( No Title )
Chains of the Dragon (41391 words) by thesavagesabretooth
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October 3, 2028– 9:25 pm
In the beautifully adorned, palatial – literally palatial – room, Klavier finally slowly slipped his traveling clothes off with a sigh, the day weighing heavy on him, almost dizzily so.
He turned over his bare shoulder and smiled weakly at Ema. “Thank you for all of your help, Fraulein. I am sorry I am so needy.”
Ema was in the middle of shrugging off her coat when she looked over her shoulder at him
“I’m happy to, Klav. I mean..look, I’m not exactly happy you and Trucy strong-armed me into this while I was hung over– but it mighta been the right move, if we can actually make a dent in this shit.” She dropped her coat and began working at her waistcoat with a quiet sigh. ‘…and I get being needy, don’t worry about that.”
Klavier swaggered over in just his boxers, and came up behind her to help her shrug off her waistcoat. “You’re so patient with me sometimes, liebchen. Thank you. I’m sorry we strong armed you, but I didn’t know what to do. And it seems like things here are… bad.”
“I…I can think of a few ways you can make it up to me.” she muttered, almost shyly as she slipped out of her waistcoat and unbuttoned the first few buttons of her shirt with a glance over her shoulder. “We’ve been …close…for how many years now? Being patient with you’s practically an acquired skill– but you aren’t wrong. Things are going from bad to worse out here..”
He took her waistcoat from her and put it gently away, folding it up. “Ja, I can see that. I would say ‘how come you didn’t reach out for help’ but I am not that much of a hypocrite, I think.”
He helped her peel her shirt off her shoulder.
“Coming from you that would be rich.” Ema snorted. She leaned back against his hands as her shirt slipped down, her shoulders a pale pink and dotted with a starfield of freckles. “I thought about it. I was actually thinking about it before the wedding, asking you and some others if they’d be willing to come down and help. Before that, I dunno…we thought if we just kept going it’d finally dry up, or some of the local attorneys would step up, you know?”
“And none of them have, ja?” He put his hands on her bare shoulders and started to massage them gently.
“Not a fucking one.” She grimaced as she shivered. He saw her skin prickle…but slowly relax under his hands as she leaned against him with a deepened flush.
“Do you think it’s related to the mood in that graffiti?”
“I’m kind of worried it is. If things are going south with the Dragons, there could be a push to leave Apollo and Nahyuta adrift as an excuse. You know ‘the royals aren’t even doing their jobs’ kinda thing. Use frustration that the system isn’t going fast enough– the lack of manpower– to manufacture anger.”
“Starve them out, essentially,” Klavier grimaced. He sighed, trying to work out some of his own tension as he massaged her. It felt nice, just to have his hands on another person. To feel connected for a moment. “And work up tempers. That’s no good.”
“No, it’s pretty fucking awful.” Ema’s voice had a genuine anger in it. “…I was here, right in the middle of it when they took down Ga’ran, Klavier. If they really…if they really had hated Rayfa and Nahyuta so much, why the hell did they cheer and clap as they dragged them into positions they never asked for?”
She leaned more firmly against him, seemingly desperate for the touch.
Klavier held her close and shook his head. “I don’t know, fraulein. All I can say is something flippant from an old joke I once heard.”
“Lay it on me, Klavier.” She rested her head against his chest. She smelt of sandalwood and perfumed smoke…and the remaining sting of the alcohol on the plane.
He nuzzled her hair gently, pulling her close and drinking in the smell of her. She always smelled so good. It was comforting. He chuckled, thinking of the joke.
“Sire, sire, the peasants are revolting,’ the advisor says. And the prince replies ‘the word I would have picked would be disgusting’.”
Ema laughed, her shoulders shaking against him as she nuzzled her hair against his neck. “That’s terrible, Klavier. Go on, tell it in the street market, I’m sure it’ll go over like a lead balloon!”
