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Apollo grips the edge of the sink, narrowing his eyes as he stares at himself in the mirror.
“I’m Apollo Justice, and I’m fine,” he grits out.
He scoffs. No, that one was weak. Let’s try that again.
He closes his eyes, taking a deep breath. This time, he shouts, “I’M APOLLO JUSTICE AND I’M FINE!”
Behind him, he hears someone stumble and drop something. A book? He’s expecting a curse to accompany the sound, a fuck or shit or hell of some kind, but all that can be heard is a very intense, “ ach .”
Apollo jumps, whipping around to face the bathroom door. The open door. Maybe he should have closed it. It probably wouldn’t have done much to block the yelling, though. Especially not when there is someone standing in the doorway.
“I was not expecting such a… warm welcome,” says the certain someone. Apollo scrunches his nose.
“How the hell did you get in here, Gavin ?”
Klavier raises his hands in surrender, grinning. “Herr Terran was kind enough to let me in on his way out. I thought I would surprise you, but it seems we both ended up with a bit of a shock, ja?”
Apollo crosses his arms. He’ll deal with Clay later. “Addressing everyone with Herr or Frau makes you sound pretentious, just so you know,” he says in lieu of an actual reply.
“Always the critic, Forehead.”
“God, nevermind, go back to the Herrs. I’d rather not be addressed as Forehead .”
Klavier laughs, shaking his head. “Manner of address aside, may I inquire about what I was interrupting?” he asks, gesturing between Apollo and the mirror. Apollo flushes red in return, glancing off to the side.
“It’s- a routine. Why do you even care?” he bites back.
Klavier shrugs. “Simply curious, that’s all. I like learning about you.” He flips that stupid pointy piece of hair in the center of his face, “Every nugget of information is like striking gold.” Apollo could almost imagine the anime sparkles and panning shot that would accompany him if he were animated.
“Never say anything like that again.”
“Verstanden,” Klavier nods.
Apollo shakes his head. “Whatever- it’s just-” he uncrosses his arms, shoving them into the pockets of his hoodie, “something I do a lot. In the mornings or before a stressful event. It’s- a motivator, y’know? It’s like a promise to myself. Even if I’m not actually fine, I will be. Nothing big,” he explains, looking back at Klavier.
Klavier’s grin has turned into something more accurately described as a smile, a gentle one at that, and it makes Apollo have to look away again. “Hm, that’s actually a good idea. Mind if I borrow that one sometime?”
Apollo bites his lip. “I mean-” well, does he care? He tries to fabricate an argument against it in his head, why Klavier doesn’t deserve to share this tradition, but he can’t actually come up with anything. Sure, he can go on with Ema about how Klavier’s a flashy and annoying fop, but Apollo’s grown fond of him over the months. Despite the general gaudiness, he's a surprisingly decent guy and a damn good Meister to boot. “If you want,” Apollo eventually concedes, shrugging his shoulders. Klavier probably has no idea what the significance of the phrase is to him, anyway. Who cares? That’s something he can keep to himself.
Klavier looks curious, probably about the pause Apollo took for his internal debate, but ends up not commenting on it. “Danke. Now,” he tilts his head towards the main area and- oh, he brought a bookbag. That explains the thud earlier, “on the topic of stressful events, I was hoping you wouldn’t mind some studying together. I find tests to be much less nerve wracking when you have someone to work with.”
“Ah- yeah, sure. I was planning to hit the books anyway. Just give me a sec.” Apollo takes a step to leave, before realizing there’s a roadblock. He gestures to Klavier, “Uh, if you could-”
Klavier startles, seemingly forgetting he was standing in the doorway, and stepping back. “Of course, Entschuldigung.”
Apollo squeezes past and heads off to his room. He is so not excited to study, but at least he’ll be in decent company.
From outside his room, he hears Klavier call out, “You know, you should shout ‘I’m fine’ every time you transform! It could be your catchphrase,” and immediately regrets thinking positively about the fop.