Because of the Flowers

The Snug-a-lugs had left a ruined bunker behind. Branch was extremely relieved that the irresistible pets had been transported back to their dimension, but the clean-up and the repairs that were required to get his place fully functional once again were very unsettling.

Of course, nobody stayed over to help him fix the mess. Branch was used to it, but he had had a full day and the emotional stress of having to hold back from involuntarily hugging only added to his frustration with everybody.

"Branch?" He heard Poppy's voice as the elevator moved to bring her down to the lounge room. The survivalist suddenly felt the frustration vanishing and being replaced by a warm rush of joy running through his body.

Poppy's smile brightened up his day. If once things were upsetting, after he spotted her pink form walking towards him, everything seemed more tolerable.

"Hi…" She merely showered him a bucket and a mop that she had brought, while wearing an apron and rubber gloves. "... I came to help."

Branch felt his insides melting at her thoughtfulness. Even if she hadn't witnessed what he and the other trolls had been through, Lownote Jones must have told her what had happened and she was eagerly there to assist him.

"I'm so glad you're here!" He didn't hold himself back and surprised Poppy by walking to her and wrapping his arms around her body in a tight and fulfilling hug. After a whole day fighting the urge to embrace and snuggle that potentially catastrophic pet, being able to just slide his arms around Poppy and enjoy the contact was pure bliss.

Not to mention that his girlfriend was incredibly huggable.

Poppy, on the other hand, was totally caught by surprise and stood there, awkwardly hugging him back and completely unsure if she should ask what had happened.

Branch felt her moving against him. She untied the apron and removed the rubber gloves. The bucket and mop fell on the floor and a second later her arms were responding to his hug as tightly as she could.

To his survivalist way of life, avoiding contact for the most part of his life, such intimacy was still new. When his walls started coming down and he tried to give Poppy a hug as good as hers, he tried to mimic what she did and concentrated on the level of arm raising, and the right angle to arch his elbow so he could reach her back and leave her own arms free to respond.

His hug was meticulously calculated.

That is, until feelings were added to the mix. Branch noticed it wasn't just about arms and fronts touching. His heart leaped in joy when he felt her strawberry scented hair just under his nose and there was a delicious friction when she moved against him, changing the position of her arms, but keeping her body glued to his. When she did that, he felt like he wanted something more.

Branch wanted to kiss Poppy.

Not that quick impulsive kiss she gave him during the World Tour… no… he wanted to dive in and explore her in a whole new way.

Blushing at his thoughts, Branch broke the hug, not being able to look at her stunningly happy smile for a while.

"That was a long hug," Poppy teased, holding his hands in hers. She expected an answer, but Branch was too busy controlling the blush on his cheeks to form coherent words. "I liked it."

"I missed you," Branch managed to say, stealing quick glances from their joined hands to her glittery cheeks.

That surprised Poppy. They hadn't seen each other in a few days. She concentrated in helping her friends around town, to live a full trollstopian experience (because, of course, she was the queen in charge). And, after the fiasco with his private hot spring, she thought he needed some alone time.

"I missed you, too," her voice was quiet and her eyes sparkled with the expectation that he would say something else, but he looked too embarrassed to continue. So, Poppy let go of his hands and shifted back to cleaning mode. "What about I do the cleaning while you fix what was broken? Together we'll be finished in no time."

"That would be great," Branch sighed in gratitude.

Poppy was used to helping him. She surprised him several times by showing how she paid attention to his organizing methods. She even noticed he organized his rations by crunchiness level and labeled them the last time his bunker was damaged.

While she worked, Branch fixed the steel door that burst open with the Snug-a-Lug infestation, stealing a glance at her from time to time. After the cleanup it would be a good idea to offer her something in return. He felt like he owned her something after the misunderstanding last time she had been over.

Perhaps a night of games and pizza?

Spinning a screwdriver in the air, Branch decided to ask Poppy if she was free to stay over. He was positive that this time she'd accept his invitation. He found her in the bathroom picking cupcakes out of his bathtub.

"Cooper was here, too?" She shot him a curious look, seeing the amount of cupcakes that she had picked up, having the second trash bag filled up;

"Cooper is always around," Branch rolled his eyes, remembering the nuisance of having his heavenly privacy constantly interrupted by Cooper's wandering around. "Even when I lock the trapdoor he manages to get inside."

"Jeez…" Poppy looked at him worriedly as she leaned over the bathtub to unplug the water. "Have you tried talking to him?"

