This is a vampire AU requested by broppyforever_1352. I know the title seems a bit cliche, but I don't have a brain so I couldn't think of anything else. I hope everyone is safe during these times and is enjoying their time off. I have a few things to say, so let's get into it.

There will be a bit of Omegaverse here. I know I said I wouldn't do it, but I couldn't help myself-sorry. Branch is an Alpha. In an Omegaverse, an Omega goes into heat about once a month, like a period, and all Alphas will be able to smell their scent. However, when an Alpha marks an Omega, aka Poppy, the Omega will release the same scent for the time of the month, but only that specific Alpha will be able to smell it, which will send the Alpha into heat as well as the Omega(albeit sometimes it's only one and can vary from stories.) What's heat, you ask? It makes the Alpha and/or Omega horny as hell, and the only way to get rid of heat is to either take medicine or to masturbate/fuck. Spoiler alert: Branch will go into heat here. Although both Omegas and Alphas can be affected by each other's smell, it's only gonna be Branch for now. But only for a day, cause a week would (probably) be too long. If I were to carry it out for the entire thing, I'd make him unable to maintain it and possibly make himself force her on him purely out of desire, not on purpose, cause that's how I am. Then I'd make it all angsty and make myself and you cry. So yeah.

Also, Creek will be slightly yandere here. I can't go full yandere, otherwise, it'd be violent as hell and possibly end in rape, 'cause that's what it means to go full yandere. He'll just have the "She's mine and only mine" part.

Also also, I know it's been a while since I've updated, and the reason is that I am a piece of shit. I'm a fuck-up. I am a dumbass who is a disgrace to my family and a disgrace in general. If I can't even do homework assignments good enough to not fail, or create a minute-long video that doesn't have me stuttering like a broken record, I don't think I can make this shitty oneshot good enough for viewers. But here we go, I guess.

Still alsoing, there will be a bit of BlueDiamond here. Dunno if that's the name of the ship. Nothing too much, just bromance and platonic things. So I hope you enjoy this because the comments I get on here are pretty much the only thing that brings up the little self-esteem I have.

Branch's POV (Sorry but he's the only POV I know how to do so far. I might do Poppy's POV in here or the next one. I'll see.)

I look around the forest, seeing that it's completely devoid of any animals. Dammit. "Come on, mother nature. I thought you were supposed to be useful. Give me something that I can suck the life out of."

I know that sounds weird, and the reason I'm acting like this is that when I was a kid, I was dared to touch this random bug. Apparently, the side effects vary from person to person. I only figured that out when I sucked myself for the first time and looked into the matter to figure out what happened. Weird as hell, I know. Last time I play with anyone.

I trudge deeper into the forest, still not having any luck. I needed some to satisfy me and it looks like I'm gonna end up sucking my own. I've already spent fifteen minutes here and still nothing. I just shake my head and turn back, still checking the surroundings for something. I pretty much gave up after my bunker came into view for the fourth time today. I start running towards it, already feeling ready to suck myself. Then, mother nature decided it finally wanted to help me, but not in a good way. Pink fills my vision, along with dirt and grime getting smudged on my nose and eyes.

"Huh?"

"Oh, hi Branch!"

Oh, no. Nononono NO NO!

"No! Go away!"

"Why? I'm here to give you something!" She pulls another one of those giant ass scrapbooks out of her hair.

"NO!"

"What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"I'm f-fine. I just gotta...do something." I pull up the trapdoor, ready to jump in before she grabs my arm.

"I'm not leaving until you tell me what's going on with you."

"I can't!" I rip her arm off and try to get back inside when she pulls me back out and stands directly in front of it, making sure all possible ways are blocked.

"Just tell me!"

"No!" Dammit, I'm about to break and her being right in front of me doesn't help at all. That leaves me with only one option. I run away, dodging trees and rocks. I look back and sure enough, she's chasing me. "Leave me alone! You're gonna regret it if you don't!"

"I don't care, tell me!"

"D-Don't wanna!!"

Then she tackles me, somehow pinning every one of my limbs to the ground. Dammit! I need her to let go! If she doesn't, I'm gonna end up marking her! And only Satan knows where that goes...I don't have much time...another minute and I'm fucked.

"Let go of me! I'll explain tomorrow! Just let me go, for mine and God's sake! Please!"

"Are you sure you're gonna tell me? Or are you lying?"

Oh no. Time's up.

Before I knew it, my teeth sank into her neck, drawing blood. She tastes like cotton candy and strawberries. Weird, but sweet. Well, looks like I'm dying tonight.

"Ow! What are you doing?!"

Shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshit.

"Oh no...I marked you!"

"'Marked'? What does that mean?"

"Uh..."

Seeing that her hand was off me, I shove her off and ran back home. Seeing that the door was open, I quickly dove into my bunker, slamming the door closed, locking every lock possible. She's banging on the door, yelling my name over and over. I paid no attention to it and ran into the bathroom, looking at the mirror trying to see if I swallowed her blood. Fuck. I did. There's nothing left on my teeth.

"DAMMIT!"

"What's wrong?"

Then Guy comes into the bathroom. If you're asking why he's here, it's kinda a long story. We became friends, dunno how, and convinced drunk me to build a tunnel that allowed him to enter at any given time. It's gotten so bad it feels like he lives here with me. I regret it now and even if I wanna destroy it, I can't remember where I built it and he obviously won't tell me. Anyway, I'm getting off-topic.

"I need a rope 4-5 meters long and quick."

"Why?"

"I NEED TO DIE."

He grabs my hands and drags me to the couch. "What did you do that makes you wanna die all of a sudden?"

"I FUCKING MARKED POPPY!"

His eyes widened. He's panicking on the floor, mumbling, running his hands through his hair, clearly as stressed as me. "Why did you do that!"

"It's not like I wanted to! I was about to feel it coming on and she wouldn't let me leave!"

A louder bang on the door interrupts our conversation. "Branch, are you in there? Answer me!"

"Go hide! I'll take care of this!"

"But where?"

"Go through the secret tunnel! Go back outside!" Guy ushers me towards my room.

"I don't even fucking know where it is, dumbass! And even if I do find it, what if she sees me outside!"

"First of all, it's right here, idiot!" He crawls under my bed to show me the hole. "Second, when you go outside, hide with your hair." He shoves me into it, completely oblivious to the fact that my head was banging on the walls, making it look like I was in a ketchup tornado by the end. At least I got more blood to suck on.

I lap it up, trying to see if I could hear them talking about me. I move closer, and soon enough, I hear their voices.

"Hey Guy...is Branch in there?"

"Uh, nope. I haven't seen him all day."

"But he just entered here. You're in here as well. You sure you haven't seen him?"

"Y-Yeah. I heard him enter but I didn't see him."

"Okay...tell him we need to talk. Like, a serious talk."

"Will do."

"Okay, thanks. See you later."

Then I see her walk away.

"She's gone now, you can come here." Guy calls, looking around, trying to spot me.

I jump down from my hiding spot, seeing him take a breath of relief. "Can't believe your stupid plan worked."

"Me neither. I thought she would try to go into the bunker and look for you."

"Yeah. Then she'd find me looking like I got drenched in ketchup cause some idiot shoved me into a hole that hit my head."

"Oh, my bad. At least you didn't get caught."

"I KNEW IT!"

Then my head is slammed into the ground and I end up with dirt in my eyes and nose again. Guess his plan didn't work.

"Tell me what's going on, you guys!"

"The day I tell you is the day I die! Which is today, but still."

