Archive of Our Own ^beta

Tick
Tock
Tick
Tock

The clock in apartment 33 continued its steady rhythm as the last two residents there engaged in video games on the shared console in the living room. Well, one of them played anyway. The smaller of the two was busy watching and idly slapping the bald head of the gamer in time with the music while they lounged on the back of the couch.

Sam, Susan, Joel, and Leigh had gone out for the day to gather supplies in areas that were cleared out of monsters, but they hadn’t had the time to fully cover. An additional medicine cabinet here, a drawer there, and perhaps even a fridge stocked with food if they were lucky. Ciarán, however, was unfortunately left with Dan. While he wasn’t exactly 'bad,' he definitely wouldn’t have been Ciarán's first choice if he had the option of who stayed at the apartment with him.

Dan was often smelly, didn’t do his laundry, and even used dirty clothes as a bed. Gross!

Not to mention that whenever the others played games, he would always complain about their choices, give them orders on what they should do, and even get loud when he lost, like a sore loser. His worst crime was calling Space Truckerz a tiresome snooze fest and…eurojank? He didn’t know what that meant, but it still really bugged him. How could you call a game set in space boring? Anything could be out there!

Ciarán briefly paused his steady beat on the world’s shiniest drum, glanced at the front door of the apartment, and then looked back at the clock, before resuming his steady rhythm. Despite reassuring himself that they would come back and not disappear, he felt a tightening in his throat and his mind wandered.

The thought of them being attacked by another monster, like the Taxidermy man was burned in his mind. It had been several days since he had been living with them and when he joined them on that expedition, he wasn’t expecting it to become so dangerous so quickly. All the sharp wires cutting into their skin, the needles piercing them and then the rampage of the multi-headed monster when they believed it was nearly dead.

There was nonstop panic when it happened. There was so much blood everywhere. Mr. Sam was throwing those bottles that erupted into flames, while Joel was constantly growing extra teeth and shouting when he fired them, Ms. Susan was doing her best to protect him and Joel as the bear clawed at her back, and she refused to budge despite the blows she received. He could only manage to help heal their wounds with tonics and his own mutation, which allowed him to release a healing nebula, but the fight still was not in their favor.

As the creature was nearing its end, the moose attempted to use something a moose shouldn’t be able to do, which was to create a black hole. He knew what that meant, and the thought of his friends being drawn in, taken away from him, or being used as toys, and decoration brought him to manic desperation.

He couldn’t remember anything after that feeling, maybe that was a good thing.

“Hey, uh Ciarán? Are you doing ok, bud?” Dan had paused his game of Myrmidon and had turned his head to look at him.

Ciarán, upon hearing his voice was startled and came back to the present. He realized he had a death grip on Dan’s bald head, and tears of stress and worry were streaming out of his remaining eye. After releasing a shaky gurgling breath, he relaxed his grip and wiped his eye with the back of his hand. "Ggghhk, I’m really worried. It's getting late and they still aren’t back yet. What if somethin’ happened? What if they ran into somethin’ dangerous, like that weird wire man and his animals? What if that meat lady in Mr. Edwin’s room decided to come out and attack them? What if those shadow creatures that sound like they’re speaking from everywhere show up?” He continues to express his anxiety and worries, barely pausing to take in a breath, which causes him to choke slightly.

Dan attempted giving Ciarán a reassuring smile. It didn’t work. He wasn’t the best at social situations to begin with, and trying to soothe a kid who had abandonment issues and separation anxiety was way out of his skill level, but he’d give it a shot.

“H-hey there, bud. You don’t have to cry or worry about them. Sam’s a tough guy who'll keep everybody safe and Leigh has that…rivalry with him. She won’t let Sam get hurt before she has a rematch.”

He then began to wring his hands together nervously, trying to think of other things that could help calm the mind of the resident space case.

