Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Branch’s coronation came quicker than it was expected in the two months it took the planning and details to happen. Half of it was him simply deciding to become King before getting married just to make things easier. 

Here he was, just standing there and staring at his reflection, brushing his hair with his hand. Over and over again.

It was happening mid afternoon. He needed to get himself ready for it. 

Really ready.

He didn’t notice someone enter the pod, not until they made their presence known.

“Are you trying to mess up your hair or something?”

“Floyd…” he spoke softly, deciding not to look up, still clearly focused on his hair. “What are you doing here?”

“Came to check on you, obviously. Why wouldn’t I be here?”

“You should have sent Poppy to find me.”

Floyd stayed silent momentarily. “Well, Poppy sent me to find you.”

“As she usually does,” Branch stated in an agitated tone.

“My baby brother, getting coronated,” Floyd said, changing the subject as he walked up and put an arm around Branch’s shoulder, somewhat startling the younger Troll. “You 

As much as Branch wanted nothing more than for his older brother to let go of him, he let him hug him regardless. “You and I both know I’m not a baby anymore, Floyd,” he grunted in annoyance.

“Right, right.” Floyd let go of Branch after a couple minutes. “We need to go now, brother. Everyone is waiting.”

Branch rubbed at his forehead. “You make it sound like I’m getting married two weeks early,” he grumbled.

“Branch, we need to go or you’re going to be late to your own coronation.”

“I should have decided to get married first like a sensible person.”

“Everyone knows coronations happen first, Branch.”

Branch shook his head, changing the subject himself this time. “I still need to get ready,” he said as he turned away. “You—”

Floyd turned to leave. “I’ll let you get ready then,” he said.

“You’re staying in here, Floyd.”

“Not for the rest of the day, Branch,” the pink haired Troll laughed.

“Someone’s got to help me practice getting coronated.”

Floyd eyed the pillow the crown was sitting on. “Poppy and her dad did that with you earlier.”

Branch rolled his eyes. “With a fake crown,” he stated. “The real one is right there for you to take.”

“Branch, you don’t need to try on a crown again.”

“That doesn’t mean that it can’t happen,” Branch said as he turned around again to look at his reflection. Looking away from his older brother, who, in turn, was focused on his own reflection. “Now help me try on that crown.”

Floyd turned again, picking up the pillow and motioning to the entrance of the pod they were standing in with his head. “Okay, Branch,” he said with a laugh. “We’re going.”

Branch let out a soft groan of annoyance as he followed Floyd out of the pod and making their way over towards the mushroom stage in the center of the Village, where the rest of the tribe was already gathered. When they climbed onto the stage, Poppy ran for Branch, tackling him to the ground which made everyone silent. Even Floyd.

“Poppy, please let him go,” her father said, and the pink haired female did so, going back over to where he was standing.

“Sorry dad,” she said, watching as Floyd nudged Branch up to his feet with his own one. Mainly to not drop the crown. He didn’t exactly want to ruin the coronation before it even happened after all.

Floyd glanced momentarily at Poppy, who was exuberantly grinning from ear to ear and focused entirely on Branch, before looking at Branch, noting that his younger brother seemed to be a little bit nervous about the whole thing. Looking at the surrounding crowd, at him, and then at Poppy and her father, both of whom looked ready to start the coronation ceremony.

And they were.

Peppy gave a quick speech before turning to carefully take the crown off the pillow sitting in Floyd’s hands and waited a moment before turning to Branch. “With this crown, I…”

“Does anyone here know who that is?” one of the trolls surrounding the mushroom stage asked, pointing over her shoulder, cutting the former King off.

That grabbed the attention of all the trolls and caused them to look in the direction the troll was pointing in silence. Branch and Floyd shared a brief look with one another before refocusing on the familiar Troll at the back of the crowd. 

The familiar Troll that was standing two hundred feet away from them. 

Was…was that Spruce?

The familiar Troll turned his attention towards Branch and Floyd in turn as he zeroed in on them. He quickly hurried towards them, the crowd parting as he did so.

“Bros!” was the only thing he shouted as he climbed up onto the mushroom stage, startling everyone present and causing them all to murmur amongst themselves.

What was going on? 

Everyone’s eyes widened, even Poppy’s. “BROS?!” 

