HahA I decided to wrote a storm one shot because it was storming badly a few days ago :D

By the way, Branch is gray in this one-shot, teehee

Sorry if this chapter is kind of long btw

It was a nice and sunny day in troll village, and everyone was going on with their daily lives as usual. (A/N: Wow so original)

Poppy walked around and watched everyone enjoy their time together, making her smile.

She then walked over to her friends who were chatting with each other while having a picnic.

"Hi guys!" She smiled.

"Poppy!" They all cheered.

"You're just in time to join our picnic!" Chenille told her.

"Yeahhh, I made all the food. With no help at all." Satin said with confidence.

"That's a lie! I made most of the food!" Chenille poked her side.

"Uh-huh, yeah." She ignored her sister.

Poppy just chuckled at her bickering and sat down with the group.

"I'd love to join you guys!" She sat with her legs criss-crossed.

"Yay!" They all cheered again.

A few minutes into eating and chattering, Biggie had felt a drop of rain fall onto his shoulder.

He looked at it then wiped it off and said, "Huh, did anyone else just get a drop of rain dripped onto them?"

"Nope." Guy said, then he felt a drop too. "Nevermind."

"Oh no.. it's gonna rain! My worst NIGHTMARE!!" Chenille hugged herself.

"Oh don't worry guys it's just a little drop, maybe it just fell from the tree we're under right now. Besides do you see how sunny it is right no-"

All of a sudden, the rain started pouring down. Very hard.

"You were saying?" Smidge said.

"Ah!" Poppy yelped, quickly getting up.

In a matter of seconds, harsh winds started blowing and the rain blew sideways at some points.

"We have to go hide! Where's your dad Poppy!!" DJ yelled through the rain, seeing how loud it was crashing down.

"I-I don't know! I can't see anything through this rain!!" She yelled back, squinting through the precipitation.

The group tried to walk through the storm, dodging things like grass and sticks blowing by.

"The food.. the FOOODDDD!! NOOOOO!!" Cooper yelled through the chaos, watching their picnic food get soaked completely, but Guy just grabbed him by the arm and dragged him along.

Just then, Suki's ear twitched.

"I think I hear someone!!" She yelled to the group.

As they all looked forward, they could picture a masculine orange troll with dark pink hair with light pink streaks.

"It's Peppy!" Smidge yelled, pointing at him.

He went over to them quickly.

"Come with me, quickly!" He said.

"Where is everyone else?!" Suki yelled.

"I have them all gathered underground, now hurry!" Peppy yelled.

They all followed him to where everyone else was located, until someone noticed something.

"Hey, where's Poppy.."

•●•

Poppy had tried looking for her headband that flew from her head, but she had no luck so far. (A/N: I know, I know, but I had to get her with Branch somehow-)

She stopped looking as she took in some of her surroundings.

"Great, now I'm lost." She said while shivering, but as she looked to her left side, she saw a door on the ground in front of a rock.

Branch.

She quickly went over, desperate for warmth and shelter at this point.

Hearing banging on the door, Branch groaned and put down his book and hot chocolate.

"Right at the good part too." He said, trudging over to his lever and pulled himself up.

"Who would even be at my bunker in this nasty storm anyway?!" He made his way to the door and opened it, well, the wind did the rest of the opening for him.

"Wha-" He stopped talking when he saw Poppy, looking down at him.

"Branch!" She yelled.

"Poppy what're-"

"There's no time! Just let me in! Please!" She yelled again, more desperately this time.

Branch noticed her headband was missing. Had the wind blew it away? Why was she here? Shouldn't she be with all of the other trolls?

Seeing him spacing out, she begin to look a bit frustrated.

"Branch! Did you hear me or what?! I said-"

Just then, a tree behind her began to crack, and fall down completely.

Branch snapped out of it quickly, seeing and hearing this.

"Whoa whoa!!" He quickly grabbed Poppy and pulled her inside, and the tree fell down all the way.

He grabbed the door knob and pulled on it, the strong wind preventing him from closing it.

"Rgh!! Come on!!" He was basically yanking at this point, and finally, pulled it down and locked it shut.

Poppy just watched the entire thing and panted, holding onto Branch's side.

