TeratoPhilia

Technophile

Tom woke up in his own bed, thankfully. After verifying that he didn't look like a half-suited scalie, he got out of bed, got dressed, and went to the kitchen for breakfast.

Edd and Matt were at the table, eating their breakfast. Tord was nowhere to be seen in the kitchen or living room, so Tom assumed he was either still asleep or working on something in his room.

Tom placed two slices of bread in the toaster and turned it on.

"Hey, Tom?"

"What?" Tom turned to face Edd.

"I'm headed to the store today, anything you can think of that we might need besides essentials?"

In Edd's household, essentials were cola, bacon, bread, red meat, Smirnoff – never diet, as Edd had unfortunately learned one early morning shopping trip – and ever since Tord came back, a couple of electronics from Oxfam if there were any.

"Tord needs clothes. He told me yesterday when I had to look for his shirt that he only brought three outfits back with him. Other than that I can't think of anything."

Edd nodded.

The toaster dinged beside Tom, startling him a little. Nonetheless he retrieved the toast, buttered it, and put it on his plate.

"I'm gonna ask Tord if he needs anything else from the store... if he's awake, that is." Tom put his plate down on the table and started walking to Tord's room.

Once he was out of view of the two, he stopped and started questioning why in the hell he'd jumped to asking Tord before the question was even posed to him.

Tom sighed. Whatever, it didn't matter right now.

"Hey Tord, Edd's headed to the store, anything you... need?"

Tord was sitting upright in his bed, not wearing his usual red hoodie, back turned, seemingly fiddling with something in his hand. That wasn't the surprising part; Tom would find him doing that almost any time he went to check on him.

The surprise came from his robotic arm not being attached.

Tord turned to look at Tom and answered, "Oh, nothing but a new slotted screwdriver and whatever electronics Edd can find."

Tom, still too shaken to speak, nodded and ran back to the living room, where Edd was gathering his things to go.

"He says he needs a slotted screwdriver and the ushe."

"Understood. I'll be back, don't kill each other while I'm gone, got it?"

Tom nodded and Edd went out the door.

Tom did a quick check on Matt – looking at himself in a mirror as usual – before going back to see Tord, who had repositioned himself to lying down on his bed, book in hand.

The commie looked up and smirked.

"And like a Karen disappointed in a product's quality, he returns."

Not necessarily a kind greeting, but a greeting nonetheless.

"What're you up to?"

"Reading." – As if to prove his already valid point, he tilted the cover of the book up so Tom could read it – " 'Kristin Lavransdatter' by Sigrid Undset. Good book."

Tom snickered, "Yeah, maybe if you can read Norwegian."

"Oh, I have an English copy somewhere. I just prefer my home language, du vet?"

"Yeah, I guess?"

"Du oppfører deg som om du prøver å forstå. Bedre enn de fleste, antar jeg."