Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Quit making fun of me!” said Poppy, playfully shoving Branch and laughing along with him.

“Hey, I’m just telling the truth,” he fired back.

“Okay, but I do not sound like that.”

He just shrugged, a teasing twinkle in his eye.

“Stop that—”

“Oh, good, you two are finally here!” said another voice, approaching them quickly. Trollzart continued, “Pennywhistle tells me you really helped her out, Queen Poppy. Thank you so much for everything you’ve done for us!”

“Oh, yeah, of course!” Poppy replied cheerfully. “So, are we rebuilding or what?”

“Yes, yes,” Trollzart said. “Follow me, and I’ll show you where you’ll best be able to help us.”

“Perfect! C’mon, Branch!” Poppy was practically skipping as she followed her fellow ruler into Symphonyville. She’d been in an especially good mood ever since all the Trolls started working together.

As they headed in, Branch realized how many Trolls (and even non-Trolls) were involved in the repairing of the Classical Trolls’ home. In fact, the last time this many of them were in the same space was probably during Barb’s rock concert.

“Oh hey, who are those Trolls waving to you, Branch?” Poppy asked, voice as full of enthusiasm as ever. She pointed to a group of Trolls a little ways away from them.

“Oh, um—” He followed her gaze and saw none other than the five K-Pop Trolls who’d kidnapped him. He waved back at them. “They’re the K-Pop Trolls. They were bounty hunters, for Barb—”
“K . . . Pop?” Poppy inquired, cutting him off. She sounded excited. “So they’re like us?”

“I mean, I guess so—”

“Yay! New friends! I’m gonna go say hi!”

He grabbed her by the arm and held her back, laughing a little at all her energy. “Maybe later. Right now we’re helping out the Classical Trolls, remember?”

“Right! But . . . new friends . . .”

“This job takes a while,” he reminded her. “They’ll still be here later.”

She sighed dramatically. “I guess you’re right . . .”

He laughed. “Just keep following Trollzart, would you?”

“I would love to.”

By then, the leader of classical music was so far ahead they had to sprint to catch up.

It took the two of them a little longer than it probably should’ve to do their part, because Poppy was constantly getting distracted by everything around her (they would have to come back another time just to sight-see, Branch decided), so on their lunch break they went over to talk to the K-Pop Trolls.

Poppy approached them first, even though she didn’t know them at all. “Hi, guys! I’m Poppy! What’re your names?”

“I’m Wani,” said the blue Troll.

“I’m Ari,” said the green Troll, smiling at Branch.

“I’m Kim-Petit!” said the purple Troll, practically mirroring Poppy’s grin.

“I’m Gomdori!” said the yellow Troll, grinning as well.

“I’m Baby Bun,” said the pink Troll, giving a small smile and wave.

“Hi, guys! This is Branch!” Poppy nearly tackled her fellow Pop Troll in a hug.

“Poppy, I already know them, remember?”

“Oh yeah! Hey, do you guys wanna come hang out in our village later?”

The five girls exchanged glances for a moment, silently communicating to decide on an answer. “Sounds fun!” said Gomdori.

Poppy pumped a fist in the air, nearly punching Branch in the face. “Yes! We can bring you there when we’re all done with this work, okay?”

Baby Bun gave a thumbs-up, smiling at them, and Wani said, “Awesome!”

“Okay, see you then! Me and Branch are gonna go get lunch!” She grabbed Branch’s hand and dragged him toward a cafe that had been repaired a couple days ago.

They got back to work a little later than planned, because somehow the two of them ended up in a heated conversation about what the fastest way around all the Troll kingdoms was. But after lunch, Branch was able to keep them both on task until they finished their day’s work.

Even with his attempt at laser-focus, the sun had gone down and most of the Trolls from different tribes had left by the time they were done.

“Okay, let’s pick up the K-Pop gang and go home!” Poppy said cheerfully, seeming not at all tired out from all their working.

“Would you mind driving? I’m getting kind of tired.”

“Aww, poor thing,” she said, as though addressing a young child, and gave him a light, friendly kiss on the nose. “No worries, I can drive us home! Now c’mon, let’s go meet our new friends!”

Branch followed her, but in his mind he had the memory of Poppy’s nose-kiss playing on repeat. He knew he shouldn’t be analyzing it the way he was, and just going with the flow like Poppy, but he should be allowed to, he reasoned to himself. After all, he’d had a crush on her for years now. And he’d confessed his love to her—twice, in fact—and still didn’t know where they stood, not really.

Every time he found himself questioning it, he brought himself back to the way she’d kissed him after they’d high-fived at Barb’s concert—sweet, simple, but so romantic, especially for Poppy. But after that? She’d gone off to talk to Hickory, and they hadn’t discussed it since.

Even so, he’d been keeping track of all the displays of affection she gave him in a notebook. Walking behind her and constantly glancing up to make sure she didn’t notice what he was doing, he made a new tally mark next to the word “Kiss” and began to describe how it’d gone below his previous two entries.

The first entry had been from after they’d returned to Pop Village and seen the damage for themselves. After wandering around, inspecting everything that’d been ravaged, Poppy had remarked under her breath, “Oof. We’ll be able to fix this pretty quickly, right, Branch?”

Looking at the data he’d collected, he’d said, “Uh . . . yeah, if everyone here chips in a little. And who knows? Maybe some of the other tribes might help us out. In that case, it’ll take probably about a day less than it would otherwise, depending on the amount of Trolls helping.”

Instead of groaning something about how he spent too much time working and not enough time having fun, she giggled a little. “Gotta love that brain of yours!” she said cheerfully, then more seriously added, “I’m gonna go check on my dad, okay? Byeee!” As she walked away, she dramatically blew him a kiss.

Naturally, Branch had freaked out a little bit, and recorded it.

The second incident he had written about had happened that same evening. As the sun set, Branch was in his bunker, working on a new puzzle. Poppy had shown up at the entrance, knocking repeatedly until he answered her as always: “Branch! Branch! Are you in there! It’s me, Poppy! Branch! Branch! Branch!”

“I can hear you, Poppy!” he’d called to her, already halfway up the elevator. She sure knew how to be annoying.

“Branch!” she’d said again as he emerged from the ground, but this time her tone was welcoming instead of impatient. “Hi! I just, uh, wanted to check on you before I went home! Um, so, is everything good here?”

“Uh, yep,” he told her, glancing back at his bunker just to make sure. “It’s made to handle situations like these, so it’d have to be really bad for things to be bad here.”

She nodded, and silence settled between them. He noticed that she looked anxious, like she had something she wanted to say, but she stayed quiet.

“Um, how are you holding up?” he asked awkwardly, trying to make conversation. He didn’t think he’d ever had to do this before, at least not when talking to her.

“Oh, good! I’m, um, a little tired though. I think I’m gonna head back to my pod and get some rest.”

