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Chapter Text

John sighs, closing his eyes as he lays on his bed in Rhonda. He had a huge fight with Bruce over something he thought they were over. All he said was he was worried that when he goes to meet the rest of his nephews and niece he won’t be perfect. Bruce hates when he mentions that. He hates that word and it’s stressing him out cause he doesn’t want John’s “everything has to be perfect” mood to be around his kids. So they had a fight. John doesn’t even know why, he was worried about himself not Bruce’s kids. 

  He wants so badly to just fix everything with all his bros. His babies. His parents ( not theirs, never theirs) left all their eggs with him, only showing up to drop off another egg or tell him he needs to be more. Always more. He was never good enough, he wanted to be. He tried to be perfect for them the perfect brother, the perfect son. The band was his fathers idea, but John took it to far. He raised his brothers, he loves them, he kept their eggs in his hair until they hatched. Yes his grandmother was there but she only really helped with spruce. They were five years apart. He had needed the help at first but he got used to raising him the longer he had to. 

  He didn’t get a childhood. He had to raise his brothers, Be there for them, keep them happy. His grandma couldn’t come over to their pod all the time. She lived a few branches away, and couldn’t be there all the time. He was fine he dealt with it. But, for all the ways that mattered HE was their dad.  He hates that he ruined that with them because of his perfectionism. Hates that he left because of a mistake he caused. His babies didn’t deserve that. 

His heart hurts and he curled into himself. The pain of the guilt and sorrow he feels for his broken bonds that he could have avoided. If only he could go back in time, he would fix everything. He WOULD.  He started to cry silently at first. Then loud ugly sobs ripped through him. Rhonda made a few questioning warbles at him concerned for him. He couldn’t comfort her, he could barely breath. Through his tears he looked out the window. The lake he was by was stunning but he couldn’t enjoy its beauty. 

  “I-I just wish.. “hiccup” that I c-could go back a-and fix e-everythi-ing!” Hiccups and sniffles interrupted him but he got out his wish. Unknown to him someone heard him and decided to grant his wish.

Chapter Text

John felt weird, he was saying something but couldn’t make it out. “— baby baby girl close with baby baby girl woman! Ha ye-“ he stopped himself. He knew this. This was that terrible night. The night he made all those mistakes. Was this a dream? Why was he here? 

“Uh, John Dory? Are you okay?” 

“Wha-?” He says startled turning around. He noticed his brothers, his babies. All looking at him, they were younger.where was branch? He looked around quickly finding him over by the curtains leading to the stage. He was relieved to see him but still confused as to how he got back here.

“ John? You’re starting to freak me out dude.” That was clay. He looked back at his other three ba-brothers. Br-spruce had gotten up and clay had joined Floyd standing and watching him, concerned looks on Their faces. 

“Why?” He was still unsettled, still not really believing he’s here. 

His brothers looked at each other, having a silent conversation before Floyd spoke up.

“ you stopped talking all of a sudden and just froze. You don’t do that. What’s wrong?”

He couldn’t believe this, he was back. At that night. And it wasn’t a dream. He knew it wasn’t because he was a lucid dreamer. He knew when he was dreaming, and this wasn’t a dream. Somehow he went  back in time. This is his chance. He will do this right, or go grey trying.

“I just… i want to tell you guys something before we all go on stage.” Spruce rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, his look of concern melting to annoyance. John knew he was expecting him to say they needed to be perfect. “For the fans” but he won’t. not this time.

“ we don’t need to be perfect.” His brothers faces were priceless. If he wasn’t trying to change the future he might laugh. “ seriously. I’m not expecting us to be perfect. I know I’ve been obsessed lately with being perfect and I’m sorry.” His ears drooped a little showing his regret and sadness at his actions. “I want to tell you that all we need to do is go out there have fun, and at the end I wanna talk about the bands future.” 

His brothers looked to be in shock. Their mouths hanging open, eyes wide, barely looking like they are breathing. He hopes they were okay. He pushed on Though, needing to tell clay and spruce something important. He knows him pushing his brother to workout all the time was hurting him. Bruce had told him as much in one of their fights. Clay wanted to be more serious and him not acknowledging that causes his brother major issues with himself later in life. 

“ spruce, clay, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pushed you guys to stick to the heartthrob and fun labels. You’re not only that. I’m sorry i made you feel that way.” He looked at clay. He looked puzzled now. And slightly hopeful.

He walked over to him and pulled him into a hug. “I’ve seen you, my little light, reading books. I know you’re not all fun all the time. I love you all the same. I’m sorry if i made you feel like I didn’t.” He felt clay start to shake a bit at the nickname John knows he hasn’t used in a while. John knew he was crying, he felt bad but was hopeful they were happy tears. “You don’t have to wear the funder drawers clay. I promise we can throw them out.” 

“Really?” Clay sounded so small, so hopefully excited as he looked up at him. Eyes watery but shining as he hoped this wasn’t a joke. John knows He hates them and would love nothing more than to throw them out.

“Yes. Really.” John caresses his cheek and turns to spruce who’s been watching with confusion, concern and anger? Why is he angry?

“Spruce? Why are you upset?” He asks letting go of clay, nudging him to Floyd who was also crying, but his were tears of joy.

Spruce looks at him, moves his mouth a few times looking like he was trying to speak but couldn’t find the words. He grew increasingly upset as he continued to struggle.

“Oh bug” John says as he pulls spruce into a hug as well. “ what do you want to say?”

“How can you just pull that out of nowhere?!” Spruce was angry and confused John knows he can see it in his brother face and the way he bring his hands up to grab John’s vest. A self soothing method he’s Had since he was a trolling. “ what happened to being perfect?! What happened to we have to get this right or we are all failures?! You can’t just pull this out of nowhere!”

John knows this has all probably shocked them all, but spruce probably took it the hardest, he’s known John the longest and was probably so sure he would stay stuck on perfection forever.

“It’s not out of nowhere  bug. I just, realized I love you guys more than anything. Including the band and I’ve been a terrible brother recently. I’m sorry “ he hugged spruce closer, holding his head to his shoulder as he cried.

“Spruce? What’s wrong? Clay? Floyd? Why are you all crying?” John hadn’t noticed branch leaving the curtain and coming up to them. John looked down at him now, his baby’s beautiful Safire hair and light blue skin, his shiny blue eyes looking up at him. His colorful baby, John hasn’t seen him this colorful in 20 years. John went to answer but before he could a stage hand came back yelling “10 seconds to get on stage!” 

    “Okay boys!” John pulled back from spruce wiping his tears for him. Looking over at Floyd and Clay who were also wiping away tears. “Let’s bro!” He picked up branch and got into position. “ remember, have fun, and don’t worry about being perfect.” With that they all got ready to get on stage.

Chapter Text

The walk home after the concert was exhausting. The fans were wild, all wanting pictures and autographs. Especially with branch. They loved bitty b so much. John smiled softly looking down at his baby nestled in his arms, branch was yawning trying so hard to stay awake. They did a six song set today, starting with perfect, and ending with baby baby girl woman. Branch only had to perform two songs, as the other four he didn’t have a part in since they were songs from when they first started the band and he hadn’t hatched yet. The two songs were enough to tire his little starlight out. 

“John, what do you mean we need to talk about the bands future?” Floyd had somehow snuck up on him as he was focused on branch. He looked over, Floyd was walking beside him his hands behind his back and tone low trying not to keep branch awake. Floyd knew branch was nervous and seeing his big brothers crying before the show hadn’t helped. 

John sighs, “I’ll talk to you all when we reach the pod. It’s important and we all need to decide together.” He nudges Floyd’s shoulder as they walk. “You did great today. Thank you for watching bitty b between sets.”

Floyd smiles warmly looking down at branch who had fallen asleep. “ your welcome, I always love watching him. You looked busy trying to keep things running smoothly.” Floyd nudged him back. 

“Do you think I did alright?” He asked his sweet child. Floyd looked over at him tilting his head slightly in question. John understood what he wanted to ask, he didn’t need words from his  little angel, he understood what Floyd wanted to ask. “ with my apology, to spruce and clay? I realize I also should have addressed you as well, I know you’re not only sensitive but I also know that you know that too. You’ve always been good at separating the band from your every day life.” 

Floyd thought for a moment looking back infront of them. “I think, you did great at apologizing. I’m just glad you actually apologized in the first place. You do know the others are gonna jump you for answers as soon as we get in the door right?” 

“Yeah…. I’ve thought long and hard about this. I want it to go a certain direction but I also know that it could go way out of hand if I don’t handle it correctly.” John’s face scrunched a bit as he thought of all the possibilities that this upcoming talk with his brothers could go both wrong and right. He really didn’t want to ruin it for his brothers but he also wanted to make sure they didn’t break up and never see each other again. This is his second chance and he wasn’t gonna ruin it.

  Floyd looked confused for a second, “what do you mean you’ve thought about this for a long time? You’ve never said anything about talking about the band before.”

  John realized his mistake, he shouldn’t have said that. “Oh! I mean, I’ve been thinking about it but today was a great day to talk about it. We were all stressed and I want to make sure we all get relaxed. He he..” he tried to cover up his slip up, looking at Floyd’s raised eyebrow he doesn’t think he succeeded completely.

    “John-“ “oh look at that! We’re at the pod!” He quickly steps into the pod hoping Floyd would drop the conversation. He goes to branches room, putting him down in his little nest bed. He looks around for branches favorite stuffy, finding it he gently lifts his baby’s arm and puts the stuffy in his hold. Branch snuggles into it letting out a soft snuffle into its fur.  He missed this. Missed seeing his baby so full of colors, so happy, so full of peace. He’s had a lot of time to reflect over the past twenty years. 

     He’s always regretted leaving his youngest alone at the tree. He thought the others wouldn’t have left, he hoped they all would have calmed down by the time he came back. He only found out they had all left when branch had gone on That rant In Rhonda when they went to save Floyd. He only left for a month, but Coming back to the tree and finding it empty was a hard hit for him. He had thought he had lost all of his kids. It broke him in a way that he’s grateful for now. It made him realize how he had gone about the whole band breaking up and leaving thing was a mistake. He should have stayed with them, made sure they could grow up and be safe, happy, and loved.

   He has a whole list of regrets, a list of things he wished he had gotten to say and do and be there for his babies. Now he has a chance to give them all better lives. 

  He sat down by the edge of the nest resting his head on his paw just looking at branch. Content for a moment knowing he was safe and happy. A song popped into his head, he had to sing it, for his baby.

Tomorrow morning if you wake up,

And the sun does not appear

I~I will be here

He wasn’t here for his baby last time.

If in the dark we lose sight of love,

Hold my hand, and have no fear

Cause I~I will be here

He wasn’t there when his baby went grey. This time, this time he won’t go grey. John will make sure of it.

I will be here when you feel like being quiet

When you need to speak your mind,

I will listen and

I will be here when the laughter turns to cryin'

Through the winning, losing and tryin'

We'll be together 'cause I will be here

Tomorrow morning if you wake up,

And the future is unclear

I~I will be here

He wasn’t there for any of his babies. They all needed him. 

As sure as seasons are made for change,

Our lifetime's are made for years

So, I~I will be here

All his babies won’t ever have to go through the horrors they went through the first time.

I will be here and you can cry on my shoulder,

When the mirror tells us we're older,

I will hold you and

I will be here to watch you grow in beauty

And tell you all the things you are to me

I will be here

I will be true to the promise I have made

To you and to the One you will never have to be

I~I will be here

He would make sure his children grow up happy. Never going grey, never having to live in fear, never having to feel like they needed to look a certain way, never being captured and used.

And just as sure as seasons are made for change

Our lifetime's are made for years

So, I~I will be here we'll be together

I~I will be here

This is a promise he makes here and now to all of them. He won’t ever let HIS parents views on how things should be with his kids affect them as bad again. John WILL be better this time.

Chapter Text

He got up from where he was sitting by the nest and went out to the living room, Closing the door softly on his way out. Spruce, clay and Floyd were all sitting around the table. It surprised him how quiet they were. they weren’t usually this quiet after a show.

Wasn’t grandma supposed to be here tonight? Where was she? He looked around spotting a piece of paper on the counter. He went over and picked it up reading it himself.

“ I heard the concert went great tonight! I’m so proud of you boys. I just came by to check if you all were back yet. But I guess you have fans waiting or something. Don’t stress too much Dory.

Love, grandma”

Ah, same grandma. She was always worried He was too stressed. Don’t get him wrong he most definitely was too stressed. Raising 4 trollings and running a band is a lot of work, especially for someone who had not fully reached adult hood.

“So….” He started just to break the ice. Looking back to his brothers as he pockets the note.All his brothers faces were soft, like they were content but John could see the confusion in their eyes. 

“What do you mean so?” Clay was keeping his voice down to not wake up branch. “You drop a huge statement like that on us right before the show and all you have to say after is so?!” He hissed.

John winced his ears folding back to his head as he remembered how he made them all emotional before a big concert. Probably not a great idea on his part, but he had to tell them that before the concert. Had to let them know that he loved them and wouldn’t be upset if it wasn’t Perfect.

“Yeah John what was that? ” Spruce was still understandably confused, John doesn’t normally apologize for things that he thinks is right.” What do you mean by “we will talk about the future of the band” I thought you loved this band and wanted it to be ‘Perfect’” he did air quotations with his fingers as he said perfect. 

John wrung his paws together behind his back as he looked down, searching for the right words. He couldn’t mess this up. He just couldn’t. He had to make sure he could keep his family together, with him.

“Do you guys want to quit the band?..” he asks still looking down. 

“Quit the band?” Floyd was confused. “What brought this up JD?” 

“I just thought, maybe, we could all use a break. We are all young and I just don’t think we should be focusing on something that will just cause us stress.” He still wouldn’t look at his bros as he said this.

“John. That’s not all is it?” Spruce always knew when he was hiding something important. Of course he did he’s been with him the longest. John wasn’t the best at hiding things when he first started raising spruce. He got better over the years but spruce could always tell.

“I’m… I’m worried that I was being to hard on you all. “ his ears drooped more still against his head. He couldn’t tell them everything. “ I want to mend our bonds before they get too frayed. I can’t live without you guys.” 

~~~

“Why would you need to live without us?” Clay jumped in. “ where would we go? We live here. Unless… John are you leaving?!” 

John snapped his head in clays direction, his ears lifting in surprise. Clay had stood up and put his hands on the table infront of him. He had shifted his hair back to his original color by now, not having to worry about any fans seeing it as he was in his own pod. Concern was all over his face, fear in his eyes at the possibility. “ what? No! Clay I-“ “are you dying?!” “ no! I’m not dying! Jus-“ “ oh my Troll, your ill and it’s not curable, and you are slowly withering away and-“ John ran over and pulled Clay into a hug.  “No, no little light it’s none of those things I promise.” 

~~~~

Seeing Clay spiral like that had scared him.

“Then what is it John?” Floyd , who had gotten up when Clay started to freak out, asked. Spruce nodded where he was standing next to John, he had been on his way to to comfort Clay. John had gotten there first though.

Words were always hard for John. He has a hard time saying what he means. “ I want you boys to just enjoy your life. Us as a family, should get to spend as much time together as we can. I don’t want the band to be the thing that comes between us.” He ran his hands through clays hair as he said this. “ I know I’ve been hard on you all and I know the stress is getting to all of us. I want you to be able to do what you wanna do.”

“And you think breaking up the band will fix this?” Spruce folded his arms, putting his weight on one leg as he leaned to the side a bit. “ the band isn’t the problem Jonny .” 

John tried to hide his flinch as br-spruce said that.  He sounds so much like his older self when he says stuff like that. He knows it’s his fault they are all over worked, stressed and upset. He knows he wasn’t successful when Clay, who he was holding, looks up at him, concerned. 

“ I know that spruce. … I’m going to be better I promise. Please …let me try.” He could feel the beginnings of tears as he thought that even after he apologized, he would still lose his babies. 

He heard spruce sigh, then he felt another pair of arms hug him and clay. “Alright Jonny. I’ll let you try.”  

Another set of arms joined the first. “I will too” Floyd leaned his head on his shoulder.

“Same” clays voice was a bit muffled from where it was pressed into his chest. 

The tears he was holding back finally fell. He was able to ,finally, breathe that sigh of relief he had wanted since this whole thing started. Knowing he could change how things went from now on. He had gotten his brothers to stay.

They sat there for a few moments in comfortable silence. 

“Hey JD? “ he hummed in answer to Floyds question. Content to just sit there holding his kids. “What was that song you sang earlier? To branch?” 

John stiffened he hadn’t expected them to hear that. He thought he was quiet enough. What does he tell them? That it was a song he just thought of because he knew he wouldn’t let things go as bad as last time? No. What would he say? 

“It’s just, uh… something I thought up. I was just singing how I wanted to be there for him. For all of you.” He hopes they wouldn’t ask more, he didn’t really have an answer. “ well, look at the time! Time for bed! Let’s go.” He wiggled his way out of the hug ball and gently ushered them all to their rooms. 

Chapter Text

He woke up in the morning feeling groggy. Not knowing where he was for a second. The memories from yesterday came back in a rush. He sat up and looked around urgently hoping it wasn’t all a dream. Praying he had really changed the future. He was in his old room. Yes! It wasn’t a dream, it was real! He got up and ran from the room. He had to check on his brothers, had to make sure they were okay and in their beds.  

Spruces room was the closest so he checked there first. He opened the door softly so as not to wake his brother and peeked in. Spruce was sleeping and snoring away, without a care in the world. He smiled and shut the door quietly. Moving on to clays room. 

  Clay was already up surprisingly. He looked at John when he opened his door. He was holding a book open on his lap as he sat against the wall by his bed. He went to put the book away but John stopped him. “ don’t put it away clay. It’s great to have hobbies.” He smiled gently as Clay hesitantly brought his book back out. “ what are you reading?” John was actually really curious he knows Clay reads sad books but didn’t know what that really entails.

“ it’s a book about a little child that really wants some dogs. He works really hard to get them, and he trains them to help him catch animals.” Oh that didn’t sound sad. Was clay reading a happy book? “ I’m not to the sad part yet but the one who suggested it says it’s sad at the end.” Clay continued. 

Ah there it is, John hopes it’s not to terribly sad. “ I see.” He paused wondering if he should bring up the book club. Wait, he doesn’t know about the club yet. Clay hasn’t told him. “ why did they suggest it to you?”

John was hoping his brother would just tell him about the club. He wants to be someone Clay can tell things to again. He wasn’t expecting Clay to stiffen slightly, and give him a cautious look.

“ I’m… in a sad book club…” he finally answered after a few moments of silence.

“Oh, that’s great! Are you enjoying it?” John wanted to be supportive to clays hobbies.

Clay apparently wasn’t expecting that answer. He looked confused and shocked. Looking at John like he grew a second head. “Your not mad that it’s not fun?” 

“Why would i be mad clay? you enjoy it. I’m glad you have something you can do to destress.” John tried to be nonchalant as he said this. Hoping Clay didn’t see his slight wince as he was reminded of how he used to push Clay into a Funboy roll.

“Oh…” Clay was obviously shocked at how his brother didn’t seem to care his activity wast a typical fun thing. Maybe JD was serious when he said wanted to be better.

“ well, I’m gonna go make breakfast. I’ll let you know when it’s done!” He left clay to go check on Floyd. Floyd wasn’t in his room. John tries not to panic. He looks around the room and doesn’t see anything missing so he probably didn’t leave in the middle of the night. Hoping his brother was just somewhere else in the pod he walked to branches room. He stopped in the doorway, the scene infront of him was just to cute. Floyd was curled around branch and they were both sleeping peacefully. JD pulled a camera out of his hair and took a picture. He always carried a camera at this age. Never wanting to miss a Moment of his baby’s lives. So he took lots of pictures. 

Putting the camera back in his hair, He left the room going to the kitchen to start breakfast. He starts humming a song as he works on breakfast. He decided to make fluffle berry yougurt bowls. Pulling out five bowls he starts getting them ready. Half way through, he feels a small tug on his pant leg. Looking down he sees branch looking up at him with those blue jewel eyes of his, his little hand bunches the fabric where it’s grabbing. 

 “JD, ups?” He raises his hands up making grabbing motions. “Please JD?” 

How could John say no to his starlight? He bends down and picks his baby up putting him in his hair so he could still work on breakfast. “Is Floyd still sleeping baby?” Blue hair came into his vision as branch looked down at him, “ yeah, I was vewy cawful leaving to not wake him up.”  “Very carful, starlight, not vewy cawful.” He corrected, his tone was soft as he did, not wanting to make his child think he was upset.“Oh, very carful “ branch corrected himself. John smiled lovingly at the bowl he was working on. He had forgotten branch had a hard time pronouncing certain words. “That was nice of you, letting Floyd sleep.” Branch wiggled at the praise, shifting John’s hair a bit as he did, blue hair leaving his vision as branch sat up more.

“Jd? why was evewy- every one crying before we went on stage?” Oh. John had never answered him last night had he? His baby was always observant. That didn’t change when he grew up either. If anything he got more observant as he grew. John wished he had been there for him as he grew. Now, now he will be. “Were they nervous? Was the people outside making them upset?” 

He added more berries to the tops of the bowls, thinking about what to say. How would he go about this? Tell branch the band was breaking up? Divert the topic? He hummed a bit so branch wouldn’t think he was being ignored. Taking the bowls over to the table he arranged them into there correct spots. “No. I just..” he struggled a bit to find the words he was wanting “ I was apologizing. I’ve been mean and I wanted to fix it.” Honesty seemed to work better in these kinda situations. “Oh, okay.” Branch accepted that answer.

Walking out of the kitchen he started going to his brothers rooms to get them for breakfast. 

He started with Floyd. He walks over and sits on the bed next to Floyd. “Floyd” he kept his tone gentle, loving, as he ran his paw through Floyd’s hair. “Floyd, it’s time for breakfast”

Floyd shifted, pushing his head into his paw blinking up at him. “Good morning angel” John’s face had gone soft, his smile fond as his brother was slowly waking up. 

“Mnh… Johnny?” He was still half asleep, Floyd was always one who likes to sleep longer after performing. “It’s time for breakfast baby.” John could get away with calling Floyd that when he was tired, and he loved it. He would make sure to do it more often. “nooo… sleep more..” Floyd shifted deeper into the covers. Branch giggled at this, not being used to his brother being so whiny “No no no, none of that angel. Let’s get up, c’mon, up we get.” He gently pulled Floyd up and out of the nest. Steadying him as he swayed tiredly. 

John walks to the kitchen gently leading Floyd to the table and helping him sit down. “ start on this while I go get the others.”  He walks over to the smaller but taller baby chair and gently lifts branch out of his hair. “ here baby, eat your breakfast too.” He boops his nose after he sets him down on The chair, branch giggles adorably as he walks back out to get his other brothers. 

Reaching clays door he knocks, “ clay? Breakfast is ready.”  He hears Clay shuffling inside before the door opens. “Thanks JD” he goes past him to the kitchen. John’s smile softens a bit as he continues on to spruces room. He knocks before he opens the door not expecting his brother to be up. He’s surprised to see spruce already up and working out. 

“192, What’s up Johnny?” John had forgotten how many crunches and sit ups bruce used to do. Bruce would always tell him he hated doing them. He hated that he had to work out all the time and couldn’t relax. That’s why when he found vacay island he had wanted to stay. Not to mention but it’s also where he found his beautiful wife. John wanted that for his brother. He knew how much brandy meant to Bruce and wanted him to be able to be truly happy. He’d have to find a way to get Bru-spruce (he should really try to keep the two names separate, spruce hasn’t yet changed his name.) there so they could meet. 

“I was just….. coming to tell you breakfast is ready.” He continued to watch as spruce did more sit ups not even slowing down  at the mention of food. John knows Bruce loves food, he especially loves his wife’s food. John realizes spruce is probably trying to keep up with being the heartthrob still, he won’t let himself relax yet. John needs to figure out how to get him to relax.  

“256, okay thanks bro, I’m gonna get to 600 first then I’ll come get some.” He continues his routine. John feels his smile fall a bit, he doesn’t want spruce to miss breakfast because of his *rock hard abs* TM. “You know br-spruce” he corrected himself before he could call his brother by his other name. “ I was serious about the band breaking up. You don’t need to do all this training anymore..” he tried to keep his voice even as he told spruce this. Wanting to keep his brother from thinking he wasn’t serious or was scolding him. 

Spruce pauses, finally, and looks up at John meeting his eyes. He study’s him for a second eyes squinting as he looks at him. John knows he’s looking for any hint that John might be lying, that he’s not serious. “Please come eat with us spruce?” John was hopeful and nervous. He wants his brother to believe him. Wants his bug to trust him, trust that he will keep his word and not push anything onto him and expect him to be a certain way. Wants his baby to know he loves him as he is, and will accept who he wants to be. Spruce must read his sincerity and hope from the expression John knows he’s probably making. “…..okay JD, I’ll come have breakfast.” He stands and walks over to John, who is still in the doorway.

John’s relief must show on his face cause spruce pats him on the shoulder as he walks past him towards the kitchen.

John follows after him breathing a sigh of relief. He hopes spruce knows he is serious now, or even if he doesn’t that he really is trying. Spruce takes the empty seat between Clay and Floyd, who are both already eating.

John sits next to branch so he can help keep his baby clean as he eats. Branch tends to be a messy eater when what he’s eating isn’t completely solid.

John’s smile became soft and tender as he looked at branch. Branch had already started to eat his yogurt, and he already has yogurt all over his face. “Here sweetheart, let me help you.” He gently takes the spoon from branch and picks up the bowl with his other hand. Branch giggles cutely, putting his hands on his cheeks smearing the yogurt more. John brings the spoon full of yogurt up and branch eats it giddily. 

  Branch was such an affectionate three year old. John kept feeding him as he half thought and half listened to his brothers talk across the table. Everyone was kinda quiet today.  Voices lowered as they talked, but that was alright. It’s a peaceful day today. 

    Why had he left this? He’s spent a little over twenty years trying to figure that out. He loved his family so much. Why would he leave the ones he cared for as his own because of one bad concert? Why was the need to be so perfect so strong? He doesn’t understand that part the most. He had alot of time to think during his travels. Most of the time he was saddened that he couldn’t see his family. When he had gotten spruce’s letter at first he was overjoyed! His oldest child was alive! His brother was alive! His bug wasn’t lost. 

  He wanted to go and see him right away, he had to. Could he though? Truly? Would spruce even want to see him? He eventually decided that his brother was happier without him. He knows he made mistakes that he then ran away from. Spruce wouldn’t forgive that. So he never went to see him. What would have happened if he had? Would his bug have forgiven him if he had come sooner than when he had been needed to save Floyd? John wasn’t sure if he would have. 

  “Johnny!” John jumps, being brought back into the present. “What?!” He was shocked enough to accidentally shout. His brothers were looking at him in concern. Spruce spoke up before he could ask what was wrong. “ I’ve been trying to talk to you for a bit but you wouldn’t answer. And I think branch is done John.” He notices branch’s bowl is empty, oh, he had been sitting here for a while hadn’t he? 

“Oh, heh, sorry bros. I got lost in thought.” He awkwardly looked away and stood to get branch cleaned up of the yogurt he still had on his face. Missing the look his brothers shared. Before he could pick branch up Floyd had come over and picked him up himself . “ I got this John you sit down and eat.” John had forgotten he hadn’t eaten yet. He didn’t want branch to be taken care of by someone else. He had missed his chance to baby him last time, he didn’t want to again.

Shaking his head he went to grab branch back from Floyd. “No angel, I’ll clean him up.” Floyd just turned away hugging branch to his chest tightly not letting John take him. “ no Johnny, you need to eat too. It’ll be okay, I’ll take care of branch for a bit.” Then he walked to the sink to help branch get clean.  

  Before John could protest anymore spruce was beside him pushing him into the seat he just got up from. “ sit John. What’s gotten into you? You’re acting really weird.” Oh no. John paused in his attempts to stand back up, and thought about how he would approach this. 

John was being to clingy, to affectionate. He didn’t want to stop though. He didn’t have a chance to be affectionate with his brothers anymore before this. Their trust had been broken, and their love wasn’t yet earned. He had both now and wanted to keep them. “ I just, want to be better. I’m trying to be better really I promise I am. “ was this to much?  Maybe. He hopes not. 

 Spruce looks over at Clay, they have a silent conversation before spruce sighs. We know John. But you don’t have to do everything, we can help you.” John knows that, but he wants to do everything. He wants to get these experiences because what if this doesn’t last? he doesn’t even know how he got here in the first place. He takes a deep breath. He knows his brothers are right. So, he will try to tone it down, but not too much. 

   “Yeah, okay.. “ he eventually says and starts eating his yogurt. “Thank you” spruce sits down next to John as he says this. “ John what are you planning to do for trollstice? We need a plan to keep us safe this year. Especially since the bergen kings son is supposed to have his first troll this year.” 

John knew trollstice was still around when he lived here but he had forgotten how soon it was. It was in four days. 

Chapter Text

How could he have forgotten! How had branch and poppy said they escaped? Did they say how they escaped? No, wait Clay mentioned something about it. 

Past

“The night of the great Burgen attack was a very difficult time for everyone here.” Clay gestured to the golf course as a whole. “We didn’t know if we were even going to make out alive. I’m surprised we all did honestly. It was scary how the burgens were just digging into the ground like that.” He shuddered as he thought about possibly being hit from the sky with one of their tools. “ we eventually got out but we didn’t know if anybody else did. We ended up here eventually but it wasn’t easy.”

“ What do you mean attack the ground? You didn’t all just escape at night? “ John thought they had all left quietly after the bergens had gone to sleep for the night. Thinking the bergens had attacked the tree in the morning frantically,  Searching for the trolls who had already left.

“ no no, king peppy had tunnels secretly built underground for us all to escape the tree. We didn’t leave until the dawning of trollstice. The Bergens had found out we had gone underground and started digging up the ground in search of us.” Branch was the one who replied this time.

Poppy spoke up from where she was next to branch.“My dad had been trying to get the tunnels done for a while before that. I don’t know why they weren’t done till that morning, but we made it out.”  

Now

So there were tunnels but for some reason they weren’t done till trollstice? Why? He had to go talk to peppy, he needs to see if they need help getting those tunnels done before trollstice. 

“I don’t know, but let’s all just make sure to stay hidden, okay? If anyone needs anything and they need to leave to get it please let me know when you’re gonna be back?” He looks at each of his brothers as they all nod. Good, hopefully he can buy some time for their escape if he can figure out why the tunnels aren’t done, and fix the problem. 

“Thank you” he was happy they would agree to tell him where they were gonna go without being upset he wanted to know. He smiled fondly as he eats his yogurt. His brothers are trusting him! He couldn’t be more happy with this than he is now.

“John?..” he looks up at Clay, tilting his head questioning silently asking what Clay needs as he had just eaten some yogurt. Clay looks down at his mostly empty bowl. “Would you….. like to talk with me about my book? Later tonight?” Clay nervously looked at John and then back down at his bowl, moving his yogurt with his spoon. John’s heart swells with love hearing this. His wonderful little light wants to spend time with him! He wants to talk about something he loves with John! He lied to himself a moment ago, he’s even more happy now! He would cry if he didn’t think it would freak his brothers out to see him randomly burst into tears.

 He nods his head so quick he’s worried he will give himself whiplash. He quickly swallows the yogurt and says with as much sincerity as he can, “yes! I would love to. Do I need to read the book first? Are you just wanting to talk to me about it? Would you like to talk right before bed or sooner?” His rapid fire questions seemed to make Clay less nervous, as he was now smiling at his bowl. “Before bed is fine JD.” Clay had lowered his voice a bit. Did clay sound fond or was that just John’s wishful thinking? He looks over at spruce who is also smiling. He catches spruces eyes and tilts his head in question. Spruces eyes just softened more and he nods once at him. John had seen that same look on his brothers face when Bruce had looked at his kids when they shared with each other, or solved a problem by themselves. Was spruce proud of him? His eyes start to sting a bit. When was the last time spruce had been proud of him? 

  “JD! JD look!” He looks over at branch who is jumping up and down on the counter, Floyd’s hands nervously fluttering around him ready for if branch falls or slips. “ I’m clean!” Branch throws his arms up “ I see that baby, did you thank Floyd for helping you?”  “Oh, thank you !!” branch jumps at Floyd hugging him super tight as he thanks him excitedly. “Your welcome baby branch” Floyd hugs him back just as tightly, a soft fond smile on his face as he does.

  “Hello boys!” John looks over right as grandma walks into the kitchen. “How’s my favorite grandsons this morning? “ she was smiling at all of them, her face soft with love. He hasn’t seen her in over twenty years, John had forgotten what she sounded like.  He jumped up from the table and ran to hug her, catching her off guard. 

 She was surprised for the sudden hug but returned the hug nonetheless. John held his tears at bay, he didn’t want spruce to be even more concerned for him. “How’s my favorite Dory today?” She asked as she squeezed him one more time before letting him go. Holding his shoulders And looking into his eyes.

“Im good grandma. What brings you here so early?” He was glad she had shown up but he also wanted to know what she needed so he could help her if she had something she needed help with.

“ I’m here to pick up branch!” She looked around spotting branch being held by Floyd closer to the table. “ we are having a sleepover! Did you forget I was gonna take care of him for a few days, Dory?” She had let his shoulders go and was holding her arms out to take branch from Floyd who had started to walk over to her. 

Honestly? He had. It’s been so long since he’s spoken to his grandma he had a hard time remembering what they had talked about before the concert. “Oh! Of course not grandma. How could I forget that. This actually works out perfectly! I need to go talk to king peppy really quick and possibly run a few errands after, so this is great.” He looked at branch who was nestled in his grandmas arms, he missed the look Floyd and spruce had shared “ now bitty b, you be good for grandma okay?” Wait where was branch’s jacket. And his pants? His starlight can’t go out like this! He’s only in a diaper! He will be cold!

He turns and dashes from the room yelling back at his grandma as he went “ wait for a second grandma I need to grab his clothes!” 

Rushing into branch’s room he opens his dresser and rummages around a bit till he finds what he’s looking for. He grabs a dark blue shirt and white shorts for his starlight. Aww he is gonna look so precious!

Clutching the clothes to his chest he runs back to the kitchen. “Starlight! Let’s get you dressed before you go with grandma okay?” He takes branch from his grandmas arms and dresses him in the clothes he got him. “Awww, bitty you look so cute!” Branch did look cute, the blue in the shirt brings out the blue in his eyes making them shine brighter. “JD! “ branch flushed with excitement, “thank you!” He hugged John tight before running back to his grandma, who was watching the whole exchange fondly. 

Rosiepuff bends down and grabs branch, holding him in her arms as she starts to head to the door. “We will have lots of fun together won’t we branch?” “Yes!” Branch was looking over her shoulder back towards his brothers who were standing together now to see him off. “Bye bye!” He waved at them as they exited the pod. When the door shut John stood there for a second with a huge grin on his face. He’s so glad he gets to see this. His cute babies, gah! He loves them so much he could cry from the overwhelming love. 

“Why do you need to talk to king peppy?”

John finally turned and looked at his brothers when he got asked this. “ oh, I want to talk about trollstice with him. About if he has any plans for this year or anything that I can help with. Why are you so curious?” Were they worried ? John hopes they were, he wants to feel like his brothers care enough to worry about him. 

“Do you want one of us to come with you? I wouldn’t mind coming with you John.” Spruce stepped closer as he offered, looking like he’s ready to just up and go with John. Spruce wants to spend time with John too?! Today is his lucky day! He’s excstatic, he really wants spruce to come with him. How will he talk about the tunnels with him there though? But.. trust is important right now especially since he’s trying to mend their relationships.

He nods to spruce, “ okay you can come, we can go after I’m done with the dishes okay?” He picks up his bowl and branches smaller one and heads to the sink to clean them. Right as he gets there though floyd places a gentle paw on his own. “It’s okay John, Clay and I will clean up.” Floyd looks at him with such a soft look that John feels himself relax his grip, letting Floyd take the dishes from him. “Yeah,” Clay pats him on the back lightly, shoving him back over to where spruce is “ go have that talk and run your errands, we’ll take care of things here.” He turns to help Floyd clean the dishes and John turns back to spruce, who is looking at him with a look John is having a hard time recognizing. 

“ let’s go Johnny!” He grabs his wrist and leads him out of the pod on their way to the kings pod.

Chapter Text

Spruce lets John go after they make it out of the pod. He’s really concerned about John, not just him but Floyd is also concerned about him. Their brother has become strangely affectionate. Yes his older brother had been affectionate before but recently he’s been more up tight about the band and the harmony he was set on. Then all of a sudden he just freezes in the middle of their before performance prep time. Not only that but when he was asked about what was wrong he brought up talking about the bands future. Yes they did end up talking about the band but his brother, who he’s known his whole life and knew him before he really got a good grasp of raising children, seems so much more mature. It’s like in the blink of an eye his perfect obsessed brother accepted perfect wasn’t possible. He accepted that they were more than the box they had to be in for the band.

 It really surprised him when John had stopped his early morning training session and told him he didn’t need to worry about it anymore. That he was serious about the band being disbanded? Why would his brother give up his dream? John had always wanted to have this family band, to achieve the perfect family harmony together. He talked about it for years! When branch was born he really got into researching the harmony he became obsessed with it. So much so it started to stain their relationships with each other. 

It hurt spruce to realize that his relationship with the one who raised him was so strained. He always thought their relationship would be that of parental friend siblings. John was basically his parent but he was also his brother and best friend for many years. Yes John is only five years older than he is but John had had to grow up fast. It hurts a bit to realize his brother/dad never got a childhood, honestly, but he loved John and didn’t think he even really knew their parents. He’s glad he doesn’t know them though, considering they left their children with their oldest and never contacted them. John would always get upset when he used to ask about them, he stopped asking eventually.

  He looks over at John who is still keeping pace with him. Another thing he’s noticed is that John’s smile hasn’t really left since last night. It’s only changed between different moods, fond, loving, nervous. Why?  John’s paws are clasped behind his back, his recently permanent smile has softened to something spruce doesn’t know how to describe. John looks over at him and tilts his head. “ what’s up bug?” The nicknames are another thing John has all of a sudden started using again. John had stopped using them so often a few months ago when the band stress was really getting to him. 

Spruce wants to try something, just a small test to see if his brother is serious about the band thing or if he’s changed his mind after he’s had a bit to think about it. “So, when is our next practice? We didn’t actually get the harmony last night. I’m assuming we need to practice more right?” He watches John’s face as he takes in what he has said. John looks devastated. His smile has turned pained and his eyes hold a look of regret and sadness. Spruce hadn’t meant to hurt his brother, he just wanted to see if he’s changed his mind. He feels bad when John just sighs and looks away for a second, thinking about something before he looks back at him. He feels even worse when he listens to what John has to say about his question.

  “Spruce, bug, I don’t know how many times I need to say this before you believe me,” John kept his tone low, not an ounce of anger to be found. Just calm sadness and resignation “ but I’m very serious about breaking up the band. It’s not as important as all of you. I’ve realized my relationships with you guys are waining and I wanted to stop that before the damage became too much to save..” he breaks eye contact and looks forward watching the trail they are walking to get to Peppys pod. 

Why would their relationships be unable to be saved? “John-“ John stops him before he can even fully ask his questions about what he’s said. “Please spruce, let me finish and I’ll answer all your questions later I promise. “ he looks at him and waits for  spruce to nod. “ thank you bug,” his smile turns fondly hopeful.

“ I want you all to live life how you want to live it. To experience new joys, to find love and friendship. Not to focus on the band and the fans who , in reality, are fleeting in their love, and impossible to befriend. The band was hurting all my babies in ways that are lasting.” Spruce feels his breath catch when John calls them his babies. He has never told John outright that he thinks of him as his dad, John had never called them his babies before. At least spruce has never heard him say it out loud. “ I’m going to do my very best to show all of you I mean what I’ve said.” He pauses walking for a second, thinking. He then takes an abrupt turn and starts walking in a different direction from peppys pod. 

“Wait John! Peppys pod isn’t this way! where are you going?” Spruce follows him as John starts speed walking. “ we are going to run one of those errands I talked about really quick, before talking to peppy. Come on we’re close.” “Close? To what? John!” John wouldn’t answer him, he just kept walking. They finally got to a pod and John knocks waiting for a response. Why are they here? Whose pod is this? He gets his answer when the pod opens. This is sprigs pod. 

   Sprig is their public image and announcement manager. He takes care of all the announcements when they have performances or releases of new songs. 

Wait was John really going to tell him the band was done? Now? Wait, this was one of the errands he talked about doing after he talked to king peppy? 

  “Hello sprig!” “ hey john, what brings you here?” John quickly walks closer to sprig but he stops and turns to spruce before he can walk fully inside. “ I will be a few minutes spruce, do you want to stay out here by the pod or go somewhere else for a short time?” He remembers John asking them to tell him if they planned to go somewhere these next few days because of trollstice. He’s going to stay, he is still trying to accept what’s happening right in front of him. “I’ll stay out here, close to the pod.” He promises John. John nods and walks in, the pod closing after him. 

   It really sinks in that John is serious now. He was planning to talk to their bands team about the band disbanding. He should have believed John, John had promised they didn’t need to be in the band anymore. His eyes sting, and his vision starts to blur a bit as he thinks about what his brother is doing. John is showing spruce he is serious. He’s giving him undeniable proof he meant what he said. John could have waited till their next band meeting but he is going out of his way to do it now. 

His tears fall the more he thinks about it. 

He doesn’t know how long he stands out there crying like a trolling, luckily not many trolls are out and about with it being so close to trollstice that no one sees him crying. When John comes out of sprigs pod, he’s frowning a bit but when he sees spruces puffy eyes and how he’s trying to hide his tears he runs over to him. “Bug! Love bug,  what’s wrong?” Spruce knows he’s freaked his brother out but he’s just so happy. He throws himself at John hugging him tightly, as he cries into his shoulder. John hugs him back just as tight.

“Oh baby, it’s okay, what’s wrong ?” John starts running his paws through his hair, spruce’s tears start to slow a bit and he pulls back. 

“I just love you bro.” He wipes his eyes, “ should we go see king peppy now?”he smiles  at John who, he’s now noticed looks stunned . “ Johnny?” John shakes his head and his smile grows, becoming so bright spruce swears he’s glowing. “Yeah bro! Let’s go!” He throws an arm around spruces shoulders and they start walking back towards peppy’s pod.

Chapter Text

  John knocks on the pod in front of him and waits impatiently for it to open. He looks over at his brother, he’s no longer crying.  John breathes a sigh of relief, he had been so worried when he came out of sprigs pod to find his brother crying. He then became so elated when spruce had told him he loved him. When was the last time any of his brothers had told him they loved him? To long. He shakes his head to dislodge that train of thought, it will only make him sad and he doesn’t want to worry his bug. 

   “Ah, John Dory, what brings you here?” He looks at the pod again when he hears the king speak. King peppy has an unfinished candy necklace in one hand, he must have been playing with one of his daughters. Probably viva since poppy would be too young to carry the candy without risk of it breaking. 

“Hello your majesty, i -we need to talk to you about trollstice.” He keeps his voice level, not wanting to sound to panicked or like he’s in a rush. He is in a rush though he wants to know how he can get those tunnels done faster.

The kings face becomes shifty for a second, like he’s hiding something but doesn’t want to admit it yet. John has a pretty good idea what it is. “Maybe you should come in.” King peppy steps back into the pod gesturing them to follow him in. John has spruce go in first, he doesn’t want to risk peppy closing the pod before his brother can enter it. When he enters the pod closes right behind him. “Viva,” a small pink trolling with bright yellow hair looks up from where she’s eating the candy for her own necklace, meeting John’s eyes. 

“Yes daddy?” Peppy just smiles indulgently at her, “I have a few trolls here that I need to talk to for a minute, would you please go check on poppy?” At the mention of her sister viva lights up. She jumps up so fast she scatters the candy she was eating everywhere and runs from the room. Seeing the love viva had for poppy when she was so young makes the hurt on her face so much more painful when John thinks back to when poppy had said she didn’t have a sister. He understands why she reacted that way though. She hadn’t chosen to leave her sister, she was forced to. 

   Peppy turns back to them and gestures to the table, “ sit please and then we can talk.” 

They sit, spruce sits closer to the door that viva had just gone through and John sits next to him . Peppy takes the side in front of the entrance, John doesn’t know if he should feel uneasy or not that. 

“ i think I know what it is your wanting to ask.” Peppy folds his arms in front him on the table, “yes, I have a plan for this trollstice.  However, it’s going slower than I was hoping. “ why was it this easy to get the king to talk about it? John had heard from branch how the king liked to keep secrets, so why is he spilling this one to them so easily?

“If you don’t mind me asking sir,” spruce spoke up before he could, “ what is the plan?” 

“Tunnels child. We’ve been working on building tunnels for generations. The only problem is, a lot of the tunnels we have lead right to death.” John’s heart skipped a beat. They what? He looks over at spruce, spruce looks at him quickly then looks back at the king. Fear was evident in his eyes. “ I haven’t had any trolls who went to check them out find the way out yet. Now saying that I have a request.” John didn’t want to know the request, he has a sinking feeling he knows what that request is.

King peppy looks at them both, “ I need someone young , who can go into the tunnels and find the way out that can carry some kind of markers to lead us out. It would be better with two so they could help each other out of danger.” 

“No.” John doesn’t even have to think about it. He’s not letting spruce come with him into those tunnels where death is an option. Spruce whips his head in his direction “what do you mean no? YES! We should do it.” Spruce sounds like he can’t believe John would tell the king no with this. “Not WE spruce. ME. I will go check the tunnels.  I’m not going to risk taking you with me.” Peppy just looked between the two as they started to argue.

Spruce hit the table with a clenched paw, “ No John, I’M coming with you. That’s it end of story.” He stared defiantly into John’s eyes. 

“No br-spruce. Your not. I won’t let you.”

“If you try to leave without me to go to these tunnels I’m just gonna come after you.”

“No. I as your older brother forbid it. You won’t come with me spruce. “ John put as much authority into his voice as he could when he said that. 

Spruce looks at him with fire in his eyes. “John Dory. You listen to me and you listen good. I’m. Going. With. You. I won’t let you go on a mission where you could die without backup!” 

Spruce’s hard Angry expression cracked just a bit, “ I’m not going to lose you like that. Not if I can do something to help you.” 

John hated that he’s making his brother upset with him after they just had a heartfelt moment not that long ago but he couldn’t bring his baby with him. What if they got in a situation where spruce ends up getting hurt? Or even dying? No, John won’t let him come he can’t. But… spruce would just come anyway, John knows he will. John’s constant smile had turned to a frown at the beginning of the argument, he hated fighting with his babies. 

He didn’t know what to do. If he continued to tell spruce no he will make him angrier, but if he says yes he will have to agree to take him into a place that has a chance of no survival. 

  What was John going to do? They need these tunnels. They need to escape the tree, to be free of the Bergens. He’s sure his conflict shows on his face. He knows it does. “Spruce, I just..” “Johnny if you don’t take me with you then you’re not going either.” John looks at spruce and really study’s the look on his face. He looks defiant, but he also looks scared. Scared of losing John. Oh, okay. Spruce is just as afraid of losing him as he is of losing spruce. 

John’s sighs, and against his better judgement agrees. “ okay spruce we will go together.” 

“Great!” King peppy interjected, he pulls a paper from in his hair and hands it over to John. “ this is as far as we have gotten. I’m hoping that you boys can expand on this. The entrance is in the center of the tree, you can access it through the top of the trunk.”

   There’s a lot of markings on the map that have x’s . That must mean those are the spots that don’t have an exit. Can they get through all of these before trollstice? He looks at spruce who was looking at the map from beside him. Spruce looks determined, yeah John knows they will find the exit now. With him and spruce as determined as they are now it’s inevitable. When they work as a team they can get even the hardest jobs done.

  “So can I count on you two to help?” King peppy has folded his paws together on the table and is looking at them earnestly. 

“Yes sir” spruce answers for them both. “Great! I need you to start tonight, late enough so Bergens don’t hear you or see you Incase one of the tunnels leads into town.” 

“Will do.” John tucks the map into his hair and stands, he heads over to the door of the pod and waits for spruce to exit first. Before he leaves he looks back at peppy, viva has joined her dad back at the table and is eagerly making a necklace. He smiles and exits the pod, closing it behind him.

Chapter Text

He sighs as he steps into the pod, spruce comes in after and closes the door. It had been a long day. They had to go run errands, mainly getting ready for tonight but they also had to stop by the rest of the brozone teams pods and let them know brozone was disbanded. A lot of them weren’t very happy to hear that…

John is just glad he had spruce wait outside while he went in every time. He didn’t want his brother to have to deal with angry trolls.

“Would you like me to make dinner Johnny?“  honestly? That would be amazing if spruce would. John knows that in the twenty years they had been separated in the future Bruce had learned a lot about cooking, but even when he was younger back in the band days his brother loved food. Whether it be the making of food or trying new foods he hasn’t had before, his brother enjoyed it all. He was actually really proud of his brother for opening his restaurant on vacay island. He knows his brother enjoyed it a lot.