Branch felt her holding onto him but paid no attention to it and just pulled the lever down slowly, bringing them into his bunker.

While going down, he felt Poppy began to shake a bit while still hearing her pant heavily but quietly.

Trying to calm her down, he carefully wrapped an arm around her waist, slowing down her panting and some of her shivering.

Once they got to the bottom, Branch quickly let go of her and just walked away, not saying a word.

"Um, nice bunker." Poppy tried starting a conversation, still standing in her spot.

"Uh-huh." Branch said, looking through some stuff.

Poppy rolled her eyes and began to walk, but she yelped and held onto her leg, which was bleeding profusely and mixing with the rain she had just been soaked in.

Branch, hearing this, turned around and saw her bloody leg, causing him to quickly run to her aid.

Poppy just stared at him with a fearful look as he was trying to figure out what to do.

The Grey troll picked her up and sat her down on his bed.

"How did that even happen?" He said in complete confusion.

"I-I don't know, I must've got it when the tree fell down from one of its twigs." She said.

Branch just went over to the side and began to shuffle through one of his drawers.

Poppy didn't take her eyes off of him as he looked drawer from drawer.

Finally, he took out a first aid kit and went over to Poppy and kneeled in front of her.

He opened the first aid kit, which had a lot of material in it.

Poppy gulped a bit as Branch carefully took her leg and grabbed a towel nearby and wrapped it around her leg for a few seconds, then let go of it.

He took out an alcohol pad from the kit.

"Grab onto something." He looked up at her.

"Why-" Poppy squealed in a high pitch voice as she gripped onto Branch's arm tightly, feeling him press onto her cut with the pad.

"Ow! My arm? Really?" He said, cringing.

"Well you said grab onto any-THINGGG~!" Poppy squealed so loud that a window could've broken, but luckily there were no windows (because it's a bunker, obviously), so it just broke Branch's sweat jar and.. whatever he has in those other jars.

"Noooo!" He said, looking at the broken jars, but just huffed and put his attention back on Poppy, finally removing the pad.

He gently wiped it with the towel and put cream on it, then lastly, a bandaid.

•●•

"How did we lose her?!"

"I don't know!!"

"Where could she have gone?!"

"I don't know!!"

"Do we have food?!!"

"I- what?"

Much commotion was was erupting underground with the Snack Pack, and the rest of the village just watched in fear and confusion.

"Everyone quiet!" Peppy yelled, making their conversations come to a halt.

"I know you're all scared, and I'm just as scared as you are, really, but Poppy will be okay, I promise you. She's very strong and independent and she's showed me that throughout the 21 years she's been with me." Peppy tried to reassure them.

"King Peppy, there is a life threatening storm out there, how do you expect her to be able to survive in that?! We should be looking for her right now!!" DJ yelled in frustration, but it was more of concern.

"We've been through way worse situations, such as encounters with the bergens. And it is way too dangerous to go back out there right now. I know my baby girl will make it, I have hope for her."

"B-But-" Smidge stopped Suki by putting a hand on her leg, since you know, she was tiny and all.

Suki sighed and looked the other way. Poppy was her best friend and she really didn't want to lose her to some silly storm.

•●•

Poppy sighed in relief but also exhaustion, dipping her head down. She realized she was still wet by the water dripping from the ends of her ponytail.

She looked back up and saw Branch walking away again.

"A towel would be nice right now, safety nerd." Poppy looked at him and smirked, but that smirk went away when he just walked into the bathroom with no response.

Poppy frowned which soon turned into a stern expression.

"Okay, look, I know that you don't like me, but.. I didn't have anywhere else to go, and there was a storm out there.. So, I don't mean to invade your space or anything, but for now we just-"

Branch walked out the bathroom with a towel, and walked over toward her.

"Here." Branch said plainly, handing it to her.

Poppy stopped talking and just looked at him, then looked at the towel.

She slowly took the towel from him, wrapping it around herself.

"Um, t-thanks." She said, keeping the towel closely around her.

Branch just shrugged and went over to his chair and sat down, going back to his book like before.

Poppy looked around and observed his bunker, seeing how collective and tidy it was.

"Soooo.. what do you do in here?" Poppy smiled, trying to get his attention.

"Hm, stuff." He said not taking his eyes away from his book, sipping his hot chocolate.