“Yeah, you had a long day,” he sympathized, realizing he was kind of tired too. “So . . . I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Yep,” she said, but without her usual pep. She then gave a dramatic bow, taking one of his hands and lightly kissing it like a knight would a princess. “Well, goodnight, my prince,” she said, her tone equally dramatic.

He thought he then saw her face darken a good few shades, but by the time he’d processed it, she had already turned around to leave. “Goodnight to you too!” he called after her, but she either didn’t hear or ignored him.

So he’d had something new to write about that night.

And now, this. If only he could get himself to ask her about it—or just gather up the courage to kiss her, even. But as they approached the K-Pop Trolls, he pushed that idea away and stashed his notebook in his hair. He could overthink it later.

Hours later, Branch found himself walking to Poppy’s pod in the moonlight. He felt bad that he hadn’t done this earlier, but he’d lost track of time.

“Uh, hey, Poppy? I’m back to check on you,” he said when he got there, knocking on her door. Inside, he heard loud laughter. She and the K-Pop Trolls must still be having fun with their sleepover activities.

Surprisingly, it was Baby Bun that opened the door, not Poppy. She smiled softly at Branch, moving to let him in, and called over her shoulder, “Branch is back!”

Before he’d even really stepped inside, the rest of the girls swarmed toward him, all of their voices mixing into one buzz of loud noise.

Poppy ran the fastest and got to him first, leaping onto him and practically tackling him. “Look, it’s Branch!” she said. He noticed that her voice sounded a little strange—kind of like it had when they’d been under Chaz’s smooth jazz spell. Like she wasn’t fully aware of what she was doing.

He pushed her away, inspecting her. “Poppy, are you okay?”

“Uh, what? Yeah, I’m”—she giggled—“fine. I’m just a little . . .” She turned and pawed at Wani’s arm. “What’s the word you taught me?”

“Um . . .” Wani seemed a little out-of-it too.

“Shrunk, I think,” Poppy said, nodding over-confidently.

“It’s drunk, Poppy,” Baby Bun gently corrected, closing the door. “You’re drunk.”

“Yeah, I’m drunk!” Poppy said proudly, looking at Branch. “I learned a new word! Are you proud of me?”

He flashed her a tolerant smile, but turned back to Baby Bun, alarmed. “What does that mean? What’s wrong with her?”

The K-Pop Troll’s eyes widened. “You don’t—nevermind. She’s a little intoxicated right now. She’ll be fine.”

“Intoxicated?” Branch was unfamiliar with that word, too, but he could make assumptions. “Like, poisoned?”

“No, not poisoned. Just kind of . . . confused, I guess? Her thoughts are muddled? I don’t really know how to describe it. But she’s not in complete control of what she’s doing, so you have to be careful with her, okay? She’ll probably have a headache when she wakes up tomorrow, so just make sure she drinks a lot of water. She’ll be fine.”

“Oh . . . thanks, Baby Bun. Um, and how did this happen?”

“She was drinking alcohol . . . you’ve seriously never heard of it? Well, it’s this stuff.” She led him over to Poppy’s kitchen and held up a bottle of liquid.

“Okay . . . I guess I’ll keep that away from her in the future. Again, thanks for the tips, Baby Bun.”

“Do you want to take her home with you?” she suggested a little awkwardly. “I mean, we don’t really have anywhere else to stay, and it seems like you might want to take care of her yourself . . ?”

“Oh, um . . .” Branch started, blushing. He had to admit that he felt a little uncomfortable with all these other Trolls in Poppy’s pod, but he felt the same about bringing Poppy back to his bunker if she wasn’t totally sure what was going on. He bit his lip. But he wanted to make sure she was okay, and he was sure she wouldn’t mind the K-Pop Trolls in her pod for one night. And it wasn’t like it would be her first time in the bunker . . . “Yeah, I guess so. Have fun here, guys. We’ll see you again in the morning.”

“Okay, bye!” said Baby Bun, looking slightly worried that he wasn’t entirely sure how to take care of her. They’d probably get along just fine. The rest of the group chorused messy goodbyes as he left.

“Oh hey, where’re we going?” Poppy asked, seeming to realize that they were leaving after the door shut behind them.

“I’m taking you back to the bunker,” he told her.

“Cool,” she said, and planted a sloppy kiss on his shoulder, then giggled.

Branch stopped in his tracks, trying to control the blush on his face. “Um . . . yeah . . .” he stammered.

She stopped, too, after a couple more steps, and turned back around to look at him. “I thought you were taking me to the bunker?”

“Uh, yeah. I am. C’mon, let’s go.” He jogged up to her and grabbed her hand, leading her back to his home.

“Hey, Branch?” he heard Poppy call from his bedroom the next morning. “Um, why I am in your bunker?”

Branch opened his bedroom door and smiled at her. “Wow, you slept in late. You got drunk last night with the K-Pop Trolls, and I don’t think you would’ve been able to take care of yourself, so I brought you here. They’re still in your pod. Baby Bun’s taking care of them.”

She gave him an enthusiastic thumbs-up, then winced. “Branch, my head hurts,” she whined.

Lowering his voice a little, he nodded sympathetically and said, “Yeah, she said that might happen. You’re gonna need to drink a lot of water. I’ll bring you some.”

“Thanks, Branch,” she said, sliding back under the covers and hugging the pillow against her head as he left.

By the time he was back, she was sleeping again. He debated waking her up, but after a couple minutes decided to let her sleep. After all, she was the queen. She deserved a little extra rest.

Which reminded him—they were supposed to be helping out to repair Symphonyville again today. Maybe he could go by himself while Poppy slept, and he could drive the K-Pop Trolls back to their homeland (wherever that was) on his way there.

After quickly scribbling a note and leaving it, along with a pitcher of water, on the nightstand next to Poppy, he left.

Chapter Text

“Hey, Branch, are you single?” Ari said, climbing up to the seat next to Branch as he drove them away from Pop Village. She giggled. None of the K-Pop Trolls seemed to have headaches like Poppy did.

“Ari!” scolded Kim-Petit playfully, pulling her by the foot back to where she’d been sitting. “You can’t just ask him that!”

“Yeah, obviously he’s with Poppy,” said Wani.

Branch kept his mouth shut. To be honest, he kind of wanted to hear what they had to say, since they seemed to have his love life more figured out than he did.

“Well, I’m just asking,” defended Ari, rolling her eyes playfully before Kim-Petit pulled her back to their seats. “He’s cute.”

“And Poppy knows it,” giggled Gomdori. “Hey, Baby Bun, did you bring any snacks?”

“Yeah, but you can’t eat them all before we’ve even gotten out of Pop Village, Gomdori!”

“Aw, c’mon, you just want all Poppy’s cookies for yourself!”

