Poppy was leaned against Branch, eyes half lidded as she tried not to fall asleep, especially with how uncomfortable it was in that cage, even though she felt right at home being snuggled up to her boyfriend. They had both forgotten about their previous internal conflicts, which was about the safety of one another, and whom should do what, when it came to protecting each other along with the rest of the village, and she was glad, since all she'd wanted to do at the moment was lie cuddled up in his arms for an eternity, even if it meant being stuck in this stupid cage.

*one hour earlier*

She'd wanted to scold him for not coming with her where it was safer after she had come back from making sure everyone else was hidden, but she eventually got herself caught and locked up after an unsuccessful attempt at quietly going to rescue him. And just seeing that he wasn't in any harm, and his warm, sweet and comforting smile from seeing her, made the thought to even want to do so dissolve from her mind.

Branch had also wanted to scold her for not staying back with everyone else, but he overall couldn't bring himself to do so either, he was more overcome with happiness with the fact that she was unharmed and everyone else was safe, but mostly that she was him now. No, he didn't want her to be trapped, not even with him, but her being next to him in general made him feel safest in any situation, even if he was surrounded by others he cared about or his own acquaintances. That's honestly all he could ever need while being locked in such a difficult predicament, despite feeling awful that she had to be stuck in there too, wishing she was somewhere safer. Poppy by his side could make anything, even this, better.

Once she was put into the cage with him, and they peeked over to make sure the trolls who'd cruelly threw them in there disappeared from their sight, they took no hesitation to lunge at each other, pressing their faces against one another in sweet loving affection, tears running down both of their cheeks in pure happiness, never ceasing to squeeze one another close, their arms running lovingly and gently from waists to arms to shoulders to tear covered cheeks, muttering and mumbling sweet nothings on and on, for what seemed like forever.

*present*

Poppy really wanted to go home, she missed everyone and felt sore from being from on the metal floor of that cage for so long, but she felt at least a little more at ease being stuck in there with her sweetheart, feeling like he had somehow figured out what she was thinking when he'd squeezed her hand gently, turning away to smile as she she returned the affectionate squeeze, biting her lip a little to fight back a bigger smile. She wouldn't have done so if she didn't feel like now wasn't the time to smile, but gave up when she felt him give her a playful nudge on her arm, watching a small smile curve from his lips in the corner of her eye, and she immediately nuzzled her face into his shoulder, still squeezing his hand, holding it with both of her hands now, feeling him pull her onto his lap and hold the back of her head gently while stroking what felt like all of the hairs on her head, with his strong, cuddly hand. Poppy blushed almost instantly and immediately melted and relaxed into him, feeling drowsy once again in his warm embrace, as she twirled her finger gently in one of the leaves of his vest.

This is much nicer than having to sit on a metal floor.. but he's still sitting on it.. hm, I don't find that very fair.

Just as she was gonna say something about it, he'd spoken up first, immediately silencing herself to listen to him, missing and wanting to hear his angelic voice.

"Poppy?" Was the first thing he said, and she almost wanted to tear up. It was like she missed him so much, even though he was there with her the whole time, but they haven't been talking very much at all, ever since she got thrown in there with them, verbally, that is. They've been affectionate with each other but somehow couldn't muster up any words with passing time.

"Yes?" She mumbled, almost whispered, still gently playing with the leaves of his vest, wanting to look up at his beautiful face, but almost felt like she couldn't, and just stuck with listening to what he had to say.

"I uh.. um.." He hesitated, and she could easily hear it. Now she didn't care about any of the voices that told her not to do something in her head. Hearing her boyfriend sound hesitant was something she could never ignore. She knew it meant something was wrong.

She tilted her head from his shoulder to look up at him, and he was looking down at the floor while still holding her, looking more nervous than what she'd normally see him as. What was wrong?

"Branch?" She muttered, sitting up in his lap now, hand squeezing his shoulder gently, in an attempt to comfort him with whatever was bothering him.

She had to shake him a few times to get his attention back, seeing as his focus stayed on the floor for a few minutes longer, worrying her more than what she already was. Eventually he came back and he shook his head a few times to grasp onto the reality of things once again, looking up at her.

"Sorry! Sorry, I uh.." he sighed, starting to sound less hesitant now,

"Alright, I'm just gonna cut to the chase."

Poppy looked a little confused, still squeezing his shoulder gently to comfort him, adding a few rubs here and there, to her benefit actually slightly easing his discomfort with himself and whatever he was wanting to say to her.

