They say that everyone hates going to the dentist, and because of this, dentistry is the profession with the highest rates of depression and suicide. And they could all die in a ditch on the side of a road for all Sunggyu cared.

“Well, that’s a bit harsh,” you might say. True, but Kim Sunggyu had a problem that most his age wouldn’t. It was embarrassing, and he wouldn’t have this particular problem if he’d gone to the dentist earlier. But Sunggyu hated dentists from the onset. They always reprimanded him for not flossing or brushing properly and for smoking too much. And so when his gums started bleeding, he ignored it and didn’t go to the dentist lest they tried to get him to quit smoking again (he’d quit on his on good time, thank you very much). The bleeding and tender gums were obvious signs that something might be wrong. The receding gum lines weren’t so obvious. And then came a sure sign that Sunggyu’s oral health went to hell in a hand-basket. And finally, he visited the dentist, too late to prevent the problem, which made Sunggyu hate dentists all the more.

Now the hate festered into a loathing as he had nearly weekly visits to the dentist’s office. The secretary knew him by name and started subscribing to magazines Sunggyu liked so that he could read them in a waiting room. Sunggyu liked her. She was a nice and friendly lady, and it was a pity that she had to work in such a horrible place because it made Sunggyu like her less and less.

“Hello, Sunggyu-ssi! We’ve been waiting for you!” she hollered when Sunggyu came in through the door. “He’ll be with you in a moment. How’s your mother doing?”

“She’s fine, Jiyoung-ssi,” he answered in a tired tone and plopped down onto a chair. “Same as last week.” He knew that he was being rude and dismissive to the lady, but he was tired of spending his Saturday mornings in this damn beige lobby rather than in the comfort in his own bed.

“That’s good to hear,” the secretary commented with a broad smile, not seeming to mind the man’s curt answer (or she was unfortunately used to this type of treatment). “Ah, but I must say that I’ll miss you calling me ‘Jiyoun-thi.’ That should go away soon, won’t it?” she teased lightly.

Sunggyu pursed his lips. He had a lisp already before this whole debacle, and now it was only enhanced. Because of it, he hadn’t been talking as much as he used to (which was slowly killing him to be silent when he had so much he wanted to say), and he hadn’t been smiling much either. But he didn’t have much cause to smile either. This was possibly the lowest point in his life. He couldn’t imagine it getting any worse.

However, the secretary was right. The sun was peaking over the horizon and bit by bit, casting away his gloomy days. Soon, he’d be rid of this damn thing and the dentist. Soon, things would return back to (almost) normal.

“Kim…Sung…Gyu-ssi?”

Sunggyu whipped his head around, responding to the call. At the door of the waiting room, a man that he’d never seen before, in spite of all of his visits, was calling his name. The man was dressed in scrubs and was reading off of a clipboard in his hands. Sunggyu cocked his head. The man was dressed like a dentist, but he sure didn’t look like one. He looked too young and his grin was too broad and goofy, showing off his own healthy gums. Everything about him screamed ‘newbie.’ And all of the sudden, Sunggyu felt concerned for the safety of his mouth.

But then the man raised his head, and Sunggyu’s ‘concern’ quickly morphed into ‘sheer terror.’ “We’re ready for you. Follow me,” he announced with that goofy grin as he opened the door out of the waiting room, beckoning Sunggyu to follow him.

“Ah, yea, I’ll be right there,” Sunggyu stammered, slurred, lisped (whatever damn string of noises came out of his mouth).

The dentist nodded and walked away, thinking that the other would follow, which Sunggyu did, but not before he stopped by the secretary’s desk. “Jiyoun-thi!” he cried. “What happened to Dr. Choi?”

The secretary looked up at him, confused. “I told you last week that he’s away on vacation this week. I had asked you if you’d been fine with his replacement, Dr. Lee…”

“You didn’t tell me it was going to be Lee Sungyeol!” Sunggyu interrupted with a harsh whisper. Who in hell gave that man a dental license?

“You know him?” she hushed back.

Sunggyu pulled away, straightening himself up again as he looked down the corridor behind the open door. Sungyeol must’ve just noticed that the other wasn’t following him and glanced back. Their eyes met, and Sunggyu lowered his.

“I did,” Sunggyu admitted. “But I don’t think he remembers.”

Call it an occupational hazard, but Sunggyu has a memory for faces, and a face like Lee Sungyeol’s he couldn’t forget, nor could he forget the situation that came along with it.

Sunggyu is a detective, and he’d come across a lot of strange cases before in this strange little town (he had a theory that something must be in the water, driving everyone crazy, but the tests on it came back negative). But he was still unprepared when he received a phone call from a concerned parent about a man harassing the students at the elementary school. Sunggyu expected it to be your run-of-the-mill ert, something that he’s at least trained to deal with. What he wasn’t trained to handle was a college student who was involved in a turf war with 4^th graders.

“A turf war, Sungyeol-ssi?” Sunggyu asked. He had found the ‘harasser’ in the arcade next to the school. It wasn’t too hard. Sunggyu just followed the high-pitched shouting and screeching which led him there. Once he arrived, he found the suspect surrounded by 4^th graders on all sides, and he was trying to fend them off with his bookbag. Sunggyu marched in and broke the ‘fight’ up. It was easy after he flashed his badge; the elementary students immediately backed off. And then Sungyeol was easily apprehended and brought to the station for interrogation.

