Chapter 2 – Frozen

Peter knew he had to run home as fast as he could. He had never seen such clouds, but he knew they meant nothing good. But it was already too late. After the leaving the forest he was confronted with a massive snow storm. He felt the wind on his body and he was cooling down rapidly. The snow flakes increased this effect. It felt like thousand needles were hitting his body. Peter realized that his life was at danger and needed to return home as soon as possible.

When he was almost at home he saw a tiny red light in the fields near to his home. He realized that it was the back light of a bicycle. He knew he had to go home as soon possible, but he had to check the bicycle light first. Maybe someone else was in danger.

He soon realized this was true. Near to the bicycle a girl was lying on the ground and freezing as hell. Peter touched her and she was not responding to him. He took out his phone for an emergency call. He knew this girl needed help as soon as possible. He dialed 112, but he could not reach the emergency service. The storm had already taken down most of the infrastructure. So Peter had to help this girl on his own.

Peter knew he was only around 400 meters away from his home. So he decided to lift her body onto the bicycle. He managed to seat her onto the saddle. It was a huge struggle, but he could keep her on the bike and he also managed to push the bike to his house. This was the one of the hardest tasks Peter had ever performed in his life. He knew he had to do it and found some undiscovered strength caused by this emergency situation. He had not ever felt such a life-threatening situation. He had to safe his live and the live of the unknown girl.

He reached his house and opened the door of his home. The girl still did not respond to him. But to his relieve she was still breathing. Another attempt to reach 112 failed. He had to find a way to safe the girl on his own.

Peter lifted the girl onto his shoulders. He could barely hold her. He walked with her to his bedroom and placed her into his bed. He covered her into his blanket. The girl was still not responding. He realized, that he to do something more. He turned on the heating in his bedroom to the maximum level. Peter also found his sleeping back and he was covering her with it too.

After what seemed to be ages the girl responded to Peter. She was slowly coming to consciousness and Peter told her how he found her in the snow storm. She thanked Peter for rescuing him, but fell asleep soon after that.

She finally woke up and thanked Peter again for his help. Peter helped her to change her cloths. He had given her some of his casual cloths. The cloths fitted her surprisingly well.

Good start! I think we can see where things might be going for Lynn! Can’t wait to read more 

Excellent start! Great to have someone new writing.

Chapter 4 – Theme park

Lynn picked Peter up on the next morning. They were starting very early to fit Lynn’s appointment in. She had a red sports car and she was driving like a race driver. And Peter loved it.

“I have to tell you about my appointment. And something more about me.”, Lynn said, “I had a bike crash about a year ago. A car hit me and I was seriously injured. The doctors had to fight for my life.”. “So the appointment is related to your crash?”, Peter asked. Lynn answered, “Yes, I broke my jaw during the accident. And it took a while for my jaw to heal. You have probably noticed my crooked teeth, that is a consequence of the accident. And I have a problem with my bite, that needs to be fixed. So I am getting braces today.”.

“So you are taking a boy to a theme park and later to braces appointment. That is a strange combination.”, Peter jokingly said. Lynn laughed, “You are right. I hope you don’t mind. There is a shopping mall near the office. You can go there if you want. And sorry for that, if it were not for Covid I would have arranged it differently.”. Peter told her that it didn’t matter. He was looking forward to the theme park visit. He was simply happy to spent the day with Lynn.

They arrived at the theme park and the park was about to open. They had plenty of time to explore the complete park.

As soon as they had entered the park, Peter and Lynn made a beeline for the roller coaster. They both loved thrill rides, and they were eager to experience the newest addition to the park's lineup. After waiting in line for a few minutes, they finally got on the ride and held on tight as it whipped them around twists and turns at high speeds.

After the roller coaster, Peter and Lynn decided to take a break from the thrills and explore some of the park's other attractions. They wandered through the different themed areas, taking in all of the sights and sounds along the way. They even stopped by the carousel, where they reminisced about their childhood memories of riding horses on merry-go-rounds.
As the day wore on, Peter and Lynn found themselves drawn to the water rides. They splashed around in the wave pool, trying to catch each other with giant foam balls. Then they hopped onto a log flume ride, where they screamed and laughed as they zoomed down the rapids.

Finally, as the sun began to set, Peter and Lynn made their way to the park's Ferris wheel. They climbed aboard and enjoyed the stunning views of the surrounding area from high above. As they rode the wheel, they talked about all of the fun they had had throughout the day and made plans for their next visit to the theme park. Although they knew that it would take some time before they would be able to go there again.

Overall, Peter and Lynn had a fantastic time at the theme park. They laughed, screamed, and had plenty of thrills along the way. It was a perfect day for two people who loved adventure and excitement.

They were driving in the car to Lynn’s appointment when Lynn said, “I have to tell you something. I am not only getting braces, I am also an orthodontist my self. I have opened my business four months ago.”. Peter joked, “So, I can watch an orthodontist getting braces. I do not want to miss that opportunity.”. Lynn said, “You can come to my appointment, if you want.”. Peter laughed, “I do not like shopping malls. I will support you during your braces installation.”.

Lynn looked at Peter and slowly moved her head towards him. Then she started to kiss him. Peter could feel her soft lips and her tongue which tried to explore his mouth. He liked what she was doing. He barely knew her, but he already felt so connected to her. Peter really wanted to be her boyfriend. He loved how she looked, how she talked, her hair, her soft lips, he loved just everything about her. After a while their kiss broke and Peter said, “I love you.”. “I love too.”, Lynn said and gave him another kiss.

Chapter 6 – Driving home

Finally they were driving home with Lynn’s car. Peter again enjoyed her race driver like driving style. Well he liked everything about her – his new girlfriend.

Peter looked at her, “Back in the office, you said something really nice. You called me your boyfriend. I really liked the sound of that word. I hope I can call you my girlfriend.”. Lynn smiled her braces on full display, “Thank you, Peter. I would love to be your girlfriend. Would you like to be my boyfriend?”. Peter smiled wide, “Yes, I want to be your boyfriend.”.
He gave her a kiss on her left cheek, trying not disturb her while driving the car. Although he felt the urge to kiss her on her lips. This was maybe the best day in his life. He remembered how he met her just yesterday. How the news about a Covid lockdown had pissed him off. About the storm that had threatened his and her life. And how something that started so bad had turned into something good.

Lynn interrupted his thoughts, “Boyfriend, would you like to come to my place? I can show you my apartment and maybe we can drink a beer together.”. Peter hadn’t expected this after their first date. Or was this really a date at all. They had been to a theme park and later she had gotten braces. This did not sound like a date. After this dramatic pause he said, ”Yes, I would like to have a beer with you.”. Lynn felt relieved, she had hoped that he would join her for the evening.

They entered Lynn’s apartment above her office and Lynn guided him to the kitchen. She took two fresh cold beers from the fridge and gave him one. Then she toasted with him and took a big gulp from her beer. It was her first beer with braces and she had a bit of a drool as her lips were off the bottle. She hoped Peter had not noticed and decided to drink extra carefully. She usually advised her patients to eat ice cream after having their braces fitted, but she realised that the cold beer would have the same effect on the temperature activated archwires.

“Peter, are you hungry? Shall we order a pizza? “, Lynn asked. Peter said, “I am starving. I would love a pizza.”. Lynn ordered the pizza from her favorite delivery service. Then she gave Peter a tour of her apartment. The apartment was not large, but Peter loved the style. The tour ended when the delivery man rang the doorbell.

Lynn told Peter that they could eat the pizza on the couch and watch some TV. The pizza was delicious and they both realized that they had not eaten much during the day. They started by watching the news on the TV. The news was mostly about the upcoming Covid lockdown and some information about the new Covid variant. They decided to watch a comedy from Lynn’s favorite streaming platform that neither of them had seen before.

The comedy also had a love story. And during the first love scene, they moved closer to each other. Lynn put her arm around Peter and put her head on his shoulder. Peter loved being so close to Lynn feeling her warm body against his. After the usual happy ending Peter took the opportunity to kiss her. The kiss lasted for a long time and Lynn guided Peter’s hands to explore more parts of her body. The kissing continued for a while, but both agreed not to go any further at least not today.

Lynn ran her tongue around her braces and she realized that she had not brushed her teeth after dinner, "Sorry, Peter. I didn't brush my teeth. That must be disgusting with all the food stuck in my braces. Peter smiled at her, “No, Lynn kissing you was wonderful. And there is no food stuck in your braces at all. You did a good job eating.”.

So far, Lynn had not felt any pain from her braces. But later that evening she noticed some pressure on her teeth, “I am starting to feel some pain from my braces. Maybe we should brush our teeth and go to bed. And you should stay here after the beer. I do not want you to drive home intoxicated.”. Peter was not drunk after just one beer, but he loved to stay overnight with her, “Yeah, maybe you are right. I better not drive anymore.”.

It was the first time Lynn had ever brushed her teeth with braces on. She had shown many of her patients how to brush, but it was different to do it with her own braces. Peter watched her as she brushed her teeth, and he wondered what it would be like to have braces on his teeth. He did not like the idea. He did not care that Lynn wore braces. In fact, he had enjoyed kissing her with braces, but he did not want them for himself.

They went to bed together. But except for some cuddling and kissing, nothing happened. Soon they both fell asleep.

Chapter 8 – The next day

The next day was a Saturday so Lynn was able to sleep a little bit longer. She woke up at 9 o’clock and felt quite relaxed. She hadn’t slept so long for ages. Usually she was busy either working at her new office or going out to discover the city. Going to the city was pointless now with the Covid lockdown in place. So this was a perfect excuse to have a relaxed Saturday morning.

However she had some mixed feelings about the last days. She had met Peter her new boyfriend. He was just an amazing guy and she was looking forward to increase their relationship. On the downside were her braces. She really hated having them as a consequence of her bicycle crash. It was so unfair in her opinion, she had had perfect teeth and now she was wearing those braces. As orthodontist she should have a more supportive view on braces, but she had only gotten those crooked teeth from the accident and this felt so unfair.

She also noticed the downsides of braces. She felt the pain they were causing and tooth brushing seemed to take ages. What really annoyed her was the slight lisp they were causing. She wanted to appear professional to her patients and her staff. Having this lisp was not what she wanted. Damn it, she really hated that car driver.

Later that morning she calmed down and was thinking about Peter. Peter her lovely boyfriend with the slightly crooked teeth. She wanted to be with him and was looking forward meeting him later that day. Thinking about Peter made her really happy. He had saved her life, but it was not what attracted her to him. Peter was just her dream boy. He had a perfect body and it was just fun to be with him. She decided to move their relationship to the next level beyond kissing. Other parts of his body had to be explored.

There was another thing, which she wanted to discuss with Peter. His crooked teeth would benefit from braces and she wanted to offer him a free treatment. As an orthodontist she wanted to have a boyfriend with perfect teeth and his teeth were far from perfect. He had downplayed her first attempt, but she decided not give up.

Thinking about her feeling towards her own braces this felt odd. However he would look so much better with braces and later straight teeth. Lynn decided not to give up. The idea of having braces would have to slowly sink into his mind. She had to make a plan and finally he would have braces. The braces he needed and she so desperately wanted him to have.
Peter used the Saturday morning to clean his house. He wanted to present his house in a perfect shape to Lynn. And some parts of the house deserved a thorough cleaning. Just when he was finished with cleaning the doorbell rang. On the other side of the door was Lynn, the girl that had called him boyfriend.

After opening the door Lynn started to kiss him immediately. First she only touched his lips. This followed by her tongue exploring his mouth. It all felt so wonderful. He hadn’t been with a girl, that was so passionate. Later his tongue explored her mouth with her newly acquired braces.