“So Poppy baked cookies with you guys last night?” Branch asked, hoping he could get more information out of them. Had Poppy told them something? Did they know something he didn’t?

“Yup! She’s really good at it! But you probably already knew that,” said Baby Bun.

“Um, yeah. Usually she relies on Cooper for that kind of stuff . . . but I guess if Cooper is going to go live with his family in Vibe City . . .” Branch trailed off. It was the first time he’d thought about that. How would Poppy feel if the rest of her friends decided to spread out, live in different places? Of course she’d be willing to take trips to see them, but it wouldn’t be the same.

“So you guys really never knew about any of the other Trolls?” asked Ari.

“Um, nope,” Branch answered. “King Peppy never told us.”

“That’s too bad. Maybe we could’ve met sooner . . .” she said wistfully.

“Oh, come on, stop hitting on him,” said Kim-Petit, swatting at her friend’s arm.

“But it’s fun!”

“Yeah, but not necessary,” Wani teased.

“You only say that because of your huge crush on Tresillo.”

“Okay, I do not have a huge crush on Tracy, first of all.”

“You call him Tracy! Yes, you do . . .”

Branch tuned the girls out, instead focusing on the path ahead. Or at least, that’s what he wanted to focus on, but there was so much running through his head: whatever Poppy might’ve told her new friends at their sleepover last night; the discovery of “alcohol,” something that had made her so . . . disoriented; the way she’d kissed him on the shoulder so nonchalantly, like they’d been a couple forever (he wanted that); what might happen should Poppy’s friends decide they liked other genres of music more than pop; and the fact that he still had to drive the K-Pop Trolls to Lonesome Flats and get himself to Symphonyville to help out, then get himself back home in time to check on Poppy.

As usual, there was a lot to stress about.

“Oh! Hey, Branch!”

“Poppy! What are you doing here?” Branch asked, looking up from the last of his work on Symphonyville (which, thanks to everyone that had helped, looked fantastic).

“I wanted to come help you! You didn’t have to do this alone!”

“Your headache’s better?”

“Yup!”

“Um, how’d you get here?”

“Barb brought me!” She turned and waved to the queen of Rock. “When I woke up, she was checking on us to make sure our village was all rebuilt! And she offered to fly me here. BYE BARB!!!!”

“Bye Popcorn!” she called from overhead.

“That’s . . . that’s really nice of you, Poppy. But I just finished.”

“Oh, okay. We can still go home together! I just wanna say goodbye to Trollzart first. Y’know, I just LOVE getting to know all these new Trolls!”

Branch smiled at her enthusiasm. “Okay, I think he’s helping some of the animals recover right now. Should be around here somewhere.”

“Yay! Let’s go see him! And the cute animals!”

Poppy and Trollzart ended up having a very long conversation, which Branch patiently sat through as best he could. But eventually they finished, and Poppy turned back to him, still full of energy (how?). “C’mon, Branch! Let’s go back to Pop Village!”

“Okay,” was all he said, but he followed her back to their transportation with a smile.

“Oh, hey, thanks for taking care of me last night,” she said when they started moving. “Was I hard to handle?”

“You . . . you don’t remember?”

“Oh, no, I don’t remember anything. That stuff they gave me was so weird.” She mimed a head explosion. “Mind-blowing. Crazy. Insane. Bizar—”

“Yeah, I get it,” he teased her, leaning over and swatting at her arm. “Y’know, maybe I’ll have to conduct some tests on that stuff . . . make sure it’s safe . . .” he added, more to himself than to her.

She rolled her eyes. “I think it’s fine, Branch. I mean, I had a lot, and I’m okay.”

“But you were acting all weird, and you had that headache when you woke up.” He didn’t mention the kiss she’d given him, although he wanted to.

“But I’m fine now.”

“Yeah . . . I’m still gonna run some tests.”

“You just love being stressed out, don’t you?”

“I do not,” he said, rolling his eyes at her. “It’s just that there’s usually a lot to be stressed about.”

She just shrugged, as if to say, “To each their own. But you’re wrong.”

“Anyway, tell me about the sleepover you had last night. I mean, what you can remember of it. The K-Pop Trolls told me you baked cookies with them?”

“Yep! Cooper’s recipes never fail me! After we baked, I showed them how I scrapbook, and we danced together! And then . . . I forgot.”

“Oh. Was it fun?”

“Yeah! They’re kinda different, and it’s awesome! I’m so glad we found out about the other Trolls!” The smile on her face looked like it couldn’t get any wider.

“Yeah, me too,” he said, reminding himself to focus on the road instead of her smile.

“Oh, hey! I made you something!”

“Really? Thanks,” he said, glancing over at her as she pulled a scrapbooked card out of her hair.

“Well, I mean, I wanted to thank you . . .” She trailed off, holding the card in her lap. “I’ll show you when we get home.”

“Sounds good.”

“So you really finished all that work on Symphonyville in just a few hours?”

“Um, yeah, why?”

“It took so long yesterday! Was it almost done already when you got there?”

“No, about the same as when we left last night. I guess maybe it was because you weren’t there to distract me,” he said teasingly, glancing over at her with a playful smile on his face.

She rolled her eyes. “I was not distracting you yesterday. I was simply . . . bringing to your attention important matters, such as all the . . . allies our village could make in a setting with so many Trolls.”

“Oh, is that what you call pointing at every passing Troll and saying, ‘Look, Branch, more new friends'?”

“Hey, everyone expresses themselves differently,” she joked, then leaned forward as though it would help them get to Pop Village faster. “Are we home yet?”

“Be patient! We’ll be there soon.”

“Ugh, how soon? I wanna sing and dance!”

“Don’t you always,” he deadpanned.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t want to right now! This is so boring!”

“It is not,” argued Branch. “Look out the window! Daydream! We’re already talking! Is talking to me that boring?”

“No,” she said, rolling her eyes again. “It’s just that I feel like dancing right now! You can’t dance when you’re strapped into this stupid thing!” She stretched the seatbelt away from her body, as though it was suddenly the most uncomfortable thing in the world.

“Yeah, well, that stupid thing might end up saving your life. Quit playing with it like that.”

“Why do I need this thing to save my life when I have you in the car with me?” Now she was leaning toward him, batting her eyelashes.

“Wow,” he teased, leaning away from her. “So I’m just your bodyguard now?”

“No, you’re my—” She sighed, cutting herself off.

Branch bit his lip. He would’ve loved to hear the end of that sentence.

“All I’m saying is that you wouldn’t make a horrible bodyguard,” she said after a moment, her cheerful demeanor jolting him out of all the overthinking he’d managed to do in that short amount of time.

“Well, keeping you safe can kind of be a full time job,” he said, and glared at her pointedly as she took off her seatbelt. “Especially since you don’t care to do it yourself half the time.”

