Aomine grumbled to himself as he sunk deeper into his couch cushions. He just wanted all of this to be over for pete's sake. He got the stupid surgery, and now he has to go through three months of physical therapy before he gets the chance to play again?
He knows the doctors probably told him this when he first injured his knee, but he had other things on his mind, things like dealing with the pain, than to pay attention to what they were saying.
He should have never done that stupid attempt at a fake during his last game. If he hadn't, he most likely wouldn't have torn his ACL so badly.
The most annoying thing about this entire situation is that due to one of the team's physical therapists going on paternity leave, Aomine has to see one on the outside. This will be particularly annoying.
Aomine is one of the most popular players in the league. The news stories covering his injuries only making him more well-known. Not only was Aomine well-known by the public, he had countless fans fawning over him for his look, fame, basketball talent, and… his secondary gender. But that last thing is something he pointedly chooses to ignore. If he has one more omega try and ask him out… athlete or not, celebrity or not, he just might snap.
All of this made it somewhat challenging to find a physical therapist, but luckily Kuroko, his old friend turned agent when he went pro, was able to find him one and set up an appointment.
Aomine feels a buzzing coming from his phone in his pocket. Fishing it out, he sees that Kuroko sent him a message.
K:[I'll be there soon to pick you up.]
K:[please be ready]
Well, what was that supposed to mean? 'Please be ready'? He acts like Aomine is never on time or prepared for anything.
Which… maybe sometimes… or a lot of times… he's not. But does Kuroko really have to be like this when he's injured? The nerve.
Aomine starts typing back.
A:[ill have you know im already ready and waiting for you]
K:[Good :)]
K:[ill be there in 5]
Aomine scowls. He can feel Kuroko's little smirk slash smile through those six words. The annoying brat. But Aomine knows that Kuroko will be expecting him to be up and ready to go by the time he pulls up onto his driveway, which means he can't be lying around on the couch when he gets here and he should probably get up about now, with the slower pace he needs to move around.
Letting out a long breath, Aomine leans forward on his seat to grab the pair of crutches laying on the floor by his feet. Luckily he's already dressed, in a simple outfit of sweatpants, t-shirt and hoodie, so all he really needs to do is somehow put his feet into a pair of shoes.
Fumbling around, he situates the crutches underneath his armpits and uses them to move to the front door, where his shoes are.
As soon as he reaches the door, he hears a knock. There's no way that was five minutes! Aomine opens the door to see Kuroko standing at the entrance. Kuroko looks him up and down.
"I thought you said you were ready," Kuroko says simply. "You don't even have your shoes on."
Aomine scowls down at the shorter man. "It's a little hard what with the leg brace and crutches," he grumbles.
Kuroko sighs. "Then you shouldn't have said you were ready." He then pushes aomine down to sit against a chair next to the doorway. "Here, I'll help you," The teal haired man says as he grabs a shoe and begins putting it on one of Aomine's feet.
"You don't have to do that! I can put my shoes on myself!" Aomine tries to protest against Kuroko's help.
"Says the man who can't even bend one of his knees," Kuroko retorts. He finishes tying the second shoe before patting the man's good knee. "There, all done, now let's get going," Kuroko says as he pulls the taller man back onto his feet. "Your appointment is in thirty minutes."
"Then why are you just picking me up now?" Aomine asks as he follows Kuroko out the door of his apartment and to his car.
As Kuroko turns onto the main road of the town, Aomine asks, "just what physical therapist are you taking me to, anyway?"
Kuroko doesn't look over at him, but Aomine can see a small smirk form on his face. "You'll just have to wait and see for yourself," he replies.
Half an hour later, Aomine realizes why Kuroko kept it such a secret as he sits on an exam table and waits for the physical therapist Kuroko found to come in.
The last person Aomine expected to walk through that door was Kagami. Honestly, Aomine figured he never would have seen the man again. But of course he and Kuroko would have remained in contact… remained friends. So really, he shouldn't have been so surprised.
Aomine stares at Kagami as the man walks across the room to a computer terminal on the side. And Kagami does the same as well. That is indeed Kagami Taiga, and he had both changed and not changed a lot from the last time he had seen him. He's still tall, heavily muscular, has a head of red hair with those odd split eyebrows. But at the same time… maybe it's the guy's clothes that makes him seem so different. Wearing a pair of khaki pants and a black polo shirt that make him seem so much more mature. Like he is the one that grew up and got a real job while he is still playing basketball.
"Hey Aomine, nice to see you again after so long," Kagami says, turning his attention back to what their actual meeting is about.
But for whatever reason, Aomine can feel the tension in the omega's voice at that statement. Like he isn't telling the truth. Aomine is definitely going to be grilling Kuroko about this on the way back. Their last interaction back in highschool might not have ended on the best note, but Aomine doesn't see how it could have ended with this tension he is feeling from the other.
"Let's just get started," Kagami says, again pulling Aomine's focus back to the session. "I imagine your schedule is pretty busy right now. I know mine sure is."
Kagami then pushes Aomine to lie back on the exam table as he begins looking over the other's leg. Aomine simply lets him, too unfocused to actually do or say anything else.
"I'm only examining you and your injury today," Kagami says, attention focused on Aomine's knee. "So this shouldn't take too long. Our next meeting we'll actually start stuff."
And Kagami is right. The meeting is rather short. Much shorter than Aomine was expecting this to take. It's mostly just Kagami taking down notes as he poked and prodded. Occasionally he asks Aomine a question here or there. Mostly about how the pain feels. Aomine answers them all in one or two words. It's probably the quietest he's been in another room with somebody for years.
After a while, Kagami hums as he sets the clipboard down on a nearby table. Aomine sits up on the table and asks, "So? What do you think?"
"It's honestly not so bad. I've definitely seen worse," Kagami says. "If all goes well and there's no setbacks, you should be all good in about six weeks."
"Six weeks?" Aomine asks. "I thought you said it wasn't so bad?"
"And it's not," Kagami says. "Trust me, even with this injury, I've seen much worse."
Aomine scowls. Six more weeks? This sucks. Totally.
All he wants is to get back to playing basketball. Physical therapy for another six weeks, at the minimum, totally blows and is the last thing he wants.
Leaving the physical therapy office, Aomine gets into the passenger seat of Kuroko's car to be driven back to his place. He remains silent in the car for a couple minutes, before saying, "You had this all planned, didn't you?"
"Whatever do you mean, Aomine?" Kuroko asks.
Aomine turns to glare at Kuroko. "You know what I mean," he says. "I know you planned this… planned something. What's your goal here?"
Kuroko just smiles with the same infuriating smirk from earlier. "My goal is to just make you healthy enough to play again, Aomine."
"There's more to it than that. I know you," Aomine says lowly.
"There really is nothing else to it," Kuroko says simply. "Kagami is a highly recommended physical therapist among athletes. And I thought this would go over easier for you if you were working with someone you know." Kuroko looks over at Aomine from the side of his eye. "I could always find some other random person to grab ahold of and move your leg around three days a week for the next six weeks."
Aomine doesn't have a response to that. And he doesn't know which would be better in that situation. Kagami, someone he might have… no definitely had a crush on in the past… or a total stranger.
He simply sinks back into his seat and turns to glare out the window. This is turning out to be a long six weeks indeed… and he hasn't even started it yet.