Chapter 4

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Everybody's jaw dropped, eyes extremely widen and open mouths.

Branch finds just enough courage to turn his face to his brothers. Even the music had stopped, he didn't know if it was because of his brain that was dissociating itself or someone had turned it off on purpose to make everything more frightening and anxiety-inducing.

This was a nightmare that came true.

What a disaster.

That's not how he planned for his brothers to find out. For a moment he thought of pack his thighs, running away, changing his name and never be found again. But Branch wasn't known for being a coward, he was never scared to step in when the situation required it. Even though, dealing with a giant and dangerous creature was easier than dealing with his own feelings.

He was on the verge breaking down in front the whole village. Tears were making their way through his eyeballs, labored breathing, his rib cage getting smaller and smaller, and his heart getting too big for his chest.

Panic.

Fear.

Anxiety.

The only emotions he could feel at the moment.

The older brothers focused their attention and stare on the youngest. Concern and worry clearly written all over their face.

"W-what...?"   Floyd's voice was almost impossible to hear. His heart beating fast and aggressively, threatening to jump out his chest.

"Branch... What are they saying?"  Clay tried to speak lauder than Floyd, but failed.

The youngest opened his mouth a few times but not a sound came out.

"HA!.. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

The tension in the air suddenly disappeared. they all turned to face the young pink troll who seemed to have the best laugh of her life, slapping her own knee.

"Uuuu Cooper, that was really a great joke!" Poppy wiped away a non existent tear.

The snack-pack glanced eachother confused. Joke? What joke?

"But- Poppy, Cooper didn't-"  before Biggie could finish his sentence, Poppy cut him off.

"Sorry if Cooper's joke made you feel uncomfortable, guys."  she leaned closer to the brothers, putting a hand in front of the side that faced her friends, making her words audible only for the four concerned trolls. "Cooper has a quite...unique humor."

The eyes of the two oldest trolls shoot from the queen of pop trolls to the navy blue troll next to them. It looked like they were seeing him now for the first time, his colors are actually darker than theirs and how they remembered them when Branch was a little trolling, but not enough to be considered a gray troll.

Maybe that's what Poppy was talking about, this Cooper dude was calling Branch a gray troll as a joke due to his color not being so bright. But what about the non singing for twenty years?

"What about the non singing part then?"  John Dory crossed his arms, not fully convinced yet.

"Ooh that, uhm Branch used to be SUPER shy. He always refused to sing in front of the others, so cute!"  Poppy walked to her boyfriend and gently pinched his cheeks, causing to make both chuckles. "But luckily, he managed to get over it, am I right? After all he is in another boyband."

Branch whispered in her ear a thank you, it was already the second time she saved him today. He was so glad to have her, if she wasn't there he probably would have cried his eyes out and ran away like he projected if things got out of hands.

Though he felt like he was giving her a lot of burden and trouble. He knew she couldn't keep a secret for too long without going crazy and starting to avoid the troll that were involved in it.

The couple's friends were perplexed, confused and speechless. What was Poppy talking about? She knew very well that Branch has been gray for most of his life and didn't sing AT ALL. That until not too long ago, when he decided to put away his own trauma to give the young princess hope and singed for her, founding again his true colors.

The group could see the distress on Branch's face, he seemed to be very uncomfortable whenever this topic was brought up since his brothers came back and whatever was the reason, it was not their business.

Plus Branch never mentioned having family members other than his grandmother to anyone, not even to Poppy, they remember her shock when JD showed up to Bridget's wedding.

They glanced at each other and telepathically decided to not say anything.

Branch feared that his older brothers were still suspicious and not letting the topic go, but taking a furtive look at them, he noticed that they seemed to be satisfied and Branch sighed in relief. For now he was safe, he still had to tell the truth soon or later and he knew that.

Tha party came to an end and the village slowly started to go in their own pods and sleep, gathering energies for the next day. After there was no one left, the bros started to take their leave too.

