oneshots ° ↣ broppy

.02 ↠ helpless

lowercases are intentional.

                                                            helpless.

it was late. it was night. all was still in the secluded bunker. It was tidy, pristine. just how branch preferred it. When it was messy he couldn't handle it. Who knows, it could mess up some of his circuitry or wiring or something else in his %99.99 foolproof no-entering-at-all bunker. He couldn't take that chance.

so, it was still and quiet. Everything was where it needed to be. After the last safety protocol checks of the bunker, branch led himself to his bed and prepared for sleep. He was dressed in a white shirt and some sleep shorts, which was the usual. Again, it was protocol. Everything was the same. Every day. Always had been. Nothing had interrupted it. ever!

A loud crack startled branch as he was comfortable in his bed. Or maybe it was a creak, or a crackle. Whatever it was, it was not part of branch's nightly routine. It was a threat. 

Branch ran out his room and into the lobby-area of the bunker . What was the sound? He thought.

"Who is it? Show yourself! Just to inform you, my security system is quite impressive! And I- uh- you don't wanna mess with it!" He picked up one of his many self defense crafted weapons and waved it around. 

But he was startled, because he noticed a troll near the platform entrance to the bunker. It was a pink body, sprawled with messy pink hair paired with a blue sleep dress. Branch recognized it immediately. It was his friend, poppy. Curled on the floor, sweaty and dirty.

He dropped the weapon, "poppy? What are you doing here?" He ran up to her and lifted her chin up. She was all messy and unkept, and a substance that looked like vomit was located around her mouth. Her eyes looked as if they had lost some of their bright pink color. He looked nervously at her. 

"Branch I- I'm so sorry branch I-" she gagged and vomited profusely on the floor. But branch barely cared about anything else but her in this moment. Not even the cleanliness of his sacred bunker. "erg" poppy made a timid moaning noise.

"It's okay, it's okay." He picked up poppy and comforted her quickly. As he carried her to his bathroom he brushed her messy strands of hair away from her face. He had never seen poppy this sick.

Poppy was placed on the toilet seat. Branch took a towel and wiped the grime off of her face, "what happened poppy? You're so frail..." He whispered to her curiously. How could his friend be in this condition? and how'd she get in?

"Branch I'm-" she could barely speak. she had a small lisp to her voice, "I'm so sorry branch I felt- I didn't know where to- where to go." She put her hand to her mouth again. Branch quickly gave her the trash can. "Woah woah. Hey, it's okay it's okay." He brushed another piece of hair away from her face. She looked so tired and breakable. that wasn't usual because poppy was extremely tough and charismatic in her demeanor. At all times. But now she was vulnerable, and it was a side of her that he had never seen.

Branch picked up her tired body and led her to his bedroom. He placed her body on his bed and tucked her in. "Just go to sleep," he put his hand on her forehead, "fall asleep, and don't worry. I'll handle everything. Just rest, poppy." branch spoke in a gentle voice to her and caressed her head. He then left her when she felt relaxed enough, with the trash can next to the bed.

He went back to the lobby and cleaned up the pile of vomit on the ground. Branch had handled worse things and it was easy for him to sterilize. After wiping the floor at least 5 times, he fixed a cup of tea. He brought it to his bedroom and placed it on poppy's night stand. He watched poppy, she was softly asleep now. He noticed she made no noise as she slept. She was wrapped comfortably in his bedsheets in his bed in his bunker . Oh gosh, now he was going to throw up. 

He ran out the room to distract himself from the thought of poppy. Deep breaths Branch, deep breaths. Don't think like that.

But now he thought, wait, how'd she even get in.? He looked for traces until he looked up. Oh right, the ventilation system. 

But then he felt horrible quickly. Oh gosh, that's high. She's not strong enough to use her hair. She must've fell.

he sighed and went back in the room. He slowly uncovered her from the blankets and she squirmed a bit in the bed. Branch checked her for injuries the best he could without touching her. I don't wanna disturb her, and you're not supposed to touch a lady while she sleeps.

He covered her back up and could tell she looked happy in her sleep again. He smiled and crawled in on his side of the bed. He stayed as close to the edge of the bed as he could. He made sure to give her as much covers as she needed, even if he slept without them. He fell asleep, his body far away from hers. It was fine. Everything was fine. 

He awoke with his body all tangled up. He opened his eyes and looked down at whatever was touching his. It was poppy. Gosh, what did I even expect? His hands were placed upwards on the bed, but poppy had her arms wrapped around his chest and her legs were literally wrapped around him. Her hair was wrapped not only around herself, but it was halfway intertwined with his hair and half of his body. somehow some of it was even in his mouth. How am I supposed to get up?

He sat there hazily. And sighed nervously. Oh gosh, there's a girl around me. And she's sick. What if I get infected? 

He panted so profusely that poppy fidgeted around and opened her eyes. Branch swiftly closed his and pretended to be asleep. poppy lowered her body off his and sat up on his bed. She looked around confused. The tea on the dresser was now cold, but she took a sip anyway. Her hair was sprawled down her back. 

Branch opened a single eye and saw poppy looked extremely nervous and shell-shocked. She was anxious about even spending the night in branches bunker. She sat up and began to exit the bedroom with her hands folded across her chest.  I've got to get out of here.

"Wait-" branch spoke, and poppy rapidly spun around to face him. "Branch, im sorry I have to go. I'm sorry for the trouble."

"But I need to make sure you're okay. I need to know what happened." Branch was now stood up. He put his hand on poppy's shoulder. "Just let me make sure you're fine."

"I am fine, okay?" She gave him a soft smile. "I'm okay because you took care of me." 

"Poppy, you know I'll always take care of you. I'm always here to keep you safe. It's my job." He grinned and tilted his head back at her. 

She reddened and intertwined her fingers with his. 

"Cmon, let's go eat something." He smiled at her, and they walked away from the bedroom sleepily.