So I was watching Rise of the Guardians recently, and I noticed Jack didn't smile with his teeth all that often. I was also mad at my own braces so I decided to take it out on Jack and write about his experience with braces. I know that orthodontists typically glue each bracket on individually, but my orthodontist did it this way and I felt like since she's the Tooth Fairy, she'd have the most modern methods of orthodontia. Enjoy :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Jack Frost or any other characters from Rise of the Guardians.
I was sitting on the window sill drawing pictures of whatever came to my mind on the cool glass with frost. North had told me to find something to do to keep me occupied. He said that I should read a book for a change and try not to look so depressed. He'd looked at me so expectantly that I felt obliged to grab one from the self. I'd taken what looked like the smallest book. It was about six hundred pages. It sat next to me in all its leather bound glory. North wouldn't be happy to know I was wasting prime reading time drawing on a window, but the simple action brought me joy.
I don't think it would be possible to be more bored. There weren't any holidays coming up so everything was slower than usual. All I wanted was some action to speed up my day. I'd never been more bored. Usually I would go outside and cause trouble around Burgess, but North said that wasn't very guardian-like and I was still in training. He was right when he said that there was more responsibility involved with being a guardian. How was I supposed to explore my center even further if I was cooped up in North's workshop all the time? I drew a face with a tear trickling down its cheek on the window. It represented my mood perfectly.
I heard the door creek open and directed my attention to the other side of the room. "Hi Jack," Tooth said gleefully. "Hey Tooth," I replied sullenly. She fluttered over, her wings casting strange shadows on the floor behind her. "What's wrong Jack," she asked, concern filtering through her words. "I'm just bored. There isn't anything to do and we haven't done anything exciting since we defeated Pitch," I responded. She hovered beside me and put a hand on my shoulder. I swear that fairy still has a crush on me. I rolled my eyes at her gesture. Luckily she didn't see.
"I probably won't be any help to you there. You know me, busy as a bee," she chimed, bright laughter following close behind. That reminded me, "Tooth, not to be rude or anything, but why are you here," I wondered aloud. It wasn't a common to see the Tooth Fairy flitting around North's workshop. She smiled wide. "North wanted me to check his teeth. It was time for his dental exam." A dental exam, what was that? My confusion must have shown on my face because Tooth asked, "Have you ever had a dental exam Jack?" I racked my brain for an answer. I shook my head no. She smiled again and began to explain what a dental exam was and how it worked. It all seemed alien to me.
"And that's a dental exam," she finished happily. "And people go to those twice a year," I asked. "In theory," she answered. "Cool," I said finally and turned back to the window. "You know Jack, I would give you an exam if you wanted me to," Tooth offered pleasantly. I considered her proposal. "Will it hurt," I whispered. She laughed. "It shouldn't." I looked once more at the window and decided I had nothing better to do. "Sure," I said eventually. She clapped her hands together. "Yay! Okay follow me," the colorful fairy commanded. I followed her down a long corridor to an area of the workshop I'd never seen before. She opened a pair of double doors and flicked on a light.
I was immediately overtaken by the lights. Every color lit the ceiling. They were so bright you would be able to see in the darkest night. Right in the middle of the tile floor stood a chair with a lever on the side. There was a sink and another large lamp hanging over the chair. I vaguely noticed another door at the side of the room. This place definitely was designed by Tooth.
I watched as she flew over and pushed open the other door. I wasn't surprised to see another chair in there. Next to it was a foreboding machine I had never seen before and a black apron.
"I didn't realize the tooth fairy actually cleaned teeth," I remarked. "Ha well what did you expect? I am the tooth fairy after all," she laughed. "So do you clean all the guardian's teeth," I asked. She nodded. "If they ask me to, don't tell Bunny, but he had a hideous cavity in one of his back molars. One of the worst I've seen. Their teeth would be nothing without me," she giggled. "Oh so the kangaroo's teeth are as bad as his attitude," I said with a smirk. She chuckled softly and raised a finger to her lips in a quieting notion.
"Alright Jack, take a seat," she said gesturing to the chair. I gave her a worried a glance. "Don't worry, this won't hurt," she assured. I sat in the chair and let her put the apron on my shoulders. It was heavier than I thought. She then told me to open my mouth as she stuck inserts in the back of my molars. It was uncomfortable. She told me she was taking pictures of my mouth to make sure everything fit well and I didn't have any cavities.
After that experience I sat in the big chair in the front room and followed Tooth's instructions. She put various tools in my mouth and pastes that tasted weird. The water she used to rinse my mouth was cold but I didn't mind. I was Jack Frost after all.