  “Would you? I need to go hangout with Clay, I promised we would talk about his sad books. Having you make dinner would give me plenty of time to do that, and bonus! I won’t have to stress about cutting the time short for his bed time.” His brother gave him a look, not a judging look but a look that John has seen before recently but he doesn’t know why he’s getting it now. Spruce had paused in his walk to the kitchen and was smiling at him. His smile though was one of proud adoration and love, he looked proud and happy. John doesn’t know what he did to earn such a look from his brother but he’s very happy to see his brother so happy.

“Uhh.. well.. I’m gonna go find clay. You’ll call us when you’re done?” He started walking towards clays room. “ yeah bro, it’ll be about forty minutes.” Spruce started walking towards the kitchen. “Okay bro! Thanks!” John was excited to spend this time with Clay, he hopes he doesn’t mess it up.

 Reaching clays room he knocks on the door before he opens it and sticks his head in, “Clay?” Clay looks over at him when he said his name, he was on the floor next to his bed holding two books in his paws. “JD! You remembered to come hangout? “ John walks in and shuts the door behind him going over to sit next to Clay on the floor. “ of course I did little light. I told you I would.” Clay looks so excited that John is there, that he remembered to come join him to talk about his books.

Clay hands him a book, “ okay! This one has the main character struggle with being accepted by their family, and in the end they die before they get accepted.” John’s heart hurt at that. He hopes Clay doesn’t feel like that, that he knows his family accepts him just the way he is. “ we should bother read the sad parts and then talk about it after. They are pretty short story’s so it shouldn’t take us long.  Does.. does that sound good to you? “ Clay was fiddling with his paws and avoiding looking at John. “Of course it sounds good to me, let’s get started yeah?” He kept his voice soft and accepting trying to calm clay’s nerves. Clay just nods and opens his book, John opens his as well and starts to read.

  John knew this book was going to be sad but did it have to be this heartbreaking? He got to the part where the main characters mother basically disowned them for something that, to John anyway, wasn’t even that bad. John started weeping like a trolling, How could they do that to their child? John doesn’t think he can finish this if the main character dies with their family hating them. 

  He wants to continue reading but he’s crying so hard he can’t even see the words. How does Clay keep reading these without become super sad? Sugar, this sucks that it made him cry so hard. “JD?” Clay sounds hesitant and concerned, he looks up at him. Yep. He also looks concerned. “Ye-hic -ah?” Sprinkles he’s started hiccuping now too. “It’s a sad book huh?” No it’s not a sad book John’s just sobbing his heart out because he’s happy. “ yes Clay -hic- it’s a sa- ad book.” He brings his paws up and try’s to wipe the tears away, but they are coming to fast. 

  Clay likes to talk about the books right? Maybe he should try that. “It’s just -hic- so sad! How could their parents do that to them?” A loud ugly sob escaped him, he heard Clay shift a bit and hopes he’s not making him uncomfortable with his ugly crying. He jumps a bit when he feels Clay hug him from the side. “It’s okay John, you’re supposed to cry when you read these books. You’ll feel better afterwards I promise. I do.” How was crying going to make him feel better? “If you say so little light.” 

  Clay laid his head on his shoulder as John cried. After a bit John’s cry’s had slowed a bit he strangely did feel just a bit better, huh, why did that work? “….jD?” John Laid his head on clays and hummed in answer. “Why do you call me little light?” Well, John wasn’t expecting that question, but he was willing to give his baby an answer. “When you hatched it was late at night. I had had a really trying day and I was really upset because spruce and I had had a fight. It was our first ever fight and I felt terrible.” John shifts a bit and pulls Clay up onto his lap to snuggle him better. “ it was just your egg and me in the room. I held your egg close to me as I cried, it made me feel less alone. When you hatched the first thing you did was giggle at me.” John smiled wistfully remembering how adorable his baby was.

  “You took one look at my tear stained face and did all you could to make me smile. You babbled at me and clapped like crazy. Smiling all the while.” He chuckled as he recalled all the excited squeals his little light made try to get him to smile at him. “ you brought my mood up, you were my light in the darkness I was falling into at that moment, and the name stuck. I thought it fit at the time and I still think it fits now.” He looked Clay in the eyes, “ you are my little light. Now and forever.” 

  Clays eyes were shining, John could see tears  in his baby’s eyes. He hadn’t meant to make him cry, he snuggled him tighter trying to comfort Clay. “ oh, baby, I’m sorry. Please don’t cry, if it upsets you so much I can come up with a different name for you.” 

 Clay turned his face into John’s shoulder to hide his crying. “It’s not that JD, I’m just really happy. I love you John Dory, I’m sorry that I always get mad at you. Really. I forgive you for being so obsessive recently. I’m just glad you’re trying now.”  

 They stayed like that for a bit. Only moving to get up when spruce called them for dinner.

Chapter Text

“BRUCE!” John couldn’t help but call as his brother fell into the darkness below them. They had started exploring the tunnels on the map the king had given them, they had to add some paths that weren’t on there and every one that was a dead end was marked with an X . There’s been a few times where John has had to save spruce and vise versa. This time he hadn’t had time to react before his baby vanished over the edge of a huge hole they didn’t notice. 

  John shined his light down the hole trying to find his bug. The longer it took the more panicked he became. “ BRUCE PLEASE! CAN YOU HEAR MY VOICE!” He was yelling as loud as he could praying his baby was okay. “John?” It was a bit muffled but he could hear spruce, relief washed through him. “Spruce!! Yes are you okay?!” He was still yelling but was less frantic now that he knew his bug was okay. 

  “ I am okay John, I think I busted my shoulder though. I landed on it and I think it messed it up.” John winced in sympathy, he’s done that once it wasn’t fun. “ how far down are you, can you see my light?” “Yes I can see it it’s over to my right though, can you move it over?” John quickly moved his light more to the left, he saw spruce standing on the bottom of the whole now holding his shoulder. 

  “Here grab my hair let’s get you up.” John starts to lengthen his heir down so spruce can grab it with his own. “John I think we should continue down this path though.” Spruce wouldn’t grab John’s hair, “ spruce come on your hurt let’s just get you up and try a different way.” John latched his hair around spruces waist, but before he could start to pull him up spruce wiggled out. “ no John, there’s a path down here let’s follow it.” He sighs, his brother isn’t gonna come up willingly till they explore this tunnel. “Fine, but I’m looking at your shoulder.” 

  There’s nothing for his hair to grab onto up here, he’s just gonna have to jump. Bracing himself he jumps off the edge, spruce freaks out a bit yelling his name as he falls. He makes sure to land in a way that he can roll as he hits the ground to avoid injury. “Holy glitter! John Dory!” Spruce had run up to where he landed and started to shake him with his one good arm, “ what the troll were you thinking you flufflebrain?!” John puts a paw on spruce’s arm to get him to stop shaking him. “I’m okay spruce I promise.” He was trying to be consoling, to ease his brothers anxiety about his fall. “Your okay!? I’m starting to think we’ve been down here too long! You even called me the wrong name! Then your jumping off ledges?!” Spruce looked so Upset, his hair had grown out wards to make him look more intimidating becoming super poofy, and his fur was standing on end. Granted, trolls don’t have long fur to begin with but it standing did make spruce look bigger by a bit. 

  “Spruce, how else was I supposed to get down?” He kept his voice calm and even trying to calm his brother down with his tone, hoping spruce would copy it. He hadn’t even realized he had called spruce Bruce. He was just so worried about his baby that spruce’s new/old name came out unintentionally. “I don’t know Johnny, maybe by scaling the wall? Not fluffing jumping off the glittering ledge?!” John hasn’t heard his brother use this kinda language for a long time. 

  “Spruce I’m okay I promise,” he knows he’s repeating himself but he needs spruce to listen to him. “ I knew I could stick the landing one bit get hurt if I jumped, and bonus it was faster for me to get to you!” He grins a wide smile at his brother. Spruce stares him in the eyes for a bit then just sighs. “JD, one of these days you’re gonna scare me so bad I’m gonna punch you.” He let’s go of John’s shoulder “ let’s just check this tunnel out.” He starts walking down the path, his paw going back up to his hurt shoulder. “Spruce wait you said I could look at your shoulder.” John catches his brothers vest in his paw as his brother walks past him. Spruce stops, then turns to John and offers his shoulder. John starts prodding at it with his fingers, searching for anything that could be broken. “ hmm, I think it’s just sprained. We’ll have to get you a wrap when we get home. “ 

 His brother shifts away from him, still not saying anything. Ah, the silent treatment. Spruce is really upset with him, he normally won’t do this unless he’s really very upset . He sighs, and follows spruce down the tunnel.

~

They did it. They had found the way out! The ledge that they had gone down lead to another path that led out away from Bergen town! They couldn’t even hear the Bergens from here. They could escape! Turning to his brother he noticed spruce looked shocked. He was looking around in wonder and confusion. “Spruce, bug, we did it!!” He grabs his brother in a side hug, being careful of his bad shoulder. 

His brother was shaking, John looks over at his face and notices tears running down it. John turns and hugs spruce to his chest, cradling the back of his head  to his own shoulder. “We’re gonna make it out bug .” They stood like that for a second just taking it in, before pulling back and making their way back through the tunnels. They scaled up the wall to the ledge they had come down and made their way back to where they had come from. They would need to be quiet, it was mid morning now and the Bergens could hear them if they got to loud. As they got closer to where the tree was located they heard loud stomping on the ground, coming from the location of the tree. They could also hear barely they screams. 

 They looked at each other with wide eyes, then started running. Hoping it was know one they knew.as they got closer they became more panicked needing to get home and check on the others. They scrambled out of the entrance at the top of the hole making their way back to their pod. They were almost there but then John remembered branch. Branch had been with grandma for their sleep over. Wait. Hadn’t branch said grandma had been eaten? Cold dread filled John as he stopped and started to head towards his grandmas pod. “John where are you going?!” Spruce yelled after him, spruce had stopped when John had started running a different direction. “ you go to the pod! Check on Clay and Floyd! I need to go check on branch and grandma!” He didn’t look back at his brother , trusting him to go to their other brothers to check on them.

  As he got closer to the pod he started to listen more. Hoping to hear anything to suggest his baby was okay or in danger. He threw open the pod door “branch?! Grandma?! “ he ran into all the rooms desperately hoping at least branch was here. Please, his baby. He can’t lose him, please. Please let grandma have saved him again, oh troll please! 

He found nobody in the pod. It was completely empty. He rushed outside looking over the edges of the branch he was on, he grew more frantic the longer he couldn’t find his baby. How could he have come this far with his new chance just to lose branch? Tears gathered in his eyes, why can’t he find him? 

  His ear twitched and he stopped,listening. There was Soft crying but where was it coming from? He concentrated on the sound, listening, hardly breathing. There. Below him. He looked down and saw a small blue ball on the branch a few down. His baby. John jumped, he didn’t even think before he did, no hesitation. His baby was down there probably hurt, John didn’t care how he did it but he was getting to his child. Now. 

  He swung his hair to catch a branch and flipped, landing right in front of his baby. “Branch!”  Branch looks up at him, his big eyes full of tears that escaped and were running down his chubby face. John picked him up hugging him to his chest. “Shh baby, it’s okay I’ve got you your safe.” He cooed hoping to calm branch down. His baby just cried harder. 

“ it’s my fault,” branch cried into John’s chest. “ no starlight it’s not your fault” John had to stop that train of thought before his baby spiraled. “Yes it is!” Branch practically yelled at him, “ it’s my fault! I was singing and grandma got taken and now you’re all gonna hate me!” He had to stop this, how is he gonna stop this? 

 Branch started to dull and John started to panic seeing that. Not again, he promised he wouldn’t let this happen again. “Branch baby, listen to me.” He kept his tone low and comforting. He squeezed him tighter to his chest, extending his hair to wrap around both him and his baby, hoping to comfort his child. “ branch nine of are are gonna hate you, we love you. We will always love you I promise. What happened wasn’t your fault, grandma saved you because she loves you and wanted you to live.” Branch sniffles into his chest but his colors stopped fading, “how do you know that?” “ know that the other won’t hate you? Or that grandma saved you because she loved you?” Branch didn’t look up, he kept his face buried in John’s chest. “ both” 

  “I know because they love you, baby, so much. They could never hate you. And I know grandma saved because she loved you so much as well. She didn’t want anything to happen to you. If I was in her place and it was seeing you get taken or making sure you stayed safe, I would’ve done the same thing.” Branch looked up at him then, tears still streaming down his face but his colors getting brighter. “ JD, I would be sad if you had done that. I’m sad that grandma did it. Are you sure the others won’t be mad at me? That they won’t hate me?” He lowered his face a bit and nudged branch’s nose with his own “ of course I’m sure baby. Wanna go home and see the others?” “Mhm” John wiped branch’s tears and smiled warmly at him.

   “Wanna stay in my arms or in my hair?” Branch just raised his arms, John knew what he chose though. He shifted his hair from around them and put branch snugly in the center of his hair making sure he was all covered before making his hair sturdier to hold his starlight as he scaled the tree, heading back to their pod where the others were waiting.

Chapter Text

John opens the pod door, and gets barreled by three trolls going top speed . Luckily he doesn’t fall out the door, it’s a near thing though. His brothers all start talking at once.

“How’s grandma and branch!”

“I’m so glad you made it back!”

“Where’s branch? Is he okay? Are you okay?!”

“Boys!” John had to basically yell over them to get them to stop talking for a second. “Let me close the door first then I’ll answer your questions, okay?” His brothers backed away letting him have room to come fully into the pod to close the door. Once it was closed Clay immediately asked his questions, “ did you find branch and grandma? Are they okay? Is there more Bergens?”

Oh, it just occurred to him that he is going to have to tell his babies their grandmother has died. Oh, sugar. He fidgeted with his paws a bit. He’s really glad branch had fallen asleep on the way here. “Let’s just… go sit down for a bit.”

  He makes his way over to the couch and waits for his brothers to join him. Floyd sits next to him on the couch, clay takes the arm rest, and spruce sits on the floor facing John. He breathes deep for a bit closing his eyes. When he opens his eyes he looks at spruce. Spruce has a look of heartbreak, “John please tell me they aren’t dead.” Floyd stiffened next to him, oh no John has to show them branch is okay or he’s gonna have crying children on his hands.

  “ grandma got taken by a Bergen. She was saving branch, don’t worry branch is okay I promise!” His brothers had gotten a panicked look on their faces when he told them about grandmas death and he knew they were worried about branch. “He was worried we were gonna hate him, I think he’s still a bit worried about that. When he wakes up we all need to console him more about it.”

 “John where’s branch. I’m glad he’s okay but where is he? Did you leave him back at grandmas pod?!” Clay had gotten off the arm rest and had come to stand next to John. 

  John reached up and carefully separated his hair so they could see branch curled up asleep .

   Floyd gradually  became less stiff seeing branch was okay. “So grandma saved branch and he thought we would hate him because of it?” 

 John nods,  letting his hair go back into place. “He was singing and didn’t hear the Bergen, she ran and pushed him out of the way. He thinks it’s his fault, we need to let him know it wasn’t.” Spruce got an indigent look on his face and opened his mouth to presumably ask John if he had already told branch they wouldn’t hate him, John beat him to it though. “ Yes I’ve already told him that none of us would hate him,  but it would mean more if we all told him.” 

  Why weren’t his brothers crying? Not that he wants them to cry but he just told them their grandma had been taken. He was expecting some tears. “Are… are you guys alright?”  Honestly he was getting kind of concerned. 

  His children were quiet for a bit, nobody wanted to reply and they were all avoiding eye contact. Suddenly, clay and Floyd start crying. Ah, there it is. He pulls Floyd over and hugs him. Running his paw through his angel’s hair. He looks up at spruce who had pulled clay into his arms doing the same. They made eye contact, spruce had some tears building but he still held eye contact with John, having a silent conversation with each other. Nodding, they both knew it was time to leave the tree. 

 After a bit Branch wiggled in his hair and poked his head out. “ I’m sorry!” Oh, he must have woken up to them all crying and thought the worst. Reaching up John pulls branch from his hair and brings him into the hug with Floyd. His angel pulls branch into his arms snuggling him close, “ it’s okay baby branch, we still love you. We would never hate you.” 

  Clay and spruce come over and join the group hug “ yeah , we will always love you.” They stay like that for a bit,  all just comforting baby branch. 

~~

  John was dead tired. He was up all night with spruce searching for the exit and then had an emotional moment with his children. It involved a lot of crying and comforting, crying makes him tired. But he needs the king to see the exit. They need to leave the tree soon. So he heads over to the kings pod and when he’s let in immediately hands peppy the map.

  King peppy looked over the map, humming to himself as he took in the root that was marked as the exit root. “Very good, you two did well. We shall tell the village and escape tonight.” Peppy looks up at John smiling gratefully. 

  “I was thinking , just to be sure we all go the right way, that spruce leads at the front and I’ll lead from the back, that way the people that fall behind can still have someone that knows the way to lead them out. “ that and John knows how trolls got separated last time, they won’t be this time. John won’t let them. 

 The king nods agreeing with John. “We need to be discreet in letting the others know so we don’t accidentally let the Bergens know our plans to escape. “ John nods in agreement as well. 

“Daddy?” They both look over seeing viva holding a baby poppy egg standing in the door way. Awwwwwww, poppy’s egg was so cute! John might just squeal at how cute it was. 

  “Viva! Darling, what do you need?” The king subtly shifts the map away from her vision as he stands to move over to his daughter. “Are we leaving the tree?” She holds poppy’s egg tighter a hopeful look on her face. “Well- “ John interrupts peppy since he knows he was about to deflect the conversation. He didn’t want peppy to lie to his daughter. 

   “ yes, we are leaving tonight but we need to let the others know without causing a seen. Do you have any ideas?” He ignores peppys disgruntled look, often times when he needs a new perspective on things he will ask his children. Kids often have new ideas that sometimes the older people forget about. 

  “ let’s send invitations! We tell everyone to come to wherever they are needed!” Her smile was huge as she shifted a bit still holding poppy’s egg tight to her. 

  That’s actually a good idea, they send invitations all the time, the Bergens would probably just ignore them thinking they were their normal party invites. This could work. 

“That’s a great idea! While we do that do you want to get poppy and yourself ready?” She nods and bounces off babbling to poppy about how she’s gonna be free and never have to worry about the Bergens again.

  He turns to peppy, “ let’s get this done , yes?” Peppy nods with determination on his face as they sit down to write all the invitations to their party for escape.

Chapter Text

He put branch in his hair to keep him safe as they ran through the tunnels, he turns to look at everyone else. Clay had a small pack in his back, Floyd had his guitar and a small shoulder bag, and spruce had a back pack and a lantern. They were ready to leave.

  “Okay, no matter what happens keep moving. If we get separated stay with the other trolls. Clay. Floyd. I want you two too stay with spruce at all times if you can okay?” He waits for them to nod before continuing,  “ if something happens to me don’t come looking for me.” They started to protest, “John what-“ “no we will come look-“ “why would you say that-“ he holds a paw up waiting for them to stop talking.  

  When they did he pulled them all into a group hug. “ I will be fine, I’ll keep branch safe I promise. I know the way out so if I have to find another way it should be okay. I don’t want you boys to get lost looking for me. Promise me you won’t come back for me if I get lost.” Branch shifted in his hair, “I believe in JD. You should believe in him to.” It warms John’s heart to hear his baby say that. His brothers reluctantly agreed. 

  Pulling away from his babies he looks them in the eyes and smiles confidently, “let’s bro!” And they head out of the pod together towards the top of the tree.

  Everyone is being really quiet, it’s nighttime now and the Bergens always got really upset when they made noises at night. So escaping during the night is the best time if they needed to be quiet. They pass some of their neighbors on the way up. When they get to the top John waits by the edge as spruce walks up to king peppy. He watched them talk for a bit as he thought about how they would escape. He needed to make sure there were no stragglers. 

  He felt pressure on his side and looks down to see Floyd clutching his backpack strap, Clay was next to him holding his little brothers paw. John places a paw on Floyd’s back trying to comfort him as they all look to peppy. 

  “Listen up!” John winced a bit, why did the king have to be that loud? Everyone was trying to be quiet they can’t have the Bergens show up, not when they were so close to freedom.

“Spruce is going to lead our way out, if you do happen to loose sight of what direction to go wait for John Dory to come help. He will be at the end of the group so nobody gets left behind.” Groups of trolls all looked between John and spruce making sure they knew who they were, and pointing them out to their children. It was very important that little trollings knew who to ask for help in this situation so they didn’t get left or get to scared to ask for help. 

  John pushes Floyd’s back a bit nudging him and Clay towards the center where spruce was. They looked up at him with concern not wanting to leave him. “Go darlings, go to spruce. I’ll be out as soon as I can be don’t worry.” They looked at each other before looking back and nodding at John, and making their way over to stand next to spruce. “JD?” 

 “Yes starlight?” “Do you want me to go to spwuce as well?” He hums contemplative as he thinks this over, if he left branch with spruce he knows that he will be safe. All his babies will get out and he won’t have to worry about them being safe. 

  But… is he wrong that he wants to keep his youngest with him? His most vulnerable ? If branch were to be with spruce and something were to happen would John know soon enough to do anything about it? He wants his smallest baby to be with him Incase he has a problem. But, Is that the wrong choice? What if they get found out, and a Bergen comes after them like Clay said they did last time? He would be putting his baby in danger since he’s going last. The indecision wars within John. How could he choose in a situation like this? 

  John goes to answer when all of a sudden the group begins to move. He had been thinking to long he missed the signal to begin leaving. Well, that’s that then. Branch is coming with him. “ well, baby, looks like you’re coming with me. Stay in my hair though, don’t come out till I tell you too okay?” “Mmh!” Branch hide’s himself away back in John’s hair, and John takes just a moment to stiffen the inner layer around branch so his baby will be safe and it be at risk of falling out while John ran around the tunnels, Before walking to the entrance.

  He waits till every troll is in before he jumps down himself. They are about half way through and It’s all going well so far. A few people had waited for John to help them as they had gotten left on a turn and didn’t want to get lost. 

It surprised him that even after a bit of being down here he’s only had to watch after a few stragling trollings. He’s proud of the ones who have kept a sharp eye on their kids. 

  The further he goes the better he feels that they will get out. He’s holding the paws of two little trollings, one is a silver glitter troll with white hair and the other is a gold glitter troll with rainbow hair. They had been confused on a turn a little further back up the trail and had asked him to help them. They were worried at first and had wanted to try to find their parents, but John’s glad they had waited for him and not just ran down the tunnels. 

  “Mr. John?” The gold one gently pulled on his paw to get his attention, he really should ask their names. He feels bad calling them the gold one and the silver one. “Yes little one?” He doesn’t look over at the trolling but keeps his eyes in front of him watching the other trolls who bring up the back of the group. “Are the Bergens gonna come after us?” Honestly? John hopes not. “I don’t know, but we’re gonna make it out of this tunnel.  I promise you.” 

  The little gold glitter trolling hugs his paw closer in an attempt to self soothe. John squeezes both their paws to hopefully smooth them as well. They are almost out just five more turns and they’re out. They are a smaller group of about 20. Scratch that 21 a small pink trolling with golden hair just ran up to him. “Viva? What are you doing back here? Why aren’t you with your dad?” She fiddles with her paws and avoids eye contact for a second before looking back at him. “ the first group is out, I came back in to see how far everyone was. The second group is almost out, you are the third group. I just wanted to make sure everyone got out.” John wants to punch peppy so bad. How could he let his daughter come back in when they don’t know how far apart they were?

  “Peppy just let you back in here?” He tries to keep his voice level so to not scare the other trollings with him. They kept walking as they talked they couldn’t fall too far behind or they would worry the others. “No he tried to stop me but I had to make sure.” “But viva that was dangerous! “ the little silver trolling sounded super concerned, “what if you got lost?” 

  “I wasn’t-“ at that moment the tunnels started to shake. They were almost out why is this happening now?! They all paused for a second before they all started to run. John stayed at the back and picked up the silver and gold trollings. “We have two lefts then a right and a drop then we will be out!” He shouted to the group hoping some of them would make it. Viva was staying in pace with him, he had to stay in the back so he could help the others out. The first turn  came by fast, but the ceiling was collapsing. It was a cave in, they had to make it. 

  “Keep going! If this place collapses don’t come back for us! I’ll get us out, just run!” He shouted to the front of the group as they turned the second corner. There was a small gap between the two groups of trolls they had split into, the first group made it around the corner. The roof of the tunnel collapsed right after, leaving John, the four trollings, and two other adult trolls trapped.

   They weren’t safe though, the tunnels were still shaking they could get crushed if they didn’t get out soon. He frantically searched for a way out, he had to save them all. He saw a small off shoot tunnel that he hadn’t seen earlier when he was exploring with spruce but it was his only chance. He hauled viva up onto his backpack adjusted his hold on the other two and yelled at the two adults with him, “follow me! We’re getting out of here!” He then ran to the tunnel. He made sure the two adults were following as they all ran through a series of turns until they saw a small bit of moon light up ahead. After they had seen it they ran and made it out. They stopped a little ways outside the tunnel, breathing heavily as they took in the scenery. 

  A loud thud signaled the collapsing of the tunnels, and John looked back at it. The tunnels were completely blocked off. They couldn’t go back to the tree even if they wanted to. John’s glad, nobody will randomly end up going to Bergen town on accident if they explored the tunnels. 

  John puts the two trollings down on the ground and helps viva off his bag. “Mr John?” The silver one had apparently adopted the name the gold one had used earlier,  John looks at him and when the silver one sees he had John’s attention he continues, “ how are we gonna get to the others?” John looks around. They are in the forest, in a place John barely remembers from when he had seen it briefly when he was walking from Bergen town once with poppy and branch. He has four trollings depending on him and two adults who also look lost. It was the middle of the night, and everyone probably thought they had died. 

   He rolls his shoulders and softens his hair to pull branch out. Branch looks at him, eyes full of fear, but there’s also hope and trust in his baby’s eyes. He knows John can get them back to their brothers. “ I know how to find them, trust me.” He looks at the two adults, “I need your help watching the kids.” They nod, John nods gratefully back. He looks around once more before deciding on a path. “Let’s go.” He starts to head in the direction he hopes the village was. He just has to keep them all safe so they can get to the village and see their families. With one last look at each of them, he starts to lead them back to where he hopes the others are waiting.

Chapter Text

Floyd clutches his big brothers paw closer as they all stand watching the tunnel. He can tell spruce is anxious, he hasn’t  let go of his or clays paws this whole time. He’s also been squeezing and relaxing his paw around his own at random intervals, that’s something Floyd has noticed his brother does to keep calm.

  Floyd looks over at Clay on spruce’s other side, Clay also looks extremely nervous. Floyd knows Clay gets anxious a lot more than others, what had grandma said it was? Angsty? Ansity? Anxiety? Floyd can’t remember, he will just have to ask his dad when he gets out of the tunnels with the rest of the others. He knows he’s not supposed to think of John Dory as his dad, grandma had such a heartbreaking look on her face the last time he called him dad that Floyd decided to stop calling him that. He didn’t want to hurt his grandma even if he doesn’t know why she looked so hurt. 

  He looks up at spruce’s face he’s frowning, Floyd wants to help. “Spruce, you know that Johnny won’t let anything happen to bitty b right? He’s gonna make it out with the others, I know it.” His brother looks at him briefly before looking back at the tunnel, “ I know Floyd, I’m just hoping they make it. I realize now that we didn’t put any support up in the tunnels, having hundreds of trolls run through them is probably doing nothing for their stability.” 

  “What?! You didn’t add supports?!” Clay sound’s panicked and scared as he looks up at spruce too. “Tunnels can’t hold up that long under that amount of stress!” How would Clay know that? Oh , he reads a lot he probably read it somewhere. Spruce looks even more nervous and upset now. “I know Clay! That’s why I’m worried! John and I were just trying to get back as soon as we could to tell the king about the tunnels, then we heard screaming and Bergen footsteps and were worried about you guys! So sorry if the tunnel supports just slipped our minds!” They were starting to fight again, he had to stop them it wouldn’t do them any good to fight with each other. 

  “Guys, please.” He kept his voice calm, he’s seen his dad do this during fights sometimes and it seemed to work. “ let’s not fight about this. It’s gonna be okay, they should be out soon right?” His brothers look at him, conflicted feeling on their faces before spruce sighs. “Yeah okay, I’m sorry Clay I shouldn’t have yelled at you.” “No… I’m sorry I yelled at you too, I didn’t think about you guys rushing to check on us earlier. I’m just so worried that something is gonna happen.” 

  “Has anyone seen viva?!” King peppy was running around looking at the different groups hoping to find his daughter. Floyd was confused she was just out here with them, he saw her exit with her dad. Wait… she wouldn’t have gone back into the tunnels would she?

  “What do you mean? Isn’t she with you?” Spruce’s paws was squeezing his and clays again, it didn’t hurt, not really anyway, but it was slightly uncomfortable. Peppy stopped in front of them his face full of concerned fear. “No, well she was but she ran off! I thought she was gonna find a friend but I haven’t been able to find her!” 

 Floyd makes eye contact with Clay, “sir?” What was Clay doing? “Do you think she went back into the tunnels?” Peppys face grew horrified. He turned to the tunnels right as the ground started to shake. It was too loud to be a Bergen. Floyd gets pulled into his brothers chest, clay squished right next to him as spruce hugs them tight not letting them look at the tunnel. What’s happening? Wait, Floyd feels his body tense. Was it a cave in? But his dad and brother weren’t out yet! He squeezed his eyes shut and clung to spruce as he waited for the ground to stop shaking. 

~~~

  He clutched his younger brothers to his chest tightly. He didn’t want them to see the tunnel collapse, to see their brothers get trapped in the tunnels. A group of trolls ran out right before the opening fell and closed off the tunnel. The shaking lasted for a few more seconds before it stopped. Spruce loosened his grip on his brothers as he looked at the group of trolls, hoping to find his other brothers among them. His heart dropped the more he looked and didn’t find them. Peppy was rushing through the group asking about viva. 

  Spruce looks at his brothers in his arms, “ I’m gonna go check and see if they know if John and branch are okay, You two stay here.” Clay nods and takes Floyd’s paw in his , spruce smiles comfortingly at them and makes his way over to the group. 

  Two glitter trolls had come over and were asking if they have their sons. “ please, where is boom? Was he with you guys? I haven’t been able to find him.” “And guy? Was guy with you?!” His heart goes out two the two glitter trolls, they only have the one trollings, their partners were taken a few trollstice’s ago. Now they probably are thinking the worst.

   One of the trolls from the group interrupts them, “ yes your kids were there but they were with John Dory. When the tunnels started to collapse he told us all to run and not look back. He said if they got caught he would get them out.” Another troll from the group agrees adding, “he was carrying both guy and boom and put viva on his bag. I don’t know how he did that but he was running with them all as he told us the way. “

   Of course John would randomly find the strength to carry four trollings. He’s had to carry all of them before when they were feeling clingy. It didn’t stop his worrying though. “Did they make it out another way?” He had to know if his dad and baby brother were okay. 

  The trolls looks at him and shakes their head, “ I don’t know, the tunnel collapsed between us and him. Sprinkleberry and butternut were also separated with them. John said he would get them out though, we just need to trust him.”  

  That didn’t easy his worries. What if they didn’t make it out? “Okay so we should wait for them for a bit and-“ “No” king peppy interrupted him. Spruce was honestly shocked, no? But his daughter was with them! “Sir please” he wants the king to listen to him, they just need to wait for a bit he’s sure John will get them out. Peppy shakes his head his face set in a hard scowl. “ no, we move forward, the Bergens could find us, we are still to close to the town we have to move. “ he goes to interrupt him, he won’t leave his dad and brother out here. Peppy holds a paw up stopping spruce from saying anything. 

  “ I won’t risk all of my people for seven. I’m sorry but we need to move.” “ but sir!” Guys dad try’s to reason with the king, “ i will not discuss this anymore, let’s move. If John is truly alive they should be able to find us.” He doesn’t elaborate on how they would find them, but he turns and starts gathering the rest of the trolls and making their way into the forest. 

  The trolls around them start moving, spruce stands there. He’s furious, how could peppy just say that ? His daughter is among the seven he just so casually tossed to the side! He feels a paw on his shoulder and turns his head to see who it is. Oh it’s booms dad, he has tears in his eyes, “ is your brother good at tracking?”  Spruce honestly doesn’t know, but he hopes so. A little lie won’t hurt now right? Not if it smooths a mourning troll? “ yes, I’m sure he’ll find us.” The relived look on both guy and booms fathers bring slight guilt to spruce, but they nod and head over to follow king peppy.

  He heads back over to his two younger brothers, they both look nervous but also hopeful that he has good news. Their expressions drop a bit when they see the anger he no doubt has on his face. “Spruce? Is Johnny and branch okay?” Clay has that look on his face, the one that says he’s about to dive into overthinking and cause himself panic. He’s quick to go over and gently place his paw in clays hair , running it through to calm his brother. “Yes Clay,” and boy does he feel like a horrible brother, he hates lying to his younger brothers but he can’t have Clay panicking, Floyd will latch onto that panicking and will also start panicking. “ they are  gonna join us later, they had to go a separate way. Don’t worry though I’m sure he and branch will join us later!” He has to sooth Floyd (who looks ready to cry) now too. He picks Floyd up placing him on his hip as he grabs clays paw and starts walking with the rest of the trolls.

~~~

  “Wait! Why are we leaving?” Clay doesn’t understand, they can’t leave! They need to wait for their dad and branch! He try’s pulling his paw free but spruce has an iron grip. “Spruce let go! I’m not leaving!” “Yes Clay, you are. I’m not leaving you here.” He just doubles his efforts trying to free himself. “No! I won’t leave! We have to stay! Dad and branch aren’t here yet! We can’t leave them!” Is he crying? He feels like he’s crying. Spruce’s grip stays firm no matter how hard Clay pulls.

  “Clay come on, stop being difficult we need to move.” He’s definitely crying, he feels the tears as they run down his face. How would branch and John find them if they left? They have to stay here! What if they came back and couldn’t find them? What if a Bergen gets them? What if they didn’t make it out? Or were hurt and needed help but couldn’t get it because they left them? “No!” He finally just sits on the ground and won’t move no matter what spruce try’s. 

  He can tell he’s aggravating spruce whose face has adopted a frustrated look. Spruce just stares at him for a minute different emotions flitting over his face, Floyd looks at him too tears building in his eyes. Oh no, he’s gonna cause Floyd to cry. Floyd always been more empathetic to other emotions, clays crying is not helping him keep calm. Clay closes his eyes so he won’t see what his crying is doing. 

  Spruce hasn’t let go of his paw but Clay has stopped trying to tug out of his grip. He hears spruce sigh before he’s picked up with what feels like hair. He opens his eyes and sees that he’s being held in spruce’s hair. Spruce has lengthened his hair so it flows behind him large enough to carry Clay who would be too big to fit on his head. “Spruce!” Clay tries to wiggle out but his brother just moves his hair more securely around him hardening it so it’s harder for him to move around, lessening his chance at escape. “Let me out spruce! Please!” He wiggles harder, his brothers hair is strong in grip but soft enough to not cause him harm.

  “I’m sorry Clay but we are leaving. We have to believe John will come find us okay?” His voice is soothing, trying to calm him. Clay doesn’t want to be calm. He wants his dad and baby brother! Why isn’t spruce as concerned? “Why don’t you care spruce!” “I do care Clay, but we can’t do anything for John right now. We just need to believe in him and his ability to find us okay? Please Clay, trust John to find us” trust John to find them? Oh, he trusts John. But how is he gonna find them? They didn’t even leave any clues! He- 

  His thoughts are cut off by a rumbling mixed with a soft chittering sound. This sound was used to calm small trollings when in distress. He’s not a trolling! He shouldn’t be affected by this! He feels himself release an answering chitter as his body relaxes. He hears Floyd’s chitter as well. He wants to keep fighting his brother to stay but his traitorous body is pushing him into sleep. He goes limp in his brothers hold, hoping to wake up to see his branch and John with him when he wakes.

~~~

  Spruce continues the soothing rumble chitter up until he feels both Clay and Floyd fall naturally into sleep. He hates that he had to use this to calm Clay down, he knows Clay hates the way it makes him sleep when he doesn’t want to. It also warms his heart that his brothers will fall asleep when he does it. Normally the only ones who can do that is the trolls parents. There are special circumstances where if the trolls parents aren’t around that one of the oldest siblings can use it, but that only really happens when the trolling trusts the sibling a lot. Normally if one of the siblings were to use it,  it would just cause them to calm down, not completely lull them to sleep, this just shows how much trust his little brothers have in him. 

  He’s a bit embarrassed that when John uses it he can get them all to sleep. Even spruce. But that’s because John is their dad. He might not be their biological dad, but he’s their dad nonetheless. 

   He continues following the rest of the trolls for what feels like hours. It probably has been hours, the sun is almost setting again. They had left the tree last night, got out of the tunnels around mid morning and started walking around mid day. His brothers are still asleep and spruce is starting to tire. He’s glad he’s use to lifting weights and doing lots of situps, he wouldn’t have been able to carry his brothers with him this whole time otherwise.

  They come into a clearing where it seems peppy has stopped. There’s mushrooms everywhere and lots of trees. Peppy climbs to the tallest one and announces that this is where they shall rebuild. Spruce rolls his eyes at the sweet acoustics part, and looks for a spot to claim for himself and his brothers. He spots a place under a teal mushroom and heads over. He grabs some leaves from a bush he passes and uses them to build a small nest. He places Floyd in it, adjusting him so he lays comfortably before bringing his hair around and gently moving Clay out of it and into the nest as well. He adjusts him as well before climbing in and using his still spread out and full hair to cover them all. 

  He hopes John makes it back soon, or he’s gonna have a mad spruce on his hands. He closes his eyes and joins his brothers in sleep. He hopes to get a few hours in before his brother inevitably wake up and start to freak out .

Chapter Text

John’s lost. He thought he knew how to get to the place where pop village was but maybe he took a wrong turn? It was mid afternoon now judging by the sun’s position in the sky and they had all been walking for hours. The kids were getting tired, he could tell. Viva was being quieter than she was earlier when they had first started walking. The two glitter trollings (he found out their names were guy diamond and boom) were walking side by side but were also really quiet. 

  Sprinkleberry and butternut, the two adult who were trapped with him, have been trying to help keep the kids distracted. They’ve been playing games with them, looking for specific things and having the kids guess what it is. Surprisingly branch has been the one who has been the most hopeful as they’ve been wandering. He’s been cheerful the whole time, he’s even been singing songs with viva, guy diamond and boom. 

  John knows it’s because his precious baby has seen that they are nervous and scared and wants to help them relax. Branch has always loved helping people be happy, he doesn’t like to see others so sad. Branch has switched between his arms and hair a few times, he will choose where he wants to be depending on what he’s doing. If he’s singing he will be in his arms, if he’s playing a game he will be in his hair.  

  Branch is in his arms right now humming a tune that John can’t quite place yet. John comes to a stop in a small clearing with tall bushes around him. He turns to the others “ let’s stop here for tonight, we’ll find the others tomorrow.” He places branch on the ground, he’s glad branch is wearing a cozy coat right now it’s starting to get chilly. “Go hangout with viva okay baby? I’m gonna go find some berries for dinner.” “You’ll be okay though? “ branch was looking at him with his large beautiful eyes. John smiled warmly at his baby, “of course I will, I’ll be back soon I promise.” Branch looked a bit nervous but he relented and walked over to viva. 

  Viva immediately picked him up and twirled him around, laughing at branch’s cute giggles. “Aww baby branch! Did you come to hangout with me?! You’re so cute! Let’s play with guy and boom yeah? Oh! It’s gonna be SO amastic! “ she kept  chattering to him as she pulled the other two trollings into some kind of game.  Looking at the two adults he gestures to them to come over. Once they are over to him he explains his thought process so they are I’ll on the same page.

  “I’m gonna go find some berries for us for food tonight. We should stay here tonight and continue on tomorrow. I know we will find the rest soon but the kids are tired.” “I’ll come with you to get the berries, it’s better to be in a pair anyway.” Butternut does have a point, it’s better to be in a pair when out in the woods. “Okay, that works. Are you gonna be okay watching the kids sprinkleberry?”  She nods and heads over to where the kids are playing. 

  John and butternut head into the woods a bit, finding bushes with some snuzzle berries wich he’s glad for as they are actually okay to eat. They gather some of them keeping them in an extra pocket John has in his bag. Once he’s happy with the amount they start to head back. On the way back they pass a wuzzle berry bush, they look similar to the snuzzle berries but they make trolls see weird things and are extremely poisonous if eaten in a big enough quantity.

  Butternut goes to grab one and John slaps his hand away.  “No not those, those are poisonous. “ butternut looked confused, “but they look just like the other berries?” John picks one off the branch and gets a snuzzle berry from his bag, holding them up in front of butternut. “ see how this one is a darker shade of red?” He holds the wuzzle berry up, “ umm no? They look the same to me?” Well darn, what else can John use to show him? “Okay, then do you see the number of little green leaves on the top? The wuzzle berry has three and the snuzzle berry has four.” He shows both berry tops to butternut. “Ooh okay I see it now.” 

  John smiles and throws the wuzzle berry behind him, putting the snuzzle berry back in his pack. “ how did you know that? The difference in the berries?” He hums a moment thinking about his answer. It’s not a good idea to say experience, since he had accidentally mixed them up when he was hiking the neverglade trail. But maybe he could pull off the ‘my dad told me’ card.  “My father liked to leave the tree and explore all the time,  and that’s one of the only useful bits of  information he ever gave me.” 

  “Oh, that’s interesting “ he could tell butternut didn’t know how to respond to that. John didn’t blame him honestly, he wouldn’t know what to say to someone in his position either. 

They walked back to where the others were waiting. John laughed under his breath when he saw the kids. All their hair was braided into multiple braids sticking out everywhere. Looks like viva’s been busy, he’s glad she has this chance to be a kid this time instead of a leader.

 “Hey guys! We’re back!” The kids all come running over to them. Branch tackles John’s legs, his braided hair bouncing adorably as he clutches onto his John’s legs. They hand out the berries and all gather around each other close to a bush, branch sat on John’s legs as he ate his berry. “Were you behaved for sprinkleberry baby? “ “mmmhph!” Branch hums in affirmation. His mouth full of berry as he happily munched his food. John wanted to coo at how cute his baby was, with his little berry juice covered face and stained hands. Wasn’t his baby just the cutest? 

  It was getting dark now, all of them had been eating the berries and the little ones were getting tired. He looks to sprinkleberry and butternut who are each holding one of the smaller trollings. He pulls viva to him and holds her and branch close. “We should sleep here tonight, the bush provides good cover from predators.” The others agree and they get settled, all gathering together. The three adults lay around the four smaller trolls, providing a small sense of security for them so they could sleep easier. 

  John pulls branch closer to his chest, he watches as viva settles behind branch and the other two behind her. They all sleep like that, comforted by each others presence and the security of them all being close.

~~~

  He was singing his little heart out, so lost in music he didn’t hear his grandma as she called for him. Trying to warn him of the danger he was in. He just kept singing, all of a sudden he’s being pushed and then he’s falling. He lands roughly on a branch a few below where he was. He looks up and sees his grandma’s beautiful mint hair sticking out of the large ugly hand of a Bergen. He doesn’t think he will ever forget her screams as she gets taken away. 

  He can’t do anything, it’s his fault. He should have been quieter, now his grandma is gone. His little heart hurts so much. How can he stand it? He doesn’t think he can for much longer. His sobs are loud but he tries to muffle them. He can’t let the Bergen come back and get him. What will his brothers say? What will his daddy say? He’s losing all his hope, he’s not happy. They will all HATE him. He’s sorry, please he really is. Please don’t hate him! He won’t sing again, he promises. 

“ arlight, baby” 

 Who’s that? It’s sounds like…

 “Starlight, darling, wake up.”

Is that? His daddy?

 “Bitty baby come on wake up for me please, it’s just a nightmare.” 

 It was his daddy! 

 Branch opens his eyes, looking up at his dad’s face. His daddy looked concerned, why? His dad smiles at him in relief, “there you are, hello baby” he’s being held in his dad’s arms, he loves when his dad holds him. It makes him feel safe. He’s crying, why is he crying? He snuggles his face into his dad’s chest, getting his shirt wet from his tears. 

 “It’s okay branch,” John is being quiet, keeping his tone low. Branch realizes it so he doesn’t wake the others who are all snuggled together next to them. “ it was just a nightmare, we love you so much.” Oh, he was crying because of his nightmare. Everything comes back to him at once. His grandma being taken by a Bergen, the escape, the tunnels collapsing, them wandering the woods and having to stay the night under a bush. It all becomes a bit overwhelming, and he snuggles harder into his dad’s chest. He feels John’s arms tighten around him trying to sooth him. 

  “Hush baby, it’s gonna be okay. We’ll find the others soon.” His dad starts making a weird noise. What is this noise? His dad’s chest vibrates with the low rumbling he’s doing, branch also notices the slightly higher bird like sound mixed with the low rumblings. “Daddy?”  “Yes baby?” It’s strange that dad could answer while still keeping the sound going uninterrupted. It’s very soothing though, branch likes it. “What is this? This sound? What are you doing?”  

  Dad doesn’t answer for a moment, the rumbling chitter the only sounds leaving him as he thinks. “I’m showing you you’re safe, this sound signals safety.” Oh that makes sense, branch feels very calm now. He tucks his limbs up curling closer to his dad, feeling content and warm in his dad’s arms. 

  ~~~

  John hasn’t made this sound in years, this parental rumbling chirping sound. He holds his baby close to his chest as branch curls up into him. The last time he used this specific sound was to calm Floyd down after a particularly trying day of practice. 

  It hurts a bit to realize that branch had never had this last time. Never had the chance to be calmed when he was upset like this. Branch would have never known that he could have been so safe in his brothers arms. Did branch even know this sound existed? He shook his head clearing his thoughts, he didn’t want to think about that right now. He was going to make sure his baby was happy now.  He almost cried when branch answered him with his own little chirp, but he held back his tears. He didn’t want to concern his baby by crying. 

  He continued making the sound for a bit after branch had fallen asleep again, hoping to ward off the nightmares. Tomorrow they would find the others. He knew they would. Right now though, he’s just happy they are all safe, that he gets to have branch cradled in his arms and that he is here to help viva get back to her sister. 

Chapter Text

John wakes to loud thumping. Wait, this sounds like… Bergens walking? But, they shouldn’t be close to town! They got so far! His heart thumps hard in his chest. He wakes sprinkleberry and puts a finger up to his lips to signal to her to be quiet. She recognizes the sound as well and fear creeps into her eyes. John points at the kids, trying to communicate that they need to get somewhere to hide the kids. She looks at the kids then back at him understanding in her eyes as she nods and gently starts to wake them. 

  John goes over to butternut and wakes him as well, repeating the same gestures he did with sprinkleberry. The Bergen is getting closer now, the steps louder, and they seem to be talking to themselves. He can’t make out what they are saying yet so they have some time to hide. He makes serious eye contact with the two other adults, all the kids are up and they are frightened but are keeping quiet. They need to move areas from under the bush to a better place to camouflage. The little leaves are hard to replicate with their hair they need something more solid. 

  He looks around for a bit and spots a log, but it’s on the other side of the small clearing. Do they have time to get to it? John doesn’t know but they need to try. He points it out to the others and they each grab a child and extend their hair shifting hair colors to try and blend with the natural foliage around them. John has two kids with him, his baby branch and viva. Viva is holding branch for him so he can focus on walking and observing. 

 “Ungrateful wretches, when I find the trolls they will WISH they had never kicked me out.” Oh no, please tell John that’s not who he thinks it is. Not her. They are almost there to the log when John can see the chefs hat coming towards them. Sprinkleberry and boom have made it to the log, butternut and guy diamond are close they will make it. He’s still to far, he has to make sure branch and viva make it. “Viva,” she looks at him, there’s so much fear in her eyes as she holds branch tight to her. “ I need you to shift your hair and blend in. I need you to take branch and go to the log with the others okay?tell the others I’m coming back . To not move till I do okay? Can you do that for me?”

  “Mr John, what are you gonna do?” She looks nervous, “I’m gonna distract her please viva we don’t have time, do it, get yourself and branch to safety. Here take this” he hands her his bag and waits for her to put it on and shift her hair extending it out around her and branch . He pushes her lightly to get her started before he turns and runs the other direction. He lets his hair go back to how he normally has it as he does. 

 “You!” He looks back and sees chef looking at him, she’s furious. “Get back here, you’re going to tell me where the others are and the rest of Bergen town are going to rue the day they kicked me out!” He’s never seen a Bergen run before but she’s fast. He weaves thru the trees, around bushes and over fallen branches. Trying to lead her away far enough that she can’t find them but also trying not to get caught. 

   He runs for a long time and he’s starting to tire. He’s had to keep track of where he’s gone so he can get back to the others. He looks back at chef which is a mistake as he trips on a small root sticking out of the ground. He goes down hard. Rolling and tumbling roughly on the ground getting scraped up by the surrounding foliage and hard bits of tree. He feels his leg get stuck on something and he tries to get it out. Chef, seeing him prone on the ground starts to reach for him smiling a cruel smile.

  John’s world slows down for a moment. He’s going to die here. His babies will be left alone, but he finds some solace in the fact that they will be together. He hopes the other trolls he left at the log find the rest of the trolls. That viva and branch find the others and get to grow up loved. He feels defeated, he came back to raise them to do better and he won’t even get to see them grow up. He closes his eyes waiting for the pain he knows will come soon. 

  He hears a short cut off scream and opens his eyes. Where’s chef? She’s just… gone. He looks around thinking it’s a trick, when he sees it. A big lion puff plant with a huge mass in its stem. Relief slams into him as he realizes what happened. He needs to get back to the others. He needs his baby, he needs all his babies. He untangles his leg and stands with some difficulty. He starts limping his way back to where he left the others.

  It takes him twice as long to get back to them with his limp but when he sees that stump he wants to cry. He gets there finally “guys it’s okay, chefs gone!” He’s hit by a small blue mass that latches onto his legs and climbs him like a tree. He barely has any time to register the pain this causes him before he feels weight on his head and his baby clinging to his hair and shaking.

  “Bitty baby, it’s okay I’m back. She’s gone I promise.” He tries to sooth his baby, “ I don’t care about that! You could have died! How could you do that to me dad! You’re not aloud to leave me like that.” John is shocked, did branch just call him dad? Branch is crying so hard, his shaking just keeps getting worse. “ how could you leave me like that! I was worried you’d get eaten like grandma!”

 Oh his poor baby, he’s still traumatized from seeing his grandmother get taken and now he had to worry about his dad getting taken too.

“Starlight please come out let me comfort you “ he reaches his paws up moving them in his hair trying to grab branch and pull him out so he can snuggle him. He just wants to snuggle him and show him he loves him. Branch avoids his reaching paws even smacking them away when they get to close at one point. “No! I’m not coming out! I’m gonna stay here where you can’t just give me to somebody else and run off again!” Branch grabs more of John’s hair tightly, making him wince a bit at the slight pull that action gives his hair. 

  John sighs and lowers his paws, maybe he should just leave branch there for now. He will try to get him out later. “Mr John!” Viva, boom and guy all come running at him. “Were glad your back!” “Yeah we were worried!” “You were limping are you okay?” They stop right before they bump into him keeping their distance which he’s grateful for. He can already see the dark green bruises littering his arms and knows there’s more on his face and other places under his clothes he will have fun playing hide and seek with later. 

 He smiles reassuringly at them and places his paws on two of their heads. “Yes I’m okay I just tripped but I’m all good I promise! Let’s start looking for the others again okay?” Boom looks concerned for John as he starts to limp closer to the log, going to pick up his bag viva had dropped by it. Guy and boom share a look before guy runs over and grabs it before John can and puts it onto his own back. “Let me carry it Mr John. You kept us safe from the Bergen and got hurt in the process. I can carry this for you.”

  John wants to argue but sprinkleberry comes up next to him and places a paw on his shoulder. “Let us help you John. We’ll find them okay? Just take it easy.” John’s hesitant but nods in acceptance anyway.  Sprinkleberry smiles and starts to help John walk, taking his arm and placing it around her shoulders. Butternut  gathers the kids and they start walking hopefully they find the others soon.