“Besides, um, you gave Susan your special tooth, the one that changes colors so you could protect her, and you gifted Joel your projector lens because of how close you two are, and that was as important to you as Fuzzy is to him. If video games have taught me anything, it's giving someone an object that means more to you than anything else in the world has power! I’m sure it’s keeping them safe. ”

Ciarán continued to rub his eye with the back of his hand, his breathing still a bit uneven from overwhelming emotions as he listened to Dan’s reassurance. Although Dan somehow found a way to bring video games into the conversation, it did gradually help to calm him down. The thought that gifts from the heart had some sort of special power filled him with hope, that he could still help them come back safe, even if he was stuck in the apartment. Maybe despite being smelly, creepy and having wrong opinions on video games, Dan wasn’t so bad after all.

“Ggghk, I hope you’re right, Mr. Dan.” He wrapped his arms around the bald man's neck and firmly pressed his cheek against the top of his head in an attempt at a hug, being careful with his spiral of teeth.

There was relief when Dan didn’t pull away.

After what may have been an overly long hug, Ciarán let go and slid off the back of the couch to sit on the cushion next to Dan. Once he was settled he began to grasp the hem of the astronaut onesie he was wearing. “U-uh, Mr. Dan…do you think we could…play somethin’ together? I’m not good at video games like the others, but I like that card game.”

“You mean Yugomons? Yeah, alright bud! If that’s something you wanna do together, we can play that.”

Dan saved his game of Myrmidon and retrieved a crate of trading cards that had been pushed into the corner near Sam’s shelf of random miscellaneous junk. He gestured for Ciarán to come to the dining room table and laid out a placemat featuring what looked like a fearsome dragon on it.

Once everything was set up properly, Ciarán took his own deck which Dan had helped him create, one full of spaceships of various designs and types that complemented each other and were difficult to defeat once played.Meanwhile, Dan had taken out his own deck, consisting of gear-like robots that could combine to form even larger robots.

The two of them began by playing casual games with each another, enjoying a nice back and forth with each other, complimenting each other's moves. However, due to Dan’s competitive nature and Ciarán’s tendency to become overly-excited and match the energy of those around him. The initially relaxed atmosphere gradually transformed into a fierce, yet still friendly, rivalry complete with fabricated personas between the two, and neither was willing to back down.

Ciarán had taken a pot from the kitchen during a break to change cards around, and placed it on his head, calling himself Space Pirate Fànas. Meanwhile Dan, had been calling himself Professor Gear Grinder; unfortunately he did not have proper gears, but screws and bolts made do.

They struck exaggerated poses and delivered over-the-top speeches about how the other had fallen into their trap with no way out of it. They proclaimed that the impeccable engineering of their respective spaceships or robots could not be breached by such insignificant firepower and poorly devised strategies. Naturally, it wouldn’t be complete without a dramatic stagger back upon defeat, while the victor posed triumphantly.

_____________________

After a considerable amount of time had passed, the front door of Apartment 33 finally opened. Sam, Leigh, Susan, and Joel entered into the apartment one by one, their backpacks heavy with scavenged supplies. To the relief of Dan and Ciarán, they didn’t appear to have sustained any injuries during the excursion.

Ciarán quickly forfeited his current game, jumped off the chair he was sitting on, and rushed over to the group. He wrapped his arms around Joel and gave him a firm hug that took the breath out of his lungs. The two affectionately rocked back and forth with each other, Ciarán chattering up a storm that he missed him and asking if he was okay, and if his treasure kept him safe. While the two boys caught up, Sam explained why they took longer than originally planned.

“H-hey guys sorry we took so long during our trip.I know we promised it wouldn’t take long, but we had a good reason for being late! While we were searching through apartment sixteen, we found unspoiled food, a safe containing a hundred dollars, and a stamp collection that we could sell to one of the traders. We were even lucky enough to find some medical supplies in the bathroom.”

Leigh huffed, walked past Sam as he explained the situation, and flopped down onto the couch. “Heegh, it was sooooo boring. We cleared everything out already; I don’t see why I had to go along. It’s not like they needed the extra muscle with Mommy Dearest over there.”

