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“Well, Gorgug, my lad, it looks like we’re heading to Bracestown, population: you,” joked the orthodontist.
“What?”
“You need braces, kid. Your tusks aren’t growing straight and while an underbite is natural for orcs, I’m concerned that yours is too big and it’ll interfere with your eating, so we’re going to tone it down a bit and straighten out those tusks of yours.”
Gorgug frowned. “Are you sure?”
“Positive, bud. You’re a handsome young lad and the last thing you need is to let your smile ruin that for you. Why, with braces you’ll have the best smile around!”
Gorgug doubted that, but what did he know? He was eleven and was barely passing his science class. He shrank back in the chair while Dr. Barton went over pricing with his parents.
“How long?” he eventually asked.
“Hm?”
“How long will I have them?”
“We’re looking at two years.”
Gorgug groaned.
When they got home, Gorgug ran to the bathroom and leaned over the sink so his face was practically pressed up against the mirror and studied his mouth. His tusks were beginning to grow all wonky-like, pointing more outward towards his ears than straight up towards his eyes, and he had been having a hard time chewing some food recently with how much his jaw stuck out. He turned his face to the side, trying to eye himself in profile, and practiced flexing his jaw inward to see what he’d look like with less of an underbite. Maybe he would benefit from braces.
Getting the braces on was more annoying than painful at least, so Gorgug had that going for him. He’d been given an extensive list of foods to avoid (no popcorn for two years!?) and a packet of special brushes for caring for his braces and sent on his way. Immediately the wires from the braces began to rub up against his gums and irritate his mouth. He complained to his parents, but they simply gave him a sad smile and told him that unfortunately there was nothing that could be done about it. He sulked the rest of the ride home and even turned down their offer to buy him a soft serve cone from Fantasy McDonalds.
He looked in the mirror again when he got home and smiled widely. A set of train tracks ran across his mouth, and the red bands he had chosen made it look like the train had run over some poor animal and dragged its bloody body across his mouth. He immediately closed his mouth, hiding his teeth in embarrassment. He decided then and there that red was no longer his favorite color and next time he went in he’d ask for light blue instead. He studied himself again with his mouth closed and wondered if he could get away with not smiling for two years to hide the braces, but then there were his tusks to consider. The braces for those couldn’t be hidden by his mouth as they rested outside of his lips. The red was a stark contrast to his ivory tusks and green skin and he hated how much it popped against his complexion. Yes, red was now his hated color and he scowled at his reflection.
“Gorgug, bud, dinner’s ready!” called his dad from downstairs, and he stepped black from the mirror to join his parents.
Eating dinner was a little awkward at first, as food kept getting stuck in his braces and irritating him to the point that he was more focused on removing the food than eating, but his parents were patient with him and his mom hurried back to the kitchen to make him some mashed potatoes and soup instead, which was much less distracting for him to eat.
“We’ll work our way up to harder foods, ok, bud?”
He nodded.
He wondered if it was lucky that he got his braces in on a Friday, allowing him to not have to show his new face at school for two days, or if it would have been better to rip off the bandage and get it over with. He tried to go through the weekend as if everything was normal, but again the braces kept rubbing against the inside of his lips and it was very distracting. His mom told him he’d get used to it, but it was so aggravating that he began to doubt that he would.
At last Monday rolled around and he had to go to school. He considered feigning sickness, but he knew his parents would see right through it and he didn’t want to let them down. So he trudged downstairs to a breakfast of oatmeal and cut fruit and watched as his mom packed him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, more cut fruit, and a bottle of milk for lunch. She noticed him watching, walked over to the cookie jar, and pulled out a large, soft chocolate chip cookie and bagged it up for him with a wink. He smiled at the treat, then, remembering his braces, quickly hid it.
“Aw, Gorgug, sweetie, don’t hide your beautiful smile.”
“It’s not beautiful, it's crooked and bad.”
“Your braces look great, bud! Do you want a song to help you feel better at school?”
He nodded, sticking another large spoonful of oatmeal in his mouth.
“Alright!” She pulled out her ukulele and began to strum a jaunty tune.