"What kind of stuff?" Poppy walked closer to him.

"Bunker stuff." Branch snickered a bit at his own comment, but Poppy wasn't amused.

She walked more closer to him and peeked next to him.

"Whatcha reading?" She asked.

"It's called, 'Mind your business'." He said, closing the book.

Poppy frowned and moved back, making him feel a bit, just a bit, bad.

But he quickly shook it off and sipped the rest of his hot chocolate, then went to the sink to put it in there.

"Ooooh, can I have hot chocolate?" She asked, following him.

Branch gave her a pack of hot chocolate to warm up then went back over to his chair.

She looked at the pack casually. "But I don't know how to do it."

"Read the directio- oh forget it." Branch snatched the pack from her and went to make it for her.

Poppy couldn't help but let out a small giggle at this. She thought he was adorable when he was grumpy.

But her giggling stopped when she let out a sneeze, sniffling afterwards.

Branch heard her sneeze but just ignored it and brought her hot chocolate over.

"T-Than-" She sneezed again while taking it.

"Um, yeah." He said while slowly walking back to his chair.

•●•

Poppy finished her hot chocolate and puts the cup down, sighing but then huffing.

"Branch, I'm bored." She said, the towel still wrapped around her. She wasn't wet anymore, but she was still shivering a bit.

"I have some board games and books over by the shelf." Branch wasn't reading anymore, but he was writing something in a book.

"I wanna do something."

"I said there's-"

"-with you."

Branch, hearing that, put his book down, and looked at Poppy.

She looked at him back, a sweet smile planted upon her lips.

Branch, without a word, got up and went to the lever of his bunker and pulled it up to where the door was.

He opened the door and it was forced open by the strong winds. Clearly the storm wasn't over with.

Like before, he reached for the knob, this time with his hair, and yanked it closed, locking it.

Then he pulled the lever and brought himself back into his bunker, standing there for a second while Poppy continued to stare at him with that sweet smile of hers.

Finally, with a deep sigh, he said,

"What do you wanna do."

•●•

10:39pm

"Oh come on!" Branch yelled  and crossed his arms, while Poppy was just sitting in front of him, laughing her head off.

The Pink and Grey troll had played many games together as the storm above them continued to pass them by. Branch figured he would just play with Poppy since she was gonna be in his bunker for a long time. And he didn't necessarily hate her, she just annoyed him most of the time.

"I win!" Poppy did a little dance in the spot she sat in, she had many cups of hot chocolate, so that would explain some of her excitement.

"Yeah yeah, are we done now?" Branch grumbled.

"Nope, I have one more game I wanna play!" Poppy smiled.

Branch grumbled again, "Fine, what."

"It doesn't have a name, but it's a game where we ask each other questions, and we have to answer truthfully." Poppy gave Branch a slight smirk.

"Okay then."

Silence.

"Ladies first." Branch sat criss-cross, staring into her eyes.

"Hmmm.." Poppy tried thinking of a question, "What's your favorite color?"

"Black, like my soul." Branch smirked.

"Oh haha." Poppy rolled her eyes. "You're turn."

"Why do you like parties so much?"

"Mm, good question! I don't know, they just make me really happy and joyful. And I get to be with my friends. You should come to one someti-"

"Alright, you're turn."

Dangit, thought Poppy.

For the past twenty to thirty minutes, they spent time asking each other simple questions, but they slowly started to develop into questions like, "What did you like to do as a kid?"

Poppy yawned, it was getting close to midnight and she was getting a bit sleepy, even though she kept telling herself she would stay up all night.

"Um, if you're tired, you can lay down." Branch noticed her yawning.

"No, no, I still have one more question." Poppy rubbed her eyes, trying to stay awake.

"Well, okay." He insisted.

"Do you.. have a crush on anyone?" She scooted closer to him as she asked that question.

Branch fell completely silent when she asked that. He didn't want to answer, but it was only fair.

"Uh.. you don't have to answer if you don't want to, I-"

"Well, she's.. really pretty and nice, don't even get me started on her eyes, she knows how to make others happy, and she's always there for everyone. But, I don't think she'll ever notice that I like her, and I'm completely fine with that. She has more important people to tend to anyway." Branch felt himself heat up with every word, and he quickly looked away before he could start blushing.

