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Mornings were always a quiet affair. Most of the other egos figured that Wilford needed his coffee to wake up in the morning, as any attempt to interact with him before then was largely unsuccessful. Only a few of the older egos knew the truth.
“Good morning, Wil.”
William hummed a quiet greeting to Dark, nodding towards the Jims at the kitchen table as he grabbed his mug, once again thankful that Dark gets up early enough to make coffee before everyone else is awake.
“Morning Not-so-Pink Jim!” One of the two Jim’s currently at the table spoke up.
“Mornin’ CJ.” William responded, turning around to lean against the counter and sipping his coffee.
Dark turned to grab the sugar and whipped cream, in preparation for Wilford’s memories to slot into place. “Any plans today, love?”
William shrugged, closing his eyes to just enjoy the quiet. “Got a meeting with Kathryn later. Think I’ll work on new interview questions til then.”
At this point the pink was returning to his hair and mustache, so Dark passed him the sugar. “Tell Kathryn I said hello, would you?”
Wilford nodded, reaching for the whipped cream and digging through a cabinet for the rainbow sprinkles. “Oh sure! Here’s to hoping she doesn’t mention the mess that happened yesterday!”
Wilford clinked his overly sugary mug with Dark’s, pressing a kiss to the other’s cheek before turning to head towards his studio. “Later Jims! I’ll look over your footage after my meeting.”
“Later Pink Jim!” The duo chorused.
AJ turned to look at Dark, who raised an eyebrow at him. “What?”
“Reporter Jim wants to interview William.” CJ spoke up.
Dark shook his head, finishing off his own coffee. “That’s not advisable, Jim. Wilford doesn’t know about his lapsing into William, and I would rather not find out what would happen if he were to find out.”
“Permission to interview Wilford, Demon Jim?” AJ asked.
“If you don’t ask about William, I don’t care AJ. Goodness knows what you four will do otherwise.” Dark replied. They had long since given up arguing with the Jims that they weren’t a demon.
“Wil, I can’t find Roosevelt!” Artie ran up to the pink journalist.
“Well then I’ll help you look! She’s bound to be around here somewhere.” Wilford pat the boys head reassuringly before turning towards his manager. “Excuse me Kathryn, this is of upmost importance. Roosevelt is expecting and Artie here has been busy making her a comfy little nest.”
Kathryn sighed but nodded. “Well we were nearly done already. I’ll leave the notes on your desk. Nice to see you Artie.”
“Nice to see you Kathryn!” Artie waved, tugging on Wilford’s hand. “Let’s go Wil!”
“Later!” Wilford waved. “Oh, Bim was wanting to talk to you too.”
“Alright. Good luck Artie.”
“Thanks!” Artie was finally able to pull Wilford away and towards his room.
“Have you looked in your treehouse yet, King?” Wilford asked, watching Artie tug him along with amusement.
“Yeah, she’s not actually missing though. I just had to think of something to get you out of the meeting.” Artie admitted, opening his door and making a beeline to his window.
“Oh really, whatever for?”
“Roosevelt had her babies!!” Artie explained, leading the way across the rope bridge to his treehouse.
“Oh did she now! That’s wonderful!” Wilford laughed, following the boy’s lead in staying quiet and moving slowly.
“Look!” Artie pointed towards one of the nest holes. “They’re so tiny!”
“Indeed! What do you plan to name them?”
Artie hummed deep in thought, mulling it over as he studied the squirrel kits. Wilford smiled fondly, petting another squirrel while he waited.
“I think I’ll call that one Sherbet, that one Rocky, that little one Obi-Wan, and that one Moose.” Artie finally decided, pointing to each kit as he named them.
Wilford laughed. “Lovely names, I’m sure they’ll grow right into them!”
Artie beamed. “Oh they will! I’m the best King of the Squirrels ever and I’ll make sure they grow up to be big and strong little squirrels! Oh, the Jims want to interview you again, by the way.”
“Of course, they’ve only done so twice this week, I was waiting for them to come looking for me again.”
“There you are, Darkling!” Dark looked up as the pink ego appeared in their room.
“Hello Wilford, how was your day?”
“Oh it was great!” Wilford started, sprawling across Dark’s lap. “I scheduled another interview, and that meeting with Kathryn went splendidly! Oh say, did King tell you about his baby squirrels? They’re so adorable and tiny! And of course the Jims interviewed me again. This time they wanted to know how some of my hair is pink and I told them ‘well how should I know? It just is!’”
Dark smiled, setting his book aside and carding softly through said pink hair while he listened to Wilford ramble on about his day.