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Charles swore as he closed his car door. He had to get his wisdom teeth removed right before the season finale, perfect timing. He pulled out his phone and added to his calendar the appointment that was due a couple days later where he would have to have all four of his teeth pulled out. His phone started to ring with a call from Carlos that only slightly brightened his mood.
•How’d it go?•
•Awful, I have to get all my wisdom teeth taken out•
•Oh shit! When?•
•Thursday•
•At least we aren’t racing this week, I get to stay and take care of you all day long• Charles groaned loudly into the phone. The thing he hated most in the world was being babied, it was even worse when it was by his boyfriend.
•No thanks•
•Mmm, we’ll see. You coming home now?•
•Yeah I’ll see you soon•
•Love you Charlie•
•Love you too• Charles ended the call with a smile on his face and started to drive home back to Carlos.
The night before he was due to get his wisdom teeth out Carlos decided to surprise him with as many kinds of pasta he could imagine.
“Carlos, we’re going to be eating leftovers for months with this much food.” Charles giggled as he wrapped his arms around Carlos from behind.
“Meal planning and dinner in one night.” He retaliated back as he pressed a kiss to the tips of Charles’ hair. Charles giggled and let Carlos finish stirring the penne pasta while he set the table for the two of them. When everything was finished the couple ended up with seven different pasta dishes to share between the two of them.
“I don’t wanna get my teeth out.” Charles whined as he took a bite of lasagna.
“I know darling, but it’s only gonna be a couple days of nastiness then you’ll be back to normal.”
“Have you got yours out?”
“Yeah, when I was like 16.”
“Why couldn’t mine come out then.”
“It’s not that bad Charles, you’ll be alright.” He reassured as he gave his hand a pat.
“Why can’t I just leave them in?” He whined only to wince seconds later and put a hand to his cheek.
“Baby they’re giving you pain, you’ll get them out tomorrow and it’ll be a breeze, you’ll bounce back in a couple days.”
“But what about all my training.”
“It’s only a couple days Charles. Besides you’re not going to be putting on any weight on cos you won’t be eating a lot.” Charles huffed and twirled his fork in his spaghetti. “Don’t worry Charlie, this time next week you’ll be back to normal.” Charles smiled and kissed Carlos lightly on the lips.
“I love you.”
“I love you even more Charlie. Should we have some dessert now?” Charles giggled and helped Carlos clear the dishes before the two settled on the couch, each with a chocolate fondant with a movie humming away on the tv.
Charles’ appointment was early the next day, so the two were up at the crack of dawn so Charles could have some breakfast before he had to stop eating. He dressed in a pair of trackies with slides and a loose t shirt then let Carlos drive him to the day surgery.
“Hi.” They greeted politely as they entered the lobby.
“Good morning, who have we got here.”
“Um Charles Leclerc, I’m getting my wisdom teeth out.” The receptionist typed away on her computer with her stupidly long nails and hummed to herself.
“Take a seat, we’ll be with you soon.” Charles nodded and sat with Carlos in the waiting room. The nerves were starting to swell in the pit of Charles’ stomach. He started fiddling and cracking his knuckles to distract himself only for Carlos to grab one of his hands.
“Calm down baby, you’ll be alright.” Charles nodded and leant his head against Carlos’ shoulder. He didn’t busy himself on his phone while they waited, he just sat with Carlos and enjoyed the comfortable silence that had settled over the room. Carlos was still holding his hand and stroking over the back of his knuckles right until the doctor came out.
“Charles?” He called out as he peered around the waiting room, that was empty except for them. The pair stood up and shook hands with the doctor then were led to a private room with a bed, a desk and another two chairs.
“Take a seat on the bed for me Charles, and Carlos you can sit just here.” He pulled a chair over for Carlos as Charles shimmied onto the edge of the bed. “Alright, my name is Alex I just need to do a couple things first then we can get you through to get your wisdom teeth.”
“Okay.” His voice was shakier than he would’ve liked.
“Perfect, first things first can you tell me your full name.” He asked as he picked up a pen.
“Charles Marc Hervé Perceval Leclerc.”
“Let’s just go with Charles Leclerc.” Everyone in the room chuckled except for Charles who fiddled with his fingers nervously. “And your birthday?”
“16th of October 1997”
“Perfect, and can you tell me what you’re getting done today Charles?”
