Plenty of chatter echoed around the hallway as Lillia’s css headed to a distant er of the school he nurse’s offices. Lillia spotted Ko Matora looking her way as soon as they were in line. She inched closer to the friends, which happeo be Oka, Kalei, aa. Lillia figured if she could work her way into the versation, she wouldn’t have to worry being ered by Ko again. The css stopped at a closed door, and the teacher that led them there told them to wait as they finished getting the maes ready inside.

  “It’s only once every two months, Zates,” Kalei said.

  “OK, but, no,” Zeta said. “I’m n to think this is scary. They just said they’re ‘getting the maes prepped and loaded.’ Are you kidding me?”

  “Pfft,” Kalei said. “It’s like going to the dentist.”

  “Going to the dentist is very scary!” Zeta said. “Oka, back me up.”

  “Zeta, have you been brushing and flossing enough?” Oka asked.

  “I think you’d find out pretty quick if she hadn’t,” Kalei said. “Bad breath when you’re kissing and junk.”

  “I brush and floss plenty!” Zeta said. "Right, Oka?"

  "Brushing yes, but I've seen you skip flossing..." Oka said.

  “Just pretend you never do, and you really his ing to make sure your breath isn’t rank so you kiss Oka again.” Kalei said.

  This was starting to bee a problem for Lillia. Ko was getting closer to her, and she was finding no way into the versation. If she wasn’t talking to anyone, Ko might pull her aside, and Lillia was ionally or mentally prepped for that to happen again, especially with more friends nearby.

  “It’s just like a professional buff job,” Kalei said. “Like that buffer thing they do at the dentist. But for i.”

  “But ’t I just go to the regur dentist for that?” Zeta asked.

  Lillia softly gasped, finally finding an opening into the versation.

  “The deep maes also protect the i power within our fangs,” Lillia said, maybe a bit too quickly for the others tister it. “A regur dentist ing wouldn’t be able to se the unseen, powers or void reted energies.”

  “See?” Kalei said. “Thanks, Lillia.”

  Lillia nodded, grateful that she’d bought herself enough time saying that to ward off any potentially frightening Ko Matora enters, as the door opened and a teacher gestured for everyoo e inside. Lillia only that specific teacher, Mrs. Junea, at events like this. No one was entirely sure what csses she taught, but her assertive personality made her a good fit for direg the traffic of a group of i girls. Lillia had expected her older sister Ly to be anizing this as she was one of the school’s nurses, but the nature of the maes meant they didn’t necessarily have to have someoh a more official medical or dental background w on it.

  Once everyone was iively spacious room, Mrs. Junea waved towards the maes, which looked like the devices used for eye exams, but with a bright purple colored rubbery mouth grip, and a vat of a minty looking substaached with a tube.

  “Alright girls,” Mrs. Junea said, patting the mae o her. “These beasts are pretty self-expnato up to em, tighterap around your head, but not too tightly. Once yood there, cmp your fangs down oey part, thehe big blue button. Then you hold tight until it’s all dohen you spit in that little side cup and press the blue button again, that’ll repce that purple part, so then you don’t have to share your saliva and whatnot with the person.”

  Lillia wi Junea’s crude phrasing as the teacher looked around the css. “We only have six maes, so everyo in lines of I dunno, how many are there? About twenty or so?”

  Junea made everyone wait as she ted all the students present.

  “Twenty-six,” Junea said. “Huh. So…about four or five together? The sooner we ahis the quicker we’ll all get through this. Oh, and the far left one is the Kanibari one so all the Kanibari go over there. That throws all the numbering off, but you guys figure it out, I don’t know.”

  Lillia began to panic again. She didn’t dare look around and catch Ko looking her way as well; sihe i at the theater, she’d been caught staring Ko’s way multiple times, and each time gave Lillia a series of fusing, flig emotions. Lillia thought about telling Oka about Ko. She knew she probably should soon, but she was still processing how she felt about her in general. She wao be certain where she was emotionally at before burdening Oka with that. On top of that, she didn’t want to seem wishy washy regarding her feelings for Naomi, which were much less muddied and much more focused.

