Chapter 8

With the village double its normal size in occupants, Papa Smurf was hard to track down. They just missed him twice before Hefty grabbed Brainy to look at his hand, insisting Brainy was more than capable of handling it. Even so, under no circumstances, was Branch to tell brainy that Hefty has said that. Once sat

Wearing magnifiers over his glasses, Brainy removed Branch's hair from Hefty's hand and examined it carefully to make sure no splinters were missed. Once satisfied, he got to work on cleaning and bandaging Hefty's hand.

While Brainy worked, Branch looked around the "smart Smurf's" Mushroom curiously. It was only the second one he had been in and the Recovery Mushroom was devoid of any personal effect as it was for anyone to use. He looked over some of the science equipment, not needing to be told not to touch it but being ordered "not touch" by Brainy anyway when he approached the table. Part of him was curious about the wooden protection barrier and the bit of wall that looked newer than the rest but he decided he was better off not knowing.

Next Branch looked at all the books. There were several books on all kinds of subjects including four copies of a "Smurf Manual" for some reason. He asked Brainy for permission before taking one of the shelf for closer inspection.

Not paying attention to Brainy, Hefty's eyes followed Branch as he walked around the room. Part of him was curious what things would catch Branch's interest but he mostly just liked looking at the Troll.

"Don't be weird," Brainy removed the magnifiers from his glasses after he finished fascinating the bandage on Hefty's hand.

"You don't be weird," Hefty grumbled, feeling his face flush. He reached for the bits of Branch's hair on Brainy's table, frowning from Brainy snatched it up first.

Oblivious, Brainy carried the hair as he approached Branch, "Branch would you mind if I kept this?"

Blinking, Branch looked at Brainy and his hair in the Smurf's hand before asking, "Why?"

"Troll hair is fascinating," Brainy exclaimed excitedly. "It moves, grows, shrinks, changes color and can carry things that doesn't make sense in the realm of physics. I would like to study this to see if there's something that explains how it works."

Again, Branch glanced at his hair before answering, "Stay away from Poppy's hair and you can have it."

"Deal," Brainy shook Branch's hand and looked up towards his hat, "What a great opportunity for science, isn't that right Snappy Bug?"

Out from Brainy's hat came an insect like creature that Branch had never seen before. It was relatively small, mostly black with red on its back and big white eyes with black pupils.

"What is that?" Branch suggested to the bug.

"Oh, Snappy Bug?" Brainy gently pulled the bug out of his hat so Branch could have a better look. "She's a Lady Bug and my assistant."

Branch hummed and held his hand up, pausing for Brainy's nod before carefully rubbing what looked like the side of Snappy Bug's face with his finger. A small smile crept on his face as the bug buzzed her wings in contentment, "Cute."

"Cute," Snappy Bug buzzed her wings to echo Branch's voice back to him.

"That's new," commented Branch, giving Snappy Bug a little pet on her head.

"It's part of why she's my assistant," Brainy boasted proudly. "Now, we have a lot of work to do. Why don't you and Hefty go back to your date and we can get started?"

At first Branch was going to agree but then something about what Brainy said caught his attention, "Wait, what-"

"You heard Brain-man," Hefty grabbed the picnic basket and directed Branch out of the mushroom, "Let's go eat."

Maybe dates meant something different to Smurfs than it did to Trolls, Branch reasoned. Instead he asked, "How's your hand?"

"Fine," said Hefty and then smiled at him, "All the pain actually went away after you wrapped your hair around it so, thank you."

Plum colored Branch's cheeks and he tried to shrug it off, "It's the least I could do after everything you've done for me and Poppy."

"It's what I do," Hefty grinned and puffed his chest, noting the way Branch rolled his eyes but remained silent, "Hey Branch?"

"Yeah?" asked Branch.

"Do you like small cute things?" asked Hefty.

Branch wrinkled his nose in confusion, "Huh?"

"Well back in your forest you were surrounded by those fuzzy bugs," said Hefty.

"You mean the fireflies?" asked Branch.

"Fuzzier then any firefly I've ever seen around here but sure," Hefty shrugged. "And back at Brainy's you seemed to take a liking to Snappy Bug."

"Oh, yes, you've discovered my one true weakness," said Branch, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Small, cute things; I am powerless to resist."

Hefty laughed, "Well it would certainly explain Poppy."

Branch groaned, "Split ends; it would, wouldn't it?"

