Patient Privileges

Veronica was ready for Tension. At least, she thought she was ready.

As she waited for her first client to arrive, she took a moment to gaze around her office, feeling like this was the first time she’d had the chance in several days. She’d arrived in Kyoto just a couple of days ago, and from there it was whirlwind - moving into her new apartment, claiming all her luggage, securing transportation, and, of course meeting with her...interesting new bosses. Erica Fairchild and the eccentric Maximillian Kingsley - Friction’s new GM was quite the specimen. If she ever got the man down on the couch, Veronica figured she could write a thick book about the man. Possibly a trilogy.

But, after all that hullabaloo, things had finally settled down, and she had managed to get her office just the way she liked it. Dark red painted walls, calm and comforting. Her bookshelves adorned the walls, filled with anything and everything she could’ve wanted to put her hands on at a moment’s notice. Her desk, a dark mahogany, stood center in the room, and before it was her patient’s couch, stretched out and looking suitably comfortable.

It was everything any professional could’ve asked for, and a little more on the side - the room had a  rather large padded area built off to the side of it, with black mats. It looked like someone had accidentally built a small gym into the room, and that was precisely what she was going for.

Veronica looked over to it with a small, knowing smile and leaned back in her chair, crossing her legs and tossing her hair back as she perused the case fill in front of her. ‘Aiden Murray’, a newcomer from Canada with a decent record, though she noticed that none of his match were against women. That alone wasn’t abnormal, many Western wrestlers shied away from mixed matches, old-fashioned in their ways. But it was odd for a male wrestler with that mindset to join Tension out of the blue, particularly when he could have had a lucrative, safer career on the independent scene. Young, capable, handsome. Certainly a champion in two, maybe three years.

It raised questions. Questions she would be sure to ask when Mr. Murray arrived in a few minutes.

For now, she put on some chilled Jazz, cleaned her glasses and waited for the knock.

Aiden:

This was...different, to say the least.

Usually when Aiden found himself in a doctor’s office while wearing his wrestling gear, it was after a match that hadn’t gone his way for one reason or another. Of the many independent companies he’d wrestled for across Canada and a handful of other places, a few of the more financially well-off ones had insisted on medical check-ups prior to matches to ensure no one was coming in with an unknown condition that company could wind up getting sued for neglecting later. But none of them had asked him to see a therapist, or to wear his wrestling gear for the appointment.

Aiden had to admit it felt weird to enter a waiting room in his entrance jacket, and the same gloves, pants and boots he wore for his matches. A part of him even wondered if maybe this was some kind of hazing prank for new arrivals. But when he made his way to the desk, the secretary sitting behind it didn’t seem bothered or surprised in the slightest by the sight.

“Uh, Aiden Murray? I had an appointment…” he said, and the receptionist just smiled at him before looking down at a schedule in an open binder in front of her. “Let’s see… Ah, looks like you’re right on time. She isn’t seeing anyone right now, so just head through that hallway, and knock on the first door on your right.”

Something about her lack of surprise only made the situation feel more odd to Aiden, but he smiled and nodded before heading off down the hall to the aforementioned door. On it was a name plate reading, “Dr. Veronica Heartland.” Why Aiden suddenly felt a bit nervous, he wasn’t quite sure. But he straightened up, took a deep breath, then raised his fist and knocked on the door a few times with his knuckle.

Aiden might not have noticed it, but his entrance into the waiting room didn’t go unseen. Up in the corner, hidden amidst the fake palm tree in the corner, she’d installed a small camera that was linked to the laptop in her room. Aside from security purposes, she found it was a good way to look her patients over before they entered the room, see the way they acted when no one was giving them a look over. It rarely gave her major insights, but it was a good way to establish things.

She was glad to see he’d come in  wrestling gear like she’d asked. Not just because it would make certain aspects of their therapy easier if it came to it, but also because she wanted him relaxed, in as close as a natural state as she could find him, and most wrestlers were at home in their personas, in her experience.

She was quite sure that was the case with Aiden, though. He seemed polite and warm, yet she could tell he had his reservations about the entire process. Understandable, really - she simply hoped she could assuage those concerns.

Her chance would come soon enough, as he knocked the door and prepared to enter. Polite, really. So few even bothered, these days.

Instead of telling him to come she stood up and set the case file aside for now, walking to the door to open it herself, wanting her smiling face to be the first thing he saw. It was ready for him when she opened the door, her eyes closed in bliss. ”Mr. Murray?” She pulled the door wide and ushered him inside, closing it with a soft click when he passed. ”Veronica Heartland, a pleasure to meet you.” She began to make the way back to her desk, long legs striding and high heels clicking all the way. ”Make yourself at home, please.”

