Made for Each Other
Co-written with: A'Phrionnsa Fala

Editors Notes: You must forgive us if the Spanish is incorrect. isn't known for it's dead on translations. I hope you forgive us.

The following morning Wilt awoke at seven on the dot, as per usual. He climbed down from his bunk, noticing that Coco was blinking into wakefulness, herself. Eduardo, however, was still on his side in the top bunk, rumbling a bit in his sleep. He was almost loathe to wake him up given the events of last night, but Wilt knew he'd probably want breakfast, so he tapped him.

"Hey, Ed?"

The horned friend snorted a bit, his eyes slowly blinking awake. He yawned, very loudly - showing Wilt a lovely close up view of his massive teeth. "Aaahhhh... buenos días Wilt!" he said, grinning at Wilt a bit. He was certainly in better moods, despite the night before. You'd be surprised what a good night sleep does to you.

"Well, it's good to see you smiling!" Wilt matched Eduardo's huge grin with one of his own. He decided not to bring up last night. If Eduardo was happy in his new home at last, he wanted it to stay that way. "Hey, listen, I'm going to go have a shower. Is that okay? You can wash up to, if you want. Breakfasts in half an hour. And man oh MAN is Frankie a good cook. Her omelettes are out of this world!" Eduardo clapped his hoofed hands together.

"Ooo, they sound grande!" he climbed down off the bed quickly - since he washed himself the night before all he had to do was brush his teeth. Coco was awake now, and hopped out of her nest and shook her head a bit.

"Co coco co!" (Good morning boys!) she said to Wilt and Ed,

"Uh, sí. Buenos días, Coco.." Eduardo was still a bit nervous around this weird... bird creature. But not as bad as yesterday. Wilt gave Ed a thumbs up and left the room, calling over his shoulder.

"Be back in a flash!"

Meanwhile, Coco went about straightening the twigs of her nest while Eduardo looked on, unsure what to say or do. She finally looked up at him and commented, "Co coco co cococo." ("I didn't know it was even possible to sing 'Barrie' in F-sharp")

Eduardo blushed a bit at that statement, smiling slightly. "Heh heh... you hear...?" he asked, knowing the answer himself already. He did sing a bit too loud... Coco blinked and simply belted out,

"Cococo! Cococo! Cococooooo" ("Aggadoo, aggadoo, aggadooooooo")

Okay now Eduardo looked down right confused. Part of his unibrow lifted in confinement, but then he walked past her to the door, which was still a bit busted due to his.. rampage. He looked at the door, and made a face, then he watched as a few Imaginary Friends made their way past the door, heading downstairs for breakfast. To say the least some of them glanced at him, and talked to each other about the night before. This caused Ed to pull back into the room and wait until Wilt got back.

Wilt, meanwhile, was having a quick, efficient shower. He knew it should be silly to worry about shampoo, given that he didn't actually have any hair or fur. Nonetheless, he reached for the bottle of Melon Morning shampoo and gave his head a healthy lather. Shampoo was different than soap. It smelled nice and it wasn't waxy. It left him feeling very clean and refreshed. After he'd thoroughly sudsed up and rinsed, he turned off the water and towelled off. A few swipes of deodorant later, he was heading back to his room. He opened the door to find Eduardo making his bed.

"Hey guys!"

"Welcome back, señor Wilt!" Eduardo greeted him, having just now tucked the blanket under the mattress so it sat nicely. He'd also gone to the extent of doing Wilt's bed as well. "You shower good?" he asked, Wilt definitely smelt squeaky clean now.

"Great, thanks," Wilt noticed that Eduardo had made his bed up, "Oh, thanks so much for doing my bed! That's very nice of you."

"Is least I can do!" he replied, smiling proudly that Wilt approved of his work. "You is being so nice to me, so I do nice for you!" it was perfect logic to Eduardo. Wilt grinned,

"Well, Eduardo, I have a feeling you're going to be very well liked round here." he turned so he could address both Ed and Coco, "Wanna go get some food?"

