Chapter 1

Takao cracked his neck and yawned. Today was his first day of work and he was already feeling too old for this, even though he was just 23. He didn't recall getting this tired when he was studying high school, rather than teaching in it.

It had been sort of a spontaneous thing. He'd never had any particular career plans and one of his old teachers had called him to tell him they were short a PE teacher, and that their basketball team could use an experienced coach. It didn't sound too difficult and it was also about time he started bringing money home instead of free-loading on Shin-chan's doctor-in-training salary.

So far so good. Making teenagers run around the field and make push-ups wasn't really challenging, but it'd made him realize he was a little bit out of shape compared to his high school time. Now it was time to go meet Shuutoku's basketball team. He'd heard dire news on that front. He wasn't sure on the details, but it seemed his former high school had lost its "King" status shortly after he and Shin-chan graduated and was now a relatively unknown team where basketball was concerned. It kind of pissed Takao off, especially after all the hard work they'd put in, even after Shin-chan's accident.

He took a deep breath and finally opened the doors to the basketball court, where his new trainees should be waiting for him.

The sight that met him almost broke his heart. The court was unpolished and covered in dirt, the baskets were barely hanging there, the nets long gone. All of the balls were without air except for two or three. What did they expect him to achieve here? The one with the miracles was Shin-chan, not him.

A boy approached him, probably a first year. He was really tall, maybe about Shin-chan's height back then, but his legs and arms looked weak.

"You're Takao-sensei, right? You're going to be coaching us? I'm Aomori Hiromu, pleased to make your acquaintance."

At least he was polite. "Okay Aomori-kun, do we have enough members to hold a practice game?"

"Yeah, I guess so. But aren't we going to warm up or something first? Should I call the captain?"

Takao held up his hand to keep him from talking anymore. "That won't be necessary. I want to watch how you guys play before making any decisions. Just assemble everyone please." Maybe they should make some warm-up exercises, but he was too depressed about the state of the court to think properly about it. This was the place where all his brightest memories of high school had taken place, and it crushed his heart to see it in such abandon.

Aomori called all the club members and they lined up to introduce themselves to Takao. Most of them seemed to be terribly out of shape, although one of them who claimed to be a Point Guard showed some promise. Takao instructed them to form two teams and play a practice 10-minute game.

Tip-off, game start, teenagers running. And Takao wanted to cry.

"I'm home" Midorima called as was usual.

"Okaeri" Takao replied.

The young doctor found his lover sprawled on the coach watching one of his old basketball DVDs, his face completely dispirited. Midorima left the wheelchair in the genkan, crawled all the way to the living room and climbed on the couch next to Takao.

"Are you alright? I thought you were starting work today, did something go wrong?" he asked, slightly concerned. He'd expected Takao would be elated to go back to Shuutoku High and coach the basketball team. He'd seemed fairly excited when the offer first came by. Midorima had been happy for him too. Takao had been uncertain about his future since they graduated high school. He'd half-heartedly gotten a college degree in Sports Education, but he'd mostly spent the past few years switching from one part-time job to another, unable to find anything he liked.

Takao looked up at him with teary eyers."Shin-chaaaaaan!" he wailed, hugging his waist and burying his face in his stomach. "It's hopeless"

He looked down at Takao quizzically and ruffled his raven hair on instinct. "What's hopeless? Did you anger the other teachers or something?"

He shook his head. "That basketball team is hopeless. I don't think I'll ever find a way to make them work."

Midorima smiled at the love of his life and pulled his face upwards by the chin. "How can you give up so easily? You managed to make me shoot a full-court three-pointer, I can't imagine a bunch of kids can be such a challenge."

Instead of encouraging him, though, the statement only seemed to depress Takao further. "That was more you being a fucking prodigy than me having anything to do with it." He mumbled, once again hiding his face.

Midorima frowned. No matter what he tried, Takao seemed incapable of realizing just how instrumental he'd been for his recovery after the accident, and it frustrated him to no end.

"Kazunari, you listen to me right now." He began, this time grabbing his lover's head with both hands and forcing him into a sitting position, where he could stare straight at his clear eyes. "I would've never even taken that shot if you hadn't been there. I wish I could get that through your thick skull. Now stop pitying yourself. The school and those kids trust you and there's no one in the world better fit for the job than you."

Takao smiled meekly. "Shin-chan's always going out of his way to make me feel better. Sorry. You're right. I'm going to make a King out of Shuutoku again, just you wait." He announced, feeling a little bit more optimistic. He stood up with a look of determination on his face. "I really love you a lot, Shin-chan." He added, the dismay completely blown off his face and replaced with an ear-to-ear grin.

He bent over to kiss Midorima on the cheek and then pranced his way to the kitchen to make dinner. The green-haired doctor was glad that Takao was so easy to please, it always affected his mood to see his lover brooding, and most importantly, he really hoped this coaching job would help Takao find his own path. As much as it contented him to know his lover would always be home waiting for him when he got out of work, he also knew his lack of perspectives for the future was slowly eating at him, and it would be great if this turned out to be the kind of job that Takao could enjoy and even look upon in a more permanent manner. And there was also a part of him that really wanted to see their old high school basketball team picking up and going back to being the powerhouse it used to.

"Hey, Shin-chan, did I tell you…" Takai asked playfully as he came back to the living room with a pair of food trays, obviously with the intention of eating while watching the TV and cuddling together. "that I really, really love you?"

Midorima smiled. "First time I hear about it."

"I'm home."

