Until the more recent years of his life, Apollo was unused to having many people around him celebrate - or even so much as acknowledge - his birthday. He remembered some from his childhood, but without an immediate family or a long list of friends, he was mostly left to wish himself a happy birthday and move on with business as usual.

This was one of the many things to change once he was dragged only halfway-willingly into the makeshift family that was the Wright Anything Agency. Apollo didn't much care for discussing his past, but Trucy hadn't needed long at all to grill him for all the information she could manage. His birthday was one of her first priorities.

It wasn't long after the first time that Trucy threw a party for his birthday that several more things changed. Athena joined the Agency, foremost, and the inexhaustible passion that she put into her friendships would no doubt add another layer to the new attention that Apollo's birthday received.

There was one other major change that made a contribution as well. In the aftermath of the UR-1 retrial and the storm of conflicted emotions that the event created in Apollo's life, he found unexpected comfort in the company of homicide detective Ema Skye.

Ema had been a friend of his since the earlier days of his fledgling career, but Apollo hadn't ever taken her for the sort of person to offer her support with the complex emotional baggage of others. Despite his surprise, however, Apollo found the detective to be an indispensible help. On most days, he and Ema would have made a long conversation of trading their respective frustrations with their work, sometimes trying to outdo one another with their stories, but with Apollo's frayed emotional state following the death of Clay Terran and the ensuing trial, Ema acted with care and caution that Apollo would never have expected. She listened to him at length, patiently awaiting every last word he had to say, never prying or questioning him unless he was finished.

It was an even greater surprise when one of their long conversations came to an end with Ema setting aside her ever-present bag of chocolate Snackoos to look Apollo in the eye and pull him into a wordless hug. He'd come to understand Ema as a person better than ever before with these discussions. She'd been disappointed by the way her own life was turning out, but in this case, she didn't let her own issues take any priority over his.

Apollo wasn't sure of exactly how it happened, but somehow, from that one moment, sitting on the couch in the small house Ema shared with her older sister, their embrace had graduated to a kiss. It was soft; not without a clear meaning behind it, but also keeping itself clearly restrained.

So it was that his friendship with Ema Skye took a rather sudden turn to develop itself into something more.


On the date of his twenty-fourth birthday, Apollo made his way into work with a fairly clear estimation of what to expect.

Finding the office decked out in the same kinds of bright and lively colours that Trucy had picked out the year before was no surprise, but it was a pleasant thing to walk into all the same. He had a fun time of picking out the decorations more in line with Athena's preferences, yet Apollo noticed one thing which did surprise him.

Ema had the day off today, but so far as he could tell, there appeared to be no sign of her presence or influence here in the office at all. He tried not to look conspicuous as he wandered aimlessly about for a minute or so, taking in the sights of Trucy and Athena's decor, but saw nothing to indicate his girlfriend's hand in the mix.

Was it selfish to feel disappointed? He headed for his desk as usual, wondering to himself. Maybe Ema was going to meet up with him later on. There could be any number of things she could plan or be delayed by.

He rolled his chair out from his desk and stopped.

A spray bottle was resting on the seat of his chair. Luminol, by the look of it. A real surprise would be if anyone other than Ema were responsible for its presence. He picked it up, and his fingers grazed over a sticky note pinned to its side.

"Take a look around." was all it read.

He checked the underside of the note, but it was blank.

(What are you up to, Em...?)

Opening the first of the two drawers on his desk, Apollo found nothing out of the ordinary.

"Oh, right..." he muttered, spotting the pair of special pink-tinted glasses Ema had given him months ago. He picked them up and put them on before closing the drawer and opening the other. Most of the second drawer's contents were familiar, but a single sheet of blank paper had been left on top of everything else. "Hmm..."

Apollo gave the paper a cursory spray from the Luminol bottle on either side. It was faint, but the spray produced a reaction. Words could be made out, glowing a familiar blue. They had to have been written with something that the chemical would react to.

"See you at your place for lunch. It's clear with Mr. Wright."

He checked over both sides again, but that appeared to be all there was to the message. Apollo wondered about giving the surface of his desk a once-over with the Luminol, but didn't really feel like cleaning it up afterward.

Putting aside the bottle, he got to his usual work, keeping Ema's message in mind.


Come noon, Apollo left the office. Normally, he would have stayed and gone out with Athena and Trucy for lunch. He returned to his apartment on his bike, part of him regretting having to get involved in the lunchtime traffic.

He found the door to his apartment unlocked. Was Ema inside? He hoped so. Once inside, he glanced around.

"Ema? You here?"

No response.

Apollo cast another curious look around and spotted another blank sheet of paper, just like the one from his desk, resting on the kitchen table. Glad he'd thought to bring the Luminol along in his backpack, he gave it a quick spray as well. As expected, another short message became visible once he'd put on his glasses.

"Bathroom mirror."

Apollo raised an eyebrow. What was Ema's game?

He headed for the bathroom and switched the light on. Immediately, the unusual object sitting on the edge of the sink caught his notice. It was a bottle of what was quite unmistakably Ema's fingerprinting powder. Was he supposed to search for prints? He checked over the mirror, as indicated by the note. It looked very clean. Perhaps Ema had wiped it down; with enough effort, that could remove the countless fingerprints that must have been on it. He picked up the bottle of powder, putting aside the Luminol and glasses. Starting from the top-left, he applied the powder, and noticed something almost immediately. Clearing away the excess powder, he could see what looked like a straight line downward, made up of clear fingerprints. It was much too neat to be anything but deliberate. He applied more of the powder, and the line revealed itself to be a capitalized I.

He looked over more of the mirror, and what seemed like another letter appeared. He kept working at it.

"I... L... O..."

He stopped, a little smile tugging at his lip. Suddenly, the sound of a door opening caught his notice from behind. He looked out of the room and found Ema herself, standing just outside of his bedroom with a bright smile.

"I love you too, Ema." he said.


You might guess from my other fics, but Emapollo is my personal favourite pairing for Apollo. Justicykes is a damn close second, but the grumpy dynamic that Ema and Apollo struck up in Apollo's debut game secured the top spot for me.

Our next time back will give us a look into the life of an Apollo with a partner of similar forehead status.