"Privacy is a concept too complicated for a troll to understand." Branch scoffed, picking up the trash bags and quickly throwing them in the dumpster outside and quickly returning to find Poppy making sure the bathroom's tiled floor was shiny and new with her pink mop. "Anyway," the survivalist continued, seeing that his girlfriend was caught in deep thought. "I was wondering if you'd like to stay over tonight."

Poppy stumbled on the mop and quickly looked up at him, with eyes wide and a deep blush coloring her cheeks. Branch blushed too, seeing that he had sounded incredibly forward.

"I-I mean…- I wanted to share a pizza, if you're willing, - of course. That's all." Nervously, Branch fidgeted with the screwdriver, wondering if there was anything around that needed a quick repair, so he could have an excuse to look away from Poppy's stare.

"I'd love to stay," Poppy's meekness surprised him, causing Branch to fully look into her face.

It was ridiculous, he figured, they were both too new at romantic relationships and each step was coated with shyness, exploring their feelings and testing the waters. Their eyes locked for a long moment, trying to pick up any small signs of happiness, of anxiousness and overbearing excitement.

Branch noticed Poppy was wearing eyeliner.

"I've never seen you wearing makeup during the day," he pointed out, breaking the spell that each other's nearness caused.

"Oh," Poppy giggled, embarrassed that he had noticed, "it's a super durable makeup from Rhythm and Blues. It's from another dimension and all."

"So cultural exchange is useful for girlie stuff as well." Branch teased and Poppy playfully nudged him, walking back to the kitchen so she could finish doing the dishes.

"We just had our second Girl's Night. It's incredibly fun," she bit her lower lip and Branch couldn't help bump her to the side so he could dry the plates she had cleaned.

"Now, that's interesting," he opened the cupboard and placed the first clean plate inside, straightening back to pick the second one. "What do you girls do?"

"Well… aside from makeup, we get manicures, we do our hairs… open up about our feelings. Things like that," Poppy answered but her voice trailed off and Branch caught that something wasn't as cupcakes and rainbows as she made it seem.

"Sounds like your dream party, so what's upsetting you?" Poppy gave him the last cleaned cup and removed the rubber gloves, making Branch steal a quick glance at her cute pink manicured fingernails.

"Val refuses to show up and the experience doesn't feel complete without her." Poppy took a pen and paper from her hair and quickly wrote down a note, "are you okay with margherita?" Branch hum-ed in response and a small critter quickly took the note to the pizza shop. "Anyway," Poppy continued, "I wanted to understand Val better, but she doesn't give me a chance."

"You're really good at solving problems," Branch pointed out, earning a hopeful smile from her. "I'm sure she'll eventually attend your party."

"I guess I'll need to add some wild games to convince her that Girl's Night is fun." They set the table for their dinner. Branch picked up some fresh juice from the fridge and poured her a glass. "But first I need to pest her until she agrees to show up,"

"That's how you got me out of the bunker," He rolled his eyes, remembering how she tirelessly invited him to parties for twenty years.

Poppy giggled and reached for the glass of juice. Their hands accidentally brushed on one another. An electric feeling immediately rushed through both young trolls, who barely knew how to act or what to do with that much emotion that bubbled up. Poppy dipped her head down, but kept her eyes on Branch, making him sweat in embarrassment because she looked incredibly cute like that.

The awkwardness on Branch's part made Poppy dive into an amused curiosity. His face was turning red, he was avoiding her eyes and the sudden itch on his hair composed the unmistakable signs of his mind rushing through nervous thoughts about their relationship.

So, Poppy realized it was up to her to be brave and say what could make things easier for him. Gently, taking his hands with hers, she felt how sweaty his palms were - the way he blinked twice going from their joined hands to her face made clear that he was nervous if she was going to be grossed out about it - but she offered nothing but tenderness.

"Look, Branch… I know this is new for both of us." She smiled, seeing how his eyes softened up in understanding. "Love is supposed to make our lives easier. You can say whatever is on your mind," and with a deep blush, she blinked a few times before completing, "...because I want this to work as much as you do."

His hair shot upwards, the nervous smile got transformed into a relieved one and his back straightened immediately, causing him to grow considerably taller than her. Poppy's chest filled up with love seeing that her words visibly lifted the weight off his shoulders.

"Poppy, I…"

THUD-THUD-THUD

Suddenly someone knocked on the trapdoor, breaking their spell.