Klavier laughed and held her gently, kissing the top of her head. “Ja, I think perhaps it is not the right mood for the moment. But we are on the royals side in this, aren’t we?”
Ema flushed. “I mean…I like Nahyuta and Rayfa. They’re good people who’ve suffered enough, you know? So yeah…I’m on their side in this.”
She half turned against him to loop an arm around his waist, and he could see a smile she was trying to hide on her face. He smiled back at her and looped his arm around her in return.
“Ja, me too. They seem nice. And who can turn down a prince and a princess. So fuck the peasants, am I right?” he grinned charmingly. He was teasing, but also there was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind about the whole thing. Normally in a situation like this he’d be on the rebels’ side.
Ema laughed awkwardly.
“Ehhhhhh… I wouldn’t say fuck the peasants. The system’s broken. It needs some kinda work, and …honestly, I can’t blame people for being unhappy. But I don’t want them to hang the poor kid for it.” She nuzzled against him with a huff “Nahyuta got this whole thing dumped on him and her by their father. Mr. ‘A Dragon Never Yields’ himself.”
He pulled her gently down onto the bed, and held her. “Ja. As these things happen. Tragedy passing from father to child…”
“Seems this country’s full of it.” She laughed bitterly, sinking against him. She half turned, and her arm tightened even more around him. “And…look, don’t go spreading this around, but their mother’s kind of a massive bitch.”
“The queen?” he asked, petting her hair out of her face for her. He hadn’t heard anything about whoever was actually in charge, admittedly. “What is she– the queen of hearts?”
“Ex-queen. She faked her death years ago, or some bullshit and was pretending to be Rayfa’s nanny. Now she’s stayed abdicated…which would be fine, if she wasn’t laying into her benevolence so fucking hard.” She looked down “…even at her worst, Lana was never that dismissive and biting.”
“Wait no, go back fraulein,” Klavier frowned as he tried to grapple with it. “If this queen has abdicated– who is in charge of this country?”
Ema laughed sharply, it wasn’t amused.
“Nahyuta! Technically. He’s the Lord Regent until Rayfa’s of age, then she’s the Queen of this place. The moment the clock ticks over.” She gestured vaguely towards the sky “and they’ve still got him and Apollo working on prosecuting and defense. All Amara’s been doing is ‘teaching Rayfa about being queen’.”
Klavier sat straight up. “I am sorry, what did you just say, Fraulein? You are telling me Nahyuta and Rayfa are literally in charge of the country?”
He practically yanked her up with him, and her hair splayed out against his face and neck until she shifted to look up at him with an incredulous stare.
“…you didn’t know? I mean…I called him Lord Regent like three times! Yeah, they’re in charge!”
“Fraulein, I didn’t know if lord regent meant like, advisor! How old is he? Has he had any political training?” He stared into her face, a dozen terrible old fantasy books rearing up their ugly heads from his childhood.
Ema looked at him with wide eyes, stammering a little as she answered.
“He’s like…25. Almost 26. And I mean…not…really? He grew up in the fucking mountains running around with Apollo and then got turned into Ga’ran’s political tool. I’m pretty sure she didn’t teach him shit except her idea of prosecution and lots of indoctrination, either. And Rayfa’s– she’s 14 years old and gonna be queen the moment she’s able to successfully channel a spirit.”
Klavier pressed his hands to his forehead and took a deep breath.
“Okay. Okay. Ema. Fraulein, leibchen. Schatzi. Please remind me that I can’t personally solve an imminent political crisis at ten at night after a 20 hour flight and a fight with our boyfriend.”
He was panicking a little– but not enough not to hope that she noticed he said ‘our’.
Ema flushed brightly, and the trace of a smile crossed her face. She’d absolutely noticed ‘our’.
She reached out and pressed her hand to the side of his face “…You absolutely can’t. You’d pass out before you yelled at the first guard, Klav. Maybe after some rest and a little fucking relaxation we can manage it. We. All of us. Maybe.”
