#Walking spoiler Kristoph Gavin over here

[characteroulette]

I am literally so ill about how Apollo and Klavier are so perfectly foils and yet the same to one another

Their first trials ended in disaster!! They won but it didn't feel like it!! Phoenix using forged evidence to end things broke their trust in their work!!! They both vowed then and there to dig out the truth of their cases above all else!!

They had close ties to a murderer!! They both feel complicated love and hate for someone who was proven to be a petty murderer and nothing more!! They look in the mirror and see how their reflection is not entirely their own, how they took those habits and gestures learned from a murderer and still hold them in themselves!!

They're simple on the outside, complex on the inside!! To the point that they're so often misinterpreted!! Apollo is brash and anxious and desperate for connection, Klavier is a perfectionist and bold and desperate for connection!! They're the same and opposites!! They're each others' other half!!!!!

Gosh they make me so insane. They were made for one another and both summarily swept out the door. Aaaaugh

[crplpunkklavier]

I'm rereading Exorcism (now that its finished! yahoo) and I love Kitty Poes sm shes such an interesting characterrr would you wanna tell me about your process for developing her? ig I couldve DMed you but I myself love a chance to rant publicly so here you go lmao. I am unfortunately only on chapter 14 (though I got further than that last time) so if you wanna be spoilery just give me a warning and I'll read it later >:3c

kitty my best friend kitty

i think i can go over this without any spoilers past chapter 14! you have already seen her big arc and i am sooo happy people liked her <333

so! i've never mentioned this to anyone before, but kitty is a bit of a riff off of one of my oldest OCs. when i was about 18, i was big into katekyo hitman reborn, mostly because i was even bigger into organized crime as a general topic. catalena foggia was the youngest of four, and after a rival family took out her parents and all three of her older brothers (you know, the sort of backstory you give people as a teenager) she very grimly stepped up to the throne.

now whenever i need a female character with a "hello, i Run This Place" air about her, my mind goes to catalena, who of course was called cat by all her friends.

and i knew that i wanted a character like that as klavier's manager. generally, whenever i get to make OCs for my aa fics, i try to make most of them women if they aren't already implied to be men by canon like the rest of the gavinners, since aa refuses to have adult female characters that don't die. the gavinners started out as a bunch of teenage guys, the music industry is tough as nails, LA is horrible..... nobody but cat could've done it, man.

the whole dutch connection sort of happened on the fly. i knew i didn't want to call her catalena foggia, even if nobody but, like, the two irl friends i still have who knew me at 18 lol, knew of that oc. it was still important to me to differentiate, because this wasn't cat, this was a new oc who was very similar to and inspired by her. i remembered that kitty is a valid first name, so i went for that, because i like to think i'm funny. :^)

once you reach the end of exorcism, you'll find a little gdoc with bonus content i left in the end notes there, which among other things contains explanations for all the pun names i've used in the fic. including kitty's, but i'll reiterate here: the reason i stuck with a cat theme was that klavier gavin, in my mind, is absolutely a golden retriever, so i wanted to give him a manager/babysitter who is a cat. a big cat. kitty is short in stature, but i mention her lion's mane of hair often enough in the text, so, u know.

that's also part of what i wanted her to be. yeah, she had to be tough simply for the industry and for the fact that she was managing teenagers for a while, but i also knew that i wanted to give klavier friends, and people in his life who really care about him, and will stick with him through all this. kitty is lawfully loyal: if she doesn't agree with something, she has no trouble walking out, but once she actually takes to someone like she took to klavier, she will be fiercely protective. i never mentioned her age, but i imagined her in exorcism to be somewhere in her mid to late 40s. she's seasoned, she's experienced, she's capable - she's what klavier deserves!!! that's what i wanted. kristoph and daryan are so painfully incompetent, when it comes down to it. klavier needs people in his life who know what they're doing.

so, i wanted a big little lion lady for my dog boy. i sort of just clicked through my various dictionaries for a while looking up different cat terms in different languages to see if any of them sounded enough like a last name, and that's how i landed on poes. only after that did i decide to make the dutch conundrum A Thing.

thank you for asking about her <33333 enjoy the rest of the fic, feel free to keep me posted about ur reading experience too :3c

[ronsenburg]

Hi! I wanted to ask you something about Klapollo. What topic/argument do you think could possibly cause them to break up or take a break from the relationship? I live for the drama and was thinking about maybe writing a fic but like I dont want to make either of them assholes, like Apollo bringing Kristoph up to hurt Klavier, for example. I don't think he would do that but I struggle to come up with something else.

