Chapter Text
It was easy for the seventeen-year-old to spot Red as soon as he was in range of the house, the redhead looking incredibly goofy with his arms flailing in wide arcs and his legs bouncing him up and down in an exaggerated, full-body wave up at the flying teen. All Purple could do was shake his head, trying to hold back his smile as the younger boy’s antics soothed the frustration bubbling away in the bottom of his gut. He honestly couldn’t wait to land. The teenager had been in and out of the air for hours now, and even he was getting tired of the cold, winter wind biting at his face and freezing his hands into ice blocks.
“Purple!!! Hi!” Red tackled him before his feet were fully on the ground, sending the pair swaying dangerously to the side until the lilac-haired human managed to stabilise them both.
“Woah! It’s good to see you too, Red,” he laughed, his grin growing wider under the cover of the warm welcome. Even if he was also forced to work overtime to keep them both upright. Holy cursors! Was the fifteen-year-old really this tall the last time he’d seen them or had he had a growth spurt? Either way, Purple was jealous.
Before he could think more on it however, the crunch of snow alerted the pair to the approach of another and Red pulled back from his enthusiastic hug, just in time for an irate voice to snap, “Well, look what the cat dragged in! You sure have a lot of nerve showing your face around here, you scheming bastard!”
Stomping towards them, Green crossed his arms over his chest as he levelled a scathing glare at the violet-clad teenager and, instinctively, fear and guilt leapt high in Purple’s chest, threatening to pull him back into the sky. However, just as quickly, the teen found his escape route blocked by the friendly arm still cinched snuggly around his waist, allowing his panicking brain the time to finally register the giggles rising up in his left ear.
Slowly, his mind began to turn once more as his eyes took note of the lack of any real malice in the emerald-clad teen’s miffed frame, alongside the complete lack of anger in the redhead attached like a mollusc to his side. So, softly, he let out the breath he was unconsciously holding as the niggling worry in the back of his lungs sunk beneath a dawning satisfaction.
Eyes darting between Red and Green, he felt the side of his mouth twitch up into a small smirk, “I’m guessing the plan worked then?”
Green’s expression narrowed further as the scarlet-clad teen beamed, “Like a charm! He never saw it coming!”
“There was a giant cake! In the sky! Of course I never saw it coming!!!” The emerald-clad teen threw his hands up in the air in emphasis. “How?! How did you even manage something like that? Red still won’t tell me!”
Purple didn’t even try to fight the smug grin that curled up his lips this time, “Hmm, I’ll tell you. If you finally admit how you got out of that jail cell.”
“Oh, go defrag yourself!” Green shot back with a scowl, clearly displeased at being on the receiving end of his own joke. Not that Purple had much sympathy for the taller teen.
“Language Green,” he responded smoothly, his grin only growing wider as the seventeen-year-old made a lewd gesture with his hand. Next to him, Red full on cackled, using the violet-haired boy as a crutch to keep himself upright at the sight of the emerald human’s affronted face.
“Oh, I wish I’d gotten that on camera!” he wheezed, finally able to get his breathing back under control enough to wobble upright. “Ahh ow… my ribs… Ha! Thanks for the help, Purps! Sorry but I can’t stick around though, I gotta check on the rabbits. But I hope you two have fun! And don’t worry about Green, his bark is way worse than his bite.”
“Oi!” The green-haired teen in question swiped at his brother. But Red simply ducked the loose arm before taking off with a trail of laughter.
Purple watched him go, putting his hands in his pockets to make up for the sudden lack of warmth by his side. Then he turned to eye the quietly fuming seventeen-year-old left next to him as the silence grew to linger in the younger boy’s wake. A dry feeling rose up in the teenager’s throat, causing him to swallow. Now that the redhead’s bouncy energy was gone, he was suddenly struck by the overwhelming fear that maybe he’d overstepped. So, tentatively he asked, “You’re not actually mad, are you?”
The emerald-clad teen didn’t respond straight away, something unidentifiable (and yet frighteningly familiar) flickering in his eyes. Then he sighed and the expression was gone.
“No. Not really,” Green groaned, an exaggerated pout pulling his mouth down as he mournfully turned to stare at the older teen. “But was it really necessary to help him do it on my birthday? Do you know how long it took me to get my hair and makeup just right? Only for it to be completely ruined by midday!”
“What? You’re telling me the great Green doesn’t actually look effortlessly gorgeous like he keeps saying he does? Oh no, the fans will be devastated.” The snarky retort came easily, only the slight twitch of his lips breaking up his deadpan delivery. (Yet still, he couldn’t help the slight twist of his heart at the mention. Wondering, for just the briefest moment, how they would react when if they found out about his own passed birthday, not even a month ago).
