Together Now

What a beautiful evening. Above the clouds - and their suspicious snowflakes - the weather was nice and welcoming.

Poppy leaned on Branch's shoulder, watching the fireworks below them. He tried to hide the tension when he figured the fireworks were way too close to their balloon, but Branch did his best to concentrate on his lovely girlfriend and not some potential disaster.

He took a deep breath, inhaling her strawberry scent. Her hair tickled his cheek. The same cheek she had kissed. In. Front. Of. Everyone.

Hair, she had caught him by surprise. After a couple of attempts of a public display of affection Branch thought she had given up. Perhaps the Holidays' spirit had renewed her will to cease any kind of doubts anyone could still have.

There was no room for mistake in any tribe now. When the leaders themselves knew they were together, the whole kingdom would follow.

There. It was out in the open. They were together now.

"Was it your plan all along?" Branch asked with a goofy smile that he tried to hide but the insistent thing kept tugging his lips upwards.

Poppy turned to answer, with that dreamily expression he loved, but she soon burst in giggles when she saw his poor attempt to control his smile.

"You look funny when you try to look serious." Her small hands grabbed his cheeks, massaging them and relaxing the muscles. She wanted to free his smile from its cage. "But to answer you: no. I didn't plan any of this."

"Not even the song?" He stepped away. Her hands felt warm and he had to grab them.

"Well, the song was planned." Another burst of fireworks startled them. The queen was surprised for a few seconds, then her face softened up, appreciating the colorful lights in front of the balloon.

Branch saw the reflection of the fireworks on her skin. Her eyes mirrored the bursts, turning their brightness even more precious than the real thing.

"And it's true I couldn't think of anything to give you." Poppy continued, intertwining their fingers. "When I saw your name on the paper, I was so happy I wanted to give you the world."

The balloon slowly floated towards the forest, where they would be a little more distant from the threatening fireworks.

"But when I got home, I saw my plushy Branch doll smiling and-"

"Hold on," Branch raised an eyebrow, quizzically. "You have a doll of me?"

"Well, duh. I had to survive when you told me to stay out of the bunker." She said it like it was obvious and paid no more attention to his surprise. "Anyway, my doll was smiling and I thought that all I really wanted to give you was a permanent smile on your face."

Another raise of eyebrows.

"I know it's physically impossible," she defended herself, after all that small but infernal expression of his made her think of herself as silly, "but I wanted your smile to last a long time."

It worked, Branch thought. The smile was there for a while. He really didn't remember a smile lasting more than a minute.

"And… the kiss…?"

"Oh," Poppy made a small squeaky noise and jumped away, a little embarrassed. Her flushing cheeks confirmed his suspicions that she had done it in the spur of the moment. "That… uh… was unplanned. Sorry. I know we talked about public displays of affection and how uncomfortable they make you feel…"

"Poppy," he interrupted her before she kept blabbing on and on. She shut her mouth, looking surprised for a second. "I was caught by surprise, but I liked it. Hair, I melted, didn't even care everybody was there."

"Oh…" She exhaled in relief, "good. I thought I had messed up."

"No, far from it."

They fell in a comfortable silence again. The sound of the fireworks was far away. Poppy placed her hand at the rim of the basket, taking off imaginary spots to keep her mind off the fact that she had her fingers intertwined with Branch's for a longer time than ever before.

Her eyes fell on his other hand. His glued fingers.

"When we get down, I'll help you with your fingers." A giggle threatened to start, but a thought quickly interrupted it and Poopy reached for her hair where her gift was safely guarded. "Let's see it together"

"Oh, no. It's…" embarrassing. He completed it in his mind.

Fluttering her eyelashes, she puckered her lips and turned around. Branch was wordless at her bratty attempt to convince him to join her. She sat down on the basket's floor, pretending he wasn't there and ignored him until he sat down by her side with a roll of eyes.

"They aren't as good as yours." He felt his cheeks burning and he knew a dark purple color was rising to his face. If only he could hide how flustered he was…

"They are perfect." Poppy cuddled at his side, turning to the first page. "Well, I noticed you are smiling in this one mister…"

"Yeah, well…" his hair suddenly felt itchy. "I liked your song, but didn't want to give in."

"So, you destroyed my ukulele." That teasing smile…

"Safest way to keep my mind focused on our mission and not on how cute you looked back then." Branch quickly admitted and quickly turned the page. Hair, he did resent burning her ukulele that day…

"And at Bridget's hair…" She bit her lower lip. She was so close Branch could feel her eyelashes tickling his cheek when she blinked.

"That was… uh… a sudden inspiration." Was it supposed to be so hot in that balloon? He felt like removing the tie.

"There's a heart here…" … and her teasing voice made him chew on his tongue to avoid falling into old habits of grumbling and turning away from a difficult situation. "I noticed a spark, too."

Surprised, Branch slightly lifted his head to look down at his blushing girlfriend. Despite her playful tone, he saw how red her cheeks were as well.

They were both so embarrassed it was getting ridiculous.

"You make me happy, too." Poppy leaned forward, her eyelids blinked close and Branch felt her hot breath on his face. He was almost caught in the moment, but he didn't forget they weren't alone.

"Uh… maybe we should land." He suggested and Poppy blinked away.

They weren't alone. Sheila Balloon was trying to stay quiet to give them privacy, but she was watching everything.

"Maybe we should."

The party was nearly over. When they were safely on the ground again, the music was on a low volume, only a couple of trolls were still animatedly chatting.

Val was taking Queen Barb and King Thrash to Hard Rock Hollow to spend the night. They were going to have a full Trollstopian experience and that included the hospitality only living in their city could provide.

Poppy yawned at his side and Branch, once again, took her hand. At least that bit of public touching was comfortable enough for him.

"I'll walk you home."

This time Poppy understood he meant her pod. Too many trolls were around, people they had never seen before and the leaders were all there to enjoy their evenings. As the host, the queen would need to be available.

Even if Branch wanted to greedily lock herself down in the bunker with him, he would need to let her go that night.

He could sleep alone because he was so happy, he knew there would be no nightmares.

"Branch!" He heard Poppy calling him in the distance. He turned his head to look at her pod where he had just left her. She was leaning against the door, watching him tenderly. "Hot water and soap."

"What?"

"To unglue your fingers."

In the end, it all turned out better than he had thought.