Back at the dentist

by SilverandRed

As the title says. Chiro is frightened of dentists. After discovering Chiro's toothache, Antauri follows him to the dentist and, well, tries to calm him down. Slice of life, one-shot.

Chiro had woken up late that day, but that was the last thing on his mind. Groaning in pain, he brought a hand up to his cheek and pushed against the skin, hoping to ease the dull ache. When the pain did not go away, the teenager eventually gave up and put on his usual red vest, making his way to the breakfast table before the rest got worried.

"Mornin'," he greeted the monkeys sleepily and sat down on a chair, receiving a few smiles back. He felt nauseous at sight of the plate of bread and eggs in front of him, and instinctively pushed his breakfast back.

"Chiro," Antauri crossed his arms in front of the boy, observing his student's behavior. "You can't keep pretending that it doesn't hurt when I can see that it clearly does. You are old enough to be able to come to tell me when you have a problem like this."

Chiro picked up his fork and played with the bright yellow eggs on his plate, but never bringing it to his mouth. He frowned. This was not the way he had planned to spend his morning.

"I don't know what you're talking about," the teenager muttered, refusing to look at the five pairs of curious eyes staring at him from the kitchen table. Antauri raised an eyebrow.

"Your tooth hurts, does it not?" The silver monkey got straight to the point.

Chiro let out a huff, but kept his gaze straight on the food. Trying to hide something from Antauri was like trying to bend steel with your own hands, but it wasn't in his mentor's nature to pry unless it harmed his health.

"It's temporary," Chiro explained patiently, "it'll go away, like it always does." A pause, then he looked up. "I wasn't being that transparent, was I?"

At this, Sprx let out a loud guffaw and choked on his food, but quickly quietened down when Nova shot him a glare. The red monkey gulped down his cup of juice before speaking. "Kid, anyone with a decent brain could see that you were in pain! I mean, c'mon, you barely even touched your steak last night, and everyone knows that's your favorite food of all time."

"You're the one to speak, given that you even have any brains," Nova said to Sprx, then gave an empathetic look at her leader, "the meat was probably too tough to chew, right? We'll make it more tender next time... but will your toothache be okay if we just leave it like that?"

"Yes! Yes yes yes! Definitely!" Chiro jumped up from his seat, nodding quickly and raised his hands in front of him for defense, "I'll be perfectly fine, don't worry guys! Oh, look at the time," he laughed nervously, glancing at the clock, "it's time for my homework, so I'll get going now. Bye! And please don't come looking for me!"

With that, he dashed out of the kitchen as fast as his legs would take him, leaving behind five very baffled monkeys wondering what in the world had happened to their leader.

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Things did not go better as time passed, much to his disappointment. Chiro sighed, looking at the worksheet in front of him as if it was written in French. The dull ache in his tooth had worsened to sharp jabs of pain whenever he moved his jaw. It was too discomforting for him to focus on anything else, let alone on solving complicated math equations.

He groaned loudly, wondering how the day could possibly get any worse. If studying couldn't take his pain away, then what could?

As he was lost deeply in thought, a knock came from the door.

"Come in," he said without thinking, just like he usually did when someone was outside, but soon came to realize his mistake when the door swung open. Wait wait! What are you doing! Didn't you want to hide from them until you're fully healed? What if they take you to the dentist-

"Are you feeling alright?"

Antauri walked in and placed a beverage on the table, looking at Chiro with a worried gaze. "I brought you some tea since you skipped breakfast."

Sighing, Chiro's shoulders slumped a little as he turned around to face the silver monkey, knowing just how little of a chance he had to escape questions with his mentor present.

"I feel perfectly fine," he reassured, picking up the cup of tea and took a sip. Chiro gagged at the awful taste and nearly spat the liquid out, but willfully forced it down his throat. "Holy Shuggazoom...Why is it so bitter this time?"

"Gibson told me that you shouldn't consume too much sugar with a toothache," Antauri stared apologetically at his student, "so I added less honey than usual."

Chiro let out a small grunt and slumped against the table. He didn't have a major sweet tooth like Otto, but he did enjoy the taste of sugar every now and then. The thought of abstaining from any sweets only made him more miserable.

"It'll go away," he murmured under his breath, "it always goes away."

He hated the idea of having any dental issues. Besides, he had dealt with much tougher problems than this; he could stand the pain for a day or two. It never lasted longer than seventy two hours, just as he'd told the team earlier.

"Chiro, if you have a bad tooth, it needs to be checked," Antauri's voice softened to a much more comforting tone, "it can get infected and make you sick. You understand that, don't you?"