Poppy looked at him with now wide and surprised eyes, as she was trying to think of who he meant.

Then, it finally came to her, and a big and joyful smile spread across her face, very slowly.

Branch finally looked at her, and instead of smiling back, he looked puzzled.

"What?" He was completely oblivious to the reason she was smiling.

"I'm gonna go to sleep now." Poppy got up from the spot she was in, not taking her eyes off of him.

"Goodnight, Branch." She still smiled, and walked over to a nearby bed and laid down on it, getting snuggled up in the blanket.

Branch stayed silent, not sure what to do or say.

Finally, he got up from where he was, and sat down on his couch, and eventually laid down, getting snuggled up as well. It took him a few minutes to process what just happened and get that contagious smile of Poppy's out of his head, but he ended up getting to sleep later.

•●•

The next morning

Branch yawned and stretched then rubbed his eyes tiredly, sitting up afterwards.

He opened his eyes completely to see Poppy, still cuddled up and asleep soundly.

And a bit, just a bit, he smiled.

He got up slowly and walked over to the lever of his bunker and pulled it up to go check if the storm had stopped yet.

As he got to the door he didn't hear anything at first, but he gripped the knob tightly anyway just to be sure, and he slowly opened it.

And thankfully, the storm was over.

The Grey troll exhaled with a sigh of relief and closed it, then pulled the lever back down.

He made his way back into his bunker, and walked over to where Poppy was.

"Hey Poppy, the storm's over you can go home now." Branch said to her.

But Poppy didn't respond. She just shuffled around a bit while holding the blanket closer and tighter.

Branch was about to say something else, but he just stayed quiet and decided to let her sleep for a bit longer, since she looked so comfortable.

2-4 hours later

After doing some cleaning, writing, and reading, Branch was clueless of what else to do.

He looked at Poppy, who was somehow still asleep.

It's already afternoon.

"Poppy." He called out to her. "Poppy!"

Grumbling, he got up and walked over to her.

"Poppy, you need to go home, the village is probably worried about yo-"

But when he touched her, he immediately stopped talking, and a look of shock was planted upon his face.

Poppy was heating up.

He could even hear the quick and short breaths coming from her lips, making him panic even more.

Cursing under his breath, he quickly went to his drawer and tried to find something that might help.

After a few minutes of searching, he found some medicine and put it on top of the drawer.

Then he quickly went to the bathroom and ran some cold water onto a rag and wringed it out.

Finally, grabbing both the medicine and rag, he went over to Poppy and sat down next to her on the bed, picking her up slightly and holding her to his chest, making sure to keep the blanket wrapped around her.

"Damnit Poppy why didn't you say something.." He put the rag on her head carefully, and poured some of the medicine onto a spoon and dipped it into her mouth carefully.

He moved the spoon to make sure she swallowed it, and thankfully, she did.

Branch sighed and just closed his eyes and held her close and cradled her gently, ignoring the tears pricking at the ends of his eyes.

But he jumped a bit when he heard knocking at the door.

Clearly irritated, he gently laid Poppy down back on the bed and went to the lever and pulled it up.

Once he got there he opened the door rather forcefully.

"What do you wa-" Branch stopped talking when he saw the troll who knocked at the door.

It was King Peppy. And Poppy's friends were behind him.

"Hello Twig, I know you don't like to be bothered very much, but.. I can't find my daughter anywhere! We lost her during this horrible storm! Did she happen to stop by here at some point?" He could tell he was worried for her by the desperation in his voice, and he also noticed he was holding her headband.

"Uh, um.." Branch, ignoring the fact he got his name wrong, already knew the answer to that question, but he didn't know how to respond. What was he supposed to say, "Oh yeah your daughter is in here but she's just running a fever, no biggie"? (A/N: hA- no biggie-)

"Well, is she in here or not?" Peppy grew even more nervous by every word he spoke.

"Um, yes, but-"

"Oh, thank the troll heavens! I'm so glad she's safe. Can you tell her to come out please?"

"Ugh, no! She can't, okay?!" Branch suddenly blurted out.

Peppy's relieved expression went back to being worried.

"What do you mean, she can't?"