Finally, after a while, Tooth ripped off her gloves and smiled. "Well Jack, your teeth are great! They're even prettier than I thought they were! So sparkly," Tooth said glowingly. I rolled my eyes. "But there is one thing I want to talk to you about," she said seriously. I sat up and licked my teeth. They were cleaner than usual. "Jack, when you died and became Jack Frost, everything in your body stopped developing. Your teeth weren't able to shift any farther and they set in the position they were in. A few of them are crooked and you have an overbite," Tooth said quietly. "Tooth, what are you trying to say," I asked skeptically. "Jack I think you should get braces," she said gently.
Braces? I'd heard of them before but I didn't really know what they were. Tooth's expression told me they were something less than desirable. "Tooth, what are braces," I asked. She smiled sympathetically. "Braces are little metal squares that are glued to each of your teeth called brackets. Then there is a wire run through the brackets and tied with colorful elastics. The whole system straightens out your teeth and fixes any overbites, under bites and inadequate sizing with the roof of your mouth," she replied. They didn't sound too bad. "Do they hurt," I asked. She bit her lower lip. "They hurt when you first get them and every time you get them tightened. What they do is move the bones but the end results are worth the pain," she said. I took a deep breath. The thought of my bones moving quickly scared me. "Do you really think I need them," I asked, licking at my teeth again. Tooth nodded. I sighed. "Will you be the one to put them on," I asked. "Sure Jack, I can do it," she replied sweetly. I sighed again. "Okay, if you think I need them, then I'll get them," I said quickly, instantly regretting it. Tooth smiled. "Alright Jack, if we're going to do this, I need to take impressions of your mouth." I nodded.
Tooth filled a tray with white gooey paste and stuck it to the roof of my mouth. When she took it out, it was hard and my mouth tasted like peppermint. She proceeded to do the same thing on my bottom row of teeth. "Alright Jack, I'll come back in a week to put your braces on," Tooth said. "Okay," I agreed. "Bye Jack," she said with a hug. "And don't forget to floss!" She yelled as she walked out the door. I laughed and started walking down the hallway back to my window sill.
As I sat down, the realization of what I had agreed to hit me. I drew a picture of a mouth on the window and drew in tiny little square brackets. I had seen children around Burgess with the metal on their teeth. As soon as Tooth had started describing braces, I knew exactly what they were. Once, I had flown past a girl standing on the balcony to her bedroom. She was cupping her mouth in her hand and a single tear slipped down her face. Interested, I followed her into her room and witnessed as she smiled big into her mirror, revealing her supposedly new braces. She'd pushed herself up and uttered under her breath, "my mouth looks so awkward," before falling asleep. The memory had stayed with me this entire time.
I leaned in closer to the window so I could see my reflection. I smiled and looked closely at my teeth for the first time. Tooth was right. Some of them were overlapping especially at the bottom. Most of them were slightly crooked. I really did need braces. Did I want braces? No I really didn't. Who would want something that forces the bones in your mouth to move? I just don't understand how anyone can find that pleasant. But I did trust Tooth's judgment. How I got myself into this situation was beyond me. All I knew was that in one week, life wouldn't be fun.
I was staring out the window again, it's amazing how attached I'd grown to that window sill, when a knock on the door surprised me. Everyone had left me alone to whatever I could do to find some form of happiness. "Come in," I yelped. Heavy footsteps followed as giant man with a think Russian accent walked in. "Hi North," I muttered uninterested. "Jack, Tooth wants to see you in her office," North declared. I felt the color drain from my face. Had a week passed by already? "Tell her I'll be there in a few minutes," I said. North turned around and stalked out, his heavy footsteps mirroring the sound of impending doom pounding in my ears.
I staggered off towards the bathroom and stared at my reflection. I had the same blue eyes, white hair, and freckles that dotted my cheeks. I smiled slightly. My teeth were as white as ever but now that I knew they were flawed, that's all I could see. Tooth was right. I needed this. I took the time to brush my teeth well, making sure not to miss a single section.
I took a deep breath and walked into the main hallway. I knew the way to the fairy's dental office well even though I'd only ever been there once. It's funny how you remember things like that. It seemed as though the hallways got longer and longer. My pace gradually slowed as I approached her door. 'Here goes nothing,' I thought to myself while licking at my smooth teeth for the last time. Slowly I opened the door.
It seemed as if the bright and colorful lights that had seemed welcoming before were now foreboding and ominous, casting strange shadows over the dental chair. Lined up on a tray was a set of torturous looking devices that I knew would soon be in my mouth. I took another deep breath.
