A/N: So this was originally gonna be titled "Rain", but since there's no rain for a while majority of the chapter, I changed it to.. yeah, you see it. Anyways, go ahead and read children.

"Sooo, meet you at 7?"

"Won't be a minute late."

"Hehe! You better not."

She grins and boops his purple nose and skips away to her pod happily, humming a tune, leaving him with the widest smile on his face.

♡~A few hours later~♡

"Uhuhh, this one? No no, this one! No wait, thi- Gosh dangit."

Branch shut his closet door in frustration, leaning his head against it afterwards. He was preparing himself before his very first date with Poppy. They had gotten together days ago and he wanted it to be absolutely perfect. She was perfect, so the date had to be perfect.

Finally, he sighed, and eventually gave up. He would just go in his regular attire except with a bow pinned to his vest.

Damnit Branch, she'll never wanna speak to you again seeing you like this.

The Blue troll just shook his head slowly and sighed, turning to look at a clock nearby.

6:55pm

"Coconut Milk!!" He yelled and nearly tripped over himself, and grabbed a small bag on a table next to him and quickly ran to the lever and pulled himself up.

The poor troll had been debating over what he would wear to the date for almost an entire hour and he didn't even realize it.

•♡•

Poppy was dressed in a nice fluffy lavender dress with an actual lavender clipped to her hair, waiting near a tree.

She hummed a tune while looking around, tapping her arm lightly.

The sun was starting to go down slowly, the sky emitting a yellow mixed with pink color.

Poppy smiled at the sight, but then looked down at her watch, which read:.

6:59pm

She sighed and leaned against the tree she was standing next to.

"I mean.. it's okay if he's a few minutes late.." She mumbled, looking to the bottom right of her.

Meanwhile, the blue troll was rushing to go find her, realizing he was already running late.

"Damnit, why today, WHY TODAY!" He cursed to himself, speeding up his pace.

7:02pm

Poppy checked again, growing a bit nervous.

Is he not coming? No, no, don't think like that. It's only two minutes late, Poppy. Geez.

But her thoughts were cut when she heard the sound of panting get closer to her, immediately turning to find out who and what it was.

"Bran-"

"Poppy! Oh my God I'm so sorry I'm late, I didn't realize until later that I had to start getting ready to meet you, but then when I came out I had forgot where I had told you to meet me- damnit I'm making this situation even worse, I'm so-"

"Hey, hey!" Poppy quickly stopped his rambling, grabbing his arm gently, and in a few seconds the blue troll looked up at her.

"Calm down, it's okay," Poppy just let out a small chuckle, "and it's only 7:04."

"But.. I.. you said-"

"I know, I was half joking. I know you're not gonna come at the exact time." Poppy playfully rolled her eyes and laughed again.

"Oh, uh, alright." Branch awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, cracking a nervous smile, then remembered his small bag he brought.

"Oh yeah! I got you something." He dug into his hair and took out the bag and took out what was in the bag, which was a large Poppy flower.

"Oh my gosh it's beautiful!" Poppy took the flower and smelt it, hugging it to her chest.

"I was hoping you'd like it. Anyway, um, should we get going now?"

Poppy smiled and nodded, putting the flower in her hair.

Branch felt her take his hand gently and he tried his hardest to hold back the blush uprising in his cheeks, and the smile on her face only made it worse for him.

Remember, perfect girl, perfect date.

They started walking but stopped after a few seconds.

"Oh, I'm gonna need you to close your eyes." Branch turned to her.

"Huh? Oh um, okay then." Poppy slowly closed her eyes and exhaled.

"Just don't let go of my hand, I got you." He held her hand with one of his hands, and the other rested on her back.

Poppy couldn't see it, but she could hear the slight smile in his voice, a smile forming on her face as well.

•♡•

"Almost there." Branch said, gently rubbing her back from time to time.

Poppy continued to walk wherever she was being guided towards, feeling her legs give out a bit from drowsiness.

After maybe five minutes, they finally reached their destination, and came to a stop.

"Are we here yet?" Poppy said, moving her head around a bit.

