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Oz had been rubbing at his jaw all week.
Daphne noticed it on Monday and dismissed it, presuming that it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.
A couple of days later though, he was rubbing at it constantly, and he wasn’t eating anything.
“Oz.” She says, leaning across towards him. He looks up at her.
“Is something up with your jaw?”
He sighs.
“I don’t know…I think it may be my wisdom teeth? Can that still affect me when I’m this age?” His brow furrows.
“Oz.” Daphne says again, stopping him before he goes too far down another rabbit hole.
“Didn’t you ever get them out?” She asks. He shakes his head.
“Didn’t need to…ow….” Oz hisses and grabs his jaw again.
“Okay, yeah you need to call the dentist.” Daphne says. “In fact, do it right now.”
Oz is about to protest, but Daphne gives him a look. He rolls his eyes and stands up, grabbing his phone.
He returns a few minutes later.
“I have an appointment to check it out after work.” He says to Daphne.
“Good. Somebody needs to steal my lollipops, and you can’t do it with a broken mouth.”
Oz rolls his eyes, and Daphne smirks at him, before turning back to her paperwork, hearing his soft chuckle.
That night, Daphne is watching some trashy reality show, when her phone rings.
She picks it up and sees Oz’s name.
“Hey.” She says into the phone.
“Hi.” He says.
“I have to have my wisdom teeth out.” Oz hesitates. “They were able to get me in right away because someone cancelled their appointment, so it’s tomorrow morning at 9.”
“Would you…be willing to drive me from it? The dentist mentioned that I should have someone do it because of the anaesthetic…I know that you’d have to miss work and stuff and it’s sorta last minute, but I’ll explain it to Soto….”
“Yes, Oz, I’ll drive you.” Daphne laughs. “Who knows maybe you’ll say something I can use in the future.”
He groans.
“I’m staring to have second thoughts.”
“See you tomorrow!” Daphne calls into the phone, and hangs up.
The next morning, Daphne pulls up to Oz’s apartment at 8:30. He’s waiting outside, and waves when he sees her.
“You ready?” Daphne asks as he gets into her car.
“As ready as I can be.” He gives her a grin.
They head to the dentists, and Oz turns to Daphne.
“Don’t uh…if I come out of the dentists out of it…just ignore me.”
Daphne smirks.
“Hmm okay.”
“And no filming.” Oz practically begs her.
“Awww I was going to send it to your mom.”
This causes Oz to sit up straighter.
“Oh please no.” He says, eyes wide.
Daphne laughs.
“Relax. I’ve got you.”
Oz visibly relaxes a little at this.
“I know. Sorry…I think I’m a little freaked out by this whole thing. I hate the dentist.”
Daphne grimaces sympathetically.
“I know.” She sighs. “It’ll be done with soon.”
They reach the dentist and head in. The waiting room is quiet, only an older couple sitting on one of the benches.
Oz’s leg bounces where he sits. It doesn’t seem to stop when the dentist comes out, calling his name. It doesn’t even stop when he stands up, leaving his jacket with Daphne. He’s bouncing on his feet, even as he walks off with a last look at Daphne.
Daphne sits in the waiting room, messaging Morgan about some details on a recent case. She may not be physically at work, but she still felt a little anxious to help out.
After around 40 minutes, Daphne has started to explore some of the magazines on the table in front of her. She opens up one about the various types of braces you can get, and is just squinting at the benefits of retainers, when the door opens.
She looks up and has to stifle her laugh.
Oz is being lead out gently by the arm. His cheeks are puffy and stuffed with gauze, and he’s blinking about dazedly.
Daphne stands up, and the nurse smiles at her.
“Are you here with Lev?” She asks.
Daphne nods, his first name not sounding familiar on her ears. The nurse smiles at her again.
“Everything went well. He may be a little loopy for a few hours from the medicine but he should be fine.” She hands Daphne a small pack of papers.