Chiro blew out a puff of air, feeling his cheeks fill up like balloons as he did before a sharp pain stabbed his jaw. He winced softly.

"I do," the teenager replied hesitantly, "but it'll heal by itself soon anyway."

Knowing how stubborn Chiro could get at times like this, Antauri tried a different approach. All Chiro needed was a little bit of a push.

"I had hoped that you would come to me and say something when I noticed your strange behavior last night," he levitated up and placed a metallic hand gently on his student's shoulder, "but I cannot just sit back and watch you suffer. I heard you tossing and turning in bed all night, and you didn't even touch your breakfast or your dinner."

Chiro frowned and said nothing. He turned his head away from Antauri in a childish manner, hoping that it would make his mentor leave the room. He didn't want anybody to know that he was in agony, and he certainly didn't want anybody to know that he was still afraid of dentists. He was fifteen, for god's sake. Fifteen year old protectors-of- the -city weren't supposed to be afraid of anything.

Antauri paused and thought for a while.

"Remember the time when we discussed about everyone's roles in the robot when you first arrived?" The silver monkey tried again, his voice softer and more compassionate this time.

"...Yea," Chiro responded reluctantly, unable to keep the whine out of his voice. He knew that one of Antauri's heart to heart talks could easily manipulate his decision just by using that gentle tone, and soon felt himself giving in. The silver monkey smiled and continued.

"And we all know that Gibson takes his responsibility seriously, just like everybody else. If you became ill the next day, and he knew that there had been a way to prevent your illness, he would not rest until you are fully healed."

Chiro sniggered and raised his eyes to look at his mentor floating above him. "Sounds kind of like you, don'tcha think?"

Antauri smirked playfully. "I presume that is a 'yes' for a dental checkup, then?"

Knowing that it was pointless to argue anymore with Antauri, Chiro stood up from his chair slowly and shot the silver monkey a nervous look before walking out of the room, with Antauri levitating closely behind.

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"Open your mouth wide... Ah yes, that should do. Don't move unless I tell you to do so, alright?"

Chiro squinted his eyes as Gibson shone a beam of light into his mouth. The blue monkey poked around at different teeth which hurt, and frowned as he scribbled down some notes. The scientist opened a bottle of deep green liquid and poured some on a piece of cotton wool until it was damp.

"So, how's the condition, Brainstrain?" Sprx asked as he watched his brother run around busily. "Is the kid going to be okay?"

"Chiro's teeth are... not in a very good shape, to say the least," Gibson explained calmly as he removed the hooks from Chiro's mouth, before placing the cotton wool on his gums on the bottom jaw. "Swollen gum and about five cavities. He needs to go see the dentist himself. I've already made an appointment for tomorrow, at ten in the morning. Meanwhile," he turned towards the teenager and shot him a reassuring smile, "do suck on the cotton wool until the pain subsides. It should help ease the swollen gums a little."

"Why can't you just help him fill in the cavities?" Nova asked, noticing the widening of Chiro's eyes at Gibson's mention of a dentist.

Gibson sighed. "I..." he paused, thinking. Why couldn't he just help Chiro with his teeth? After all, it will save the team the trouble and time of making their way all the way to town for a-

He stood up straighter with a sudden realization that he didn't know how to. Gibson felt his face heat up. Unable to reply Nova's question, he was at a loss for words.

"You're blushing! Guys, Gibson's blushing!" Otto skipped to his brother's side and whispered into his ear, "you don't know how to do it, right?"

"Gah! Not so close, Otto!" The blue monkey jumped aside and huffed, crossing his arms, "I work in a science lab, not a dental clinic, thank you very much. Besides," he pointed to a stack of books and a labeled biological drawing of a human teeth anatomy pasted on a nearby wall, "I'm only in the middle of studying dentistry. There is only so much a monkey can learn in a span of three years."

"C'mon, Otto, give Brainstrain a break," Sprx defended and smiled, "he saves peoples' lives all the time after our crazy fights with Skeleton King. If it weren't for his work, half of Shuggazoom would probably be dead by now!"

The blue monkey eyed his brother skeptically. It wasn't like Sprx to give him a compliment. "...Why, thank you Sprx," he cleared his throat in an awkward manner, still unsure.

"Yea, you owe me one," Sprx punched him lightly in the shoulder, "that means next Monday morning cartoons will rule! No more boring geography documentaries!"

Sticking his tongue out, the red monkey ran out of the medical bay and Gibson stood rooted on the ground for a moment, baffled, before realizing that he had fallen to Sprx's trap.