Unfortunately, the suspect found the whole situation rather ‘cool’ and had been looking around the interrogation room with a look of wonder. “Is that a two-way mirror?” he asked a question himself and waved at his own reflection.

Sunggyu stepped in front of him. “There’s no one there,” he stated. “Now what were you saying about the turf war?”

“Aish, those jerks,” Sungyeol cursed. Sunggyu cocked an eyebrow. This man was talking so rudely about little children. “I was trying to get the high score in this one game. I had it for years, since I was in high school. But recently, someone beat it. I had to go back to reclaim my title.”

“You had to?” Sunggyu asked with a roll of his eyes.

“Yes, of course,” Sungyeol responded matter-of-factly. But then a nervous smile flashed across his face. “But it’s, uh, taking bit longer to reclaim my title than I thought. I am a bit rusty.” He stopped and quickly glanced at the detective.

“Go on,” Sunggyu prodded him.

Sungyeol sighed deeply before continuing, “The kids didn’t like it. It was their favorite game, and I played it all day.” He then looked up from his hands and straight into Sunggyu’s eyes. “But I was there first! And the kids just…argh!”

“What did the elementary school children do to you?” Sunggyu tried his best not to sound sarcastic, but it was hard.

“They were the one’s harassing me!” Sungyeol argued. “They kept poking at me and bothering me until I got off the machine.”

“Why didn’t you just let them play?” Sunggyu asked. “They’re only children.”

“It’s the principle of the matter,” Sungyeol debated, slamming his hand against the table. “Am I supposed to yield to them because they are children? What about respecting their elders?” He emphasized his words by tapping on the table with his finger. “What about rules of society? Waiting their turn? How else are you going to teach them patience? But you want me just to roll over and give into them? Aish,” Sungyeol hissed lowly. “What kind of future are we raising here, detective?”

Sunggyu leaned back in his chair and sighed as he took in all of the information. “While you have a point, Sungyeol-ssi,” he yielded only that much, “they are just children. And they have parents…who are livid. To them, you look like the antagonist, especially since you threatened the students outside of the school gates.”

“Aish!” Sungyeol exclaimed, throwing his head back. “That was just one time! And I’m only fighting with the same 4 kids. It’s not like I’m just yelling at any choding that walks by.”

Sunggyu rapt his fingers against the interrogation table as his analytic eyes scanned the man across from him. If the detective were to give this man any credit, Sungyeol was incredibly honest, and that’s at least something Sunggyu appreciated after being lied to day in and day out. “I’m still going to have to give you a restraining order, you know that right?” he revealed.

“WHAT?!”

“Just a temporary one to appease the parents. It’ll be just until those children graduate in a few months,” Sunggyu clarified. “And I’ll make sure to get your record expunged so that it won’t effect you in the future. Since you have no priors, it should be easy.”

Sungyeol lowered his head again, fixing his gaze on his hands which were resting on the table. “Fine. I understand,” he gave in. He then glanced up cautiously. “Are you sure it won’t effect me?”

Sunggyu nodded. “I’ll even give a statement, explaining the whole…situation, if you need it,” he put delicately.

Sungyeol raised an eyebrow and leaned in. “And how exactly will you explain it?”

“Truthfully,” the detective retorted quickly. A tense silence ensued between the both of them as Sungyeol tried to stare down the detective, trying to find something within Sunggyu’s gaze.

He must’ve found something to his satisfaction because gave in and raised his hands to Sunggyu, ready to be cuffed, “Alright, detective. Go ahead and restrain me.”

Go ahead and restrain me, those words rang through Sunggyu’s head as he sat down in the chair in the dentist’s room. Well, now he felt restrained and caught. What would happen if Sungyeol remembered? And this man who was forced to 50 feet away from the elementary school by law was now going to have sharp objects in his mouth. Hasn’t his mouth suffered enough?

Apparently not.

Right as he sat down, Sungyeol the light that was hanging over the chair and moved it so that it was shining brightly in Sunggyu’s face. “It’s my turn to interrogate you now, detective,” he sneered. “How often do you floss? How often?!” He sputtered in a laugh, unable to keep from it any longer.

Sunggyu winced, turned his head, and pushed the light away. “So you remember?” he muttered.

“How could I forget?” the dentist retorted, words punctuated by the snap of the rubber gloves that he was putting on. “Moms in my neighborhood still glare at me.”

“Is that my fault?”

“No,” Sungyeol readily admitted. “But something else is.” Sunggyu flinched as the dentist scooted in closer. “I read your charts. Now open up so that I could check them out.”

Sunggyu tucked in his lips and turned his head away. “Uh huh,” he whined.

Sungyeol rested his hands on his knees and groaned at he sight of the detective defiantly rolling away from him and onto his side. “You’re worse than the toddlers that I treat,” he remarked under his breath.

Sunggyu rolled back onto his back and analyzed the dentist again, weighing his choices at the moment. Yea, I could wait another week, he concluded. Sunggyu sat up. “I don’t think I’m comfortable with this,” he confessed. “I’ll just wait until Dr. Choi is back.”

“A-ah! Wait!” Sungyeol yelled and got up along with the doctor. He headed towards the door as if to block it. “I’m sorry,” he quickly apologized.

