Trolls 3 oneshot!!
Branch was sitting alone somewhere in the caterbus as it continued it's way down the path that was meant to be taking him to his brothers.
He sat with his elbows on his knees and his chin in his palms while looking down at the floor, holding his signature grumpy expression, but also with a visible mix of.. sadness.
Normally silence would be calming to him, but at this time around not hearing anyone talk their mouths off or do something silly in the background was even discomforting to him right now, especially with his thoughts roaming around now.
The reason he looked so down was because he'd just finished arguing with his eldest brother, John, who'd convinced him to go on this trip with him, not too long ago, maybe half an hour or so.
After many failed attempts of his older brother trying to bond and reconnect with him, he finally snapped when he asked him to sing an old song with him, thinking that would be the perfect way to fix things, but unfortunately for both of them it was the exact opposite.
"No! Enough! Just leave me alone John! I only agreed to help you look for our brothers if you promised to leave me alone after, I never said anything about us becoming buddy buddy again, so if asking me to do all these things with you is your way of asking then unfortunately for you the answer is no!
After many failed attempts of persuasion to try and get his brother to join him, Poppy and Tiny in numerous activities for the past few hours, trying to get him to sing with him was the last straw. It brought back too many memories that were meant to be happy, but hurt to think about now after everything that happened before.
John stared at his little brother with a shocked and slightly startled expression, even though he really had no reason to be.
"Branch-"
"You have been bothering me this whole entire trip even though I've been making it clear that I don't want to talk to you!"
"Branch, you're my brothe-"
"Was, your brother. You lost the right to call me that a long time ago." The blueish grayish troll crossed his arms, staring at him with an angry but also saddened look.
"Come on, don't talk like that.. I know what happened was messed up, but that was a long time ago! I came back! I wanted to see you again, and the others!"
"It doesn't matter, you still left, you all did, you didn't even think twice about it, you just left me alone! All by myself!"
"Branch-"
"You all were out doing your own things and living what I assume to be your best lives, while I was left with the burden of thinking it was my fault that my brothers left me, and my fault that Grandma was taken away!"
"Life wasn't perfect after we spli-" John paused after hearing what he said about Rosiepuff.
"She.. was.. what?"
"..the only person I had after you guys left was Grandma. I couldn't even tell her anything because I didn't even understand myself since I was so young, but I could tell it bothered her as well that you all just decided to leave like that."
Branch didn't say anything more after that, deciding not to explain what happened to their grandmother, he didn't want to add on one thing after another. He had already been able to move forward and come to terms with the situation with Rosiepuff, he didn't need to deal with that pain all over again, especially with what was going on now.
And lucky for him, John decided he'd ask more about that later and just got back to the main point.
"I.. Branch, it was wrong, all of it was, I know. I.. I didn't realize that it'd hurt you so much, none of us did. The last thing we ever wanted to do was hurt you."
"Was it not supposed to hurt me?"
"No that's not what I mea-"
"I looked up to you guys, all of you. Not just as a band member, but as your little brother. You all cared and loved each other until you started not to. And you all settled that dispute by leaving.. by leaving me."
"None of it was about you Branch.. none of it, you gotta understand that it was just a decision between u-"
"Who cares?! That's my whole point, I couldn't have known that! But you all still just left me behind like as if it was about me! For so long I waited and waited for you to hopefully come back or at least reach out, but then I just gave up and just assumed none of you cared about me anymore!"
"We never stopped caring!"
"Well congratulations, you've all done a pretty bad job of showing that."
It was John's turn to snap now.
"Gee Branch, what do you want me to do huh?! Create a time machine so we can go back to the past and change everything?! Well I got some bad news for you little brotha, we don't have that kind of technology!"
"I'm not sayi-"
"You know what Branch," John interrupted, "with how much you're claiming that you were upset about us leaving you, you sure are being really ungrateful right now. Why can't you just be happy that I'm here, and that I set up this whole trip for us to go find our brothers so that things can go back to normal?"
Branch didn't say anything for a bit, but before he did begin to say something, what first came out was a little chuckle.
The short few seconds of silence allowed John to rethink his own words as he began to regret saying what he said.
"Branch, I.. I didn't mean-"
"No, no you did mean it, and it's okay. But to answer your question.. it's because that's not how it works, John."
He proceeds to point to himself.
"All this? All this trauma? I can move on from it, but it will never go away, and everything about this argument just proves my point. Nothing will ever be normal again. You can't.. you can't just flick a switch and except things to go back the way they were right after, the damage has already been done. You don't seem to be understanding that very well, and you probably never will."
Branch slowly turned around, his back facing John.
"But hey.. at least you're not the one who had to deal with the pain and sorrow for so long, right?"
"Branch.."
