Disclaimer: I do not own Ace Attorney or any of its properties.

Notes: This was written forever ago and posted to Tumblr. In an attempt to update this account with some things, I decided to post it here. This is a slight AU that takes place in a world where Clay survived.

Wingman

"So, there's finally someone else working at the Agency, huh?"

"Yeah. And let me tell you, she's something else."

Apollo slid into a booth opposite Clay at their favorite diner—an old establishment that had been around since they were kids, and was, by some stroke of luck, about halfway between the Wright Anything Agency and the space center. Clay leaned forward, his arms braced on the table, and raised his eyebrows.

"How so?"

"Well . . . how should I put this . . ." Apollo thought for a moment, and then said with a wry grin, "When we first met, the first impression I got was of her flipping a police officer over her shoulder because he didn't believe she was a lawyer. The cop ended up landing on me."

Clay cracked up, and Apollo felt his own lips twitching in response, though he forced himself to frown. "It wasn't funny, you know. I was completely flattened. That cop weighed a ton."

"I'll bet," Clay said, and he barely managed to choke his laughter back. "How strong is this girl? You said she's younger than us, right? What, is she some kind of sumo wrestler or something?"

"Not quite. She's about five years younger than us, and only a little bit shorter than me. Who knows how she managed to flip the guy." He looked up as their favorite waitress sauntered over, and grinned up at her. "I'll take a strawberry milkshake and fries, please."

"Chocolate-banana milkshake and fries for me. Thanks, Penny," Clay said, and he snapped a two-finger salute at her. Penny winked at him, and didn't even bother to write their orders down.

"Comin' right up. Be right back, boys."

As she walked away, Clay looked back at Apollo. "This new lawyer chick definitely sounds feisty," he said. "What'd you say her name was?"

"Athena Cykes," Apollo said. "And trust me, you don't even know the half of it."

Without further preamble, Apollo launched into a series of stories about Athena. He told Clay about how Athena had the habit of jumping the gun in court—about how she declared that she thought a monster commited the murder in one trial, and how she (rightfully, this time) guessed that a witness wanted to be seen as a girl in another. He described how Athena had him tie her up in court so that she'd look lke a statue, how she was constantly trying to drag him along to go running with her, how she liked to take little things and turn them into competitions and how she was a super fan of the Shipshape Aquarium's Swashbuckler Spectacular. There were other little stories mixed in there—from tidbits about Athena's special talent or her various eating habits around the office—but by the time Clay had cleared through all of his fries and some of Apollo's, along with half of his own milkshake, Apollo noticed that Clay's grin looked more than a little devious.

"What?" he asked. Clay spoke around his milkshake straw.

"You've got a crush on her," he sang. Apollo's eyes widened, and he felt the back of his neck heat up.

"Wh-What?! What are you talking about?!"

"You do!" Clay crowed, and he pointed a finger at Apollo's face. "Your ears are bright red, dude! You always blush like that when you're embarrassed!" Clay laughed, attracting the attention of some of the diner's other patrons, and Apollo slammed his fists on the table, causing their milkshake glasses to rattle.

"Hold it! Did you ever stop to consider that maybe I'm just embarrassed that my best friend is being an idiot?" Though, seriously, since when did Clay pick up on his blushing habits? Apollo thought he was supposed to be the perceptive one. "You have no evidence—"

"Boys!" Penny called from the hostess stand. They turned to face her admonishing look. "What have we said about indoor voices?"

"Sorry, Penny," Clay called, and Apollo gave her a sheepish, apologetic look. "Won't happen again." She nodded once with a look that said she'd hold him to it, and Clay looked back at Apollo, his grin back in place. "Your reaction is all the evidence I need. You've fallen for her hard, bro. It's all over your face." Clay touched a hand over his heart, and put on a faux tearful look. "You've finally got your first crush. Sweet little Apollo is all grown up."

"Oh, shut up." Apollo kicked him under the table, but Clay only laughed. "Even if I did like her like that—and I'm not saying I do—who cares? She's just another member of the Wright Anything Agency. We're coworkers. That's all."