After the kiss broke Lynn said, “Oh, Peter I wanted to kiss you so badly.”. Peter said with a blink, “I didn’t notice that.”. This was followed by another kissing scene.
Lynn decided to go further. She guided him to the bedroom. Peter was dragged on the bed and Lynn started to cuddle with him. Different parts of his body were explored by her warm hands. Peter liked what she was doing and his body responded to her touching him. Soon lots of cloths were lying on the bedroom floor. Peter had thought about using a condom, but the rest of the evening was pure love.

In the next chapter we will learn why Peter downplayed the idea of braces so quickly. And let's see if Lynn can change his mind.

Thanks for your feedback, firesonga. I try to keep the story as interesting as possible. There will be a new chapter quite soon.

Chapter 11 – Lynn’s first adjustment

Their relationship has grown over the past few weeks. They spent most of their nights either at Peter’s or in Lynn’s place. The Covid restrictions severly limited their weekend activities. So most weekends they cooked together and watched TV. Their outside activities were limited to short walks or bike rides. Nothing exciting, but as a fresh couple they enjoyed being together.

Soon Lynn’s first braces appointment was coming up. As Lynn was very busy during the week, Steve had offered her a weekend appointment. It was Steve’s day off, but he had offered it as friendly gesture.

Peter needed some spare parts for his bike and there was a bike shop near Steve’s office. So they had decided, that Peter would accompany Lynn to her appointment. Of course they also liked the idea of spending some time together.

Lynn had again discovered here race driver gen and the trip was quite enjoyable for Peter. Lynn somehow avoided to get any speeding tickets. Peter thought she most have a natural detection system for speed traps. Soon they arrived near Steve’s office and the bike shop.

After putting on their masks they both went into the shop. Peter loved walking through bike shops. There was always some new bike technology to discover and he could dream of buying a shiny new bike one day. Lynn didn’t share Peter’s liking, but she was loved to see him happy.

During Covid lots of people had discovered cycling so the shop was quite busy. This had led to some shortages of bicycle parts. But, Peter was lucky and bought the parts he needed, brake pads and a chain for his road bike.

After leaving the shop they both took off their masks as a group of teenagers passed by. One of them saw the chain and Lynn’s braces and made a joke about Peter not needing a chain as his girl already had one in her mouth. It was an old and rather lame joke, but Peter didn’t liked he idea of his girlfriend being humiliated by some random teenage boy. He had to fight the urge to hit the teenager with his fist. Lynn saw the anger in Peter face and gave him a look that told him that she would handle the situation.

Lynn walked over to the teenager who had made the joke and looked him straight in the eye, “You know, I am an orthodontist  and you desperately need braces. I wouldn’t make a joke about braces if I were you.”. The boy decided to leave the scene and his group followed him. One of the teenagers gave Lynn an almost invisible thumbs up sign.

Peter looked at Lynn and said, “Wow, you handled that guy really well. I wanted to punch him.”. Lynn said, “I think he will never make a joke about people with braces again. That was a lesson for him. But now let’s go to my appointment.”. Peter thought about having his own braces and being humiliated by strangers. He didn’t like the thought at all.
After this encounter they both went to Steve’s office. Lynn thanked him for the weekend appointment, “Thank you so much, Steve. I am very busy at my office and your offer helps me a lot.”. Steve smiled, “No problem, please come in.”.

Lynn sat in the treatment chair and Steve looked at her mouth. He mumbled something and looked as if he was deliberately rethinking her whole treatment. Finally he said, “The accident did more damage than I expected. I think we should add some rubber bands to your treatment. I hope this will help, but we may need to think about some additional appliances.”. Lynn said, “I was expecting you to say that. Just try the rubber bands and let us hope for some progress.”. Steve added, “And I will also give you a stronger wire, too. We started with a very soft wire. Hopefully the new wire will help your progress too.”.

Peter was instructed to remove Lynn’s archwires while Steve collected new wires from his supply. With her wires removed, Lynn took the opportunity to brush and floss her teeth. Later the new archwires were placed by Steve with Peter’s assistance.

Steve invited Peter to watch the placement of Lynn’s rubber bands. This way Peter would be able to help Lynn with her bands. He also said, “Peter, I know you have a job in IT, but I would hire you as an assistant in a heartbeat. You really have a talent for this.”. Peter looked a little bit puzzled and simply said, “OK, if my job in IT does not work out, I will consider your job offer.”.

Upon leaving Steve’s office a boy approached them. It was the boy who had given Lynn the thumbs up gesture. He looked very shy, but smiled at Lynn revealing a full set of metal braces. He said in a low voice, “Sorry to ambush you, but he does this to me every time. He compares my braces to train tracks or snow chains. I hate it when he does that.”. Lynn said, “No need to apologise. Nobody should have to go through that, just because they wear braces.”.

The boy now looked more confident and asked, “Does he really need braces?”. Lynn now understood why the boy had been waiting for her. He wanted to be sure that his bully also needed braces and she replied, “He definitely needs braces. A rough estimate would be two years with fixed braces including a palatal expander.”. A smile broke out on the boy’s face.

Now the boy said thinking of revenge, “His mother is my guitar teacher. Maybe one day I can lead a conversation towards my braces. And I will accidentally drop the question of whether her son needs braces too. I like this plan.”. The boy was now smiling all over. Lynn tried to steer him in a more sensible direction, “You should talk to him and tell him how you feel. Tell him how much he hurts you. If he understands, then maybe he will stop bullying you.”. The boy said, “Thank you so much. You have made my day. I will try both plans.”. Then he walked away with the happiest face Lynn had seen in a long time.

Back in Lynn’s flat Peter explored her new rubber bands. He even helped her to change them after her first meal with them. Peter said, “I really like the colour of your new rubber bands. Blue has always been my favorite colour. I hope they don’t cause you any pain.”. Lynn replied, “I was expecting to get rubber bands. They will cause a little pain, but nothing to worry about. I am more worried about the stronger wire. I am expecting some serious pain from that.”.

Great story! Please keep going and thank you for sharing with us. 

Chapter 13 – Home office

Peter woke up early the next morning. His jaw was in severe pain. He jumped out of bed and went to the bathroom. In the bathroom he took of his braces and put them into his braces case. This was just a great relief and he looked at his teeth in the mirror. Was the pain really worth it? He could not tell.

Lynn followed him into the bathroom and said, “You did a great job. You were wearing your appliance for 12 hours at a row. It is normal, that you are in pain. We should have started with shorter break in periods.”. Peter nodded and gave her a kiss.

They had breakfast together. As usual they had prepared muesli with a lot of fresh fruit. After that Lynn had to go her office as she was already a little bit late. And she was not completely satisified with Peter’s treatment. She had finally put him into braces, but only removable braces. What she really wanted was him getting fixed braces. She had to work on that part. Peter did not knew it, but he would get fixed braces period.

Peter went home and started working in his home office. The amount of work had gradually decreased due to the current Covid lockdown, but still there was something to be done. After two hours of working he realized that no one would see his braces. So he put them back in.
He took them out for the occasional Skype calls. But kept them in for the rest of his working day. He decided to practice talking with his braces in. So he started to read his E-mails aloud. He had a terrible lisp. He couldn’t remember that his braces as child had caused such a massive lisp. During the day he noticed some minor improvements. But still a long way to go.

Another pain point was saliva. His appliances caused a massive build up of saliva in his mouth. And he constantly had to swallow. Glad he was home alone. Otherwise the constant sound of swallowing would be quite annoying for anyone who had to listen.

He still had to take out his appliances for some time. The pain was killing him otherwise. Aside from that home office was helping him a lot.

Chapter 15 – Bored

Peter was getting used to his removable braces over the next weeks. He was able to get a lot of wear time. And when he told Lynn about his 20 hour wear time she was really impressed. If only she could manage to deal with her rubber bands.

The Covid pandemic continued and Peters workload decreased rapidly. This gave him a lot of free time which in normal days he would spend doing something interesting. But for the Lockdown everything was closed. So Peter got rather bored sitting at home not being able to do anything beside his occasional jogging in the woods.

To fight his boredom he started to visit Lynn in her office during daytime. Lynn was still able to work normally. There were only minor restrictions in place for orthodontists. Like wearing masks and keeping the waiting room as empty as possible.

When he was at Lynn’s office he chatted a lot with Ann the receptionist and her assistant Zara. Ann was a very good looking girl with blond hair and Peter enjoyed talking to her. She still had to wear her retainers after the active phase of her treatment. Those retainers gave her a slight lisp. Peter thought that her lisp sounded cute.

Of course Peter wore his braces. Being in an orthodontist's office, it felt almost normal for him to wear them. And of course it helped that he had to wear a mask all the time. No one really saw his braces. The only thing that was noticeable to an experienced braces wearer was his slight lisp. Although his speech improved over the days and talking to Lynn's staff helped a lot.

While Ann was only twenty years old, Zara was in her mid-thirties. She was married with two children. Zara had been an assistant in the previous owner's office and was very experienced. So when Peter was in the office, she often gave him something to do. He would clean some instruments or handle the deliveries that came into the office. They received all kinds of deliveries like new brackets, wires, headgear and removable appliances from an outside lab.

During these visits, Lynn was always very busy. So Peter only saw her for very short periods of time. Apart from that, they both appreciated his visits. And of course they would meet at Lynn's apartment afterwards.

Chapter 17 – Dinner with Lynn

Peter could hear Lynn coming upstairs. He decided to open the door for her. Immediately after opening the door Lynn almost jumped in Peter’s directed. She started to kiss him intensively. She used her tongue to explore his mouth. Peter liked what she was doing. And he started to explore her mouth with his tongue. He could feel the brackets on her teeth. Soon after that he discovered that playing with her rubber bands was quite enjoyable.

Still playing with her rubber bands he accidentally released one from the hook on her braces. The band hit his tongue and Lynn’s lip. Both started to laugh. Lynn look at him, “You have to put it in again. Just use the same hooks as on the other side.”. She gave him a fresh rubber band from her pocket. Peter took it and without much problems he managed to put the new band on the hooks. Lynn then took another band from her bag and replaced the one the other side too.

After that they kissed each other on the lips and Lynn turned to Peter, “Oh, you made me so horny down in my office. I was getting really aroused when you were lying in the chair. It was really hard to hide it from you and the others in the office.”. Then she took Peter and guided him to her bedroom. This was followed by a rather intense workout.

“Wow, this was a nice dinner.”, a still naked Peter said. After some more cuddling Peter looked at Lynn with a more serious look on his face and said, “What was this talking about fixed braces? You know that I do not want them.”. Lynn was a little perplexed by the sudden change of topic, but answered “I am aware of this. From a treatment perspective you would be requiring a fixed appliance. It would be so much easier to achieve a good treatment result. But of course I will respect your wishes.”. And then she gave Peter a short kiss on his forehead. Peter then said “You just shocked me. I will wear my braces as instructed. But please do not make me wear fixed braces. I can cope with this treatment, but I am not sure if I can handle fixed braces given my bad experience with treatment in the past.”. Lynn nodded, “Understood, lets continue your treatment and see were it is going.”.

After this discussion in the bedroom they finally had the dinner Peter had already prepared hours ago. Following dinner they went to the bedroom again and this time for sleeping. Of course they cleaned their teeth and braces before going to bed.

I can tell you - she is working on that. And she won't give up easily.