~~~

  Spruce was so tired and worried. It’s been almost two days and there still wasn’t any sign of John Dory or the other six trolls. He was right, his younger brothers had woken up only two hours after he had fallen asleep that first night. They all have had a hard time sleeping since. Peppy had said that they should start pod construction so everyone has been super busy with getting things up. Clay isn’t handling the stress well he’s been having more silent breakdowns. Spruce tries to help where he can but he’s been trying to get their new pod made and up in a good spot before the spot gets taken. He needs to make sure his family has a pod to live in. It’s what John would have done. 

  He’s very grateful to Floyd right now. Floyd has been helping Clay by distracting him where he can but Floyd is also worried about branch and John. Floyd and Clay have been  so hard to get to sleep that spruce has had to lull them to sleep with the calming rumbling chirping and Clay hates it. He got so mad at him this morning that spruce was still upset about it. He feels bad that he has had to use it but he wasn’t able to get them to sleep any other way! Clay even wanted to go out and find them. How does John do this everyday?!

  When John comes back spruce is apologizing for ever getting on his nerves and blatantly ignoring him sometimes. When John gets back spruce is going to punch him. How dare he make him worry this much? Spruce swears he’s getting stress lines on his face from how much he’s worrying. Dad or not John has no right making his brothers cry and stress and worry this much. Not to mention that guy diamond and booms dads have been looking more dull by the day! Spruce told them John was a good tracker! Granted spruce didn’t know if he was or not….BUT! Now spruce is going to look like a liar too!  His hair is a mess! It’s been frizzy with stress and won’t listen to him and he hates it. When John gets back he’s making him groom it for him. It’s John’s fault spruces hair is like this in the first place! 

  He finally gets the pod up in the tree and he’s feeling proud of himself. He did a great job, there’s enough rooms for them all and there’s even a kitchen and living room! Yes he did a good job. “Clay! Floyd! Come on! the pods done!” His brothers normally stick close to the pod, not wanting to be too far from spruce. When they don’t come up he gets a bit concerned. He walks over to look down at the ground. He doesn’t see his brothers “Clay? Floyd? Where’d you go?!” Oh great, now his brothers have gone somewhere! He feels frustration grow and all but consume him as he climbs down the tree. His hair reacts to his frustration and flares out even more. He wishes he could have just used his hair to swing down but it’s not cooperating,  he’s been forced to climb up and down the tree. 

   “Ooh when I get my paws on those two they’re gonna be in SO much trouble!” He grumbles to himself the whole way down. His small claws latch into the bark as he moved down the tree. They don’t really have very big claws just small ones to help anchor them as they climb the trees around them. They’ve never really had to fight anything so their claws have changed to be smaller, and wouldn’t really help them in a fight. 

  He reaches the ground and turns walking further into the new village. Where is everybody? There’s not a lot of trolls around, did something happen? If he wasn’t worried before he is now, where are his brothers? He picks up his pace. He comes closer to the center of the village and sees a large grouping of trolls. They are all excited, is this a party?! Now?! He’s not letting brothers party now, it’s too soon for anything loud. What if the Bergens come after them? 

  He sprints into the group of trolls fighting his way to the middle looking for his brothers. He stops right where he is at the edge of the middle of the group. It’s John and the others! Spruce feels happy tears spring to his eyes. They’re alive! His dad is alive! His baby brother is alive! He sees guy diamond and booms dads looking bright as they hug their children. He sees viva jumping around king peppy holding poppy’s egg. He sees his own brothers worried fretting of John who’s being held up by another troll. Wait… John’s being held up by another troll… how dare he come back hurt!

  Spruce sprints up to the group all angry and furious, his hair sticking out in different directions in his anger. He doesn’t think to wonder where branch might be, he knows John has kept him safe even if spruce can’t see him right now. He must look like a site to see if John’s face when he sees him is any indication. “Spruce! What happened too-“ he doesn’t get to finish that sentence as spruce shoves past a worried Floyd and Clay and punches John square in the face.

  “Spruce!” “John!” Clay and Floyd are both worried even more now but spruce doesn’t care. “Daddy?!” John’s lucky the troll who was holding him up had steadied him and didn’t let him fall. Spruce is glad for that too as he sees branch stick his head out from in John’s hair, he’s glad branch is okay and even more glad that he didn’t fall to the ground. Spruce wouldn’t forgive himself if he had hurt branch. 

  Floyd and Clay had come up and were holding his arms trying to keep him from attacking John again. Spruce wasn’t planning too hit John again but hoo boy did he have some words for him. He didn’t care the whole village was watching.

  “How dare you take two days to find us! What the sprinkled sugar took you so long?!” Many of the other trolls who had young children made a hasty retreat at spruce’s language, that’s fine with him that’s less people to see him verbally rip into his brother for being a sugared idiot! 

  “Mr spruce please!” Viva had found her way in front of him and between him and John, still holding her sisters egg close to her. “Mr John had tried to get us here sooner but he had to fight off a Bergen for us! He kept the rest of us safe and went off to get the Bergen away from us! Please don’t hurt Mr John anymore.!” She was looking pleadingly at spruce. Ice cold fear rolled down his spine when he heard that. He looked hard at his dad, he had dirt smears all over his clothes, multiple dark green bruises all along his arms and more on his face besides the one blooming from his own punch. He’s sure there’s more that he can’t see now because they are covered by his clothes.

  He felt the fight slowly leave him as he realized he could have lost his dad forever. He takes a step forward trying to go to John but he’s held back by Floyd and Clay. “ let go please” “no! I’m not letting you hit him again!” Clay held on tighter. Floyd must have heard his tone change as he had loosened his grip a bit, not fully letting go Incase he did try to hit John again but loose enough spruce could move forward more. “I’m not going to hit John Dory Clay, he needs medical I’m going to take him up to the pod.” Clay looks at him for a bit before he lets go. Floyd lets go too, but he keeps watching spruce ready to interfere if needed. 

  He picks John up and puts him on his back , “ spruce! Come on I can walk. Put me down!” Spruce ignored him and walks back in the direction of the pod. Floyd and Clay come up next to him, Clay has John’s pack on his back and they leave the circle of trolls who move to form a path for them. hes not done with John, not by a long shot.

Chapter Text

They had made it to the village, finally. John was starting to really feel his injuries, his clothes hurting him as they rubbed against his tender bruised skin. Floyd and Clay had ran at him as soon as they had seen him. They both stopped, though, before they could tackle him seeing him being supported by sprinkleberry still. He didn’t register the village surrounding them, he only had eyes for his children. It brought him great relief seeing them okay, but where was spruce? He didn’t need to wonder long before his eldest showed up.

  Aw his poor baby. He looked beyond stressed and absolutely furious. His hair was a mess, sticking out absolutely everywhere. He had new stress lines on his face that John hoped would fade soon. When he went to ask after him  spruce punched him in the face. John doesn’t know if he really deserved that, but he also knows that his bug has reached his breaking point. Spruce wouldn’t have hit him otherwise. John’s still gonna have to talk to him about properly expressing stress and anger…. 

    Now he was holding on as best he could as spruce was walking towards where their new pod was apparently located. They walked pretty far from the rest of the village when the reached a beautiful pod made of blue green and purple felting fabric.  It was closer to the lower branches of the tree but still a pretty good distance from the ground to keep them safe from predators. 

  “Bug, please let me down, I’ll get up there on my own.” John really didn’t like feeling like he couldn’t do even the simplest things like getting up to a pod by himself. Spruce ignored him and kept walking. When they made it to the base of the tree spruce stopped, “hold on tight to me John Dory. I can’t swing us up because my hair won’t cooperate, so we’re going to go up the hard way.” Ah, it’s worse than he had originally thought. 

  Their hair is very sensitive to their feelings and will react certain ways in high emotional situations. Spruce’s hair is reacting to his stress and frustration. It’s becoming more wild and unruly, not wanting to do as spruce wants it to because he’s so stressed. Spruce starts to climb the tree and John holds on tighter to his back. He makes sure branch is secure in his hair by stiffening it a bit around him so he can’t fall out as they go up.

 They reach the pod and go in, clay and Floyd are already in the pod and have the medical kit out on the table. “This is beautiful Bug. You guys did a great job with this.” He looks around the spacious kitchen and living room in awe. He’s so happy and proud that his kids have done all this. Spruce doesn’t acknowledge John’s praise and roughly drops John on a chair. He winces as it jostles his injuries a bit, “spruce! stop being mean to dad!” John’s heart warms some when he hears branch call him dad, it’s the third time branch has called him some form of dad. It’s almost enough to make him cry in happiness. 

  Branch is growling protectively,  which is concerning for John. His starlight should be too young to be able to growl like that. Usually, a troll will gain the ability to growl when they are older,  about clays age.  Floyd can’t even growl yet, so why can branch? John will need to ask one of the medical trolls about it later, when he can move on his own again.

  “Angel?” Floyd looks over at him, “Will you please come take starlight? Little light, would you please go with them to your room? Maybe read a book?” Clay nods as Floyd comes over to grab branch. “NO! IM NOT LEAVING!” Branch hides back in his hair and grips it tighter than he already was. It kinda hurts actually, “startlight, baby please, I need you to go with angel so I can talk to baby bug okay?” He reaches up into his hair to grab his baby, but Branch just dodges his hands and squirms around tangling himself in John’s hair as he does. “NO, YOUR NOT GIVING ME TOO ANYBODY ELSE! IM STAYING WITH YOU SO YOU’LL BE SAFE!” 

  It hurts his heart that branch still thinks he’s not safe. That John will have something bad happen to him and is being extra clingy. It worries him that branch’s growling has gotten worse, And he’s shaking.  “Okay, okay bitty baby you can stay. Okay? You’re not going anywhere.” He’s glad chef is gone, she’s hurt his baby twice now and has given him a lot of trauma. John feels like a failure, he promised that branch would have a better childhood, and now he has trauma…

  Floyd looks like he doesn’t know what to do. He’s obviously concerned, John knows that, but now he’s also unable to get branch and is standing In front of John with his paws raised. John takes Floyd paws in his, giving him a reassuring smile, and hoping it doesn’t look too forced. 

  “I think he’s okay to stay where he is at the moment..” the look on Floyd’s face tells him he’s not successful in convincing him not to worry too much. “Clay take floyd and go to your room please, I need to take care of his wounds.”

  “You’re not gonna be too mad at him right spruce?” Clay is glaring at him, “you’re gonna apologize?”  Spruce looks at him for a minute, then he sighs. “ yes.” Yes to which one ? Both? Clay continues to glare at spruce for a minute before he walks over and takes Floyd’s paws from John and walks out of the room. 

  Spruce puts the bag of ice in the table, “take off your shirt John. I need to see how bad it is. And roll up your pants legs so I can get those too.” His tone leaves no room to argue, so John   Does what he’s been asked. Wincing a bit when he rolls his pants legs because of both how it hurts and how it looks. He doesn’t look at it long and just continues with the other one.  Why did it have to be his left leg though? That’s his good leg… well John guessed not anymore…

  “Sugar,  John. That leg looks bad…” spruce puts the ice on his leg after elevating it a small bit with a stool. Branch has stopped shaking now that John isn’t trying to remove him from his hair. He hasn’t untangled himself but seems content to just stay in John’s hair. He’s stopped growling, much to John’s relief.  John watches spruce work for a bit and really takes the time to look at him. Spruce has dark circles under his eyes, stress lines in the corners of his eyes, he’s frowning more than John has seen in a while, and his poor hair. John knew it was bad from how spruce ant even use it at the moment but honestly. It’s longer and is sticking out and frizzy. It’s close to the thickness that he’s used to seeing Bruce with but it’s severely unkempt and needs to be groomed back into proper order. Maybe when spruce is less mad he will let him help him?

  They sit in silence as spruce works bandaging  small wounds and trying to help the bruising littered around John. “Spruce” spruce pauses in his application of bandages to John’s arm but doesn’t acknowledge John verbally. “Baby bug” his ear flicks but he still won’t acknowledge him and goes back to wrapping bandages. He needs to be gentle with this. He can’t make his baby more upset than he already is. 

  He raised his free paw and places it over spruces paws. This gets spruce to stop but he still stubbornly refuses to look at John. “It’s okay spruce I’m okay” “how can you say that.” Spruce has kept his voice low, “ how can you sit here bruised, leg swollen, small cuts everywhere, and covered in dirt and grass stains and tell me your okay?”  Well when spruce puts it that way he can see how he wouldn’t look okay.

  “I’m okay because we made it, I’m here with all of you. That makes me okay. That makes me MORE than okay.” He squeezes spruces paws a bit and smiles at him when spruce finally looks up at him. He hides his own worry when he sees how much fear and worry he sees in spruce’s own eyes. 

  “ I’m so happy you all made it, but I’m furious it took you so long! Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been?! “ John’s happy spruce is keeping his voice lowered so hopefully the other two won’t come out to check on them. “I could take a guess” he looks pointedly at his bugs hair.

 “That’s all your fault! Look at how bad my hairs gotten. It’s frizzy it won’t listen to me, it’s so long because I’ve had to carry Clay in it a few times when he got too overwhelmed. And now! It’s stuck! It’s ugly, and frizzy and I can’t get it to go back to normal.” Spruce is getting more agitated the longer he goes on. His hair has always been important too him, so it makes sense that he’s so upset by it looking so unkempt. He frees his paws from under John’s and jabs a finger into his chest, “you get to help me fix it when we are done. It’s your fault I’m like this! You just had to take so long to find us! I was almost a liar! I told the two trollings parents you were a good tracker, what if you hadn’t made it back? I was so worried I would never see you again!”

“Baby bug, I did make it. We’re gonna be okay I promise. I’ll help you with your hair okay? Let’s just get me patched up then I’ll help, yeah?” 

 “No! Don’t you try to change the subject!” Spruce was so upset his hair poofed even more, which just served to make him even angrier. “Look at this! Your stupid Face is even right in front of me and I’m STILL upset at you!” Angry tears were gathering in his eyes as he grabs some of his hair to make his point. “ you show up hurt and limping two days later than you were supposed to, you left me with the other two kids who were also worried and upset, I had to sooth them John! I had to use the soothing rumble! Clay is so mad at me.” 

  Spruce is crying now, but whether it was from anger, sadness,  worry or all of them John doesn’t know yet. He just wants to pull his baby into his arms but he holds himself back, not wanting to overwhelm spruce.

  “ I had to build this pod by myself! Clay and Floyd were so nervous they only watched for you and stayed by me the whole time! Then when you do get back you worry them even more!” John needed to calm him down. He’s getting to worked up, he’s starting to also worry branch who has started to lowly growl again. Whether it’s for him or spruce John can’t tell yet. 

  “You fought off a Bergen! You could have died John! What would I” he lets out a gut wrenching sob here, “ what would I have done if you had left us John?” John can’t hold himself back anymore as he pulls his baby into his arms. It’s kinda hard but he holds him as close to himself as he can comfortably and tries to run his paw through spruce’s hair. It’s a bit difficult as his fingers keep snagging on tangled pieces but he makes it work.

  “Shh baby bug it’s okay, I’m not leaving you I promise.” 

 “ what would I have done without my dad? What would Clay and Floyd have done without their dad? You can’t leave us like that Johnny, please.” He buries his face into John’s chest and just lets himself be held as he cries. Branch has stopped growling but it seems he’s also now crying. He still won’t come out of his hair. This is great. now he has two crying trolls, oh wait never mind, he has four crying trolls. Floyd and Clay come rushing back in from out in the hall, obviously having been listening the whole time. They latch onto John and spruce being carful of John’s injuries as they join the hugging. 

They hug like that for a bit, John eventually starts humming a song that he knows his children will remember. He used to sing this song to them all as trollings. Sitting on the hard kitchen chair eventually starts wearing on his injuries too much.

   “ let’s go to the living room to sit on the couch okay? It will be more comfortable.” They all help John to the couch and all immediately settle on it, snuggling together. Tomorrow they will get more settled. Tomorrow they will take care of spruce’s hair. At some point he will go take branch to see someone to ask about the early growling. For right now? Right now they enjoy each others company and love and are just happy that they are all here right now.

Chapter Text

 It’s been a year since they have all settled into the new village. A lot of stuff has happened in that year. John has an almost unnoticeable limp from his run in with chef a year ago. He’s been dealing with it alright, it’s not bad enough to cause him difficulty with everyday things so he feels very fortunate. Branch is in his hair sticking his little head out and watching the path as John heads back to the pod. 

   John has been keeping his hair longer than last time, so branch can feel safer when he hides, being fully covered. 

  Being so close to the anniversary of the escape is really agitating branch. He’s been more clingy than he has been these past three months. John had made good on his promise to take branch to a medical troll after John could move on his own. His fears were confirmed when the medical troll (dusty)  told him that branch had gained the ability to growl because he had gone through two serious traumatic instances so close together. 

   Seeing two of his protectors get taken, or almost taken, never to come back had scared branch in a way that caused him to develop the protective instincts sooner than he should have.  Especially since branch thought at least one of them was his fault.

   Dusty had told him it would take a bit before branch would be less clingy. “A bit” turned into nine months. John has been trying to be reassuring to his starlight, that he wasn’t leaving anytime soon, that he would be careful. Branch hadn’t wanted to leave John’s side for more than a few minutes at a time for nine months. They got to the point in the tenth month where John could leave the pod without branch for an hour before branch had a breakdown. He’s very proud of his baby’s progress. 

 They had been slowly expanding the time that John would leave the pod for over the other two months. Now, being so close to the escape day a year ago, branch has become more clingy. Granted, not as bad as he was before but John’s hair is still his favorite place to be. 

  They had reached the pod now and John really didn’t want to climb the tree with his claws. “Starlight baby?” Branch leaned his head down to look at John. “Can you come out of my hair and into my arms so I can swing up to the pod please?” Another thing John’s had to learn to do is tell branch what he plans to do when he is around. They are working on it, but a lot of the time if branch doesn’t know where John is he will start to panic. He has learned that if he wants branch to be less stressed he needs to be more transparent with his thoughts/actions. It’s really hard for John to do that as he had spent twenty years basically alone. Sure he had Rhonda but she couldn’t talk back to him.

“Okay” branch slowly climbs down into John’s arms and John swings up into the pod using the many branches around him. Branch decides to stay in his arms since they aren’t outside anymore, John is fine with that. He heads to the kitchen to start working on dinner and sees spruce sitting at the table looking stressed.

  Spruce looks up when they walk in and he tried too cover up his nervousness. “ oh! Hey guys! Uh…. What you up too?” “Spruce, What’s wrong?”  Spruce looks away from him and rocks back and forth a bit as he holds his paws behind his back. “What do you mean? Nothings wrong..” John just looked at spruce, one eyebrow raised. Really? They are playing this game? Well, John hasn’t had all this experience raising kids for nothing. 

  “Hmm, alright then. I’m gonna make dinner, wanna hold branch? He’s feeling clingy today.” He holds branch out to spruce, who hesitates to take him but eventually does.  He smiles at them and moves to get the ingredients ready for dinner. He hums as he waits, he just needs to wait for a bit, spruce will eventually tell him. He just needs patience.

  He makes it about halfway through dinner prep when spruce finally starts talking. “Have you…. Been having problems with people recognizing you from brozone?” This caught him off guard a bit, John wouldn’t say he’s been having “problems “ per se.  But some people have recognized him here and there yeah. 

  He finishes the prep and start on the actual cooking part. “ some people have recognized me, yeah but nothing to bad.” Is spruce having issues with fans? If he is, John’s gonna have some words with them. 

   His bug is quiet for a bit, just thinking as he fiddles with branch’s hair. Branch quickly becomes annoyed with that and shoves his paws away. He doesn’t like when his hair is messed with in a non soothing way, so random fiddling is out of the question. Spruce just pulls his own hair into his paws and fiddles with that instead. 

 After his bugs hair had been heavily tangled and uncooperative last year, John had helped him groom it back to its natural silken state. Spruce had decided he liked having his hair poofy and flowing down his back instead of up in the air. He honestly reminded John of how he looked after the twenty years apart last time. Just, this time it was slightly curly, and not as long yet. Reaching only half way to the floor instead of having the tips be lifted away from the floor. 

   He stays quiet while spruce thinks, letting him gather his thoughts. 

  “ whenever I meet someone and they recognize my name they always go on and on about being ‘the heartthrob’ . Not in the ‘ oh your actually really handsome’ way but in a ‘omg your so totally hot, wanna date me?’ Way. “  spruce looked kinda hurt, he was very handsome yes, but he wasn’t really the type to just Randomly date strangers. The few dates he’s actually gone on willingly have never lasted. The trolls who have been lucky enough to be his date for the night always end up wanting to be seen with ‘a hot man’. 

  Ah, so that’s what this is about. John’s been wondering if his baby bug would want to change his name this time. John remembers talking to Bruce about this after they had reunited last time. It started out okay and he actually got some information about why he changed his name, then he said something that Bruce must have taken offense too as it suddenly escalated into a fight. It seemed they were always fighting about stupid things, and half the time John didn’t know what caused it.

  The reason last time was more than just that Bruce wanted to “get away from the band days because he was a dad”.  It was also he wanted to get away from the fans who only saw how he looked and didn’t see HIM. That’s what made brandy so special, in John’s eyes anyway, she had never only seen Bruce for how he looked. Sure she did think he looked hot and very handsome but she also took the time to get to know him. And that meant a lot to Bruce. 

  John turned from making dinner, still stirring the pot, and looked over to spruce. Branch was sitting on his legs as they sat at the table watching John make food. Spruce was avoiding eye contact and only sometimes looked in John’s direction. He was fiddling with his hair with one hand the other was keeping branch secure so he wouldn’t fall off his legs onto the floor. 

“Do I need to whoop some troll butt?” He was being 100% serious. If someone was being mean to his baby bug he was gonna kick their butts. Maybe they would learn not to mess with his kids then. Spruce let out a startled laugh, not expecting that reaction. 

  “What? No! I mean, it’s not like I’m being harassed. I just don’t want people to only see me as ‘the heartthrob from that one band that broke up’. “  happy he didn’t have to kick anyone hard enough to see stars he turned back to his cooking. “So what are you wanting to do about it bug? You looked like you were nervous earlier about something. Did you have something you wanted to do about it? something you wanted me to do about it? How can I help you here?” 

  Here spruce grew even more nervous. “I  want…. To change my name. Not because I hate the fact it was my name but because I don’t want to get stuck with it! “ now spruce has started to ramble, “ I know it’s probably a really big change, but I’ve thought it over and that seems to be the best solution. I promise I’m not trying to leave the family or anything I just-“ John lets the pot simmer as he turns and makes his way over to spruce, he places a paw on spruce’s shoulder comfortingly. Startling spruce out of his rambling.

  He smiles warmly trying to show he’s being reassuring and understanding . “If that’s what you want, and it will help you feel more comfortable with yourself. did you have a name in mind?” The surprised look on his baby bugs face was actually pretty funny, John wouldn’t laugh or he might be taken as making fun of spruce. Or Bruce now? He’s actually pretty curious to see if he chooses Bruce again.

  “Your not upset at me?” He wouldn’t be upset at spruce for wanting to be comfortable, and to stop being seen as someone he doesn’t want to be. “Of course not bug. Why would I be upset?”  He looks at branch who looks confused, he picks him up and set him on his hip as he walks over to the pot to stir it again.

  Spruce was now fiddling with his hair with both paws. “I don’t know I just thought you would be.”  Is he really that bad at accepting change that his baby thinks he can’t tell him things like this?  He thinks for a moment before he says anything, not wanting to say the wrong thing.  “ I wouldn’t be mad at you for wanting to feel like you can talk to people and introduce yourself. Now,” he turns a teasing grin over his shoulder, “ are you gonna tell me what name you wanted or should I just call you baby bug to everyone?” Branch giggles eyes shining as he looks over at his brother. 

  Spruce sputters, “John Dory! Don’t you dare!” He wasn’t really mad, John could tell, he was blushing a deep blue all the way to the tips of his ears. Branch bursts into laughter John following close behind with his own. He flips off the oven and moves the pan off the hot burner.  “I’m just kidding baby bug.” His mischievous smile stays as he turns to grab bowls from the cupboard next to him. 

  He starts to fill all five bowls one handed, as he still has branch on his hip. If he just waits a little longer…. “Bruce..”  there it is.  He smiles, turning with a bowl of soup in his hand as he goes to put branch in his chair, putting the bowl of soup in front of him. “ wait before you eat it starlight, it’s still hot.” Branch nods and stares intently at his soup, waiting for it to cool.

John shakes his head fondly at branch’s antics.

As he passes Bruce he pats him on the shoulder, “I think it’s a wonderful name and that it suits you well, Bruce.” The smile Bruce sent his way was bright, and full of happiness. He swears Bruce glowed for a moment. “ now wanna go get the others for dinner? I’ll get the table set for us.” Bruce nods standing up before giving John a quick hug and dashing out of the room to get the others. 

Chapter Text

Spruce,(Bruce now? Maybe?) was in the kitchen sitting and waiting for John and branch to get back. He really needs to talk to John about something important. He wants to change his name. It’s not that he doesn’t like his name, it’s just causing him problems when he meets people.

 He had thought that the whole brozone thing was behind him. That he could just live his life without being harassed by people who thought they could because he was an idol. Recently, when he introduces himself, he’s been having people freak out and try to get with him just because of who he is. He’s changed enough that people don’t recognize him immediately. He’s lost a lot of muscle definition in his abs, Especially since he doesn’t work out all the time anymore. His hair is different now, he’s been keeping it longer. He likes how it looks and how he can fiddle with it when he’s stressed.

  Like now. 

  He worried about how John will react. It’s a big change and John really doesn’t like change. Well. He never USED to like change. Now it seems that he’s been changing a lot of things, he’s not said anything about anything being perfect in over a year. He’s been more openly affectionate with nicknames he hadn’t used for a while UNTIL just over a year ago. And he’s called him by Bruce a few times, spruce (hopefully Bruce soon?) was really confused about that honestly. Why would John , who has raised him since he hatched, all of a sudden use the wrong name? 

  He’s tried not to think about it, because every time he does he starts going down a cotton fluff hole. He actually decided on Bruce being his new name because of John calling him by it the few times he has. He really liked how that had sounded, he wanted to be known as Bruce. It sounds better, and honestly it makes him feel happy. He doesn’t know how a name can make you feel happy but it does. 

  Now he just needs to tell John. That’s why he’s in the kitchen, waiting.  Should he even tell him? Maybe he’s just getting frustrated over nothing. Maybe it’s not actually as bad as he’s making it out too be?  He doesn’t want his dad to be mad at him, especially not for this. He should just deal with the situation and except that people are always going to react that way to him. 

  Before he has time to do anything crazy he hears John walk into the kitchen. He looks over quickly and before John can ask anything tries to cover up his nervousness. “ oh! Hey guys! Uh…. What you up too?” “Spruce, what’s wrong?” Sugar, John knows he’s hiding that something is bothering him. He shifts his hands behind him and rocks a bit In the chair to distract himself. “What do you mean? Nothings wrong…” He doesn’t look at John when he lies to him.

 John doesn’t reply immediately, so he looks back at him. Oh, John’s not buying it. He’s giving his ‘you just told me something ridiculous, and I don’t believe you at all, but I’ll wait for you to tell me’ eyebrow raise. He’s not been on the receiving end of this look in a while. Not since he tried to convince John he likes dating random trolls all the time. John had given him the same look then too. 

  “Hmm, alright then. I’m gonna make dinner, wanna hold branch? He’s feeling clingy today.”  …..why didn’t John ask what was wrong. He just accepted his answer. Why would he just accept his answer? Branch is being held out to him, he should take branch from John. He takes branch and holds him on his legs. John smiles at him and beginning to get stuff out for what looks like snuffle stew. 

  He watches John do food prep, why isn’t he asking him what’s wrong? He obviously didn’t believe nothing was wrong. Maybe did believe him ? No, he knows spruce,Bruce, better than that. Is he waiting for spruce, Bruce, to tell him what’s wrong? That must be it. John has always been good at getting all of them to be comfortable enough to tell him things. Maybe it’s a dad thing…..

   He’s gonna just jump and see where this goes,   “Have you…. Been having problems with people recognizing you from brozone?” He watches John’s back as he continues with food prep then moves to putting them all together. “ some people have recognized me, yeah but nothing to bad.”

 Bruce starts to fiddle with branch’s hair, Of course John wouldn’t be bombarded with crazy fans like he is. John was the leader, he also made sure fans didn’t go crazy around them. He was basically the leader, songwriter, manager, and bodyguard for the band. On the flip side he is also the big brother, and father too all four of them. It occurs to Bruce how much John had to take care of during the band days. Bruce only had to deal with two kids and building a pod by himself and that stressed him out so much it took hours to get his hair back to normal.  

  He moved to fiddling with his own hair with one paw and holding branch steady with the other , when branch slaps his paws away.

  As far as Bruce has seen, John has never had his hair be that tangled. He doesn’t understand how he can deal with so much stress.  Bruce HATES only being seen and not really heard. He knows he’s handsome, not in a vain way, not in a ‘ I am SO hot and handsome how could people not like how I look?’ Way, but in a ‘yes I know I look good, thank you’ way. Yes he does use it to his advantage while singing because he honestly wants someone to notice his singing and looks. To like him for him, how he acts, his quirks, his charm. He wants real love. 

Unfortunately he doesn’t know if he will ever find it.

  “whenever I meet someone and they recognize my name they always go on and on about being ‘the heartthrob’ . Not in the ‘ oh your actually really handsome’ way but in a ‘omg your so totally hot, wanna date me?’ Way. “ it hurts him that they only see him. See how he looks, and make no comment on his singing that he pours his heart into. He looks between his paw and John as he waits for John to say anything.

  When John does say something,  it catches him off guard. “Do I need to whoop some troll butt?”  He can tell John is completely serious, he has turned to look at him and his expression says it all. He stutters out a laugh, John’s ready to take action for him and Bruce is so thankful. However, Bruce also doesn’t want John going out and terrorizing any poor trolls who will happen to be on the other side of his wrath.

  “What? No! I mean, it’s not like I’m being harassed. I just don’t want people to only see me as ‘the heartthrob from that one band that broke up’. “ small lis don’t hurt, right?  John turns back to making dinner seeming happy with that answer. “So, what are you wanting to do about it bug? You looked like you were nervous earlier about something. Did you have something you wanted to do about it? something you wanted me to do about it? How can I help you here?”  

  Here he goes, no going back after this. “I  want…. To change my name. Not because I hate the fact it was my name but because I don’t want to get stuck with it! “ he needs to explain more, he doesn’t want John to hate him, “ I know it’s probably a really big change, but I’ve thought it over and that seems to be the best solution. I promise I’m not trying to leave the family or anything I just-“ he stops when he feels a paw be placed on his shoulder and looks up a bit to see John smiling at him. 

“If that’s what you want, and it will help you feel more comfortable with yourself. did you have a name in mind?” His shock must have shown in his face because John had a sparkle in his eyes suggesting he wanted to laugh but wouldn’t because he didn’t think it was okay right now. 

 “Your not upset at me?” He had to ask just to be sure, he needed to know. “Of course not bug. Why would I be upset?”  John’s quick answer soothed his nerves a small amount. John took branch from his arms and places him on his hip. He then walked back over to the soup to stir it a bit.   

  “I don’t know I just thought you would be.” He’s fiddling with his hair with both paws now that the other is free. He doesn’t want to tell John that he thought he would be mad at him, that he wouldn’t accept his choice and tell him to deal with it. He feels kinda bad now though. He should have realized John wouldn’t do that to him. That his love for Bruce would be stronger than that.

  “ I wouldn’t be mad at you for wanting to feel like you can talk to people and introduce yourself. Now,” oh no, Bruce knows that tone, John turns to look at him with that teasing grin of his,  he was right.  “ are you gonna tell me what name you wanted or should I just call you baby bug to everyone?” He felt heat rise to his face in embarrassment, branch was giggling at him (wich was adorable)  as he sputters  “John Dory! Don’t you dare!” 

  Nobody else was allowed to call him that but his family. Branch burst’s into laughter John following soon after, it warmed his heart that branch was laughing so much right now. His baby brother has been having a hard time with all his trauma, he’s been super clingy again after all the progress they have made recently. 

 “ I’m just kidding baby bug.” He watches John as he grabs bowls out of the cupboard and serves soup into each of them all with only one paw. He’s amazed with what John can do while carrying branch in one of his arms. It doesn’t matter which arm branch is in either, John can use either of his paws to do the things that need to be done. 

 Bruce wants to be as good a dad as John is. And if not just as good at the very least half as good, even then he would still be a pretty good dad. He also hopes to have a big family, with lots of kids.

  “Bruce..” John’s smile when he turns is a little less mischievous and teasing, it’s more warm and understanding. He takes branch to his chair with a bowl in his other paw and sets them both down telling branch to be carful because it’s hot. When he passes Bruce on the way back for the other bowls he puts his paw on his shoulder, looking him in the eyes.

  “I think it’s a wonderful name and that it suits you well, Bruce.” Bruce beams. He’s so happy John accepted his new name! He didn’t even hesitate to start using it, his quick acceptance made Bruce just, so, so happy his heart might burst it’s so full of joy. “now wanna go get the others for dinner? I’ll get the table set for us.” 

  Of course he would go get them! He’s so excited and happy and just. He has no words. He nods and quickly, before he can even think about it gives John a hug and books it out the door to go get Clay and Floyd. He arrives at clays door first and opens it without knocking, “Clay! C’mon dinners ready!” 

  He’s too giddy to feel bad when Clay jumps and throws his book across the room with Bruce’s abrupt entrance. He doesn’t even stop to apologize he just leaves the door wide open and runs to Floyd’s room throwing that door open as well. “Floyd! Dinners ready c’mon! “ Floyd startled pretty badly when he just barged in, he accidentally broke one of his guitar strings. Bruce winced at that, he would have to fix that for his brother after dinner. 

 That doesn’t deter his happiness high right now, and when Floyd doesn’t make a move to get up yet (he was probably to shocked to be honest) Bruce just runs up to him and picks him up. He then goes to check on Clay to see if he’s left his room yet, “spruce! Put me down !” ignoring Floyd’s protests.

  Clay hasn’t left his room yet either so he picks him up too and then runs them all back to the kitchen. John looks up from putting the last bowl of soup on the table when he rushes in like the cuddle bats from down under were after him, in shocked disbelief. “ when I said go get them I didn’t mean like this!” He was laughing he was so caught off guard. 

  Bruce smiles sheepishly and goes to set his brothers down by their chairs, he doesn’t put them in their chairs in fear of retaliation from his brothers later. “Sorry about that….” He goes and sits in his chair and starts to eat his soup.  “What the troll spruce!” Clay sounds annoyed, “what did you do that for? I was coming out soon I just wanted to get my book!” 

  “Clay please sit down, you too Floyd. I think your brother has something to share, and he’s just super excited to tell you that he lost his patience and didn’t want to wait for you guys to get here on your own. Right?” John looks over at him and he blushes in embarrassment. “Right… sorry..” 

 Clay and Floyd look at each other for a moment, then they both sit. “Do you have a girlfriend?” Bruce spits out some of the soup he was eating at Floyd’s question.“What?! No! “ “ do you have a boyfriend?” “No! I’m not in a relationship Floyd.” He doesn’t know where his little brother got that from.

 “Oh, I just thought that’s what made you so happy.” Floyd was so nonchalant with his question and just started to eat his soup like he didn’t just ask his brother if he was in a relationship. “What else would you be so happy about?” Clays question was a bit unexpected but not if you knew Clay, “ haven’t you been wanting a real relationship for a while?” 

  Bruce swirled his spoon in his soup for a moment thinking about how he would answer this, it turns out he didn’t have to. John stepped in to get the conversation back on track. “ little light, angel, let’s let him tell us what he wants to say before we bombard him with questions okay?” 

 “ okay” “sorry yeah” 

John gives him an encouraging look from the other side of the table. He takes a breath, “I’ve decided to change my name to Bruce.” He looks at his bowl as he waits for their reactions. “That’s a nice name” “yeah I really like it. Are you trying to be fancy? It sounds like it, and it suits you!” He looks up at his little brothers and sees nothing but happiness on their faces. He’s so lucky his family is here with him and that they’re so accepting, he loves them all, so much.

   “You are going to have to fix my guitar though” 

Chapter Text

John waves to branch as he walks away from his friends pod. Branch is having a playdate with a group of small trollings that John remembers as being the members of branch’s band in the future. He’s just glad branch is okay with being away from him for so long. They’ve made huge improvements in getting branch to be less clingy and more independent. It’s been almost a year and a half since they got to this new village. 

  He’s glad to see all his kids being happy, and most importantly they are together as a family still. Clay has his book club he still goes to and he’s been hanging out with viva recently. They bond over making plans and surprisingly making necklaces they never finish cause they eat the candy. From what clay has been telling him, Clay thinks it’s hilarious because he’s also been hiding the candy from viva. 

  Poppy mainly stays with her dad so far, viva tried to take her with her once to hangout with Clay. Clay told him it didn’t last long because king peppy came and got upset with viva for not telling him she was taking her baby sister with her. It had really scared the king to find poppy missing. John can relate, sometimes Bruce will just up and leave the pod with branch tucked away in his hair and John will search the pod for HOURS looking for his baby. 

 Shaking his head fondly as he huffs out a laugh, he walks back towards the pod. While he’s walking down a more secluded path towards it he stumbles on something. He hates that his limp never truly went away. It’s still not super noticeable but he can tell and it drives him nuts. What did he trip on anyway? A tree root? Maybe? Oh troll. That’s not a root. It’s an egg. It’s a weird egg that he hasn’t seen before, purple gold and silver squiggles with blue stringy hair sticking out of the top of it.

  Wait. This hair looks like that funk troll kids hair from that wedding he crashed. Why is he here? Which one is it? Wait that doesn’t matter why is the egg on the ground?! He tripped on it for sugar sake! He quickly picks it up and cradles it in his arms before turning back to the path he was on and heading back to his pod. He needs to find a way to return this egg back to where it belongs. His parents are probably worried sick! John would be.

  Getting up to the pod and into the living room as fast as he can, he puts the little egg in a makeshift nest he makes out of two blankets that were on the couch. He runs to the storage area and grabs a glow bulb. He goes back to the egg and gently picks it up, using the glow bulb to shine on the other side of the egg. To see if his trip cracked the shell at all. To his relief, the shell is fine.he sighs and moves the light bulb away, the mass in the egg suggests that the baby is almost ready to hatch. There’s no way he’s getting this back to the funk trolls parents before he hatches. 

  He was hoping he could before it hatched. Having a different genre of troll egg hatch within another genre’s care causes the trolling to be both genre’s. Not territory though, just if the main care giver of the baby’s egg switches from their original ones to a new genre.  If they hear that genre’s music first they adapt to fit with the genre they are born listening to. Especially if the egg was in the new genre’s main care within the last month of incubation. 

  Baby trollings love to copy the music of the caregivers around them. It makes them feel closer and form bonds. Sometimes it can be hard to sing other genre’s of music for most trolls, but it is possible. The more one is willing to try the genre and actually try to get to know it the easier it is. It’s extremely easy for a trolling who was raised by two genres to sing both genres. John actually learned this from future branch. 

  John had heard branch singing a mix of a country and pop song. It was really good, John had wanted to try and butchered it horribly. When he asked how branch had done it he just explained that he was accepting of the new genre he learned about recently. He had grown to love the genre and found it easier to sing it. He was amazed at how his brother could switch between the different genres. There was some that he couldn’t sing but that’s because he either couldn’t sing it because it had no words, or he had a bad experience with it. (Jazz) 

  John is accepting of any of his kids singing any genre, but he’s worried about this funk troll. He knows about the stigma the other trolls have against pop right now. The world tour hasn’t happened yet, so everyone still hates pop. What if the funk trolls don’t want their kid anymore because he’s mostly pop? He looks at the egg, yeah, he would take them and raise them if their parents had a problem. He has four, why not one more right?

  “John?” Floyd’s voice was a bit muffled from the walls that were between them but John could tell he was in the hall. “ yes angel? I’m in the living room!” He doesn’t have to wait long before Floyd walks in looking hesitant. “Can I talk to you about-“ he stops abruptly when he looks over and sees the egg. Floyd looks between John and the egg for a minute just analyzing the situation.

  “John.” Oh no Floyd seems upset. “ did you just have an egg?!” John can hear Floyd’s panic, he can also see it on his face. “ when did you start making them John?! This is huge!” Floyd inhales a Sharp breath and brings his paws up to his face, expression changing to excited panic. John needs to stop Floyd’s train of thought before it goes any further, “Floyd” his angel doesn’t acknowledge he said anything he just keeps rambling “I’m gonna be an older brother again! There’s no way I can start making a solo career now! I wanna have time to spend with my new baby sibling.” “Floyd please let me -“ it’s not working Floyd’s too excited to listen to anything he’s saying.

  Thinking fast John speed walks over to Floyd and grabs his paws. Floyd stops his rambling and looks up at John. “Floyd, angel, just listen for a second okay? I promise you can as me anything after I’m done with the explanation okay?” He waits for Floyd to nod before he starts to explain. “ this egg isn’t mine. NO! I did not steal it so don’t even ask that.” Floyd closes his mouth from wanting to do just that.

   “ I found them on the floor in the woods. Well I actually tripped over them, BUT they are fine I promise! I’ve already checked.” He had to tell Floyd that otherwise he was going to panic. John could see he was about too. “I’m planning on taking care of them till we can get them back to their parents, they don’t live here so it will be a minute before I can get them home. Okay? Does all this make sense?”

  Floyd looks confused but also understanding at the same time as he looks at the egg. It’s a weird mix that John doesn’t know how he achieved. Floyd eventually nods in understanding and looks up at him again. “ okay good good, now, what’s this I hear about a solo career?” Floyd looks surprised like he doesn’t know how he knew. His baby angel must have forgotten that he mentioned it in his excitement over the baby.

  “ I want to start a solo career.” Baby angel goes from excited to nervous in point two seconds. “ I wanted to tell you with more warning but I got so excited about the baby I guess  it just slipped out..”  he chuckles as he looks at the egg in its little blanket nest. 

  Floyd loves helping with little kids, especially branch. So having another egg and trolling in the house is probably making him excited. John smiles warmly, gently tugging Floyd over to the couch. “Do you want to hold them for a minute?” Floyd’s answering smile was bright and joyous, and he nods so fast John’s surprised he didn’t give himself a headache.

  Gently picking up the egg from the nest, John guides his baby to sitting on the couch so it’s easier for him to hold the egg. “Hold your arms out angel, not straight, gently bend your elbows, like that yes okay.” He places the egg in Floyd’s awaiting arms, shifting them till they are wrapped securely around the shell.  He steps back and lets Floyd hold the egg on his own. 

  He sneaks his camera out of his hair where he always keeps it and takes a picture. He takes the photo card as it came out the front of it and shakes it to help it develop faster. He coos as he sees the final image. His kids are so adorable! He’s adding this to the family scrapbook latter. He puts the photo and camera back in his hair before broaching the career subject again. 

  “ angel? About your solo career,”  Floyd looks up at him curious and anxious about what he was going to say about it. “I think it’s a great idea, but I would like you to focus building your career here first. Write music and release records here first to see how it goes. If you like it a lot and it works out we can talk about traveling to different places. Does that sound okay?”  He won’t almost lose his baby again, once was too much. 

  He will never forget how getting his music, his very essence, getting sucked out of him felt. It hurts to know his angel was going through that for months. That John wasn’t able to stop it last time until his baby was almost gone. No, not this time. He can’t let that happen again, he will do what he can to prevent it. He hopes he doesn’t look too pleading when he looks at Floyd right now, but he really wants him to agree, but he doesn’t want Floyd to feel like he’s forced him into staying. 

   Floyd thinks for a bit, John growing more anxious by the second. “Yeah, I’ll do that. It would probably be better than running out into the unknown without a plan.” The relief John felt when Floyd said this was so great it felt like he weighed less, it was weird. “Thank you angel, I’ll help wherever you need it okay? If you want me too.” Floyd looks back at the egg in his arms smiling warmly, “ I know, thank you JD.” 

  “What the actual fluffin sugar is that?!” Clays voice from behind him startled him so bad he jumps and turns quickly. Bruce and Clay were standing in the entrance way, looks of shock on their faces. He didn’t think before he replied and just blurted, “it’s not Floyd’s!” Their looks of shock turned to mixed shock, confusion, and horror for Bruce and joy for Clay. That was weird, why was Bruce looking horrified. 

  “Did you steal a child?!” “I’m a bruncle?!” They both spoke at the same time.

Bruce immediately turned to Clay “a wha-huh?!” Clay looks at Bruce with the same look of confusion, “why would John steal a child?!” 

“ I don’t know! Maybe he’s bored and wanted another one to look after!” 

“That doesn’t even make any sense! Branch isn’t even two yet! “

 “ it could happen! John’s been taking care of kids for his whole life basically! His last one is getting to toddler stage maybe he wants another one, I don’t know I’m just seeing an egg and saying what I think!”

 John feels heat rise to his face as he becomes flustered. Is that why Bruce had so many kids in the future? He doesn’t really want to think about that right now…

 “But why would he STEAL one?! He could literally just have one. That’s what I’m thinking he did, hence why I’m a bruncle!” 

  John knows he should step in but he’s just so shocked they are fighting about this, it doesn’t help that Floyd is laughing in the background either. 

  “What does that even mean?!” 

 “Oh, bruncle is the mix of brother and uncle! Since John is our brother but is also basically our dad his kids would be our brothers but we would also technically be their uncles! Viva and I came up with it, after I had told her about our family.”