Oh boy, I hope you’re not upset about this, but I wrote you an essay. I’m sorry.

Overall, I really like the klapollo relationship timeline because, compared to, say, narumi/su they have a much more normal, organic story. They meet, flirt, share a mutual trauma, get together! Totally normal! But I also think that they would have a much harder time than narumi/su finding the balance you need in a serious relationship and I can see them calling it quits for perfectly practical reasons that aren’t really anything to do with one being a jerk, you know? Here are my top things that I think they would have to navigate and maybe struggle with before a real happily ever after:

1. Money. You’ve probably seen my post where I talk about Apollo feeling uncomfortable with displays of affluence. I don’t think that this is an easy one to get past. AA6 Spoilers, but Dhurke and Datz literally raised them in hiding on the run in the mountainous jungles of Khura’in. They sent Apollo to the states as a nine year old. We don’t know what he did when he got here, but my money’s always been on the foster system. That doesn’t typically breed a sense of stability, financial or otherwise. 

From my experience (so take it with a grain of salt), children who grow up with very little tend to behave in one of two ways when they reach financial stability and/or achieve wealth: first option, they’re really bad with it. They spend it nearly as fast as they make it on things they didn’t get to have or experience when they were growing up. Second option, they never spend it. They know what it’s like to be without, so they save as much of it as they can so they have the security of knowing, if something happens, they won’t have to go back to the way it was before. I will always put Apollo in the latter category. He works hard for what he has and what he gets and, I think, things that signify extravagance make him uncomfortable. On the other hand, I think that the Gavin’s have always had some sort of wealth. Klavier and Kristoph have very different aesthetics to their spaces that we get to experience (Klavier’s office and Kristoph’s cell) but they’re both pretty lavish. Now, we can assume they each made their money individually in their respective careers but, honestly, Kristoph’s cell is so gaudy. To me, it screams “this is what I’m used to and I refuse to accept any less” which is an attitude that I feel comes more from a lifetime of that treatment. 

So if we accept everything that I’ve said above as true, trying to put a person who saves every penny they get and feels bad treating themselves with a person who spends money freely because it’s been a constant throughout their life? It can go poorly. Casually dating, maybe it’s not such an issue once Apollo says “please no more presents and can we just get takeout for once?” but if you’re talking about something more serious, where you have to live in the same space and pay joint bills and be confronted with the other person’s spending habits constantly, it’s a whole other thing. Please take it from me as a person in a long term relationship who loves their partner tremendously—everyone fights about money. Everyone. It would be very difficult for Apollo to feel comfortable, even if he knew that finances were in good shape and there was savings, etc. Things happen, people leave. Nothing gold can stay. Changing that line of thinking takes work. It would also be easier said than done for Klavier to just do an about face on his own habits for Apollo’s comfort. Being a celebrity makes money, but it costs money, too. There is a certain amount of lushness that people expect. That can’t just go away. These are things that become bigger problems overtime, no matter how much you love each other. 

Anyway, I would be really surprised if—even if you’re writing them as really happily married—Apollo doesn’t have a ‘emergency fund’ that even Klavier doesn’t know about. It’s a ‘just in case’. Just in case Klavier leaves him. Just in case he needs to get away fast. Just in case the world ends. It’s not a logical thing, something that he sat down and rationalized doing, it’s just there because it feels better to have it than to not. But that can be kind of hurtful if the other person finds out about it, so. There you go, a whole minefield of money related drama.

2. Apollo’s Abandonment Issues. He’s got them! What do you call and orphan twice over who also lost his very best friend? I don’t know, but if capcom doesn’t stop picking on my boy I’m going to kick them in the teeth. I will still never get over AA6 for telling us that Dhurke took Apollo in when he was orphaned as a baby, then abandoned him in the USA, then came back for him and got his hopes up, and then was actually dead the whole time! Hahahaha! What a trip! 

Anyway, you don’t come back from that super easy. People who suffer this kind of trauma usually have a really hard time trusting others, which is understandable. They also can have unrealistic needs from their partners, become codependent, or even just self-sabotage their relationships, pulling away first to try and avoid the pain because they think the other person will leave them. I think that last one is most likely for Apollo, especially given the disparity in circumstances I mentioned above. If Apollo can’t trust that Klavier actually loves him, can’t trust that he won’t leave him like EVERYONE ELSE HAS, then they can’t have a healthy relationship. Drama.