Aiden was expecting a voice to tell him to come in. Without thinking about it, his hand was almost instinctively poised to reach out and open the door the moment he was told to do so. But then he heard the sound of heels clicking on the floor. She was coming to him, and somehow the sound of her steps as they drew nearer heightened the growing suspense, as if some sort of surprise might greet him from the other side of the door.

And indeed, Aiden was surprised. Very pleasantly surprised.

He didn’t know what he expected the therapist to look like, but this absolutely blew anything he would’ve pictured or guessed out of the water. Veronica was stunning, so much so that Aiden found himself staring wide-eyed at her for a second or two before he collected his wits enough to accept her invitation and actually walk into the room. “Oh, right! Heh, sorry… Nice to meet you too, uh… do I just call you ‘doctor?’” he asked, offering his hand to shake hers before she turned to walk away. And when Veronica moved back toward her desk, Aiden was treated to a wonderful view of once of the nicest pair of legs he’d laid his eyes on in some time.

Her legs were long, and beautifully toned. And the stockings hugged and accentuated them perfectly. If her stockings were even half as smooth as they looked, he could only imagine how having them coiled around him… Shit, his mind was already in the gutter and he was staring. Hoping his eyes hadn’t lingered long enough to be too noticeable, Aiden shook his head and looked around the room, just trying to avoid staring at the beautiful therapist long enough for him to make his way over to the couch.

“Wow, you’ve got a really nice setup here,” he commented, taking specific note of the mats set over to the side. At a casual glance it didn’t seem odd for a therapist of professional wrestlers to have mats in her office...until he tried to work out specifically how they might be used. Whatever it was, he couldn’t piece it together right away, so he just sat down on the couch, resting one leg over the other while his arms draped over the back of the couch. Aiden had no idea what exactly he was in for, but...he was definitely intrigued.

One of Veronica’s teachers - she couldn’t recall which, off hand - often told her that the greatest tool of a therapist was the power of observation, and she took that advantage to heart. As Aiden entered the room, Veronica did her best to look at him without looking, catching glimpses of him in a couple of mirrors she had around the room. She could see enough to know that he had a particular interest in her legs, that was for certain. Not too surprising, but it meant that she could at least make a few presumptions about his sexual attractions. She doubted the man just had an appreciation for expensive SexySilk nylons.

”Doctor, Veronica, Ms. Heartland, I’m not too picky about that sort of thing” She waved it off as she made a slight detour on her way back to the seat, pouring herself a cup of cocoa from the fancy machine Ms. Fairchild had installed. An officewarming present. The woman knew how to treat a newcomer. ”I might even allow some more creative names, if you say them well enough.”

After a moment, she finished up the cup and made the rest of the journey back to her desk, sipping the cocoa as she went. ”Really nice, indeed. Quite swanky. Help yourself to the coffee machine, by the way.”

She motioned to it and sat down, taking a good, long sip before she opened his file again. ”Now,” She wiggled her rump about, getting settled in. ”I’m not sure how well you’ve been informed, but this is just a psych evaluation, determining mental fitness before you enter the ring. It’s new, and I know, it’s a little unorthodox. But the AFW attracts all types, and some of them are, for want of a better term, ‘psychotic’.”

Veronica adjusted her glasses and looked up at Aiden, her tone polite but frank, her face soft but controlled. Best to start things off with them both understanding the terms. ”The hope is that we can cut down on that in the future. Depending on how things go, I might schedule future meetings, but that’s not likely to be the case. Just be honest, be calm, and we can make these next few minutes painless.” Veronica took a slight glance to the mats, and couldn’t stop a little giggle from slipping out, but she kept it from growing beyond that.

Her smile returned in full a moment later, giving the desk a quick, reassuring pat. ”Questions?”

Within the next thirty seconds or so after taking his seat on the couch, Aiden heard a lot of things that piqued his interest. “Allowing more creative names, if he said them well enough…” He’d heard similar lines from certain women before, but they hadn’t quite been doctors. Surely she couldn’t have been implying what it sounded like she might be implying...could she? Aiden shook the thought off for now, certain he must have just been reading into something that wasn’t there.

And that was when the second thing caught his interest: the coffee machine. “Oh, that’d be great, thanks!” he said, smiling as he picked himself up off the couch and went to make himself a cup. There wasn’t anything odd or curious about it, but it was a bit of a godsend to Aiden. He always started his day with a cup or two. But he hadn’t had time to buy one for his new apartment yet, nor did he have the time this morning to look for a Starbucks on the way over. After filling his cup he added a couple lumps of sugar and a bit of creamer, finding himself taking another involuntary, curious glance toward the mats before heading back toward the couch. On his way over Aiden caught a glimpse of Veronica shifting her rear about in the seat, and briefly found himself envying that chair. It was just enough of a distraction that, as Aiden returned into his own seat, he had to force himself to refocus on what the therapist was saying. Everything she was saying made perfect sense. Aiden could be a bit of a thrill-seeker in the ring, but was nowhere near “psychotic.” This was all just a new protocol, and he had no problem going along with it.

