Chapter Text
Branch opened the oven, reaching in to pull out the tray of cookies he’d just baked—not even needing an oven mitt—and setting them on the top of the oven to cool. They were raspberry and dark chocolate chunk, Boom’s favorite. He had Ablaze’s favorite chips (chili pepper and lime), the snack cakes that Hype liked, and he’d bought a six pack of Trickee’s favorite flamego soda. He was gathering all of his friends’ favorite snacks because they were having a sleepover tonight!
“You having your little nerd friends over for a little nerd party?” Barb asked, leaning against the doorway to the kitchen.
“As a matter of fact, I am.” Branch said.
“Great, the dork levels are gonna be off the charts.”
“You can call me whatever you want, but it makes you look just as bad because you love me anyway. You’re a dork-lover.”
“Yeah, I love my little dorky brother.” Barb came over and picked him up, “He’s so cute! Look at how small he is, he’s gonna stay small forever!”
“I am not! I grew a whole centimeter since last time we measured me!” Branch kicked his legs, “Put me down! One day I’ll be big enough that you can’t pick me up!”
“Nuh uh. I’m gonna lift weights so that I can always pick you up, no matter how big you get. That’s what a good big sister does.”
“I’m gonna hit you in the face with a frying pan, now put me down!”
“Alright, alright. No need to get feisty.” Barb dropped him, then grabbed a cookie off the sheet pan and took a bite, “Not bad, I’d like it just a smidge more tart though.”
“Pop Trolls don’t do tart, so I made them sweet,” Branch said, then began pushing her away from the stove, “And quit eating all the cookies. They’re for my friends.”
“I’m one of your friends, aren’t I, Twigs?”
“You’re a pain in my butt is what you are, now scram.”
“Nah, I wanna hang out with your dweeby little friends, see what they’re all about.” Barb said.
“Really? You wanna hang out with my friends?”
She shrugged, “Sure, why not?”
“Why?”
“I dunno. You like ‘em, so I wanna see what’s so great about ‘em. I wanna make sure they treat you right.”
“Don’t you think if they treated me badly that my friends from school would have kicked their butts?” Branch asked.
“Maybe, but I’m a protective big sister. It’s my job to make sure people treat you right. If I don’t see it with my own eyes, I don’t believe it.”
Branch rolled his eyes and ignored the warm feeling in his chest. It felt nice to have a sister who cared about him the way that Barb did. He had no clue how he went without this for so long. He’s not sure that he could go on if Barb wasn’t around. If she left…
If she left, Branch doesn’t know what he’d do, but he does know one thing: he would go grey again.
“Barb, promise me you’ll never leave me.”
Barb looked surprised by the sudden change in topics and the loss of the playful atmosphere, “Of course I’ll never leave you, Twigs. I’m a big sister, and big sisters don’t leave. I’m always gonna be here.” She ruffled his hair, clearly trying to get the mood back up, “You can’t get rid of me that easily! Who else is gonna pick you up and bother you?”
Branch smiled, taking the bait and going back to their playful banter, “I don’t think I could pay anyone to take you either. You’re too stinky.”
“I’ve seen you covering Bug and Bitty in my cologne, so obviously you like my stink.”
“No clue what you’re talking about.” There was a knock on the door, “Oh look at that, they’re here. Gotta go. Don’t eat any more cookies!”
Branch ran to get the door while Barb yelled out, “No promises!”
He opened the door, and by this point he didn’t need to invite his friends inside for them to feel comfortable just walking in and sitting down wherever. Ablaze took his dad’s chair while the others sat down on the couch, leaving just enough space for Branch to squeeze in between them.
“Hi guys!”
Four similar greetings from his friends rang out at the same time.
Barb appeared in the doorway between the living room and the kitchen, “Hello tiny glitter nightmares.”
Boom waved, “Hey Barb! Are you gonna hang out with us?”
“Yeah, I’ll grace you all with my presence.”
“Cool!” Hype said, “Always great to see the sibling who didn’t abandon Branch for twelve years!”
“Hype.” Branch said, an unspoken warning in his voice.
Barb laughed, “This kid has the right idea. Hey, you and me are gonna make a BroZone hate club. We’ll spend every meeting plotting their demises.”
“I propose we tie them to a tree and abandon them in the wild.” Hype said.
“I was thinking we feed them to Branch’s pets.” Barb said.
“Stop trying to feed my brothers to my pets. My pets shouldn’t eat trash.” Branch said.
“Oooh, Bitty B has some bite to him. Do I hear lingering resentment?” Trickee said, batting his eyelashes and reaching over to pinch Branch’s cheek.
“Knock it off,” Branch smacked his hand away, “And don’t call me Bitty B.”
“That’s right, it’s Pretty B now.” Boom said.
“No, he’s little baby Twigs.” Ablaze said.
“All of you shut up! I am not a baby!” Branch yelled.
“You look like a baby to me.” Barb said.
“According to you, I’ll always be a baby.” Branch said.
“‘Cause you will be. You will always be my baby brother.”
“Awwww!” All four of his friends leaned in to look at him, cooing at him.
