Chapter Text
Spruce e John Dory
Spruce cannot get fat.
BroZone is successful and is known for being the most beautiful of the group, fans love his body. They talk about how wonderful and in good shape Spruce is.
The only problem is that Spruce puts on weight easily, which means he needs to exercise all the time. He stopped eating so as not to disappoint his fans, he can't eat much.
Unfortunately, John Dory and Grandma are worried about him.
John Dory says he can eat as much as he wants, he just needs to exercise more. He said it's naturally beautiful, there's no need to stop eating it.
This makes him very angry.
Spruce has heard how people talk about him, they are always saying that the purple troll is no use in the BroZone. Saying that he only serves to be the handsome one, his voice is not beautiful. Obviously, he will be nothing if he is not attractive.
That's why he looks at his food with disgust. Spruce was the only one at the dinner table, John Dory is at his girlfriend's house. Floyd and Clay are sleeping at a friend's house, Grandma is sleeping in the room.
Until little Branch climbed onto the table and looked at him with bright eyes, excited to spend time with Spruce.
"What do you want?" He asks with an irritated expression, he's not normally rude to the baby, but at the moment he's very stressed about everything that's going on.
The baby just smiles gently in response, making a wave of guilt run through his body.
"Let's Play!" He exclaims happily, just wanting to spend time with his older brother.
The troll just rolled his eyes, ignoring his brother, preferring to look at the plate of food. The grandmother put out a lot of food for him, thinking that this way Spruce would eat a lot. But that only made him feel an immense urge to vomit.
Seeing his brother look angrily at the plate of food, Branch also looked at the food angrily. "What did the food do?" He asks, glaring at his food, arms crossed childishly.
"Stop being silly, I'm not mad about the food."
"Then why are you looking at your plate of food in anger?"
Is he looking at his plate of food angrily?
Spruce shouldn't be mad at the food, he should be mad at his own body for not being perfect. Why isn't his body perfect? Fans are going to be mad and disappointed in Spruce, he can't let anyone else down, he's getting tired of this.
“It's not anger, I just don't like the idea of eating...” He says, looking anxiously at the food, completely forgetting his younger brother's existence.
Branch looked at his brother confused, but gave a small smile. Trying to think of something that could help him, he placed a finger on his chin and made an adorable, thoughtful expression. Reflecting on what would be good to help Spruce, he heard that if a troll doesn't eat it can get sick.
He doesn't want Spruce to get sick.
“I understand that you don’t want to eat, it’s bad to be forced to eat.” Spruce notices a look of genuine concern on the baby's face, feeling a little guilty for being the one to worry about. "But you need to eat, otherwise you might get sick."
The purple troll could only gape at his brother, a baby like him was saying something so mature.
"Wow." He continues to look at his brother in awe, but then smiles sadly. “I have no choice, I need to eat.” He says sadly picking up a piece of meat in disgust.
Maybe Spruce will vomit it all up later.
"Wait, you don't have to eat it all." The older troll makes a confused expression. "You only need to eat what will keep your body healthy." He says, standing up, almost falling in the process. "Like, eat whatever you can."
It's not a bad idea.
With shaking hands, he picks up a small piece of meat and begins to slowly eat it. He spends a few long minutes like this, feeling his brother's hand lightly caressing his arm. Until Branch pushes the plate away.
The plate was full of food, but Branch had a proud smile.
"There, you ate!"
"I didn't even eat half the food." Spruce speaks in confusion, even with his stomach hurting and full, he should eat everything.
He tries to pick up the plate again, but the baby just hits his hand. "No, you ate too much!" Branch grabs the plate and runs to the kitchen. “When John Dory arrives he will eat, we cannot waste food.” He spoke as he put away the food with a smile.
The older troll looked very confused, but grateful that he no longer needed to eat.
"Branch, what are you doing?"
“I don’t understand why you don’t want to eat, but it seems wrong to force you to eat so much.” The baby spoke with his arms crossed and a pout on his face. “You’ve already eaten enough to satisfy your hunger and stay healthy, you don’t need to eat more.”
Spruce's eyes burned and he bit his lip to keep from crying. Seeing his older brother looking like he was going to cry, he ran to hug his leg. Quickly, Spruce pulled Branch into a hug, throwing him up with a happy and charming smile.
"Let's Play!" He exclaims as he holds his little brother, hearing the baby let out a beautiful laugh. He placed Branch on the floor watching him run to his room.
He looked at the room and muttered softly. "Thanks..."
•••
Once again the brothers were fighting.
But this time everyone was fighting with John Dory. They were angry at how annoying and bossy he is, even Floyd had his arms crossed irritated.
"You're so selfish and annoying!" Spruce shouts, pointing his finger at the older man.
The reason for the fight was the same, the three younger brothers were shouting angrily because they felt a lot of psychological pressure due to the show's bills. Everyone was mad at John Dory. Except Bitty Branch who is watching everything happening with a scared expression.
“I’m just trying to maintain harmony, but you have to make everything difficult!” Tears came out of Floyd's eyes, John Dory wanted to apologize for shouting, but anger took over his head. “I have to do everything in this house!”
Grandma was in the living room, she didn't come out to fight with her grandchildren. Perhaps she is already tired of taking care of her grandchildren.
Clay rolls his eyes angrily, unable to take this harmony thing any longer. He leaves the house, not wanting to spend another five minutes around his brothers.
Seeing his younger brother leaving, John Dory screams angrily. "You can't just run away from your responsibilities!" Clay just gives him the middle finger, pulling Floyd to go somewhere with him. The troll looks sadly at Branch, wanting to take him along, but knows that where Clay is taking him is no place for a baby.
They left, leaving John Dory, Spruce, and Branch alone.
"It's your fault our family is fighting all the time." Spruce's trembling voice makes John Dory's heart ache, he spoke very sincerely. "It was your fault our parents died." Tears were forming on Spruce's face, the purple troll left the house too, not noticing John Dory's face full of sadness and regret.
Unable to take it any longer, he kneels on the ground with a broken heart.
He knows Spruce didn't lie, it was entirely John Dory's fault for his parents' deaths.
But he was just singing a song, lost in the moment to notice the Bergens next to him. The parents tried to warn them by shouting, but unfortunately they ended up dying.
Because of John Dory.
Spruce has every right to hate his older brother.
He just wanted to have perfect harmony the same way his parents had, to make his brothers forgive him.
Hot tears ran down his face, he covered his face and cried, his thoughts focused on how he ruined his family. Until he felt a small hand touching his arm, little Branch looking at him confused.
"Go away." He can only say this, but the baby ignored him and just hugged him. "What are you doing?"
"I love you." Branch said, hugging his crying brother, John Dory hugs the baby and clings to his side. “I know you love us, it's not your fault” The oldest cried and hugged him, just wanting some affection.
Seeing his older brothers suffering made him want to cry. “I love having you as my brother, it’s hard to raise four brothers alone, I love you so much.”
John Dory was crying like a child, his eyes were red and swollen. "I'm sorry, it's my fault you grew up without parents, I promise you'll never let anyone hurt you."
The next day, he prepared a special breakfast for the brothers, as if apologizing.
Ironically, he was the first to hurt Branch.