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“We’re literally identical though, and we’re the same age.” Blue cocked his head to the side in mock confusion and frowned. “So that means we have to be twins.”
Purple shook his head in exasperation, “that's not how that works, Blue. We’re different species anyways, you're a red-eared slider, and I'm a softshell. It's physically impossible.” He explained, “according to dad, at least.” Was mumbled quietly, tacked on as if in afterthought.
Blue grabbed Purple’s face suddenly and turned it to the side. “Red, do me and Purple look like twins?” His question sounded more like a command, making the softshell roll his eyes.
“I dunno.” If Purple squinted enough, he could make out his brother shrugging. “Why don't you guys rock, paper, scissors it?”
He groaned as Blue gasped in excitement. “Yeah, yeah! Okay, let's do it!” Blue let go of Purple’s face in favor of starting the game. “Best of three?” He asked.
Purple just shook his head, “I’d rather get this done as soon as possible.” Blue grinned - at least Purple thought it was a grin - and counted down to start the game.
His brother let out a triumphant laugh, “you always pick scissors. It's too easy to win against you.” Purple spluttered at that, his eyes furrowing in betrayal.
“Then why did we choose rock, paper, scissors? You're a cheater!” He accused, “I don't want to be twins with a cheater.” Purple crossed his arms and turned his back away from Blue, earning him an outraged cry.
“Red!” He whined, turning back towards his older brother. “Purple promised to be my twin if I won.”
His brother just sighed. “I dunno what to tell you, Blue, I can't make Purple agree to somethin’ he doesn't wanna do.”
Blue whipped around to face Purple again and promptly flung his arms around the other’s waist in a hug. “Please be my twin Purple.” he begged, “please, please, please.”
It wasn't long until he got the waterworks going. “Please! I’ll never ask for anything ever again!” The obvious fake sniffling made Purple cringe, “okay, okay! Fine! I’ll be your twin but, I’m the older one.”
Like a flip switched, Blue scrambled back with a grin. “Okay!” Purple sighed in defeat, he's never gonna let that go. He sulked, goodbye ticket of freedom.
Despite that, a smile formed on his face. “Okay, so,” Purple shifted so that his back was no longer to Blue. “First order of business, as your older brother, I order you to go get me a glass of water.”
Blue’s face scrunched up at that. “Red? Is he allowed to do that? Because I don't think that's very fair.”
Red laughed, “you're right, that isn't fair. Purple, stop orderin’ Blue around.”
Purple physically deflated, “man.” He mumbled, sticking a hand into one of his hoodie pockets. “I thought that would work.”
“Too bad,” Blue stuck his tongue out.
“I mean, it was full proof and everything!” He waved his other hand out in front of him, his face pulled up in a pout. Blue pat him on the shoulder in sympathy, “I guess I'm just too smart for your plans. I can sniff ‘em out.” He paused for a beat, lips pursed as he thought. “Man, I must have a big sniffer, then”
Purple giggled and playfully shoved his brother’s hand off his shoulder. “Gross, don't ever say that again.” He thought for a moment and then squawked. “My plans are not that bad!”
“Yuh-huh,” Blue argued.
“Nuh-uh,” Purple argued back.
“Boys!” Red cut in, “there was a new trash dump over on the east end of the sewers. Can you guys go check it out? Orange is still asleep, or else I’d have all of us do it.”
Purple shrugged, “okay.” He tugged on Blue’s arm, “c’mon! I wanna see if anyone threw out any good parts.”
“You're such a nerd. ” Blue groaned, but he let Purple drag him along.
“Don’t forget your backpacks!” Red called after them.
“We won’t!” Blue shouted back.
Purple winced at the volume while hooking his backpack straps around his shoulders. “This backpack would be so much cooler if it was blue.” His newly appointed twin complained.
“Just because your name’s Blue, doesn’t mean you have to make it your whole personality.” Purple scoffed at him.
“Says mister I-have-to-paint-everything-I-make-purple.” Blue shot back.
“Yeah, but purple’s the better color anyways.”
“Nuh-uh.”
“Yuh-huh.”
