"Ohhhhh Braaaaaanch!" Guy happily skipped over to his best friend, who was currently finishing off a conversation with a yellow troll with gold hair and a green shirt with darker pants.
"Yeah?"
Then he just slapped an invitation in his face.
"Charming." The Blue Troll groaned and yanked it off of his face. "What is this?"
"It is an invitation my friend! And you areeeeee.." He did a little dance which lasted for about five minutes, and Branch just sat and watched, helping himself to a small eyeroll and smile, expecting nothing less from his glittery friend.
"Invited to only the best sleepover ever! I want you to meet my friends!"
Guy smiled big and wide, standing in a funny pose as he watched Branch slowly get up, turning his attention to the invitation for a few seconds to realize that's why it was given to him, then look back up at his ecstatic buddy.
"Yeah, um.."
Branch politely opened his hand and put the invitation back in his hand.
"Nah."
"Wha-"
"Sleepovers aren't my thing, Guy. Neither are meet and greets."
"Oh come on, Branch!" Guy put the invitation in his dark Blue hair and ruffled it. "You're probably only saying that because you've never been to an actual sleepover."
"Well, no, I mean that's true but-"
"Branch, I'm telling you, and we've been over this-"
"We have?"
"My friends will not bite. They're really great people and a hoot to hang out with! You're gonna love them! You only met them once and for a few minutes, and they were super nice."
"You know I'm not good at making friends."
"Well.." He wrapped his glittery arm around him. "You're my friend, aren't you?"
Branch didn't reply to that, realizing he sort of had a point. They've been friends for a few years now. But he had only really became his friend from Guy starting a conversation with him, and he slowly felt himself become comfortable. But even so, he guessed that even that was an accomplishment for him. Being able to carry on a conversation that was upheld by someone else beginning it, and with his glittery companion by his side all the well, even go as far as starting one himself.
"Besides, if you're a friend of mine, they're immediately a friend of yours. That's how it always works in the troll world! Don't you know?"
"No."
Guy just stared at him for a few seconds.
He quickly reverted back to his previous pose like it was nothing and replied,
"Well now you do, buddy."
He smiled and leaned over to pat his shoulder.
"You know it's not easy for someone who grew up isolated socially and physically from the troll world. My life was different from all of yours'." The Blue Troll shrugged, patting the hand that was placed on his shoulder.. moving it afterwards.
"I know, and I'm going to help you with that, as your best and most honorable friend. Starting with a sleepover!"
Branch got an uncomfortable look on his face and folded his arms, turning his viewpoint to the other direction. Even if it wasn't even intended, which he knew it wasn't, he felt as if he was being pressured into doing this. He was so used to being around Guy it would feel incredibly off being around other trolls for a long period of time besides him. Being asked a question was one thing, but having to have a full on unprepared conversation was another.
He thought about when he met Guy, and how he was the same way with him once, but he gave their friendship a chance and it worked out well. Huh, maybe this could be beneficial to him. He just had to trust himself and believe he could make a good impression. But then he thought again, it still wasn't much of an easy task once it was actually being handled in person.
"Braaaaaaaaanch."
His thoughts were popped out of sight and mind when he heard Guy whining in his ear.
"Pleeeeeeaaaaaaseeeeeee come to my super awesome sleepover please please pleeeeeaaaaaaseeeeee? It won't be the same without yooouuuuuu!!" Guy did a bunch of dramatic poses and threw himself all over Branch, getting glitter all over him.
"Yo, easy on the glitter!" He scoffed as he lightly pushed him and dusted himself off, and then could only stare below him as Guy just laid there. In front of him.
"Branch, I know I don't sound serious, like.. ever, but I mean this. I really want you there."
Yeah, he was still laying there.
"I want you to have fun with us. Not only to help out with your social skills, but to just have fun with your best buddy in general. Come on, Branch. Please partake in my sleeping of the over party." He reached up to grab Branch's arms and shook them lightly.
Branch raised his eyebrows at first, but he stared down at him and notice how his eyes did not take even a millisecond to move away from his. He could tell that he was most likely trying to get him to read him, and for whatever mysterious reason it was working. Guy not only had a way with words, somehow.
Before letting himself get persuaded completely, though, he thought and thought.
Did he really want to?
Guy was his best friend and kind of his only friend, and he has been there for him endlessly, and having a great time with him did sound fun. And.. he did want to try and be better at this whole "social" thing, he was a troll and wanted to feel like one, at least, despite how he grew up.
So, that was it.
Branch sighed and drooped a hand down his face, lightly pinching the part above his nose.
"Alright, I-"
"YOU'RE GOING? I'M SO GLAD!!" Guy got up on his feet like nothing even happened earlier, and squeezed his Blue friend tightly.
"Glitte-"
But he just silenced himself. He wasn't going to ruin the happy moment his glittery friend was having with him, and a little bit for himself as well.
He just smiled, small, but genuine, and allowed him to stay in that position, as he begin thinking about this whole sleepover thing again.
Except now about how it would turn out.
•○•
Tonight was the night that Branch would have to sacrifice his freetime, to learn to become more social. Or as he had to reference as sleepover.
He wasn't prepared at all, but he was still packing. He was still getting ready. Because he promised Guy he would come. And he promised he would begin a new start for himself.
Sighing heavily, he held his bag over his shoulder, not realizing he packed so much until he fell down from how heavy it was.
Then he just.. laid there. Face first.
"What if I just.. don't g-"
But then, suddenly, he sprung up.
"No. No. I'm going."
He inhaled sharply and ran up to the lever that pulled him up and out of his bunker, almost being scared to even touch it, but he grabbed it and yanked it like his life depended on it.
"...I'm actually going." He muttered nervously to himself, regretting everything immediately.
But nonetheless, he continued on moving. Not once did he stop.
•○•
Then he was there.
Right in front of Guy's pod.
The lump in his throat couldn't be any bigger.
Well it could.
So he quickly swallowed it down. And built up his unknown courage.
Then slowly,
He inched for the door, grabbed the knob,
And-
"BRAAAANCH you made it!" Guy swung the door open with a wide smile.
"AH- yeah yeah I made it, I'm here!" Branch smiled back nervously, immediately wanting to go home now. And he hadn't even stepped foot inside yet.
Guy watched as he just stood there, looking around.
"..aren't you gonna come in."
"What? OH yeah of course I was just-"
"GREAT!"
He grabbed his arm and pulled him inside, closing the door with his foot.
"Hey guys! This is Branch!" Guy patted Branch's back two times, the second pat having more force and causing him to unintentionally step forward.
Branch didn't say anything but just slowly raised his hand and waved it.
And much to his surprise, everyone around him yelled "HI BRANCH!!"
"Come sit with us! We're playing truth orb dare!" A big Blue troll named Biggie welcomed him over to join him and everyone else in the mini circle they were in.
"Well go on. I'm right behind you!" Guy gave him another push and before he knew it the Blue Troll's feet were moving without his own consent or knowledge.
Soon enough though, even with them all smiling up at him, he felt comfortable enough to take a seat.
"Isn't it, truth or dare?" He said, putting his bag to the side.
"Yeah, but we say orb because we use an orb that gives us truths or dares." A reddish orange troll named DJ Suki held up a purple orb that was now reading "hi."
"....makes sense."