"Co co co!" Coco replied happily, before dashing from the room. Eduardo walked up to the door, once again looking at how much he'd busted it. He felt still bad about that… soon the trio arrived at the long table in the dining room, where breakfast was being served by a very frantic looking Frankie. The noise and hubbub was usual, but some of it died down once the new arrival walked in. They all remembered the night before, and not knowing the true story some giggled to the other about what happened. Eduardo felt (what seemed like) all the eyes land on him and he stepped backwards behind Wilt, as if the slim body would hide his bulky one. It didn't work too well. Wilt noticed Ed attempting to conceal himself (at least partially) and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"Hey come on, it's okay. Want me to sit next to you?"

"Mmm. Sí." Eduardo nodded, and followed at Wilt's heels to the stool that he normally sat on. Already a new seat had been placed at the table for Eduardo and he climbed onto it.

"Hey there big guy!" Frankie walked up, holding a platter full of pancakes, omelettes, and other assorted breakfast goodies. Eduardo smiled a bit mumbling a 'good morning' to her. "You had quite a night last night, so you get an extra helping this morning." she smiled, emptying a mix onto his plate.

"Oh.. muchas gracios." Eduardo smiled nervously.

"You see?" Wilt gave Ed a friendly nudge and turned to her, "Morning, Frankie! Smells great, as always." Frankie gave him a sly smile in return as he gave him a healthy portion of eggs and bacon.

"Thanks, but flattery doesn't wash dishes, Wilt. Lend me a hand after we're done here?"

"Sure thing!" they exchanged a smile and she went on her way. Coco took a seat on the other side of Eduardo for this morning, and breakfast continued on as normal. A few friends even exchanged a few words with Eduardo, welcoming him to the house and wishing him the best for settling in. Eventually they all dispersed to do their own thing, even Coco went off - cocoing about needing to see a chicken about a man. That didn't make much sense to Eduardo so he just waved her off. After the meal, Wilt got up to help Frankie clear the table and noticed Eduardo still sitting,

"Oh hey, listen, I promised Frankie I'd help here with these" he motion to the growing stack of dishes he was balancing on his shoulder with the remains of his left arm "You can just hang out for a bit till I'm done. There's an arcade, a playroom and all sorts of stuff to do, and if you need anything, Frankie and I are in the kitchen. Is that okay?"

Eduardo wasn't too sure about that... but, he'd caused so much trouble for Wilt so far. Being such a bother and all. He nodded, agreeing to the idea. With that he turned and left the room, he paused to admire an entire wall full of photos of Wilt - with various other friends Eduardo didn't know. He tilted his head a bit, shrugged then walked into the massive entranceway once he had headed down the stairs. Wow, this place was even bigger then he thought it was. Yesterday had been such a mess, after all... he hadn't taken in a lot of what he'd seen. But now he was admiring the photos on the walls, of different friends, Madame Foster and Frankie. This really did seem like a nice place to live after all. "Mmm." he smiled to himself.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Wilt was drying dishes and putting them away as Frankie washed them. The two conversed casually about 'the new guy'. Wilt filled her in on everything he'd learned and how he'd found Eduardo. "Wow, alone in the street eh?" She mused aloud. "That sounds familiar." Wilt shuffled a little uncomfortably and she noticed. She gave him an apologetic pat on the arm with a sudsy hand. "Hey, sorry. I just meant you two probably can relate. It sounds like he had a pretty unhappy experience, and I can't think of a better guy to go to when I need a kind word." He grinned back at her in thanks for the compliment and told her about the incident last night. She remarked, "Well, all I can say is, he's very lucky."

"Why?" Wilt was confused. First Frankie had said Ed had had a hard time, she was colouring him fortunate?

"To have you," she replied simply.

Eduardo was just now about to leave the entranceway when the front doors were pushed open. He froze in his place when he saw what it was - a handful of children. They wouldn't be any more then nine years old, a few boys and a little girl. Eduardo blinked a few times, the group were talking amongst themselves first, and they looked a bit nervous to be here. They were probably just checking the place out first, before going back home to tell their parents about it. It didn't take long for the little girl to spot Eduardo, since he kind of stuck out like a sore thumb right there by the wall. The little girl stared at Eduardo for a moment, with large, innocent brown eyes, his massive size taking a moment to fully register. He stared back like a deer in headlights. She opened her mouth to speak, but one of the boys, a short, stocky redhead splattered with freckles beat her to it.

"WHOOOOAHLOOKITTHATONE!" he blurted out, thrusting a finger out in Ed's general direction. Everyone looked. Most of them took a step backward, but a few of the boy's came just a bit closer, ooh-ing and aah-ing appreciatively.

