If I Rebooted Tin Man

Chapter 17: GI: Glitch Asks The Others To Read To Him

Glitch can't read without getting headaches. It's a shame, because he thinks he remembers that maybe he used to like reading.

And then, for the first time since he got his zipper, he has others around who can read to him.

(And then he's Ambrose again and he's still getting the headaches while his brain resettles, and he's not entirely sure what the reaction will be but he just has to read so he brings a book to Cain, and all the Tin Man does is grumble and finish up what he was doing and read the book to him — just like he's done every time Glitch brought him a book he managed to find somewhere or other, no questions asked)

(Cain needs help with some of the bigger words, most of Ambrose's books aren't exactly light novels, but otherwise it's exactly the same)

(And then the headaches are gone even if the occasional glitch remains, and Ambrose can read by himself again and boy does he, consuming book after book with a passion to rival his first youthful forays into the world of literature)

(And then he finds himself missing it, suddenly. Having someone else read to him)

("I thought that your headaches were gone?" DG says when he brings her a book, worry painting her features. Sweet child, so kind, just like her mother. He didn't mean to make her worry)

("I, I don't have a headache," he tells her, feeling weird about what he's saying. What he's doing. What he's asking. "I just. I mean. Could you read it to me anyways?")

(And DG says yes, because of course she does. And later, when he asks them, Raw and Cain do too. And sometimes he reads to them instead, which is just as nice in a different way. And then he finds them reading to each other, as well)

(AKA: The story of how an act of kindness towards a book-hungry Zipperhead mutated into the way a group of friends say they love each other)