“I’m getting my wisdom teeth taken out.”
“Perfect.” The doctor sprawled down a couple more things in his messy handwriting before finally putting his pen down. “These are you identification bands, one for your wrist and one for your ankle. Before I put them on I’m gonna do your blood pressure, you’re height, and you’re weight and a couple other little things we need to do then we’ll get you into theatre, any questions so far?”
“Nope.”
“Alright, let’s start with your blood pressure.” The doctor was surprisingly a fast worker. In a matter of minutes Charles’ height, weight and blood pressure was recorded and thankfully during the process they’d managed to maintain a comfortable conversation the entire time. “Here is a mouthwash, there’s a bathroom just next door, make sure you swish it around for 30 seconds and spit out for me.” Charles nodded and took the small cup from the doctors hands.
“Um how long am I allowed to stay with him for?” Carlos asked when it was just him and the doctor.
“You can stay pretty much all the way, um but we probably don’t want you coming into theatre, our theatres are a little small so we don’t want it to be too crowded. But you can stay with him right until then. Is he worried about the procedure?”
“A little bit, I think he’s more worried about afterwards and the side effects but he gets a bit nervous in hospitals and around needles and stuff.”
“Alright, I understand, we will need to give him a cannula but when he comes back I’ll give him some numbing cream, he won’t even notice it.”
“Yeah that would be great, thanks.” Just as the conversation finished Charles walked back into the room and threw the empty cup in the bin.
“We’re gonna get you dressed into a gown now, so just your underwear underneath for me, there’s a curtain just outside with a little changing room.” Charles nodded and took the thin blue gown from him and stepped into the changing room. He threaded his arms through the holes but wasn’t coordinated enough to tie the thing straps down his back.
“Can you help me please.” He whispered as he opened the curtain. Carlos nodded and tied the straps for Charles
“There you got pumpkin.”
“Thanks.” Carlos sat on one of the nearby plastic chairs and gave the one next to him a pat. Charles sat beside him just as the doctor returned.
“Alright Charles, we’ll need to give you a cannula, that’s how we’re gonna put you to sleep. Would you like some numbing cream?”
“Yes please.” The doctor smiled and grabbed the numbing cream. He squeezed it onto his left hand and placed the band aid over it.
“There we go, one last thing I need to do is a spray that goes up your nose so that your throat is numb and doesn’t get too sore.” Charles nodded but shivered at the sight of the scary looking nasal spray. “I’m gonna do it super quick Charles, you ready.”
“Yep.” The doctor nodded and quickly threaded the thin tube through his nose and sprayed it twice. Charles scrunched up his face when he felt it running down his throat, leaving a trail of numbness in its wake. He did that same with the other nostril which was slightly less worse since Charles knew what was coming.
“Good work Charles, I’ve seen men three times your size crying after that spray, it’s not a good taste at all.” Charles chuckled and nodded, trying to mask his nerves. He out the spray and returned with a warm looking blanket and draped it over Charles. “Make sure you try keep this hand nice and warm okay, I’m just gonna get you a hair net then you’ll be good to go.” The doctor grabbed a hair net from somewhere and handed it to Charles who out it in with the help of Carlos.
“You doing okay pumpkin?” Carlos asked as he grabbed Charles’ free hand and pressed a kiss to the skin that was warm from the blanket.
“Yeah, it’s a little scary, all the stuff.”
“I know Charlie but it’s only a tiny operation. You go to sleep, and then you wake up and it’s all over.”
“But what about all the stuff in between.”
“Don’t think about all that. They’re gonna take really good care of you, it’s gonna be over in half an hour then you’ll be home by lunch.” Charles nodded and cuddled more into Carlos.
“Then can we watch a movie?”
“We can watch whatever movie you want baby.” Charles hummed in content, finally more relaxed after Carlos’ reassurances. A couple minutes later a different doctor came out, dressed in scrubs and called Charles’ name.
“I’m afraid it just has to be Charles from now on.” Charles nodded and hugged Carlos tightly.
“I love you so much baby, they gonna take good care of you.”
“Love you Carlos.” Carlos smiled and kissed his cheek. He could tell Charles was biting back tears as he followed the nurse through to the operating room. When he entered he didn’t look at all the utensils that were laid out he just went straight onto the bed and lied down.
