Hey everybody! I know, I know this isn't the next chapter of Enchanted-A Trolls Story, but I've had this idea in my head since June, and I felt like writing something a little different. I wrote this on my phone while on vacation, so please enjoy!
Please note: This story is AU pre-movie.
On with the story!
"Truth or dare, Suki?" Chenille asked, smiling at her friend across Poppy's pod. The red troll thought for a moment.
"Hmmm…Truth." Chenille winked at her friends, then turned to Suki.
"Out of our friends, who would you kiss, date, and marry?"
"Wow. Okay, um, kiss: Biggie, date: Guy Diamond, marry:…" The next words were too quiet to be heard.
"Marry…" Satin prompted. Suki turned even redder, if that was possible.
"Cooper."
"I KNEW IT!" Poppy squealed, bouncing up and down. She and her girlfriends sat in a small circle in the middle of her dark pink pod, their sleeping bags spread out on the soft green floor.
"Since when do you like Cooper?" Smidge questioned.
"At the last party I let Poppy take over the tunes for a while, right?" Suki explained. "Well, when Poppy started playing that darn slow song, I was standing off to the side by myself. Then Cooper came over and stood beside me. For a minute he just stood there, looking anywhere but at me, but then he said, 'Would you like to dance?' And he was so sweet and romantic, it just felt so-right. So I'm considering asking him out. It is so hard to find a nice, single troll these days, you know?"
"That's true." Chenille agreed. "I mean, even Poppy doesn't have a boyfriend."
"Not yet, anyway." Her twin interjected with a smirk. "When do you think Creek's going to make a move, Pops?"
Poppy shook her head at them. "Uh, uh, uh. Nice try, girls. Isn't it your turn, Satin?" Her attempt at re-directing the conversation was successful, to her relief. She really didn't feel like talking about Creek right now. It wasn't that she didn't like him, they booped each other noses and flirted a couple of times, but for some reason she felt like he wasn't the troll for her.
"Okay, Satin, truth or dare?" Suki asked. The pink twin rolled her eyes playfully.
"Dare. You're really bad at thinking of them."
"No!" Suki cried. "Please pick truth, I had such a good truth question!"
Satin shook her head. "No way!"
Poppy watched as Suki looked helplessly around the circle, struggling to come up with a dare. A sneaky smile crossed her face and she leaned in to whisper in Suki's ear. Suki giggled.
"Oooo, good one, Poppy! Satin, I dare you to wear an outfit that Smidge picks out for you!"
All eyes turned to Satin, who looked utterly horrified. It was common knowledge among the Snack Pack that Smidge had no fashion sense whatsoever.
"And," Suki continued. "You have to wear this outfit tomorrow for two hours at least!"
Everyone, save for Satin, burst out laughing. Smidge jumped to her feet and dove into Poppy's closet. The princess was the same size as Satin, so she had given Smidge free range of her ensembles. When the tiny yellow troll emerged, she was carrying a large bundle of colourful clothes with her hair.
"Okay Satin," she said with an evil grin. "I'm ready when you are!"
The pink twin climbed to her feet with a gulp, and followed Smidge into another room, her hair stretching away from Chenille. For the next few minutes, there was relative quiet as Suki and Chenille congratulated Poppy on her idea. Then, without warning, a loud shriek came from behind the nearby door.
"NO! Not the PLAID!"
Suki and Poppy broke into peals of laughter while Chenille shuddered, grateful that she wasn't receiving Smidge's 'style advice'.
Smidge stepped back into Poppy's living room, then turned and shot her blue hair into the room behind her, bringing Satin into view. She covered her face with her hands.
"Nobody look at me!"
Of course, everyone did. Satin was wearing a purple plaid skirt paired with a sparkly neon yellow one-shoulder top. On her feet were deep red ballet flats. The whole outfit was topped off with a moss green cap that clashed horribly with her complexion.
"Eww… Poppy, where did you get that?" Chenille exclaimed, pointing at Satin's head.
"It was a gift, alright?" Poppy said, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes. "It's not like I wear it!"
"Stop laughing!" Satin wailed. "Can I take this off now?"
"Yes, but remember, you have to wear it tomorrow for at least two hours!" Suki replied.
Satin hurried away to change clothes, but not before stopping to throw a glare over her shoulder at the troll princess.
"I'll get you for this, Poppy."