“Gorgug, Gorgug, strong as can be!
This beautiful boy looks so lordly!
A chiseled chin and pensive brow
Just one look at him and you’ll say ‘Wow!’
He’s a handsome boy and that’s a fact
And nothing in the world can counter that!
His golden eyes shine so bright
And his beautiful smile is so white!
He’s so handsome, head-to-toe
You’ll want to stop and say ‘Hello!’
Yes Gorgug is a gorgeous lad
And no one loves him more than his mom and dad!”
Gorgug couldn’t help but let the smile creep across his face.
“Thanks, Mom.”
She hopped up onto a stool next to him and kissed his cheek. “We love you so much, and you’re beautiful, braces or no, so don’t worry about it, Gorgug!”
“I’ll try.”
“Wonderful. Now, let’s finish eating, brush our teeth, and we can head off to school!”
Despite remembering his mother’s song, Gorgug still had his apprehensions at school, and as soon as his mom dropped him off he hurried – head down – towards some bushes to hide his face. He watched as other kids were dropped off and ran around, playing or talking about what they’d done that weekend, but he stayed behind his bush. At last the bell rang and it was time for him to face the music. Still, he hid his face, burying it in a book as he walked to his classroom, pretending to read it (though if anyone noticed, they would have seen that it was upside-down). He found his desk, and immediately upon sitting down he buried his face in his arms, pretending to rest, but that lasted for all of one minute, for as soon as his teacher entered he barked at Gorgug to stop trying to sleep in his class. And now, with all eyes on him, Gorgug was forced to sit up straight and expose his braces for all to see.
He shut his eyes, ready for the whispers to start, but he didn’t hear a thing. He timidly opened his eyes and looked around, but no one was looking at him anymore; they were all busy pulling out their books. Relieved, Gorgug did the same.
At recess he found a bench on the edge of the playground and watched the other kids play, too self-conscious to try and join in. As he sat and watched, he found himself straining his ears for whispers about his braces and looking around wildly to catch people staring. In fact, he was so focused on what others were saying about himself that he didn’t notice that someone had sat down on the bench next to him.
“New braces?” asked a deadpan voice. He looked over and saw a kobold girl in a pink hoodie next to him. He didn’t recognize her, but all the same he shut his mouth and then nodded.
“Red’s not your color. You should get light blue next time, “ she informed him. She pulled out a little digital pet and began to fidget with it.
“Um… thanks?”
“Yeah. …Here’s something I learned: people are more concerned about themselves than everyone else. So lighten up and be yourself. You’re not the only one with braces.” She turned her head and flashed a fangy smile at him. Her teeth were covered in pink and purple braces. “You’ll get used to it.”
With that, she stood up and walked off.
Gorgug sat there, perplexed about what had happened. He scanned the campus again and spotted the girl walk up to some friends and begin chatting with them. She didn’t try hiding her mouth, and she even cracked a smile at a joke that someone made. She seemed… confident.
The bell rang and he headed back to class, and for the rest of the day he thought about the girl’s words and he began to watch other people, not to see if they noticed him, but to see what they were doing.
He was quiet when his dad picked him up after school, and after some careful studying, Digby noticed that his son was more contemplative rather than sullen. He decided to see if Gorgug would open up.
“Hey bud, how was school? Anyone say anything about your braces?”
“...Dad, are people really more focused on themselves than other people?”
“What makes you say that?”
“Someone told me that no one’s really paying attention to me because they’re too busy worrying about themselves, and I wondered if that was true.”
“Well, don’t interpret it as ‘nobody cares about you,’ because that’s not really true. But yeah, most people are more concerned about themselves and how others perceive them than what others are actually doing. You’re really not on other people’s radar most of the time, though it’s nothing personal. People are just that self-absorbed.”
“Hm…” Gorgug said nothing more for the rest of the ride, and when they got home he went back to the bathroom mirror and practiced smiling.
They didn’t really look that bad.
The next time Gorgug went in to get his braces adjusted, he asked for light blue bands. He liked them a lot more.
And two years later, when he got his braces removed, he went back to the mirror and smiled. It was beautiful.