It was a new quarter, a new school year, and a new class. And Nick had all but forgotten his parents for the time being. He and his roommates played the rest of the break away on their Xbox and tuned out their adult responsibilities.

This semester was going to be more challenging for Nick. He'd chosen some harder classes and the most challenging was a morning class, though it was science, his favorite subject. He found a desk towards the middle and near the aisle and sat down with his head on the desk. He was exhausted and the new sleep schedule was not working for him yet.

Nick picked his head up at the guy who chose to sit next to him and smiled in a friendly way.

"Everyone say hello to your lab partners for the rest of the quarter," the professor announced.

Nick nodded silently to himself and held his hand out to shake as did the other man. "Nick, nice to meet you."

"Jeff, you as well, what brings you into advanced biochemistry?" the blonde asked.

Nick shrugged, "I'm interested in the science behind it all, it's a favorite subject of mine," The brunette explained.

"Me too, ever thought of being a doctor?" Jeff asked as they opened their notes and set up the equipment for the experiment.

"Nah, too much stuff to think about there. My brain can only handle so much stress before I implode."

Jeff just nodded his head in thought and smiled to himself.

"What's so funny?" Nick questioned with a side glance.

"Hmm? Oh nothing, I thought of a cat video," Jeff giggled.

There wasn't much more idle chat that class, but over the next couple weeks into the quarter Nick and Jeff talked a lot more and grew to be good friends.

"Did you get confused by the composition homework this week?" Nick asked Jeff.

"Nah, I'm pretty quick at composition formulas," Jeff shrugged.

Nick sighed, frustrated, and clenched his jaw in stress only to wince and rub his cheek. Jeff noticed and furrowed his brow in curiosity.

"Does your face hurt?" he questioned.

Nick nodded his head, "yeah, just a tooth that's bugging me, no big deal." He saw Jeff give him a skeptical look and gave him a sarcastic look in response. "Is that a problem your highness?"

Jeff laughed, "no my liege, just thinking maybe you should get that looked at."

Nick shook his head stubbornly, "no it's fine."

Jeff leaned on the desk with his head cocked to the side and a squint to his eyes. "I want to flick you in the face to prove a point but that would be mean, so I'll just ask, is it on the side or top of the tooth?"

"Occlusal surface, but it hurts to flick too," Nick commented flatly, not even realizing what he was saying.

Jeff looked surprised by nicks understanding of terminology so he continued curiously. "Second molar or first?"

"Second, number 31." Nicks eyes widened when he realized the questions being asked of him. "How do you know what I'm talking about," he asked in a quiet whisper.

"How do you know any of this," Jeff asked in disbelief.

"You first," Nick pressed.

"Third year dental student," Jeff pointed to himself with pride, "taking a refresher course for this class. You?"

"Father, dentist," Nick pointed to himself with much less enthusiasm.

"Oooh neat, that must be…. no, not cool, not good got it" Jeff changed his tone when he saw nicks face.

Nick felt sick; he knew friendship was too good to be true when it was this fun. He couldn't just get up and leave class either. "Can we not talk about this anymore, I'm getting nauseous."

Jeff nodded quickly and averted his gaze. "No yeah yeah right, that's cool that's…. fine, you know" He felt awkward too at this point. "If you ever want to talk though, I mean I'll listen. I get the feeling something happened for you to be this-"

"Jeff stop. Please?" Nick begged. Jeff shut his mouth after that, afraid to say more and cause trouble. He let it slide for Nick.

They had a good friendship for the rest of their time that quarter, and it stayed with them through the next semester.

Nick fixed his tie and sat practicing his speech for his public speaking final as he waited for Jeff to arrive for lunch. The blonde rushed through the doors and searched for Nick until he spotted him at a far table.

"Sorry I'm late, I'm here and ready to be helpful and listen to your speech," he smiled cheekily and sat down.

Nick looked skeptical, "you're always late, I'm not surprised, why are you wet though?" Nick asked as he observed his best friends blue scrubs were soaked in certain spots.

Jeff looked himself over and put a thoughtful face on for a moment. "Well I can assure you it's not pee, if that's what you're thinking. Its water, maybe a little spit, but I think it's mostly water. Little kids are gross sometimes."

Nick shuddered visibly and shook his head. "They probably gave you trouble cause you wanted to drill their face off," he supplied.