Sunggyu tried to get around him. “There’s no need to apologize,” he said. “I should. I’m sorry for taking up your time.” He reached for the doorknob and turned it.

“Dr. Choi isn’t coming back for a month,” Sungyeol revealed right as Sunggyu opened the door. “That means that’ll be a month longer you’ll be stuck with…those.” Sunggyu let go of the door and stared at the other with scared eyes. “His daughter just had his first grandchild.”

Why? Why does this have to happen to me? Sunggyu let out a long breath and headed back to the chair. “Okay,” he muttered as he sat back down. “But don’t make fun of me.”

“I won’t,” Sungyeol promised as he sat down by his side.

“Don’t laugh,” Sunggyu repeated with a stern look.

“I won’t,” Sungyeol responded more emphatically. “Now open up and say ‘ah!’”

“Ah!” Sunggyu opened his mouth just a little bit as he looked helplessly at the other, waiting for him to laugh.

Sungyeol still managed to cram his hand into that tiny opening. “I get it,” he started. His hands carefully widened the other’s mouth and delicately handled the gear inside. “It’s embarrassing. You’re what 30?”

“weny-aigh,” Sunggyu answered as best he could with the other’s hands in his mouth.

“28? That makes you only two years older than me,” Sungyeol said in a bit of a surprise.

“weally?” Sunggyu could scarcely believe that the other was that old when his conduct seemed so immature, but then again he was a dentist already. And right now, Sunggyu seemed to be acting like a child, while Sungyeol was the professional adult. Maybe I didn’t give him enough credit…

“Yes, ‘weally,’” the dentist’s voice was laced with a light chuckle. “Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yea…I get it. You’re too young to wear this. Ah, got it!” he cheered as he removed the dentures from Sunggyu’s mouth and placed it onto the tray. “But you’re not the only patient I have with dentures, might be the youngest though. Anyway, they’re all embarrassed by it and I can be a delicate person.” Sunggyu scoffed at that. Sungyeol frowned. “What? I can!” he insisted. “And what else were we supposed to do? You had periodontitis, and you didn’t come in soon enough. However…” He faced the detective again and gave him a smile. “…you didn’t lose all of your teeth, so there’s that.”

Sunggyu rolled his eyes. “Ankth,” he spoke as best he could with as much sarcasm as he could. But he was starting to sound more and more like the grumpy toddler he was being.

“You’re welcome,” Sungyeol took his ‘gratitude’ anyway. “Now let me check out your gums. They might be healthy enough now for the implants.” He was about to dive in, but then he pulled back again. He raised an eyebrow. “You aren’t smoking again, are you?”

That, well, getting a severe case of gum disease was good for one thing. Sunggyu was forced to kick the habit. And terrified of losing the rest of his teeth, it managed to stick. Sunggyu hadn’t touched a cigarette in months. He even tried his best not to inhale secondhand smoke, but as the rest of his precinct smoked, it was hard to do without wearing a mask 24/7.

“No,” Sunggyu replied.

“Good,” Sungyeol chirped, wearing his smile again. He then gently examined Sunggyu’s mouth, carefully prodding. “Gums can’t heal if they’re surrounded by carcinogenics.”

“I ooow,” Sunggyu mumbled out a reply.

“You know now,” Sungyeol corrected him. Sunggyu sighed again, and he hoped Sungyeol was able to feel his resignedness. This is why he hated the dentist: the reproaching. Sunggyu already didn’t have his front teeth to show the error of his ways. He didn’t need this choding-fighter to tell him.

“They look good,” Sungyeol remarked as he pulled out his hands.

“Goo?” Sunggyu repeated. His eyes widened. Was this the moment he’d been waiting for?

Sungyeol nodded as he handed back the dentures to the other. “Let’s go back to the desk and schedule the surgery,” he suggested.

“Huh?” Sunggyu gasped. He quickly put the dentures back in so he could say this loud and clear to the other. “No, no, no. A check-up is one thing, but I’m not going to let you perform surgery on me.”

Sungyeol looked devastated. “Why not?”

“Don’t you think this is a conflict of interests?” Sunggyu argued, gesturing between the both of them.

“What interests?” Sungyeol challenged. “The restraining order? Eh, that’s in the past. What I’m interested in now is this procedure. Surgery is the best part of being a dentist! Let me do it,” he begged.

“No,” Sunggyu quickly replied. “I’d rather wear these damned things for a month before I ever let you cut my mouth open like the Joker.” And with that, he left the room.

“I’m a very delicate person!” the dentist shouted after him.

“No you aren’t,” Sunggyu mumbled under his breath. He tied his scarf tightly around his face although the weather was too warm for it. “No you aren’t.”

A few hours later, when he went out to dinner with a friend, Sunggyu began regretting his decision to wait for Dr. Choi. He hadn’t thought of it with a clear and cool mind. He had just wanted to get out of the room as fast as he could. Why? Why was he in such a hurry? Something about Lee Sungyeol made him nervous, and he didn’t like being nervous.

“So let me get this straight, this is just the surgery to get the posts in. Then you have to wait for that to heal before you can get the actual implant in?” his friend asked. Dongwoo was the medical examiner for the precinct. For a man who was easily distracted by anything that flittered by, he was extremely rational. Then, suddenly, Dongwoo looked off to the side. “Who was that? It looked like my old teacher. Is it? Ah, no. Sorry…what were we talking about?” Yes, very distracted. Luckily the bodies that Dongwoo dealt with already arrived dead on his table. Sunggyu doubted that he could maintain enough concentration for a surgery hours long. Which brings me back to…

Sunggyu gave a weak, tight-lipped smile. “Yea, it’s a long process to get these implants in,” he responded, moving his mouth as little as possible. But Dongwoo was used to this by now. He could understand.