“I really hope so, liebchen. This is so much more than I guessed when I flew out here,” he scooped her into his arms. “I feel bad for not coming to rescue you too, sooner. But we will figure this out tomorrow. Let’s get some rest…”
Ema hid her face against him as he scooped her close.
“I’m not some princess in a tower– not like I was looking to be saved or anything, Klavier.” He felt her face press against the crook of his shoulder. “But thanks. I’m gonna sleep easier knowing you still came, ok? Don’t– don’t go telling anyone, but I missed you. Let’s save the world tomorrow.”
He petted her hair gently and layed down around her curled body. "I promise, fraulein. I missed you. Let’s save the world tomorrow.”
October 3, 2028– 9:30 pm
“I hope you didn’t mind me wanting to take a bath before bed, Nahyuta,” Apollo said as they settled into the steamy water of the palace bathhouse. “It’s been… a while since I’ve gotten the chance.”
Nahyuta sunk into the water, his hair unbraided and splayed across the surface of the water as he settled in with a sigh.
His body, slim and smooth save for scars Apollo could name the various origins of from their youth, settled in the water quite close to him as he smiled tiredly.
“It’s been too long for either of us, but I suppose the one blessing of this trouble is we actually have a moment to wash up.” He chuckled softly, glancing over at him “almost..but not quite…like old times, hm? In the river.”
Apollo flushed bashfully and shook his head. “A little like that but more… classy, I guess? I don’t know, I kind of miss the river– but it’s nice that the water here’s warm.”
He couldn’t help glancing at Nahyuta’s beautiful form, half submerged and wreathed with steam.
“Often I miss the river too, Apollo..” He leaned on his arm, his hair draped across his face as he regarded him fully. “But the warmth here is nice, and admittedly, the company is what made those memories so…important.”
He smiled thinly “though you should take care, Mr. Justice– lest you start looking even more like a red pepper if you stay in here too long.”
Apollo sputtered, and turned red even faster. “I’d just have to cool off, wouldn’t I? But… the company is really great."
He crept closer to Nahyuta, leaning his shoulder on him.
The two lay shoulder to shoulder in the water, Nahyuta’s eyes on him with an amused huff of breath.
“Knowing you, my hot tempered Mr. Justice…you’d need some help cooling off.” He closed his eyes, seeming to soak in the bath for a moment. “It is nice. Things aren’t perfect, I know, but moments like this are what I had hoped for when you said you’d stay…for a time.”
Apollo flinched a little– only because the idea of him not staying had been brought up tonight. He leaned closer to him.
"This is what I wanted, too. It sucks the way things have been…”
A hand touched Apollo’s arm under the steaming water, and Nahyuta hummed softly.
“…it seems to get worse every day. It’s no wonder Ema and Mr. Klavier Gavin are so– concerned.”
“It is no wonder,” Apollo murmured. He shivered as Nahyuta touched him and he leaned his head on his shoulder. “But I’m not going to leave you here, Nahyuta.”
Nahyuta’s fingertips, rough with the amount of hard work he’d done over the years in contrast to the smoothness of his skin and the elegance he held himself to in court, brushed around his arm before they threaded through Apollo’s own fingers.
“I wouldn’t blame you if you felt you had to, you know,” he said in a low voice. “I’d miss you, but I wouldn’t blame you.”
Apollo felt a thick lump in his throat as he suddenly grabbed Nahyuta’s arm and squeezed it to himself. “I know you wouldn’t and that’s the worst part. I won’t do it, ‘Yuta. I won’t leave you alone again.”
Nahyuta smiled at him.
“One of your many kindnesses, Apollo.” The next moment his head rested upon Apollo’s shoulder and his eyes looking into the steam around them. “This dragons issue has the chance to get…well…more than troublesome. That graffiti was a threat, and I have little hope that it was for mere exile.”
