Chapter Text
The overhead light was harsh on Pomni’s eyes, so she opted to close them as she lay back in the reclined chair and waited for her dentist. It was her bi-yearly cleaning appointment, as boring as it could be, with the sounds of whirring and scraping bouncing off the walls of the neighboring cubicles. It was another typical Tuesday; she’d gotten off work early to get to her appointment on time, thank God her boss was lenient to these sorts of things. As she sat and waited for the dentist to enter the room, she listened to the office ambience.
The clicking of heels came towards her room. She looked over her shoulder, behind her chair, eyeing the open space that was the doorway. A woman walked past, dressed in her uniform, going right by Pomni. She silently cursed under her breath as the woman passed, irritated how long she had been waiting for her dentist to arrive.
“So very sorry for the wait!” A boisterous voice boomed from behind her.
She yelped, startled, and whipped her head around to the source of the voice. A man, no taller than herself, with bright red hair and a mask muffling his speech. He exuded far too much energy for someone about to work on another person’s mouth.
“My name is Dr. Caine; I’ll be your oral hygienist for today!”
“What happened to Dr. Gummi?” Pomni asked, slightly irked by the man.
“Dr. Gummi moved away, unfortunately. So, I will be your oral hygienist from now on.” Dr. Caine said, snapping latex gloves onto his hands. He reclined Pomni’s seat further back and leaned over her, grabbing for the small hand mirror on the table. “Now then, open wide!”
Pomni obeyed, parting her jaws and opening her mouth wide enough to comply with the man that was now her dentist. He leaned forward, concentrating on checking the interior side of her teeth. Pomni looked every which way but at his face; she avoided eye contact like her life depended on it. It was awkward, locking eyes with someone while their hands were inside her mouth. Something so intimate like being in another’s mouth, a whole stranger, as a professional gig.
Her eyes locked with Dr. Caine’s for the slightest split second as she relocated her gaze to another area. And in that split second that she and him looked at each other, she noticed how his eyes were two distinct colors. One blue, one green—a case of complete heterochromia. Pomni had never seen it in-person before. She wanted to look again and catch his eye, but the fear of making longer eye contact discouraged her from doing so. She hoped he hadn’t thought she looked on purpose, the shared look was purely by mistake. She could only hope he wouldn’t start making small talk.
“So! Have you been flossing everyday?”
Pomni could only gurgle and make a strangled noise. “Ah-hauh.”
“Fantastic!”
Dr. Caine set down the mirror and picked up the plaque remover, going in with the pointed edge to scrape at the inner side of her bottom teeth. Pomni grimaced at the horrible scratching sound, and the grating feeling of sharp metal against her teeth. Instinctively, her tongue sought out the intruder in her mouth, lathing against the gloved fingers that felt around her incisors.
“A little bit of plaque, but that’s okay. Have you been brushing twice daily?” Dr. Caine asked.
Pomni thought. Having to think was enough to make her dentist’s brows furrow as he waited for an answer. He tsked, shaking his head disapprovingly. He swapped out the plaque remover for the water tool, now aiming it at her bottom teeth.
“You should always brush at least twice a day.”
Icy cold water sprayed against her teeth, making her flinch. She closed her mouth around the water tool, her tongue pressing against her teeth in attempt to warm them. It was to no avail, as the sudden heat against her cold teeth made the pain worse. A whine escaped her.
“Whoopsies, sorry my dear. I forgot to warn you: the water’s very cold!”
Dr. Caine’s thumb prodded at her lip for entry. Pomni shuddered, her eyes shut tight. She obeyed, opening her mouth again and allowing him to remove the water tool. He clipped it back into its place and reached for the suction tool. He placed it under her tongue.
“Close your mouth!” Dr. Caine commanded cheerfully.
Immediately, Pomni closed her mouth and allowed the suction tool to suck the spit and water from her mouth.
“Open.”
She opened her mouth; the suction tool being removed. A bridge of spit followed from it, disconnecting and falling onto her chin. The drool drizzled down as Dr. Caine placed the tool down and went for the dental scraper. He tugged her maw wider open, drawing her top lip back as he checked her top set of teeth.
Pomni felt so embarrassed. Never had she felt such a way at a dental appointment before, but here she was, being manhandled by some utter buffoon of an oral hygienist. A shudder rippled down her spine as he tugged her lips back, felt around her canines, thumbed at her molars. A rush of heat coursed through her body, and she swallowed, feeling so vulnerable in her state.
