Chapter Text
«Isak Valtersen?»
He was sitting on one of the fancy chairs in the a-little-bit- too fancy waiting room when the receptionists called his name. He slowly got on his feet and walked over to the front desk, back hunched over in pain. He started to regret not taking a extra painkiller before coming here, but he had been so afraid of how it would affect his driving. After all, you can never be too careful.
“I am him. I mean I am Valtersen. Isak Valtersen.” For some reason he felt embarrassed to be here. Partly do to the fact that he was not used to being the one needing help. And his reason for being here was also embarrassing, he could feel himself blushing by the sheer thought. “Just go on in to room 212. Wait outside and someone will come out to get you.” The middle-aged receptionist didn’t even look up. She just kept typing away on her computer. Had the situation been different this would have offended Isak, he was used to being noticed and respected. But today he was more than happy to just blend inn, so he just turned around and walked towards the treatment rooms.
He found room 212, luckily there were a chair just outside the door. Without thinking he reached for his phone, never missing a chance to get some work done. He found some e-mails with invitations to various charity events, which he forwarded to his secretary. He had cleared his schedule this morning, but he needed to be at the board meeting after lunch. No way was he letting his ball busting reputation be tainted by this irritating pain. He was never hurt, never sick. That’s why he was here, at this small and insignificante clinic. A quick google search had guided him to this place, just a short drive from downtown Oslo. He figured he would be in and out in no time, nobody would know.
All off a sudden the door to room 212 flew open, and a tall skinny man walked out. Loud pop music was playing in the room he came out of, and the man was apparently dancing. He looked absolutely ridicules, hips rocking from side to side and limbs all over the place. The man looked at Isak, somehow surprised to see him. “Oh, sorry! I did not know I had a patient.” The man looked amused, not at all embarrassed from the scene Isak just witnessed. Had he not been in such pain, Isak would have left the clinic. This was just unacceptable behavior for work. But, desperate times calls for desperate measures. So Isak followed the tall scarecrow.
“So, you are hurt?” the man said, stating the obvious. Isak felt anger bubbling in his stomach, he never saw the point in irritating small talk. “Yes, that’s right.” He said, trying to come of as confident. “Just a small skiing accident. “ That could have been true. “I need to recover quickly, so if you could just treat this now that would be great.” The tall man pointed to a bench in the left side of the room. “If you could take off your shirt and lie down on your stomach that would be awesome.” Isak complied. “Soo.. Let’s see what’s up here.” The youthful language irritated Isak, but he figured he would let the man do his job. After all he was not really in a position to start complaining.
The man started touching his back, light touches all along his spine. When he pushed down on his lower back, Isak could not help but to scream from the pain. “Yeah.. I see.. Let’s try something else. Could you flip over for me?” Isak slowly turned around facing the other man, feeling anything but graceful.
Isak noticed that this ridiculous man was actually quite beautiful. Deep blue eyes and full lips, hair perfectly styled. If you were in to that sort of thing that is, witch Isak clearly was not. The attraction to men came as no surprise to Isak, it was just not a part of him he welcomed. Being a workaholic with no time for relationships worked perfect for him. Of course he occasionally had casual sex with guys he met at clubs, especially when he was away on business trips, but it was never anything more. This was perfect for him. Nobody asked him of course, he did never open up to conversations on his personal life. To events he usually brought one of his high school friends. Both Noora and Vilde loved to go with him, to mingle with celebrities and for the free food. Isak hated it, but it was expected of him. It came with the job.
“Soo.. I see. There’s the problem. Do you feel it?” Isak’s back felt like it exploded in extrem pain. “What was that?” He managed to whisper. “Well, you have a prolapsed disk in your lover back. Nothing serious, but quite painful.” Isak looked at him. “How soon can you fix it? I don’t have time for this.” The tall man shrugged his shoulders. “We’ll see. It’s up to you really, how good you are at listening. But I can totally help you with this. No problem.” The man was smiling so bright that Isak felt the need to close his eyes. “You’ll have to come back twice a week, and I will give you some light exercises. “
As Isak was putting on his shirt, the man asked; “Skiing accident you said?” One of his brows were raised and he looked amused. Isak looked down and mumbled “Yes, skiing.” He felt his face reddening. Why was this man so rude? It was clearly none of his business. Isak wanted to tell him off, but he decided against it.
Limping out of the room, his path was suddenly blocked by the tall man. “I’m sorry! I totally forgot to introduce myself. Oh my god, I always do that.” The man was grinning, clearly amused. “I’m Even. And I’ll be your physical therapist. At your service.” And just like that, he bowed down taking Isak’s hand in his. “Guess we’ll be seeing each other quite a lot from now on”. Isak did not know how to respond to this. This man was just unbelievable.
Before he left, he made an appointment for next week.
Might as well give it a go.