Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

[Gift]

At four A.M, just like every single day for the past months or so, the hot springs of Trollstopia went from a calm secluded place, to a bustling and high energy hot spot for the techno trolls as their morning rave raged on the early hours of the day

Lasers and fluorescent lights could be seen shining under the water into the depths of the lagoon, the usually calm water now sloshing on the edges of the lake in a rhythmic manner as the loud bass sent its sound waves all around giving life to the scene, algae could be seen getting blown back at every wave and beat as if it to was raving with the trolls

And in the middle of those way too energetic trolls, was their ambassador that too was way too energetic for this early

“now guys who is ready for beat drop!” Synth screamed to the crowd as they raved on, even with the jelly phones he could hear the thunderous roar of their cheers, he felt the perfect moment approaching as the music became faster paced giving him a feeling of anticipation that nothing could really match

“wait for it!” he edged on the crowd making them await the moment anxiously, the music continued to get louder and louder, the pacing making their hearts beat frenetically matching the beat of the music, then as the perfect moment the music suddenly stopped, the light becoming dim as the lagoon became almost as quiet as before the rave started

Only for the beat to drop like thunder, the shockwave and the lights shining on making the moment even more magical, there was no way to describe the feeling of it, even the techno trolls that grew up with it couldn’t put it into words

It was just that great

As the beat secured the vibe Synth was looking for today he went to the dance floor giving high fives and fist bumps to the many trolls that were still in the euphoria of the rave, he loved this part, of going here with his people and seeing that he did a good job DJing

At least he thought he did a good job, until he saw Branch sitting on a rock at the edge of the dance floor, not raving like he usually does with them

This was… strange to say the least, off putting really, Branch was one of the few rave buddies he had that really could keep up with him, he and Laguna were the only few trolls that he could say could, in theory, out rave him! of course not in reality because Laguna wanted to study more than rave and Branch had to, you know, get out of the rave eventually or he drowns

So seeing him there made Synth a little anxious, just a little bit

As he approached the land troll, the only land troll that would regularly go down here to rave with them, he could see just how in rough shape he was, he had dark bags under his eyes, seemed a little thinner than usual and even the way he was siting was wrong, it wasn’t a chilling on the rock siting, it was more of like I want to turn into a rock from how tired I am siting

His vibes were off in a way Synth had never felt before, was he ill? Did something happen up there? As he got closer his anxiety grew quite a bit seeing Branch not even acknowledge he was there

“dubstep?” he asked, instead of a hello or a high five Branch gave a small scream scared of Synths sudden approach, well sudden for him… as he calmed down Synth felt his instincts screaming to do something, he really didn’t like seeing his friend like this

“eyo dubstep, you alright there bro? you look a bit…” he didn’t know how to put it in a way that didn’t make him sound like a douche so he just gesticulated to Branch’s slumped over the rock form

“like shit?” Branch said as a matter of fact, Synth wouldn’t say it like that but, yeah that sums it up pretty well “what happened? you didn’t like the song? You can request one that you like no problem at all bro” he asked hoping that wasn’t the case, he had picked up this song specially to make everyone happy, it was his make people happy song! If Branch was feeling down maybe he messed up choosing this one

“no i… I guess just am not vibing today, that’s all” he said still slumped on the rock like a sad starfish “not vibing!? C’mon man don’t do me like that, you are my rave buddy! My dubstep! Without you the party doesn’t feel right!”

“your dubstep?” shit, okay now was not the time for this, think Synth think for once in your life “I, uh mean our? our dubstep! Yeah! You are like, our guy! our land troll buddy, think of yourself as an honorary techno troll” he said hoping this time his lies would go unnoticed

“oh… uh thanks I think, look I don’t want to bring everyone down so I think I will just go home for today you know?” he said with a sigh, as he hopped down the rock he gave a fist bump to Synth thanking him for the rave like he always did

But everything just felt sooo weird! Branch’s fist bumps usually were energetic and passed on good vibes to people, now it was all weak, like he didn’t want to fist bump at all! But the worst was his smile

Branch’s smile was something Synth really liked for some reason, it was hard for him to full on smile so the few times he was able to see it, it was like everything got better! like the beat dropped ten times harder! The smile of now just made him feel… sad? It was fake…

Branch was never fake…

As Synth watched the teal troll go away he felt his heart twist in a way he didn’t like, as the ambassador of the techno trolls he was in charge of keeping everyone’s vibe nice and, well, vibing! If one of the ravers was not feeling it he was doing something wrong

He had to fix this

As the dance floor slowly got empty as the last song ended Synth went straight to his other best friend and the one who would most likely know what to do

“LAGUNA!” he screamed at their window making the anthropologist jump scared throwing the book they were reading far away, as they felt their heart calming down they looked at Synth with a tired expression, while many techno trolls were early birds or didn’t really grasp the full idea of night time and day time Laguna was the one who was most thankful for the concept

