Work Text:
It was Christmas Eve, and Apollo Justice was alone in his apartment, curled up on his couch with a blanket, watching reruns of Star Trek. The apartment was quiet except for the murmur of the TV. Apollo was barely paying attention. His mind was elsewhere.
The Wrights had invited him over to spend Christmas Eve with them and Athena, but he’d declined. There was a part of him, however, that was starting to regret it. There was a growing ache in the pit of his stomach; a familiar ache, but one he hadn’t felt this strongly in years.
It had been a long time since he’d felt this alone.
He’d started nodding off. The episode on the television, one he’d seen a million times with Clay, wasn’t doing anything to keep his attention, and the dim lighting in the room didn’t help anything. Just as he was about to fall asleep, however, there was a knock at the door.
Confused, Apollo got up and walked over to the door. He couldn’t think of anyone who would be visiting him this late on Christmas Eve.
When he opened the door, he found Phoenix standing there.
“Mr. Wright!” Apollo said, surprised. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be with Trucy and Athena?”
“Yeah, but I think they can watch the office for a bit. I came to see how you were doing.” Phoenix held up two bottles of his favorite grape juice. “Mind if I come in?”
“Yeah. Of course.” Apollo stepped aside and let Phoenix enter his apartment. They made their way back to the couch and sat down together. Phoenix handed Apollo one of the bottles.
“Star Trek, huh?” he said, looking over at Apollo.
Apollo shrugged. “It was more background noise than anything, to be honest.”
Phoenix opened his bottle and took a swig. “So, how’s your Christmas Eve been?”
“Fine!” Apollo answered, maybe a little too quickly. “I’ve just been, you know, relaxing.”
“Right,” Phoenix said, looking back down at his bottle. “Well, that’s good.”
There was a long, uncomfortable silence.
“You don’t have to lie to me, you know,” Phoenix said.
Apollo looked down at his own bottle. He noticed for the first time that he’d been fidgeting with the cap. Now he popped it open.
“Who says I’m lying?” Apollo said, as he took a drink of the juice.
“Well, I may not have your talents,” Phoenix said, “But I do know you. And I know this can’t be an easy time for you.”
“I can’t exactly say this has been the best holiday season, no,” Apollo said, trying to smile.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Apollo couldn’t look at Phoenix. Truth was, he did. He absolutely did want to talk about it, to get it off his chest, to let go of some of this pain that he felt and maybe make that dull ache start to fade. But he wasn’t really sure how.
Finally, he spoke. “Clay and I…we had a tradition. We always spent Christmas Eve together. On Christmas day he was usually with his dad, but we never missed a Christmas Eve. Until…”
Apollo trailed off. He glanced up at Phoenix as his boss took another swig of juice.
“Until now,” Phoenix finished.
“He wasn’t supposed to be here today anyway,” Apollo said, trying to smile again. “He was supposed to be on his mission. He kept teasing me before the launch, asking if I’d be okay down here by myself. I just told him I’d be fine. It was only for one year, after all.”
Apollo had to stop then, because his eyes had begun to sting, and he didn’t feel like crying in front of his boss. He rubbed his eyes with his free hand, then drank more of his juice.
Apollo looked over at Phoenix then. It looked like he wanted to say something, but didn’t quite know what.
“You should get back to Athena and Trucy,” Apollo said. “You don’t need to worry about me, really.”
“Athena and Trucy,” Phoenix said, “Wanted me to come here.”
“They did?” Apollo asked, surprised.
Phoenix looked down at the bottle in his hand. “I know that this is a really hard time for you,” Phoenix said. “You and Clay were really close, and I know that losing him is going to hurt for a very long time. But we are here for you. You know that, right?”
He looked back up at Apollo, but Apollo didn’t say anything.
“We can’t replace your old tradition,” Phoenix went on, “But that doesn’t mean you have to be alone on Christmas Eve.”
Apollo looked away again, still not sure what to say.
“Of course, it’s completely up to you,” Phoenix said. “I’m not here to pressure you into joining us, I just-“
“I might not be that festive,” Apollo said, cutting into Phoenix’s words.
Phoenix looked taken aback at first, then he smiled. “I think everyone will understand that.”
Apollo smiled a little, and this time he didn’t have to force it. “You wouldn’t mind, then? If I came over after all?”
“If we leave now, we might be able to catch the end of Elf,” Phoenix said. “Trucy had just put it on when I left.”
Apollo’s smile grew as he got up to follow Phoenix out of the apartment, grabbing his keys from their spot next to the door.
“Hey, Mr. Wright?” he said, as he locked the door behind them and they started out for the Agency, “Thanks for coming to get me.”
Phoenix smiled and shrugged. “Well, nobody really felt right with part of the family missing.”
The words hit Apollo but they didn’t sink in right away, and once they did he couldn’t bring himself to say anything. A part of him immediately denied it. Him? With a family?
But when they reached the Agency and he was greeted by enthusiastic hugs from both Athena and Trucy, and when he spent the rest of the night watching movies with them all curled up under a blanket while Trucy rested her head on his shoulder, he was finally able to admit to himself that it might be true after all.