Blue stuck out his tongue and blew raspberries before skipping ahead. Purple rolled his eyes and followed behind. They made it to their pseudo front door and made a turn right.
Purple fumbled with his backpack straps as Blue hummed a tune. The dim lights flickered occasionally; sometimes Purple worried that they would go out for good.
Maybe if I found some wire long enough, I could try to rework the circuits. He thought to himself.
The twins were walking side-by-side now, their shoulders occasionally bumping together because of the narrow path.
His other shoulder brushed the concrete walls; his brothers had always made him walk away from the water because of his poor vision. Well, it was really because one time he fell in and almost drowned, but Red and Orange don’t like talking about it.
“Do you think Red’s actually gonna be able to find a pair of glasses for me?” Purple asked, his voice growing serious.
Blue shrugged, “probably not.” He said, not noticing the other’s tone.
“Oh,” Purple muttered dejectedly.
Blue glanced side-long at him with a small frown. “But you know me,” he was quick to reassure with a toothy grin. “I’m a lying liar! Red probably has them hidden as a surprise.” He nudged Purple’s side, “I’m sure of it.”
“Okay,” Purple matched his grin. “I believe you.”
“Good!” Blue’s grin turned cocky. “Because I’m always right.”
“Uh-huh, sure.” Purple agreed, sarcasm dripping from his voice, but Blue didn’t seem to notice - or he didn’t care enough to mention anything.
They both slowed as they neared a large pile of junk; Purple wrinkled his snout at the smell of it. “I can’t believe people just toss stuff down here.”
“Well, you know what they say,” Blue said, already climbing the giant pile. “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”
He tossed scrap metal down haphazardly, nearly hitting Purple in the process. “I have literally never heard anyone say that.” He picked up a promising piece of aluminum. “Where’d you hear it from anyways?” He asked, shrugging off his backpack to stuff the metal in.
“I dunno.” Blue answered, “pretty sure I found it in a book or somethin’”
“You can read?” Genuine surprise filtered through Purple’s voice. “Since when?”
Blue was silent for a moment, “since, like, a week ago. Red taught me and now, I’m a master.” He puffed his chest out with pride.
Purple snickered, “I can read better than you and I’m almost blind.”
A soggy book hit him square in his face, “ewww!” Purple spluttered, swiping the book off his face. “That’s so gross! It probably has so much bacteria in it.”
“Quit being so dramatic.” Blue said with a snort, “you’ve drunk sewer water before.”
“Not on purpose,” Purple shuddered, recalling the memory. “And that was because I almost drowned.”
Blue shrugged, “you still drank it.”
“You’re impossible.” The softshell muttered. He reached to pull a particularly large coil of wire out from the pile, but the sound of murmuring stopped him. Curiosity peaked, he turned towards the sound. “I’ll be back.” He said.
“Don’t die.”
“I’ll try not to.”
He shuffled around the pile, using his hand as a guide to not trip on anything dangerous. “Hello?” He called out.
When no one answered, he felt around for a pipe. Once he found one that fit into his hand comfortably, he raised it; poised to hit anyone that came across his way.
“Hello?” He tried again, “come out! I'm not afraid of you!” His voice echoed against the damp walls; maybe it was nothing . He bit the inside of his cheek, I thought I heard something, though.
He turned to leave, but before he could, a shrill voice broke through the air.
“Are you a turtle?!”
Purple froze and squinted through the dim lighting. “Yeah?” He cocked his head to the side. “What else would I be?”
A blurry figure approached him with a grin. “So cool!” They reached their hand out in a polite manner. “I'm April O’Neil, what's your name?”
Purple stared at the hand quizzically, “I'm Purple.” He said simply; the other didn't seem deterred though, instead grabbing his hand in both of theirs and shaking aggressively.
“Nice to meet you, Purple!” Their enthusiastic voice didn't waver. “I’ve never met a turtle-person before!” They finally dropped his hand and he brought it to his chest.
“I mean, we don't come out of our home much.” Purple offered helpfully.
April gasped, “there's more of you? Oh my gosh, I can't wait to tell everyone at school tomorrow!”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Purple shook his head in disbelief. “You're human ?”
