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"I just don't get it" Apollo sighed
"Don't get what?" Athena asked scribbling away in a notebook
"What makes that guy tick?" Apollo asked plainly
"What do you mean?" Athena asked
the two of them were currently up in the gallery of one of Simon's trials. A very small case, very cut and dry, nothing like the stressful trials the Wright Anything Agency had put Simon through in the past.
"Look at him" Apollo shrugged "He's in that huge coat in the middle of summer. His bird is with him. He asked us to come to get coffee afterwards but he practically ignored us when we came to see him before the trial"
"I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it. He was probably just nervous" Athena shrugged
"He seemed wickedly twitchy. Even now" Apollo huffed
"Is he lying about something?" Athena asked
Apollo paused placing a hand over his bracelet "...No. It's... random" he muttered
"you're stressing yourself out. Why don't you go back to work and I'll see him after" Athena offered
"No I said I would" Apollo grumbled
"Just go. You're miserable" Athena laughed
"...Fine" Apollo sighed and picked up his bag
"Wow. Really had to fight for that huh?" Athena laughed
"Shhh. You're gonna upset the rest of the gallery" Apollo scolded
"There's no one up here but us" Athena shrugged
This was true. Simon was still very new to being out of jail. He had been fortunate enough to have some support from Athena and co which meant he had a hotel room while he worked some cases to earn enough to get a proper living situation in order. Though many had offered a couch for him he viamently denied needing to stay with anyone and had continued paying the extortionate hotel room bill.
Athena was a little offended when he refused even her couch but she would herself admit it was small. But they could get a blow up mattress still! His insistence was keeping him in this damn court house every day, even with Miles generously funding his prep time as well as his court hours. Athena just didn't get where all this money was going...
The loud gavel snapped her from her thoughts hearing the loud 'Guilty!' Being shouted. It was hardly surprising. Athena had only half paid attention really and still gathered it was murder. Cut and dry.
The defence had attempted to argue self defence which reduced the sentence but Simon had constructed a good argument that was more then reasonable for the severity
Athena considered clapping but assumed it was in poor taste and watched as Simon was quick to remove himself from the prosecutions bench
Athena headed downstairs and to the prosecutors office and knocked on the door before walking in "Guess who!" Athena yelled
Simon jolted at her appearance currently sat on the floor infront of the stuffy couch with his head back against the pillows "Cykes-dono?"
"Forget about our date?" Athena stuck out her tongue
"Date?" Simon blinked "I...Don't recall"
"Coffee? Nah forget it" Athena waved a hand and walked over "you look tired. Enjoying the floor?"
"...I am. I think I might go home early" Simon shrugged "My sincerest apologies"
"no sweat" Athena muttered and paused to look over him again... he seemed off.
Simons hands were almost repetitively tapping his knee. His neck looked strained as he pushed the back of his head into the couch cushions and she couldn't help but feel like he was turning his face away from her
"...Did I do something?" Athena asked softly
"What? No no" Simon frowned "I'm not feeling well... you know I wouldn't hide my grievances Cykes-Dono"
"I think we've established your selfless tendencies in the past" Athena shrugged "It's okay either way. I just want to make sure you're okay..."
"I am. Thank you" Simon said quietly before closing his eyes
"...Tell you what. How about you take a cab home? My treat!" Athena smiled proudly
"you don't need to at all" Simon waved a hand
"I insist!" Athena said and reached over grabbing his bag and pulled out his wallet humming to herself as she took out her purse and put some money in
"I'll call one. Meet them outside. Pay them with these money bills that may be yours or may be mine, and go rest!" She insisted
Simon paused but sight "...very well. Thank you"
It was a short trip home and Simon felt very relieved to be in his hotel room. He closed the door and pulled off his jacket, Taka taking their perch above the bed
Simon all but collapsed onto his bed and winced curling up into a tight ball
(More in depth descriptions of Tics. Based on research and personal experience. Feel free to skip to the next line to avoid the more in depth explanations 🖤)
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He could feel the familiar tingling up his spine. The way it felt like each blood vessel was zapping with energy, leaching it from his brain.