"As much fun as that is, I have a squeaky clean record of NOT doing that, and I intend to keep it that way for about…" Jeff counted on his fingers, "forever. But if you don't believe me, let me show you sometime," he joked.

Nick flexed his jaw defensively and rubbed his aching cheek, not caring whether Jeff was watching him.

"Still letting that eat away at you huh? I wish you'd just tell me what happened so I can just know, you know?" Jeff spoke while averting his eyes casually and nibbling on a carrot from nicks plate.

"It doesn't work that way. Maybe I'll feel like it eventually but not here and not now," Nick argued as he buried his head in his arms.

"Suit yourself."

They sat silently with Jeff eating and Nick not. They were an unusual pair in every aspect it would seem.

"I'm bored, I don't feel like practicing this anymore" Nick commented flatly. Jeff rolled his eyes comically. "Yeah, I definitely picked up on that among other things. Wanna do something fun?" he offered.

Nick picked his head up off the table, "I have a few hours. What did you have in mind?"

Jeff beamed excitedly, "we could whiten our teeth, it's really cool I promise you'll think so too."

"Somehow I highly doubt that," Nick spoke skeptically. He stood to leave the cafeteria but Jeff stopped him again.

"No no no, I promise it's not bad at all."

"Pass. If you have to say it's not bad then it automatically is," Nick argued.

"Dude, why do you have to be a butthole every time I want to show you something?"

"Dude, it's not showing me something if it's my face getting fucked with" Nick reprimanded.

Jeff squinted his eyes challengingly and stood in front of Nick with his hands on his hips. He looked hilariously unthreatening. "Alright sass master, I know you don't like this kind of stuff as you've pointed out very clearly before, and though I still don't know WHY you feel that way, I still think you could get through this." He ignored the frown on nicks face and just took his arm anyway. "Just walk with me and we'll talk."

Nick allowed himself to be lead from the cafeteria nonchalantly. He wasn't happy about this but he decided not to fight Jeff. Besides, Jeff gave him an oddly different feeling that his father just never could. He felt a little more trusting of Jeff.

"You're not talking much for someone who said we'd walk and talk," Nick pointed out on their route.

"Weather is nice, a bit cloudy today but the sun is peeking through," Jeff spoke distractedly.

"Jeff."

"Nick?"

Nick tried to pull his arm away but Jeff held tighter and trudged along.

"I just thought of about ten different things we could do for fun besides this," Nick chattered, "and none of them involve you seeing my teeth."

Jeff smirked with a stupid look on his face. "Who said I'd be looking, I said WE could whiten OUR teeth, as in I'm doing it with you. Moral support buddy, friendship bonding." He tugged harder as Nick fought him indignantly through the doors of the waiting room.

"Table for two please, is Christina still here I want her to do me a favor" Jeff asked the woman at the front desk, Betsy, when they walked in. Nick grew fidgety next to his friend and decided to sit down and behave. Maybe he'd get points for that. He was surprised he'd been able to contain himself this far, Jeff truly was something special.

A girl with the nametag 'Christina' on her shirt came out to get them and smirked at Jeff. "Don't you ever get tired of me" she laughed. Jeff just rolled his eyes and beckoned Nick over to him with an encouraging wave. Nick got up unsurely and followed the two down a hall. He didn't like this but regardless didn't want to be left alone without Jeff.

They walked back to a room with four chairs lined up next to each other, all with televisions in front of them and all in different colors.

"Dibs on the red chair," Jeff blurted out as he hurried over to sit on his. He patted the green one next to him and Nick scoffed. "This isn't like the teacup ride at Disneyland Jeff," Nick spoke shakily as he backed up towards the hall again. Jeff frowned a bit in concern and got up to comfort his friend.

"Nick where are you going man, come back." He took nicks hand in his before he could leave and Nick looked surprised for a second before turning away to face the wall they were near. "Jeff stop please," he pleaded. He could feel himself start to slip and he didn't want to humiliate himself by shamefully spilling tears. "This does stuff to me okay, I don't want to talk about it, it's stupid."

Jeff looked sad but it quickly melted into determination. "No, you should do this. It's like a spa day but for your teeth and it involves nothing that could hurt, just lights and gel stuff," he explained. "And chapstick," Jeff added with a serious expression, "lots of chapstick."

