#and honestly apollo pulls that with her too. just instant sibling. the waa found family brain worms have infected him by dd

[box-dwelling]

I think a lot of Phoenix and Apollos relationship is characterized by the fact Phoenix is fully convinced he's Apollo's dad and Apollo has not agreed to that yet.

In Phoenix's head Apollo is an orphan and Trucy's brother so has just accepted that this is his kid now because that's what he does with every lost kid with a passing relationship to him. So as a result he does the kind of teasing family like familiarity and thinks it's fine because he's his son. Which like is kinda understandable given that's exactly what happened to him with Maya, Pearl, and Trucy so at that point it's kind of a reasonable way for his mind to go. And of course he isn't going to communicate this because he's Phoenix and he doesn't do that.

But for Apollo this is his idol/mentor/co-workers and he has none of the appropriate context for why Phoenix has made that assessment and doesn't get why this guy is acting like this because he's an adult and not related to him.