With the clear difference of a designated party time at day and sleep at night they made their routine to study at day and read some more as a hobby at night, so they were understandably mad at Synth for disturbing them at the late, but still night hours, of the day where they were having some well earned me time

“what do you want this early Synth? Shouldn’t you still be raving?” they huffed in fond annoyance, yes the ambassador was a pain in the butt sometimes, but both of them had grown up together back in techno reef and after all this time Laguna got used to their friend’s antics

“well, first your clock is a bit late as it is already about five A.M so it’s not that early, and I really need your help with dubstep” he said trying to explain his situation to them, he got inside the room simply swimming through the window and started explaining the whole ordeal to them

“and how exactly do you think I can help with cheering up Branch?” they asked still not understanding how their help could be of use seeing that they were not known for being an expert on things of this nature, Poppy would most likely be the best option for that

“well you and dubstep are really alike, and since you have been studying the land trolls culture I thought you could help me know how to get his vibes good again in a more… secure way” he sheepishly explained hoping it didn’t sound like he was calling his friend a nerd

He remembered the time he was teaching Branch how to relax techno style, but this time he didn’t want to bring down his vibe even more because he thought that if it worked in cheering him up it would work with Branch too

Though he wouldn’t mind Branch holding him like that day at the quick-glitter…

Ok he was getting distracted now, focus Synth you have a job to do!

“mmmh well I have to admit your logic is flawless” they said getting up and walking to a bookshelf on their room, they looked over a few different books and journals they made while observing the other tribes before settling at one written ‘Pop customs and antics’

Opening the book Laguna gave a quick over all on its information before looking at Synth again ”as far as I have observed, the pop tribe likes sweets, bright but not shining colors, and they party differently than us, but seeing that Branch seems like an outlier that breaks the mold I would suggest something simple just to be safe, gift him something useful or that you think would mean a lot to him but don’t make a fuss about it” they explained calmly to Synth before closing the book with a clap

Synth thought about this information a lot, a simple gift? What he could give Branch that would make him feel better? Maybe a kandi? No, he most likely doesn’t even know what it represents, more tools for his bunker maybe?

“you okay there Synth?” Laguna asked, they had never seen Synth think about something so hard, he was always more impulsive with this kind of things, if they looked hard enough there most likely would be a little bit of smoke coming out of his ears from his brain working this hard

“uh? oh yeah yeah, so uh I’ll try to find something to give dubstep up there, thanks for the help!” he said before bolting out of the room into the open lagoon

Something to give Branch… Why suddenly it got so hard to think about gifts? What could he possibly even want? The both of them had spent a lot of time together now yet he didn’t know what to gift him at all!

Then an idea struck him, as sad as it made him he understood the fact that he didn’t know Branch well enough to know what to give him, so he just needed to find someone who did!

He knew Poppy and Branch were really close so he went to the place he was sure she would eventually appear later, the party supply store

At the store he finally saw just how much the pop trolls liked to well, party. There was everything one could imagine on it, balloons, glitter, boom boxes, even confetti cannons! Even if it took a while Poppy was bound to pass by given that she is constantly planning the next party

While he was there he also started to get some ideas of what to give to dubstep, he had said that he didn’t like how glitter gets everywhere so maybe a new vacuum cleaner?

“now what to give him?” Synth muttered out loud looking through the endless items around the store but nothing seemed to really be a good gift to him “may help you sir?” he heard someone ask behind him

Seeing one of the store’s employees Synth let a tired sigh escape him, this wasn’t supposed to be so hard, it was just one gift to his bro! why his mind didn’t work when he wanted to? “I’m looking for a gift to someone I know, they’ve been feeling a bit down lately and I want to cheer them up” he explained to the worker

“well you sure ain’t gonna find it at the plastic cups section, follow me” the troll said making Synth groan out loud seeing that he was in fact at the cups isle, he had been thinking so hard about what to gift him that he didn’t notice he was staring at cups of all things

How long had he even been staring at the cups? He could even feel that his mouth was a bit dry from how long he had been up here, maybe Poppy had already taken her party supplies earlier today and he was waiting for no reason

No mater, he just had to buy something from the store instead of asking her for help

“well is it someone special to you or special~ to you” the troll asked lifting their brow at Synth who blushed at the implication of it, Branch and him were just friends, nothing more, even if they have been hanging out a lot lately and being around him made the raves feel a lot better and the way Branch smiled made Synth feel sardines on his stomach

They were just totally normal, platonic friends!