Nick smiled a little and wiped at his face. "Chapstick is the worst man," he laughed softly.

Jeff smiled and helped him over to the green chair. He didn't leave to sit on his red chair thought, which Nick found odd and comforting. Christina came over and Jeff spoke up. "Let's set Nick up first so I don't have to try to comfort him with my face full of cotton."

Nicks eyes widened at that and heh looked at Jeff pleadingly. "I'd rather watch you go first."

"Nah bro, you should get through this and I'll hold your hand and it'll just be easier." Jeff patted nicks hand gently as a sign of support.

Nick whined a little as Jeff helped Christina with him. "I have to go pee really bad."

"No you don't, stay here" Jeff brushed his comment aside. He picked up the chapstick and put it on nicks lips. "See, terrifying so far, that scary chapstick we talked about, and I'm putting soooo much on," Jeff teased. Nick still had a terrified look on his face so Jeff decided he would talk Nick through the rest.

"Christina is going to put this thing in called a cheek retractor so we can see all your pretty teeth. She's going to put cotton in you cheeks and mouth to protect you from the UV light we use, and some gel on your gums to block the light from giving you a sun burn on them as well."

Nick didn't hear much Jeff said once he held up the thing they wanted to use on him. "I don't like the look of that thing. I don't want it," he argued.

"Well we need to use it and it just makes you feel stupid but it doesn't hurt, trust me" Jeff waved dismissively. "But I always look stupid so…" he winked at Nick.

"I don't like this," Nick whined.

"You don't like anything."

"Yes, anything here, but especially this."

Jeff undid nicks tie a little to let him breathe. "You're uptight and need to just take a deep breath and let Christina do her thing. I'm your friend and I'm right here watching over you."

Nick felt embarrassed and humiliated as he opened his mouth for the pair but he let Christina use the stupid tool and felt way too exposed for his liking.

"Aww you look so adorable" Jeff cooed sarcastically at him. Nick just glared at him but he couldn't hold the angry look for long while Christina started getting more things ready. His face held fear again. Jeff understood that it was harder for Nick to talk and ask questions so he supplied answers on his own. "She's grabbing some cotton to protect your cheeks and stuff. You have to bite on it."

Nick nodded his head as this part seemed straight forward and honestly, pretty unthreatening.

When Christina turned on the light however and leaned him back without warning Nick lost it a little. He let a shameful whine escape him and glanced at Jeff pathetically, who just held his hand and reassured him like a good best friend. "Shhhh, think of how hot you'll look giving your speech later with them sexy white teeth. All the ladies will swoon."

Nick did snort at that and it distracted him for the moment. It occurred to him they hadn't discussed THAT subject yet. Maybe another time, when Jeff wasn't holding his hand and such. But he certainly didn't like this. He didn't like when Christina put on her gloves, and he didn't like when she started putting stuff in his mouth. But he absolutely lost it when she furrowed her brow and grabbed a mirror off her tray. Nicks eyes widened and he shook his head quickly and shut his mouth with a wince.

"Yeah, I saw that one looks like it's hurting you Nick, can I see it?" she asked sweetly. He shook his head no yet again. "I just want to look I promise I'm not going to do anything."

Nick couldn't trust that, couldn't fall for that ever again in his life, and when Jeff put his hand on nicks shoulder to get his attention he jerked his arm back and shot him a panicked look.

"Don't! Don't hold me down" he blurted out through the cotton.

"Nick what? I-I'm not holding you down," Jeff spoke in a slightly shocked manner. "I would never…. What?" he let go of his friend who sat up quickly and pushed himself against Jeff, away from Christina.

"Christina, put the mirror down, he doesn't want us to see, it's fine," Jeff supplied. "You're fine Nick, you don't have to do this, I didn't realize…. I'm sorry."

Nick turned into Jeff and hugged him for a second before his friend helped him take the stuff out of his mouth. Nick got up and wrapped his arms around himself and thanked Jeff quietly.

"Do you want to go Nick? You don't have to stay and watch, or we can both go do something else like you said earlier," Jeff asked gently.

No, no I'm going to go get a drink from the cafeteria and practice my speech more. See you later?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah, yeah just text me okay? I want to hear how it went" Jeff gave a soft guilty smile to Nick as he left the room. He felt like such an ass.