3. Klavier’s Emotional Trauma. Kristoph is a pretty big jerk to Klavier in the last case of AA4. He criticizes and undermines Klavier, threatens and admits to manipulating him. In the anthology, Klavier shares an “lol so funny!” story about Kristoph accidentally breaking a window while he and Klavier are playing ball. In it, he convinces Klavier that it was his fault and that he should take the blame and apologize for breaking the window! And Klavier does! That’s gaslighting, baby, and since the Anthology is supposed to be canon, we can take that to mean it’s been happening since Klavier was a kid. Think about that. An entire life of gaslighting and manipulative behavior! You don’t come back from that easily, either. 

People who experience emotional abuse can, among other things, suffer from depression and low-self esteem. They need affirmation from their partners and can have a hard time with letting people in or being honest (though not from a malicious mindset—more a “I’m going to say what I think you want to hear because if you’re happy, bad things won’t happen!”). They can also always be waiting for the other shoe to drop, so to speak. Sure things are good, but when will that end and the bad time start? It’s a self fulfilling prophecy: if all you can do is worry about things going wrong, then you aren’t actually enjoying when things are going right and you will cause the issues you’re so worried about. Drama.

4. Fame. Klavier has been in the spotlight since he was a literal child. If the Gavinners were already hits when Klavier was 17, they likely formed and starred their rise some time before then. A year, maybe two? Klavier spent his formative years in the spotlight. He quite literally doesn’t know any other way. Apollo, on the other hand, has never experienced the kind of scrutiny he’d be subject to when dating someone like Klavier. It can be really stressful and hurtful and just overall not a good time. And I’m not saying that Klavier wouldn’t be sympathetic, but I don’t think he would really understand how difficult it could be to have been thrust into that position out of nowhere, because he’s had years of dealing with it and was in a completely different place in life when it began for him. It’s not unreasonable to think that Apollo might not be able to take it. You can love someone and want to be with them but if you can’t adapt to their lifestyle, it’s not going to work. They could walk away rather than risk what might happen to Apollo if they kept it up. Drama.

5. Careers. They both have very demanding jobs. While sharing a similar profession can mean there’s a mutual understanding, it can also cause issues if you... never get to see each other? Schedules can be out of alignment (which could easily happen; their cases can’t always line up and they seem to require a lot of time investment outside of just normal hours). If Klavier goes back into music, that’s an additional time constraint. Why be in a relationship when you can only see the other person for moments here and there? What about the stress that comes with those jobs? That can cause drama.

6. Klavier looks like Kristoph. They are very different people, yes, but similar enough in some ways that it could cause tension. Maybe Klavier is tired and stressed and snaps at Apollo, and suddenly, all Apollo can see is Kristoph and all he can feel is the uncomfortable churning in his stomach that goes along with the memories of him. Someone he trusted, someone who let him down. That’s a difficult subject to broach, and it can fester like an infected wound if left intended. 

But Apollo sounds like Kristoph sometimes. We saw it in AA5, which is, of course, an extreme circumstance. But it can come out from time to time in other ways. A phrase that slips out, the way he intones certain words, the way he signs off in his emails—little things that are harmless, but can still act as triggers. 

Sometimes you need to get away from things that can remind you of your past in order to work on getting over them. If you are in love with someone who shares a similar trauma, who brings those issues from the past to light frequently just by being themselves, it might not be a healthy situation. I don’t think they would need to throw it in each other’s faces for it to become an issue. Drama.

There are more, but I probably took this more seriously than you intended. Whoops! Anyway, I hope that helps??? Maybe???? I hope you get them back together in the end because they deserve to be happy though!!!!!!!

[sylvanfreckles]

“I Never Should Have Given You a Chance” (FebuWhump 27)

Fandom: Ace Attorney Summary: Klavier confronts his brother in an attempt to learn just how far Kristoph had fallen since that first case.

CW: Deadnaming, implied abuse, gaslighting. (Details at the bottom in case you don’t want spoilers, skip to the section in italics)

* * *

“Gavin.”

Klavier turned away from the observation monitors, not entirely surprised to see Phoenix Wright enter the room behind him. “Herr Wright.”

Wright gave a sigh and tucked his hands into his pockets. He'd finally discarded that god-awful hoodie for a more respectable button-down and slacks, as befit a formerly-disgraced lawyer seeking reinstatement. “You don't have to do this, you know.”