"Branch is a vampire and he needs blood to satisfy him or else he ends up sucking his own and when he told you to let go he was telling you so he wouldn't bite you. I know, it's as weird as it sounds."

Looks like there's gonna be two people dead tonight.

"What?" She releases her grip on me, allowing me to slip out.

I run away again, leaving her behind with Guy. I look back to see if she's chasing me again, only to get snapped in the face with a twig. Once again, she slams me to the ground and drags me back to my bunker.

"Stop running away from me, Branch!"

"Why? Don't you hate me? I made you bleed!"

"Well now that I know why, not anymore! But seriously, I need to talk with you!"

"Alright, well I'm leaving," Guy says, jumping back into the bunker.

I sigh and look at her. "Alright, what do you want to talk about?" Shit, that sounded harsher than I meant it to be. "Cause...I can feel myself getting thirsty again." That wasn't exactly a lie, so at least it's a believable excuse.

"I want to make a pact. You said you need blood to satisfy you right?"

"Well, Guy technically did, but yeah. Why?"

"How about this: I give you my blood whenever you need it, and you help me out with a problem I have."

"Hmm...depends what the problem is."

She inhales sharply before blurting out, "I need someone to be my boyfriend, and you're the best choice now."

......................

WHAT THE FUCK?!

"What? Why? I'm not necessarily saying it's a bad thing, I'm just curious. Why me of all people?" She must have really low standards if she thinks I'm the best choice for something like this.

"It's because of this guy, Creek. He's been hitting on me for the past 3 months and not figuring out that I want nothing to do with him."

Aight, that makes more sense now.

"Is he one of those 'nice guys' who say they're nice but in reality are rapists?"

She nods, the scar showing on her neck that makes me both angry at myself and somewhat proud that she was now my...soulmate. If you didn't know, that's how marking works. Once I mark her, she's mine. As in, she's my fated pair. But there's no way I'm gonna tell her that.

"Uh, yeah. That's what I want to do. I give you my blood, and in return, you help me drive him off. Deal?"

This could be good...my only concern is wondering if she's still gonna give me blood after we scare him off.

"One question: after this, can I still get some?"

She shrugs. "Sure, why not."

Thank god. She tastes delicious. Not in that way, just to clarify. As in her blood. And now I just sound like a weirdo.

"Alright. Deal. And...I kinda hate having to ask you but...as I said...I kinda need...some more blood...to satisfy me...I hate having to ask you this but..."

"O-Oh...go ahead...I guess..." She pulls down her dress a bit, revealing enough skin for me to bite.

"Thanks..." With that, I dig my teeth in the same spot I did before, to make it less painful. I lap it up, pulling away once I'm done.

"So...tomorrow, I'll introduce you to the rest of my friends and him. I'm gonna say that we met and hit it off, and things like that. Should we say that we're friends, or should we immediately go to being a couple?"

"I don't know, saying we're friends seems more plausible, but being a couple would most likely get him jealous. What do you think? I say we just say that we hit it off and I...asked you to hang out together or something like that, and then we get something like ice cream as proof."

"Yeah, you're probably right. Alright then! I'll see you tomorrow! Around noon!" With that, she waves goodbye and heads off, rubbing the bite mark, probably trying to think of a way to cover up the bite since it's purple and visibly noticeable on her pink skin. I just head back inside, only to be welcomed with the image of Guy smiling like a manic at me.

"So...you're going out with her?"

"No, you dumbass, I'm just pretending to get rid of some guy. Creek...I think the name was. I don't know."

"Oh, Creek. Yeah, he's the worst. He once tried flirting with DJ."

"I know. You got jealous and embarrassed yourself by yelling about how she's a person, not property, and then ran to me while crying about why you did that."

"I couldn't help it, okay? I felt bad for stepping in like that. She didn't need me to defend her like that."

"I know. You were repeating that for half an hour while shoving pancakes into your mouth and crying."

"Shut up. So when are you gonna start pretending with her?"

"Tomorrow," I say. "She said that we're gonna meet up together. Are you gonna be going too?"

"Yeah. We're gonna go to a lake."

"A lake? Aight. I'm gonna start preparing sunscreen, water, snacks, towels, spare clothes, spray just in case something tries to bite us, and-"

"Oh my god, stop. You're acting like you're going grocery shopping. All you need is a bathing suit."

"And sunscreen! The sun can cause skin cancer!"

He rolls his eyes. "You're so worrisome."

"And you're an asshole."

He dramatically places a hand over his heart. "How dare you! I thought you loved me!"

"Nah," I say, heading into the kitchen. I start making something to eat, cause after these episodes I always get hungry as hell. "You want some soup?"

"Why don't you ever eat tasty things?" He's looking at me like I'm a mentally disabled person.

"Cause your idea of tasty is eating your ass glitter. Just saying it made me lose my appetite." I drop the spoon back in the drawer. I have no idea how the hell he can find that tasty. It's like eating poop. But technically, poop is just mashed up food, but still. I look at the time. It's 6:48. Dammit. Still three hours till bedtime. "I'm getting kinda bored. You wanna play cards or something?"

"Sure, if you don't mind losing!" He yells with a grin, running into the room he made for himself. He comes back with a pack of cards, five bucks, and a stool to sit on. "I bet you five bucks I'll beat you!"

"Game on, bitch!" I say, laughing. I'm so gonna win this.

An hour later...

"Dammit!" He throws his cards on the floor, while I flip through the $25, grinning with a proud smirk.

"Told you I was gonna win."

"No! You cheated! You stole cards or something!"

"If 'cheating' is knowing how to actually play and not just shove out random cards, then yeah, I did. Screw this. As much as I'd love to get more money from you, I'm tired as hell. I'm going to bed."

"Yeah, me too. I don't wanna lose any more money. Night!" He gets up and heads to his room, waving at me.

"Aight. Night." Hell yeah, it rhymes. I slam onto my bed, tugging my clothes off and yeeting them into a corner of my room. I feel tired as hell due to all the events that happened today. I'm "dating" the princess, I need to drive off a "nice guy", I won $25, I'm gonna put the plan in action at the lake tomorrow and I'm gonna get to suck my crush's blood. Normally I would toss and turn for at least an hour, but I fell asleep after about five minutes of thinking this over. Probably cause I'm tired as hell. I'm just hoping tomorrow doesn't go bad.

The next day...

My alarm rang around 9 today, despite me setting it at 10. I can barely see. My eyes feel droopy as hell. I don't wanna keep them open, so I just close them and smack around for the snooze button, until a hand grabs mine.

"What the hell?"

"About time. I thought you'd sleep through your alarm. Why'd you set it so late?" Shit, it's Guy.

"Cause she said it'd take place around noon, dumbass. Why did you set it so early?"

"Cause we gotta prepare! You don't even know how wild Creek can get! He'll immediately try to beat you once he sees you with her. I don't want you to get hurt."

"Aight, fine. What do I need to know, dear master?" I press my palms together and rest my cheek on them, flashing a fake smile.

"Knock it off. Whatever you do, always make sure someone else is around. In that case, it'd be me. I'll do my best to make sure you guys don't end up alone with him. I'll be your protection and wingman."

"Aight. Is that it?"

"No, we gotta make sure that the rest like you more than him. Most of the guys somehow agree that she should give him a chance and aren't gonna be too happy when they see you with her. First things first, try not to curse too much. I know that's gonna be a lot for you, it's just that they don't like it when someone curses. They don't mind mild ones like shoot, dammit, crap, screw, heck, etc, but since you say shit, hell, and fuck a lot, try not to slip and say those, cause then they're gonna get mad. Second, you're gonna have to act a little happier than usual. I know this isn't your thing either, but it can't be helped. Third, there's a pretty good chance they're gonna ask you to sing and/or dance."