 They all stare at Clay with amazed faces . 

“No, no, he has a point. “ of course that would stop the argument between them. Now they are both agreeing on something. Wait. John flushes happily, he loves his kids so much.  

  “Okay guys that’s enough, you broke John Dory! Look at him, he’s all flushed.” Floyd bringing everyone back to the actual issue at hand shakes John out of his shocked musings. 

“ the egg is one I found on the forest floor when I tripped over it. Wait! Before you say anything, yes I checked it for cracks, no there weren’t any cracks, yes I will be returning it to their parents as soon as I can, no it’s not possible right now as they don’t live here.” He’s trying to answer all the questions his babies could have before they ask them so the conversation is easier. “Anything else you want to ask?” Clay and Bruce start asking questions at once, “ONE at a time please!” 

They look at each other then look back at John, “so you didn’t steal the egg because you wanted another kid?” Floyd giggles behind him still holding the egg, John just lowers his head into his paws. Why is his bug like this? “No bruce, I didn’t steal this egg because I wanted another kid. If I wanted a kid I would just have one. But at this moment I’m okay with what I have.” 

“What’s your plan with this one then?” Clay, always asking for the plan because he wants to be prepared. Also, the excitement in his eyes gives him away, he wants another little sibling.

 John turns to Floyd gesturing the other two to come over and look at the egg. They come over and gently they all place a paw on the egg, feeling the movement vibrations from inside. “We are going to take care of them, They will be part of our family now and hopefully they will still want to be part of our family after we return them to their parents. Is this okay with all of you?” He looks at all of them. They all nod, “ of course” “we will take care of them” “I’m so excited to be a bruncle!” 

Chapter Text

He was hot, why was he hot? “Mmnh” he opens his eyes and only sees blurry shapes. They are making him nauseous, so he closes his eyes again. As he becomes more aware pain slams into him. Everything hurts. It feels as if his very skin is in pain. 

  His lungs hurt every time he even breathes, what is wrong with him? His head hurts so much, is he dying? What is happening? He kicks off the thin blanket that was covering him as he tries to breathe. He’s still too hot, he hurts too much. He feels tears run down his face, sobs leave his mouth and hurt his chest with every one. 

  He hears high pitched whines from somewhere. From him? No, maybe? He doesn’t know. Where is he? Is he in Rhonda? Is she whining? Should he get up? No he hurts. 

“John” who’s that? “Johnny, please, you’re sick” he flinches violently away from the freezing cold that touches his forehead. “ you’re burning up, clay! Clay go get the doctor and bring them here!” He whines at the shouts, folding his ears back to his head to try to smother them. “ oh, Johnny I’m sorry. I won’t yell anymore okay?” 

  The talking even at the tone it’s at now hurts. Everything HURTS. Please make it stop. His crying gets worse and in turn makes him hurt worse. It’s too much. Please. “Johnny, dad please.” The aching cold is back on his forehead, he shifts his head a bit trying to dislodge it but it stays. “ don’t do that, your gonna hurt yourself. The cloth needs to stay, I need to get your fever down. You’re too hot right now.” 

  It hurts to much to move and try to get it off again. Where is he? Who is with him? Rhonda? Where’s Rhonda? “Who’s rhonda?” “I don’t know Floyd, he’s been saying weird stuff for a minute. I don’t even think he knows where he is.” Who? Where who is? Is someone missing? Where’s his babies? 

  “We’re here dad, we’re here.nobody’s missing.” Dads here? No no he can’t be here. Wasn’t he taken? Wait, who was taken? What’s taken? He can’t remember… what’s happening? He hurts. He’s hot. He wants it to stop. Please… stop…

~~~

  It hurts Bruce to see John like this. 

He had heard sobbing from John’s room and had gotten up to go check it out when the sobs had turned to high pitched whines. That had scared him, John doesn’t make those noises. Especially if he’s doing okay. He sped up and had entered the room to see John on his bed covered in sweat. His blanket was on the ground and he was crying. The high pitched whines were in fact coming from John, this only made him more concerned. 

  Rushing over he picks the blanket up off the floor, “ Bruce? What’s happening?” He looks over at Floyd who had come to see what was wrong. “ John’s sick, can you go get me a bowl of Luke warm water and a cloth?” Floyd nods and goes to get them. 

  “John” his whines don’t stop, it sounds terrible when he breathes “ Johnny, please you’re sick” Bruce places his paw lightly on his forehead, John flinches like Bruce hurt him. He’s too hot, this isn’t good.

 “You’re burning up, Clay! Clay go get  the doctor and bring them here!” John whines in distress even more than he already was and folds his ears back. Oh he must have a headache, Bruce winces he hadn’t meant to hurt John with his shouting. “Oh, Johnny I’m sorry. I won’t yell anymore okay?” 

  Floyd comes back in with the bowl and rag, handing them to Bruce “ thanks” John’s crying gets worse, Bruce didn’t think that was possible but now that he knows it is, he wishes it wasn’t . It hurts to hear his dad in so much pain. John starts mumbling, Bruce can’t catch everything but he does catch, hurts, pain, and please. John says some other stuff but he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.Floyd brings over the table stool from John’s desk and puts it behind Bruce, then he goes and gets the one from Bruce’s room and sits on the other side of John’s bed. 

  Taking the rag from the bowl he rings it out till it’s damp, Floyd got the perfect Luke warm temperature, it’s colder than John’s forehead but not super cold.  “ Johnny, dad, please.” He gently puts the rag on his dad’s forehead, he has to hold it there as John starts to move his head around trying to get the cloth off. 

 “don’t do that, your gonna hurt yourself. The cloth needs to stay, I need to get your fever down. You’re too hot right now.”  He watches as John continues to cry in pain, it hurts his heart that he can’t do anything to help. “Rhonda, where?” 

  “Who’s Rhonda?” He looks up at Floyd “I don’t know know Floyd, he’s been saying weird stuff for a minute. I don’t even think he knows where he is.” They look back at John as he starts mumbling again, asking where his babies are and who’s missing. 

  “We’re here dad, we’re here.nobody’s missing.”  Floyd’s comforting tone does nothing to help John’s delirium. He starts mumbling about how dad shouldn’t be here and no .  

  Clay bursts through the door “I’ve brought the doctor! And the baby’s!” He’s holding cooper in one arm and branch in the other. “Clay! I’m not a baby! I’m three!” “Sorry baby branch, you’re still a baby.” Branch just pouts, folding his arms. 

  Dusty pushes past Clay as he heads over to check on John. Bruce gets up and moves so he can check on john easier. “What’s the symptoms you’ve seen so far?” 

 Bruce thinks back on all of them and lists them as he remembers. “ he’s extremely hot to the touch, he’s been crying in pain, I don’t think he knows where he is and I think he’s having memory problems? He keeps repeating things..” 

 “ he’s having a hard time breathing too.” Bruce is grateful Floyd has noticed that.

 They all watch as dusty checks over John anxiously. Clay had come over to stand by Bruce transferring cooper to his arms as they watch. “Is dad going to be okay? “  he pats coopers back gently, “ I hope so coop. He’s tough, he’ll make it.”  He doesn’t think that was very soothing to his littlest baby brother but it’s all he could think of to say. 

  When cooper hatched from his egg only three days after John had found him he looked weird to Bruce. He’s never seen a troll that looks like his new brother did. He had a really long neck and it looks like he walks with four legs? Where’s his arms? Oh, there they are. Cooper had raised the front two of what he thought were legs and used them to make grabbing motions at John. So he walks with both his 

Arms and legs? On all four of his paws? Also he was born with a green hat. How was that even possible? 

  “Omg John! Is he okay? What’s wrong with him?” Bruce wasn’t surprised that Clay had asked that question, he wanted to know as well, worried for his new sibling. John had picked cooper up with such a loving look in his eyes already. “Hello baby, hi, I’m John Dory. Oh, hello! Hello cooper. Welcome to the world.”   Bruce knew that John would grow attached to the new baby. He always grew attached to baby’s that he was left in charge of. 

Bruce looks at Floyd and sees the same look of understanding on his face. Yeah, they know John isn’t going to be able to part with their new sibling when he needs to return him back to his parents. They silently agree to help John when the time comes . He will need all the support he can when faced with that decision.

They looked back at John and cooper when cooper had giggled. He was so cute!! “Nothings wrong with him Clay, he’s perfectly healthy. He’s just a funk troll, they look like this.  Well he’s also a pop troll now so he’s a pop-funk troll.”

  A what troll? “What’s a funk troll daddy?” Branch the little curious baby he was, was trying to look at cooper from where he was on the couch. John had looked at branch trying to get a look at the baby and bent down to show him his new brother. “ funk trolls are one of the six main genres of trolls in the world.” 

  “There’s other genres of trolls?! “ Bruce Clay and Floyd all exclaimed at the same time. John had looked up at them and smiled such a warm smile they all couldn’t help but smile back. “ yes, we don’t know about them because we all split up from each other even before we were in the troll tree.” They all shudder remembering the tree. “ ancient pop trolls did something bad, they tried to take everyone’s music.” Horror flooded Bruce. How could someone willingly take other trolls  music? 

  Losing one’s music was a terrible thing to experience. It’s their very core, it makes them happy, it’s everything. Trolls who lose their music become sad, depressed, and are sadly often shunned… Bruce doesn’t believe they should be shunned. They need help, not hate. It’s always made him upset that the older ones in his tribe would do that to another troll. 

  Branch was playing with coopers paws as they both giggled  at whatever made up game they just made. John’s face had taken on a concerned sad look. “I’m worried that when we take cooper back to funk they will hate him. All because he’s also pop. “ Bruce puts a paw on his shoulder “if they do they don’t deserve him. We will gladly keep him in the family.” “Yeah! Anyone who would do that doesn’t get my brofew! “ John snores at clays made up mashed word. Bruce smiles fondly and shakes his head. His little bro has been spending lots of time with princess viva and loves mashing words. 

  “ I’m going to give him some numble berrys . It will help with the pain.” Dusty talking to him brings him back to the present. “ he needs soups, no solids, keep the blanket on him and keep up with the cool cloth on his forehead.”

After Dusty gives John the berries he finally calms down and falls into sleep.

Dusty turns to him holding out a few more numble berrys. “ Nash these and give them to him every four hours until the fever breaks.” 

He holds cooper in one arm and takes the berry’s with his free paw. “Thank you Dusty, he will be okay?” He needs to ask to be sure. “Yes, he has a bad case of the troll over heat disease. He’s in a lot of pain as he’s too hot, and his body is trying to cool down. He most likely has a very bad headache so keep volume down when talking and singing. His delirium will disappear when he gets cooler, it’s a  side effect of being too hot.” 

  He thanks Dusty and he walks out.  He looks at his other brothers for a moment, just thinking about what he needs to do next. “I’ll stay here and take first watch.” Floyd’s offer relieved Bruce, now he can go make food for everyone. He also needs to tell branch’s friends they can’t come over today. “Thank you Floyd.” He turns to start heading to the kitchen when cooper starts squirming. “No! I wanna stay here.” This makes branch also join in, “I wanna stay here too!  I don’t want to leave daddy! “ oh no, he can’t just up and leave them all here. John’s not feeling well, and he has to get stuff done. 

  He goes to reject them staying when Clay comes over and places a paw on his arm. “I’ll watch them Bruce. Go do stuff, okay? Floyd is watching John and I’ve got the babies. We’ll be okay.” He hesitates before nodding and giving Clay cooper. “ I’ll be back when breakfast is ready, I’ll be just in the kitchen if you need me.” Clay nods back at him and Bruce walks out to start on dinner. 

~~~

  Clay watches Bruce leave the room, his older brother must be stressing now. Clay offered to watch the two youngest for Bruce because he remembers last time he was worried for John and had to take care of two worried younger siblings. He doesn’t want to cause Bruce that much stress again. Getting his hair back to normal had been a nightmare that they all had tried to help with. In the end John had asked Clay and Floyd to go do something else while he helped Bruce. 

  “Clay, I want John!” “Me too! I want dad too!” Clay holds on tighter to the two youngest and walks over to the bed to set them down. “Okay, but be careful please. Don’t jump on him, he’s not feeling well.” He sets them both on the foot of the bed, immediately cooper and branch make their way over to John’s arms snuggling under them so they are closer to him. 

 Floyd takes the rag from off John’s forehead, rewetting it before putting it gently back. Floyd starts lowly singing one of his new songs. Clay joins in, branch joins in , and cooper rounds out  all the voices. All singing for their dad, hoping he gets better soon, and until he does they will take care of him.

Chapter Text

Branch was sitting on the bed next to John, humming one of the tunes his dad would often sing to him as he fell asleep. He’s playing with his stuffy as he waits for John to wake up. Floyd had to step out for a moment to refresh the water, so branch said he would stay here to watch after dad. He’s been sick for a little over a day, he wakes up some times but he says things that worries branch. He keeps asking about Rhonda, branch has never met a Rhonda is she one of his daddy’s friends?“ B! B!” 

  He looks over the bed and sees his baby brother! “Cooper! I thought you were napping.” Cooper giggles as he reaches his arms up to branch, “help me ups? “ branch smiles warmly at his younger sibling, reaching down he grabs his paws and pulls him up onto the bed next to him. 

  when he came home from his friends house a year and a half ago to see an egg he was so excited! He was going to be a big brother! He was going to be able to protect his younger sibling, he was going to be able to show them all the cool things he knew! They would be the best of friends, he knew it. When his brothers and dad explained how the egg got there he was confused, didn’t eggs come from the trolls parents hair? 

  They told him coopers egg was found in the forest and John tripped over it and brought it home. Sometimes one of them would carry the egg in their hair, is that how they all got in their parents hair? They found an egg in the woods and brought them home? Branch doesn’t know, he tried asking about it but he didn’t really get a clear answer… 

  When coopers was born branch was scared for his new sibling when Clay asked what was wrong with him. Branch thought the baby looked a little weird but they all looked different. Branch didn’t see a problem with how the baby looked. He even had his own hat! Why he had a hat branch didn’t know, but it was cool! What really scared him though was when his dad was saying they would have to to return cooper to his parents at some point. 

  They were sending cooper away? Why? They said he was their family, why would they send him away? “B! Is daddy okay?” He looks at his baby brother, cooper looks concerned but hopeful. “ of course he is coop! He’s strong, he’ll make it.” Cooper wobbles over to John and climbs onto his stomach, lying down and putting his head on his chest  listening to his heart beat. 

  Branch goes over and joins him, quietly they listen to John’s heartbeats, comforted by the knowledge he’s safe. Soon they fall asleep, warm and snuggled close to their dad.

~~~ 

   Floyd sighs as he walks back to the room, he got a bit sidetracked as he was getting the water. Clay says he can’t find cooper, he had just put cooper down for a nap and now he wasn’t in his nest. He wanted to help Clay look for his younger sibling but he also had to go back to John and branch. Clay said he was okay to find cooper and that Floyd should go back to John. 

  Walking back into the room he sees the cutest sight. Branch and cooper are snuggled next to each other on John’s chest sleeping peacefully. He coos at the sight and goes over to set the bowl of water on the bedside table. He reaches into John’s hair and pulls out the camera he knows John keeps there, he finds it funny that John thinks they don’t all know it’s there.

  He takes a photo and takes the printed one out of the front and shakes it like he’s seen John do multiple times. Awwww his baby siblings are so adorable!! He smiles warmly and puts the photo and camera back in John’s hair. That will be a fun surprise for his dad when he wakes. He takes the warm cloth off John’s head rewetting it before placing it back.

  “ Floyd I still can’t find- oh, there he is.” Clay comes into the room fast at first then slower once he saw cooper asleep next to branch. “Awww, did you already take a photo?” Floyd huffs a laugh, “of course I did.”  Clay chuckles and sits in the chair opposite Floyd in the other side of the bed. “Do you think JD will ever figure out we know about the camera?”

“Oh troll, I hope not. It’s so funny to see him trying to hide it.”

“Heh, yeah.” They say in silence for a bit, “ how’s your solo career going?” Floyd looks up at Clay, slightly surprised. “It’s going good actually. I’ve sold a lot of my records! I was really worried I wouldn’t get as many fans since I sing more sad pop songs than anything upbeat.” He puts his head in his paw resting his elbow on his knee. “ I just wish I didn’t have to do everything for it. Keeping track of everything is a bit stressful for me.” 

  “Would you…. Like help?” Clay wants to help him? He’s offering to help him with keeping track of things? “ I mean! Only if you want help? I’m not trying to say you don’t have things covered I’m just wanting to be helpful! You know what, sorry I shou-“ he quickly holds his paws out “no! No Clay it’s fine! Really, I would love your help keeping things organized and stuff like that.” Clay looks so eager, Floyd knows his brother would be great at helping him. 

 “Really?” Clays eyes are sparkling in joy at the prospect of helping him. Floyd smiles warmly at his brother. “Of course!” 

  “Thank you Floyd! I’ll do my best I promise!” 

“I know you will Clay, thank you.”

 “ ugh, what happened?” The both turn to look at John so fast Floyd’s surprised his neck is okay. “John!” Floyd jumps into action, “ you’re awake! You were sick for a few days, you had the over heat disease but Dusty said you would be fine. Clay can you go get Bruce?” He nods and leaves to go find Bruce.

 Floyd takes the cloth off John’s forehead and places his paw where it was. John’s fever has broken, thank troll. “ how are you feeling? Anything hurt? Are you hot still? Should I get you some ice to chew on?” John gently grabs his paw, “ angel, I promise I’m okay. Nothing hurts right now. I’m just tired. “ 

  Floyd is so relieved, he doesn’t have to worry that John won’t get better anymore. John finally looks down at his chest, seeing both branches and cooper asleep there. He coos out loud, Floyd smiles at that. “My babies are so cute!” 

  “Oh I see how it is,” Bruce and Clay walk back into the room, Bruce with a teasing look in his eyes “ only the two youngest are cute huh?” 

John’s own eyes fill with mirth and twinkle with love at seeing all his babies in one place, safe and sound. Floyd knows what’s coming, John’s always been a sap.

 “ of course not, I said my babies. You are included in that baby bug.” Floyd and Clay snicker at Bruce whose face flushes three shades darker blue at that. “ oh you’re laughing now but you two are also my babies, my angel and little light.” John’s mischievous grin is in full force as they all blush. 

 Floyd knows they are all going to be okay.

John’s awake and feeling better, and they are all here together. 

Chapter Text

“ are you all packed?” John walked into the living room where everyone was waiting. After he had gotten super sick  last year he had gotten questions about who Rhonda is. Floyd had told him he was a bit delirious and saying things that didn’t really make sense. Rhonda was the one that he caught the most, he was asking where she was a lot . Where his babies were was a close second, much to his kids embarrassment. John knew he had needed to wait a few years to go and find her, as she was a baby when he found her so she wouldn’t have been born yet. He couldn’t just up and leave his kids though so his solution? They were all going hiking together up the neverglade trail.

  “Yep!”

“Of course”

“Should I pack more stuff?”

“ mhm! I got cooper and myself ready!”

   When he finally looked at all their bags he had to hide his snicker at how full clays bag was. He glanced at Bruce who just shrugged at him, mouthing he tried at John. Clay was always super cautious, and he was always prepared. “I think you’re good Clay, you don’t need to pack more stuff I promise. You do know you have to carry that the whole time?” 

  “Of course! It will be fine I can handle it! And if I can’t I’ll just give it to Bruce.” Clay snickers when Bruce scoffed indignantly, “ I will not carry your things Clay! You packed it, you carry it.” 

  “Aw come on Bruce! Don’t you love me? Aren’t you the best big bro I could ever ask for? You’re gonna make me carry this heavy thing all the way there?” Clay was making cuddle pup eyes at Bruce trying to play up his cuteness so his older brother would cave to his demands. John knew This was going to happen, he knew Clay would pack too much and try to pawn it off to bruce. He smiles at their playful fighting, glad they were both not actually upset. 

  He lets them bicker and turns to his other kids. Branch and cooper look ready and each have a small pack with them. “Did you get your extra cap, cupcake? “ cooper doesn’t wear clothing like the rest of them so he doesn’t need a huge bag of clothes but he loves his hats. John had gotten him one to match the one he was born with, specifically so he could wash one and cooper could have the other with him.

  “Yep! B helped me get all my things I wanted to take with me!” Cooper snuggled into branch’s side, well actually more like branch was snuggled into his side because even though cooper is only two he’s still taller than branch. He hasn’t even hit his growth spurt yet! John knows his littlest baby is gonna be even taller than he himself is at some point, but until then he’s gonna enjoy carrying him around while he can.

  Branch was giggling as he and cooper pushed each other slightly in different directions. “ I’m also ready! I got my stuffy too!” Oh good John was not gonna let branch’s stuffy be left behind. “That’s good starlight. “ 

He turns to Floyd next, “do you have enough stuff to write with while we are gone? Just Incase you need it?” Floyd’s solo career was actually going pretty well. John was so proud of his angel. 

  “Yep! I even brought a recording device Incase I wasn’t to record one of my new songs.” Floyd had changed his hair style to having some side bangs, he looked even cuter with them this young than when John had seen him last time. He didn’t know that was possible but his kids keep getting adorable all the time. He’s going to have to make a third scrapbook of all the photos he has soon. 

  “That’s great angel! Hey, let’s all take a family photo before we go!” He looks over at Clay and Bruce who stop fighting at his words and come over to join them. He reaches up and grabs his camera from his hair. He figured out his kids knew about the camera after he found a picture of him asleep with cooper and branch on his chest. He knew he hadn’t taken it so one of his kids had to have done it.

  They all grouped together branch and cooper in the arms of Floyd and Bruce, John in the middle front kneeling a bit and Clay behind John. They all smiled at the camera and clustered closer together. After they took the photo John put the camera and photo safely in his hair. 

  They gathered their packs and left the pod, heading to the village where some of their friends were waiting to send them off. Poppy and viva ran to Clay branch and cooper wishing them all safe travels. Branch’s smaller group of friends from his future band also went up and wished him well. Sprinkleberry and butternut walk up to him with their kids to wish him good luck and safe travels as well. 

  After he had gotten them all back to the other trolls they had kept in touch with each other and had become friends. They talked a lot and their kids knew each other but didn’t really hang out much. “You be careful now John Dory. You’re going past the Bergens and you need to watch all those kids.” Yes, John had told his kids they had to go past the Bergens to get to the neverglade trail and they all knew the danger of it. He was a bit worried for how branch was going to react, but he hopes it’s not too bad. He’s preparing for if it is though.

  “ I will butternut I promise.” “You’ll be safe uncle John?”  He looks down at butternuts oldest child, “ I promise I will creek. You take care of your sister okay?” Creek nods, holding his sister paw tightly in his own. John pats his head making creek giggle a bit and his behind his dad. 

 After they had gotten back to the rest of the trolls, sprinkleberry and butternut had gotten together and had creek and his younger sister spring. All the little trollings who hangout with his own kids have adopted to calling him uncle John. He blames viva. She was the first one to call him that then boom and guy had during their escape, now all the trollings who know they have all started calling him that. It’s actually kinda sweet, so he hasnt stopped them.

  “The trollings are all gonna miss their uncle John. So don’t you dare get caught, you hear me John Dory?” Sprinkleberry had a stern tone to her voice, she means business. John holds his paws up “of course not sprinkle, I would dream of it.” She nods then pulls him into a hug. He hugs her back tightly then steps back to go back to his family. 

  “Ready?” They all nod, “okay let’s go!” He picks up cooper and holds him on his hip and grabs branch’s paw in his own and they head out into the forest. 

Chapter Text

Bruce hadn’t meant to hurt John as much as he did with their fight earlier. He just got worried because his brother was going on and on about being perfect. Perfect broke their family apart, perfect gave him self image issues for years! He still struggles with it sometimes. Brandy, his beautiful wife, has had to help him out of his depressive episodes a lot during their marriage and sometimes even before they had gotten married. 

  He sighs as he walks up to the place John has been keeping Rhonda while they are at pop village. His older brother had apologized already for that, he had truly been trying recently and Bruce was very happy with that. He was happy he was getting his brother back, the one he had before John got too obsessive with perfect. The John he knew before their parents had gotten into his head with their perfect speeches. Bruce doesn’t know what they had said to John but after their last talk he became obsessed with being perfect, everything had to be perfect. 

  The fight got too out of control Bruce said some things he regrets now, that’s why he’s going up to find John. He needs to apologize.

~~~

“John Dory?!” He pulls his brother from his bed checking for a heartbeat for anything showing his brother is alive. He can’t find a heart beat. Why can’t he find a heartbeat?! Frantically he puts his ear to his brothers chest, he basically stops breathing as he listens hoping to hear anything from his brother. He waits, praying for anything to show his brother is alive anything at all. 

  He hears a faint beat, it’s so slow but at least it’s there. “Rhonda!” She warbles at him, “ get us to the village!” She gets up to start getting them to the village, before she can though she’s stopped. Bruce is confused, why isn’t Rhonda going to the village? “Rhonda?! Come on we need to go !” 

  “I stopped her, there’s nothing they can do for him at the village.” Bruce clutched his brother close to his chest as he heard that. He whipped his head around and saw a weird looking troll who was, floating? What the troll?  “Of course there is! There has to be!” Bruce won’t let John die . He can’t die, Bruce hasn’t apologized yet. John hasn’t met all his kids yet, he hasn’t spent anytime with his wife yet. No, his brother can’t die! He won’t allow it!

Chapter Text

The huge stone wall is very intimidating, it looms  over them all in all its crumbling cracked glory. John looks at Bruce, making eye contact with him. He looks quickly over at Clay, who is holding branch, and Floyd, who is holding cooper, then back at Bruce. John can tell Bruce doesn’t want him to do what he’s about to do, but he has to make sure they go the right way. 

  Believe it or not he’s actually pretty bad with directions. He has to have seen it first or he gets lost. Rhonda would always be the one to get them places. Even though she can’t actually talk to him, he still raised her. She can understand him perfectly well and most of the time he knows what she wants to say. After fifteen years with just him and her, he’s pretty confident he knows her really well. 

  He flicks his eyes over to the younger kids again, Bruce follows his gaze for a split second before he sighs. He watches as Bruce walks the few steps over to them, “ hey, let’s go get some snuffle berries for dinner tonight.” John had shown them the difference between snuffle and wuffle berries on the first day of their journey. The younger two still have to be watched by one of the older siblings when they pick them just to make sure. 

  He watches them all head over to the forest to get some berries. He waits, counting for a few seconds before he scales the wall. He needs to see where they are so he can see what direction he should proceed to lead them in. He gets to the top of the wall and crouches just to be extra sure he’s not seen. The Bergens are just as depressed as they always are. John doesn’t really feel bad for them, they ate trolls for generations. He doesn’t think they deserve his sympathy.

  Looking around quickly he spots it. The mountains are northeast of where he is now. He then looks at the wall around Bergen town, following it in the direction they need to go. Once he’s sure he knows what direction to go he climbs back down the wall, and goes to join the others. 

  “Cooper, not that one! That one’s bad, see?” Well he can hear them so he must be close. “Ooh okay, thank you B!” He gets to the small clearing of bushes that Bruce had taken them all too, branch is helping cooper with clay supervising. John feels a warm smile forming on his face as he watches branch show cooper two berries, pointing out the differences between both. 

  Branch was such a kind and caring big brother to cooper. John knows branch likes to help others.  when John had come back after those twenty two years away last time, he wasn’t really shocked to see that branch was great at watching tiny diamond. And the joy John had seen on his baby’s face when he had heard he had nephews and a niece had made his day. John is happy that this time he doesn’t have to try to relearn how to act around people after years of isolation.

  When branch had first told them about when he was grey, John’s heart had cracked just a bit. His baby was in isolation for so long that he didn’t know how to act around others very well. He was having to relearn all of that. John’s very glad that poppy was helping him out with that. he’s very happy to have been here this time, he knows his baby won’t have to relearn anything. 

Bruce waving his paw at him brought his focus over to his bug. John nodded at The questioning look Bruce sent him when he knew John was looking at him. Bruce nodded back and picked a few more berries, putting them in his bag before he came over and stood next to him.

 “ how long do you think we will be by the town?” Bruce was watching the others collect berries, gently teasing each other as they did.

 “ about three hours. That’s if we don’t stop for anything.” He folds his arms across his chest, he hates that they have to be by town that long but they have to pass the town to get there. He doesn’t want to go to far from the wall because what if they get turned around? John would prefer to have a physical marker that he can watch to make sure they are going the right way. 

  “ we’ll have to keep the little ones quiet the whole way. We can’t risk the Bergens hearing us.” Bruce makes a good point. They have to remain completely quiet while they are by the wall. The Bergens have really good hearing, they would always get upset with them for having huge party’s at night. 

  “ should I sooth them? We can both carry one in our hair the whole way. Then they will be asleep and I won’t have to worry about them being too loud. Three hours is a long time for trollings to be quiet.” Truth be told John had faith branch could keep quiet the whole time, he’s done it before. When he was being super clingy he would stay in John’s hair for hours at a time. Most of it would be silent as he was always watching. 

“ if you are going to sooth them to sleep the rest of us should go somewhere else so we don’t sleep as well.” John’s heart swells with warmth and affection, he’s so happy all his babies trust him so much. “ do you really think branch couldn’t keep quiet though?”

 “No, I know he could. I’m more worried about cooper. He’s so active and I worry that since he doesn’t know the actual danger he won’t be as cautious. Sure we’ve told him, but he hasn’t seen it.” John’s youngest is so hyper and happy, John is so proud of it but he needs to be cautious here. He’s not losing any kids today. Or ever. John hadn’t realized it but he’s frowning at the thought of them being discovered. 

  Bruce puts his paw on his shoulder, “ if you want to you can, I trust your judgment here. Honestly it’s better safe than sorry.” John looks at him and sees honest sincerity in his bugs eyes. John smiles gratefully and places his own paw over Bruce’s. “ thank you baby bug.” 

 “What are you two talking about?” John jumps as Floyd suddenly appears next to them. “Angel! Don’t do that, you scared the sprinkles out of me!” Bruce and Floyd both laugh at him. He pouts a little trying to hide his own smiles, “we are talking about the younger two. I’m thinking I sooth them so they are asleep while we go past town.” 

  “ you do know branch is super anxious right? Being this close to Bergen town and all?” John could tell yes, it doesn’t surprise him that Floyd could tell as well, he’s been observant of others feelings forever.  He sighs, “yeah” they watch branch and cooper start throwing berries at each other. Clay tries to stop them only to be pelted with berries. The berries aren’t very juicy so they just bounce off him, but it’s still funny to watch. 

  “Are you sure he will not fight you when you try to sooth them?” Floyd is bringing up lots of good points right now. “ and will it even work in cooper? Since he’s not fully pop?” Sugar, Floyd is making a lot of sense and John doesn’t really want to think about that. But he has to think of that…. Sprinkles ….

  “ let’s just go get Clay and let him try, okay Floyd? If we don’t try we won’t know, but we do know that it will work on US so…..” John’s grateful to Bruce right now, he probably saw John’s face fall in concern and was trying to help him out. 

  Bruce and Floyd walk over to Clay and talk for a second before all three walk off into the forest. John approaches cooper and branch trying not to be too anxious about this working. 

  He smiles at his babies when they look over to him, “ are you two having fun?” Their bright smiles and shining eyes tell him they are before they do. “Yes!” “ yep!” Cooper runs the last few steps over to him and pulls out one of his berries, “ look daddy look! Branch helped me get the correct berries!” 

 Branch comes up beside cooper, smiling a big toothy grin. “Is that so? Starlight you helped cupcake get the right berries?” Branch nods looking so excited. “ that was nice of you, did you say thank you cupcake?” Cooper giggles and nods as well. “ do you guys want to come sit with me ?” John starts heading over to agree a few paces away, hoping they will follow him. 

 He sits at the base of the tree and pulls his kids to his sides. Here goes nothing. He starts out humming a song, subtly adding in rumbling and chittering until eventually he was only rumbling and chittering. Soon, both his little ones were sound asleep agains his sides. 

  Tears stung his eyes, cooper had fallen asleep. John had told cooper a few months ago that he was, in fact, adopted. That at some point, when John could, he would take him to meet his egg parents. Cooper had understood what all that meant after John had taken the time to explain it. Cooper had told him that even if John hadn’t had his egg, he was still his daddy. That he loved all of them and they were  still his siblings, still his bruncles.

  Admittedly, John had been worried that since cooper knew he wasn’t biologically related to them he wouldn’t love them like family. The tears in his eyes fell down his cheeks as he hugged his babies closer to him. He’s so happy. Cooper was serious, he loved them all like family. Him falling asleep to John’s rumbling chitter proved it. 

~~~

  Bruce was a little worried John’s plan wouldn’t work. He was worried that because cooper was a different type of troll, their biology would be too different for cooper to instinctively go to sleep. 

  He was thinking of ways to keep cooper calm as they all went back to where they had left John. Just in case. They walked back into the small clearing, seeing John by the base of a tree hugging the two youngest against him. He was…. Crying? Why? What’s wrong?

  “Johnny! What happened why are you crying?” Bruce was the first to reach him, he knelt down next to him putting a paw on his shoulder. John looked over at him, he was smiling. “ nothings wrong baby bug.” John looks back at cooper and branch, “ they both fell asleep.” John’s smile was bright and full of love . 

  Bruce knew what this meant. His baby sibling loved them and accepted them as family! Maybe the biological differences didn’t matter if they were family. His own smile must have been extra bright as well. John rubbed his face with his paw, smearing the tears there. He shifts and hands Bruce cooper, “he’s too big to fit in my hair, could you carry him in yours?”  Bruce carefully takes cooper in his arms. 

 “Yeah, then we need to move.” He shifted his hair a bit, puffing it out just a small amount before putting cooper into it and securing it around him. He turns to Floyd, a question on his facial expression. Floyd nods answering the unasked question. Good, coopers covered. They’re good to go. 

  They all take one more second to get situated before John starts walking in a certain direction. They all follow after, anxious to get away from the wall.

~

   It’s been almost three hours, Bruce is looking forward to being out of the danger zone. John had said three hours so they must be close right? He watches as John scales a tree and looks around. After a moment John comes back down and over to Bruce. “ we are close. Then we would walk for a few more hours before we set up camp for the night.” 

“ you have the tent right?” Floyd and Clay were behind Bruce. Hoping for a good answer. “Of course I do! “ 

  “Good good, just wanted to be sure.”

 They walk the rest of the way in silence. Keeping sure none of them made any loud noises. 

  When they finally made it to the spot John deemed safe enough to rest, Bruce sat down heavily. Floyd and Clay sat down next to him and leaned their heads on his shoulders. “Maybe, *huff* I shouldn’t have packed so much..” he smiled at clays words, and shook his head. 

  “It’s too late now bud. We aren’t going back just so you can unpack some stuff.”

 “Aww, are you sure you don’t wanna help me carry it?” Bruce stubbornly looked away from Clay. He knew his baby brother was making those adorable cuddle pup eyes at him. He wouldn’t be able to say no to his brothers cute face if he looked.

“No clay”

“Please Bruce?” 

“No”

 “ please~ brucie? Help your baby bro out?”

Bruce made the mistake of looking over at Clay. Aww, how could he say no to this cute little angel in front of him? Of course he would help him.  “ okay “

 “Yay!” The angel disappeared and left Clay behind, oh sugar! Bruce fell for it again! John’s laughter brings Bruce’s attention to the fully set up camp John had somehow thrown together in such a short time. 

  There was two tents, no fire pit they couldn’t risk the smoke yet, and six bowls of berries set up for them. How the troll had John done this so fast? Bruce looks as Floyd who shrugs back at him. So Floyd doesn’t know how he did it either. He looks at Clay next who also shrugs at him. Huh, that’s strange. How did he do that?

~~~

  She woke up. Where was she? She looks around, she’s in the forest. Is she smaller? Everything looks so much bigger. Oh, It worked. That weird troll had actually kept their promise. 

  Her troll dad was gone. Rhonda knew he was. Ever since he had found her in the woods all those years ago she had formed a connection with him. She loved him and knew he loved her too. She was there for him when he faded in color because he was sad his hatchlings were gone. He adopted her and she is very happy with that. She was left alone in the wilderness. When she had woken alone she thought she would Surely perish. 

  Fortunately for her, her troll had found her and kept her safe. Even when he himself was in a bad place, he always made sure she was okay. And now, The weird floaty troll had taken him from her. She was devastated but she couldn’t reach him herself. Then his oldest hatchling had come up and she had tried to tell him about her dad. That he was gone, and they couldn’t follow.  Then the weird floating troll had asked her if she wanted to join her troll dad. 

 Of course she did! She would always want to go where he went. They looked out for each other. Now she was waking up, in the forest, smaller than she was a few moments ago. Next to her broken egg. She would find him. No matter how long it took, she would find him.

  She chose a direction and started walking. Eventually they would run into each other, even if it took years. 

Chapter Text

hickory and dickory’s native tongue

song

~~~~~

   John looks out over the valley from the cliff top he’s on, he takes a deep breath, enjoying nature. The sunrise is beautiful today. They have been hiking for a week, they have reached the neverglades and have started the hike itself. It took John a month to hike last time, and this time he has his kids with him. Maybe it will take longer? 

  He hadn’t noticed he was humming softly as he watched. He doesn’t notice when his soft humming wakes Floyd. Right now he’s thinking about Rhonda. He hopes he finds her soon, he misses her. It might be strange to some trolls, but Rhonda is like a daughter to him. He found her as a baby and raised her himself. He knows she’s an armadillo bus and not a troll, but he’s certain she’s able to comprehend things the same way he is. Even if she can’t talk to him, it’s never been hard for them to communicate.

  This bond between us

Can't be broken

I will be here

Don't you cry

 He’s started singing the lyrics out loud as he thought of his girl.

Cause you'll be in my heart

Yes, you'll be in my heart

From this day on

Now and forever more

Floyd comes over and sits next to him, 

Singing the next lines of the song

You'll be in my heart

No matter what they say

You'll be here in my heart always

John ends the song early 

Always~

 As the last note fades he looks at his baby angel, he’s grown so much over these last three years. He’s working on a solo career with Clay that’s going really well, and he’s still branch’s favorite brother. Bruce pouts about that fact constantly, John thinks it’s funny. 

 “ sorry I woke you angel.” Floyd shakes his head at his apology, “ no I wanted to see the sunrise anyway.” They watch the sun rise past the peaks of the mountains, and the colors fade to solid blue. John hopes Rhonda is close to where they met last time, he doesn’t know where to look otherwise. 

 “ hey John?” Floyd’s tone was curious but also had a hint of hesitation. “Hmmm?” John wasn’t feeling like words at the moment, he’s too lost in thought about where Rhonda could be. He hopes she’s okay, he wants to find her soon. “Why are we in the mountains? What are we looking for?”

 John’s thoughts freeze at that. “What uh, what do you mean?” Sugar, he messed that up. He sounds nervous and knew Floyd could tell.  He avoided looking at him though, he didn’t want to show just how nervous he was. 

“ Johnny, come on I’m not buying that.” Floyd was careful with his tone, John knew what he was doing, he did the same thing to branch when he thought his baby was hiding something. What does he say here? That he’s hoping to find his lost armadillo bus daughter? That he shouldn’t know about? He can’t say that, what does he do? He starts fiddling with his paws, trying to distract himself. Floyd is patient enough to wait this out, John knows he is. 

  “Umm, uh, I just wanted to go hiking with you guys? For bonding?” He looks quickly at Floyd, he looks completely in disbelief, yeah, he’s not buying it. John sighs, “ okay, when I was sick I had a weird dream. It showed a small creature that I felt a strong connection to. I’m hoping to find them.” They sit in silence for a moment before Floyd finally breaks it.

  “ so you brought us all out here, because you had a dream about a creature? And you want to find them?” 

  “….yes?” 

  Floyd stares at him, John can practically see the gears in his head moving as he thinks. “Yeah, okay sure. I’ll believe that for now.” What? There’s no way his angel just bought that. 

“You’re not going to ask anything else?” 

“Nope”

 “ not, how do I know where to find this creature?”

“Nope”

 “ not what creature I’m looking for?”

“Nu uh”

“Why?”

 Floyd places his paw on top of John’s, “ because this is important to you.” How did he? “I know because you have that look on your face that is the same one you wear when you are worried about us.” He does? 

“ you had that look on your face when branch was sick right after he hatched, when one of us got stage fright before preforming, and when Bruce comes home from a failed date.” 

  Was he that obvious? Before he could ask anything else, he hears the others at camp wake up. Bruce wakes up first who then wakes up Clay. He should get breakfast going. He stands, pulling Floyd up with him. He pulls his angel into a hug, cradling his head to his shoulder. “ thank you angel, for believing in me. For understanding.” Floyd hugs him back tightly. 

  “Of course dad.” He loves his kids so much. 

He goes to release Floyd and head back the few steps to camp when he’s tackled from behind. “Daddy!” “Dad!” He stumbles a bit but Floyd steadies him. “ cooper! Branch! I didn’t know you two were up yet.” He feels them both climb up into his hair, he’s extremely glad he’s kept it long this time. How else would he carry his babies? 

 Two colorful heads appear in his vision as his two babies look down at him giggling with each other. “ Clay woke us up” “ he told us we should come get you so you can make food!” 

John starts walking back to camp, Floyd next to him ready to catch a trolling if they decide to spontaneously jump off his head. 

  “Did he now?” He smiles fondly as the color moves from his vision as they sit up. “Mhm!” He moves over to the fire that Clay has already set up. “ what should I make mr. impatient ?” Clay glares grumpily at him, “ don’t call me that.” Aww his little light is still tired. He coos and takes out his camera, taking a picture of his baby. 

  “What- JD! Give me that!” Clay lunges over at the photo trying to grab it. John just laughs and moves away from the fire so nobody accidentally gets too close. 

 “  nu uh little light! This is mine now!” He hands the photo to branch, who moves fully into John’s hair, hiding from Clay as he giggles. Cooper, not wanting to miss all the fun jumps from John’s hair onto Clay and climbs into clays hair, giddy and trying to join his brothers fun. 

 “Wh- coop! C’mon! Get out so I can get John!” 

  “Nu-uh!” Cooper tangles himself into clays hair as he avoids clays grasping paws. Giggling joyously the whole time.

  Their fun is brought to a hault when they hear a strange sound. Everyone becomes silent, just listening. 

  “Yodely-oh-edy oledy!” 

 What the actual hair is that? John’s hair puffs at the strange sound. “ get to the tent.” His command was whispered, he didn’t want what ever this was to see his kids. What if it was dangerous? Bruce, whose hair has also puffed, hurry’s to usher his brothers into the tent. John follows behind, he grabs a knife he had hidden in his bag. Once everyone is in the tent he tries to take branch out of his hair, “ no! I’m not getting out. I know what you’re doing. You’re not going out there again to face whatever that is alone!”

  He feels branch clutch tighter to his hair,

“Oeledy dededee delow “

 He doesn’t have time to fight branch, the noises are getting closer. “John let me-“ he stops Bruce in the middle of his sentence with a growl from deep in his chest. He feels branch curl up in his hair, and he sees his other babies do the same. They all fold their hair back and curl on the floor, making themselves smaller and keeping all their limbs safely under them.

  Bruce is looking at him with such anger and panic, he knows he’s gonna hear about this after he deals with whatever is coming closer. Right now , he doesn’t care, he’s keeping his kids safe. He reaches up to forcefully take branch out of his hair, when he finds him and tries to take him out he realizes branch had purposefully curled with some of John’s hair trapped with his limbs. 

 His smart baby, he knows John can’t take him out if he has his hair stuck with him. He will need to release them to get him out and he doesn’t have time for that. John does the next best thing he can in this situation. He shifts his hair to create a small cocoon around branch with the center part of his hair. The hair surrounding the cocoon puffs to make him look larger and he exits the tent. Closing it securely, ignoring the warbchirs directed at him. 

 He brandishes the knife in his hold, knife held down along his arm blade out so he can slash and stab easily while also being able to deflect hits with the knife instead of his bare arm. He crouches just a bit and growl’s warningly at the rustling bushes. Nothing is hurting his babies. 

Nothing.

~~~

Hickory was enjoying his time out here in the mountains. His brother, dickory wanted to start being bounty hunters. They haven’t gotten many jobs yet… Surprisingly most trolls  don’t put bounty’s on others. They have gotten a few odd jobs that most trolls don’t want others to know about. Like the one they are doing now. They were hired by some weird rock troll to find a wuzzle berry. 

  What’s a wuzzle berry? Hickory doesn’t know…. It grows closer to the pop tribes area so many trolls wouldn’t come here willingly, Not wanting to risk running into any pop trolls.  Pop trolls had almost taken over all music, and they were, apparently, one of the largest genre in numbers. Nobody has seen any signs of the pop tribe in generations, and most were grateful for it. 

  Hickory was very curious about them, he wanted to know what they actually looked like, and how their music sounded. Every troll he talked to about it would get all huffy and say they were annoying, non original, fake, ugly. Were they really all that? Hickory deeply wanted to know.

  They were yodeling a beautiful song, he loved how it echoed off the mountains. They had seen some smoke and were heading towards it, either it was a forest fire or, hopefully, a troll who could help them find a wuzzle berry. They were so close, only needing to pass a few bushes. Hickory was the first out of the bushes and what he saw stopped him where he stood.

   A stunning light blue troll with dark green very puffy hair, was standing in front of a tent brandishing a knife and growling at him. “ hickory! What did you stop for?” Dickory came out of the bush next to him. This seemed to agitate the troll more as their hair puffs up even more and starts to stick out in all directions. Their growling gets louder, hickory not wanting to get in a fight with this handsome troll slowly lifts his paws into the air.

  “ ah, uh hello? Do you understand me?” He switches to the language most trolls will understand, hoping to calm the other troll more so they can talk civilly. The trolls growling stops, and their ears twitch forward towards them. That’s a good sign, right? Wait, is this a pop troll? They aren’t ugly, hickory has never seen a more stunningly beautiful troll. Their colors are bright and lively, and is that gold glitter freckles? 

  “ who are you?” Even their voice is beautiful, he wants to know their name. What is this? he’s never felt this way before. He’s so focused on the troll in front of him he forgets to answer. Good thing his brother is there, “ I’m dickory, this is hickory. We are just looking for berries. We aren’t here to cause problems.”  Dickory also has his paws up and is watching the troll in front of them with caution.

 “ berries.” The troll sounds skeptical,

“ your not going to harm me or my kids?” He has kids? Is that why he’s guarding the tent so viciously? Hickory gets control of himself finally, “ no, no we would never harm you or your kids.” He hopes he sounds sincere, he could never hurt this amazing troll. 

 The troll narrows his eyes, obviously not believing them. He doesn’t  change his stance but his hair becomes less poofy. Hickory needs to prove that he means no harm. Slowly so as not to startle the troll in front of him he gets down on the ground, he lays on his side and looks up at the troll. “Hickory! What are you doing?!” His brother frantically whispers in their native tongue. Hickory is prone to attacks this way, he’s hoping to show the troll that he means no harm. Having himself be vulnerable is the best way to show him.

 “ I swear on my music we mean no harm.” Both dickory and the troll take startled breaths at that. That’s a serious vow. If he were to break it he would lose his music. It’s worth it as hickory sees the troll drop his defensive stance and sheath his knife . His hair becomes smooth and sticks straight up, his face softens from the hard determination to a small accepting smile. 

  The troll walks over and hold his paw out to hickory, he grabs it with his own and the troll pulls him up. His eyes are deep pools hickory could fall into and never come out of if he let himself. “ I’m John Dory, you didn’t have to swear on your music. But I appreciate it.” 

  A weird warble sounding chirp comes from the tent, John’s ears swivel that direction and he begins walking back to the tent. “ fair warning, my kids are not going to be happy with you. Just, prepare yourself.” Is something wrong with him? How was that ear swivel so adorable? 

  When John opens the tent he releases a soft rumble and all of a sudden there was many, many voices. Hickory looks over at dickory and they share a confused look, how many kids does this troll have?

“JOHN DORY!” Hickory startles and takes a step towards the tent as John is knocked backwards. A small child has tackled John to the ground, (wait is that a funk troll?) crying about how “that was dangerous daddy! Why would you do that? Are you okay?” They watch in shock as three more trolls exit the tent, and even more shock as another trolling comes out of his hair. How many kids does this guy have?! How many kids is hickory signing up for?

 “Guys!” John ends all the talking suddenly, “ it was just some more trolls. “ dickory comes to stand in front of him protectively when they are suddenly the center of all the kids attention. Well, actually some of them are teens. How old is John? Hickory himself is twenty three, he wouldn’t mind an older troll or even a slightly younger troll. As long as it’s john.

 Everything is quiet for a moment. They all look at each other. The troll with huge purple hair suddenly moves to be In front of them. How did he get there so fast? “ what do you want?” His stern tone of voice puts hickory on edge. 

“ we told that fellow already!” Dickory was still being very protective, as they are suddenly massively out numbered. 

