»»————- 🍼 ————-««
"...Okay Branch, nice prank! You got us bro." Clay said, poking the baby's cheek. "Oh, that feels real!"
"That's because it is real, Clay." Floyd replied, shaking his head at his brother.
Floyd carried the sleeping infant. "So, are we not gonna question that Branch is a baby now?" He asked.
"...No?"
"Of course you're not." Floyd sighed, pinching his nose bridge.
John examined the now baby Branch. "I can't help but think this is the resulting of our pranking..."
"You think? Maybe this is a lesson to you three." Floyd suggested.
"...Or?" Clay asked.
The emo troll groaned in frustration. "Okay, we're going to Poppy to figure this out."
"Can we get ice cream on the way?—"
"No Clay."
»»————- 🍼 ————-««
At Poppy's pod...
"And when we went down into his bunker, we found him like this." Floyd explained, holding out the snoozing baby.
"AWWWW!!"
Branch was snatched away by Poppy and Viva, who was somehow still fast asleep.
(Yes Viva is also here—)
"Look at him! Isn't he just the cutest thing in the world?!" Poppy cooed and awed at her now baby boyfriend.
"The cutest!" Viva agreed.
The girls soon stopped their little banter. "Anyway, you four are gonna take care of him, righttt?"
Floyd then spoke up. "Of course we are—"
"Um, about that...I'm a little busy, sorry!" John said quickly, attempting to leave the pod.
As he reached for the door, dark pink hair wrapped around him.
"Hey! What's the big ideaaAAAAAHH?!!!" John screamed, his voice growing higher in pitch as the hair tightened around him.
"You three are going nowhere." Poppy demanded. Her eyes darted over to Bruce and Clay.
Bruce held up his hands, not wanting any trouble. "Easy, easy. I'm not going anywhere."
All eyes went to Clay— Wait, where did he go?
"You'll never take me alive!" Clay screamed, running away.
"Viva, we've got a runner!" Poppy said, watching Clay run off.
"On it Poppy!" She replied, taking off after Clay.
Clay thought he was in the clear, until he heard rapid footsteps behind him. He turned his head. "VIVA?!"
"Surrender now Clay! No one has to get hurt!"
"NEVERRR!!"
Clay's hair wrapped around himself as he formed a ball and rolled away.
Viva knew she had the high ground now. "Big mistake Clay!" She formed a ball and rolled after him.
Clay saw her gaining up on him. "Viva, come on girl! I thought we were cool!"
"Sorry Clay, but a troll's got to do what a troll's got to do!"
"NOOOOOOO—"
»»————- 🍼 ————-««
Viva hummed happily as she walked into her sisters pod, a pouty Clay being dragged behind her.
"Got him!" Viva said victoriously.
"Nice going Vi!" Poppy said, giving her sister a high-five.
"AAH!" Clay grunted as he was thrown forward and onto the ground.
"Now, you three are going to help with your brother, understood?" Poppy asked in a serious tone.
"Queen's orders guys." Floyd said, looking at his brothers with a smile.
"Okay okay, we'll do it." John said, knowing he'd have to take responsibility as the oldest. Bruce had already agreed.
"Who's we?!" Clay asked, being stubborn. He was met with Viva's glare. "I-I mean, yeah, we! Hehehe! Please don't hurt me—"
"ANYWAY, look whose awake guys!" Poppy said excitedly.
Branch had finally woken up from his sleep. His big, curious eyes examined everyone in the room.
"AAAAH!! SO CUTE!!"
Poppy, Viva, and even Floyd began cooing over him. He just looked at them with those adorable, blue eyes.
"If you guys are wondering, things like this always happen in Pop Village. He will most likely be back to normal in a day or so." Poppy explained, handing Branch to John.
"Huh, okay then." John said, not wanting to question anything else that happens here.
Branch just stared at his brother. And of course, being a baby, he blew a raspberry.
John's face fell as the baby's saliva hit his face. "Greatttt..."
Branch giggled at his brother's expression. John just sighed and put the child into his hair.
"Now, I trust you will all watch over him?" Poppy asked.
Floyd nodded. "Definitely. We can make up for the past years."
"Good, now get going and bond with your baby brother!" Poppy pushed them out of the pod.
"...Can we get ice cream now?"
"CLAY!"
»»————- 🍼 ————-««
Branch sat in the driver seat of Rhonda. He turned the wheel, pretending he could drive. "Brrrrr, brrrrrr!"
The bros sat in the back, watching the little guy.
John decided to speak up, "Okay, what exactly do we do with—"
BEEP
The brothers jumped at the loud sound. They looked towards the source of the noise. Branch had honked the horn.
"Anyways, as I was saying, what do we do with—"
BEEP
"What do we do with—"
BEEP
John's eyes twitched. "With—"
BEEP
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP
"WILL SOMEONE GET BRANCH AWAY FROM THE HORN?!!" John said, covering his ears. Clay laughed, finding his brothers annoyance funny.
Bruce eventually went over to retrieve the child. "Alright little guy, let's not aggravate your big brother."
Branch just babbled cutely, not knowing what he did wrong. He crawled up into Bruce's hair.
"Huh, woah! Hey!" Branch had stepped on his nose as he went up.
As big as Bruce's hair was, it was a lot of room in there. Branch laughed as he went down and out of his hair like a slide. His hair design made it perfect to slide down.
Branch crawled back to him and reached to be picked up so he could slide down again.
"Okay okay, one more time." Bruce said as he chuckled and lifted Branch into his hair again.
The little troll slid out of his hair again, clapping happily.
The brothers saw this cute interaction. "Huh, maybe this won't be so bad." John thought.
Clay agreed. "Yeah, what's the worst that could happen?—"
John covered his mouth. "Don't jinx it."
"Uh, guys, was the door on Rhonda always open?" Floyd asked.
They all turned their heads towards the open door, and there was no sign of Branch. Of course, being a baby, one look away and he's gone.
"...Well sh*t—"
TO BE CONTINUED