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"Guys could we please not argue? You can clearly see it’s causing Branch anxiety! We’re responsible whenever he’s uncomfortable."
"Oh shut it, Floyd! This has nothing to do with you. Stay out of it! I need Clay to apologize to me and I’m not leaving until he does." Clay scoffed and rolled his eyes at John Dory’s comment.
"Apologize? APOLOGIZE?! It’s a cupcake, John! And I didn’t see your name on it. Besides, we had 9 cupcakes and most of them were eaten by you! 2 were eaten by Floyd, 2 were eaten by Spruce, and 4 were eaten by you! You had the most cupcakes of us all. You don’t get to complain about the last cupcake!"
"Oh! Oh, so you’re calling me fat now?!" Clay sighed and just shook his head in annoyance, groaning as he threw his hands up.
"I never said that! I said you had the most cupcakes, so you shouldn’t be complaining!"
They just kept going back and forth, arguing about right and wrong. Floyd sighed and decided that it was simply just useless to be in the middle of it. They’d have to work it out themselves.. He slowly backed away from the argument and hurried over to Branch’s room, knocking on the door lightly.
After about 5 seconds of silence, he quietly pushed the door open and stepped inside, closing the door behind him.
"Branch? It’s me Floyd. You okay buddy?" Floyd turned the flashlight on and shined it around the room, finding Branch hiding under the bed. He chuckled and shook his head, going down on his knees before crawling under there beside him.
"Hey, buddy.. it’ll be okay. I’m here now." Floyd smiled sadly, patting Branch’s back comfortingly. "This happens 3 or 4 times a week, Floyd.. they find things to argue about and it’s sad. I just want my older brothers to be happy!"
Branch whimpered, hiding his face in his arms. Floyd sighed and nodded, wrapping an arm around him. "I know, Branch. I know. It’s stressful and sad.. but eventually, it might get better. It just takes time when you’re brothers and we easily get tired and annoyed with each other."
Branch just sighed and shook his head, closing his eyes. Sniffling could be heard coming from the smaller troll. Floyd sighed as his eyes wandered a little but then suddenly! He had an idea. Music! Headphones..
"Hey, come here.. let’s get from under here and how about you sit down on the bed, huh?" Branch nodded and slowly climbed from under the bed, helping Floyd up too. "Here, you can take my phone and do you remember where those headphones are that grandma got you a while ago?"
Branch nodded and pulled them from under his pillows handing them to Floyd. "I put them under my pillows so I wouldn’t lose them easily.."
"That’s a smart idea! But how about this, you put these headphones on and type in your favorite song on my phone. And then you can keep it for however long you need to! How does that sound?" Branch’s eyes lit up and he smiled, hugging Floyd lightly as he nodded his head excitedly.
"Yes please! Umm.. my fingers are a bit too little to type.." Floyd chuckled at Branch’s remark and nodded in response. "Alright, then. I’ll put the song in for you. what do you wanna listen to?"
"Hug me! That song makes me happy."
"Great choice Branch! There ya go.. you can just take the phone.. and I’ll connect the headphones." Floyd gently took the string and plugged it in the small hole on his phone while turning the volume up before placing the headphones nice and fit over Branch’s head.
"Thank you Floyd! Hehe. You’re the best big brother ever!" This time, Branch happily kicked his feet as he danced along to the music and hugged himself. Floyd chuckled and blushed a little from the compliment.
"Your the best little brother ever.." He sighed and took one more minute to make sure Branch would be okay before slowly closing the door behind him.
Now he just had to find a way to settle this argument..