"WAIT!" A pink Giraffe like troll named Cooper screamed, slapping the orb out of DJ's hand for absolutely no reason.
"Dude!" She ran to go pick it up.
"Yeah Cooper?" Biggie asked.
"Shouldn't we introduce ourselves first, I mean the poor Guy doesn't even know what's goin' on. Look at him!" Cooper burst into laughter while looking at a confused Branch.
"I never know what's going on." Branch for whatever reason replied.
Cooper went quiet for a second, then started laughing even more.
"I love him already!"
"We should introduce ourselves, though. I'll start!" DJ stood up.
"I'm DJ, and I love to make music! Or if I'm not doing that I like to cook."
Everyone gasped. Except Branch.. who was still confused.
"You COOK?!" Cooper took out a random notepad and wrote something down.
"That's the one hundred and fifty fifth thing I was not expecting, TODAY!" Cooper ate the notepad and fell on his back, laughing.
Guy facepalmed at this.
Branch on the other hand though, found himself snickering a bit. He ate a notepad!
"Wh- but I told you guys a while ago!" DJ exclaimed.
"You did?" Everyone, except Branch, again, replied.
".....nevermind. Someone can go next." DJ sat back down.
"I'll go!" Biggie stood up.
"I'm Biggie, and I love to play with my pet worm Mr. Dinkles!" Biggie took out a worm with a top hat from his hair, that looked as if it was sleeping.
"Nice." Branch said, intrigued slightly by the worm's design and species.
"Isn't he adorable?! OH shhh, he's sleeping!" Biggie squeezed the worm close to him, cuddling him.
That's what you think- said Mr. Dinkles. He just didn't want anything to do with this sleepover.
Everyone looked around confused.
"Who said that?" DJ asked.
"Was it my hat?" Cooper gasped and snatched his hat off his head, "you sneaky son of a gun I knew you talked!"
"....next!" Biggie sat back down.
"I'll go!" A light fuchsia troll, who's hair was linked to a light blue troll, stood up quickly.
"Oww! Will you calm down?!" The Light Blue troll stood up with her, huffing.
The fuschia troll completely ignored her.
"I'm Satin! And this is-"
"I can introduce myself." The light Blue Troll eyed Satin, and she cleared her throat.
"I'm Chenille, and unfortunately I'm the sister of this maniac."
"Hey!"
"She likes to steal my clothes I work so VERY hard on."
"I do not! You steal my clothes!"
"Only because you steal mine! It's called payback."
While they were arguing, Branch leaned over to Guy and whispered,
"You have interesting friends."
"See? Told you they're a hoot to be around!" Guy whispered back with a smile.
15 minutes later
"I'm Cooper, and.. I crashed an airplane into Dr. Moonbloom's pod!"
Cooper smiled proudly.. then burst into laughter again.
"You what-"
"Yeah, oh man she was maaad. She said I was 'done for!'"
"...well anyways, I think I got everyone. So- DJ Biggie Satin Chenille Smidge and Cooper, right?"
They all nodded in response.
Guy patted Branch's back again and whispered,
"You're doing great buddy."
Branch smiled at him. He felt slightly proud of himself too. This was going pretty well and he felt comfortable around everyone.
"Wait, hold on, where's-"
Everyone turned their heads when they heard a door open.
A Pink Troll with Hot Pink hair came out of a room from around the corner, floofing her ponytail up.
"Hey guys!" She said, sitting down in the circle with a smile.
"Girl! Where were you?" DJ nudged her playfully.
"Were you having explosive diarrhea?! Oh man that is the worst!" Cooper laughed out loud.
"What?! Ewww no!" She exclaimed, "I dropped my hairclip down the drain."
"Oooof. Did you get it?"
"No. I just stared at it for an hour."
"Oh."
"Then I grabbed it."
"Oh."
"I ate a hairclip once." Cooper said.
"You eat everything." Smidge inquired.
"I know." Cooper laughed.
Branch was the only one not talking. He couldn't believe who he was sitting in front of right now.
Guy was friends with the Princess of the village?! He should grab that notepad from Cooper's throat right now and write that down.
Obviously though he didn't because that's gross and introllmane.
"Who's this?" She pointed at Branch, who nearly fell on his back as he uncomfortably regained posture and sat criss-cross applesauce.
"...OH- Trolly cupcakes and gravy I'm sorry! I forgot it's rude to point." She laughed to herself, slapping her own hand.
"This is Branch, ma man, best buddy, best man at my future wedding." Guy patted his back for what seemed to be the millionth time.
"Wedding-"
"Oh, well hi Branch! I'm Poppy." She smiled and held her hair out for a hairshake, which Branch hesitantly reached out to shake. He'd expected her, not knowing why, to shake it rapidly, but she actually didn't.
Was this actually happening?
Then he noticed her smile started to fade and she slowly released her hair from his, forcing his mind to think the worst. Did he grip too tight? Was his movement too shaky?
Was his vest not green e n o u g h?
"MY VEST ISN'T GREEN ENOUGH!" He suddenly yelled out, watching everyone around him just stare at him.
"It looks fine to me." DJ shrugged.
"Yep! Green like the stuff I found in my toilet yesterday! BAHAHAHAHA!" Cooper slapped his knee in laughter.
Now it was time to stare at him. Except in a more concerned way.
"...that's poo-"
"Guy- don't tell him." Chenille stopped him.
".....anyway," Poppy turned back to Branch and he got nervous all over again. It was overwhelming enough that he was literally talking to the Princess of his village, and he'd felt like he'd done something wrong already.
"I think I've seen you around before. Why have we never talked?" She tilted her head slightly with a smile as she hugged her knees to her chest.
"You're the Princess. How could someone as awkward as me start a conversation with someone so royal?"
Poppy's smile faded again, except she was frowning now.
Now he definitely knew it wasn't because he vest wasn't green enough. He meant what he said but he didn't mean it in a way to insult her. And he didn't know how to confirm that.
"Poppy, I.. uh-"
"Tensionnn~" Guy whispered, and DJ nudged him to shush.
But then he slowly got an idea.
"Hey uh guys! It's getting pretty late we should all sleep." He snapped his fingers in a beat of a millisecond and stood on his feet.
"But it's only- oh it's one am." Smidge looked at a clock on the wall that wasn't there at first.
"YEEAAH so let's go. Chop chop we have a big day tomorrow!" Guy lightly and quickly nudged Branch.
When he looked at him he nodded his head towards Poppy and smiled, urging him to talk to her.
"What're we doing tomorrow?" Satin asked, getting up as her sister got up.
"We're going to Trollifornia."
"REALLY?" They all said in excitement.
"Yeah when Cooper stops pooping cupcakes." He walked past everyone to go to his bedroom.
They all groaned and walked over to another room and their sleeping bags.
"Guess we're not going to Trollifornia!" Cooper laughed out loud and followed everyone else.
Poppy got up slowly and also followed behind, stopping her movement when she felt a gentle touch on her shoulder.
And she turned around to Branch's nervous and worried expression.
"Look, I- what I said earlier-"
"It's okay, I didn't take offense at all." She smiled genuinely.
"You.. seemed upset though."
"I was, but it was for a different reason." She took his hand from her shoulder and held it, and they both sat down again.
"I know.. we only really just talked today, but.. I don't want you to think you can't talk to me because I'm the Princess. In fact, I don't want you to refer to me as just a Princess. I want you to think of me as your actual friend. I tell that to them all the time." She snickered a bit and pointed toward the room her friends were in.
