𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐏𝐄. | 𝐁𝐗𝐁

(𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐈) 𝐓𝐖𝐎 - 𝐀𝐔𝐆𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐒𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍

𝟐. (𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐈) 𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐒𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧

"𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬?"

◈

"Hello, Mr.Douglas."

Kori looks up from his phone, "Hey Sam."

Sam is his trainer/therapist. That means the man puts him through hell all in the essence of 'recovery' and then Kori gets to rant to him about how subpar he's feeling while sweat rains down from his forehead. It's one of the oddest relationships he's ever experienced. Sam also has a thing about "formality rejects friendship" so the first time Kori called him Mr.McKathy, the man gave him a sharp look and said, "Sam." So far, it's stuck. And as far as white people go, Sam is one of the chillest ones he's met.

"How's the knee feeling today?"

"Good."

"Has there been any incidents since our last appointment?"

"Yea,"

"Care to explain?"

"It's given out twice. One time, I was playing basketball. The other time, I guess I took too many stairs and it just... buckled. It swelled up too, I had to get Mir to wrap it."

"Mir? As in Zamir? Your partner?"

Kori nods, "Yeah, him."

Truth be told, he had no idea what the real context of 'partner' meant. He's pretty sure it means friend though. One day he had been talking about Zamir —the boy had cheated him out of a bet— and Sam looked over, eyes wide. When Kori asked what was wrong, he just shook his head and asked, "Is he your partner?" And at the time, all he could really think was I've known this nigga for about ten years, he's my something. They've been through thick and thin together: breakups, dead family members, car accidents, etc. That has to classify as some type of partners, right? With that thought process, he said, "Yea, he's my partner." To this day, he still wonders why Sam gave him a smile and said, "I'm proud of you for being so open about it." The fuck does that even mean?

"How is he?"

"He's doing good. He's being more annoying than usual, though."

Sam laughs, "How so?"

"He- he choked me to shut me up the other day." Kori rubs the back of his neck, "My throat still hurts a lil bit."

"The aggressive type?"

"Only sometimes."

Sam nods and cracks his knuckles; over the months, Kori's learned it's something the man does to soothe himself. "Do you want to wait for him?"

Without hesitation, he says, "Yea,"

"Alright," Sam concedes and sits on a yoga ball, pulling a paper from his bag to observe. Kori thinks it's a document on another client.

Kori
hey
u almost here?

Mir🤞🏾
yea
im sorry bro I had to convince my mom to take me and you know how she is

Kori
its ok I get it
u know when u finna be here?

Mir🤞🏾
i should be there in ten minutes
if im not just start without me

Kori
nah ill wait

Mir🤞🏾
u sure?

Kori
yea
it feels weird without you here
i wouldn't be able to focus

Mir🤞🏾
u mean that bae?🥺

Kori disliked 'u mean that bae?🥺'

Kori
no fuck u

Mir🤞🏾
im jus playin🤣

Kori
yeah ok

Mir🤞🏾
nah but fr I love you bro
its good to hear that
thanks

Kori
ur welcome
and love u ig

Mir🤞🏾
ig?!

Kori
love u too damn🙄

"Aw,"

Kori looks up from his phone, confused, "What?"

Sam shakes his head, chuckling, "Sorry- it's just- you were smiling. He really makes you happy, huh?"

"...yeah, he does."

"How did you two meet?"

Kori places his phone down, knowing he might as well indulge in the conversation if he's going to be waiting on Zamir for another five minutes. "Hm, well, we met in kindergarten but we weren't friends until second grade."

"Really? You've known each other for that long?"

"Yea, we're practically brothers."

Sam grimaces, "Uh, I don't think that's the correct terminology for that, bud."

"Why not?" He asks, genuinely confused.

"I mean- ya'know," Sam waves a pale hand and Kori just shrugs, deciding to let it go. Prolly wasn't even that important anyways, he thinks. "Well, how did you two become friends?"

"Oh," Kori laughs. "Um, for context, I was short in 2nd grade, practically a midget compared to the other kids. I was real lanky too, so small body and skinny limbs. I was always getting bullied by this dude who the teacher called Big Chris because this nigga- this guy was huge for an eight-year-old. He would pull on my hair," he throws up quotation marks with his fingers, "accidentally spill water on me, and steal my crayons. So, one day, he wouldn't give me back my pencil. And while I'm crying and begging for it back, Zamir comes out of nowhere —he was big for his age too— and snatches the pencil. He gives to me, right? Then he turns to Chris and says, I'm completely serious, says stop messing with people ManMan! As it turns out, Chris was his cousin! And for the rest of that year, Zamir protected me from him until Chris learned his lesson."

"So basically, he was your guardian angel?"

He chuckles, "Pretty much, yeah."

"And when did you two become partners?"

There he goes with that word again. "Uh, second grade?"

Sam's jaw drops, "Really?"

"Yeah,"

"That young?"

"Uh... yeah,"

"You realized— at that young?"

"I mean, I liked him, so..."

"Wow." Sam runs a hand through his hair, "Wow. My uncle was three years into his marriage when he realized. I'm proud of you, Kori."

What does his uncle got to do with this? "Thanks, man," he settles on saying, shifting awkwardly.

"So, that makes it ten years?"

"Yep, ten years with this bum,"

Sam laughs, then asks, "So, are you going to marr—"

The door bursts open, slamming against the wall. They both jump and look towards the doorway, muscles tense. They both relax as Zamir walks in, gently closing the door with a sheepish smile, "Sorry ya'll, I forgot how light this door was."

Sam simply waves it off with a smile, "You're fine. We'll get started in about... two more minutes, yeah?"

Zamir nods and walks over to Kori, who greets him with a dap. The latter yelps as he's pulled into a hug halfway through and his friend laughs lowly, directly in his ear. He shivers at the feeling. Dark, muscled arms wrap around Kori's torso tight; seconds later, he feels hands run along his back, massaging his spine. Above him, Zamir gently rests his chin on the top of Kori's skull before finally saying, "Hey, JJ."

He rolls his eyes, but tentatively brings his hands up and pats Zamir on the back. (He had never been good at showing affection.) "Hey, Mir."

Zamir leans back, looking down and meeting Kori's eyes, "If you feel too bad, I'll drive. My mom left, so I have to ride with you anyways."

"She in a mood today?"

"Yea,"

He nods, "Aight, that's coo'. You wanna pick up some food on the way?"

"If you feel like it. I'll pay."

"Do you think you finna spend the night?"

"If you want me to."

"Okay," he absentmindedly grabs Zamir's wrist and rubs his thumb over his pulsepoint, "I think you should stay. You haven't been over in a bit, Ma's been asking about you. It'd be easier for us to get to school on time too."

"If that's what you think."

(Kori doesn't realize that Zamir has catered to his every demand.)

Sensing the end of the conversation, Zamir pulls back from him and takes a seat beside him; their thighs brush. Anticipating instructions for the session, Kori looks back at Sam. The man has a huge smile on his face and satisfaction in his eyes. Good choice, he mouths to him and Kori nods; Zamir's a good friend, after all.

What better choice could he possibly have made?

ᴀɢᴀᴘᴇ ♡