Hello.

So, the short of it: This has not been my week. On top of finals, I've also gotten sick. I either have Laryngitis, or Laryngitis that is morphing into a Sinus Infection. I've had a constant headache the passed three days that no amount of Motrin can cure, used too many tissues, and am sure I spiked a temperature somewhere along the way.

Nevertheless, I wrote this.

So, this is a little "slice of life" that I believe was inspired my own need to get my wisdom teeth removed, and my sister's experience as well. I've drawn A LOT of Audashi, but barely written any (because drawing is much easier to fit into a hectic schedule than writing), so I got inspired and to help me relax in between studying, I've been typing this out on my iPhone in the Notes Section. I figured that it would only be a few pages, but like with all my writing, it ended up ginormous. Uploaded it to my laptop, put it in Word, and oh, what'd you know, it's just about thirty pages. The dedication I have to write THIRTY PAGES on these two is insane (I'm going down with this ship by myself, and I am 110% okay with that).

So, another reason I wrote this was to brush up my creative writing, as I have been lacking the time for it, as well as figure out BH6 and the characters, as well as Auden, because over this winter break, I'm going to try super hard to write Auden's story. So, practice while I can, huh? Also, I wrote this because some people have told me they want to see more of Auden and Tadashi's relationship, a "slice of life" if you will. I don't know what screams "slice of life" more for two young adults than getting their wisdom teeth ripped out; it's a milestone, you know? But hopefully, this gives you a better insight into their lives

Since this turned out to be so long, I decided to spilt it into three parts. Please let me know if you guys think, what you liked about it and what you didn't, if I missed anything, etc. I will put a disclaimer out though that this may not be my best writing: considering I have a borderline migraine and have been studying overtime, there may be some grammar errors as well as things that don't make sense. I ask you to please forgive me and go easy on me

Happy reading!

~Smokey

Wisdom

BH6: Slice of Life

Part One

Auden

My mouth felt funny.

That was the first thought that slid rather sluggishly through my mind as I grasped the cusp of consciousness. Everything was dark, and it took me a moment to realize that maybe it was so because my eyes were closed...they were closed, right? I didn't remember shutting them...then again, I didn't remember a whole lot at the moment.

As I pulled myself up towards lucidity, I could feel my body becoming reconnected to my brain. My limbs felt like they were being weighed down, thick and no longer able to be used. My head felt as light as it did heavy, and as I came to feel my eyelids, I vaguely thought of how it felt like someone had stuff cotton into every opening of my head, filling up my brain with fluffy nonsense.

Thoughts sloshed lazily in my mind, breaking apart and becoming shuffled and mixed together in an incomprehensible mess. 'Probably because of the cotton.' I thought to myself, that thought sliding around my muddled mind and breaking up all too soon to join the rest of them.

But man, did my mouth feel ODD. It was the one thing that I could focus my wavering attention on long enough to really noticed how bizarre it felt. It felt swollen and thick, like someone had injected honey or molasses into my cheeks and gums. My tongue wasn't fairing any better; it was a useless piece of muscle, numbed to the touch. Wait...could I move my tongue still? If it felt like this, maybe it was paralyzed, or worse, dead? What could I do with a dead tongue? For the first time since I had started to become more aware, I felt fear flicker through my dulled senses. Concentrating as much as I could, I decided to test the theory of my dead tongue, and made to move it in my mouth.

Of course, it was hard to tell if I was actually moving it; not only could I not feel my tongue, but my whole mouth, even my chin and cheeks, suffered from the same muted sensation. Plus, my mind didn't seem to be too keen on seeing if my tongue was actually alive or not; my focus kept drifting, falling back under and into that pile of useless broken thoughts.

"Auden...baby?"

The voice was low, but the tone warm with a hint of concern. It sounded so familiar, but my mind was so jumbled and out of focus that I couldn't find the face to match it. My stomach, however, seemed to recognize the voice right away, as I could feel butterflies flittering around in it, my heart joining in with the recognition as it, too, fluttered.

My attention was drawn from my visceral as I felt something move against my leaden hand, warm and a bit rough, but gentle nonetheless. It was enclosed around it, the back of my hand recipient of smooth, circular strokes, clearly meant to both comfort and arouse me even further than I already was.

"Auden? You waking up?"

The voice was still as warm and quiet as before, and my heart and stomach both seemed to leap at the sudden presence of it again. I could feel curiosity as well as irritation worm its way into my cotton fuzzy mind. WHO was this voice? WHO did it belong to? I racked my boggled mind yet again, but I still couldn't find an answer. Why was thinking so HARD all the sudden?