Then the familiar movements began
In public he had a few tics one might notice if you really knew him. Tapping fingers. Rolling his eyes. Occasionally tapping one heel against the other. Subtle but noticeable
Then there were the more obvious ones. The jerking of his wrist. The squeezing of his shoulders. His jaw clenching, biting down on whatever was available, lips, fingers, feathers. Anything really
Finally there were the obvious ones. The ones he suppressed with all his might.
His arms jerk backwards, in this case against the soft mattress. His core would clench, effectively causing him to do a sit up and most painfully his neck would jerk his head back. That one apparently was the favourite
Despite the soft padding, each jolt sending his head back hurt. Individually not that bad. Nothing like when he was in the jail. But the consistent pressure, the arching of his back trying to lessen the angle and the swiftness of each pull left his entire spine aching and his head pulsing.
Back in jail he had smashed his head against the wall more times then he could count. In comparison he was rather thankful now. But it didn't lessen the ache
His fingers flexed into the sheets, and he groaned to himself feeling the heat rising to his face. He felt so hot.
Tears burned under his eyes as he jerked
His head was now pulsing. Each jolt aggravating the headache that was forming. It felt like every time he moved the energy went from an electric shock to being dunked head first under the water. The way his ears felt like they could pop and his breath was forced out of him.
He hated the breathing tics the worse. Granted none were pleasant it's a different form of torture to feel like your own body is suffocating you while throwing you about like a rag doll.
So very out of control
Taka squawked above him
He lifted his gaze, trying to focus his eyes on the bird as he flapped to sit on his knee, currently the only stable part of his body
He raised a tentitive finger for them to rub against as he felt his body starting to relax.
He glanced to the wall clock seeing around 45 minutes had passed since he laid down.
The movements had not stopped but were lessening in intensity. Exhaustion overwhelming him and fast.
His neck tic had thankfully stopped but his shoulders continued to tense periodically and his heels were twitching to click against eachother every so often along with the occasional eye roll but compared to before he was more then thankful
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Simon finally closed his eyes, perhaps deciding to try and get something half resembling rest
It was then that he jumped up heading the door lock click open
Taka squealed defensively, fluffing their feathers at the intruder
"Siiiiiimooooon~" Athena cheered and paused "oh! hey Taka" She smiled softly
"Cykes-dono? How? Why?" Simon blinked sitting up and adjusting himself in bed, quickly becoming aware that he was still ticcing and had sweat stains on his shirt. Completely disheveled!
"Is it a bad time?" Athena asked "Wow! You look flushed! Do you have a fever?" She asked walking over reaching out
Simon tensed his muscles, trying to suppress the 'urge' to jerk his head back away from her hand
"hmmm... You're not that warm... I brought some soup! And some stuff to try and help you feel better!" She smiled settling down on the bed next to him
"Please. You don't need to. Go home. I'm sure you have cases" Simon muttered raising a hand to his head, the headache reminding him of its presence
"Relax. You're so tense" Athena muttered and placed a hand on his shoulder "I wanna help! It's the least I can do"
Simon grumbled as he scrambled to think of an explanation but wincing and leaning forward did the trick. He disguised his eyes rolling under his hair
"Ahhhh Headache" Athena muttered "I'm so sorry" she frowned and looked around rummaging in her bag "Are your meds compatible with the caffeinated paracetomol tablets?"
"Yes" Simon muttered massaging his temple before pausing "wait. Meds?"
"Yeah. I forgot the name" Athena muttered
"How did you know?" Simon asked slowly raising his gaze
"...Well...You still have tics right?" Athena sheugged offering the bottle before opening it and holding out just the pills required and water, steady
Simon paused before taking them quickly and sipping the bottle of water "...But... how?"
