TeratoPhilia

Nyctophilia

Nighttime.

A wonderful time of day, which was very odd to say.

Tom had always loved outside to look at the stars as a kid, pointing them out to his friends and naming the constellations he could see.

Hell, he still loved doing it.

Tom couldn't remember a day he decided not to go out in a dark area. Exploring a dark dungeon or crawling under someone else's bed, he felt more comfortable in the dark than in the light.

Then again, he was possessed by a demon.

So when he found himself awaking in utter darkness, it wasn't that big of a surprise to him. What was a big surprise was finding out he was under a waking Tord's bed.

He'd never admit it to anyone but himself, but Tord had a cute yawn.

"Wake up and smell the communism. Also the bacon I'm going to cook for min elskede."

Tom froze and thought about the statement.

Tord woke up... to do good things... for... min elskida? Did that mean friends or family or lover or something like that in Norwegian?

Clearly, it was friends.

It had to be friends.

Right?

Whatever, Tom had more important things to worry about, like getting out from under the bed without alerting Tord to his presence.

This was a task that seemed impossible.

Mainly because it was.

Tom wanted to make a mad dash for the door to get out immediately, but knew that Tord would see him immediately . The only real option was to wait for Tord to leave and then get out.

Then he could cover himself up with a blanket and be surrounded by darkness there.

Yep, good plan.

"Oh, dritt, I'm really late getting up! Where's my arm!?"

Tom glanced around the floor, seeing no sign of the robotic arm anywhere. Looking under the bed, however, revealed it was right beside Tom's leg.

Sure, he wanted to help his semi-rival find his prosthetic, but he couldn't without giving away his position...

Or could he?

Very carefully, he scooted the arm so it was visibly outside of the bed. Tord noticed it, remarking on how he hadn't seen it earlier, and grabbed it.

Tom stiffened upon seeing Tord's hand reach down, and barely held back a panicked wheeze.

Tord thankfully didn't notice him and attached the arm to his shoulder. Tom waited until he couldn't hear his almost cat-like footsteps anymore and crawled out from under the bed.

Tom hadn't really been in Tord's room that much, so he didn't know exactly what was inside. However, looking in now, Tom could see a lot of mechanical tools, half-finished projects, and various blueprints scattered around.

Tord's room wasn't just his room. It was his workplace, too.

He glanced over at a blueprint for the infamous giant robot that had destroyed their home. It was always funny to think back on how such a massive mechanical monstrosity was destroyed by a harpoon.

Then he noticed a blueprint for what seemed to be Tord's robotic arm. Rather than instructions on how to build it, it had... notes.

Notes on how to improve it, how to make it functional, how to fix it up himself.