"Duuuude, you're HUGE."

"I bet you can pick up a whole tractor and throw it into the next farm!"

"Aaaawesome, you've got bigger teeth than a T-Rex!"

"Is that skull on your belt reeeal?" They all gushed and gushed till a small voice piped up among them.

"I think he's cute." The boys all turned to stare at the girl, who smiled at Eduardo and took a step closer to him. "Look at his pretty purple fur!" She stuck out her hand. "Hi! I'm Alex. Wha's your name?" Eduardo smiled at Alex broadly, oh she was such a pretty little thing...

"E-Eduardo! I Eduardo!" he smiled, clasping his hoofs together. He was oh so flattered by all of the attention he was getting, this was the first time since he'd arrived in America had children taken a shine to him this well. It probably helped that he was in a place like this. "And I like your ribbon," he motioned, pointing to the red one in her hair. "Is very pretty." but he blinked a few times, looking at how the boys were looking at him. Uh oh, looks like he's loosing the crowd of boys a bit. He thumped his chest with a fisted hoof. "Sí, sí! I am very strong, muchos MUCHOS strong!" A boy with glasses jumped up and down.

"I bet you can't lift as much as my daaaad! He's the strongest guy on earth!" He was countered by another kid would yelled,

"No, MY dad is the strongest!" The redhead who'd first pointed Eduardo out pointed again.

"I bet you can't lift as much as MY dad!"

"I lift Papa's all the time!" Eduardo countered back with, which was true. He was just a bit confused, of course. He thought they meant lifting Papa's, like he did to help his creator's Papa onto the roof of their old house to fix it when it got damaged. "I lift anything! You watch!" with that he thundered past the children out into the front yard - the children following. "Watch, you see!" he called back to the boys and Alex as he went up to what the closest thing he could see which would show just how strong he was. That tall... very tall... tree. Eduardo spat on his hooves, rubbed them together before he dug them into the bark and heaved. It took a second or two, but he pulled it out of the dirt, roots dangling as he held it by the base in his arms.

Inside, the Imaginary Friends who were near a window gasped in shock, surprise and horror. They could only see the tree begin to bend a bit before growing a bit taller. When they saw who it was, and whom he was with did they panic more. One took to his five feet and rushed off to find Mr. Herrington, who he eventually found in the back. He quickly explained what was happening out front - it looked like the new guy was going to squash some kids with the tree! Oh the horror! The kids, meanwhile, were totally eating it up. The boys applauded and howled praise. Alex however, was quiet. She looked on with wide eyes. She was, of course, amazed by his strength, but she was not impressed. Just as Eduardo was noticing this, he was suddenly assaulted by a thunderous, "MASTER EDUARDO!" Mr. Herriman was loping toward him at top speed, wearing an expression that would have been more at home on the face of Vlad the Impaler. "STOP THIS AT ONCE!" That sent a shock up Eduardo's spine, he'd never heard such a harsh tone before. It did the worst thing you can imagine. It made him scream in reaction, and he even threw the tree up, startled by Mr. Herriman's shouting. The tree sailed upwards into the air - the children scattered. The boys were already loosing respect when they saw this big burly creature like Ed cringe at a rabbit, of all things. But once the tree lost his arms - distaste turned to terror. Eduardo didn't see any of this, he saw the tree falling and he threw himself forward and managed to grab it in his hands before it would have come crashing down to the ground. And probably crush a certain brown haired little girl.

The kids all stared. Their wonder and appreciation replaced by terrified awe. The little girl's expression, however, was unchanged. In spite of nearly being crushed by a falling tree, she was looking up at Eduardo, clearly rethinking her first impression. Eduardo barely heard Mr. Herriman telling the kids they'd better go home, now. "Master Eduardo, if you would kindly put that tree down and follow me, please?" Eduardo's lower lip trembled as he watched the children depart, and he dropped the tree like it was a walking cane. His tail was now between his legs as he caught the last glimpse of the children leaving. He watched Alex especially - he thought he'd done really well, really! But... he guessed wrong. Following the rabbit back into the house was probably one of the most embarrassing moments of his life - including last night.

