Debbie Novotny meant well, she really did. Brian knew this. Still, any thirty four year old man’s patience would wear slightly thin if forced to contend with his overbearing, Italian pseudo mother. All Brian longed for was for life to go back to some sort of normality – and he and Debbie most definitely did not see eye to eye on what was considered normal.

So, when Thursday rolled around and it was time for his first physical therapy session, Brian was all too happy to leave the loft and get an afternoon’s reprieve. Michael was dropping him off at the hospital only three days after he was discharged – and suddenly he wasn't sure whether he was ready for this or not.

You can do this, Kinney!

He said goodbye to Michael, and hobbled through the door of the Orthopaedics and Physical Therapy department and ambled over to the front desk to check in.

With nobody at the desk, he yelled out, “Hello?”

No reply.

He tried twice more and was about ready to give up, when a petite blonde with large blue eyes and pursed lips finally walked out from the office behind the desk. She was reading through a file folder and without looking up and a quick snap of her gum she said, “OK! OK! Geez, I heard you the first time.”

Well, clearly you didn't.

She stopped short when she looked up and saw Brian. Her mildly annoyed look immediately transformed into a flirtatious smile.

Oh God.

“Well, hi there, handsome.” She set the folder down and leant across the desk, shrugging her shoulders together in an obvious effort to maximise her already ample cleavage. “What can I do for you?”

He inwardly shuddered. He had no idea why so many gay men were fascinated with boobs. They just hung there like big ol’ sacks of potatoes.

“I'm here for my first session. I'm Brian Kinney.”

“Hi, Brian. My name’s Kathy and I manage the reception desk here in the Orthopaedic and PT department...”

Hardly.

“And I will be happy to assist you in whatever you need,” she practically purred that last part before sticking out her hand with her fingers dropping down as if expecting him to kiss it. He took it awkwardly and shook it.

Jesus Christ, she wants me to fuck her so bad.

“So… do I need to sign anything, or am I good to go?”

“Oh yes, silly me.” Without taking her eyes off of him, she reached for a clipboard to her right and slid it over to him. Brian found her wide-eyed staring equally disturbing as he did hilarious. What was it about straight women wanting to jump his bones?

Kathy popped her gum once again. “Do you know who you’re seeing today, gorgeous?”

Brian took the clipboard from her and signed himself in as well as filling out all of his insurance information. “Let me look,” he said, as he pulled out the stack of papers Nurse Adams had given him. “J. Taylor?”

Kathy rolled her eyes and said sarcastically, “oh, he’s a real treat.”

He?? Please let him be hot, please let him be hot.

Brian couldn't help but smile, the idea of a hot guy manipulating and working on his body for the next God knows how many months really appealed to him.

Of course, as soon as he smiled, he immediately wished he hadn't. Kathy had taken this as a positive sign and ran around the desk. “You know, I'm studying to become a physical therapist myself. Maybe I could practice on you occasionally.” She was standing a little too close for comfort. He hadn't quite mastered backing up with the crutches so was more or less cornered as she leant in.

“MISS CLARKSON!!!”

He’d recognise that voice anywhere. Thank goodness for Nurse Adams and her perfect timing.

Kathy rolled her eyes and turned. “I was just helping Brian out here.”

“That’s Mr. Kinney to you. And last time I checked, helping out a patient means ensuring their file is ready and pointing them in the right direction to their appointment, not fawning all over them.”

Nurse Adams starred Kathy down until she’d scurried off back behind her desk and was rummaging through the patient files on her desk before finding his.

“Here’s Mr. Kinney’s file,” she said, as she waved the folder around.”

“I’ll take that,” muttered Nurse Adams. “If you’d like to follow me, Brian, I think he’s ready to see you now.”

He followed her down the hall and could hear Kathy behind him saying, “See you next time, darling.”

Nurse Adams rolled her eyes. “Silly girl, she only got the job because she’s the niece of the chief of orthopaedic surgery. She means well, but she likes to try my patience a little too often if you know what I mean.” He nodded.

A minute more of walking and one turn later, Nurse Adams stopped and turned. “Here we are.”

She took a few steps away, but looked back when she didn't hear him move.

“Well, are you going to knock on the door then? He won’t bite.” And with that, she knocked on the door before opening it and then made herself scarce.