“Here’s some aftercare instructions. No straws, try to have soups and soft foods for the next few days, try to sleep a little elevated or not laying on his side.”
Oz is still blinking blearily about, and Daphne chuckles. She thanks the nurse and gently takes Oz’s hand.
He looks at her, smiling widely when he focuses properly on her.
“Daph!” He slurs.
“Hello.” She smiles, and gently leads him out of the office.
Oz squints when they get outside, immediately drifting towards the park near the dentist.
“Oz….”
“I want to…sit in the grass.” He protests. “It looks soft.”
“We can sit in the grass later.” Daphne offers. “Maybe try the car first?”
He seems to follow Daphne without much protest. She has to physically help him get in and put his seatbelt on, all the while he smiles at her.
“What’s in my mouth?” Oz asks as they start driving.
“Gauze.” Daphne answers as he pokes at his cheeks.
“Mmmmm….”
Daphne can see him smile widely again, out of the corner of her eye.
“You know…why I became a detective?” He slurs.
“Why?”
“Because! I wanted…to help people….but alsooo….” Oz drags out the words. “I wanted to pretend I had cool powerssss…like spider-man!”
Daphne loses a laugh at this.
“Cool powers like spider-man?”
“Yeah!” Oz says, excitement dripping from his voice.
“I wanted to…fight crime!”
Daphne laughs a little more at that, but she has to admit, it was sweet how he explained it.
“You have a nice laugh.” Oz observes, and Daphne feels her cheeks heating up.
“You do too.” She says, causing him to smile.
“Really?”
Daphne nods causing him to laugh himself.
The car goes quiet, when Oz breaks it.
“You knowww….” He starts, and then seemingly goes quiet.
“Yeah?” Daphne asks.
“Hmm?” He hums and Daphne chuckles.
“You were saying something?”
“Was I?” Oz’s brow furrows, and then snaps back up. “Oh! Can I have a popsicle?”
Daphne blinks at the request, but nods.
“Sure.”
Oz laughs again and Daphne glances at him.
“You are so out of it.” She smirks.
She ends up pulling into a parking lot of a grocery store, and running inside to grab the popsicles. Oz is thrilled when she returns with them, and immediately requests a red one, and goes on to talk about how gross the orange ones were.
A few minutes later, both are happily eating popsicles. Oz has gotten rid of his gauze but Daphne decides that it’s been long enough that it’ll be fine. She has also opted to grab a popsicle, a purple one.
Her phone buzzes and she grabs it out of her pocket. It’s Karadec.
Hey, we know you’re with Oz, but there’s a witness down here who’s asking for you? She refuses to speak to anyone else. We could use your help if you have a spare minute?
Daphne sighs.
I’ll be right there.
“Hey Oz?” She asks. He looks up at her immediately, smile returning, red popsicle still in hand.
“Daphhh.” He drags her name out.
“Do you mind if we head to work for a bit? They need me to do something.”
Oz’s eyes immediately light up.
“Yes!! I wanna see…Morgan annnddd Karadec annndd Soto!!” He says excitedly.
Daphne smiles.
“Alright then.”
They head to the precinct, and Daphne has to help Oz out of the car again. He’s tripping over his own feet, and has the box of popsicles close to his chest. His cheeks are still puffy, and he’s grinning around at everything. From an outsiders point of view, it looks like Daphne’s just arrested him for drug use or something.
They get up to their floor and into their office, and Morgan grins when she sees Oz.
“Morgannnn!” He slurs.
Morgan chuckles.
“Hi bud.” She turns to Daphne.
“They’ve got him on the good stuff, huh?”
Daphne nods.
Karadec comes over. Oz immediately launches into a hug from him, which Karadec awkwardly returns.
“Hi Oz. Good to see the procedure went well.” He says politely.
“Daphne, the witness is through in interrogation room 1.”
Daphne glances at Morgan.
“Could you….”
“Yes.” She says immediately, gently nudging Oz and beckoning him to follow her.
Daphne heads off with Karadec.