Arms folded across his chest, Klavier swiveled his gaze back to the monitors. “Actually, I think I do. I may be the only one who can.” He felt more than heard Wright step forward to join him. They stood in silence for a moment, watching the images on the top row of monitors.

It was four screens all showing the same location: Kristoph Gavin's cell. Even now, after over a year, Klavier still couldn't believe it had come to this. Kristoph had always had a dark side, but murder?

“I can ask someone else,” Wright offered. “You don't have to face him.”

Klavier let out a bitter laugh. “Who, Herr Forehead? You know what my brother's like. How he can twist people up.” He was staring through the monitor now, instead of looking at it, but it felt far too difficult to pull his eyes back into focus. “I wouldn't put him through that.”

Wright's hand was suddenly warm on his shoulder. It took all his focus not to flinch away, not to show weakness. “And you?”

“Oh, I'm used to it,” Klavier ruffled his bangs with one hand and shot Wright his most sparkling rockstar smile. “I'll be fine.”

The older man wasn't smiling. For the first time, Klavier noticed Wright was wearing an odd pendant shaped like a curving teardrop. It seemed to shine oddly in the light of the observation room, and for a brief moment Klavier was sure he'd been caught in a lie. “Gavin...”

“I'd better get going,” Klavier interrupted him. “Visiting hours end in thirty minutes.”

Wright opened his mouth, hand raised like he was going to stop Klavier, then he slowly relaxed and stuffed his hand back into his pocket. “Mind if I watch from here?”

Klavier shrugged. “Suit yourself.” Then he was out of the observation room and down the narrow hall toward his brother's solitary confinement cell.

It took less than a minute to walk there, but he'd already come up with and discarded half a dozen plans to get his brother talking. Kristoph wouldn't believe any of his excuses and would see right through his lies, he always had. It was best to just face him honestly and openly.

He nodded to the guard, who swung open the heavy door that lead to the private cell, and stepped through to face his brother. Kristoph was lounging in his armchair, a book open on one knee, and didn't look up even when the guard slammed the door shut. Klaver braced one arm against the bars and leaned forward, until his forehead nearly touched the barrier, and cleared his throat.

Kristoph looked up then. “Ah, Konrad. I was wondering if you would visit.”

It was another battle not to flinch at his brother's callous use of his old name, but Klavier managed to hide it by shifting his stance. “Good evening, Kristoph.”

“What, no bruder? No guten abend? Where's the German with which you so charmingly spice your conversation?”

“I'm not here to play games,” Klavier glowered.

“Pity.” Kristoph snapped his book shut and set it on the table beside his chair. He rose in one smooth motion and delicately adjust the cuffs of his shirt. “You've always been so much fun to play with, Konrad.”

He couldn't stop the flinch this time, but steeled himself to face down his brother's taunting voice. “You know why I'm here, Kristoph.”

Kristoph spread his hands. “How could I possibly know that? I've been in prison...or have you forgotten, Konrad?”

“Stop calling me that!” he slammed his fist against the bars before he could catch himself and had to look away from the smug smile that spread across his brother's face. “That's not who I am and you know it.”

“I know a piece of paper doesn't change who you are, Konrad,” Kristoph sneered. He stepped right up to the bars, almost close enough to touch. “You'll always be the Gavin family's disappointment. After all, with me in prison who will carry on the family tradition? Our father's legacy will dissolve into nothing and it's all because of you.”

Klavier grit his teeth, forcing himself to look back at his brother. “I'm not here to talk about our family, bruder.”

“Then what?”

“Forgery.”

Kristoph's eyebrows shot up and he leaned back on one heel, folding his arms across his chest. “Oh? Looking to improve your record as a prosecutor? Or are you joining the family business after all, Konrad?”

Every use of his old name was like slap. Konrad had been the little boy whose life was planned out for him, start to finish. Who was supposed to be a defense attorney and join the Gavin family law firm. The boy who wasn't supposed to have disappointing grades, or the wrong friends, or a desire for justice over victory.

“We want to know how far back it goes,” Klavier finally ground out. He hoped ignoring his brother's taunts would make him stop, though that didn't seem likely. Kristoph had always been good at picking up on every little weakness and digging at it. “Cases, clients, partners...how much of the last seven years is just a fabrication?”

“Are you offering a deal?” the older man examined his nails for a moment in a show of nonchalance, then brushed a speck of dust off of his lapel. “Will you take a year off my life's sentence for every dirty little secret I air?”

