Every day after that, despite Branch's many... many... objections... Poppy went to the hospital to visit her best friend... and everyday... the gray grump would push her away, yelling at the young princess until she finally left his side...
It broke the survivalist's heart to be so mean to the one troll he secretly cared about more than anything else in the world... to push her away... to not be able to be with her... but he knew... he knew it was for her own good... He just wanted her to be safe... and she wasn't safe around him... especially now that he knew... he was a monster...
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"Here Branch!" Poppy exclaimed cheerfully as she walked into the hospital one day, handing the survivalist a card she had made specially for him...
"What's this?" Branch asked curiously, taking the folded up piece of paper from her to look at...
"An invitation," the young princess informed, smiling wide as she raised her hands up into the air in excitement.
"I shoulda known," the village grump sighed as he rolled his eyes in frustration, throwing the card away from himself...
Poppy's smile faded away instantly as she looked at the invitation she had spent hours making laying on the floor like trash...
"Don't you want to at least know what it's for?" Poppy asked, looking back at Branch as she tried her best to stay positive and not burst into uncontrollable tears. "I don't really care," Branch grumbled, looking away from the love of his life as he crossed his arms in faked anger.
The young princess sighed at those words, lowering her head in despair...
"O... ok..." she muttered sadly before beginning to slowly walk away. "I... I guess... I guess I'll just leave then... like... like you want..."
Those words struck his heart harder than he'd like to admit, Branch turning back to watch Poppy leaving with sad eyes...
'I'll just leave then... like you want... like you want... like you want...'
But... that isn't what he wanted... he didn't want to make her sad... he didn't want her to leave... he didn't want to be alone... he wanted her... he loved her...
"P... Poppy. Wait..." he called after the young princess, feeling bad for what he had done...
At the sound of Branch's words, Poppy stopped walking, turning around to face him in curiosity...
"Yeah?" she asked, feeling somewhat hopeful that he would ask her to stay...
"I... I just..." he started, wanting to finally spill his guts to her... to tell her exactly how he felt... But instead... he sighed, lowering his head in shame as his none injured ear drooped down in pure despair. "I just... wanted to ask... would... would you... shut the door on your way out?"
Branch hated making Poppy sad... he hated having to stay away from her... but what else was he supposed to do? He just couldn't get too close... it wasn't safe...
Poppy nodded with a soft, almost unnoticeable sigh, turning to leave the room...
Branch watched in complete sorrow as the young princess shut the door, quickly leaving his sight...
"Ugh..." the village grump groaned, his heart aching painfully inside his chest as he covered up his face completely with his hands, the young boy flopping backwards in his bed, completely and utterly ashamed in himself. He really was a monster...