The First Family Dinner

Branch clutched his stomach, he felt like he was going to be sick. He would never get used to that hustle button. He felt relieved when they had reached their destination, Vacay Island. Among him was Poppy, Viva, and his brothers. They were all headed to Bruce's for dinner, they hadn't seen Bruce for awhile since he was busy with the kids, so it seemed like a good idea to have a change of scenery and go to visit him for a change.

"You ok there, Branch?" JD asked.

Branch blinked. "Yeah, just a little too much hustle."

JD slapped him on the back. "Maybe you and I need to do some more hustling together then."

Branch shot him a look. "That's weird."

Clay chuckled. "Why do you always make things sound weird, JD?'

"Hey I make a valid point, we're all going to Bruce's and it seems like I always come to you in the village. When are you all going to stay with me in the wilderness? Just me and my bros camping!"

Floyd shuttered. "Camping?"

"Yeah! Come on! It'll be fun!" JD exclaimed.

"Well-"

"I have this thing about sleeping outdoors-"

"I don't have-"

JD sighed. "That's ok. We don't have to. I just thought it would be nice to spend time together doing what I love. Let's just forget about it then."

JD went back to the front to steer Rhonda and was silent the rest of the way. Branch and his brothers looked at each other with guilt, they were silent too. Luckily, Poppy and Viva were very occupied with each other and didn't see what had happened. Branch shared a look with his brothers and they nodded in agreement. They decided to wait a little later to talk to JD, now wasn't the best time.

"Land ho!" JD shouted.

Once they were safely on the sand, JD assisted with helping Poppy and Viva out of Rhonda, ignoring his brothers. JD was not one to show many emotions, but he was hurt by his brothers' rejection. Was he really that terrible to hang out with? He really wanted to spend some time with just his brothers. Though he had the option to live in the village, he was not ready for that life yet but it came with a cost. Loneliness. Maybe Bruce would join him, older brothers always stuck together. JD led the way as they walked through the trees to get to the island, he wasn't joking around like he normally did so Poppy knew something was off.

She leaned over and whispered to Branch. "Hey, is something wrong with JD? He's being quiet."

"And that's a bad thing?" Branch replied dryly.

Poppy crossed her arms and glared at her boyfriend. "Branch, what's going on?"

"Poppy, it's fine. We'll talk to him."

"So, there is something then?"

Branch groaned. "Poppy please. I just want to have a nice evening."

She scoffed slightly. "Ok, fine." She then left Branch's side and went up to the front to join JD.

He sighed slightly. Ugh, here we go again.

Finally, when they arrived on the island, they were greeted by the vacationers but it was nothing like the greeting they got from Bruce's children. The kids practically ran at them and jumped around.

"Daddy! Daddy! They're here!"

"Will you play with us?!"

Bruce stopped to catch his breath when he finally caught up the rest of his ankle biters. Seeing his children jumping around the trolls excitedly, he got concerned about his guests safety and whistled loudly. Every one of his offspring stopped and turned to him.

"Now kids, I know you're very excited to see your uncles, but let's not overwhelm them ok? They just got here."

This was met with a lot of sighs and groans but eventual ok's and the kids backed off and ran back towards the beach.

"Wow, that was impressive man." stated JD.

Bruce smirked. "I still got it. How are you guys? Can I get anyone something to drink?"

"Pina colada!" Viva and Poppy exclaimed at the same time.

"You got it! Brandi, two Pina coladas!"

The girls raced towards the bar to greet Brandi, leaving the brothers alone.

Bruce cleared his throat. "We're about to close soon, then we can head to our house for dinner. Why don't we all have a drink before we leave?"

"Sure."

"Alright."

"Cool."

JD only shrugged his shoulders in response. Bruce didn't notice and guided them to their restaurant, it was less crowded than the last time they were here. The sun was going to set soon so all the vacationers were leaving the beach for the day, thankfully it lessened everyone's worry of being stepped on. Branch smiled at the sight of Poppy enjoying her drink. He joined her and ordered himself a daiquiri. They were all chatting with Brandi until they were interrupted by JD.