"Hi Jack!" A voice behind me yipped. I swear I jumped a foot in the air. "Tooth you scared me," I gasped. "I'm so sorry Jack, I didn't mean to scare you," the fairy apologized. "It's fine," I muttered. "Are you ready," Tooth asked. "If I say no can we not do this," I replied bitterly. She smiled. "Come on Jack, it's not that bad." I exhaled loudly. "Okay." I swiftly took a seat in the dentist chair and leaned back. "Here we go!" Tooth bubbled. I'm sure she could have heard my heart rate increase.
Tooth slipped an instrument in my mouth that pulled my cheeks apart and kept me from closing my mouth. It definitely wasn't the most comfortable position. Then, she stuck another strange device under my tongue that seemed to blow cold air into every part of my mouth. After that she rubbed something cold and grainy all over my teeth. The feeling of the substance creeping onto my gums made me feel like there was wet sand in my mouth. "Go rinse your mouth out," Tooth instructed, pulling the lip stretchers and air blower from my mouth.
I sauntered over to the sink and let cold water pool into my mouth before spitting into the basin. I could see each individual grain collecting in the sink. That's what had made my mouth feel so sandy I realized. I reluctantly got back into the chair and let Tooth put the hideous lip stretchers back into my mouth. I had already begun to loathe them. The air blower thing wasn't much better.
"Okay Jack," Tooth said, interrupting my thoughts. She lifted up two bright green trays shaped like a row of teeth and tilted them to face me. Inside there was a shiny square of metal in the middle of where each tooth should be. "This is a newer way to put braces on that's faster and more effective. What I did was take your impressions and did a series of tests to find the perfect bracket placement so you can get perfect, straight teeth faster and easier. What I'm going to do is put glue on each of your teeth where the bracket will go and press this mold onto your teeth and leave it there for a few minutes then when I pull it off, your brackets will be in place," Tooth explained. I nodded. That didn't sound too painful.
I flinched back when she pulled out the glue. It looked like a giant syringe and I briefly thought that she was going to inject me with something. However, that clearly wasn't the case. After she put the glue on my top set of teeth, she took the green mold a firmly pressed it onto my top row of teeth. It felt like my teeth had been coated in a thick layer of rubber. She applied a decent amount of pressure and continued to hold the mold in place. After a few minutes that had coincidentally felt like an hour, the feathered fairy peeled back the mold. When she showed me the inside, all of the squares of metal were gone. Then she took another tool with a light and waved it over each tooth. It made an occasional beeping sound. "Done with the top," Toothiana declared happily before following the same process with the bottoms.
"Alright Jack, I'm going to put the wires in now. You might feel something poking the back of your mouth but it won't stay there for long," Tooth warned, holding up a long wire and a tool that looked like a pair of pliers. I gulped. She guided the wire with the pliers throughout the brackets. She was right when she said I might feel poking in the back of my mouth. It felt like my cheeks were being stabbed. Then she pulled out another tool and trimmed the excess wire at the back of my mouth until I couldn't feel it anymore. 'Oh joy,' I thought to myself. 'Time for the bottoms.'
After that was over, Tooth lifted up an array of tiny circles connected to one long rectangle, each one a different color. "Which colors do you want," Tooth asked excitedly. I pointed to the lightest blue and the darkest blue I could find. She began taking the little circles off with another strange tool and wrapping them around the brackets. The whole process made my mouth feel tight. Finally, Tooth took the lip stretchers and air blower out of my mouth and ripped her gloves off. Instinctively, I started running my tongue over the brackets. They were sharp and pointy. I hated the way they were cutting against my lips. "That wasn't so bad was it?" Tooth asked joyfully. I mumbled something about how she wouldn't know. She wasn't the one in the chair. Luckily, she didn't hear.
I stood up on shaky legs and hugged Tooth. Not because I was especially happy with the ebullient fairy, but because it seemed like the polite thing to do. Then I burst into the hallway to go back to my bedroom, licking my braces the entire way. I couldn't help but notice how painfully awkward my entire mouth felt.
When I got to my bedroom relatively undisturbed, (I'd had to kick one of North's annoying little elves out of the way. What was the purpose of those things anyway? It wasn't like they did anything accept eat cookies.) I decided to take a look at the damage inflicted to my teeth. I closed my eyes in front of the bathroom mirror, the same I had been in front of not even an hour before.
"Come on Jack. Open your eyes. What's done is done. You can't change that," I reminded myself. Slowly I opened my eyes and smiled. Immediately after, I cringed away from my reflection. My mouth was ugly, hideous even. I couldn't focus on any part of my face except my mouth and the shining silver protruding from it. Somehow the braces made my flaws even more noticeable and pronounced. Not only did my mouth feel awkward, it looked awkward. I could already tell I wasn't going to be smiling for a long time. I hated every aspect of my own reflection. I hadn't even realized that I was crying until the hot tears cut into my cold cheeks. I was a hopeless pathetic unattractive mess. I stalked back to the window sill, tears flowing freely from my eyes like a river of hopeless despair.