Chapter 19 – Rubber bands

Both woke up quite early on the next morning. They had plenty of time before they had to start their working day. Peter began to massage Lynn’s body. During their relationship he had learned about her most sensitive parts. Lynn found it very satisfying when he did this to her. And soon she was feeling very aroused. And she realized that Peter was feeling the same. She whispered in his ear “Take me.”. And Peter took her.

Peter was studying her face and especially those lovely rubber bands. He looked at her and said “Is it possible to wear rubber bands with removable braces?”. Lynn realized this was her chance, rubber bands were his weak spot. Lynn chose her words carefully, “With your type of braces it is not possible. There is nothing in your mouth that can hold the rubber band. The rubber band would just pull the braces off your teeth.”.

Peter looked a little bit disappointed, but Lynn continued, “If rubber bands are needed for a patient with removable braces then there are options available. We could use metal bands on the patients molars. The bands can be equipped with hooks to hold a rubber band. The other option is to attach small buttons on the patients teeth. Those buttons then can be used to hook the rubber bands. Why are you asking?”.

“I was just curious how those rubber bands would feel in my mouth. You know I have never had them. And they look fabulous on your braces.”. Lynn said, “Open your mouth for me.”. And she looked into his mouth, “Now bite down for me. And open it again.”. She thoroughly inspected his teeth and then said, “Well, your bite could benefit from rubber bands. I just didn’t consider this, because you didn’t wanted fixed appliances. We can add them if you want. Those buttons are also available for ceramic braces. So they are nearly invisible.”. Peter looked alarmed, “I was just curious. Lets get up. You have to go to your office and I have an important Skype call in two hours.”.

They had breakfast together. During breakfast Lynn said, “If you consider rubber bands, I would have to take X-rays of your teeth again. I have to check the roots of your teeth. So you can come down to my office after breakfast and we can at least take X-rays. You can still decide to skip the rubber bands.”. After some hesitation Peter agreed on the X-rays.

Lynn was still working on her plan to get him braces. She thought it might be a good idea to take these X-rays. She imagined that his subconscious would see them as a first step towards permanent braces. Fixed braces for Peter now were only one step away. A picture of him with metal brackets appeared in her mind, and he looked so handsome with them.
The x-rays didn't take very long. So Peter had plenty of time to go home and make his Skype call. During the morning he could hardly concentrate on his work. He considered the possibility of wearing those lovely rubber bands. He was almost aroused by the thought of Lynn putting rubber bands on his teeth.

And he wanted to find out more about those buttons. So he browsed the internet for information about those buttons Lynn had talked about. He discovered that they were mostly used with aligners. It took a long time to find a picture of a boy wearing rubber bands together with his type of removable braces. Probably the rubber bands could interfere with other parts of the appliance, making it difficult to combine them with removable braces. Looking at his braces, he realized that either the labial bow or the adam clasps could be in the way of the rubber bands. Or that the buttons could block the appliances from being inserted at all.

When he looked at the boy, he dreamed of wearing them with his braces. He dreamed of playing with them the way he had played with Lynn's rubber bands. Moving his tongue around them and feeling them in his mouth. But then he noticed that those buttons were still visible even when he was not wearing the rubber bands. This hit him very hard. No, he didn't want to be seen with braces in public. He could not stand the humiliation. No, he would not accept Lynn's offer.

Peter decided to skip the rubber bands and continue with his treatment. Then he thought about his current treatment and realized that he had forgotten to turn the screws on his braces. He was already two days late. He went to the bathroom, took out his appliances and turned all six screws. And then he put them back in. This time he felt a lot of tension coming from his braces. Yesterday's short wear might have caused a small relapse. He made a mental note to wear them as long as possible.

Take as much time as you need. Writing is not about how fast you can put out chapters, it is about taking the time to write good-quality stories you are happy to post.

Chapter 21 – The next weeks

During the next week both of them followed their normal life. Lynn worked hard in her office and she acquired more patients. Peter was sitting in his home office and sometimes dreaming about having rubber bands. But he always backed of when he imagined wearing them in public. And he turned the screws on his braces as instructed always feeling the tension it caused.

The newly acquired patients had increased Lynn’s workload dramatically. So Peter often went to her office to help her out. He gathered more experience over the next weeks. And he become sort of Lynn’s second assistant. He showed patients how to brush their teeth, how to hook rubber bands or put in their headgear.

Brushing teeth was an easy one as he had watched Lynn brushing her teeth very often. Same with the rubber bands, he had done it several times on Lynn’s braces. So he could show the patients how to hook them either with their fingers or with a special tool. Of course he liked the part about the rubber bands. And when needed he practiced the different rubber band patterns on Lynn’s braces.

Learning how to insert headgear took a little bit longer. Lynn had some teeth models with braces and the tubes required for headgear. She showed him how the facebow had to be put into to the tubes on the patients molar band. Training on a real patient also turned out to be an easy task as Lynn revealed that she had standard molar bands including the required tubes. Both of them had fun while trying different types of headgears. They practiced with cervical, high pull and even combination types. Especially the high pull looked gorgeous on Lynn.

Peter had his next checkup appointment for his braces. The appointment went straight forward. Lynn checked the fit of his braces and did some adjustments. She told him to continue turning the screws once a week. And she told him again how much better his treatment would be with fixed braces.

Sitting together at the dinner after his appointment Peter asked, “Do you really think I need fixed braces or are you trying to tease me?” “No, I am not teasing you. You will get a good treatment result with your current treatment. It is just that you could get a better result with fixed braces,” Lynn replied. Peter did not say anything for two minutes, simply looking at his plate. He then said “I am not saying that I want to, but how about this finishing treatment phase Steve had suggested?”

“Well, we would keep your appliances for the next 10 months. Then we would switch to fixed braces for at least 3 months. And then some hawley retainers. Fixed braces would be for your upper and lower jaw. And of course rubber bands for the finishing touch,” Lynn replied. “Understood, what about those expanders Steve had talked about?” Peter said while dreaming about rubber bands. Lynn replied, “I don’t think you will need expanders. We are expanding your jaw with your current appliances. What you might need is a device that would prevent your molars from rotating. This device is called a Trans-Palatal Arch.”

Peter said, “OK, I will think about that. But why do you think fixed braces would do a better job? Your treatment isn’t going that well with them.” Lynn was surprised that he agreed to think about fixed braces and not so happy that he had mentioned her treatment, “You are sort of right. My treatment is really going very slow. Much slower than I have expected. I have to admit, that I am constantly thinking about some other treatment options.” Peter said, “So how does it feel being an orthodontist with braces?” She replied, “At first I was afraid about that, but braces are so common in orthodontist offices. I do not think that anyone cares about them. But what really scared me is the speed of my treatment. I do not want to have braces and rubber bands forever.” Peter initiated a kiss and explored the parts of her braces he so much adored and then said, “I like your braces and bands. About what other treatment options are you thinking?”.

“To be honest, there are not many available options. Some people tried the speedup by applying vibration to the teeth or using lasers on the gums. But no study could show a significant improvement. I had the idea to use headgear. My hope was that by moving my molars back this would give my other teeth some space to start moving. But I do no think this will work,” Lynn said. “That does not sound promising. Any other options?” Peter asked. “My favorite is using removable braces as an addition to the fixed ones. The appliances would by similar to yours, but with no labial bow. Those braces may add some pressure to my teeth and cause the speedup. I have to talk to Steve about this,” she said. “Maybe, you are just too impatient.”, Peter said.

The discussion went on for a while. Later they began to kiss. And the day ended in the bedroom. Lynn may have crooked teeth, but other parts of her body are fully functional.

Chapter 23 – Final preparations

The anticipation of the upcoming trip to Mallorca continued to grow. They had agreed to have a braces tightening before the trip. Lynn had decided to attend her appointment during normal office hours. She hoped that this would help Steve to behave. Lynn received a new archwire from Steve, who informed her that her teeth had finally begun to move. On the not so happy side, she was fitted with more rubber bands, now wearing two on each side in a triangle configuration.

Peter’s adjustment was arranged two days prior to their trip. Peter was the last patient on that day. Ann and Zara had already left the office. Lynn was inspecting Peter’s teeth and adjusting his braces like usual. She again remarked him about the excellent compliance, but this time forgot to mention fixed braces.

They were interrupted by the door bell. Lynn noticed it was her sales representative Charles. The guy that had sold her the 3D scanner and supplied her with most of her orthodontic supplies. She decided to let him in.

Lynn took Charles and his huge trolley case to the treatment room. She introduced him to her partner Peter. Charles very enthusiastically started to talk about new products of his company. He offered her some discounts on her supplies. And at the end he said, “Lynn, I have to show you something. This is an exciting new product of our company and you can be our premiere customer. You know indirect bonding technique? Well of course you do. We have improved this even further. Our new product perfectly integrates with our 3D scanner. A software will help you to 3D print the tray for the indirect bonding. And the bonding tray already includes slots for the brackets at the correct position.”

Lynn said, “That sounds interesting. Do you have something to show to me?”. Charles then took a bonding tray with brackets out of this trolley. Then he said, “I can give you a live demo. You will be impressed by the speed of our product. And most of the work can be done by your assistant. Saving you valuable time and money.”

Charles then placed more stuff on Lynn’s table. A laptop, a 3D printer, a scanner and a tray of metal brackets. He showed Lynn the software program they had developed and then said, “We will need a patient for this demo. Peter may I scan your teeth?” Peter thought, “Oh, not again,” but agreed on the scan.

Charles quickly performed the scan on Peter’s teeth. Slowly a picture of Peter’s teeth appeared on the screen. The software had already placed brackets on all of Peter’s teeth, except for the wisdom teeth. Charles explained, “Look, the software has already calculated the ideal position for brackets. You can adjust the position if needed.” Lynn moved two brackets a tiny bit, but was satisfied with the suggestion by the software. This was indeed a very good software and easy to use.

Charles pressed the print button. In almost no time the 3D printer had prepared the indirect bonding trays for Peter’s upper and lower jaw. He said, “Lynn, see those slots on the tray. They are at the position we have selected for the brackets.” He then showed her how to place the brackets on the bonding tray. The tray for the lower jaw was prepared by Lynn. Peter and Lynn were impressed by this demo. Lynn could imagine how this product could help her business.

After the demo Charles said, “Just give me a call if you are interested in buying this. As a premiere customer you will get a discount. And you can keep the trays and the models to show it to your staff.” Then Charles left the office leaving Peter and Lynn alone.

Lynn turned to Peter and said, “Oh, Peter what a fantastic opportunity for you. You can try fixed braces for free and given our trip to Mallorca no one will see you wearing them.” Peter turned pale white and didn’t say a word. Lynn told him that she could start now and promised to remove them in two weeks. And she added that he could wear rubber bands too. Peter was still breathing heavily but also looking on the trays with the brackets. Lynn tried to calm him down by massaging his shoulders.

Finally the heavy breathing stopped and Peter said, “OK, now or never. But you have to promise to remove them in two weeks.” Lynn said, “I promise. You should brush your teeth and floss. This will be a lot harder for the next weeks.”

Peter walked to the sink and brushed his teeth. After that he gave them an intense flossing. Meanwhile Lynn prepared the tools for the braces installation. Peter was slightly shaking, but managed to climb on the treatment chair.

Lynn inserted a lip-spreader into his mouth. Then she started by applying an etching agent to Peter’s teeth. She rinsed the agent off by using a tool similar to a water toothbrush. The next step was to apply the bonding agent on the teeth. Then she placed the tray on Peter’s jaw starting with the lower jaw. She then used an UV Light to secure the brackets.
Peter had always wondered if getting braces was painful. So far he wasn’t feeling any pain. The procedure was quite comfortable. The lip-spreader caused some minor discomfort, mostly because Peter wasn’t used having his mouth open for such a long time.