“I'm giving you a chance to come clean, Kristoph.”

“A chance.” Kristoph adjusted his glasses, and for a brief moment the light reflecting off the lenses hid his eyes. “Like the chance I gave you?”

Klavier frowned. “I don't know what you mean.”

“The great Phoenix Wright, Konrad. I gave you everything you needed to destroy him. Without that case you would have faded into nothing; just another mewling prosecutor with more flair than sense. You would have drowned in obscurity if it wasn't for me. I created this,” he hissed, punctuating his words with a jab at Klavier's chest.

“No,” Klavier took a step back (when had Kristoph gotten close enough to touch him?). “That first case, that was supposed to be you and me. You...you didn't...”

“And I would have crushed you,” Kristoph scoffed. “You wouldn't have even known to look for the falsified evidence without me. Klavier Gavin would have been a brilliant shooting star burning out in the night sky...and Konrad Gavin would take his rightful place in the family again.”

Klavier had tucked his arms tight around his chest and stared at his brother in mute horror. “That's not...”

“Think about it, bruderchen,” Kristoph taunted, adjusting his glasses again. “What makes more sense? That I would risk my reputation going up against an inexperienced child...or that it was all a setup?”

The air in the room was suddenly stifling. Klavier felt like his chest was squeezing in on itself as his brother's words swirled through his mind. It couldn't...it wasn't true. This wasn't...his entire career wasn't a lie. He'd earned his place. He'd built up his own reputation, both in music and law, on his own, not because of some scheme of his brother's.

He jumped when the door behind him slammed open. Kristoph looked over Klavier's shoulder and his face broke into his usual condescending smirk. “I'm only allowed one visitor at a time, you know.”

“I'm not here for you.” Wright was there, one hand on Klavier's arm. “Let's go. Come on.”

“You wanted to know how far back the forgeries went, Konrad?” Kristoph taunted. “Why not look in the mirror?”

The solid metal door cut off his brother's mocking voice, and Klavier could only stare dumbly at it while Wright discussed something with the guard. Kristoph's voice turned around and around in his head. All of it...he'd rocketed to fame after that case all those years ago. Had it really just been one of his brother's schemes?

“All right,” Wright said, breaking him out of his thoughts and turning to take Klavier's arm again. “This way.”

He let himself be lead through the halls of the prison, cheeks burning with a combination of shock and humiliation. He had forgotten Wright was there, watching the whole thing, listening to every damning word that poured out of Kristoph's mouth.

Klavier looked up when Wright tugged him into a small waiting room, empty except for the pair of worn leather sofas set a right angles to each other with a table in the middle. Wright all but shoved him down in one and took a seat on the table, his hands shifting to hold Klavier's shoulders.

“Look at me, Klavier,” Wright said, punctuating his words with a little shake. “Focus on me, all right?”

He was hyperventilating. Klavier swallowed and tried to slow his breathing as he stared up into the older man's stern face. “Herr Wright....”

“It's all right. He can't reach you here. He'll be in that cell for the rest of his life and you never have to see him again, all right?”

Klavier tried to protest. “But we need....”

“We'll find another way,” Wright shook his head. “He fooled us all, Klavier, but don't let him fool you now. Kristoph did not make you the man you are today; that was all you. Your hard work, your dedication to the truth. It was all you.”

He dropped his head and tried to nod. His brother's words still dug into his soul, and it would take some time to work past them.

The older man patted his shoulder. “All right. Let's get out of here.”

* * *

In this story, Klavier’s birthname is Konrad, but he spent his entire life with other expectations piled on him. When he broke out and took his own path he changed his name to Klavier. In this story Kristoph repeatedly calls him Konrad to hurt him. There’s a little bit of implied abuse connected with that name, and Kristoph gaslights Klavier so much he could light all of early 1800s London.

I don’t know if this is worth this much of a warning, but I didn’t want any of it to be a nasty surprise.

[thislovelylady]

Hey you ever get the urge to just write a scene? Yep me too. Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney spoilers below the cut. Does anyone care anymore about a game that old? Idk but I’m being cautious. Yep.

She didn’t like it when Phoenix went to meet Kristoph Gavin. She understood why he did it and what purpose it played in his investigation, but… it always made her uneasy. He wasn’t to be trusted. Sitting across from the man who had had him disbarred…

“You know the saying, babe. ‘Keep your friends close…’.” A tilt of his head and that easy-going smile, shoulders lifting in a shrug. “I’ll be fine.”

