Chapter Text
Troll village had become quite a norm for Branch. Well as normal as it could be for a village of pop trolls who had many parties.
The inclusion of his brothers however was…? Different?
“Hey, Branch!”
An abrupt yell made him fumble with his sticks, turning around quickly to see Floyd alongside Clay.
“O-Oh! Hey,… guys. What are you guys doing out here?”
He smiled, well as much as he could as he repositioned his sticks.
“What are you doing here? You're pretty far from the village.”
Clay had piped in, now the two getting closer.
“Well, I…”
He felt himself drag. Don't get him wrong, he wasn't exactly obsessed with being so prepared for the worst anymore, but habits die hard. And it was a bit difficult to stop his routine of stocking up.
“Uh, just some stuff I had to do.”
He gestured to the sticks, a rough laugh escaping him to fill the incoming silence.
“Really? Like what?”
Clay had leaned over to examine one of the sticks, slipping one out and swirling it with a grin before fumbling and letting the stick fall.
“Uh. I'm building a miniature house…? For- Poppy! She's gotten super into miniature buildings.”
An attempt to save himself spilled from his mouth. Miniature houses? He groaned internally, picking up the stick from the floor to settle back into his grasp.
“Really? Didn't take her for a builder…”
Clay muttered, a hand underneath his chin as Floyd chuckled.
“Well, that's good to know. It’ll be a perfect gift for special occasions. She seemed pretty stressed when we saw her…”
Now that caught his attention. Poppy? Stressed? Well, they did go together. She was caring, but caring meant being aware of trolls' feelings. And that meant Poppy bending herself over backward…
“Really? Did something happen?”
Floyd and Clay looked at each other, shrugging before Clay continued, arm outstretched in demonstration.
“Ehhh, I'm not sure. She was pretty busy, kinda jumpy. More than her normal self.”
Branch frowned. Jumpy? Of course Poppy could be quite the jumpscare sometimes, but her? Jumpy? He had a bit of a bad feeling about this and sighed.
“I'll go visit her later. Maybe it's just Queen duties.”
Or worse…
“Listen, I'll see you guys around.”
He turned to leave, walking off before he heard Floyd yell.
“We’ll see you later tonight, Branch!”
“Remember Bitty B! Nine o’clock!”
He didn't look back, but waved anyway, heading off to his bunker. He wasn't going to lie, having his brothers around was a dream come true. Yet, it was hard.
Extremely.
His memories of them were extremely outdated, things done and said were now flipped onto its head and it was hard for him to guess correctly.
He expected certain things to come from his brothers, completely being turned around as they did something else. It was hard to connect with something that was long gone, and suddenly shoved back into his life.
Hell, he was surprised to learn that they wanted to stay! The fight to Mount Rageous lingered from the moment John Dory spoke of leaving and the others agreeing. It seemed that once the ordeal was over and they had time to calm down, they decided to start anew and try to be a family again.
He slowed down a bit, readjusting his sticks.
We're they actually staying…?
He frowned harder. At this point Poppy would've been at his sides, poking at him with a smile and cheer, asking what was wrong. And he'd brush it off, making up an excuse she'd clearly see through.
The problem however was that he was afraid of getting attached. Would Clay stay? John Dory? Floyd? Bruce had a family!
He groaned and sighed, now in front of the welcome mat to his bunker before sinking down. He hopped off the elevator, placing the sticks in some cubbies.
“Hey Bitty B!”
He jumped, scowling at the name and the sting of pain from slamming his head against the cubby. He was being extremely jumpy himself now that he thought about it…
“Don't call me that. How’d you get in anyway?”
He turned, JD plastering that smile of cheekiness before running up to him.
“Don't worry about that. Butttt! I got a super sweet idea that I need your help-”
“My help?”
“Yes, your help with. How ‘bout it! Eh?”
He swung his arms around and over each other, stopping to shake his hands in a surprise motion. Unamused, Branch had passed him, snorting at the dropping face of JD.
“Yeah, fine. But give me a few hours. I gotta check up on a few things.”
He could hear the whispers of JD cheering, suddenly coming close as an arm practically choked his neck and pulled him in a tight embrace.
“Gotcha! Meet me at the river nearby. Have fun with your girlfriend!”
A flush and yell came out when JD cackled, bouncing onto the platform before waving his goodbyes.
“How'd he know…”
A walk through Troll Village was nice. Well nice that it was not in danger. Trolls left and right were on and about, a few hesitant waves towards him that he awkwardly accepted. It was still odd to be welcomed without being avoided for being a grump.
“Oh! Oh! Bitty b!”
A frown immediately formed, twisting to see Bruce near a stall. A calm smile on his face and a rapid wave made him sigh and drag over.
“Branch. It's Branch.”
He dragged it out, Bruce waving him off with an apology before hauling a crate of food up and placing it down the stall.
“What's that for?”
“Oh, this. Me and Brandy thought it'd be cool if we expanded a bit while I'm here and hey, what about Troll Village? Hey! How about you help?”
Bruce had smiled, pulling himself close, which made Branch step back a bit.
“Mm, maybe. I'll think about it.”
Cutting the conversation short, Branch had said his goodbye, turning and leaving a slightly disappointed Bruce to watch him leave.
Approaching the center of the village, Branch could see Poppy's pod, immediately using his hair to swing up and land on a tree branch with a thump.
“Poppy?”