“You can have colors with these brackets. Which color do you want? If you want a discrete color I would suggest gray, but I would love to use dark blue,” Lynn said. Peter still overwhelmed by this situation replied, “Go with dark blue.” Soon after that Peter was wearing metal braces with an archwire secured by dark blue elastics. “That is enough for today. I will give you your rubber bands tomorrow,” Lynn added.

Various contradictory thoughts went through Peter head. He had gotten fixed braces which he never had wanted. He thought about how humiliated he would feel wearing braces as an adult. But he could get rubber bands and play with them. What a lovely prospect it was. And it was only for two weeks and no one he knew would see him wearing these. He started to run his tongue on his newly installed braces. Feeling the brackets and the archwire was a strange feeling. He could also feel the hooks for the rubber bands.

Lynn gave him a hand mirror so he could see his braces and said, "They look really good on you. You will love them." Peter looked in the mirror. At first he kept his mouth closed while he looked into the mirror. The braces gave him slightly larger lips. Then he slowly opened his mouth and saw the braces for the first time. They looked like normal braces, and Peter thought he could live with them for the next two weeks. And he was a little worried about having them as an adult.

Lynn saw this worried look on his face and she tried to change the topic, “Have you seen my new rubber bands yet? I now have to wear four of them. Do you want to have a look?” They exchanged places. Lynn was lying in the chair and Peter was exploring those new rubber bands. First he stared at them from different angles. Then he started to touch them with his fingers. This caused a tingling sensation building up into his body. He commenced by kissing her softly. The intensity of their kisses increased and he joined her on the chair. Soon there were cloths lying all over the floor and the treatment chair was used for something it was never intended for.

Both had to prepare stuff for their trip to Mallorca. So Peter went home to his house and it was decided to meet on the next evening. On his way home Peter kept his mouth closed and tried to avoid any person.

At home, he packed everything for the trip. He had to add various items to his luggage: cycling clothes, swimming suits, hiking shoes, and cloths for two weeks. And then he thought about tooth cleaning. He decided to ask Lynn for some special tools. He would need a softer toothbrush and something for flossing around his braces. Life had suddenly become more complicated.

Then he noticed that he had to eat something. He hadn't prepared any soft food, so he had to eat what was there. He decided to take some bread and cut it into little pieces. It took him a lot of time to eat his small meal, always trying not to hit the brackets. Eating wasn't painful at all; only the amount of time it took felt annoying.

He soon realized that he had caused a massive mess onto his braces. Food was hanging all over his brackets and archwire. Cleaning was inevitable. He went to the bathroom and cleaned his teeth. However, his flossing tools turned out to be rather impractical for his braces. He really had to ask Lynn for a proper tool.

Peter took a close look at his braces in the mirror. He had medium sized metal brackets on all his teeth. There was a wire running through all the brackets and the wire was secured by dark blue elastics. And he could noticed that the wire was not running straight through his brackets. The wire was slightly twisting and turning. He had never realized that his teeth were that crooked.

Soon after that, he could feel the tension from his braces rising. He elected to go to bed early. Hopefully, he would fall asleep before the real pain would kick in.

Lynn finally got Peter in brackets. He'll learn that they are not so bad after all.

Chapter 24 – Rubber bands

Lynn woke up feeling massive pain from her teeth. Her hole jaw was sore. She never had felt so much pain coming from her braces. She concluded that the new stronger wire and the rubber bands were doing their job. She wouldn’t be able to have breakfast this morning. Instead she voted to drink some milk from fridge. This also was bad idea as the cold milk caused even more pain on her already sore jaw. Brushing her teeth was very painful too, she almost could not touch her brackets with the toothbrush. Actually she should be happy as her teeth had finally started to move, but she wasn’t happy at all. She wondered how Peter might feel.

Lynn was also proud of her accomplishments. She had gotten Peter into fixed braces. A goal she had wanted to accomplish. And finally it had happened. It just felt so good to have finally achieved that goal. And he would look so good with his braces and even better when the treatment was over. Of course, the next goal was to extend that two-week period.

To Peter's astonishment, he found that he was able to sleep through the night. As he awoke, he initially believed that his dreams of receiving braces had been nothing more than figments of his imagination. However, upon running his tongue over his teeth, he discovered that they were indeed real metal braces. As Peter fully woke up, he could also feel the intense pain emanating from his teeth. The removable braces he had been wearing never seemed to cause him as much discomfort as his new braces. He couldn't help but think about Lynn and how she had convinced him to get braces in the first place. He wondered if she had used a particularly strong wire that was causing his pain. Little did Peter know, Lynn was also experiencing the same level of discomfort at that very moment, as her own braces were proving to be just as uncomfortable as his.

Unlike Lynn, Peter was able to eat some breakfast albeit at a very slow pace due to the discomfort caused by his braces. Brushing his teeth was another challenge as he had to be careful not to touch his brackets too hard. After looking at himself in the mirror, Peter couldn't help but feel embarrassed and ashamed of wearing braces. He saw a grown up man with braces, no-one would take him seriously. All this happened because he wanted to wear rubber bands, which he was scared of wearing in public. Peter felt like an idiot for making such a decision and wished he had his removable braces back or even better, no braces at all.

Then Peter received a text message from Lynn, "Hope you're doing well with your new braces! Mine are killing me right now. Damn rubber bands, damn thicker wire!" Reading this made him laugh because he realized that he was not the only one experiencing problems. And after all, it was Lynn who had convinced him to get braces in the first place. Peter texted back, "Managed to eat something and brush my teeth, but they feel very strange." He didn't know why he hadn't told her about the pain. Maybe because he wanted to appear as a strong man or maybe he wanted Lynn to be the only one in pain from her perspective. She replied, "Great! See you at five in my office. I'm really looking forward to our trip!" Peter simply gave her a thumb up emoji.

Peter then began his work, which included finishing a lot of routine tasks and two Skype calls. He wondered if his clients could hear his lisp as he hadn't checked how he sounded with his braces. Would they be able to tell that he was wearing them? And of course, he didn't turn on his webcam so that they wouldn't see him wearing braces. These braces were just an experiment for two weeks. He wouldn’t be able to explain why he got them for such a short time.

Peter knew he wasn't the only adult wearing them. In fact, he had seen many in Lynn's office. However, that only helped him a little, because he was still the one who wore them and had to deal with all the discomfort that came with them.

Lynn had a more or less routine day, but the pain from her braces was still quite intense. She took a painkiller to help alleviate some of the discomfort and it did make a difference. Normally, she was against using pills, but this time it was necessary. The longer she wore her braces the more she could feel for her patients. She hadn’t thought much about what her patients were experiencing during treatment. They needed treatment and she provided it. She began to realize that this was an arrogant point of view. Maybe her own treatment would make her a better more understanding doctor.

Lynn also thought about Peter. Yesterday she had tricked him into fixed braces. She knew it was a very aggressive move on her part and hoped he wasn't angry at her for it.
And then Lynn remembered how cute Peter looked with those braces on. He was a natural braces wearer, they really suited him well. The blue elastics that he wore only added to his look. Her self-ligating brackets didn't require elastics, but she might consider adding some in the future. She couldn't wait to see Peter again and enjoy his braced smile. The next two weeks would be amazing.

When Peter arrived at the office Ann was still there, but Zara had already left. First she greeted him in the usual way. But then Ann took a closer look, “Peter, let me see them. When did you get them and why?” Peter showed her his smile, while working on a cover story. He told her about Charles and his new product and that Charles had needed a test person. And then Lynn had wanted to test the indirect bonding method. And of course they were just a temporary experiment. Ann hugged him and said, “You should keep them. They look so good on you.” Peter hugged her back and said, “You know my feelings about fixed braces. This really is just an experiment and Lynn will take them off soon.” “Just think about it,” Ann said while preparing to reach her bus home. Peter liked Ann, but he was glad she had left. He hadn’t thought about meeting her at the office. This turned out to be bad planing on his side as now someone he knew had seen him with fixed braces.

And then he saw Lynn coming from the treatment room. She almost ran into his direction and started kissing him. Their kiss was really intense. Both used their tongue to explore each others mouth. Lynn was completely on fire. His brackets felt so gorgeous and she ran her tongue over each of them. An almost electric sensation was going through her body. Peter especially liked her new rubber bands. Now that she had to wear four of them it was an even better experience.

They stopped kissing and Lynn looked at him, “Peter, are you ready for your rubber bands? Then take a seat.” Peter walked into the treatment room and grabbed a chair. Lynn followed him, “Let me check first if everything is right.” She let him open and close his mouth several times. Then she looked at his X-rays and 3D-scans on her computer. “Your second molar has a tendency to rotate. Normally I would use an appliance called a Transpalatal arch to stop the rotation,” Lynn told him with a concerned look on her face.

She continued, “The Transpalatal arch or TPA for short is simple wire that goes around the gum from bands on the upper molars. It can used to prevent unwanted teeth movement or even expand the jaw a bit. I really like that appliance. In your case we can deal with the rotation, when you are back to your removable braces.” Peter then surprised her, “This is supposed to be a simulation run for me having braces. And if you think it is needed, I think I should get it.” Peter did not know why he was saying that, but it seamed to be a logical step to do.

Lynn was speechless for a moment, sometimes she couldn’t understand Peter, “Peter, are you sure?” “Just do it, let me get the most out of this experiment,” he said. Lynn did some quick thinking. In the end Peter was right. A real patient would get that appliance and she should treat him like a real patient. And she wanted to convince him to wear his fixed braces for longer anyway.

“OK, this appliance requires sheats on the inner side of your molars. This sheats are used to attach the TPA. You do not have these sheats yet. We have two options for you to have these sheats. One is to use a bondable lingual sheet and the other is to use regular molar bands. You do not yet have these bands, but I strongly recommend them. The other option has a tendency to become loose. Do you still want me to continue?” Peter took a deep breath and said, “Lets go with the molar bands. I have always wondered how they would feel like.”

“Normal patients get spacers between their molars to create space for the bands and then have a banding appointment a week later. I think we can do it today. I will give you the spacers for an hour or two and then we will continue with your bands.” She quickly inserted four spacers between his upper molars. Peter could immediately feel them. It was a funny feeling like food stuck between his teeth.

Lynn suggested to eat something, as Peter’s teeth might be sore after receiving the bands. After the meal they brushed their teeth together and Lynn showed him some tricks to keep his braces clean. She also gave him a better tool for flossing around the braces. Then they went downstairs for Peter’s second appointment today.

Lynn started by removing the wire from his upper braces. She then removed two brackets from Peter’s second molars. She cleaned the teeth surface from any remaining glue. Then she removed the spacers and said, “This should be enough space for the bands. Let me check for the correct band size.” She placed the bands on his molars. Peter had to help her by biting on a stick. She looked at them and said, “This is the correct size. Now I will cement them in.” For this she had to remove the bands again, add some glue to them and glue them to his teeth using an UV light.

"And here comes the TPA," she said, showing him the device that would soon be in his mouth. She placed it in his mouth, removed it, and made a few adjustments. After a few iterations, she placed it in his mouth and secured it to the small sheaths on the inside of his molar bands. Peter ran his tongue around his gums and immediately felt the new device. It was obvious that food would stick to this appliance.

Lynn told him, "I've activated your TPA a little bit. It will expand your jaw, but more importantly it will prevent your molars from rotating. I really like TPA's, they are so small but so powerful.