"Satin, MOVE OVER!"
"YOU MOVE OVER FIRST-"
"BOTH OF YOU JUST BE QUIET!" Smidge yelled and grumbled, tearing a hole into her blanket just from gripping it.
Tiny but mighty.
"I don't know, I could sleep to this." Cooper relaxed.
Branch laughed at the nonsense in the nearby room then turned back to Poppy.
"Seriously, why have we never talked before?" Poppy tilted her head again.
Branch blinked at that.
"Becauseee we didn't know each other? You don't know anything about me. You only know who I am now because of Guy. All of them do." Branch turned away and folded his arms, feeling a bit of remorse for some of his words but didn't show it.
Poppy fell silent then looked away as well, tapping her knee gently while trying to think of what to say.
"Well.. what does that matter?"
He turned back to look at her.
"What?"
"That just brings a new start for us. Our friendship. What does it matter if a person was the reason we met? I'm glad we met either way. And I'm happy to be your friend."
Branch just fell silent, not knowing what to say.
"If.. we are frie-"
"NO."
Poppy stared wide eyed.
"...I meant "no" as in no of course we're friends. I mean I guess I.. I don't know I was kinda used to only being friends with Guy so this is kinda new to me still." Branch shrugged.
Poppy smiled sympathetically. She was the one with her hand on his shoulder now.
"I understand. It'll take time." She turned completely to him and held both of his shoulders.
"But as you get used to it, you'll start have so much fun."
"I'll count on it." Branch smiled slightly.
Poppy released her hands from his shoulders and slowly got up, smiling at him.
"Goodnight!" She waved to him and went into the main room with her now sleeping friends.
Branch got up after her and sighed, not believing anything that just happened. It felt so unreal.
Adjusting his vest, his mouth still kept that same smile as he just stood there, admiring the wall for a few seconds.
Then he turned to the room with everyone else in it and saw Guy standing there, leaned against the corner of the wall with a proud smile. He winked and finger gunned him, leaving a now flustered Branch shoving his teases away.
"Come on, you should sleep." He said in a soft voice and walked back into room, and eventually after he was done turning into a blueberry, he followed into the room and prepared his own sleeping bag.
Things were gonna be just fine.
•○•
"GO-O-O-O-OD MORNING MY FRIENDS!" Guy yelled in his autotune voice.
"Of course you're the first one up." Smidge groaned under the blanket.
"Actually, I was the first one up. I clogged Guy's toilet this morning!" Cooper laughed and everyone groaned from disgust and sleepiness.
"TODAY WE SHOULD- YOU WHAT?!"
"Oh don't worry! It's full of cupcakes! Kinda rotten though." Cooper nodded.
Guy just stared at him.
Branch sat up from his sleeping bag and rubbed his eyes, looking over to see if Poppy was awake, and she was.
She scratched her messy hair and looked back over at him with a sleepy smile, waving slowly.
And of course, he waved back.
•○•
Later that day, the group went out to go enjoy each other's company by going to play games, having a nice meal, and just hanging out in the outside breeze. It was a nice and fun day and Branch honestly enjoyed himself more than he thought. He was right after all, this was really good for him.
But then his mind switched to Poppy, who was sitting next to DJ and Satin as they all sat next to a tree in the shade and grass and played with little bugs crawling in the ground.
He thought it was just so cool to be friends with the Princess. She even called him a friend. But he got worried sometimes, too.
What if she ended up forgetting about him? As if what they had never mattered to her and she just felt sorry for him. He often thought of himself as a quite forgettable person.
But, having too much fun with all he had now, he frequently brushed that thought away and just chilled out.
Then, speak of the devil-
"Hey Branch!"
"WHY- Oh I mean, hi. How's it goin." Branch pretended like he didn't just freak out zero point one seconds ago and leaned against the tree.
Of course he failed and fell on his back.
"You.. squished the ladybug." Biggie said, whimpering.
Damn shame- Mr Dinkles said.
Biggie looked at him wide eyed.
"Did you just-"
"Mew." Was all the worm said after that.
"Oh sh- sorry- uh-" he looked around quickly and found a trollie pollie in the tree and put it next to his leg.
"Here."
"OOOOH! I love trollie pollies!" Biggie squealed and picked it up.
And that's my cue. Where are my earmuffs. Mr Dinkles climbed into Biggie's hair.
"So anyways-" Branch turned back around, "what did you wanna-"
And just like that, she was gone.
Branch stared at the empty space next to him and blinked.
He just sat there and huffed, knewing just from that already, he was forgetful.
Until he felt a pair of hands clasp onto his eyes.
"AH-"
"Boo!" He heard a feminine voice, much to his relief as soon as he recognized who it was, and playfully rolled his eyes with a smile.
"Very funny." He said as he watched her sit down next to him.
"I was gonna ask if you wanted to play with the bugs with us, but I've gotten kind of bored of them now. So I have a different question!" She propped herself in front of him like she was going to surprise him with something.
"Ooookay, what is it?" He asked, leaning one arm over his leg that was sitting up.
"Do you want to walk with me tomorrow?"
Branch's eyes widened. He wasn't saying it was a big question, but it was a BIG question.
"Why?" He asked, not even knowing why he did. It just slipped out.
"I don't know," She said, "I like taking walks sometimes. And I thought maybe for us to get to know each other more it would be a great idea if we-"
"You're really interested in my friendship with you huh?" Branch eyed her, not skeptically, but teasingly, and moved in closer to her with his hand holding up his chin.
"Uhm- w-well sure! I'm all in for making new friends! And I like talking to you, I wanna get to know you better." She smiled.
"Hm." Branch nodded, "Likewise."
Poppy couldn't help but snicker at that.
"So walk tomorrow then?"
"Why the heck not."
"12p?"
"Won't be late."
They both shook hands instead of hair this time, then Poppy went over to see what her other friends were doing.
Branch sighed and fell on his back, not purposefully this time, and closed his eyes in ecstasy.
"Man you are getting good at this!"
His eyes opened up and he turned to look at Guy, who was laying next to him with a wide smile.
"Dude-"
"First you made friends, now you're already flirting with Poppy? So, so proud." He wiped a tear from his glittery face.
"Woah!" Branch jerked up quickly, "I wasn't flirting with her! This is literally my second day of talking to her, we barely know anything about each other."
"And if you did?"
"No."
"Awe man Branch I'm just joshin with ya! I'm just glad to see how far you've come, even if it's been two days. I'm happy for you! You're doing great." Guy sat up with him and gave him a less toothy smile, but it was still wide and loving.
He earned a nod and smile back from his best friend and they both turned to watch their friends conversate with one another.
Branch mostly looked at Poppy though, who was frolicking through the small grasses with her friends, laughing and having a fun time.
He felt weird. Like a pang went straight to his face then his chest. Looking at her, talking to her made him feel so weird. She was cute, he couldn't hold back on that thought, but he wasn't sure if he was supposed to feel like this, not right now anyway.
Soon enough, he just thought of it was a random feeling since she was the Princess and she was a new friend of his and he wasn't used to it all yet.
He stuck with that conclusion and just laid on his back, closing his eyes, thinking about everything that would go down tomorrow.
•○•
"And then I said, Oatmeal?! Are you crazy?!"
