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For Jenny Penny, who asked.

Teeth
by Hetre Z

One of the orcs almost got his front teeth knocked out at Helm's Deep, so they're taking a break while his face gets looked to. Orlando sits by the wall and thinks about white, wet things, about the way his teeth grow like trees in his mouth. He could chop them down, but he doesn't want to. He asks, "Did you get any teeth out?"

"Just two," Viggo says. "It didn't really hurt."

Orlando says, "Eighteen stitches," and sticks a finger in his mouth. He speaks around it. "They caught on my teeth all the time. I couldn't talk or they'd pull apart."

Viggo says, "Sounds like a drag."

"It wasn't so much. I kept asking for haggis and knotted bread, to be difficult." He remembers how the inside of his mouth tasted dirty and thick, like the ocean.

He wishes Viggo had been there, licking his stitches and saying I don't care I don't care at the taste of blood in his mouth. Or the time he had chicken pox and tried to make rude gestures with the mittens on. Viggo might have taken pictures of his own hands and given them to Orlando to wave around.

Viggo grins, and Orlando watches his teeth, how slimy they look. If he kissed Viggo, Viggo would taste clean and maybe a little salty.

Orlando's still got his finger in his mouth when Peter calls them back for filming. Viggo reaches down to help him up and Orlando forgets to wipe his hand off before grabbing Viggo's and standing up. He stumbles a little, walking back up the wall, and doesn't stop running his tongue over his teeth until the fighting starts again and he near bites it off.