"This.. honestly isn't the right time for this, and if you get mad at me after I'll completely understand, even if.. I am hoping that it'll cheer you up for a while, but.. since we're both in here together and it'll probably be a while until we get out.."

Branch sighed and it sounded slightly shaky, and he started reaching into his hair for something, seeming to move his hand around a lot, turning to face away from his girlfriend, confusing her even more. What did he think she was gonna get mad at him for? She didn't think she could be mad at him for possibly anything right now.

She was about to reach over to put her hand on his free one, but immediately pulled it back and instead slapped it over her mouth when he revealed what he was getting out of his hair.

It was a silver box opened up with a ring with a beautiful lavender flower blooming in all of its glory inside, and her boyfriend was holding it in front of her, with the most nervous but sweetest smile on his face.

"Oh gosh Poppy.. Pops, Popsicle, Popifer," He chuckled nervously, teasing a little with all the nicknames he'd given her, while rubbing the back of his neck, looking off to the side again but made sure to keep track of her expression from the corner of his eye. Then he continued.

"I love you so much.. so, so much.. I've wanted to do this almost all day but so much has happened and.. I just never got to it. I honestly, always thought about doing it, but I didn't wanna rush anything so I of course waited a while.. and, well, it has been a while now, so.. I prepared and prepared for when and where I would actually do it, and.. well let me tell you this is not how I planned it at all." He chuckled again, sheepishly this time.

Poppy couldn't even speak, she was too stunned for words to do such a thing at the moment, giving Branch more of the opportunity to come up with more sentences for his prepared but also unprepared speech.

"But, you know.. it's just that.. with us being together in this.. quiet.." Sanctuary? No, no, scratch that this is nowhere near a sanctuary- "room, yeah, room, I just feel so.. safe with you right now. Well- I always feel safe with you but that's besides the point--ANYway," he shut his eyes for a split second and shook his hands in front of him, then quickly opened them back up and went back to what he was saying, "I honestly just couldn't help myself anymore, and I mean you even came all this way just to try and save me, even though you could've stayed back with everyone else." He reached for her hand again and squeezed it with a smile, stroking it gently with his thumb.

"You're so stubborn but that's just one of the many things I love and admire about you, you don't ever stop fighting for what's right, and you taught me to do it too, along with other things like learning to have more trust in myself and those around me, and that happiness is just around the corner, even if it doesn't always feel like it. You're also the most sweetest, kindest, most beautiful, generous, courageous, heck bravest troll I've ever met. I've learned so much from you and I wouldn't be who I was today if it weren't for you bothering me almost all my life," He chuckled at that part then continued, "and eventually bringing me out of my shell to be who I once was again. To be who I wanted to be again, even if I denied that during my grey days. And because of that I want you to know how grateful I am for you, how happy I am to have you as mine. So.."

Poppy had to admit, while she was tearing up from his beautiful speech, surprised that it was even unplanned, she started to grow slightly impatient, wanting to hear him ask the big question, wanting to just scream to him that she'll happily be his forever and ever. She wanted him to know she belonged to nobody else but him. How did he ever think she would be mad at him for something like this?! Maybe he thought so because of the situation they were in right now, but she honestly had a good feeling that they'd be out of there soon, and that her people were safe where she had hid them. Besides, wasn't it her job to think on the bright side of things anyway? This just made that job so, so much easier for her.

Then, as if he was listening in on her thoughts once again, he carefully took the ring out of the box and put it down next to him and looked up at her with those sweet, loving eyes she adored oh so much.

"Poppy, will y-"

She couldn't hold herself back anymore.

"Yes.. yes Yes YES YES YES BRANCH OF COURSE I WILL!!!" She jumped on him and wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed a bunch of kisses to his cheek, tears flowing down her own cheek.

Branch was amazingly stunned and could only let out a few laughs, even if he felt like he wanted to scream as well, and he squeezed her as tight as she was holding him, running one of his hands in her soft, silky hair while wiping her tears with his other, as he felt the warm kisses from his now newly fiancée slow down as she lost the energy to continue, and just began to nuzzle her face against his once again, slowly allowing it to droop into his neck as her tears stained his right cheek, though he didn't mind one bit.

"Come 'ere Pops," He mumbled as he gently picked her up off of him, but still kept her on his lap, keeping her close enough to be able to take her hand and take the ring and carefully slide it onto her finger.