“Wh-what do you mean?” Apollo asked softly. He knew what he meant though.He could feel Clay stirring with reserved anxiety about it as well.
“Given the display of aggression Datz reported– and the message of the graffiti, some of them may intend to sever the head of the monarchy in a more permanent manner.”
Nahyuta delivered this in his calm, matter of fact tone. He talked about death like it was nothing but another courtroom plea.
“Nahyuta– that’s not– I won’t let that happen!” His voice got louder as he thought about it. As he remembered the sight of Clay on the ground. Of the trial before they even had his funeral. He clung tighter to Nahyuta’s arm.
Nahyuta was shaking. Nearly imperceptible, if he wasn’t clinging to his arm he might have even missed it.
He looked at Apollo with heavily lidded eyes, dark circles visible just under them even in the steam.
“…hopefully it won’t come close to that, should the Holy Mother smile on us. I’d like to be able to undo Ga’ran’s cruelties and help the people feel secure, but… can I ask a promise of you?”
“I’m… listening,” Apollo said, his brow furrowed. Never agree to something before you hear what they’re going to ask. Someone had told him that once.
“If things start to turn out of our control…” He reached up to touch Apollo’s cheek “take Rayfa with you somewhere safe.”
Apollo put his hand on Nahyuta’s hand and stared him down. “Nahyuta. If things start to go out of control, I’m taking Rayfa and you somewhere safe.”
“Our father wouldn’t like us yielding, Apollo.” Nahyuta said with a tired smile as his thumb brushed against his cheek. “But I’ll take your promise to heart.”
“A strategic retreat isn’t a yield,” Apollo said firmly. “Not only that, but– a dragon doesn’t stoop to violence either, but look where we are,”
He leaned into his hand, and took a few deep breaths. No point in getting worked up again. Not when they were trying to relax.
“It’s true…” he leaned forward until his face pressed against Apollo’s shoulder, his fingers lingering against his cheekbone. “It seems the rules are changing before our very eyes, aren’t they? And tonight…we’re in no shape to contemplate it.”
Apollo stroked his fingers through Nahyuta’s hair. “No, we’re not. We should tackle that tomorrow… ugh… so much happened today…”
“It was certainly not the sort of hectic we were expecting, that’s for certain. –Klavier Gavin. He’s not quite as I expected him to be, from my studies in LA.”
‘Ugh, Klavier,“ Apollo huffed and shook his head. "He’s… full of surprises. What did you expect of him?”
Nahyuta pulled himself up to lean against Apollo.
“You know, that’s the thing, my dear red pepper…” He closed his eyes with a slight smile. “I haven’t the slightest idea. This ‘rock star prosecutor’ may defy any expectation I attempt to make. His arrival at all was a surprise…Ema certainly hadn’t given any warning.”
“That’s kind of Klavier,” Apollo murmured, stroking Nahyuta’s hair thoughtfully. “He… defies expectations all right. I never really know what I’m dealing with when it comes to him. Sometimes it feels like he never turns off the performance. Not that he’s fake exactly, not that at all. Just, always projecting every bit of himself into the spotlight. Like that ‘homewrecker’ comment. He turns his honest feelings into a show… Sorry… I’m babbling…”
I mean, this is the first time you’ve really talked about your feelings about Klavier, Apollo. Hell, I hardly know how you feel about him and I’m in your head.“I like it when you babble, Apollo.” Nahyuta said as he shifted to face him, his hair plastering against his bare shoulder as he sat up “…it reminds me of the past, and lets me hear the truth behind your words.”
He smiled thinly. “he’s a performer…yes, I see that clearly. The bits and pieces I’ve heard from Ema speak to much of the same behavior.”
Apollo put his arms over Nahyuta’s shoulders as they faced one another. “Yeah. He’s larger than life, or he wants to be. I think, I don’t know, maybe he thinks no one will pay attention to him otherwise…”
Apollo frowned at the thought, thinking about how maybe failing to send him a text or a letter in months may have unintentionally fed into that fear.