 The purple haired troll growls at them advancing just a small amount, “ yeah? Well now you can tell me.” Just as suddenly as this troll was in front of them, John is now in between them. “ Bruce, baby bug, please calm down. I’m okay nothing happened, they’re just looking for berries.”  The newly named Bruce stops growling but still glares at them. 

 “They could be lying John.” Hickory’s only a bit hurt by this. He can’t have his future kids not trust him. “ he’s not, he swore on his music he wasn’t going to hurt us.” The glare drops into shock, then into acceptance. “Oh, okay then.” Hickory hears John sigh, honestly hickory is also relieved. He puts his paw on his brothers shoulder.

 “Dickory, I think we are okay, you don’t have to protect me.”

“Nine” dickory makes no move to step out from in front of him.

 “Please dickory? I think we are safe now. I don’t think John would let them attack us.”

“ nine hickory! I won’t mo-“ he’s stopped by the green haired troll. “What are you saying?” Dickory jumps, when did that troll get here? How do they move so fast?! 

   “ oh, we’re just talking to each other. I’m trying to convince my brother he’s okay to move from in front of me.”

 “Ah” the green one sounds very understanding.  He has a soft look on his face, “ I understand, John gets very protective of us too.” 

 “ da, I can see that. He seems like a good father.” Hickory looks over at John, who’s been watching the exchange fondly. Hickory feels himself flush a little, and he shyly ducks his head looking back at the green haired troll. 

 The troll has narrow his eyes at hickory, did he do something wrong? Why the change so suddenly? “Clay, come on over here let’s introduce each other .” They move over to the fire, John beckons them over with a paw.

 Hickory and dickory share a look, hickory nods and the walk over sitting next to the fire as well. This job just got a whole lot more interesting.

~~~

  She’s been walking for a long time. Why hasn’t she been able to find her troll? Is he even looking for her? She feels sadness trying to take over. No. She won’t let sadness keep her down. She has to find her troll dad. 

 She catches a sent that makes her stop in her tracks. Is that? She breathes deeper trying to sort out  the different scents. Yes! Her troll dad! And he has his hatchlings, and another small baby she doesn’t recognize. She can find him! She starts running as fast as her little legs can carry her. She’s almost too him, she can’t wait to see him again!

Chapter Text

They were all sitting by the fire, except for John who was busy making snuzzle berry tarts for breakfast. They had all helped him make the crust last night so it would be easier today to make the tarts for breakfast. Clay was holding cooper in his lap as they watched the two new comers. Bruce sat to his right with branch, (Clay knew he was being secretly smug that branch wanted to sit with him and not Floyd today) and Floyd sat on his left. 

   The new trolls dressed weird, they sang weird, they even talked weird. John had said they swore on their music that they wouldn’t harm them. Clay was only a little skeptical that they wouldn’t keep their word. What if their music didn’t mean much to them? What if they had no problems harming them and losing their music? And worst of all, the tall one seems to like John Dory.

  He had flushed when he had looked at John during their conversation. Now Clay might be thirteen but he knows when someone has a crush on somebody else. He’s not gonna let this weird troll take his John, Not his dad. He could break John’s heart, Clay won’t allow that. No, john doesn’t need anyone else to love him, he has them. They will keep John safe, even if Clay has to scare off all possible suitors. 

  Besides if John and this weird troll got in a relationship, John would leave them. Just like their egg parents did. What would they do without their John? Their dad? He won’t allow it. The only thing Clay needs to do now is get his other brothers onboard. They, together, will make sure this troll doesn’t hurt John by breaking his heart. 

 “So! These are my kids, Bruce is the one with the big purple hair, he’s holding branch” they both wave, Bruce less enthusiastically than branch. “ next to him is Clay and cooper, Clay is the older one.” Cooper waves with both his paws giggling like it’s the funnest thing he’s done today. Clay just narrows his eyes at the taller troll. He smirks just a bit when he successfully gets him to look away first.

“ and Floyd is the one next to them with the magenta hair. And I’m John Dory.” 

  John starts handing out the tarts, to them first then to the new trolls. Ha, take that tall troll guy. John will always think of them first. Clay smugly eats his tart, ignoring the look Floyd sends him when he sees his smirk grow. John sits in the middle spot between the two groups, starting to eat his own tart. 

“ normally when someone introduces themselves, you introduce yourselves next.” Clay hears Bruce stifle a snort into his tart at John’s curt but smooth patronizing sentence. 

“Oh! Da, sorry.” The tall one blushes again only this time it looks to be in embarrassment , “ I’m hickory, this is my big brother dickory.” 

“Hmm” John just nods, Clay stifles his own small laugh as hickory’s embarrassed flush grows deeper. 

“ so, you guys are looking for berries?” Bruce was obviously just as suspicious of them as Clay was. 

 “Da, a rock troll wants some wuzzle berries. So they asked us to get them some.” The berries that make trolls hallucinate? That John said were poisonous if eaten in large quantities?

   Clay notices John stiffen just a small amount before he laughs nervously “ why do you need wuzzle berries?”

  Hickory looks confused, he turns to dickory and they talk amongst themselves for a minute before dickory brings out a small paper. They both look at it before dickory stands and walks over to John. “ I’m not sure why, maybe this can help “ he shows John the paper. John pales just the smallest amount as he reads the flyer. 

 What in the world? What’s in the paper that has John that nervous? He looks at Bruce, his older brother also looks concerned when he looks back at Clay. Bruce raises an eyebrow and Clay shrugs, why would he know why Johns nervous?

  “ But why do they want it?” Clay can tell John is trying to hide his nerves. Dickory shrugs, “ they didn’t tell us, just said they wanted a bunch.”

 John hands the paper back and continues eating his tart. All trace of him being nervous has vanished like it was never there. Huh, that’s weird.

 “So,” the two trolls turn their attention to Floyd, “ what type of trolls are you guys? And what’s a rock troll like?” Actually, clays also very curious about this. Before they had arrived there was weird warbling that they were making. Clay wants to know what it was. 

 Hickory jumps into the conversation , enthusiastically in clays opinion. “We’re yodelers! “ wow he must really love his music, his whole demeanor became happy and joyous as he said that. “Yodelers? What genre is that? Is that one of the sub genres?” Clay turns to look at John , “ theres sub genres right?” 

 “Yes little light there’s sub genres.” John’s confirmation makes Clay smile, he had completely guessed on that but he was right!

“ why wouldn’t there be sub genres?” Dickory sounded very put out, “ what, did you think pop was the only version of pop music?” He scoffs a bit here. Clay could feel himself start to grow defensive at his tone. Based on branch’s growling he was also getting defensive. 

 “Dickory!” Hickory hissed at his brother, he looked shocked that his brother would say that. Dickory just folds his arms over his chest. “ what? We all know pop was so self obsessed that they almost took everything! It’s not surprising they would think their version of music is the only one!” 

 Hickory looks increasingly upset at his brother, his eyes keep flicking over to John as he tries to stop his brother. Bruce is also growing defensive now, a small soft growl from next to him confirms Floyd has as well. Clay has only asked a question, why was that so wrong? 

  “Stop.” John’s firm loud single word stops everyone where they are. Hickory and dickorys fighting stops, Floyd and branch stop growling, cooper releases clays are from the hard grip he had on it, Clay untenses and Bruce relaxes just a small amount. 

 Ooh boy, that’s John’s no nonsense tone. Someone’s in trouble.

~~~

Hickory freezes at the tone John has used. He feels slightly ashamed, like he is being scolded like a trolling.  He had tried to stop his brother before this had happened. He had seen John frown and knew he was about to get upset. He doesn’t want his pop troll to be angry with him. If dickory has ruined his chance with this beautiful troll, he’s going to stop talking to him for months! He won’t forgive him if he has. 

 Not only that! But dickory was basically patronizing one of his future kids! In front of John! And what for? A question that he sounded genuinely curious about. Ooh hickory is so mad at his brother.

He sees Clay smirking smugly at them and knows they are about to get it. He cautiously looks at John. John is still sitting like he didn’t just stop all fighting with one word, eating his tart as he looks into the fire. “ to answer your so kindly put accusations dickory” here he sits back some still not looking at them and eating his tart. Hickory feels a pang of sympathetic hurt at that for his brother. 

  “We are not familiar with the different genres of music, much less the sub genres, because we have been secluded from other troll tribes for generations. Nobody but the royals know about other trolls and most of the time they don’t share that knowledge.” The pop trolls don’t know there’s other genres unless a royal tells them? He looks at his brother and sees dawning understanding. The pop trolls have been kept in ignorance by their rulers?

Do they even know they have a funk troll with them?

 “ clays question wasn’t asked in a derogatory way, he wanted to confirm a suspicion. There’s a lot we don’t know about other genres.” Here John looks right at them. Hickory’s heart skips a beat. John’s eyes are so determined to get them to understand. So full of a spark that just draws hickory in even more. “ now, I understand that most of the tribes have a bad sense of who pop trolls are. However, don’t you think it’s a bit cruel to judge a whole genre of trolls nobody’s seen in generations for a mistake made by a troll all those many, many generations ago?”

 Yes, this troll is who hickory wants to spend his life with. He holds hickory’s heart and he doesn’t even know it yet. 

~~~

   Bruce smiles self satisfied as he watches dickory deflate at John’s words. John’s been good at getting his points across without yelling, And it works even better because he never raised his voice even once. He kept a firm tone, was very precise with what he was saying, and made the one he was scolding understand what he was upset about by making them question themselves and what they had said.

  Bruce wants to be able to de-escalate a tense situation like this someday. Hopefully when he has his own kids he will be able to do this. Dickory apologizes and just sits next to his brother. Actually come to think of it, hickory is looking at John weirdly. Is that admiration? Why would he be looking at John like that for scolding his brother? 

 Bruce watches as John nods and finishes off his tart. He then stands, stretches just a bit to ease his back and then starts walking towards his bag. What’s he going to his bag for? John rummages around in his bag and pulls out one of the intact snuzzle berries he had kept there. 

 Oooh okay, Bruce understands what he’s doing now. John hands the berry to hickory “this is a snuzzle berry. The sister berry of the wuzzle berry. They look practically the same only a slight color difference and a single leaf on the berries crown is different.” Bruce watches as John then goes and explains the differences in the berries but suddenly he shifts his attention to the bushes behind him. What is that? Rustling? Is something coming towards them? Bruce listens harder, yes something is. 

 He unceremoniously shoves branch into his hair, he then grabs cooper and does the same to him. Startling Clay bad enough he almost falls off the log he’s on. He grabs clays paw and pulls him off the log anyway then also grabs Floyd’s paw and does the same. He growls at the bush, hoping to discourage whatever is in it from popping out at them as he drags his siblings away from the danger.

 John quickly appears in front of them defensive and ready to fight something off. 

~~~

 She’s so close! Her troll is so close! She runs, her excitement growing when she hears talking. She pushes through the bush in front of her and sees her troll. He looks upset but when he sees her his face turns to one of joyful love. She runs up to him and jumps into his arms, licking his face repeatedly. She’s done it. She found her troll. 

  “Haha! Stop, okay! I get it!” John grabs her sides and holds her out in front of his face

   “ now, who are you beautiful?” What? Does he not know who she is? Her happiness deflates, is this not her John? John coos at her, wait. It’s their special coo. The one John made for her. This is her John! Her enthusiasm comes back full force.

  Oh, John doesn’t know she came with him. Hmm what can she do? Ah that’s it! She makes a special rumbling coo that she only used for him. It’s her special way of calling him. She hopes he recognizes her now, that he realizes she came with him to this new place.

~~~

John had been worried when bruce had all of a sudden jumped up and started growling at the bushes. He had gone over to get between whatever was in the bushes and his babies before whatever it was could come out and attack them. 

 Now , as he looked at his darling girl, he couldn’t be happier. He had all his babies finally in one place. He even had an extra one! It was a little bitter sweet that he would need to rebuild his bond with his baby girl, but he would do it.  As he held her he couldn’t help but coo his special coo for her. To his shock she actually replied with the one she always used for him. 

 Is this HIS Rhonda? Did she come with him? He coos again, she rumble coos in answer. It’s her. ITS HER! He laughs out loud and holds her above his head for a second before bringing her down and rubbing his cheek on hers. 

 “So,” John will forever deny he jumped and squeaked like a trolling when Floyd appeared next to him. “ is this the creature you were looking for?” 

 He nods giddily, holding Rhonda out to Floyd. “ isn’t she a beaut?” He must be glowing with how happy he is. He smiles and tries to show his other kids Rhonda. “ look guys! Isn’t she beautiful?” He has to hold her over Floyd’s head so the can see her. 

 “She is mighty cute, darlin’ “ darling? What the troll? He looks over at hickory bringing Rhonda closer to himself. Hickory has a soft look on his face, for some reason he looks very happy.  His smile is soft and he has small smile lines next to his eyes. Oh, Rhonda has won hickory over with how cute she is! 

 John’s smile grows even more and he closes his eyes in joy as he holds her out to hickory, showing her off. “ right?” When he opens his eyes to look back at Rhonda he notices hickory looks like he’s seen the most beautiful thing in the world. Yeah, Rhonda has that effect on people. 

 John hurries the two steps over to Bruce, “ look baby bug! Look! Isn’t she adorable?” Branch and cooper poke their heads out of Bruce’s hair, wanting to see what has John so excited. Bruce has a soft smile on his face, “ she’s very adorable John.” 

 “Yeah! Can I hold her?” Cooper makes grabbing motions, wanting to hold Rhonda. Aww, his baby wants to hold her! How can he say not to his baby’s wanting to bond? He nods , “ here, hold her gently cupcake. Put your paws like this, yes , good, now don’t squeeze to hard okay?” Cooper nods. “ here let me help too coop!” Of course branch would also want some time with Rhonda. She’s just stealing everyone’s hearts. 

 He coos again and reaches up for his camera, Bruce looks fondly exasperated when he sees it. John just smiles fondly and takes a picture anyway. Aww he needs to commemorate this some how. GROUP PHOTO! “Ooh come on you guys! You too yodelers!” He swiftly goes over and grabs hickory’s paw in his own dragging him over to where Bruce is. Floyd and Clay are already there, Dickory followed behind hickory. 

  He’s just so giddy and happy to have everyone here! “ everyone say sprinkles!!” They all push to the center, John in the middle taking the picture, hickory not looking at the lense because he’s looking at John who he is squished next too, dickory mildly upset at having to be held to be in the picture, branch and cooper holding Rhonda between them and smiling like the sun, Bruce who just rolls with it smiling at the camera like all his worries have left, Floyd getting a noogie from Clay.  Yeah, this is perfect.

 After it’s taken he quickly shakes the photo to develop it faster. His heart just melts when he sees it. Awwwwwww. He puts it in his hair to add to the scrap book later. “So.” He turns to the two yodelers who honestly look like they have whiplash. “ do you need help finding your berries, or was my explanation enough?” 

 “Uh,” hickory seems to be having trouble finding words, John hopes he’s okay…

 “ we will be fine. Thank you for your kind help.” Dickory takes his brothers paw in his hand and starts to walk away. 

 “Bye new friends!” 

“Bye bye!” 

“Send a letter next time you visit!”

“ how would they send a letter Clay? They don’t even know where we live!” 

“Oh yeah, hmm.”

John, hearing all the goodbyes from the rest has to join in too, he can’t be left out now!

“ hope to see you both again later! The berries should only be about two hours down the path!” 

Bruce comes over to stand next to him, “ do you think they will get lost?” “Ha, yes.” 

 He had all his kids, they were free from the Bergens, chef was dead, he met some new trolls, and he was filling scrap books with pictures so fast he would need a library. 

  Everything is going good.

~~~ 

  Somewhere is rock city, a troll has a plan. 

 Princess barb has just finished her lessons for the day. She was being picked up by her dad, “ dad!” Barb runs over to her dad’s arms and jumps into his paws. “ hello Barbara, how was your lessons today?” 

  The troll watches this all with determination. It’s a very delicate balance, trying to make the next queen believe everyone should be together again. All trolls. It will be even more delicate to make her believe that the only way to do that is to have everyone be rock. The troll waves as the royals exit. 

  They cough heavily into their paw once they no longer see the royals. They are very sick and only have a few years to live, not to worry though. Their plans will only take a few years. When those yodelers get back with the wuzzle berries, their plan can really get going.

Chapter Text

music

”hickory and Dickory native dialect”

~~~

Thunder rolled across the sky, John hopes those yodelers had left the mountains already. It’s been a few days since Rhonda had joined their group. They had wanted to finish the hike together, it was really fun. They were all joking around with each other, playing small harmless pranks and singing songs. 

Yesterday a storm started to form. It was okay at first, just small amounts of rain. A drizzle really, nothing to set up the tent for. They just continued walking and playing in the small amount of rain. Branch and cooper were running around getting all muddy, John knew he was going to have a hard time getting that mud out of their hair. He would have an even harder time getting it out of coopers longer fur. 

  He let them play in it though, because he would already have to clean them up so why not let them have fun? The heavy rains had come upon them so fast John doesn’t even know when the drizzle had turned to sheets of rain. Trolls ,being as small as they are, are always quickly drenched.  They all quickly tried to get cover under a high bush, unfortunately there wasn’t very many. They had been walking along the trail so they hadn’t set up a tent. 

  He looked at all the others gauging how wet they all were. All of their hair was being weighed down by the water, making them all look like wet cuddle pups. The only one not sopping wet is Rhonda, she’s water proof. He tries not to laugh too hard at how they all look with their hair wet and hanging in their faces and down their backs. He knows he doesn’t look any better, he blows a piece of sopping wet hair out of his face but it just comes right back . 

   “J-John” he looks over at Floyd who has walked up to him. He’s shivering really hard, his teeth are chattering together and he’s hugging his arms to his chest. Oh no, Floyd has always gotten colder faster than the rest of them. What if he gets sick? As if hearing his thoughts Floyd sneezes, branch sneezes next.  

 Oh sugar this is bad. If they don’t get out of the rain and dry off he’s going to have his hands full with a bunch of sick trolls. That thought kicks him into gear. “ Bruce, how’s the towels? Your bag is water proof right?” John had made sure his bag was water proof, but he had left Bruce to take care of his own water proofing. 

“ yes, but I don’t think I should get them out right now. They will just get wet.” Bruce is cradling cooper in his arms, branch is tucked into his side holding Rhonda. 

 “ good good, no not right now I’m going to set up a tent.” John takes his bag off his back and grabs the larger of the two tents. “ Then we need to make sure we get everybody dry, so we need the dry towels. I can’t make a fire in this rain so we are going to have to huddle together to warm up.” He grabs what he needs and turns to Floyd. “ here, take this and wrap it around you and stick to the base of the bush till I come back. Clay please go with him and try to share body heat.” He had handed Floyd one of the blankets, he had at least seven so giving one to Floyd is fine. Even if he didn’t have seven,  he still would have given it to Floyd. Right now keeping Floyd warmer is priority, along with getting a dry place to rest. 

 Clay nods to him and goes over to Floyd, guiding him to the base of the bush and wrapping the blanket around them. Seeing that Floyd is getting the help he needs at the moment John turns and walks out from under the bush. He needs to get this tent up fast. 

  John’s really fast at getting tents up, he’s had years of practice. He doesn’t have years of practice in sheets of rain, unfortunately. Since he was by himself he would just find a cave, then when Rhonda was older he would just hangout in her cabin till it stopped. He struggles a bit trying to get the poles up, why is this so hard?! He’s done this hundreds  of times before! 

  He’s struggling with a particularly tricky part of the frame when he feels paws next to his. “ come on John, let’s get this up.” Bruce has come to help him. “ thank you Bruce.” Together they finally manage to get the tent up. They don’t have time to relish their work, they have younger trolls to get out of the rain. 

 Bruce takes cooper from his back where he was clinging to his hair and places him in the tent, he hands him his bag “ there’s some towels in there, start drying off okay? We’ll be back with the others in a few seconds, then we will all help each other get dry.” He turns back to John. John wasn’t in the tent so he gets over to the others faster than Bruce can. He grabs branch and Rhonda in one arm and then goes over to help Floyd and Clay. Bruce comes over and helps and together all of them make it to the tent. They pile in and John quickly shuts the tent opening. 

 “ here branch,” cooper hands branch a towel, “ does Rhonda need one too?” 

 John chuckles “no cooper, she’s will be just fine. Her fur doesn’t soak up water.” He grabs some towels from cooper and hands them to the others, “ remember, hair first fur second. Clothes need to be changed too.” He picks up branch, walking over to his bag. He digs through it for a minute until he finds what he’s looking for, then he turns and hands coopers extra hat to Bruce, “would you help cooper please? “ 

 Bruce takes the hat nodding as he steps over to cooper, helping him dry off. Bruce has a towel wrapped around his hair soaking up the water so he can focus on helping cooper. Clay is in the middle of helping Floyd dry off, they both have towels over their hair trying to get as much water out as they can as they change clothes.

   John helps branch dry off, peeling the wet clothes from his starlight’s wet fur and drying him with a towel before redressing him in his dry clothes. He takes a moment to wrap his own hair so he’s not getting water on branch from his dripping hair. He towels off branch’s hair till it’s only damp and not dripping. 

  Looking over at the others he’s happy to note they are mostly free of water. “ let’s try to rest, hopefully the rain will stop by the time we get up.” He places down the bed rolls that he has room for and sets branch down on it. “ I wanna sleep by you dad!” He smiles warmly at branch, “ okay starlight”

 “Oh, oh, me too!”

“ okay cupcake you too.”

 “ aww but Johnny, I wanna sleep by you too!”

Bruce snickers and joins in, “ yeah JD me too!”

“ can I also sleep next to you?”

John’s heart fills with warmth. He loves his kids, they constantly show him they love him too. “ we can all sleep next to each other “ 

 “ yay!” Branch drags cooper into the bed rolls, jumping around as he impatiently waits for the others to come over and join them. Eventually they all get settled, John somehow ends up on the bottom of a sleep pile but he’s okay. 

 He starts to hum a song with the rain acting as background noise, as they all drift off into peaceful slumber.

~~~

  “What did you think of hickory?” Bruce looks over at Clay raising his eyebrow in question.

  It’s been about a week now since the yodelers had left, and only about three days since that huge rain storm. Honestly he’s surprised nobody had gotten sick. The rain had lasted a whole day, they ended up just staying in the tent and singing songs all day. Bruce loves that they sing together as a group for fun now. It really shows how their relationships have mended in the last four years. If Bruce was honest, he didn’t think they would have gotten to this point all those years ago. 

  He’s so happy to have his family with him, and they just got an extra! Bruce always wanted a big family. He still does! When he finds the right partner he wants many children. He watches John up ahead of them on the trail. He’s singing songs with branch and cooper, while holding Rhonda. Cooper had gotten tired a few miles ago so he was in John’s hair. Bruce had offered to hold him in his own hair seeing as his was bigger and he didn’t mind. John wouldn’t hear it though, he said “ Bruce, he is going to get big. I wanna carry him when I can before he grows to large too.” 

  Bruce understands that. He knows John wants to be able to hold branch and cooper for as long as he can like that. It’s very calming for all of them, and it helps nurture their bonds. Bruce couldn’t take that from John if he was determined to carry cooper. 

  “Hickory, what did you think? I think he was acting weird around John.” Clay was very adamant about this. His voice completely serious and his face determined. 

  “Hmm” he hums as he thinks about this. Hickory was acting weird around John. He would flush when John smiled directly at him, he looked at their brodad like he hung the moon in the sky. And weirdest of all, he seemed happy when John scolded his brother.

 “ actually, he was pretty weird around John. What do you think was up with that?” Honestly Bruce had an idea, but he hoped he was wrong. 

  “I think he likes him. As in romantic like. “ 

“Is that why you kept smirking smugly at him when John started scolding his brother?” Bruce didn’t jump at Floyd’s quiet interruption from right between them. Why would he do that….. okay he did but still, he showed up between them mysteriously like a ghost. He was right behind John two seconds ago!

  “Yes! Nobody can have our John. What if they take him away from us?” Okay that’s a bit far, Bruce knows John would never leave them, even if he found someone to share his life with. 

However, he also understands clays concern. Their egg parent had basically dropped them with their older brother and let him raise them. He understands more now how that was very taxing on John’s mental health. He shouldn’t have had to raise children as a child himself, unfortunately it’s the cards life gave him. 

 “ Clay, John wouldn’t leave us. He would probably die before he did that. Do you really think he would up and leave us for some random troll?” Floyd placed a comforting paw on clays shoulder, Clay just shrugged it off. His scowl deepened, Bruce could tell he wasn’t consoled.

  “ well no, but what if he finds a troll they just takes all his attention? And he won’t bother with us anymore?” He was starting to spiral Bruce could tell. Thinking quickly he starts singing a song, hoping to get Clay to join.

I'm better, so much better now

I see the light, touch the light, we're together now

Clay flicks his ears, trying to look uninterested as he folds his arms.

I'm better, so much better now

Look to the skies, gives me life, we're together now

Floyd is catching on as he jumps in and sings the next verse

We've only just begun, hypnotized by drums

Until forever comes

You'll find us chasing the sun

They said this day wouldn't come, we refused to run

We've only just begun

You'll find us chasing the sun

  John turns with branch and cooper and take up some notes as well

Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh

Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh

Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh

Clay joins in finally

You'll find us chasing the sun

They all sing the next part

Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh

Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh

Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh

You'll find us chasing the sun

Forest critters join in and make the music really come to life. The continue the song as they all start chasing each other down the trail. Smiling joyously and switching branch and Rhonda between them as they pass each other. 

 When that song ends they all continue with another, continuing until they reach a spot to camp for the night. 

 When they are all in the tent and in the bed rolls, Bruce grabs clays paw in his own gently reassuring his little brother. “ it will be okay Clay, if hickory comes back and tries to get with John, we will all let him know that we are a package deal.”

 Clay squeezes his paw back. “ thank you Bruce.” 

 Yes, if hickory wanted John, they would all make sure he knew they weren’t going anywhere.

~~~

  “ hickory! Are you sure this is the right berry?”

His brother was examining the berry closely as they made their way back to rock city. They had found the berrys about three hours away. John had said two but they got a bit lost..

  The berries they had have four leaves, exactly as John had said they would. Hickory had paid close attention to what John had said. Was it because he loved how his voice sounded? Yes.  Has he thought about John nonstop since he left him? Also yes. How could he not? 

  John’s strong passion for taking care of his kids, his fast attachment to the small creature that randomly showed up, his gold freckles, his beautiful hair. Everything. Hickory couldn’t stop thinking about him. He desperately wanted to finish this job fast so he could go try to find him. He couldn’t miss his chance. What if he took to long and someone else got in a relationship with John first? 

  Hickory would be heart broken but he would be happy as long as John was happy. 

“ hickory!” Oh, he got lost in thought.

“ yes Dickory I’m sure those are the berries John said to get. He specifically said the wuzzle berries have four leaves. The snuzzle berries have three. “

 He watches as Dickory examines the berries, why was he so skeptical? John didn’t have reason to lie to them. And honestly if he did, he probably had a reason for it. Hickory wasn’t going to tell John he was wrong when hickory isn’t even familiar with the berries.

 They arrived at the drop off point and waited for the rock troll to arrive. They waited for an hour before they saw their client. 

“ did you get them?” 

 Hickory crosses his arms in front of his chest, scowling as he makes his accent thicker to seem more intimidating. “ ov course ve did. “ 

 The troll smiles a sinister smile. Suddenly hickory wishes they had the wrong berries. This troll is giving him bad vibes. They throw a bag a them, hickory catches it easily and checks the contents. Yep, what they asked for is all there. He nods at his brother who then throws the bag of berries over to the troll.

 They take it and leave without a word. “ do you think this was a bad idea?” He wants to know if Dickory gets the same bad feeling he has. Dickory doesn’t answer right away, they sit there for thirty more minutes before they leave. They can’t have their client be seen leaving right before they do. It would give away they had asked for bounty hunters help with something. 

 “Maybe. But it’s done now, let’s just go get another job.” Hickory doesn’t want to fight his brother on this right now. He seems tense. 

“Okay” 

  He will have to wait just a little longer to go back to John. Oh, he doesn’t know where pop village is. That’s not going to be too hard to find right? 

~~~

 Finally. Finally!

They have the berries. Now all they need to do is make these into tea. They need to dry the berries out first which will take time. Time they are quickly running out of. It will be okay, there plan is already moving. Princess barb is so excited to think that all trolls should live together again in harmony. 

 She wants more friends as being princess is a hard thing for her because she doesn’t have very many friends. Once these berries kick in and the king falls to the delusions of berry hallucination, they can start their real plans. Making barb think that all need to be rock trolls to be in harmony. That the only way to do that is to take all the strings. 

  They had come across a book about the strings, they learned about the ultimate power chord. About how its power can change a trolls genre and make them loyal to the caster. Who needs all this other music? The beeps and bloops of techno, the boring classical, the awful country, the funk music that is way too similar to pop, and pop which is unoriginal, bland, and repetitive. 

  No, rock is the only good music. They will make sure barb takes the thrown as soon as she can. Even if they need to commit treason to do it.

Chapter Text

“ hickory and Dickory native tongue”

~~~

“ what do you think of that branch?” Branch was trying to pay attention, he really was. He was just worrying about the Bergens. He knows it’s been six years now since they had left the tree, but recently his nightmares have been coming back. He sees his grandmother get taken weekly, but he sees his dad get taken daily. It’s really started to affect how he sleeps.

  What can he do? The Bergens are huge! They could reach their pods without any problems. His family needs to be safe, he just had to figure out how to make it so they were.

“Branch!”

He jumps to his feet , “ what?! What is it?!” He looks around and just sees the startled faces of his friends. No danger anywhere he looks.

 “ hype called you at least three times branch.” Ablaze was starting to look concerned, actually they all were . Oh he had worried his friends, luckily it was just trickee, hype, ablaze, and boom with him right now. Poppy probably would have tackled him as she tried to get his attention.

  He sighs and sits back on the floor. “ sorry… I’m just worried.”

“About the Bergens?” Boom had a look of understanding on his face. After all, he was there when John had chased off chef.

 Branch looks down as he nods. Other trolls had been calling him paranoid, crazy, and a party ruiner. They always get mad at him when he passes and tells them to be quieter. Luckily he has his friends to help him. The four here, poppy, creek, guy, biggy, the twins. 

  He keeps this away from his family, the fact trolls are being mean to him. He doesn’t want to worry John anymore than he already does with his nightmares. Not to mention it’s been upsetting cooper. 

 “Yeah… I’ve been having more nightmares lately. I just want my family to be safe, and I don’t know how to do that.” The pods weren’t safe. The Bergens could reach them way too easily. 

 The others sat in silence as everyone contemplated what to do. “Maybe talk it out with us? We could bounce ideas off one another!” Trickee was a genius!

 “Okay! If you want to!” He couldn’t help his smile as he beamed at his friends.

 “Okay, so what’s the main issue,”

“ the pods aren’t safe.”

The others looked confused, “why aren’t they safe?” 

“The Bergens can reach them too easily.”

 Now they understand, they remember some family’s that would all go missing because the Bergens took their whole pod with them in it. It’s a way they used to control their population, and cut off certain unwanted genes from being spread among the trolls. That part was always very confusing. What were genes? He’d have to ask John about it later. 

 “Do you have any plans yet? For a different place to be?” Branch shook his head, looking at all his friends one at a time.

 “ I don’t think I want it to be in the trees. The Bergens are used to us being there so they will look there first, right?” It made more sense too branch to be in the least expected place. Wait. Instead of above, they could go below!

 “What? What is it?” Hype looked nervous and excited. 

Branch practically glowed as he realized he had a plan. “We build a place underground!”

Trickee immediately agreed with branch, boom and ablaze also agreed. Hype was a bit skeptical, “underground? Like a bunker? How are you going to do that?”

“Yes! A bunker! That’s a great name for it. I was probably gonna call it a hideout, bunker is way better.” This was going to be great! He could feel his anxiety about the Bergens lessen just a fraction at the thought of a safe place like an underground bunker for his family and friends to hide in. “ I’m going to ask my dad if we can make one! He will know how to make one I’m sure. He knows everything. “

 His dad was so cool. He knows about all the starts in the sky. He knows about the wild berries, and what is good and bad. He knows how to calm him down. He knows how to help all of them when they are upset, with each other or just in general. He’s the coolest.

 “ Branch! John’s here for you!” That was booms dad, they were all hanging out at his house today. They switch pods every time so they aren’t just pushing all there young troll energy on one pod all the time. 

 Branch jumps up and runs out of the room “ bye guys!”

“Bye branch!”

“ see you tomorrow!”

“ wanna come over for dinner tomorrow?”

He didn’t hear what else they were saying as he ran to the front door where booms dad and his own were talking. He takes a running leap at John with no warning. He laughs all giddy as John catches him and spins them around.

 “ hello starlight! Did you have fun?”

“ yes!”

 “ that’s great starlight! “

“Bye John!” Booms dad was waving from his door as he watched them leave.

 “ Bye! Thanks for watching him!” John held him as they walked back to their pod. It was farther than the rest of the village pods. That made him feel safer.

 As they got closer to the pod branch was having second thoughts, what if John didn’t like the idea of a bunker? He played with his paws as he grew anxious about if he should bring up the idea or not. 

 “ what has you so nervous branch?” Well sprinkles. He was being too obvious that he was nervous. 

  He can do this. He can. “ I want to make a bunker.” He continued not wanting to give John a chance to object before he got his reasons as to why out. “ not because I don’t like the pod! It’s beautiful Bruce did a great job. It’s just I want us to be safe from the Bergens. They can reach the pods too easily” “okay” “ and just pluck us like fruit! It’s not safe in pods if they actually find us!” “ we can make one”

“ I’m not being paranoid! I-“ he stops mid sentence. 

  “What?” Had John said they could make one? 

John smiles at him as they reach the base of the tree, “ we can make one branch, it will make you feel safe right?” Branch nods, of course it would. Then his family will be safe.

John tightens his grip as he swings up into the tree with his hair. “ then we can make one. We can get everyone too help. It’ll be fun!”

Branch, overwhelmed with gratitude for his dad hugs him tight as tears come to his eyes. “ thank you dad” 

 John just pats his back, letting him cry it out for a bit. “ want to help me make Bruce a feel better treat?”

  “What’s wrong with Bruce? Is he sick?” He hopes his big brother isn’t sick. 

 “No, he just had a date today.” 

“Oh. yeah I’ll help you.” They head to the kitchen and start work on one of Bruce’s favorite snacks. It makes branch sad that nobody can see past Bruce’s appearance, or his old fame. Bruce keeps trying but maybe his partner isn’t in pop village.

~~~

 Bruce scrubs his paws against his eyes, trying to get rid of the tears. His date had been a total flop. He had been hoping this one could be it. This troll was always so kind to everyone, nobody had a bad to to say about her.

 The date had been going well at first, they had talked about things in their life. What they wanted for the future, kids they might want, stuff like that. She had been really unaccepting of Bruce’s wish to have a large family, going as far as to insult his ability to care for all of the kids he said he wanted.  She then went on and on about how kids would just ruin his pretty face with stress lines. 

  He had been so hurt by her comments. It’s fine if she didn’t want kids, some trolls don’t want kids. It’s not really a big deal. However what was a big deal was her basically calling him a dead beat dad before he even had kids!

He would never be like his egg parents, never. 

 She then went on and on about how he needed to stay pretty for her. About how nobody would like him if he had so many kids. About how appearances are everything and how you treat trolls, even if you hate them, makes all the difference. He didn’t know a troll could be so two faced but he ended the date right there and left as fast as he could. 

  He didn’t feel like swinging up to the pod so he climbed the tree instead. His tears weren’t stopping as he thought of all the awful things she had said to him. He enters the pod, being quickly stopped from going to his room by branch who had apparently been waiting for him to get back.

 “Bruce! Come with me, dad and I made you a treat!” Branch grabs his paw and starts pulling him towards the kitchen. He didn’t protest, just followed his younger brother into the kitchen where John was sitting at a table with fluffel  berry puffs. John looked up at them as they walked in, his face quickly going to sad understanding as he took in his appearance. 

 John held out a paw for him to take as they got closer. He put the paw that branch wasn’t holding in John’s and sat next to him. Branch lets his paw go as he gets him some puffs. “Hey bug, I’m sorry it didn’t work out.”

 Bruce wiped at his tears again, “ it was awful dad. She was so awful to me.” He told John exactly what happened, all the horrible things she said to him, he was silently listening and giving him more puffs to drown his sadness with. John listened the whole time, he had sent branch off to go play with cooper when Bruce got to some of the more rude things she said.  

  “ I just don’t get it, why can’t I find anyone? I’m almost eighteen and I’ve never been in a serious relationship!” 

 “Bruce, bug, you don’t need to be in a serious relationship right now. You’re still young. “ he knows that. He does. He just wants someone to love him for him. It’s just so hard. 

“How about we take a vacation?”

What in the world would a vacation solve? “ John. I just had a terrible date, I’m literally crying about it right now and you want to go on a vacation.”

“Ah, I know it sounds bad when you put it that way. I didn’t mean that we should go on a vacation just because. I wanted to help you get over this horrible troll by taking you somewhere fun!” John squeezed his paw trying to convey he was serious. “ we could go as a family and just enjoy each others company. What do you think?” 

 Bruce eats another puff taking the last one off the plate. John gets up and gets another plate of puffs, how many did they make?! It helps that he can eat as many as he wants though. He takes comfort in food. 

   They haven’t been on a vacation in two years. The last one they got Rhonda maybe they will get another family member? Not to mention Branch has been having nightmares again. Maybe they do need a vacation, it could help everyone relax. Oh maybe Floyd can share his music with the inhabitants of wherever they go. That would help him a lot. 

 He rubs the last tears off his face, “ okay, that sounds fun”

 “ great! We’ll take Rhonda!”

 Rhonda had grown to her full size in a little under a year of having her with them. She was huge! They had to keep her below the tree in a special made pod just for her. 

 “Do you even know where we are going to go?” Bruce was actually very curious about where they would go.

 “ I have an idea.” Well, that’s not mysterious at all. “ I’m going to be right back, Ive got to go talk to someone and gather the others so we can go.”

 “Wait!” Bruce jumps up as John starts going to the front of the pod, “ we are going now?!”

“ of course! Why wait?” John laughs as he exits the pod.

  Bruce stands in the entrance for a moment, what just happened? He shakes his head and heads back to the kitchen, those puffs aren’t going to eat themselves. 

~~~

 Somewhere in vibe city.

  Queen essence looked at her sleeping son. Her beautiful baby boy, he was a hip hop funk troll. She was so proud of him. But her heart hurt for her lost egg. Her son knew he had a sibling and that they were looking for them, but he would probably never meet them. 

 She knew the chance of her egg being alive was close to none. She should have known better than to stand on one of the outside balcony’s while she was keeping her eggs warm. She needed to keep them in her hair to keep them warm for at least three weeks before they hatched. She was so upset she had gone out in the open and let a bird snatch her egg. The eggs were not fully concealed with her hair because they were close to hatching and were too big to comfortably hide.

 “My love,” she turns to her husband who had walked up beside her. “ why are you so sad?” 

She looks away from him, how could he ask that? She knew he was upset at loosing their egg, she knew it. But sometimes it’s hard for her to believe it when he asked her things like that. He should know why. 

 Her husband leans into her side and lays his head comfortably on hers. She knows he’s trying to cheer her up. That he’s trying to show he cares. “ it’s been over four years.” She looks at her sleeping child more, watching him breathe, taking solace in the fact he’s alive.

“ we still don’t have any idea where our egg could be. “

  “Maybe, we should ask for some help.” Help? From who? They literally have a flying ship in the sky. They’ve looked all over their territory and there’s been no sign. Should they look in other territories? But they can’t just up and leave their tribe. Who would they ask?

 “Who Quincey? Who would we possibly ask? We haven’t had much contact with the other tribes.” They have met with the country trolls a few times. Only because their territory’s were so close. 

 “ I’ve heard about some bounty hunters.” Bounty hunters?! Why bounty hunters? “ now before you get upset, these bounty hunters have good things being said about them. They even go into pop territory.” They go into the place everyone has stayed away from? Maybe they have some merit. 

  She leans into her husband more. “ you want to ask them for help?” She doesn’t really need to ask, she basically knows the answer already. 

“If you would be willing to allow it. I think they could help us.” His tone is calm, unrushed and willing to go with what she thinks is best. 

  “Alright, we should ask them for help. Who are they?”

 “ two brothers who are called the yodelers” 

~~~

  Why can’t they find them! No trolls should be this hard to find. They have looked every time they enter pop territory for the pop trolls. For a genre that supposedly has the largest numbers of trolls they sure can hide easily. 

 Hickory sighs kicking the ground a bit in his disappointment. His brother had accepted a job recently to look for a special cactus in country troll territory. Why couldn’t it be pop territory? He wants to keep looking for John Dory, it’s been a little over two years since he’s seen the pop troll. He thinks about him constantly, it’s agonizing that he can’t find him. 

 “ hickory, I think that’s it!” He doesn’t even look up as his brother runs past him towards what hickory assumes is the cactus they are looking for. 

 “Yeah, that’s great Dickory.” He wasn’t enthusiastic at all. Was it possible to get sick because you love someone so much? Love sickness? Is that a thing? Hickory doesn’t know if it is but he’s sure he has it. His future family is growing without him. He’s missing so much, and there’s nothing he can do about it. 

 He stops when he runs into Dickory, his brother has folded his arms and is looking right up at him. He looks very done with him. “ what is up with you? You’ve been getting more and more distracted and sad lately.”

 “It’s nothing Dickory” 

 His brother just raises an eyebrow at him, clearly not believing him. “ does it have anything to do with those pop trolls we met a few years ago?”

 Hickory is a bit shocked his brother guessed what he was so upset about. How did he know? “ what?”

 “ oh don’t give me that, you were clearly infatuated with the green one” “John Dory”” you were basically a strudel in his paws.”

Hickory blushes a deep yellow/green at that. 

“No I wasn’t!” 

 Dickory scoffs, “ you were too! You looked like he was music itself! I can’t believe you fell for a pop troll!”

Hickory grew defensive at that. “ it doesn’t matter what genre he is!” 

  Dickorys look softens some at that. “ no, it doesn’t.” 

 Oh, that surprises hickory actually. Before he can ask about it a huge shadow covers them from above. They look up and seen the funk troll ship right above them. They don’t have time to do anything but look at each other before they are gathered up in a bubble and taken into the ship.

   They see a lot of the funk troll kingdom in the ship as they go over it in their bubble. When they land they are greeted by three funk trolls.

Two adults and one trolling, who looks kinda like John’s son cooper. 

  “You two are the yodelers?” The troll with huge blue hair is addressing them.

 “Aye” Dickory has a stern look on his face. 

 The two adult funk trolls look at each other and nod before they introduce themselves.

 “I’m queen essence, this is king Quincey and this is our son prince Darnell. Or prince D for short. We have a job we would like your help with.”

 Both the royals faces are very serious as they ask for their help. It must be serious if they have left their territory to find them. Hickory looks at Dickory really quick and they both nod.

 “ what’s the job?” Hickory didn’t feel the need to be intimidating right now so he kept his accent smooth.

  “About four years ago a bird took one of our eggs, Darnell’s twin. We heard you travel to all territories, even pop.”  The king sounded very impressed with that knowledge.  

 They were talking about cooper, hickory knew they were. He looks so similar to the prince and was the only funk troll they have seen not in funk territory. 

“ hickory, you and I both know who they are talking about.” He turns to his brother

“ of course I do! But what do we do? If we help they could separate John from his son! You saw how much he loves him. We can’t take his kid from him Dickory.”

“ what if they don’t even know he’s a funk troll!”

 “ I’m sure they do, they knew about sub genres.”

 “ yes but you heard what John said, their leaders keep the knowledge of other trolls away from them. What if they don’t know exactly what troll cooper is and just thought he was a weird pop troll?”

“ at least they are taking care of him! He could have died out there if John hadn’t taken him in.”

 “ you don’t know that! What if he was found by other trolls? He could have survived .”

“ Dickory I’m not fighting about whether he could have died or not I’m saying that John’s going to be devastated if we take his son! Not to mention but he might actually kill one of us to keep his kid safe. You saw how he was ready to defend his kids when we stumbled upon them! I didnt even know pop trolls could look so vicious. He has claws ! Granted they aren’t big claws but why would he have claws? No troll else has claws, not even the rock trolls so why do pop? And you saw how their hair was able to move at their wills. They could do anything with it most likely even fight if they had too. Are you seeing what in trying to paint here? Something happened to the pop trolls that caused them to gain abilities no troll else has. And nobody knows what it was. “

  Dickory actually looks contemplative now. Good. Hickory didn’t just look at John and get lost in his deep dreamy eyes, he was also watching to see how he was and he picked up on stuff. It concerns him. 

  “ are you two okay?”

 Oh, he forgot about the royals. Dickory meets his eyes and nods at him folding his arms as he lets hickory take this.

 Hickory needs to do this right. He needs to convince these royals not to have them take cooper from John. He is going to explain to them where their son is and that they need to treat this delicately. The real challenge is going to be convincing them.

Chapter Text

 These yodelers keep talking in a foreign language. Essence shares a look with her husband, silently asking if they should ask the yodelers to explain. 

“Are you guys okay?”

 Well it looks like Darnell beat them too it. The two yodelers look at each other before the shorter one who might be Dickory nods at the taller one who might be hickory. They never introduced themselves so she’s just taking a guess based on their conversation. 

 Hickory takes a small step forward she immediately zones in on him as the one who is going to explain things. 

 “ I have good news, better news and great news. But I also have bad news and worse news. What would you like to hear first?” 

 What? “ why do you have so many choices? Why can’t you just tell us what you want to say?” Were they going to help them or not?! She’s getting a little annoyed and sad. They need their help with this. 

 “ I’m trying to make this easier to explain, it’s a situation that needs care. “ the sincere look on hickory’s face made her stop for a second. Maybe she should just let him tell them what he needs to say? 

 “ how about you just tell us what you need to say,  and we will listen till the end of it before we make a decision if there needs to be one?”

Her husband was thinking the same thing as her apparently. 

 Hickory took a deep breath before he nods just a small amount. “ da, okay.  I’ve seen your son.” Her heart beats faster with hope. “ he’s okay and well, he’s being taken care of.” He’s healthy! He’s alive! Happy tears come to her eyes, this is great! “ however he’s been adopted by pop trolls. “ ice fills her heart at that. Pop trolls? How will they ever get him back now? Her husband comes just a small amount closer to her, trying to offer comfort. She tucks Darnell behind her slightly, trying to comfort him. 

 “ ah! Wait wait! Before you get all sad and think he’s gone forever let me finish!” Hickory looks so sincere she needs to hear what he has to say. “ the pop troll family he’s with are very protective of each other. He is treated like the father’s son and is protected as such. He has four brothers who all take care of each other.” The ice melts a bit as she hears this. Her son has a family that takes care of him. He’s loved. And she missed all his firsts.. but he’s alive! This is better than him being dead, she’ll take it.

 “ the father is very protective of his kids. He was going to fight us when we accidentally stumbled upon them. He’s not dangerous to his kids I promise, he just thought we were a threat.” She looks at her husband trying to see what he was thinking about all this. He met her eyes and his look was confused happiness. She looks back at hickory as he keeps talking.

 “ this is where we need to treat this delicately. The pop trolls don’t know about other genres. Their leaders hide this fact from them. They reacted to us so badly because they didn’t know we existed.” She was stumped, how can a leader hide the fact about other genres from their people? Were they so self centered? 

 “ I think something happened to the pop tribe. They have abilities and physical changes that no other troll has. They value family and music highly. They might come off as self centered but they just don’t understand there’s other genres.” Hickory was so sincere when he was saying this, it’s very concerning for Essence to hear this. 

  “ so are you suggesting we just leave our son there?” Her husband brings up a good point. She wants to meet her son but she doesn’t want to hurt him by taking him from his new family. How can she do that though?

 “ no, I’m sure the father will let you meet him. He’s very nice and understanding. I’m just saying maybe don’t rush in and try to take him immediately? Maybe you can come to an agreement of some kind where you are both happy? Not to mention that cooper seems to have bonded with the family, he could be sad and resentful if you just took him away.”

  Hickory was making a good point. If her son had bonded with this new troll family it would do more harm than good to take him from them. These pop trolls sound very protective anyway so they could also have a fight on their paws if they tried. “ Quincey, maybe we should talk to these pop trolls. Maybe we can both have our son in our lives.” 

 He looks at her with understanding and love, but also hesitation. She understands why he’s hesitant, what if the pop trolls don’t want to let them see their son? What if they hide him from them and they never see him? She tried to look supportive and hopeful as they silently communicate. He eventually nods and she nods back. They will try to talk to the pop trolls, try to get them to come to an agreement. 

 “ we will talk to the pop troll family before we do anything.” 

 Hickory looks very relieved. “ okay thank you. There’s just one problem….”

 A problem? Why hasn’t he mentioned this problem before?!