"Hold on!" He cried out, chasing after his brother. "This is not even remotely fair!"

As the two disappeared from the room, Nova shrugged and couldn't help but smile. Those two are really something, she thought to herself. As she was about to walk out, she turned around and shot a thumbs up at Chiro.

"Don't worry, the dentist isn't all that scary. Antauri will be with you, anyway, so everything's going to be okay."

Chiro watched the door lock itself behind Nova and flopped down on the bed, buried his head in the pillow, and groaned loudly.

"I can't believe even Nova noticed," his voice was greatly muffled, and Antauri could barely make out the words, "tomorrow is going to be the worst Sunday ever."

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Chiro's heartbeat rang loudly in his ears as the clinical-looking building came into view. Although his fear had gotten better as he grew older, it still wasn't completely gone. There was something about the dentist that he had always been afraid of. Maybe it was because his dentist used to wear a red nose like a clown's which squeaked every time a sharp object poked his mouth.

Terrified wasn't even a strong enough word to describe how he felt right now.

As the the pair landed on the ground with their jetpacks, Antauri noticed that Chiro's pace had gotten slower once they entered the clinic. Sighing, the silver monkey used his telekinesis to push his leader forward, causing Chiro to feign a glare, which he shot towards Antauri.

The place smelled strongly of listerine, disinfectant and antiseptic. The teenager nearly gagged.

Two years ago, when Gibson had accompanied him to the dentist when he first joined the team, Chiro had completely freaked out and lost his nerve. Numerous unsuccessful attempts later, Antauri was the only one who could convince him to visit the dentist again.

The teenager settled himself down on a black leather couch as he watched the silver monkey approach the receptionist.

"Good morning," a brown haired lady greeted, flashing her pearly whites at Antauri in a broad grin, "the Hyperforce has an appointment this morning, but unfortunately Dr Smith is tending to another patient right now, so you will have to wait for about ten more minutes. Is that okay?"

Antauri frowned. He knew that even a five minute wait could reduce Chiro into a jumpy bundle of nerves. An even longer time could result in the teenager planning escape routes and excuses to go back to the robot. "Is there any way to shorten the waiting time?"

The receptionist shook her head apologetically and looked curiously at Chiro. "I'm sorry, but no. We will try our best to be quick, though."

Antauri nodded in understanding and returned to his place beside the teenager. He was flipping through a magazine, trying to keep himself busy. The silver monkey sighed. "They said that there will be some... delay."

"How long do we have to wait?" Chiro asked, traces of panic evident in his voice.

"About ten minutes at most. Try to calm yourself, Chiro."

"What are you talking about?" He faked his best, million-watt grin. "I am calm! I'm very, very calm!"

Antauri opted to believe his student's poorly concealed lie, just to give Chiro the benefit of the doubt. They sat there silently as Chiro flipped through the pages of the magazine feverishly, while Antauri read the several posters pasted on the wall. Keep your smile, eat crisp apples often! one screamed out, while another flashed Visit your dentist regularly! In big bold, white letters. He pondered over the words. Were human teeth really that high maintenance?

"Antauri?"

The silver monkey looked over to Chiro, who had stopped flipping the pages of the magazine a while ago. Instead, the feigned calmness previously was completely gone without a trace. Chiro's fingers trembled and shook uncontrollably, clutching the magazine in a death grip as he tried to take in deep breaths to compose himself.

"Yes?"

The teenager looked over at his mentor with wide blue eyes, his lower jaw aching as he spoke out each word. "Can we reschedule? ...I-I think I'm about to freak out if we keep waiting."

Antauri glanced over at the clock. Ten minutes had already passed.

"Just a little longer," he whispered, placing a metallic hand on top Chiro's own. The teenager's skin felt cold to the touch.

"You know I can't lose it in public!" Chiro hissed back softly, his voice more urgent this time. He bent down lower until he was at Antauri's eye level. "If I do, my face will be all over the tabloids tomorrow! Just imagine the headlines screaming, Teen Hero afraid of dentists," He sighed dejectedly, shoulders sagging. "I'll be the joke of the town."

Antauri couldn't help but share an empathetic look with his student. He knew how difficult it was for someone famous to behave in public; after all, he had been there himself when Mandarin was leader. He paused to think of a solution.

"I may be able to help you calm down," he said finally, closing his eyes in concentration. Seconds later, a small, light green flame of energy appeared on his palm, barely bigger than an apple. "Using this."