“j-just a friend” he said before both stopped between two isles that sure enough one said ‘gifts for friends’ and the other one ‘gifts for friends’ in a more stylized calligraphy with a little heart on top of the ‘I’

 “well then the left one it is, hope you find what you are looking for” the employee said before walking towards another troll that seemed lost on the store, damn this place had everything, it seems like he underestimated pop’s love for parties

He started looking along the isle looking for whatever he thought Branch would like, there were hug watches, friendship bracelets (hu, guess branch would kinda know what a kandi bracelet is…) even birthday scented candles whatever that was

“now what would Branch need…” he said thinking out loud back at the same spot as before but now with clear examples of what to give him, he saw a small group of trolls pass by him snickering after he said that, and then he heard a whisper

“more body paint most likely…” after that he heard the group now full on laughing, maybe they were right! Before Synth got his stripes, he loved to paint his arms with body paint to look just like his dad or to make glowing drawings on his scales

His dad was always so angry after, muttering about how hard it was to get it of the scales but he was no match to Synth’s guppy eyes and soon he was too a mess of paint and color, he sure missed the old man…

It was set, he went and grabbed a lot of colourful body paint of all shades possible and paid it up to the cashier before going to Branch’s bunker, he wold be so happy at the gift and maybe he could go to the ten P.M. rave and party with Synth again!

“hey dubstep! Open up!” he said outside his friend’s bunker/home, he always felt a little silly saying that looking at the rock that worked as his door, and he had to admit one time he kept screaming at the wrong rock for a while before someone pointed him to the right place

He could hear the elevator going up and soon enough the rock opened up showing that it was in fact a very well camouflaged door

“Synth? Is there something wrong?” Branch asked looking up at the ambassador, god he forgot just how small Branch really was compared to him, techno trolls didn’t really care for height as if someone was taller than you, you just swam a little bit up to be at eye level with them

But here on land this was not something you could do, making Branch look so small compared to Synth, he looked a bit better than before so that was something good he thought. Synth was about to speak when he remembered just how the situation looked

Out of nowhere the techno ambassador appeared at his door screaming for him a few hours after he went away from one of their raves, this must not look very friendly

“hey dubstep, I uh, I kinda saw that you were a little bummed out, and I thought about trying t-to cheer you up?” he said flinching at how his voice cracked, for rave’s sake Synth you have talked to him almost everyday for the past month or so why are you nervous now? Get a grip man

“look Synth there’s no need for this, I know you are very busy so relax, I was just not feeling all… myself today” he said looking down, this was worse than he thought, Branch’s vibes now were getting even worse! he had to cheer him up before his vibes for the day were ruined!

“no no no! it’s no problem really, I just wanted to get something nice for you” he said smiling down at Branch, he had such beautiful eyes, even now they looked like whirlpools pulling Synth in…

his hands were a lot bigger than most pop trolls, they were also so warm… the way Branch had held him that time in the quick glitter made his skin burn wanting for more…

OKAY THAT’S NOT THE TIME, GET A GRIP BOY!

“uh w-well I hopeyoulikethegiftyouknowbye!” he said feeling his face heating up from embarrassment, panic started to set in on Synth as Branch was about to say something so he just shoved the gift at the teal troll’s hands and rushed away as fast as he could to hide his growing blush

Resting at a tree a few minutes away Synth regained his bearings, and immediately punched himself repeatedly inside his mind

WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT SYNTH?!? You had everything right and somehow you blew it up in the most stupid way imaginable! You just had to give him the gift! he becomes happy and then you two are raving again that was all!

Out of all the moments to get nervous it had to be now? You talked to him almost every day Synth! Why you had to chicken out now? he was about to bang his head against the tree when he looked over someone calling his name

“Synth! over here!” he hears Poppy’s voice calling him over some berry bushes, along with her he could see Biggie, Suki and Guy Diamond all having what seemed like a small picknick. Walking up to them Synth did the best he could to shove his embarrassment down and try to talk as if he didn’t just fumble the easiest task right in front of his crush

Yeah, no matter how much he tried to hide it or tell himself otherwise, he deep down knew he had a crush with a capital c on Branch, what could he do? The man had openly stated that he wanted to form a connection with him, he made a great effort to do things the techno way, he gave the hot springs back and saved his life!

No one could blame him for liking the guy a bit more than a normal friend, it’s not everyday someone saves your life you know?

“are you okay Synth? You looked a bit panicked just now” Poppy asked holding out a cupcake to him who took it more out of politeness than hunger, he made the mistake of eating pop candy once and he still cringes at the amount of sugar on it

He took a breath looking at them, maybe if he explained it all they could help him fix up the absolute shitshow just now. He really did just incoherently spew random words to Branch and shoved the gift to his hands, even if he likes the gift it will be so awkward later…

“I just… dubstep wasn’t feeling all that good earlier so got him something to cheer him up, but I got nervous and kinda just threw it at him” he explained hanging his head low, he sounded pathetic right now didn’t he?

“cute” he heard Guy chuckle at the ambassador’s antics before Poppy reprehended him with a glare

“it’s good that you are helping him, when he gets like this we usually try to cheer him up but he sometimes thinks it’s just that we are afraid of him losing them again and not because we actually care about him… well with your help I think he will be fine again soon” she said with a soft smile, what did she mean by ‘losing them again’?