Floyd still had to recover, and staying up 'til late at night was not the ideal. John Dory even offered to carry him, but Branch reminded him how he got two Charlie's horses when he tried to pick him up.

"B, are you coming with us?"  Clay asked as he wrapped his arm around Floyd's shoulder and manhandled him.

"Nah, I'm staying with Poppy. I'll help her cleaning around, you guys are free to go to sleep tho. It's the second night in a row that you stay up late." Branch's tone sounded more caring than he meant to.

"Aw how sweet! Branchie cares for us, bros!"  Bruce teased, bouncing his eyebrows while JD made his usual smug face.

"GOOD NIGHT!" Branch tries to dismiss them as soon as possible, embarrassed.

He could hear Clay mumbled snickering to the other brothers "He's the one who put us to bed now." as they walked off.

Branch shocked his head with a little grin spreading on his face. He took a trash bag and was about to throw away all the empty cups, but Poppy gently stopped him and held his free hand.

"These days, with the rescue mission and getting the band together, we didn't spend a lot of time alone..." she reflected.

"Can we stay a little bit together? We'll clean everything up later." she almost begged with puppy eyes.

Branch just smiled fondly and nodded, he kind of missed his girlfriend even though she was there next to him the whole time.

They walked hand in hand under a tree and sat down. They rested their head against the other's, closed their eyes and stayed in silence, enjoying each other's company.

"How are you feeling, Branchiefer?" Poppy's voice and the critters' sounds were the only things that could be heard.

"Mhh.." Branch's only answer was a groan before explained it "I don't know, Poppiefer.. I have mixed feelings." his arm tensed and his position became stiff.

Poppy tighten her hold on his hand and turned to take a look at him "Do you think you know why is that?" she tried to sound patient and supporting as much as possible.

Branch stayed quite and she took that as a "No". So she proceed to ask "Well then...What are those mixed feelings of yours, hm?" she leaned closer to him.

Meanwhile with the bros...

"Uhh...guys, do you know how to enter the bunker?" Floyd scratched the back of his neck.

"I remember him moving that one rock over there." Bruce said while pointing to the big rock he was referring to.

John tried to imitate the same thing his young brother did that afternoon, but the entrance of the bunker didn't open, instead, it made a weird buzz sound and a panel with numbers and letters emerged from the earth.

"AHHCK!" the four brothers made a squeaking sound and clenched to each other, not expecting it.

"I think.. We have to insert a code to enter?" Clay stared at the panel still a little bit frightened.

"Really? Could never tell, Clay." Bruce side-eyed his younger brother.

"Not the time for getting bitter and sassy, guys. I don't know the code, what about you three? Did Branch tell any of you what it is ?" Floyd stepped up.

The three older brothers both shake their head in negative.

"Wow. A security system for a bunker, what was the reason Branch installed it for anyway? The other trolls doesn't give the impression to be the type of introducing in others' houses..." John seemed genuinely confused.

They all shrugged their shoulders. They seemed to realize just now that their baby brother was acting a little bit off, but not too alarming for the moment.

"I'll go ask Branch the code!" Clay ran off, he was the least tired out of them.

After 2 minutes he reached to the place where the party was held a little while ago and where the troll concerned was at.

"Hey Branch, we need the cod-" Clay cut himself off when he noticed his lil bro talking to his girlfriend.

He had no intention of eavesdropping on their conversation, and before he would have witnessed something embarrassing, he planned of making his presence known. But the more he got close, the more he started to pay attention to the topic the young couple was talking about.

"-What are those mixed feelings of yours, hm?"

Clay frowned, his initial intention was to mind his own business, ask Branch what the code was, go to back at the bunker and lay in bed as soon as possible. But then he noticed the conflicted expression Branch had and his fidgeting, he remembered that Branch used to fidget a lot when he was little and was either afraid to say something or was anxious. So he decided to hide in the bushes to understand what was bothering his baby brother.

"it's just-" when Branch started talking, his voice cracked, he kept his mouth shut for a few seconds to pull himself together and started to express himself again.

"Why now?"