Fuck. I hope he does.

“Hi, I’m Justin Taylor,” the blonde said as he introduced himself to his patient while fussing with the sheet covering the exam table. “Take a seat.”

As Justin was gathering together all of his paperwork he dropped his pen. Bending down to retrieve it, he crouched down and could now see Brian's leg brace below his shorts and a long thin scar, still fresh on his knee. He stood slowly.

God, he was young. Young, beautiful and blonde– he didn’t usually go for blondes.

Brian took a seat on the exam table, which he did with minimal effort.

“Right…So I’m going to be helping you with your physical therapy for the next nine months.”

“Nine months???”

Justin smiled. “Nurse Adams told me this would be your reaction. But yes, usually for an ACL tear, getting back to full strength and mobility can be as fast as six months, but with the pins in your femur, we won’t be able to put full weight on it right away, which will delay things with your knee. For the first month, you’ll be coming in to work with me three afternoons a week, with a visit with your doctor once a week to make sure you are progressing well. Do you have any questions?”

He had questions, plenty of them. But none of them were related to his rehabilitation.

“No, I’m good.”

“Alright, well all I will be doing today is a diagnostic examination on your knee and shoulder to check your swelling, strength and range of motion. I’ll then send my notes to your orthopaedic doctor and on Monday, we can discuss what we have planned for you for the next couple of months. Sound ok?”

“Sure.”

“We’ll start with your shoulder. How long has it been out of the sling?” Justin asked, as he gently pulled Brian’s t-shirt away from his shoulder, causing Brian to hiss quietly.

Fuck his hands are soft. Breathe, he’s just touching your shoulder.

“Sorry, are my hands cold?” he asked, as he pulled his hands away and rubbed them together to heat them up before bringing them back to examine him .”

“Urm, about a week.”

“And have you felt any pain?”

“Not really. Not much anyway.”

“Ok. Now, raise your arm out straight in front of you, with the palm of your hand facing down.”

He did. Wincing a bit.

“If you feel any pain now, let me know, and rate it on a scale from one to ten, with one being very slight pain and ten being extreme.”

“Three I suppose… maybe four.”

He made a note. “Now move your arm to the side, like this,” he demonstrated.

“Three.”

“Now turn your palm to face forward, bend the arm at the elbow and rotate it forward.”

“Urgh, fuck it… five.”

“Sorry about that,” apologised Justin. “So now, set your arm down and try to roll your shoulder.”

Brian tried, but he found he couldn’t move it much. “It doesn’t hurt that much, it just doesn’t seem to want to move.” He tried again, but the same thing happened.

“Alright, arm out in front again.” Then he put down the clipboard he was holding and took Brian’s extended hand, putting it on his shoulder. He immediately took it away, as if touching him had burned him.

He had no fucking idea why he’d done that. But it was like as soon as their bodies touched he felt something. He knew he’d have to touch him again over the next couple of months; there was no getting around it.

“Sorry.”

Sorry? He didn’t do sorry… he didn’t do blondes either. Today was a day of firsts.

“It's okay, do you… do you feel uncomfortable with me treating you?” He asked nervously. ”Would you rather I signed you over to one of our female therapists?”

Brian laughed, he couldn’t help it.

“Jesus Christ, no. That is the furthest thing from what I would like.“

Justin laughed along with him. “Ok.”

These next nine months are going to be torture, but the sweetest, sweetest kind.

Justin once again took his hand and placed it on his shoulder, stopping briefly to make sure Brian was okay with what he was doing.

Getting a nod from Brian, he continued. “Now press down on my shoulder as hard as you can.”

He could barely manage to push it down at all. “I guess there’s room for improvement there,” he said with a laugh.

Justin smiled again, took his hand from his shoulder and held it for a fraction of a second longer than was professionally appropriate.

Brian had wanted to kiss him right then.

Fuck

“Right, now let’s take a look at your knee. Can you lay down for me?”

Swinging around as best he could, he lay down on the examination table.

“I'm not going to do much to it today, I just want to see how your scar is healing and go over with you what sort of exercises we’ll be doing. I'm just going to remove your brace for a second and place my hand gently on the top of your foot – can you push up at all for me?”