"Tch. You're just coworkers for now, you mean." Apollo gave him a look, but Clay ignored it. "I know you're new to this whole dating scene, but don't worry—that's what I'm here for. I've got your back. We can make this happen."

"We're not going to make anything happen," Apollo said flatly. "Things are fine the way they are. There's no need to complicate things." Clay waved his concerns away.

"There's nothing complicated about this. It only seems scary because it's a new experience, but I'm telling you, it's fine! Once we get this all out in the open, it'll be better than you could have ever dreamed, trust me."

"We're not getting anything out in the open," Apollo said, warning in his voice. "Clay, I swear, if you tell her anything, I'll end you."

"All right, all right! I won't tell her." Apollo relaxed as Clay said, "Don't need to to make this happen."

Apollo should have known right then that things would only go downhill from there.

Clay met Athena a week later when he and Apollo stopped by the Agency on Apollo's day off to pick up something he had forgotten. The minute Apollo saw that Athena was there, a feeling of apprehension surged in his chest, but before he could sneak Clay back out without Athena noticing, she'd already bounded over to them.

"Oh, Apollo! I didn't think you'd be in today," she said, and grinned before she punched a fist into her opposite palm. "Deciding to work to free the innocent even on your day off, huh? Talk about inspirational! You've just given me even more motivation to work on my case files!"

"I'm sure," Apollo said dryly, his eyes straying over to the solitary game of Jenga Athena had been playing. She laughed, and to her credit the sound was a bit sheepish.

"But see, that's what I need the motivation for." She finally looked over at Clay, and her smile became a bit more curious, though no less friendly. "Who's this?"

"This is my friend Clay. I told you about him, remember?" Apollo said. Athena's eyes widened in surprise before her smile beamed enthusiasm, and she held out a hand for Clay to shake.

"Oh, of course! I've been wanting to meet him! You, I mean—I've been wanting to meet you," she told Clay, and she shook his hand vigorously. "I'm Athena Cykes, Apollo's junior partner here at the Agency. It's nice to meet you!"

"Thanks, you too." Clay returned her grin, and Apollo could tell by his expression that he was nothing if not charmed by Athena's enthusiasm. "I've heard a lot about you, too."

"All good things, I hope!"

"Oh, definitely," Clay said, and he gave Apollo a sly look that made Apollo want to slug him. "Very good things."

There was a brief flash of something across Athena's face that suggested she picked up on the shift in his tone, though she didn't comment on it. "C'est magnifique! That's what I like to hear!"

"In fact," Clay went on, "it's hard to get him to shut up about you. He can't stop talking about how awesome you—ow!"

"Sorry," Apollo said, though he wasn't sorry at all. "Didn't see your foot there. Anyway, we should probably get going."

"That has to be the worst apology I've ever heard," Athena said, and she put her hands on her hips. "Why'd you try to step there anyway, Apollo?"

"No reason," Apollo said, and as Athena opened her mouth to question him further, he lightly pushed Clay with his shoulder. "Let's go, Clay."

"I will if I can walk," Clay grumbled, but when he looked back at Athena, he flashed another grin. "Talk to you again sometime, okay? We should definitely get together at some point. Maybe go to a movie in a group of four or something, if you've got a friend you can introduce me to?"

"Sure, that sounds great!" Athena said, but then she paused, and toyed with the half moon dangling from her ear. "Although, if there are four of us going to the movies, and I'm hooking you up with a friend, then wouldn't that mean—"

"Leaving!" Apollo said loudly, putting his Chords of Steel to good use. Athena winced and covered her ears, and he felt a flash of guilt for hurting her sensitive hearing. "Let's go, Clay." With that, he all but shoved Clay out of the Agency's front door, though Clay still managed a cheeky wave and smile to Athena over Apollo's shoulder.

Clay dropped by the Wright Anything Agency sporadically over the next few weeks, sometimes without an excuse and sometimes with one. Each time, he made sly ltitle comments to Athena that put Apollo on edge, though if Athena noticed that Clay was trying to push her into dating Apollo, she didn't say anything. Finally, Apollo put his foot down and forbade Clay from hanging around the Agency, using the excuse that Mr. Wright didn't want anyone that wasn't a client or an employee hanging around, since it caused distractions. Of course, this lie was a bit hard to believe when the Agency took a break every afternoon to watch the Steel Samurai reboot, but without speaking to Mr. Wright directly, there was no way for Clay to prove it, and so Apollo thought he was in the clear.