“It was uncomfortable!” she defended herself, shrinking under his gaze (which, unfortunately, he couldn’t hold for as long as he’d like to if he wanted to keep them both safe).

“You’re lucky we’re almost home.” Indeed, as the words escaped his lips, they were driving into Pop Village.

As soon as they stopped, Poppy hopped up and started stretching, like she hadn’t walked in days. Branch rolled his eyes and tugged at her arm as he stepped to the ground.

“Oh yeah, now that we’re home, lemme show you the card I made you!” She was giving him a huge grin now, the one that she always sent him before presenting him with a homemade card. He tried not to feel guilty for all the times he’d been rude to her right afterwards.

She held out a card made of pink and blue felt, at the perfect angle for him to watch as three figures popped up—which he quickly recognized as Barb, with her guitar filled with the Trolls’ strings, him, and Poppy. Scrapbook-Barb tried to zap Scrapbook-Poppy with her guitar, and Scrapbook-Branch jumped in front of her at the last second, protecting her from the spell.

In all honesty, he’d kind of forgotten about that. It had been a primal instinct to save Poppy, not a conscious decision, and he couldn’t remember anything that had happened while he was under the spell. And after it was over . . . well, a lot of things had happened. Like Poppy kissing him. Why think about anything else?

Next thing he knew, Poppy was throwing her arms around his neck. “You saved my life! Thank you,” she murmured into his shoulder.

He hugged her back, maybe a little too tight. But all he wanted was to stay like that forever. She made him feel . . . warm inside. Loved.

She pulled back after a second, and kissed him on the cheek. “Anyway, just wanted to say thanks. Hey, wanna help me finish my Cooper scrapbook?”

“Um . . .” Branch blinked a couple times to clear his head. How was he supposed to carry a conversation with her after she’d just kissed him on the cheek? “Uh, what’s a Cooper scrapbook?”

“I’m making a scrapbook of all the fun times Cooper and I have had together, so he’ll have something to remember me by when he moves to Vibe City in a couple days! And so he can show his family, and they’ll know we treated him right, and stuff. So, wanna help? The K-Pop Trolls helped out with it last night!”

“That’s sweet of you, Poppy, but no thanks. I’m gonna go back to my bunker. See you later, okay?” Suddenly feeling impulsive, he leaned over and kissed her cheek goodbye. Too nervous to look at her after that, he turned around and headed for his bunker.

“See you later!” she responded cheerfully from behind him. He could hear the smile in her voice, which was probably a good sign. Then again, she smiled at nearly everything.

He’d never imagined things to be this complicated after their first kiss.

Chapter Text

The next morning, Branch stayed in his bunker for longer than usual, playing out every possible scenario in his head. Would Poppy be acting strange? Would she be upset that he kissed her on the cheek yesterday? He was a much less affectionate person than he was, after all. Maybe she’d thought it was weird. Or what if she didn’t, and he ended up being so worried that he made it weird? But he didn’t know how to make the anxiety go away.

By the time he headed into the village at around noon, Poppy had already left to help the Techno Trolls with the last of their repairs. So he could at least hold off his stressing until later.

“Hey, Branch!” called Smidge. Even though she was just one small Troll, she seemed to stampede toward him. “Poppy said for me to find you! Where were you?”

“Um, just in my bunker,” he answered, already worried again. Maybe Poppy had found the kiss strange?

“Well, I’ve been looking everywhere for you! You need to sign the Cooper scrapbook!”

“Is that . . . all Poppy wanted?”

“Yeah,” said Smidge nonchalantly, shoving the scrapbook at him—then her face took on a look of suspicion. “Why, were you expecting something else? Branch, did you do something to her?!”

“I—no! I was just wondering!”

She didn’t seem convinced, but at least she seemed less aggressive. “Okay . . .” She kept an eye on him the entire time he was signing the scrapbook, which made him feel uncomfortable, to say the least.

He handed it back when he was done, feeling a bit like he was feeding a monster. “Um, there you go. Anything else?”

“Nope . . .” Slowly, she backed away, squinting at him for as long as she could.

He regretted saying anything.

After a couple minutes of strolling through the village without attracting any attention, Branch took a deep breath. Maybe this wasn’t as big of a deal as he was imagining it to be. After all, it hadn’t even been a kiss on the lips. And the Pop Trolls were very affectionate.

He was startled out of his thoughts when he heard a loud guitar riff, immediately followed by Barb’s (also loud) voice and her hand on his shoulder. “Yo, boy toy! Whatcha up to?”

Branch jumped and brushed Barb’s hand away. “Don’t—don’t call me that! What’re you even doing here? Is Poppy with you?”

Instead of answering as quickly as he would’ve liked, Barb just stepped back, folded her arms, and looked him up and down, which was rather nerve-wracking. “Someone’s in a hurry to see his girlfriend.” She lingered on the last word, then leaned forward, watching him intently. “What did you do last night?”

Branch nearly jumped out of his skin. “N-nothing! I just—I just—” Well, what did he want with her, anyway? Why was he so desperate to see Poppy . . . or was he avoiding her?

Barb leaned back and laughed. “No worries, man. I’m just teasing. I dunno where Poppy is. Prob’ly helping out the Techno Trolls if she isn’t here.”

Branch sighed, trying to calm his racing heart. “I know. Barb, yesterday I kissed her! What was I thinking?”

Barb just raised her eyebrows. “Damn.”

“That’s not helpful! What do I do? I stayed inside the whole morning, so I haven’t seen her all day!” He couldn’t believe he was suddenly spilling his guts to Barb, of all Trolls, but she was here, and they were talking about Poppy, and frankly, if she didn’t want to hear this, she shouldn’t have teased him in the first place.

“Okay, okay! Calm down. What was it like?”

“What?”

“Well, I mean, what kind of kiss was it? Was it like, long and slow and sweet? Like in the books?”

“‘The books’? You guys have books like that?”

Barb blushed. “Not me! Riff!”

Branch raised an eyebrow at her, but just said, “Fine, whatever. No. I just kissed her on the cheek.”

“You what?”

“I just kissed her on the cheek.”

“You just kissed her on the cheek,” Barb repeated slowly, then said, “So then, what’s the problem?”

“The problem is that I’m not an affectionate person, Barb! What if she thought it was weird?”

“Well, did she look like she thought it was weird?”

“I don’t know! I turned around and left right after!”

“Oh, my gosh. I’m not helping you if you’re gonna do stupid stuff like that. All I know is that Poppy definitely likes you, okay? She’s probably not gonna be very upset with you.”

Branch sighed as Barb left. He knew he could stand to worry less, but . . .

“Hey, Branch!”

He turned to see Kim-Petit waving to him. Ari and Gomdori were beside her.

“Oh, hi! What are you guys doing here?”

The three girls approached him, smiling, but Ari whined something to Kim-Petit in their native language, tugging at her arm.