It was four in the morning and he'd just come back from a 32-hour shift, completely exhausted. He felt ready to drop dead any minute (preferably, in the near vicinity of some clingy, whiny, obnoxious man who happened to be the love of his life). He'd never get used to being away from home for such a long time. And he wished he could be surprised at finding Takao sleeping in front of the TV –which was still running some old basketball DVD- and hugging a pillow. He knew these long shifts were hard on Takao too. Ever since they moved in together, Takao would always try to wait for him to come back home, and most of the times ended passing out in the living room.

The ex-Point guard's eyes fluttered open and sparked upon noticing Midorima's return.

"Shin-chan!" he cried, running to hug the taller man with teary eyes. "I give up, I can't do this anymore."

Midorima cocked his head in confusion, but hugged the shorter man back, in spite of the extremely awkward position, what with the wheelchair and everything.

"You can't… what exactly?" he was having troubles forming coherent sentences, and he just wanted to go back to their bedroom and pass out in Takao's arms, even if his lover would have to get up in three hours for work.

"The basketball team" Kazunari wailed miserably. "It's hopeless. The In-High preliminaries are right around the corner, we're never gonna make it."

The former shooter sighed. Takao had not failed to complain about the apparently unsustainable state of Shuutoku's basketball team every day for the past week. He knew that, just like him, Takao wanted to see Shuutoku crowned "King" once again, but he just couldn't seem to find the right way to go about it.

"Are they really that bad?" Takao was not only a very skilled basketball player, but his Hawk Eye had always given him a great advantage when it came to devising playing strategies. He had been a terrific Point Guard back in the day, and by the time they'd graduated he'd become recognized as one of the most gifted players of their generation. In their last year, and in spite of Midorima's untimely retirement from high school basketball, he'd taken Shuutoku to triumph over the young powerhouse of Seirin in the Winter Cup. Midorima still remembered how Takao ran to meet him with the trophy in hand. 'I… I wanted us to hold it together." He'd said, almost apologetically, before breaking into tears while the stadium exploded with cheers for "Shuutoku! Shuutoku!"

"It's not like they're bad… Of course they're not you, but some of them could be pretty strong if they polished their abilities. They're just not motivated. It's like they don't care. I heard the team was eliminated in the first round last year, and so their spirits are completely crushed. I don't know how to make them excited about basketball again."

Midorima, who was still sitting on the wheelchair, ran his fingers through Takao's raven locks; his head now lying on his lap after the shorter man kneeled down in front of him. It was still hard to believe that the man who had been Midorima's rock through rehabilitation, and probably the only reason he'd come to terms with his new disability, had trouble making a handful of kids enjoy basketball. Maybe Takao was lacking the right motivation too.

"I have today off. Maybe I could drop by the gym and lend you a hand?" he offered tentatively. If he could see these kids first hand, maybe he'd see something Takao was missing and figure out a way to help him with the problem.

"I could never ask you to do that, you should rest. I bet you haven't slept since Tuesday. And you don't get that many days off either. I don't want you to get sick." Takao sighed, picking himself up from the ground. "I'm sorry I'm bothering you with my petty troubles when you're so exhausted. I'm sure you have it even harder than me at work, and yet I'm the one who's always complaining. C'mon, let's go to bed. Maybe if I cuddle with Shin-chan a little I'll be able to think of something." He grinned, and started heading for the bedroom, with Midorima following close behind.

"I'm still coming to watch your team though." He commented as they both climbed on the bed. Midorima tossed his pants and shirt to the ground, too tired to bother changing into his pajamas, thus settling for just boxers. "Like you said, I don't get days off often, and when I do, I want to spend them with you." He smiled upon seeing the faint blush that spread on Takao's cheeks. "If I sleep now, I should be fully rested by the time club practice starts anyway." He added, as Takao curled into him and their legs intertwined as naturally as if they'd been doing it since birth.

The Hawk Eye didn't say anything else; he just nodded and draped a possessive arm across Midorima's chest, his head perfectly fitting in the crook of his lover's neck.

He couldn't say he disliked how his life had turned out. Perhaps the loss of his legs had given him a new perspective of what was really important. So what if he had 32 hour shifts that left him utterly destroyed? So long as he could be like this with the man he loved, he wouldn't care if the world was crumbling around him.

To be continued

This is intended as a set-up chapter. Five years later, where are these two lovebirds on a romantic and professional level, how their relationship has changed and how they have changed. I wanted a little bit of slice-of-life fluffy goodness, with just enough amount of underlying issues that will be at the core of this story.

I wanted to make a point about Midorima's type of paralysis, since I didn't make any specification in Show you a miracle (because I didn't need to). So I did a little research to find what would be the best way to convey the kind of physical limitation Shin-chan would be facing. After poking around on the internet for a while I found that a spinal injury to the T-11 to L-2 vertebrae is closest to what I picture Shin-chan would be going through. Basically he has a lot of independence, the upper part of the body is completely functional and most of the sensorial work below the waist can be regained through therapy, basic foot and knee mobility should be possible too, so he'd be able to move around short distances while squatting with relative liberty. Also, because I have my head way down the gutter, I found that people with T-11 to L-2 injuries can generally have an active sex life, so yay?

Shin-chan's flashback to Shuutoku's victory in the Winter Cup is one of my favorite scenes from this chapter and something I really want to delve a little bit deeper into: Takao's "survivor guilt". I definitely hope I can do something to expand on Midorima's rehabilitation and the hard process for both of them to come to terms with what happened. I won't make any promises because I'm a messy writer, but it's an idea that's haunting me.

Sorry for the long rant. Takao's birthday is right around the corner (and TakaMido day just passed) so I have lots of ideas for this couple going around in my mind. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please let me know what you think about it. Thanks for reading!

PS: I removed the "Part I" from the story title because it looked sloppy, but I still hope to write more "Parts".