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The early morning light trickled into the agency dormitories, painting the floors and walls of Atsushi and Kyouka’s apartment. Birds chirped outside, singing a melody beautiful across species. All was perfect this morning.
Except for Atsushi.
Atsushi Nakajima woke up in his cozy closet, burrowed under all of his blankets and pillows (thanks to Kunikida for giving him nesting tips), happy as could be.
Then a piercing pain shot through his gums.
With a groan, Atsushi dragged a hand sluggish with sleep up to his mouth, rubbing at the throbbing flesh. The motion served to soothe his aching gums, even if only slightly, and so he stayed like that for just a few moments longer, before deciding it wasn’t worth it to laze around in his nest all day.
Sliding the closet door open, Atsushi crawls out, before making his way to the bathroom.
He’s met with his reflected twin, in all his haggard, early morning glory, before he uncaps his toothpaste and shoves his toothbrush in his mouth.
He scrubs his bottom teeth, watching the toothpaste foam up around his mouth, and then goes to brush his top row of teeth-
-and is met with another jolt of tooth pain. Atsushi lets out a garbled “oaaw-“, taking the time to be a lot gentler with his brushing.
By the time he’s finished cleaning his teeth, his top teeth feel inflamed and tender. Upon close inspection with an awkward knee on the counter, he finds nothing to be amiss.
Atsushi frowns, pushing at the tender areas— over his upper canine teeth and under them.
He sighs, deciding to give up on the issue for now, as he had work in just a few hours and didn’t have time for a dental visit. He didn’t even know how to schedule one of those things. Growing up in the orphanage with his popularity, or lack thereof, meant doctor visits of any variety were rare. They certainly didn’t take the time to teach him how to schedule an appointment.
With that, he strides on socked feet to his kitchen, making a relatively simple meal for Kyouka to heat up when she wants it, and scarfing down his own, enjoying the pressure against his teeth from it.
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, as the food was now gone and his teeth were hurting again. Not the mind-numbing pains he got from having a limb ripped off or cold chains digging into his skin, but a mild, irritating, stabbing pain in his teeth alone. Centered and annoying.
With a rather childish huff and whine, Atsushi stood up, stopping by the entryway to put his shoes on, and grab his necessities as he left for the Agency.
“Kyouka, I’m heading out a little early! Heat up what I left you!” He called, hearing a quiet “Okay!” in response.
•-~※~-•
Passing the little konbini next to the agency was a hard task, but Atsushi knew that little ibuprofen pills wouldn’t work too well with his tiger characteristics. Yosano had explained it once, but it was too much mental terminology for him to keep up with at the time.
And so, climbing the Agency stairs, Atsushi wanted to bite straight into a rock to stop his teeth from hurting so damn much.
Now, as this situation wasn’t the fault of his coworkers, he refrained from scowling at them as he entered the building and walked straight into a wall of their much-too loud voices. Curse his wretched tiger senses.
Atsushi gave a friendly wave and a smile to Kenji and the Tanizaki siblings, greeting Dazai-san with a less friendly one as his mentor got actively scolded by Kunikida-san for his refusal to do any of the sky-high reports on his desk.
Speaking of Kunikida-san, Atsushi felt as though they had grown a bit closer after the near-disaster that was his first heat. Kunikida-san always had a watchful eye over all of the Agency members, but he had specifically started making sure Atsushi was okay more frequently than usual.
It was a nice feeling, having someone care like a father responsible adult for once.
Most surprisingly of all, Ranpo-san had started being nicer to him too. Not enough to be considered nice, but he gave Atsushi candy every now and then, somehow knowing when Atsushi was craving something to chew on.
And back to the problem at hand, his teeth still hurt. Sitting at his desk, he grabbed a blank report and a pen, determined to get them done early for once.
Zing!
Goddamnit!
Atsushi brought his thumb back to his gum, pressing against it over his closed mouth for some respite.
That much worked long enough to scribble down his name and the case at hand on the report, but then his gum started throbbing again. With an irritated jerk, Atsushi gave in and just bit down on his thumb.
Sweet relief, he (mentally) sighed.
With his mind now free of tooth pain, Atsushi began writing his report diligently, entirely concentrated on the paper below him and not his teeth.