“Yeah! I'm a human girl!” April gave a disbelieving grin, “why do you ask?”
“You don't look human.” Purple blurted before smacking a hand over his mouth. That was so rude.
April didn't seem to mind, in fact, she took it in stride. “Thank you!”
Purple blanched for a few seconds before bringing his hand to rub the back of his neck, “I don't have good eyesight.” He said bashfully, “sorry.”
“Do you not have glasses?” She asked, raising a brow in question.
Purple shook his head, “I haven't been able to find any that fit my prescription. And I can't exactly go up to the surface to get any testing done.”
April frowned at that, “why not?”
Purple looked at her incredulously. “Because then humans would kidnap me and turn my brain into mush.”
“ I'm human, though. And I haven't turned your brain into mush.” The human pointed out.
“Well, yeah. That's because you're a kid, and kids don't do that.” Purple said - like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“I’m not a kid!” April protested, “I’m almost eleven years old!”
“Yeah… a kid.” Purple stood feeling like an idiot. He wondered if this person had that effect on everyone.
“Purple!” Blue’s voice rang through the sewers. “Get your butt back here, or I'm leaving without you!”
April craned her neck to look past the softshell, “was that another turtle-person?” She whispered excitedly.
Purple nodded, “he says we’re twins, even though we’re different species.”
The other’s demeanor faltered. “Man, I wish I had a twin,” April muttered, looking down at the ground like a deflated balloon.
“Did you just miss the part where I said that me and him are different species or…?” Purple frowned, looking back and forth between the human and where Blue’s voice came from.
“Yeah, but like,” she huffed out a frustrated sigh. “You actually have someone to choose that with. I don’t have anybody.” The last part was mumbled quietly - as if in shame; Purple chewed on his lip in thought, his eyes darting around the sewer.
“If you promise not to tell anyone about us.” He eventually said, “then you can meet the rest of my family if you want.”
April’s eyes lit up, a smile forming on her face. “You really mean it?”
Purple gave a sincere smile of his own, “promise.” At Blue’s second call, he scampered off, leaving the human behind.
When he circled back to the other side of the trash pile, he saw Blue standing with both backpacks full of junk. His twin had a frown on his face, “y’know, when Red sends us both out to get things - I don’t think he intends for you to go running off whenever.”
Purple winced as Blue tossed his backpack to him. “Pretty sure you said to ‘have fun, don't die’ whenever I ‘ran off’.” He said with air quotes. He shouldered his bag, almost tripping at the weight of it.
“I did not say ‘have fun’, and I also expected you to be back by the time I was done,” the slider said as he shuffled his backpack on. “Where were you anyway? You’re usually, like, bouncing off the walls to go on supply runs.”
A shrug was Purple’s answer as he spotted the large coil of wire again. “I’ll tell you when we get home, I want Red and Orange to hear about this too.” He explained, tugging at the wire until it was free.
He fell back with a grunt but held the wire victoriously in the air before stuffing it in his hoodie pockets. Blue scoffed playfully from behind him and grabbed Purple’s arm, hauling him to his feet. “Okay, then let’s go. Now I’m actually curious.”
Purple smiled, “what? And you weren’t before?”
Blue flashed a confident smirk at him. “Nope. Not even a little.”
The other shook his head fondly as they walked side by side. Maybe this whole twin thing wasn’t a bad idea , Purple thought. Not that he’d ever admit it out loud, though. Some good things he liked to keep to himself.
“Red!” Blue shouted as they neared the entrance to their home, “we got some more stuff!” He dropped his things with a loud thump and plopped down on their rundown recliner; stretching with an over-dramatic yawn.
Purple set his things down in a much more gentle manner before trotting after his brother and sitting down on the floor next to the recliner. Red walked out of his room with Orange sitting on his back, he still looked sleepy so Purple assumed that he’d just woken from his nap.
Though, Orange’s eyes lit up at the sight of his other two brothers. He pointed excitedly at them, flapping his other hand up and down. Red set him down next to Purple with a soft smile, before walking over to their backpacks and sorting their materials into separate piles.
Orange tugged on Purple’s hoodie, “Hi!” He said.
