Alright! Part 2 is coming, I pinky promise! But I have to write this! I must! It's completely random and does not have any part on my multiple family AUs. Well, actually it sort of relates to the dentist story I made here, but you get it. Here we go! Oh! And I dare you to take a guess where I got the inspiration for this!
Daniel dug his nails into Arus Castle's door as Keith, Lance, and Hunk tried to pry him out.
"Daniel… It's not… that… bad!" Keith grunted, pulling him by the waist with all his might.
"No!" Daniel screeched, holding on even tighter.
"It's… just the… orthodontist!" Lance huffed, "Why are you so unwilling?!"
"Well, if he does have to get braces, that won't end well." Hunk remarked.
"What?! No!" Daniel yelled, struggling even harder.
Finally, they yanked him away from the door and all but ran to their form of transportation. Daniel did not make it easy for them though; not in the slightest. He bit and scratched and even growled at them the entire ride.
"I think we should've gassed him." Lance muttered, edging away from him.
"You know Allura would've killed us, and besides, this is pretty important." Keith replied.
"What is with Allura lately? So far, she's had us take him to the dentist, take him to a doctor, and now an orthodontist! Next time, she's taking him!" Hunk exclaimed.
"Maybe she couldn't resist her motherly instincts." Lance chuckled.
A menacing growl from Daniel shut them all up though.
Upon their arrival, the three men now faced a new problem. Getting Daniel out and in the office. So, Keith and Hunk slowly got out while Lance kept a hand restraining Daniel from running and the two opened the door. Daniel bolted out but was caught by Hunk, who'd anticipated the cadet's flight. Daniel kicked the air and tried to get away, growling at them.
"Daniel, if you calm down, we'll get you ice cream!" Lance pleaded, not wanting to become even more tortured than he already was.
Daniel stopped thrashing and looked at him, cocking his head to the side. Hunk gently set him down, ready to grab him again if he fought. Surprisingly, he didn't put up a fight, but the men weren't entirely positive he'd remain this calm.
They entered the office where a pretty, young, blonde haired woman sat at reception. She smiled at them and handed them a sign in sheet.
"So you were the ones Princess Allura sent? I was wondering why she would call." the woman, whose name tag read Sara, said with a warm smile.
"Yeah, that would be us." Hunk chuckled.
They took their seats and waited for what seemed like an eternity.
"Daniel Chandler!" a woman's voice called.
They stood and guided Daniel towards her, flanking his sides and boxing him in. A woman with auburn hair led them to the room at the very back. It was a pretty big room with no actual doors and big windows.
"Hi, my name's Taylor and I'll basically be taking care of everything along with the orthodontist. Alright, let's take some x-rays first and then we'll get Dr. Hershberg here, okay?" the woman said.
"Um, fair warning, he is not the friendliest right now." Lance advised.
"Oh, we'll be fine. Come on, sweetheart." Taylor dismissed him.
She grabbed Daniel by the hand and whisked him to a room where there was a machine to take x-rays of your mouth (Wow, my mom's a radiologist and I don't know what this is called… pretty pathetic…). Daniel saw the machine and tried to back away.
"Oh, this won't do anything bad! It's just gonna take a few pictures of your teeth so the doc will know what to do." Taylor assured him.
"I'd like the doc to leave them alone." Daniel grumbled quietly.
Taylor giggled and ruffled his hair, setting up the first set. Daniel looked at her incredulously when she told him to bite down on the weird stick thingy, but he did it anyways. He found it even weirder for the second set where they stuck plugs in his ears, but he let Taylor do it.
She walked him back to the room where she then had him sit on a chair that forced him to lay down.
"Alrighty then! I'll just have a look at these and Dr. Hershberg should be here any second." Taylor said and left with the x-rays.
Daniel shot up like a rocket and tried to bolt. Keith and Lance caught him by the arms and dragged him back to the chair. Just then, a very tall man in his early fifties came in. He had a head of chestnut hair and warm brown eyes that were surrounded by laugh lines. He had a big, happy smile on his face and seemed to really enjoy his job.
"I see we have a runner!" he chuckled.
"Sorry, he only went to a dentist for the first time last week. So he's not too keen on more people poking and prodding him." Keith apologized.
"I've dealt with worse. And given those circumstances, I'd do the same thing if I were in his shoes!" Dr. Hershberg laughed.
Dr. Hershberg walked over to them and knelt down, though he was still pretty tall.
"I'm Keith and-"
"There's really no need for introductions, Captain Kogane. Everyone knows who you guys are. I'm Dr. Hershberg." Dr. Hershberg cut him off.