Before he got his rubber bands Lynn reinserted the wire to his upper braces, “Finally you can get your rubber bands. You will have to apply them in a Class 2 configuration. From the upper canine to the lower first molar.” She gave him two rubber bands and a mirror, so that Peter could add them on his own. Peter struggled a bit on the first attempt. It turned out to be a little bit different when applying them on his own instead of someone else braces. Peter looked in the mirror, he was happy that he could now wear rubber bands and also worried how he would cope with the braces for the next two weeks. So far he had not worn his braces in public, but now it was unavoidable.

They went upstairs to Lynn's apartment and sat on the couch watching TV. Lynn handed Peter a beer and asked, "How are you feeling with your new braces?" Peter replied, "It was a lot more than I expected, but I felt no pain when they put them in. Lynn gave him a quick kiss, "I'm glad to hear you say that. I hope you give your braces a fair chance. They look so good on you." Peter said as he played with his rubber bands, "I promise I will. But first let me get through these two weeks."

Chapter 26 – Beach days

Peter and Lynn woke up early, eager to make the most of their vacation on the beautiful island of Mallorca. They decided to spend the day at the beach, so they packed their bags with sunscreen, towels, and a volley ball before heading out. The hotel had a direct access to the beach so it was only a short walk for them. Soon they good view on the coastline with crystal-clear blue water. In the background they spotted the mountains of the Tramuntana national park. They had already planed to visit the mountains either by car or with rented bicycles. And they would definitely see the park on their 5 day hiking trip.

Arriving at the beach, they found a perfect spot under a shady palm tree. They spread their towels on the warm sand and settled in for a day of relaxation. The sun shone brightly, but a gentle breeze kept them cool as they soaked up the rays. To avoid sunburn, they used the sunscreen they had brought to the beach. Peter began applying the sunscreen to Lynn's body. He was very careful not to miss a spot. It was also nice to touch her body as he massaged the sunscreen into her skin. Lynn also liked being so close to Peter, her boyfriend. When it was Peter's turn, he was amazed at how good it felt to be massaged by his girlfriend. Planning this vacation after their fight, turned out to be a fantastic idea.

After an hour of lounging by the water, Peter and Lynn decided it was time for a refreshing swim. They dove into the inviting waves, feeling the salty water embrace their bodies as they floated effortlessly in the sea. The sun sparkled on the surface, creating a dazzling display of light that danced around them. Swimming in the ocean was a great relief for them after the boredom they had felt during the Covid lockdown. It was so nice to see something different. Even though it was only a day at the beach, it felt like the best thing they had done in a long time.

After drying each other off with a towel, they decided to do something else. "Come on, let's go play volleyball. There is a beach volleyball field over there," Lynn said. Peter liked playing volleyball so he immediately agreed. As they approached the field, they saw that it was already occupied by a couple. They were both about 25 years old. They decided to ask them if they could join them. "Hi, do you mind if we join you?" asked Lynn. "Yes, that would be great," the boy and girl said together. "This is my boyfriend Peter," Lynn said, "and I am Lynn.” The others introduced themselves as Sarah and Daniel. They did not say anything about their relationship, but it was obvious that they were also a couple.

Lynn and Peter had never played together before, so they started the game with a practice session. Sarah and Daniel played well together. This was definitely not their first time playing together. After half an hour of practice, they decided to play a game. Lynn and Peter took the first set. While the others played better, it was Peter's service that made the difference. He served with precision and speed. Although they laughed a lot, it was also clear that Daniel was frustrated by Peter's service. He was probably used to winning matches. In the second set, Daniel and Sarah had adjusted their game to Peter's service. This allowed them to win the second set in a tight battle. Daniel and Sarah took the lead in the third set. They won the set and the match 21-10.

Peter and Lynn congratulated them, "Thank you for the game. We really enjoyed it." Sarah suggested, "There's a bar over there. Maybe we can have a drink and talk a bit.” "Yes, that would be nice. I am pretty tired and could use a break," Lynn replied and Peter nodded. Arriving at the bar they agreed on a table under the sun roof. They had been exposed to the sun for a long time and it was a good idea to give their skin a break. Daniel and Peter ordered a beer, Lynn a coke and Sarah a glass of cold water.

They chatted for a while, mostly about their plans for the holiday and about Covid. Daniel and Sarah wanted to spend most of their time at the beach and do some sightseeing with a rental car. Peter and Lynn told them about their plans for biking and hiking. And they exchanged some Covid war stories. They agreed that the Covid lockdown was necessary at the time. But they had also felt lonely and bored during that time.

Then Daniel changed the subject, "Can I ask you a personal question? I noticed that you both have braces. What is it like to have braces as an adult?” At first Peter was not happy about this change of subject, but he had noticed Daniel staring at his braces. So maybe it was better to talk about them, "For a while I had removable top and bottom braces that I wore 20 hours a day. But my orthodontist suggested that I switch to fixed braces. I just got them last week before our vacation. So far, the braces are fine. They bite into my cheek a little and I can feel the pressure. The annoying part is cleaning them. It is getting better, but it still takes a long time to clean them.” Lynn was surprised that Peter could talk openly about braces. She thought maybe it could keep him into braces. It was her turn to answer, "I have had my braces for a while now. I had perfect teeth, but I broke my jaw in a bicycle accident. This caused my teeth to shift and I ended up needing braces. Peter has been very supportive of my braces. He was even there when I had them installed.”

“Thanks for sharing this with me,” replied Daniel, “So it is bearable even as and adult. But don’t people stare a lot at them?” Peter was the first to answer, “I was certainly afraid about the staring. That is why I have chosen removable braces first. I can not tell you much about staring. I do not have them for a long time and most of the time I was wearing a mask.” Lynn was still impressed by Peter, “Staring is not a big problem. People stare at a lot of things like glasses, piercings or hearing aids. As Peter said cleaning is most annoying part, but you get used to it quite quickly.”

Peter, who had already noticed the clear aligners on Sarah's teeth, asked, "Did you have braces in the past?” Sarah had not said anything so far, but now it was her turn, "I have braces on right now. I have clear aligners. There is no medical reason for my treatment, but I wanted to have a perfect smile. And I had braces for two years as a child.” Lynn asked, "Daniel and you? Did you have braces in the past?” Daniel, who should have expected this question, was surprised, "No, I've never had braces. My dentist never referred me to an orthodontist.” It was obvious that Daniel was hiding something. "Come on, Daniel. Tell the whole story," Sarah said with a stern look on her face.

"When Sarah got her aligners, I was also examined by the orthodontist for aligner therapy. They took impressions and x-rays of my teeth. And in the end, I was given a treatment plan. But they said that my case could not be treated with aligners. I would need regular braces with some additional stuff. They mentioned something to expand my upper and lower jaws and an extraoral anchorage device.” Lynn knew he was talking about fixed braces with upper and lower expanders and headgear. His orthodontist had used the term "extraoral anchorage" to hide the fact that he would need the dreaded headgear. This was a common practice among orthodontists. Daniel continued, "They gave me time to think about the treatment. I am still thinking..." "You sneaked out," Sarah interrupted him.

Daniel looked at her with a shocked expression, "No, I am still thinking about it. It is a big decision and I need some time.” It was clear that this was not the first time they had discussed this topic. It was again Peter who surprised Lynn, "If I were you, I would get braces. Speaking of your proposed treatment, it is quite obvious that you need them.” He then smiled at Daniel and showed off his full metal mouth and rubber bands.

Lynn decided to lift the secret, "I have not told you everything. I not only wear braces. I also work with braces. I am an orthodontist and Peter is my patient and my friend.” Daniel said, "Wow, that is a surprise," and added in a very low tone, "So, do you think I need braces?” Lynn replied, "I have not done a proper examination of your teeth. But I have already seen some problems. And I think you definitely need treatment.” "You sound like Sarah and her orthodontist,", said Daniel, not knowing why he had started the discussion about braces.

They discussed Daniel's need for braces for a while. And when Lynn found out that they lived only 40 kilometers apart, she offered to give him a second opinion. They exchanged contact information and agreed that Daniel would make an appointment at her office. Then they parted ways.

Chapter 28 – Relaxing

Relaxing was the motto for the next few days. They spent most of their days at the hotel pool or at the beach. While at the hotel pool, Peter noticed that some people were staring at his braces. He did not like it, but since he would only be wearing his braces for two weeks, he could handle it. Lynn noticed the stares, too, but for some reason most people were staring at Peter's braces and not at hers. He looked so good with his braces, maybe that attracted people to look at him the most. Or maybe guys with braces were not that common. She had noticed that most of her adult patients were girls. That could be the reason why Peter attracted so many stares. She was not happy with those stares. She was afraid they would annoy Peter and he would sneak out of his treatment.

They also found a new hobby. Both had enjoyed the sauna after their bike rides and they went to the sauna every night before dinner. Feeling the heat on their bodies had such an amazing relaxing effect. Most of the time they were alone in the sauna. So they also had some time to cuddle. They even made plans to add a sauna to Peter's house. He had two rooms that he used for storage. One of those rooms could easily be converted into a sauna. Or maybe they should build a garden sauna. Many plans were made and withdrawn. But no final decision was made.

They had not seen Daniel and Sarah for some time. On their fourth day of rest, they finally ran into them. Sarah still had her clear aligners and Daniel still had his crooked teeth. They really enjoyed meeting them. They also noticed that they were staying in the same hotel. They made plans to have dinner together.

They met at the restaurant at 7 p.m. At the beginning of the meal, Peter and Lynn took off their rubber bands. Sarah took off her aligner and put it in a braces case. Daniel did not have any braces to take off, but he looked at them all. Daniel knew he needed braces. But he was still afraid to have them. And he knew that he would not just get regular braces. He would get some additions and his treatment would not be short.

Peter noticed that Daniel was watching him during the meal. He tried to eat as carefully as possible, but some food still ended up in his braces. Being watched by Daniel seemed rather embarrassing, but he could cope with it. At least during their vacation in Mallorca. He was not sure if he can stand those constant stares of other people for more than two weeks. It was fun having braces, especially with the rubber bands. Yet, he was still looking forward to having them removed after their vacation. He hoped that Lynn would keep her promise to remove them.

At the end of the meal, Peter asked Daniel, "So what are your plans for braces? Have you decided to get them?” Daniel replied, "I'm waiting for Lynn's second opinion.” Peter already knew Lynn’s second opinion and he was already imaging Daniel with expanders and headgear, “You can trust her. She is the best ortho I have ever met,” then he laughed while looking directly into Lynn’s eyes. Lynn smiled back and put her right arm around Peter. Then they gave each other a short kiss on the lips.

"Look Daniel, you can still kiss me with braces. Nothing to worry about. Give yourself a push and start your treatment," Sarah said with a determined look and added, "Look at Peter. He is doing so well with braces and he looks so good with them.” Little did she know that Peter was planning to sneak out of his braces right after their vacation.

Daniel looked defeated, “Please stop it. I can not get braces during our vacation. But I promise to get the second opinion from Lynn as I already told you.” Sarah was not completely convinced as they had talked so often about treatment in the past, “I hope you start your treatment and I promise to support you.”

Peter then focused on Sarah, "So how are you doing with your aligners? Lynn never offered them to me.” Sarah could tell that Peter was trying to help Daniel out of this situation. She explained, "At first it felt weird to have all my teeth covered in this plastic. And when my teeth started to move, I felt the pressure. What bothers me the most is that they require a lot of care. I cannot eat with them and I can only drink cold water. Other drinks stain them and hot drinks even damage them.” Peter said, "Sounds like the removable braces I used to have. I had to take them out for every meal and could only put them back in after brushing my teeth.” Lynn played the professional part, "Every treatment has its advantages and disadvantages. That is why we have to carefully choose the best treatment for each patient.”