As I struggled to match the voice to a face, I felt my eyes twitch, and an idea followed shortly after; if I couldn't think of the face, maybe I could look at it. After all, my eyes didn't seem to be as slowed and spacey as my mind (so far), so maybe they would do a better job identifying the person. Focusing a bit more on this thought to keep it from slipping away to the others, I allowed the rest of my attention to rest on my eyes, and after a few moments battling the question of how exactly eyelids worked again, I found a line of light appearing through the darkness I had grown accustomed to.

The voice seemed to have realized that I had cracked my eyes open before I did, because I felt the soothing circles pause on my skin, and something smooth back my hair.

"Auden? Can you hear me?"

The voice was even quieter than before, but by the warm breath that passed over my face, it was also much closer. And if the voice was closer, then so was the face...

I forced my eyelids apart a bit more, struggling with the weight of them for a moment. Everything was too bright, and I wanted to shut my eyes and never open them again. But, the curiosity of who owned the voice propelled me forward, so I simply blinked, trying to clear the sting of the light from my eyes as I opened them even further.

Even with blinking, everything was blurred. It took me a minute to realize that the smearing bright white above me was a ceiling with lights, and from what I could pull from my sluggish mind, not one I was familiar with. I felt my eyebrows crease, mirroring the confusion I felt beginning to seep into my cloudy mind. For the first time since I had become more aware, I realized that I had no idea where I was.

"There she is." The warm voice was back, and once again, my hair was being brushed back in a gentle manner. "Wondering when I was going to see those beautiful eyes again."

It took me a minute to pinpoint where exactly the voice was coming from, as it simply bounced around, back and forth, in my sloppy brain. Letting my eyes drift from the sloppy ceiling and to the right, they came to rest on an equally blurred and smeared figure, but even though I couldn't see him properly, my heart jumped in my ribcage and bubbles piled up in my stomach. I blinked again, longer than I meant to, and stared up at the person, trying to focus my vision on him.

The figure let out a soft chuckle, his shoulders moving slightly as he did.

"Looks like you're awake, but I don't think everything's up and running yet, huh?"

I didn't reply, but just kept staring up at him, trying to get my eyes to cooperate with me when suddenly he was leaning down, his face growing closer and helping to sharpen his facial features. His tone was gentle, voice low enough that when he spoke, it was just barely above a murmur.

"Babe, you with me here?"

Thick, short dark hair, slightly tanned skin, high cheekbones, strong jawline, smooth lips and brown eyes as warm as his voice came into focus. I stared up at him, wheels slowly turning in my head, cobwebs being dusted off as connections formed. Somewhere in my mind, a light bulb went off, though the thick curtain of fog filling my mind dulled the realization. I opened my mouth to speak, but I had to think for a moment how exactly I could form words with a dead and or paralyzed tongue ( still wasn't sure which it was, as the test hadn't really given much evidence). Finally though, I managed to move my numb mouth and thick tongue to vocalize my thoughts.

"T'daaaaaaaashiiiiiii...?"

I watched as the figure, no, Tadashi, smiled and nodded before leaning forward. I felt something warm and soft press against my forehead and a good few seconds passed before I realized that Tadashi had kissed it. Tadashi pulled back, the smile on his face making more bubbles build up in my stomach.

"Yes it's me...was getting worried for a second there that I was talking to myself."

I watched him as he spoke, looking down at me, and felt something warm cup my face, brushing against my cheek in a similar way the circles had been massaged into my hand earlier. Oh. It was his hand. That made sense.

"How are you feeling?" When I didn't answer, ( I was a bit distracted by how calloused Tadashi's hand was, yet it was so gentle and soft at the same time; how did that work?), I felt the hand on my face rub a bit more, and suddenly Tadashi's face was much closer to mine, his eyes patient and trying to catch my own. "How do you feel, Auden?"

I stared at Tadashi a moment before swallowing, the sensation odd through my senseless mouth and part of my esophagus. I smacked my lips, and realized that they, too, were numb. I looked down at my lips, trying to see what was making them and my mouth feel so funny.

Oh right, Tadashi had asked me a question...

I wrestled with my thick, possibly dead tongue, trying to form words that just didn't want to be.

"F-feeeeeeeeelsssss funnnnnnnnaaaayaaaahhh..." I said, eyebrows furrowing and I couldn't see anything wrong with my lips; maybe the answer was on my tongue? I stuck my tongue out and attempted to pull it out more with my hand to get a better look when suddenly my hand was gone. Confused, I glanced up to see Tadashi holding my hand back, a gentle but amused expression on his face.

"Don't be playing with your mouth Auden; it probably feels funny from the novocaine, but it should go away in a few hours."

I felt my eyebrows furrow even more as Tadashi's words slid sluggishly through my mind; novocaine? Why did I have novocaine? I went to ask, but then I realized my tongue was still hanging out of my mouth. Pulling my tongue back in, I asked my question.