Dr. Caine’s brow quirked and he pulled away from her mouth, leaning back in his seat and setting the used tool down. Pomni kept a watchful eye on him as he sat there, staring blankly into nothingness for no more than a heartbeat or two. Again, she caught his objectively gorgeous eyes, such beautiful vibrant colors, blue and green. She hadn’t noticed how long she had been staring (which was only a few seconds) until Caine looked right back at her. Her blood ran cold, but her face burned hot as lava as she quickly averted her gaze.
“You have rather dazzling eyes.” Dr. Caine commented before turning away and reaching for the dental floss.
“I—uh, wh—thank- thank you?” Pomni awkwardly stammered.
Her heart must have skipped a beat at the compliment. She had shared eye contact with him. Normally, this wouldn’t mean anything. Eye contact meant mutual respect and attention in normal circumstances, but Pomni hated eye contact, and she hated how attracted she was to the man’s eyes.
“Your eyes are um, pretty c-cool, uh, too.” She spoke.
Well, now she had to admit that she had looked. Dr. Caine lurched towards her suddenly, pulling her mouth open and shoving his hands inside, floss abruptly cutting between her teeth.
“AuUGH!” She cried out.
“Sorry!”
Instantaneously, his hands became gentler, flossing between each of her teeth. His gloved fingers grazed her tongue spontaneously, and she hated to admit that she sort of wished it were his tongue in her mouth instead. Shame burned within her. She had just met this man, her dentist, and she was already having unsavory thoughts about him. This was a professional environment! She got off work early for this, God damn it, and she wasn’t about to blow it.
When it was all said and done, Dr. Caine slipped his gloves from his hands, turned off the overhead light, and raised the reclined chair. His gaze fell upon Pomni, and he squinted, smile hidden behind his mask. His fingers curled around the straps of the mask, tugging it down and removing it.
Dr. Caine had the biggest, widest, whitest smile she had ever seen. It was partially obscured behind a silly, curled mustache, just as red as his hair, and beneath that, a bushy red goatee. Pomni felt her face heat up hotter than the surface of the sun; that man was gorgeous. Again, her eyes her caught in his, and she could swear she saw his pupils dilate when they shared a look. She noticed that his face was freckled, centered around his nose. She couldn’t look away. He was mesmerizing.
Her words caught in her throat; she parted her lips to speak but no speaking came. Pomni realized just how awkward she was behaving, as she sat up and twiddled her thumbs like an idiot.
“Alrighty now, you’re free to go. Don’t forget to floss, haha!” Dr. Caine bid his farewell.
“Ahm—r-right! Thank you.” She said, zipping up from her seat, and racing for the exit.
“Wait!” Dr. Caine called after her.
But Pomni had already booked it out the door. He stood there, frozen, with the dental goodie bag still in his hand.
“You forgot your…” He trailed off.
What a strange woman.
Pomni didn’t stop thinking about the appointment on her drive home. She didn’t stop thinking about Dr. Caine’s chiseled face, his dual-colored eyes, his perfect smile. She bashed her head against the steering wheel, repeating to herself:
“You’re not in love, you’re not in love, you’re not in love—”
But oh, how she was absolutely smitten. Never once had she fallen this hard for someone, especially at first sight, and especially not when she’s their patient! She banged her head against the steering wheel one last time, then jumped when her phone went off. It was connected to her car, and when she looked at the screen, she saw that it was Gangle who was calling. Hesitantly, she pressed the answer button and drummed her fingers against the wheel as she turned left.
“He—” Pomni cleared her throat. “Hey, what’s up?”
“OKAY! So, you know how you called off early to go to your appointment? WELL, guess what happened after you left!~” Gangle purred over call.
“…What?” She hesitated to ask.
Silence.
“What??” Pomni asked again.
“You have to guessssss.” Gangle sung.
“Gangle, I’m kind of—”
Pomni swerved, nearly missing a red Toyota cutting her off.
“GET THE FUCK OFF THE ROAD!”
“Okay, okay, I’ll just tell you! So, Zooble and I…” The girl continued on as Pomni half listened. She was more focused on the road (and her wandering thoughts) than listening to her friend’s gossip. She could really care less, she wasn’t much for spreading rumors, but she enjoyed humoring her friend’s interests. “… So, TLDR; I got us reservations!”
“What? Huh, reservations?”
“Yeah, to that new bar? The one I just talked about?”
“Uhuh, cool, is this a weekend thing…? I can’t do anymore drinking on work nights, Gangle.”
“Of course it’s on the weekend, silly! Okay, gotta go, cya bye bye!!!”
The call beeped thrice, indicating that the person on the other end hung up. Pomni huffed as she pulled into the parking lot of her apartment complex, driving until she found her reserved parking space and parked her car there. She exited the vehicle, slumped, and drug her feet over to the passenger side to retrieve her purse and her lunch bag. She fumbled with her keys as she walked to her front door, unlocked it, stepped inside, and slammed the door shut with her foot.