"What? No. No, no, no. There's no way I'm gonna sing publicly. You've already seen me sing, I don't want anyone else to see."

"That's not an option. Either you sing, or they're not gonna approve of you. You don't have to sing an entire song, just a few lines. That's it. I'll join you if you want. We can do a duo! What song do you wanna sing?"

"None. I'll only sing if they ask me to sing. Don't even think of volunteering to sing. Just in case, we should prepare a song. What do you think? I don't wanna do any of my songs, and considering you're one of them, you know what kind of music they listen to."

"I might have an idea. But that's for later. Now we need to focus on what you're gonna wear. Are you gonna wear what you usually wear?"

"Maybe. Don't tell me you're gonna dress me up in some kind of glittery outfit that I'm gonna hate."

"As much as I would love that, no. I'm just gonna help you pick out an outfit. Something simple. Maybe just a plain t-shirt with your regular shorts. Wait, do you even have a bathing suit?"

"Ah shit, no I don't. I'm just gonna take a spare pair of shorts in case." I shove him off and start getting up, completely forgetting I was still just in my boxers.

"That! I almost forgot!" He points to my stomach. "You might have to cover those up. There's a girl who's really into physical strength. Once she sees those, she's gonna be clingy as hell. Not to mention the fact that there are another two who might want to use you as a model for their clothing line. If you're gonna take a shirt, make sure to not take it off."

"Dammit. Aight." I walk toward my dresser and start getting dressed. "What do you wanna eat? I'm in the mood for bacon."

"Yeah, bacon is good. After we eat, I'll help you practice how you're gonna act around them. I wanna make sure there won't be any troubles."

"Aight," I call, heading into the bathroom. I quickly fix myself up and head into the kitchen, seeing Guy crack a few eggs into a pan.

"Can you get the bacon?"

"Yeah." I rummage through the freezer, pulling out a handful. I pour oil onto a small pan, place the bacon, careful not to burn myself, spread butter on two pieces of toast, and place them into the toaster.

"After breakfast, we're gonna practice how to behave. We need to make sure nothing goes wrong.

"Am I gonna have to constantly smile though?"

"Probably, yeah."

"Dammit, fine."

We continue in silence, apart from occasional phrases like "Gimme the hot sauce," and "I'm gonna get another slice of bread." We quickly finished eating and went straight to practice.

"Alright. Show me how you're gonna greet them." He sits down in front of me on the couch."

"Uh, hi guys. M-My name is Branch, and I'm excited to meet you guys. I, uh, was invited by Poppy to attend this...party." The "excited meeting you guys" was a complete lie, but I have to be polite. I press my palms together, occasionally trying to crack my fingers despite having cracked all of them. I'm physically sweating and this isn't even the real thing. I'm screwed.

"Come on! Be more confident! Show me a smile!" He's acting like this is the easiest thing in the world.

"If you remember correctly, I don't have any confidence. And if you think that this is easy, then think again, cause it isn't. Why don't you demonstrate how I should act?"

"Alright. Sit down and let the master show you how to act." He stands up and I take his place on the couch. "Show emotion in your voice! 'Hey guys, my name is Branch, and I'm excited to meet you guys! Let's have some fun!' Act as if you're excited, cause I know you're not. Try not to crack your fingers too much."

"Fine. 'Hi guys, my name is Branch and I'm excited to meet you guys! Are you guys ready to have some fun?'" I flash a smile so bright, it should've come with sunglasses.

"That's more like it! Now that this part is covered, let's move on to the next part: what song you're gonna sing. Do you have any that you think will work?"

"Nope. Not at all. Do you?"

"I might have a few ideas."

The next two hours were spent preparing, to the point where I felt...happy. I'm never happy. This is really weird. Guy, the annoying glitter shitter, is making me feel happy. Anyways, soon enough it was 11, and we were interrupted by banging on the door.

"Branch? Guy? Are you guys there?"

"Yeah!" I jump onto the elevator with Guy, seeing Poppy in her usual dress, a bag, towels, and some other stuff in a bag.

"Hi, guys!"

"Hey!" We both wave. Then I notice a bandage on her neck. "What's that?"

"Oh, I have to buy some makeup to cover it up, so in the meantime, I'm gonna say I got hit by a branch. It's not exactly a lie, so..."

"Y-Yeah..." I mumble out, still mad at myself for marking her without permission.

"So...you and Guy have been preparing right? Knowing how he is, he probably made you rehearse for today."

"Yeah. The only thing we're having trouble with is what song we should sing in case they ask me too."

Poppy gives me a surprised look. "You were planning to sing? I told them that I was inviting you and told them not to ask you to sing. I thought you wouldn't want to since you always say you don't sing."

"Oh, uh, then that's fine. Better than having to sing what Guy planned. It was cringy to do."

She lets out a small laugh and says, "Really? What was it?"

I shudder in pure disgust. "It had lyrics like 'Bromance! Nothing really gay about it!' He insisted it was about our friendship. Ugh. I'm just glad that now there's a pretty good chance that I won't have to sing."

"Well maybe. Even if I told them not to ask you, there's a 30% chance they're still gonna ask you, so I have a song here prepared in case."

"Really? Lemme see then." I look over the lyrics, mumbling them as I read. "Damn. This is really good."

"So we're gonna do that one?" Guy says.

"Yeah. What, are you sad that we're not gonna do yours?"

"Maybe."

"Whatever. Be quiet. Lemme see if I can remember all of this."

I start re-reading it, trying to see if I can memorize it all. I don't want to have to pull out the paper in case I forget the lyrics. I'm about halfway through the song when I hear a voice shout, "Poppy!"

Then there are other voices chanting her name, over and over, like a song.

"That's our cue!"

"Wait! I still don't know all of the lyrics!"

"It's fine, they won't care if you have to pull it out to see the rest. Come on!" She gestures for us to follow her, and soon enough her friends come into view. She happily skips over to the girls and immediately starts chatting up a storm, while Guy bounces over to the guys and does the same, except for a purple guy with greenish-bluish hair. Maybe that's the Creek Poppy was talking about, I dunno. I stayed where I was because I didn't want to make a bad impression.

Everyone makes a hut with their hair, and I'm gonna assume they're changing. I don't have to since I'm technically already changed. I can hear them talking. The girls are just complimenting each other and the guys are making jokes about each other's clothing. Soon enough both huts disappear and everyone's in their bathing outfits. All of the guys have black shorts, but the girls have their individual colors. Poppy's wearing a yellow one, a one-piece. Sadly. Yes, I'm unholy. What are you gonna do? Send me to church?

"Is that the guy you were talking about?" A red one with orange hair says to Poppy, rather loudly, pointing to me. I couldn't tell if she was purposely being loud or just oblivious to how noisy she was.

"Guess you were right. He's not too bad." Two others, a blue and pink one who were attached by their hair say, staring at me as well.

"He's kinda cute. Is he single? What's his name?" There's a little yellow one that's staring at me with a huge grin on her face. I wave a quick hello to everyone, flashing an awkward smile. Poppy immediately picks up what's going on and rushes back to my side, gripping my arm.

"Oh, right! Everyone, this is Branch! Branch, this is Satin, Chenille, DJ, Biggie, Smidge, Cooper, ...Creek...and you already know Guy."

"Hey, guys! My name is Branch, and I'm excited to meet you guys!" I use emotion as Guy said to use, giving another wave and smile. Everyone smiles and waves back, except for Creek, of course. He mostly has annoyance written all over his face.