"....what?"
"I have no idea. I just made that entire thing up." Poppy burst into laughter and took a lick of the vanilla ice cream she was holding in her hand.
"Explains why it made absolutely no sense." Branch took a lick of his chocolate ice cream, walking alongside her.
Poppy giggled quietly and looked upfront as they continued walking, sighing.
"Do you ever just.. admire troll village and all its glory?"
"Not really."
"Well today's your day." She said, turning his cheek to look in front of him, "Look at it, look how glorious.."
He looked ahead of him and saw the sun shining down on a few trees, a few flowers growing in some fields nearby, and a few birds passing b-
"NO!" He yelled, nearly dropping his ice cream.
Poppy let go of him and jolted backward, nearly dropping his as well.
"What's wrong?!" She asked, looking concerned.
The Blue troll came back into reality and looked at her worried expression, feeling the pang hit his face again but quickly shook his head to ignore it.
"Sorry, I- yeah that was unnecessary. I just have a fear of birds... don't judge me." He scratched the back of his neck.
"Daww." Poppy said, nudging him gently in his side, "I'm not judging at all. Everyone has something they're afraid of. You can't help that."
He just shrugged slightly and smiled sheepishly.
She stared at him for a few seconds before smiling again and booping his nose.
"You're cute!"
"I'm what." He turned into a blueberry again.
She laughed and skipped off somewhere.
"Where are you going?" He followed after her, slapping his face a few times to get rid of the blueberry effect.
It didn't take him very long to find her again, and he found her sitting in an open area with grass and a few surrounding flowers.
He sat down next to her and looked forward again.
She smiled and put a Lavendar flower in his hair as soon as he did.
"What's this for?" He said.
"Because it's cute." She said casually, staring back at the field of flowers before her, and he looked forward in her direction as well.
"Trolls village can be nice when you take time to admire it."
She smiled and turned to look at him, nodding, but then it quickly faded.
"Oh, Branch, your-"
"What?"
"Your, uh-"
"My what?"
"Your- it's-"
"My vest?! IT'S NOT GREEN ENOUGH?! I KNEW IT!"
"No! Your-"
Then he felt something cold on his hand.
It was his ice cream, melting, oh so sadly.
"...oh." Was all he said.
"Hmm. Here! You can have-"
But she looked down at her hand to see the ice cream she was holding in her hand was melted as well.
"...mine." She finished.
They both looked up at each other awkwardly, but then laughed it off.
"This was fun! Besides the melted ice cream." Poppy chuckled.
"Uh huh." Branch said, licking the excess ice cream off his hand, "I enjoyed this date."
Poppy widened her eyes and turned her head sharply towards him.
"Date?"
"Yeah, that's what this is right?" Branch turned to her with a raised eyebrow.
"Uhhh.."
He stared at her until she was able to say something, but she wasn't even able to after hearing him break into laughter.
"Poppy, Poppy, I'm joking." He put a hand on her shoulder, smiling.
"...OH. Gosh I was a nervous wreck for a second I-" She chuckled anxiously and ran her hand through her hair, "Man you're hilarious Branch."
He shrugged.
"I try." He said.
She smiled and turned back around, that pang hitting again. Why did this keep happening?
Quickly he tried to change the subject before he was lost in himself again.
"Shall we continue our walk then?" He got up and held out his hand, pretending to be royal.
Poppy raised an eyebrow but then played his little game and responded,
"Why yes, we should. The breeze is quite nice and we should embrace it as we stroll in this lovely day.. PFFT I'm terrible at this!"
She took his hand as she laughed, but she stumbled a bit doing so, causing her to fall close to Branch's face again. Quickly, as if she didn't even take a second to think about it, she moved backward and brushed one of the hairs in her face behind her ear.
"Sorry." She smiled.
Branch just shrugged again, except it hurt to shrug now. His shoulders weren't hurting, but something else inside of it was and it shouldn't have been.
"Well then let's go!" She said, pointing forward as she started to skip again, Branch slowly following behind, listening to her beautiful angelic voice hum the melody of the gateway to heaven unfurl its eminence.
No, no, nope. It's just a small little.. puppy crush. I just.. think she's cute, that's all. Nothing more. I've only known her for two days. I'll get over this feeling soon enough. In a few months she would just reject me and never wanna see me again.
•○•
Ever since that day, in the next few weeks, Poppy and Branch have been thriving best friends. That walk together might've completely changed their lives. Their friends even noticed and admired their growing friendship together.
Branch felt incredibly guilty though, because Poppy would come to hang out with him whenever she felt like seeing him, whenever their friends weren't all together. He would just wait until they were all together to talk to her, he was way too awkward to approach her pod or even be in her pod on his own. He thought about asking Guy for advice, but he rejected that thought as he knew he'd probably jump to conclusions and think they were "seeing each other."
Well, technically, they were, but Branch didn't want it to be seen in that way.
When they were together, they did nothing more than talk and joke around, but everyday they were, it was like a heater was shoved into Branch's body.
He didn't want to feel like this.. it was extremely inundating and he was so perplexed with everything including himself.
That day, after they walked together, Branch had gathered up the details and concluded,
His life had changed for the worst.
•○•
A month or two has passed now, and the pang in his chest and face was worse. He was a darker blueberry now. He couldn't be around her without feeling like his whole body was going to shut down.
At first it was different. He didn't want to believe it because he had just started getting to know her and it was too overwhelming to be such a way at such an early time. But now he definitely didn't want to because he was scared. Scared of rejection, scared she'd stop talking to him.
Scared she'd.. forget him.
"Oh God Guy what do I do what do I do." Branch gripped his dark blue hair and trudged around on the grass.
"Dude, chiiiiiill." Guy said, lifting himself off a tree he was leaning on and walking towards him.
"I can't chill! I-I can't be feeling like this I shouldn't be! Why did I let myself get so attached?!"
"What are you talking abou-"
"Hey guys!"
"AH!" Branch yelped, nearly falling to the ground.
"Oh, sorry! I gotta stop popping up like that-" She snickered.
Wow perfect timing- HOW DO I LEAVE WITH STYLE.
"I.. just remembered I have a huge pile of laundry I forgot to do in my bunker so goodbye and good day!" He took no sort of hesitation to dash away. He sprinted like his entire life depended on it, which at this moment it did.
"Ohh.. kay? Huh. He left as soon as I came. Weird." Poppy blinked as she turned to look at Guy.
"Yeah uh, he's been acting seriously strange lately. Not even I know what's wrong with him. And I can usually figure that out easily."
The truth? Guy really didn't know what was going on. But he had a huge feeling that it obviously had to do with Poppy. To respect his feelings, though, he didn't let her in on that just yet. He would just try to be there for Branch as much as he can until he finally got over himself with all this.
•○•
Meanwhile, Branch was clearly not doing laundry, and just laid on the floor of his bunker.
"Oh trolly Gods, heed my prayers.."
He inhaled-
"I don't wanna be attached I don't wanna be attached I don't wanna be attached I don't wanna be attached I don't wanna be attached I don't wanna be attached I don't wanna be attached I. Don't. Wanna. Be. Attached."
He rolled over to where his face was planted on the floor again and he sighed heavily.
I can't take this. I know I'll only get hurt in the end. I can't say anything to her.