Daniel raised an eyebrow in suspicion and studied Hershberg closely.
"He's like a little animal, isn't he? Sizing me up like one of those little cats on Ariel." Hershberg joked.
"Yeah… acts like one when threatened too." Lance agreed, eyeing Daniel warily.
"Oh. My. Gosh. You are scared of a fourteen year old!" Hershberg exclaimed.
"No, I'm not! I'm just cautious because he bites!" Lance defended himself.
"Look at him! How can a big, bad pilot like you be scared of a tiny little thing like him?!" Hershberg laughed, picking Daniel up by the back of his shirt for effect.
"Hey! I'm not that small!" Daniel protested, batting at the doctor's hand.
"Sorry, buddy." he replied, ruffling Daniel's hair as he set him down.
"Alright, it looks like Daniel will just need to get top braces for a year or so." Taylor declared, entering the room.
"Let's have a look-see, shall we?" Hershberg said, pressing Daniel down onto his back.
Daniel clenched his mouth shut in reflex. Dr. Hershberg tapped his upper lip and nose repeatedly, getting Daniel to open his mouth in confusion. Hershberg took two pieces of plastic and hooked them around his cheeks. Daniel grabbed them to pull them out but stopped when Hershberg told him to hold them there for a bit. A metal sheet that reflected off his teeth was placed, forcing Daniel to keep his mouth open. The three pilots retreated back to the waiting room, telling the orthodontist to call if he needed any help. After an agonizing five more minutes of them taking pictures of his teeth from different angles, the other three were called back.
"Well, this little guy here certainly has some choppers. If the chart didn't say he were human, I'd have thought he was an actual one of those little cats on Ariel. All his teeth are naturally sharpened and extremely white for a fourteen year old who's never been to a dentist or even seen a toothbrush before." Dr. Hershberg told them.
"So, braces?" Lance asked.
"He's gonna need top and bottom braces for about thirteen months. If you want, we can put them on today." Hershberg offered.
"Yeah, that'd work best because I know that he won't let us anywhere near him anymore." Keith agreed.
An hour later…
Daniel entered the castle with a sullen look on his face and his arms crossed. Keith, Lance, and Hunk followed behind him at a distance to avoid his anger. Allura greeted them with a smile on her face.
"How'd it go?" she asked.
"Athk- Ask! Ask them." Daniel said, pointing to the men.
"Aw, Daniel! The braces gave you a slight lisp!" Allura cooed.
Daniel blushed furiously and stalked off, complaining about sore mouths and stupid, cheerful orthodontists.
"So, what happened?" Allura asked.
"Well, Dr. Hershberg nearly lost a finger, everyone at the orthodontist office thinks that Daniel is just the sweetest little thing, and Daniel is in braces for thirteen months. That is, if he follows directions. So it went pretty well." Lance informed her.
"The lisp?" she questioned.
"Side effect that comes with the braces. He's been messing with them for the past thirty minutes." Keith explained.
"I know he'll probably hate it, but he's so adorable with braces! What color did he get?" Allura asked.
"Black and blue, and yeah, Daniel is adorable with those things on him." Hunk answered, causing Keith and Lance to look at him strangely.
"What? You've gotta admit that it's cute with the small lisp he now has, and the way those braces look on him. Take him to a park, and he could get all the moms fawning over him!" he said defensively.
Keith and Lance couldn't argue to that. It was true. With Daniel's already innocent little face, the addition of braces made him look even younger than he had.
"I guess we better make sure he doesn't kill anyone." Keith said.
The next day…
Vince heard a pitiful whimper come from above him. He looked up to see Daniel curled up in a ball holding his mouth in pain. Having had braces in the past, Vince completely understood what was going on. He hopped out of bed to get a better view of Daniel.
"Hey, Daniel. Not feeling so hot, huh?" Vince asked.
"Why does it hurt so much?" Daniel whined.
"Your teeth are shifting." Vince answered.
Daniel gave another whimper and Vince sighed. He clapped Daniel's back and walked out.
"Hey, where's Daniel?" Keith asked as he saw Vince enter the dining room.
"Curled up on his bed in pain. It's the second day of braces. They hurt like hell on this day." Vince explained.
"Anything we can do?" Larmina asked.
"We could make him eat something soft and give him some naproxen sodium, but it may not work all the way." Vince suggested.
"Something tells me that he's gonna hate us more after this." Hunk groaned.
"He'll get over it. They always do." Lance assured them.