Branch ignored him and walked away somewhere else, listening to his brother call out to him multiple times but just blocking them all out as he kept walking, not wanting to hear anymore of anything he had to say.
During and near the end of the argument there were too many mixed feelings that was just too much for him to handle, such as being angry and hurt with how his brother didn't seem to understand that the painful jab in the heart of him and his other older brothers leaving was still there, and being embarrassed that such a disputation was dragged on in around for his girlfriend and one of his friend's son to hear, causing him to walk away without even thinking twice about it.
All of it was too much and he really just needed to be alone.
His ear twitched though as he swore he could hear light mumbling a few inches away from him, but he couldn't tell what was being said.
Right after that he began to hear light footsteps approaching from the same distance, not knowing if he should feel irritated or uneasy.
And then before he knew it-
"Branch?"
For whatever reason he fully expected to hear John's voice again, ready to either ignore him or snap at him again.
But to the little bit of solace that it brought him, it was Poppy.
Although deep down he wanted to respond he didn't, he just continued to look down at the floor. The silence slowly began to comfort him now that he knew she was with him.
Poppy didn't say his name again and just studied him a little, before slowly making her way towards him, taking a seat quietly.
For a little while she just let the silence do the talking, as much as she was not liking it. She didn't enjoy the silence like Branch usually did sometimes, but she didn't want to jump straight into a conversation, she genuinely wanted think of what to say and how to say it, and she wasn't going to make him say anything either.
It got to a point though where she grew tired of it and she thought she'd start off with a simple question.
"Hey.. how you been holding up?"
She looked over at him slowly, half expecting him to look back at her.
But he didn't, nor did he still talk. All he did was shrug.
Reluctantly, she looked away from him and kept her gaze forward, tapping her legs again.
"I.. um, heard what happened back there, with you and John.." The Pink troll paused for a moment before continuing.
"Great, that's not embarrassing at all." Branch mumbled to himself quietly, despite already knowing that she most likely heard everything either way since they were raising their voices seventy percent of the time, and they were all literally in the same vehicle.
Poppy didn't respond to that and just carried on with that she was saying, or trying to say.
"Look, Branch, I know it's none of my business, at all.. but as your girlfriend of course I'm gonna be worried, so, I just wanna say-"
"Yeah, Poppy, it isn't your concern, none of it was," Branch interrupted her suddenly, beginning to sit up straight and finally look at her,
"so why did you still stick your head in everything?"
"What?"
"Just because you're my girlfriend doesn't mean everything is suddenly for you to just 'meddle' your way in! Why did you make me do this? Why did you help the guy who left me alone for nearly my entire life organize this stupid trip! I told you what they did to me yet we're still here, why is it that I still always listen to you but you never listen to me!"
"I do listen to you!"
"Well then what are we doing on this bus Poppy." Branch crossed his arms.
"Branch.."
"I finally got over the pain of being left behind by them after so long and if none of this happened I'd still be okay! Better yet, if he didn't decide to show his face here again I'd still be okay!"
"I.."
Poppy looked away from him, feeling guilty even though she truly had no reason to. She only wanted to help but she ended up still hurting him in the end, at least that's what he made it seem like.
"I'm sorry.." She mumbled quietly.
And just like that, Branch stopped talking and his face changed from a pained and frustrated expression, to a remorseful and apologetic one. This wasn't her fault, none of it was! So why was he getting mad at her? Yeah, everything hurt, but it wasn't because of her that everything hurt, and he needed her to know that right now.
Immediately, he wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her in the warmest hug, burying his face into her shoulder, a shaky sigh escaping his lips.
He truly felt awful for lashing out at her like that.
"I'm the one who should be sorry, Poppy. I shouldn't have gotten mad at you, it's not your fault, you were only trying to help and wanted to be there to support me. I don't even know what I'd be doing right now if you weren't here with me in this whole mess.." Branch chuckled quietly, reaching one of his hands down to gently put on top of one of hers.
"I just.. I don't, hate, John, I don't hate, my brothers.. I just really hated what they did to me and still do. I may have moved on from it but I never forgot.. that day they all walked out on me, was the same day they all lost my trust. They never even came to see me again after that.."
Poppy didn't turn to look at him, she just stayed still allowing him to hold her as she listened to what he had to say.
"I mean.. what was I supposed to think? Was I supposed to just.. be okay after one of them just randomly decides to walk back into my life like nothing happened? I just wanna know that I'm being understood through all this.. it all hurts so much, more than it did before."
Branch didn't realize that his grip on Poppy slightly loosened until he started to feel her gently wrap his arms around her closer, holding onto them.
"Branch," She started, "you are anything but misunderstood, you have no idea how horrible I feel knowing you had to go through that, plus many other things before or right after."