"W-whaaaaaaa...?"

Now it was Tadashi's turn to furrow his brows. He spoke, a little hesitant. "You had your wisdom teeth pulled this morning; don't you remember coming to the Oral Surgeon?" He brushed his thumb across my cheek again, as if the action could bring back the memories I clearly had forgotten.

But nothing came. All I could do was stare at Tadashi, feeling more and more confused. Wisdom teeth removed? But, I didn't have wisdom teeth; that's what the dentist told me a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time ago, so why would they remove what wasn't there? I explained this to Tadashi.

"N-nooooooo...nooooo teeeeeth, zip, naaadaaaaa, none! T-told me loooooong time 'go, T'daaaaaashiiiii."

Tadashi stared at me for a moment, taking in what I told him before shaking his head.

"Well, that was before you started having horrible mouth pain a few weeks ago; remember? It was so bad that you were living on liquids and guzzling ibuprofen like there was no tomorrow..." Tadashi looked uncomfortable as he said this, as though the idea of me being in pain actually hurt him as well. "So we brought you to the dentist's and they did an X-Ray and it looked like all four teeth were coming in at once. You needed to have surgery as soon as possible to remove them before you got an infection or worse."

Tadashi continued to rub his thumb down my cheek, his other hand moving in to smooth down my hair, concern alive in his features now.

"Do you really not remember Auden?"

I felt my eyebrows furrow even more, but this time in concentration as I tried to sort through the murkiness of my mind, trying to find some flicker of memory or partial thought that would back up what Tadashi had just told me. Did I really not remember? I swallowed again, ready to open my mouth and tell Tadashi that I had not a clue what he was talking about when something tugged at the back of my mind, insistent on coming to the forefront. I paused, and after a moment, it drifted forward and came into focus.

"Ooooooooooooran' juiiiiiiiiice?" It took me a minute to realize I had just voiced the thought out loud, and I found Tadashi staring down at me for a moment, before something seemed to click in his head.

"Yeah, you've been living on a lot of Orange juice for the passed few days-,"

"G-goooodah," I swallowed, my tongue flopping around in my mouth, "s-sourcah V-viiiiiiiiiiiit-tahhhhmiiiiiin Deeeeeeeeeee."

Tadashi chuckled at my response, a relieved smile on his face as he nodded, the bright concern in his eyes dulled by the wash of relief.

"That's right. Though I thought you didn't like orange juice?"

Thinking of the orange juice, the part of my face I could still feel scrunched up in disgust as I thought of the tangy sour taste I had been dealing with for the passed several days. Orange juice was nasty, but it was a good source of vitamins and nutrients, so I forced myself to chug it.

NOW I remembered that...I always seemed to be carrying around a bottle of it with me wherever I went, the only thing I could swallow without my mouth feeling like it was coming off its hinges. Thinking back to those several days, I couldn't figure out if the pain or the orange juice made the experience more miserable.

I shook my heavy head, rolling it back and forth a across the pillow behind me (had that been there the whole time?) the orange juice still on the forefront of my mind.

"N-nooooo...it...it'ssssssss i-ickkkkkkyyyyyy...b-but, I-I neeeeeeded it..." I looked up at Tadashi, eyes widening a bit as I realized he might think that since I drank so much orange juice, that I might actually LIKE the nasty stuff. "I-I donnnnnn' LIIIIIIIIKE it, T'd'sssssshhhhiiiiii...d-doooon make meeeee d-driiiink it a-anyyyyymoooooore..."

Despite the horrific idea that I might have to drink MORE orange juice was swarming dizzily through my wishy-wash mind, I couldn't help but not be too fearful as the smile on Tadashi's face grew a bit wider, and he leaned down again, his face close as he let his thumb move across my numb cheek.

"Don't worry Auden, you don't have to drink anymore orange juice if you don't want to." Tadashi blurred for a moment as he moved even closer to me, his lips pressing against my nose gently. "But you are gonna have to be on fluids for a few more days because of the surgery. But don't worry; I'll make sure you don't get any icky orange juice, okay?"

I stared at Tadashi as he pulled back, sharpening once again. I nodded, my head heavy and tongue flopping in my skull as I did so.

"P-prooooooooomise...?"

Tadashi chuckled and nodded, letting his hand brush back my curls yet again as his warm brown eyes held mine.

"I promise. Now, the dentist should be in to check you over since you are awake, but after that, we can head out and get you home so you can rest, okay?"

Tadashi waited patiently, watching as I struggled to put meaning behind his words. After a moment of playing match up, I focused on him as best I could and nodded again.

"'Kaaaay, T'd'sssssssshhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiii..."