Outside with Guy, he was going to tell him everything, but he was actually so glad he didn't now. He'd be pushing him to just tell her how he feels, but he just couldn't. He didn't want to.
He hated assuming that his best friend would do something like that, but with the way he has been teasing him lately, he honestly couldn't doubt it now. And the thoughts running through his mind helped nothing of the sort. They only increased that assumption.
After "praying" and just talking to himself, he had stayed there for such a while he ended up falling asleep. Everything that has been happening and going through his head was taking such a huge toll on him he could've honestly fell asleep anywhere.
That's all he ever wanted to do at this point too. Just sleep.
3 weeks later
"Uhh.. what's going on with Branch?" DJ asked.
"Yeah, he's been gone for two weeks. I thought he liked us." Smidge replied in a skeptical manner.
Everyone, except Branch, obviously, sat outside in front of Guy's pod, confused and concerned.
"No no, it isn't any of you," Guy reassured his friends, "he said so himself. I've been talking to him frequently, he just needs time away right now. He will be back soo-"
"Do you think it has something to do with me?"
Everyone turned to look at Poppy, who probably had the most distressed look on her face right now.
"Why do you think it would be you Poppy? You've done absolutely nothing wrong." Biggie said to her in a calm manner.
"Well.. a while after our walk together, he started acting strangely, especially around me and I still don't know why." Poppy fiddled with her fingers.
Cooper gasped dramatically, and all the attention was on him now.
"OOOOOOOOOO- girl he gots the GUSHY GUSHY for YOU!" Cooper laughed.
"...define 'gushy gushy'."
"He likes you." Chenille said casually.
"HUH?" Poppy was wide eyed again, "Naaah, I don't think it's that, we're just friends. Maybe I might've said something to upset him."
She then stood up confidently.
"I'm gonna go apologize!... for whatever I di-"
"How about we jusssst-" Guy held her shoulders and sat her back down slowly, "Wait until he's ready to come back out and talk to us. Besides, I'm sure if you said something wrong he wouldn't be overreacting this bad. It has to be something worse."
"Yeah, true." Poppy sighed, "I'm just really worried."
"We all are." Guy sat next to her, "But I know Branch. He'll be okay soon and he'll make it out of this."
"If.. you're really sure." She looked up at him with a small smile.
Suddenly, their hug time bracelets dinged.
"Hugtime!" They all chirped and hugged one another. Just something they needed to lighten up the sad and worrisome mood.
•○•
Branch didn't want to come out again. He was just starting to feel better and get comfortable again. Well, not really, but he was distracted somehow at least. Anytime he felt himself think about it, he quickly found something to do and forgot about it. But it was still there, lingering. It just wouldn't leave. No matter how much he tried to get rid of it.
So what did he do?
He gave up.
He just ignored it.
He ignored it even being there.
Or he was trying to.
How was he gonna do that? Absolutely no idea from this moment.
He got up from his bed and freshened himself up, brushing his hair and teeth and putting on his usual attire, then marched to the lever of his bunker and pulled it, feeling himself go up on the platform.
Already, he heard knocking and knew it was most likely Guy.
He got up to the door and slid it open and saw his sparkling, smiling face.
"Heya buddy! How've you bee-"
"I think I'm ready to come back." He fully climbed out of his bunker and closed the door shut.
Guy's smile faded for a second and it slowly started to come back as he spoke.
"Really? That's.. that's great man we've all missed you! The gangs' missed ya!" Guy patted his back again after a while, letting out a chuckle.
"I'm sure they have." Branch smiled slightly.
"Come on, we're just hanging out at DJ's, she's baking cookies. It'll be perfect for your return!" Guy ran forward on, and Branch followed behind.
He had to admit he missed the fresh outside air. But he didn't miss what the outside air reminded him of.
They both arrived to DJ's and were immediately hit by the smell of fresh baked chocolate chip cookies.
"Hey gu- Branch?! Hey welcome back!" She said as she was taking out a batch of fifty cookies from her oven.
"And I was starting to think you were forgetting about us." Smidge crossed her arms.
Poppy's ear twitched and she looked up as soon as she heard his name.
"Of course not. You're all great people. If anything I thought you would've forgotten about me." He said casually as he settled himself inside.
"We would never! We were actually very worried about you." Biggie nodded while going over to DJ to grab a cookie.
Who's this guy again? Mr. Dinkles said.
Biggie looked down at him.
"You talked again!" He exclaimed.
And again, all he said was "Mew."
"Branch! Come grab yourself some cookies." DJ offered him.
"Don't mind if I d-"
"Branch!" He heard someone else whom he did not want to hear call him.
Boy did his heart drop. And it felt it was rising up in his throat the second she started walking over to him.
"Branch, hi! I was so worried about you is everything okay? I thought I did something and-"
"Yeah, hi. I'm fine." Was all he said before walking over to go grab a cookie from DJ.
"Oh, oh..kay then." She said.
Branch joined everyone else in the middle of the main room in a game of tic-tac-troll.
"Smidge stop cheating!" Satin cried as she threw her game chip at Chenille's head, who was about ready to tackle her to the ground.
"I'm not cheating. I'm just better at this game than all of you." She said causally.
"Yeah she's just better than you." Chenille threw the same chip she threw at her back at her.
"Hey!"
After a few minutes Branch eventually joined in a game against Biggie and it seemed like he was about to win.
He kept his focus on where to put the next chip until-
"Wow, you're really good at this game!" Poppy said as she watched him play.
He had heard what she said but didn't reply in turn, and just kept his focus. He played five more rounds with everyone else, and he won every single one, feeling enough pride to stand up and say,
"Childhood master baby." He smirked and crossed his arms, nodding.
"Wow Smidge, he even beat yo-"
"DON'T, say it." Smidge grumbled and stomped over to the kitchen to grab more cookies and eat them angrily.
"Wanna play a round together?" Poppy suddenly asked him and he his smile dropped quickly but he stayed turned around.
"No thanks, not really in the mood to play anymore." He casually turned to walk off, not taking a single look at her.
"Oh, okay that's- fine."
Like Branch did before, Poppy felt an unusual pang in her chest. It wasn't like his situation, but it was full of hurt and confusion.
Guy, frankly, noticed Branch's attitude around her and was confused as well. He seemed just fine when he came back to join everyone, what could be the issue now?
Maybe this'll work.
Branch constantly thought to himself those same three words. It wasn't like he wanted to be such a way, and he did feel bad at certain times, but he couldn't keep having those thoughts anymore. And ignoring them wouldn't be so easy unless he ignored the person who was causing them.
And they were everywhere.
Which made this even harder.
But he couldn't be secluded from everyone just because of one person.
Could he?
"Branch?"
He blinked rapidly and turned to his right and saw Guy, thankfully.
"Are you alright?"
He looked around and saw he was standing right outside of Guy's pod.
Did I walk outside without realizing it-
"Yeah I'm cool. Why?" He asked him.
"It's just.."
He waited for his response, already knowing what was coming, shifting almost uncomfortably.
"Nevermind. I just wanted to check on you."
Mentally, the Blue troll was sighing relief and was now the one slapping Guy on the back.
"Thanks." He smiled.
Guy just nodded and smiled, patting his shoulder and walking back inside.
Branch immediately felt bad about everything again, and didn't even know if it was right, he felt ashamed for treating Poppy such a way, but he thought that this would be for the best for both of them and when it blew over, he'd apologize and explain for why he was acting such a way.