With Daphne there, the witness talks easily, claiming that she’s the only one that they trusts in the precinct. Daphne takes a note of the witnesses claims and passes it down to Karadec, who looks incredibly grateful, and thanks her profusely.
Daphne returns to the office to see Oz and Morgan sitting talking. He’s animatedly discussing something with her while Morgan nods and asks questions. It’s a cute scene, and Daphne can’t help but smile at it.
As soon as she approaches though, Oz’s face lights up and he gives her a huge smile.
“Daph!” He says happily.
“Hey.” She grins at him. “Ready to go home?”
Oz nods and offers Morgan a goodbye hug, which she returns. Daphne mouths a thank you and Morgan waves a hand.
The drive back to Oz’s place is quiet. The medication is finally starting to wear off a little, and he leans his head against the window.
Daphne thinks he’s fallen asleep, but when the car stops, she turns to him to find him sitting up, eyes open.
“My mouth hurts.” He says, voice sounding clearer than it has in awhile.
“That checks out.” Daphne says.
She gets out of the car and moves to open his door for him.
They walk up to his flat, and Oz fumbles with the key before Daphne helps him, unlocking the door.
She drops his stuff on his counter and directs him to change into something comfier. He returns back wearing a hoodie and pyjama bottoms, hair messed up.
Then, Daphne sets him up on the couch. He sits down and she drapes a blanket over him, making sure that he was comfortable. He grins at her the whole time.
“Can I have another popsicle?” He asks earnestly.
“Sure.” Daphne says. She grabs him one (making sure it’s not orange) and sits beside him on the couch.
They sit shoulder to shoulder, the only noise being the sound of Oz eating his popsicle.
He’s swaying slightly towards her, and Daphne lets him lean on her.
When the quiet goes on for too long, Daphne glances at him and sees Oz asleep, popsicle nearly falling out of his hand, head tilted towards his chest.
She chuckles, and whips out her phone, taking a couple pictures. She’d appreciate them later. He wouldn’t, but she would.
Carefully, she takes care of the melting popsicle in his hand, and tucks the blanket in tighter.
He sleeps for about half an hour before he stirs, blinking and sitting up fully.
“Hey.” Daphne says softly.
“Hi.” His eyes are clearer and he looks right at her.
“My mouth.” He closes his eyes, screwing them up in pain.
Daphne rubs his arm sympathetically.
“How long has it been?” Oz asks, his eyes opening back up.
Daphne glances at her watch.
“Couple of hours. We had to make a quick pit stop at work.”
Oz’s eyes widen.
“That wasn’t a dream?”
Daphne can’t help but smile a little.
“Nope.”
“So you’re saying…I interacted with my coworkers…my bosses…while being severely out of it?” He asks, eyes widening even more.
Daphne nods and he groans, falling back into the couch.
“God please tell me I didn’t do anything stupid.”
Daphne considers.
“Well, you were very into hugging. Even went for one from Karadec.”
This makes Oz groan even more, hands going over his face.
“And in the car with me you were just smiling a lot. You told me you became a detective because you wanted to pretend you had cool powers like Spider-Man?”
Oz’s face flushes as he looks at her.
“I was…talking nonsense.”
“Uh huh.” Daphne grins at him as he turns redder.
“You were also very adamant on getting a popsicle. Not an orange one though.” She adds.
Oz glances down at his hands and sees the sticky juice all over them. He sighs again.
“Sorry that you had to deal with me like that.” He says sheepishly. “And thank you, for making sure I was safe and stuff. I can pay you back for the popsicles.”
“Don’t be stupid. I’ve got it.” Daphne says. She shushes him when he tries to protest.
He closes his eyes, leaning back against the couch.
“Try and get some rest.” Daphne says, giving him a smile. Oz smiles back.
“Thank you really though, Daph.” He says earnestly. Daphne gives him a gentle shove.
“Once again, it was nothing.” She chuckles but then meets his eyes.
“Anytime.”