Chapter 5

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"Clay, brother, we need to talk NOW?!" the only thing John Dory wanted to do at the moment was fall asleep, not to talk about whatever Clay wanted to right now.

"No, not now, it's too late and we are all tired." Clay stared down at the grass  "But I did not use the term 'urgent' inappropriately. We'll discuss about it tomorrow morning, as soon all of us four wake up."

"Wait- you said the four of us?" Floyd sat up and pointed to himself and his brothers "What about Branch?"

"Well..it's something ABOUT Branch, we have to talk about Branch. That's why he isn't included." a serious and concerned gaze in the frizzy haired troll.

"Did something happen to him? Is he alright?" Bruce's father instinct kicked in.

"Yes...i mean no. Ugh, i don't know how to explain this." Clay placed a hand on the sides of his head, frustrated "Listen, i can't explain without going deep in the topic and right now it's not the moment. So, like i said, we'll discuss about it tomorrow morning."

The tall troll didn't pay attention to his brothers' anxious and concerned faces and headed to the panel, where he inserted the code and the entrance finally and jumped in when the mat moved aside, revealing the entrance.

The other three shared a look before following Clay inside. His shocked and aching expression certainly did not go unnoticed.

Once they were all inside, they wished each other good night and went into their rooms. Each of them had a pyjamas at the feet of the beds. Branch must have put them there before heading out for the party, how adorable.

Useless to say that none of them found as easy as pie to fall asleep that night. John, Bruce and Floyd were worried, not having a single idea of what could be wrong with Branch. Yes, there were a few episodes where he acted a little bit weird, for their opinion, but they thought it was nothing serious.

Clay, on the other hand, was ruminating over Branch's entire speech. Hearing how much resentment his lil brother felt towards him and the others felt like a punch in the stomach. He started to understand why it seemed like that Branch alway put some distance from them.

Eventually, after what seemed to be an hour, Floyd fainted in his bed from tiredness. Bruce followed him shortly after. Clay still couldn't fall asleep, so to clear his mind he started to read a new book,and everyone knows that when he started reading, he entered a whole new dimension, where no one could reach him. John Dory was also still awake. His mind was a mess, Clay didn't even mention what the conversation that was going to be held the next day was about, but he tried to imagine what could be wrong with his youngest brother, while he was trying to prepare himself mentally for the next day, staring at the ceiling.

Suddenly an elevator sound could be heard, meaning that Branch just came back. John heard lights steps, if he didn't knew that Branch was going to his own room, he could never tell someone walked by.

Before he knew, John Dory got up from his bed and opened the door, taking a peep outside.

"Branch? Are you there buddy?" what a dumb question, John thought to himself.

"Ah, sorry if i woke up John. Just got back, do you need anything?"  Branch sounded tired and drained, that made the older troll worry even more.

"Nono, you didn't wake me up, i still wasn't asleep, bro. I heard the elevator stopping here and went out to check." John begins to reduce the distance between them and walked over to Branch.

But as soon as he got too close, according to Branch's taste, the younger troll took a few steps back. John frowned a little, Clay was right, there was something wrong with Branch. The more he spent time with him, the more he noticed he was acting bizarre.

There was an awkward moment where they both stayed silent. Branch avoided making eye contact, staring at everything but his older brother. John had his stare focused on the troll in front of him and studied his face, until he noticed his eyes being sore.

"Branch, did you cry?" John leaned slightly closer to inspect his brother's face better.

"W-what? No! No no, I'm just really tired..." Branch jumped back and put his hands in front of him in defense "I had to help Poppy clean up everything, and i was already tired from the party." he added when he noticed that John Dory didn't seem to be convinced enough.

"Mh, alright. If that's so..." JD put a hand on Branch's shoulder before he could avoid the contact "If you're so tired, i shouldn't keep you here any longer, then."

John Dory moved his hand from Branch's shoulder to the top of his head and patted gently "Sleep tight, baby B." and with that he returned to his room

Branch stayed motionless for a second. That contact gave him a feel of warmth in his chest. Finally a new feeling that wasn't anger and rage towards his oldest brother. Could it be that they were moving to the right direction? He didn't even get too irritated when he called him "Baby B"

The next morning

Floyd seemed to be the last one to wake up, the others left him to sleep a little bit more to have enough energies for the day.

In the end he woke up due to the smell of coffee impregnating the air in every single angle of the bunker and the soft male voices of his brothers in the other room.

Man. It's been an eternity since the last time his awakening was this. He got out of his room with a smile spreading on his lips but it dropped slowly as soon he met serious faces.

Oh right. Clay said they all had to talk this morning. About Branch. This particular didn't help with the anxiety he was feeling. They were waiting only for him, it seemed.

Floyd silently sat at the table, next to Clay and prepared himself to be ready for anything that would come out of his brother's mouth.

"Do you know if Branch is still asleep or went out?" the magenta haired troll whispered carefully, just in case the troll they were going to talk about, would appear out of nowhere and hear them talking behind his shoulders.

"I heard the door of his bedroom close and a second later the elevator moving. I suppose he's out since this morning early" Bruce didn't turn to face his brother while he finished cooking breakfast.

"Weird, yesterday night i talked to him and he looked like he could sleep for years.." John Dory talked with eyes closed while he sipped his  black coffee.

"It's better like this, we are free to talk without the fear that he could eavesdrop." Clay wasn't even eating, he just kept stabbing his pancakes with a fork.

"FOR POP'S SAKE, CLAY! Just talk already, i can't put up with this anymore" like in the past, Bruce was usual bottling up his stress and anxiety until he finally snapped. The purple haired troll throw exasperated the pan he just used in the stove and sat together with the others.