“Hi,” Purple said.
“Did you find any more markers?” Orange asked.
The softshell hummed, “I don’t think so.”
“We didn’t,” Blue answered, swinging his foot around and narrowly hitting Purple in the head.
“Hey!” He squawked; Blue just laughed.
“Red has a surprise for you,” Orange said suddenly. Blue and Purple glance at each other, “what is it?” The slider asked eagerly, leaning in closer towards the youngest.
He just shook his head, “it’s not for you.” He points at Purple. “It’s for you.”
“Me?” Purple asked in disbelief. Orange nodded. “Well, what did he get me?”
“That,” Red cut in, “is for you to know later. It’s not done yet.” He looked pointedly at Orange, “and don’t spill anything about it.”
Orange just blinked at him. Red huffed out an amused breath and sat down on the other side of Purple. He looked tired.
“Hey, Red,” Purple started. “So, y’know on that supply run that we went on?” Blue sat up straighter in the recliner, a curious smile on his face. Red looked back and forth between them with a brow raised in question, “yeah?”
“Well…” He fidgeted with his thumbs, suddenly overcome with nervousness. “Don’t be mad, but, uh - y’know how we’re not technically supposed to be seen by humans?” Purple looked away from his older brother, “I kinda accidentally found one.”
There was silence for a beat, then two, until finally-
“ That was the big surprise?” Blue asked incredulously, “lame.”
Red spluttered, “ Blue! ”
“ What? I’ve seen humans all the time down here; dunno what they find so interesting about this place.” Blue shrugged nonchalantly. “It kinda smells.”
Purple shook his head, “no, I don’t think you’re understanding.” He lowered his voice down to a whisper as if to stop anyone from listening in. “She saw me.”
His brothers looked at him wide-eyed. “What do you mean she saw you? ” Red whispered, “it’s so dark down here, there’s no way!”
“Um - so, I kinda didn’t see her until she was right in front of me.” Purple explained, “I mean, I didn’t think she was human at first.”
Red made a noise in the back of his throat and laid his head in his hands. “Geez,” he mumbled.
Purple hunched his shoulders, “sorry.” He said.
But his brother just shook his head, “it’s - well it’s not fine, but I’m just glad you’re not hurt. That human didn’t do anything to you, did it?” Red assessed his form, fear clouding his gaze ever so slightly.
The softshell shook his head, “she was really nice but kinda loud.” He thought for a moment, “I think she’s around your age, though.”
He took a deep breath, it’s now or never, I guess. “I kinda promised her that if she didn’t tell anyone she saw me that she might kinda be able to meet you guys.”
Red stared at him with an indecipherable expression on his face. “Sorry,” Purple muttered again. “I was scared that she’d tell other people; I didn’t know what to do.” The words felt heavy on his tongue, admitting that he didn’t have an answer to something - it made hot shame stir in his gut.
A hand went to pat him on the head and he instinctively cringed back; but once noticing that it was just his brother, he leaned into the touch. “We’ll figure it out,” Red assured.
“But on another note,” he said as he stood up. “I guess that surprise can’t wait any longer.” Purple cocked his head as Red retreated from the living room and into his quarters.
“I wonder what it is.” Blue said, “hopefully it’s something cool.”
Orange giggled, “it’s not for you, silly.”
The slider just shrugged with a grin, “doesn’t mean that it can’t be cool.”
Purple shook his head in exasperation as Red stepped back into the living room; covering something in his large palms. “I was gonna try to fix ‘em up more and wrap them like an actual present, but you might need them more than I thought.”
He uncurled his hands to show Purple a pair of thick-framed glasses. His mouth dropped to a small ‘o’ as he delicately took them out of his brother’s palms and held them in front of his face.
Instantly, the world came into focus, causing him to blink a few times to adjust his eyes. He looked around, everything felt so sharp. He blinked a few more times and noticed that his cheeks were wet - why-
Oh.
He was crying.
Red held his hands out in front of himself as if he didn’t know what to do. “I know that the lenses probably look funky - or - or weird,” he rambled. “But I assumed the bigger the better, right? Please don’t cry, I can try fixing them again.” He reached out to grab the glasses, but Purple jerked back and held them protectively against his chest.
