#p lame

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Ever since he heard Juniper's friend Robin announce that she was raised to protect herself as a man just to be able to go through life more successfully, he couldn't stop thinking about how shocked the courtroom had been to hearing her big gender reveal in court. Would it be the same thing for him, if he announced his own struggles with his identity that he hadn't yet shared with his closest friends, besides Clay? He had been there for Apollo through thick and thin, and unfortunately, he wasn't around anymore to keep the young lawyer in check.

It had been a couple of weeks prior when his partner had been the victim of a crime that ultimately ended his life. The young lawyer, with fire in his heart, felt himself shatter at the thought of his late best friend, whom he loved more deeply and could see himself spending every waking moment with. Clay Terran had meant the universe to him and losing him physically felt like he had lost a piece of himself. He shook his head. No. I have to be fine...for him. He wouldn't like to see me lost in my thoughts. Especially depressing ones.

Clay was the one who knew everything there was about the young Justice; maybe even a little more than what needs to be known, quite frankly. Apollo didn't really open up to anyone else as much has he had to his partner, so every moment became more difficult to go through without having someone there who knew him better than himself. His only outlet was gone, but he had become part of a new support system now, in the form of the Wright Anything Agency. He felt like he was past due to be true to them in his more personal details, since they have been so kind to open up to him in their own way: Phoenix talked about his past lover who turned out to be a murderer and actually didn't have feelings for him, Maya had shared her secret ingredient to making the best burgers around town, Pearl shared her feelings over her mother's incarceration, Trucy taught him the magic behind her magic panties (even though he didn't really want anything to do with it.), and Athena gave him pointers as to how to work Widget. He felt like it was time for him to reveal something about him that may seem like it's not necessary, but it's a big factor as to how he came to be the man he is now.

"Come on, Polly! You need to help me decorate daddy's office with paper snowflakes and Christmas lights! We gotta get ready for our big Christmas party at the Wright Anything Agency! We need to make it juuuuust Wright and it's only a few hours from starting!" Trucy, excited about planning this big event, was setting up a magical reception area filled with snowmen and penguins while humming to some Christmas carols as she worked on through the room. Of course it had been Trucy's idea to throw an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party.

"Uhhh, sure thing...but...where are the snowflakes?" asked Apollo as he tried to come back to reality after his train of thought had passed him by.

"Come on, it's Trucy we're talking about! You can even feel her excitement rushing through her and I don't need Widget to tell me she's estatic to even say that they're in her magic panties." giggled the youngest, newest lawyer in the agency. Athena was making sure everything was looking good so that everyone would enjoy the environment and would encourage an amicable time, stereotypical for this time of year.

Maya and Phoenix were out finishing a very Christmas Carol-esque case right before the party and were just waiting for the verdict to be announced before being able to get back and join in the festivities.

Hey, Clay. I just wanted to let you know that I'm not alone; I have found such wonderful friends who mean so much to me now. They're a....wild bunch, but I love them all the same and they have shown nothing but support and acceptance...they're really like a family to me. I think it's time I should open up to them too.

The sun started to set and Apollo couldn't help but stare off out the window and into the distance, seeing how the colors of the day changed as light started to fade and street lights would start lighting up the night. His heart was beating fast; he was nervous to reveal himself to everyone. He knew everything was going to be fine, but the nerves still made him rethink his decision to come out openly to these great people. Of course, Athena was the first one to notice something was bothering the young lawyer.

"You seem out of it today, is everything okay?" asked Ms. Cykes, although it was clear she already knew the answer to that question.

"Uhmm...I can't hide any kind of emotions from you, so I'll just go with it: I'm nervous...I have something to let everyone here know and it's something personal and I'm not completely sure how people will react. I've seen all of your reactions to something similar to my case and I'm scared I'm going to have the same response." He spoke the truth, without revealing anything too early.

