“The patient is a what?!”
Alastair dropped the clipboard that he had been clutching tightly. His ears had clearly deceived him as he thought his new assistant had just proposed something preposterous.
“Your patient is a Giant, Sir.”
Staring across the room at his strangely non-panicked assistant, he tried to calm his own nerves and figure out what was going on.
“And... just why do I have a patient that’s a Giant?” Alastair enquired, the tone of his voice rising in conjunction with his disbelief.
“It was a part of the experimental Public Relations programme that you signed off on.” John answered with a shrug.
“A PR programme? I thought you were going to find me some patients! Like I’d do a crown here and a filling there. How the hell am I supposed to do dentistry work on a damned Giant?” Alastair exploded in exasperation.
John took out a few sheets of paper and ruffled through them before finally settling on one with a crumpled edge. Sliding it from the pile, he glanced at it again before presenting it to his boss.
“This is an invoice for hiring a crane for today, they said they did us a good deal on it. So we should probably be happy with that.”
Alastair just stared dumbly at his assistant.
“A Crane? How is a Crane going to help?!” Alastair snapped as he clenched his fist around the docket.
John shrugged his shoulders before answering.
“I guess you’d be lowered into the Giant’s mouth... and then, fix his teeth?”
Alastair just stood rigidly on one side of the office, his stare could only be described as threatening.
This however, did not dissuade John in the slightest who cheerfully finished the conversation with a bang.
“Well, it’s coming up to 10:00am, you should probably get moving as the appointment is any minute now. They’re waiting for you outside by the way.”
Alastair’s face went white at those words. There was a Giant outside his dentistry.
Looking out the window, he could see the biggest blue eye that he had ever witnessed, staring right at him.
Alastair braced himself as the ground started to shake erratically. His original thought was that there was potentially an earthquake that was happening, but logic told him that it was the Giant’s movements.
Putting on his best smile to hide his nervousness, he staggered through the door of his office and ventured out onto the street in front of his building. It was there that he identified the source of the shaking. It was indeed the Giant, but not exactly what he had been expecting.
There, in the middle of the road, was a titanic young man with sandy brown hair and what looked like a bit of stubble on his chin. His shoulders were quite broad which was only emphasised by his current posture. The Giant was sitting down, with his arms wrapped around his knees, shaking visibly and causing the surrounding area to vibrate.
“He-... Hello there!” Alastair stammered as he rushed out onto the street.
The Giant didn’t move, most likely because he couldn’t hear anything over the sound of his anxious heart which thundered erratically.
“Um... HELLO!” Alastair shouted as he waved his arms, which did nothing to attract his patient’s attention.
Looking around, the dentist could see numerous camera vans and some very curious bystanders all chattering away, thinking they were about to witness medical history. He wished they would all just leave, especially the Giant.
Finally, his eyes fell on his assistant. John. The one that made all this crap happen. Alastair gritted his teeth, an ironic habit he picked up over the years.
“My patient can’t hear me.”
John merely looked to the Dentist and then back to the Giant before clapping his fist onto his open palm. “I know just the thing to do!”
“I honest to God, hate you, John.” Alastair muttered to himself as the harness around his body constricted sharply as he was raised into the air. As the chain unravelled, Alastair started to rotate in the air, which rewarded him with severe nausea and a recurring sight of his patient, the crowd and the evil John in the controller area of the crane.
“AHHH” The Giant exclaimed in shock, bringing his hand up to shield his face from the surprise appearance of the dentist. It was two things he hated. Surprises and dentists.
Alastair was unceremoniously smacked by the panicked hand of his patient, which thankfully didn't hurt him too much. It did make him fly around in a circle though. Much to the entertainment of the crowd below.
Timothy felt terrible. He realised he had just hit the poor man out of reflex. What on earth was he going to think of him?!
“I’m so so sorry! Please, let me help!” Timothy said in a panic, his hands extending to embrace the tiny dentist, hoping to at least slow his rapid spiral movements on the crane.
“Please.... Make it... Stop...” Alastair pleaded with each rotation. He reached out to grab at the enormous hands that shook nervously under his body. It was almost as though the threateningly huge man was terrified of hurting him.
“Gotcha!” Timothy exclaimed excitedly as he managed to cup his hands around the tiny man, stopping the crane from swinging him around abruptly. This reaction was met with a large cheer from the crowd below, who had since abandoned the desire to witness anything historical. They simply enjoyed watching a big man catch a little man. John really did know how to assemble a crowd.
When the hands opened gently, Alastair leaned his arm on the crease of skin between Timothy’s thumb and finger. His hands were warm and the dentist couldn’t help but feel safe and reassured in his delicate embrace.
“Are you okay?” Timothy asked as he tilted his head, a sincere smile on his face. It seemed like his initial fear of the dentist had been replaced by a glowing concern born from worry.
“Yes, thank you...” Alastair began.
“Timothy, Sir.” The Giant man replied in a soft voice that belied his size.
“You don’t need to call me Sir, just Alastair will be fine.” The dentist said with a laugh.
“Okay Alastair, I like that name.” Timothy began, the corner of his lip started to twitch as though he was going to smile even wider. Alastair found himself staring at the face of the young man. His cheekbones were so well defined, he wanted to just run his hands over them to see if they were rigid to the touch.