If that would even work.
1 week later
He didn't know how long he could keep this up.
His thoughts were still running loose.
He joined the pack for movie and game nights, sat away from her and avoided her gazes.
He took causal strolls in the village after he started gaining a liking to them, completely walked out of her way if she tried to grab his attention.
He went home yesterday and heard her calling for him, began to speed walk and yanked the door open and didn't take one look back.
And Guy, noticed, everything. When he was around him, at least.
What broke him more in this situation, was after Branch went home yesterday, Poppy even went to tell him that she at this point believed he was avoiding her, not even holding back the urge to completely breakdown in front of him. It would have to take something that meant so much to her to be gone from her world for her to have her heart so broken. Guy honestly started to believe what she thought, too, but he tried his best to convince her otherwise.
"I don't know what I'm doing wrong, Guy! I-I tried being his friend and I tried asking him what's wrong but all he does is walk away from me and he talks back so blatantly!"
Guy immediately hugged her and she started crying softly on his shoulder.
"Look, everything will be okay soon, alright? I will get through to him, I swear. But I promise whatever is going on is not you."
He looked up and forward and sighed.
"He's still there. I know he is. But right now, this is not the Branch I know."
•
"So what did you need Guy?" Biggie asked. Everyone except Branch and Poppy was sitting in his pod with him. He called them all in to talk with them.
"Have you guys noticed Branch's behavior with Poppy lately? It's really strange.." Guy was sitting in a chair, tapping his chin.
"No." Smidge said casually.
"Actually, yeah I have.." DJ said in a concerned tone, "It's really weird.. after that walk they had it just seems like he's been acting so off for an entire month."
"Maybe he thinks Poppy smells funny! We don't judge though." Cooper said, laughing.
"Cooper, Poppy literally has the best perfume "she" could never afford. She never smells bad not once." Chenille inquired.
"Who's 'she'?" Satin asked.
Chenille just stared at her sister.
Satin gasped and hit her arm.
"Rude! At least I have more jewelry than you."
"Not true-"
"Guys, please, can we focus? I'm really worried about them both. Poppy came to me crying yesterday about how she thought Branch was avoiding her."
Everyone gasped at that.
"Crying?! Oh no!" Biggie whimpered worriedly, squeezing Mr. Dinkles.
I should be the one crying right now- Mr. Dinkles muttered.
"Oh poor Poppy." Satin frowned sadly.
"Branch better not be avoiding her. No one makes our girl cry." Smidge cracked her knuckles.
"Can we do anything?" DJ asked, a worried expression on her face.
"I don't think so. I just came to ask you guys if you've noticed anything going on between them. But I'm going to talk to him about this all eventually. I just don't want to do so at the moment."
"Oh hopefully everything goes well." Biggie shifted around in his seat worriedly.
"Me too." Guy sighed and leaned back in his chair. He was one to love drama, but not when it was between his two best friends.
•○•
The day after that, the gang was at a nice ice cream shop and they were all sitting at a round table enjoying their desserts. But Branch was the only one not there.
"Man these are good!" Cooper ate his cherry pie in one bite.
The plate and fork included.
Everyone stared at him again.
"I worry for you sometimes." Smidge patted his arm gently.
They all turned to look when they saw someone entering the shop.
"Hey, sorry I'm late." Branch sat down next to Guy and Smidge.
"Hey! Saved you a cone. And it's choco~" Guy winked and handed an extra ice cream cone to him which he gladly took from him.
"Thanks!" He said, gracefully licking the chocolate ice cream.
Smidge, on the other hand, stared up at him with a hair-raising glare, gripping the spoon she was holding which somehow broke in half. How does metal even do that.
Branch looked down at her confused and slightly frightened, then whispered to Guy,
"What's her deal?"
"Oh she just.. yeah she's moody." Guy said casually, even though he knew exactly why she was angry.
"AM NOT!" She yelled, eating her ice cream rapidly and aggressively with her hand now.
They all stared at her.
"...and I thought I was the crazy one!" Cooper laughed and banged on the table.
Branch just continued eating his ice cream when he looked up at the Pink troll sitting across from him, playing with her hair slightly as she slowly ate her ice cream.
Look away, look away what're you doing?!
But it was too late. She eventually caught him staring at her and she stopped eating and waved slowly at him, a small smile growing on her lips.
Out of instinct and slightly out of his control, he rolled his eyes and looked away, still eating his ice cream.
Poppy's smile faded slowly and she sighed, putting her bowl of ice cream down and pushing it away from her.
DJ looked over at her.
"Poppy?" She said.
"Huh?"
"Are you oka-"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm perfectly fine, just kinda full." Her voice slightly cracked at the last word and she felt herself tear up, quickly looking away before anyone noticed.
"Poppy.." DJ tried reaching her gaze, hearing her sniff quietly.
Guy noticed this and immediately grew worried, looking at Branch to see if he would notice and say something.
But he didn't.
Now at this point Guy had had enough. He was just being selfish now!
He slammed his ice cream cone down and was about to say something to knock some sense into him, until-
"What did I do wrong?!" Poppy suddenly screamed out, standing up from her seat.
Everyone was staring at her now, with full concern and shock. Even Branch was filled with shock too.
The manager of the shop watched intently at the front counter, sipping his milkshake like it was tea.
"Branch! You've been avoiding me for two and a half weeks now, and everytime I tried to talk to you about it all you did was walk away and act like you couldn't hear me! It was like.. after we went on that walk together you just stopped talking to me out of nowhere! I don't understand what I even did wrong and you refuse to tell me!"
She lost full control of herself at one moment and slapped the bowl of ice cream in front of her on the floor.
The manager was about to say something about that sad bowl of melting ice cream on the floor, but he just kept watching the angst.
Branch was completely out of words. He actually didn't even know what to say. She was acting so out of character and it was because HE was acting so out of character. This was all on him.
He'd caused this.
As if he didn't know already, though.
"I can't." Was all he said, in a low voice.
"Can't what, Branch?!"
"You wouldn't understand."
"Understand what?! I already don't understand why you're upset at me!"
Guy sighed heavily and rubbed the sides of his forehead and decided to join in, but not on the argument.
"Okay, dude, seriously, what the hair is going on with you lately?!" He scolded him quietly, "Not even I understand what's wrong with you! This is not you Branch and you know it."
Branch gripped his chest hearing that, piling over Poppy's words.
The pang came back.
And it harder than any other one he felt.
"Branch, for real man! Why do you keep-"
"OKAY!" He stood up, slamming the table, completely daring his gaze over to Poppy's upset and frustrated expression.
"You wanna know what you did so badly?!"
"YES!"
He took out the Lavendar she put in his hair before and slid it to her.
"You made me fall for you."
Everyone fell completely silent. Not one single word was spoken.
Poppy's eyes were completely widened, and her angry and tensed expression slowly faded away, now being the one to not know what to say.
Branch walked from out of his seat from the circular table and stood next to it.
"Yeah, there's your answer. I didn't want to say anything at the very beginning because I knew we were just starting to get to know each other, so I just left it as a puppy crush. But then when it started to turn into something more.. I just lost myself completely. I didn't know what to do I was scared. I didn't want to risk falling for you because I didn't wanna risk losing you. So I thought.. by trying to ignore you the feelings would go away."