Poppy was the first to break the silence that had formed when she pulled Branch aside, briefly looking over her shoulder at Floyd before refocusing on Branch. She seemed to be a little dumbfounded. A look of confusion on her face.

“Branch, I thought you only had one brother?!”

Branch laughed, rubbing at the back at his neck. “Well…”

“You didn’t tell me that there was another one!” Poppy continued, grabbing hold of Branch’s cheeks, not giving him much of a chance to finish. Not that he minded, that was.

“Was I interrupting something?” Bruce asked, directing everyone’s attention back to him.

Poppy nodded, pointing at the crown and then at Branch’s head.

“Oh. Sorry,” Spruce said, out of understanding. “I’ll wait. Continue.”

Peppy took the time to clear his throat before once again holding the crown above Branch’s head. “With this crown, I hereby declare you, Branch, King of Pop,” he said, resting it on Branch’s head. The crowd cheered, and Floyd and Branch turned their attention back towards Spruce.

“Is something wrong?” Branch found himself asking.

Spruce nodded after a momentary silence, reaching into his hair and taking something out of it. Something that looked like a small note. “I woke up to find this attached to the door of my home a couple of days ago.”

He passed the note to Floyd, who took it from him and read it over and over again before passing it over to Branch. A couple of minutes passed before he looked up again, opening his mouth to speak, but he wasn’t given much of a chance to.

“Don’t know why it’s addressed to Spruce though,” he continued, glancing between Floyd and Branch a few times. “I no longer go by that name.”

“It’s John Dory,” Branch said, rolling his eyes, not quite used to the weight of his brand new crown. “Of course he’d still call you Spruce.”

Floyd put a hand on Branch’s shoulder. “You changed your name?”

The purple haired Troll nodded. “I go by Bruce now,” he said.

Branch and Floyd looked at one another. “Bruce?”

Bruce nodded.

Branch was quick to ask the crowd to leave, having a feeling this was a family issue. “Did you check on him to make sure he was actually being held against his will?”

“I did…” Bruce clarified. “He is. We kinda got into an argument about me actually caring about him despite our sibling relationship. I got so mad at him I told him that I should have either waited until I found the rest of you before checking on him or let him die in that diamond prison.”

“Let me guess?” Branch asked. “You went to the Troll Tree first?”

Bruce shook his head, explaining, “I was led here instead.”

“By who?” Poppy started to ask.

She wasn’t given much of a chance to finish her question when the ground by the mushroom they were standing on started to rumble and some large creature to pop right out of it and land in front of the mushroom, putting her front legs on it. Branch, Floyd and Poppy could only stare at her.

A silence made itself known before Floyd broke it. “I’m guessing that she’s yours, brother?”

“No. Rhonda is John Dory’s,” Bruce said. “He asked me to take her along with me to find you faster. Now we need to all go before John Dory actually dies. I’ll explain everything once we’re inside.”

Without saying much of anything else, Bruce opened Rhonda’s door and motioned his two youngest brothers and Poppy to follow him inside of the armadillo bus.

Chapter Text

Bruce glanced down at the note in his hands one more time, reading it over and over again. His older brother was in trouble. A least he thought.

As much as he didn’t want to check on him, he knew he had to. 

Just to make sure he wasn’t being tricked. 

Once he’d gotten to Mount Rageous, Bruce went to climb up one of the walls away from the tall species who could possibly crush and kill him at any time if they weren’t being careful, entering the air vents and seat hung until he found the room John was in. He moved the vent cover off to the side and peered in momentarily. Around five minutes, he dropped down from the ceiling and onto the table.

“Bro, are you okay in there?” he asked the moment he stood up and made his way 

“Spruce,” John said, looking surprised at the presence of one of the last brothers he expected to see. “What are you—”

“I go by Bruce now, bro,” the purple haired troll quietly explained.

“You’re just going to get caught too, Spruce,” John said, ignoring him.

“Caught?” Bruce repeated, tilting his head, looking confused. “Caught by who? What’s going on?”

“I’m getting my talent stolen. You don’t want the same for—”

“Good,” Bruce said.

“That’s the last thing I would’ve expected you to say to me.” John briefly glanced to the side, before turning back to Bruce. “But can we talk about how you actually care about me?” he said. “Last I checked, we went our separate ways over extremely bad terms.”