Branch was one of the most well organised trolls Synth had ever seen in his life, there’s nothing important that he could lose, the only time he saw Branch a bit clumsier was when the whole hot springs situation happened

“what did he lose?” Synth asked naively, he was actually curious about what Branch could really have lost, maybe Synth could buy him another of whatever it was as a better gift!

Poppy looked a bit uneasy as well as the other three trolls, they whispered to each other for a few second before they seemed to reach an agreement, Poppy scooted a bit closer to Synth before she made a motion for him so that she could whisper on his ear

“his colors, he thinks that we only try to help him cheer up because we don’t want to see him gray again” she said low to him

Synth thought over it a bit before letting out a chuckle, that was it? he had the same fear about losing his colors again after the strings were destroyed, but he got over it with the help of Laguna. Maybe that’s why he was feeling down! He thought that he could lose his colors by having a bad day just like they all had for that short while during the whole rock world tour thing

That was a memory he didn’t want to remember, the fear was valid in a way, it only lasted a few minutes but it felt like eternity, the world had lost its colors and made Synth feel in a way that it was hard to describe

He felt… lost, alone even around all of those trolls, the world just looked dead and cold and…

Not worth it…

Synth’s mom had been gray for a while when his grandpa had died, he was just a guppy at the time so he didn’t understand it, she went away for a few months saying it was a vacation, and when he said he wanted that vacation too she explained how she hoped he would never have to

When he was old enough she told him the full story, how she felt hollow after losing her dad, how not even the hardest beat could resonate with her, she explained to him that the vacation was her asking for professional help because she started to hurt herself

Because she felt that living was not what she wanted anymore…

Synth experienced for a few seconds what she had to endure for months, until with the help of medics and therapy she got better, he understood the fear of losing his colors again without the strings to be a beacon

“look I know that losing our colors when the strings were destroyed was really scary, but Laguna researched and assured me that we won’t lose them out of nowhere, even if we have a bad day! there’s no need to be afraid of that man” he explained to the other trolls hoping that if they had the same fears it would help them too

No wonder Branch would be scared to lose his colors like that again, but they all got them back pretty quickly, and without new strings to destroy it’s just not going to happen again

The pop trolls looked a bit baffled for a few seconds before looking at Synth with worried expressions, what? Did they not believe him?

“Synth you know that Branch lost his colors right?” Suki said slowly to him, of course he does! He talked about this just now, had they not been paying attention?

“yeah we all did don’t you remember? Even Poppy did” he asked now very confused about what was happening for them to act like this

They looked uneasy with his response

“no Synth… like, before the rock tour” Poppy said to him just above a whisper holding his hand

“w-what?” Synth asked feeling a pit on his stomach growing, a cold weight on his heart like he had just entered one of the artic currents that flowed around techno reef

“he… he was gray for a very long time… he wouldn’t sing or dance or party…” Poppy said to him recalling painful memories of the past, how until the peace with the berguens he was gray and bullied for it because no one really understood what it meant, how she bullied him because she didn’t understand what it meant

A feeling of guilt washed over the pop trolls as they recalled how they would try to force him to be happy and not truly help him, if only they knew what to do, maybe he wouldn’t have suffered alone for so long, but that was no excuse for the way they acted

No wonder Branch had those thoughts that they didn’t really care about him just about him not going back to being sad and ‘un fun’ as they so many times called him

Synth felt despair growing inside him, Branch was gray? He didn’t understand, how could Branch ever have been gray? He was always so full of life when they interacted, he never got mad and always found a way to cheer other people up

“sometimes he hurt himself…” Poppy whispered most likely to herself but Synth was able to hear it. She recalled one day, the one day she beat herself over for so long, of finding him alone in the forest holding a small knife and cuts on his arms, she didn’t connect the dots for a long time and at first tried to rush him to Moonbloom thinking it was an animal attack

But as soon as she looked somewhere else he disappeared, for days…

She didn’t like to think about it

“anyway, it’s good that someone else shows that they care about him you know? I think this way he will believe we care about him, and not how fun he is” she said, it was part of her plan after all, to show to him that even people that didn’t know he had been gray cared about him, and she hoped that with Synth’s actions he would finally see that

“by the way what did you gift him?” Biggie asked trying to lighten up the mood, as much as they hated it they could not change the past, they had been awful to Branch even if they didn’t see it that way, but dwelling on the what ifs would not help anyone

Synth was feeling a pit of despair growing inside him. Branch had been gray, for a very long time it seemed, he didn’t know how to feel about that

At one hand he wanted to rush to his bunker and ask a million questions, he wanted to show to Branch that he cared about him and that this wouldn’t change anything in their relationship. He wanted to protect Branch from that happening ever again and tell him that if he needed help he could ask for Synth at any time, but…

It had already happened…

Branch was better now and he didn’t know how to react to that information. Did he acknowledge it with Branch? Would that be weird? Would Branch think that Synth was being too nosy? Why didn’t he tell him? Why did they tell him? Did they expect him to do something now? He didn’t know the answer to any of those questions

But before he delved too deep inside his mind Biggie’s question echoed inside his head. Synth had bought him a lot of body paint…

Body paint…

…

HE HAD GIFTED BODY PAINT TO THE ONE GRAY TROLL HE KNEW FOR A CHEER UP GIFT!??!?!?!

