The waiting room was pretty sparse when I walked into the orthodontist's office but, how many people scheduled an appointment for a Friday afternoon anyways? I guess it was just nerds like me that didn't have much of a social life outside of school. Frowning to myself, I shuffled over to the secretary at the desk to check in like I was heading to my death and I might as well have been considering every time I came to this place they came up with additional ways to torture me!

When I told the guy my name he looked a little confused at first and started typing away on his computer for a moment.

"Ah, Gray, it appears someone recorded the time of your appointment incorrectly on your reminder slip." I glared down at the little lying card in my right hand.

"You're actually scheduled for four thirty instead of four. If the doctor finishes up the person before you early then we can get you in, but unfortunately their procedure will likely take the entire half hour so it's up to you if you want to wait or come back later."

Sighing that my suffering was being prolonged, I checked my phone and saw that I had plenty of battery to burn through still so killing time wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. I didn't really want to hop in my car and drive home when I'd pretty much have to drive straight back.

"I live on the other side of town, so I'll just hang around."

"Alright, I'll let you know when the doctor is ready for you."

I nodded and headed over to one of the walls of dark blue vinyl chairs and sat down two seats away from some other poor soul awaiting his time with the devil. Okay, so maybe I was being slightly dramatic, but if there was one kind of pain I could never ignore, it was the soreness that lingered in my teeth after leaving this place.

Pulling out my phone, I answered a few texts from my friends. No, I didn't want to go to movies with everyone that night, and no I wasn't interested in the new guy that had just transferred into my physics class. My group of friends was always way too rowdy whenever they got together on the weekends so I usually brushed off their plans. Also, why the hell did everyone assume I'd hit on every gay guy that crossed my path? I was just as selective as anyone else…

My thoughts were interrupted when the guy I'd purposefully sat away from, scooted over to the seat right beside me. Deciding that maybe the air vent was blowing on him or something, I chose to keep ignoring him. Surely if he had something to say to me, he would've just said if from where he was sitting previously, right?

"So what are you in for?"

I looked over at him in disbelief for a second before I made sense of what he was trying to ask me. He looked around my age and had bright pink hair that I'd never seen on another person before. His smiling dark green eyes caught my attention even more though I couldn't tell if he was genuinely friendly or simply trying to pass the time like I was. However he looked nice enough.

My inner introvert prayed that his appointment was with another doctor and would happen fast so that I wouldn't be stuck talking to him for twenty-five long agonizing minutes.

"Getting my braces off today," I answered. Today was truly Independence Day! Aside from the post check-up, the orthodontist had assured me that I didn't need any additional work done, which was a God-send considering I had senior pictures scheduled for next month. Even so, I wasn't going to celebrate until my mouth was actually empty from all the metal junk clamped to my teeth and gums. There was still a good hour of pain ahead of me and probably a lingering soreness that would hang around all weekend.

"Really?!" he said with way more excitement than I expected. When he beamed at me, every sharp white tooth in his mouth gleamed under the florescent lights of the waiting room. His smile was so perfect and suited him so well, especially those dimples, that I felt my cheeks warm slightly.

"Y-yeah," I muttered as I looked down at his shoes instead. He certainly looked like the kind of person that would wear bright orange converse.

"That's great! I got mine off last time I was here too."

"Congrats," I said since I wasn't sure what else to say.

"Thanks." Even though I couldn't see it, I knew the smile was still there. "They come out a lot faster than they go in. Do you have them on the top and bottom?"

"Just the top."

"Lucky! I had both and it sucked because by the time he got the top out, my mouth was so dry from that plastic thingy they use to keep your jaw from closing that my throat felt like sandpaper."

"Well, I still have something on the bottom so I can imagine I'll have the same problem."

"Huh? What do you mean?" I met his eyes again as I wondered whether or not I should just show the thing to him because it would easier than explaining it.

"I guess I had a really bad overbite so they tried to pull my lower jaw forward with this." He watched me curiously as I hooked a finger in the side of my mouth and stretched it over the contraption so he could see it clearly. It looked very much like hydraulics for my mouth, at least, that's what my older brother Lyon had teasingly said.