Branch threw his half finished cone of ice cream on the floor next to her spilled bowl of vanilla ice cream.
The manager was crying silently at the mess.
"But then I realized all it was doing was making things worse. I just didn't know how to speak up about anything, so I kept up this stupid behavior. I know now how selfish I was being."
Poppy stared at him with a sorrowful expression, shaking her head slowly.
"And I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I'm sorry for it, I'm sorry for even being me. I wasn't planning to tell you this at all because I know you'd reject me and forget about me. But lookie here, I had no choice but to. And after everything that I did, you probably definitely don't wanna see this face anymore." He pointed at himself, chuckling shakily.
"Branch.."
"I'm sorry Guy." He looked down at Guy, who was staring with the same hurt, and worried expression.
"I'm sorry everyone." He looked around at everyone's silenced appearances, and stared at Poppy's one last time, the pang become stronger and stronger every second he continued staring.
Without even thinking about he turned around and started to walk towards the door, running out of there after a few seconds.
"Branch!" Guy got up and ran after him.
Poppy just slowly looked down at the flower he gave back to her and held it carefully in her hands staring down at it. It was.. still alive and well, like he took care of it this entire time.
He kept it all this time..
"...I knew it." Cooper whispered.
Everyone glared at him.
"Right." He pretended to zip his lips and kept quiet.
"...so is anyone gonna clean this up." The manager said and pointed to the floor that had melted chocolate and vanilla ice cream splattered onto it.
They all turned to look at him.
•○•
"Branch, Branch! Wait up man!" Guy was running after him. He was already far up ahead so it took more time for him to try and catch up.
"Leave me alone!" Branch yelled, wiping his eyes constantly as the tears burning up in them continuously blurred his vision.
He began to slow down when he swore he could see his bunker getting closer, and he was about to reach for the door until he saw Guy hair flipped in front of him, blocking his path.
"Get out of my way!" He tried going around him but he was grabbed by his wrist by Guy's hair and struggled.
"Branch, listen to me, you've gotta calm dow-"
"I'm perfectly calm! I just wanna go home!" There was strains and groans in his voice as he kept trying to release himself from Guy's grip.
"I know what you're gonna do! You're gonna go in your bunker and hide in there forever and never come out!"
"Yeah! So what?!"
Guy sighed and loosened his grip a little, but still kept hold. Branch stopped struggling in his grip but was still breathing heavily and wiping his eyes, his face turned away from Guy's.
"Branch.. why? You don't need t-"
"She hates me, Guy."
"How do you know that?"
"After everything I've done how could she not?! I confessed to her, she probably wants me gone even more now."
"Branch, what you did was wrong before, but you were honest about it and she understands now. And she never hated you this entire time, she was worried about you. Wasn't that obvious enough?"
Branch just fell silent, shaking his head constantly, and he pulled out of his hair that was holding his wrist.
"Look, I know I'm not the best at giving advice, but I really think you're overthinking this.. you ran out before she could even get a chance to respond t-"
"Nobody understands, Guy. Not even you do. You're not me. You don't get how I feel."
"Branch I'm just trying to hel-"
"I don't need help. I don't want help." He turned around and started walking away from him towards the door of his bunker and opened it.
"I knew I was better off alone." Was the last thing he said before he climbed inside, closing it shut.
Guy didn't even try to stop or get him out that time. He just stood silent and didn't even know what to do. How this all escalated so fast it was too much for him to bear.
Slowly, he took steps backward and turned away from the bunker, walking away from it completely. As much as he wanted to help Branch,
He just left him alone like he wished.
•○•
It had been six days since that soul-stirring event had taken place, and everyone had been mainly quiet ever since.
They still hung out, but it wasn't like before. The situation had continued to run through their minds, almost like a song was stuck in their heads but they didn't like it.
They haven't seen Branch ever since either, and this time he did not come back out, nor did Guy bother him for a while.
Poppy on the other hand kept in touch, but she was kind of distant herself as well. She badly wanted to talk to Branch but she didn't know how to approach him. The feeling between them was just too uneasy.
Guy, though, was growing tired of the silence between him and his friends, and decided to try and solve this once and for all.
He wasn't going to let this all go down that easy.
He got up from his chair of misery and sat in his chair of inspiration.
Why he had those, no one knew.
But then something clicked.
He quickly got up and ran out of his pod, nearly breaking the door down.
Damn G-
Mr. Dinkles was in his pod for whatever reason.
•○•
"Poppy, Poppy, Poppy!" He banged on Poppy's door rapidly. He almost hit her after she swung it open quickly.
"Geez Guy, what is it?" She asked him, looking as if she just woke up.
"I know how we can fix all of this. Let me inside."
Poppy raised an eyebrow but let him in, closing the door behind her.
He took two random cups of giggleyum juice out of his hair and put them one on a table and sipped another.
"Come sit, my dear~" He said in a deeper voice, pretending his hair was a mustache.
Poppy snickered a bit and sat down across from him, taking a sip of the giggleyum juice and looked intrigued now.
"So what's your plan?"
"I know how we can ge- yeah okay enough of that." He got rid of the mustache and used his normal voice, "We both know Branch has been through a lot, right?"
"Yes?"
"And after what went down a few days ago, we finally know how he's really feeling."
She nodded and continued to listen.
"Sooo.. what's say we throw him a surprise party to tell him that we still care about him and definitely do not hate him!"
"Hmm.. that does sound nice but.. I don't know, would he even like that? Or even wanna see me?"
"Poppy, I'm pretty sure after what went down, he is literally thinking about nothing but you. I can find a way to get to him somehow! I always do. He just can't abandon the people he truly cares about, no matter how upset he is."
Poppy smiled at that last sentence and took out the flower she gave him from her hair, watching it glow in its bright color.
"...is that a Lavendar." He asked.
"Yeah, I gave it to him during our walk together. I guess he kept it and took care of it all this time since when he gave it back to me, it still looked very healthy and lively. I started taking care of it too." She stared at the flower, playing gently with its petals.
"Aww." He said, sipping on his giggleyum as he wiped away a tear threatening to fall from his eye.
Poppy sighed and put the flower back in her hair and stood up confidently.
"Let's do it." She suddenly said.
"Wait really?"
"Yes. I wanna see that beautiful smile on his face like I remember from months ago." She grabbed his hand and pulled him up.
"Alright!" Guy said cheerfully, "BROPPY POWA!"
"What?"
"Nothing- LET'S GO! We must inform the others!" He grabbed her hand and they dashed out the pod, knocking over both of their cups of giggleyum.
•○•
And so they did. They gathered everyone in a spot near a tree to discuss their plan to get Branch back.
"So we're gonna invade his bunker?! Nice." Smidge cackled in a wicked manner.
"...No. I'm going to go get him while you guys set up everything. Poppy has the lever ready to pull down the "you know what" when he arrives, and I have a headphone set I gave her to notify that we're about to approach." Guy explained.
"Oooh, how fun!" Biggie clapped his hands.
Maaan shiii- you can count me out- Mr. Dinkles climbed in Biggie's hair.
"Everyone ready?" Guy put his hand in the middle, and everyone joined in immediately.
"Three, two, one!"
"For Branch!" They all yelled, but turned to look at Cooper when they heard him say food instead of Branch.
"What? I'm hungry!" He laughed.
They continued to stare at him.