Poppy smiled up at him with that sweet, loving smile Branch loved to see from her, leaning her forehead against his gently as she closed her eyes slowly, taking in everything about him in the moment, their moment, that they were currently sharing together.

"Words can't describe how happy you make me." Was the last thing she said, before she leaned into much closer, pressing her lips against his, softly and passionately, her hands snaking around his neck once again, breathing him in as she felt him press his lips back against hers, wrapping his arms gently around her waist, not daring to let go for one second, not even to reach up and stroke her hair again, even if he wanted to so badly right now, but he wanted to keep her held as close as possible.

Branch couldn't even believe he was kissing her right now, it felt so unreal. His lips were on hers. Even with where they were right now, it didn't matter one bit because he was with her, and when he was with her just about anything felt magical.

Not really wanting to, but needing air, Poppy pulled away from him, taking a few small breaths, and eventually opened her eyes to look at him again, a smile slowly starting to appear on her lips from not just how wonderful that kiss was, and how happy she was from him proposing (even though she'd interrupted him halfway, but she was just too happy to wait any longer), but how adorable he looked right now.

"So.. what do you.. normally call you each other when you're both engaged?" Poppy shyly asked as she mindlessly played with another leaf on his vest once more, still smiling nonetheless.

Branch couldn't help but chuckle at that, adoring how precious she was when she was flustered.

"Fiancé and fiancée?" He tilted his head a little with a smile, trying to catch her eyes, even though she playfully tried to avoid his, snickering quietly with a goofy bite to her lip.

"Yeah, those." She giggled quietly, and finally looked back up at him, smiling, but it faded a little as she thought of something.

Branch's eyebrows furrowed, noticing her smile dying down slightly. He took her hand and squeezed it again before asking,

"You oka-"

He wasn't able to finish because Poppy out of shock from a realization gasped and grabbed his shoulders, a wide smile on her face.

"We're gonna be able to go back and tell everyone that we're engaged!"

Branch stared at her for a few seconds, before snorting and raising an eyebrow, pulling her close to him again, his face now pressed into her neck as she was sitting on his lap still.

"We sure are.. if we even get out of here, that is." He mumbled into her neck, still holding onto her waist as he rubbed gentle strokes onto it, to the comfort of his soon to be wife.

"Oh we're getting out of here Branch. We're trolls! We always find our way out of these things." She climbed off his lap but kept hold of his hands, winking at him.

Branch smiled with a shrug to the shoulder, a spark of satisfaction brewing through him as he was glad to just know that his confident, brave angel who knew that even in the darkest of moments things would still be okay, was still there.

"Got a plan?" He didn't even mean that sarcastically, he was genuinely curious to hear if she had one, crossing his arms with a smirk.

"Well.. no, but I'm sure I'll come up with something. Maybe we can even come up with something together." She shrugged sheepishly, looking down at his hands that she was holding again, then back up at him with a sweet but shy smile.

"I'm down with that." He nudged his fiancée playfully again and she giggled, nudging him back, slipping her arms around him once again.

"But until then, we can just enjoy each other's compan-"

Their attention was turned to the right of them when they both heard the jiggling of the doorknob across from them, the entire door eventually opening up to show Barb, Delta, Trollex, and Prince D all there.

"Yo, we saved you guys!" Trollex cheered while whipping around.

"Yeeeeehaw that's what I'm talkin' bout!" Delta yipped, high fiving Prince D.

"Seems like we came in at a bad time though." Barb snickered, seeing the positions Poppy and Branch were currently in.

"Guys! Oh my gosh how'd you get past them?!" Poppy released her arms from around Branch, despite ignoring Barb's remark.

"Wasn't easy, those guys got the attention span of a hyper child, but we eventually snuck our way past them." D inquired.

"Now let's get y'all outta here before we gotta deal with anything else!" Delta ran over to the cage and took a pin out of her hair and twisted it inside of the cage, opening it in a matter of a seconds.

"Nice ring by the way." She winked at the newly engaged couple, earning blushes from the both of them, and she walked back over to the other leaders, who looked back at them after hearing Delta's remark, surprised and joyful looks on their faces. They decided they would all mention it later. Or at least wait for them to do so first.

Poppy allowed herself to rise up first, noticing Branch looked a little hesitant to do so at first, and she held out her hand with a smile for him to take.

He smiled back up at her, even if it was a little smaller, and took her hand gracefully and got up with her, interlocking his finger with hers afterwards, following behind everyone else.

With all the events that took place just now, they knew everything was gonna be just fine.