Honey, I Shrunk the Egos

Revisiting the Ego Problem

Mark smiled as the call connected. "Hello? Hellllllooooo..."

"Hi. Hey. Yeah, I'm here." Sean responded, sighing softly.

"You sound tired." Mark shifted, glancing at the clock as he tried to map out the time difference.

"Yeah. It's late here... or... early rather." Sean yawned slightly, pulling his head away from the mic, leaving Mark to hear it trail off. "Sorry." He mumbled, getting closer again. "Just finished recording. How are-"

"If you're tired, we can do this another time." Mark offered.

Sean stared at his mic, and sighed. "Nah. Let's just do it now. He's gonna be joining in a bit?"

"Half an hour." Mark cringed at how much longer Sean would need to be up. "Seriously though, we can reschedule."

"I'm fine." Sean chuckled, putting Mark at ease. "How are you?"

Mark leaned back in his chair. "Uh... good. Yeah, I'm good. How about you?"

"Tired." Sean chuckled a bit more. "Great though. It's been a good day." He leaned his arms on the desk. "You know... we were making time for this anyway, would should have just made videos together today." He grinned, closing his eyes to rest them for a moment.

Laughing softly, Mark nodded, mostly to himself. "Yup... that... would have been smart."

"Next time?" Sean opened his eyes, looking over his computer screen.

"Next time." Mark confirmed, taking a deep breath. "So... how are they?"

Sean sat up a bit, thinking. "Good... they're good. Did you see the pictures Chase put up on the discord, of his kids?"

"Yeah." Mark bit his lip. "How does he actually have-"

"I don't know. I don't ask too many questions." Sean mumbled. "I met them though. He had them this weekend... they seem like good kids?"

"Are they fans?" Mark smirked.

Sean rolled his eyes, but couldn't help smiling. "Of yours! Oddly enough. They don't watch mine, apparently it's creepy for them, how much I look and sound like Chase."

Mark laughed. "You'll have to get me on a video chat with them sometime..."

"Tell Chase over discord. Let him be the hero, yeah?" Sean smiled.

"Ah, yeah. Of course." Mark sighed, stretching out his back. "How's... Anti been?"

"Good!" Sean took a deep breath. "Like really good. He hasn't been over here at all, all week!"

Mark shifted a little in his chair. "Dark's been quiet too. I don't trust it..."

"It's only been a week." Sean smiled. "They're adjusting." He pulled open the ego's discord channel and looked it over. "Anti's been really active in the chat."

"Dark hasn't." Mark muttered.

"Well... yours do tend to be more violent than mine. Maybe you do have something to be worried about." Sean sighed. "What about the rest of yours? What about Warfstache?"

"Oh, Warfstache has been fine. He's been really excited about having Bim at work. It's good for both of them really. Wish I'd noticed there were problems earlier..." Mark groaned.

Sean shook his head a moment before remembering Mark couldn't see him. "You can't blame yourself for that. We're not... they're not... we never asked for this. Bim could have come to you if he was in that much trouble."

"He's proud." Mark shrugged. "Can't say I blame him. I struggle to ask for help sometimes too."

"Yeah. I guess it can be hard to admit when you need the help." Sean agreed. "It's still not your fault, Mark."