 “We can’t find the pop trolls. We’ve looked every time we are in pop territory for these past two years after we saw them. For a tribe with the largest amount of trolls they are great at hiding.”

   That shouldn’t be possible. The pop trolls were almost a hundred thousand strong. What happened? It seems hickory is right. Something happened to the pop trolls, and it’s very concerning. 

~~~

 How dare that troll hurt his baby. Bruce was having troubles finding the right troll but none were as bad as this one. John had kept his anger hidden from Bruce as he was talking to him, now he hid it from the rest of the pop trolls with a smile.  He was headed over to king peppys pod to get Clay who was hanging out with viva. On his way over he notices a group of trollings playing tag with each other. His smile turns more real as he watches them play around. 

 He knows all of them, he is the village uncle after all. All the trollings love him, he doesn’t know why….. 

“ uncle John!” That one call from poppy who was in the group has the whole group turning to look at him, running over when they see him walking by. 

“Uncle JD!”

“ uncle John” 

And various other uncle John’s were shouted by the kids as they surrounded him. His smile grows warm and caring as he looks at all the small trolls trying to get his attention. “ hello kids! How are we doing today?”

 Various goods and greats are shouted at him in their enthusiasm. Poppy grabs his paw looking up at him curiously, “ are you here to play? We’re playing tag!” He shakes his head at that, a pang of sadness shooting through him as they all get sad at that.  “ unfortunately not today, I’m on my way to get Clay. We are going on a vacation!”

 The kids all get excited clamoring over each others shouts as they all collectively start asking questions. He chuckles and holds up his paw “ wait wait, one at a time.”

“ why are you going in a vacation?” Poppy was the first to get her question out.

 “ to cheer up Bruce, he went on a date with a very mean troll.” He puts a small amount of emphasis on the mean part.

 The kids all gasp dramatically as they process that someone was mean to their uncle Bruce.

“ who was it?” Creek was very curious and it showed in his tone.

 “ rosebud” he puts a very sad look on his face, does he feel bad naming the troll who hurt his baby to the trollings? Maybe a little. But they were brutally honest as most children are. If he wanted to teach rosebud a lesson who better than with kids who will show everyone how two faced she is?

“ but she’s so nice! How did she hurt him?”

Biggy was squeezing his pet worm in worry. 

 He shakes his head a bit, really playing up how sad he is at what she had done. “ she bullied him, she made him cry she was so harsh. She switched from nice to mean so fast he didn’t have a time to leave before she said so many mean things to him.”

“ oh no!”

“ pour Bruce!”

“ how could she do that to him? Bruce is so nice!”

 John kept his face sad as he nods to the kids words. “ we are going on vacation to hopefully help Bruce feel better. He shouldn’t have to be worried about her trying to get to him again.” He sighs “ but that’s okay, he will get better! We are leaving today but I’ll bring you all back fun things to try!” He plans on bringing back some nachos to share with the trollings. He’s sure they would love it. And if they happen to ruin rosebuds reputation while they are gone, that’s a bonus.

  “ thank you uncle John!”

“ I’m so excited!”

 “ we need to help Bruce, let’s show everyone how mean rosebud is.”

  John waves to the kids as he continues on to peppys pod to grab Clay. 

~~

  John loads the last bag on Rhonda, patting her side as he walks past to go back to the pod. He coos at her nudging her head with his own. He’s so glad she came with him, it makes him feel better about this whole thing. 

  He looks up at the pod waiting for his kids to come down. He didn’t have to wait very long before Bruce comes down with cooper in his paws. 

“ you ready to go?” Cooper nods vigorously at him jumping from Bruce’s paws to start running to Rhonda laughing the whole way. “ cooper wait for me!” Branch suddenly drops in front of John scaring him so bad his heart skipped a beat, as he ran after cooper. 

 “branch! You can’t just jump out of the tree like that!” Floyd lands next to John with Clay close behind. Floyd pats his shoulder as he passes sending a quick “ sorry!” Over his shoulder as he chased branch and cooper to Rhonda. 

 He’s happy all his babies seem to be excited for this vacation. He looks over at Clay who is standing next to Bruce, leaning against him slightly smiling contentedly. “ did you and Floyd decide if he wants to put on a small show if where we are going allows it?” He’s sure the vacationers would love a music performance, and bonus It’s a great opportunity for Floyd to expand his slowly growing music career. 

 Clay nods, “ yeah we have a whole line up of songs to choose from. He’s doing more of his sadder songs because he wants to get those out. He does have some upbeat songs as well that he wants to mix in. It will be a great performance!” Clays excitement was infectious, he was starting to feel giddy just thinking about it. 

   John joins Clay by Bruce wrapping his arm around Bruce’s other shoulder, “ who’s ready for a vacay!” Clay cheers and together they pull Bruce towards Rhonda. “ guys I can walk!”

 They just laugh and push him in the door, John pats Rhonda’s side “ let’s get this vacay started!” He knew she would know where to go, she always did. 

 They spend most of the journey playing games, drawing and showing the drawings off as masterpieces. John doesn’t secretly keep all of them to put in yet another scrap book…. Nope… why would he do that…

 It takes a little under a day to get there, when they reach the cliff overlooking the island everyone is sleeping soundly. Except for John, he’s taking pictures of his sleeping kids. If everything goes right he will be leaving with one less troll on the way back. It will hurt for a bit but he desperately hopes Brandy and Bruce find each other and connect. He wants Bruce to have the love of his life, too be as overwhelmingly happy with a big family he so craves. 

 He gently tells Rhonda to take the calm route down instead of just jumping off the cliff. While it would have been funny to see all their reactions to their abrupt jump, he doesn’t want to scare his kids too badly. Rhonda stops on the beach right where Bruce had made his canteen in the future. When everyone wakes they will exit and walk around, he knows he will need to reassure all of them the vacationers mean no harm. He will keep a tight hold of branch as he does, his precious starlight has been having nightmares and John doesn’t want to frighten him.

 Closing his eyes he lets himself drift off to sleep, content that they will be fine. Everything will go well, he’s sure of it. 

 He’s less sure when he wakes to branch screaming at the giant vacationers face in Rhonda’s front window.

~~~

  Brandy walks leisurely on the beach, it’s another beautiful day. She’s normally not up this early in the day, she couldn’t sleep well last night only managing a few hours before she was up for the rest of the night. Everyone and everything is so laid back here, not that she’s complaining. She just wants something more. Something to fill her days with. 

 She lived on this island that everyone has taken to calling vacay island because everyone comes here for vacation. Less than half the people here actually lives here, most come for a short time then go back home after. Most people don’t bring their kids to the island either, which really dampens her mood just a bit. 

  She doesn’t have any siblings, but she loves watching her neighbors kids when they ask. She’s always been good with kids and wants a lot of her own someday. The problem is finding someone to start a family with. It’s hard to get into a committed relationship when everyone is so laid back. She gets it, she honestly does. After all she grew up here and was just as laid back as any other vacationer. It’s just, sometimes she wants something more, like a family. 

 She looks out over the beaded ocean as the waves languidly come over the beach. It’s very relaxing, just like everything else on the island. She walks for a bit more just looking at the waves before she looks back in front of her, deciding to head home so she doesn’t worry her parents. 

 What is that? That weird purple and pink blob on the sand? She gets closer, it’s an animal? With a very tiny door? She lays down trying to get a better look at this strange creature. Is that a window?! Why does an animal have a window in its head?! 

 She looks closer, the animal seems to be sleeping, gentle breaths moving the creatures back up and down lightly. She can see inside the window, she breaths a sigh of relief when she doesn’t see any insides. Just a spacious interior, and small sleeping creatures. Fascinating, they look kinda like those weird fishy singing creatures that call themselves techno trolls, these ones don’t seem to have any fins though.

 Her quiet contemplating is brought to a swift and high pitched screaming end. A tiny little possible troll is looking at her through the window and screaming. She sits up slightly worry creasing her brow as the little door on the side of this strange creature opens and out pops a bigger possible troll. Their purple hair puffed up making them look bigger than they are. 

 “ what are you?!” They yell at her obviously defensive. Oh, oh no she had scared them. She holds her hands up slightly trying to show she means no harm. 

 “ oh I’m terribly sorry, I don’t mean to frighten you. I just saw this creature and wanted to see what they were. I mean no harm to you.” They are still tense until another one exits and places a, what she thinks could be a paw, on their shoulder.

“ Bruce she seems to be sincere. Let’s give her a chance okay?” The newly named Bruce takes a deep breath and his hair relaxes. That intrigues her. That was really cool, can they all do that? She notices the small troll she scared earlier watching her suspiciousy. Eyes narrowed as they watch her.

 She slowly leans down closer to them again, lowering her voice as she goes to address them. “ hello, I’m brandy. Who might you be?” She notices the other two tense just a bit when she addresses the small one who is definitely a child.  They hesitate but a look flashes through their eyes, a mix of confusion, surprise, and curiosity.

  They slowly approach her, climbing off the stairs the small door had turned into to get closer to her. Bruce makes a move to stop him but is stopped from doing so by the other green haired one. Normally she would get upset with this. They don’t know her, what if she was evil? It looks like the green one is ready for anything though, he’s watching her with a look that is actually quite scary. She keeps everything about her face and hands loose. She looks extremely relaxed, she hopes this small child will give her a chance. She wants to get to know them. 

  She’s carful not to move as they inspect her face closely, looking for anything that could be harmful. They move to her hands next gently shifting them so they can see them all. Between when her eyes close to blink and when they open the green one is next to the baby one. Holy nachos they are super fast. She didn’t even hear them move.

 “ what do you think branch? Is she okay?” She can tell he is asking as a way of easing the younger one’s fears and not because he actually really needs to know. She has no doubt he wouldn’t have let her near his child if he thought she was dangerous. The look he gave her a few seconds ago told her that.

  “Yeah. I’ll give her a chance.” The child then pats her hand, she has no idea why he did that.  

 “Yay!” She startles a bit as another smaller troll suddenly runs out of the creature and right at her face. She doesn’t move as they all of a sudden jump oh her nose. he goes cross eyed trying to look at this energetic little one. “ hello! I’m cooper! It’s so nice to meet you! You’re pretty, what are you? Are you nice? If B likes you I like you. “  he giggles loudly as he continues to spout questions at her. Her surprise fades into amusement as she listens to this small child. 

 “ cooper! You can’t just jump on other’s faces like that! Get down!” The small troll is grabbed with green and purple hair before they are gently pulled from her face. Bruce walks closer as he releases cooper, “ sorry about him. He’s super excited to see new things including other creatures.” 

  “ it’s alright, we should move you off the beach. People are going to wake soon. It’ll be a crowded place in a few moments. He nods and they all get back in the creature. She starts walking to a more secluded area, she smiles. This just got interesting, for some reason Bruce intrigues her.

Chapter Text

Brandy is good with kids, she handles branch and cooper really well. She didn’t even get upset when cooper literally jumped on her face. Bruce watches his younger brothers as they talk to Brandy. It’s surprising but branch has actually taken a liking to Brandy. He knew cooper would take a liking to her, sometimes it scares him how trusting cooper is. 

  She has this look about her that’s just super calming. They haven’t met the other vacationers yet, Brandy had moved them off the beach to a smaller area farther away. They can see the beach with all the other vacationers in it. Being on this island is actually very intimidating for Bruce, everyone is huge! They all walk very lazily, like they have all the time in the world. They are all very relaxed, are all having fun playing some games with strange balls that are bigger than their pod or strange colorful disks that they throw through the air just to catch. 

  A ballgull flys down offering him a drink, ha yes! He tried to grab it but grabs air instead. 

“ nuh-uh bug.” Well sugar. He watches as John literally pours the drink in the sand and punts the glass across the area they’re in, it lands somewhere behind a bush. He’s honestly shook, what the troll did John do that for?

  “ John that was a perfectly good drink! Why did you do that?”  

“ your to young to drink that”

“ how the troll can I be to young to drink that? Isn’t it just juice?!” Why was John being so serious about this, he was thirsty!  He thought at first that John just didn’t want him drinking a strange drink from a weird bird, but now he’s to young? For what?!

 John looks confused for a good ten seconds before a look of realization comes over his face. “ Bruce that drink can make you feel weird.  It reacts differently to everyone but it affects you in ways that feel like it’s making you happy, sometimes. Like I said it’s different for everyone but it’s not safe to drink at your age. Well any age really but in moderation it’s okay. Small amounts though. Not large. “

  Holy troll in the sky that birds trying to kill him. “ are you saying that drink is like a wuzzle berry? Eat a bit and you just hallucinate and feel things that mimic happiness and other such emotions, eat too much and you die?.”

 He watches John open his mouth to reply before closing it again as he gets this concentrated look on his face. Various emotions flit over his face before he just huffs and nods. Welp, he’s never trusting those birds again. As if it could read his mind, the bird comes back with a second glass. Oh no, not him. Not today. 

  He runs past John towards brandy, John can deal with the poison dealing birds as he obviously doesn’t fear them. 

 “- and we sing a lot!” Cooper was basically vibrating with how happy he was talking to brandy. Bruce sneaks up behind cooper, winking at brandy right before he scoops his baby brother into his arms, tossing him in the air as he squeals and catching him before doing it again. 

“Oh oh me next ! Me next!!!”

Branch starts climbing him, trying to get into his arms too in his impatience. 

 “Ah, wait branch!” He stumbles, he had just thrown cooper into the air but was now unable to catch him. Branch had thrown off his balance. Oh no. He scrambled to right himself as cooper started falling back down towards him. It was hard with branch still clinging to his back, he wasn’t going to be able to catch cooper. 

  John’s suddenly next to him trying to stabilize him as he wobbles a bit. Did he catch cooper? 

 “ hahaha thanks miss brandy!” He looks over at brandy, she’s holding cooper in her palm. She had caught him. Bruce feels relief, she had saved cooper from a dangerous fall. Any hesitation he has regarding her vanished in that moment. Their eyes meet, hers look calm and confident. He’s sure he looks haggard and concerned, he tries to show her he’s thankful. Her nod towards him makes him think he’s successful. 

  “ branch you can’t climb on people when they are tossing people like that. Cooper could have gotten hurt.” John’s scolding branch lightly, Bruce hates how his little brother looks so sad at that, he wants to tell branch it’s okay and that he forgives him but John is right. It was very dangerous. 

   He notices that Floyd and Clay are walking back towards them, they had left earlier to go scope out the area around them wanting to find out more about the inhabitants that lived here. “ we could have it later tonight or even tomorrow evening. We should ask brandy if it’s okay for us to have it somewhere.” They must be talking about the concert Floyd wanted to do.

  Brandy gently lowers cooper back down to the ground. Steadying him as he wobbles just a bit, watching as he runs over to John and branch. Trying to get in between them and make branch happy. Clay and Floyd have reached them by now and approach him and brandy. 

 “ hey miss brandy,” brandy interrupts Clay “ you guys can just call me Brandy” “ oh, okay. Brandy. Umm would it be okay if we had a small concert here? Do you think people would like that?” They all watched as she thought about it. 

 “ I think it would be fine. I’ll go ask too borrow a radio or something.” She gets up to do just that, Floyd gently stops her. “ we have a guitar and some drums with us. We don’t need a radio, but thank you for offering. “ she looks intrigued.

  “ so you are trolls.” Oh , they haven’t told her what they are. Does she know other trolls? “ the techno trolls who come over sometimes also don’t need a radio.”

  Other trolls have come here before? This is so cool! “ what do they look like? We haven’t seen techno trolls before!” Well, it sounds like Clay is very curious about this. Bruce just continues to watch as his brothers interact with Brandy. Is it weird he wants to get to know her better? 

“ so.” He squeaks startled from his thoughts by John, he’s standing next to him also watching the others with brandy. What do you think of brandy?” He fold his arms, why does John sounds just a bit smug?

  “ I think she’s great. She’s really good with branch and cooper, she’s observant, she’s very relaxed. I think I want to get to know her more.” And Bruce genuinely does. 

 “ maybe you should ask her if she would like to hangout.” What. What? John is suggesting he asks her out? 

 “…. John , we’re literally here because I went on a horrible date….. why should I ask her out?”

 John shakes his head smiling slightly, “ I didn’t mean for you to ask her in a date Bruce. Just ask to hangout so you can get to know her. It doesn’t have to be a date you know. Just talk, about things. Who knows maybe you’ll have things in common. Hey! Maybe she has some new recipes she would be willing to share.”

  That gets Bruce’s attention, it’s true, she could have some great recipes. She lives on a tropical island, there’s got to be stuff he can try here. “Okay, I’ll ask her.” 

 John slaps his shoulder as he walks over to Clay and Floyd “ yeah! Let’s go!”

  He meant now?! He goes after John, arriving just in time to hear John tell her they would love a tour. 

“ great! What would you like to see first? “

She leads them around the island showing various spots that most people like to see.  They spend most of the day doing that before they come to a spot that seems to be a gathering place of some kind. A lot of vacationers are gathered there, just talking to each other and relaxing. 

 “ okay, you can have the concert here if you want to. I’ll go tell others you’re gonna have one soon so they get more people to come. “ Bruce watches as she walks away, he hasn’t gotten the nerve to ask her to hangout yet, he’s hoping to soon. 

 “ all right guys! Come over here.” They all head over to Clay who is holding a paper, Bruce is assuming that’s a schedule of what the concerts gonna be on. “ Floyd wants to sing most of the songs tonight but we were wondering if you want to sing the last one together?” It’s been years since they last all performed together in front of an audience. They sing with each other all the time at home and in the road, but this is the first time since there last band performance that they will sing together in front of an audience. 

 Does Bruce want to? He does actually. He’s more surprised Clay offered it. “ I would love to sing the ending song with you guys.” Branch and cooper both agree super fast, but John doesn’t say anything. 

  They all look at John waiting for his answer. He smiles warmly at them, “ what song did you guys have in mind?” Floyd quickly goes into all the song options he has for them to choose from. Hopefully this all goes well, maybe if Brandy likes the song he can get the courage to ask her to talk more with him.

~~~

 Hickory looked at the screens showing the forest below the funk ship. The king and queen of funk decided to use their ship to fly over pop forest to help in the search. They’ve been at it for a few days, still no sign of any pop trolls. They passed by a town full of green giants but decided against checking them out. The big ugly tree surrounded by a broken cage really creeped them out…

  He folds his arms tighter as he watches with no signs of any trolls still. How can they be so good at hiding? He wants to see John again, he NEEDS to see John again. He won’t miss his chance this time. He’s going to ask him on a date, he’s gonna get to know the love of his life. 

   “Mr hickory? “ he looks down a bit, prince D is right next to him looking up at him with a hopeful look on his face. 

 He loosens his stance and smiles just a bit at the prince. “ da? Vhat can I do for you?” 

 The little prince shuffles on his four limbs a bit still looking hopeful but also a bit nervous. “ did you really see my brother?” Ah, he is wanting to see his brother. That makes sense, he’s been gone for over four years. 

 His smile grows as he thinks about cooper and how John and his kids treated him like their own. How cooper treated them like his own too. “ I did.” 

  “ he’s okay? And being taken care of?” 

 “ he is.” Hickory watches as the young princes face goes from hopeful to worried.

 “ do you think he will like me?” He kneels down so he’s closer to the princes height, gently resting a paw on his head. “ of course he will. He was very friendly to me and my brother, I’m sure he will be friendly to you too.”

 Darnel smiles relieved and hugs him really quick . “ thank you” he then pulls away and runs off somewhere else in the ship. 

 He turns back to the screen, searching for anything. Most of what he’s seeing is just green. Green everywhere, this forests canopy is actually very thick. It makes it hard for the cameras to see anything from above. 

  A few hours later and still nothing, he’s debating on whether this is going to get them nowhere or if they will eventually be successful in their search. He sighs, maybe he should just go find Dickory, at least then he won’t be bor- what’s that? He concentrates on the screen on a certain area. Is that? It is! It’s bright colors. 

  “ there! Right there!” He frantically starts pointing at the screen, trying to show where he saw the color. The funk troll managing the cameras zoom in on that spot. They’ve found them. The pop trolls. They set the ship right over the village, which is probably a mistake as all the trolls who were roaming around start running in different directions and disappearing from view. The whole town is vacant in less than a minute. These trolls are fast. 

  “We should go down there.” Queen essence and king Quincy stand next to him looking at the suddenly empty village. He’s quick to agree, he can hardly keep his excitement contained. After over two years, he’s going to see John and his kids again. 

  After they bubble down, (the king and queen and himself. Dickory didn’t want to come down, he stayed on the ship with the prince watching the cameras. ) they are met with complete silence. Nothing makes a noise, this is concerning. 

   “ hello? We’ve come to speak with someone regarding our son.” Queen essence makes sure her voice can be heard, projecting it loudly. Suddenly in the blink of an eye a small pink troll appears in front of them. 

  “ Hello! I’m poppy! It’s so amazing to see you! You look just like my friend cooper! Who’s your son? Is he lost? Why are you here? What are you? Wanna be my friend?” She’s jumping from foot to foot as she says this, her eyes are sparkling as she stares at them .  Suddenly another pink troll with blonde hair is next to poppy, picking her up and hiding her in her hair. 

 “ who are you?!” Her hair puffs up and hickory knows they are about to be in trouble If they don’t calm the situation down soon. They don’t have any time to process anything from poppy before he realizes something needs to be done and now. 

  He holds his paws up standing in front of the two funk trolls. “ hello, I’m hickory and-“ poppy sticks her head out or her sister hair, “ hickory?! Branch was telling me about you!”

“ hickory? The yodeler?” Viva is looking at him intensely. Trying to see if he’s lying most likely. “Da” her hair relaxes just a bit. “ your the guy who has a crush on uncle John.” He freezes, caught off guard. How did she know?! He blushes deep green yellow as he realizes she just said that in front of the royal funk trolls. Wait uncle John? 

Poppy gasps from where she is, “ what?! Ooh that’s so sweet! Are you here for him? He’s on vacation! He said he’d be back later though! Are you gonna stay?”

   John’s not here. That’s a problem. He fumbles not knowing what to say, he’s so embarrassed a child just blurted out his feelings like that. 

  “ girls. Let me speak with our guests.” An orange troll with pink hair and a mustache approaches from somewhere. “ okay dad, I’ll take poppy back to the pod.” 

   “Thank you viva.” Hickory watches the two young trolls leave and turns back to the new troll who is looking very stern. “ hello, I’m king peppy. I can see you are different trolls however, I’m going to ask that you come with me. Away from the village. Would it be possible to move your ship away from the village?”

  This is the king of pop. This is the one who keeps his trolls in the dark about other genres. He glances at the funk royals who are looking at each other having a silent conversation. King Quincy turns back and addresses king peppy.

 “ yes we can do that, however we are going to need answers.” The pop king tenses just a bit before he nods in assent and turns to start walking in a specific direction. The three trolls follow him as he leads them away from the village. It’s a bit creepy that they don’t hear anything else from any other pop troll the whole time this was happening.

  Hickory hopes they get answers soon.

Chapter Text

The king took them to a small grotto with a streaming waterfall, it had a small pedestal with a scrapbook in the center of it. He stood on one side of the pedestal and had them stand on the other. 

  “You said you wanted answers. Before I go into everything, what do you want to know?” Peppy was very straightforward with his question and look. He had a no nonsense air about him but was also very wary. Honestly essence wanted answers to a lot of things. Why the pop trolls vanished as soon as they saw them, why they still can’t hear any music now. They want answers to everything hickory had told them, but right now she wants answers on her son.

  “ poppy mentioned that we look like her friend cooper. We know that’s our son’s name as hickory met him two years ago, where is he?” Excitement is rising in her chest, she is so close to seeing her baby. King peppy actually relaxes just a bit at their question.

“Yes, cooper is John dory’s adopted son, they are on vacation right now.” That hits her hard. She was so close. So close to seeing her baby alive and well in front of her. “They will be back, I just don’t know when. The last one they went on lasted a few months.” This is even worse. She will have to wait for who knows how long to see him. Quincy presses just a bit on her side with his own in a comforting gesture. 

  “ where did everyone go? Why did they all hide when they saw us?” She watches peppys face when Quincy asks those questions, he went from relaxed and a bit nervous to wary and a lot nervous. “ oh, well, they were all still there. They were all just camouflaged with their hair. Obviously we were all hiding because we didn’t know what was there or who was coming.” 

  Pop trolls can camouflage with their hair? Is this one of the physical changes hickory mentioned? “ how did they all vanish so fast?” Well, she guesses it’s now a game of twenty questions between her husband and the pop king.   All though the pop king looks anything but thrilled to be playing it.

  This question made the king have a questioning look. “ they didn’t vanish, they just ran. Actually it was a pretty average pace for them all to camouflage. They probably should have gone faster if I’m being honest. I should talk to them about that, it’s unsafe to be that slow when retreating.” 

   That was average pace for them?! “ that’s average?! But they were all gone in under a minute!” 

   Peppy nods still looking a bit confused. Okay, she needs an answer to an actually important question now. “ why do you hide the fact there are other trolls from your tribe.?” 

Peppy looks away from them and to the book, he gently flips the book open to a page with all the troll tribes old leaders on them. “Well considering that we all went and separated because we couldn’t stand each other’s music anymore, an older king decided to keep this knowledge secret. It could have given a dangerous hope in a situation that it would have been deadly to have it in. Trolls would have gone to try and find you, whether for help or as an escape we don’t know. But none of the kings or queens wanted to risk our trolls lives like that.”

   Wait wait wait, what? Grew intolerant of each others music? Is that what that book says? She leans closer towards the book and looks at the pages. It does say that. She looks at her husband, conveying that the book is lying to the pop trolls. They don’t know what happened all those generations ago. This is worse than she thought. Instead of a leader who is purposefully hiding other genres because he wants to isolate them, he’s hiding a truth that isn’t even the truth, to keep them safe. 

  “ we didn’t become intolerant of each other’s music king peppy.” They both explain what really happened. During the story peppy became scared, or maybe just wary? Nope that’s definitely scared. 

  “ this isn’t good. So all the tribes are mad at pop because an old leader tried to take their music?” All three of them nod.  Peppy looks stunned for a second before he suddenly becomes resolved. “ we will move then. You found us and are probably going to tell the other tribes where we are. I am not risking my trolls like that.” This isn’t good. This is really not good. 

  They’ve accidentally scared the pop king into thinking they all hate them enough for them to hide again. If they do that how will they meet their son? 

~~~

   Hickory feels chills at the pop kings words. He’s going to move their whole tribe because they know where they are? “ how will you move your whole tribe? Isn’t there too many to up and move like that? “ peppy shakes his head, “ no there’s only six hundred trolls, we’ve done it before a little over six years ago. We can and will be doing it again.” 

  Six hundred?! He looks at the funk royals who also have a look of shock on their faces. They all look at each other trying to figure out how to ask the king about that. 

  Apparently essence finds the words first, “ peppy do you mean in this village?” 

  “ well yes,” oh okay so there’s other villages. “ this is the only village.” Well holy trolly never mind. 

  Hickory can’t help it he has to ask, “ what happened? The pop trolls were the largest genre and now you’re almost extinct!” 

  “We were the largest?” Indescribable sadness comes over peppys face. He looks utterly defeated. He reaches up into his hair and pulls out a thick scrap book. “ I should start at the beginning then.” He opens the book and starts to tell them about the Bergens. About how the Bergens when they first found them ate them everyday three times a day about five trolls per two Bergens. The Bergens did this for years. Thousands of trolls a year got eaten, they were being eaten faster than the trolls could repopulate. This dwindled their population a lot. 

    He then went on to tell about how when the Bergens found out they quickly made it be one day a year as a treat for themselves. They would harvest one troll a year per Bergen. He then went into the stuff that made hickory’s blood turn to ice in his veins. 

   He told them how the Bergens would try to keep certain genes and get rid of others by taking whole families. How over time pop trolls became different. He doesn’t know how different because of how late in the royal line he is, but he does know that things are different. How his trolls can camouflage and use their hair in ways he thinks they weren’t able to before. How they developed instincts and sounds that they can use to keep their family’s safe. How when a pop troll is really happy, like exuberantly happy they will actually glow for a moment.

   “ actually I’m not sure if this is one, hmm. How long does it take for your eggs to hatch?” He was actually genuinely curious. Hickory blushed as the first thought that came to his mind was a mental image of him and John watching an egg hatch. He quickly shook his head, vanishing that thought from his mind, he can’t think about that right now.

  “ three weeks to incubate before they hatch. But it takes about two to form the egg Before that” Hickory is glad essence took that question. Hickory was probably going to stutter through the whole thing. 

   Peppy looked surprised, “ huh, okay. That is different.” It’s different?! 

  “How is it different?” Hickory couldn’t help himself, he had to know. 

  “ it takes about a day for us.” Hickory might faint. “ for the whole process?”

  Peppy nods. “ yep, we normally don’t even need a partner. If we are in a dangerous situation and are in the process of having an egg we can hold off the egg from hatching for up to a week.” Peppy is saying this like it’s not mind shattering news. 

   Holy troll in the sky! What has hickory gotten himself into? Is that why John has so many kids? 

  “ not to throw this off course, but we really need to get back to our tribe.” Quincy is obviously trying to get away to process everything. “ Will you let our son’s family know to come find us when they get back from their trip?”

  “ I’ll stay here actually.” Hickory offers before king peppy can say anything. “ can you send Dickory down? We can help them find you when they get back.” The funk royals look very grateful to him. He’s staying for two reasons; 1, to make sure peppy can’t up and move the village, he’s a flight risk. And 2 so he can see John right when he comes back. He needs to ask him out. He’s waited for over two years for this! They nod and peppy starts leading them back to the village. Before they leave though, Quincy looks right at peppy. 

 “ you should tell your trolls about other genres. We will probably be visiting more and would like to not be ran from.” He waits till peppy nods before he gets in a bubble with essence and they go to the ship. Dickory comes down soon after and they watch as the ship leaves. 

    Hickory has learned a lot about pop trolls. Some stuff hurt his heart a lot and others made him curious to find out what they were. He hopes John will give him a chance when he gets back. 

~~~

   Bruce was strangely nervous. He just had to ask her to hangout, it’s not a date, just hanging out. They had just sung the last song in their concert, it had gone really well. He enjoyed it immensely and he knew the rest of his family did too. Branch and cooper had done great! This was coopers first show on a stage, Bruce will admit he was a bit skeptical at how well coopers would do. He was worried his youngest brother would get stage fright. He sure proved Bruce wrong, He was a natural! 

   He couldn’t help but look at brandy during the song. He wanted to know how she would like the song they were singing, based on how she looked he thought she was enjoying it. Once they had finished they had one of the loudest applause they’ve ever heard. Bruce doesn’t know if it’s just because of how much bigger everyone is compared to them but it was amazing! 

   They all were glowing just a bit at the applause, they all felt accomplished. As they walked Backstage John walked by him clasping his shoulder just a bit. Bruce looked at him, John gave him a reassuring smile and little nod towards the direction Brandy had been in. He gave John a small smile back, he could do this. John walks away to the others, Bruce turns towards where Brandy is and heads off to ask her to hangout. 

    When he finds Brandy she’s in the middle of talking to another vacationer, he almost turns and walks away. He doesn’t, but it’s a close thing. He waits patiently as they talk hoping to catch her when she’s done with her conversation. He doesn’t have to wait long as she sees him waiting and ends her conversation soon after. His heart feels fluttery at the thought that she ended the conversation early because she saw him. 

  Brandy kneels down to get closer to him so it’s easier for them to talk, he appreciates it immensely. “So, what did you need Bruce?” She remembers his name! ‘Not the time Bruce. You’re trying to ask her to hangout.’ He scolds himself silently, getting ready to ask her. 

   “ do you want to go on a walk with me? And talk?” Where did his determination go! He sounded so nervous, she won’t want to go with him anymore! 

  “Sure” Just as he was beating himself up mentally for being so stupid Brandy actually agrees. He’s stunned for a minute, just looking at Brandy with a look that basically lets her know that he’s shocked. She smiles warmly at him and he blushes just a bit, he’s making himself seem like a fool. 

   “ but how about instead of a walk, I carry you and walk around so we can chat without you having to yell up to me.” He… hadn’t even thought that she would be okay with that. That’s actually very considerate of her. 

  “ are you sure that’s alright?” He had to make absolutely sure before he just agreed. She only holds her hand out for him as answer. He gently climbs on and sits as she stands, starting to walk away from the groups of vacationers. Bruce looks over to where Rhonda is laying down and sees John watching them leave. His brodad has a soft smile on his face that shifts to a more encouraging one when he notices Bruce looking at him. John gives him a thumbs up and a wave as he leaves his site the further Brandy walks.

“What did you want to talk about?” Trying not to startle to badly he turns his attention back to Brandy.  Before he can even think about what he wants to say “anything, everything, tell me about yourself?” Spills out before he can stop it. She seems just a little surprised before she just smiles at him in a way that he seems to like the more he sees it. 

  “ alright” 

  They end up talking for hours. Time slips away as they tell story’s of their lives.

The escape.

  “ then John showed up super late and I was furious! My hair was a mess! “ he wines just a bit at the end, that was horrible to get straightened out again. 

  Brandy chuckles, “ I’m sure it was, then what happened?”

Brandy’s first home made dish.

  “ my dad was so proud of me! It is his favorite dish after all.” Her tone is wistful as she thinks back on that day.

  “ I need to try this some day! It sounds amazing!”

His complicated family dynamic.

  “ yeah he’s actually my older brother, but he raised me and is the only father I’ve ever known.” He means this, he loves his brodad and wouldn’t change a thing. “ clay and viva keep mashing words together, we all call John our brodad a lot. John finds it hilarious.”

  Brandy laughs at his brothers antics with word mashing the more Bruce tells her of them.

  Brandy’s want for more. For a family.

  “I just need something more. Something to occupy my time. I find myself bored a lot, don’t get me wrong I love being relaxed; there’s just something different about being relaxed and busy to being relaxed and bored.”

 Bruce gets it, he really does that’s why he’s been wanting a family. He wants to feel needed and be able to take care of little kids, to watch them grow. 

  “ I get it, I’ve been trying for years to find someone to spend my time with. “ he sighs remembering why they are here in the first place. “ they all end badly.” 

  She hums as she watches him, something like understanding passes through her face as he talks about how the last one treated him. 

   When they finally notice the time it’s well past midnight, “ oh sprinkles I should head back before John comes looking for me.” Brandy lowers him back to the floor and he hops off her hand looking up at her. 

  “ thank you for this Bruce I had fun.” Her smile is so relaxed, so happy and sincere. He likes that smile a lot. 

  “So did I,” he pulls just a bit of his hair into his paws and fidgets with it a bit. He can do this, he can. “ do you want to hangout tomorrow?” He doesn’t look at her just Incase she rejects him. 

  “ I would love that. “ 

 He looks up so fast his neck is surly going to feel it in the morning. “ really? I mean! Okay!”

He watches as her face lights up with just a small amount of a blue shade as he shines with his happiness. 

  “ I’ll meet you tomorrow Bruce , good night” he watches her leave, giddy with everything. He’s so happy he keeps his glow for longer than he has in a while. He walks back to Rhonda, it takes a bit but he gets there. When Rhonda sees him she wiggles excitedly and licks his face leaving copious amounts of glitter all over his face and in his hair. He’s to lost in his own work to really worry about that, he just pats her and wishes her good night before heading in. 

  John’s waiting for him when he steps in. Bruce isn’t surprised, he knew John would wait for him just to be sure he got back safely. 

  “How’d it go bug?” Bruce walks over to branch and cooper and carefully lifts them before laying down and placing them on his chest. “ it went great John. Really great.” 

  John walks over and places a blanket over them before joining them on the floor. He pulls Clay and Floyd closer to them and they all snuggle right there on the floor. “ I’m glad baby bug.”

  The last thing Bruce thinks about before he drifts off is what he’s going to do with Brandy tomorrow. He’s so excited.

Chapter Text

Those yodelers gave them the wrong Berries.  How DARE they give them the WRONG berries. They cough roughly into their paw, wiping the blood off on their pants as they look at the book in front of them. 

  The king was completely fine! Even after two years of drinking the tea with them after barbs lessons. They had gotten a book of berries to look at why it wasn’t working, hoping the book could give them some insight as to why that was. The leaves of the berries the yodelers gave them were the wrong number for wuzzle berries, these were snuzzle berries. 

  In a fit of rage the rock troll throws the book across the room, it lands directly into their fireplace burning up into ashes. They cough again, more blood that they wipe on their pants. It’s a vicious cycle that they were forced to live with. They are going to die very soon, the blood had coalesced into their lungs. Slowly growing larger and risking the collapse of them. 

  All their plans, these last years of their life, the hours and hours of tirelessly growing these berries so they had a supply that would last. All of it, wasted. Now they have a rock princess that they’ve taught to strive for harmony within the genres, but they never got to the part about it being under rock. They had been waiting for the wuzzle berries to kick in. The king was too nice for his own good, he wouldn’t have let that stand if they had started teaching his daughter that. 

   All of that wouldn’t have need the only bad thing to happen, oh no of course not, the king had asked about the tea and where it was from. They had foolishly told him it was from the pop tribes area, now he wanted to go get more! This is terrible! He’s gonna go to pop and ask about the berries with the wrong name and find out what they were trying to do!  

  Not just that but the princess wanted to go with him, to make more friends. 

  This is very bad.

~~~

    Bruce and Brandy seem to be hitting it off. John’s happy for his baby bug, really he is. Bruce and Brandy have been going on a few dates these past couple days. They are in each other’s company a lot, they talk about everything, they both seem so happy. Bruce had told him after their second “hangout” that he had asked Brandy to date him, she had said yes. They’ve been here for a week already, the kids love it here! Everyone is having fun, he’s been teaching cooper and branch how to swim, clay and Floyd have been having mini concerts and selling lots of records, Bruce is going on dates every day with Brandy. 

  Everything is going really well! So why is he crying alone outside by Rhonda’s face at three in the morning? He’s not sad, he’s not upset, he’s really happy Bruce and Brandy are working so well! Really he is! He scrubs his paws over his face, Rhonda gently nudged him trying to help him. He appreciates her a lot, he turns so his face is pressed against her cheek as he cry’s.

    He even knew coming out here Bruce would have to stay. He would stay and build his family here, and John would have to take the others back too pop village. He KNEW this, so why does it hurt so much? Rhonda coos at him, trying to comfort him, he’s crying to much to coo back but he does pat her cheek. 

  He doesn’t understand why he’s suddenly unable to stop crying, he got what he wanted. His baby has what he wanted as well, a loving partner who will love him for him and they are going to have a large family. He’s not abandoning Bruce, he’s letting him grow. John knows Bruce can’t stay with him forever, that none of his babies can stay with him forever. He already has to prepare to give cooper back to his parents, he doesn’t know when but he feels like he needs to. They deserve to have their son back. 

   He’s just not ready, he realizes. He’s not ready to say goodbye to his babies.  He knows that soon they will need to head back to their home, but he doesn’t want too. He wants to stay here, stay and watch Bruce’s family grow, to be here when Bruce has problems so he can help. Why is this so hard to do? He’s literally only a days journey away, shorter if they hustle. He takes a deep shaky breath, trying to steady his breathing. He shifts his face away from Rhonda’s so he can scrub his tears away.

   He can do this. He can be happy for Bruce and not accidentally guilt him into coming back with them by crying like a sap. He gets up and pats Rhonda gently cooing at her as he heads back inside, he stops after he shuts the door looking at all his kids together. They are sleeping on the floor in their nest that they made out of all the blankets. He takes his camera out and takes a picture, he’s going to tell them in the morning that they leave tomorrow. This could very well be their last family photo where they are all snuggled up like this. 

   He joins them all and tries to sleep, he doesn’t get a lot before he’s woken up again. Well it’s time to tell them that they leave tomorrow. 

   He waits as they all run around getting ready to go out for the day. Cooper comes over and asks to be held, which John does happily. 

  “ hey” he gets their attention quickly, they all have their hair in various stages of unkempt. “ we are leaving the island tomorrow, we need to get ready to go tonight after we finish with everything today.”

 “ aww but dad” branch whines from where he is trying to wrestle on his shirt “ I’m having fun swimming!” 

  “I know starlight but we can’t stay here forever, what about your friends at home? Don’t you want to see them again?” Branch hesitates just a bit, “ and we get to work on your bunker you wanted.” Branch lights up, “okay!”

  Cooper squirms in his arms “ can we say bye to miss brandy before we go?” John quickly looks at Bruce before looking at cooper. “ of course we can cupcake. I think we should, especially since Bruce is dating her.” 

  “I will let her know today on our date that we are leaving tomorrow, I’m sure she will love to say bye before we head out!” This actually shocks John. What did Bruce mean by we? Isn’t he staying?

  “ your not staying?” His disbelief is thick when he says this. 

   Bruce looks mildly offended, “ staying? Why would I stay? Brandy knows I was going to head back with you guys. We already talked about what would happen when I did.” 

  “But, aren’t you dating? Shouldn’t you stay here with her?” He sounds like he’s just a bit desperate and winces at that. Why would Bruce leave? They are supposed to get together and have a family! 

  Bruce looks confused and looks at Clay for help, Clay shrugs. What’s happening? 

   “John” Bruce starts cautiously, “ we are dating however we are going to send letters to each other and are planing on having dates once a week. I was going to ask if I could borrow Rhonda to come back weekly.”

  Oh, OH okay.  Wait, this means his baby isn’t leaving him yet! “ really?” He tries to keep his excitement from his voice, tries to sound happy but not overly so.

  “ yes, did you really think I would just leave you guys like that?” He looks away from his bug, this gives Bruce all the answer he’s looking for. He comes over and takes one of John’s paws, “ dad, I wouldn’t just up and leave you guys because I found someone to date. When we get married then yeah, I will be leaving to start a family together. Probably here, but I won’t just never see you again. We’re only a day away! And I will send letters and invite you to see our kids when we have them. So you aren’t getting rid of me that easily!”

   John looks back at Bruce looking at his sincere face, he smiles back. “ of course bug, I would never want to get rid of any of you ever. I love you all so much.” He stands and shifts cooper to one arm, he cups the back of Bruce’s head and bumps his forehead to his own. He lets go and smiles brightly, lets get this day started! He heads to the door to head out. 

 “ oooh so your gonna marry Brandy are you?” 

 “ Clay, I will tackle you.”

  “ and you want kids? Oooh brandy and Bruce sitting in a tree~~” 

  “ clay!” 

 “ k i s s i n g”

“ not you too Floyd!” 

  John snickers as he opens the door and Clay and Floyd run past him, giggling wildly.

  Bruce runs after them, he’s deeply flushed as he chases them with fake anger. 

  “ c’mon Bruce you know it’s true!”

  “ you wuv her~~~” 

  “ you better run! When I catch you I’m tackling you both with tickles!” 

  Branch comes up to his side, “ are they fighting?” 

  John pats his head, he doesn’t have to reach down to far now, branch reaches his hip. His baby is growing so much. This won’t stop him from carrying him though.

  “ no baby, they are just teasing each other. They aren’t really being mean and Bruce isn’t actually mad.”

 “ ooh okay.” 

  “Daddy put me down! I wanna run around with them too!” Cooper squirms trying to get John to put him down. John holds him tighter, “ oh? You wanna run around with them huh?” 

  “Yes! Let me go!”

  John pretends to think about this for a minute, humming as he does.  He looks at branch nodding to him with a sparkle in his eyes. “ okay. But! You get to run from me!”

 He puts cooper down and both him and branch run off as he chases them. They all laugh and have fun chasing each other.

~~~

  Hickory is stumped. He’s been in pop village for three days. These trolls sing and hug and throw glitter all the time! He’s not even exaggerating, literally all the time. Not all of them all the time but at least one of them all the time. There’s been few instances where someone is serious. Like right now.

  He’s with a small group of trollings all talking about a rosebud. What does a flower have to do with how serious these trollings are? Well apparently it’s not a flower but a troll. This troll was mean to their uncle Bruce according to a big trolling called biggy . He had a pet worm, it’s kinda creepy, Hickory swears he’s heard it talk but nobody believes him. The trollings are all talking about how to get her to reveal her true mean self. 

   Bruce is John’s oldest, he felt like he should help these little trollings since that was his future son (please please please, let John like him enough to give him a chance!)  this troll had been mean too. 

   “We need to show other trolls how mean she really is.” Poppy was leading all these trolls, there was quite a number of them here. Three glitter ones named hype, boom and guy, poppy, biggy, creek, satin, Chanel, they were connected at the hair and could never be cut from each other. (Apparently cutting pop trolls hair causes it to hurt quite a bit, it could cause irreparable damage, essentially crippling their ability to use it.) trickee and ablaze. 

   All the trollings agreed and started brain storming ways to show the village. As they were brain storming hickory got an idea.

  “ why don’t I go and be bait? I could start talking to her and get her to talk about things.”

  “ oooh great idea! Well bring some of the older kids and hang around so they hear the stuff she says!”

“It’s going to be great! “

“ yeah, she’ll never know what hit her!”

  “John’s gonna be so happy we took care of her for him. “

  Hickory felt just the smallest chill at that. These pop trollings are scary, he’s never going to get on their bad sides..

   They put the plan into motion later that day. Dickory had just rolled his eyes at him, saying he was a love struck fool. Hickory couldn’t get too mad at his brother, he knew he was right. He would do anything to make John happy. Even if that means helping a bunch of kids ruin some lady’s life for being mean to Bruce.

  The plan went off without a hitch. It took four hours of him walking around talking to this lady on their “date” for her to finally show her true colors. He had asked about kids and she lost it. Saying he was just like that “pretty boy who is going to go nowhere from last week “ .  Safe to say that’s a sensitive subject. He tries to steal the conversation in a different direction, she didn’t need to have trollings if she didn’t want them. Some trolls don’t want kids and that’s completely fine. Maybe it was just a touchy subject for her?

   He tries to talk about what she wanted to be doing in a few years. That was a bad question too. It turns out she wasn’t happy with anything or anyone. She hated everything that wasn’t exactly how she wanted but she had to make people think she loved everything. “It’s all about appearances “ 

   During this the trollings had slowly brought other trolls towards them, not close enough for her to notice but close enough to be heard. After a particularly biting comment, poppy’s sister viva came over and got between them. Rose bud was shocked she had been heard. She tried to cover everything up but there was too many trolls there. She ran away, angered and shamed.

   The smiles on the trollings faces made him glad he wasn’t at the center of their anger. 

~~~

  Brandy wants to ask Bruce about kids. Not that she thinks she wants one right now but because they are completely different species. Will they even be able to have kids? Will they have to adopt a kid? She’s fine with that if they can’t have one, she’s just worried about what Bruce will think. From the talks they’ve had this past week she can tell he wants kids. 

   She’s on her way to their meeting place now for their date. He’s already there, this isn’t really a surprise, he’s almost always early. Her relaxed smile grows with warmth at seeing him.  This past week she has really grown feelings for him, the way he talks about all the different foods he likes, the way he talks about wanting a family, the way he admires his brodad. 

  John is a great brother and father figure to Bruce; She can see it in the way they all interact. She is a bit concerned for him if she’s honest. From what Bruce has told her , their egg parents (the fact they come from eggs was a bit surprising to her.) had left his egg with John when he was Five. Then they kept having more just to leave them with him every time, until with branch they died. A Bergen had gotten them according to Bruce. 

   She fears that this is all going to come back to him later in life. That he will have some sort of major breakdown about it. When she had brought this up to Bruce he had been skeptical about it. He assured her that John was handling everything well and was even encouraging them when they called him dad. He seemed genuinely touched when they did, so they did more often. He told her he originally had some reservations about it and had talked to John about it. John had said he was completely fine with it and loved that they thought of him that way, he thought of them as his babies so it made sense. 

  “ hey honey!” Bruce just glows when he sees her. It’s something she’s noticed he does when he’s happy. 

  “Hello love” she sits in the sand next to him, “ how was your night?”

   He sits close to her resting his paw on her leg, “ it was great, we all piled in the nest so it was really warm.” 

   That’s something she’s noticed about the trolls while they have been here. They love heat. They talk for a few minutes, just watching the waves and enjoying each other’s company. 

  “ hey Bruce?” Now’s as good a time as any to bring this up. 

  “Hmm?” He turns away from the waves to look up at her. 

  “ how do you feel about adopting?”

  “ adopting what? Kids?” He looked confused,

“ why would we need to adopt? I mean we can if you want to! I’m just curious why you want to adopt first. I’m perfectly capable of carrying the eggs. But! I understand if you would rather adopt, it will be fine,  we can do that.” 

  She’s honestly surprised that he said he could carry the eggs. They aren’t the same species how was this going to work?

  “ Bruce love, I’m not doubting your ability to carry the egg. We are different species, how would it work? “ 

 “ oh! I just need some of your hair.” ……. What?

“My… hair…”

“ yeah! Here let me show you. Can I have some hair?” She’s too stunned to question him at the moment so she hands him just a small amount of her hair. 

