Brodacious! A BroZone Oneshot Collection

Moments

"Oh, hey, Branch... just wondering if I could borrow something...."

Branch raised an eyebrow at Poppy, thoroughly confused. "What?"

"Your bunker!"

Before he could ask what she meant, dozens upon dozens of Trolls who had not been captured by the Chef Bergen came tumbling down the sloping tunnel that led down into his bunker. Some squealed in delight as they slid down, and as soon as they'd reached the bottom began to ransack the place, grabbing the food and drinks that were there.

"No! No! Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait!" Branch called out. But nobody was listening. He groaned, knowing that there would be a lot of cleanup to do to his brothers' rooms once they were all gone and out of there. And they would be, if he could help it. But first, he had to talk to the pink princess, who had brought all the Trolls in there without his permission in the first place.

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Finally, Branch thought, observing the stunned look on Poppy's face that was an expression other than the smiles and laughs she'd had for the past hour.

He turned away from her, continuing the trek through the forest and avoiding staring too long at the hurt that was in her eyes. He ignored the little feeling inside of him that made him feel bad for what he'd said, and vouched to listen to the side of him that had dominated his survivalist lifestyle. It's the truth, he reasoned. And if she doesn't like it, that's her problem.

Poppy soon recovered and scurried up to his side in an effort to defend herself. "Hey! I know it's not all cupcakes and rainbows, but I'd rather go through life thinking that it mostly is, instead of being like you." She frowned slightly at him and vented the frustrations she had in her failure to get him to be a part of the Troll community. "You don't sing. You don't dance. You're so gray all the time! What happened to you?"

Branch had to suppress a snort. You don't know the HALF of it, he wanted to say. And Poppy didn't need to know his business. She didn't need to know what happened to his grandmother, or even before that event, when his four older brothers had picked up and left, leaving him to fend for himself with hardly a fair reason why. It had been his first taste of the real world and its cruelty. Something that Poppy clearly hadn't been exposed to. But Branch knew better than to go make his comment and stir even more questions from the curious princess. He held up a hand and suddenly hushed her. "SHH!"

Poppy halted, her fuchsia eyes wide. "Bergen?" she asked.

"Maybe," he whispered back.

It was only a few moments later, when Branch proceeded and when nothing ominous seemed to be lurking in the shadows, did Poppy realize what was really going on.

"There's no Bergen, is there? You just said that so I'd stop talking!"

Branch stopped to answer once again. "Maybe."

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Who does this guy think he is? Branch's inner thoughts growled.

He and Poppy were wasting valuable time, standing here and putting up with this cloud dude's antics. If Poppy really cared about the safety of her friends, then she'd see how pointless this whole thing was. But nooooo. She had to be there, off to the side, giggling at Branch's perplexion and at how the socked cloud was snickering.

Yeah... he's getting socked by the time THIS is over, Branch thought, and this time he wasn't speaking of the cloud's article of clothing.