“Ah.” Dongwoo nodded. “And why are you waiting again? Because your dentist is out of town?”

“Eung, and because my alternative is Lee Sungyeol,” the detective grumbled.

“The ert?!”

Sunggyu groaned. The dentist probably had no idea how much his reputation proceeded him. “Not a ert, just an idiot.” Why was Sunggyu bothering to defend him now? Sungyeol’s reputation was already ruined. “He’s an idiot and that’s why I won’t let him near my mouth.”

Dongwoo in a breath, ready to say something, but then he decided against it, chewing on his lip and shaking his head.

“What is it?” Sunggyu prodded him.

Dongwoo glanced up cautiously at him before answering, “I don’t think that’s fair.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, we all know what Sungyeol-ssi did back then. And we know why too. It wasn’t his fault. Those kids were jerks back then, and they are still jerks now,” Dongwoo said.

“But people still refer to him as ‘the ert,’” Sunggyu pointed out.

“Yea, but in like a loving way,” Dongwoo said with a chuckle. “Look, unlike you, I grew up in this town. This is normal. This is just teasing. People still call me ‘the Kenyan’ because I used to run really fast when I was younger.”

Sunggyu held his tongue. He didn’t have the heart to tell Dongwoo that wasn’t the reason why he was referred to as ‘the Kenyan.’ It was more for his rushing thoughts and foreign personality. How he seemed to speak his own language at times. And sometimes Sunggyu swore Dongwoo shared his own language with the dead.

“But I’m not fast anymore and Sungyeol hasn’t fought with grade schoolers in years, wait no, months,” Dongwoo pointed out. “Anyway…We grew up. We changed.”

You hadn’t, Sunggyu wanted to say. And deep down inside, he knew that Sungyeol still had that impulsive personality and fiery temper that landed him in trouble in the first place. That was a part of him. That wasn’t something that Sungyeol could grow out of. Did he really want somebody like that operating on him? No, not really.

But then again, Sungyeol did have the concentration to sit down at an arcade game and play it for hours. That probably also required some dexterity too. Maybe he is delicate…Ah no, he might be, but he still has no common sense.

“Wait, does Dr. Choi have one of these nicknames too?” Sunggyu suddenly thought of that question.

“Yea, his nickname is Butterfingers because he drops things a lot,” Dongwoo remarked before taking a big bite.

Well, . Sunggyu would rather be operated on by the ert than a man called Butterfingers.

I’ll call the office tomorrow and set up an appointment.

“Thank you for choosing me to slice you up,” Sungyeol said as soon as Sunggyu sat down.

The detective stopped before his touched the chair. “This was a mistake,” he announced and afterwards stood back up, aiming to march out of the door.

“It was a joke!” Sungyeol shouted after him and jumped up to block the door. “It was a joke,” he repeated a bit more calmly after cutting in front of the other. “Geez, Detective Kim, you’re more jumpy than my 5 year-old patients.”

“Do you have to keep comparing me to kids every time I come here?” Sunggyu huffed.

“Do you have to keep acting like a little kid every time you come to see me?” Sungyeol retorted. But then he stiffened as guilt washed over his face. “Sorry,” he apologized, stepping aside and allowing Sunggyu access to the door. “Leave if you want. You can reschedule with Jiyoung-ssi for Dr. Choi.” He then slunk back into his chair by the counter.

Sunggyu looked at the door and then back to the man slumped in his chair. Well, now that Sunggyu was allowed to leave, he didn’t want to. “Why are you letting me go?” he asked as he stepped back into the room.

Sungyeol looked at the other out of the corner of his eye. “Because I can’t keep you here against your will,” it came out of his mouth like a question. “Plus I don’t think it’s wise to argue with someone who can incarcerate me,” he added with a light chuckle. “Although it would be cool to spend just one night in jail. Can you do that for me?”

Sunggyu thought about it for a second. “Maybe if you get insanely drunk first, then yea,” he concluded.

“Promise?”

“Why are you so weird?” Sunggyu blurted out. He felt himself unconsciously smile too, so he quickly forced out a cough and hid his dentured smile behind his hand. When he was composed again, he tried for another question, while pointing at the door, “I can really leave?”

“Eung,” Sungyeol grunted in response. He stared up at the other, almost in disbelief that the detective was still standing there. And Sunggyu had the same expression on his face as he looked at the dentist. Sungyeol was exhibiting restraint that Sunggyu didn’t think him capable of. Did Sunggyu really expect the dentist to pull him back in, push him down into the chair, and restrain him so that he couldn’t move? Actually, he did. But Sungyeol was being (oddly) professional and mature. Did this kid really grow up?

Sungyeol took advantage of the silence forming between them and spoke, “I get why you don’t trust me. I really do. I just…really want to do this surgery.”

“Why?” Sunggyu nearly cut him off.

“Because…” Sungyeol paused to hazard a glance at the other. Then he started again, “Because I got this new drill, and it’s really cool. And I just want to use it on someone.”