At this remark, Susan only gave her a cold look. Ciarán was up in her arms, holding onto one of her wrists, to ensure that she was still wearing the cosmic tooth bracelet he had given her earlier, while Joel had skittered off to the couch to play some Super Jumplad after catching up with Ciarán. “It’s safer to go in groups of four in case something happens, I’m not leaving these two alone here and I don’t trust you alone with the kids, so that unfortunately leaves only Dan.”

There’s a little “Hey!” from the aforementioned Dan who was setting the cards and placemat back where they belonged, before Susan continued.

“Perhaps if you were more gentle and didn’t always try to roughhouse with them, you could be trusted to be alone with them. You frighten Joel, and Ciarán may enjoy it, but he gets wrapped up in your energy. One of these days, you’re going to take it too far and end up hurting him.”

Leigh simply waved her hand dismissively at the older woman’s words before starting to idly pick at her teeth with a nail. “Hehehe, it’s a good thing your coddling didn’t soften him up, and kids bounce fast from injuries anyway, let one of the runts tussle and get rough instead of protecting them from eeeeverythiiiiing. I bet his bro-”

Sam cleared his throat loudly in an attempt to steer the conversation back on track, and to prevent The Grinner from saying something that might create a scene. “A-anyway! After that, we went to Fredric’s apartment, and since we had an extra key, we opened the safe we couldn’t access before and found another hundred and twenty dollars. With the extra money, we then made our way over to Eugene’s.” He gave a somewhat tired smile as he continued. “Fortunately Eugene is a big softie, we were able to get some more medical supplies after a bit of haggling and even received some toothpaste on the house. We went through it so quickly already and then it doubled almost overnight.”

Upon hearing this, both Joel and Ciarán turned to look at Sam and gave an indignant gasp in unison.

“We can’t -hhhh- help it!”

“Ggghk, havin’ lotsa teeth is hard!”

Sam quickly raised his hands up in a playful gesture of surrender. “I know, I know you two. Anyway, that’s the reason we were late. There were no monster attacks, nobody got lost or hurt, or any of that nasty stuff.” He sighed and lowered his hands. ”Alright, I’ll begin preparing dinner, I’m sure everyone's starving by now. Susan, would you mind helping me? I’ll need the extra help if we’re going to finish tonight.”

Susan’s mood appeared to improve considerably upon hearing his request, it was almost as if the prickly back and forth between her and Leigh had never occurred. “O-oh. Of course, Sam. Please, give me a few moments first.” She adjusted Ciarán in her arms. “Were you okay staying here with Dan?” Her eyes drifted over to his remaining eye, which was still somewhat red and puffy. “Oh…did you have one of your bad brain moments?”

Ciarán clenched his fists and nodded his head slowly. “Y-yeah...but you weren’t here when you said you were gonna be. I thought somethin’ happened to you, like there was another Taxidermy man or that Meat Lady escaped -ggghk- or something worse, and I would be left alone again…”

“You gave me your special tooth, didn’t you?” She attempted to reassure him. “It has been keeping me safe, and I promised you that as long as I have it, I will always come back, no matter what. You will not be left alone again.”

He glanced over at the bracelet that held his gifted tooth and he gave her the best smile he could muster. “Y-yeah, Miss Susan. You -ggghk- did promise me that.”

She gave a firm squeeze and gently placed him on the floor. “With the two of us, making dinner shouldn't take long. If you need anything, just let us know.” With that she made her way towards the kitchen to help Sam prepare.

Ciarán meanwhile made his way onto the couch and sidled up close to Joel as he played Super Jumplad.

Both of them were eight years old and had parents and brothers who were, in one way or another, no longer present, and they both had similar mutations, even if the circumstances were different. The understanding that they could turn to each other whenever they needed to talk about worries and concerns that others in the apartment might not fully understand was something that created a bond between them. They could talk about the new challenge of brushing rows and rows of teeth, or their new breathing issues caused by their mutated faces, or the feeling of missing their respective family members if they were having a difficult day. In a way, it was a relief to know they weren’t alone and had each other to help cope with their experiences.

He leaned on the fellow tooth child and put his entire weight on him which was reciprocated, the two enjoying each other's company as Joel focused on gathering coins, jumping over enemies, obstacles and collecting powerups.