"Well... You have CMD right? You had it like... since you were a teenager. I kinda assumed it didn't go away... You told me. And we had to wait on your meds before trials. That's why we had to start at 8:30 instead of 8" Athena muttered
Simon paused and looked down, glancing at his twitching fingers
"...Tic attack?" Athena asked quietly
"...yeah"
"Will talking about it help?" She asked
"no. It'll make it worse about now... it's been 45 minutes" Simon sighed leaning his head back
"Wow. You must be exhausted" Athena muttered "How about I get you a fresh shirt, we make your bed and watch something calming?"
"...that would be nice" Simon muttered his eyes feeling heavy
Athena nodded and got to work.
Simon laid back a bit and grumbled, no longer suppressing the occasional tics that were still bothering him
Athena found his wardrobe and pulled out some fresh Pyjamas and tossed them on the bed and started putting fresh pillow cases on the new pillows "I'm not looking!"
Simon nodded taking the hint and waited for a quiet moment to slowly sit up and pulled off his shirt and replacing it with the new one and trusting the quiet moment swapping into the comfortable sweatpants he had been thrown with it and threw the day clothes to the floor
Athena eventually turned around and walked over "What's sore?"
"...my neck and back" Simon said quietly
Athena nodded "want some deep heat or ice or anything?"
"no. It'll just irritate my skin. Makes me more overwhelmed" Simon explained
Athena nodded "how about a quick massage?"
"No no Cykes-dono" Simon drowned "I couldn't ask that of you"
"Good thing you aren't" Athena shrugged and climbed over reaching for his neck and slowly traced his spine
She moved slowly, feeling him tense and whimper at the initial touch but slowly relaxed into it. He let his heels thump against the mattress as if hoping it would appease the rest of his body as Athena tried to soothe put the tension that had grown in the past few hours
All too soon Simon felt her hands remove as she laid a generous addition of pillows behind him
"Lay down" she said simply
Simon nodded and eased himself to lay back in the bed as Athena turned on the hotel television and dimmed the lights
"...I hope this is okay" Athena said gently
"...It's plenty... I may have another one later though so you can go. You've already done a lot" He said gently
"I haven't got anything to do. Besides this dumb movie looks good" Athena shrugged "No wonder you stay here"
"I... Haven't been able to move yet" Simon muttered
"...Why? If you don't mind me asking" Athena asked sitting back against the headboard above him
"Well, you know I'm on medication. It's... quite expensive" He shrugged "...I'm very unlucky apparently. It was the only drug that worked and without insurance-"
"Why don't you have insurance?!" Widget yelled
"You interrupt" Simon said quietly
"...sorry" Athena whispered
"it didn't cover the medication" Simon shrugged "I don't recall the details. But prisons pay for medications like that" he explained
"...I don't think it's legal for insurance to just... leave you to pay something that expensive" Athena frowned
"I don't know. It's been... a while since I checked admittedly" Simon shrugged
"have you asked Mr Edgeworth? Maybe there's a better plan with the prosecutors now! And cmon! He's a lawyer! you're a lawyer! You should be able to tell them all the reasons that's illegal!" Athena half shouted before quickly apologising at Simon wincing
"...I hadn't considered it... Honestly... even with all the best medications and support... it still hurts... a lot... I'm sorry to have to put you through so much again" Simon said quietly
Athena looked seeing his jaw tense and reached over petting his shoulder
"Don't apologise. I'm not a prisoner. Sorry poor choice of words. But I'm here. I know I can't fix you. But I'm here to fluff a pillow. And if you do want my couch it's still free" She suggested
"...talking helps" Simon nodded
"Then if you have another one you must call me. I don't expect you to let me keep the key card I swiped but call" She encouraged
"You stole a key card? When?" Simon blinked
"your wallet. Trucy taught me" Athena shrugged "also you nearly have enough stamps for a free coffee"
"...If I give you the card... I will call" Simon said gently "so I've repaid you" He muttered
"...I accept these terms. But I'll need my lawyer to go over it... Simon can you check a contract for me?" Athena smirked
"haha" Simon muttered and closed his eyes
Maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all. Sure he still would have these horrible symptoms, but at least he had someone to sit with him while he touched them out