There were two long metal rods that stuck out beside my teeth on each side, they were anchored to the top and bottom rows of my teeth via rings that fit around two of my back teeth on the top and two of the front teeth on the bottom. In actuality there were two tubes that made up each rod, that fit one inside the other. Therefore, if I ever opened my jaw too wide they'd pop apart which was a pain in the ass because then I had to line them up to get them back together again.

The worse part about the whole thing was trying to sleep on my side because the pieces on my bottom teeth stuck out and painfully dug into the sides of my cheeks and my bottom lip. For the first month after the appliance was installed, I couldn't even smile since moving my lower lip hurt so badly.

"Wow that makes my mouth sore just looking at it!" the other guy exclaimed with a look of pity. "I only had to get braces 'cuz I was in a nasty car accident when I was little. I lost a lot of teeth before they were ready to fall out so they had to shift around the ones I still had so that my permanent teeth wouldn't come in all crazy."

"That's rough," I said as I tried to imagine it. I'd never had a tooth pulled but I'd always thought it would be pretty painful. Then again they give you painkillers for stuff like that and he wouldn't have had any of those during the car accident. "I just inherited bad teeth I suppose. I was adopted so I'll never know what my parents' teeth looked like."

"Oh, I'm adopted too. Guess I've never thought about my birth parents' teeth before though." He laughed a bit wistfully. "But my dad's teeth are pretty straight."

"So are my mom's," I added. Ur had the most beautifully shaped teeth and she'd suffered through braces just as long as I had to get them in line.

"Excuse me Gray, the doctor finished up a little early after all. He's ready to see you now," the secretary projected from over at the desk. I checked my phone to see that it was already four twenty. Time passed by much quicker than I expected it to, especially considering I was chatting with a stranger the whole time.

I sent him a sincere look of apology as I slipped my phone back into my pocket.

"Well I guess my dad will be here in another ten minutes or so, I walked here from school but he didn't get off work till four and it takes him a while to get over here."

"Oh? Do you go to Magnolia high?" I'm not sure why, but part of me was hoping he went to the same school as me.

He laughed a bit and it was a lovely sound.

"Close, I'm a freshman at Magnolia University."

My breath caught in my throat slightly and hoped he wasn't offended.

He pulled on his cheeks as he spoke, "Don't worry about it, everyone says I still have a baby-face."

"Gray? Are you ready?" I heard the doctor's authoritative voice from behind the desk. I guess he wasn't too keen on waiting for me, although I'd been waiting for him for long enough…

"I'll be right there!" I called as I turned to the guy one last time.

"Well hopefully I'll see you around Gray, because I'm really looking forward to seeing if you're just as attractive without the braces."

The smirk he was giving me assured me that my face was the same color as his hair! I stood up quickly but jumped in surprise when a hand wrapped around my wrist.

"Here," he said while placing a stick of gum in my palm. "The first piece after you get them off is the best!"

"Thanks, I'll see you later, uh-"

"Natsu," he finished for me with a sly grin.

"Okay," I spoke as I walked over to the desk. "Bye Natsu."

"See you Gray."

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A short while later, I was walking out of the building a free man at last! Sitting down in the front seat of my car, I smiled into the rear view mirror. I recognized my face up until my teeth appeared from behind my lips. Well, this new look was going to take some getting used to, but it certainly was a change for the better! A brief glance at the time had my smile growing even more. Natsu was right about how fast it was!

That's when I remembered the piece of gum he'd given me. Pulling it out and unwrapping it, I popped the stick in my mouth and savored the minty taste for a moment. When I bit into it, I instantly knew what he was talking about. I hadn't chewed a piece of gum in five years and the first thing I was going to do when I got home was pop a giant bag of popcorn!

Reaching down to start my car, I looked at the forgotten gum wrapper in the cup holder of the car for a second and saw there was something written on it. Carefully smoothing it back out with my fingers, I saw that next to a smiley face, there were seven digits scribbled onto it.

So, maybe there was one more thing I had to do before making that popcorn…

L7L7L7L7