And then there was that last line...followed by a glance toward the mats...and then an almost ominous giggle…

Aiden was blushing without even realizing it. And as thoughts raced through his mind of what she might have meant by that, he found himself crossing his leg over the other again, this time not so much for comfort as to hide the potentially noticeable effect his thoughts were having. Not wanting to inadvertently make things awkward by jumping to conclusions, Aiden smiled and relaxed as best he could.

“Painless is fine, but no need to hold back. I can take it,” he said, trying to test the waters a bit by gauging her reaction. “Ready when you are, Doctor.”

While it was hardly professional, Veronica had grown used to being flirted with in her profession, and it seldom went to the point of being a problem. It was a fine line to walk, but she’d gained balanced feet through her years, learned when to push forward and pull away. It was a good way to keep her patients relaxed, if nothing else.

And with Aiden, it was a way to dig a little deeper. Draw out some cues that others in her place would’ve missed. She had some suspicions about him, theories she wanted to test, but she wasn’t about to commit to any one lane of thought.

”Oh, that’s what they all say at first. You’re blushing, by the way.” She kept her tone frank and cool, not even looking up at him as she said it, instead keeping her four eyes on the profile, skimming over a few lines with her finger. Let him chew on that for a little while. She hadn’t missed the way he’d looked at her play area, nor had she failed to note how he hadn't asked about it. It was typically the first question that any patient asked. Which made her think that he thought he already knew what it was for.

Interesting.

She gave the file one more look over, nodded, then pushed it aside as she focused on the man himself. She took a scant second to give him a quick look over, centering on his chest for a moment, before her gaze found that tattoo of his. Curious design, there. She made a note to dig into it later. ”I’m curious about you, Aiden, I have to admit. It says here, She reaches over and tapped the file. ”that you had quite a few prospects in high school. Basketball, baseball, and I can only imagine you would’ve had your pick of scholarships. You could’ve had a fairly stable career in any sport you wanted, but wrestling? That’s a risky business, even if you're good. The independent scene is…” She rolled her tongue about for a moment, as if trying to pick the right word out of her teeth. After a moment, she settled on the perfect one and leaned forward, speaking in a hushed tone.

”...Wild.” Veronica sighed and leaned back, letting a few of her own memories slip in. ”It can be a cutthroat. But you went for it, skipped college. Quite the risk.”

Aiden was quite curious how Veronica would react to that little line, and he wasn’t at all disappointed with what he got. He still couldn’t be entirely sure her “painless” comment had implied what he suspected it might have. If it did, the doctor’s nonchalant confidence as she deflected his words spoke volumes more than her remark itself did. While dissecting that his blush seemed to intensify, and only half because Veronica quite plainly made it clear she’d noticed.

“Oh, uh, sorry...” he stammered, turning to face away from Veronica while making an effort to bring himself back down again. She wasn’t even looking at him, and he still felt the need to momentarily hide his gaze from her to regroup himself. Aiden sipped on his coffee, trying to keep himself busy and occupied. Then he realized he was once again looking at the mats, and he started trying to solve that puzzle in his head again. The most logical reason for them also had seemed the most unlikely, though every subtle moment was making him question that more and more, so he considered the alternatives. Maybe struggling tag teams visiting her could use the space to demonstrate a move or re-enact an important part of a match or something. Possible, except he felt sure most of her clients would be individuals rather than teams. It could just be a decorative thing for the atmosphere, but if that were the goal, why not just put up replica championship belts in cases, or frame pictures of iconic wrestling moments on the wall or something? There definitely had to be a practical purpose for the mats, and the only one he couldn’t rule out was…

His train of thought was derailed by Veronica’s voice, drawing his eyes back to her again. Fortunately the time spent in thought had helped Aiden stop blushing, and he was able to respond perfectly casually to her comments...right up until the word “wild.” Had she meant for that to sound so damn sexy, or was that just her natural tone? Either way, it sent a chill down his spine that made his muscles tense. Considerable willpower was needed to keep himself from noticeably squirming in his seat. “Heh. Yeah, that’s all true…” he replied, collecting his own thoughts before he gave a complete answer.