Synth bolted from there as fast as he physically could leaving the group confused and now a bit worried as they watched the dark purple troll run in panic. Somewhere in the middle of the way to Branch’s bunker Synth deemed that he was not beeing fast enough and started to float like he had been practicing

Techno trolls could float above water too instead of walking, it was both faster and less clumsy than their walk/slide style that they moved using with their flippers as feet like the other troll tribes, they didn’t do it because of how incredibly tiring it was

The floating sprint was something they evolved to escape the aquatic predators that roamed the sea back in the old days, unlike the land critters of here most of the aquatic dangerous fauna hunted by ambush, so if you escaped the initial one the predator would not bother to chase opting to wait for the next potential meal

Synth floated all the way to Branch’s bunker, at first the desperation to clarify this horrible misunderstanding fuelled him as he zapped between trolls, buildings and trees, but the closer he got to his destination the dizzier he became, and the more he went on more his vision would blur

He was by no means a sedentary troll, but his body could only be pushed so far as slowly he started to float less and less off the ground. Once he reached the bunker he felt as if his flippers would give out under him, the air burned his lungs and his entire body felt as if it was on fire

He was at this point seeing double as he got closer to the rock Branch used as a door, rasped breaths could be heard as Synth struggled to breathe the hot dry air around him. If he were in a more coherent state he would be kicking himself for rushing so much to his detriment

His whole body felt dry as the sun heated him up even more, he started to ask for Branch between pants and coughs, if he ever got answered he didn’t know as the dark spots on his vision grew more and more before finally he fell down unconscious… 

Chapter Text

Branch was a tired man, more tired than anybody knew at least. The transition from outlier and weirdo of the tribe to almost royalty was one that he was both glad and resentful for, the trolls that once belittled him and poked fun of him now all saw that he was in fact a normal guy, yes a secluded one but a normal guy just like everyone else

The village now accepted him the way he was, but they also didn’t expect him to go back to how he was before. Branch was stuck in a middle ground, a gray area between good and bad. Quite fitting seeing the reason for it…

 He got back his colors, the teal shade of his skin and the dark blue of his hair showed themselves at the mirror, but just like when he was gray his appearances and actions showed very little of how he truly felt

He was no idiot, he knew that the road to full recovery from twenty plus years of quiet solitude would be a bumpy one, yet that didn’t mean he was immune to the aforementioned ‘bumps’, he felt good most of the time, fantastic if compared to how he felt less than year ago, but sometimes, sometimes the past comes back to bite him in the ass

The past few days had been one of those ‘sometimes’, Branch couldn’t put it to words that would make sense to anyone but him, nothing truly changed, there was no great event, no excuse for him to feel like this, but he did

He felt alone for no reason and at the same time dreaded to interact with other trolls, he couldn’t sleep, if not nightmares making him wake up sweating cold it was simple insomnia, his mind rushing with thoughts and yet he couldn’t make sense of any of them

He looked at his kitchen, at the pot still with soup from yesterday, the food would most likely go to the trash as even looking at It made his guts twist and reject it, only for a few minutes later to complain about the lack of sustenance it was receiving

It had been like that for three days already…

At first he tried the fake it till you make it approach to these feelings, but it only got worse as time went on, he could feel and catch himself snapping at his friends for no reason, his thoughts wandering off to dark directions with no apparent reason. That made him angry, angry at himself, of not getting over it already, of having no reason to be feeling this way, he saw his friends trying to make him cheer up, and he felt angry at himself for making their efforts being in vain because he was still too broken

And then tired, of everything, he had been angry almost his entire life until now, he knew feeling angry wouldn’t solve it, he knew that this would pass like every time and being angry would be futile yet he couldn’t help it

In the end he could only wait and try to take care of himself, the bunker walls around him were one of the few things that helped him. The bunker was quiet, both his prison and his safe heaven, here there was no music to make him remember that he couldn’t enjoy it like this, no screaming colors to reflect how gray he felt inside no friends for him to disappoint because of his slow progress

He felt at least a little more at peace here, sat on the couch of the living room with the TV on just for background noise, even just sitting on the couch made him feel tired for some reason. Branch let out a sigh of frustration, today had been a little better than yesterday but he still felt like shit over all

The room was dimly lit as to not overwelm him, a single lamp shone above him in a warm soft orange tone that he felt comforting and not eye straining like most of the city that loved using big, flashy, blinding neon lights for everything