“Mm. I know. I just…” A hand slid into his, holding him back from heading for the door. “I don’t like it. I feel more anxious than usual.” Like something is going to happen. She lifted his knuckles to her lips. “Please be careful tonight.”

“I will, Lenora. I promise.” He pulled her into his arms, giving her a tight squeeze. “I’ll be home before you know it.”

“Okay. I’ve an early meeting tomorrow, so I can’t wait up for you. But wake me when you get in?”

“All right. See you tonight.”

She didn’t wake until next morning – in their bed, alone. That’s how she knew something was wrong.

She couldn’t see him. If somebody caught her and word got around that she knew the defendant, they wouldn’t let her work on the case. And god help whoever attempted to keep her hands off of this case.

There was actually very little forensic work to be done, outside of some fingerprinting (his fingerprints were on the supposed murder weapon, goddamit) and the autopsy report. It wasn’t really her place, but she managed to intimidate her way into being the one to deliver it. Nobody asked why when the Ice Queen of Forensics was so insistent.

April 20, 9: 58AM District Court Courtroom No. 2

Half the seats of the gallery had been filled. The judge would enter the room any moment now. The prosecution and the defense were at their benches. The bailiffs had yet to escort the defendant – her husband – in.

She entered the courtroom, one palm pressing the smooth double doors open just enough to make her way through. In the other hand two manilla folders dangled loosely between her fingers, contents smooth and crisp and clear within. Heels clicked loudly across the tile floor, causing a few heads to turn in her direction. She didn’t care who looked her way, though. Gaze remained steady and far-off as she approached Winston Payne, fighting down the urge to comment on his ridiculous hair.

“The autopsy report,” she indicated quietly, voice low and nearly empty in tone as she placed it on the desk. Before he could get out a thank you, she turned on her heel and walked across the room to the defense bench.

Kristoph Gavin offered her a polite smile. She returned him a frosty gaze, instead handing the second manilla folder to his protege – Apollo Justice, the young man who was actually defending Phoenix. Like Payne, he seemed a more than a bit daunted as he accepted it, voice strained as he puffed out his own 'thank you.’

She stared at him for half a moment before turning to head back out of the courtroom. As luck would have it, the bailiffs escorted the defendant in right at this moment.

Phoenix. He didn’t look much worse for wear, which was comforting. In fact, he looked confident as ever – he even gave her a cheeky little wink when their eyes met. It nearly crumbled her facade.

You didn’t come home, she wanted to say. You promised you’d be careful and here you are. In the defendant’s chair again, you absolute walking disaster. Trucy is worried. I’m worried. I want to kiss you and I can’t even do that, you infuriating man, and all you can do is stand there and look at me like nothing’s at risk. You can’t do this to me.

But they only had a brief moment as she passed him to exchange any unspoken words. So instead of being upset, she gave him the softest look – Please come home this time. I love you. – before continuing out of the courtroom.

It was agony, but she didn’t have a reason to stay. She could idle in the library until it was over, say she was staying on site in case they needed forensic counsel, but really… she just wanted her husband back.

“He hit you.” “Yeah. I’m fine, though.” “I want to hit you, too.” “Do you?” He was grinning. He leaned forward, tapping his cheek – the one that wasn’t slightly bruised from Apollo Justice’s recent assault. “Go ahead. Right there.” “You…” She choked, grabbing at his collar and yanking him down to kiss him instead. Broke it off after a few moments, whimpering, “You’re the worst – I was so scared, Phoenix! What if – what if that kid didn’t figure it out?! What if something went wrong? God, I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you…!” “You’re not going to lose me, Lenora. I’m not going anywhere,” Smirk fading for a more genuine look, he took hold of her face and brushed away her tears with his thumbs. “I’m sorry for worrying you. I didn’t exactly intend for it to happen. But it all turned out right in the end, didn’t it?” She leaned into his hold, nodding faintly as her palms came up to rest on his chest, “Yeah… I didn’t hear how it ended, though. You weren’t found guilty. So what happened?” “…Let’s talk about it on the way home.” His hands fell and moved to entwine with hers, slowly leading her towards the door. Paused. “Or do you have to go back to work?” “No. I suddenly found myself with a dreadful case of food poisoning.” She smiled faintly. How could she work after a day like this? “Let’s go. Tell me everything.”