Before Chiro could respond, he pushed the flame into his student's chest, which easily phased through. A sort of indescribable warmth seeped through Chiro's cold body, spreading slowly to all his limbs, and the teenager couldn't quite explain what kind of feeling it was. Whatever Antauri used, it worked. He soon felt his heart rate slowing down to a normal pace, and his breathing slowed. He took in another deep breath of air, just to see if the effect would last.

It did.

"Wow," Chiro brought a hand up to his chest and breathed out slowly, "I didn't know you could do that."

Antauri chuckled. "It is a therapeutic technique I have been working on recently."

A middle aged woman with blond hair appeared in the waiting room, carrying a clipboard in her arms. She looked around, caught Chiro's eye, and ushered toward him. The teenager stood up, straighter this time, but still took each step forward with great reluctance. Antauri got down from his seat and followed his student.

The woman raised an eyebrow at Chiro. She pointed her pen to the silver monkey. "Pets aren't allowed beyond the waiting room."

Chiro felt a vein pop up in his forehead. "You must be new in Shuggazoom then," he crossed his arms sternly, "Antauri's not a pet!"

"That's what everyone says when they come here with an animal," she replied in a bored tone, then glared at Chiro, "if you can't comply by the rules of the clinic, then I have no choice but to ask you to leave."

The teenager perked up and grinned, ready to turn toward the exit and make a run for it. "Actually-"

Antauri cleared his throat sternly. Chiro froze.

"Um, what I meant was," the teenager glared back at the woman with equal intensity, "I'm not going in without Antauri. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way."

She narrowed her eyes in a challenging gaze."Try me."

The hard way it is then. Chiro blew out a puff of air in frustration, turned his back to the nurse, bent down, and whispered into Antauri's ears. He knew that there was only one way to get past her, and she wouldn't be able to resist. The colorful stickers of cute animals pasted on her clipboard gave her away completely.

"Antauri," Chiro said softly in all seriousness, cupped a hand around his mentor's right ear and readied himself for what he was about to say next.

"You need to do Otto's puppy dog eyes."

The silver monkey frowned deeply. He opened his mouth to protest but Chiro cut him off.

"C'mon, pleaaaase!" The teenager clapped his hands together in a pleading manner, "you and Otto are brothers, right? I know you have it in you!"

"Chiro..." Antauri crossed his arms, still reluctant, "I do not engage in this sort of activity."

Chiro pouted, widening his own blue eyes which sparkled with crocodile tears. "Just this once," he whimpered in his most convincing voice,"I can't go in without you! And I know you'd rather do this than manipulate her mind with your powers!"

Antauri knew that his student would never step a foot into the dentist room if he wasn't there. He closed his eyes and thought carefully over the options. Gibson would never let him hear the end of it if Chiro didn't get his appointment done today. He sighed, rubbing his temples, thinking deeply.

Finally, with a great amount of hesitance, Antauri nodded slightly.

Cheering only loudly enough for the both of them to hear, Chiro picked up his mentor by the waist and prepared his best smile.

"On three... two... one...go!"

The teenager spun around in one swift motion with Antauri tucked safely under his arm and beamed at the woman, who first furrowed her eyebrows. Then her strict expression softened at the sight of two blue pairs of huge, sad eyes staring right back at her. She tried to look away, but Chiro just inched closer, leaving no room for her head to turn. She stared back into the eyes, which were just sparkling, screaming and yearning for her approval.

Especially the pet's. Damn the pet for having such huge eyes.

She felt a drop of cold sweat run down her forehead.

Chiro mustered his most hopeful tone. "Please...?"

Unable to take it anymore, she let out a grunt, giving into the pressure and nodded. Chiro wasted not even a second and sprinted down the narrow hallway before she could change her mind. As he locked the door behind him, he let out a sigh of relief, and felt Antauri shudder under his arm.

"I have no clue as to how Otto does that all the time," the silver monkey frowned at his leader, who smiled back nervously and settled his mentor back down on the floor.

"Ah, Chiro, good to see you," a British sounding voice came from behind the teenager. An old man, wearing a white coat and gloves grinned widely, "you can call me Doctor Smith."

Chiro swallowed noisily. He nodded politely back in response, and the man took his hand and pulled him towards the dental chair, ushering him to lie down. Chiro shot a 'help-me-I'm-gonna-die' glance at Antauri, who decided to levitate in a corner of the room.

"Chiro has been apprehensive about this visit," the silver monkey explained patiently to Dr Smith, while watching the man prepare a table of tools made from stainless steel, "so it would be greatly appreciated if you would be gentle on him."

Dr Smith raised his chest up in confidence, tightening his gloves. "Just filling in cavities, am I correct? Gibson told me all about it. Rest assured, Chiro won't even fill a thing."