It was in that moment, of Alastair staring fixedly on Timothy’s face, that he saw the contorted expression of pain that coursed through the young man. It started with a wince that caused his left eye to close, his mouth opened and his tongue immediately moved to where the pain was, almost as though it was trying to alleviate the discomfort.
“Root canal.” Alastair sighed quietly as he saw the moisture welling up in Timothy’s eyes from the pain.
Rolling up his sleeves, Alastair decided that it was time he got to work. He really wanted to help this young man. Not for the fact that he was a giant, or that it was potentially a business boosting publicity stunt. No, it was for the simple fact that there was a gentle boy, sitting in front of him, that was in pain that he could make go away.
“JOHN!” Alastair roared as he turned around to look down at the crane.
His assistant hung from the side of the window, his face completely alert as he waited for instruction.
“WE’RE GOING TO NEED ANESTHETIC!”
John grabbed the keys of the supply cupboard before hesitating.
“How much should I get?”
Alastair glanced back up and the shocked Timothy, the giant hadn’t expected the small man to have such a commanding voice. It was strangely settling for him to see someone so tiny being so commanding.
“ALL OF IT.” Alastair replied to his assistant, all the while keeping a reassuring smile affixed for his patient.
“Em... I...” Timothy started nervously.
“Have a fear of needles?” Alastair asked, his voice taking on a more gentle tone.
“Have a fear of machinery in my mouth... I know, it sounds stupid.” Timothy said, as the most adorable blush blossomed across his cheeks in embarrassment.
Alastair just laughed at the response.
“It’s not stupid at all, but fear not, there won’t be any machines going into your mouth.” Alastair said with a grin.
“Just me.”
Timothy couldn’t stop fidgeting, which only continued to confuse Alastair. He was so sure that he had built up enough rapport with the Giant boy, his nervousness had dissipated with the earlier conversation... but ever since he had mentioned going into his mouth, the gigantic man went bright red... refused to make eye contact and started sweating profusely.
“And you’re sure you’re alright?” Alastair asked again with an eyebrow raised.
“Yes... very much so. I just need a minute to compose myself. Sorry.” Timothy said, his voice taking on an almost husky voice, which he masked by clearing his throat.
“Okay then, well, don’t worry if you’re nervous about me being in your mouth. You’ll be so full of drugs, you won’t even remember a thing. You won’t even feel me in there!” Alastair explained reassuringly.
At those words, Timothy’s face turned sharply towards Alastair. “I’ll be out cold? I won’t feel you in there?”
“Correct!” Alastair replied in relief.
“Oh... well that won’t do I’m afraid.” Timothy began as he bit his lip. The redness from earlier came back into his cheeks and his heartbeat elevated drastically, to the point where everyone on the block could hear it.
Alastair remained quiet, wondering where Timothy was going with this. In the corner of his eye, he saw John had finished stacking up all the equipment he’d need at the base of the crane.
Timothy fidgeted some more as he smiled at Alastair, this time, it wasn’t a warm smile, there was almost a playful side to it.
“I’m allergic to anaesthetic, so I guess I’m going to have to be awake for the whole thing. For you to be in my mouth. I’m going to feel absolutely everything.” Timothy said aloud, his voice becoming almost a whisper by the end of his sentence. As though he couldn’t believe what he was saying.
Alastair completely misinterpreted the situation and felt terrible for the young man. Raising his voice once more he attempted to reassure him.
“Don’t worry! Even if I’m going to be in there, I don’t want you to be in discomfort. If it all gets too much for you... we can take breaks. I don’t mind having to be in there all day and night if needs be, so if that’s what is worrying you. Let me take care of it!”
Timothy just stared at the small dentist in front of him and felt his heart flutter momentarily.
“So... if I get scared when you’re in my mouth, how will I signal that I need to take a break?”
Alastair frowned as he tried to think of something.
“I’ll tip you with my tongue whenever I feel like we need to stop?” Timothy asked as he held his breath.
Alastair thought about it for a moment before smiling. “Yes, I think that could work! Good thinking, Timothy!”
Timothy was stunned, it had worked. The little dentist was going to go into his mouth and he wasn’t going to get in trouble for caressing him with his tongue. It was almost too good to be true. Now he wanted to just tease the little man, to see how far he could go with this.
“It’ll also be incredibly hot and humid in my mouth. I guess it would make sense for you not to wear the lab coat and your shirt in there... Especially seeing as you’ll be in there for so long.” Timothy ventured, not sure how he could try and sell the prospect to the dentist.
John and the crowd of gathered people simply stared dumbly at the Giant. He was completely taking advantage of Alastair.
“Goodness Timothy, you must think I’m some kind of idiot.” Alastair said with his arms crossed over his chest.
Timothy laughed as he spread out his free hand, whilst holding on delicately to Alastair with the other, “Can you blame a guy for trying?”
“How on earth did I not come up with that?! My clothes would have been ruined too if it wasn’t for your quick thinking!” Alastair shouted with a laugh as he started to disrobe until he was wearing nothing but his trousers.
“Now, I think we’ve wasted enough time. Open wide!” Alastair said with a grin.
Timothy just smiled in return at the tiny dentist before gingerly lowering him onto his awaiting tongue.