He knocked, waiting a few seconds before a loud crash and panicked whispers came from inside. A head came out from the pod window, a startled yell coming out of him from the sight.
“H-hey! What-!”
Poppy looked frazzled, hair unkempt as her smile slowed down.
“Branch! Just what I needed!”
He was yanked in immediately through the window, falling flat onto the cushion surface floor.
“Oh, sorry!”
Pulled up, he could see the struggling desperation in her face as her eyes went back and forth.
“Poppy… What happened…”
He had noticed the mess in the room. Books were flung, tarps covered most of the windows, and a mountain of blankets on the bed.
“Uh… it's… bad. Like, really bad.”
She bit her lip, tucking her arms to her chest. She seemed to struggle to speak, a movement on her bed startling the both of them as they whipped their heads to the rustling of the bed.
“Poppy.”
“Wait! Just wait.”
She had stopped him from getting closer, the rustling getting louder and more aggressive to the point where Branch had gone on guard and stepped in front of Poppy to protect her.
A thunk.
“C…cooper..?”
A smaller…version of Cooper? He could feel his eyes widen, staring at the funk troll who merely giggled and held an odd rock in his mouth. He immediately snapped his eyes in her direction.
“Poppy!”
“I know! Well, technically I don't… But-”
His eyes widened for an explanation.
“I know! I know this is bad. Cooper had shown me this rock, saying stuff about how cool it was and before I knew it he was a child!”
A giggle of laughter and a harsh thunk came from Cooper who had started to run around the room playfully, crashing into things with joy. They could only stare in disbelief.
“I brought him here 'cause I thought I could figure things out...”
She winced, another crash shaking the pod as he could only blankly stare. He sighed. Of course, there's a problem.
“Okay. Okay. We can do this. Let's see if we can visit the library for a rock that…makes you a child?”
He gave a hopeful nod, Poppy practically gleaming with a somber smile. He decided to initiate a hug, Poppy accepting as her tense arms relaxed in his.
“Uh-oh!”
A loud shout startled them both, whipping their heads to see Cooper trip and slam into the bed frame. The rock flew fast, heading straight for Poppy’s face who couldn't react to the sharp hurdling object. Branch had immediately raised his arm to stop it from hurting her, not fully listening to the shout from behind him.
“Wait! Branch! Don't touch it!”
The rock clattered to the ground, leaving silence and dread.
“Oh. Oh no…”
All that could be heard from Poppy's pod was clattering. Extremely loud clattering way dead into the night that made other trolls wonder what could be wrong with the queen.
“Poppy? You in there!”
The four brothers had gathered in front of the pod. John Dory takes the initiative to knock before shrugging to his brothers behind him. Bruce had tapped his foot. A bit annoyed with being stood up, but then again Branch never agreed to help him.
Clay and Floyd had sat down and patiently waited for a response. Book club had way passed its time, and Branch never showed up which hurt a lot more than expected. He had agreed to show up…
And John. Ooo, was he a speck peeved. He was trying to get to know Branch, but he had been shown up. So the first thought he had was to go to Floyd. Only to realize that he also had been a-walled alongside Clay. Even Bruce had been lack sided of a Branch.
So, his first thought was..! His girlfriend.
“Poppy! Are you okay? We just wanted to know if Branch was there.”
He hummed, attempting to see through any of the windows but was met with a tarp.
They could hear panicked whispers of what they believed was Poppy before thudding came close and the pink troll was suddenly sticking her head out a window with a too wide smile.
“Ohhh! Heyyy, guys… what’s, what's the haps?”
Her voice strained, hair exploded into directions that made Clay look professional in terms of hair care. She stuttered in laughter, none of the brothers amused but instead slightly worried.
“Is B there? He promised to meet me at the river, but it's way past our time.”
John tapped his wrist, giving a sound of realization when he realized he wasn't wearing a watch, and flustered before quickly making himself serious.
“Yeah, and he was supposed to be in my book club! We were going to read The Great Trollsby.”
Clay had piped up from his spot, now getting up as he gave a hand for Floyd to take as he was pulled up.
“O-oh. Uh, I haven't seen him…”
They stared as Poppy droned off, desperate in her mind to come up with something. She flicked her finger out, the brothers backing up a bit at her jagged movement.
“B-But! I'm pretty sure he's just around, haha… just-”
A loud crash and rumble came from inside, the pod shaking.
“Is someone-”
“No! I was just- just- reorganizing! I-”
She visibly sapped, sticking her head back into the pod with a gasp. They could hear her panic inside, a mantra of no’s going off as they had become worried.
“Poppy? Are you okay?”
Floyd had come up to the door, twisting the knob to find that it was unlocked before pushing it open. The brothers had peeked over Floyd's shoulder, aware of how dark it was and messy when they entered.
“Pop-”
“You came back!”
A voice oddly young startled the brothers, Bruce looking for a light on the walls as something moved in the dark before latching onto Floyd's leg which made him stumble a bit back.
The light flicked on, revealing the treacherous mess and Poppy holding on to a funk troll with both arms and hair out-sprayed into a ball that held way above the two.
A blue mass of hair moved against Floyd's leg, eyes finally landing down at the blue-moving mass currently latched onto him as the other three gazes fell onto it as well.
“That's…!”
“No way-!"
“Huh…-!
“...”
You could hear the joyous laughter of children.
“S-surprise…?"