In response, Green sniffed in superiority, the boy turning his nose up into the air, “I’ll have you know this is all natural, thank you very much! But that doesn’t mean I can’t spend time every now and then making myself look extra good. You know, for the fans.”
“For the fans,” Purple managed to get out before his grin broke through and Green began to laugh in turn. He had to admit, it was far too much fun matching wits with the other boy. At times, it almost made him forget that this was all fake.
His smile dropped at the thought, a rush of sadness and longing rising up in his chest before he quickly shoved it back down.
Green, however, seemed to catch his sombre look, nudging him lightly, “Hey, are you okay?”
“What? Oh yeah,” Purple shook himself off as they began towards the house. “Just… had a long day is all. Work has me moving about quite a bit.”
“Ah, fair,” the emerald-clad teen let out a small breath as he nodded in sympathy. “How’s that going, by the way?”
“Ehh,” the violet-haired Colour wiggled his hand back and forth, trying not to let his annoyance show through. “We’re not having much luck with the simple approach, so we’ve had to officially put our backup plan into motion. Time will tell if that pans out any better though.”
“Well, best of luck with that. Sounds like you need it!” Green made a face as he shoved his own hands into his jacket pockets. Then his expression turned contemplative, “You know, you keep mentioning this new job, but I don’t actually know if you’ve ever said exactly what it is you’re working on. What are you and your mysterious employer even trying to achieve?”
Purple let out a breathy laugh, hoping the forced chuckles successfully hid the spiking panic in his chest, “Honestly, if I figure that out, you’ll be the first to know! This plan is so convoluted even I’m having trouble following it. But hey, next time I go, maybe you guys could all come with! It would be fun! And honestly, it would be a lot easier to show you all in person anyway.”
In spite of the lilac teen’s gentle invitation, Green’s smile immediately fell as longing, regret and frustration drew his lips into a thin line, “Purple… We’ve talked about this. As much as I wish we could, we all promised that we wouldn’t go back to the Nether. After last time, it’s just too risky.”
“And I get that,” the older teen immediately agreed, a fake smile lighting up his face as his hands twisted into fists in his pockets. “Really! But I thought maybe, just this once-”
“For the last time! No! We’re not going, Purple!” the emerald-clad human snapped, a dark look flashing through his eyes as he rounded on the shorter boy.
Instinctively, the violet-haired teen took a step back, his heart launching itself up into his lungs and his elytra flaring out ready to take off. His throat bobbed hard as he worked overtime to get his emotions back under control, the boy exerting his entire will into stiffly pulling himself together before he lowered his head in a conceding bow.
“Sorry,” he whispered. “Forget I said anything.”
Across from him, he could hear Green sigh, the seventeen-year-old running his hands through his bangs as he bit his lip in frustration, “Sorry P. I- I didn’t mean to yell at you. I know that you meant well. It’s just… kinda a touchy subject at the moment… Maybe one day that would be cool! But for now, I just don’t think it’s in the cards. Is that okay?”
“Of course,” Purple immediately agreed, ignoring the way his heart continued to pound in his chest as his practiced, sympathetic smile slid right into place. However, that didn’t mean he stopped taking careful stock of the boy across from him, catching the way the seventeen-year-old’s mouth remained low and how he winced as he rolled his shoulders out. So eager to steer the conversation away from himself, he asked lightly, “Anyway, how have you been? You look tired.”
In response, Green’s face twisted into a grimace before his expression smoothed over and he shrugged, “Oh me? I’ve been fine! I’m just a bit sore is all. I pulled something last month and my family totally freaked out over it. My brothers decided to, quote unquote, ‘stage an intervention’ and everything. Their words, by the way, not mine.”
Rolling his eyes, the taller boy made exaggerated quotation marks with his fingers and the other teen couldn’t help the snort that left him. He let a wide grin grow on his face as they came to a stop just inside the foyer before raising his eyebrows to ask, “Oh this ought to be good! And what, pray tell, did they decide to do for this intervention?”
“They sat on me!” Green immediately revealed, indignation clear in his high voice. “The sneaky bastards! The four of them colluded together and kept me pinned to my bed by sitting on my back before I’d even had the chance to wake up properly. And then they stayed there! All day! I couldn’t move from my bed, all day!”
Once more, that oddly intense look from earlier flickered in his eyes, the teenager’s mouth dropping as he seemed to glare at nothing. Then, just like before, it quickly disappeared and the teen moved on to untying his shoes with a lopsided smirk. “So yeah. That’s the story of how my brothers betrayed me out of a totally misplaced, overzealous, familial love. Glitches!”
