broppy oneshots !

Forgotten Birthday

Branch rolled in bed, waking up from one of the best nights of sleep he's ever had. He opened his eyes in a daze, instantly recalling the events of last night. As an early birthday gift, Poppy spent the night as his bunker and they spent their evening being as lovey-dovey as they wanted. It consisted of sweet, soft kisses with warm cuddles and exchanges of loving words. His stomach felt swarmed with butterflies as he remembered having his girlfriend in his arms and by his side as he fell asleep. "Where is she, anyway?" Branch wondered as he finally realized she wasn't in bed with him. "Weird way to start the day.." He got out of bed when it hit him- not a weird way to start just any day, but his birthday! The birthday boy concluded that Poppy was probably preparing something nice for him, such as breakfast. His stomach growled as he left to go to the kitchen.

"Poppy?" Branch called out. "You here?" He sniffed the air and entered the empty kitchen. "Um.. okay. Not what I expected." The confused troll sat at the table, pondering where his girlfriend could've gone. "Oh- of course! It's my birthday, she's most likely set up a whole surprise outside for me to walk out and see." Satisfied with his reasoning, he got ready to start the day. Making sure he looked as best as he could for the party, he hopped on the elevator and ascended. He exited his bunker with a smile to find..

Nothing. There was nothing and no one there. His stomach was swarmed with nerves, replacing the butterflies from earlier. He took a few steps, hoping for his friends and family to burst out from behind the flora, yet nothing. "Okay.. maybe they're waiting for me in town?" Anxious, he walked into town with everybody going about their normal lives. He headed to where the Snack Pack usually hung out, and only found Cooper with some envelopes. "Cooper!" He started to run over, relieved to see at least one friend.

"Oh! Branch! What's up man?" Cooper hid the envelopes under his hat.

"Um," Branch tried to keep his composure. "N-nothing much really. What about you?" Lying wasn't the best, but he hoped Cooper would call his lie out and bring up his birthday.

"Nothing much either! That is, until you came here. Actually I'm also really busy so I have to.. Head out.." Cooper laughed nervously and slowly began to back away.

"What? But you just said you had nothing going o-"

"Uhhhh see you later, man!" Cooper sprinted off as fast as he could.

"Uh, okay," Branch felt his ears droop, a warning sign of upcoming distress and anxiety. "What is going on?" He nervously walked and talked to himself. "I'm sure it's my birthday, there's no way everybody forgot. Poppy told me herself last night that my birthday was toda- wait!" Poppy! That was it! Branch ran off to her pod, internally scolding himself for not thinking to check there first. Panting, he opened her door and found her laying on her bed, scrapbooking.

"Branch!" She hopped off and tackled him in a hug. "Good morning!"

"Uh, good morning," Branch hesitantly hugged back. "You weren't next to me when I woke up, where'd you go?"

"Oh you know," Poppy waved her hand as she headed back to her bed. "Had some early queen duties to take care of. Same old, same old." The pink troll got back to snipping away at a piece of felt. "Did you run all the way here? Why?"

Speechless, Branch just stared at her. Poppy would never forget a birthday- let alone his! "I just wanted to make sure you were safe, that's all." He started walking out of her pod. "I'll see you later, I guess." Branch stumbled his way out of her pod. Was this some sort of twisted nightmare? Poppy watched him walk further from her pod and closed the door.

"Alright," Poppy pulled out a walkie talkie and spoke into it. "He left my premises as expected. Cooper, send out the invites."

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