"What's the strongest thing you have to drink?" JD asked.

Bruce raised his eyebrows. "Um..everything ok bro?"

"Yeah fine, just like the hard stuff."

"We don't have anything like that here, we try to keep the drinks family friendly." Bruce explained.

"Hmm…fine I guess I'll take a hurricane then."

JD gulped down half the drink when it came out, not going unnoticed by anyone. Before Bruce could ask if something was wrong, JD beat him to it.

"Say Bruce, would you like to go camping with me? Just me and you."

"Camping? I don't think I can just take off work like that."

JD scoffed. "You too huh?"

"What do you mean?"

"I just want to spend some quality time with my brothers, but it seems like EVERYONE has an excuse!"

"JD I don't even know what you're talking about!" Bruce turned to the others. "Does someone want to fill me in here?"

Viva chimed in. "Yeah…I'm very confused here."

The alcohol was running through JD's veins and with a snort he replied. "I'll gladly fill you in, no one wants me around. The minute I mention anything about exploring the wilderness which is my passion, everyone's uncomfortable! It's like you guys don't trust me. You think I'm going to lead you into danger or something?"

"I'm just not comfortable out in the wilderness. I'm not experienced like you are." Floyd said.

JD with an exaggerated grin turned to Clay. "I suppose your excuse is that regular clay doesn't do fun things anymore."

"If I counted camping as fun." Clay remarked.

JD huffed. "What about you bitty? What's your excuse? For someone who spent many years alone being a survivalist, why wouldn't you want to camp with me?"

Branch felt his blood starting to boil and stood inches away from his older brother's face. "You're forgetting I adapted that lifestyle because I HAD to! I wish I could've done that for funsies, but some of us were just trying to get by!"

"Oh here we go! It's always my fault isn't it? I thought we were past all that!" JD shouted.

"Don't shout at me!" Branch snapped back.

Branch and JD started to argue, and it was joined by Floyd and Clay. Bruce, Poppy, and Viva were trying to be mediators of this banter, but they continued to argue. Suddenly, another loud whistle pierced their ears, it was Brandi. It was quite impressive.

"Time out! I won't have all this arguing in our place of business. I am not sure what all of this is about, but maybe you guys need to talk this out, OUTSIDE."

"Psshh, I don't need to talk. You know what, forget it. Forget this family dinner. Forget the camping idea. Forget all this family reunion crap."

With the last word, JD stormed out. Bruce, Poppy, and Viva had confused looks on their faces, how did a nice family dinner turn into this? Bruce hopped down from the bar and went to find JD before he got too far. The silence stung in the air until Poppy cleared her throat.

"It felt like something was wrong from the minute we got here, what's going on?"

Branch sighed. "We weren't fond of his camping trip idea."

"Why not? It sounds like a fun idea!" Viva exclaimed.

"Yeah! Campfires, roasting marshmallows, and sleeping under the stars!" Poppy joined.

Branch tried his best to hold in a snort. "That's not the type of camping he has in mind, Pops. He means going out in the middle of nowhere, hunting for our own food, making our own shelter and resources, and…doing our business in the woods."

"Then adding his smart ass attitude to this experience, it's just asking for the hunter to become hunted." Clay added.

Floyd shuffled his feet. "I don't have the skills like he has when dealing with predators. I don't know how to set up camp. Poppy's idea sounds like more fun."

"Well, why don't you tell him that?" Poppy asked.

The three brothers laughed.

Clay caught his breath. "Let's just say that's not JD's forte."

"It sounds like all he wants to do is spend time with you guys. I think if you told him you didn't want to do his style, he might understand. It doesn't seem like you gave his idea much of a chance."

"Poppy's right. Maybe we were too quick to brush off his idea. I think we need to find him and apologize." Floyd said.

