~Three year time skip~

"Lalala!" Poppy trotted around the forest, letting the crisp air be her guide. She wanted to go on another adventure today, but she just didn't know where. She had always done this, sometimes with her friends and other times alone. Most of the time the only reason she was alone because her friends were sleeping. Poppy's favorite time to go on a new adventure was when it was either early morning or late evening, where everyone was bundled up in blankets or getting ready to doze off. Poppy usually rose awake at the crack of dawn and went to bed at about 1 or 2 in the morning. Her father never liked this, and said that a growing princess needed her rest to be bright-eyed and bushy-haired by eight to prepare for the morning song. Poppy had explained to him time after time that not just princesses needed rest- every troll needed rest. When that didn't help her case very well so instead told him that she was always bright-eyed and bushy-haired. By then Peppy would smile in amusement, run a hand through her hair, and murmur: "So adventurous. Just like your mother."

Poppy would smile at this. As Poppy skipped through the forest, she had no idea where she was going. But that was the fun of it.

She came across a leaf about half her size. She bent down to reach its level, as if she was talking to a child. "Hello Mr. Leaf!" she said, then changed her voice to talk for the leaf.

"Hello princess Poppy." She took it by the stem and shook it slightly so it looked like it actually talking.

She then pulled a cupcake that she had brought from her hair and held it up. "Cupcake?"

She changed her voice again, "Oh, would I ever?" he feed Mr. Leaf the cupcake making "om num num num" noises until she was interrupted by an annoyed voice asking, "what are you doing?" She whirled around, cupcake and leaf still in her hands, to see Branch standing about five feet away from her. He looked angry, as always. But Poppy was still glad to see someone up at this hour. Branch was the only troll she knew other than herself that got up this early. Then again Branch was not a morning person, but Poppy guessed he just didn't like people waking him up, and he liked waking up on his own time. Most of the time he did stay in his lonely bunker but when he did come outside it was either because Poppy wouldn't leave him alone or because he wanted to come out which was a rare occasion that happened to be happening right now.

"I made a new friend," explained Poppy. "Come say hi!"

Branch rolled his eyes. "You do realize that's just a leaf right?"

Poppy gasped as if he had just said a curse word. "Don't talk that way about Mr. Leaf!" she changed her voice again. "Oh that's okay Poppy," the "leaf" said sadly. "I am only a leaf." Poppy's jaw dropped as she looked at Branch as if he had done something terribly wrong. It was almost enough to convince him that he did. "I'm so sorry about him," Poppy reassured the leaf. "Don't listen to him! Want another cupcake?" she pulled another one out of her hair, followed by more "om num num nums" "Why thank you Princess Poppy!" "Such manners," she changed her voice. "Someone should take notes!" she leaned her head towards Branch, who had his arms crossed over his chest

"I'm not taking notes from a leaf."

"Well you should," urged Poppy. "He's nice, the complete opposite of you."

Branch scruffed but said nothing.

So Poppy approached him, setting down the leaf gently on the ground, and put her sticky fingers on the left side of his face where his mouth began and traced down so it looked like he was smiling.

"Ew! Cupcakes!" the eleven-year-old troll exclaimed, brushing off the cupcake that was now on his arms, which meant they were contaminated with Poppy's germs. Unsure what to do, he wiped it on his vest, sad that it had come to this.

Poppy skipped circles around him. "Wanna go on an adventure with me?" she asked cheerfully.

"Only because I need to collect more wood," mumbled Branch, pretending not to show any emotion although he admired the princess's cheerfulness given it was so early. Part of him, deep down, knew the true reason he agreed was because he wanted her company.

"Alright, let's do this!" she skipped ahead of him as he fell behind, not taking his eyes off the pink troll.

Over the past three years, Branch had become a lot more aware of things. Sometimes it was useful, other times it made him a little paranoid and protective. He'd done a lot of work to make his bunker feel more like a home. He collected wood daily to make sure it was toasty enough for winter. It may have been in the middle of June, but nonetheless he was prepared- if he went to collect wood in the snow he'd freeze. He also collected random things that he found on the ground that he thought would be useful later on. He had brought a lot of things from Grandma Rosiepuff's pod down into the bunker. She had a lot of books that were on bergen survival guides. If a bergen ever did attack, he'd be ready for it.

As he eyed Poppy, he couldn't help but feel that he needed to protect her. She'd make a perfect snack for a hungry bergen, or anything in that matter. A bergen in particular would prance around like unicorn all day if they got Poppy. She was hands down the happiest troll in the village, and though he didn't show it, Branch admired her for that.

"Isn't this fun?" Poppy asked, skipping a few feet in front of him. "One time my friends and I were…"

He tuned her out and began to search for more firewood. There were a few skinny sticks laying on the ground, which he picked up, knowing that every little stick counted.

"...And then Smidge ate some blueberries, and you'll never believe what happened next! A few hours later she was starting to itch a lot and then we found out she had an allergic reaction to them! Thank goodness it wasn't poison ivy because- huh?" Poppy looked over her shoulders to see that Branch was poking around at her backside suspiciously. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, nothing," Branch sarcastically smile. "I'm just looking for an OFF BUTTON!"