With these final words the dinner ended. The evening continued in the bar next to the restaurant. They had some good conversations and drank alcohol. In fact, all four of them drank way too much. They all barely made it back to their hotel room. They fell asleep immediately, still wearing their street clothes.

Lynn and Peter woke up on the next morning with a massive hangover. And Peter realized that he had not brushed his teeth nor had he added his rubber bands. His mouth felt so disgusting. He could almost feel his bad smell. Lynn felt the same and she could also smell the alcohol odors, “My gosh, we partied a lot.” Peter had a massive headache, “My head is almost bursting and I think we haven’t brushed our teeth at all.” “I wonder how Daniel and Sarah are feeling, but let’s go and brush those teeth. I cannot stand the smell,” Lynn said with a disgusted look on her face. They both brushed their teeth, showered and went to the restaurant for breakfast.

They spent the next few days with relaxing and finally it was time for their hiking trip.

Did you miss Chapter 28 or is it just a numbering error?

I am way behind on my reading and the parts I have skimmed look very interesting.

Chapter 29 - Hiking

The hike was organized by their hotel. They could leave all their stuff in a locker room and only had to carry the equipment they needed for the hike. They had booked a 5-day trip on the Gran Recorrido trail, or GR221 for short. They had chosen the expert option, so their trip included some long stages.

A taxi took them to the starting point of their trip. Their group consisted of eight people and their guide Juan. They started with a brief introduction. There were four boys from Spain, Carlos, Ricciarda, Manuel and Jose. And two girls from Germany, Claudia and Alex. While Juan's English was pretty good, the Spaniards could barely speak English. So if they wanted to socialize, they had to focus on Juan, Claudia and Alex.

After the obligatory equipment check their first stage started. It was the easiest stage of their trip and it would lead them from Andratx to Ses Fontanelles. Lynn and Peter immediately fancied the landscape on their first stage. They got some stunning views of the landscape. It was just a wonderful hiking stage.

They talked a lot to Claudia and Alex on the first day. They learnt that Alex was studying maths and english in an intent to become a teacher. Claudia worked as an accountant at a big car company. When Lynn told them that she was an orthodontist they talked about their treatments as a child. Both had a very similar treatment. First removable braces, followed by fixed braces and retainers. Their orthodontist had done a very good job as both of them featured a stunning smile.

Peter saw that Alex was sometimes looking at his face or probably more on his braces. She did it in a way that he did not felt starred. However neither Alex nor Claudia asked him anything related to his braces. Probably she wanted to be polite and not ask an almost stranger about his orthodontic treatment.

Juan had equipped them all with two man tents, sleeping bags and camping mats. They would spent their nights on some local camp sites. Food and beverages were delivered to the camp site. This made their life easier as they didn’t have carry all the supplies around.

The whole group went to bed very early. Everyone was feeling the exhaustion from the hike. Peter and Lynn used their braces travel kit and brushed their teeth and braces. Then they got into their sleeping bags and fell asleep almost immediately.

On the next morning Peter woke up early and he noticed that Lynn was awake too. They kissed and cuddled for a while, but were soon interrupted by Juan. The second stage would be hardest. So Juan wanted them to start early.

Although they had to hike a long way, they were again stunned by the beautiful landscape of Mallorca. Claudia and Alex also told them how much they liked it. Like on the first day they were feeling their exhausted muscles, yet still enjoying this trip.

Nothing special happened on the third and fourth stage. Until the evening when Alex finally found the confidence to ask them about their braces, “How come that you both have braces? I have never seen an adult couple with braces. And you two look so confident wearing them.” Lynn and Peter told them their story. How Lynn had broken her jaw and that Lynn had discovered Peter’s bite issue. They left out how anxious Peter had been at the start of his treatment.

Claudia asked, “Have you never regretted getting them as adult? I did not enjoy my treatment at all and I was so happy when they came off.” Lynn looked at Peter giving him the signal to start first, “No regrets so far. I want my bite to be fixed and make my girlfriend and orthodontist happy. Of course keeping them clean is a little bit annoying, but I am getting better and faster every day at brushing.”

Lynn said, “As an orthodontist braces are no big deal for me. They are part of my daily life. However I am still not happy about the circumstance that led to braces in the first place. This crash was completely avoidable, if only the car driver was watching.”

Alex said, “Must have been a complete idiot. But you two are dealing so well with the braces. And they look so good on you. And I must admit I really like the way Peter’s braces look. Especially those dark blue elastics.” Lynn replied, “That is what everybody says. They look so natural on him.” Peter smiled displaying his full set of braces while Lynn continued, “My braces are self ligating so I technically do not need elastics. But I am think to add some color on them. What do you guys think?”

Peter said, “I think you should do it. They will look good on you.”. Claudia and Alex agreed with Peter, “You two could have matching colors.” Soon after that all four decided to go to bed and get a good sleep.

On day five Peter and Lynn felt a little tired of all this hiking. They were still enjoying it, yet they also wanted to have a pause and relax. Sauna would be a nice alternative to hiking.
When the stage ended they all thanked Juan for guiding them so well. And of course Juan told them that they had been a fantastic group. He also informed them that there would be a party the next evening for the participants of the hiking trip.

Chapter 30 – The party

They had late breakfast on the next day. They felt pain in almost every muscle. But they were also proud of their achievements. This had been their longest hiking trip by far and they had mastered it.

They spent the rest of the day relaxing in the hotel room only interrupted by two Sauna rounds. In the evening they prepared themselves for the upcoming party. Lynn informed Peter that she was not feeling too well, most likely a ladies issue. She would leave the party early, but wanted Peter to stay longer and enjoy the companion with Claudia and Alex. The party would be their last complete day on vacation, they would fly back home the next evening.

Before they left for the party, Lynn told Peter, "This trip to Mallorca was a really good idea. You know, I was skeptical at the beginning, but I was wrong. Thank you so much." Peter put his arms around her and kissed her, "Thank you so much. You are the most important person in my life and I am glad you like it here." Lynn felt so happy at that moment and then Peter added, "And those two weeks with the braces were amazing. I really enjoyed wearing them. Giving me this opportunity was a great idea." When Lynn heard this, she knew he wanted her to take off his braces. But she didn't want to ask him directly because she was afraid of his answer.

They were the last to arrive at the party. Juan greeted them and handed them a Spanish liquor. The whole group toasted with Juan on their fantastic trip. The liquor tasted good, but was rather strong. Lynn and Peter switched to a local beer for their next drink.

Like on their hiking trip the Spanish guys kept to themselves. So they gathered around a table with Alex and Claudia. Alex had enjoyed the Spanish liquor so she spend a round of it. Soon Peter and Claudia did the same and only about one hour in the party they were a little bit tipsy. Only Lynn refused the liquor as she was not feeling that well.

The DJ started to play a couple of dance songs. Lynn asked Peter if he wanted to dance with her and Peter happily agreed. Claudia and Alex wanted to dance too, so they asked the Spanish guys if they wanted to join them. Soon the whole group was dancing only interrupted by some rounds of liquor.

Peter and Lynn had never danced together. It took them a while to get adjusted to each other, but after a few songs they had come to a grip. Then the DJ started to play a slow love song. They danced closely together and exchanged some short kisses. After the song, Lynn apologized for leaving the party early as she was still not feeling well.

Peter thought about leaving the party with Lynn, but decided to stay. He enjoyed being together with other people after the long and boring Covid days. Partying was something he had not done for a long time and he wanted to enjoy talking, drinking and dancing for a while longer. So he stayed at the party and Lynn went back to the hotel room.

Lynn's departure ended the first round of dancing. The whole group now stood around a table, chatting, laughing, and drinking. The alcohol helped the Spaniards get over their shyness and speak English. It was a fantastic party and Peter loved it, he just missed Lynn.

For the next round of dancing Peter had chosen to dance with Alex. It turned out that Alex was an amazing dancer. She told Peter that she had been a professional dancer in the past and had spent most of her youth practicing.

After a slow song, Alex looked at Peter, "I've never seen your braces up close before. I love the sparkling look and they suit you so well. I wish I had a boyfriend with braces." Peter looked a little embarrassed, "Everyone tells me that. To me they are just ordinary braces." Alex said, "Sorry, I'm starting to get drunk. I shouldn't have said that. It is just that I like braces on boys so much. But they are extremely rare on boys. And your braces look amazing, I am so jealous of Lynn". Then a Spaniard came over and offered them another round of drinks.

Before joining the next round of drinks, Peter excused himself to go to the bathroom. The beers were doing their job and he felt the urge to pee. He quickly checked his braces in the bathroom mirror and made sure they looked nice and clean. When he came back Alex smiled at him and handed him his next drink.

Peter awoke with a terrible headache. He had never had such a hammering headache before. He slowly became conscious. He was completely naked and lying in bed with a girl. He was shocked when he realized it was Alex and not Lynn. His mind was racing and he thought, "What have I done? This can't be real. Oh my God, it is real!"

He woke Alex up and asked her in a panic, "Alex, what have we done? Have we slept together?" Alex slowly woke up and quickly realized the seriousness of the situation, "I don't know. I hope we didn't." Her eyes wandered around and she stumbled across a used condom. Peter saw it too and the truth slowly sank in.

Peter jumped out of bed and put on his cloths that were lying on the floor. Alex did the same. They sat on the edge of the bed, "Alex, how could this happen? I love Lynn and now we did this." Alex dried some tears from her eyes, "I have a terrible hangover. I cannot remember anything. The last thing I remember is looking at your beautiful braces on the dance floor and then you woke me up.

Peter is still panicking, "This is the worst thing that has ever happened to me. Oh my God, I have to tell Lynn. It will hurt her so much. I am such an idiot." Alex said, "Don't tell her. If she leaves you, it will be completely my fault. It is just your braces, they have a strong effect on me. I think I have lost my mind." Peter left the room mumbling, "I have to tell her or I'll never be able to look her in the eye again. I hope she will forgive me.”

Honesty may be the best policy, but if Peter wants his braces off, he might need to carefully consider the timing of his confession.

If Peter confessed and I were in Lynn's position, I'd be thinking about creative uses of the tubes on Peter's molar bands, probably for a minimum of 18 hours a day 

Chapter 31 – Telling the truth

When Peter came to his room, Lynn was still asleep. He took the opportunity to shower and brush his teeth. As he brushed and flossed his braces, he thought about what to do next. He had to tell her. He could not live with the secret. Lynn had always been honest with him, and he wanted to be honest with her.

Then he put on a new set of rubber bands. The bands that had given him so much fun. But this morning they had no effect on Peter. The only thing Peter felt was shame. He had done a terrible thing to the person he loved the most. He had always thought of himself as a decent guy. But now he was faced with the reality that he was an idiot like so many other guys.

Lynn was also awake now. She heard Peter working in the bathroom. She couldn't remember him coming back from the party. And then she saw Peter. He was pale and had tears in his eyes, "Lynn, I have to tell you something.”

Peter seated himself on a chair while Lynn was sitting on the bed. Peter struggled to find the correct words, “I am so sorry, I got really drunk last night. I cannot remember what happened last night. But when I woke up this morning I was in bed with Alex. I am such an idiot.” Lynn jumped up and slapped him in the face, “You are an idiot. It trusted you.” Then she lay on the bed and started to cry.