That is the one thing Branch regrets he showed to the rest of the pop trolls, now they extensively used it for everything under the sun, birthday signs, store advertisements, even some get well cards had little lights imbedded in them

He felt bad, he wanted to want something, to have the urge to do anything, clean his house, help his friends, talk with people, anything! But he only felt empty instead

He had been such an asshole today, Synth was worried about him but he brushed his friend off like nothing, then Poppy came over to talk about some other party that he simply didn’t care about and he brushed her off too in favour of being alone, god Synth had even given him a gift Specifically to make him a bit better…

Yet he had the nerve to feel lonely now…

It was best this way, then he wouldn’t hurt their feelings if he said something rude accidentally. Branch looked over to the gift Synth had given him, a pretty box with a bow on top, it looked almost cartoony in a way, exactly like a prop for one of those trolling shows that screened on TV

The pinkish white being broken by light blue stripes and sat upon the box a simple bow

And inside it

Body paint…

When Branch opened the gift many things rushed in his mind, first it was confusion, anger, surprise, even sadness…

And then he started chuckling, a real one this time. Synth had given the gray troll body paint, the absurdity of it was enough to make him laugh, if it was anyone else he would be down right furious, but Synth was not like that…

For many days after the whole Bergen ordeal he had received body paint from random trolls, their gifts always neatly and carefully prepared with some snarky note telling him how good he was at painting himself to not show he was still gray. Sometimes they came with wigs and some other random clothes, each with their own note telling him that if he wanted to he could “borrow” those to also pretend he was someone less miserable

When Poppy caught word of it she went from pink to burning red out of sheer rage, it was honestly quite scary even for Branch, he never found out who sent those “gifts” but after she made a very long and very angry announcement to the whole tribe they stopped, most likely remembering that he was in fact now one of the best friends of the queen

And that just made the whole situation even more ridiculous, Synth had bought him body paint because he genuinely wanted to cheer up Branch! the pinnacle of irony

And Branch couldn’t lie that he found it endearing in a way, it was such a simple gift, something that most likely would be a gift fit better for a trolling. And yet it made him feel better in a way, it really was just that, a simple gift aiming to cheer him up in an innocent way

When Synth came to his door Branch thought he was mad at him for brushing him of during the rave, but no, Synth just really wanted Branch to be happy and he got him paint, most likely because it also made Synth happy to paint himself

The techno ambassador really did wear his heart on his sleeve, and the amount of it? there was enough paint for him to unironically cover himself from head to toe with it. It made Branch feel happy, even if just a little bit

Synth had turned into a good friend of his, he was patient when Branch started one of his rants, he wasn’t pushy if he felt a bit unwell to party, he was a goofball but knew when to turn serious

He was a breath of fresh air really, someone that, while didn’t fully understand him, made effort to do so. Most acted like Branch now with his colors back was just like them, a happy carefree troll all the time

He wasn’t, but Synth didn’t care about that, he cared about Branch and that’s it

Branch got up from the couch he was, he didn’t know exactly what to do right now, the feeling of emptiness still whispered on the back of his mind at each step, but after twenty years of it you start to ignore it very easily

He went to the kitchen hoping that this time he would be able to eat, but a single look at the soup made him feel the bile climbing up his throat and his stomach squirm in hate, yep no food for now, Branch went to his drawer and got a small package of tea, camomile was his favourite as many times it had helped him calm down in the past

Heating up the water he took a look at the sink seeing the bowls of soup he had poured himself yesterday only for the food to be thrown away, he had to wash them soon or it would start to smell

Grabbing the sponge and some detergent he started to toughly scrub the bowls, making sure that there was not a single spec of leftover food on the wooden surface, he could hear the water rushing by the pipes making a low rumbling sound as it pulled water from the reserve he had installed

That would have continued if not by a faint sound he heard, at first he thought it was just the boiling water on the stove or the sound of the sink running on, but his ears twitched in confusion and anxiety as it persisted

It was a very meek sound, like a whimper, he turned off the stove and the tap of the sink to make sure he wasn’t hearing things, when he heard it again he could tell it was coming from upwards

He got into the elevator and went up passing by the many chambers that consisted of his home, some made the comparison of his bunker to that of an ant’s hive, he liked to take pride in that seeing that while ants are very small they can build marvellous things, and also because ants are awesome

As he finally reached the top he opened his door expecting to see some critter foraging around

Instead he finds the techno ambassador panting on the grown with half lidded eyes

Branch sprung into action immediately, what happened? He just talked to Synth just a few minutes ago and now his friend was looking half dead right at his doorstep! He felt his own heart beating like a drum in panic yet his moves were still precise and calculated

Heartbeat was fast and his skin was hot, way too hot, techno trolls were adapted to the water meaning their temperature was always colder than the average land troll, his breathing was ragged and shallow still whimpering Branch’s name