Already talk was going through the house, shocked friends talking about what the new guy did! He could have squashed all the kids! And that tree has been here since forever, how dare he just pull it up like that, like it was a weed? As Wilt was putting the final teacup on the top shelf of the cupboard, he heard Eduardo's name crop up as Jackie Khones and Ringo Rango passed by the kitchen doorway, wrapped up in conversation. Frankie noticed him turning round in concern and she said, "Go ahead, I'll take care of the rest."

He gave her a grateful wave and ran out of the kitchen just in time to see Mr. Herriman leading Eduardo from the from door to the hallway that ended at his office. Wilt stepped out, waving to get their attention. "Mr. H? Sorry, Mr. Herriman? Excuse me?" Mr. Herriman came to a stop, Eduardo so lost in trouble thoughts he almost stepped on his tail but caught himself this time.

"Yes, master Wilt?" he asked, not too happy to have been stopped from doing something very important. Such as teach the new boy a lesson or two about how things worked around here.

"I'm sorry, but what's happened? Is something wrong?" he addressed the rabbit of relevance, then snuck a concerned glance at Eduardo, who was just staring at the floor now, already ashamed of what's about to be said.

"Is there something wrong? By jove, is there anything right my dear boy?" Mr. Herriman said, looking towards the horned individual. "Not only did he put himself in great risk but he also endangered some children who had come to give our dear Foster's a visit! And not only that - but he went so far as to disgrace our beloved tree out yonder!" the rabbit pointed to a nearby window, "I fear it might never recover from being uprooted like a simple weed in a garden!"

Wilt's mouth fell open. He looked at Eduardo, then glanced out the window, feeling a jolt to see that tree he'd come to know so well lying on its side like a fallen soldier. He returned his one-eyed gaze to Eduardo. …but surely there must be some misunderstanding. "Hey Mr. H.? Sorry, but could I possibly take care of this one? Ed's new here and I'm the one helping him settle in. Let me talk to him? Please?"

"I know you mean well but something of this importance needs to be dealt with forthwith! I appreciate your suggestion to help, either way." Mr. Herriman shook his head, before adjusting his monocle. Eduardo just whimpered again, eyes shut. Wilt didn't like to insist or go against rules but something told him that there was definitely something amiss here. He stepped in front of Mr. Herriman, blocking his way.

"Please, Mr. H.? I promise, if there's any real trouble I'll bring him right back. Let me talk to him first?" Mr. Herriman scratched at his chin, glancing from the tall body of Wilt to the slouching Eduardo. He sighed,

"This goes far beyond regulation, but.. since you insist. But no longer then a few minutes! I'm at my wits ends this morning already." Wilt smiled.

"Thanks a lot, Mr. H! You won't regret it!" he turned to Eduardo, trying not to look terribly imposing, even from his great height, "C'mon Ed. We can go talk in our room, okay?"

Eduardo just sniffled and nodded, still looking at the ground. Or by now, Wilt's shoes. He couldn't bring himself to look anyone in the face, much less Wilt. He was lead back through the hallway, up to their room. Coco was luckily still away talking to a duck about a man - possibly - once they got there. Eduardo waits by the door for a moment before hurrying in, tapping his hoofed hands together nervously. This felt even worse then being yelled at by Mr. Herriman, having to explain what a complete idiot he had been to Wilt of all Imaginary Friends on the planet. Wilt closed the door, then had a seat on the lower bunk. He patted the mattress beside him, motioning for Eduardo to sit also. "Okay, Ed. Don't worry, I'm not going to yell at you. I just can't believe you've only been here for a few days and you're in trouble already..." he saw the expression on Ed's face and smiled. "No, really. I really can't believe it. A nice guy like you? There's got to be something off, here. Now what's this all about?" when Eduardo sat besides Wilt the entire mattress groaned and sagged, probably causing Wilt's end to lift a bit. He sighed, before looking at his shoes again.

"I-it all so loco..." he rumbled, "Little children they come, you see? They see me, and all the little boys go 'ooh ahh' like I a Matador or something!" Eduardo tilted his head a bit, looking at the dresser now. "And this little girl, she say she like my purple fur - she like it! ...little boys wanted to see how strong I was." he scratched the side of his head, now looking at the ceiling. He was avoiding looking at Wilt for now, he still felt ashamed of what happened and having to face Wilt to tell him how stupid he was felt awful. "I... I make error grande, I know I know... s-so.. so I show them, how strong I am, si? ...Soy tan estúpido..." Wilt tilted his head to the side, taking all of this in and thinking for a moment.

