Sickness, Ailments, and Injuries - Oh My!

The Northeast - Wisdom Teeth

Author's Note: First chapter! We've got two states recovering after wisdom teeth extraction. The author has actually also just gotten her wisdom teeth out. Not fun. But... if any affected state seems out of character, that's why. They give you some powerful stuff for the surgery.

Quick warnings: 'High'/'drugged' characters. They are coming off of stuff for wisdom teeth surgery. A few cuss words might of snuck in. One character does 'out' himself while 'high', but nobody says anything bad about it (based off IRL experience from this week for the author).

I originally posted this on AO3, and now I'm cross-posting it to here. This is actually my first time posting on Wattpad, so let's hope I'm doing this right.

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New Hampshire, Maine, and Maryland were all in the kitchen. They were in charge of dinner for the Statehouse that night. After the great Cinnamon Crawfish incident, it was quickly established that you had to check the kitchen the morning of your cooking date to ensure you had the correct ingredients. Gov had set up a running list of needs, a grocery specific bank card, and Utah had added a coupon box. If an ingredient was missing (or it was Saturday) you made a grocery run.

Maine and Maryland were arguing over whether lobster or crab was better. Not that it mattered since they were just supposed to be checking ingredients and throwing breakfast to any state who wandered in looking for food. Which is how New Hampshire found himself trying to corral Florida and Louisiana out of the way. The former state was trying to coax a more sugary meal out of the Northeastern state. The latter was itching to throw his hat into the seafood argument with a proclamation that crawfish was the best meal.

While everybody was distracted, the door swung open to reveal a loopy and shirtless Vermont. His cheeks were puffed up and he swayed slightly back and forth. There were some chocolate stains around his lips.

Louisiana was the first to notice him. "Mais sha, you lookin' to earn some Mardi Gras beads? I got dem up in my room, one sec."

He left his cup on the counter and sprinted past Vermont, who watched in dazed confusion. Florida took advantage of New Hampshire's distraction to run for the pantry. He would've made it too, if Maryland hadn't stepped out to check the commotion.

"Vermont, hun, you doing ok?" Maryland asked. Vermont slowly took his eyes away from where Louisiana disappeared. He proceeded to stumble over himself on his way to the counter. Maryland leaped forwards to assist (also effectively pushing Florida back to New Hampshire's area). "Be careful hun. Have a seat. You hungry?"

Vermont let himself be guided into a bar stool. Still dazed, he looked around the kitchen as if he'd never seen it before. He pointed and attempted to say something, but it only came out in a slurred gurgle. His hand moved to his mouth.

"Uh, Vermont?" New Hampshire asked. Usually he wasn't a fan of his neighbor state. But something was off. He looked pathetic, like a lost kitten.

"Ah." Vermont said. He pulled his fingers away from his mouth in horror. "String. There's string in ma mouth. I... I don't want string in my mouth."

The rest of the states looked at each other with concern. Why would there be string in Vermont's mouth?

The answer to the unspoken question came in the form of Massachusetts nearly breaking down the door in a panicked state. He let out a sigh and a Northeastern word when he spotted Vermont, still mumbling and in near tears. "There you are! What the [glitch] did you wander off for?"

"String."

"Oh Jesus. That's - get your fingers out of your mouth - that's just some stitches." Massachusetts explained. "From your surgery."