“They’re perfect,” Purple said with a wobbly smile. “Thank you.” Red let out a relieved sigh, a wide grin overtaking his features.
“I can tape them on your face,” Orange offered. “That way you won’t have to hold them in front of you all the time.”
Before Purple could answer, he scampered off and returned with a roll of masking tape. “Hold still,” Orange said as he taped the sides of the glasses onto the softshell’s face.
“Okay, done.” His younger brother scooted back as Purple looked around.
“Well, whaddya know, I’m psychic,” Blue said from his spot on the recliner. “I told you so.”
Purple thought back on their earlier conversation, “huh, I guess you are.” He cocked his head and examined his twin’s face - now that he could actually see it clearly, he noticed that Blue had red markings on his face and yellow stripes; nothing at all like the softshell’s deep purple markings on his shoulders.
He recalled their first conversation this morning and he could feel his face heat up in embarrassment.
“ We look nothing alike.” Purple accused as he scooted closer to his brother. “You said earlier that we’re identical. You’re a liar!”
“Nuh-uh, we have the same eye colors.” Blue blinked at his brother’s deadpan stare. “So we’re literally identical.”
Purple waved his hands in front of his face, “heterochromia is already so rare! How the heck do we both have it?” He cried indignantly, “ and the same colors?”
“Must be a gift from God.” The slider grinned.
Spluttering, Purple looked to Red for help, but he just shrugged his shoulders in a don’t-drag-me-into-this kinda way. He then turned towards Orange, who had a dorky smile on his face.
“Y’know, I can kinda see the resemblance.”
Blue barked out a laugh and leaned down to high-five the youngest. “That’s what I’m talking about, little bro! Give me five!”
Orange giggled as he slapped Blue’s hand with his own; Purple just rolled his eyes, shifting back, but when he did, he felt a familiar weight in his pocket.
The wire! Purple thought to himself, now that I have that and I can see, I could get the lights in here in actual working condition. Maybe I could fix the plumbing too - if we have enough supplies for that.
Filled with determination, he excused himself and rummaged through the piles of extra metal and scrap.
Maybe if I do this, then dad will come out of his room. He plastered a hopeful smile on his face, that’d make Orange happy.
In what felt like no time at all - but was actually two hours' worth of work - Purple stepped back into the living room; a proud grin taking up most of his face. Orange and Blue were coloring something in a disheveled coloring book while Red watched them.
He stood in front of his brothers and held his hands out proudly in display.
“Ta-da!” He exclaimed, “I fixed it!”
Blue looked from his coloring book with a blank stare. “Fixed what?” He asked.
Purple just blinked, trying to decipher if his twin was joking or not. Once convinced that the other was very much not , he dropped his hands to his side with a dramatic sigh. Some of his excitement tapering off.
“The lights, Blue. I fixed the lights.” He facepalms at Blue’s lost expression.
“They were broken?”
Purple throws his hands up in the air, “you’re impossible!” He stormed off into his room, his face hot in embarrassment. He slammed his curtain closed. It didn’t do much, but it made Purple feel better.
Technically, no one went into their rooms anymore - except to get away from the chaos that was Purple’s family.
Being apart… it scared them; ever since Purple’s near drowned incident - and the one-too-many times Orange and Blue had gotten lost in the maze that they called their home; their rooms had simply become a thing of the past.
They still stored what meager belongings they had in their small quarters, but more often than not, the turtles found themselves sleeping in what they called a ‘turtle pile’ on the living room floor.
Purple flopped down on his dingy cot with a frown. All that hard work - just for it to go unnoticed. It stung, the softshell didn’t know why he chased after something so small as his twin’s validation, but knowing that the other didn’t acknowledge the work he put in - it hurt.
He blinked back tears of frustration, he didn’t even know why he was crying. So stupid! He scolded himself. Why are you crying? Something so small has you reacting so big. Pull yourself together! He fidgeted with his hands and tried to relax his jaw, he found that when he did that, it was significantly easier to keep tears at bay.