"Yep, you can open up now." Branch said, letting go of her hand slowly.

Poppy did as he said and opened her eyes, widening them.

What she saw before her was a table set with food on it, and fairy lights hung on nearby trees, along with flower petals thrown around the scene.

"Branch.. I.. oh my.. this is just.." Poppy put her finger on her bottom lip, wondering if what she was looking right now was real.

"I had some help from our friends, but the design idea was.. well, my idea." Branch tried to sound confident which he immediately cursed to himself in his head for sounding stupid.

Frankly though, Poppy admired it, laughing, which left him quite surprised. He'd never thought he was the funny type of person.

"I love it." Poppy whispered, booping his nose, Branch failing to hold back the blush this time.

"Why don't we sit down, the food'll get cold." Branch held her hand again.

"Noo, not the food!" Poppy joked and giggled, holding his hand back.

Branch smiled. She had quite the humor in her. And that's one of tje things he adored about her.

He led her to her seat and pulled open her chair for her.

Poppy smiled at him and sat down, feeling him push the seat up to the table.

"Branch, you don't have to-"

"Now we can officially start the date." Branch talked over her, not realizing she said anything, and sat down in his seat.

Poppy sighed and nodded, looking down at her plate of food.

Branch noticed this and immediately grew concerned.

"Are you okay?"

"Hm? Yeah yeah, I'm fi-"

"Do you not like the scenery? W-We can go somewhere else! Uh, shoot, maybe it's my outfit, I should've just-"

"Branch!"

Branch stopped again and looked up at her.

"I'm fine, really." Poppy cracked a small side smile, completely different from how she normally smiles.

Branch didn't really believe her and still felt worried for her, but he didn't want to bug her anymore, so he just left it alone for now.

For a few minutes, it was quiet, until Branch cleared his throat.

"I like your outfit." He said, mentally slapping himself multiple times.

For some reason, after staring at him for a few seconds, Poppy smiled and couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Branch just watched her, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry I just- I love how random that was." Poppy wiped a tear from her eye, calming down.

"I'm not lying, you know- and the silence was making me feel kind of awkward."

"I know, I know." Poppy smiled. "But thank you, I like your outfit too."

"What? This? All I did was pin a bowtie to my vest. I don't look anywhere as good as you."

"Well, I would've been fine with you coming in your normal attire. I like fancy but don't really care for it sometimes." Poppy shrugged.

"Really? Oh.. well, maybe next time I'll-"

The two stopped talking as soon as they heard a gurgle. A cute sounding gurgle, turning their heads.

Really, as soon as the date started getting a little better.

"Uhm, did you hear that?" Poppy turning back to look at her date.

Branch nodded and got up to get a closer look, getting in a bit of a defensive stance.

"Who's there?" He said out loud.

There was no kind of response for a few minutes, until a yellow glowy bug came into the scene, smiling and gurgling.

"Awwwwieee!! It's so cute!!" Poppy squealed, holding her face.

The glowy bug came over to them and started flying around them, gurgling.

"Hey, get away!" Branch scolded the bug, but Poppy just watched it as it flew, petting it gently.

"Branch, it's just a cute little glowy bug! It won't do any harm!"

"But-"

Just then, the bug flew across the table, accidentally knocking the food to the ground.

Then Branch had had enough.

"Alright, that's it, get out of here! Shoo, shoo! You weren't invited here!" Branch swatted at the bug, slightly pushing it away.

The bug backed away and frowned, quickly flying away back into the now dark forest.

Poppy sadly watched the bug go, and looked back at Branch, a disappointed look on her face.

Branch looked back at her, reading everything that expression of hers had to say, immediately feeling ashamed of himself, sighing.

"Poppy, I-"

He was quickly cut off by the light sound of thunder, jumping a bit.

The two looked up, seeing gray clouds collide together.

You have GOT to be kidding.

Branch looked back down, feeling the raindrops come down slowly, not saying a word.

Poppy looked down as well, not uttering even a mumble.

The fairy lights began to flicker off, slowly drooping from the trees. The flower petals, table, and now ruined food began to get soaked from the now pouring rain.