Once Satin rejoined the circle, dressed once again in her pink and cream leotard, she turned to Poppy.
"Poppy, truth or dare?"
"Dare, please!"
Satin smiled to herself, then paused to think. She had to make this good. But coming up with a dare for Poppy was more difficult than she had thought. Poppy was so confident, outgoing, and carefree, that nothing really bothered her. Nothing really got to her except…
Smirking smugly at Poppy, who grinned back in challenge, Satin delivered her punishment.
"Poppy, I dare you to go into the forest…"
Poppy shrugged. That didn't sound so bad.
"Go to a certain grey troll's bunker…"
No problem, Poppy thought. She did that all the time.
"And get him to come outside with you."
Easy-breezy! Poppy tried to coax Branch out of his dark hole almost every day.
More often than not, he was coming out anyways to gather supplies and such, but Poppy still counted those times as a success. Of course, he always went right back in the second Poppy started singing. She could not understand his aversion to her voice. Maybe he was jealous of her voice since he had an awful one? Poppy wasn't sure.
But going to Branch's bunker at night and getting him to come outside wasn't much of a dare. The other girls appeared to think so too, all of them protesting loudly until Satin held up a hand, indicating that she wasn't finished.
"And when he comes outside, I dare you to kiss him! On the lips!"
"Ooooo!" Gasped Smidge, Suki, and Chenille before all three started to giggle. Poppy had become a pink statue, frozen on the floor with her mouth wide open in shock.
Satin laughed, too. She couldn't help herself, the princess's expression was just too comical to resist!
"K-kiss Branch?" Poppy stammered. "But I've never kissed anyone before!"
"Then it's time you did!" Chenille declared.
"It won't be that hard, Pops!" Satin reassured her. "All you have to do is kiss him on the lips for at least ten seconds, and you're done!"
"But what if he freaks out and yells at me?"
"Run away before he has a chance to say anything." Suki advised. "He probably won't know what to say to you anyway."
"Oh, and you can't tell him it's a dare, or that you're going to kiss him, you have to just do it!" Satin told her.
Poppy gulped nervously. She knew she had to complete the dare, but the thought of kissing Branch made her insides squirm. They weren't very close, in fact, she barely knew him at all. She wanted more than anything to be his friend and make him happy, but she doubted that kissing him would help bring out his inner troll.
Poppy glanced at her friends, who were watching her expectantly. With a sigh, she clambered to her feet.
"Let's go."
In a camouflaged bunker in the forest, a young grey troll sat at a small wooden table. The room he sat in was dug deep into the earth, and the walls were covered with plans, maps, and phrases written in red paint, each of them warning of unclear dangers.
In his hands, the grey troll held a small invitation. Cut out of pink paper in the shape of a flower, it was decorated with small colorful butterflies and the words 'You're Invited' in gold glitter.
Branch smiled softly down at the invitation. It had been hand- made by the princess, as had all her other invitations, to invite him to her sixteenth birthday party. It was one of the few she had ever given him that had not sprayed glitter in his face.
Thinking back, Branch could still remember the smile on Poppy's face when she had given it to him. They had been alone for once, without her ever-present entourage staring him down. When she had brought the invitation out from behind her back, for one beautiful moment, she had smiled just for him.
"Just think about it?' She had said.
Branch hadn't had the heart to smash the invitation in front of her after that. So now he held in his hands the only invitation that he had made completely by Poppy, not destroyed nor repaired by him.
As he ran his hands gently over the paper, he wondered what troll princess was doing at the moment. Probably something with her friends. Or maybe she was out with Creek, Branch thought bitterly, clenching his fists. He had liked the guru troll, but when he had started blatantly flirting with Poppy, the dislike had become full-blown hatred.
He knew was wrong to be jealous, after all, Poppy was beautiful and cheerful, what troll wouldn't want to be with her? And he was, well, HIM. Poppy would never be happy with a grey troll.
Branch sighed and put the invitation safely on its shelf with the others. He was just turning to make his way to his bedroom when he heard a soft knocking, accompanied by a voice.
Straining his sensitive ears toward the sound, Branch realized it was the pink troll currently haunting his thoughts. Except this wasn't her usual incessant; "Branch, Branch, Branch," accompanied by frenzied knocking. The survivalist rushed to his elevator, immediately panicking. Something HAD to be wrong for Poppy to make such a dramatic change of character.