After making decent progress in Super Jumplad everyone was called to the table for dinner. Joel turned off his Super Jumplad session and went to the table. Dan followed shortly after, while a cackling Leigh grabbed Ciarán roughly by one of his legs and shook him in the air as she brought him over, much to his giggly delight and Susan’s disapproval. Upon reaching his chair she quickly turned him right side up and quickly brought him down into his seat, stopping just in time to avoid actually hurting him.

Everyone enjoyed a nice meal of ham and veggies along with bags of chips, extra spicy ones in Ciarán’s case. It was rather lively between the group, everyone talking about everything and nothing. Topics ranging from what they were going to do tomorrow, various video games, aliens and space, and needing something to fight if they were heading out on another expedition tomorrow. There even happened to be some long glances and smiles between Susan and Sam when they talked with one another, perhaps as a result from too much wine in Susan’s case.

_____________________

After everyone had eaten, the dishes were collected and washed, everyone then took a moment to freshen up and take care of personal matters before settling down for bed. Once they were all finished, Ciarán went into the bathroom to brush his teeth. He and Joel usually did that last after everyone was settled in for the night since it took a while. He pulled out one of the two step stools from under the sink and took his rocketship toothbrush from its holder to begin his task.

However, Ciarán could only stare at his reflection in the mirror, absentmindedly fiddling with the rocketship toothbrush in his hand. He often took a while to start certain tasks, especially those that seemed impossible, even if he had done them before, like brushing his teeth after his mutation.

With no one speaking or loud white noises in the background to keep his mind occupied, his thoughts began to wander. The first thought was about Mr. Sam.

There was something about him that gave him a sense of comfort during his time living there. Perhaps it was because of his big size, softness, and warmth, or how the fact Mr. Sam didn’t mind when he asked if he could watch him play video games or when he wanted to talk about his interest in aliens and space. He even asked him about his interest which was nice. Even though he looked extremely tired at times, Mr. Sam would always take the time to check in and see if he and the others needed anything. He also made sure that everyone had a full stomach before they went to bed, which was a relief.

Is that what it’s like to have a dad that loves him?

Knock

Knock

Miss Susan also provided him with a sense of safety and a kind of warmth. Although he was initially frightened of her when they first met due to how tall she was and the way her head would sometimes split down the middle making him think she might eat him, she turned out to be really nice. She would consistently check in during their expeditions and offer comfort when he was afraid of the various mutants that would attack, even going so far as to shield him with her body if there was an extremely dangerous one.

Is that what it’s like to have a mom that wants to protect him?

Ciarán felt a lump form in his throat, his breath began to hitch, and his heart rate increased. There was something within, shouting at him.

You need to protect yourself. You’re just going to get hurt again if you don’t. Do you want to keep feeling the same pain over and over again? How long will it be until they don’t want you around anymore? Like everybody in your life, it’s not a matter of if they’ll leave, it’s only a matter of when they’ll leave you. Your mom left you, your dad left you, now even Ronán left. No matter how hard you cried or called out for him, he didn’t. Come. Back. He left you alone to fend for yourself and to deal with your mutation ALONE. Just like the others eventually will.

Knock

Knock

Ciarán’s one eye becomes unfocused, while his three rows of spiraling teeth anxiously grind and undulate against one another at varying speeds, and heavy, panicked breathing escapes his mouth. He then hears a breathy wheeze and feels arms enveloping him in a hug, teeth pinching the back of his head but not biting, as an effort to calm him down.

“Are you -hhhh- ok? You were taking a while and I got worried. Are you h-having your bad thoughts again?”

Ciarán was brought back to the present and tried to focus solely on Joel’s voice and the sensation of the teeth pinching him. “W-when there’s no one talking or any noises around, sometimes there’s a voice inside my head that -ggghhk- says things.”

There’s a moment of silence before Joel's response. “Ohh…-hhhh-…like a voice telling you to bite? I get that -hhh- sometimes, but Fuzzy helps.”