"I think I get it... The boys wanted to see how strong you were and you got a little carried away." Wilt shrugged, "Not a terribly good idea to go round ripping up trees, but it's nothing to call the cops over. My guess is that some other friends saw what you were doing and it looked dangerous to them because they didn't know the full story. And neither did Mr. Herriman. But everyone gets carried away now and then. He's got to understand that." Wilt noticed how uncomfortable Eduardo looked and scooted a bit closer to him, laying his one hand on the other friend's shoulder. "And hey, you're not stupid. Like I said last night, you can tell me anything. Really, I've been here for so long there's really not much that can happen that I haven't seen before. And I know it sounds crazy, but I think we've got more in common than you think." he dropped his friend a wink. "As sappy as that sounds..." he added hastily, laughing to himself.

"...usted es una buena persona." Eduardo smiled, still hesitant in looking at Wilt. But he did lean into his hand a bit, comforted by that even more then Wilt's words. Very slowly he moved his gaze from the floor to Wilt's face, and smiled slightly. "S-so I no get shipped away or... or something...?" he asked, thinking that's what would happen to him. Like to the bulls on farms, they went to the arena and never came back again. Wilt laughed a bit,

"Ha ha ha, no. The whole reason this place was founded was to take friends in, not send them away! We have to lock up the really nasty ones, but you're no Extreme-A-Saur, trust me on that one." Wilt noticed the slight shift of weight against his palm and felt his heart twang, though only half-heartedly. Normally, he was a bit shy about physical contact, but Eduardo... he couldn't put his finger on it, but Eduardo was different. Even aside from being created to protect and not harm, there was just something about him Wilt felt he could trust. As a slight leap of faith, he lifted his hand in favour of looping his arm round the other friend's shoulders in the butch-friendly manner so oft seen among buddies at the bar. He grinned. "And someone really said she thought your fur was pretty?"

"Sí, sí! Alex, her name. She say her name is Alex." Eduardo nodded eagerly, "She had a red bow in her hair, like a poco ángel." he showed the 'little' in that phrase off by putting his hoofs together. Wilt made the large problem he caused almost melt away from his memory again, like the night previous. He wasn't sure what Wilt's 'label' was, if he was a guardian or not, but he certainly knew what the right thing to say was and when. It clicked that Wilt had his arm around him, and he grinned up at Wilt broadly. "¡Mi amigo!" he declared and actually pulled Wilt's head down so suddenly and planted a hearty kiss on both of his cheeks and hugged him, probably knocking the wind out of him in the process. This was totally normal for Eduardo though, remember. While the guys in the bars in America would one arm hug, the blokes down in Eduardo's hometown of Ecuador would hug and kiss the other as greetings and congratulations. And thanks. In a sudden rush of where about a frillion things happened at once, Wilt found himself being smushed in Eduardo's arms. There were warm spots on his face where he'd just been kissed and he felt himself break out into a mild shiver. That wasn't so bad… issues with physical contact aside. It was a little weird, but Wilt then remembered that Eduardo came from a different culture and probably had his own set of customs. Wilt contented himself with conclusion that this was a gesture of manly affection and just laughed between wheezes, the wind having been knocked out of him. When the other friend's hold on him fell a bit lax, he pulled himself into an upright position and ruffled the fur between Eduardo's horns.

"You see? I told you the kids would love you. And hey, I'm starting to like your fur, too."

"You do?" Eduardo gushed, "Really true?" but before Wilt could answer there was a knock at the door, and the starched voice of Mr. Herriman came wafting into the room as he opened the door.

"Excuse me, master Wilt. But I do believe I need to have a small chat with Eduardo still?" he asked. Wilt calmed his laughter and cleared his throat, turning to face Mr. Herriman,

"Sure thing Mr. H! I think he's ready." Wilt then turned to Ed, "Now, you just tell him everything you told me and it'll work out just fine, And yes, I do like your fur. I've got mad allergies and any fur that doesn't make me sneeze when I'm that close to it is fine by me." Wilt winked and gave Eduardo a little nudge toward the door. "Go on, now and don't worry. It'll all be A-OK!" Eduardo nodded, and disappeared down the hallway after Mr. Herriman and vanished into the office.

To be Continued…