There, that was the Lee Sungyeol that he was familiar with, and to be honest, it put Sunggyu a bit more at ease. Professional Sungyeol was too foreign to him. This Sungyeol, a mixture between the two, this Sungyeol he’ll let touch his precious mouth.

Sunggyu walked over to the chair and sat down, “Alright, let’s do this!”

When Sunggyu finally came to after the surgery, it was dark in the room, and there was a world of pain and discomfort in his mouth. He probably wouldn’t be able to open it for long while, not even to eat or drink let alone to speak. His head was also incredibly fuzzy, his sight hazy. It felt as if he were waking up to a dream rather than reality.

“Wow, you really live up to your nickname, don’t you?” a voice came from the corner of the room. Sunggyu moved his head a bit and saw Sungyeol sitting in a corner with a proud smile on his face.

“Huh?” Sunggyu wasn’t aware that he had a nickname…nor what he was doing in this room at the particular moment.

“Gyu-energy,” Sungyeol revealed as he got up from his chair and walked over. “I heard about it from Sungjong. You should know him. He’s a rookie cop.”

“Oongie?” Sunggyu tried to repeat.

“Uh huh,” Sungyeol said with a laugh as he fiddled with stuff around the detective and helped him to sit up again. “You fell asleep quicker than any patient that I’ve ever had. And for longer too. The office is actually closed now. I sent everybody home.”

“I fweel fwunny,” Sunggyu remarked, half-listening to everything that the other was saying.

“Eung. That’s to be expected,” the dentist spoke quietly. “I’m going to get Dongwoo-ssi and tell him what to do with you. You’re a mess.” And he made a move for the door.

“Noooooo,” Sunggyu denied loudly.

Sungyeol stopped in his tracks and looked back with an amused smile. “You want me to stay?”

“NOOOOOOOO!”

Sungyeol shied and shook his head. “You’re seriously a child,” he muttered under his breath. “I’m getting Dongwoo to babysit you.”

Sunggyu couldn’t help the circumstances that led to his nickname. He was consistently worn out from work and from the stress of it. His hours were already long, but he always put in overtime on top of that as well. Even though this was a town with a relatively low crime rate, Sunggyu busied himself with several cold cases. And it was those cases that kept his minding running at night, desperate to solve them. Also knowing about all the evils out there in the world didn’t make it any easier for him to fall asleep.

And so every-so-often, he’d accidentally fall asleep with his cheek pressed to his desk or passed out on the couch in the break room. He lived off of coffee and vitamins (cigarettes used to be in the mix, but no longer). His penchant for falling asleep at a moment’s notice paired with his nonchalant attitude earned him the nickname of “Gyu-energy,” apparently. Sunggyu had heard about it for the first time from Sungyeol. The nickname was probably circulating with the younger cops, which meant it was just a matter of time before the whole precinct called him that and then the whole town.

Fantastic.

But at least he had a legitimate reason to be so exhausted and cranky. His mouth was still hurting like hell days later. Luckily, Dongwoo was indeed a good ‘babysitter’ for him and catered to his needs. The examiner even told him about the dentist staying after hours for him to wake up. Sunggyu had really thought that all to be a dream because it seemed so odd. Why did the dentist stay? Why didn’t he just wake Sunggyu up?

Sunggyu sighed. That was another occupational hazard: questioning everyone’s motives. He tried to push them to the back of his mind as he began texting the number that Dongwoo had given him (as it would turn out. Dongwoo was a high school sunbae to Sungyeol. And this town was getting ever smaller).

Sunggyu: Thanks for staying with me.

The detective just left it at that, simple. And within a few minutes, he got a reply.

Dumb Dentist: No problem.

But the texts didn’t end there. They kept coming in.

Dumb Dentist: You know, I always wanted to say this, but I never found the timing for it.

Dumb Dentist: Thank you for earlier.

Sunggyu looked at his phone as if it were a foreign object. He didn’t expect to be thanked in return.

Sunggyu: For what?

Dumb Dentist: When I explained the turf war to you, you just accepted it.

Sunggyu: You were telling the truth.

Dumb Dentist: Yea but still. Thanks for helping me out and getting it wiped from my record.

Sunggyu leaned back into his chair as he gazed into his phone. He smiled widely (dentures be damned). But it was nice to hear that his work was appreciated. He honestly didn’t hear it enough, for the amount of his life that he poured into his work. The detective had heard more curses ringing about his ears than words of gratitude. And to hear it coming from a person like Sungyeol, well, that made it even better.

Sunggyu: Just doing my job.

The detective typed that in, grin broadening at every . He thought he sounded cool, just like those detectives in dramas.

Dumb Dentist: You do it well. Loyalty!

Sunggyu: Yah! That’s the army!

Dumb Dentist: Justice!

Dumb Dentist: Justice Fighting!

Sunggyu smirked. Justice Fighting!

The detective honestly thought that the next time that he’d come across Sungyeol, it would be in his office again for his next appointment. However, Sunggyu had forgotten about his ‘promise.’ And a few days after he returned to work, taking his first night shift, Sunggyu saw a familiar curly-haired, long-bodied thing being dragged into the station.

“Y-yah!” Sunggyu stammered from where he was. He stumbled out of his chair and walked over to meet the cop walking the dentist in. Sunggyu looked him up and down in disbelief. “Sungyeol-ssi! When I said that you had to get insanely drunk, I didn’t mean for you to take it as a challenge,” he yelled.

