"When you miss me, you can wear this. It'll be like I'm right here with you."
Those words echoed in Branch's mind over and over as he sat silently on his bed, looking down at his leafy vest. A look of sadness was apparent on his face. He had been like that for an hour, and he would've been like that all day if it wasn't for the sound of his bedroom door opening.
"Thought I'd find you here," Poppy's voice grabbed Branch's attention and he quickly snapped his head in her direction, nearly causing him to drop it on the floor. But he was lucky enough to catch it before it did end up on the floor. "Are you considering wearing your normal vest instead of the fancier version of it you decided to wear this morning?"
"I didn't decide to wear a fancier version of this this morning."
Poppy laughed softly, rolling her eyes. "Then why are you just sitting there staring at it?"
"Uh…." Branch quickly put it back on and got up, turning to face her. "No reason. Absolutely no reason."
"Uh huh..." Poppy folded her arms, a smirk appearing on her face. A brief silence was quick to make itself apparent between the soon to be husband and wife, who stood there for a short moment before Poppy grabbed hold of Branch's hand and pulled him out of his bedroom.
"I'm not fully ready!" Branch stressed.
A silent snicker escaped Poppy's throat as she fully pulled Branch out of his bunker. "Yes you are!"
Has anyone seen—?"
"We're here. We're here. Sorry we're late. We'd just started on our way but found this note attached to the entrance to Branch's old pod. Here." Bridget lowered her right hand so Branch could take it. And the moment he did, his eyes widened
"Branch? Are you okay? Who's it from?" Poppy moved to get a closer look.
Branch bit his lip as he read the note over and over again in a state of utter silence. "My…brother…"
Poppy stood there, processing things for a moment. "Wait…your what?"
Branch turned to her and handed her the note, having since finished with reading it. Poppy took it from him, reading over it herself.
"Dear Branch, Troll Tree," Poppy started to read out loud, so that all of the trolls that'd come to stand around her and Branch could hear. She paused, narrowing her eyes as she reread the last two words. "Wait? Troll Tree? Troll Tree? Why would this brother of yours think we would still be living in our old home?"
"It doesn't matter," Branch said. "Keep reading."
"I am being held against my will by superstars Velvet and Veneer. Come to Mount Rageous at once and bring our brothers. Love Floyd." She paused the second she was done reading and looked at Branch. "Wait? Brothers? As in plural?"
Another pause. Branch bit his lip before nodding, the name repeating over and over in his mind. Floyd. Floyd. Of course he'd assume they were still living at the Troll Tree.
"Well… why didn't you tell me anything at any point?" Poppy turned around to hand the note back to Bridget before she turned to Branch and gripped at his shoulders. "Is this why you were sitting on your bed for an hour doing nothing but staring at your vest—?"
"I… didn't want to talk about it, okay!" Branch stressed out.
Poppy raised an eyebrow with a serious look on her face, but didn't say a thing. For a moment at least. To her, it seemed like Branch was hiding more than just having brothers.
"Should we just go ahead with our wedding—?" Branch asked, breaking a silence that had formed at some point in the last three minutes.
"No. Wedding and your coronation later. Tell me more about these brothers of yours."
"No. Wedding and my coronation now," Branch compromised. "Then I'll tell you everything."
Poppy opened her mouth in order to respond, but couldn't think of anything to say. Instead, she gave him a nod. A compromise was a compromise she supposed. Another, albeit brief, silence hit before she and Branch turned their attention to her father, who gently held what would be Branch's crown in his hands. Poppy motioned for Branch to step forwards at the same time as her father did.
As Peppy moved forward as well to place the crown on Branch's head and announced "Our new King" to the crowd of trolls and the Bergens, Poppy gave her now husband a small smile and a kiss.
Considering their honeymoon was going to be far much different than either she and Branch were hoping it would be, Poppy was still shocked to have learned about Branch having brothers.
"Right. So. Tell me about your brothers. How many—?"
"Four," Branch answered before Poppy could even finish asking.
"I assume they're all older?"
"Yes."
"Why didn't you tell me about your brothers sooner?"
"Because I didn't want to talk about it."
"Talk about what? Did something happen?"
"Nothing. I don't want to talk about that."
"Branch, come on. Please open up to me. Did anything happen to you in your childhood to make you not want to talk about it?"
"Childhood? I was ten months old when it happened."
Poppy looked up at the sky for a moment before turning her attention back to Branch. "Ten months old when what happened?"
"I…" Branch bit his lip and stayed silent for a moment. "My brothers walked out on me."
"Even Floyd?" Poppy guessed.
"Yes. Even Floyd. And he promised he wouldn't be gone forever and he'd come back."
"I'm sorry he didn't." Poppy gripped Branch's hand. "So why did they all walk out on you?"
"An argument. With each other. Well.. Floyd and I weren't involved. It was the rest of our brothers," Branch muttered, looking away. "And that's all I'll say…"
He wanted the conversation to be over now, but Poppy was insistent on it still happening. "An argument about what?"
"Can we not talk about it?"
Poppy gripped Branch's hand tighter now. "Not when there's something you're avoiding telling me. In the meantime, how about we listen to some music now? I brought a radio and a bunch of my old BroZone records with me—"
"Okay! Okay! I'll tell you what my brothers were arguing about!"
Already halfway through putting one of her records into her radio, Poppy stopped and turned to Branch with a confused smile on her face. "What's that got to do with me bringing BroZone records? Do you like listening to them too?"
A pause. Branch looked away, not saying anything.
"Branch, okay," Poppy said, breaking the silence before it could go on for much longer. "There's seriously something else you're not telling me."
Another pause. Branch sighed softly. "I…" He looked away from Poppy again, unsure of exactly how he was going to phrase out the rest of his sentence. Yet he didn't need to. Poppy did so for him.
"Uh, no! No way! There is absolutely no way you were part of my favorite band!"
Branch quickly turned his attention to the bottom of the basket of his wife's hot air balloon and let out a soft sigh. "Yeah. I was," he said softly, adding a nod. "I'm sorry for not telling you."
"It's fine." Poppy nodded too and patted Branch on the back.
A brief bout of silence hit. Poppy looked up at the afternoon sky again before she locked eyes with Branch and gave him what he automatically knew was a teasing smile. "Hey….How about we not go on our honeymoon or listen to any of your music and you instead take me to meet each of your brothers? The rest of the band? Besides, you and I both know that's way more important than—"
"Poppy, please, what's way more important is that I take you to meet Floyd first. Then I'll let you meet the rest of the band."