"Awesome." Branch muttered quietly, his ears drooping in many emotions that were far from happy.

Poppy heard and looked at him in no longer disappointment, but now sympathy.

"I'm sorry Poppy. I tried to make this date perfect just for you, but it's been going horribly the entire time. And the rain is just making it worse. You probably think I'm a loser now." Branch turned away from her, looking left.

Poppy didn't know what to do or say, she just continued to stare at him, her eyebrows furrowing every second.

"I'm sorry for wasting thirty minutes of your life. You deserve someone worthy of your time."

That was the last thing Branch said before he began to walk away slowly, dragging himself in the rain.

He was stopped, though, by Poppy touching his shoulder.

"Branch. This date, has been amazing. I've gotten to see more of you and who you really are inside. And you're been so kind to me this entire time.. well, maybe a bit too kind."

"'Too kind'?" He repeated.

Poppy sighed.

"I just.. I don't like how you put yourself through so much stress just to make this date 'amazing'. I don't want you to be stressed on our date, Branch. I want you to have fun, relax yourself. It's not called a date for someone to be suffering for the other. It's for them both to enjoy each other's company and have a great time."

Branch sighed and rubbed his arm, feeling more ashamed than before.

"I'm sorry, I just didn't want this to be a failure. This is our first date, after all." Branch admitted.

"And I understand that," Poppy lifted his chin up gently, looking into his eyes, "but you should still be able to have fun at the same time. That's the whole point of a date. Not perfection." Poppy said in a quiet voice, smiling.

"You're right, you're right, I'm sorry."

"Oh stop apologizing for once!" Poppy chuckled and hugged him, burying her face in his neck. He was covered in rain but she didn't care. They would be soaked together.

"Okay.. sorry." Branch joked, chuckling quietly, hugging her back tightly.

Poppy rolled her eyes playfully and pulled away from the hug, holding his shoulders.

She leaned in slowly and put a soft and sweet kiss on his nose.

Branch blushed even more than he did before, swallowing the nervous lump in his throat.

Poppy just giggled at his adorable reaction.

"Hey.. I think we can still make this date amazing."

"But.. it's raining." Branch said, puzzled.

"Exactly." Poppy smirked, taking out a small radio from his hair.

"Wait- how- where did that-"

Poppy turned on a song and put the radio on the table, then turned back to Branch, wrapping her arms around his neck.

Branch didn't know what to do, looking at her like crazy.

"Come on silly, we're dancing!" She smiled.

"Oh- ohhh. Sor-"

"Ah." She put a finger on his lips, stopping him from saying that word again.

Branch bit his lip and carefully held her waist, pulling her close, and they began their dance together.

I found a love for me
Darling just dive right in
And follow my lead

Well I found a girl beautiful and sweet
I never knew you were the someone waiting for me
'Cause we were just kids when we fell in love

Poppy pressed her forehead against Branch's as they continued to dance in the rain, not daring to look away from each other.

"You're so beautiful." He muttered, keeping her close to him.

"You know, you've been complementing me all day. I should tell you something about yourself." Poppy snickered.

Branch chuckled quietly.

"I'm listening."

Not knowing what it was
I will not give you up this time
But darling, just kiss me slow, your heart is all I own
And in your eyes you're holding mine

"Your eyes.. everytime I look at them, I can't ever look away. And your smile, it makes my heart beat a million times a million."

"Well.. so does your-"

"Ah, we're not talking about me. We're talking about you. Geez, appreciate yourself just a little!" Poppy chuckled.

Branch just smiled wide at her and nuzzled his nose against hers gently.

"I love you, Poppy." Branch said, the blush returning to his cheeks, except it was more light this time.

"I love you too, Branch." Poppy said, holding his cheek and stroking it with her thumb gently, with the biggest smile on her face.

The glowy bug had came back to visit them, floating around them, but this time, Branch didn't shoo it away. He was more focused on his love, anyway.

The blue troll felt the largest spark of happiness arise inside of him. This date went perfect after all.

A/N: Song used- Perfect by Ed Sheeran