Unable to help it, Hefty laughed more, "Maybe if I had been smaller and cuter you wouldn't have tried to stab me at our first meeting."

"No, I probably still would have," said Branch, knowing full well that cute things could also be dangerous, just like Poppy. He teasingly poked Hefty's bicep, "These sort of prevent you from being in the small category."

"But not the cute?"

"You are definitely not cute," Branch stood his ground even when Hefty pouted. "You're definitely more the handsome type."

It wasn't until Branch realized that Hefty stopped walking to stare at him that Branch realized what had come out of his stupid mouth.

"You think I'm handsome?" Hefty asked softly, a smile threatening to take over his shocked features.

"As if you don't know how good looking you are with that ego of yours," Branch tried to cover up his slip with mockery but couldn't stop the burning of his cheeks.

"So, I'm good looking now?" Hefty quirked and eyebrow and grinned, making Branch's face heat up more for some reason.

Branch groaned and started to walk away, wishing he knew what was wrong with him and how to make it stop.

"Come on Branch," Hefty gave chase, "Tell me how good looking I am."

"Your ego doesn't need any more stroking," Branch snapped.

It took far too long for Hefty to let Branch's comment go. Honestly it could have stretched out all day if Branch hadn't threatened to skip lunch if Hefty didn't shut up about it. Really, using Hefty's protection mode was Branch's only means of defense at time.

"Stop pouting," Branch rolled his eyes, he took a nibble of the Smurfberry and found it to be sweet, though not as sweet as the jam and took a bigger bite. "How many times have you blackmailed me with Poppy?"

"That was for your own good," Hefty grumbled. "Now you're threatening your own good to boss me around."

"Need I point out to you that the first instance was for your own good," said Branch. "This second time was to save my sanity."

Hefty hummed but ate his sandwich, seeming to be thinking about something.

The silence was comfortable so Branch didn't ask, continuing his own meal. Vaguely he wondered how Poppy's date with Smurfette was going.

There was movement and suddenly Hefty was a lot closer to Branch. Oddly, it hadn't startled Branch at all. It was almost as if he expected Hefty to move so close. Even so, he didn't understand why.

"Hey Branch," Hefty was looking at Branch really intensely and Branch was reminded just how mesmerizing Hefty's eyes were. He was surrounded by a village of Smurfs that all had eyes like Hefty's and yet none of their eyes could compare to Hefty's eyes, especially now with the way Hefty's focus was completely on Branch.

"What's going to happened once you're healed?" asked Hefty. "I mean, what would you like to happen?"

Ideally Branch wished there was a way to move Smurf Village and the Troll Tree closer together. There was no way Hefty should leave his village again to seek Branch out, Hefty's village needed him, but Branch had come accustomed to seeing Hefty every day. Life at the Tree would just seem so much duller after this.

"Well," Branch licked his lips, trying to think. "I guess Poppy and I would go home." He noticed Hefty's gaze start to fall downward and quickly added, "But we'd be back to visit. Poppy to see Smurfette and for me to figure out what it is Therapist Smurf does." Hefty was still not looking at him and he softly added, "And to see you."

Now Hefty looked back up, "Really?"

"Really," Branch assured him. There was something Branch wanted to say but even he didn't know what it was. Instead he said, "You're my friend."

Softly, Hefty chuckled, reaching up to cup Branch's cheek, "I was beginning to think that you'd never admit that."

This didn't seem like something friends do but Branch couldn't find his words. They shrunk further inside of them when he noticed Hefty seemed to be getting closer.

There was a shout and one of the male Smurfs Branch hadn't met yet fell from seemingly out of nowhere and landed by their feet. This Smurf had a lightly baggier hat then the others and seemed younger somehow.

Branch was thankful for the distraction, jumping away from Hefty to inspect the fallen Smurf, "Hello?"

"Hello," the male Smurf said, sounding dizzy.

"Hey Clumsy," Hefty sighed. "What happened?"

"Bucky bucked me off," Clumsy murmured as he got back to his feet. He then took a good look at the Troll, "Oh you must be Branch! I've heard so much about you and your singing this morning was beautiful."

"You heard my singing?" Branch took a step back from Hefty as if it would change his answer, absently rubbing over his arm.

"Oh yeah, the whole village did," Clumsy grinned, not noticing Hefty's hand signals to stop. "Singer Smurf really want to do a duet with you."

"No," Branch shook his head, "Not happening."

