” He trails off into some incomprehensible mix of English and German and then shakes it off with a yawn. “Can I be of help?”
“According to Franziska if you keep calling me Forehead, I should start calling you Piano.” It’s actually kind of fun to watch him get flustered for once.
Still, the tone as Klavier continues is a little guilty. “She is, no doubt, still angry about my use of the word ‘Fräulein’. Which I didn’t realize had fallen into disuse, and for good reason, too. It’s not as if I’ve been back to the country of my birth since I was a child, aside from a tour in Europe or two.”
“I mean, it’s a nice name and all, but what kind of parents would name their kid ‘piano’?” He’s genuinely curious.
“Not the parents. I don’t know if it’s expanded, but I vaguely remember there being governmental lists of names. Slow to change, as you might expect from bureaucracy.” Which probably means...he’d chosen that, as a kid, when they’d come to America. Apollo’s guess is confirmed by Klavier’s next words. “Meine Mutter—I barely remember her, but she was sehr gut at piano. No doubt Kristoph thought it too sentimental, ja?” His face and voice turns a little bitter, and Apollo can’t blame him, but the guy has already ruined way too much. No point in letting that continue.
“Well, he’s been established in court to be an asshole, and I think it’s sweet, so he can suck it,” he insists.
Klavier’s honest laugh, it turns out, is very pretty.
Ace Attorney AU Unexpected Evidence series
Summary: Apollo goes to ask Klavier for late night help and gets a surprisingly honest conversation with his rival.
Word Count: 695
Rating: Teen
“Hey, um, Klavier?” Unlike usual, there’s no cheerful, overly friendly greeting in response. It is kinda later than Apollo would prefer to be working, but from everything Apollo’s seen Klavier might be a night owl and Ms. Wells assured him that Klavier hadn’t left yet, so Apollo cautiously pushes open the door.
And then there’s a moment where he panics, because that’s Kristoph sitting there, pouring over documents, getting his case together like the cool boss he is. Fortunately, Klavier doesn’t have to witness him losing his mind over here at the door because he’s a bit too engrossed in his work, and also fortunate that while maybe not as cool as the sunglasses or whatever, he chose the absolute most garishly purple pair of glasses he could find. Kristoph would not be caught dead in that pair. Or the ponytail.
It’s...weird seeing him like this. Never mind the garish clothing; like this, he could almost take Klavier seriously. He knows that his ‘court rival’ is annoyingly smart and ridiculously kind and all that, but it’s still easy to fall for the façade, to see the over the top dramatics and not look any closer.
For a moment, it feels like an intrusion, like something behind the curtain he’s not meant to see. And then, as he looks further, there’s signs of applied makeup trying to hide how tired the man is, and he suddenly feels irrationally angry, because Klavier for all the image is just a guy and he should get to have bad days and not have to watch his every waking move for the media. And, like, he even knows that’s not all an act. He hadn’t been able to get that conversation with Ema out of his head, so he’d looked it up, and they have pretty open interviews about mental health and most of the band being some flavor of queer, but it’s hard to tell in moments like this if that makeup is for the outside world or for himself. Apollo had to deal with Kristoph’s expectations, too.
He’d feel like a bit of a creep just standing here any longer watching the guy, though, so he says out loud, “If this is a bad time I can come back later.”
Klavier’s startled, but it’s actually kind of adorable to see that yeah, it’s not an act, he really does light up when he sees Apollo. It makes the worries he’s had about being a burden or Klavier feeling like he has to be nice or whatever go away. “Ach! Forehead. Gute Nacht, sorry, I didn’t…” He trails off into some incomprehensible mix of English and German and then shakes it off with a yawn. “Can I be of help?”
“According to Franziska if you keep calling me Forehead, I should start calling you Piano.” It’s actually kind of fun to watch him get flustered for once.
Still, the tone as Klavier continues is a little guilty. “She is, no doubt, still angry about my use of the word ‘Fräulein’. Which I didn’t realize had fallen into disuse, and for good reason, too. It’s not as if I’ve been back to the country of my birth since I was a child, aside from a tour in Europe or two.”
“I mean, it’s a nice name and all, but what kind of parents would name their kid ‘piano’?” He’s genuinely curious.
“Not the parents. I don’t know if it’s expanded, but I vaguely remember there being governmental lists of names. Slow to change, as you might expect from bureaucracy.” Which probably means...he’d chosen that, as a kid, when they’d come to America. Apollo’s guess is confirmed by Klavier’s next words. “Meine Mutter—I barely remember her, but she was sehr gut at piano. No doubt Kristoph thought it too sentimental, ja?” His face and voice turns a little bitter, and Apollo can’t blame him, but the guy has already ruined way too much. No point in letting that continue.
“Well, he’s been established in court to be an asshole, and I think it’s sweet, so he can suck it,” he insists.
Klavier’s honest laugh, it turns out, is very pretty.