"Well," responded Athena, "as long as it's not something like: you were actually trying to hide poison instead of actually giving out an actual gift, it shouldn't be a problem! You know, I can hear people's emotions and we all really care about you and love you. You have nothing to worry about! Now, I'm just anxious to know what the big reveal Mr. Chords of Steel has to share with us! You better do it in a very loud way." She winked at him and left to help Trucy with some last-minute adjustments around the agency.

Shortly after, Phoenix and Maya arrived with bags filled with food and drinks, already wearing their ugly sweaters. Everyone helped finish setting up the plates and cups around and music started playing in the background. At that moment, Apollo recognized it was the beginning of the party...and had a long night ahead of him. Every second seemed like an eternity, his heart would pound harder and harder against his chest with every familiar face walking in. He saw Robin entering and felt like a huge weight was about to lift off his shoulders. He had wondered about the aftermath of her revealing moment and so, he pranced from one end of the room to the other in order to approach her.

"Hey, Robin! So, I was wondering....how did your friends treat you after the case you were a part of?"

"My goodness! It was a relief, ya'know? Every one of my close friends have been nothing but supportive and it's like nothing really changed! I actually think our special bond has gotten stronger since that moment and it's been great! I don't regret anything about it, really!" The short haired girl responded with an honest smile across her face, which still had a bit of paint around.

Just what I needed! thought the lawyer and replied to Ms. Newman by saying how grateful he is that everyone is being nice to her about it and leaving the big reveal behind them. It was his time to have his own "Superman" moment of tearing off his costume only to reveal who he truly is -- in a metaphorical way, of course -- and now he felt confident to face his fears head-on.

It was time for the ugliest sweater contest to come to an end. The confident prosecutor Edgeworth decided he couldn't go one moment without his crava, so much that, he had actually sewn a cravat onto his wool sweater and it's what gave him the prize of ugliest sweater. After much celebration and awkward moments of handing out hand-made coupons made by Trucy, Pearl and Maya, it was time to make a toast and mark the end of another successful Christmas party at the agency.

"Before we toast, though, I have something to say:" blurted out the young lawyer. "You all know how much Clay meant to me...he was the one who I could open up to about anything that would happen in my life. I could share my thoughts and found comfort doing so with him. I want to be able to share as much as I used to with all of you. It's time for me to open up and tell you guys something that I don't share with just anyone...and I hope that this won't change anything between us."

The room suddenly became silent and attentive to what this boy who usually kept to himself was going to reveal to everyone in the room.

"I..." he stuttered, gulped, and thought to himself I'm fine, I'm FINE. You can do this, Apollo! "I have come a long way to where I am now. I've gone through certain procedures, had to go through a second puberty and I stand here now as a man. It hasn't been easy...but coming from a battle with my own body to protect who I am inside -- to reveal my true identity -- I've come out as a champion and I've finally found ground to stand in. I was born under a different name and doctors assigned me female in my birth certificate. Yes, I'm trans and I've been on a journey to let people see how I see myself and I've been very happy with the results, I've reached that point where we all see the same person that I've always known myself to be. This is me and I don't have to prove myself in any way as much as I used to in order to have people assume the right thing about me when it came to gender and pronouns and that...makes me feel like I'm finally happy where I stand in my transition. My struggles and experiences in the matter don't define me, but they have made me who I am today, I feel stronger than ever...and I'm finally able to be all that I am with all of you and share a side of me that no one, besides Clay, knew about before."

The room stayed silent until Phoenix spoke up.

"We're here for you, no matter what. We all appreciate who you are and what you bring to our lives. You are a talented lawyer, but most of all, you are a wonderful friend to every single person in this room. Thank you for trusting us enough to give us the news."

Trucy tackled Apollo into a hug and soon thereafter everyone in the party gave him a hug and kind words of support to let him know that everything was going to be okay.

Athena then approached the brave lawyer to give him a hug. "Sorry for not being as loud as you wanted me to be." said Apollo, Mr. Chords of Steel now with a broken voice thanks to his emotional speech.