Sungyeol straightened up as best he could, leaning mostly on the cop that he was handcuffed to for support. He wagged his finger as he giggled. “Not challenge. Ssti-sti-stipulation!” he slurred. He then pointed at the cell alongside of the wall, nearly hitting the cop in the head. “Can I goes to jail now?”

He’s an idiot, Sunggyu thought to himself as he peered through the bars, watching the dentist making himself comfortable in his jail cell, cozying up to the other drunk who’d already passed out. Sungyeol was obviously having the time of his drunk little life, gazing at everything with wonderment. Sunggyu scoffed and walked away, seating himself at a desk nearby. He’d brought some work with him that he could get done as he watched over the other. He didn’t feel too comfortable with Sungyeol locked up in the jail cell. He didn’t know what might happen to him…or what he might do to his other cellmates. Yes, it was far safer for all of them if Sunggyu kept a watchful eye.

“You know why I wanna do it?”

Sunggyu looked up from his work to see the dentist with his round face squished in between the bars. Sunggyu sighed and decided to take the bait. “Because you watch too many crime shows?” he guessed.

“Huh?”

Sunggyu put down the papers and faced the drunken dentist straight on. “Isn’t that why you wanted to be in jail? You saw it on tv?”

“Ah no!” Sungyeol exclaimed. “The sugary.”

“Huh?” Sunggyu tried to translate the drunk’s slurred speech. Sugary…sugary…Ah! The surgery.

But while Sunggyu was busy deciphering, Sungyeol continued, and Sunggyu almost missed what he had said: “You haf a pretty smile, defective Kim. A weally pwetty one.”

“Uh, thanks,” Sunggyu muttered, not knowing how to react to that. The only other person who’d comment about his smile was his mother…and Dongwoo who was basically his mother now. But coming from Sungyeol, it felt…

“I saw it earlier when we’re in the room with da mirrooor and you axed me questions,” Sungyeol was still ranting. But he then stopped and gave the detective a pleading look. “Can we goes in there again?”

“No,” Sunggyu denied with a chuckle. “You’re in jail. And you can’t get out of jail, until I say so.”

Sungyeol gazed at him, stupefied, for a few moments. And then he looked about his jail cell. He wasn’t finding this as amusing anymore. “Can I come out now?” he asked.

“No.”

“Dang.”

Sunggyu burst out into a roaring laugh at the dentist doleful look. Everything about this situation was so ridiculous and somehow enjoyable. The detective didn’t know that he could have this much fun at work. And Sungyeol, clueless as to what the detective was laughing at, just decided to laugh along anyway.

Sunggyu realized that his coworkers were starting to take notice and were looking at them. His laughter caught in his throat, and he coughed a couple of times to choke it down. Sunggyu picked up the papers again and flipped through them. “So, uh,” he tried to be ‘cool’ about this. “…what were you saying about my smile?”

“You don,” Sungyeol answered back quickly.

“What?”

“Ever senz you gots periodontitis…” Sunggyu scoffed as the other was talking. Figures that Sungyeol could say ‘periodontitis’ clearly when he was slurring every other word. “…You don smiles.” There was a pause. Sunggyu looked over and couldn’t see Sungyeol anymore. Panicked, he immediately got up from his seat and came over. He breathed a slight sigh of relief when he saw the dentist, laying on his back, spread across the cell floor. Sungyeol was still rambling, “I wanna make everywon smile. I wan everywon to haf pwetty smiles like defective. But people only smiles when smiles are pwetty. I wan people to be happy and smiles. That’s why I’m dentist.”

Sunggyu smirked. “That’s why you’re a dentist,” he repeated.

“Eunnnnnnng,” Sungyeol grunted as he rolled onto his side so that he could see the ‘defective.’ The dentist’s eyes were already half-closed. He’d probably fall asleep soon.

“You’re a good dentist, Sungyeol-ssi,” Sunggyu said in a soft voice.

“You a gooooo defective,” Sungyeol praised right back. “You puts me in jail.” He acted as if that were the best thing. Sunggyu chuckled again. Sungyeol laughed too as he rolled onto his back again. “I goes to bed now. Wake me up when I free.”

“Okay.”

“He’s an idiot,” this time Sunggyu said it out loud. It was 7 in the morning and nearing the end of his shift. It was time to let the drunks out of the cell. But Sunggyu wasn’t so much ‘letting them out’ as he was admiring them, especially the one passed out on the floor with a puddle of drool next to his cheek. Dongwoo had just come in and asked his friend how his night was, and instead Sunggyu pointed to the dentist in the cell (because that pretty much summed up his night in a nutshell). “Look at him. How can he sleep like that?”

Dongwoo peered into the cell and giggled. “How much for that puppy in the window?” he sang. He then looked around as if he were looking for a store clerk. Pointing at Sungyeol he announced loudly, “My friend wants that one.”

“Sh!” Sunggyu hissed, quickly clamping his hand over the examiner’s mouth. “Dongwoo-yah! Not so loud!”

Dongwoo peeled away the other’s hand from his mouth and smacked his lips before speaking, “Don’t worry. He’s sleeping like the dead.”