Peter wanted to put an arm around, but she refuted. Then he said with a teary voice, “I love you so much and what I have done was completely wrong even in a drunk state. If you want to leave me, then I can totally understand it.” Lynn turned to him, “Please leave me alone. I do not want to see you until our plane leaves. I have to think.”

Both Lynn and Peter had a terrible day. They were wandering around the hotel with circling thoughts. Peter hoped that Lynn could forgive him and Lynn was not sure if she wanted to forgive him. Why do guys always think with the dumbest part of their body?

They did not speak to each other on the plane. And tried not to look at each other. The silence between them was also noticed by other passengers on the plane. Some almost stared in their direction. Even strangers could sense that something was really wrong between them. Mostly Peter looked completely devastated, he was still pale, and it was not the hangover that made him look like that, it was the guilt he felt.

Peter tried very hard to remember what had happened last night. But the memory of last night didn't come back. It was as if someone had erased his memory. He still had no idea why he had slept with Alex. The whole situation was hard for him to deal with. And when he saw Lynn's expression, he was sure that she was going to dump him.

Peter thought about his confession, it had been kind of lame. Maybe he should have waited a little longer, at least until his hangover was over. He had done that without planning, in a terrible state, and the result was his lame confession. A little more thought might have saved him from being dumped. But now he was sure it would happen.

Lynn had been thinking about their situation all day. Anger at Peter's behaviour was a constant companion. She considered many solutions to her problem. Dumping him was the obvious solution, but perhaps there were better options. After all, she still loved Peter and he had saved her life in the storm. Sex with another girl was something she couldn't understand. She had always been a good partner for Peter and then he did this terrible thing.

Before they left in separate taxis, Lynn said to Peter, "Come to my place tomorrow night. I need to think about our situation and I will give you my decision tomorrow.” She had already decided to forgive Peter, but she wanted him to suffer a little longer. He deserved it so much.

Peter had the worst Saturday night and Sunday morning in his whole life. He thought about his whole situation and he was sure that Lynn would leave him. Lynn the best girl he had ever met in his life. And he had totally messed up with her. Again, he was just an idiot.

On Saturday night, he started drinking a beer while feeling totally miserable. The second beer soon followed, and when he reached for the third, he had to stop himself. After all, being drunk had led to this whole situation. Drinking was not part of the solution; in his case, it was part of the problem. He knew he should have left the party with Lynn.

Peter was also looking for a reason why he had wanted to sleep with Alex. The problem was that he could not find one. Lynn was his partner and he loved her very much. He thought about the alcohol and maybe that was the reason for his behavior. Watching his drinking habits was something he planned to do in the future.

Peter drove to Lynn’s apartment on Sunday evening. His body was trembling and he expected Lynn to leave him this evening. The short trip to Lynn’s apartment felt like an hourly drive.

Lynn invited him into her apartment. Peter again told her how sorry he was and that he was a complete idiot. Lynn interrupted him, “Peter, I love you. And I will forgive you under one condition.” Peter was surprised and started to smile, “I will accept any condition. If only you can forgive me.”

Lynn turned to him and said, "You promised to be faithful to me. And you broke that promise. I will also break a promise. I promised to take off your braces after our vacation. I will not keep that promise. And I will treat you as a normal patient. If you need a device, I will put it on, and I will not worry about whether my boyfriend likes it or not.” You could hear a needle dropping in the room. Then Lynn added with a determined look on her face, "That's my condition!"

Peter felt so happy that she wanted to forgive him. Even though Lynn's conditions were very hard. He had expected his braces to come off after this weekend. Having to wear them longer was a big deal to him. He imagined wearing them at the office and having his co-workers see them. What would they think of a grown man wearing braces? He had always thought of braces as something for kids. As he ran his tongue over his braces and looked at Lynn with her braces, he realized that the "kids only" thing might not be true.

As a child, Peter always thought braces were a scam. His previous orthodontist had given him the impression that his treatment was all about making money. Peter only wore his braces because his mother constantly monitored his compliance. When he met Lynn, he had seen an orthodontist who cared about her patients. He knew that Lynn treated her patients to help them, and now Lynn wanted him to continue with his treatment.

Peter had fun with this braces experiment. Part of the fun was that he could take them off after two weeks. His removable braces were so much easier to use. He could take them off whenever he wanted and the best part was that no one could see him wearing them if he did not want to show them. This would all change if he kept his fixed braces.

Lynn had mentioned other devices in her condition, he was worried about what that would mean for him. Would she add expanders to his treatment? Or worse, would he get headgear? Lynn had told him that he didn't need any other appliances. But maybe that was only true for this " boyfriend treatment" and not for the " regular patient treatment" she was offering him. He didn't know what she had planned for him, and he was afraid to ask. If he decided to keep his fixed braces, he would learn about additional appliances later.

The upside was that he would be able to wear the rubber bands longer. They were so much fun to wear and play with. However, he was not sure if the fun would wear off over time. And when the fun was over, he would only have to deal with the negative aspects of braces. Like having to clean them after every meal or people staring at him. He remembered when Lynn had been humiliated by that kid in front of Steve's office. He had so many negative thoughts about wearing braces.

Lynn could see his brain working and it looked like his mind had left the room. At first she waited patiently for his answer, she knew this was a big decision for him, but she was offering him something of great value, her heart. And he only had to do one small thing for her. So after a while she lost her patience and said, "Peter, I am waiting for your answer. No girlfriend or braces?" This stopped Peter's thoughts, he looked at Lynn and knew what he wanted.

Having to keep them longer seemed like a fair solution to his problem. After what seemed like a minute, he stuttered, "I'll accept braces. I deserve them and it is a fair deal." Lynn looked at him and said, "Yes, you deserve it. Make an appointment with Ann in two weeks and don't forget to wear your rubber bands."

Then Lynn put her arms around him and started to kiss him, "Welcome back boyfriend Peter. I still love you." Soon their clothes were on the floor and they were using their whole bodies to please each other.

I'm so happy you let things work out between Lynn and Peter. However, I do believe that good old Pete will be paying for his mistake for some time to come.

Chapter 32 – Braces at the office

Today was the day of revelation for Peter. The day he would finally wear braces in front of people he knew. The government had lowered the Covid restrictions and his boss had taken the opportunity to invite the whole team to a face to face meeting. He had not told anyone that he would get braces, so it would be a big surprise for all of them.

Peter was standing in the bathroom looking at the mirror. He saw his shinny braces in full view. They were super clean as he had made sure to brush them with extra care. Nobody should see stains or food stuck in his braces. He imagined how his colleagues would react to his braces and he almost panicked. In the end he mustered all his courage and went to office.

At the entrance he greeted Lisa the receptionist. He did not stop to talk to her as he was afraid of her reaction. The meeting room was one of the bigger ones in the building. Tim his youngest colleague was already there. Peter greeted him and took a seat next to Tim. Stories of his vacation were exchanged, before the other colleagues arrived.

Important business information were presented by his boss. The company was struggling with income looses due to Covid. They were told to work extra hard and save money wherever possible. This was followed be the usual motivational speech. Those speeches that bosses use to motivate people, yet it sucks the life out of their brains.

Every colleague had to present the projects they were currently working on. It was Peter’s turn to present his projects. Standing in front of his colleagues with his new braces was very exciting for him. He was able to hide his nervousness. Yet it felt like everyone was staring at his braces. He was glad that he did not had a lisp, yet this still was so embarrassing. Reaching the end of his presentation was a great relieve for him.

The meeting ended soon after Peter’s presentation. Some colleagues left for other meetings. And others gathered in the meeting room to talk mostly about Covid. Everybody had a story to tell. Most of those stories sounded similar. Peter also joined into the discussion and told them how good it had been to finally go on vacation. But no-one asked him about his braces.

Peter’s office was on the second floor of the building. He shared the office with Tim, Andrea and Felix. The rest of the morning was spent on going through all his mails. He had received a lot during his vacation. It took him the rest of the morning to answer the most important mails. The rest of the mails had to wait until the afternoon.

Still the topic of braces was left out during this morning. It was strange that no-one wanted to talk about them and it felt awkward. There was an elephant standing in the room, yet nobody did care.

Tim asked him, “Hey Peter, do you want to join me for lunch. The canteen is open and I like their food.” Feeling hungry Peter agreed, “Sure, I need something to eat. I am starving.”

Before going to the canteen Peter excused himself to the bathroom to pee and to remove his rubber bands. The canteen was on the top floor of the building. From there they had a good view around the city. Today was burger day at the canteen, so both Peter and Tim opted for burger with fries.

After dinner they went to the cafeteria for a cup of coffee. It was there that Tim broke the ice: "Can I ask you a personal question? When and why did you get braces?" Finally, someone wanted to talk. It was a huge relief for him. It had felt strange not to talk about something so obvious, "Thank you for asking. I was wondering why no one had asked. I got them before my vacation. My girlfriend is an orthodontist and she wanted to fix my bite.”

Tim looked closely at his braces, “Your bite looks okay to me, but I am not an expert. So how does it feel to have braces and why did you get metal brackets instead of the clear ones?” Peter was happy to finally talk about his braces, “My insurance does not pay for my treatment. My girlfriend Lynn pays for them. Guess that is the reason why I got the metal ones. And so far I did not have any problems with them.” This was not the complete truth, but Peter did not wanted to tell him about Charles and the two week braces test drive.

Tim hesitated a bit, “You are so brave. You know my bite was good in the past and no dentist ever recommended braces. However I have noticed that my teeth started to shift recently. I want them fixed, but I am thinking about aligners instead of fixed braces.” Peter encouraged him, "You can always book a consultation with an orthodontist. Consultations are free and they can tell you if and what braces you need.” Handing him Lynn’s business card, “This is the office of my girlfriend. She is very friendly. Make an appointment with her when you are ready.”

As a late thought, Peter had brought his travel toothbrush to the office. The bathrooms in the building were spacious and clean. Brushing his teeth in an office bathroom was something Peter had never done before. Standing in front of the sink and brushing his teeth was not a pleasant experience. Especially when a colleague walked by while he inserted his rubber bands. He had to find a more private bathroom. Lisa the receptionist was always well informed, maybe she could help him.

At the end of the working day Peter stopped at Lisa’s desk at the entrance of the building. He smiled giving her a good view on his braces. “Oh, hi Peter good to see you again,” Lisa said with an almost flirting look on her face. Peter noted this look, “Good to see you too. It is amazing to meet people in real life again.”

Lisa looked straight into his face, “You got braces. I have to say they look good on you.” Peter got a little bit annoyed by this looking good in braces comment. Recently he got lots of comments like this, “That’s the reason why I am coming to you. I need to brush my teeth after lunch. And I want to brush them at a more private bathroom than the one on my floor. Can you help me out?”

“I know what you are talking about. I haven’t told anyone, but when I started working here I had those clear aligners. I also had to brush my teeth after every meal. There is a toilet in the basement. No-one uses it and I used it during my treatment,” was Lisa’s reply while displaying her perfectly straight teeth and added, “You are so brave. I always tried to hide my braces. That’s why I had chosen these clear aligners.” Before leaving Peter said, “Thanks for that tip Lisa. See you tomorrow, I have a meeting with a customer, maybe we can have lunch together.”

The first day in office with braces hadn’t been as bad as Peter had expected. In fact meeting his colleagues after the long break was a nice experience. The only odd feeling he had was when someone noticed his braces, yet refused to talk about them. After talking about them he had always felt like a huge burden was taken off from him. A decision was made, he would no longer wait until someone mentions his braces. He would actively talk about them.