At least, that was until he came in to work one day and found that Athena wasn't there.

"She went out with Clay," Trucy said, flipping through the newest issue of the Magician's Monthly magazine as she dangled halfway off the sofa. Apollo froze by the coat rack, his stomach knotting.

"What?"

"He came by and said that he couldn't hang around the Agency anymore since Daddy said so, and asked Athena if she wanted to go out to eat with him instead. Said they had a lot to talk about." Trucy turned the page of her magazine. "Clay asked me to tell you that they were going to that new Italian restaurant that opened a few blocks away. Not the really fancy one, but the other one."

"Right." Apollo reached for his coat again, and Trucy sat up on the couch, looking at him in confusion.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to go kill my best friend in the world," he said, and turned toward the door. "Be right—"

"Wait!" Trucy leaped off the couch and ran around to block him from exiting, her arms spread wide. "You can't go like that!"

"Why not?" Apollo asked. Trucy rolled her eyes.

"You're in your work suit! What'll it look like if you walk into the restaurant like that? You should change into something better."

"What does it matter what I look like? I'm just going to strangle Clay," Apollo said, but Trucy was already pushing him toward the bathroom. "Hey!"

"Just wear something a little more suitable. Even if you're going to go commit a murder that Daddy'll have to defend you for, you should still look a bit more appropriate for the situation." After she pushed him into the bathroom, she grabbed a pile of neatly folded clothes and forced them into his arms. Afterward, she smiled and winked. "Those should work!"

Maybe it was because he was so distracted by thoughts of what Clay could be telling Athena, but it didn't occur to him until later that he should have been suspicious of Trucy having nice clothes ready and waiting for him.

It was easy enough to find Clay and Athena when he got to the restaurant. Apollo ignored the hostesses and stomped over to the booth, and Clay got up the second he saw Apollo approaching.

"It's about time, Apollo. Jeez, and here I thought you were supposed to be the punctual one. It's a good thing I was here to keep Athena company."

Apollo opened his mouth, about to ask Clay if he could speak to him privately (and by "speak to him privately" he meant "practice Chords of Steel behind the restaurant"), but as Clay clapped him on the shoulder, all he managed was a, "What?"

"I already ordered for you. Don't worry, don't worry—I remembered what you like." Clay pushed Apollo into the booth seat opposite Athena, who looked bemused, but seemed to be enjoying herself nonetheless. "Oh, and before I forget—here are the movie tickets you asked me to get."

"Movie tickets? Clay, what are you—"

"Have fun!" Clay waved cheerily at Athena and added, "Talk to you later, Athena."

"Yep. See you around, Clay!" Clay darted off back to the front of the restaurant as Apollo stared after him, feeling for all the world like he'd been chucked into the middle of the Sahara Desert without a map. "What took you so long, anyway? Clay said you sent him ahead because you had to get your jacket from the dry cleaners, but I'm pretty sure he was lying . . ."

"Huh? Oh, uh . . . I had to stop by the office for something," Apollo said, and when he looked back at her, he saw that she had her eyebrows raised in an expression that clearly said she didn't believe him, either.

"If you say so . . . say, what movie are we seeing, anyway? I'm down for pretty much everything, but I hope you picked something good. Maybe a psychological thriller?"

"I'm not sure, actually," Apollo said, as Athena snatched the tickets off the table to get a look. Apollo looked up and saw that Clay was standing in the lobby of the restaurant, and when their eyes met, Clay flashed him a grin as bright as the sun and a double thumbs-up, and mouthed, 'You're Apollo Justice, and you're fine! Good luck!' Apollo shook his head, but he couldn't help smiling a little.

He was still going to kill Clay later for setting him up on an impromptu date, make no mistake.

But still . . .

He really hadn't been lying when he said that Clay was his best friend in the world.

The line "I'm going to go kill my best friend in the world" is shamelessly borrowed from the TV show "Psych," which everyone and their grandma should go watch.