Kim-Petit whined something back, then turned to Branch and said, “What’re you doing?”

“Nothing much. I’m just kind of waiting for Poppy to get back, I guess.”

“Ooh, do you guys have something planned for tonight?” giggled Ari.

Branch just gave a nervous chuckle, not wanting a repeat of what had happened with Barb. “Um, no . . . no plans. But hey, what’s with the decorations?” he asked, gesturing to the heaps of blue, green and yellow party decorations in Ari’s and Gomdori’s arms.

Gomdori grinned and said, “We’re setting Wani and Tresillo up!”

“Oh. Sounds fun!”

“Yeah!” said Ari cheerfully, then immediately turned back to Kim-Petit and asked her something in Korean.

“Time to go! We have to make everything look romantic!” said Gomdori, and the three of them headed off, leaving Branch to his own devices once again.

“Branch, my man!”

At this point, he probably would’ve complained about all the attention he was getting . . . except, he would recognize that voice anywhere.

He turned around, already blushing a little bit. “Hi, Poppy. You’re back early.”

“Oh, well, what was it you said about that yesterday? I guess maybe it was because you weren’t there to distract me,” she teased, eyes twinkling. “So what’ve you been doing back here all day?”

“Just . . . cleaning up around the bunker. Nothing too important. I ran into Barb and the K-Pop Trolls. Oh, and Smidge made sure I signed your Cooper scrapbook.”

“Yay! I can always count on Smidge. What were Barb and the K-Pop gang doing?”

“I don’t know about Barb, but Ari, Gomdori, and Kim-Petit said they were setting Wani up with Tresillo.” He shrugged.

“Aww, that’s sweet. Hey, I have to talk to Barb about our meeting plans before she leaves. Wanna come with me?”

“Um . . .” As much as he wanted to spend time with her, he really didn’t want Barb to be shooting him pitying glances as he stood off to the side while Poppy rambled on, oblivious . . . or worse, for her to get fed up and spill all the details of their earlier conversation to Poppy while he was there. “No thanks, I’ll stay behind.”

“Okay,” she said, a little less energetic. “Well, where’ll you be instead? I can stop by when Barb and I are done talking about queenly duties and stuff.”

“Probably just in my bunker. I don’t really have anything to do today.”

“Perfect! See you soon!” She grabbed his hand, squeezed it, then left.

“Barb! You’re still here!” Poppy said, tackling her fellow queen just as she was about to board the transportation back to Volcano Rock City.

As she stumbled forward from Poppy’s surprise embrace, the queen of Rock let out a horrible shrieking sound that was enough to cause Poppy to fall from her piggyback position to the ground.

“Popsqueak, what were you thinking?” Barb scolded a moment later, after turning around and realizing what had happened.

Poppy shot her friend a sheepish smile. “Sorry. I wanted to catch you before you left! You’re still coming to our meeting tomorrow, right?”

“Yeah, of course, man. As long as it’s on, I’ll be there. Was that all?”

“Um . . . yeah, I guess! I mean, if you don’t wanna stay and talk for a while! I don’t have anything to do today!”

“Aren’t you gonna hang out with Branch?”

Poppy’s eyebrows shot up involuntarily, Barb’s words surprising her. “How’d you know that?”

Barb strummed a couple chords on her guitar, a slight smirk on her face. “He said he had something he wanted to tell you.”

“Oh . . . really? Did he tell you what it was?” Her voice was quieter now, wondering why he hadn’t let on to anything when she’d gotten back from Techno Reef.

“Nah,” Barb said, shrugging nonchalantly.

“Um, Queen Barb? We kinda have to go now . . .” said Riff timidly from behind her.

“Well, you heard him! See ya, Popcorn!”

“Bye! See you tomorrow!” Poppy said with as much energy as she could muster, although she was still thinking about Branch.

Indeed, she grew more curious about what it was that he might’ve wanted to tell her with every step she took toward his bunker. Her smile grew, too, as all the possibilities rushed through her mind at once.

Could he want her help in something social? Whenever he requested her help with something classically Pop-Troll-y, like throwing a party, she always felt a sense of pride. He’d come so far since his recluse days, and the fact that he always turned to her first made her inexplicably happy.

It was also possible he wanted to ask her if he could come to the leaders’ meeting being held the next day. He was so protective of her, which was so sweet in itself. She also knew he would act like his concern was over the coming together of the tribes, but in reality, he wanted to spend more time with her. She would, of course, allow him, because she felt the same way about spending time with him.

Her smile turned into a full-on grin with her next thought. Maybe he wanted to make their relationship official! Finally they would really, truly be boyfriend and girlfriend—no more beating around the bush, no more remembering to be careful with words at the last second, no more being afraid she’d acted too forward. Just the two of them, together, as a couple.

That was the frame of mind she was in when she arrived at his bunker to see him standing outside.

“Branch! I’m back!”

“Oh! Hey, Poppy. That was quick. I haven’t even gone inside yet.”

“Yep! I would’ve kept on talking to Barb, but she had to leave,” Poppy said as the two of them headed underground together. “Anyway, she said that you had something to tell me.” She said the words in a sing-songy tone, leaning a little closer to him and batting her eyelashes, just waiting for him to ask about their relationship status.

His posture stiffened, and he stammered, “She—she did?”

“Yup!” It was adorable, his nervousness over things like this, but she hoped that he would get over it quickly, so she could just kiss him already.

“Um, did she say what it was I wanted to tell?”

Poppy giggled. “No. She said you hadn’t even told her.”

The two of them stepped off the elevator, but continued standing in the middle of the room as Branch said, “Then, uh, I guess I just wanted to say . . .” He trailed off, glancing around at the walls, the furniture—everywhere but her face. “Um . . .”

An awkward silence fell between them, but Poppy waited patiently for him to collect his thoughts, rocking back and forth on her heels and smiling at him expectantly.

“I just think it’s weird that we work so much faster separately!” he finally blurted out, his eyes landing in hers once more.

“I love—wait, what?”

“What?”

The two of them took another long moment to silently figure out what was happening—then Poppy slowly said, “I love that you noticed that, too.”

“Oh,” he said, looking surprised. “So then, did you have a plan to keep us more productive, or . . ?”

She laughed nervously. “Yeah, of course! Did you?”

“Not really, I . . . I was just thinking maybe we could try and sort out our schedules better . . .”

“Yeah! That makes sense! We don’t have to work together anymore!” Poppy tried to keep every sentence sounding as positive as normal, so that he wouldn’t notice the swirl of mixed-up emotions she was currently experiencing.

“You don’t wanna work together anymore? But then, when would we see each other?”

“Well, I mean! We wouldn’t work together anymore or see each other anymore!” With every sentence, she sounded more and more excited—because with every second, her feelings became more and more confusing.