"Branch, huh?" Creek says. He's already getting angry.

"Yeah, hey." I'm tempted to crack my fingers, but I can't. I don't wanna seem like I'm some sort of pathetic loser.

"So, you're friends with Poppy? Or something more? Since when? How and when did you meet?"

Man, she wasn't kidding. I could practically smell the yandere.

"Don't grill him, Creek. We're just friends. We're gonna hang out later today as well."

"Hmm."

"Alright, what are we waiting for! Let's go!" Guy says, attempting to hype up the rest of the group. It worked, seeing everybody except for me, Poppy, and Creek yell, "Yeah!" Everyone starts going forward, except for me, Guy, and Creek. Guy and I start heading to join them as well, only to be thrown-geez, I wonder by who? on the ground.

"Listen, mate. Stay away from my girl. We're soulmates for life. This will only be a friendship, nothing more. Do you understand?" He's glaring at me up and down, acting like he's an Alpha. This is ironic, cause I'm an Alpha. The point is, he's acting like he's some kind of hot stuff when he isn't shit. It's if he thinks he's her soulmate. Since I marked her, she's my soulmate. I can't let him know that though, no matter how much I wanna rub it in his face and brag about it.

"If I remember correctly, mate, she's a person, not the property of some random creep. Also, I have a name, Creep. It's Branch. Maybe get your 'facts' straight before you try being straight." I now see why Guy said those things. This guy just has that wannabe smartass tone and face that makes you wanna punch it. I walk away, knowing that any second later and I'd punch him.

I head up the hills, seeing nothing but grass. My fists are still clenched, just waiting to punch something, most preferably someone. I guess Guy could see that I was pissed, because he immediately ran up to me and shoved my shoulders-in a playful and soft way, so don't worry.

"I bet you another five dollars you can't catch me!" Seeing him run away with his glittery ass shaking and shining due to the sun almost made me forget Creep. He shakes it once more before farting out a glittering cloud.

"Looks like I'm gonna get richer tonight!" I grin, the frown completely wiped off my face by now. I chase after him, dodging some of the others to catch up to him. I launch myself forward, only to have him step out of the way and make me tackle Poppy instead. She somehow ends up on top of me, between my legs, and on top of my chest.

Of course, he would.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry." I quickly mutter, sliding out from under her, helping her up as well.

She laughs a little and says, "It's fine. He'd do something like this."

"Gotta say, you're pretty quick."

"Huh?"

Turns out the little yellow one said that. Smidge, I think the name was? She's staring at me with that same grin, looking up at me. It's honestly terrifying as hell.

"Oh...yeah, I guess."

She opens her mouth to speak, but the only thing she got was water. Guy had cannonballed into the lake, completely soaking her and everyone else from head to toe.

"What was that for?" She yells, trying to wipe herself off.

"You all were taking too long!" He shouts back, splashing me with water.

"Now I'm really gonna get you!" I screamed, diving into the lake. At least I wasn't the only one to get pissed by Guy soaking us. Poppy dives in as well, swimming after him.

"Get back here!"

"You can't escape us!"

"You're gonna pay!"

At this point, we're all just shouting at him, trying to corner him.

"I got you!" I call, only to smack into DJ. "Ah, shi-oot. S-Sorry."

"Don't worry about it. Let's trap him! I'll distract him and you can catch him!"

"Yeah!"

She chases after him, and I try to catch up with him, but a random hand grabs me and pushes me under the water, making it so I can't go back up. Fuck, my lungs are aching for air, I can't breathe! I'm trying to kick him away, trying to swim back up, but Creek's hand is keeping me trapped, his other hand gripping my throat, basically choking me. I dig my nails into his skin, as hard as I can, which makes him eventually release me. I finally manage to pop back up, gasping for breath.

"What was that for?!" I yell in a weak voice, but loud enough for the rest to hear me.

"What's going on?"

"Did you try to drown him, Creek?!"

"How could you! Not cool!"

"You just met him! Why do you hate him so much?"

"He hasn't done anything to do, why did you do this!"

I cough out some water, choking for a few seconds while the rest swim up to him and continue to scold him. Guy goes up to me, smacking my back in an attempt to stop me from choking.

"You okay?" He says, before whispering, "Good job. You made them like you more than him."

"Yeah, I think. Feels like I got water into my lungs. Don't think it's too bad. I'm fine. For now, at least."

"You sure?" Poppy says, swimming up to us. "Sorry about him."

"Why are you apologizing to him!" Creek yells, glaring at us with as much intimidation as a kitten.

"Maybe it's because you tried to kill him for no good reason!" Poppy yells back, clearly as pissed off as the rest.

"It's not my fault!"

"Yes, it is! You nearly killed him!"

"Are you saying you care about him more than about me!"

"Yes! Because he's my friend!"

"But I'm your boyfriend!"

"No, you're not!"

I have a feeling she was done with him. She swims closer to me, probably making sure I'm not coughing or anything. Huh. Weird. There's a smell in the air. Smells like cotton candy and strawberries. It smells really good. The smell is everywhere.

"You smell that?" I say, taking a sniff. "Smells really sweet."

"I don't smell anything."

Oh...OH NO. I'm gonna go into-

"Are you okay? Do you still feel like coughing?"

"Y-Yeah. I just...gonna pee." My pants are getting tight, and her being so close isn't helping.

"Alright. I won't look. Do it." She turns around.

"What? I'm not peeing in a lake. At least, not where we're swimming. I'll be right back." I swim towards a faraway area, making sure to get Guy's attention since he left after Poppy went with me. He can tell I wanna ask him something and swims over.

"What do you need?"

"Uh, i-is there like...some sort of bathroom here...or something like that?"

"Why? Please don't tell me that..."

"Yup..." His face looks like a mixture of disgust, pity, and concern. I don't blame him a single bit.

"Just...go over there. There's a small cave over there. Hide in there and...do your...thing." He pushes me into it and immediately swims away. Seeing there was no one around, I slid my hand in. I grab a hold of my dick, slowly moving back and forth. I can't go at the speed I want, cause then I'd be loud as hell and it'd be obvious what I was doing. That gives me an idea. I press one hand over my mouth, another on myself, speeding up. Sure enough, it worked. There were only small noises coming from me. I'm almost there when there's a snap, and then splashing.

(I think you all know where this is going. Feel free to skip.)

"Who's there?" I say, pulling my hand out. "Show yourself!"

"Fine, you got me," Poppy says, coming into view. "What are you doing?"

Looks like I'm fucked. Literally and figuratively.

"N-Nothing. Just go back."

"You do realize I can hear and see you, right?"

I bury my face in my hands. That's it. I'm dead. I'm done. I'm going home and killing myself. I still have that rope from two years ago. I'm red as hell. There's no doubt about it. Of all the people it had to be Poppy. Anyone would've been better. Even Creek. Wait, no, that's a lie. Anyone except Creep and Poppy.

"Branch. Branch. It's okay. I mean, it wasn't your fault. Probably. And I can't leave you like this."

"Huh?" Is she saying that she's gonna...to me...do it?

"I mean...if it'd be okay with you..." She takes a step closer to me, hand slightly outstretched.

"I...I guess..." I guess this is my punishment for marking her. I played with her, now she's gonna play with me.

Poppy grabs onto me, starting fast as hell. I bite down on my index finger, trying to prevent any noises from escaping. I'm assuming I have an erotic look on my face because she's looking at me curiously and surprised.

"It feels that good? I'm doing it correctly?"

"Y-Yeah...why are you g-going so fast though?" God, that just made the situation worse. "I-I mean...ah! Hah! I feel like you'd start slow. You know what, maybe I should just shut up."