Chapter 34 – Surprises

Lynn told him to wait in the chair, she had to get something. Different thoughts went through Peter's mind. He was not sure what was going to happen next. As Lynn left the room, he thought he caught a glimpse of a smile on her face. Sitting in the chair not knowing what would happen next was exciting and it felt like he would be sitting there forever.

Lynn came back with a brown box in her hands, "I want to show you something. Maybe you would like to try it." She opened the box and Peter could see two headgears and a facebow inside. Peter did not know if he was shocked, surprised, or both. He almost hyperventilated and said with panic in his voice, "I thought I didn't need one of these.”

Lynn now had a big smile on her face and looked like she was enjoying this very much, "I thought you wanted to try headgear. You keep asking me about it. And maybe you'd like to feel it in your mouth. And just for fun, of course, not for treatment. Do you want to?" The panic in Peter slowly subsided and he was able to think about this offer. He had always wondered what a headgear would feel like. He didn't want it for his treatment, but should he try it? Peter replied, "Yes, I want to try it.

Lynn had really hoped he would agree to try them. She imagined the fun she would have with him tonight and later in bed. As always, he would look gorgeous wearing them, as he did with every orthodontic appliance. A lot of fun was definitely in store, and she could hardly wait to see him with the headgear on for the first time.

"OK, let's start with the facebow," Lynn said as she tried it in Peter's mouth. She had not yet attached it to the tubes on his molar bands. She took it out and started to twist the inner bow and tried it again in his mouth. After five rounds, she was satisfied with her adjustments. She left the facebow in and told Peter to hold it with his fingers.

She then presented him with his cervical headgear. The headgear had a dark blue neckband and blue safety modules, "I have chosen a headgear for you with the lightest force module and we use it at the lowest possible force level. So no risk of damaging anything." After some inspection, she was pleased with the second hole on the headgear strap. The second hole prevented the headgear from falling out, but it did not apply any real pressure.

Lynn then commenced with his highpull headgear. The headgear was also dark blue with blue safety modules. After a few adjustments, she said, "You can use the first hole if you want to wear it with your cervical headgear. And use the second hole if you want to wear it alone. So how does it feel?" Peter thought for a moment, "This is an intense feeling. I can see the facebow out of the corner of my eye. And I can feel the facebow and the straps around my head. At least nothing is poking me. He thought for a moment and added, "I think it feels okay.”

Then it was time to practice taking the headgear in and out. He had to put the inner bow of his facebow all the way into his mouth. Then he had to insert one side of the inner bow into the headgear tube on his molars. Then he had to put some pressure on the other side of the inner bow and insert it into the other tube. He had already attached one side of the neckband to his facebow. While holding the facebow with two fingers of his left hand, he moved the neckband around his head with his other hand. He found the second hole and attached the other side of the facebow.

Peter took a short break and looked at his face in the mirror. Wearing headgear was certainly the next level of orthodontics. His respect for patients undergoing this treatment increased dramatically. For him, this was just an experiment, and when he saw the smile on Lynn's face, he knew it was worth it.

He then commenced with his highpull headgear. This part was easy as the facebow was already hold in place by his neckband. Lynn watched him during his practice session. She had never seen someone putting on headgear for the first time at that pace.

Taking the headgear out was no problem for him. So when he had the headgear on during his second practice round Lynn said, “Keep it in and lets go upstairs. You need some headgear break in time.” Peter followed her upstairs to the apartment.

The door to the apartment closed behind them and they were standing next to each other. Lynn threw her arms around him and looked into his face, "Let's see if you can kiss me with this on". Peter hesitated a little but finally moved his lips and facebow to her face. It felt funny as he almost had to navigate his lips around his facebow while still trying to meet her lips. It was the strangest thing he had ever done, but somehow he enjoyed it.

When Lynn's lips touched his facebow, she could taste a metallic taste. Like Peter, she had never kissed someone who wore headgear. She wondered how many of her patients had that experience. Perhaps only a small percentage of them, was her quick guess. Luckily, she was one of them and she loved doing this with Peter. And as always, he looked good, and a shy look on his face made him look even better. Her surprise for him was fantastic.

Neither of them had eaten much during the day. The decision to eat soft food was made because Peter had gotten a new and stronger archwire. And they both loved to cook and eat pasta anyway. So while Lynn cooked the spaghetti, it was Peter's turn to make the sauce. He added some vegetables and spiced the sauce.

When they were ready to eat, Peter took off his headgear and placed all the pieces on the table next to him. Then he and Lynn took off their rubber bands. After that they were finally prepared to eat. Peter could already feel the pressure of his thicker wire. He ate carefully, trying not to bite down too hard. Pasta was definitely the right choice for lunch. Since this was his first wire change, he could add this to his list of things to experience as a braces wearer. Given his new-found love of braces, it was a fun experience.

Lynn and Peter talked while drinking the bottle of red wine that Lynn had opened. The bottle had been a gift, but they both liked the taste of the wine. During the conversation, Lynn asked, "Do you know who got braces yesterday?" Peter said, "I don't know. Maybe Daniel?" Lynn laughed, "No, I think he is sneaking out. At least he hasn't made an appointment yet." She paused dramatically, "It's Steve. His old orthodontist screwed up his retention phase and his teeth started moving back into their original position. Now he's back in metal braces."

Lynn laughed and added, "And I convinced him to wear regular metal braces. At first he wanted the ceramic ones.” Peter interrupted her, "I don't like the clear ones. They always look like you haven't brushed your teeth. And they do not make the braces invisible, others can still see them." Lynn was still smiling, "Those were exactly my points. And he agreed very quickly.”

"Wow, I was not expecting that. His teeth looked straight," Peter said, looking at the headgear on the table and adding, "Did he get any extra devices?" Lynn smiled, "No extra devices. Just a standard treatment. Probably 6 months to straighten his teeth and then 6 months of retention with his fixed braces. Followed by night guards," she added as an afterthought, "and I think he is afraid that braces will give him another year without a girlfriend." Peter looked at Lynn and said, "I think you can still get a girl with braces.

They had to brush their teeth before bed. After leaving the bathroom, Lynn pointed to the table, "Put your headgear back on. Let's see if we can do more than kiss." They had only been intimate once after Peter's affair with Alex. Peter rushed to his headgear and tucked it in. Lynn then led him into the bedroom. The headgear turned out to be no problem for their bedroom activities and they had fun that night.

I like that Lynn has maintained her professionalism and not taken advantage of Peter’s possible infidelity, though a part of me wishes she was a bit passive aggressive.

For me Lynn is not the "revenge" type. She clearly has her goals and she does a lot to achieve them, but she doesn't cross too many lines.
And to want a partner with perfect teeth is reasonably goal for an orthodontist. Of course she could have stopped at the removable braces.

Chapter 36 – Sunday

Peter had taken his headgear off sometime during the night. He found it to hard to move around in bed. After turning around he was always lying on his facebow, a totally uncomfortable position. He was happy that he only wore his headgear to have fun and maybe to get his girlfriend back.

He couldn't take off his braces. Yet the pain from the wire change had worn off. Now he was just confronted with the normal hurdles of a braces wearer. And Lynn had shocked him yesterday. He knew now that she wasn't over his affair with Alex. It was still haunting her and he had a long way to go to regain her trust. The guilt of his misconduct ran through his veins and he had never felt so much shame in his whole life.

Lynn had a sleepless night. At first she was very happy with her plan involving Steve and Alex. But over the night the happiness wore off. She noted that Alex was not her problem. The problem was that she didn’t knew if she still loved and trusted Peter. This thoughts kept her awake most of the night.

It occurred to her that she hadn't treated him like a boyfriend in over two weeks. And then this headgear experiment, which was ridiculous. He had looked extremely good and cute in it, but she needed him as a partner. Yet she had treated him like a toy and not like someone she loved. She knew she had to make a decision soon.

After breakfast, Peter sat on the couch and played with his rubber bands. Playing with the bands was one of his favorite things to do when he was relaxing. He didn't know why, but it was a nice feeling and he could relax while playing with them. Thoughts about how to regain Lynn's trust ran through his mind. However, he could not come up with a thorough idea. He realized that it had been a big mistake not to think about his relationship with Lynn for the past two weeks.

Lynn joined him on the couch. She had a serious look on her face, "Peter, we need to talk." Peter didn't know what to expect. She began, "Peter, I have been thinking a lot about our relationship these past few weeks. And I have come to a decision."

It was immediately clear to Peter that he would be dropped, "Please Lynn, I am so sorry. I know I messed everything up. Please trust me." Lynn replied, "Peter, I have thought a lot about us, but I think it is best if we split up. I am sorry."

Peter cried, “Please Lynn, I can change. What happened with Alex will never happen again. I am such an idiot.” Lynn still had that serious look on her face, “No Peter, we have to split up. I do not trust you anymore. I tried really hard, but it didn’t work for me.”

“Lynn, please give me one last chance,” Peter pleaded. Lynn looked at Peter, “No Peter I have lost the trust in you. You didn’t have a chance to cheat on me during the Covid lockdown. And on the first chance you cheated on me. I thought I could forgive you. I wanted to forgive you. But there is no trust left.”

Lynn began, "And I am sorry for my behavior yesterday. I shouldn't have gone through your phone. That was not okay. And then this idea of getting Steve and Alex together was completely stupid. I wanted to get her out of the way, but she is not the problem. The problem is that I lost faith in you." Peter was unable to speak. He just looked at her with blank eyes.

Peter cried a lot over the next hours and so was Lynn. Their faces were covered in tears. For Peter it felt like the world had stopped turning. He had expected to marry Lynn at some time and have children with her. And now he was left alone. Alone in his misery and it was only his fault. And the fault of Alex.

Lynn suddenly switched to her role as orthodontist, "You can continue your treatment or take off your braces. It is completely up to you. I will not charge you for anything. So what do you want to do?" This was a sign to Peter that he was finally dropped. He thought about his treatment and said, "I want to keep them and continue the treatment.”

Peter packed the things he had in Lynn's apartment. Neither of them spoke, and Peter had to constantly hide his tears. Lynn, on the other hand, felt relieved; she hadn't been able to see a future for this relationship, and breaking up was the right thing to do. She had to stop here and find another boy, a more trustworthy one. This was extremely difficult for her, but she had to do it.

Peter felt like a robot. He left Lynn's apartment with all his stuff already packed in the car. He drove home and his concentration was not on the traffic at all. Some other drivers had to sound their horns to get his focus back on the traffic. Peter had never driven a car while drunk, but his driving today was very similar to drunk driving.

At home he got a message from Alex. She thanked him for giving her Steve's contact information. They had already met and Alex was pleased with Steve. This was the last message Peter wanted to receive. He was completely in despair over losing Lynn. The urge to smash the phone was huge and he had to use all his will not to do it. And he didn't care about Alex or Steve anyway.

The cup he had smashed before saving Lynn was still in his shelf. He had kept it as a souvenir for the day he first met her. Tears were running around his face. He sat on the couch almost paralyzed. This was the worst day of his life.

He ran his fingers around the brackets on his teeth. This was one thing that was left of Lynn. Peter remembered the day she first suggested braces for him and how he had refused. How she had carefully guided him towards braces. And now he had those lovely brackets on his teeth, but Lynn was gone.

Then he looked at the table in front of him and saw his headgear. The headgear she had given him as a joke and that had led to so much fun. Peter couldn't resist the urge to put it on and so he put the facebow into his molar bands. The cervical and highpull straps followed shortly after. Now he had something that reminded him of Lynn.

The End.

Sad it ended this way, but Peter has his mementos of his time with Lynn.

Have a great vacation!