“Oh,” Branch said quietly. “Okay . . . we won’t hang out anymore, then . . .” He looked at her, clearly trying to gauge her reaction—but she knew if she stopped grinning, she might burst into tears.

“Okay!” She made finger guns at him as she got back on the elevator. “Guess I’ll not-talk to you tomorrow!”

“Um, yeah, same . . .”

His confused face as she ascended was the last of Branch she saw that day.

Chapter Text

And so, their challenge began.

The (unspoken) rules were simple: communicate with the other by any means, and you lost.

Branch wasn’t quite sure what it meant to lose. Was it only a matter of pride, and one of them would have bragging rights as they went back to their normal dynamic? Or was it more serious?

She sure had seemed excited not to talk to him anymore when she’d left his bunker that day. Was it possible that she was mad at him? That was a thought that had run through his head hundreds of times since then, but he didn’t know what he’d done to make her this upset. And anyway, she’d seemed so genuinely happy—not angry, not sad, not passive-aggressive.

Or maybe she was just . . . getting tired of him. Maybe whatever it was that had possessed her to kiss him had just been a temporary thing. Maybe she didn’t want anything to do with him anymore.

His heart felt heavy as that thought crossed his mind—but, if it was true (and she was certainly acting like it was), there was really nothing he could do.

Maybe it was best to just give her some space. Then he might be able to worry less about whatever was going on.

Having made that decision, Branch turned around and headed back to his table to do a puzzle. As far as he knew, he didn’t have to be a part of anything urgent today, so why make things harder for himself?

Meanwhile, Poppy was starting a second scrapbook as she sat in the Caterbus headed to Vibe City. She’d been stressbooking almost nonstop since the incident with Branch the day before—she still felt pretty guilty for what had happened—and naturally, she’d filled a lot of pages with her self-expression.

Finally she put down all her supplies, out of things to scrapbook, and looked out the window, where she could see Vibe City in the distance.

“Look, Cooper!” she called, pointing at it, and her friend ran over to her window from the other side of the Caterbus. “We’re almost there!”

“Yay!” he said. “I can’t wait to see my family again!”

“I can’t wait to see your family, either, Cooper!” Chenille remarked as she and Satin also headed over to Poppy and Cooper.

“Wow, Cooper, your family lives there?” Satin’s eyes widened when she saw how high-tech the Funk Trolls’ home was.

“Yep!” Cooper’s proud smile lifted Poppy’s spirits. “Just wait until you see the inside!”

“Cooper, you’ll have to show them around! Unless you’re coming to the meeting?” Poppy questioned, turning away from the window.

“I think my brother and I are gonna show everyone around!” Cooper said, just before the Caterbus suddenly stopped, causing all of them to jolt forward and Poppy’s scrapbooking supplies to fall on the floor.

Smidge was there in a second, picking everything up and shoving it in Poppy’s hair. “No worries, Queen Poppy! I’m here to help!”

“Thanks, Smidge,” Poppy said, smiling at her helper before heading up to Hickory, who was the driver of the Caterbus. “Why’d we stop?” she asked him. “Are we here already?”

“Well, I hate to say it, Miss Poppy, but there’s a river in the way, so I can’t drive you all the way to Vibe City,” he said in his charming Country Troll accent. (She actually hadn’t heard him use his Yodel accent since she’d found out he was a Yodel Troll.) “But of course I could accompany you and all your pals across the water, to make sure you arrive safely.”

“Aww, that’s so sweet of you, Hickory! But we’ll be fine!”

“Alrighty, then,” he said, but he seemed hesitant about it. “I’ll just wait for y’all here, then.”

“You don’t have to do that! I could drive us home if I needed to,” she insisted.

But Hickory just waved his hand dismissively. “No, Queen Poppy, I don’t mind.”

“Okay! Thanks!” She gave her friend a hug, then motioned to her friends to follow her off the bus.

When they got to Vibe City, Prince D was the first to welcome them—after, of course, giving a warm greeting to his brother. He led Poppy and Smidge to the meeting room, and promised to keep the rest of the Snack Pack entertained while the two of them were working.

Inside the meeting room, Queen Essence, King Quincy, Trollzart, Barb, and Riff were waiting for them. “Hi, everyone!” Poppy said. “I’m so excited to have our first meeting! Oh, and I brought you all cotton candy! It’s so delicious! Here, try some!” She energetically passed out a little of the sweet treat to her fellow leaders, then took her own spot at the circle-shaped table.

Barb was the first one to try it—and made a face as soon as she did. “Whoa, Popsqueak!” she exclaimed out loud. “This is too sugary!”

“I know! It’s great!” Poppy said, grinning.

“I dunno about great . . .” she said, slowly taking another small bite. “But it sure is interesting. Riff, you want mine?”

“Um, sure, Your Rockness,” Riff said from his place next to her.

“Hey, where’s your boy toy? I figured you’d bring him to our meeting?”

“Oh . . . you mean Branch? He, uh, decided to stay home and rest today.”

Barb put her feet up on the table. “Ah, exhausting night last night?” she asked with a smirk. “I get it.”

“Uh . . . what?” asked Poppy, unsure what her friend was getting at.

“No? Well, eh,” she said, then elbowed Riff, who was tentatively trying the cotton candy. “Bound to happen sometime, right, Riff?”

Riff seemed to be in a cotton candy-induced trance. “Yeah . . .” he agreed absent-mindedly.

Still confused, Poppy just said, “So . . . when’s the meeting gonna start?”

“We just have to wait for King Trollex and Delta Dawn, and then we should be able to start,” said Essence, as motherly as always.

Luckily, the other two leaders arrived soon, and the meeting started off with them politely accepting Poppy’s offer of cotton candy. Trollex, unlike most of the others, seemed to genuinely enjoy it.

“So, I’m sure all of us have different things we’d like to discuss. Who wants to go first?” asked King Quincy.

Overall, they were very productive during those 45 minutes, having agreed upon a specialized travel system that would snake through all of the tribes so that any Troll could easily meet up with friends of another genre. They also decided that their next meeting would be held in Symphonyville.

“How’d it go?”

Hickory was the first Troll to ask Poppy that question. (The rest of them were too busy gushing over Vibe City.)

“Oh, it was great! But it wasn’t all me. Smidge was so helpful!” She turned to her small yellow friend and they shared a high-five.

“That’s what I’m here for, Poppy,” Smidge said, and went to find her seat.

“Anyway, I’m so excited that we’re all communicating now!” Poppy said to Hickory, and then went to sit down herself.

“Poppy, did Branch hurt you?” Smidge asked as soon as she did, aggressively leaning over the back of her seat to get in Poppy’s face.

“What?” Poppy asked, a little spooked. “Smidge . . .” She trailed off. Smidge’s (well-meaning) stalking had to stop. She had thought that this was no longer a problem, but apparently . . .

