One day while out collecting supplies for his bunker, Branch's sensitive ears nearly burst at the sound of a bloodcurdling scream a few feet away. Sneaking behind a bush to see what was the matter, but not wanting to get involved, as the grey troll preferred to keep to himself then get caught in the middle of the other Trolls and risk getting trapped in one of their insipid hug times. That's when he saw her, a beautiful fluorescent pink troll with her beautiful magenta hair in an adorable ponytail. He couldn't take his eyes away from her beauty. He of course recognized her immediately as Princess Poppy, and while he had always thought she was cute, there was something about the way she looked when she wasn't inviting her to another one of her bergen attracters... I mean parties. Absolutely breath taking. Even he had a hard time seeing her flaws, which had always been so easy for him to do before, even if they never were physical flaws. She was perfect, physically. In Branch's opinion her unending happiness scaled from slightly irritating, albeit sweet, to completely unendurable.

As he knelt behind the bush taking in her stunning features, he couldn't stop himself from thinking Why does she always invite me to her parties? It had never really occurred to him before now. She was the princess and he was nothing but the village grump who always denied her requests. So then why? Why did she insist on trying? Maybe... He thought... no it can't be. Could she possibly... care for him? In the way he cared for, no, longed for her? No. Its just wishful thinking. He told himself. Besides, if I let her get close and lose her... no. I can't ever let that happen again. Not after... He thought as a tear formed in his eye... not after grandma.

It was not until just now he remembered why he had found her in the first place. That damn scream. While lost in his day dream that seemed to go on for hours, but really only lasted a couple of seconds, he had failed to notice, which is very rare for the perceptive grey troll, that the princess had been drenched in scalding coffee. If it had been any other troll, he would have just shrugged it off and continued collecting his supplies, but this wasn't just any troll. This was the princess and the secret owner of his heart, unbeknownst to anyone but Branch. He quickly rushed over to her, and took her by the wrist back to his bunker without letting anyone else discover the location of his secretive highly fortified bergen proof survival he was always mean to her, and to anyone it would appear as though he did not care about her in the slightest, he secretly loved seeing her gorgeous face every time she came by to hand him his personalized invitations. And although the glitter was always a bit over the top for his liking, he really appreciated that she never gave up on him in the ways everyone else had. He always tried to stay calm around her and not hurt her, but because of the incessant giggling and mocking of him by her friends, the Snack Pack, especially, ugh, Creek, he couldn't stop himself from blowing his top in a fit of rage. The sweet loving princess was always hurt in the collateral damage of his fury.

Shocked at this, and the scalding coffee that still drenched her shirt Poppy, didn't know how to react, so she instead just let Branch lead her wherever he planned on taking her. Upon seeing parts of the forest she had never seen before, she became very confused. Why was someone as cautious as Branch taking her into some random part of the forest. Come to think of it why was Branch taking her anywhere at all? She thought

"Wait here" Branch told her as he disappeared behind a patch of brush.

"Okay" She mumbled, still thoroughly confused.

All of a sudden a welcome mat, well it says GO AWAY so maybe welcome is the wrong word, opened up and Branch gestured for her to follow him in.

"Where are we?" She asked him.

Pushing down on a lever the two of them began descending deep into the underground. Branch then motioned proudly with his arm as he proclaimed "My bunker." matter of factly.

A smile crept across the princess's face hoping that maybe she had started to get him to open up. "What are we doing here?" she asked joyfully.

"I...I uh saw what umm happened with the coffee and um I w-wanted to help you." He stuttered getting more nervous by the minute afraid that she might think find the invitations he secretly kept and might find out about the things he wished to keep private, such as why he turned grey and his huge crush on her. Or his poetry about her... oh hair no. She mustn't find that.

She just beamed at him with that bright smile that seemed to light up the dark bunker. "Well thank you Branch. That is very kind of you. Does this mean you'll let finally let me in that big head of yours? Let me get to know you?" She asked mentally crossing her fingers in the hopes he would let her in after all this time.

"Don't get ahead of yourself." He snapped pointing a finger in her face surprising even himself. When she started pouting he finally said "Fine, but if I tell you I don't want you to know something back off, or its over, got it?"

"Yes yes yes, thank you. I'll be good I promise." She beamed.

"And this all stays between us. I don't want to be the gossip of the town or the Snack Pack." He sternly said.

"My lips are sealed." She smiled pretending to zip her lips, lock them, and throw away the key.

Oh that beautiful smile Branch thought. He couldn't help but let out a little chuckle which only made her beautiful smile bigger much to his delight.

"But before any of that, lets get you out of that wet shirts." He said handing her a spare shirt he had lying around.

She immediately took off her shirt, right there, right then in front of him like it was no big deal.

He couldn't stop himself from staring at her gorgeous skinny and toned tummy that led to her wide sexy hips which met her slender stunning legs. Oh hair was she something to look at He thought. With an even greater personality: Kind, sweet, strong, smart, funny and so caring to everyone, even him. It made his face become a darker shade of grey as his cheeks and ears grew hot as he blushed tremendously. It was in this moment he knew he was in love with her. It was in this moment he knew he would do anything to protect her, whether or not she reciprocated his feelings. He was going to take this time alone with her to try and figure out where her heart lied, but he knew his would always be with her.

Once Poppy finished putting on the new shirt, she just saw Branch standing there. She chuckled as he stared at her, not minding, but he still didn't stop. As much as she felt good that he was stunned by her, she really wanted to talk to him.

"HELLO! BRANCH!" She yelled brightly to get his attention.

"Huh? What? Oh. Hi, sorry. I was out of it for a second there." He replied.

"Yeah, you were really mesmerized by something. I wonder what it was?" She said sarcastically in a sexy husky voice as she chuckled and winked at him, making him blush profusely, which only made her giggle more.

"So, you wanna talk now?" Branch asked.

"Yes please." She responded cheerfully as Branch led her to his couch.

"How about this?" He suggested. "One person asks the other a question and the other has to respond truthfully, and it just goes back and forth like that. Sound good?"

"Sounds great!" She replied. "You go first."

"Okay." He said. "Let's play."

A/N: Well, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. I hope to right more soon, although they may not be as long as this one. Please feel free to leave comments or suggestions or just constructive criticism or just PM me. Whatever you wanna do. I plan on making this about 5 chapters, maybe more. IDK I'll just see where the story goes. Anyways, see you later and I hope you enjoy. Love ya.