“I did have two scholarship offers, actually. And don’t get me wrong, I loved both basketball and baseball, and track was pretty great too. I’ve always been pretty competitive and an athlete. They gave me outlets to channel that energy and have tons of bonding time with my friends. But…” he shrugged his shoulders. “Wrestling’s always been my number one passion. I caught my first show by chance while flipping through the channels on TV when I was six, and I knew that night that was what I wanted to do. I think my family might’ve preferred that I took one of those scholarships, but to their credit they always supported me and told me to do what I wanted to do. Like you said, it’s not always the most pleasant world to dive into. But I like to think I did pretty well for myself, and it’s landed me here, so I can’t really complain,” he said with a chuckle, before taking another sip of his coffee.

After Aiden stammered, Veronica took a quick look at the profile to make sure she hadn’t read it wrong a moment ago - no, no, he was single. Not that this was weird for an indy wrestler, few women outside of the business could keep up with the lifestyle and demands that it foisted on a man. But she was surprised that such a handsome bachelor didn’t have someone tied to him, and she was willing to bet that it hadn’t been that way for a while.

Reaching to her side, she brought her tablet over and opened up the notes app, scribbling down a few thoughts with her stylus.

-Loner? Possibly?
-Scholarships? Athletic man. Bright future.
-Likes my legs, responds well to flirting, but unsure. Testing me.
-Ask about the tattoo.

”Oh, it’s certainly been a successful venture for you, I don’t doubt that. A good, solid record, and I caught a couple of your matches on Youtube. Impressive skillset, well-rounded.” She wagged the stylus his way, and sat the tablet aside for now. ”But this is a risk even beyond that, isn’t it? Tension pays well, yes, but...firstly, I assume you don’t speak Japanese, pardon me if that’s too presumptuous. It’s quite a different culture to adapt to. Beyond that, though, men don’t have the greatest track record in this company. On average, they only win 1 out of every 4 matches. Some haven’t won in their entire careers.”

She made that statistic up, but it was likely not far from the truth. If anything, it was too conservative. Even some of Tension’s most famous men had atrocious WLDs.

Veronica leaned back, fingers tented, as she looked up to the slowly circling ceiling fan. ”So why make the trip? And why come to Tension? I know the scouts found you, but if you wanted to work in Japan, I’d wager you could join other, smaller federations, ones with higher prospects. Why here?”

She kept her voice low, quizzical, but with a slight air of knowing. Almost like a teacher, trying to steer her student to a certain answer.

Aiden wasn’t much of a stats guy, at least not beyond the basics of following his favorite sports teams. If he was, he probably would’ve learned a much safer style to wrestle in his matches, one that didn’t involve things like springboard dives and walking along the top rope. In any case, he hadn’t researched the success (or lack thereof) of males in Tension, but the stat Veronica threw at him sounded believable enough. Even so it didn’t bother him, and a look of clear interest came into his expression upon hearing it.

“You’re right, I don’t speak Japanese yet. That is something I plan on fixing, though. I got that Rosetta Stone thing the day before I made the flight over, so hopefully that helps. I’m sure it won’t be easy, but, gotta start somewhere, right?” he said with a chuckle and shrug, then thought a moment longer before getting into the real question she’d asked.

“There are other leagues, ones where I might have better odds, but I don’t know that I’d say they have 'higher prospects' just because of that. At least, not the way I see it. Everyone knows this is the biggest league, with the broadest exposure and the highest pay…” He stopped for a second there. There wasn’t necessarily anything wrong with what he was saying, but Aiden had a feeling that wasn’t the answer Veronica was looking for. She wouldn’t have needed to ask the question like she did if the obvious answer was the right answer. So, what was different about Tension than everywhere else he had wrestled or could have wrestled?

“...I’ve never wrestled against women before,” Aiden finally said. “Well, not competitively anyway. It’s...not like I want to beat up girls or anything like that. But a lot of the best wrestlers in the world today are women wrestling for this company. So I guess, part of it is I see wrestling here as a unique kind of challenge I haven’t faced before. And, hey…” he shrugged, “I’m a straight guy. And I’m competitive, but not so much that losing some matches against women would hurt my confidence or whatever. Obviously I plan on giving it my best shot here. And if I win a lot and do well, great! If it goes the other way, well... there are much worse things that can happen in a ring than being pinned or submitted by beautiful women. Even if that ends up being the story of my time here, I can’t say I’d hate that, especially while also being paid really well in the process, you know? In that sense, I guess you could say it’s really a win-win scenario for me whichever way it ends up playing out.”

He took a drink of his coffee, using the time to think on the answer he’d given. Once he’d gotten started, Aiden had essentially just said everything that came to mind. Hopefully it made as much sense out loud as it had in his head. In any case, he watched Veronica, curious as to what her response would be, and whether he had adequately answered the question.