"Slices of Life"
Note: I know, I know. I've already got two unfinished TSC stories going, so why would I start another one? Simple. "It's A Boy" focuses on Tooth Fairy's history, and for the most part it has very little to do with the other movie characters. "A Strange Bond" is basically about Tooth Fairy and (to a smaller extent) Alpha dealing with grief, falling in love, and learning a few bombshell secrets about Fairy history. This doesn't leave a whole lot of room for the rest of the characters to do more than make cameos, does it? Alpha and Tooth Fairy will definitely make an appearance or two, but they won't be front-and-center here.
So, this isn't so much a chapter fic as it is a series of one-shots. It's also where I'll put scenes and ideas that don't really fit in anywhere else. I don't own anything except for my OC's, The Hollow, and Tooth Fairy's hometown (which might not even show up here). Hope you enjoy it!
"1. Smile"
Santa winced as Mother Nature tapped her gavel on the block to signal the end of yet another Council meeting, but it had nothing to do with the sound. He probed at one of his back molars with his tongue and rubbed at his cheek. Most of the other Council members didn't notice this as they began to disperse, but Tooth Fairy had seen it, and he frowned.
"You okay, Santa?"
Santa quickly lowered his hand from his cheek. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm good. Interesting meeting today."
"Heh heh! Yeah, Sandman's pretty serious about the importance of sleep." Tooth Fairy gave a wry smile. It was Sandman who had called the meeting, but he had yawned so much throughout his entire spiel that he'd had the rest of the Council joining in.
Cupid flew over them on his way out, and he turned just long enough to chime in. "Yeah, if he'd just go on TV to give one of those talks of his, maybe insomnia wouldn't be so rampant."
"Hey, that's not fair," Santa protested, "It takes a lot out of you to go all around the world in a single night. And I only do it once a year. I don't know how these guys do it."
Tooth Fairy shrugged uncomfortably, and muttered, "You get used to it."
"I'm just sayin'," Cupid shrugged, flying off.
Tooth Fairy called after him, "And put some pants on! Nobody wants to see your butt!"
"Nobody asked you to look!" Cupid laughed as he disappeared out the door.
"I'm gonna go bleach my eyeballs!" Tooth Fairy hollered back.
Santa laughed at that, but he quickly stopped as pain lanced through his jaw, and he cupped his cheek again.
"As if I looked on pur-" Tooth Fairy cut himself off and turned business-like. "Ooh...Toothache, huh? I warned you about those cookies."
"Hey," Santa lowered his hand and looked offended. "those cravings came with the change. I brush between meals, I floss every day-"
"Uh-huh. How many times a day?" Tooth Fairy folded his arms and squinted, clearly skeptical.
"I...whenever I brush?" The last time he had been grilled about his dental habits, his mother was still packing his school lunches!
"Use mouthwash?"
Santa rolled his eyes. "Look, it's not the sugar. A bit of walnut shell made it into a piece of apple cake I had a few days ago, but it's fine. So, how's Alpha? It's not like her to miss a meeting."
"She's fine, and nice try." Tooth Fairy beckoned with a finger. "Open up."
Santa reluctantly opened his mouth, feeling like a prized idiot as the Tooth Fairy pulled a pen light from one of his many coat pockets and had a look. "Ou ee' e uh oi?"
Tooth Fairy lowered the pen light. "What?"
Santa repeated himself, more clearly this time. "You need me to point?"
"No, but you might as well," Tooth Fairy raised the light again, and he 'hmmed' when Santa pointed at the offending tooth. "Ahh, I see it...left quadrant, back molar. Cracked right down the middle, with signs of an infection beginning to set in around the gum line."
Tooth Fairy clicked off his light and put it away, and Santa closed his mouth.
"So, what's the prognosis, doc?" Santa tried to sound flippant, but the word 'infection' had thrown him a bit.
This caused Tooth Fairy to roll his eyes. "Nah. I would've liked to be a dentist. That, or maybe a football player. But it just wasn't in the cards. Anyway, you wanna get that taken care of, ASAP. Dental infections are nothing to mess around with."
Santa gave a serious nod, and lowered his voice to a whisper. "You think it'll need to be pulled?"
"Can't tell without an X-ray, but at least the dentist will numb you up first. Not like when you tried to yank out a chopper to get me to take ya to the North Pole." He smirked.
"That's different; I was desperate."
Tooth Fairy could spot a nervous patient from a mile away, and rather than rib the other man about it he gave him a rough pat on the back. "Ahh, you'll have your smile back in no time. Go set up an appointment with...who's the dentist up here now?"
"Dr. Hismus, believe it or not. Not the same 'Dr. Hismus', but his wife. She takes care of everyone's teeth, and he handles everything else." Santa did relax a little bit. If a tooth expert wasn't overly concerned about it, he saw no reason to panic.
"Oh, I don't think I've met her." Tooth Fairy mused, then stifled a yawn. "Well, I'm gonna go home and get some shut-eye. Lemme know how it went."
"Uh-huh. Thanks, Roy."
"Don't mention it." Tooth Fairy smiled and turned to go.
"Is Alpha okay? A few days ago, you said she was a bit queasy."
"Oh, did I?"
Santa smirked. "Anything you wanna tell me?"
Tooth Fairy made a show of looking thoughtful, turning his eyes to the ceiling for a moment before clicking his tongue and giving a cheeky grin. "Nope!"
Santa rolled his eyes. "You're full of beans, Molinator!"
"Hahahahaha!"