Clay nodded. "Hopefully he didn't go too far."

Clay and Floyd hopped off the bar and started making their way out. Branch started to, but he stopped and made his way back towards his girlfriend.

"Poppy…I'm sorry about what I said earlier. Seems like everytime we come here, I always say a short remark. I appreciate your insight on things."

Poppy smiled and kissed his cheek. "Go, me and Viva will help Brandi close up. I'll see you later."

Branch caught up with his brothers and they found Bruce who was panting and racing towards them.

"There you guys are. Whew, I'm out of shape. I went back to see if JD left, but Rhonda is still there. I didn't see him anywhere in the palm tree forest."

Branch started to ramble. "He couldn't have gone far. We need to cover the area, we could split up and look for clues like fingerprints or a piece of his hair."

"Uh Branch, I don't think this is that type of case." Clay stated.

Suddenly, laughter filled the air. It sounded like children's laughter, but there was one that stood out.

"Wait, do you hear that?" Bruce said.

They listened again and followed the sound towards the beach. The brothers breathed a sigh of relief by what they found. All of Bruce's children were playing monkey in the middle with JD. It didn't seem like he was having much success getting out of the middle due to his size, but he was laughing and having a good time.

"Alright, now watch this!" JD used his hair to launch himself in order to catch the ball, finally taking him out of the middle.

" No fair, that's cheating uncle JD!" Bruce Jr. Huffed.

JD smirked. "Hey I could've done that the first time, but I wanted you guys to have fun! Now get in the middle sucka!"

"You're a sucker!" Bruce Jr argued back.

"Uncle Johnny, I'm bored of this game. Can we play a game of duck duck goose? Windy asked.

JD couldn't argue with that. He was getting tired of this game. "Alright, let's sit in the circle everyone!"

All the children started giggling as JD made his way around the circle to pick who would be the goose. Finally when he chose, he wasn't able to run far when he was tagged by his only niece Labreezy, putting him once again in the middle.

"Ha-Ha! In the middle you go Uncle JD!" Labreezy proudly said.

JD finally admitted defeat. "Alright, alright."

They played a few more rounds before JD looked up and noticed his brothers watching him. When he got up, he was met with objections from the kids, but JD assured them he would be back. JD knew his brothers would've found him eventually. When he stormed out, he was ready to leave but his niece and nephews wanted to play with him and he couldn't refuse.

Bruce cleared his throat. "Hey JD. Sounds like things got a little out of hand back there."

JD put his hand up to object. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to storm off. You were kind to invite me over, so that was rude of me." He paused. " I don't like to show my emotions, but I was hurt by the quick rejection of my idea."

The brothers looked down shamefully while JD continued. " Look, I know in the past I've been bossy and my ideas weren't always good ones, but I really want to do this with you guys."

"Is it fair to say though that some of us aren't really fond of the idea of being stuck in the wilderness?" Clay interjected.

"Yes, that's fair. I know you guys aren't quite experienced like me."

Branch scoffed. "Speak for yourself."

"What if we…did a nice mild version of camping?" Floyd suggested.

JD widened his eyes. "You mean singing songs around the campfire and roasting marshmallows?"

"Um..yes?" Floyd said shyly.

It looked like JD was about to object or laugh at the idea. Instead he surprised the brothers by his response.

"That's a great idea!" JD exclaimed.

Clay raised an eyebrow. "What? You're on board with that?"

"Yeah, I mean if we did the extreme survival type of camping, I think I would've become the hunted. So we're really doing this then?! We are gonna do so much bonding! Our performances will be so strong!"

"When would we go?" Branch asked.

"Whenever it works for you guys. I know everyone has their own lives."

Bruce smiled. "We'll do it as soon as we can."

"Uncle JD! You're taking too long!" shouted Rainy.

"Come on kids! We're about to go home to eat!" Bruce called to them.

"But daddy!" exclaimed most of his kids.