“Poppy, focus!” Smidge slapped her friend gently—or at least, gentle for her. “The day before yesterday. Branch. Did he do something to you?”

“The day . . . before yesterday?” Poppy repeated slowly. Did Smidge have the timing wrong? What did she think had happened?

“Yes. Pay attention, Poppy! This is important! Just tell me what happened, and I will be over at his bunker ready to defend your honor in a second!” Indeed, she looked ready to beat Branch up at a moment’s notice, despite the fact that they were nowhere near Pop Village.

Poppy’s eyes widened. “Smidge, no! No, he didn’t do anything to me!”

“Okay . . .”

“Why are you so worried? Did someone tell you he hurt me?”

“No, but he was acting weird when I asked him to sign the”—she lowered her voice so Cooper wouldn’t hear—“Cooper scrapbook.”

That intrigued her, regardless of whatever it was that had happened between them only hours later. “Acting weird? What was he doing?”

“Well, he signed it, and then he kept looking around all suspiciously, like he was up to something. Then he was all, ‘Is that all Poppy wanted?’ like he expected you were gonna, I dunno, get revenge for whatever it was he did.”

“Oh.” In a different situation, she might’ve laughed at Smidge’s imitation of Branch, but what she’d been told was putting a damper on Poppy’s spirits. “Yeah, I don’t think he was worried about retaliation.” She didn’t elaborate, but she knew deep down that he’d been worried she would want to work with him again. As much as she enjoyed it, it was clear to her now that he didn’t much like spending time with her.

Smidge didn’t look entirely satisfied with that answer, but she let it go. “Okay, but if he does do anything to you, let me know. I’m your helper for a reason.”

Poppy giggled a little. “I know,” she said as Smidge sat back down.

The ride back was peaceful, but Poppy had to admit that she would’ve liked sharing it with Branch.

“BRANCH!”

A loud, annoying voice was screaming his name at him from outside the bunker.

For a split-second, his heart leaped, and he was already abandoning his puzzle in favor of his elevator. Poppy was here to sort this out! She wasn’t mad at him! He couldn’t wait to give her a hug, tell her he was sorry—

He was halfway to the elevator when he realized that that voice wasn’t Poppy’s.

This voice was just plain aggressive, yet it didn’t bother to chant his name incessantly until he got aboveground. Plus, it had an accent that certainly didn’t belong to Poppy.

“Hey, are you in there?” the voice said again, and Branch hesitated. Now that he knew it wasn’t going to be the Pop queen waiting for him, he wasn’t as inclined to leave—but either way, he hadn’t been outside or talked to anyone all day. He could use the sunshine, at the very least.

So he called up, “I’ll be right there!” and stepped onto the elevator.

When he climbed out of the hatch to his bunker, he saw Baby Bun, Marimba, and Tambora.

“Oh, good, you heard us,” said Baby Bun in her small voice, looking relieved.

“Um, yeah. What are you guys doing here?”

“We’re setting up Wani and Tresillo,” said Marimba, sharing a smirk with Tambora. Clearly they were just as happy about this plan as Wani’s friends were.

“Yeah, I heard . . . do you need me for anything?”

“We heard you have good tips on how to be romantic,” Baby Bun said—maybe she was blushing, or maybe it was the way the light hit her shiny chrome skin.

Branch just looked at them, surprised. “What? Who told you that?” Poppy couldn’t have—if he actually had any “good tips on how to be romantic,” he might not have ended up in this situation with her—and he figured his friends knew him well enough not to tell other Trolls things like that.

Tambora shrugged. “Forgot his name. He was kinda goofy, though.”

“Cooper?” Branch asked. If Cooper had told them that, it’d probably been more of a joke than a serious suggestion.

“No. Isn’t Cooper a Funk Troll?” said Baby Bun, looking confused.

“Well, yeah. I guess I should ask what genre of Troll told you that?”

The pink K-Pop Troll shook her head. “He wasn’t a Troll.”

“He wasn’t—” Suddenly Branch stopped talking, struck by an awful realization. He sighed, trying to take a moment to recollect himself before he asked, “Did Cloud Guy send you here?”

“Yeah, Cloud Guy,” Marimba said, nodding. “That was his name.”

“Oh my . . .” Branch murmured, annoyed. “Okay, I’m sorry, but he was just messing with you. He likes to spread rumors like that about me. I don’t really think I can help you.”

The two Reggaeton Trolls grumbled, but turned around to leave. However, instead of following them, Baby Bun just crossed her arms.

“No,” she said, and for such a soft-spoken Troll, she sure made that one word scary. “No. We came all the way out here, and you are going to help us, if you like it or not.” She raised one eyebrow and lowered it again quickly, obviously challenging him.

Branch’s eyes widened for a second, surprised. He’d never met a Troll in his life that could be so subtly threatening, and Baby Bun was the last Troll he’d expected to be like that.

Either way, he had to admit he felt threatened. And given she was, after all, a bounty hunter . . .

“Okay, okay, I’ll help you!” he agreed, holding up his hands as if he was surrendering. “But I can’t promise I’ll be good at it.”

Baby Bun dropped her arms to her sides, nodding and smiling warmly at him. “Thanks!” she said, her voice quiet and small once again.

As Marimba and Tambora headed back over, Branch asked, “So how do you want to do this? Since I figure you guys aren’t the ones here to learn about this stuff.”

“We need to get Tresillo and Wani talking more smoothly in general,” said Tambora. “Any suggestions?”

“Well . . . it sounds like you want to expand their vocabularies, so . . . I guess I could try and give you some stuff to say while they’re around, to try and get them to pick up some phrases. But it might take a while.”

Marimba sighed. “Couldn’t you at least help us with the setting of the date?”

“Okay, but I haven’t even seen it yet. Where is it?”

“Follow us,” Baby Bun said, and as Branch obliged, he couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable. They didn’t seem to be satisfied with his services—not that he was, either. Still, he felt bad that he wasn’t able to help them in the way that they wanted.

The three bounty hunters brought him to a clearing in the forest. There were colorful lanterns hung in the branches of the trees, and in the middle of the clearing was a round wooden dinner table for two, complete with a fancy blue-and-gold tablecloth and a chair for each Troll. The places had already been set, as well—empty plates, napkins, and silverware rested delicately upon the tablecloth, ready for use.

“Any thoughts?” asked Baby Bun.

“It seems like they’re gonna have dinner here?”

The girls nodded.

“So how are they going to get the food? Because if your plan is to leave them alone together, it might mess it up to have someone serving them. Or you could leave them some sort of picnic basket underneath the table, but that’s a totally different mood than you’ve already set with the decoration, I think. Maybe save that for some other time.”

“Then we’ll put out the food right before they get there,” decided Tambora.

“I’ll let Gomdori know,” said Baby Bun. “Anything else?”