Bruce put his hands on the outside of the diamond bottle. “Just because we went our separate ways on bad terms doesn’t mean that I don’t care about you, John.”

“You’re the type to let me die, because I know you’re not going to want to do the only thing capable of breaking this.” John stormed away, moving to the other side of the diamond bottle, facing it before pivoting and glaring at Bruce. He opened his mouth to continue, but found himself unable to say anything else. 

Bruce shook his head. “Let’s just try something other than the perfect family harmony.”

“The perfect family harmony is the only way,” John protested.

“There’s gotta be other ways,” Bruce said. “What would you do if I was the one trapped in that?”

“Get the others and bring them back here so we can hit the perfect family harmony,” was John’s response.

“What about Clay or Floyd or Branch?”

John rolled his eyes. “Same thing,” he muttered.

Bruce’s face immediately turned purple, a feeling of anger quickly making itself known. Not even a moment passed before he found himself scowling at his older brother. “You know what?” he snapped. “I should’ve just waited until I found the others to come here for you or let you die in that diamond bottle!”

John looked offended. Especially at the last part. “Spruce!”

“My name is Bruce,” the younger of the two said as he folded his arms.

“Whatever.”

“What do you mean ‘whatever’?”

“I mean what I mean,” John Dory said, ears twitching as they picked up on a couple voices heard coming down the hall. “Go get the others and bring them back here. Take Rhonda over there with you. I can’t take any more of this.” 

Bruce nodded and climbed into the waiting armadillo bus to head out.

“You didn’t go and find Clay first?” Branch asked when Bruce finished his story.

Bruce shook his head, looking down at the floor briefly. “I had no way of knowing where he was,” he said. “And I thought I knew where you guys were, but obviously I was wrong. Why the new village and not the Troll Tree?”

“It’s a long story that we’ll explain after we gather Clay and get John Dory out of that diamond—”

“What’s with all the BroZone stuff pinned to this wall?” Poppy interrupted all of a sudden, cutting Floyd off before he could have a chance to finish and causing all three brothers to look at her.

Bruce turned to Branch and Floyd. “You didn’t tell her?” he whispered.

Floyd lowered his voice to a whisper as well, “we dropped subtle hints that we used to be in a band but we didn’t tell her what band it was.”

“I heard you guys,” Poppy interrupted again. “It’s BroZone isn’t it?”

All three brothers looked at her again, silently nodding.

“You’re looking at the heartthrob, the sensitive one and the baby.”

Branch rolled his eyes. “And…prepare for the squeal my girlfriend is about to make.”

“I was used to loud squeals whenever fans saw me, remember?”

Then Poppy let out the loudest squeal ever, startling Bruce.

“Except for squeals that loud,” Bruce sighed. “Could you squeal a little bit quieter?”

“Nope. No can do.”

Bruce sighed, glancing at Branch and Floyd. “Should we go look for Clay and get back to John as quickly as possible?”

The youngest two brothers looked at one another.

“I thought you said you didn’t know where he was?” Floyd asked.

Chapter Text

Rhonda was far from Pop Village by now and yet nobody was near figuring out where Clay was. It had been a little hard, all of them knew, but they still all knew that they’d find Clay. And, the sooner they did, the quicker they’d get to Mount Rageous and save John. 

If arguments didn’t get in the way, which, unfortunately, was going to be very likely going to happen once they found Clay and told him what was going on. Why they came looking for him in the first place.

And so, they decided to engage in quick conversation as Rhonda kept on going, a determined look in the armadillo bus’s eyes.

“So…I’m guessing that they’re married?” Bruce asked, gesturing to Branch and Poppy.

Floyd shook his head. “No,” he said, laughing. “That’s in two weeks. Branch became King today.”

“Yes, bro. I was there.”

“Look…” Branch huffed, not looking at his brothers. “Can we please focus on finding Clay? My new role as King isn’t important right now.”

Poppy pecked a kiss on his lips. “Yeah it is,” she said.

Branch rolled his eyes at that. “Poppy, we are focused on finding Clay and saving John right now.”

He didn’t know how they were going to find Clay, if he had to be completely honest. He looked over at his shoulders, and they shrugged as if they both understood his question before he even had a chance to ask it. And, yet, he  didn’t have a chance to when Poppy cut him off.