"I mean-" Branch sighed heavily.

"Just come inside."

Peppy blinked for a second then looked at Poppy's friends, who nodded in agreement, and soon he climbed inside with Branch.

He pulled the lever down and they both went down into his bunker.

Peppy walked inside and saw his daughter, cuddled up in bed with a rag on her head.

"She's.. asleep? And why is there a rag on her head?" He said.

"Well.. when I tried to wake her up earlier, I found she was running a fever.." Branch replied.

"What?!" Peppy said in a panicked voice.

"I know, I know, but I gave her medicine, so she should be fine soon." Branch said in a calm voice.

Peppy sighed and went over to his daughter, kneeling down next to her and stroking her hair gently.

"She.. feels less hot. I think she might be getting better." Peppy said in a quiet voice.

Branch went over to them hearing this, and gently put his hand on Poppy's cheek, finding out Peppy was right.

"Well.." Peppy got up. "I think I'm gonna let her stay here for now. To rest some more."

Branch looked a bit surprised. He thought Peppy might've wanted to take Poppy home to lay in her own bed or something, not stay copped up in his underground survival bunker.

"And.." Peppy turned to Branch. "I appreciate you taking care of my daughter. Thank you, Twig."

"It's um, Branch. And you're welcome."

"Ahh, right, sorry Branch. Anyways, I must go now. I'll let Poppy's friends know that she's okay and will be staying down here for a bit longer." Peppy put the headband next to Poppy and walked over to where the lever was.

Peppy looked at the lever. "Ehm, how do you work this thing?"

"You.. pull it down." Branch stood there awkwardly.

"Ah, okay, thank you. Have a good day, Branch." Peppy pulled the lever and went back up the bunker.

Branch just sighed and looked at Poppy, who still looked comfortable as ever.

He went over to the bed and sat down next to her, not knowing what else to do, so he decided he would wait for her to wake up.

•●•

Branch's, asleep after another hour in the spot he was in, ear flicked when he heard a small groan next to him.

He opened his eyes and immediately looked next to him.

"Poppy?"

Poppy slightly opened her eyes and rubbed them, seeing Branch in front of her.

"Branch..?" She croaked out, still rubbing her eyes.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, turning completely towards her.

"Somewhat better.. I had a dream my dad came in earlier, but he let me stay here for a while since I was sick." She opened her eyes a bit more.

"Poppy.."

"Yeah?"

"...that actually happened" Branch said casually.

"Wait really?" Poppy sat up a bit.

"Yeah, he was.. pretty worried about you. And your friends too."

"Oh.. I should probably head out then, huh." Poppy chuckled softly and sat up all the way.

"I mean, if you're still feeling sick-"

"N-No, I'm fine, I promise!" The Pink troll got up.

"Well, alright."

Silence.

"But-"

"But?"

Just then, out of nowhere, Poppy leaned over close to Branch, and hugged him.

"Thank you. For letting me stay here. It was really nice of you." Poppy squeezed him tightly and lovingly.

"Uhm, yeah." Branch didn't really know how to react since he didn't give much hugs to anyone, but he gave her a few pats and rubs on the back.

Poppy pulled away and smiled, then went to the lever to get ready to leave.

"Oh, wait."

Hearing this, she turned to look at him.

Branch grabbed her headband and gave it to her.

"Here."

"My headband? You found it?" She took it happily.

"No, your dad did, he just gave it to me to give to you." Branch said again in that casual voice of his, somehow making Poppy chuckle.

Then, out of nowhere, she kissed him on his cheek.

Branch just stared wide-eyed at her, no longer being able to contain his blush.

"See ya Branch!" Poppy smiled that large and sweet smile of hers and pulled herself up and out of the bunker.

Branch just watched her as she left, holding his cheek.

He felt like fainting right then and there, but he didn't. He just stood in complete shock.

But also complete... happiness.

Now that he thought about it, when he told Poppy about his crush, he had a feeling when she smiled how she did, it just meant she knew who he was talking about.

A/N: AND SCENE
Wowowowow that was long
But hey it's broppy sO

Anyway I hoped ya'll like this :D
Also I apologize for the lack of updates in this book, I just haven't had any ideas for it lately
But hopefully more will come soon
Byeeee