At least that was up until…
“Kid.”
Atsushi looked up at the familiar voice above him, locking eyes with the blonde loitering beside his desk.
“Yeah?” Atsushi mumbled.
“You’re bleeding, brat.” When Atsushi blinked in mild confusion, Kunikida pushed his glasses up and specified. “Your thumb. You’re biting it.”
Atsushi removed said thumb from his mouth, face flushing with embarrassment as he realized a small trickle of blood was running down the pale pad.
“Ah.. I didn’t notice.”
“How have you not noticed that you’re bleeding, in your own mouth at that? You can’t taste it?” Kunikida raised a brow, before pulling out his notebook and scribbling something in it. A flash of green light, and he was holding a bandaid.
“Give it here.”
“I can do it myself-”
“Atsushi.”
“Yes sir,” Atsushi murmured, his shoulders slightly slouching in defeat, proffering his thumb to the man in front of him. Within seconds, he was no longer bleeding, and had a concerned Kunikida-san watching him closely.
“Go on. Tell me what’s wrong,” he grunted, crossing his arms. Before Atsushi could even open his mouth, he was hit with, “and don’t even think about saying nothing.”
Slumping further into his seat, Atsushi sighed, red still staining his face as a result of his embarrassment.
“My teeth hurt.”
Kunikida just stared. “Your teeth hurt.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“The sharper ones.”
“So your canines.”
“My kay-whats?”
Another sigh from the older. “Your canine teeth, the sharp ones, as you so eloquently put it.” Kunikida rubs the bridge of his nose, then puts his hands in his pockets. “It’s likely just because your teeth are finally growing now that you’ve presented.”
“They can grow? I thought that stopped after they all fall out as a kid?” Atsushi sat up, interested by the newfound knowledge.
Kunikida leaned more relaxed against the desk, now. “Yes, they can grow. Though presentation is the last state in which they shift that much so rapidly. You’ve just got growing pains, that’s all. Nothing serious.”
Atsushi nodded, “oh. Well that makes more sense. How do I make them stop hurting, though? Pushing them is the only thing that helps.”
Kunikida grabbed his notebook again. “You shouldn’t push them back like you’ve been doing. You’ll set them out of place, and then you’ll need braces, and it’s a whole lot of trouble. Most kids just bite down on a teether until it’s over.”
“A teether? I’m not using a teether, I’m nineteen!” Atsushi cried.
“It’s either a teether or you deal with the pain,” Kunikida warned, glancing at him.
Atsushi whined in his throat, slumped back into his chair yet again. “There’s no alternative? No special medicine or whatever? Numbing cream?”
“We’ve determined medicine has very little effect on you by now. It’s the properties in the-“
“I know, I know,” Atsushi interrupts, groaning. “I just don’t want to look like a five year old.”
“People very rarely get judged for using one, Atsushi.”
“Not true. In my orphanage kids would get picked on all the time for it,” and Atsushi would rather die than admit he was pouting. He was frowning, only that.
“Yes, well, we’ve also established that your orphanage was full of pieces of shit, and none of what they taught you should apply in the real world,” Kunikida-san grumbled, his pen darting across his notebook in neat kanji. Another flash of green light, and he was holding an… Oreo?
“I thought you said you couldn’t make food, Kunikida-san?” Atsushi inquires.
“I can’t, this is a teether designed to look like food so you don’t feel so ashamed, no matter how redundant a feeling it is,” Kunikida-san hums, handing over the not-Oreo.
“Oh. Thank you,” Atsushi mumbles, quietly taking the Oreo and ignoring the way he felt all warm all of a sudden, despite the AC working just fine. He inspected it, before getting another pain in his tooth, and bit down on it, humming happily once he realized it was helping a lot better than his finger.
“Feel better?” Kunikida inquired, smirking.
Atsushi nodded, giving him a thankful look. Kunikida-san just nodded, ruffling his hair, before walking back to his own desk.
Eventually, the tooth pain subsided, and Atsushi was getting used to the feeling of his canines being much longer in his mouth. But, on the plus side, he found it much easier to walk up to Kunikida-san for advice, or to just talk.
And so the sun set, pale and content.