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When it happened, Purpled hadn’t realized the thing had followed him home, but there it was the next morning, gorging itself on fruitsnacks he bought last week.
The unwelcome surprise spelt bad news for Purpled, and he wanted it gone.
It had seen, he’s sure- the night before when he disposed of the body. A secret only remains a secret so long as no one can tell, but unfortunately for him, Slime wasn’t so easy to kill.
Without any guarantee of him keeping his mouth shut, Purpled opted for the only other option he could think of: keeping the guy around. Not locking him up of course- he knew a little too much how that felt, and he isn’t even sure he has a way to contain him- but people were always less inclined to spill things if it would negatively affect them too.
So the matter ended with him becoming something like a tenant of the apartment. Keep your enemies close and all that- if Slime spilled about what he saw, he’d be out of a home.
The arrangement wasn’t perfect. The chance something might slip was still high. He didn’t know nearly enough about the guy, and that left too many risks to continue that way.
Thus Purpled began his investigation into him and found that Slime was… unsettling, to say the least.
He could dig up no official records. No proof of the person (thing?) taking up residence in his building existed in the eyes of the government.
But if that was the extent of his findings, he wouldn’t have been so put off. His observations as he spent time around Slime to find out more were what solidified the discomfort in Purpled’s mind.
The guy was oblivious of things to a fault, accepting Purpled’s explanations with ease, no matter how obvious he made the lies. But when Purpled least expects it, Slime will say something that makes it seem like he is fully aware of what’s going on.
Clearly, he knew more than he let on, yet Purpled swore he’s never met anyone who simultaneously knew so little.
It was confusing, a contradiction that ended up reading as something very other. It left him feeling as though he knew less than he did at the start of his investigation.
Following his confusion, the search for information increased in scale. Merely analyzing Slime within their daily interactions wasn’t enough, so he began tracking his activities outside the apartment.
In following Slime, he found the guy had a knack for getting places unnoticed. He got into far more places than Purpled ever could; he even found new ways to places Purpled thought he knew like the back of his hand.
In those back alleys they witnessed a number of illegal dealings. Not once during all of that had anyone caught onto the fact someone was watching them- well, neither had Slime, but that was expected from him.
After a while, oblivious as he was, Purpled’s opinion on Slime shifted.
An annoyance to an enigma. And an enigma to someone useful.
He needed some way to keep his informant business going afterall.
Of course, usefulness didn’t translate to trust, and that hadn’t ever come easy to him. It was a process to learn to let Slime in. One that involved double and triple checking investigations and time.
Before Purpled extended his trust though, he was given the courtesy of it from the object of his doubts.
The stalking spanned over a few months and unexpectedly- Slime had caught on. He hadn’t realized at first, and maybe it had been because stalking Slime proved far too easy that he’d grown careless, because he never would’ve expected to get called over by the guy mid conversation.
He found himself amidst the lingering smell of tobacco, blinding lights, and bright colors in the Las Nevadas Casino when he followed Slime that day. An ill suited place for such a gullible guy, but who was he to police the actions of his new tenant. He’d shown himself harmless ‘til now, and Purpled’s doubt wore away with time.
He watched as Slime lost- and lost… and lost.
How someone could remain so cheerful while losing so much was beyond Purpled. He saw Slime duped by petty tricks in cards, play rigged game after game, all with the same happy smile on his face. As though he was having the time of his life despite his quickly emptying pockets.
Before he could stop Slime, someone approached him, who his gullible tenant greeted with a smile rivaling the bright lights of the casino.
A scar ran down the left side of the stranger’s face and black hair peeked out of the beanie adorning his head. When he grinned, a gold tooth glinted in the lights of the casino. Had it not been for how Slime beamed at his approach, Purpled would’ve thought this was another opportunistic jerk trying to scam him of his money.
The two were situated just out of earshot of Purpled, so he failed to make out exactly what their conversation had been about, but suddenly his name was called over the synthetic music filling the space.
“Purpled from Ponk’s Clinic! Come meet Quackity from Las Nevadas!”
It startled him, of course- he hadn’t expected his name to be called, hadn’t expected Slime to know he was being followed.
In hindsight, why wouldn’t he have known? Slime always knew more than he let on, and surely Purpled had grown careless over time. At that point, it would’ve been more surprising if he didn’t know.
He’s called again, and he made his way over, aware there’s little point in continuing his facade of secrecy.
“Quackity from Las Nevadas, this is Purpled from Ponk’s Clinic! Oh, but that’s a secret.”
“Slime that’s not how a secret works-“
“Secrets are something you only tell to those you trust,” Slime quoted Purpled’s own words from a few weeks ago back at him, “and I trust Quackity.”
The words send him back to a clinic in a basement, where he dared to use his quirk to make a friend’s load just a little lighter. Where he made his first paycheck and started the thing that lost him that. How different would it have been if he could trust as easily as Slime?
“That’s not how it works, you can tell your secrets to people you trust, but you don’t tell other’s secrets.”
“Oh. Well if I tell you one of Quackity’s secrets it’ll be okay! Right, Quackity from Las Nevadas? Equal exchange is what you called it right?”
“Yeah yeah, equal exchange,” Quackity nodded along to Slime’s words as if they could only be right.
Purpled couldn’t understand how these two let secrets slip so easily, but he wasn’t about to complain. This was exactly what he was looking for- information, so he’d happily let this farce continue.
“Quackity is a hero.”
“Was,” the man in question corrected.
The words shocked him more than he let on. This was more than anything he had been expecting- after all, who would’ve guessed that his bumbling, bubbly tenant would’ve known a ex-pro hero.
It made him more nervous than he cared to admit. One slip up from Slime and he could very well end up behind bars. The only comfort was that the guy was an ex-pro hero, and judging from the fact that he was in a casino of all places, Purpled believed he got booted from the job for… less than wholesome reasons.
He’d need to look into it further.
“Huh.”
“That’s it? Really?”
“Well what do you want me to say?”
“I don’t know man, something more? Shock? Questions?”
“Purpled is always calm,” Slime patted his chest as if he was bragging about himself, “he’s trustworthy.”
He hides the wince at that statement.
“He gave me a home!”
How stupid that Slime would trust him because of that. He gave him a place just to keep an eye on him.
“Is that so?” Quackity raised an eyebrow to that statement. “But you wouldn’t stay at Las Nevadas last time I asked?”
“Las Nevadas is Quackity’s home.”
“Well, I’m glad you found a place to stay at least.”
The rest of the night passed by without much fanfare. Quackity and Slime continued their conversation while Purpled half listened, and eventually, Quackity sent the two of them off. Slime followed behind Purpled in plain sight, unlike their first encounter.
“Sorry I told Quackity a secret.”
“It’s fine,” and somehow, Purpled knew he meant it this time. “Just don’t let it happen again.”
“Okay!”
The following weeks, Purpled slowly stopped his investigation on Slime.
The last thing he looked into was Quackity, who turned out to be ex-pro hero Pokerface. He retired due to injury, and opened up Las Nevadas Casino. As far as Purpled could find, he hadn’t kept contact with anyone from the hero scene, and that was that.
Trusting was hard, but maybe Purpled could try just a bit.