  “I don’t wanna go first!” Zeta yelled, snapping Lillia out of her thoughts.

  “Oh, quit being a baby,” Kalei said. “You go first so you get this over with. I don’t care about the rest of the order, but I want you first because yonna be really annoying otherwise moaning and g for however long this takes.”

  “I’ll go sed,” Oka said. “That way I be supportive of you, Zeta!”

  Zeta seemed relieved enough about that to actually go first.

  “Cool, then I guess I’ll go after,” Kalei said. “If you’re cool with that Lillia. And then you and Ko figure out who gets to go first.”

  “Me and…?” Lillia said, turning to see Ko Matora directly behind her, immediately way too close.

  “Didn’t want to be on the same mae as Kai?” Kalei asked.

  “I don’t want my geous mouth anywhere near anything she bites on,” Ko said. “Lest I catch her various gum diseases.”

  “I don’t think that’s…how gum diseases work.” Lillia said.

  Zeta sat down on the chair behind the mae. It took a bit for her to get her head strapped in, which immediately looked unfortable for how far she had to e her neck forward to get close to the part of the device she had to bite.

  “So I just…bite—” Zeta started.

  “Yes,” Kalei said. “Junea just expi. Bite doress the blue button.”

  “Wao get it for you?” Oka asked.

  “Er…yeah.” Zeta said. “On…three, please?”

  Zeta bit down.

  “Alright, one…” Oka said. Kalei rushed in front of her and pressed the button. “Hey!”

  The maes wereraordinarily loud when they were going. All six maes going at once sounded about as loud as a single vacuum er. Zeta remained mostly still as the ing mae got to work on her fangs, but still had some nervous jerks bad forth, mostly with her tail.

  Lillia didn’t want to turn around again, because she knew Ko was still incredibly close to her. She took so that the maes were too loud for Ko to start a versation with her.

  What if she tries something, though? What if she attempts to approach me physically, wordlessly? And here of all pces?

  Just as Lillia started to imagine a pretty detailed sario of just that, Zeta’s fang ing mae whirred down. She practically ripped the head strap off and stood up to feel her face. “Should my fangs feel as tingling-y and kinda maybe sore?” She asked. “Is this a problem? How soon I eat again? Hang on, I o check 3WMB for this…” Zeta got her pho and frantically started searg.

  “Maybe stay long enough for Oka to finish so she leave with you.” Kalei said.

  “Or…you two both…stay the duration, perhaps?” Lillia said. With Oka gone, Lillia would lose her main social defense. With Zeta leaving as well, the ces for Ko to find more room to talk to her would be higher.

  “Kalei, quit telling us what to do,” Oka said. “Saying what group we o be in, what order we go in, it’s getting me a bit miffed. And potentially PO’d.”

  “One of us has to, or we’re gonna sit here forever debating really pointless stuff.” Kalei said. “Remember the ba egg breakfast sandwit?”

  Oka pondered for a moment. “…alright, good point.” she said. “How are you doing, Zeta?”

  “Do we have to stay here after we finish?” Zeta asked, sounding on the verge of tears. “My fangs are still tingling…”

  “If you have to cry, I won’t bme you,” Oka said as she strapped herself in. “But try to hold it until I’m done so I be there to sole you.”

  "I'll try..." Zeta said.

  While Oka was getting her fangs ed, there was some otion in a er of the room. Laenie was in full Exa beast form, ging to the ceiling, shivering. Aira tried to teleport up and pull her down, but kept getting swatted away.

  “She must’ve gotten spooked!” Mrs. Junea yelled. “I’ll get the hook, y’all just keep going!”

  Junea power walked off as the round of maes finished.

  “No teacher…” Ko said, her voice sounding like she stood maybe a timeter behind Lillia.

  Lillia refused to let her see any kind of rea to Ko’s breath on her neck, even though part of her wao.