“How are you feeling Charles?” One of them asked. He shivered when he felt the Band-Aid with the numbing cream being peeled off his hand followed by a belt being tightened below his elbow.
“A little nervous.” He admitted.
“That is completely normal Charles, but we’re gonna take good care of you, we’ll have you back and racing before you know it.” He reassured as he pat Charles on the shoulder. “You’re gonna start feeling a little sleepy soon Charles from the medicine we’re putting through your hand.” Charles looked down and was surprised to see he already had the cannula in the back of his hand, he hadn’t even felt it. “I’m gonna give you some oxygen, just breathe normally for me and you’ll be asleep in no time.” Charles nodded and took shaky breaths through the oxygen mask until he finally fell asleep.
Carlos was driving back to the day surgery after getting a call saying Charles was in recovery. The only downside had been they had to give him extra medication to help him with the pain and it had left him a little loopy. While Charles was getting his operation done Carlos had been out being him a jelly cat to lift Charles’ spirits while he was recovering. He found a parking spot and was lead straight through to the recovery room. Charles was the only one there except for a nurse sitting next to him wiping up the drool from his chin. Carlos chuckled at his boyfriends appearance: he had an ice pack strapped around his head, his cheeks were blown up making him look like a puffer fish, his pupils were completely dilated and his eyes were wide open, and to top it off his mouth was agape with drool stringing from his very swollen bottom lip.
“Look who’s here Charles.” The nurse that was sitting next to him exclaimed, drawing his attention away from the tv and instead towards Carlos.
“Carwos.” He mumbled happily around the cotton buds in his mouth making more drool spill out of his mouth only to be caught by the nurse.
“Hey Charlie, you ready to get home?” He nodded dramatically and reached his arms out to Carlos. He walked over and stood Charles on his feet, keeping one arm around his waist to steady him. On the way out the nurse handed him a bag with an extra ice pack as well as a couple packets of gauze since Charles had had a lot of bleeding as well as the scripts for his medicine. He managed to buckle Charles in easily and jogged over to the drivers seat. “You feeling okay pumpkin?” Carlos asked since Charles hadn’t spoken much since he’d arrived.
“Yeah, they took my teef.” He gurgled as he gestured at his mouth.
“Yeah they took your teeth out, you were very brave.”
“Yeah I know.” Carlos suppressed a chuckle and focused back on driving.
“I just need to pick up your medicine Charlie then we’re gonna go straight home.” Charles dismissed his comment with a wave of his hand and a lazy pffft which only ended with drool and spit everywhere. They arrived at the pharmacy and Carlos picked up Charles’s painkillers as quickly as possible so Charles wasn’t left alone for too long.
“I’m hungwy.” He mumbled once they were back on the road.
“You’re hungry?”
“Yeah.”
“What do you want to eat?”
“Ribs.” Carlos chuckled, Charles clearly thought they were still in Texas.
“Maybe something a little easier, and a little softer for now.”
“Fall off the bone ribs.”
“How about a smoothie, or maybe we can get some ice cream, how does that sound baby?” Charles didn’t reply so Carlos flashed him a glance to make sure he was okay. “Don’t touch your mouth baby.” He scolded when he saw Charles was poking his cheeks with his fingers.
“Why not, my body my rules.” He sassed back as he snapped his fingers making Carlos chuckle.
“You need to let it heal Charlie, if you don’t touch it then it will heal quicker.”
“Huuuuuuuuuh fine.” He sighed as he dropped his hand to his lap. “Carwos?”
“Yes sweetheart.”
“Haha it’s nofing I was just testing you.” He faced Carlos and flashed him a dopey grin. Unfortunately drool bucketed out of his mouth and landed straight onto his soft trackie pants. Instantly Charles burst into tears, more saliva and tears adding to the stain and making him more upset. “My pants!” He sobbed loudly.
“It’s okay baby, I’ll wash them when he get home.” Carlos tried to reassure. It was hard not to laugh in the situation. His boyfriend was high on medicine but clearly he was seriously distressed now that his pants were dirty.
“I wanna go home!” He sobbed like a child that had just fallen over and scraped their knee. Thankfully Carlos was just pulling into the carpark underneath their apartment.
“It’s okay we’re home now sweetie.” He parked and got out of the car as quick as he could and bounded over to Charles’ side. “Can you walk or do you want me to carry you.”