She stared at him questionably until she simply laughed. "I don't have an off button!" She paused, then continued on with her story. "Anyways, I was going to check on Smidge but before I could do that I had to take my vitamins that my dad always made me eat because apparently they make a troll strong and healthy…"

Rolling his eyes, he tuned her out again and searched for more firewood. He scratched his head again and searched in a bush. There was no wood or sticks, but there was definitely something in the bush. It glowed bright yellow. Branch cocked his head. Curious, he rubbed it. It had a weird, fuzzy texture. Before Branch could even fully get his hand on it, it expanded, letting out a "mew" sound, just about scaring Branch to death. He shrieked.

"Branch? What's wrong?" Poppy asked, running up to him.

"S-S-Something in the bushes!" he stuttered. He heard rustling in the bushes, making quite a ruckus. He shivered, getting behind Poppy. "Eat her first! Eat her first! I don't taste good, she does! Eat her!" He pushed her closer to the bush as if she was some kind of shield.

Poppy furrowed her eyebrows, concerned how willing he was to throw her under the bus.

Out of the bushes appeared a worm with a yellow head, black beady eyes with pink around the edges of it. As for its body, it had a light tone of green with pink stripes. "Mew," it said, staring up at them.

"Aww, hey there little guy," Poppy cooed, taking a few steps closer to the worm.

Branch remained behind Poppy, still a bit scared. "What is that thing?!" he asked.

"It's a glow warm, silly! They're typically born in the summer. Their parents leave then after birth to fend for themselves."

That sounds familiar. Looks like we have something in common, Branch thought.

"Hey I have an idea!"

Uh oh, that's never good.

"Why don't we take him to the village?"

"What?! Are you mad! You don't know what he's capable of! He could grow up to be huge for all you know!"

"Branch, don't you know anything about glow worms? They're cute and cuddly, and rarely cause any trouble. He's not gonna get very much bigger, probably only a few inches. Glow words make a great companion for anyone. Maybe he could stay with you."

"No no no," Branch shook his head. "It doesn't go anywhere near my bunker."

"Fine," she smiled, "you can hold him then!" She picked it up and handed it to him. He tensed, clenching his teeth together and stretching his arms out as far as he could, not wanting the worm up in his face.

"How do you know it's a him?"

"It's simple. The males tend to have four stripes and the females only have three," she explained.

Branch nodded in understanding, counting the worms stripes just to make sure before he called it a him. (Of course he would still call it an it until he found that it wouldn't cause any trouble.) Sure enough, there were four stripes clear as day on the little worms body. "Say, how do you know so much about glow worms?"

"Creek's father used to study them back in the day. He had one before I was born, but she died of old age, unfortunately."

Branch remained silent at the mention of Creek's name. As they walked down the clear path of the undergrowth, Branch was still holding the worm as far away from him as possible. When he really looked at it, it wasn't cute and cuddly at all. In his opinion it was creepy with its black eyes staring into his soul. He didn't want to admit it but he was still a little freaked out by it.

His eyes widened when it wiggled out of his grip and crawled on his arm and onto his shoulder. "Mewwww!" it exclaimed happily in his ear, sending Branch up a mile high.

"AH!"

Poppy turned her back and stared at him questionly. "What's the matter?"

"Here! YOU take it!" he took the worm off his back and shoved it in Poppy's face.

"Him," she corrected quietly, taking him and putting him over her shoulder.

Once they got back the village, everyone was waking up. Poppy trotted happily while she said good morning to everyone, the glow worm safely in her hair. They said good morning to Branch, too, but he just nodded awkwardly and refused everyone's effort to try to hug him. It was a rare occasion for him to be out and about unless he was collecting wood, which is what he was originally intending to do but he agreed to go with Poppy to the village and tell her friends what they have discovered.

Once she got to them, they greeted her with hugs. "I have something to show you guys!" said Poppy excitedly. "Branch and I found something!"

This peaked their interested. They asked her millions of questions before she pulled the glow worm out of her hair.

"He's so cute!" DJ Suki exclaimed.

"Oh my god!" Smidge said.

"He's precious!" said Chenille.

"Lemme see guys!" Biggie said, jumping up and down but he couldn't seem to see what all the fuss was about.

"I have an idea! Whoever gets to name him, gets to keep him!"

This caused everyone to start shouting out names.

"Rainbow!"

"Glitter!"

"Sunshine!"

"Cupcake!"

"Uh...Ripjaw!" Branch tried, just for the fun of it. "Shredder! Creepy!"

This caused everyone to look at him blankly for for a moment then continued to shout names.

Biggie thought hard although he still couldn't see what it was. So he shouted the first thing that crossed his mind. "DINKLES!"

The worm finally looked up and cocked his head. "Mew?" It jumped out of Poppy's arms and wiggled to where Biggie was.

"Aww, you are precious!" cooed Biggie.

"Looks like he's found his owner," Poppy smiled.

"Take care of him mate," said Creek.

"Dinkles," Biggie smiled, petting the worm and picking him up. "Mr Dinkles."

I like this chapter! How Branch is creeped out by Mr. Dinkles I think is hilarious because I was a little creeped out by him too tbh XD Kinda thought it was a cute way to introduce him though!