Hot shame crept up his shell at the thought of his brothers, or worse - his father - discovering him curled up on his cot trying not to cry his eyes out because he didn’t get a pat on the back and a job well done. So stupid! So - so illogical!
Emotions were illogical, Purple decided, and he hated them. They made you do things and not think; the softshell had witnessed enough of his father’s angry outbursts to know that. Purple subconsciously flinched at that train of thought and stuffed his - whatever it is - down into the recesses of his mind.
Trying to steer his mind away from the direction it was headed, Purple sat up on his cot, stewing in silence. Frustration prickled at the back of his neck as his mind worked. Humans had no problem expressing emotion, he deduced. But neither did my brothers.
The human he’d met earlier - April - had been excitable, even if he couldn’t see her that well, he’d heard it. Is that what he has to do? Pitch his voice up for excitement? But then what would he do when he’s sad?
Maybe I just won’t be sad in front of them. It’s embarrassing anyways. Purple thought back on all the times his brothers’ had cried or showed discomfort. It’s not embarrassing when they do it, though. He thought some more, his face furrowed in concentration.
I think something’s wrong with me. Purple froze at that realization but he couldn’t refute. It made sense, logically he knew that. He curled his legs tight against his plastron and rested his head on his knees.
A wave of sadness washed over him. He felt lonely. Even surrounded by the people that he loved - that he felt close to - he feels alone.
What is wrong with him?
Before he could expand some more, there was a shuffling outside his curtain, lulling him out of his depressive thoughts. Purple muttered a quiet “come in” making sure to hide any traces of his lingering sorrow.
He would think about it another time, he promised himself.
Blue shuffled into the doorway, an uncomfortable expression on his face. He shot a look behind him - where Purple assumed Red was hiding - and steeled his shoulders in determination.
Before Purple could ask what the heck his brother was doing - the slider opened his mouth.
“I’m sorry.”
Purple flinched back in confusion, “huh?”
“I said, I'm sorry .” Blue looked to the ground with hunched shoulders. The softshell stared at him as the room lapsed into an uncomfortable silence. After a few unbearable minutes of awkward quiet, Purple opened his mouth to speak.
“Okay,” he said lamely.
“Okay?”
“Thank you…?” Purple shrunk back into his shell at the baffled look his brother gave him.
“Are you saying that to just make me feel better?” Blue demanded, “because I really am sorry and I don’t wanna make it worse.” The slider fidgeted with his hands in the same manner that Purple does.
“I didn’t know that anything was wrong with the lights - honest - but it’s cool. That you did that I mean.” Blue shifted uncomfortably.
That was one thing that Purple could relate to with his brother; both of them hated being vulnerable. While Red and Orange were both in tune with their emotions, the twins had a harder time opening up.
Purple suspected that a lot of that had to do with their father, but he’d never voice his concerns out loud. Especially not in front of Blue or Orange.
The softshell cleared his throat at Blue’s expectant gaze. “Thank you,” he said with more confidence. A hint of a smile graced his lips. Blue sounded genuine, so Purple ought to believe him. Right?
His twin bobbed his head up and down in a nod, “so…” He started, “I found a projector earlier and Red thought that you could - like, I dunno - fix it.”
Purple furrowed his non-existent eyebrows, “you want me to… fix something?” The softshell was under the impression that his brothers’ hadn’t cared at all for the work he’d put into his tech.
Granted, he hadn’t been able to build much because of his poor eyesight. And manuals only proved so useful for simple things such as fixing a toaster; if he could even get his hands on one - a manual - that is.
“Yeah, he found some old tapes and stuff lying around dad’s stuff. Figured that we could watch some,” Blue shrugged. “If you don’t wanna, then I’m pretty sure I could try to tinker with it.”
Purple scoffed, “your brain isn’t nearly as advanced as you believe it to be. Leave this to the professional, if you will.” He got up and dusted himself off dramatically, his confidence returning at full force.
His twin raised his hand in mock salute, “sir yes sir.” He said before backing out of the room. Purple sauntered after him, any previous negative emotion that lingered was all but gone now.
Blue just had that charm about him, being able to ease the tension with his stupidity was a trait that Purple both admired and hated.
