Chapter Text
Silver scoured the halls of manor, searching for the oddly elusive Jims. He mumbled under his breath as he opened yet another door he didn’t know previously existed to find nothing. “I swear, for two guys who never stop screaming and running around when you don’t want them around, they sure are damn hard to find when you do! God, Wilford is going to kill me! Why do I have to find them?”
“Maybe if you stopped mutterin’ to yourself and actually checked their room you’d find them!” Silver jumped a mile when Ed spoke up, leaning against the wall and staring at him with one eyebrow raised and arms crossed.
“God – Ed! Don’t scare me like that, you don’t even know what I’m doing! And for the record, I did check their room, and they weren’t there!”
Ed rolled his eyes. “Wilford isn’t exactly a quiet man, everyone heard him losin’ whatever he has left of his mind over needin’ a short-notice, emergency film crew. And check again! Maybe you missed somethin’!”
Silver huffed, doubting Ed’s words but he followed the cowboy anyway towards the twins’ room. He pushed open the door and peeked inside – two twin beds in the middle, separated only by a nightstand what appeared to be an old pile of blankets and clothes, expensive equipment on the floor, the back wall of years of video archives, and, most importantly, no twins. Silver turned back to Ed, sticking one arm into the room in gesture, clearly annoyed. “See? No twins! Very helpful, Ed!”
Ed smacked him on the back of the head. “Shut up!” His voice was a harsh whisper. “You’ll wake them up!”
“Ow! Wake who –” Ed smacked him again, pointing sharply into the room. Silver sighed, rolling his eyes but complying. “I still don’t –” The bundle between the beds Silver previously thought was a pile of laundry shifted and snored, and a hand flopped out between the folds. Silver promptly slapped both hands over his mouth, peering at the pile. “Are they…?”
Ed nodded, walking over the pile and pulling free a blanket. Both newly revealed Jims – completely tangled in each other and the remaining blankets – whined, snuggling deeper into their cocoon. Ed placed his hands on his hips, staring down at them fondly. “Yep. Fast asleep. Found the rascals in my own bed, for whatever fuckin’ reason, so I wrapped them up and dumped them back here. Didn’t think you’d come chargin’ through like an elephant.” He laid the blanket back over them, then walked back over to Silver, placing a hand on his shoulder and drawing him away.
Silver glanced back over his shoulder, wringing his cape nervously. “I really don’t want to wake them, but Wilford may actually kill me otherwise…”
“Shh. I’ll deal with Wilford. Let them sleep.” Ed sighed looking back over at the pile himself. “You know how hard they’ve been workin’ recently. Our resident candy-colored psychopath has been losin’ an excessive amount of staff lately and, as always, calls upon them as replacements. I don’t think they’ve actually slept through the whole night since the day we kicked that son of a bitch Derek out of this house.”
Silver flinched. “Someone should really talk to Dark about him…” Hesitantly, he pulled away from Ed, moving toward the twins. He lifted the blanket, a soft smile instantly spreading across his face at the sight of CJ’s face (distinguishable by the microphone RJ still gripped tightly) buried in his brother’s chest, his peaceful expression mostly hidden by his curls, his legs curled up tight and RJ’s arms wrapped around him, his own face buried in CJ’s hair and snoring lightly. The Jims were two of the oldest egos in the manor, but they always seemed so…young. Especially in moments like this.
Closing his eyes, Silver washed his aura over them, covering them in a soothing feeling. When he opened his eyes again, CJ wasn’t curled as tight, and RJ had stopped snoring, the microphone fallen from his grasp, both of them breathing deeply. Silver draped the blanket back over them, satisfied that they wouldn’t be disturbed, and not two seconds later a fucking gunshot echoed through the manor, making him flinch horribly with certain images flashing through his mind, and quickly followed by Wilford’s unintelligible shouting.
Ed swore violently under his breath, finally exclaiming “Shit!” loudly. He glanced at Silver, sighing heavily. “Like I said, I’ll deal with Wilford. You…go hide. He doesn’t sound happy.”
Silver nodded hurriedly, eyes wide, and they both bolted, Silver using his aura to close the door gently in their wake.