"Yeah, maybe."

After about some minutes of this-I don't know- I reach my end. She pulls her hand away, covered in the white sticky substance, licks it, spits it out, and immediately sticks it in the water, trying to wash it off.

"That didn't taste as good as I thought."

Why the hell would you even think that it'd taste good?

"Uh...thanks for the help..."

"No problem...I guess. We should start heading back, yeah?"

"Yeah. They're gonna be suspicious, so I hope they don't question us."

"Yeah..."

"I'll go back first. Then go back five minutes later."

"Got it."

I go underwater, swimming as fast as I can towards the rest, trying to see where I'm able to sneak in. Hopefully, they didn't notice I was gone for a long time.

I finally pop up for air, and Guy heads over to me. "You're done?"

"Yeah. I got some 'help'...so I was able to come back faster."

"Poppy?"

"Yeah..."

He lets out a whistle. "Damn! You got touched by your crush. Lucky."

"Shut up!" I whisper-yell. "I don't want anyone to hear!"

"Alright, alright."

The rest of the day was just a blur of being there, getting glared at by Creep, Guy constantly making jokes about Poppy and me, and her friends slowly warming up to me. I honestly lost track of the time until someone yells out, "Is it time for lunch already, Poppy?"

"Yeah. We'll meet up again tomorrow!"

"Okay, bye!" Everyone yells, getting out of the lake and heading in different directions.

"What time is it? I honestly don't know. Maybe a few hours after two?"

"Yeah. I kinda made it longer than our usual hangouts. You still wanna get ice cream?"

"Yeah. I'm pretty hungry."

"Then let's go! Let me change first."

"Okay."

She makes another hut around herself to change and reappears within seconds.

"Hold on, I'm not done!" I say, still having my wet shorts halfway on.

"Sorry, sorry!" She says, turning around. "I mean, nothing I haven't already seen..."

"Uh...yeah." I change as quickly as possible, making sure to not accidentally wet the new ones. I turn her around once I finish drying myself off.

"Okay...let's go, I guess." Poppy grabs my hand and drags me to the ice cream stands.

"What flavor do you want?" I say.

"All of them! What do you want?"

"I'm probably just gonna get something simple. Maybe chocolate."

"Just chocolate?"

"Yeah. Just get whatever you want. I don't mind."

"Okay!" She turns to the guy behind the counter. "I want a mixture of chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, and sprinkles, both rainbow, and chocolate!"

"I'll just have chocolate," I say.

"That'll be $5.57." The guy says. I nod and pull out some of the money I won from Guy yesterday.

"Whoa, where did you get that from?"

"Yesterday I was playing cards with Guy and I won, so I got to keep the $25 I made off of him. He doesn't know how to play, so I won every time."

Soon enough the guy hands us our cones and we head out.

"I've been meaning to ask...does Creek act like he did when we were in the lake?"

"Yeah. Some random guy tried hitting on me and Creek punched him and told him to stay away, then threatened to kill him."

"Yeah, I'm not surprised at the "kill him" part, considering that he almost killed me. I was underwater for like five minutes. If he had left me under for another minute, I probably would've either died or had brain damage."

"Yeah. We were really lucky that he let you go in time. I don't know what I would've done if he didn't."

"Yeah...which reminds me, I feel like there's a pretty good chance that he's gonna question you once we go back home, so be careful." I finish the last of my cone, seeing that Poppy's only beginning the cone.

"Yeah, you're right. C...Can I stay at your place tonight?"

"Huh? I mean, if you want. The only problem is that Guy is probably gonna be annoying us the entire time. You probably won't find him annoying, but I will so excuse me if I end up raging and yelling at him."

She lets out a small laugh and goddamn, that went straight to my heart. Like it was so cute it physically hurts. Is that bad? I don't know. The only thing I know is that I can legit feel my heart aching.

"Yeah, that's fine. I don't blame you. He can be a lot. So I'll probably come over later. Maybe around 7."

"Dammit!" A voice says.

"Who was that?" Poppy says.

"Dunno. Lemme see. Stay there. In case it's who I think it is."

I move closer to the bushes, and sure enough, Creep's there, leaves covering his face.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing. Go away. I'm not here."

"Yes, you are," I roll my eyes and pull him up by his hair. "You're here, and you're eavesdropping.

"No, I'm not!"

"Your face is covered with leaves and you're trying to blend in with the bushes. That's the definition of eavesdropping."

I guess he could tell he was cornered, because he ran away, only to have himself trip on his long-ass pants and end exposing half of his ass.

"Bruh, do you go commando every day, or is today something special?"

"S-Shut up!"

"Says the guy who's bare purple ass is right in front of another guy. Are you sure you're straight? Cause it seems like you're trying to seduce me. I usually don't pick up dudes, but I'll make an exception if it'll put you in your place."

Yup. That was his breaking point. Instead of trying to defend himself, he simply ran away, screaming at the top of his lungs while still trying to pull up his pants.

"Wow," Poppy says. "You're good at scaring people away. I don't know if I should be impressed or concerned."

"Maybe both," I say, unable to keep from laughing. "Anyways, what do you wanna do now? Is it too early to head to the bunker?"

"Yeah. What else do you wanna do? There are still roughly...three hours left. I don't know what to do that would kill that amount of time."

"Maybe come up with a new addition to the plan? We have him jealous, but we don't know what will drive him off for good."

"True. And then we could pack your bags so we don't stuff everything in at the last minute. Hmm...lemme think...yeah, I'm out of ideas. What do you think?"

"Maybe...we can 'get closer', drop hints that we're becoming more, and act more closely to each other than to the others, things like that."

"Yeah, you got a point. I feel like we should only go for the big one if it's necessary. Like when he's at his breaking point."

"Should we do it tomorrow? What should we do?"

"I say...we start hanging out in a place where he's sure to see us. We should be in a position where it's as clear as day that there's something between us, and hug more constantly, as much as I'm gonna hate that."

"Alright. You wanna go pack your bags now? I feel like he's gonna come back to spy on us any second now. I wanna get going. Make sure we have everything ready and necessary."

"Yeah, I think that we should start preparing now. Then if there's time left over, we can rehearse and make sure everything goes according to plan."

"Got it. I'll walk you to your door and I'll come for you when I finish setting up the new room. I might be able to finish in about fifteen minutes." I get up, signaling for her to get up as well. She finishes the last of her ice cream before joining me. Together, we head off to her pod. I make sure she's inside before closing the door and leaving to head off to the bunker. I have to make sure I have everything ready before she comes. If I'm lucky, this will be an opportunity for us to get closer. If you hadn't guessed, all that's been in my head lately is our moment in the lake. It felt good as hell, and I'm kinda ashamed to admit that I only agreed to help her so that I'd be able to get closer with her and maybe have a chance with her. Go ahead, judge all you want, but you'd do the same if you were in my position. Probably. Anyway, I should get going. I don't wanna be late.

Hopefully, Guy isn't in the bunker at this time. If he were he'd tease me constantly for what happened. Things like "What else did she do with you?' and 'You're so lucky,' or him telling me to make sure the bed looks good. I have a feeling he's hornier than me. I gotta get him a girlfriend soon.

