Braces are agony
The red hot-bright light-white fire kind of agony. It's slow and constant, the ever-etching feeling of his teeth getting pulled by metal wires into the tight forms smiled upon by society.
Craig can't take it sometimes, taking his hands to his face and digging into his gums with fingers, ramming them between teeth and biting, trying to get the pain to just leave.
But he can't. His poor mouth is battered, defeated in the battle against dentistry. He aches in the night, dreaming of white teeth and sharp metal fences.
He laments this torture to the smaller blonde, declining coffee because it ignites something rather horrible when coming into contact with his gums.
Tweek, the curious and wary, would touch the metal himself, fingers resting upon wet tracks colored blue and silver.
He would shake and worry, asking if Craig was going to die or if his teeth would fall out or if there were radio trackers installed by dentists through government order.
Craig just told him to shut up and that actually, his teeth falling out wouldn't be that bad since it would mean no more braces. No more drooling or sucking noises when he spoke and more importantly no more pain.
Kenny, the strange and obscene, tells him the braces make him look cute. Like, in an awkward-hot sort of way where he wouldn't mind getting a bj from the surly brunette. Craig flips him off and drags the annoying blonde into the bathroom to ask him just how cute he looks when Kenny is sitting on his lap.
And it was enough that he was constantly teased at school, but now he couldn't eat half the things he liked to put in his mouth. But most of all he missed caramel. Remembering the sweet, sugary lumps he would buy on the way to school, sucking on the grainy candy until it was soft enough to glue his teeth together would set Craig into a quiet fit of brooding.
Tweek, the kind and caring, gave him caramel coffee, served with a straw to help compensate with the loss of its more substantial form. Craig, the grateful and blushing, has no choice but accept the substitute beverage.
Kenny, the quiet and obnoxious, likes to use his tongue to try and distract Craig from the constant hum of discomfort. He insists if they suck face enough it'll be like the braces aren't even there, but it just makes it worse since Craig has to deal with a foreign and wiggly object in his mouth while the metal bites everywhere, and it's all that fills his mind. He pushes the blonde away, telling him to go find Cartman and kiss his fat ass.
But when Tweek, the sweet and gentle, tells him the braces look cute, in a kind of nerdy way that's charming (as charming as drooling randomly can be) Craig supposes it could be worse.
The two boys lock fingers together gently, and for a moment the agonizing, wretched sting in his mouth is replaced with a smile, and suddenly golden sunlight pours from his lips in the form of a chaste kiss.