“Um . . . this is going to be happening at night, right? Or, y’know, after the sun goes down?”

“Yeah,” they chorused.

“The lanterns are a nice touch, but maybe you should put a smaller one in the middle of the table so they can see each other’s faces better.”

“What color?”

“I don’t know; does it matter? Pink, maybe?”

Marimba pointed at Baby Bun. “Pink like her, or pink like Poppy?”

And now Branch was thinking about Poppy again.

“Pink like . . . I guess pink like Poppy,” he said, then to try and prove to himself that he could have coherent thoughts that didn’t involve Poppy, he added, “Or darker. Or it could be orange or something. Just some sort of warm color.”

What would Poppy say if she were here? Actually, if she were helping out, she’d probably be distracting Wani, or getting her ready for the date. She would dance around their pod, singing some sort of love song. She got excited when it came to other peoples’ love lives.

Unfortunately, he didn’t know much about how she felt when it came to her own.

“Can you bring us to the dressmakers?” asked Tambora.

“The dressma—oh, do you mean Satin and Chenille? The twins with the connected hair?”

“Yeah, they said they’d make Wani a dress,” said Baby Bun. “Where do they live?”

Branch sighed. He didn’t really want to see the twins right now—they’d definitely try to get him to change up his style, and he didn’t really have the energy to engage in all that. But it was better than sitting alone in his bunker, with nothing to do but worry. And anyway, both the K-Pop Trolls and the Reggaeton Trolls had helped him in his time of need. This was the least he could do.

“Okay, sure. Follow me.”

“Hey, Satin, Chenille,” Smidge called out from her seat on the bus. “Poppy’s scrapbook says you had an appointment with the Reggaeton Trolls today.”

“What? How’d you get my scrapbook?” Poppy asked, alarmed. She reached over the back of Smidge’s seat, trying to grab her work out of her helper’s hands. Normally she’d be fine with it, but she didn’t really want anyone to see what she’d been stressbooking about.

“Does it matter?”

“Well, I—it’s kind of private, so—”

The moment those words escaped her lips, she wished she could reach out and stuff them back in. All of her friends’ heads turned her way (save for Hickory, since he was driving, thank goodness). Her scrapbooks had always been something she was eager to share with the entire village. Never before had she tried to hide them from her closest friends.

“Poppy, what’s in there that’s so private?” Satin asked—carefully, as if she were worried that the queen would blow up at any moment.

“Nothing!” Poppy said, jittery and fidgeting with the edge of her dress. “It just scared me that Smidge got her hands on it without me knowing. That’s all.”

They didn’t look like they believed her lie.

“It’s okay to tell us! What’s going on?” Chenille said, a wide, encouraging smile on her face.

Poppy bit her lip. She really wanted to tell them what had happened between her and Branch . . . but, they were still Trolls. They were easily freaked out. If they found out she and Branch weren’t getting along, there would be consequences—and as the queen, it was her job to make sure that didn’t happen.

But still, they were her friends.

After a minute, she forced a big smile. “Well, if you have to know, Branch and I are doing this thing . . .” She paused. She could still change her mind, and decide to make something up.

Her friends took her silence as suggestive, apparently. “Ooh,” they giggled, and Satin singsonged, “What kind of thing?”

Smidge was less pleased to hear—well, whatever they thought they’d heard. The queen’s helper grabbed her by the front of her dress, and asked, “Did Branch steal your innocence? I will destroy—”

“No, no, no, Smidge! Don’t destroy anything! Or anyone! That’s not—no! That’s not what’s going on!” Poppy’s face was practically glowing red as she struggled her way out of Smidge’s grip. “I meant another type of thing!”

“Well then, what is it?” Smidge still seemed suspicious.

“We’re, um . . . we’re doing this, um, this game . . . where we don’t talk to each other—or, communicate to each other at all . . . and whoever breaks that rule first, loses.” Probably.

“Ohh, you are so going to win, Poppy!” Smidge said. “As your helper, it’s my responsibility to make SURE of it!”

Poppy giggled a little, glad they hadn’t picked up on what was actually going on. “Branch won’t stand a chance against us two!”

Smidge continued to ramble about what tactics she wanted to use on Branch for the rest of the ride back to Pop Village. As they were getting off the Caterbus—Poppy last, of course, to make sure everyone else was safe first—Hickory stopped her.

“Miss Poppy?” he asked, quiet enough that her friends wouldn’t be able to hear. “Is everything alright between Branch and yourself?”

Poppy just nodded and hummed, “Mm-hmm,” politely, because the look on Hickory’s face was so genuinely caring that she worried she might end up crying if she said anything else.

“Okay,” he said, although he didn’t look like he believed her. “Well, let me know if there’s anything I can help with.”

Poppy nodded again. “Thanks, Hickory.”

“Anytime.”

With that, she stepped off the bus—and saw Branch.

He was with Marimba, Tambora, and Baby Bun, and they were headed into the main area of the village. Poppy wondered what they were doing, but she didn’t dare approach.

That was, until Smidge started pushing her toward the four of them.

“Wait, Smidge! What are you doing? We can’t communicate, remember?” Poppy hissed under her breath, hoping no one else would hear.

“Which is why you’re going to ask Baby Bun, Marimba, and Tambora what they’re up to! Assert your dominance by completely ignoring his existence!”

“I can’t—” Poppy started to protest, but they were already there. “Oh, hey, guys,” she said weakly. “What’re you three doing?”

From her side, Smidge nodded, pleased.

Thankfully, none of the (former?) bounty hunters made a big deal of it. “We’re setting up Wani and Tresillo,” said Tambora.

“Yeah, we’re on our way to Satin and Chenille’s,” added Marimba.

“They’re going to make a dress for Wani. We have the same”—here she struggled to find a word—“body, so they’re going to test it on me.”

“Oh! Sounds fun! Actually, Satin and Chenille just got off the bus, so you guys can all walk to their pod together.”

Smidge turned around and yelled to the twins, “I TOLD YOU YOU HAD AN APPOINTMENT!”

“It’s not like we missed it or anything!” Chenille called back.

“Oh, so then they can take you,” Branch said.

“Mm-hmm. Thanks for your help,” said Tambora, waving to him as they headed over to Satin and Chenille—which left Poppy and Branch (and Smidge) alone together.

The two shot each other awkward glances, and the indifference Poppy saw in Branch’s eyes in that split second broke her heart. He wasn’t missing her the way she was missing him, not even a little?

“U-uh, Smidge, we should get going,” she managed. “There’s plenty more, um, stuff we have to get done today.”

“Okay, Poppy.” Smidge grabbed her by the hand and dragged her away, murmuring under her breath, “Do not look at him.”

Poppy obeyed, wondering what she’d done so horribly wrong that she and Branch had ended up like this.