Miles To Go Before I Sleep

The Many Faces Of Tooth

The Many Faces of Tooth

...

Jack smirked as he downed another glass of (non-alcoholic) eggnog, never once breaking eye contact with the small golden man on the other side of the table. Sandy matched his expression with an easy smile, happily sipping away at his own drink, never once falling behind. Jack was 80% sure the Sandman didn't actually have a stomach. He had a black hole. Or a garbage shoot. Maybe a portal to another dimension that was fed by the vast quantities of eggnog he drank. Who knew?

The elves standing on the sidelines passed Jack another glass and he gulped it down just as quickly as the last. How many had it been now? Seven? Maybe eight? He looked to the referee (an elf they'd found playing with a whistle). The 'elferee' held up both hands before looking confusedly down at them and adding a bunch of toes as well. Twelve. Not a bad score.

Except Sandy was on thirteen.

The Sandman gave him a knowing look that clearly read 'you can't beat me and we both know it', but Jack wasn't going to go down without a fight. He drank another glass.

By the time the score was an even twenty, Jack was starting to feel a bit queasy. Sandy snickered at the slightly sick look on the winter spirit's face, completely fine.

"You… are impossible," Jack told him, pointing.

Sandy smirked victoriously.

"Oh, no," Jack shook his head, taking another glass from the elves. "This isn't over yet."

"Oh, Jack, there you- are you okay?" Tooth asked, fluttering over to them, something glinting gold in her hand. "You look a bit pale… Well, paler than usual."

Jack forced himself to drink every drop of the eggnog in his hand as he turned to her. "I'm fine."

Sandy helpfully provided an image of someone getting kicked in the rear-end.

"You are not!" Jack frowned.

"What are you doing?" Tooth watched in bewilderment as Sandy grabbed another glass and leisurely took a sip.

"Drinking contest. We're trying to see who can drink the most eggnog."

Tooth blinked and let her gaze travel between the two who were still competing. "How many have you had?" she asked carefully.

The number twenty three appeared in gold sand above Sandy's head.

"And you?" she asked Jack.

"Twenty-" another glass, "four."

"You've had twenty four glasses of eggnog?!"

Sandy, completely immune to the horror she was expressing, finished another glass.

Jack groaned as he half-heartedly reached for another. He really wasn't feeling so good anymore. "Twenty five." When Sandy easily had another Jack glared at him. Curse me and my stubborn pride, he thought as he snatched up yet another glass.

Even the look of the seasonal beverage was enough to make his stomach churn now. He was pretty sure by the end of it he would never want to drink eggnog again. He managed to take all of one sip before he slammed the glass down and plonked his head down on the table.

"Sweet Tooth, are you okay?!" Tooth asked worriedly.

"I never want to drink eggnog again," Jack groaned. "You win, Sandy."

Sandy did a victory dance in his chair.

"Sandy!" Tooth snapped, quickly grabbing the short man's attention. "What were you thinking?! You know no one's immune to eggnog like you are!"

Sandy had the decency to look sheepish, but the glint in his eyes gave away his triumph.

"And now poor Jack's got a stomach ache, and–" Tooth cut herself off, switching targets and quickly transforming from mama bear to mother hen in less than a second. "You poor thing, you have a stomach ache, don't you?"

Jack just groaned.

"North might have something, but you'll probably just have to sleep it off," she said sadly, rubbing soothing circles on his back. "Maybe Sandy could knock you out for a while," she punctuated her words by glaring meaningfully at the spirit in question, ignoring his attempts to tell her it had been Jack's idea in the first place.

"I hope all that eggnog doesn't damage your teeth; you'd better make sure you brush properly before you sleep," Tooth told him sternly, rolling his head to the side and shoving open his mouth. Jack weakly protested but let her obsess as she willed. He wouldn't have been able to stop her, anyway.

Sandy nudged her, getting her attention and she quickly pulled away, smiling in embarrassment. The Sandman shook his head fondly and conjured a ball of dream sand.

"Sounds good," Jack told him. "Knock me out for a while. Do me a favour and throw me in the snow, too?"

Sandy nodded.

"Thanks. Oh, Tooth?"

"What is it, Jack?"

"What brings you here? You sounded like you wanted to tell me something."

"Oh," Tooth looked down at the golden canister still in her hand. "I wanted to give you something. We were sorting through some old teeth canisters and, well, we found this one," she held it up so Jack could see the little brunette girl's face on the end. "I don't need it anymore, but I thought you might want to hang on to it."

Jack's eyes widened at the familiar portrait, stomach ache temporarily forgotten. He switched his gaze between the canister and the fairy holding it, mouth open but unable to form any words. "…How…?"

"I'm the Tooth Fairy, Jack. It's my job to know teeth," she smiled sadly. "Why don't we do this when you're feeling a little better?"

Jack nodded, looking to Sandy expectantly. The Sandman easily did his job, petting Jack's hair comfortingly as he drifted off into a dream of two children skating happily on a frozen lake.

"I'm still not happy with you," Tooth whispered sternly as she and Sandy transported Jack outside on a dream sand platform. "If there is even a speck of plaque on those teeth I will personally smother you in toothpaste."

Sandy held up his hands defensively. It wasn't often he was on the receiving end of an angry Tooth and he was starting to remember why he tried to avoid it.

When they were gone, the elves looked from the door they'd left through to the remaining eggnog, then at each other before going back to the eggnog. Two contestants moved into position and the elferee blew his whistle.