"Are you sure?"
Namjoon sighed. "Yes, I'm sure, Jungkook. Get in the wheelchair already. We need you two to start practicing."
Jin had already hopped in the wheelchair Namjoon had brought out from the storage closet, and he was pushing himself around the two of them in a painfully slow circle.
Jungkook eyed Jin before setting himself down in the wheelchair. It was sort of stiff, and he could already tell that his butt was going to hurt in about an hour. He set his feet on the footrests before running his hands over the wheels, giving himself a small push forward that took a surprising amount of strength. He figured that made sense though, since he was pushing his entire body weight plus the weight of the chair. He pushed a little harder and moved a foot or two.
"These are just standard wheelchairs," Namjoon explained as though someone had asked. "There are models for sports and other physical activities, but the school doesn't own any of those. We could apply for a grant, but it's unlikely that we'd receive money for them. So these are probably the ones we'll use for the season."
Jungkook mostly tuned Namjoon out, focusing instead on propelling himself forward. Soon, he was at half court. Then, the three-point line. Then the free throw line. Finally, he looked up to see the net directly above him.
Now he just had to turn around and go back-
How the hell was he supposed to turn around?
He tried to angle right in order to curve his trajectory, but he ended up just moving straight forward, growing closer to the wall.
After several minutes of trying (and then several more minutes of debating whether or not he was allowed to just get up and reposition the chair), he finally decided to just roll himself backwards across the length of the court.
It took him twice as long to get back, and once he had, he was greeted by more laughter.
"And this is why we need practice," Namjoon said with a small smile.
"By the way," Hoseok said, popping up on his right from goodness knows where. "Just a pro tip from one handicap to another. You're pushing on the tire – that's fine – but there's also a little rim here-" Hoseok paused to set his hand on the rim of his own wheelchair before pointing at the one on Jungkook's. "You can use that too. It's so you don't have to touch the tire if it's dirty."
"Oh, thanks," Jungkook said, setting his hands on the metal rim instead. It was cold and had less traction for his hands, but it seemed to work fine.
"As for turning," Jimin added, a small smile on his face as he'd obviously watched Jungkook struggle earlier. "If you just push one of the hand rims, that should work."
"Right," Jungkook said, keeping his head down so he didn't have to look up at them. He knew they were all laughing at him, and he felt incredibly stupid. But he reminded himself why he was there. The accident. The boy. "Thank you," he said after a moment, looking up at Jimin to show him that he meant it, and Jimin smiled back.
Jungkook, still facing the opposite wall, repeated his attempt earlier, pushing himself to just beneath the basket before turning. This time, Hoseok rolled alongside him, and he was able to turn around and head back to the opposite side of the court where Namjoon was waiting with Jin, who was rolling after Jimin, the two of them carrying on a conversation.
Jungkook slowed to a stop, huffing out a small groan as he took his hands off the hand rims, resting them in his lap instead. "My arms are already sore."
"You'll get used to it," promised Hoseok with a cheeky grin. "Soon you'll be zooming around just like me."
"Uh huh, sure," Jungkook replied skeptically.
"All right, I think that's good for today," Namjoon announced. "We'll meet here at 3 every day after school starting tomorrow, okay?"
Everyone nodded, and Jungkook started to get up before Namjoon gave him a pointed look.
"What?"
Namjoon raised an eyebrow at Jungkook before looking across the gym at the storage closet and back at Jungkook.
"You want me to go all the way back?" Jungkook asked before wincing and mumbling, "Right, of course. Practice."
Hoseok laughed, and Jimin nodded to the practice room doors, indicating that he was willing to go with Jungkook.
Jungkook began rolling himself slowly, trying to extend his arms to lessen the strain on his arms. "How do you guys do this all the time?"
"Well, we don't really have another option," Jimin said, lips turning up at the corners. "And it's a lot easier when you've been doing it your whole life."
Jungkook looked over at Jimin, his mouth opening in surprise. He forgot to push himself forward, and Jimin continued a few feet ahead of him before slowing and looking back at Jungkook. "What?"
"You've been...you know...since you were born?" Jungkook asked. He wasn't quite sure why he'd held the belief that it must have been some terrible accident.
"Yep. This-" Jimin began gesturing with his hand from his face down to his wheelchair with a grand flourish, "is all natural."
Jungkook released a surprised chuckle.
"I know you think we're weak and fundamentally broken in some way," Jimin said, his voice softer as he continued onward, and Jungkook opened his mouth to protest but Jimin stopped him with a flick of his eyes. "But we're not. So you don't have to tiptoe around it or stand there awkwardly silent if we make a joke about it. Okay? Your pity is certainly appreciated because it feeds perfectly into our need for attention, but it's really not necessary."
"Ah, yeah," Jungkook said after a moment. "Sorry. I'm just not used to...well, ..."
"Being part of the handicapped circus?"
Jungkook hesitated, his face flattening out stiffly before he saw the merry twinkle in Jimin's eyes. He let out a soft, breathy laugh and was rewarded with another one of Jimin's bright smiles.
"Welcome to the zoo, Jungkook."
-updated 04/30/20 (mm/dd/yy)-
