Partner or Royal Guest?

Poppy was the first to break their group hug, which came to a big surprise for Branch. It was just a fraction of a second before anyone else and the others didn't seem to notice, but the survivalist was fully alert about everything when it came to his girlfriend.

He was vigilant because he had messed up. He had failed her in his Nanny Test and even if he had done the same with the others, it pained him to see the startled look on her face when he plainly refused to accept her help and, again, when he thought he had made things right, Holly had to come and say out loud that he thought it required four of them to do what he did.

Branch was ashamed that Poppy had witnessed the flaws of his bunker, that she had seen that there was a possibility of a flood on rainy days and that he didn't feel comfortable enough to trust her with his property even if he still wanted her to be there more often.

What was he expecting?

The survivalist didn't miss a shadow under her eyes when she stepped on the elevator. She tried to distract herself by adjusting Mr. Dinkle's hat, but the hurt was there.

What did he want with Poppy, after all? He wanted her over as a royal guest? He would do all the chores while she chilled? It was not how he wanted to share his life with her.

"Poppy?" Branch said, causing the platform to stop half way up. Four pairs of eyes looked down at him, blinking in confusion at the same time. "Can I have a word?"

The queen joined him on the ground and he waited until three giggling trolls with knowing looks left the bunker to lock it up completely.

Yep, he was still having grumpy waves when trolls meddled in his life like that. They didn't need to say anything. Branch could clearly see what those mocking looks meant.

"I'm sorry I let you down." Poppy's voice made him shudder. There it was, it was plain clear that he had made her feel like a failure. "If it counts for anything, you're amazing at maintaining your bunker."

Branch watched her as a genuine smile splattered on her face when she recollected how he masterly fixed everything in less than nine seconds until total bunker failure.

Yeah, he had done that to impress her and he had succeeded.

"Poppy, you did great." Branch took her hand in his and her dreamy smile faded, returning her concentration to what he was saying. "I'm sorry I was so harsh on you."

"Well, this place is your castle." Poppy held her giggle, but that little noise he loved escaped before she could stop herself. "You know what is better for it."

Silence fell between them while Branch took her words in. He was so deep in thought that when he realized they were both sitting inside the kitchen, enjoying some warm tea while he still couldn't figure out the feeling of wrongness that had fallen between them.

He had said he wanted her to live with him and he wanted to treat her as a guest.

Both things didn't match.

After all, what did he want?

"Did you use that giant drill to make my room?" Poppy asked, trying to light up the mood.

"Ah, yes." Branch smiled, remembering the day he had decided she needed a place to stay inside with him. "Of course, I needed to work on some excavations by hand, because I wanted the walls to be less round to fit a proper wardrobe."

"You shouldn't trouble yourself that much." Poppy could picture him full of dirt, blisters in his hands while he firmly held a shovel to carve the walls. "But I love my room." She completely melted when saying that. Branch smiled, too, seeing her feeling cozy and happy next to him.

"Poppy…" Branch sighed, looking down at the cup, "you know I do trust you with the bunker, right?"

Poppy blushed and nodded.

"I wasn't taking you seriously," she bit her lower lip, doing that small smile that he loved to see, "sometimes it's easy to get into the fun and games. It wasn't nice of me. I'm sorry."

"Well," fudge, he loved her. "I was wondering if you could help me with some serious maintenance."

"Of course," Poppy smiled, "let me make it up to you."

"I need to fix the whole plumbing system." That was it, he had to show her he wasn't a construction genius. "It will be hard work, but I can't do it alone."

Her eyes softened in agreement.

"I didn't have much experience when I started building the bunker," to illustrate his point, Branch quickly left the kitchen to return with the plans he had been studying. "I made a lot of amateur mistakes, but as the structure required more addictions, I worked on them without thinking about overloading the whole system."

Poppy saw Branch speaking. His lips moved and he unrolled a sheet of paper with designs she didn't fully comprehend.

He was asking for her help. He wanted her help, whether she was smart or not. It wasn't the genius Laguna that needed to calculate the reductions, it wasn't the neat constructor Gust who would easily attach the parts.

Branch trusted her to help him with his home. He could have anyone more qualified for the job, but what he was seeking wasn't mastery: it was affection and support he needed.

Unsuspicious of her emotional thoughts, Branch continued explaining how he was going to cut the supply and he needed her to reopen it when everything was fixed.

He was briefly interrupted by her warm hand reaching out and grabbing his while he merely supported his weight over the spread plan.

Her palm slowly and warmly wrapped around his own, giving him a small squeeze before intertwining their fingers.

In confusion, Branch trailed his eyes over the pink skin, following her soft hand, then her wrists, up to her arms to that hollow spot on her collarbone that made him lick his lips.

His blue eyes finally met her magenta ones, seeing them mirroring the same love and trust he had on his own. With the addiction of tears. Poppy was emotional for some reason he didn't grasp while he was in his building mode.

"Queen Poppy?" Someone knocked on the trapdoor, startling both trolls out of their enamored spell. "Queen Poppy, are you in there?"

"Oh dear…" Poppy immediately stood up and went to answer the door. Branch was right behind her, realizing that it was the first time a troll other than their close friends had come looking for the queen at the bunker.

Did they all know she was there often?

It turned out; it was one of Sky Toronto's workers.

"Thank goodness we found you, Queen Poppy." The small yellow troll with purple hair said. "There was an accident at the factory and we're swimming in Dominos!"

Author's Note: Hello everyone! Believe it or not, dec. 7th, it's Tales of Trollstopia's birthday! Yep, I've been working on it an entire year! It's so fun I can't bring myself to stop. I've been thinking about having a celebration of some kind. Do you have any suggestions? I thought about posting fanart with the favorite part of the fic. What do you think?