“Uh-huh, I’m sure,” Purple side-eyed him sceptically. Trying to ignore the wriggling discomfort and concern pressing up from the bottom of his gut, the seventeen-year-old instead turned to take off his own shoes. “What were you even doing to hurt yourself so badly anyway?”
So the lilac-clad boy didn’t see the way the taller teen’s grin slipped before he corrected it. “Oh, that. It was during my new training routine actually. Something, something, my pride about being the best fighter being called into question and needing to prove them wrong, et cetera, et cetera. You know how it is. Except, I guess I might have gone a little overboard perfecting a few techniques. And that’s why my brothers decided to step in and remind me to take it easy for a little while. You know, in case I pulled something permanently.”
“You need to calm down! He needs time to recover!”
“He needs to toughen up, that’s what! The world certainly isn’t going to coddle him!”
Purple’s smile froze before he shook the old memory free, his breath hitching at the reminder from his childhood. Then his eyes darted over to the other human. But thankfully he hadn’t noticed anything as he continued to ramble away.
“Plus, there were a few of these cool moves that I just had to get down! Which, not to brag, but I totally did, by the way. And you should totally watch me in action sometime! So what do ya say, Purps? I’ll make it worth your time.”
“Thanks, but I think I’ll pass,” the seventeen-year-old responded dryly, the other teen’s wiggling eyebrows doing overtime to help sooth his frayed nerves and pulling a small smile to his lips. “But if the circus is hiring clowns, I’ll be sure to give them your number.”
“Ah, excuse me! Rude!” Green gasped in mock outrage, “I’ll have you know, that all of the best circuses already have my number, thank you very much!”
“Oh really?” Purple couldn’t help but snort, raising an eyebrow in challenge.
“Yep!” However, just as he’d come to expect, the seventeen-year-old met his provocation with a smirk of his own, “After all, you have my number, don’t you?”
“Pfft!” At that, a genuine laugh was pulled out of the older boy, the teen throwing his head back in mirth. “Alright, I’ll give you that! Hanging out with you lot has definitely made my life feel like a circus!” Then his smile dropped and his eyes grew soft. “But seriously, if it helps, I’ve found that a warm soak can help your body recover quicker. Or at least, it helps with older soreness. You actually want to cold bath straight after a workout for new, potential injuries. Then warm water a few days later to help with the circulation and recovery.”
“A cold bath, huh? Ugh, that sounds awful!” Green grimaced even as his expression grew contemplative, “Still, I suppose it couldn’t hurt to try it out the next time. Thanks Purps!”
A warm fluttery feeling rose up in the violet Colour’s chest at the boy’s beaming grin before he swiftly shoved the sensation back down, his mouth opening to coolly continue the conversation. However, before he could, he was stopped as the pair spotted the new figure coming down the stairs.
At the same time, the Animator caught sight of them and a polite smile pulled his lips upward, “Ah, hello there. Purple, right? It’s nice to see you again.”
“Likewise, Mr Animator,” the lilac-clad boy responded with a formal dip of his head, keeping his spine straight and his hands firmly by his side.
All at once, the Hollow elf’s smile grew a little strained as he tried to wave him down, “Just- just Animator is fine.”
“Of course, Mr Animator.”
A soft sigh left the older man but before the awkward silence could grow, Green cut in with a stiff smile of his own, “Oh! Ah, Animator, we were just about to head upstairs. Are Orange and Yellow still up there?”
“Yes. They’re working in the kitchen.” Taking the out given, the Animator nodded before tacking on a clumsy, “I, umm, hope you have a nice time together?”
“Thank you, sir,” giving the man one last, polite nod, Purple let Green drag him past, noting but not commenting on the tight grip on his sleeve.
However, once they were halfway up the stairs he finally decided to speak up, admitting in a soft voice, “I’d honestly forgotten he was around now. How has that been going?”
Once more, Green’s face twitched, his expression indecipherable as his gait slowed, “It’s… been a little weird, I guess. We’re all still getting used to it. But Orange has been happy to have him around more often - so there’s that. And the others don’t seem to mind. Besides, it’s not like he’s here all the time. He still has a full-time job to work, after all. So we mostly just see him in the evenings and on weekends. I suppose it’s not too bad, all things considered. Now come on! Yellow and Orange will be excited to see you!”
With the conversation clearly closed, the other boy began eagerly moving forward again, gesturing brightly for the older Colour to follow. So, silently, Purple continued up after him, the teen shoving down the surge of emotions stirring in his chest as he did so.
It’s not my problem, he stubbornly told himself, steadfastly ignoring the conflicting emotions swirling in his gut. For now he just had to let it go and instead focus on what was really important.
Even if he couldn’t help how his eyes continued to linger on the emerald-haired teen’s stiff shoulders on his way up into the open kitchen above.