“I can walk.” He hiccuped, thankfully his tears had subsided but he was still overly distraught.
“Okay, you’re so brave Charlie.” He praised as he steadied Charles while he got out. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” Carlos caught the saliva with a tissue before his clothes got any dirtier and gently dabbed his lip. He closed the car door and put one arm around Charles’s waist and the other held his hand.
“Okay, we’ll go nice and slow.” It took them a lot longer than usual to get to the apartment but by the time they got there Charles sobs had diminished down to small sniffles. “Do you wanna go on the couch?”
“Yes pwease.” Carlos led Charles over to their living room and settled him on the couch with his feet out in front of him. He grabbed the fluffy rug that was hanging over the back of the couch and draped it over his legs, tucking it in around his waist.
“Do you want some ice cream Charlie.”
“Yeah.” He mumbled around the cotton buds in his mouth.
“What flavour?”
“Vaniwa.” Carlos chuckled at his expression and turned the tv on to entertain him while he scooped him some ice cream. He didn’t put too much in a bowl because he assumed he wouldn’t want to eat much. He grabbed a teaspoon and walked back over to the lounge. Charles was staring mindlessly at the tv, a line of drool dripping down from his bottom lip. He grabbed a tissue off the side table and wiped it up for him.
“Can you open your mouth for me please baby?” Charles opened his mouth. Carlos reached inside his mouth and plucked out one of the cotton buds. He reached back into his mouth to take out the other one but Charles bit his fingers making him cry out and hug his hand to his chest, Charles had a surprisingly strong bite for someone who’d just had his wisdom teeth out. Meanwhile Charles was giggling drunkenly at his reaction making Carlos smile despite being in pain. “That hurt Charlie.”
“Haha, sowwy.” He may of apologised but he didn’t have an ounce of remorse on his face. Carlos took the second cotton wool out of his mouth and picked up the bowl of ice cream. Charles opened his mouth and waited for Carlos to spoon the first bit of ice cream into his mouth.
“Am I feeding you baby?”
“Yes pwease.” Carlos chuckled and spooned some vanilla ice cream into Charles’ mouth. He pulled the spoon away and giggled as Charles awkwardly ate the ice cream.
“You want some more?” He nodded and opened his mouth so Carlo could give him more ice cream. He finished off his bowl of ice cream and took it back to the kitchen. He grabbed a fresh ice pack from the freezer and replaced Charles’ old one.
“We watch tv now?” Charles asked hopefully.
“Of course baby, why don’t you pick the movie.” Carlos gave Charles the remote who appeared a little confused but figured it out. After a little while he manage to find what he was looking for making Carlos chuckle. “Cars, really?”
“Kachow.” Carlos laughed harder at Charles making him frown and eventually start crying.
“Oh I’m sorry baby, don’t be sad.”
“You were waughing at me.” He sobbed and snivelled. It was hard to not keep laughing but Carlos knew it would make him more upset.
“I’m so sorry baby, that was mean of me, I’m sorry.” Thankfully his tears stopped but he was still pouting like a child.
“It’s okay, I forgive you.” He mumbled as he pulled the rug up further so it was tucked under his chin. Carlos pressed an over exaggerated kiss to his hair and cuddled into Charles’ side while they watched the movie. Over the course of the movie the drugs clearly had started to wear off him, which unfortunately meant he was starting to be in pain. Carlos had replaced his ice packs and given him his pain medicine to try and help him. He made them some soup for dinner, but at least now Charles could feed himself. They had put another movie on tv but only half an hour in Charles was already fast asleep. Carlos turned off the tv and scooped him up into his arms and carried him to the bedroom. “Carwos?”
“Hey baby, I’m just taking you to bed.”
“Oh, was I asleep?”
“Yeah, but I’m gonna come to bed too.”
“Good.” Carlos smiled as he placed Charles down on the bed with a couple pillows under his head to help the swelling go down over night. He quickly brushed his teeth and washed his face and checked all the doors were locked and the lights were off then he slid into bed beside Charles. “Thanks for taking care of me.” Charles mumbled when the two were under the covers together.
“It’s alright baby, get some sleep.”
“Love you.”
“Love you too baby.” Carlos kissed his puffy cheek softly and waited until Charles was sound asleep before closing his eyes and giving in to sleep himself.