Her cat immediately came and greeted her at the door, trilling happily and rubbing against her legs. Pomni sighed out, amused, and leaned down to pet her cat. A purr rumbled out from the fuzzy orange-and-white cat.
“Hey, buddy. You hungry?”
She ‘pspspsed’ at the cat, stroking behind his ears. He let out a meow.
“Yeah? Okay, let’s get you dinner.”
Thoughts of her dentist still lingered in her mind as she went about her evening routine. Feed the cat, feed herself, clean the litterboxes, do the dishes, shower, get ready for bed. Even as she laid her head down to sleep, she still thought of those blue and green eyes. They didn’t haunt her per say, more, they enraptured her. His fingers on her lips, commanding her wordlessly to open up. The way he called her eyes dazzling. She whined into her pillow. Stupid schoolgirl crush. She’d have to keep this from Gangle, lest she want to be teased about her feelings all day and all night.
So, the week came and went, monotonous as it always had been. The day-to-day droning that was Pomni’s life continued without hassle. She still thought of Dr. Caine, sparsely, as he peppered her thoughts with his charming bravado and his showman attitude, and his pale complexion, and his scarlet locks…
Pomni was in deep, though the thoughts stayed buried in the depts of her mind until after work hours, when she could be alone in bed with her thoughts and groan into her pillow about how frustrating it was. However much she tried to hide it, however, there was always someone who just knew. Gangle, her friend and cubicle neighbor, could sense it. She could see it in the way that Pomni would awkwardly brush off any questions about her recent romantic interests, always with a flustered huff and a stern denial.
Gangle had started to talk. It started first with Ragatha in the break room, during some small talk about their weeks and what not. Gangle had let it slip that she suspected that Pomni was seeing someone (or at the very least, interested in someone) and she was having trouble finding out who it could be. Ragatha, ever so surprised that Pomni of all people was finally dropping back into the romance scene, was enthusiastic. So, the two of them stalked social media pages until they gave up when they found nothing.
Then, during lunch, Ragatha gossiped to Kinger about her recent hearings about Pomni, saying that she too suspected there was someone out there making the girl swoon. Kinger nodded, having said that he had seen Pomni sitting at her desk and zoning out, her cheek rested on her palm, eyes half lidded as she sighed dreamily. The girl was head over heels, and the office was bumbling about it. Of course, it all stayed out of earshot of the overworked accountant.
Ragatha talked to Gangle about what Kinger had said, which she then immediately texted to Zooble. Zooble, finally finding something interesting happening around the office, also became enraptured in the latest romance gossip about poor, unsuspecting Pomni. Zooble mentioned it around earshot of Jax, who grinned as wide as a man could manage before laughing about it while walking past Queenie’s office. Queenie, intrigued, spoke with Kinger about it, who confirmed what she had heard.
It was a game of telephone, and Pomni’s personal life was the hottest spill.
And now, the weekend had arrived. Pomni had finished her work for the night, clicking off her computer and neatly tidying her desk space. She collected her papers and, with a contented sigh, stuffed them away into a manilla folder and inserted them into one of her many organizational drawers. Her hands found their place on her back as she stretched, rolling her neck and letting all the tension release in audible pops and crackles. She reached for her purse, and that was when Gangle and Ragatha approached.
“Hey, Pomni!” Ragatha greeted. “We’re all about to head out for drinks, you coming?”
“I already made the reservation, remember?” Gangle added. “Everyone’s going. You should come too!”
“Ahhh, I don’t know…” Pomni muttered, rubbing at the nape of her neck. “My cat’s waiting for me, and I gotta feed him…” She trailed off, her poor excuses barely cutting it.
A big, sly smile crept across Gangle’s face, and she side-eyed the woman beside her. Then, her gaze snapped back to Pomni, and her hands clasped together in a plea.
“Please, please, please, please! It’ll be so fun!” Gangle begged. “It won’t be the same without you!”
“Mmn…” Pomni made a noise, crossing her arms and mulling it over.
A drink or two with some friends wouldn’t hurt, right? She’s not a lightweight, so it would be unlikely that she’d spill all her secrets outright. She would drink, hang out, and leave. It’s the weekend, she was allowed to get a little loose! She clicked her tongue and shrugged, arms falling to her sides.
“Fuck it, why not? It’s not like we’ve got work tomorrow.”
“Woo! That’s the spirit!” Ragatha whooped and cheered. “Let’s get out of here before we lose that reservation.”
The three women left together, buzzing with excitement.