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The first time Yuuta noticed Inumaki’s teeth he hadn’t really been looking.
They watched movies together on Tuesdays, a designated weekly bonding night assigned to them as a part of their developmental curriculum by Gojo. They convened after hours, at first treating it as if they would a standard classroom activity but over time it transformed into one of the most casual times they spent together. The four of them began forgoing their standard uniforms and instead showed up in casual clothes, more akin to pajamas or loungewear. Maki had even taken wearing her hair down.
Yuuta really enjoyed these nights, finding that any chance to hang out with his classmates in casual spaces, special. It felt uncharacteristically normal, something regular friends who were not fighting against life-altering, deadly curses would do, and those kinds of moments in his life were few and far between.
Panda had picked the film this time. It was, unfortunately, extraordinarily long and even more extraordinarily boring; some foreign black and white film with some famous actors Yuuta had never heard of. The not-bear had claimed it was a classic, a pinnacle of cinema and they should try to appreciate it in full.
Yuuta had given a fair attempt, he really had. But his attention left him as he half-read the subtitles, unable to follow the plot, completely uninterested in any of the characters. His eyes unfocused from the screen and he glanced around the room at the others. Panda was enthralled, making some offhand comment about a particular piece of cinematography that had happened on the screen. Maki was fading, slow blinking, arms crossed in front of her more to keep herself upright than in a show of disapproval. He could tell she’d be asleep in the next 20 minutes. Inumaki was…
The moment Yuuta’s eyes looked over to him, the small blonde boy broke into a large yawn. Due to the nature of their gathering--it was movie night, no one talked during movie night unless you were Panda--Inukami wasn’t wearing his normal collar and his face was therefore unobstructed. The yawn was probably the widest Yuuta had ever seen him open his mouth. It was strange, seeing Inumaki's face contort in a completely normal but simultaneously completely unnormal way. His lips pulled back from his teeth and his eyes watered slightly as he soundlessly drew in air.
It was during that split second, that blink-and-you’d-miss-it moment, that Yuuta noticed something that he had never, ever noticed before.
Inumaki’s canines were elongated and...SHARP LOOKING? Not like, an insane amount but uh… they were definitely different? Had...had they always been that way? They must be. It’s not like Inumaki had gotten new teeth recently or anything.
Yuuta’s mind hit a wall and then hard turned and went into overdrive in a completely different direction.
Okay, he knew Inumaki had the snake and fangs marks. Very well known, easily considered common knowledge at this point. But that was, like, the seals on his face right? Also his tongue. Yuuta had seen the tongue seal before... not, like, haha, often or anything, but that was the ‘fangs’ being referred to, right? Since when did he have ACTUAL fangs? Did they retract like a real snake? Is that why he hadn’t noticed them before? Or had he just not noticed them at all? Were they actually as sharp as they looked? Or was that some trick of the light? If they were sharp...why? Did that make eating difficult? Wait, did Inumaki drink blood? Hold on, no, no that was vampires, not snakes, back up, back up. Unless...did snakes drink blood? Mental note to check to see if snakes drank blood later. Does that mean he’s also venomous? If Inumaki bit someone could they die? Wait, stop, he’s not like an actual snake--
“...uuta?”
“Nng!” Yuuta jolted, instantly snapping out of the mental spiral he’d fallen into as he felt a hand pat his shoulder. He looked up and saw his three classmates standing around him.
“Movie’s over,” Panda said, “Did you like it?”
“Sure!” Yuuta responded instantaneously and with too much enthusiasm, trying to cover his inattention as best as he could.
“You didn’t watch it,” Panda frowned, seeing through him immediately, “Even you, Yuuta.”
“I told you no one watched it,” Maki said, flicking Panda on the arm. “It was too dull. You’re not allowed to pick the movie anymore.”
“Salmon,” Inumaki said, in agreement. Yuuta found his eyes glued to the movements of his mouth, unable to look anywhere else.
“You don’t respect the classics! Any of you,” Panda said in a huff, before plodding out of the common room.
“Well, now that we’ve survived that,” Maki said definitively before walking out herself. “Good night.”
“Kelp,” Inumaki he waved once at Yuuta before following the other two, hitting the common room light switch as he did.
Yuuta sat in the dark, staring at the door for a longer period of time than he cared to admit before rising to his feet and slowly lumbering off to his own dorm.
Maybe he hadn’t meant to look the first time but Yuuta now found himself completely unable to stop looking.
Time was making his curiosity worse, not better and he found himself sneaking glances at Inumaki during meal times, training, class, and all future Tuesday movie nights, absolutely, completely unable to focus.
It took weeks, but his curiosity eventually won out over his anxiety and he found himself sitting down next to Inumaki on one of the locker room benches after training one day.
“Can I ask you something weird?” Yuuta looked down at him. Inumaki’s uniform was buttoned but his collar wasn’t pulled up yet, hanging around his neck loosely like a scarf.
Inumaki raised an eyebrow but didn’t offer any decent, which was about as much of a go-ahead as Yuuta was likely to get.
“Could you… could you smile?” Yuuta asked.
“Mustard leaf?” Inumaki eyebrows pinched together, unsure what to make about such an unprompted request.
“I just want to see something,” Yuuta continued, trying to keep his voice steady, trying not to let the weird anticipation bubbling up inside of him make him sound too eager.
It was clear Inumaki didn’t understand, but he conceded, the corners of his mouth curving upward into a slight smile. It was soft and it was cute but it wasn’t what Yuuta wanted to see. Inumaki’s lips were still closed.
