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Merideth Wright never really enjoyed being what she was. At least, not while she was at school. At home she was forced to be what she was—a girl. But deep down, she knew she had a yearning for the outdoors and the more ‘boyish’ things in life. However…
She never could place a finger as to why she never liked her name.
That was the big kicker! The real mystery of the century! Why didn’t she like her given name?
After all, she knew why she didn’t like her long hair or why she didn’t like the dresses and skirts she had been given. After all, she just didn’t like them— Too itchy, too scratchy.
(Even if they were materials that were perfectly fine. Her mom knew about her ADHD and her distaste for certain textures- and how she hated coarse textures. But she could still blame the fabric… right?)
But that still didn’t explain much. At least, not in her mind—Of course, as he got older, he knew deep down why he was so closeted and insecure about it all. Now it felt silly to him—but she would get down to the bottom of this!
It all started in the middle of hanging out with some of her new friends. She had made friends with this cool, odd looking kid—Always professional, always overly dressed—and another one who always smelt of some form of dog and/or cat food.
Miles Edgeworth, a slightly tall and pale boy with brown-grey hair and silver eyes; and Larry Butz, a tanned boy with orange-brown hair and bright brown eyes.
It seemed… Merideth Wright, with her long black wavy hair, dark freckled skin, and blue-brown eyes, that were taller than most kids her age, was just simply different. And in mostly a bad way, from how others saw it.
But no matter- The young girl was hanging out with the two, simply wasting away time that they had due to recess. She huffed, looking at some other boys that were playing soccer.
“I want shorter hair.” Was her first statement, before her mouth started to continue running off and on and on. “And I want a cooler name. Nobody’s gonna fear me with a name like Merideth!” She pouted, huffing more as she fiddled and tinkered with one of the toy cars.
Miles—Ever the sweet boy he was—looking up from his book he was peacefully reading from and blinking slowly at the girl in front of him.
“I… I’m not sure what to do for your hair… But… A cooler name? What… What do you mean by that?” He asked, a little confused as his brows furrowed.
Larry rolled over, having been laying on the floor and trying to—and unsuccessfully—take a nap. He sat up, messing with his hair before looking at the raven-haired girl.
“But why though, Merideth?”
Her cheeks puffed out gently, shaking her head with a fervor none of the boys had seen before. “I don’t wanna be called by Merideth— I wanna have a cooler name!”
The two boys that she had befriended both looked at one another, trying to share a glance of shared confusion— (What is she talking about? Beats me, dude! …Refrain from calling me ‘dude’, Butz.) — before looking at the blue-brown eyed girl. “What do you mean?” Miles asked, cocking his head.
“Yeah! What’s this about now, Meri?” Larry huffed, puffing his own cheeks out.
“Don’t call me that!” She whined, shaking her head more intensely this time around. “It’s not cool of me to be called Meri! It doesn’t fit my— my—” She tried to find a word for it. The closest thing she could think of was ‘soul’... But that didn’t seem… Right.
(Oh, how oblivious he was back then. It was funny how blind he was to his own feelings and emotions, at the time.)
“It doesn’t fit me!” She finally settled on, puffing her cheeks out more in defiance.
Miles thought for a moment more, confusion still lacing his thoughts and his mind. It sounded familiar… But then, Larry spoke up before he could recall or recollect such thoughts.
“Oh, I know! Like one of those cool um— um…” He thought for a moment, scratching his head. “I know I heard it somewhere… I dunno… Started with a t…”
Miles thought further, furrowing his brows slightly. He, too, had heard such a thing- but mostly from books that his father had caught him reading. He wasn’t upset, oh heavens no, but he did get a little worried and had explained to Miles that he could read them once he got older. That he was a little too young to be reading such literature at the age he was— Which, the young boy did not argue with. There were some books he just simply could not read.
But… This rang familiar. He just couldn’t place what it was, still.
Larry then snapped his fingers. “Oh! I got it! One of those like, um… Tomboys! Or trans-gen-der people!” He spoke, giggling at his own weird pronunciation of the word.
Miles and Merideth both tilted their heads at the same time.
Miles spoke up, asking “Tomboy?” while Merideth asked “Transgender?”, before they had glanced at one another and looked back over at their—apparently—more knowledgeable friend.
Larry could only grin and nod.
“Yeah! I heard, tomboys are like… Girls who wanna be boys. Or who act like boys! Like play sports, dress in shirts and shorts, with shoes and do all the stuff that you wanna do, Meri! And then trans-gen-der… Uhhh…” He scratched his head, trying to think. Eventually, he shrugged, as if he gave up trying to chase a dog down a path.
“I ‘unno. I forgot. I think it was something with… The whole… gender thing… I don’t remember.” He pouted, in which the young girl pouted with him in sympathy.
Miles furrowed his brow, speaking up though. “I don’t think… Well… Wright, you said it yourself— You don’t like your name. Let’s… Start off with that. I can maybe see if my Father is willing to maybe help you cut your hair later.” He offered, giving a warm smile.
The young girl flushed up a little.
“Y-Yeah, sounds good! But… What’s a good name for me?”
All three kids started to think, brainstorming together. Their previous endeavors were long forgotten— Miles’ book was placed on his lap, Larry now rubbing sleep out of his eyes, and Merideth’s toy car was also, now long forgotten. They needed to come up with a name, and stat.
“Aurther!” Larry grinned brightly, as if he found the best answer yet.
The young girl thought about it. “Mmm… Nah.”
“Frank?” Miles spoke up, a little careful and cautious to do so.
