Meltdown (BRANCH IS SPIDER-MAN AU)

On the Outside of the Greatest Inside Joke

Friday came quickly, but there still had been hours to go until sunset. Clay had looked nervous all morning. When Branch woke up early that day, he walked into the living room to see that his brother was sitting on the couch in the darkness.

"Clay," He called, causing Clay to snap his head up. "Is anyone else up?"

Clay processed his words but shook his head. "Just me."

"Is something the matter?" Branch asked, approaching the back of the couch across from Clay.

"Uh- I don't know maybe it's the fact that I have to ask my girlfriend a life changing question today."

Branch rolled his eyes and leaned on the back of the couch. "Wow, my bad, I didn't need the sass."

"Oh yeah that's right, I'm sorry, I forgot you have enough sass for the whole of Manhattan."

"Someone's snappy." Bruce said as he walked in from the hallway and into the kitchen.

"Tell me about it." Branch said, following Bruce into the kitchen with Clay close behind.

"Shut up, and you weren't nervous about proposing to Brandy?"

Bruce shrugged. "I didn't even plan it."

Clay rolled his eyes and asked, "Then how did you ask."

Bruce smirked. "Well, we had just had a very fun night, it was right after we finished-"

"No." Branch said, interrupting Bruce with a deadpan face. "I don't have to listen to this."

Branch headed toward the doorway but the moment he stepped under the doorframe he jumped. He yelped and Poppy waved at him casually.

"Hey Branch! Great morning, isn't it?!" she asked with an excited tone.

"Yeah sure." Branch said, trying to calm his breath.

"Hey Popstar, you wanna help me make breakfast?" Bruce asked in a cheerful tone. Poppy smiled and nodded at the question, skipping over to Bruce, and helping him scramble eggs.

Bruce and Brandy, unfortunately, still had a very successful restaurant and bar to run. So, every other day, they would either have Brandy or Bruce stay home, and the other would go run it. But today they both took the day off. But, when Bruce was there, Poppy had stuck to him. Asking him about their kids, and how Branch was when he was little. If Branch was honest, Poppy was closer to Bruce than he was to Bruce.

He didn't mind it, Poppy got close to everyone she met, but what bothered him was that he couldn't have that himself. He knew close to nothing about Bruce. It always messed him up when he couldn't rebuild their relationship like he did with John.

His senses tapped him on the shoulder, and he fell out of his thoughts. The conversation around him was on the proposal, and unfortunately, Branch needed to stop that.

"Shut up!" He said quickly and all of them looked at him with shock and silence. "Sorry, but stop talking seriously-"

The next moment the front door opened and footsteps walked into the kitchen.

"Hey guys, why is everyone so quiet?"

Clay answered quickly. "Branch told Bruce to shut up because he was saying something gross."

Viva smiled and shrugged carelessly. She went and leaned on the island and looked at Poppy's hands as they dipped the bread in the scrambled eggs.

"Is no one else awake? Its already half passed nine."

Poppy shrugged. "I heard Floyd talking on the phone, I think he's awake. And John Dory went to the bathroom when I got out."

Bruce sighed. "Yeah, Brandy woke up with some bad morning sickness, so she'll be sleeping in until ten probably."