ᴛʜᴇ ᴀꜰᴛᴇʀᴍᴀᴛʜ. | ᴀ ᴛʀᴏʟʟꜱ ꜰᴀɴꜰɪᴄ.

𝐂𝐇𝐏𝐓 𝟏 - 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫

Things between the BroZone bro's had always been complicated.

     But now? Things were more complicated than they've ever been. They were all together again. Some bigger than they were the last time they'd seen each other. Other's looking far more different. Clay had big lime hair, he was much smarter, much more serious, had a girlfriend?? Floyd had done his hair differently, dressed differently, acted differently. Spruce went by Bruce now, had kids, lost his fitter body, ran a resturant and practically a whole island. John Dory was older, started greying, seemed.. more guilty than he had before.

    Baby Branch. He wasn't much of a baby anymore. He'd saved the world, fell in love. He'd gotten so much bigger. Yet, they still babied him. He hated every second of it.. or he pretended he did at least. He felt so much resent for them he didn't feel it was just letting them back into his life without any repercussions. 

   Them trying to ease their way into his life after Mount Rageous pissed him off honestly. They wanted to pretend everything was okay when things were definitely not okay. They wanted to pretend they didn't abandon Branch at the age of four. He knew they all had their own lives. That they all wanted to get away from John. Away from the toxic memories of the past.. but is that really an excuse to leave your four year old brother without making sure he was okay? Sure, Floyd did.. and he appreciated him for that.

     See, what he didn't appreciate him for was the promise he didn't uphold. The fact that he promised Branch he'd come back.. see him.. visit him. Instead? He abandoned him just like the others, except this time? He left the younger troll with false hope. False hope that he'd actually show up.

     What would have happened if Floyd never got captured? If Velvet and Veneer never took his brother captive and called them all up to come save him. Would they all even be together now? It's hard to be grateful they're all together again when there was a slim chance they would've been before disaster struck.

     Tonight was the first night after the bro's had saved Floyd. They we all pretty far away from their homes.. so Poppy offered to let them stay with them back at Pop Village. Poppy practically forced Branch to let the bro's stay in his bunker.. There being no where else to put them. All the spare pods were used up. Gosh, she really needed to do some remodeling around Pop Village, huh?

     Branch let the bro's back to his bunker.. wishing Poppy goodnight. A sigh escaped the annoyed trolls lips. He just wanted to be done with all this brother crap and go back to his life. Dealing with them, and the issues that followed just.. pissed him off even more.

"So.. you built this all on your own?" Clay's voice rung out from behind Branch. The youngest didn't face him.. instead he grabbed a few blankets and pillows.

" Yeah."

     The silence that fell between the two felt tense. Clay's attempt at a conversation clearly wasn't going anywhere. The other bro's had gone to sit in the living room.. leaving just the two of them. Clay just wanted to help him carry stuff.. assuming grabbing things for four brother's would be a lot to carry.. not the tense air. He wasn't asking for that at all. He understood why.. but he thought that got resolved before? That it wasn't a problem anymore.

"Did.. somethin' happen..? Did I do something wrong?"

Branch paused, setting down the blankets he had been rummaging through. He stood straight.

" What didn't happen?" Branch asked, turning to face his brother. " Are you guys seriously just going to pretend like that whole 'abandoning me' thing didn't happen?"

"No- dude that's not what I meant. I meant why are you so upset with me right now? I haven't even done anything wrong."

" Doesn't matter! I don't- y'know what. We're not having this conversation right now. You guys are heading back home tomorrow anyways."

     Silence fell once more between the two brothers. Both had shared experiences with the others. Both went through a lot during the twenty years apart. Thing was.. most of that pain came from each other.

     Clay's guilt.

     Branch's abandonment.

"You do know.. just 'cause we're going home doesn't mean we're leaving forever, right?"

    Did Clay seriously think that wasn't how Branch felt? He ignored his older brother, continuing to grab whatever his other dumb brother's needed. Why did he even care if they were comfortable here?

"Branch."

"..."

"Branch, we're not going anywhere-"

     Clay reached to rest a hand on his brother's shoulder, it instantly getting shrugged off. Clay released a defeated sigh.. just taking whatever his brother handed him. What else was he supposed to do? Branch clearly wasn't going to listen to him.. why should he try to make him?

     Not that the older was giving up on proving to his brother he was here to stay.. whether he liked it or not.. He was just.. dropping it for now.

" Even if you did go anywhere, I wouldn't be surprised. Don't say it like troll decency isn't something that should be celebrated," he spat, tossing the next pillow right at Clay's face.

     A groan left the elder's lips, setting the pillow on the stack nearby. He looked up at his younger brother.. his back still facing him. A worrisome look etched onto his features. Poor Branch had been down here a little over fifteen years with no one.. How could Clay do that to him? Fear.. maybe.. but that doesn't excuse abandoning your youngest brother. He worried about him constantly.. he just.. didn't know how to leave Hole 'n Fun to go find him. Where he'd even look.

"We're going to talk about this eventually, y'know that.. right?"

" Don't give a damn if we don't. I told you already, I'm done relying on you guys."

"You can be done relying on us.. but we'll still always be there."

" You're wasting you time."

"You're worth our time."

    Branch turned to face his brother, blankets stacked so high they almost covered his head. His expression softened as he looked at his brother. He was worth their time? ... They were too late for that. He didn't care.

     A sigh left his lips, walking past his brother.

" C'mon, don't want them breaking anything in there."