Nahyuta’s eyes darted down in thought.
“Hm… a point of view that can stem from countless possible sources…and one that perhaps that’s familiar– witnessed close to home.” His fingers idly wound through Apollo’s hair, teasing the strands “within my sister. That…homewrecker business troubled me.”
Apollo leaned into his hand, as Nahyuta gently tugged at his hair. “It troubled you?”
“It troubled me that was how he saw himself coming to visit you and meeting me.” He shook his head. “I imagine it stems from the same source as his desire to perform. I just hope he understands, genuinely, that I am not unhappy to share.”
“Yeah, when I think about it, it was kinda insecure, huh?” Apollo made a face. “I feel bad for making him feel that way. I really haven’t been thinking of him at all these last few months. Part of it is honestly how busy we’ve been, but…”
He looked shyly up at Nahyuta, trailing off.
Nahyuta’s fingers brushed through his hair again as he met Apollo’s eyes “but?”
Apollo squirmed as he fought his embarrassment, trying to express himself.
“Well, you know… I mean, us… when I’m thinking about romance lately…. you know?”
They hadn’t had any time. The bath was the closest they’d been in weeks. Apollo had managed to get his feelings out to Apollo and they’d kissed and that had been… basically it. A few kisses here and there. No time for dates. No time to even sleep in the same bed like when they were little, because they were working so late in separate offices.
And sure as hell no time to have sex…
Nahyuta’s dark cheeks took on the faintest hint of a flush as he tugged Apollo’s hair again.
“I can say for certain you aren’t alone in thinking that way.” He smiled “yet fate has stood in our way at every opportunity, hasn’t it?”
“It has,” Apollo murmured. He leaned his head against Nahyuta’s neck. “So I’m just you know, hung up on you all the time. And that’s probably part of why I didn’t stop to think about Klavier, or his feelings at all. Between all the work we’ve been buried under, and it meaning that I haven’t gotten to spend any time with you…”
Nahyuta smirked.
“It was hard to balance thoughts of your admittedly complicated lovelife? Tsk…” His eyes half closed for a moment in thought, the steam draping over him like a shroud. “I have a solution, if you would be amenable.”
Apollo squirmed at the description of his ‘complicated love life’.
He’s not wrong…
No, but…. uuurrrghh.
“Uh, yeah, I’d absolutely like to hear it!” He looked up at him with one eye open, the other squinted as he wondered what he’d say.
Nahyuta’s hand rested atop his head.
“Even with the heavy weight of the day on our shoulders…we find ourselves unexpectedly free tonight. Perhaps even refreshed by the bath…will you spend it with me?”
Apollo barely stopped himself from making a high pitched noise as he pressed himself against Nahyuta’s body.
“That’s exactly what I was hoping you’d ask! I would love to, ‘Yuta! I’ve been– kind of desperate to– to spend more time with you.”
Nahyuta’s body was warm, from the heat of the bath– and perhaps from the turn the conversation had taken.
His voice dropped low as his arm snaked around him and held him closer.
“The same goes for me. Please, Apollo. Spend the night with me, just the two of us.” He put his finger to his lips. “In privacy even the Holy Mother will not gaze upon..”
Apollo grinned widely and he leaned into him. “She better not be peeking. I’m just going to assume she’s not. Uh, in that case… why don’t we finish up in here. Would you like me to wash your back?”
Nahyuta leaned in, and his soft lips caught Apollo’s for a blissful moment. When he spoke, it was a whisper against Apollo’s lips “I would be beyond delighted, ‘Pollo.”
Apollo melted into his arms, and into his kiss. He’d definitely turned as red as a red pepper.
October 3, 2028– 10:35 pm
Later Apollo was nuzzled against Nahyuta in his bed, holding his body tightly to him.
