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It wasn’t always like this.
Purpled, by himself, struggling to survive in whatever corner of some random server he smuggled himself onto. Of course, he didn’t really remember the days where it hadn’t been like this, but that didn’t matter. In his mind it was him, and that was all he needed.
It didn’t matter that he desperately wanted someone else, because he could push it aside and ignore it.
To anyone else, he was just some kid that they saw once and never bothered to look for again. There wasn’t anything special about him, to be fair. He wore a hoodie, jeans, sneakers. He was every single teenager and he was none of them at the same time. It made it easy to survive.
Survive- maybe not quite that. Something less. Or maybe a little bit more. Purpled wasn’t sure. After all, he didn’t remember anything other than this.
First rule that had been drilled into Purpled’s being was to never trust a man. Never mind that he almost was one, it was a fact he generally tried to ignore.
Never trust a man.
They were cruel, more often than not. They wouldn’t hesitate to put on a kind face, give you a couple kind words, and then make sure you were never seen again. It was just the facts- and it was something Purpled lived by.
Unfortunately, he was slim on options.
He hadn’t been sleeping. Recurring nightmares kept him up, made him woozy the next day. He’d sleep for quick snippets of time if he could, but he’d been on high alert the past few days and didn’t get any chances. Thus, the sloppy mistakes began. He’d gone down an alley he shouldn’t have, he said something snarky to someone he shouldn’t have. They cut him up a bit, nothing too bad, but then others had come by and well, they took their opportunity to prove their power.
Cue his current situation. Bleeding out in an alley of a server that everyone was transferred to eventually. Not ideal in the slightest.
All his stuff was gone, but he wasn’t focused on that, not really. He was trying to put pressure on his wounds, but the blood kept seeping through his fingers and at that point, he was ready to give up. He hadn’t cried since he got to the streets, but he figured if he was dying, why wouldn’t he?
Regardless, when Purpled thought about his death it was always in some badass way that he never put much thought into, not crying in an alley from wounds that he didn’t deserve.
Maybe he did deserve them.
A voice sounded out, high, unsure. “Hello? Are you alright?”
Purpled stopped crying for a moment, overall just shocked that someone would have the balls to walk down a dark alley in the middle of the night. “W- what?”
The voice spoke up again, nearer this time. “Are you okay?” A face, this time, a little blurry, but Purpled figured it was just the blood loss getting to him. Gold, which was weird. A guardian angel? “Uh, no, I’m not a guardian angel. I just heard you crying, so I thought I’d check on you.”
Wait… How was this dude reading his mind?
“I’m not reading your mind, actually. You’re saying that out loud. But hey, my name’s Foolish, what’s wrong? Something I can help you with?”
To Foolish’s credit, Purpled almost believed him. But even in his haze, he remembered the rule. When in doubt, don’t trust the men.
He stayed quiet, which was apparently the wrong decision because the gold face leaned closer and shook his shoulder. He whimpered at the pain, and hated himself for it.
“Oh. Oh, no, that’s… that’s a lot of blood. Okay, uh, just… stay awake? That’s what they say, right? Oh, no, you’re falling asleep. I have healing potions back at my apartment, Papa made sure I had them. Stay awake, kid, I got you.”
Ironic, because he didn’t have the energy to keep his eyes open any longer.
_
Purpled woke up on a couch. Not even a bed.
It got worse as he looked around the room. A folding table instead of a coffee table, no rugs, no fun knick-knacks that indicated a personality. It looked like, to be frank, a single guy’s first apartment away from home.
He jumped when he looked towards the door and saw the golden guy asleep with his back against the front door.
Whatever. He might as well look in the fridge.
Purpled tried to get up, and though it hurt, the hunger that burned in his stomach was stronger. The journey wasn’t even worth it though. A jar of mayonnaise, a pint of milk, a block of cheese that was half eaten, and a head of lettuce. The door of the fridge had a stick of butter and a bottle of salad dressing.
“This is fucking sad.” Purpled said, not even bothering to keep his voice down.
From across the open layout, Foolish stirred. “Hm?”
“You have the audacity to kidnap me, but you don’t even bother to have some decent food for when I wake up? What’s the use?”
“I didn’t kidnap you.” Foolish groaned, rubbing his eyes and standing up. “You were bleeding out and I had the chance to save you, what did you want me to do, let you die?”
Purpled shrugged. “I don’t know. Seems like a better alternative to eating a salad. What happened, did your mom just kick you out?”
Foolish was in the kitchen by that point. “Nah, Papa Puffy just said I could use some independence.”
Purpled closed the door. “So this ‘Papa Puffy’ kicked you out and you’re in denial.”
This time, he wasn’t graced with a response.
Purpled hopped up on the counter. “So. what’s up? What do you want from me?”
“Listen, man,” Foolish took the carton of milk out of the fridge and drank from it, makinig Purpled pull a face. “I don’t even know your name. If you wanna bolt out of here and make a run for it, I won’t stop you and wouldn’t be able to find you again, but you’re still injured. I’m your best shot at help.”
“You tell your father yet that you pulled a kid off the streets?”
“Puffy won’t be surprised. She did the same thing with me.”
Purpled stopped for a second. “She? I- alright.” He considered the options. “Okay. I’ll stay with you, on the condition that you get better groceries. Do you even have a bed here?”
Foolish tossed the empty milk carton in the trash defensively. “I have a mattress!”
“You’re pathetic.” Purpled said, getting up to explore.
As expected, everything else was just as bare. There were two rooms off of the main kitchen and living room area, one completely empty and one with a mattress that had a lamp next to it. All things considered, it was alright. Better than most apartments in the Hypixel area, but still bare as bones, and just as boring.
Foolish was still in the kitchen when Purpled had finished his little exploration, but he looked like he was leaving.
“Where-” His voice cracked. “Where are you going?”
Foolish looked up. “Oh, I’m going to the store. Wanna come?”
Purpled shook his head. “No, I think it’s better if the people that hurt me don’t see me on the streets. It’s best to hide and let everything settle down.”
Foolish smiled. “Alright. I’ll be back soon.”
The door was almost closed, but he spoke up. “By the way, my name is uh, Purpled.”
His name was Purpled, but he’d soon go by another title- Foolish’s brother.