"Alright then..." Clay takes a big sigh before continuing to speak "I'm afraid Branch either hate us with every cell in his body or is fully convinced that we do not care about him..."

There, Clay dropped the bomb.

The kitchen was dead silent. The lime haired troll didn't dare to look his brothers in their eyes, his own words hurt him. Maybe he could have been a little bit more delicate, but in his opinion, not beating around the bush would have been better.

John, Bruce, and Floyd were horrified at the thought that either option, or worse, both, was true.

"Why are you saying this, Clay?..." Floyd was on the verge of tears and had a shaky voice.

Clay traveled back to 12 hours ago with his mind "Last night, when i went to ask Branch about the code, i saw him talking with Poppy. At first my intention was to get the code and leave them be..but then.." Clay trailed off.

He took a moment, remembering perfectly well Branch's words, and how much they hurt.

"He's full of anger. We left him alone for decades, then we suddenly became part of his life again and pretended that all those years we were apart never existed. We are not settling our issues, we're playing the happy family, guys..." Clay finally made eye contact with the trolls in front of him.

Now it was their turn to look down and stare at the table.

"He fully believes that if Floyd wasn't in a life or death situation, or archiving the Perfect Family Harmony wasn't necessary to save him, we would have never came back for him" Clay turned to take a glimpse of Branch's room that was down at the hallway.

The 3 bros were flabbergasted and speechless.

"And what's worse is that it's probably true, we cannot deny this. We have created our own life, our own houses and our own family. And even if we all missed each other, none of us had the guts to search the others and start as a family again..if Floyd or any of us wasn't in danger..." Clay knew that those words were like knifes, but he was being honest.

John hid his face in his hands, Floyd had tears at the angle of his eyes and couldn't say anything because his lips were trembling so much, while Bruce muttered a "oh god.."

"Morning guys!" the bros' head snapped in unison towards the voice. Branch hopped off the elevator and walked to them.

"Have you already had breakfast? Poppy gave me something for you!" he swang a picnic basket that seemed to contain a lot of food, Branch placed it on the table.  "These are the leftovers of last night's party. They still taste good, I've checked myself this morning." the dull colored troll got closer to the coffee pot and filled a mug.

The older trolls they wondered how Branch could talk to them without showing the resentment and hatred he felt, how he could pretend that nothing ever happened?

They figured out he took that after them, seems like pretending everything was just fine was in their DNA after all.

Bruce cleared a little his throat before speaking, covering Floyd while the second youngest rub his teary eyes. "That's very nice of her, we'll thank her later, am I right bros?"  he glanced at the ones sat around him.

The three just nodded with a little smile and hums.

"Haha I'm sure she's gonna send breakfast every morning if she sees how much it makes you guys happy." Branch's voice echoed a little while he talked trough the mug.

"Hey umh..Branch, talking seriously now, we're really happy you've got such a great girl in your life." John Dory suddenly had the need to express the thought he had , that made Branch give him a weird look but turned into a smile really soon.

"You are such an adorable couple, i can tell you love eachother very much." Floyd commented resting his chin on his hand. Branch was both flattered and embarrassed about the fact that their love was so clear to everyone.

"Right, who possibly could be better than a literal queen. Also how the heck did you managed to pull her, Branchieeee?" Clay joked to lighten up the mood.

"Ha ha ha. For you're information Clay, i didn't do anything special to make her love me back, I just was myself. Plus i don't think I'm the ugliest troll on the earth.." Branch grinned a little when he said the last sentence.

"Well, have you seen us? It's obvious that in our family there's only fine and good looking genes!" Bruce made his iconic smug face, rising an eyebrow and winking.

Everybody in the room laughed and giggled.

"Ooohhh boyy, it's so nice having these bros moments again!" John clenched Clay with an arm , who made a fake annoyed groan at the physical touch.

"Since we spent all those past years apart, i say we have some quality time together!" It was nice seeing Floyd being enthusiast. The other four brothers were still worried about his health, but they didn't want to suffocate and oppress him too much with their attention.

Branch's back muscles tenses up at his older brother's word"Quality time together?..As the five of us? Together?"

"Yea! We should totally do that. This is a reunion after all." Bruce agreed with his younger brother, matching his enthusiasm.

"Maybe we could go on camping trip, Rhonda will gladly be our guide." John obviously opted for a 'survival' thing.

"I say we go in a museum, instead. Just the idea of smelling culture makes me feel alive." Clay started to daydream, droll almost dropped out his mouth.

While the four older brothers were deciding where possibly go to spend time together qs a family, Branch's mind went blank. If they got closer, they would have noticed his weird behavior and start questioning things.

But on the other hand, this was an opportunity to grow a bond with them and finally be able to talk his heart out to and tell'em everything.

But, what about Floyd? It hasn't been not even 3 complete days since he got rescued. What about his health, would another trip really help?

"-Let's ask Branch then, B what do you say?" Branch was roughly brought back to reality at the mention of his name "Huh?"

"What do you say Bitty B? Would you like to come on a trip with us?"

Branch found four pair of eyes focused on him, waiting for a reply.

He took his time before answering, he still didn't know what was the better choice. Seeing that the youngest wasn't saying anything, the older ones lost hope and waited to hear a ''No''.

"Alright, we'll go to this trip. Let's bro!" Branch ended up giving in the idea of spending time alone with his brothers

"YEEESS BRANCH THAT'S THE SPIRIT!" they all cheered, not expecting for the younger one to accept.

"We gotta make this so epic that it's be unforgettable! After all our time together it's limited and in less than a week we'll all be back to our own lives again!"

'..oh...right..' ______________________________________

Hey guys! I need for your opinion on something Would you like me posting every day a new chapter? (but the chapters being shorter) OrWould you like me posting once or twice at week? (but the chapters being wayyyyy longer)