Nahyuta was gently brushing his fingers through his hair, head rested atop Apollo’s amidst the filmy covers.
“Apollo…I want to thank you again.”
Apollo happily leaned into his hands, enjoying having Nahyuta half on top of him. “Thank me?”
Nahyuta ducked his head with a quiet laugh. “…for taking the time, even with all this, to spend a night with me. It’s been so busy.”
Apollo slipped his arms around him to squeeze him. “I really wish I’d done it sooner.”
Nahyuta’s pale arm brushed down around his shoulders “…me too, admittedly.” he smiled “…but it wasn’t like we had the time until today. I’ll have to thank Klavier.”
He chuckled. “One thing to thank him for at least. He might actually be pleased, knowing him.”
Apollo leaned in and kissed over Nahyuta’s temple and jaw.
Nahyuta flushed, and tugged his hair lightly again as he tilted his head with a relaxed smile “Likely. It should make him easy to get along with if nothing else.”
“Honestly, he’s pretty easy to get along with, even if he does like to tease people,” Apollo admitted. He chuckled and leaned into the little tugs at his hair. “So get ready for that once he’s comfortable with you.”
“Oh dear…” Nahyuta chuckled. “Should I be worried, then? What are the chances he’ll despise me, Apollo?”
“Uh… realistically?” Apollo looked Nahyuta over thoughtfully. “Pretty much zero.”
Nahyuta put his hand to his head. “then I’d best prepare myself to be teased endlessly. A tragedy, truely”
“A real tragedy,” he nodded. “I’ve been putting up with it for uh, almost two years now, geez…”
“Two years? Really!” Nahyuta hummed. “No wonder he was so troubled by it all.”
"Yeah we have… weird history I guess,” Apollo murmured with a sigh. Admittedly, that was putting it lightly.
“Weirder than ours, Apollo?”
“ Kind of, yeah. That boss I’ve mentioned? That’s Klavier’s older brother.” Apollo sighed, not exactly thrilled to bring it up. But it was probably important.
“Klavier’s older brother was your employer– and one of the first people you had an intimate relationship with.” Nahyuta rubbed his chin “…does Klavier know?”
They hadn’t talked about it for years. But they had talked about it. In the beginning, when the wounds were fresh. And they’d promised never to talk about it again.
“Yeah. He knows.”
“And it’s something that makes your relationship with Mr. Gavin ‘weird’? I’m guessing perhaps things didn’t go amicably with your former boss?”
Apollo grimaced. “You could say that? I… Nahyuta, this is hard to say. He’s… we never broke up, officially. He’s in jail. For murder. Because of me.”
He flopped his head down on Nahyuta.
Nahyuta scooped him closer with a pensive frown. “He’s in jail for murder because of you? How do you mean?”
Apollo nuzzled him, putting his arms around him and squeezing him tightly.
“It’s hard to explain. Even I sometimes feel like I still don’t understand it. His crime came to light when I was defending our client for a murder. And it turned out that he was the actual murderer. And he went to jail. And his office closed. And I was kinda almost homeless for a little while…”
Nahyuta drew him against his chest, listening with patience as Apollo explained.
“Apollo– are you telling me that you had to watch your mentor get convicted shortly before it rendered you homeless on top of everything else? That this man you trusted killed someone, and …” He squeezed him tighter. “I wish I’d known. To think you were going through such a time and I had no idea.”
“You were halfway around the world, ‘Yuta,” he murmured. “I thought about coming home, but– you know, I didn’t think I was wanted. I only even stayed as a lawyer because Clay pushed me to keep at it.”
Nahyuta held him a little tighter. “I understand..” he murmured with a sigh “is that how you came to work for Mr. Wright?”
Apollo squirmed against him, uncomfortable to remember it, but finally comfortable enough and with enough time to talk to Nahyuta about it.
“Yeah. He was the only one who would hire me. I… I really had to swallow my pride to agree to work for him.”