Sunggyu groaned. That’s not what I was worried about. He glanced around at the room in case anyone could overhear. He really didn’t want to contribute anymore to the office/town gossip than he already had. He didn’t know how well or poorly the town might react to it. God forbid, he’d be labeled as a ert too.

A change of subject was in order. Sunggyu turned his back to the cell and focused his attention on the examiner. “Why are you here so early?”

“Ah, yea. Here!” Dongwoo handed over the nearly forgotten papers in his hand. “I re-examined the remains you sent and looked over the old examiner’s reports. I was able to narrow down the size and shape of the weapon after looking at the fracture of the skull. It should help you to find the killer,” he gave a short summary of his report.

Sunggyu was already reading through the papers himself as he was talking. He was walking back to his desk and muttered back to Dongwoo, “Okay, thanks.” Maybe I could stay another hour or two to look this over.

“Gyu!” Dongwoo broke into his thoughts. “Don’t you think you’re forgetting something?” Sunggyu cocked his head, not knowing what the other person meant. Dongwoo pointed back at the jail cell. “Your puppy!”

“Ah, right,” Sunggyu gasped as he scurried back over. Cold cases can wait until tomorrow.

The detective unlocked the jail cell and walked right in. The other drunks had already woken up, sobered up, and went home. Sunggyu decided to return the favor from before, and let Sungyeol sleep a bit longer. But now, Sunggyu wanted to go home as well. And there was one thing left to do before he could: wake up the puppy. Sunggyu poked the other in the shoulder and mumbled a soft, “Yah.”

Surprisingly, Sungyeol stirred and cracked open one eye. “What?” he grumbled.

“Wow, you wake up easily,” the detective said, bending down next to the other. He honestly didn’t expect it to take so little effort.

“I’ve been awake,” Sungyeol revealed and he propped himself up on his elbows. “I’m a light sleeper. My eyes are just closed.” And they were still half-closed.

Sunggyu smiled until he realized what else that meant. Had Sungyeol overheard him and Dongwoo? “You’re awake?” he asked.

“Eung.” The dentist gave a short nod as he sat up and rubbed his eyes.

“Like really awake?”

Now Sungyeol’s eyes snapped open to their regular size. “Is there more than one kind of awake?” he challenged.

“How much of that did you hear?” Sunggyu asked cautiously.

Sungyeol yawned as he answered, “I’m a puppy, and you found the killer.”

Sunggyu sighed in relief. The dentist was only half-awake so he even if he had heard everything, he might’ve not understood it all. “Good,” he muttered and stood back up.

The dentist stood up along with him. “Can I go home? Jail isn’t fun anymore,” he commented as he gazed around the cell.

“Yea, Sungyeol-ssi. You’re free to go,” the detective replied and gave Sungyeol a couple of hearty slaps on his back, which the dentist did not appreciate if any of his groaning was an indication of it.

“Thank you, detective,” Sungyeol grumbled as he scurried out of the cell and away from the detective’s ‘abuses.’ He then noticed that the room was already buzzing with activity. “Officers! Good morning,” he greeted. But then his eyes widened as he noticed people congregating around a certain counter. “Oh coffee!” He turned back to Sunggyu. “Can I have some?”

“Sure,” Sunggyu gave in. “Help yourself.”

Sungyeol smiled broadly as he strutted up to the coffee counter. He carefully took the pot and poured it into a cup. But instead of putting the pot back onto the hotplate, he proceeded to walk out of the building with nearly a full pot of coffee in his hands. “Thank you,” he chirped as he walked by Sunggyu (who was stammering in disbelief).

But then he finally got his head together. “Yah! Lee Sungyeol!” he yelled as he chased after him. “Come back with that or I’ll throw you in jail again!”

After that night, Sunggyu and Sungyeol became a sort of friends, or at least Dongwoo thought so because he started to invite the dentist to come along with them whenever they went out to dinner. Or at least Dongwoo invited him the first time, but as the two had dinner at the same time and same place, maybe Sungyeol just started to show up on his own. Sunggyu didn’t mind. He thought he would, and he did at first when Sungyeol suddenly appeared and sat down next to him. However, Sunggyu was beginning to enjoy the dentist’s company. He didn’t feel so self-conscious about those dumb dentures in his mouth when he was with these two. After all, Dongwoo was his best friend and Sungyeol was the man who was trying to help Sunggyu get rid of the damned things once and for all. Maybe Sunggyu even liked Sungyeol for it.

He also liked that Sungyeol was surprisingly smart. The dentist had a wide range of interests. His knowledge base was vast, although shallow in some areas. Unfortunately one of the things that Sungyeol took a great interest in (for now) was crime, and he always pestered the other two to tell him more about their cases. Sunggyu didn’t think it to be right to divulge information to a ‘citizen,’ which Sungyeol took to be derogatory. How could he be just a ‘citizen’ to Sunggyu and Dongwoo? Well, that turned into a weird conversation about what a ‘citizen’ actually was and what a ‘citizen’ was allowed to know. And at the end of the conversation, Dongwoo ended up on Sungyeol’s side (against Sunggyu) and ended up telling him about the cold case. They still hadn’t figured out what the murder weapon was. The examiner shared photos of the fracture on his phone to the dentist, much to Sunggyu’s dismay (but at least Sungyeol promised to be ‘delicate’ about it).

“Oh, I’ve done this before,” Sungyeol muttered as he zoomed in on the photo.