" 'Why now?' ??" Poppy was confused, what did Branch mean with that?

"Why do they want to a part of my life now? Why does it matter now?" Branch sounded genuinely lost and hurt.

"Branch, i don't understand. After we saved Floyd, you said that you were grateful and happy for your brothers being there for you again..." Poppy really wanted to try to fathom her boyfriend.

"I know Poppy, i know. But maybe I said it because I was relieved and happy that Floyd was safe and sound, and not because I really think so..." the dull colored troll clenched his knees to his chest and hugged himself, he was so frustrated.

"What annoys me the most is that they pretend that nothing ever happened! " the enrage could be heard in his voice.

"Nothing will change the fact that all of them left, nothing will change that they left me on my own for 20 years!" he shriek with clenched fist.

Poppy was a little bit caught off guard by her boyfriend anger, she recognized it was reasonable tho. The queen imagined how it must feel when someone wasn't there for most of your life and then suddenly appear again from nowhere. So she let him vent.

She remembered how she felt when she found out that she had an older sister, she was so shocked  and had so many questions, that her brain system stopped working for a few seconds. She didn't know that she existed before that moment, and she guessed that witnessing your brothers abandoning you , leaving you alone for decades and then suddenly being in your life again might be a little bit worse.

"They didn't even worry to ask how my life has been going while they were gone."  his fingers dig into the skin of his legs.

"When Clay said how each of us changed over the years...Listing all the things we accomplished in our lives...He didn't even know what to say about me. The only thing he could come up with was how many inches i grow and that i don't wear glasses anymore. They don't know anything about me..."

Poppy wanted to comfort his boyfriend, but in that moment he didn't need comfort, he needed to be listened. Branch needed someone who listened to him for once.

Clay tried to justify himself and his brothers behavior, they were all stressed and scared because Floyd was on death's edge. But in the end, that didn't uphold anything. He wanted to show himself and beg for forgiveness to his baby brother, but then Branch said something that made him unable to move a muscle.

"If they didn't need me to archive to the Perfect Family Harmony, they'd never come back for me and kept ignoring my existence. Just like they have done for all these past years."

Branch muttered that sentence, but the words had so much impact that they were deafening.

Poppy and Clay's hearts broke. Because it was, in fact, true.

Poppy almost suffocated Branch with a hug, she was happy that he wasn't bottling his fellings up, but her heart ached at the sight of him being in so much pain.

He hugged her back and sighed, talking out loud his internal thoughts helped to get off some weight from his chest.

Clay waited a little bit before walking to them, just to not make too obvious that he heard their conversation. He stomped on the ground and moved the bushes on purpose, so they knew someone was coming and had time to pretend nothing happened.

"Hey guys, sorry to interrupt your moment. Branch, we need the code to go inside the bunker." Clay put all his willpower into it not to burst into tears and to seem as calm as possible.

"Oh right! Sorry, forgot about that. It's the date i sang my first song, do you remember it or do i have-" Branch couldn't finish his sentence.

"NOPE! Not at all! I remembered it like it was yesterday, because I CARE, B!" the lime haired troll said in an unusual high tone and a strange widen smile that seemed to be strained. When he turned and started to walk away, he face-palmed and cursed himself mentally.

Poppy and Branch were both stunned by the weird interaction, shooting each other a look.

Due to Clay's odd behavior, Branch thought that Clay might have heard part of their conversation, but shrugged it off. He would definitely feel someone's presence, he is a survivalist. But Branch doesn't seem to know that when he's being emotional, his danger and survival sense doesn't work too well.

When Clay went back to the rest of the brothers, he saw John and Bruce sitting on the ground and Floyd laying down, resting his head on John's leg and almost fully asleep.

Bruce was interested in counting the blades of grass, when he finally noticed his presence.

"Ugh! Finally dude!" Bruce's rejoice caught the other two's attention.

"Were you lost or something? What took you so much?" John got pretty much irritated when he was tired and sleepy.

Clay didn't talk until he reached them.

"Guys..we have to talk. Urgently."

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