Clumsy tilted his head to the side, "Why not?"

"It's just no, okay?" Branch didn't want to jeopardize Smurf Village anymore then he may have already had.

The girl Smurf named Smurf Storm rode over on a glow bunny and retrieved Clumsy but his question continued to burn in Hefty's mind as he and Branch finished their lunch. He was considering asking Branch to elaborate his earlier answer to Clumsy but Branch beat him with a question first.

"How do you think it's going to go?" asked Branch, then clarified, "Poppy and Smurfette."

"I think they're going pretty well if all those smooches were any indication," commented Hefty, trying not to sound too bitter about it.

Branch gave a dismissive shake of his head, "That's just the beginning of a new relationship high. Soon enough all the problems are going to make themselves clear."

"Problems?" asked Hefty.

"Yeah," Branch nodded. "I mentioned this to Poppy before but Smurf Village and our Troll Tree are pretty far apart. Poppy has already said that they can visit each other a lot but that can easily strain on a friendship, let alone a romantic relationship."

"Long distance relationships can work," Hefty insisted. "Look at all the Smurfs around us. The girl's live in the same forest as you and Poppy."

"But there's talk of them moving here because their village was wrecked," said Branch. "If it became a for sure that they weren't moving here, things would be different then all lovey-dovey atmosphere around us now."

"If it's important, we-Smurf's put in the effort to make it work," said Hefty.

Branch shrugged, "For a while maybe but, if you loved someone, wouldn't you eventually want to live with them and be with them all the time?"

At that Hefty hesitated. He was already dreading the day Branch's arm was fully healed and the Troll left the village. It would mean the end of seeing him every day, sleeping next to him at night and the possibility of waking up to Branch singing. Would he be able to handle only having that every once in a while, if he managed to tell Branch how he felt and Branch, hopefully, returned his affection?

"Poppy, quite frankly, can't move here," Branch continued when Hefty didn't say anything. "And I can't imagine Smurfette would want to leave all of you. I also have a hard time imagining her being able to handle being surrounded by Trolls all the time. Poppy is one thing but that's a lot of crazy for one sane person to handle."

"You manage," Hefty tried to smile but it didn't quite work.

"Barely," Branch scoffed. "Then there's the issue of Poppy needing an heir to the throne, which we're not discussing further because I don't need the nightmares."

A little Poppy running around sounded cute to Hefty but he figured Branch didn't want to be wrapped around another Troll princess's little finger.

"Poppy and I will be coming back but the travel will probably be dangerous for both us and you," said Branch, then softly added, "What if we lead Gargamel right to you?"

"You wouldn't," said Hefty.

"Not on purpose but you know how subtle Poppy is," argued Branch. "Plus, all the singing could lure him or other predators in."

Realizing that worry must be part of the reason Branch hesitates to sing, Hefty smiles at him, "A little singing isn't going to put the village in danger. Smurfs sing all the time and I think our hundred voices are a bit louder than just yours, or Poppy's."

Branch turned to look at Hefty, "You sing?"

"Sure," nodded Hefty, waved about his hand. "At Christmas and special events and such. Nothing like you though."

"So, you sing but just in a group for special occasions," summed up Branch.

"Yeah, I'm no Singer Smurf," commented Hefty. Honestly, he isn't sure if he can sing that well, having never sung without being surrounded by numerous other voices. Still, he wondered if that's something Branch would like, seeing how important music seemed to be for Trolls. Even so, he couldn't imagine trying to impress Branch, someone with such a beautiful voice, with whatever he had to offer. It might even make Branch completely un-interested if Hefty's voice wasn't up to par.

Humming, Branch looked around at the surrounding Smurfs walking by. He wondered what their singing sounded like. What kind of songs did Smurfs have? Was Hefty's singing voice like his speaking voice or was it softer or deeper? Deep down, Branch really wanted to hear it but he couldn't bring himself to ask.

The rest of the day was uneventful, Hefty walking Branch around the village to see more and introduce him to more Smurfs. So far Branch could find ways to tell some of them apart but some looked so exactly alike, Branch wondered if the Smurfs themselves ever got confused on who was who.