"Branch? Are you there?" Poppy called quietly. Looking nervously behind her, she spotted her friends peeking out from behind a tree root. They waved at Poppy then disappeared, camouflaging themselves with their hair.
A clicking sound from behind her caused Poppy to turn. A small slit had opened in Branch's not-so-welcome mat, which read 'Go Away'. Forcing herself to meet the other troll's icy blue eyes, Poppy smiled timidly.
"Oh, hi."
"What are you doing here, Poppy? Is everything okay?"
The troll princess was surprised to hear concern in his voice. This only made her more nervous for what she was about to do.
"No, well yes. I just- I need to talk to you."
Branch looked at her in surprise, but his disgruntled demeanor quickly returned.
"Fine," he said tiredly. "I'll open the door so you can come in."
"No!" Poppy said quickly. "I need you to come out here!"
Once again, Branch was confused by her strange behavior.
"Why?" he asked suspiciously.
"I need you out here with me." The pinkette repeated. "Please?"
With an over exaggerated sigh, Branch headed for the stairs that led to his hidden door. The troll princess had him at 'I need you', but he couldn't let he know that. He wondered what exactly she wanted to talk to him about. It could be yet another attempt to make him attend her parties and be 'happy', but something felt different about this time. Branch would never admit it, but he felt a little curious.
Poppy looked out at the shadowy forest, trying to pluck up her courage. She knew Branch would probably hate her after today, even more than he already did. However, this fear was eclipsed by the fact that she had never been kissed before. She had no idea how initiate the kiss, and she could only hop that the grey troll wouldn't shove her away the second she did.
The creaking of his door announced Branch's arrival, but Poppy didn't turn to face him. Instead, she stared off into the distance, her expression neutral. Branch squinted in the darkness in an attempt to see what she was looking at.
"Poppy, what are you-mmph!"
In one motion, the troll princess spun around, grabbed his dark green vest, and pulled his lips against hers. Branch's eyes opened wide with surprise.
Once he got over the initial shock, the sensation of Poppy kissing him began to sink in. He had been kissed before when he was a child, the kind some giggling girl gave you before you wiped it off in disgust. But this kiss was completely different.
The troll princess's lips were soft against his, and he found that she tasted faintly of strawberries. Poppy's eyes were closed, her cheeks bright red with embarrassment. Seeing her vulnerable like this made him feel special, and he could feel the walls around his heart crumbling.
Letting his own eyes close, Branch gently put his hands on the pink troll's waist. He had been standing there like an idiot for the past few seconds, so he figured he should do something with his hands.
The second she kissed Branch, Poppy started counting to ten. Struggling to ignore the strangely delightful feeling of kissing Branch, she had just made it to seven when he put his hands on her hips.
Poppy froze, loosing track of time completely. Branch hands were strong yet gentle, and for some reason he wasn't pushing her away. Through his vest, the pink troll could feel his heart pounding. Slowly, Poppy released the fabric from her clenched hands, resting them softly against ranch's chest as she continued to shyly kiss him.
In the bushes, Poppy's friends were at a loss for words, stunned by what they were seeing.
"How long has it been?" Suki whispered, not taking her eyes off the pair.
"About… twenty seconds." Chenille responded. Her twin nodded mutely.
"Oh my gawd!" breathed Smidge. "Are they ever going to stop?"
At that moment, Poppy realized how difficult it was becoming to breathe. Remembering the kiss only had to last for ten seconds, she pulled away, figuring it was well past that by now.
Branch opened his eyes when her lips left his, and the two stared at each other, neither one sure of what to do next. Forcing the expression of surprise and joy off his face, Branch opened his mouth to speak.
But the second his expression changed, Poppy turned around and bolted away towards Troll Village. Branch immediately took off after her, yelling her name as they crashed through grass and fallen leaves.
Remaining hidden, her friends chased after them, darting up a tree trunk and running along its branches. They used their hair to swing to the next tree.
"You know, this is kind of romantic!" Chenille giggled as they ran.
"How so?" Suki gasped, seriously missing her pet caterpillar, whom she normally rode.
"I mean, she kissed him and ran off, and now he's chasing her! And when he catches her, he'll tell her he loves her and they'll kiss again!"
The other girls stopped and stared at the blue fashionista for what felt like hours.
