A/N: Taking place before TBT :)

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"There's something I need to tell you..."

Rhonda cocks her head at John Dory, her green eyes wide with curiosity as he starts to pull out a photograph from his hair, setting down the emptied bag of marshmallows they'd just finished wolfing down on the ground.

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"I probably should've told you a long time ago, but I wasn't sure how to bring it up..."

Bruce looks down in shame, feeling a little guilty from keeping the secret for so long. Brandy pauses in her dishwashing and looks down at him, knowing something serious is up that would require her full attention to be on her husband. With a hand on her belly, swollen with her fifth pregnancy, she asks him a question.

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"What is it?"

Clay breaks his gaze away from Viva's for a second to scratch the back of his neck, feeling a little embarrassed. "You know, I wasn't always a very serious businessman and licensed CPA like I am now, Veevs. You see, I... um, I..."

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"... I was part of a boyband."

Crimp's eyes widen with interest. "Wow! Really?"

"Yeah," Floyd responds, nodding his head. "We really were something, too. The biggest one that there was, I think..."

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"... and the most brodacious!"

Rhonda blinks, trilling with excitement at how excited John Dory was getting telling her about it. He holds the picture up before her nose and points out each figure.

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"You see, there was five of us. John Dory, he was the oldest. Always liked to be called 'The Leader.' My brother Clay was 'The Fun Boy.' Floyd was 'The Sensitive One.' Branch was 'Bitty B, The Baby.' And me, well... I was Spruce. 'The Heartthrob....'"

"'Spruce?'" Brandy asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah..." Bruce sighed. "I didn't really want that whole 'boyband' thing following me for the rest of my life, so, when I got here, I changed my name..."

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"... because I'm not 'The Fun Boy' anymore," Clay said firmly. "See, 'Serious Boy Clay' doesn't do the 'Rusty Robot' anymore. He does the well-oiled machine robot, and it is NO fun at all." He demonstrates by doing the dance.

Viva cocks her head. "Oh! Okay." She still thought that it did look pretty fun, and was going to ask him if he was sure, but then another question popped into her mind.

"Wait, so if you guys were big and all, I mean... what happened?"

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Floyd sighs.

"A fight happened," he explains. "It was mostly between John Dory, Spruce, and Clay. Spruce and Clay were getting tired of John Dory telling them what to do for the 'Perfect Family Harmony,' so they all quit. And I haven't seen any of them since."

"Aww..." Crimp slumped at hearing that. "Say... what's the 'Perfect Family Harmony'?"

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"It's something we should've done that night, and if we did, we would've gone on the rest of our tour!" John Dory huffs, suddenly getting upset remembering the band's breakup.

Rhonda notices his tension, and rubs against him, purring in an attempt to make him feel better.

JD pats her side. "Sorry for getting worked up, girl. It's just that I know we could've done it. I wish things would've gone differently..."

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"... and maybe if they had, we would all still be together today."

Brandy bent down, putting an arm around Bruce's shoulder. "It wasn't right for him to be so controlling like that," she tells him. "You guys didn't try to talk things out?"

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Clay shakes his head. "Nah, man. We were all too mad for that. The talking we did was yelling. And me n' Spruce didn't wanna put up with it anymore."

"Oh..." Viva rubbed her arm. That was too bad to hear. A real story about a family divided by anger and differences was sadder than any sad book she and Clay would read in their sad-book club.

"Well," Viva said, trying to remain chipper, "I mean, you can never say never, right? Maybe you guys will find each other again someday, and you'll all be friends!"

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Floyd tilted his head, thinking about it. "Yeah... that really would be nice. I really wish I could see them again. Especially Baby Branch." He smiled wistfully, thinking about his smallest, blue-haired brother, and wondering how many games of rummy he'd allowed their Grandma to win.

"I bet they'd be happy to see you," Crimp assured.

"Yeah..." Floyd agreed, but then his smile disappeared. "If I ever find a way out of here..." He put his hands up to the diamond walls around him, still as firm as ever.

Unbeknownst to him, his two captors had been listening in on his conversation with their papery assistant, from just behind the door of the studio they were in.

"Did you hear that?" Velvet said excitedly to her brother.

"Uh-huh! It really is kinda sad," Veneer replied, wiping away a little tear that had formed at the corner of his eye.

Velvet rolled her eyes at her brother's emotions. "I think I can find a way to help our little friend, if you get what I mean." She smiles sneakily, and Veneer isn't quite on her train of thought yet.

"Uh... no?"

Velvet scoffs and drags her brother behind her. "Come on! Let me show you."

She grabs a sheet of paper and takes the next five minutes composing a letter. When she's done, she reads it out loud. "'Dear John Dory, I am being held against my will by superstars Velvet and Veneer. Come to Mount Rageous at once and bring our brothers! Love Floyd, The Sensitive One.'" She beams and looks at him. "So, whaddya think?"

Veneer grimaces. "Um, are you sure you want those guys to come rescue him? I mean, we can't lose a Troll, what we need is more Trolls, and how are we gonna do that if - "

He stops talking when Velvet gives him a "duh!" look, and the cogs begin turning in his head. "Ohhhh..." he drawls, a smirk tugging the corner of his lip. He puts an arm around Velvet and grins widely. "You know, I'm proud to call you my sister."

Velvet nods, proud of herself, too. "I know!"

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"I'm glad you told me," Brandy says, taking the news much better than what Bruce anticipated.

"Yeah, I'm glad, too. I promise I got no more secrets, honey." He leans in to give her a hug, and then they are off. After all, four kids couldn't be left alone for very long.

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"I never would've guessed you had four brothers, Clay," Viva says, once he's done telling his tale. She then grins, pulling out a scrapbook from her hair and opening it to show her friend the little family that was depicted there. "Would you believe I have a sister?"

Clay's eyes widen and he grows curious. "Go on..."

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"Anyway, thanks for listenin', girlie. You're pretty good at it."

Rhonda gives a bark, wagging her stumpy tail and giving John Dory one big doggy-kiss lick. He laughs, giving her a scratch behind the head and then making his way inside the caterbus, hanging up the photograph of him and his brothers up with the rest of his memorabilia.

He stares at it for a moment and then heads off to sleep, a dream visiting him of a time in which he was happy to sing alongside his brothers, and they were happy to be by his side, as great friends and bandmates.

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A/N: I tried following the "Two Scenes, One Dialogue" TV Trope, hopefully it makes sense!