Dr. Hismus (or Sonia, as she asked him to call her to avoid confusion) pointed to the X-ray as she pushed a stray tendril of ash-blond hair out of her face. "Now, as you can see, the roots are still intact. Tooth Fairy...er, sorry, Roy...was smart to tell you to get this taken care of now, though. There's no infection yet, but if you let it go, it's only a matter of time. You'll need a crown, and I'll start you on a round of Amoxicillin just to be safe, but I think we can save the tooth."
"That's a relief," Santa fidgeted with the little paper bib he wore. He hated those things at the best of times, but with a beard it was ten times as uncomfortable.
The next couple of hours were not Santa's idea of a good time, and he spent a lot of time staring at the dental chart that hung on the opposite wall as he listened to the little Elf woman chatter away about whatever came to mind. He never understood why dentists liked to ask questions while their hands were in a person's mouth. How was he supposed to answer?
"Is Bernard giving you a hard time these days?"
"Uh-uh," Santa considered trying to tell her that it was usually Curtis who got on his nerves, but that wouldn't have been professional, and besides, he needed to spit.
"He's really mellowed since little Buddy was born," Sonia observed.
"Uh-huh."
"Feeling any pain?"
"Uh-uh."
"Good. We should be done within the next half hour." She said brightly.
A few days later, Tooth Fairy dropped by to see how Santa was doing...and to make sure he had actually had his tooth taken care of. He spotted someone else first, however. "Hey, Bernard, how's things?"
Bernard's answering smile was a terse one. "Busy. I'd sure like to get my hands on whoever came up with April Fool's Day."
"Pretty sure they're dead," Tooth Fairy shrugged. He wrinkled his nose a bit. What's that stench?
The Elf went on as if he hadn't spoken. "Someone rigged air horns to the underside of every chair, stool, and toilet seat, but I think we finally got them all. Someone decided to replicate a box of stink bombs in the Panagraph, and one of them went off."
"Is that what I smell? I thought it was wafting over from the reindeer stables." Tooth Fairy was chuckling.
"It is. Someone gave Prancer extra apples last night. And I discovered a whoopee cushion on my chair, but only after I sat on it. Will you stop laughing?" Bernard clenched his fists. "It's not funny!"
"You're right...it's hilarious!" Tooth Fairy doubled over and slapped his knee.
"Hey," Bernard fought a grin; the man's laughter was contagious! "I've known you since you were two months old and couldn't keep your cookies down, so have a little respect."
"You're right, I'm-I'm sorry, I...hahahahaha!" Tooth Fairy covered his mouth, then roughly rubbed at his face to snap himself out of it. "Okay, okay, sorry. I'm done."
"Better be." Bernard glared, and then he couldn't hold it in anymore. He snickered, which set the Tooth Fairy off again, and they went to sit down. The floor was mostly clear, as it was around lunchtime, and most of the Elves were on break.
Tooth Fairy sat down without looking, and went wide-eyed as a loud, obnoxious noise echoed throughout the room. Now it was Bernard's turn to laugh, and Tooth Fairy held up the spent whoopee cushion and called out, "That wasn't me. Who put this on my seat?"
Aside from Bernard and Tooth Fairy, everyone there raised a hand.
Tooth Fairy casually tossed the pink rubber pancake to a passing Elf, who caught it and bowed with a flourish before walking off...wearing it like it was a hat. "Something in the water today?"
"Funny you should mention that," Bernard folded his arms and jiggled his leg a bit. "You might want to have Alpha give a lecture about the hazards of laughter potions. Someone from The Hollow...Not saying who, but he likes to dye his hair crazy colors...That someone spiked the cocoa last night, and we're still dealing with the fallout."
Tooth Fairy snorted. "I knew things were getting too quiet on the Robert front..."
"Normally I wouldn't care all that much. But when it happens during work hours, where dangerous equipment is in use, I have to put my foot down."
"No, absolutely. I'll mention it to her when I get back. But that's not why I came here. How's Santa doing?"
Bernard touched the side of his own face with a fingertip. "It's about his tooth, right? He got it taken care of. He has a temporary crown for now, but he's...oh, there he is."
Santa jogged down the steps, grinning from ear to ear. "Hey, Roy! Bernard, are you sitting down on the job again?"
Bernard shot quickly to his feet. "No, I was just explaining about 'the incident'."
"Oh yeah," Santa was still grinning, showing no sign of his previous dental pain. "Yesterday was crazy. That was the hardest I've laughed in years."
Curtis, who was still in a rather silly mood, sidled up behind Bernard and stole his beret before running off with it.
"Wh-" Bernard clapped his hands on top of his curls, but he was too late, and he quickly gave chase. "Come back here, you!"
If Tooth Fairy had still been standing, he would've had to sit down. Santa joined him, sitting in the chair that Bernard had just vacated, and the two men laughed like a couple of loons while the Head Elf chased Curtis out of the workshop and into the street.
"Bernard's gonna kill him when he catches up..." Tooth Fairy wiped at his eye.
"Nah, he won't catch up. Even if he didn't have a bad knee, he's been running damage control all day. He'll sleep well tonight." Santa sighed as the laughing fit passed. "So, what brings you here?"
"Just checking up." Tooth Fairy pointed to Santa's mouth. "Looks like you did get your smile back."
Bernard came storming back in, sans his beret, and disappeared into his office to sulk.
Santa snickered, feeling guilty for laughing, but it was pretty darn funny! "Yeah. And I got my tooth fixed, too."
Note: And that seems like a good place to end this 'chapter'. :)