"He looks mad." Smidge supplied helpfully, looking back down at the running pair.
Satin agreed. "Yeah, I don't think he wants to kiss her."
Suki listened as her three friends began to argue. She had been sure this dare had been a terrible idea, but now she was having second thoughts. After seeing the way Branch reacted to Poppy's kiss, she began to wonder if there was another contender for her pink friend's heart.
Shaking her head, the red troll, turned her back on her friends and peeked over the edge of the branch. What she saw made her gasp.
"Girls, look!"
"Poppy, stop!"
The pink troll sped up, hearing the angry shout behind her. She had no idea which direction she was going, but all she could think about was getting away. The last thing she wanted was to talk about what had just happened. Branch clearly wasn't giving up the chase, however, and bit by bit, he was gaining on her.
Poppy gasped as she came to the base of giant rock, trapped in a dead end. She looked around wildly, but with tree roots on either side of her, the only way out was the way she'd come. The way Branch was coming.
When the grey troll charged around the corner, Poppy pressed her back against the rock, hoping he wouldn't see her. It was hopeless, of course, with her bright pink hair shining like a beacon, Branch slowed to a walk when he spotted her.
His expression was unreadable as he approached, stopping only when he was a few feet away. Poppy stared hard at the ground, unable to look him in the eye, and whispered;
"I'm sorry."
"Why did you do it?" Branch's voice had its usual rough edge, but she could hear something else, something almost-nervous? She pushed that thought away, Branch was never nervous. Herself on the other hand.
"I-I…I just-"
"Why?" Branch's voice escalated, anger creeping into his tone.
"I can't tell you, Branch!" Poppy wailed, starting to cry. "I don't know why I did it! I just feel different when I'm around you; weird and shy, and when I kissed you it felt so good! I know you hate me and I promise I'll leave you alone even though I'd pick you over Creek any day and- I don't even know!" Thoroughly embarrassed, Poppy hid her face in her hands. "I'm sorry, Branch." She whimpered.
To her surprise, she felt her hands being gently pulled away from her face. Still ashamed, she tried to turn her head away, when Branch tenderly cupped her cheek in his hand and turned her face back towards him.
"Poppy, don't ever apologize for tonight." Although it was dark, the pink troll could have sworn she saw his pupils dilate.
Branch took another step towards her, pressing her right up against the rock. His right hand moved gently behind her head, while his left rested on her waist.
"Branch?" Poppy asked quietly, unsure of whether to stop him or let him continue.
"Poppy." Branch murmured back, leaning in to kiss the beautiful pink troll.
Poppy sighed happily when Branch's lips covered hers for the second time that night. Only this time, he was kissing her, much to her delight. Even in her inexperience she could tell, Branch was a very good kisser.
Letting her arms wrap around the grey troll's neck, Poppy moved impossibly closer to Branch, beginning to kiss back.
Branch poured everything he had into the kiss; the longing, jealousy, anger, and love he had bottled up since he became grey. A warm tingling sensation washed over him, leaving him feeling lighter than he had in years. The lightheadedness may have had something to do with the fact that he and Poppy were running low on oxygen, so Branch reluctantly pulled away.
But when he looked at Poppy, she had a bewildered expression on her face.
"Branch! You're blue!" She cried, bouncing up and down.
The formerly grey troll looked down to discover that she was right, his body was now a bright turquoise. Pulling down a few strands of his hair, he found they had become cobalt blue.
"Wow…" He breathed, turning back to Poppy, who was still beaming at him. The longer he looked at her, the more a single thought became clear in his mind.
"You." He said softly, causing Poppy to turn towards him. "I got my colours back and I'm finally happy because of you. Because… I love you, Poppy."
For a moment Poppy stared at him. Then she cocked her head adorably to one side.
"Really?"
"I have since we were kids." Branch admitted.
"Well, that's good, because I love you too! Not for as long, but not any less!"
Branch laughed. It felt so good to relax, even just a little.
"I love you so much, you know that?"
"Prove it."
Branch smiled. They leaned in to kiss, but just then a triumphant voice shouted from above;
"I called it!"
"Shhh!" Hissed several other voices.
Branch glanced at Poppy.
"Should I be concerned by that?"
"Nope!" She chirped, stretching up to kiss him before he could argue.
Well, my very first one shot is done! What did you think? Please follow and favourite! Reviews are love!