in this damn world // l.s.

in this damn world

Louis did not like dentists.

He never had— he didn't like the way the dentist poked around in his mouth, he didn't like the sharp, pointy tools they used on him, and he didn't like how he could always taste a little blood in his mouth after every visit. He wasn't exactly terrified of dentists per se, but he still absolutely hated going.

Was it irrational and, frankly, sort of dumb that a twenty-something year old man didn't like the dentist's? Maybe. Did Louis care? No.

His fear wasn't much of an issue, anyway. Admittedly, it had been more of an issue when he was younger, when he wasn't too good at taking proper care of his teeth and his mother had to drag him, crying, to the dentist's to take care of his not-so-clean teeth. But now he was an adult, and he brushed his teeth properly, he used his mouthwash, he flossed, and there was no real need for him to go to the dentist's, save for maybe a checkup once a year. And Louis only agreed to going to those checkups because Harry insisted on them (also because Harry had promised to do Louis' chores for a week after every dentist checkup).

Recently, though, something had been bothering Louis. Namely, there was a throbbing, intense pain at the back of his mouth that simply would not leave him alone. It had made him especially crabby for the past couple of days, and although Louis secretly had his sinking suspicions on what was causing the pain, he'd never admit to it, he'd never admit that—

"Your wisdom teeth are coming in, we need to go to the dentist's so she can take a look at it and maybe we'll get them removed."

"My wisdom teeth are not coming in!" Louis snapped at his husband, who he was cuddling with on the couch. At their feet lay Clifford, their dog, who was taking a little nap. "And I am not going to the dentist's."

"Baby, I know you're scared but you've got to go. You've been rubbing your cheek so much, it obviously hurts a lot," Harry said gently, removing Louis' hand from where it had been massaging his jaw. Fuck, Louis hadn't even realized he'd been doing it, and now he'd just been proving Harry's point.

"I... I don't wanna go." Louis slipped his hand out of Harry's and folded his arms, his plump bottom lip sticking out. "Dentists are dumb."

"C'mon, honey, I'll do your chores for a week after you go!"

"No."

"Two weeks!"

"No."

"Why not? You're always okay with going to the dentist's if I do your chores."

"That's different, Hazza," Louis grumbled. "Those are just checkups. If I do actually need to get my wisdom teeth removed, they're gonna... they're gonna have to dig my teeth out of there." Louis shivered at the thought.

"It's not that bad, they'll give you anesthesia and you won't even feel it, Lou."

"Ugh. Anesthesia. I'm going to be loopy for the whole day and say weird shit and you're going to film it and send it to everyone I know."

"I mean... I won't send the video to everyone."

"Aha!" Louis jumped up, inadvertently waking Clifford up, and pointed a finger at Harry. "So you acknowledge you are going to film me!"

"It would be funny!" Harry insisted, pushing Louis' finger away and slipping his arms around Louis again so he could pull him back onto the couch. "Shh, you woke Cliffy. But I won't film you if you don't want me to, and you probably won't be crazy high or anything, just a bit disorientated. Come on, boo, just go to the dentist's. Who knows, maybe you don't have to get your teeth removed."