Howard Bassem still had two baby teeth.

It was ridiculous, really – he was fourteen, would be fifteen in six months, and he still had two of his baby teeth. The last time he'd been to the dentist – before the FAYZ had happened, months before the FAYZ had happened, they'd said that he needed to get them taken out. Because they'd fuck with his other teeth, or something like that.

But now the FAYZ was happening and damn if it didn't hurt. The adult teeth were pushing down up on them and they weren't budging and he'd tried to yank them out himself but he couldn't manage it. And he'd heard that Dahra had been playing dentist, had learned to play dentist after some kids had tried to pry braces off by themselves, so he steeled himself for laughter and headed in.

The hospital wasn't that busy today, which was a pretty big relief. When she saw him, though, her eyebrows raised.

"What is it?" she asked.

"So, I heard you play dentist," he said.

"I take off braces," she said. "I've been getting good. I can't fill cavities."

"Could you take out some teeth?" Howard asked, and Dahra frowned.

"I could," she said. "I guess. Why?"

Howard took a deep breath and told her.

"I've still got two baby teeth, and they're hurting. A lot," he said. "So I figured, if you could maybe yank 'em out…"

"How old are you?" Dahra asked, and Howard felt his face heat up.

"Fourteen," he muttered. "But it's not like that doesn't happen sometimes. I mean. Sometimes. Just shut up and take them out."

She raised an eyebrow and he deflated a bit.

"Please," he muttered, and she waved him back to a chair. He sat down, a little nervous, because she probably didn't have like, anesthetic or anything and it would probably hurt. Like, a lot. But it already hurt a lot, so it wasn't like he had very many options.

She put on plastic gloves. "Open your mouth."

He did.

"Which ones?"

He pointed – one to the left of one of his canine teeth, and one on the top. She nodded a few times, and then pulled out a pliers and wow this had been a mistake. He struggled a little.

"Cookie! Can you help?"

Cookie ambled over. Howard had been friends with him, a while ago, but now he had this big dopey grin on his face and Howard wasn't about that life. He also wasn't about Cookie holding him down, crushing his chest, while Dahra readied herself to pull his teeth. He hoped that she'd at least give him some pain meds.

With a quick yank, one of them was gone. He shrieked. She hadn't even lead up to it, she'd just gone in and yanked. He struggled harder, but Cookie had always been stronger than him. She moved on, and then the other tooth was gone and he was pretty sure that he'd never felt pain like this, like ever. He panted out curses an reached up to feel for blood.

"Can I have – can I have some ibuprofen or something?" he asked. His fingers were bloody. "And you can let me up now, man. It's all over."

Cookie looked to Dahra before leaving him alone, something that annoyed Howard greatly. But at least now he could breathe.

Dahra slapped a small baggie of ibuprofen in his hand. "That's all you need," she said. He rolled his eyes, but nodded and took it anyway, popping a few in his mouth right away. God, it hurt.

He headed outside and spat blood onto the street, grimacing a little when the taste immediately filled his mouth again. God, this sucked. Dahra Baidoo had literally just stuck a pliers in his mouth and yanked out two teeth, and now he had a handful of ibuprofen and a mouth full of blood.


I… just got my wisdom teeth taken out, so, uh, I needed tooth pain. None of the Gone characters are really at a wisdom tooth age, but my fourteen year old brother still has a baby tooth, and that can screw up your mouth, so. I went with that. My mouth is numb.