"Uncle Johnny can play some more when we get home. You also got three other uncles who'd love to play with you!"

A bunch of yay's could be heard from the far distance where they were standing. The kids started running towards them with Bruce reminding them to be careful and they all headed back to the cabana where the girls would be waiting for them. Poppy and Viva were very successful with helping Brandi close for the night, the three of them were very happy to see JD was back among them. They started to make their way to Bruce and Brandi's house, luckily it wasn't too far of a walk. Branch and Poppy hung in the back for a little privacy.

"So it looks like everything went well?" Poppy grinned.

Branch chuckled. "Yeah, he didn't totally hate our non extreme camping idea."

Poppy smirked. "Told ya. You never know unless you talk."

Branch shrugged. "That's the big difference between brothers and sisters."

"I'm very happy you worked things out." Poppy said as she stole a kiss.

"Oooooo PDA!" exclaimed Freddy.

"Ewww kissing is so gross!" said Cove.

"They do have a point guys! Let's keep it PG back there!" JD shouted.

Branch groaned. "Ugh, now I wish he was mad at us again."

Before long, they finally made it. Once they got inside, each one of Bruce's kids pulled a different troll in a different direction to show them around. The house was big enough to hold their family, it was 3 stories which included a backyard playground, swimming pool, and a playroom on the ground floor. After the grand tour, Bruce got to work on preparing dinner for everyone on the grill. The trolls were happy to entertain the kids to allow Brandi to relax for a little while. Poppy, Viva, and Floyd sang karaoke with half of the kids while Branch, JD, and Clay played another round of duck duck goose with the other half outside.

"Alright everyone! Time to eat!" Bruce called out.

The kids went racing to the picnic tables outside and happily took their places. The trolls followed after and settled into their proper sized seats. Bruce proudly presented them with burgers with all different types of ingredients of their choice and different sizes. French fries and nuggets were also on the menu for tonight. They all thanked Bruce for preparing this meal.

Bruce grabbed their attention. "Before we dig in, I just wanted to say something first. I'm very happy you all are here for our first dinner together as a family. It won't be the last either, reuniting with my brothers has been the best thing that's happened this year."

"I thought I was supposed to be the sensitive one." Floyd teased.

"What can I say? Becoming a parent can change you."

"Thank you Bruce and Brandi for having us over again, I have enjoyed getting acquainted with the kids." Branch said.

"You'll make a great dad someday." Bruce smirked.

Branch started to blush deeply which was met with teasing from his brothers, his niece and nephews, and even Poppy herself. Luckily it was short lived when everyone became more focused on their food and sharing stories including some embarrassing stories of Branch, which Poppy took delight in. Branch had taken in the sight, the evening had been off to a rough start at first but was happy that it resolved so they could just enjoy the evening. After dinner, the kids ran off to play while the adults drank coffee and continued to swap stories. Before long they all decided to turn in for the night and departed to their designated rooms.

"No hanky panky, Bitty B. We have children in the house." Bruce teased.

Branch rolled his eyes. "Oh darn."

"Goodnight everyone!"

Everyone called out goodnight to each other before disappearing into their rooms. Branch retreated into the room he was sharing with Poppy. He found her out on the balcony and greeted with a hug from behind.

"Fancy meeting you out here." Branch said softly.

"Tonight was great."

"I couldn't agree more. Thank you again for your wise words."

Poppy turned to face him. "You know Branch…I want this someday."

"Want what?"

"A family."

Branch leaned into Poppy until their foreheads were touching.

"Me too." He whispered.

Welcome back ladies and gents! Hope everyone enjoyed! I know this First was not totally Broppy central, but still a first for every character! This idea came along after I watched the short It Takes Three, everyone was wondering where Branch and the brothers went so this idea was born. I have a theory they were off bonding somewhere per the idea of JD. Plus I really needed to see Branch interacting with the kids too. Thank you all for the love and suggestions! Stay Tuned!

~Ash