I head in, checking every single room. I don't see him anywhere. Looks like God finally decided to give me a break. I pull out the spare mattress, dress it, and make sure the softer side is up. I placed a few lamps, a small table, a chair, some of Guy's scrapbook supplies, installed some lights, and added a floor to ceiling mirror. The ones that are rectangular shaped. Yes, I might be exaggerating, but I just wanna make her as comfortable as possible. After all, who wouldn't want to make their crush happy? She took real good care of me today, and I'm not just talking about the moment in the lake. She made me feel wanted again, even if it was short. I haven't felt that in years. I wanna pay back how special and happy she's made me feel. I can imagine her saying 'You did all of this for me? Thanks!' and see her smiling at me. It makes me feel all warm and giddy inside. I'd treasure that face for all eternity. That reminds me, I should start heading over to see if she's done.

Once I arrive at her place, I lightly knock on the door before calling out, "Poppy? Can I come in?"

"Yeah! I'm almost done!" Poppy yells back. I open the door, and god, her pod is a mess. There's glitter, clothes, and all kinds of things everywhere, all over her furniture, walls, and ceiling. Like a junk bomb went off.

"Whoa, what went on in here?"

"Sorry," Poppy grunts out, still trying to shove random things into a pink suitcase. "I, uh, took out too many things and tried to make it fit and it all came out."

"Here. Lemme help. This is why it's important to keep things organized. First, let's just take everything out and make two piles. Things that we'll need, and things that we don't. For example, we're going to need these clothes, since I'm assuming that it'll only be for a day or two."

"Well, I was kinda hoping for about three days, at least..."

"Huh? I mean, sure. I don't mind. So that means that we gotta pack for three days. Here." I pick up a shirt. "You wanna pack this?"

"Yeah. I also wanna bring these!" Poppy holds up a bunch of clothes. "I already picked them out, I just need help getting them in." She starts shoving them in again, trying to keep them in there.

"You do realize that if you want it to fit, you gotta fold them right?"

"No, I don't! Look!" She proceeds to bundle them all in a ball and try to shove them in there.

"I'm looking, and all I see is them not going in. I have a feeling that you're just too lazy to fold them all. Here. I'll do it. If you want, pack something else. Get some hygiene things cause it looks like you've only packed clothes."

"Okay. Thanks, Branch, you're a great friend." Yup. That right there, that's just salt in the wound.

"Sure. No problem." With that, Poppy heads off to her room, and man I wish I was going there with her. No, focus on what you said. I start with the shirts, folding them one by one and neatly placing them in the suitcase. Four should be enough. I need to make sure that the pants also match the shirts. As in, they're not both the same color. I pick up the last pair of her underwear, and-oh no. No, no, no. Don't get hard again, don't hard again, don't get hard again, don't hard again, DON'T-

"Why are you just standing there?"

"AH! Oh my god! You gave me a heart attack!"

"How did I scare you so badly?"

"I...I don't know! I didn't think you'd just..appear out of nowhere! Especially if I'm not done folding!"

"Well I was trying to get your attention from the other room, and when you didn't respond I came to see what was going on."

"Oh. Sorry, I was... focused on this. I just needed to put this in. Uh, do you have everything? Hairbrush, toothbrush, hair ties, soap?"

"Yep! I got it all here!" She holds up a small pink leather bag, bulging with her belongings.

"Alright. I finished with the clothes, so we can put this...here." I point to a small pocket on the top of the suitcase.

"Okay. Is that it?"

"Yeah. You wanna go now?"

"Yeah! Let's go!"

Together, we head towards out. As soon as I opened the door, I got a punch to the nose.

"OW!"

"Maybe now you'll learn to stay away from my girl, you thief!"

"Shut up!" I say, trying to collect the blood in my hand.

"Stop it, Creek!"

"Oh, I'll stop...in exchange for a kiss!" He pushes me aside and leans in, puckering his lips and sticking his tongue out like he's trying to eat a burger without using his hands.

"Ew. Go away!"

"Shut up! Get out of here!" I shove him out of the way, getting his saliva all over my hand. "Ugh, gross!"

"Why don't you get out of here?" He nudges me out of his way, still trying to get a kiss.

"Too bad, get out!" Poppy yells from behind me.

"Never!"

"Ugh, hold on. Go back!" I say to Poppy. "I just gotta hold him off for a bit!" I whip out my phone and text Guy, telling him to get his ass here now. "Look, see. She's not here anymore. So why don't you calm down, act like an actual man, and leave, because it's clear she's not interested in you."

"How would you know that!" He shouts at me, shoving a fat purple finger onto my nose. "She's clearly asking for me to do her with that outfit!"

"Newsflash dude: clothes don't equal consent. If she wanted you to fuck her just for your own pleasure, she'd...you know...actually do that. Now tell me; has she ever verbally confirmed that she likes you?" I cross my arms, seeing his ego mentally deflate for a second before he straightens himself again. I'm surprised he actually knows how to listen. Maybe this was the key: have a chat face to face, guy to guy. Let's hope I can stall him enough for Guy to get here.

"Yeah! She said, 'I like you, Creek, you're the best friend ever!'"

I inhale sharply and pinch the bridge of my nose. "How long ago did she say that?"

"A year ago!" He says, grinning with that same wannabe smartass tone and smirk. Then he's thrown on the ground and dragged away.

"Sorry if I'm late," Guy calls. "I couldn't tell if you were at her place or yours. I got it now. Hurry and get out with her."

"Aight. Thanks, man."

"Don't mention it. Now c'mon, you!" He starts dragging Creek away, while Creek's yelling out curses and sad insults, like "you grey jerk with a weird head shape and stupid shorts!"

"Poppy! He's gone now, you can come here!"

No answer.

"Poppy?"

I poke my head around the hallways, trying to figure out where she is. I knock on her bedroom door, and there's the sound of...crying? Fuck, she's crying! Fuck off already, Creek.

"Poppy? Are you okay?" What kind of fucking question is that, dumbass? Of course, she's not okay!

I knock on the door lightly before opening it. Sure enough, she's on her bed, sobbing into her pillow with a pack of cupcakes beside her.

"Hey, you know I'm here for you, right?"

Then I'm tackled, and she starts sobbing into my chest, covering my shirt in tears.

"I'm just sick of him, why won't he understand that I don't want anything with him? I've told him all the time, even went as far as making scrapbooks and songs to try to convince him. Why doesn't he wanna understand? Why? I'm getting tired of constantly looking over my shoulder thinking he's gonna pop up out of nowhere. I'm tired of having my friends alert me whenever he's near or planning something. I need a break!"

"And that's exactly what I'm gonna give you. C'mon, we should get going. We don't wanna risk Creek catching us again." I take her hand and start leading her to the door.

"Okay." She sniffles for a moment before joining me. I pick up her suitcase and together we head off. I try making small talk, in an attempt to cheer her up, but I'm not sure if it really worked. Sure, she's smiling, but that doesn't mean she's happy. It could, but after seeing her cry like that for the first time, it could be a fake smile for all that I know. Or it could be because just about everyone is staring at us, hell I could've sworn some were following us. Between my skin color and her cheeks stained with dried tears, I could see the reason, but at least don't make it so obvious.

I lead her towards the bunker, opening it and quickly checking the backgrounds in case some random person is following us. I gently guide her in and bring us down on the elevator.

"Your room's over there. You can go check it out if you want. It's the second on the left. Don't go into the first one, cause that's Guy's. And if you know anything about Guy, if you walk into his room you'll be blinded cause everything in his room is covered in glitter.

"Heh, yeah. Is it bad I actually wanna see his room?"

"No, but it will be bad when I have to take you to the doctor when you lose your eyesight. Maybe just start unpacking. If you want any help don't hesitate to call me. I'll start working on dinner." I give her a small wave before ducking inside the kitchen and pulling out my phone to text Guy .

Me: What food does Poppy like to eat?