  “Whoa, they do feel weird,” Oka said, rising from the mae. She immediately looked to Zeta. “Oh, Zeta’s…g.”

  Oka rushed to fort her girlfriend, rubbing her shoulders gently. “She’s g. I’m gon her somewhere not here. She’s g.”

  “N-no…” Lillia whispered, watg her defense slip away as Oka led Zeta out of the room. Once more she realized she had to tell Oka soon, because if Oka had known about her situation she wouldn't have left as hastily. Kalei climbed into the chair , and even though the round of fang ing made a versation difficult, Ko was still standing incredibly close.

  Does no one else notice this? Why couldn’t someone else join our line?

  Most of the rest of the css were either chatting with each other or watg the er where Laenie had been successfully pulled down with a big pool hook by Mrs. Junea, but was still in her Exa form, rolled up into a ball to prevent having her fangs ed.

  Lillia’s fingers interced. She tried desperately to think about anything else, but an image wormed into her mind that she couldn’t ward off. The image of Ko suddenly ing her arms around Lillia’s waist, quietly holding her while no one else in the room noticed. Lillia shut her eyes as she imagined Ko’s breath on her neck again, leaning closer, holdiighter irong, athletic arms, whispering softly…

  “You wanna go first, or should I?” Ko asked in Lillia’s imagination. “Will I catch you staring if I go first?”

  “Lillia?” Kalei asked.

  “What?” Lillia said. “Huh? What? Huh?”

  Kalei was already up from the mae, looking her way. “You’re up, dude.”

  “Oh,” Lillia said. “Of course.”

  Lillia cleared her throat and sat down, pressing the blue button to repce the mouthpiece that Kalei fot to do.

  “Er…sorry.” Kalei said.

  Lillia looked back to Kalei before strapping her head in. At first, she thought Kalei ologizing for not repg the mouth guard, but she gave a quice between Ko and Lillia before leaving. A strange, almretful look.

  That’s strange, Lillia thought, making a mental o iigate that ter.

  Lillia’s fang i without i, even though the whole time she had to actively resist the daydream of Ko Matora suddenly holding onto her. She thought she felt fiips on her back, gently massaging her, but guessed afterwards that it was just a muscle twitch. She got ready to bolt out of the room, but Ko stopped her. She wasn’t standing as close now at least.

  “Hey Lillia,” Ko said. “Let me see how they look.”

  It took Lillia a sed to realize Ko wao see her fangs. She obliged, a slight smile that showed them.

  “Stunning,” Ko said. “I think I’m feeling a bit like Zeta…”

  “How…so?” Lillia asked, hating that she felt immediately and intensely flustered. Her freshly scrubbed fangs feeling off didn’t help her already mushed feeling mouth.

  “I’m feeling a bit scared by all this,” Ko said, tilting her head to the side. “Could you stay a bit and help me out?”

  “I…suppose, that is, if…” Lillia said.

  What is happening?

  “Hmmm,” Ko said. “You know what would make me feel a lot better? You might think it’s a little weird…” Lillia didn’t answer, so Ko tinued. “Could you…brush your hands through my hair? Just my ponytail, you know? That’ll calm me down.”

  As Ko got ready in the mae, Lillia screamed internally as she for some reason moved to stand behind Ko, staring at her ponytail. Ko couldn’t look back with her head strapped in. Lillia knew she could just run away. Even a brisk walk would get her out of this. Still, her right hand reached out and begaly petting Ko’s hair. Even as the mae started and shook Ko around a bit, Lillia tio rub her hand down Ko’s smooth hair. When it finished, Lillia took a step back as Ko practically leapt to her feet.

  “Thanks,” Ko said. “Let’s do that again sometime.”

  Ko wi her a. Lillia at some point wandered out of the room as well, something she didn’t notitil she had pletely left the building. She was too busy staring at the hand that stroked Ko Matora’s hair.

  What. Is. HAPPENING?