She turned her body towards him a little and slid her hands down to his, giving them a firm and tender squeeze. Her eyes were focused on them before they switched to his eyes instead.
"But I need you to know this right now.. I didn't want you to go on this trip because I thought everything would be sprinkles and cake batter after you saw your brothers again, that was fully out of my expectations after what you told me.. I wanted you to go because you deserve to make up with your brothers, you deserve to have closure. I mean you said yourself how much you loved them and looked up to them! Something like that shouldn't never be let go, especially if it's family."
"Yeah, but, well.."
"I know they left, what they did was wrong and it wasn't fair to you, you deserve the biggest apology after that. But.. your brothers loved you, Branch, and I'm sure they still do. I could even tell how close you all were when I was just a baby!"
Poppy smiled at him and against Branch's inner emotions, he smiled back.
"And even though what they did wasn't right to you, you have to know that it wasn't your fault that they all chose to go. Sometimes things truly just don't work out, and though there was definitely a better way for them to work out that issue, they all just chose to do what they believed was best at that moment."
Branch believed her, he wanted to, but deep down he still wasn't sure. He didn't know what to think.
"But.. how do you know that? How can I know that for sure? They never reached out to me after they all left, I didn't know what to think! And we were a family.. even if the band wasn't working out, why couldn't we have just stayed brothers?"
"And you're totally right, but think about this for a sec.. would John be here right now if he didn't care or if the falling out was because of you? Would he have tried to involve you in our little activities together earlier, or better yet this entire trip if those were all the case?"
"Well, I.. guess not.." He looked down again slowly, "but I still don't know what to do or how to feel.."
Though she could tell he was still doubtful, hearing him say that made Poppy begin to lighten up a little.
"Hey," She reached a hand over to his cheek causing him to look back up at her.
She scooted a tiny inch closer to him and could quite literally feel his warm breath on hers.
"I know it'll probably take a lot of time for you to be able to process and move forward with any of this, no one deserves to go through being abandoned by their loved ones, especially no one as sweet as you, and at a young age.. but I talked with John a little earlier and he really does feel awful for what happened before. Maybe he didn't understand the scars that leaving you would give you and left you with, but he does now, and he cares. He wants to do better at showing he cares. If he can do all that, then I don't see how the rest of your brothers couldn't."
With one hand already on his cheek she took the other and gently wiped away a few tears that not even Branch realized were there until he felt her wipe them away.
"All I'm saying is whenever you're ready, just try and talk to him at least, you both clearly still care about each other and never stopped caring. But in the meantime, take all the time you need to heal, you've been through so much already."
Branch sighed and rested his face into her hand, holding onto it with his own.
"Thanks Poppy.. I really, really needed this. I still don't like what they did, but.. this just put things into a whole new perspective for me."
That earned him a warm loving smile from his girlfriend, and he happily returned it to her.
"..Who knew you could be so wise, huh?" Branch joked as he laughed quietly.
"Hey!" Poppy removed her hand from his cheek, and despite feeling slightly better Branch immediately missed the warm feeling.
"I can be wise.. when I wanna be!" Poppy tried to sound annoyed, but really she was moreso happy to see his spirits lift up a little, and she knew he was playing around anyway.
Branch laughed again, a little more than before, and decided to change game and slip his hand onto her cheek this time.
"I'm kidding, of course you are.. when you wanna be." He smirked.
"Haha." Poppy rolled her eyes playfully and held his hand that was on her cheek.
"Buuutt you know I did learn from the best." She said in a soft voice, winking at him.
Branch chuckled quietly this time and said one more thing before going quiet,
"Hey, for the record, you're my family too."
Poppy smiled wide and squeezed his hand she was holding.
"Same here Branch."
The air between them grew hot as they remembered that their noses were literally touching and that their lips were just centimeters away.
"Poppy?" His hand was still on her cheek.
"Yes?" She almost immediately answered.
Nothing else was said at that moment after that.
Nothing else mattered at that moment.
The next thing they knew, they were both leaning in slowly as their eyes began to shut, the space between them closing more and more-
"BRANCH, POPPY, hate to interrupt anything you might have goin on but you gotta see this yo! We're here!"
The two heard Tiny call out for them from inches away, and anything that was happening with them just now was cut short.
They turned to look toward the direction that they heard Tiny call them from, then back at each other.
"We- we should-"
"Yeah, uh, yeah."
Both of them stood up awkwardly and quietly after their moment had just been interrupted.
The awkwardness was luckily cut short though when Poppy saw Branch's hand reached out to her, looking up at his face to see a smile.
She smiled back at him and happily took her hand into his, and they began to walk over to the front.
"We'll come back to this." Branch mumbled to her, and he swore he could feel his ears heat up as she let out the quietest but sweetest giggle ever.