I had just settled into my window seat when another knock at the door sent shivers down my spine. "Who is it," I called, drying my eyes on my sleeve. "Its North, all the guardians are having a group dinner right now and we want you to come," the large Russian man called back. "What happens if I don't come," I asked. I heard slight chuckling from the other side of the door. "Then I bust door down and carry you out on one shoulder," North declared. I sighed and pulled my hood up. As much as I didn't want to go to dinner, I didn't have much choice. After I checked to make sure my eyes weren't red, I opened the door to the jolly guardian of wonder. Together we made our way to the banquet hall. The big four guardians were there.
I took my seat at the very end of the table wanting to be alone. A few of the elves brought me a plate with a large piece of steak on it adorned with corn on the cob on the side. It looked delicious. It was the best thing I'd eaten in a long while. I cut off a big piece and stuffed it into my mouth letting the juice from the meat dance on my tongue. I let my teeth bite into the large cut of meat and winced as a piercing pain shot through my mouth. I'd forgotten about my braces and had paid a harsh price. I carefully massaged my jaw and tried to keep the tears back.
"So Jack how are you," North asked. I'd been hoping no one would address me. No such luck. "Fine thank you," I replied staring at the table so they wouldn't see my braces. "You've been pretty quiet lately," North remarked. "Not much to talk about," I said quietly. Just then I made eye contact with Tooth. "Show them," she mouthed. I shook my head vigorously. "What's wrong Jack," North asked. "Yeah what's wrong mate," Bunny asked but I could tell he didn't care. Sandy was rapidly signing things above his head. I tried to tell them I was fine but they wouldn't listen. They kept asking me and finally I lost it. "I got braces okay!" I yelled. "Just leave me alone," I cried before running from the banquet hall, more tears streaking my face. I could hear Bunny's laughter as I ran down the hall.
When I got to my room, I couldn't stop the tears. Violent sobs wracked my body and I collapsed on the floor. I was completely overwhelmed. I couldn't take it all. I cried until there were no more tears to cry. Finally, I just sat on my bed, emotionless. I covered my head with my pillow when I heard a knock at the door. "Go away!" I shouted. Instead North opened the door anyway and sat next to me on the bed. I heard springs groaning underneath him. "Leave me alone," I commanded, muffled by the pillow. "Jack, are you okay," he asked gently. "No. Just leave me alone." "Jack I was thinking you could go to Burgess to see Jamie," North offered. This caught my attention. I moved the pillow from my face. "Really," I asked somewhat happily. He nodded. "Thanks North!" I called, grabbing my Shepard's cane and opening a window. He laughed.
I let out a "woo," as I soared through the air. I hadn't felt this free in what seemed like forever. I soared upwards and downwards and spun in circles until I reached Jamie's house. By the time I got there it was night. I silently opened Jamie's window and crept in, perching on the end of his bed frame. Lightly I poked him with my cane. "Jamie," I whispered. His eyelids fluttered open. "Jack!" He yelled, wrapping his arms around me. I laughed. "Shh. You'll wake everyone up," I reminded him. "Oh yeah," he agreed. We moved onto his bed seeing as perching was pretty uncomfortable.
"So why are you here," Jamie asked, flashing me a toothy grin. He was still missing one tooth in the front. Next to him on the bed was his stuffed bunny. "To see you of course," I replied jubilantly. "Really," Jamie yelled. I shushed him again but nodded. "I told you I'd come back didn't I?" I asked. He hugged me again. We talked like that for quite a while before something struck Jamie. "Jack, why haven't you smiled at all? Aren't you having fun?" I sighed. "Of course I'm having fun! I just don't feel like smiling right now," I responded. "Please," Jamie begged, staring at me with big amber eyes. I had to give in. I showed a large smile. "What's on your teeth," Jamie asked in confusion. "They're braces," I said, treating the word braces like venom. "What do they do," he wondered aloud. "They straighten your teeth." "That is so awesome!" Jamie exploded. "Really," I asked skeptically. "Yeah! They look so cool! I mean you've got metal on your teeth! You're so lucky! I want some," the small child gushed. "Well they hurt," I interjected. "I don't care! I want some just like yours," Jamie declared. I smiled my first genuine smile of the day. It felt good. This was the happiest I'd felt in about a month. I loved Jamie's innocence and if he loved my braces, maybe I could learn to love them to.
THE END
Pretty please review. It would really mean a lot:)