“I don’t know what this is, but what if this could help?”

The brothers paused, looking at Poppy, who was, in the process, looking at a piece of BroZone memorabilia that was inside of a case. Clay’s despised funderdrawers. 

“We are not using that,” Branch grunted, folding his arms.

Floyd nudged his younger brother. “You Clay all of a sudden, brother?”

“Very funny, but no. I’m not.”

“Did that sound like a compliment to you, bro?” Bruce asked, taking a sip of a second cup of coffee that the others didn’t see him make. 

“I wasn’t saying it was, Bruce.”

A stressed, pleading look crossed Floyd’s face. “Guys, please.”

But his brothers didn’t listen, seeming to get in each other’s face like Clay used to do with John. A feeling of anger filled the air and Poppy knew that she now had to be the one who stepped in.

“Guys,” Poppy interrupted, sharing a brief look with Floyd. “Let’s not argue at a time like this.”

Branch and Bruce’s argument dissipated.

Thank Troll. 

Floyd let out a breath he had no idea he was holding. The same happening to Poppy moments after. “Are we looking for Clay or not?” the former of the two asked, looking between Branch and Bruce with an unreadable look on his face. A moment of silence passed by before he continued, “Branch, the funderdrawers?”

Branch turned to smash the case and pull them out. “Have Rhonda sniff this,” he said, very clearly looking directly at Bruce. “It might make finding Clay easier.”

Bruce nodded, taking it and making his way towards the front of Rhonda and dangled it out of the window. On a stick that mysteriously appeared in Rhonda, to make things easier. 

“She’s got the scent, bro!” he finally called out after a minute as he got into the driver’s seat and looked for a button. 

He eventually found it, his finger hovering over it. But he wasn’t given much of a chance to press it. Not yet at least it seemed. When Branch cleared his throat, Bruce paused. 

He opened his mouth, but wasn’t given a chance to say anything.

Instead, Branch elected to speak, “If John Dory was here, would he want you pressing any of Rhonda’s buttons?”

“He gave me permission. Said I could press one button if need be,” Bruce said, as he focused his attention back towards the control panel and pressed the button his finger had been hovering over. “Hold on tight!”

Branch, Poppy and Floyd nodded, huddling together and watched on as they watched Rhonda jump into some kind of strange dimension and all of a sudden felt rather light. Things went back to normal within moments and the three of them landed on the floor. They all picked themselves up and looked at Bruce. Especially Branch.

“You should’ve given us a heads up.”

“I did, bro!” Bruce called out.

“Then provide a warning minutes before the next time.”

Bruce nodded, but said nothing as he got out the driver’s seat and opened the door to exit Rhonda before the others all followed and looked around at the place Rhonda had stopped at. “This place is rather dark,” he still found himself saying. “I didn’t think Clay would live in a place like this.”

“Rhonda would’ve led us somewhere else, brother,” Floyd said. “She led us here, so this is obviously where he lives.”

“You don’t say?” Branch grumbled, rolling his eyes. 

Poppy put a hand on her soon to be husband’s back, guiding him forward with a look he couldn’t discern on her face. “Branch,” she said. “I’ve never known you to talk to Floyd like that. You’re initiating an argument with him yourself and it’s really concerning to me.”

Branch folded his arms, but kept moving forward. “I don’t initiate arguments like John used to do.”

“John initiated most arguments. Sometimes it was me, sometimes it was Clay. It all depended on which of us wanted to initiate the argument. Now us play fighting on the other hand…”

“Play fighting is not the same thing as arguing,” Branch growled under his breath. “We all know that to be a fact.”

“I know they’re completely different.”

“Watch me do it to you then,” Branch threatened in a joking manner. One that obviously agitated Bruce.

“Branch, I’m a dad,” Bruce said. “I know full well I don’t like play fighting happening. Not anymore at least.”

Branch rolled his eyes. “And I’m your brother, Bruce. Not your child.”

“I wasn’t implying that, bro,” Bruce stated simply and calmly.

“Did I say you were…? Did I say I was?”

“Guys, please,” Floyd quickly interrupted. “Let’s find Clay and get back to Mount Rageous so we can save John.”