Ciarán gazed into the mirror's reflection and glanced at Joel, a head taller than he was, wild messy hair and wearing a teddy bear onesie, arms wrapped around his middle in a hug. He could see the unblinking eyeballs in the back of Joel's mouth staring back at him, his eyebrows furrowed in concern. He then glanced at the stuffed bear that rarely left Joel’s hands. Around its fluffy neck was a necklace with string threaded through one of the stars of a starry night-patterned projector lens, the only item Ciarán had from his brother, Ronán.

Ronán was the one person in his life who stayed and took care of him when their parents abandoned them - and then vanished when everything went wrong - someone Ciarán still hoped would return. The projector lens was an anchor for Ciarán and held as much significance for him as Fuzzy did to Joel. It was given as a gift to show how important Joel had become to him.

“N-no, my voice is different.” Ciarán squeaked out between deep shuddering breaths. “It -ggghk- says everyone is going to leave me behind again, no matter what, and I’ll be all alone again with no one.”

There’s another moment of silence from Joel before Ciarán felt his hug tighten. “We made a -hhhh- tooth promise and you’re never ever supposed to -hhhh- break those! Even if we’re scared, in danger or -hhhh- just having a bad day, we’ll always stick with each other and not leave each other behind, no matter what.”

Ciarán held onto one of Joel’s arms that were wrapped around him, giving it a firm squeeze. It was a silent but strong “Thank You.”

It took him a few moments, but he eventually managed to normalize his breathing and stop his teeth from grinding against each other and once it seemed like everything was under control, Joel let go.

“Hhh…do you feel better?”

Ciarán nodded his head. “Y-yeah…I…I think I’m better now. Thank you, Joel.”

The topmost parts of Joel’s mouth arched into what could be considered a smile. “Of course! I know you -hhhh- would have done the same for me, if I was having my own bad thoughts.”

Ciarán quickly nodded his head in response. “O-of course I would! We made a tooth promise and you don’t break those!”

Joel moved Fuzzy underneath his arm and gave him finger guns, the start of one of their secret handshakes. “Dent!”

Ciarán turned around to face him and quickly gave him finger guns of his own “Ition!”

He altered his facial features, his eye disappearing into skin and his mouth shaped itself into something resembling a piranha plant from Super Jumplad. Once the transformation was complete they both gently headbutted each other and took a firm biting motion at each other, finishing off with a “Duo!” and a giggle fit between the two.

Once the giggles were out of his system, Joel spoke up. “Hhhh, since I’m already here and you haven't started yet, would you wanna brush our teeth together?”

“Y-yeah! Gggkh, if you don’t mind.” Ciarán made some space as Joel took out the second stepping stool from under the sink and positioned it beside him. He then retrieved his own dinosaur toothbrush from its spot.

The two of them then began brushing their teeth in a comfortable silence. Although it was still a lengthy process for both of them, having someone do it alongside you made it much more manageable. Having someone to complain to about the teeth in your throat or the teeth in the nook in your forehead, respectively, also helped.

After about twenty or so minutes of good thorough brushing, the two of them finished their nightly ritual of dental hygiene and exited the bathroom together. Dan was fast asleep on his pile of dirty clothes, Leigh was conked out and drooling on one end of the couch, and Susan wasn’t sleeping in her usual armchair. She must have been bunking with Sam tonight.

Illuminated by a nightlight plugged into the outlet near the tv, the two settled onto the couch. Joel made himself comfortable with two pillows, while Fuzzy was tucked underneath one of his arms. Ciarán then slid into his usual position on the opposite, resting his head on Joel’s chest. The sound of his wheezing, the teeth lightly pinching him, and the rhythm of his heartbeat had become white noise to Ciarán. It helped to keep his mind occupied and his bad thoughts at bay.

“Hey, Joel?” Ciarán whispered.

“Mmhmmm?” Joel mumbled.

“I’m so glad to have met you.”

An arm was wrapped around Ciarán in a gesture of affection. “I’m glad to hhhhave met you too, Ciarán.”

With those last words Ciarán closed his eye, the warmth of a friend and the reaffirmation of their tooth promise helping him fall asleep.