 “Thanks! Okay so, I take the hair and put it in mine like this.” He puts the hair in the center of his own, carefully separating it so she can see what’s happening. “ then I wrap my hair around it,” he makes a small cocoon with his hair. “ then if it takes the cocoon will grow stiff and in about thirty minutes we’ll have an egg! Then in about another five we’ll have a trolling!” She watches all this with awe. This is amazing. They can have kids, biological kids. Wow. Bruce is amazing. 

  “ ha yeah it’s amazing! The kid will have a mix of both our genes as I’m forming it and your donating hair for them, but we aren’t ready for a kid yet so I’m just gonna remove the hair before it takes.” He reaches up to do just that but the cocoon won’t unravel. Bruce rapidly pales. He reaches up with his other paw trying unsuccessfully to get it to open.

   Shock hits Brandy and she’s frozen as she watches Bruce try to get the cocoon open. She’s going to be a mom in less than an hour. She doesn’t know whether to be terrified or ecstatic. 

  “ it’s not supposed to take that quickly! I’m sorry! I was just trying to show you we could have one and now we are going to have a kid! “

Brandy can tell Bruce is starting to freak out. His colors dim just a small amount and that worries her. He’s never dimmed like that before. 

   She carefully picks him up bringing him closer to her face. “ Bruce honey it’s okay! We’ll  handle this. Let’s go find John so we know what to do yeah? He should know right?”

  Bruce freezes. “ oh great troll above! John’s gonna freak out!” He stops trying to get the cocoon open, closing the gap he made with his hair. He pulls some of it into his paws and fidgets with it. “ ooh he’s gonna be so mad at me. He’s gonna wrap me in bubble wrap for the next hour! Oh no! “ 

  As Bruce freaks out brandy makes her way over to where she knows the rest of his family is. When she gets there they are all outside of Rhonda playing in the sand. 

  “John” she tries not to sound as freaked out as she’s feeling right now. 

  He turns to her smiling a bright sunny smile up at her, “ hey Brandy! How’s- Bruce! What’s wrong!” She kneels so John can get to Bruce. 

   “ I’m sorry! I was just trying to show her and -and then it took and I know we are gonna leave tomorrow but now I’m worried I can’t and-!” 

  She watches John quickly grab Bruce’s paws, which had started tugging at his hair instead of just fidgeting, trying to get him to stop so he doesn’t hurt himself. The others walk over all concerned for their brother.

  “ baby bug, what are you talking about? What were you trying to show her?” 

  At this point Bruce was crying to much to make sensible words, so Brandy took over,

“ he was trying to show me we could have kids.” Everyone is quiet after that. Various looks of shock on all their faces. 

  Floyd recovers first, “ are you saying. I’m gonna be an uncle?” 

  She doesn’t know what to say so she just nods. Chaos erupts after that.

Chapter Text

 “ Clay, take the others and go into Rhonda” John needs to calm his bug down. 

  “ but Johnny! I want to be here!” Clay sounds like he will be devastated if he gets sent away. 

John can’t worry about Clay being upset right now he has to help Bruce and Brandy through this. 

  “ Clay, I need you to take the younger three and go to Rhonda, now.” His voice was stern, he’s not backing down from this. 

  Clay can tell he’s serious so he nods and ushers the younger three to Rhonda. John turns all his attention to Bruce and Brandy. Bruce was darker, that’s not good. “ Bruce baby bug, breath with me. In” he breathes in, Bruce imitates him, “ hold, …..out” he breathes out, again Bruce follows him. They do that until Bruce can breathe easier.

  “Now tell me what happened.”

“ I was showing Brandy we could have biological kids, she was worried about it. But it wasn’t supposed to take that quickly! Right? It was only for like, ten seconds.” Bruce looked understandably nervous. 

   “ let me get this straight. You wanted to show Brandy you could have kids instead of just telling her, and it took faster than you thought it would, and now you’re gonna have an egg?”

John kept his tone level, not wanting to stress them out any more than they were. 

  They both nod at him. Okay he can work with this. “ how long ago was this?” 

  “About seven minutes ago.” Brandy carefully brings them closer so she can see what’s happening. Okay, that’s too late to stop it from forming. The egg is already in the process of growing. 

  He breaths in deeply as he thinks about all the possible options for them. He looks at brandy, “ are you willing to help Bruce raise this baby?” 

 “John!” Bruce sounded upset John rests his paw on Bruce’s own. Still looking brandy in the eyes. Different emotions pass through her eyes as she looks between him and Bruce. the longer she takes the darker Bruce becomes, John knows he’s thinking she’s going to leave him. If she does John will help his baby raise this child and they won’t come back, but John met Brandy before. She’s not the type to just up and leave when things get rough. And she really loved Bruce last time, John’s sure he’s seen that same love this time. 

  “ of course I will. There my baby too, I intend to be with them.” Bruce looks up at her like she hung the moon in the sky, brightening back to his normal coloring. Tears well in Bruce’s eyes, “ really?” John just smiles. He’s glad for Bruce, he found Brandy and they are perfect for each other. 

  “Really” the love in her eyes as she looks at Bruce makes John blush and look away, letting them have their moment. “ we should wait to have more though, maybe a few years so we can get properly married.” 

  John chuckles as he squeezes Bruce’s paw comforting his baby a bit. He looks back at them, “ okay, so you’re staying here now right?” It’s gonna hurt John some but he knows Bruce needs to spend this time with Brandy and their baby. 

  Bruce goes to answer but Brandy beats him too it. “ I think you should still go back to pop village with them.” Bruce’s face falls, John stiffens just a bit from the shock of hearing that. Did she have second thoughts already?

 “ oh, oh no, not forever! I just need to get us a place to live first! So while I’m doing that you can go home with the rest of your brothers and get things squared away before coming back. Besides, I need to tell my parents they are gonna be grandparents.” Oh good that makes sense. 

  Wait. HE’S GONNA BE A GRANDUNCLE! Oh my troll! Bruce shifts a bit, paws going up to his hair, it’s been about fifteen minutes now. The bump at the top is growing larger. He winces as he makes his hair longer trying to ease the weight that is surly building with the size of the egg. The egg is growing huge! John knew they had to be to carry those massive vacationers but holy sprinkles it’s still growing. 

  They all just sit out there for the next fifteen minutes. The egg keeps growing and Bruce makes his hair larger again, shifting it so it stands up to cover the egg. It’s  long and full enough it’s as large as it was last time now. John’s just glad he can be here this time, he’s so happy he gets to see Bruce’s family grow this time. 

  “Oh” Bruce sounds surprised, he reaches up and lifts the egg from his hair. The little tuft of hair that’s normally at the top looks like brandy’s coiled hair with the same red color. The egg is a beautiful nature leafy green of two shades with a singular stripe on it. 

  John thinks it’s beautiful. He knows Bruce is immediately in love, the way he holds it carefully in his paws, cradling it in his lap as he looks at it with a soft love John is sure he has when he looks at his own kids. 

  “ you ready?” Bruce looks at him, uncertainty warring with determination. Bruce nods at him ready as he can be. 

  “ how does this work? Do they just hatch and are a tiny baby?” Brandy gently lowers down more so she’s laying on the ground. John thinks she did that so the baby wouldn’t be at risk of falling off. 

  John hums, he’s not actually sure. This baby is half troll half vacationer. He doesn’t know how small vacationers are like… 

  “ well, baby trolls can walk and talk, sing and dance all that basically within two days. I don’t know how baby vacationers are but I’m assuming they will be able to at least talk within the week. Hopefully walk to, it’s important.” 

   “Really? All that? Whoa. Baby vacationers take at least eight months to walk and longer to talk. Singing and dancing isn’t even thought of till at least four years. “ 

  John and Bruce look over shocked at brandy’s words. “ why so late?! What if something happens? How will they ask for help?” This sounds dangerous, Bruce subtly holds the egg closer. 

  Brandy looks gently amused, “ they depend on their parents for a while, they basically need twenty four hour watch.” 

  Crack

  All their attention goes to the egg. Little cracks run along the surface of it, they are growing larger. This is it, they are hatching. 

  They watch as the egg cracks and a small green fist pushes a large chunk of shell away, more and more shell gets pushed away. Slowly a small vacationer is revealed. They have a beautiful green fur coat with a darker green shade on their main part of the body with a stripe, beautiful red sting hair with little bangs that look like Bruce’s. Their hair stands up like troll hair, their ears are also like trolls and, when they open their mouth to let out a childish giggle, John notices they also have a tongue. They don’t have any teeth, he doesn’t understand how vacationers eat anything without teeth.

   “ Brandy, he’s beautiful.” Bruce and Brandy look at their baby, lovingly. John shifts off Brandy’s hand and walks back to Rhonda. Giving the new parents a moment with their child.

~~~

 Bruce looks at this little baby in his paws, awe and love are the only things he’s feeling right now. Is this how John felt when he saw all of them hatch? 

  “He’s amazing. What do we name him?” Oh, Brandy brings up a great point. They don’t have any names for him. 

  “ umm, lake?” Brandy scrunches his face a bit “no”

 “River?”

“Birch?”

 “Rainy?” That’s it. “ yes, Rainy”

   He lifts his child up a bit watching as his baby reaches out for him bright eyed and giggling. He’s the size of a three year old branch. (Yeah stupid measuring but it’s what he’s got.) “ hello Rainy, I’m your daddy. And that,” he turns him around, “ is your mommy” 

  Brandy looks just as smitten with their child as he is . “ hello baby” they spend the next few moments just taking in everything with their new child. 

  “Maybe you should go get your brothers. They should meet their new nephew.” Bruce knows she’s right, he gently places Rainy in brandy’s palm and heads over to Rhonda to get his bros. 

  They are gonna love their nephew.

Chapter Text

“hickory and dickorys native tongue”

~~~

Floyd would like to say he wasn’t super nervous but that would be a lie. He’s currently in Rhonda with his two younger brothers in his arms and one of his older brothers, Clay,  with them. John had told them all to go to Rhonda, which is understandable honestly. Bruce is gonna have an egg soon. Holy glitter he’s gonna be an uncle. Not a bruncle like with cooper, but an uncle. 

   Is this different? Is he gonna be a good uncle? He thinks he will be, he’s not too worried about it. He’s more worried about Bruce, he looked pretty panicked. He hopes he’s okay…

 “ is Bruce gonna be okay?” Floyd looks at cooper and branch as they all sit in Rhonda waiting on John to tell them they can come out. They are both looking up at him concerned for Bruce.

  He smiles reassuring at them both softly patting their backs, “ of course! He’s gonna have a baby soon.” 

  Both their eyes sparkle with wonder and glee,

 “ really?” “ really really?”

  He huffs a laugh at that, his little brothers are so cute.

 “ really really.”

  Branch had a small look of worry with his wonder and glee, “ why was he so upset? Does he not want the baby?”

  “No I’m pretty sure he wants the baby, he wouldn’t have been able to have one so quickly if he didn’t. He’s just worried because I don’t think he expected it so soon.” Floyd had also been worried when he had first seen his older brother look so panicked. 

  “Okay, do you think the baby will like me?”

 “ I’m sure they will love you cooper”

“ what about me?”

“ yes branch, you too”

“ this means I’m gonna need to expand my bunker!” Branch is so excited he’s shaking as much he can with Floyd’s firm grip keeping him steady. 

  Floyd thinks branch’s bunker idea is pretty cool, he’s really excited to help with it. He doesn’t think branch will need to expand it though, Bruce could very well be moving here to be with Brandy and their baby. Normally thinking of any of his family moving would make Floyd just a small amount (okay a lot) sad, but he knows Bruce has been looking for a proper relationship for a few years now. 

  Granted he probably should have waited before jumping right into parenthood, just to get settled more with Brandy. They’ve only been dating for a week, but Bruce seems to genuinely love Brandy. Floyd can tell Brandy likes his brother but he doesn’t know how much. He hopes for both Bruce’s and the baby’s sake she loves him a lot. He honestly thinks if Brandy were to break off the relationship because of this Bruce would probably never recover. Bruce loves her enough to have a child really quickly, it didn’t matter if it wasn’t on purpose or if it was, the fact remains that it happened and it shows how much Bruce loved Brandy already.

   “ I wanted to be there for the hatching! Why would John send us away? It’s just a hatching, it’s not like we haven’t seen an egg hatch before.” Clay is pacing in front of the door, he’s obviously upset with John. 

  “ Clay, I think John had a bigger reason for sending us to Rhonda than just not wanting us to see the egg hatch” he purposely kept his tone light and his voice low, trying to keep Clay from getting to overworked. 

Clay stopped pacing and faced him throwing his arms out for emphasis, “ what could he possibly have a reason for?” John opens the door at this point, unnoticed by Clay “Not wanting us to see our niece or nephew being hatched? Not thinking we could handle it?”

  John gets a resigned look on his face as he listens to Clay. “ neither of those things.”

  “Eeahh!!” Clay jumps a good height and shifts away from the door. “ don’t do that to me John! What the troll!” Floyd stifles a snicker, John tries and fails to hide his grin.

  “ sorry Clay, it was neither of those. Bruce and Brandy needed a moment without being overwhelmed by all of you clambering to see the egg.” John closes the door behind him. 

“ the baby is healthy, don’t worry “

   That soothes the worry Floyd had, he was worried about the baby. They didn’t know how the baby would look as they were half troll and half vacationer. 

  “ the baby’s okay?” “ can we go see them?!”

“ oh please daddy! I wanna go see the baby!”

 John’s face softens with a calm happy smile, “ in a moment cupcake, we need to wait for Brandy and Bruce to be ready to show us. There having a bonding moment with their baby right now. Let’s give them some time.”

  Floyd looses his grip on cooper and branch as they shove out of his arms and run to John. Floyd gets up and walks over to Clay, his older brother looks like he’s trying not to pout at having missed the hatching. They watch John corral the two youngest away from the door, playing around by gently shoving them away from the door every time the try to make a run for it.

  Floyd leans on Clay hoping to show support for him. Clay seems to appreciate it as he gently leans against Floyd as well. 

 “Wait a second,” Floyd looks at Clay, his brother has a contemplative expression “ how did Bruce suddenly have a child? What did he do that he was so panicked by it? Isn’t it something you have to consciously do?”

 Clay makes a good point, they both look at John who is trying not to smile and seems to be holding back laughs.

  “ John” Floyd feels laughter bubbling up in his own chest as he watches John try and fail to keep his laughs inside. “What did he do?”

  “He-he hahaha, He decided to play a game of show and tell that they could have kids.” John lost the battle against his laughter, it grew louder the more he tried to tell them. “ Brandy wanted to know if they, haha, could have kids. Heheheh so he showed her!”

  Floyd was speechless, both him and Clay were quiet for just a moment before they both started laughing almost as much as John. This was so funny! Of course Bruce would get so excited to tell Brandy they could have kids that he decided to show her. It’s both surprising and not surprising to Floyd that Bruce had done that. 

  The door opens as they are all in stitches,  Bruce sees them all laughing and immediately knows why they are laughing, he blushes a deep blue. 

 “ hardy har har, laugh it up. I’ll be laughing at you when I shut this door and you don’t get to meet your nephew till tomorrow.”

  Clay gasps, dramatically clutching his shirt with a paw. “ you haha you wouldn’t do that to us Bruce! Hahaha, you love us to much to deprive us of seeing our nephew that long!” 

  Bruce folds his arms mirth shining in his eyes even as he scowls at them. “ watch me” and he turns and starts shutting the door. 

  “WAIT! BRUCE! Hahaha I’m sorry!” Clay runs at the door stopping Bruce from closing it all the way, Floyd close on his brothers heels. He wants to see his nephew too! He helps Clay push on the door trying to push Bruce away from holding it closed. They succeed when John , branch and cooper join them all pushing on the door. They fall into a pile on the floor outside the door all scrambling to get up and run over to Brandy to see their new family member. 

  Floyd manages to escape first, leaving his brothers all piled together trying to get up, and ran over to Brandy. She was laying in the sand looking g at the tiny child in her palm. Wow, the baby was huge compared to normal troll children. Normally the baby would be about the size of their paw, this baby was at least the size of a toddler. No wonder Bruce’s hair was larger now, he had to carry a huge egg!

 “Would you like to come up and hold him?” Brandy was watching him look at the baby from beside her palm, he nodded almost reverently and carefully as he could climbed onto her paw and picked up the child. 

  “ Brandy he looks like you” his hair was the same shade as Brandy, he got most of his looks from Brandy actually. His fur color seems to be a mix of Bruce’s blue and her yellow. Wow, his nephew is amazing. “ what’s his name?”

  “Rainy “ 

 He lifts Rainy up to his eye level, smiling as he uses his little paws to try and grab his nose. “ hello Rainy, aren’t you adorable?” He gets a good two minutes of alone time with his little nephew before Branch and Cooper are jumping on Brandys palm next to him trying to see Rainy up close. Floyd lowered Rainy so they can see him better, they both coo over him as he giggles and wiggles. 

  “AH! No fair! Even the babies got to see him before I did!” Clay appears next to them all, a disgruntled look on his face. 

  John comes up behind him patting Clay on the back a joyous smile on his face “c’mon Clay! You can see him now.” John gently grabs rainy into his paws and shifts him over to clays arms. The way Clay just lights up is so adorable!

  They spend time just cooing at the baby taking turns just holding him and playing with him getting to know him. After a few hours it starts getting dark and they need to get ready to head back to pop village. Brandy and Bruce stay out later with rainy who had fallen asleep some time ago and talk, Floyd and the others head back to Rhonda and get ready to leave in the morning. 

  All in all this had been a great vacation.

~~~

  This is horrible! The pop trolls are celebrating a holiday called glitter palooza, everything is covered in glitter! EVERYTHING! 

  He grunts when dickorys elbow hits him in the gut, “ hush hickory! They will find us!” His brothers frantic whispers are louder than his grunt was. They had been in pop village for almost a whole week by now, the pop king doesn’t seem too happy that they are here and don’t seem to be leaving anytime soon.hickory is very glad they had chosen to stay, he’s not sure they would have been able to find the pop trolls again if they decided to move. 

  They had woken up in the guest pod the pop trolls had so graciously offered them to stay in, they had to move it lower to the ground so they could reach it, and were almost immediately attacked with glitter. Everywhere they went glitter was thrown at them, outside, around the market, even when playing with the trollings they weren’t spared. They had chosen to hide behind a large mushroom, so far they hadn’t been spotted but at this rate they are sure to be found.

  “ Dickory, your whispers are too loud! They will find us now! “ why did John have to take such a long vacation? He hopes he gets back soon, he doesn’t know if they will survive long enough to see his return. 

  A childish giggle echos around them, hickory grabs tight to his brother terrified of the supposed trolling. Another giggle, then two more. There surrounded. 

   They both look at each other fear in their eyes, then they bolt out from behind the mushroom and immediately get pelted with all colors of glitter. He swears some was hard enough to leave bruises, he’s gonna feel that tomorrow….. 

  Just when he thinks this will never end a rawr echos from the woods and the glitter stops. All of a sudden there’s excited trollings everywhere all eagerly watching the woods. 

 This is their chance! He grabs dickorys arm and pulls him up ready to run as fast as they can back to their pod. He stops everything when he sees a giant critter, that looks like the one John had found all those years ago, come bounding out of the woods. 

  He abandons his brother immediately and joins the excited trollings. This has got to be John and his kids! The critter comes to a stop and the door opens revealing! Chips…. And melted cheese…

  He doesn’t know what to do, he just sits there in silence as the trollings get even more excited. The chips and cheese fall out of the critter, John is behind them. 

   Yes! YES! This is his chance! 

 “ I brought nachos! Like I said I would!” John looks ecstatic as the trollings all come running at him and the nachos. It’s kinda scary how fast they eat them…. One moment they’re there and the next they aren’t.

 He starts moving forward, he can’t wait to ask John to let him court him! What John does next stops hickory in his tracks. 

  John reaches behind him and brings out a small creature that has some troll features. Oh no, did he miss his chance? Did John have a lover already? Just before he can beat himself up for taking to long in finding John again John speaks.

 “ meet Rainy! My grandphew!” His what?

The trollings become even more wild at that. 

“ who’s the parent John!”

“Why does he look different?”

  “ where’s branch!”

 “ where’s cooper and Floyd ?”

 Bruce John’s eldest comes up next to John, blushing furiously as he takes Rainy from John’s paws. “ this isn’t how I wanted them to meet him John! Oh my troll you’re so embarrassing!” 

  John’s laugh is like angels singing to hickory, the baby wasn’t his. He’s still single! He has a chance! 

  The rest of the kids join them at the door and they all exit coming down to talk to the trolls surrounding them. 

  It’s now or never hickory! He starts making his way over to John when he notices John’s second oldest clay glaring at him. He nervously smiles at him and continues on to John. When he’s close enough to finally see John clearly he’s reminded why he fell for him in the first place. 

  He’s beautiful, like the angels he’s always heard described in such beauty. He feels himself flush as he nervously walks closer. Clay, he notices, is walking towards him still glaring daggers at him but gets stopped by viva. 

 Now or never hickory, now. Or. Never!

 “Hey John?” 

 He loses his breath as John looks at him, the full view of this stunning troll leaves him speechless. Then John smiles at him, one word. Wow. 

  “Hickory! How are you? I’m glad to see you made it off the mountain!” John walks closer to him and hickory finally gets the courage to ask him what he’s wanted to ask for two years. 

  “ would you let me court you?” Dead silence. No troll even breaths louder than a whisper as they all wait for John’s answer. 

  John himself looks confused, why is he confused?

  “ I mean sure! Could you wait like an hour though? I need to get everybody settled after that long journey back then we can play.”

 Play? What?

“ uh play what?”

 John’s confusion seems to grow, “ tennis? You said you wanted to court me , I’m not that great at tennis but I’ll definitely play it and whoop your butt at it!” He laughs and moves over past him as hickory stands in shocked silence. 

 “ meet you in an hour hickory!” He then gathers his kids and heads back to, what hickory assumes is, their pod.

  Hickory watches them go dumbfounded at what just happened. The other trolls are whispering around him, some are snickering and some look pitying at him. Clay just smirks over his shoulder at him as John leads him away. 

  “ ah, it would seem you succeeded in getting John to hangout with you! But it seems he doesn’t understand it’s a date…” Dickory is standing next to him with his arms folded as they watch John and his family walk away. 

  What does he do now? He has a date but his date doesn’t know it’s a date! 

Chapter Text

Bruce remembers his promise to Clay after they had first met hickory, they would let hickory know they were a package deal. He doesn’t just get John and expect them to just up and leave. However, it seems John is oblivious to hickory’s feelings. 

Bruce was taking care of rainy and showing him to some of the trollings when hickory had started walking over to John. He had tried to split his attention between watching rainy and the trollings who were fawning over him, and watching hickory approach John. 

  The pour yodelers, they were absolutely covered in glitter. No place was spared. Bruce doesn’t like glitter palooza either. Getting the glitter out of his hair is a nightmare. Watching the yodeler not even try to wipe off the glitter because he was too focused on getting over to John was weird. 

  It’s weird seeing someone who he knows likes his dad approach them and look so smitten the whole time. It was easy to see that hickory was in love with John. Does he look at brandy like that? He hopes he does, having that much love be shown openly would surely make her know he loves her right?

  He assumed John would see the love in hickory’s eyes as he stopped and asked to court him, but John’s oblivious. It was actually kinda painful to watch. John just assuming hickory was talking about tennis and agreeing to a game, hickory’s look of shock, clays smug smile, hickory’s brother wincing. All of it. 

  Now they are back at the pod and John’s stressing over them all getting situated after that trip. Bruce is sitting on the couch holding his baby as he coos and babbles at Bruce. 

  He’s trying not to be too concerned that his child hasn’t started dancing or singing yet. He hasn’t even started properly talking yet either, but he can walk which is very reassuring. It’s been about a day and a half since his beautiful son was born, normally troll children would already be talking fully and walking by the first day and by the second they can sing and dance like pros. 

  Rainy can only walk and partially talk, no dancing or singing. Strangely he’s been crawling more than walking, they are gonna have to get him up and walking more so this doesn’t become a habit. Bruce is hesitant about trying to get him to walk more, what if vacationers crawl more often as children and they need it for some important function? This is stressing him out, he wishes brandy was here to help him with all these questions.

 “How are you and rainy doing Bruce?” John is standing in front of him, it looks like Bruce got lost in thought and didn’t notice him approach. 

 “ we’re okay, he’s just babbling at me. He says a few things sometimes but most of it’s just babbling. “ 

  “ aww, aren’t you just a cutie~” John carefully takes rainy and holds him in front of his face letting him grab his nose slap at his face. Bruce feels warmth pile in his chest as he watches John with his child. John’s amazing with handling rainy, Bruce is only a little jealous that John seems to be his favorite troll. 

 “So, are you ready to go on your date with hickory?” 

  John’s facial expression didn’t even twitch,

“It’s not a date bug”

  Bruce raised an eyebrow at him, not believing that for a second. “ John, he asked to court you. You do know that’s another way of asking someone to date right? Sure there’s some other things in evolved with courting but it’s basically a formal way of asking someone to date with the end result being Marriage.”

  At the marriage part John looked at him quickly before still playing with rainy. “ nah he can’t want to marry me Bruce. I have issues. Hah, I wouldn’t want to marry me so why would he?” He bops rainy on the nose with his own “boop, ha you’re just too adorable!”

 Bruce feels a frown over take his features. Is John depressed? What issues? He suddenly feels bad, is this their fault? His and his brothers? He hopes not, John never seems upset with them. 

  “ what issues?” He wants to help, John’s always been there for him, always been helpful even if he makes mistakes. 

  “ oh, you know, just issues. Let’s not talk about it in front of rainy though okay?” His frown deepens, John’s avoiding the topic. 

  “ is it because of us? That you think you shouldn’t be able to find love?” He had to ask just to make sure, he didn’t want to be the reason John says he will be alone forever. 

  John pulls rainy to his chest, puts a paw on his shoulder and looks into Bruce’s eyes with so much intensity and sincerity. “ Bruce, none of you will ever be a reason for my issues. Understand?” He waits for Bruce to nod before he continues “ I just have personal issues that I’m trying to work through. Most of the time I ignore them, yes I know it’s not healthy.” He sighs, “ look, I’ll ask hickory if he meant it as an actual courting okay? “

 “ okay” that got John to smile brightly at him. 

“What are you gonna say if he says it is an actual courting?” John’s smile immediately turns to a grimace and he moves his paw off his shoulder and just cradles rainy close to himself.

  “I… don’t know.” Rainy starts to wine and John, in response starts swaying slightly and humming softly, lightly bouncing rainy to sooth him. Bruce is in silent awe as he watches John effortlessly calm his child almost subconsciously. It still amazes him all the things John does for them and that he does them with ease. Bruce wants to get there, that effortless ease of taking care of small trollings. He wants to be like his dad. 

  “What do you think I should do bug?”

“Hmm?” He was lost in thought, “ oh! Uh with hickory?” John nods, “well, do you think you would like to get to know him?”

 “He seems interesting, I don’t know a lot about him though, how would I know?”

 “ well, why don’t you get to know him more today then give an answer after? Today could be a get to know you date and then if he wants an actual courting you can give him an answer at the end of the day.”

“Where did you get so smart?” John’s tone is light and soft, a warm smile on his face as he keeps humming softly between his words. 

“I learned from the best”

“ I knew it! It was from me huh Brucy?”

Clays sudden appearance spooked him enough to make him jump from his chair and place himself in front of John and rainy with his hair puffed up. 

 Clay busted up laughing at him, he heard John chuckling behind him as well, “Clay! You scared the sprinkles out of me! “

 “Sorry sorry, I just came to tell John he was late for tennis” 

“ oh my troll!” John carefully puts rainy into Bruce’s arms and runs from the pod.

Well, there he goes.

“ daddy?” Bruce looks at Clay with wide eyes, rainy just said daddy! Bruce lifts his son up to look at him in the eyes, giddy as he asks rainy to repeat what he said.

 “ what was that rainy?” 

 “Daddy! I love you!” His heart melts and he snuggles his child to his chest.

 “ I love you too baby.”

~~~

Oh no oh no oh no, he can’t believe he’s late! He hopes hickory won’t be to upset. John runs over to the specified tennis area, hickory’s already there. 

 “I’m sorry! I was talking to Bruce and time slipped away from me.”

“ it’s alright, I wasn’t waiting long.” Hickory rubs the back of his neck with a paw, is he nervous? “ I uh, didn’t want to play tennis, we can though! If you want! I was, uh, trying to ask to court you… as in take you on romantic dates courting.”

  John doesn’t know what to say, he was going to ask if this was an actual invitation for courtship. Hickory beat him too it, now he doesn’t know what to say. It seems his silence makes hickory more nervous.

  “ you don’t have to say yes! Uh, just give me a chance? We can talk first, about anything. Uh, if you want we could go get food? Talk while we eat kind of thing?” His accent has gotten heavier the more he speaks with how nervous he seems to be. “ if uh you don’t want to court we could just date? Uh or! We don’t have to do either of those, if you don’t want to! Uh-“

John takes pity on him and interrupts his rambling, “ just so I know and we are both on the same page, courting is when you spend time with one troll who you want to marry at the end of the courtship. You will go on dates with that one troll, get to know their family, all that jazz, and the end result is marriage. That’s what I’m thinking when you say courtship. Is that accurate?”

  He watches as hickory blushes and nods, a hopeful look in his eyes. John doesn’t even need to ask if he’s serious, he can see he is. 

Why would hickory want  to court him? He has too many issues, too much baggage, for anyone to love. 

 “ why would you want to court me?”

 “ when I first met you I knew I wanted to court you. You’re stunning,  you just have a way about you that’s intriguing. I’ve been looking for your village for two years, I wanted to ask to court you for a long time. “ hickory is so sincere with his words even if they don’t make immediate sense to John. Hickory has wanted to court him since they first met? And had been looking for him for two years?

  That’s strangely sweet of him, he wanted to ask John out and thought he was stunning, John lightly blushed thinking about that. 

“ how about we talk first, get to know each other, then you can see if you still want to court me.”

 “I will. But I will talk with you first so you can get to know me too.” Hickory smiles at John and holds his paw out for him to take, he thinks it’s charming.  He places his paw in hickory’s and they start walking around the outskirts of the village.

  “ so where do yodelers live?”

“ in the mountains, farther than the never-glades where we met.” Hickory is looking at him as they walk, trusting him to lead them the right way. “ are all those kids yours?”

 He smiles a warm soft smile at that question,

“ yep!”

  “ so you had all their eggs? Besides the funk troll one?”

 “Ah, no. I actually had none of their eggs.” Humming as he steers hickory out of the way of a particularly thorny bush.  “ they are all, except for cooper, my brothers. My parents weren’t really in the picture and would just drop them off with me. I raised them though, and I am the only parent they have.” He swings their paws as they continue walking, he doesn’t want to see the pity in hickory’s eyes as he tells him this. He’s gotten enough of that from other trolls.

  “ and you just let them call you dad? You’ve accepted the roll of being their father?” Hickory sounds a mix of amazed and anguished.

  “ of course! Who else would? There my babies and I’m their parent. It makes sense.”

 They walk in silence for a few moments just looking at nature. “ that’s amazing. You’re so kind to do that, even when you didn’t have to.”

He’s never received that response before. 

Looking at hickory he sees hickory is being sincere. He looks honest as he looks into John’s eyes. 

 “Thank you.” And he means it, he was preparing to ward off any comments on how it wasn’t his responsibility, and oh so they aren’t your kids that’s great news. And other stuff like that.

  Maybe he will give hickory a chance.

Chapter Text

Hickory is so glad he decided to be honest with John, to tell him he wanted to court him. This first trial date seems to be going well. John’s amazing. He’s raising his brothers and has taken on the parents role, and he doesn’t seem to care that his childhood was taken from him to make sure they were okay. 

  Did he want to feel apologetic for John’s situation? Yes. Does he think John deserved to have a childhood? Of course. Does he think John regrets it and it’s hurting him? Absolutely not. 

  He can see it when John looks at them that he doesn’t regret it, that he wants to be there and take care of them. He sees that John has genuinely been okay with the situation he’s in. He sees it in the way all his kids treat him, how they look up to him. John has a kind heart and it shows in how he’s raising his kids and how he took in cooper when he didn’t need to. 

  Hickory had his parents to raise him and his brother so he doesn’t fully understand the situation John is in. There’s many ways this could have ended up badly. Many ways John and his family could have ended up separated by either death, separation of natural causes, or other such things. 

  They talk about things and hickory learns a lot about John. He finds himself growing incredibly fond of John. With everything he learns he wants to know more. He falls even deeper into his love for him. It was getting steadily darker as the day wore on, they haven’t been pelted by glitter even once. Hickory is very very grateful, he’s still got glitter in his hair that he can’t get out. 

  “ so, how long have you been waiting here for me?” John has a small smile on his face, it’s endearing.

“About a week,” he needs to tell him about the funk royals. Technically he’s still trying to finish a job, he doesn’t want to hurt John by telling him that the funks want to see their son. He needs to tell him though. He mentally prepares himself to comfort John if he needs it. “ the funk royals want to see cooper. So they hired me and my brother to find him. We found your village together and the king gave us a run down on you pop trolls.”

  Hickory stops walking at this point, turning to John he carefully takes his paw in his own and cradles it with both of his paws. Looking John in the eyes as he tells him with all the sincerity he can muster. “ it’s truly horrifying what the pop trolls had to go through. I’m sorry you had to suffer through basically being food for giants. I can’t imagine how horrible it was for you and your kids to go through that. “

 John looks touched at his words, a very faint but there flush rises to his cheeks as they keep eye contact before John looks away and takes his paw back. Hickory feels the loss of John’s paw keenly, missing the feel of it in his own already. 

 “ thank you” John looks back at him “ the funks want me to take them cooper don’t they?” Surprisingly he doesn’t sound upset, just resigned. He still hesitated before confirming it.

 “ yeah, they wanted me and Dickory to bring you guys to them when you got back from vacation.”

  John starts walking again, hickory quickly keeps pace with him, hoping he’s not  too upset. “ they said they would like to talk to you, about not just taking cooper. I told them he could be sad if they just took him from you.”

  “ they said that? You got them to let me keep him? They aren’t going to just take him from me?” The hope in John’s voice made hickory smile.

“Yeah” what John did next surprised him, he hugged him tight. Hickory barely had time to take in John’s sweet berry scent or hug back before John pulled away. He was glowing a soft blueish green.

 “ thank you! We will go when we go to drop Bruce off back on vacay island with Brandy and their child. Does that work?” 

 Hickory has no idea what a vacay island is but if John is this happy about it then he would agree to anything. “Absolutely “

They continue walking for a minute when John stops and turns to him. “ well, this is my pod” he looks up. “Thank you hickory, today was great.”

 “Oh uh, of course.” He rubs the back of his neck and nervously looks around the tree and John. “ so.. will you let me court you?”

 “ I will talk it through with my kids first. If you intend to court me with the end being marriage they should know about it. “ he tried not to be too disappointed in not receiving a yes but he will take that. His future brother in laws/kids will hopefully not cause John to say no. “ I would like to say yes. I will for sure let you know tomorrow okay?”

  “Okay, good night John” 

“Night!”

 John makes his way up the tree, it surprises him that he climbs it instead of using his hair like he’s seen others do. He wonders why he did that. He decides he won’t worry about it and just enjoy the rest of the night. He can’t wait till tomorrow! 

  He’s giddy the whole way to the guest pod, he gets into bed without a care for all the glitter still attached to him.

“The date was that good huh?”

“No Dickory, it was better than that good.”

~~~

  John’s never had someone be so understanding, or so thoughtful to him before. Yes his kids can be very thoughtful and understanding, but this is different. Hickory went out of his way to convince the funk royalty to let him stay in coopers life. He did that without being asked. 

  He didn’t want to leave hickory so fast so he climbed the tree in a weird attempt to stay closer to him for longer. He had really wanted to talk more with him. He not feeling love yet, he thinks he could sometime in the future. Hickory is very likable, John’s sure he won’t have a hard time trying to love him. 

 He gets into the pod noticing it’s pretty quiet, it is late so hopefully Bruce and clay got all of them to bed. He hums a song softly as he goes to check on them all. It’s a habit he’s never really grown out of, he needs to see all of his babies are safe. Branch and coopers room is first, he softly opens the door and peaks in. Branch and coopers are curled together in the best sleeping soundly. He gently closed the door and turned to the room right across the hall.

 Bruce’s room has a new small nest for rainy next to Bruce’s own bed. It’s not surprising that when he opens the door rainy is sleeping on Bruce’s chest instead of the nest. He takes a photo, being careful not to let it flash and continues down the hall. 

  Floyd is half under the blankets and half on top, sprawled out in a fashion that looks more uncomfortable than comfortable. He keeps up his humming as he walks over and gently fixes the position Floyd’s in to be more comfortable and moved the blankets back over him. He runs a paw lightly through Floyd’s hair before turning and walking out.

 Clay isn’t asleep. His light is off but he’s just sitting up in bed. “Clay? Why are you awake?”

John walks in and sits on the bed next to Clay.

 “How was tennis.” Clays tone was biting as he refused to meet John’s eyes. Was he upset with him?

 “ we didn’t actually play tennis, it turns out he was asking me to actually court him.” John places a paw on clays knee hoping to reassure him a bit. “ we went on a date and talked about things. I told him I would answer him tomorrow, I wanted to talk to all of you first.”

 Clay actually looked just a small amount surprised, “ you didn’t accept yet? Why not.”

 “I told you Clay, I needed to talk to you guys first.”

 Clay scowled, “ you need to tell us your leaving with him?” “What Clay that-“ “ you came to tell us were on our own and that your not coming back? That he’s more important than us?”

 John pulls Clay into a hug, “no baby, none of those I promise. I wanted to tell you guys first because if I accept he will be part of our lives from now on. I wanted to see what you all thought before I accept.”

 Clay was quiet in his hold, John tried not be anxious about what he will say. 

 “ your not leaving us?” It hurt John heart to hear that.

 “Of course not little light. I would never.”

 Clay hugs him back tightly and buries his face in John’s shoulder. They hug for another few minutes before Clay pulls back, “ don’t want to accept?”

“Yeah” John answered honestly, he didn’t want to lie to Clay by saying no. Even if it was to make Clay feel better.

 “Okay, but I will be talking to him! He can’t just take you away.”

 John laughs at that. “ I wouldn’t let him take me away Clay.” He runs a paw through clays hair comfortingly. “ are you okay now light?”

Clay nods, pulling away and lying down finally. 

John’s smile turns fond and he tucks Clay in wishing him good night before going to his own room. He hopes the others react better to the news than Clay did.

Chapter Text

“hickory and dickorys native tongue”

~~~

Hickory had the best sleep of his life. He woke up warm and happy, no weird dreams had bugged him as he slept, no nightmares had either. He was never a fast riser, so when he came back into awareness he just laid in bed enjoying the warmth of it.

“Hickory”

He didn’t even twitch at his brothers voice, not wanting this peaceful moment to come to an end. 

“Hickory I know your up.” His brother had gotten closer to his bed, hickory can picture him with his arms crossed as he looks at him. He still won’t move though, maybe his brother will think he is actually asleep and leave him alone. 

  “ I’m going to send a letter to the funk royals and tell them we will be coming with their son and his adoptive family soon. Are you going to hangout with your intended soon?”

That got hickory to sit up fast. John. He feels excitement bubble up suddenly in his chest and he jumps out of bed. John said he would answer him today! He needs to get going, the sooner he sees John the sooner he gets an answer to the courtship. He has a feeling his life is about to change, he is ecstatic. 

 “Dickory! How did you get the glitter out?!” He notices his brother has a distinct lack of sparkle anywhere on him, meanwhile hickory is glittering like a glitter pop troll. He quickly gets in the shower trying to scrub the glitter from himself. 

 Dickory just laughs at his misfortune, “ I would tell you, but where’s the fun in that? Besides, John is a pop troll, he literally has gold glitter freckles. I’m sure he won’t mind a little glitter in your hair.”

 Hickory’s hair is so full of soap it’s basically white from the lather of it. “That’s not funny! It won’t come out! How did you get it out?” He’s very exasperated with his brother right now. Why won’t he just help him.

 “ nope, not gonna tell you. Figure it out.” Oh that smug little rockslide. Hickory’s gonna get him back for this one day, but not today he needs to go see John! He gets out and quickly towels off before getting dressed and looking in the mirror. Good news is, he’s not covered in glitter. Bad news is, it’s still in his hair. Oh well good enough.

 He quickly leaves the guest pod and heads over to John’s pod, waiting patiently for John or one of the kids to come out. 

  Surprisingly Bruce is the first one down, climbing down the tree with his claws. His son safely tucked in his hair. When he reaches the bottom he smiles at him, relieved hickory smiles back. 

“ so, you are wanting to court John then?” It’s frazed like a question meant to be light but hickory can see a certain threat in his eyes.

 Nervous he nods, “ ja, if he will have me”

“Hmm” Bruce walks over and pulls his son from his hair, holding him out to hickory.

Stunned hickory gently takes the baby from his hopefully future son. Cradling him in his arms and feeling a warmth when rainy looks at him. Is this what it feels like to be a proud grandpa? He cringes a little at being a grandpa at twenty five, that’s a weird thought. 

 “ it seems rainy likes you.” He looks back at Bruce who has a soft warm look on his face as he watches hickory interact with his child. 

 “ really?” He sighs a small sigh of relief at that. Glad he’s already being trusted to hold someone so precious to John’s family. 

“ you know,” Bruce begins conversationally a smile on his face the whole time. “ John’s important to us. If anything happened to him we would all be very upset.”

 Hickory nods again, feeling like this is going somewhere he should be wary of. 

Bruce gets closer, less than an arms length away and takes rainy back into his own paws. “ we are a packaged deal you know. If you want John you get us all.” He gently plays with rainy, putting his paw in front of his son and letting him grab it and move it to his will.

“ ja, I know. I was expecting that.”

 “Good.” Bruce’s smile turns sharp and he has a cheery voice as he tells hickory something that chills him to the bone.

“ if you hurt him, the Bergens aren’t very far away with our girl Rhonda’s help. Maybe think of that before doing anything stupid, yeah?” Nobody would ever believe hickory if he told them that in all his twenty five years, with five of them being a bounty hunter, he’s never seen anything scarier than a pop troll holding a baby and smiling at him. 

 His throat is suddenly dry and all he can do is nod. He feels like he should have done more for the conversation than just nod but he honestly can’t think of anything to say to that. 

“ well that was a nice talk, no? John should be down soon, he is bringing branch with him. They are going bunker hunting today.” With that he walks back to the tree and climbs back up it. Did he… come down just to threaten him? 

 He doesn’t wait long before john can be seen at the top watching as branch lassos down with his hair and lands right in front of him. Hickory doesn’t even get to say hello before branch climbs up his front and looks him in the eyes.

“ branch! What are you doing?” John can be heard from the top still right before a soft thump signals his arrival on the ground. 

Hickory is to busy looking into the eyes of a very scary looking child who is growling? At him. “ you be nice to my dad. I’ll give you a chance, as I like you so far, but you make him sad and I make you sad. “ 

“Branch!” Branch is suddenly tugged from hickory’s front and is pulled into John’s arms. “ don’t just do that baby, you can’t just climb on people and threaten them, it’s not polite.” John’s blushing slightly, only a light dusting of color in his cheeks. “ if you’re going to threaten them bring them to your level and then do it. It’s more intimidating.”

 Hickory’s jaw drops, then it closes as he realizes this isn’t surprising. John could totally kick his butt. it’s not surprising he would teach his kids how to be scary too. Hickory really wants to comment on this but he needs an answer. 

  “So? What do you say?” He’s anxiously awaiting John’s answer. This is either going to be the best or the worst day of his entire life. 

 John smiles warmly at him, still holding branch in his arms. “ my answer is yes.”

 “EEEEE!” He honestly doesn’t know what sound just came out of his mouth but he doesn’t have time to think about that as in his overwhelming excitement he picks John and Branch up in his arms, hugging them both. He’s waited two years for this, he’s excited. 

 “Whoa! Hickory! “ John is laughing, surprised.

 He feels squirming and feels branch trying to get out of his hold. He lets go before branch can get anymore uncomfortable.

 “ ah, sorry sorry, I’m just so happy.”

 “Yeah, I can tell.” John sounds very fond, hickory blushes he’s just extremely happy. “ branch and I are going to look for a spot for his bunker. Do you want to come with us?”

 Spend time with his future son and husband? Always. He looks to branch, who is still watching him with a frown. Maybe he can get some brownie points with branch first? “ are you okay with me joining you guys today?” He makes sure to keep eye contact and to keep his voice calm., trying to convey branch can tell him no if he’s not comfortable with it. 

 Branch just looks at him, before he nods, “yeah you can join us. “ 

 “ thank you branch.” He looks quickly up at John and knows he did the right thing. John’s watching this with such a fond look hickory can almost feel how much it meant to John that he asked for branch’s approval. 

 “Well! Let’s get this going!” John grabs his paw and they walk off in search of a place for the bunker.

~~~

Clay is trying to pay attention to what viva is saying but he just can’t stop thinking about John and hickory. His dad is probably out there with that yodeler having the time of his life. He knows John promised that he wouldn’t let hickory take him away, but love does things to emotions. 

  John had told the rest of his siblings today about him wanting to accept hickory’s courting offer. Bruce and Floyd had had the best reactions, both very understanding and accepting. Clay had just stayed silent till John had asked what they had thought, and he agreed with his brothers that John should give hickory a chance. Branch and cooper had agreed as well, for what reason clays not sure but they had. 

 “Clay? Are you listening?”

 Viva is standing in front of him, paws on her hips as she looks at him in annoyance.

 “Ah, sorry viv. I’m just thinking about dad.” He feels kinda bad that he’s still worried about this.

 Vivas annoyance seemed to fade some at that. Clay had told her earlier when he had first come over about John courting hickory. 

“ what are you wanting to do about it? I thought you were okay with it.”

 “Well, I am. I’m just worried.” Viva comes to sit by him. He refuses to look her in the eye, not wanting to see the judgment he’s sure is there. He trusts John, he does. He just can’t help worrying. 

 “Clay, I understand you’re worried about John, but I honestly don’t think he would just up and leave. Didn’t you say he even said he wasn’t going to?”

 “Well, yeah but-“

“Maybe you should trust John, if he said he wasn’t going to leave I’m sure he means it.“ She holds her paw up when Clay goes to argue, so he closes his mouth waiting for her to go on. “ if your so worried why don’t you go and hangout with them? Then you can see what hickory is like for yourself and how they both interact with each other.”

 “It’s not that I don’t think hickory likes John or will treat him badly, it’s that I think John will like him too much. I know he said he wouldn’t leave but if they are truly in love then he could! Trolls change viva! “  he was starting to grow really anxious the more he thought about this. He loves John and doesn’t want him to leave them, but he also trusts that John won’t leave them. 

 He’s on the fence on both of those thoughts. He both trusts John but is concerned he will change later. It’s very confusing. 

 Viva puts her paw over clays own. “ I think you should spend time with hickory then. See what kind of troll he is. See how he interacts with just you without John present. If he try’s to take the time to get to know you then you know he’s in it for the long haul. If he doesn’t then tell John anything and everything bad about what happened and get him to drop hickory faster than a burning scrapbook.”

 Clay is very grateful viva is here to help him. “ okay, I’ll ask about it,  Thanks viv.”

 “Of course! Now, stop being distracted and help me with these necklaces!”

He stealthily hides some of the candy in his hair when she’s not looking. “ of course viva.”

~~~

  John watches as hickory and branch look at the ground. They are in the same spot branch had his bunker last time, John knows this is the  correct area for his babies bunker. It surprised John that hickory had asked for branch’s permission to join them, but it was also incredibly thoughtful of him. It shows that he is interested in John’s kids, which is a very good sign that things could actually work out! 

 Does he want things to actually work out? That he will finally have someone too love in a partner setting? Someone who he can share his life with that will help him take care of the others? Someone….. who will see him for him. Who will love him unconditionally. 

  Sugar on ice does he want that. He had given up on it last time, he was too broken to love. He couldn’t move comfortably because of an accident he had had on a train, he hurt constantly, he was honestly a perfectionist who hated being a perfectionist and so would always self sabotage anything he did. 

  This time he thinks he can try it. He really likes hickory and was honestly excited about this courtship, but he worried endlessly that hickory will lose his interest. Sure it could hurt, but it’s literally only been a day and a half. He hopes if hickory loses interest it’s soon so it doesn’t hurt too much. He honestly might break a little if he gets invested in this relationship just to have hickory leave him. 

  If this was just a normal dating relationship he would be more prepared to have hickory get bored; but this was more than just dating. Courting is a serious relationship investment for pop trolls. It shows that the pair would one hundred percent be together by the end of it, and were off the dating market. Normally courtships lasted a few years before the actual marriage so they could get to know each other well. 

  The fact hickory was taking to interacting with branch, (and hopefully the others as well) was a great sign that he was serious about this. He hopes to get the others to spend time with hickory too, but later when he has enough trust to leave hickory alone with any of his kids. He thinks he’s trustworthy but he is not taking any chances.