"It must be the pizza." Poppy said quietly, letting her fingers linger on his as they let go of each other. "I'll go get it."

Branch felt his resistance fading away as she jolly hopped out of the kitchen. Poppy was right. He was supposed to trust her with everything he wanted to say or do. If she agreed with him: good, if she didn't then they would amicably find their way to solve their problems.

So, he should tell her - he gulped nervously at the thought - that he wanted to kiss her.

But of course, he pondered about it all the way through dinner. Poppy was happily chatting about ideas to go 'savage' on their Girls Night and he gave her a few ideas that a Hard Rock Troll could enjoy. Branch barely listened to her when she started talking about how delightful R and B's devices to other dimensions were. Normally it would be a subject that he would talk about for hours, but he could only stare at her lips.

Everything seemed so… safe. It was like a different world.

"May I ask you something?" Branch asked as soon as she stopped talking.

"Anything," she cocked her head to the side, offering him a cute attentive gesture.

"When did you realize you… - you know," Hair, it was awkward even saying the words, "... that you liked me?"

"Oh…" looking around, Poppy's eyes sparkled in the most girlish way. Her hands clasped on her cheeks to hide an immediate blush. "... well… I remember it clearly," giving him a shy smile, she continued, "... I noticed the flowers."

"Flowers?" Branch repeated, feeling confused.

"Yes… one day I've noticed the flowers were especially more beautiful… I've seen every single one on my path that day… and the breeze was so sweeter than before…" Branch wasn't following, but he refrained himself from interrupting her, "... and my heart started pounding faster and I couldn't avoid dropping by the bunker several times that day."

"So… because of the flowers."

"... because you took the invitation from my hands for the first time!" she squealed, getting lost in her dreamy memories, "... and my world just got brighter after that day."

"Wait, 'I took your invitation for the first time'...?" Branch could barely recall when it was. She had dropped so many invitations over the years that… oh crap… Poppy had been in love with him for years!

He was flabbergasted and Poppy merely shrugged, sipping on her juice as if it was a completely ordinary revelation.

Questions like 'why she never told him', or 'why even after they befriended, she kept it a secret' were on the tip of his tongue, but he chewed on them bitterly. He knew the answer to those. He never allowed her to properly approach him.

He kept her at a cold distance.

He was unreachable. Someone to be desired or wished from afar.

"Well, it is late," she stretched, cracking her back and feeling a little sore from all the cleaning. "I should get going,"

"I don't want you to go," the words were out before he could stop himself and Poppy froze against the counter, looking a little reluctant. "...I mean… can we pretend it's still early? I have one thing I wanted to show you."

"O-Okay…" Poppy stuttered.

Branch quickly took her hand in his and guided her to a corridor that led to his bedroom. He could feel the wild pumping of her heart through her hands. Once he walked past the door of his bedroom, though, the nervous look got replaced by an intrigued one when he stopped in front of a door she had never seen before.

"I've made this for you," Branch couldn't believe his own audacity as he opened the door to reveal a small bedroom with a bed, a vanity and a small wardrobe. Poppy's hand left his to cover her mouth in astonishment, "I thought that it would be a nice place to hide. You know. Your pod is opened day and night. If you need a place for peace and quiet. You could. Drop. By." His voice broke with uncertainty. She wasn't saying anything. Poppy just stood there, staring at the bedroom.

"Hair, Branch…" she whispered after what seemed an eternity to him. "This is so thoughtful!"

He sighed in relief. For a second, he thought he had done something wrong.

"So, you like it?"

"Like it?! I love it!" She squealed in excitement, jumping while clapping. She quickly went inside, inspecting every inch. "You went through all this trouble for me?! Of course, I'll stay tonight, I… Hair, I need a quiet night for once."

Branch could have danced in victory right there, but he thought it would look silly so he did what was compatible with his character: he crossed his arms over his chest and smirked, leaning against the doorframe.

"I'll go get some clothes from my pod and I'll be right back!" She announced, quickly walking past him. "Oh, Branch, thank you so much."

And in a spontaneous movement, she leaned forward, giving him a sweet kiss on his cheek.

Branch didn't know for how long he stood there. Completely paralyzed by the enchanting feeling of her soft lips against his skin. He didn't even see when she disappeared into the night, leaving his bunker through the trapdoor.

All that he could think of was how lucky he was because he would share dinner AND breakfast with Poppy.

One step closer.