Merideth thought about it for a little bit, before shaking her head. “Nuh-uh. Don’t like how it sounds.”
And they all were doing that for a few minutes—Simply spitting ideas at one another, thinking and conspiring to find a name that fit. And eventually, Miles seemed to realize something.
“Ah!” He spoke, getting up and going to his book bag. He rummaged through it, before pulling out a smaller book— Way smaller, binded with lovely leather and the front reading, Mythology Tales from The Heart .
He flipped through pages, Larry starting to lean over with a grin on his face. “What is it, Edgy!? Did you find somethin’ cool?!”
Meri, now also quite interested, slowly leaned forward as well. “Yeah, somethin’ cool?” She parroted, not knowing what better to do. She scooted closer, all three of them now huddled together as they looked at the page Miles had opened it to.
“Y-You’re changing your name to something new, right? Like… Being reborn, in a sense.” Miles explained, hoping it would get across. “A new you, right?”
Merideth nodded. “I guess. Would somethin’ like that fit, then?”
Larry furrowed his brows slightly. “But… what name fits with that?!”
Miles flipped through pages, getting to the correct one before he finally fully opened up the book for the others to see.
And there… Rested a page about something called Phoenixes. Firebirds, immortal beings that would forever be reborn from their own ashes—birds that were meant for protection, for peace, and for fighting.
Strong. The word was strong, and the definition of it was even stronger. It… It sounded amazing…
Miles was speaking, making Merideth look up to pay attention more closely. She had missed the first bit of the sentence, unfortunately, but she got most of what he was saying—
“…They’re constantly reborn, right? They… They fight for their own presence to be known, and… And…” He trailed off, not quite remembering for a moment before looking back on the page to see if he could rattle off more details.
But the young girl had settled it. She pushed her hands on the ground, a grin on her face. “I wanna be Phoenix!”
“Alright!” Larry laughed, a wide grin on his face. “Hell yeah, it sounds wicked cool too!!” He pumped his fists into the air, wooping excitedly.
Miles simply smiled in kind. “It… It does fit you well, Phoenix.”
And to this, the girl flushed up. Merideth— Phoenix, was now a little flustered at this notion that he would be more comfortable in his own skin. Oh, he? When did this become a new development?
(It always was one, Phoenix realized. He always had that itching scratch in the back of his head, it seemed.)
But something had seemed to mess with Miles, or at least make him quietly contemplate what exactly to say next. “Um… If, if I may.”
Phoenix looks over at his friend, brows furrowed. “Hm?”
“I… I don’t know the legality of um, changing your name to something, so, um. Uncommon.” He settled on, clear that he was struggling with the word for a moment. But nonetheless, he looks up at Phoenix. “I think we should give you another name. A back-up one, so to say.”
“Oooh, like, like a spy name!” Larry laughs as he perks up. “Yeah! Yeah, let's do that! You can have your like, legal, or, whatever, name be Phoenix but we can call you something silly!”
Phoenix thinks about it for a moment, his mind starting to run with ideas of nicknames. Nix. Nix sounds cool… But then-
“Nick!” he calls out confidently. “Nick will be my nickname and- And my legal name if I ever change it! That way, whenever they ask me for a new name, I have a cool new one and then another cool new one!”
The other two boys cheer, all of them giggling and laughing at one another as they start to chatter more about what’s to come.
…And then, when Phoenix got older and realized fully that he was transgender, and not just in a weird ‘tomboy’ phase, he started to understand. He bound his chest, took testosterone, got the top surgery, and was on the list for his bottom surgery later on… So now, here with his friends, reminiscing, he chuckles.
“Actually, remember that time when we all were coming up with names for me?”
Miles Edgeworth—Now Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth—only smiles and nods. “That I do. It’s quite humorous, how you didn’t know what you were before that.”
“Wh- Hey!” Phoenix argues back, laughing. “Look, I was in denial—”
“No shit, man!” Larry in turn laughs and responds in the conversation. He’s a painter, a famous one nonetheless. Which is surprising, considering… Well… Larry. “You like… Were scary into the thought of us callin’ ya Nick or Phoenix, Nicky!”
And to this, the defense attorney laughs. “Actually- It’s my legal name now, so hah.”
“Which one, again? I forgot which name we helped you pick was the one that you were going to use as your legal name,” Miles questioned honestly, wiping his glasses on a spare cloth that he had.
“Phoenix.” Wright says, smiling. “I think I said I was going to use Nick as my actual name, but… I changed it to my middle name,” He smiles.
“Middle name?” Miles parrots, a laugh expelling from him. “So what, you’re Phoenix ‘Nicholas’ Wright now?”
“Yep!” Phoenix grins.
And all Miles can do is jokingly sigh at his dumbass friends and flushing at the embarrassing heat that floods his cheeks at seeing how Phoenixs’ laugh is bright and warm and lively, slowly realizing something in his gut.
He swallows thickly, before he ultimately just shakes his head affectionately at both of them. “You dolt, how did that even work?”
“I don’t know, if I’ll be honest. They just asked me which name I wanted, and I said Phoenix, and they allowed it. I’m guessing ‘cause there's weirder names.” Phoenix shrugs, smiling and giggling to himself. And Miles, oh, Miles— He couldn’t handle it, his own face flushing up slightly as both men laughed and flushed up.
All Larry does is roll his eyes at his friends, snickering and giggling at his two love-struck friends…
…And all he can do is cry tears of pure joy when Phoenix tells him that he’s the best man in the wedding of his two best bros.