“Okay, so,” the slider said as he presented what looked like - frankly - to be a pile of garbage. “I know this kinda looks, well, bad , but you’re kinda smart. Emphasis on the kinda - don’t want anything going to your head, now.” Blue grinned smugly at Purple’s exasperated eye roll.
“Anyways,” he powered on. “Do you think you can do it? Fix this?”
Purple put a hand over his chest in mock hurt, “scoff, do you even know me? Of course I can fix this, please, Blue, I’m a genius. A literal child prodigy, this is baby stuff.” He puffed his chest out in pride, “I can get it fixed in no time.”
True to his word, Purple had the projector up and running in less than an hour. His brothers marveled at his work as the softshell described each upgrade and new parts that he added.
Although, Purple suspected that they were really just tuning him out in favor of pressing random buttons. Was I really not blessed enough to be born in a family that appreciated the sciences? He mentally complained, such a shame - truly.
“How did you get this fixed so quick?” Orange asked after seemingly growing tired of his game with the buttons.
Purple’s eyes lit up as he paced around, throwing his hands out in gestures as he animatedly explained the properties and parts of his newest fix. His younger brother listened attentively, nodding along even though the softshell knew that the other had no clue what he was rambling on about.
It made a warm feeling flood through his chest and he absolutely preened under the attention.
“Hey - uh - hate to interrupt your speech,” Blue cut in, not an ounce of regret on his face. “ But, you did fix this because we were gonna watch a movie, right?”
“I think my monologues are entertaining enough.” Purple stated matter-of-factly, “but by all means, go ahead.”
Red let out an amused huff as he balanced the projector on a bookshelf above them and inserted a tape with a colorful cover. He backed away almost cautiously and settled himself on the ground; sandwiched between Orange and Blue.
Purple sat above them on the recliner and tucked his feet beneath himself as the projector started rolling.
The screen showed the area to be some sort of dimly lit warehouse. People crept around, hauling what looks like radioactive waste.
“Are those bad guys?” Orange whispered. Blue shushed him as a man sauntered into the middle of the warehouse. He had a colorful outfit on, his hair was styled up, and he had red tinted glasses.
Looks impractical, Purple noted with disinterest. His gaze flicked down to observe his brothers - who were watching the movie with much more attention than him.
“I wonder who that is,” Orange wondered aloud. Blue shushed him again when suddenly the man jumped into action. Punching and kicking what Purple presumed to be the villains.
He leaned forward, suddenly enraptured by the movements being projected onto the wall in front of him. The man picked up a staff and twirled it in a showcase of skill, before knocking out the remaining villains.
Purple held his breath as the man stood victoriously over his enemies. A single arm was raised to point towards the sky while his other was limp next to him - still clutching the staff.
“You villains are no match for,” he gave a dramatic pause, causing the four turtles to lean closer with stars in their eyes.
“Lou Jitsu!”
They sit in silence as the movie continued, only for it to be broken by the occasional ‘woah’ or ‘cool’ by Purple’s brothers. A content smile rested on his face as he watched Lou Jitsu battle more foes and save more damsels.
His trance was broken by footsteps approaching. Purple stole a quick glance behind him to see his father hunched over with a bitter expression on his face.
The rat took no notice of him though, and retreated back into his room. His figure shaking as his door shut behind him.
Purple clenched his fists and shook his head, he doesn’t care. The softshell tells himself, not anymore - so it’s no use getting worked up.
Red glances back at him with a questioning look. “You good, little man?”
At that moment, Purple vowed to himself that he’d never do anything to hurt his brothers - not in the way that their father does.
So with shaky resolve, Purple plastered on a smile and nodded his head. “Yeah, everything’s great.” His brother gave a smile of his own and turned back to the movie.
The softshell flickered his gaze to each of his brothers; Orange was dozing quietly on Red’s shoulder while Blue was watching the end of the movie with half-lidded eyes.
Purple wanted to be someone they looked up to - someone they could rely on. Even though he wasn’t the oldest, he felt a surge of protectiveness wash over him.
He wanted to be a hero - their hero.
He wanted to be like Lou Jitsu.