Dr Smith shone bright light into the teenager's mouth. He furrowed his eyebrows, then attached a small metal pipe onto the head of one of the tools. When he turned it on, an ominous whirring sound filled the room, and Chiro felt his heartbeat spike once more.

Before he could place the condenser into Chiro's mouth, the teenager removed the hooks from his lips and shot up from his seat abruptly. "I need to go to the bathroom."

"Oh, sure," slightly surprised, Dr Smith pointed towards the door, "go straight to the left from outside, and you'll see it eventually."

Antauri cleared his throat. "Don't even think about it," he gave a strict gaze to his student, warning him not to move a muscle, but his expression softened considerably when he saw Chiro's crestfallen look. "We can do anything you want when we get back to the robot if you stay. Anything." He reiterated.

Knowing that Antauri would never allow him to leave, the teenager could only nod slowly and climbed back up onto the dental chair. He closed his eyes as the lights above him turned brighter, and waited for Dr Smith to start working.

A sort of cool sensation filled his mouth, before a stabbing pain shot through his lower jaw. He barely held back a scream and tried to remain calm when a sharp instrument poked the gap between his teeth. Chiro curled his fingers up into a fist, trying to hold back his fear when the instrument dug deeper.

After some time passed, Dr Smith attached a drill and dug it into a tooth. Occasional pricks of agony made him flinch, but it was nothing he couldn't handle. Okay, Chiro, calm down, it isn't as bad as you imagined, he thought to himself, try counting down from 500... 499...498...497...

By some miracle or another, counting numbers in his head did take his mind off the pain and discomfort. When he was counting down for the third time, Dr Smith pressed a button and raised the dental chair, asking him to rinse his mouth with water, to which Chiro complied obediently.

After five minutes, Dr Smith laid Chiro back down again and began working on his inner teeth. It hurt more this time, given that the cavities were worse, but it wasn't unbearable. A bead of sweat ran down the side of his head and Chiro tried to think of other things, anything his mind could pull out from the depths of his memories. His first meeting with Jinmay, his first meal with the monkey team, and the time Sprx allowed him to pilot his fist rocket...

Chiro didn't know how much time had passed, but soon the drilling stopped. He glanced at the clock, and to his surprise, the whole process only took forty-five minutes. Dr Smith handed him another cup of water, and ushered him to gurgle and spit.

"Congratulations," the man said, smiling, "you're done. I thank you humbly for your visit. And Chiro, no more than ten cans of soda at a time, alright?"

The teenager felt his face grow hot as he looked up in alarm. "How did you know?"

Dr Smith shrugged. "From experience, I guess. Now run along, I have another appointment in fifteen minutes."

As both Antauri and Chiro exited the room after waving goodbye to the doctor, the silver monkey crossed his arms together. "Ten cans of soda at once? What were you thinking?"

Chiro raised his hands up in defense, "It was a dare with Otto, but that will be the first and last time, I swear!"

Antauri gave his student a look of disapproval. "Next time only one can of soda a day, do I make myself clear? If you fail to do so, I will be confiscating all of it."

Chiro smiled sheepishly and nodded, taking to the skies with Antauri on their jetpacks. He gingerly touched his teeth and noticed at the toothache was completely gone. It felt incredibly good to have them back to their normal condition again, and he was not writhing in pain every time he tried to talk.

As the two arrived outside the robot and walked into the command centre, Otto shot down the green tube and rushed toward Chiro, a look of anxiety and agony evident on his face.

"Chiro!" Otto cried and opened his mouth, "my teeth! What happened to my teeth!"

Gibson appeared a few seconds later, running towards the green monkey, clearly perplexed. "Don't just go running off like that, Otto! I haven't finished examining them yet."

"Noooo!" Otto screamed, trying to struggle out of Gibson's grip as his brother dragged him back by the tail, "I don't wanna go to the dentist! Chiroooo, help me!"

The teenager shrugged and smiled, and whispered to Antauri, "Maybe you should do your puppy dog eyes. It worked pretty well against that lady."

The silver monkey couldn't help but look embarrassed. "Let us not bring that topic up again."

Smirking, Chiro ran ahead with a wave to his mentor and followed Gibson up to the medical bay. This was going to be a long day.

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Hope you guys enjoyed this short one-shot ^^ Inspiration is, of course, from a friend, who had to extract a baby tooth + 4 healthy teeth recently. Filling in cavities is also the worst feeling, ever. Critique and reviews are greatly appreciated! Oh, do tell me if you guys are interested in reading more of these kinda fics in the future, the more funny-slice of life/fluff genre :)