Chapter Text
It was a warm sunny morning and Poppy had snuck into Branch's bunker like she usually tends to do, she had taken care of her queenly duties in advance to make sure that today would be just about them and nothing else. They hadn't spent good quality time together in a while and Poppy was desperately needing it, leaving her quite bereft. She walked into the kitchen creeping up behind Branch who was preparing his coffee in his morning robe. Just as Branch took his first sip Poppy made her presence known.
"Hi babe!" She said cheerily and smiling right after.
Branch almost choked on his coffee, startled. "Oh my god Poppy!" He gathered himself and caught his breath. "What are you doing here?!"
"Came to see you, I'm free today!"
"Free as in... no queen stuff today?" Branch raises a brow, his curiosity peaked.
"Yep! We should hang out, you busy?" She says enthusiastically.
"Uhhhh...." Branch puts his cup of coffee down for a second. "I didn't have any plans... so, no? I'd love to hang out" He says nervously and softly smiles.
"Great! What do you wanna do?" Poppy's mind is overflowing with ideas about what they could do but instead decides to give Branch the liberty to choose. Either way, she was overcome with joy just by the mere thought of simply being able to spend time with him.
Branch chuckles a bit awkwardly. "Whatever you wanna do is fine really"
"Oh come on Branch we always do all the stuff I wanna do! There has to be something you want." Poppy says kind of disappointed he doesn't wanna choose something.
"I don't mind doing what you wanna do! Besides I can't really think of anything..." He admits being a bit disappointed in himself.
"Please..." Poppy asks, making him instantly feel butterflies in his stomach.
Branch looks away a bit flustered by that one simple word. "Um, we could..." He grits his teeth trying to think of something, then looks up. "Go on a picnic?"
*Hm. That's actually not a bad idea* He thinks to himself.
Poppy squeals with delight. "A PICNIC?! That's a great idea!"
Branch smiles seeing her excited. "Ya think so?"
"Oh I KNOW so" She giggles.
Branch picks up his coffee and says "I better go get dressed" before heading to his room.
Poppy rolls her eyes while also smiling.
After a quick moment, he comes back regularly dressed with his mug empty, and asks “So, how’re we doing this again?”
“Hm?” Poppy’s confused about what Branch is talking about.
"The picnic?" He says as he's washing his mug and putting it away.
"OH! Well, I was thinking we could go to my pod to get things if you don’t mind, I have everything we need really…"
“Yea, sure…”
They start walking to the elevator, once they’re there Branch pulls the lever to take them up. “So…. When you say you have everything….”
“I think I have pretzels” She doesn’t even let him finish, assuming he’s about to ask for his favorite snack.
“That's…” he chuckles, “not what I was gonna ask”
“Then what were you gonna ask?” She asks with a sly expression on her face.
“Uh… I was… gonna ask what you mean by everything, like specifically?”
“Oh, well…. I have baskets, blankets, and a lot of snacks…. pretty sure I have pretzels.” She smiles.
Branch smiles back and says “Good… those are my fa-“
“I know.” She cuts him off.
He blushes, thinking about how sweet it is she thought of what he might've wanted.
They reach the top of the elevator and exit the bunker, then they start walking to Poppy’s pod.
“You know any good spots?” Poppy asks him because she doesn't know any right for this particular occasion.
“Um, the lagoon?”
“Hmm," Poppy pauses "There’s gonna be a lot of trolls there.”
Branch is confused, Poppy’s never turned down anything because of that reason. “So? Don’t you usually li-“
She cuts him off again. “Do you know anywhere secluded?"
Branch is even more confused but smiles as he’d prefer something much more like she’s suggesting. He chuckles and then questions her since it’s out of the ordinary for her. “I do, but why are you asking?”
"Oh um... because I kinda wanted to spend some time with just you, I don't want anyone to bother us." She chuckles.
He smiles and slightly blushes. "Well.... I know a few places"
They continued walking in silence for the rest of the way there, luckily the distance wasn't too long and they'd reach their destination fairly quick.
Once there Poppy opens the door and gestures for Branch to go in first, she follows and closes the door behind them. Branch stands right in front of her looking a bit silly waiting for her orders.
Poppy smiles at his politeness and asks something of him. "Could you go to my room and look for some blankets, please? I know I put some under my bed...."
"Sure thing..." He heads to Poppy's room and she heads to the kitchen.
From where she is she yells, "Hey Branch? See if you can find a basket too while you're at it!"
"Uhh, I can try!" He responds honestly.
"Thanks!" She yells back.
Poppy opens her pantry and starts looking for snacks they could take and maybe some candy or sweets, after looking for a while she finds some chocolate they could have. She heads to her fridge and sees some fresh strawberries she had gotten recently. "Ooh! Strawberries! they'll go great with the chocolate."
While Poppy continued her search for potential snacks Branch was busy trying to do as told but he was having a bit of trouble. Sure enough, he had found the blankets Poppy had told him about, he was just having trouble picking which one.
"Hmm, this one's bigger.... but this one's softer and looks more comfortable.." He sighs "Maybe I should just ask her? Hmm... let me find the basket first." Branch looks around Poppy's room realizing he has no idea where he needs to look.
