Brodacious! A BroZone Oneshot Collection

Homecoming

A/N: Taking place before TBT

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Branch scowled.

All of them - every single one of them out there, dancing till their legs would give out on them and singing till their voices got sore - was a fool.

It seemed to him now that almost every party that happened in Pop Village was progressively getting bigger, louder, and crazier. And one day, it was going to be the inevitable demise of the town they created away from the treacherous creatures who wanted to eat them.

The Bergens are coming! AHHH!

They'd all thought he was the crazy one whenever he burst in screaming about the dangers they were blind to, hoping they would get a wakeup call and side with him.

But nobody ever did.

Branch clenched his fists, gripping the sticks he was holding tighter. This whole shindig was surefire Bergen bait. That banner hanging up in the trees may as well be reading HERE WE ARE! BON APPETIT!

But, it didn't. The banner that was there instead read HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRINCESS POPPY!

From his vantage point up higher than the clearing that was below, he could see everything that was happening to celebrate the future Queen's occasion. Balloons of all colors had been blown up and were strung at the corners of a large table in which Trolls had been placing presents on. Accumulated there already were at least two dozen, big, small, wide and short with fun wrapping paper designs of stars and sparkles. Much of the adults who attended were chatting idly with each other, while the kids were playing games and busting out some moves to the music that was playing on the boombox.

Branch spotted Princess Poppy almost instantly in the crowd. She was always so distinguishable, not only by her pink color scheme, but also by her perky, peppy attitude. He never saw her without a smile on her face. It was as though that was the only expression she knew how to make, as she laughed and sang with her friends.

He snorted. He'd known about this party for weeks. Months even. While he wasn't involved in the town's happenings and barely interacted with anybody (aside from a grumble at any greeting that was sent his way), he had heard the talk buzzing around about it whenever he went to go gather supplies. Poppy herself had invited him to it. She was chipper, grinning at him from ear to ear and presenting the invitation, which, as it always did, shot out its burst of glitter in his face after a little jingle rang out. That invitation should be long gone, torn and rotting in the garbage by now. But, it was in fact sitting behind a curtain in his room, secretly hidden away from the eyes and ears of anybody, along with a collection of many other identical invitations that she'd given him for a variety of different occasions.

Suddenly, a strange feeling overcame him as he thought about those invitations, and the parties that he'd missed. Would it have been so bad if he had attended one of them? There was a time, Branch could remember, in his memory where he would've accepted. If things had been different, maybe he could be there right now, celebrating alongside her.

Maybe ALL of us could have been friends...

Branch shook his head, frowning and pushing those ridiculous what-if scenarios out of his mind and refusing to address who the 'All' was by individual name.

But it seemed that the universe didn't want him to brush it off so easily.

Right as Branch turned to start making his way out of there with his bundle of sticks, he heard Party Rock Anthem conclude, and an all-too familiar tune take its place.