Guy: idk man, she's not picky, and it doesn't have to be sweet or have a lot of flavors. Like maybe chicken and spaghetti.

Me: Aight thx man. You're a real one

Guy: np

Hmm, would fried or breaded chicken be better?

(I'm not sure if this is the correct word, I only know how to say it in Spanish and used google translate. Feel free to correct me if it's wrong.)

I'm just gonna do breaded chicken. It's faster to prepare and tastier too. (According to my parents.)

I start slicing the chicken and onion into pieces, chop garlic, black pepper, and salt. I place the onions in the oil for a bit, then take them out and set them aside. Then I place the chicken into the oil once the water's boiled a bit, lay half a box of spaghetti into another pan with water, and start cooking it as well. I pour some lemon and water onto the chicken and wait for it to finish boiling. I sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper after ten minutes, making sure it's not too much salt or too much pepper. Soon enough it's done, and I set our plates on the table while leaving Guy's in the toaster to keep it warm in case he decided to come home. I make my way over to Poppy's room, lightly knocking on the door. "Poppy? The food's ready. Do you wanna eat now?"

"Yeah, just give me a second! I love this room! How long did you take to make it? It's so pretty!"

My heart hurts now, dammit. I'm having a heartthrob if that didn't make sense.

"Heh, yeah, I just took some stuff that I wasn't really using." Dammit, that just sounds like I'm passing all my unwanted junk onto her. "I-I mean, things that I bought but never used. I figured it'd be something you like. I'm glad you're enjoying it."

"I love it. Thanks!"

"Sure. Now c'mon, the food's gonna get cold."

"Okay, give me a second!" Poppy opens the door a few moments later, smiling. "What did you make?"

"I made breaded chicken with spaghetti. Something simple. And since it's a widely-liked food, it seemed reasonable. Your plate's over there." I point to it and wait for her to sit down before heading to the fridge. "Uh, you want something to drink? Juice, water, anything?"

"I want juice!"

"Alright. Here." I hand her a cup of apple juice, pouring a glass of water for myself. "So, did you manage to unpack everything or do you still have to finish? If you do, I'll help if you want."

"It's fine Branch, you've helped me a lot today. I can finish it myself."

I give her a shrug. "If you insist."

With that we continue eating, in a silence that didn't seem forced, but rather comfortable. I finish first, because if you remember whenever I go into heat or an episode, I get hungry. I get up and start washing the dishes, and in the middle of doing this, two arms wrap around me.

"Huh?" Oh right, Poppy. "You finished eating?"

"Yeah, I was gonna bring the plate."

"Oh, right. Give me it. I'll wash it."

"You can do that later, right now I just wanna have fun with you."

Oh god why.

"Alright, what do you have in mind? Some type of game of something?"

"Something like that. I wanna get to know you more! Come on! Where's your couch?"

"It's over here." I pointed to the hallway, where the sunlight was beaming onto the floor leading to the living room.

"Woah, your bunker's super big!

"Yeah, I know. It's here." I sit down and gesture for her to sit as well. "What do you wanna play?"

"20 Questions! It's just as fun as Truth or Dare, and it'll let us get to know each other better!"

"Uh, fine. You wanna go first?"

"Yeah! But don't think I'll forget that you have to as well!"

Dammit.

"Fine. Lemme look up some examples." I pull out my phone and look up "20 questions for friends"

A bunch of images appeared, but the questions were really weird, like foot size, if I smoked pot, or have a tattoo/piercing.

"Okay, I think I got one. It's like 43 questions, but I have a feeling we'll skip some."

"Okay, let me see!" Poppy takes my phone from me and starts scrolling through the list. "Alright, first one. Have I ever kissed someone before? I think it's obvious, no."

Huh, so I still have a chance.

"Next, ever been drunk. No again. 3 is "cried myself to sleep. Yeah, I have. 4, 5, 6, and 7 I'm gonna skip. 8. I'm 22. My birthday is April 8th. You know what, this is getting boring. Why don't you go first?"

"Me? Uh, alright then. Um, 1 is gonna be a no, 2, is gonna be yes, at least once a month. Guy supposedly has some recorded videos of me being drunk. 3, more times than I can count on my fingers. So at least 9 times. 4, don't get mad but yes. 5-"

"Wait, you've cut yourself?! Why didn't you tell me about it?"

"Was there a time I could talk about it? During the lake time, definitely not. While we were having ice cream? Way too inappropriate. I don't know about you, but now would've been the best time." I raise an eyebrow. What was she expecting? For me to be all sad and gloomy and not be suicidal as well?

"Wait, how long ago was it?"

"Most recent was a month or two ago. First was 11 years ago. The scars are gone now, so don't worry about it. I'm okay." In reality, the most recent was three weeks ago, but I know if I were to say that, she'd probably rip my clothes off and check everywhere until she found where the scar is.

"Fine."

"Alright, where was I? 5. Have I felt lonely? I'd say sometimes, despite how much of a pain in my backside Guy is. I'm surprised he's not here bugging me."

"No, but I am now!"

I swear to fucking God.

"I should've known better. What do you want?"

"I just came to get something from my room. That's it. There's also food for me, right?"

"Yeah, I left it in the kitchen."

"Alright, thanks." With that, he heads off, mouthing the words, 'Just tell her you love her already!'

"Anyways, number 6. Yes. You know what, is it just me or is this getting boring?"

(I'm being honest. Is it? For me it kinda was. I was getting kinda bored just writing this.)

"Yeah, it kinda is. What time is it?"

"Uh, 8:50."

"Then let's do Truth or Dare instead! Rock Paper Scissors to decide who goes first!"

"Fine."

"Rock paper scissors shoot!"

I throw paper and she throws rock. I win.

"Fine, ask me. Truth or Dare."

"Alright, Truth or Dare."

"Truth."

"Alright, I've been wondering, why'd you 'help' me in the lake. Normally someone else would either be disgusted, creeped out, or just run away. Or was it purely out of pity?" I mean, it does sound weird when said out loud. Poppy, future leader of the Trolls, doing sexual stuff with a near-stranger.

"I don't know. I feel like it wasn't exactly your fault, it can happen randomly. At least I think. Are you accusing me of being some kind of pervert?" Poppy points a finger at me.

Shit.

"Huh? N-No, I didn't mean it like that, I was just confused by it. I mean, it doesn't seem like you, since you're all about sunshine and rainbows, something like this...is just unexpected, that's all."

"I guess that makes sense. It just seemed like the right thing to do in the moment. Alright. Truth or Dare!"

"Uh, dare." I guarantee you I'll regret it, but oh well. Probably better than having to do Truth.

"I dare you to sing me a song! Something that'll make me feel better about the whole thing with him."

Fuck.

"Do I have to?"

"Yeah, unless you want me to be sad. You don't want that. Do you?"

"No. Fine, let me think of one. Uh..."

I can only think of one, but it'll have to do.

I hold out my hands, gesturing for her to dance with me. She latches onto me immediately, and from there I go into a slow dance, while I begin the song. Sorry Grandma. I broke your promise, and over something like this. But I need to do this. For Poppy.

"I know you've been kicked down, slept on, let down, faith gone. Waited for too long for something to lean on. Feel weak, just be strong. Deep breath, stay calm. And you just press on, press on, press on. You gon' see there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Keep your eyes on the road ahead. And if you feelin' lost in the night, it's okay to cry. Just as long as you hold your head. Cause we're on our way to better, better's ahead. Better's ahead. It gets worse 'fore it gets better, but better's ahead, better's ahead. Better days are comin', better days are comin', better days are comin'..."