“Swallow your pride, Apollo?” He probed as his fingers brushed through his hair, soothing and gentle.
“He was the guy. The defendant in the case,” Apollo bit his lip, and he hesitated to say any more. He shouldn’t. It would completely destroy Phoenix Wright in Nahyuta’s eyes. He looked away.
“The one who was accused of the murder your mentor committed?” Nahyuta asked , before he reached out to touch Apollo’s chin and turn it towards himself again. “…you’re hesitating.”
He leaned his face against Nahyuta’s fingers, letting him turn his face but still looking down. “If I tell you, it’ll be a secret of an impure soul, Nahyuta.”
“I’m no stranger to impurity, ‘pollo. No soul, not mine nor anyone else’s, is completely pure.”
“Mr. Wright forged the evidence that led to Mr. Gavin’s conviction. By sheer technicality he never perjured himself or broke the law, but…. yeah. He forged evidence and he used me to get my boss convicted. Even if Mr. Gavin did it… it still doesn’t feel right that it happened that way."
Apollo lay on Nahyuta’s shoulder and stared at the ceiling. These were feelings he usually kept in a box in his chest.
“Ah…” Nahyuta’s fingers trailed against the edge of his ear as he stared up at the ceiling with him. “A moment, Mr. Justice…while I process that.”
Apollo nodded. "Yeah.”
He didn’t blame Nahyuta for needing to process that. He’d been processing it for years. And not to mention, the role Mr. Wright had played in changing Khura’in.
Apollo would have talked about this with Nahyuta before… but there hadn’t been time.
“I can understand the shame in convictions based on methods that– are underhanded, if correct. Based on flawed or outright dubious tactics.” He mused after a long moment. “The Dance of Devotion we forced Rayfa to perform convicted the innocent and the guilty alike, after all.”
“It’s true. Seeking justice isn’t always… pretty,” he grumbled. “It isn’t always straightforward.”
“It never is. And it can often leave us with regrets.” Nahyuta mused. “This boss of yours…this former lover, killed a man– but to put him away with a method that leaves you feeling like justice wasn’t properly done leads to unresolved emotions, feelings hanging heavy on your mitamah.”
“It does,” he nodded. “It’s hard to talk about. Hard to think about. And… It complicates my relationship with Klavier, because that’s his brother, and– I don’t think their relationship is any more resolved than mine was with Mr. Gavin. It’s just… a loose thread.”
“Hanging frayed due to the way it was so…harshly severed, even in the name of justice.”
He closed his eyes. “…I understand, Apollo.”
“Thanks, ‘Yuta. I hope that… gives some context to why we haven’t been able to figure our shit out for two years,” he mumbled.
Nahyuta kissed the top of his head. “I’ll make you a promise, Mr. Justice.”
Apollo looked up at him with a little smile. “Oh?”
“I’ll do what I can to help you…and Klavier…through this emotional mire you’ve found yourselves in. If it brings peace to your mitamah in some manner. I’ll be happy to put in the effort.” He chuckled “Especially since it will bring peace to my love life as well. I’m allowed a selfish reason, aren’t I?”
Apollo leaned in and kissed his cheek in return. “Of course you are. But I appreciate it, selfish or no.”
He wanted to say he could handle it on his own. If anyone else had offered their help, he probably would have. But it was Nahyuta. And Nahyuta was probably the last and only person on earth that Apollo felt like he could actually completely trust and rely on.
Nahyuta drew him close. “I’m not sure what I can do for certain just yet.” he murmured “…but I’ll do whatever I can to lift this burden from you, ‘pollo. Consider it an apology for being so far away for so very long.”
“You don’t need to apologize. But.. I’m glad you’re here now. Really glad.”
A short time later, as they drifted off to sleep together, Apollo thought about how lucky he was to be with Nahyuta now.
All of the desperation, all of the over work. All of the trials. It was worth it to be here, with him.
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