They saw Grouchy at his bench again, not bothering him for too long before moving along. Branch met Handy, Baker, Chef, Winner, Loser, really how did Papa Smurf think that was a good idea, and weirdo Table-Eating Smurf or rather "table chewing" since the Smurf just seemed to stand there with his mouth on it for long periods of time as well as a few girl Smurfs all named for flowers, stones and weather patterns. The girls were all easier to tell apart and their names were actual names that made sense that wouldn't scar the Smurf for life. Branch really couldn't get over the fact that there was a Loser Smurf. Couldn't it at least have been "Sore Loser" or something less confidence shattering?

Oddly enough they never saw Poppy or Smurfette wandering around. Part of Branch hoped it was just that they kept missing each other and not that Branch should have had a conversation to Poppy about rushing into things. Though Branch really had no room to lecture Poppy about relationships. Poppy has at least dated several trolls, of both genders, before coming here where Branch nearly punched the last Troll who tried anything on him.

Frankly, besides Poppy, Branch didn't really trust other Troll's intentions towards him most of the time. Sure, usually they were civil, but none paid Branch any mind when he as gray and suddenly, with a hint of color, Trolls were interested? Or rather, it always just felt like they wanted something from him rather than Branch himself so he avoided it all together.

Even Poppy's Snack Pack, with the exception of Creek who wouldn't stop talking about lightening up Branch's aura, really only ever spoke with him when Poppy was around. Part of him couldn't blame them, he "ruined everything" for years with his warnings about Bergens. Still, Branch had thought having a bit a color would make it easier to make friends, not be stuck in almost the same place as before without Poppy beside him.

Maybe that's why Branch had been so hesitant to trust Hefty and be his friend? He couldn't connect with his own kind, why would a Smurf be different? Even with all the potential for things to go badly, Branch had never been so grateful to be proven wrong.

That night, Hefty grabbed the book and moved to get into bed with Branch like he had the previous night.

"What are you doing?" Branch asked. "I'm not sick anymore, you don't have to be my warm water bottle anymore."

"Maybe I like being your warm water bottle," grinned Hefty and got into the bed anyway.

"You and Poppy should compete on who's weirder sometime," said Branch. "You could actually win."

"That's one competition I wouldn't mind losing," Hefty took off his hat, putting it on the nightstand, and opened up his arm, waiting for Branch to lean on his shoulder like last night but prepared to keep his arm around him the whole time this time.

Branch looked at Hefty, then laid down on the pillows.

"Don't you want to be able to look at the book?" asked Hefty, keeping his arm out for him.

"I'm good," said Branch, "There's not much for me to look at in the book anyway and I don't want to fall asleep on you again."

"I don't mind," Hefty said sincerely, still waiting with his arm out.

It was a bad idea but Branch felt his resolve dissolving. He looked at those eyes, patiently watching him, and gave in. Silently he sat up and moved closer, leaning his head on Hefty's shoulder but was much closer now with Hefty's arm already around him while he was awake. This was definitely too intimate for friends but there really wasn't much else they could be.

Once Branch was settled, Hefty smiled and began to read, skipping the funny voices this time so not to dislodge Branch from his side. It took another three chapters before he felt Branch begin to curl into him more, starting to doze off. Carefully he reached up and started to stroke Branch's hair, smiling when Branch gave him the tiniest little nuzzle.

"You know, you're awfully darn cute when you're half asleep," murmured Hefty, playing a bit with the hair on the back of Branch's neck before burying his hand into the hair there to lightly scratch at his scalp.

In response, Branch hummed and his ear twitched, seeming to hear him but being too deep into his doze to really understand.

Setting aside the book, Hefty turned more to Branch and lightly caressed his cheek, "You know, it's not just your voice I find beautiful. I wish I knew how to tell you this when you're awake but I sort of feel like you would bolt like you did when I almost got to kiss you… Makes me nervous, I'm not used to not charging in for what I want."

Branch's ear twitched more but gave no other response, breath even and relaxed in Hefty's arms.

Moving closer, Hefty wrapped both arms around Branch and simply held him, "Like you said before, I know this will have issues; we live far apart and our people are different but I want to try. Smurf above I want to try. I want to see you as much as possible and make you smile, which I'm sure is beautiful, and make sure you never feel lonely again."

Hefty thought of earlier that day and Poppy's song. He held Branch a little closer and sang softly, "One thing you can be sure of
I'll take good care of your love
If you will let me give you mine."

Branch blinked a few times, listening to the song. Hefty's voice was rich and deep and it vibrated through him pleasantly and made him feel warm throughout his body.

As Branch closed his eyes and fell asleep, he wondered what caused him to have such an odd dream.