“Huh?”

“Aish! No!” he quickly retracted. “I meant I made a mark like this before when I was trying to put up a shelf in my bedroom. That,” he gestured at the photo, “that is from the handle of a hammer. I can guarantee you. I bet my favorite drill on it and Sunggyu’s vitamins.”

“YAH!” Sunggyu had shouted at him and called him dumb again, but Sungyeol ultimately had the last laugh when the tests came back and it was, in fact, the handle of a hammer. They then found a hammer with a splintered handle in the shed of one of their suspects, which later tested positive for the victim’s blood. Case closed. Which left him to deal with an extremely smug Sungyeol, and the date for his second surgery was quickly approaching. Somehow Sunggyu, even after knowing more about the other, felt more nervous for this one than the first. He didn’t know if he didn’t want to inflate Sungyeol’s ego even more or if it was something else.

Whatever it was, his heart was racing in his chest as he sat in the waiting room.

“Hey, come on back.” Sunggyu looked up from his hands to Sungyeol looking smaller than ever with a vexed expression fixed on his face. Sunggyu cocked his head as he followed the other into the back rooms. This wasn’t the Sungyeol he’d expected to encounter today.

When the detective sat down in the chair, Sungyeol confessed what was on his mind (honest as always), “This might be a conflict of interests now.”

“Why?” Sunggyu asked, sitting up straight.

“Aren’t we friends?” the dentist quickly countered. He then dropped his gaze to the floor as he rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. His voice was small as he continued, “I might be compromised. I’m afraid that I’ll mess up, and…”

“You can do it,” Sunggyu cut him off. Sungyeol raised his head a bit. The detective stared him down, as strong as he could. “You’re a good dentist. Just stay calm.” He said this although his heart was racing and shaking in his own chest. But he wasn’t about to show how nervous he was. Sungyeol didn’t need that right now.

The dentist then took in a deep breath, closing his eyes, and let it out. “Okay. Let’s do this.”

The first thing that Sunggyu saw when he woke up were the dentures resting on the table, yet he could feel teeth with the front of his tongue. Dear god, I have teeth again! Hot, happy tears spilled down his cheeks.

“Are you in pain?”

Sunggyu turned his head. Dongwoo and Sungyeol were standing right next to him. He then felt a hand his head gently. Sungyeol turned to Dongwoo. “You know what to do, hyung. Take good care of him.”

“I will.”

Although he probably shouldn’t have for risk of injury his scars, Sunggyu couldn’t help but to smile and show off his new implants. He found himself smiling all the time, even when he was kicked in the shin by a rebellious teenager or walked by something foul-smelling. Nothing could wipe the smile off from his face.

“What’s up?” Except maybe a surprise visit to the station by his ‘favorite’ dentist.

Sunggyu frowned and tucked his lips in lest he be reprimanded for the other. “Why are you here?” he grumbled, pretending to be busy.

“Aren’t we getting lunch at the new place down the street?” Sungyeol revealed. Right, Dongwoo probably invited the dentist along to their lunch date like he’d been in the habit of doing recently. “But before we go. I have something that I want to ask.”

“What?” Sunggyu finally looked up from his papers.

“Did you ever think about just us getting dinner without Dongwoo?” Sungyeol asked.

Sunggyu quirked an eyebrow. “What? Like a date?” he spoke in a teasing tone.

“Yes.” And he didn’t expect to be taken seriously. “Like a date,” Sungyeol repeated. “Do you want to go out with me? On a date? I’m not your dentist anymore, so there’s no conflict there.”

The detective stared up at him blinking for one, two seconds. He pointed to himself with his pen. “You want to date me?”

“Yes, you,” Sungyeol retorted with a roll of his eyes. “You know, for a detective, you have horrible deduction skills.” He then looked down and picked at the papers on the other’s desk. “How could you not know that I liked you?” he asked with a light laugh, but then he got serious again. “And I thought you liked me too, but I guess…”

“I do,” Sunggyu cut him off. “I like you.”

The dentist raised his head. “How?” he challenged.

Sunggyu sighed. He liked putting others on the spot in the interrogation room, but he despised it when the tables turned. But it was high-time that he ‘fessed up and came clean. Sunggyu had almost convinced himself that he didn’t like Sungyeol with all the denials and thinking the match to be improper, but he still…he still couldn’t tear himself away from the other. He liked being with Sungyeol. He liked looking after him. He liked playing with him, talking with him. He just liked Sungyeol.

“I like you…like you think I do,” Sunggyu phrased awkwardly. He wasn’t too good with these sort of confessions. He then cleared his throat and added strength to his voice, “I want to go out with you.”

Sungyeol smiled, broader than Sunggyu had ever seen it before. All his teeth glistened. “Alright, then. Let’s date.”

“Aw look! The ert and Gyu-energy are going out. Cute.”

Sunggyu whipped his head around to glare at the rookie cop passing by. “Yah! Lee Sungjong! You better not tell anyone!”

The whole town found out within the day. Even the bus driver congratulated Sunggyu on the ‘match’ when he got on to go home. But even though he was the gossip of the town, the detective couldn’t care less. He smiled brightly and thanked the driver, and the smile didn’t fade for the rest of the night. The smile that Sungyeol helped him to get back (in more ways than one).

For the record, although Sunggyu liked one, he still hated going to the dentist.