I try to maintain the most genuine smile I can make, because I want her to know how much she means to me and how much I'd be willing to give up just to see her smile. And I think it's working. She's smiling the widest I've ever seen, and you know how wide she can smile. We both went at it for a while, smiling at each other, my singing in the background, and dancing in the middle of the living room. My voice drags out for a bit, before becoming too light to be audible. Poppy's staring at me with an awestruck look, mouth slightly agape and she's slightly shaking. Did she hate it? Was my voice not good enough? Fuck!

"Man, now I wish my friends made you sing when they first saw you! Why didn't you show me before how you sound when you sing?"

"I dunno, it's not something I like to do publicly, as unusual as that might sound."

"That's a shame, your singing is so beautiful."

Yeah, that's what Grandma said.

"Heh, thanks. Uh, I don't know about you, but I'm actually getting kinda tired."

"Already? We've barely even started!"

And the rest of the night was a blur of truth or dares, a glitter bomb or two that went into my eyes, more singing and dancing, a few dozens scrapbooks, and other stuff I can barely remember about. What I do know is I woke up with a melted ice pack down my boxers and a cupcake drawn on my hand. Poppy's right next to me on my bed, her clothes are messy as hell and she's got a rainbow sketched on her forehead. At least we're still both dressed. I get up as slowly as I can, I don't wanna wake her up. I head to the kitchen, checking Guy's room on the way. He's passed out on-wait, why the fuck's another troll in his bed?

"Dude, what the fuck is that?!" I shout-whisper, nudging his arm. He wakes up and stares up at me, knowing he's in deep shit.

"She just slept over, we didn't do anything!"

"Sure you didn't. I better not see anything in nine months."

"Says the guy who not only got a handjob from his future girlfriend but who also got a bunch of things shoved down his pants last night."

"It's just an ice pack, dumbass. It was melted by this morning anyways."

With that, I close the door and head to the kitchen, trying to think of what to make for breakfast. Well first of all, I don't have any wood to put in the oven so I need to get that first. Should I leave a note for Poppy? Nah, she's smart enough to figure out where I am. Plus, Guy and the girl, Suki I think, are there as well, so I shouldn't need to worry about this. I might pick a few berries while I'm at it as well. Maybe some type of pancake or waffle with cream and berry on top. Alright.

I pick up my satchel, a pair of scissors, and my phone. I considered locking my bunker, but then again, I won't go far. I'm barely outside the door when something hits the back of my head. Of course. Why the fuck didn't I remember.

"Get the fuck out of my life, you motherfucker!"

"Oh, I'll get out, once I fuck her and with your life."

WHAM!

And that's the last thing I remembered before I blacked out.

•••••••••••

God, my head hurts. I swear to fucking God, if I wake up and the asshole is right in front of me, I don't give a shit, I will punch him. As hard as I can, hopefully to the point he's put into a coma or something similar.

They flutter open, and OF FUCKING COURSE THE ASSHOLE IS THERE. GOD FUCKING DAMMIT.

"I swear to fucking god, when will you stop this bullshit?! I'm sick of it! Does your ass ever get jealous of the amount of shit you say?"

"No, but you're the one who seemed interested in it."

"Shut the fuck up. Don't tell me Poppy's here too."

"Unfortunately not, but soon she will be, lying in bed next to me. Just wait." He smiles another one of those cocky ass grins and holds up my phone, with Poppy's contact on the screen.

TO BE CONTINUED AHAHAHA

I know I'd said that I'd put this on hold, but I guess motivation came back? I might still continue it, but updates will still be slower than usual, sorry about that. Anyways I hope you enjoyed it, and maybe I'll see you in the next chapter! I honestly had a bunch of non-related things I wanted to talk about, but I feel it's irrelevant but the main thing(s) I want to announce is that I have a new family member!

I got a dog for my birthday! Her name is Coco, she's about 3 years old, and she's the most obedient dog I've ever seen! Only thing is she doesn't bark unless my dad, Fatty(brother) or me go out for a long time and are in the garage. Then she starts scratching the door and barking and whining, and when we open the door she jumps all over us and is just so happy :).

I've been doing pretty fair for myself in school so far, if anyone cares. I've gotten A's and B's with two C's on my report cards, and my best friend is the main person I've been talking to. I'm not sure if he considers us to be, but I know Snapchat does.

We mainly talk about school or he hits me up asking for the answers to the homework in classes we have together. I know, he sounds annoying, but he's actually a really sweet dude who's willing to talk trash about a teacher just to make me feel better lol. Anyways enough about me, I'll see you in the next chapter. Have an amazing day!

Alright, I'm fully awake now. I published this at midnight and it felt like I was hungover while finishing it. I had a few more things to say, sorry. I wanna apologize if the handjob was poorly written, because I haven't written or done anything relating to straight porn in years, so I kinda lost the way I'd normally write it. I also wanna apologize if I make Branch curse too much, it's just that cursing is so common in my family and extended family, it's actually weird to not curse. Just about everyone uses the words shit, fuck, and hell daily, as well as son of a bitch, dammit, fucker, etc.

Alright, I didn't realize this, but I messed up. I finished writing the paragraph above a few days ago, maybe on the 26th of December, and I guess must've accidentally pressed publish or something since I felt really sleepy, like I could barely keep my eyes open. I had a few more things to say, both in the one shot, and in here. I know the oneshot was mostly BlueDiamond because I didn't realize it was until the part where Branch and Guy were having breakfast and I didn't want to delete anything, and the handjob was to bring attention back to Broppy. I remember saying to myself, "OH SHIT. THIS ISN'T BROPPY, THIS IS BLUEDIAMOND. Alright, I need to have Broppy do something that he'd never be able to do with Guy." And considering I wrote the majority of this during No Nut November, sex was the only thing that came to mind, considering I failed within the first week. I said something like. "Aight, I got three choices. I can't make them fuck, it's way way too early. First up is blowjob. I'm imagining them in waist deep water, so for her to blow him, he'd need to lay on his back and I feel like every time she'd go down he'd be pushed into the water, so no. Alright then, thighjob. Once again, they're in waist deep water, and I feel like rubbing against a bathing suit underwater wouldn't feel good. That leaves me with the last one, handjob. It's probably the easiest for inexperienced people to do, and he'll still feel good. Yup, it's handjob." But for some reason, I felt really weird using the word dick at first, and using cock, penis, member, etc felt too formal of words, so I just used the word it, but figured no one would care if I used dick or not. Lemme go fix it, hold on.  I'm also sorry about the dialogue. I looked at Bakudeku handjobs and blowjobs to get ideas for noises, and the most common ones were things like "Mgh, mmm, ngh, nnn, ahh, ah, hah, ha, agh," and huffing and moaning each other's names. And the "took cum, licked it, then spit it out" came from a scene where Deku was blowing Bakugo and Bakugo was wondering if the cum tasted delicious. So he wiped some off Deku's face, licked it, and spit it out while thinking, "He's crazy!" Deku just responded, "it tasted delicious cause it's Kacchan."

Anyways the reason this took so long is because there was so much going wrong in my life I didn't know what to do. My parents were and still are talking about divorce every single day, I was having or close to having anxiety attacks at least once a week, I was on the verge of getting my phone taken away, my only escape from my mom, my dog was having a bit of poop issues, basically everything was wrong. It just feels like the older I get, the more things seem to go downhill. I've been getting a little bit better, but I'm still crying every other day. I was crying just a little bit ago. But anyways, if you've read this far, I sincerely appreciate it. Thank you. Part two, I'm not sure when that's gonna come out, but I'll do my best to finish quickly.