•○•
Branch was laid across his bed, sleeping soundly, despite having been overwhelmed by the chaos he caused over the last week and past few months.
His skin was not completley Gray, but a much duller shade of his normal blue color, and he'd spent that entire week rethinking everything. What he could've done better. Rethinking his friendship with everyone. Rethinking-
"You're invited to the best sleepover ever! I want you to meet my friends!"
He felt himself grow a boiling pot of fury inside, and gripped the blanket that was laid overtop of him, breathing heavily.
"It's.. all.. his.. fault.." He muttered in his sleep. If he was even asleep anymore.
"It's all his fault!" He sat up and threw his pillow at the wall, throwing the blanket over himself.
"If he hadn't convinced me to that stupid sleepover I would've been just fi-"
He stopped and opened his eyes and, sighing heavily. What was he doing? Blaming his best friend for something that was his own fault now? He was making no sense now, even to himself. All he wanted to do was help him, and it was actually working. Until he allowed himself to get worked up over his own feelings. He knew he was right, this was nothing like him.
Guy didn't even come back for him like he expected. Not even Poppy came for a word either. He thought was all true. He was hated.
He was forgotten.
The truth was.. he did want help, he did want friends, he did want comfort but it all just scared him. As if it was all just a huge threatening pile of hatred being shot towards him, he had avoided all of that.
He avoided Poppy.
How was he supposed to make up for any of this? He didn't think it would be possible. He only overthought he was better off alone before, but now he knows for sure that it was true. Or he thought it was.
He ruined everything.
Just then, though, a knock was heard at his door and he shot up quickly.
Someone actually came to see him?
He stood up and went to put on his vest and straightened up his hair the best way he could, and went to the platform that was lifted when he pulled the lever and ascended himself to the door waiting to be unlatched.
And just like he'd hoped, standing outside was Guy, who looked down at him with a warm smile. He noticed his skin was duller than before and he slightly frowned, but his smile returned quickly after that.
"Heya Branch! I know you probably don't want company right now, but I have something really important I need to show yo-"
Guy was stopped when Branch just rushed towards him and hugged him tightly, not even thinking twice about it.
He didn't say anything but just stayed in that position, keeping his eyes shut tightly.
Guy smiled wide and gladly returned the embrace, rubbing his back in circles gently.
"There's the Branch I know and love." He whispered, patting his back again.
He pulled away from his glittery friend and smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.
"I.. didn't think anyone would wanna see me again. After what I did." Branch muttered, sighing.
"That's not true at all. I wanted to come and check on you, but I was worried you'd just push me away, so I gave you some time. I knew you would eventually come back anyway. As your best buddy after all." Guy winked and patted his shoulder.
Branch slightly rolled his eyes but smiled at the rest of the sentence. He wasn't wrong about that. He was destined that he was meant to be alone forever, but he cared about everyone way too much, even if it was hard to see that they felt the same way, but he knew deep down they did.
His mind moved straight to Poppy after that. He'd really missed her and wanted to see her again, not even caring if she didn't feel the same way he felt towards her anymore. He just wanted to see her, but he wasn't sure she felt the same now.
"So what do you wanna show m-"
"Come on!" Guy grabbed his arm, and just like that they were both running like the world depended on it.
•○•
"Cooper, stop eating the dang edible confetti!" DJ exclaimed.
"But it's so g o o d." Cooper literally started biting on the jar itself, and Smidge snatched it from him.
Poppy heard something from her headset and heard Guy saying,
"We're almost there! Tell everyone to hide!"
"Copy that." She smiled and clicked the button and ran to everyone.
"Guys!" She yelled out to everyone, who were yelling at Cooper for swallowing the jar of edible confetti.
Eventually he coughed it up because it was taking up too much space in his throat and made it look like a square.
Poppy stared at it.
"...I'm not even gonna ask."
•○•
"Who were you talking to?" Branch asked as they slowed down their running and started to walk.
"Oh just myself." Guy said casually.
"Oookay. Are we almost the-"
"We're here!"
Branch raised an eyebrow and looked over to where they were and saw that they were at the place where he and Poppy stopped at during their walk.
Where she put the Lavendar in his hair.
"...is this a joke." Branch looked at him, unamused.
"Branch, now why would I make you run all the way out here, only to tell that I'm joshing with you." He smiled and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Then what're we doing out here?"
Guy turned away to whisper something else in his tiny earphone.
"Do it now."
"Guy!" Branch yelled.
"Turn around."
He turned in front of him and there they all were, yelling "SURPRISE!", and Poppy pulled down the lever to reveal the flag they all worked to create.
It read, "WE LOVE YOU BRANCH!"
Branch was out of words now. He couldn't believe this. They all worked on this for him? After what he did?
"Guys? Wh.. What is this?"
"Just something to let you know that no matter what happens Branch, we all still love and care about you! And you're always gonna be our friend." Guy smiled big and wide as everyone agreed, and watched as he looked around to admire everything they set up for him.
Then his attention turned to Poppy, who's smile was the sweetest he ever saw. The smile he'd missed for so long.
"Poppy.."
"Branch.." She started walking up to him slowly.
"Poppy.." He started walking slowly towards her as well.
"Branch." She giggled quietly and stood in front of him, moving her hair behind her ear.
"Po-"
"Just get on with the romance!" Smidge yelled out.
Everyone stared at her.
Branch turned back to Poppy.
"I.. I don't know what to say I.. I can't believe you still care about me after what I did." He shook his head slowly in surprise.
"Of course I do." She said softly, "You're a good troll Branch, what you were doing was out of fear, even if it turned out to be ineffective in the end. But after you told me what you did, I realized later that I've been so oblivious to the fact you.. had feelings for me."
She took his hands gently and held them out, taking out the Lavendar flower from her hair, which still remained healthy, and placed it in his hands.
"But I didn't forget."
He looked down and delicately held the flower in his hands.
She took care of it too.
He looked back up at her, a small smile starting to appear on his face.
She smiled back and reached over to hug him gently.
"By the way, you didn't let me speak earlier!"
"What? What do you mea-"
"I love you too." She muttered, burying her face into his shoulder, and he froze.
"For as long as you said you did."
His heart felt like it was about to beat right out of his chest and just scream to the world. The pang came running back again after a while, but it was.. a good feeling this time.
His color also started to return to its Bright Blue as well, and that gave the Blueberry Effect the chance to make its epic return to his face.
She pulled away from him and saw his face was a darkened Blue now.
"Branch!" She laughed.
"I'm gonna faint." He pretended to fall over and she caught him, and they both bursted into laughter, yelling afterwards as they both got tackled by their friends.
"I'm so glad you guys are back!" DJ said into the hug.
"Yeah, now we can tease you guys." Guy said and laughed in an evil manner.
"Veeeery funny." Branch just laid on the ground as they were all.. overtop of each other.
"This is so uncomfortable! Moving now!" Satin said as she got up from the weird looking embrace, and so did everyone else after that.
"So what do we do now?" Biggie asked.
"We celebrate!" Guy took out a party horn and so did everyone else, blowing at at Branch.
Then a bunch of confetti fell down on him, and for once he didn't complain.
He missed all of this.
Poppy jumped toward him and hugged him again him tightly, nearly causing both of them to fall, and he happily hugged back.
Once again, he gathered all of the details and concluded that his life was either changing for the worst or the best.
Clearly, it was the best.