“Synth?! Synth?!? God damn it this is not funny!” Branch hissed shaking his friend hoping this was some kind of joke, when no response came he swept up the techno ambassador on his arms bridal style settling him in a secure way before rushing down to his bunker

Heatstroke, this was just the start of the hot season and it seemed that he would already have to discuss this problem with Poppy if she wanted to make Trollstopia really work, he thought that they would have a few more days before the heat got to the more temperature sensitive trolls but here we are

Branch hurried to his bathroom carefully laying Synth down at the bathtub trying to make sure that his flippers weren’t at a bad angle, he had to cool Synth down by any means right now and then take him to the hospital for Moonbloom to check on him

Branch turned on the water slowly filling the tub, he made sure that the change in temperature wasn’t sudden as to not make Synth go into thermal shock, he would keep filing up the tub little by little until most of Synth’s body was completely submerged with only his head above as he doubted there would be enough oxygen on it for him to breathe well

Branch grabbed one of his towels and started to wipe his face with the wet cloth, why did this have to happen? Why did it happen? Had Synth been like this for too long? Branch felt his vision blur looking at the ambassador still unconscious but a clearly a lot better now

Branch felt his eyes sting as tears threatened to pour out, he held Synth’s hand under the water hoping that this would just be a scare and nothing bad happened as he sat on the ground right next to Synth…

Branch stayed there for a few minutes that felt like hours to him, there was no clear passage of time underground and no clocks here so he could only hope that it hadn’t been too long

“w- what?” he heard like a whisper, he also saw how the tub that was barely lit a few moments ago now started to almost shine in Synth’s purple color while the techno troll woke up

“Synth!” Branch scampered over to get closer to Synth’s face, holding him gently as if he would break at the slightest touch, then he rushed out of the room leaving a very confused Synth behind

What had even happened? He was talking with poppy just now and then he is in a tub? Where was he? Synth looked around much to the displeasure of his throbbing head as he felt the room spin for a moment, slowly he got his senses back

At first all he felt was the heavenly cool water around him washing away that awful feeling of burning from his skin, then he felt his blood run cold remembering the situation he was in

He had passed out at Branch’s doorstep and most likely was inside his bunker right now, he looked around trying to spot the gift he gave to Branch in hopes to switch it to one of his own kandis, Laguna would understand if he switched the paint with the bracelet she gave him, even if it really would pain him to tell them that

But just like he feared the pretty box was nowhere in sight, just as Synth was about get up Branch came back holding a few bottles of water, Synth couldn’t even react as he felt a big scarred hand on his chest and collarbone pushing him back into the tub and holding him there for a while

Branch’s hand was almost in the middle of the glowing heart that shined on Synth’s chest, he could feel the firm but gentle way Branch was holding him down in the cold water making sure he didn’t make the situation worse

Whathefuckohgodohgodwhatdoidoimgonnadieofembaressementohgodhishandissobigimgonnapassout-

Sytnh felt his face flush ten shades darker and he could hear his heart thumping at his ears. They were so close! Too close! What does he do? Was Branch mad at him? Was this a dream? Synth’s mind raced on trying to come up to an answer only to stop at Branch’s low but serious voice

“drink…” he heard coming from his friend who was still with his hand on Synth’s chest and heart, Branch handed over to him one of the bottles who Synth gladly took feeling his mouth as dry as the desert, at first he thought it was just water but on the second bottle he felt his taste buds fail to identify the liquid

Turning the bottle over he read on it “coconut flavoured hydrolyte” in what world this tasted like coconut he didn’t know as slowly Synth found it harder and harder to swallow the strange tasting liquid

“Synth, I need you to be really frank with me, what where you doing before you collapsed?” he asked slowly fearing that there was something else that went wrong for Synth to end up like this

“I got a bit too excited?” he tried to lie, there was no way he would tell Branch about the gift if he didn’t know it yet

“Synth this is serious!” Branch hissed to him not letting him off the hook just now, he hated to talk like this with his friend but he needed to know if there was something else wrong and if he needed to rush him to the hospital

Synth unconsciously tried to make himself look smaller in the tub, he really messed up now didn’t he?

“i-I was in too much of a hurry and instead of walking here I floated…” he explained leaving out the part of him freaking out because of his realisation on how bad of gift he had given Branch

“for. How. Long?” Branch asked inching closer to the techno troll who was at this point about to pass out again from how embarrassed he felt

“a few minutes? Just half way from the berry patch to here” he tried, to no success, make it look like that was very little time

“SYNTH THAT’S ALMOST HALF A MILE!” Branch said lightly shaking his friend, techno trolls were supposed to float only at emergencies and for very short periods, even more so in the middle of the sun, Synth had basically full on sprinted nonstop half the city

Synth cringed hearing Branch, he really, really messed up this time

Branch suddenly took a breath only to let out a tired sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose as he felt his energy completely drained in this short outburst, he came here most likely because of the gift, even if Synth didn’t know about branch having been gray or the bullying he knew the techno ambassador was a ball of anxiety with things like this