“ Dad! Come over here. I want this spot!” Ha, called it. He makes his way over pulling two shovels from his hair. 

 “ well starlight, this is a great spot,” he holds out a shovel, “ wanna get started?”

 Branch eagerly nods grabbing the shovel from him and starting to try to break the ground with it. 

 “ can I help ya?” Hickory had come up right beside him and was looking eager. 

John had only brought two shovels, “I only have two of these, but when branch gets tired maybe he’ll let you take his.”

 Hickory looked a little disappointed at that, then he looked like he got an idea. “I’ll be right back!” He then ran off and vanished from site. 

 Well, that was quick. 

 “ dad come on, help me out! “ oh right

“Sorry starlight” he quickly walks over and helps branch dig. About ten minutes later hickory comes back, waving his own shovel in the air like a troll who doesn’t care about safety. 

He then joins them and starts digging, “ sorry I left like that. I wanted to help so I got my own shovel!” 

  A feeling swells in John’s chest that he’s not used to. Hickory is incredibly thoughtful, instead of just accepting that he would need to wait; he went and got a third shovel to help them. 

 He laughs fondly and they continue to dig till dusk. 

Chapter Text

“Queen essence!” 

 Essence turns towards the door as a funk troll runs in carrying a letter. Is this the letter from the yodelers? 

 “Thank you” after handing her the letter the troll leaves her in privacy to read it. She reads through the letter, Dickory tells her that they should be coming in about three days. And that hickory has asked to court John Dory who is her son’s adopted dad, so don’t be alarmed if they are super close to each other. Huh, well that’s unusual. 

  She doesn’t think she’s heard of interest genre marriages or dating besides in their scrapbooks from before the separation. When they were down in pop village they didn’t get a chance to really talk to any pop trolls besides the royals. She honestly doesn’t know what to expect from coopers new family. She hopes they don’t react badly to meeting her family.

~~~

  “Where are we going exactly?” Clay sighs with exasperation, hickory kept asking the same question in different ways. It’s like he’s afraid clays gonna push him off a cliff or something. 

“ we are going to a special place, for berries.” And they actually were, this really wasn’t a trick. 

  Clay had finally gotten hickory alone and wanted to go berry hunting. Well, that’s what he had told John anyway. They are getting berries but he also wants to spend time with hickory to sort out his character. Hickory has been courting John for four days, and tomorrow they leave to take Bruce back to vacay island so he and Brandy can continue getting to know each other. 

 Rainy took three days after his hatching to be able to speak clearly and still, five days after, he can’t fully walk yet. He has been crawling everywhere which is really kinda weird but Clay knows his little nephew is different than normal trolls so it will take a bit more time. At least he can talk, that’s the important one . Bruce is absolutely besotted by his child. He’s done nothing but dote on rainy, his love for his son is clear with every interaction. 

  It reminds Clay of how John treats them. Clay knows Bruce is going to be a great dad.

“What berries are we getting? We’re going a bit away from the village don’t you think?” Hickory sounds more nervous the farther they get. Good thing he can see the snuzzle berry bush. Snuzzle berry and wuzzle berries don’t grow by the village, but Clay really wants John’s snuzzle berry tarts. 

 “Snuzzle berries, John makes an absolutely delicious tart. I want some so I’m getting the berries. I wanted you to come with me so John could stay and help Bruce out with rainy.” Half truths are better than full on lies. He did want John to be able to help Bruce if he needed it, Clay just knows Bruce won’t really need it. 

 “Oh alright, does he really?”Clay frowns at hickory’s intrigued and hopeful tone. He’s glad hickory loves finding new things out about John, it shows his love. That makes him nervous even more. 

“ yep! Best in the village. “ they get to the bush and Clay sets the basket he was carrying between them before reaching out to pull off some snuzzle berries. Right when he grabs one though, hickory swiftly takes it from him. 

“Hey! What was that for!” Annoyance grows as he turns towards hickory, he even growls lightly at him. Hickory backs up a step with paws in the air.

 “ ah, uh. Those ones are bad. Those are the wuzzle berries.” Clay doesn’t know if hickory is trying to pull a fast one on him or if he honestly thinks the snuzzle berries are wuzzle berries. 

“Uh, no. No they’re not. “ he reaches over on the same bush and pulls off a wuzzle berry, holding it up for hickory to see. “ this is a wuzzle berry. See the leaves?” He points out the three leaves of the wuzzle berry, “three no please, four get more. That’s how John got us to remember the difference.” 

  A variety of emotions passes over hickory’s face before it settles into relief. “ he lied to me. About the berries when we met.” Why is he happy John lied to him?

 He gets handed the berries back and hickory starts helping to pick the berries. They fill the basket about halfway before Clay finally decides to talk. 

“ what are you gonna do if John decides to end the courting?” He doesn’t look at hickory but he sees his paws stop moving before they start again. 

  “ I would accept it. If he doesn’t want to marry me I can’t make him. Although, I would be heartbroken.” 

“Hmm” they continue gathering in silence before Clay asks his next question. “ if you get married where will you both live?” 

 “ You both? Why just us?” He sounds genuinely confused “ we aren’t going to leave you all without a place. when you are old enough and want to live on your own maybe then you can move out if you want. I honestly think John wants to keep you all in the pod for as long as possible. Heh, you should have heard him talking about it the other day. He’s excited for the bunker that we’ve been working on because it will give us more room, so if one of you all decide to leave the pod you can move down there.  I was tryna tell him some of you might want to move to a pod by yourself but he didn’t want to talk about it.”

 Hickory lowers his voice a little and leans closer to Clay, “ just between you and me? I think he is worried you are all going to leave him. “ 

 Clay is stunned as he just watches hickory collect berries. They’ve talked about this? Hickory is not going to make John move back to wherever he came from with him? John’s worried they will leave him? Well, eventually Clay wants to leave the family pod, but that’s not for a while yet. 

 “Well, I think that should be all we need. Should we head back?” Hickory had picked up the basket and was holding a paw out to him. 

  Maybe he was worried for nothing, he takes the offered paw and lets it pull him up. He lets go once he’s standing and starts off back towards the village. “ yeah, let’s get these to John and have some tarts!”

Chapter Text

“ you’ll send a messenger bug if you need anything right?” John knows he sounds like a broken record right now, but he can’t help it. He’s leaving his baby bug and new grandfew on an island hours away. He worries, it’s natural . 

“ yes Johnny, I promise I will okay? Now go say bye to Brandy and rainy while I say bye to the others.” Bruce steps away from the hug John had pulled him into five minutes ago and walks back towards the others. Hickory and Dickory are both still trying to get over their shock at seeing Brandy, but they had both handled it better than the rest of them had last time. 

John turns and walks the few paces to where Brandy is watching rainy try to run around. Key word is try, as he keeps getting two steps before he falls. She catches him every time, steadying him and watching him go at it again. She has a gentle smile as she watches her child grow and do this hard thing with determination in his eyes. He’s stubborn like Bruce. 

 He stops next to Brandy, “ hey Brandy”

She flicks her gaze to him briefly before looking back at her tiny son. “ hello John. I take it your all leaving soon?”

  “Yeah”

 “ Alright”

  A semi awkward silence forms, John knows Brandy is waiting for him to say something . He just doesn’t know what to say yet, words are hard. 

 “You know, my parents were very upset with me when I told them I was a mom now. “ her tone is even enough when she says it that John doesn’t see the problem at first. But when the words register in his mind he is honestly surprised. Everyone is so chill here he wasn’t expecting them to be upset.

 “Why were they upset with you?”

 “ they thought I was the one carrying the baby, and that I was telling them because I was left with them.” She shifts so she’s leaning her cheek on one hand, holding her head off the ground. “ they didn’t think I was ready. I didn’t think I was ready either at first, but as I explained to them what happened and that no matter if I was ready or not I have a son; they helped me out with getting things ready.”

Brandy picked up rainy ever so delicately in one hand and then offered John her other so he could be closer to her as she sat up. John willingly climbed on her hand, he wanted to hear where this was going. Why did she tell him this?

 “ Bruce will be okay here with me John.” She’s looking at him with such sincerity he knows he can trust her. “ we will take care of each other, and you can visit whenever you want. Any of you, okay?” 

  Oh, John gets it now. She’s making sure he knows he’s aloud to worry about Bruce, but he doesn’t have too. She’s reassuring him that Bruce will be alright here. She’s known him for a short time but already knows he worries. He feels overwhelming love and thankfulness for Brandy. 

 “Thank you Brandy.”

 They talk for a bit more and both fawn over rainy as he talk to them about everything he finds interesting. Soon enough it’s time to go, so he tells them both goodbye and gives them long hugs before he goes back to Rhonda.

 Hickory and Dickory are both waiting by Rhonda watching the others as they tackle each other on the ground in aggressive hugs. He walks over and takes hickory’s paw in his own, holding it gently as he stands next to him. 

The smile he gets from his partner is worth getting teased by his kids as they notice it. 

  “ okay you hooligains! Let’s bro!” 

  Everyone gets into Rhonda and they set off. They wave to Bruce, rainy and Brandy as they watch them get smaller the farther they get. 

  Off to the funk trolls, he would be lying if he said he wasn’t nervous. He knows hickory said they would let him keep cooper as his son, but he’s still nervous. 

~~~

  Today’s the day.

  Her child is coming home today and she’s super nervous. It’s been four years since she last held him. He was an egg at that time but it still counts. What if he doesn’t like her?

  She’s pacing the welcome area she had set up for when he gets here. She knows she shouldn’t be so anxious but she can’t help it. After meeting the pop king and learning everything the pop trolls have been through and how they have evolved because of their situation; she was extremely nervous for how both her son and his new family would react to them. 

  The fact that her son has a family he’s so attached to also makes her nervous. What if he doesn’t want to have anything to do with her? What if he says hi and then just up and leaves, no goodbyes no see you laters, just leaves?

  “Mom? Are you alright?” Her son’s voice suddenly next to her startles her. She looks at her other beautiful son, he looks worried. Her heart pangs at knowing she’s made her son worry. 

 “Yes, I’m okay. I’m just thinking about your brother.” Her son is absolutely ecstatic about meeting his brother. After hickory had left, Darnel had been talking nonstop about how he’s going to meet his brother and How they will be the best of friends.

 That seemingly satisfied her son’s worry as he smiled brightly at her. “ Your happy he’s coming soon and have too much excitement?” 

 A smile snuck its way onto her face, “ of course I’m excited he will be here soon!” And she is! She’s just also worried. She can be both. The door opens before she can continue to say she’s excited, Quincy walks in.

 “ Essence darling, they’re here!” Her husband speed walks over to her and darnel excitedly, “our son is almost home. I had shimmer send bubbles to get them and their critter. If I’m right they will be here in a few minutes.”

“Really?! Yay! I’m so excited, it’s gonna be so cool!” Darnel shifted from foot to foot as he grew jittery at the thought of his brother. 

 Quincy came closer to her and leaned comfortingly into her side. She appreciates his comfort right now, her son is here! 

  A giant bubble carrying a big critter floats into the room, landing on the ground the bubble pops. The critter makes a crooning growl sound and turns a bit so they can see the door on the side just as it opens. Shockingly a ball of small trolls rolls out, shouting at each other and climbing over one another.

 “Hey! I wanted to go first!”

“Clay! You don’t always have to go first! I wanted to meet the funk trolls first!”

“ why would you meet them first? If anyone should meet them first John and cooper should!” 

“ cooper was nervous Floyd, so I was gonna go first to show him it was alright!” 

 As the kids kept rolling around the floor Dickory walked out of the critter and over to them. He shallowly bowed to them,

“ hello your highness’s” 

“Hello Dickory, was the journey okay?”

As Quincy talks pleasantries with Dickory essence watched the door. Hickory walks out before stopping and offering his paw to a troll with blue skin and dark green hair. This must be John Dory, her son’s adopted dad. He smiled at hickory and took his paw with his free one on the way down. In his other paw though, her breath caught in her chest, it was her son. 

  It should be funny how cooper looks being held in John’s arm, the size difference between him and the blue trolling who is picking their head out of John hair is comical.  Cooper makes eye contact with her, all her nervousness grows as he watches her, just to dissipate as he smiles at her. 

  Should she go over to him? Should she wait here? Keeping her excitement, relief, happiness, love, at bay till they come over and introduce themselves? Her decision is made for her when cooper wriggles and John puts him down, he runs over to her stopping just before he runs into her.

 “Hello! I’m cooper! Are you my mom?” He’s looking up at her with such big curious eyes and a smile full of joy.

 She’s frozen, this is everything she’s wanted for four years. To see her child in front of her, happy, healthy, bright eyed. So why is she stuck? 

 “ Are you okay?” Cooper frowns as she continues to do nothing. 

  “Cooper, baby, give her a minute. She’s probably so excited to see you she doesn’t know what to say.”

 Her attention goes to John, he has walked over to stand a bit behind cooper. He’s holding the small blue troll in his arms but he’s looking at her with understanding in his eyes. This gives her the strength to finally move. 

 “Yes, yes I’m your mom.” She kneels down so she’s closer to her son. “ hello cooper I’m essence and this is Darnel.” She gently nudges darnel over so he’s in front of her and closer to cooper.

 “ hello! I’m your brother!” He jumps in place and laughs as he rushes the last few steps to his brother embracing him in a side hug.

 Cooper looks over joyed, “ I have another brother?! This is so amazing!”

  Quincy kneels next to her as they watch their boys laugh together. She knows they will have to talk to the other trolls that came with cooper, his adoptive family, but for now she’s just happy to have her son back.

Chapter Text

Relief. 

That’s the most prominent emotion right now for him. Looking at how cooper plays with Darnel and how the two royals watch their kids with love in their eyes. 

 He holds branch tighter in his arms, he thinks about how he felt when he had first seen his baby last time after twenty years. Twenty long hard , painfully sorrowful years. 

  He had taken the first chance to hold his baby branch and then ruined it by throwing him above his head. Well the best he could with his chronic pain and the back injury from a bad fall that happened a few years before that. He understands why it took the queen a few moments of realizing this was real for her to say anything.

  He was overwhelmed with love and hope when he had received the letter from Bruce fifteen years after he had left. He never went because of his fear that his bug would hate him for killing branch. John knows he didn’t actually kill branch but he felt like it was his fault that branch was gone. If he hadn’t left branch, left ANY of them, they would have been happy. 

Like right now. This moment.

  This moment that almost wasn’t. This moment that he is very happy to be a part of. He’s here. 

 He didn’t leave this time.

 Why, Why did he leave last time?

WHY?!

 He missed out on all of this. 

“Dad! Can you put me down? Your hugging me to tight.” Branch’s voice snaps him out of his depressing thoughts. 

  “Oh, OH!” He quickly lets branch down to the ground, “ sorry starlight, why don’t you go play with the others?” Clay and Floyd had joined cooper and darnel in whatever made up game they are playing. Running around and tackling each other lightly then giggling and running away. 

  Branch looks at him, looking at his eyes and watching him before nodding and running over to the others.

 “You alright love?” Hickory intertwines their paws as he stands next to him. John looks over at him and sees his worry. Why is he worried? 

“You lost some color there. Do you need a moment? Should we go back to Rhonda? Just till you feel better?”

  He’s touched that hickory’s so understanding of his need for personal space when he’s upset. He’s not always the best at being around others, he spent so much time alone that sometime he needs to be alone to work things out. Other times it actually makes it worse.

  He forces a cheery attitude that does lighten his color by a small amount, and smiles at his suitor. “ no, I’m okay.” Hickory obviously didn’t believe him. John felt bad when the concern on hickory’s face just deepened, he didn’t want to talk about it though.

  He pulls lightly on their entwined paws and heads over to the two royals. He will talk to hickory about this later if he asks. If he doesn’t ask then John will count it as a success and ignore it. 

  When he reaches the royals who are loafing? Kneeling? Laying? On the ground,  he bows slightly at the waist before introducing himself.

“Hello, I’m John Dory. It’s nice to meet you!”

  They bow their heads at him in a nod acknowledging him. 

 “ hello John, I’m Quincy and this is my wife Essence. We want to thank you for taking care of our son. “

“ we appreciate that you raised him as your own, even though you didn’t have to. Especially after everything you and your tribe have been through.” Essence turns to hickory before John can say anything to that.

  “ we thank you as well hickory and Dickory “ Dickory is standing a few steps beside hickory, “ for helping us find our son. We can discuss payment for your help after we talk to John about cooper. “ well that’s not intimidating…

“Actually, I don’t think we need to discuss payment at all. You asking us to help and then lending the use of your ship helped us find the pop tribe.” Hickory squeezed John’s paw lightly. He blushed subtly “ I think that’s all the payment we need.”

“Da” dickory’s fast agreement made hickory’s blush deepen. John didn’t know how to react to that, hickory was so thankful to find him he refused payment? John didn’t have to fake his happiness and soft smile when hickory looked at him then. 

  “Very well.” King Quincy looks at John with thinly veiled concern. “ we want to be in our son’s life. Would it be alright if we had him with us for a short time? Before you all have to head back? We could come by and visit when we can, once or twice every two weeks?” 

 What? Wait a second. Now John’s confused. He knew hickory got them to let him keep cooper, but why did they want so little time? Once or twice every two weeks? That’s not nearly enough time. Why don’t they want more time?

  “ we can stay for a few days if that is what you wish, but we can’t do the once or twice every two weeks.” Essence looks devastated , Quincy also looks upset at this. Hickory takes a small shocked breath. He quickly adds what he wanted to say. “ we can do every other week rotation. You get him for a week, then I get him for the next and we switch. Or if that’s too much time for you, you can have the week ends and I’ll have the week days.” 

  Silence. The kids in the background are the only noise the adults just freeze. John doesn’t know why they froze like that, what’s wrong? The funks look shocked, Dickory also looks mildly surprised. Hickory is the only one  who isn’t confused or shocked, he’s smiling so warmly at John it makes him blush a light dusting of dark blue. Hickory’s own blush quickly follows as he looks at John. John still doesn’t know what hickory likes about him so much to look at him this way.

 ~~~

 Hickory might actually perish.

 He’s being only slightly dramatic, maybe…. John is just such a great troll, he’s so thoughtful and kind. He’s so stunningly beautiful on the inside and out. When his love blushed it accentuated his gold freckles, he will never tire of that site. John’s heart is so kind, he shows it constantly to everyone around him when he does things like what he just did. 

  He freely offers more time away from his son so his son’s egg parents and brother can bond with him. No asking or prompting was needed, he just did it. He can’t wait to marry this troll, to be apart of John’s family. To take care of johns kids with John, to just exist with him. 

 Essence was the first one to snap out of it,“Yes! Yes that would work great. We can do every other week.” 

John’s smile widens “great! We will drop him off when it’s your turn and you can bring him back when it’s ours if that works?” 

 “It works great.”

 “Epic. Oh hey before I forget, can I have a base? So we can practice funk songs with cooper when he’s with us. I’m sure he will learn lots of songs with you that he will want to share and we don’t have the base guitars you have.” 

  See? John’s thoughtful. He’s willing to sing other genres of songs because he knows it’ll be important for cooper. No one even asked him to, he just immediately offered.

 “Of course,” essence sounded so grateful and was looking at John with gratitude. This obviously means a lot to her.

 King Quincy quickly offered to get someone to grab him one, “any specific color?”

  John didn’t even hesitate, “ blue/green coopers favorite colors.”

  Soon after, a base is brought for John which he takes and uses the strap to carry it on his back. The kids seem to have gotten bored of their game. How does hickory know this?

 Because here they come. He braces for impact as they get closer, letting go of John’s paw as he also seems to see the kids running at them. Being as close as he was to John he catches two of the young trolls in his arm before they can glomp John, the other two get caught in John’s hold. It’s obvious John’s done this before as he catches them with ease. Hickory on the other hand grunts under the weight of two trolls flying at him full tilt. 

  “Ha! I got John! Eat glitter Floyd!” Clay gloats from his position in John’s hold.

 Floyd squirms next to cooper as he try’s to get at Clay. “ not fair! Hickory snatched me from the air!” 

 “Hahahaha! This was great, let’s do it again!” Cooper try’s valiantly to get out of his hold, squirming and wriggling hard to be let go. Hickory is willing to admit he looses some grip on him and would have accidentally dropped them both if John hadn’t stepped in.

  “Boys, let’s introduce everyone to coopers other parents first alright?” They stop squirming enough for him to put them down, John does the same with the two in his arms as well and they introduce each other. Well, Clay introduces them. 

  “I’m Clay, that’s Floyd, that’s branch, you know cooper, and then Bruce, Brandy and their son rainy are on vacay island.”

 As John and his kids are talking to the funks, getting to know each other hickory makes his way over to his brother quietly. 

  “I’m going to stay with John. I know our job for the funks is done, but I’m not going to leave him Dickory.” He kept his voice low, even though he was talking in his native tongue he still didn’t want to be overheard. 

 “ I know hickory. I wouldn’t have asked you too.” There’s a small comforting silence as they watch the family’s  laugh with each other, “ I’m going to visit and write though, so you better write me back! And if I don’t get a letter to your wedding I will be very cross.” 

  Hickory laughs, “ of course Dickory, you will get a letter don’t worry”

Chapter Text

Dear Johnny,

         You’ll never believe what I am writing to you about. Okay well, you will believe what I’m writing to you about but! Probably not how it came to be. So as you know Brandy and I have been dating for over a year, ( can you believe my little boy is over a year old?!) and I finally asked her to marry me!

   I know what you’re thinking, “well why did it take so long bug?” Well two things to that. 

1. Your one to talk seeing as you and hickory have been dating the same amount of time

2. I was nervous 

   She’s everything for me, seriously, everything. I was worried about rejection. Anyway onto the next part, the part you won’t believe. I had planned everything out, down to the very last detail; it was going to be perfect and it was! Just, it was also unexpected. 

   So we took a late night stroll through the back wooded area while rainy was asleep and being watched by Brandys mom. We talked a very small amount as we were just enjoying the scenery. I had packed a basket of food for a midnight snack of some of your snuzzle berry tarts that I tried to make. ( key word is try, they weren’t as good as yours. Are you sure you didn’t skip an ingredient when you wrote down your recipe?) 

  Well I had brought the basket and was holding it in my paws and brandy had wanted to get more put together before we had left. I don’t know why,  she is beautiful no matter how put together she is. Her beauty isn’t the point… the point is I was holding her hair brush in my hair. We found a spot and I asked her to marry me, she said yes.

  I got so excited and overwhelmed with love and we kissed under the moonlight. As we sat under the stars after, I just kept thinking of how our family would grow. Thinking about kids as one does. Well… to make a long story that would be longer shorter than it would be. Her hair brush had some hair in it as one would because it’s a hair brush. 

  Congrats! You’re a gruncle! Again! 

  I’ve added a photo of your new grandfew, his name is cove. Also, I’ve added the wedding invitation. Please bring lots of snuzzle berries. Can you please make sure cooper can come? Yes, you should bring hickory. 

  Lots of love, 

  Your favorite bug

~~~

   John couldn’t help the snort that came out of him as he read the letter. Bruce is smart for putting the photo and wedding invite in a separate envelope within the letter marked with a two. He hadn’t opened it with the letter and so he didn’t ruined the surprise. 

  Of course Bruce would do something like that. You shouldn’t keep your lovers hair brush in your hair and then go on a romantic date. 

  “What’s so funny love?” Hickory saddles in beside him at the counter in the kitchen.

With a fond smile playing at his lips John turns and hands hickory the letter while he opens the wedding invite and looks at the picture of his son’s new baby. The cute little one is a beautiful few shades of pink and magenta. 

 “Looks like Bruce has another baby. Also we’ve been invited to a wedding and need to leave today, so get packed dear!” John chuckles and gives hickory the wedding invite, before leaving the kitchen to go gather his kids.

“Oh” he stops right in the doorway and looks back at hickory, “ while I’m getting the kids can you go get the berries?”

  Hickory is smiling at the letter with fond confusion. “ yes love, I can do that.”

 “Thank you!” He heads out to go get the others. He can’t wait to see their faces when he shows them their new nephew.

~~

  “Grandpa John! “ oof, that made him feel his combined age. Before he can even turn around he’s being lifted into the arms of his little grandson. 

  “Whoa! Rainy, You’ve gotten so big! “ rainy was now taller than him but not too large that he over whelmed him, just large enough to lift him in a hug. He doesn’t get the chance to hug back before he’s put down and rainy goes after his uncles, hugging them all enthusiastically.

  “ hey dad, how was the trip?” Bruce had walked over beside him, holding a sleeping cove in his hair. 

  “It was good, I brought lots of snuzzle berry’s . Why did you need them?”

  Bruce pulls the ends of his hair into his paws, nervously fiddling with them. “I know you just got here, and the wedding is tomorrow but…. Would you make our cake? I’ve talked to Brandy and she loves your tarts and agreed with my idea of having you make it.” He looks at John hopefully. “ could I also help you make it?” 

  John was touched. This was a really big thing.  Literally and metaphorically. This cake needs to be huge! The cake is a big part of the wedding as well. This is such an honor. 

  “ of course I will, and you better believe you get to help me. This cake needs to be huge for the vacationers. Actually I think we should all make this cake.” 

 Bruce lit up “okay! I’ll go get Brandy. Thank you John, so much.” He hugged him quickly before gently taking off, conscious of the baby in his hair as he ran to get his soon to be wife. 

~~ 

   The kitchen in their house was huge. It was made for a vacationer so it made sense for the size of the items to be large. 

  They made a two tier square snuzzle berry cake with coconut whipped cream frosting and colored coconut for decoration. They all pitched in with the making of it. Branch, cooper, clay, and Bruce all worked on decorating it while Brandy, John, and Floyd worked on the mixing and baking parts of it. 

  Hickory can’t cook to save his life so he watched Bruce’s kids. When the cake was finished it stood six trolls high and eight across. 

 The wedding was only hours away when John had to force Bruce to get ready and leave the cake. 

~~

   John stood next to Bruce as his best man during the wedding. He watched Brandy walk down the aisle to Bruce and couldn’t be happier that he got to see this. He got to see Bruce get married to the love of his life. The one he vows to be there for when she’s sick, when she grows old, everything. Brandy did the same with her own vows, John was grateful. His bug will have a life long partner with lots of kids.  

Chapter Text

Hickory really wants to propose soon. It’s been two years since he asked John to court him. The reason he hasn’t asked yet is because he knows John isn’t ready for that. He’s dropped hints about marriage but every time John will change the subject or start talking about how Bruce and Brandy are doing. 

  He knows John is aware he wants to marry him, John wouldn’t have accepted his courtship if he didn’t. It’s okay if John’s not ready, hickory is patient. That doesn’t means he’s not concerned about why John keeps changing the subject when it’s brought up though. 

  Their communication is great, John isn’t nervous around him, hickory gets along with all of John’s kids, and Rhonda likes him. Not only that but John had asked him a few months ago to teach him how to speak his native language. So far John is about half fluent. Only half fluent because he can understand most of what hickory says and can hold conversations but he has a really hard time reading it. 

  Hickory has a special date for John today that he is really looking forward to. They are going to go hiking up the mountains and have a picnic during the sun set.  No he did not make the food, he wasn’t trying to kill his lover. 

  “Hickory!” Clay runs over to him, “ when are you leaving? Soon? I’ll watch branch and Floyd so don’t worry about taking us with you. Just go have fun.” 

  “Well, thank you Clay. That’s mighty kind of you. “  hickory was worried that John would want to bring the others since they are going to be gone for the whole night. Clays offer eased some of his worry. 

~~

  “Does this spot work darlin’?” After a few hours of hiking they had made it to a small cove of trees. It wasn’t close to an edge but it showed a good amount of the sky and some of the further mountains.

  “This should work just fine hun. I’ll get us set up, Do you wanna get some sticks for the fire?” John looked so peaceful up here. Like he had no worries at all on his shoulders. 

  Hickory knew he had the softest love struck look on his face as he went about gathering some sticks for the fire they would build for tonight. He gathered some sticks and made his way back, as he got closer to their camping spot he heard something that took his breath away. 

John was singing. He’s missed the beginning of the song but he will listen to the rest of it.

And I'm scared, yeah, I'm still scared

That it's all a dream

  Now, hickory has heard John sing before. Pop trolls sing all the time for any reason, but he’s never heard John sing by himself before. He’s always singing with one of the others. The critters and wild life are singing the back up instrumental bits since John doesn’t have any instruments. 

Cause you still look perfect as days go by

Even the worst ones, you make me smile

I'd stop the world if it gave us time

  Hickory speeds up a bit, he wants to see John as he sings, he wants to see how passionate he is . 

Cause when you love someone

You open up your heart

When you love someone

You make room

If you love someone

And you're not afraid to lose 'em

You probably never loved someone like I do

You probably never loved someone like I do

  He finally reaches the clearing and sees John dancing around with the critters who are helping with the melody. John sees him right before he starts the next verse and makes his way over to him. The love shining in his eyes takes hickory’s breath away.

When you say

You love the way I make you feel

Everything becomes so real

Don't be scared, no, don't be scared

'Cause you're all I need

  John takes his paw and pulls him over to where there stuff is so he can put the sticks down, before grabbing his other paw and spinning them around. 

 Hickory is feeling so many happy and loving feelings right now he might burst. He helps with the background music as John sings. He focuses on John as the rest of the world fades away. They move together in steps hickory lets John lead him through. The rest of the song they just dance and exist together. 

  Hickory is really impressed when John gets to one of the last lines and goes higher than he’s heard him sing before. John normally sings the deeper vocals. Maybe hickory could teach him how to yodel? He hasn’t told John but, he’s been working on singing some pop songs so he can join in on the family singing times. 

   “Marry me?” He basically whispers it when the music stops and he’s looking at John like he hung the moon and stars in the sky. Well that was unexpected, he didn’t mean to say that. 

 John flushed a deep blue and looked away nervously. 

“ I would love to” hickory’s heart skipped a beat. He knows it did. He wasn’t expecting a yes that easily. 

“ but” 

well, never mind.

” I have something important to tell you first.”

John’s paws squeezed his as he looked back earnestly, “ I need you to believe me with what I’m going to tell you. It’s true and I don’t want you to marry me if you don’t like what I’m about to tell you.” John takes a shaky breath, “ if you still want to marry me after then ask me again.”

  Well now hickory was nervous, what could possibly be so important for him to know that it could affect his wanting to marry John? He nods and John has them sit down before John starts making the fire. 

  What John tells him next has hickory feeling all kinds of things. Hurt,anger, grief. Some other parts have him feeling happy, sad, horrified. At the end of the story John waits for what he will do and doesn’t look away from the fire. 

  “Can I hug you?” He needs to hold John right now. To comfort John as well as himself. 

 “What?” His love is obviously surprised by this reply. 

 “ can I hug you?” The same surprise is on John’s face. 

  “Well-I- but- yes. Yes you can.” That’s all he needed as he envelopes John in a hug and cradles his head gently to his shoulder as he holds him ever so gently. 

  “I don’t get it, why aren’t you upset?” Hickory’s heart chips just a little at the tears he hears in John’s voice. 

 “I am upset love, but not with you. I’m upset because of the stuff you’ve gone through.  I don’t have words for everything I need to voice right now, we’ll have to come back to this later okay?” He keeps his tone calm and even , John nods in agreement. 

  He waits till the sun starts to set before tapping John so he can see it too. 

  Just after the sun sets he asks John again.“Will you marry me?” 

  A soft glow that’s not from the fire surrounds John and he smiles at him. “Yes”

Chapter Text

 Well, it’s happening. They have all spent the last year preparing for this day.  John and hickory are getting married. Every troll in the village has been anticipating this. The trollings are super excited for their uncle John t have a huge part just for him and his lover, they are all going to have the biggest party. 

   Floyd had been the one to get cooper from the funk trolls this time when they came to drop him off two days ago. Now him and his siblings, including Bruce and his family, were all setting up an alter and small gathering area for the wedding. Rhonda was off getting Dickory and will be back any minute, hopefully. He’s super anxious that she will be late. The wedding starts in a few hours. 

  “Floyd!” Ah the man of the hour. If he was anxious than hickory was having a heart attack. “Is she going to be back soon? Do you know? “ the other reason both Floyd and hickory are nervous is because John went with Rhonda… Floyd doesn’t understand his dad sometimes. It’s his wedding day and he’s not even worried. In fact he’s so unworried that he left on a trip the day before his wedding to go find his soon to be brother in law, without knowing where he will even be located. 

  If he’s being honest with himself though, John probably just needed a break from everyone. He’s had almost no time to himself these past few months because everyone is trying to get his opinion on everything. Planning a wedding is a lot of work, they were lucky last time there was a wedding as Bruce had them come over only the day before and had done the rest himself with Brandy. 

 “I’m sure they will bro, there’s no need to worry.” John wouldn’t let himself miss his own wedding, Floyd knows that.

“ okay, okay. If you’re sure.” Floyd watches as hickory starts pacing. Back and forth again and again. After a few moments hickory looks back at Floyd. “ do you think they will really make it?” 

  He sighs , “yes, now why don’t you go check on the arrangements?  Make sure branch and cooper are not eating the cake. “

 The look of horror on hickory’s face is hilarious, he apparently didn’t even think that some of the young trolls would eat the cake if left unsupervised. Rookie mistake. 

  Hickory runs out of there so fast there’s dirt in the air. Floyd chuckles to himself and walks back to the area the wedding will be in. Right as he gets there Rhonda bursts from the bushes next to him scarring the absolute daylight out of him as she gives him almost no time before licking him. 

  He is trying to get his breath back when John jumps out and laughs at him. “Haha, sorry Floyd! I didn’t mean to scare you. How’s everything?”

 “It’s going fine. Hickory’s having a conniption though so maybe he needs to see you’re back. I sent him to save the cake from the younger ones.”

  John just looks confused, “why would the cake need saving? I don’t care if they eat it before the wedding.”

 Dickory had exited Rhonda at this point and was looking surprised at John’s lack of care for his cake. “Why would you not care?”

 John shrugs and starts walking over to the food area, obviously expecting them to follow him. They do. “ it’s just a cake, if they are hungry enough to eat it then I don’t mind if they do. It’s not like it’s the only thing we have to eat after the wedding.”

 Floyd was also now confused, he shared a look with Dickory before asking about it. “ aren’t you concerned that the cake for your WEDDING will be ruined? You know, since it’s the main center piece of the wedding?”

“Meh, not really. I’m not attached to the cake, if they want to eat it they can. What matters is that hickory says yes. At the end of the day the cake will be gone anyway.” He then continues to walk over to where hickory is trying to frantically save the cake from small children who are bigger than him. Ah it seems Bruce’s kids found the cake. 

  Dickory stops next to him and they watch as John diffuses the situation and subsequent breakdown from hickory at the poor cakes demise.  “ he’s not to concerned about formalities is he?” 

  “No he’s not”

~~~

  “Do you John take hickory to be your lawfully wedded husband?” 

  John was looking directly at hickory as king peppy asked this. John could see the happiness radiating from hickory as they all waited on his answer. “ yes” 

  Hickory was asked the same question, John’s heart warmed at how there wasn’t even a second of hesitation before he answered. 

 “I do”

 Now they should kiss, wait. This is their first kiss! John couldn’t contain his small laugh as he went in and kissed hickory. His small laugh turned into a stream of chuckles. Hickory soon joined in on his chuckles breaking the kiss. Hickory rested his forehead on his as they continued to chuckle. 

 “ what is so funny love?”

 “This is our first kiss.”

 A flash of surprise went through hickory’s face before he started laughing harder. “ it-haha- it is!”

 The rest of the night was spent joyfully talking to the rest of the trolls and their family. 

~~~

 “Dad, are we almost there?”

“Not yet Barbara, but soon.”

 They meet the pop tribe soon and he can’t wait. That wuzzle berry tea is calling his name.

Chapter Text

As they came up to where some funk trolls said the pop village would be they heard lots of noise. What’s happening right now? There’s music and laughter and apparently a lot of trolls. 

  Barbara was nervous. She finally gets to meet the pop trolls that her late teacher would talk about. She had wanted to come earlier but her teacher was dying so they had stayed to make sure they had a proper burial. Barbara didn’t forget her teachers lessons on how the tribes should all come together and get along. She really wants to make friends here. 

  They rounded a rather large tree and came across a giant area full of pop trolls talking and laughing. Wait what is that?! There was a giant yellow and orange creature here with smaller creatures that look like them around the area as well. Holy trolly! 

  She’s not going to admit out loud that she’s a bit intimidated by that, she’s a rock troll! Nothing intimidates her. 

 “Hello!”

 She did NOT jump. She just. Stepped back through the air. Yeah. 

 A gold glitter freckled bright pink face appeared right in front of her. 

“Uh hel-“

 “I’m poppy! Who are you? Are you new trolls? Like the funk trolls? Do you wanna be friends?”

  Information overload right now. This troll just keeps talking to her without letting her answer!

 “-and we could so totally make necklaces and have a slumber party and easy cotton candy and sing songs and-“ 

 Barb looks at her dad hoping he can help her out of this situation. He only smiles encouraging at her, right. He wants her to try to make friends for herself. 

  She takes a breath before interrupting poppy. 

“Hello! I’m Barb of the rock trolls. I would love to be your friend. “

 Holy rock is she glowing?! Looking closer Barb sees poppy is, in fact, glowing. Weird.

 “Oh that is amazing! You’re just in time for some food for the reception of uncle John and uncle hickory’s wedding! Come on let’s go get some food.” Poppy doesn’t hesitate as she takes Barbara’s own paw in hers and pulls her off to the food table. 

  Was agreeing to be poppy’s friend a mistake? Probably not…. But she’s gonna need to get used to being around someone more bubbly than she’s used too.

~~~ 

   “Who’s that?” John turns his attention away from the small group of trolls around him and hickory to the small gaggle of trollings two steps away. They are all looking over in the same direction so he looks that way too. Poppy is dragging a red haired rock troll over to the food table, and behind them a wild black haired rock troll walks leisurely looking at everything. He makes eye contact with John and heads towards him. John excuses himself from the conversation, leaving hickory to deal with the socializing and answering personal questions that people seem to forget are personal because it’s a wedding. 

“Hello, is there something I can help you with?”

John doesn’t see king peppy anywhere so he might as well answer some questions if they have any. 

 The older rock troll nods to John in greeting then answers the question, “ yes actually. My dear Barbara’s late teacher got some berrys from someone from this area and made the most wonderful tea. Would you be able to help me with finding them? I love the tea and want more if I can get my paws on it.”

 Ah, honestly John was hoping his prediction all those years ago about that rock troll that hired hickory and his brother was wrong. It looks like it wasn’t. 

  “Yes, what did they say they were?” He knew what they were, he just wanted to confirm. 

 “Wuzzle berries.” Well sprinkles, this must be an important troll in the rock tribe if that teacher was trying to poison him. 

 “Ah, I think they got the name wrong, it was most likely snuzzle berries they gave you. Wuzzle berries are poisonous.”

 The look of shock that morphed into relieved suspicion was expected. The guy just found out he was almost killed. 

 “I see, that must be it then.”

 John nods and starts walking towards his pod. “Come with me , I’ll get you some berries.”

 The troll follows him back to the pod where John roots through his pantry for the snuzzle berries that he then hands to the rock troll. 

 “Just dry these out then steep them in water with a dash of sugar.”

  The rock troll takes them gratefully. “Thank you. I’m Thrash by the way.”

 “John Dory. I see your daughter made friends with princess poppy.” They start to head back to the party.

 “Is that who that was? Huh, that’s interesting. I’m the king of rock and Barb is the princess of rock. I hope they can get along well.” 

 Of course poppy goes above and beyond and somehow befriends the rock princess. John’s not surprised really. 

  The reach the party and see Barb in the middle of the rest of the trollings her age, talking and seeming to make many friends.

 “Oh, they will. I know it.”

Chapter Text

Humming some notes to himself just to see how they sound together,  he writes the notes down. Does he necessarily need to write down the note? Absolutely not. But does he like to? Yes. It’s very therapeutic to write down new music and have a physical copy of all the add ins and changes he makes on one song. It keeps him humble to know that even though he’s growing in popularity (though nowhere near the popularity of what brozone had been) he still makes mistakes that he learns from. 

  He could spend hours writing new songs, he has spent hours writing new songs. Is this what John felt writing the songs for brozone? He hopes so. Whenever he mentions brozone though John gets weird, well he gets kinda quiet and try’s to change the subject. Floyd understands that sometimes but also he doesn’t. John loved that band then suddenly he stopped caring about it and became overly affectionate. 

  He’s tried a few times to get John to talk to him about it, he doesn’t want to push him so he always drops the subject and assures John that he can tell him when he wants to. Thinking back all those years ago when they still lived at the troll tree and hearing John say he had thought long and hard about the band breaking up was a conversation he never really forgot. 

  John never specified what he meant. Even a few years after that when they had gone hiking and John had told him he had a dream and then they found Rhonda. Coincidence? Not really. Hickory seemed to be a surprise to John though. 

 Strumming out the notes that he has written down he scribbles out some in the middle and rewrites them. 

 “Hey angel,” looking up he sees John leaning on the door frame with crossed arms and a soft smile. “Havin’ fun?”

 Smiling back at John he sets his guitar off to the side and puts his music sheets next to him. “Yeah, just working on something new. What’s up?”

“Oh nothing, I was just wondering if you want to come and hangout with me. We can do something together.”

John hasn’t had a lot of time to just hangout with Floyd recently, he’s been building the bunker with branch and hickory. On top of that he’s also been talking to the other genres of trolls more and helping out the village children. 

  Floyd doesn’t think badly of his dad for that, he’s a busy troll. Besides Clay has been hanging out with him and so has branching and cooper when he’s here. Hickory will also hangout with him when he’s not with John and he looks pretty lonely. So not very often….

He would be happy to spend time with John, “ sure, what were you thinking? “

 John pushes himself off the door frame and walks over to him with a paw outstretched to help him up. 

“ come with me”

 “Okay”

 He lets John take his paw and lead him out of the pod down to Rhonda. She excitedly licks his face getting glitter everywhere. 

 “You know where to go girl” John pets her side on their way to the door as Rhonda coos back. 

 Ah so it’s a secret location then. 

“So, tell me about this new song.”

 So he does, he tells John about the song he’s working on and the ones that go with it. He’s trying to tell a story with this next batch of songs. Hopefully he nails it. 

~~

 After a few hours of talking about his music and the places Beth him and Clay had traveled too recently to try and sell his cd’s Rhonda finally stopped. 

 “Ah we’re here.” John gets up and makes Floyd go in front of him. Stepping out of Rhonda he’s met with a whole group of small country troll trollings. 

“Mr. Floyd! Hello!”

“Mr Floyd! Welcome!”

“Yer gonna sing wit’ us right?”

“Mr. Floyd!”

 Floyd’s frozen in the door, what does he do?

A reassuring paw on his shoulder has him looking back at John. 

 “I know I’ve been busy lately, and that I haven’t been able to hangout with you as much. On one of my journeys to rock village I met some country trolls. I think you could learn a lot from them considering you’re getting into more of the story telling life songs. Country is good for that so I asked if I could bring you over. Don’t worry though, I’ll be with you the whole time and we can learn together!”

Gratitude floods Floyd’s heart as he hugs his dad before turning back to the small trollings who are still looking at him with hope. 

 “I’m excited to get to know you better!”

He didn’t see it but John has a fond smile on his face as he watched him start to interact with the small country trolls.

Chapter Text

Clay was right. It’s been two years since his dad and hickory had gotten married and even though they didn’t move and hickory hadn’t taken John away, Clay still feels like his time with only John has diminished. John spends time with hickory and Clay so he still spends time with him, just not with only him. Well not very often anyway. They will hangout every so often and Clay hangs out with his younger brothers a lot. Is it selfish of him to want to spend more time with just his dad? 

  He would even take just his dad and siblings. He just is tired of hickory always being there. All. the. TIME. Guilt over takes him at this. Hickory is technically his stepdad but is also his brother but he doesn’t really want to spend all this time with him when he just wants to spend time with John. He loves hickory like he loves his other family but he just needs John time. He’s missing his dad when he’s right there. 

  Clay is taking a walk farther from the village to get away from everything while his thought’s take over. He doesn’t want to be near anyone when his mind makes him overwhelmed. According to the doctor he had anxiety, they explained that it makes him worry about things that both have and haven’t happened. Sometimes it gets so bad he has a type of breakdown that others have told him is actually very scary for them to witness .

  John has never told him it was scary for him and he always tries to help but Clay doesn’t want to bother him. What if it eventually does and he stops loving Clay? What if he leaves him? 

  Clays breathing picks up and he stumbles in his steps as he closes his eyes, trying to regulate his breathing. Thoughts swirl in his mind, threatening to take him over as he tries desperately to calm them. 

  He’s not watching his steps and he ends up slipping on a mossy rock, tumbling to the ground and slipping down a small dip in the ground. He lands funny on his left arm but he doesn’t feel any pain so it’s fine. His breathing is still rapid and he curls right there on the ground hoping this ends soon.

  He doesn’t know how long he lays there in emotional anguish but suddenly John is there.

 “Little light! Oh baby you’re okay.” John’s soothing tone is very comforting for him, “can I hug you?” 

 Clay makes the decision for him as he dives into his dad’s arms. Having John there helps slow his breathing to some degree but not enough to stop his heart breaking thoughts. 

 “ don’t leave me, please dad. I’m sorry! I know my breakdowns are scary. Please don’t leave me.” Salty tears make their way down his face as he clings desperately to his dad. 

 John holds him closer, carefully like he’s something precious. “I won’t baby I won’t. You’re okay, let’s slow down your breathing okay? Breath with me light, please.”

  Clay tries to breath with him, tries to follow John’s breathing, but his thoughts keep spiraling. He hasn’t had an attack this big in a while. He’s gonna be a mess for a while he- suddenly he hears a rumbling chitter. He feels the vibrations coming from John’s chest where his face is pressed listening to John’s heart beat. 

  He starts to calm as the effects of the rumbling chitter hits him. His dad is here, he won’t leave him. Clay settles and answers with his own chitter, relaxing as he calms significantly. John stops before Clay can fully go to sleep. Clay stays in a half asleep kind of calm and lets John carry him back to the village.

~~~

  When he had found out Clay had left he knew something was wrong. Clay hadn’t told anyone where he was going. John had a feeling like he needed to find his little light. 

 When he found him he was curled on the ground all scraped up with what looks like a broken arm. John didn’t hesitate running over to his baby. Yes he knows Clay is twenty one now but he will always be his little light, his baby, even if he’s an adult. 

 He try’s to calm Clay down, tries to get him to breathe without hyperventilating. Eventually he needs to sooth him so he can carry him back to the village doctor. When he gets to the doctor with a half asleep Clay they look at his arm. 

 It turns out he had dislocated his elbow and broke his two forearm bones at the same time. The elbow had to be set and the bones had to be set and wrapped in a very funky cast to heal. Clay was out of it this whole time in his half asleep state. 

 After thanking the doctor he takes Clay back to the pod with him. He lets the others know what happened and that he will be with Clay till he wakes fully. 

 Hours later when Clay wakes he’s honestly confused about the arm cast. When John tells him what happened he’s shocked when Clay tells him he didn’t feel anything. When John asks what happened Clay tells him about his attack. 

This scares John. 

  Not the anxiety induced panic attack but the fact that Clay could injure himself so badly and not notice it. It’s dangerous and it makes his heart ache. 

 “ Clay, little light, I need you to promise me you’ll come to me or one of your siblings when this happens again. Please, baby, please. I can’t have you injured and not notice. It could be dangerous.” John is not ashamed to say he’s begging at this point. He needs Clay to listen to him.

 Clay looks away from him, making John’s heart squeeze in fear. “ it scares the others. Other trolls tell me it’s scary to see me like that, so I leave to not be a bother.”

 A hot flash of anger goes through John. who told him that enough to make his little light think he had to leave when he needed help? He shakes that thought away, he can’t deal with that right now. He needs to comfort Clay. 

   “Okay, it might scare some trolls but your family will always be there for you okay?” John says this with so much sincerity Clay needs to believe it. 

  “Okay”

 “What caused this one anyway?” John wanted to know how he could help, he wants to solve clays issue.

 Clays fidgets with his paws obviously nervous to tell him, John just waits patiently.

 “I miss you.” Why would Clay miss him? He’s right here. “ you’re busy with everything and I just miss spending time with you.”

Guilt. 

  John feels guilty. He had been so sure he had been spending time with all of his kids. Thinking back on it he has been spending time with Clay. So why would he miss him?

“I have been spending time with you”

 “I know, but not only us. Hickory is there almost all the time.” John watches as Clay scrunches his face up as he grows frustrated.

“It’s not that I don’t like hickory, I do! It’s just. I miss spending time with you.”

 Ah, that makes sense. John rests a paw over clays casted one. “ I’m sorry Clay. I’ll spend more time with you without hickory okay?”

 He waits for Clay to shuffle through his thoughts before he finally smiles at John.

“Okay”