"Uh oh"
He felt uneasy, he didn't wanna snoop around! but... Poppy did ask him to look, meaning he did technically have permission. He starts by opening her closet, there he sees all of her clothes organized by color. There’s shelves on the right side, with leg warmers neatly arranged. On the very bottom shelf, some boxes seem to have scrapbooking materials. He frowns realizing he won’t be finding what he’s looking for, at least not here.
Back in the kitchen Poppy’s still taking out various snacks and even drinks, which she placed in a mini cooler she owns. Poppy smiles as she’s satisfied with what she’s picked out but then frowns realizing she hadn’t gotten the pretzels she’d told Branch about.
“Sugar.” She curses, thinking about where they might be. Suddenly she remembered that they were in a bottom cabinet because when she originally got them there was no space in her pantry. She opens the cabinet where she thinks they might be, at first glance she can’t spot them but decides to take a better look because she’s positive they’re in there. Poppy bends over and sticks her head in trying to find the pretzels. She hovers over a few things like Tupperware and other items.
“Where are those gosh darn pretzels?!”
Poppy was trying not to knock anything over, so her head and back were pretty close to hitting the top of the cabinet. Right as she was about to back out she spotted the bag at the very back. She extends her hand to try to grab them but fails. She continues trying to get the bag but it's too far back in the cabinet. "Oh frosting! How'd these even get back here?! She curses, obviously frustrated while she continues trying.
Not wanting to snoop around any more than he should, Branch decided to go ask Poppy for help. He walks into the kitchen only to find Poppy bent over with half of her body stuck inside a cabinet. He stares but then realizing he shouldn't, he looks away and covers his face.
"Uh... Poppy? Are you alright?" He says while blushing. "I kinda need you for something..." He admits, definitely embarrassed.
"Huh? Ow!" Poppy hits her head with the top of the cabinet.
"Poppy?! What happened, are you okay???" Branch says worried as he heard a prominent bang, he doesn't want to stare too much but he still looks only out of pure concern.
"Yea... I'm just... ngh... trying to get these gosh darn pretzels...."
"What? No no, I heard a noise, did you hit your head or something???" He says clearly still worried about her.
"I did but..." She grunts still reaching for the bag. "I'm fine"
"What?? Poppy! get out of there!" Branch demands only because he wants to make sure she's alright.
"Branch honey I'm fine, really! I just need to..." She finally grabs the pretzels. "Yes!" She tries to back out, only to realize she can't.
She gasps. "Uh oh"
"Oh no. Uh oh, what??? Branch panics, only thinking of one possible outcome.
"Uhhhh" Poppy panics as well. "Uh oh, I'm stuck?" She giggles awkwardly.
"What?! How??!" Unfortunately for both of them, his suspicion was right.
"I don't know?? I think my dress got caught on something??" Sure enough, that was the case. Her dress had been caught on a nail and it was preventing her from moving.
"How did that even...??! He can't even finish his words. "Are you sure you can't back out?"
"Yes, I'm sure! I'm trying and I can't!"
"Right. shit." He pauses. "Anything I can do?" He says nervously.
"I don't... think so? I mean..." She's at a loss for words the situation is a bit uncomfortable. "I don't know..." She sighed, having to ask of him what she didn't want to, "Could you... maybe uh, try.... pulling me out?"
"What?" Branch heard exactly what she said, he just wasn't processing it very well.
She sighs again. "Never mind"
"I mean I could try... how do I even? He stands behind her with his face on fire. "Um"
Poppy's face is basically the same, knowing what he's gonna have to do. "Just.. try" She sounds desperate.
He blushes and hovers his hands over her hips, feeling wrong with what he's about to do. "Can I... grab you?"
She sighs again. "Yeah"
Branch puts his hands on her, gently, not wanting to be too harsh.
He starts trying to pull her out but he's being too gentle.
"Branch... I think you're gonna have to..."
He gets the message and cuts her off. "Yeah sorry" He tightens his grip on her and pulls harder.
"Ngh." She makes a sort of grunting noise.
"I'm sorry am I hurting you?? He lets go scared.
"No no, keep trying."
"Oh okay..." He grabs her again even harder, "Is this alright?"
She whines but replies with, "Yeah"
Confused, he raises a brow and makes a mixed expression she can't see. "You sure?"
"I'm sure, just.. try again"
"Right." He pulls a few more times but she won't budge until he yanks harder than he has before, which just ends up ripping her dress and making her push up against him, but not setting her free. He instantly lets go and backs away feeling ashamed.
She gasps.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" His face is on fire and hers is too.
"It's... it's alright."
"I'm so, so sorry that was an accident."
She chuckles. "I know... it's fine, could you... still keep trying?"
"Uh... yeah..." He grabs her again and tries once more, finally, she becomes unstuck but falls back on Branch, with the bag of pretzels in her hands. Now they're both on the floor while she's in his lap.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" Poppy exclaims.
Branch blushes and she gets up instantly.
She places the bag on the counter and offers him a hand, after he gets up she reaches to feel the back of her dress. The top part is torn and pretty much ruined. "Oh man... I think I'm gonna have to change"
"Yea... I think so too" He puts his hand behind his neck, very much flustered with the events that just occurred.
She stares at him, both of them blushing, she's not sure what to do now. "I um... thank you, I... found the pretzels"
Branch chuckles, realizing she went to that much trouble just to get his favorite snack. "Thanks... and you're welcome."