He sat at the floor in front of Synth feeling a wave of lethargy take over him, all of this because of a stupid gift, all of this because Branch just couldn’t be normal…

“you came here because of the gift didn’t you?” he said lacking any emotion on his voice, no anger or sadness only the clear feeling of wanting to get this over with

Synth felt the pit on his stomach again, at first he thought Branch was mad, it was scary seeing the easy going troll this serious, but then he watched more intently, Branch didn’t look mad just… really tired, Synth had made this whole mess again because he didn’t think before he acted, once again he screwed it all up because he didn’t stop to think like a normal person

There was no use in lying, it would only make him look like a fool at best and make things worse for both of them. This time he had to simply take the blame and try to go on, Branch would most likely end their friendship right here and now, but after what Synth did he couldn’t blame him

“y-yes…” he croaked, he expected Branch to scream at him, to call him names, maybe even cry asking; how could he have done this? Instead he let out a sigh again, he looked so tired, hell he looked worse than Synth for that matter

Branch got up and slowly started to approach Synth, Synth didn’t know what to think at that moment, and he got even more lost when he felt Branch hugging him

It was at an awkward angle, a little weaker than normal even, but Synth felt that this hug was less to make him feel better and more to comfort Branch, the techno troll reciprocated the hug the best he could while trying to not wet his friend’s clothes too much

“promise me you won’t do that again…” he heard Branch whisper as the hug got a little bit tighter as if Synth was going to disappear if he let go. Synth felt guilt gnaw at him, he must have really scared him

“you’re not mad?” Synth asked “about the gift?”

“no… I found it a bit funny honestly, well at least until you almost died trying to get here to explain yourself…” Branch said with a humourless chuckle

“l-look, I’m sorry, about... about everything dubstep, i just thought that, i don’t know, that you would get really mad at me considering, that you-“

“were gray?” Branch interrupted already knowing Where this was going, he had the same talk with a few trolls before, always the same talk, Always trying to dodge the topic When it came up because he was gray and that’s it, no one wanted to remember him like that, so most just ignored it every time

Synth felt bad by how was playing out, he wanted to apologize to him, to fix things up, but it all just felt so wrong, how could he even approach the topic? Would Branch even want that? He didn’t seem to talk about it with anyone and while Synth was no psychiatrist he knew that wasn’t good for him

“Yeah... I’m really sorry man, i just wanted to cheer you up and I messed up, again” he said with a sigh, was there even a way to fix this? The Whole situation was already incredibly awkward as it is, maybe he should cut his losses and just... go away

“Does it bother you?” he heard Branch ask not Looking at Synth, hiding his face on Synth’s neck “that i was gray?”

Synth felt stunned at those words, did Branch think this would change something? He took a bit too long to answer When he felt Branch slowly letting go of the hug. Synth wouldn’t take that. He quickly pulled Branch inside the tub too to his surprise not letting Branch get away from his as he tightened the hug again.

“no... I was surprised When Poppy told me, but Branch, if you think that changes anything between us it’s just not true” he started, Poppy had talked about how the teal troll still seemed to think that people would shame him for being gray or feeling bad. That was the most serious matter he and the other ambassadors had to discuss with Poppy

The way the pop tribe treated the people that suffered from graying was Simply put unacceptable, Branch being the most extreme of examples of how bad things could get. He understood that they had lost a lot of knowledge and missed out on a lot of advancements because of those berguens whatever they were, but that was no excuse for them to keep acting this way

Synth remembered now how he even got the idea of giving Branch body paint of all things, he thought it was a genuine idea that those trolls gave him to cheer him up, now he understood that not only were they mocking Branch but used Synth to do so.

He wanted to kill someone, PLUR be damned, but right now he had to talk to Branch like people should have done long, long ago

“Branch you were gray, that is no reason to feel ashamed much less for people to treat you like shit, okay? You passed through something really bad that I will not push you to tell me, but you need to know that was not your fault, I don’t care if you were gray before, no one that is worth your time would” Synth said as he heard Branch start to sniffle till hiding his face from Synth

 “You are a super smart troll, you are kind, you are a great friend, and we all love you… I love you and I don’t want you to feel that this would change anything about that” he completed lightly petting Branch’s back as he tried to hide his sobs

They stayed there for a few minutes until Branch calmed down, the water now felt way too cold on Branch’s skin, and he didn’t want to get sick because he was too much of a cry baby

“Thank you…” he said with bloodshot eyes holding his hands before getting out of the tub and grabbing tow towels “let’s get you to the hospital now…” he said still wiping tears out of his eyes

“but I am better?” Synth asked confused, he felt completely fine now that he rested on water, and he also didn’t want to go there, the whole place just gave him the creeps

“you passed out from a heatstroke Synth, this is not up for discussion” he said sternly but with a friendly smile