“Argh! No. Shit that hurts”

“Sorry,” Justin said sheepishly. “That is completely normal with this sort of injury, though. Over the next couple of months, we’ll be working on leg strengthening exercises, high-level balance retraining as well as normalising your level of joint motion. We’ll also need to strengthen your lower limbs, such as your calves, hip and pelvis muscles.”

I can think of plenty of fun ways we can work on my pelvis muscles.

“Okay…”

Justin re-fastened the brace on his leg, pulled a stool over with his foot, and sat down. “I know that was a lot of information to take in – and it’s daunting thinking about how much work we have to do, but we’ll make this fun, I promise,” he smiled, as he busied himself with the notes in front of him.

Sunshine – he has a smile like fucking sunshine.

Brian shook his head, as though that would help rid him of the lesbianic thoughts he had just had. He laughed inwardly at how stupid that was.

“You can sit back up,” Justin said. “We’ll meet again on Monday at one. Is that time good for you?”

Brian thought about it for a moment, he was hoping to go back to work on Monday, but this wasn't something he could avoid doing, so he’d have to just make time.

“One sounds good.”

Suddenly, Kathy barged into the examination room without knocking. “Justin?” she said, as her eyes focused solely on Brian. “Ethan called – he said he’ll pick you up after work.”

She could barely get his name out without her nose turning up in disgust.

“Uh, thanks…” Justin replied uncomfortably. “And Kathy, can I see you outside for a moment please?” He asked as he walked her out of the room. “If you’ll excuse me, Brian, I’ll just be a moment.” And with that the door closed.

The door was relatively thin and Brian could hear everything Justin was saying – either that or Justin was talking particularly loudly.

“I've told you about this before, Kathy. You do not just walk into my room while I'm with a patient. What if he wasn't decent?” He asked.

Kathy laughed, “I'm sure you’d have liked that, wouldn't you?”

I was right. I'm always right. He’s queer. He’s too beautiful not to be.

“Kathy…” he warned.

“What? Oh come on, he’s gorgeous. Far better looking than that boyfriend of yours.”

“Kathy, stop it. I’ll speak to you more about this later, but right now I have to get back to my patient. If you could page Nurse Adams and have her meet me here before I leave, that would be great.”

“Nurse Adams? You’re not reporting me are you?” she asked, her voice wavering slightly.

“I think we need to go back over the rules of what is and what isn't acceptable. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

And he was back – the door opened and Justin walked back into the room. His face slightly red from irritation.

“I'm really sorry about that,” Justin apologised, “She’s just…”

Brian smiled; he could see how frustrated Justin was with the situation.

“Don’t worry about it. I met her before my appointment, she’s…”

“One of a kind…”

Brian laughed, “That’s putting it kindly.”

They were silent for a minute, both looking at each other – neither knowing what to say next.

“Do you ever go to Woody’s?” Brian asked, unsure as to what made him ask the question.

“What is it?”

“Woody’s? You don’t know Woody’s?”

Is he kidding? Everyone knows Woody’s.

“I only recently moved back to Pittsburgh,” Justin explained.

“It’s a bar on Liberty Avenue.”

“Oh! My boyfriend isn't really the… bar type.”

“I see. I was just going to say I'm there most evenings…”

What the fuck was he saying?

There was another quick knock at the door.

“Hey babe, it’s me,” and the door opened. “Oh shit, sorry. I thought you were done,” Ethan apologised as he quickly averted his eyes. “I thought you finished at two today.”

Brian looked down at his watch and saw it was already two fifteen.

Shit

Brian reached for his crutches and pulled himself up.

“I’ll see you on Monday,” he said as he hobbled towards the door.

Justin quickly followed, “Yeah…One O’clock?”

“Yep, later.”

“Later.”

As soon as he was out of the room, Ethan was inside; his lips crushed themselves against Justin’s possessively.

Brian bit his lip as he hobbled back into the hallway. Just what he needed to see when Adam was still MIA. It made him feel a twinge that was foreign and unjustified.

But something good came out of seeing the exchange. It kept him from fucking up and opening his big fat mouth. Justin would have said no anyway and that was never something he liked to hear. Besides, Adam might come back. And if he didn't it that just showed that a relationship wasn't in the cards for him anyway.