“Ah, no,” Yuuta pulled his own mouth into a wide smile, lips moving back to show off his own teeth. “Like this.”
Inumaki stared at him for a long moment, eyes searching Yuuta’s face for further clarification, before he mimicked the motion, contorting his face into a forced, not-quite-smile, putting his teeth on display.
Yuuta’s hand moved before his brain did as he reached out and cupped Inumaki’s face. His forefinger and thumb moved, pulling Inumaki’s top lip up slightly and his bottom lip down.
Yuuta’s eyes fell on the teeth that had been all but consuming his thoughts during his waking hours… And maybe, maybe they had shown up at least twice in his dreams this past week if he really felt like admitting that to himself.
As it turned out, Inumaki’s mouth, like the rest of him, was small. His teeth were straight, clean, and well taken care of. They were way better looking than Yuuta’s own, which suffered from the fact that he often forgot to floss and didn’t brush as long as he knew he should.
Inumaki’s upper canines were set against the rest of his mouth, extending a bit and ending right below his lower gum. They didn't look that unnatural now that Yuuta was able to see how they fit compared to the rest of his teeth. Had… Had he just been blowing the whole thing out of proportion? Was what he had seen that night a trick of the light?
“Hold on...”
Yuuta took his other hand and opened his own mouth, rubbing his fingers over his own shorter, stubby canine to compare.
Okay, yeah...Yeah! Inumaki’s teeth could definitely be considered fangs, smaller ones than Yuuta had inflated in his mind’s eye, but still fangs for sure .
“Yeah...yeah!” Yuuta said, excitedly. “They’re different!”
He wasn’t going crazy. He had seen it right that night. He now had conclusive evidence that Inumaki had the fang seal but also real, actual fangs in his mouth as well.
Cool… Yuuta thought to himself in awe, distracted as he thumbed over the tip of one, You’re so cool Inumaki…
Surprisingly, it was sharp. Well, sharper than any of Inumaki’s other teeth or his own teeth comparatively. But, otherwise, it was a normal tooth. It wasn't retractable or venomous or vampiric. It wasn't even that strange honestly. It was just a little tooth in a little mouth that was a little bit longer and a little bit sharper than normal.
A feeling of relief washed over Yuuta as sighed, feeling like he could lay one of the mysteries of his mind to rest. He could stop thinking about them now. Thank god .
And then, not a moment later, Inumaki's mouth clamped and bit down on his thumb.
“Owh!” Yuuta said, jerking his hand back in pain, releasing the hold he had on Inumaki's face. He looked down and saw a small bit of blood pool on the tip of his thumb where he had been touching the fang. His eyes widened.
Holy shit???
Inumaki had just, he just--
“You bit m--hhn,” Yuuta started to say but wasn’t able to get all the words out as he felt Inumaki’s hands shoot up and pull at the corners of Yuuta’s own mouth.
“Inu..mah...gi?” Yuuta found it incredibly difficult to form any full word with the other boy's fingers in the way. Inumaki huffed at him but didn't say anything, eyebrows pinching as he frowned and moving his own fingers around to prod at Yuutas mouth the same way Yuuta had prodded at his; thumbing over Yuuta's teeth and then reaching back and touching his own to compare.
A few moments later he looked up at Yuuta for the first time since the start of this strange interaction, eyes narrowing. Yuuta noticed how unusually pink his cheeks were and also how uncharacteristically embarrassed the expression on his face read.
Yuuta blinked.
Oh.
Oh.
Yuuta felt his brain finally, finally catch up after he had all but left it in the dust minutes earlier.
Had he really just… stuck his fingers in Inumaki’s mouth? And touched his teeth? Unprompted? He hadn't even really explained himself before doing so… Could he even explain himself? And now he was sure he was drooling on Inumaki’s hands--
“Sohrree,” Yuuta slurred out, not sure what else to say, still trying to conceptualize how he had managed to even do anything he had just done.
Inumaki's hands moved in a swift motion, switching from pulling to pinching as one hand squished Yuuta’s cheeks together and the other flicked up, pinching his nose shut.
“Hng!” Yuuta exclaimed, his airways suddenly becoming restricted as his face got squished.
Inumaki huffed through his nose again and squeezed Yuuta’s face hard one more time before relinquishing his grip and letting go.
Yuuta took a deep breath. “They’re cool!” He blurted out, “They’re different but they’re really cool! Your teeth!”
Inumaki’s eyes widened, but Yuuta kept talking.
“It was weird, I know. Sorry! I,” Yuuta swallowed, trying to cobble together some sort of explanation for his far too-forward and far too-invasive actions before settling on just, well, the truth, “I just really wanted to see them.”
Inumaki’s face pinched into an expression Yuuta couldn’t quite place, then he leaned forward towards Yuuta, gritting his teeth in response, making that same not-smile from before. Yuuta didn’t have time to process if this was meant to be aggressive or not before Inumaki leaned back just as quickly, pulling up the collar attached to his shirt. The pink tinting his face from earlier spread up to his ears as he looked away.
Inumaki swung his leg over the bench and moved towards the door, glancing back one more time at Yuuta before leaving the room.
Yuuta looked back down at this thumb, which still had the small puncture mark from earlier. He squeezed it, watching a small bit of blood appear at the surface and he felt his own face heat up.
He wasn’t going to die, he was sure of that, but maybe he, uh, wasn't done thinking about Inumaki’s teeth after all.