“That’s enough!” Branch stood up on the couch, “You’ll all regret the day you made fun of me!” He pulled a pillow out of his hair, “Face my wrath!” He slammed the pillow into Trickee’s face.
“Yes! Pillow fight!” Ablaze yelled, jumping to his feet and pulling out his own pillow to hit Hype with.
Pandemonium broke out as it was every man for himself in the pillow fight. Branch was sure to be careful not to hit his friends as hard as he normally hit Barb, since they were a whole lot less durable. He took out another pillow and began dual wielding them, hitting Boom with one while blocking a hit from Trickee with the other.
Eventually it became clear that Branch was too strong for the other’s own good, so Boom yelled, “Temporary truce! Everyone on Branch!” This led to Branch getting surrounded, bombarded with pillows on all sides. He fell to the ground, curling up to block the onslaught of pillows.
“Halt!” Barb yelled, “Quit attacking my fair lord! For I… am the Pillow Knight!”
Branch looked up to see that Barb had strapped a pillow to her chest and each of her limbs like some kind of crude armor, as well as tied a blanket around her neck so that it flapped behind her like a cape. She brandished a throw pillow in each hand, holding the long and thin one like a sword and the other round and flat one like a shield.
“Attack the Pillow Knight!” Boom yelled, raising a pillow and running at Barb, only to get knocked down by her “shield”.
“For Lord Twigs!” Barb shouted, fake spearing Boom with the sword-pillow.
“Get her!” Hype yelled, and he, Ablaze and Trickee charged Barb, “For the revolution!”
Barb blocked their initial blows with her shield, then swung at Trickee with her sword. Hype and Ablaze tried hitting her, but her pillow armor took the blows for her. She hooked a leg underneath Ablaze’s, knocking him to the ground before taking him out with her sword. She swung her arm out, knocking Trickee onto the ground.
“You’ll never kill the revolution!” Hype yelled, taking out a second pillow and swinging it at her.
“Is that all you’ve got? For I, the Pillow Knight, am unparalleled in pillow warfare! You shall not hurt my lord!” Barb spoke in a deep, knightly voice, “I cannot be bested!”
Hype raised a pillow, ready to strike Barb, only for Branch to take the opportunity to sneak up behind him and hit him in the head with one of his pillows. “The Pillow Lord isn’t helpless! We have defeated the revolution's head generals and will execute them at dawn! I’ll have their heads in baskets!” Branch spoke in an exaggerated regal voice.
“Your will shall be done, my lord! The revolution shan’t be able to recover this blow to their resources.” Barb got down in a kneel, bowing her head, “I pledge my fealty to thee.”
“Stand, my brave knight.” Branch said, placing his arms behind his back so he looked like a calm and collected royal, “Your loyalty shall be rewarded handsomely, Sir Pillow Knight. You shall receive riches beyond your wildest dreams.”
“All I need is to serve you and serve you well, my lord.” Barb said.
The two looked at each other for a brief moment before both snorted and started laughing.
“You guys are nerds.” Trickee said from his spot on the floor on top of Boom.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, we’re super cool.” Barb said.
“You look ridiculous.” Hype said.
“I look awesome.” Despite that, Barb still began taking off her pillow armor.
“Yeah, whatever. I’m hungry.” Ablaze said, sitting up, “Can we get pizza?”
“Yeah, wait here and I’ll go order it. What kind do you want?”
His friends began listing their pizza orders, with no one agreeing on what they wanted. Boom wanted veggie, Hype wanted pepperoni and olive, Ablaze wanted pineapple and Trickee wanted the meat lover’s special.
“Alright, I don’t feel like buying six pizzas, so I’m getting half pizzas. Twigs, what do you want?”
Branch thought it over for a moment, “Peppers and moshrooms.”
“Cool. Alright, wait here. I’ll remember that. Probably. If not, it's a toss up of what you guys get.”
Barb went into the kitchen to call in their pizza order, meanwhile his friends picked themselves up off the floor and went back over to the couch.
“What should we do while we wait?” Trickee asked.
“Video game tournament!” Boom said, “Dibs on first!”
Branch booted up their Game Box and handed out controllers. Unfortunately the game could only handle four players at a time, so Branch was forced to sit out of the first round of Battle Brawlers 3. Probably a good thing, because he would wipe the floor with his friends.
Barb came back in after a few minutes, taking a seat on the floor and cheering for whoever was doing the best at each given moment. After the first game, Hype and Boom handed their controllers off to Barb and Branch, and the two ended up facing off against each other, completely ignoring Trickee and Ablaze until Ablaze took advantage of Branch’s onslaught of attacks and got a cheap shot in on Barb. She then proceeded to rage and chase him around the stage while Branch took care of Trickee.
After about twenty minutes there was a knock on the door, and Barb grabbed the money their dad had left on the table for pizza and answered the door. She sat three large boxes on the table and went to the kitchen to grab some plates and soda.
The game tournament continued in between their eating, everyone uncaring that they were getting pizza grease on the controllers.
“Die. Die. Die.” Barb muttered under her breath as she rapidly tapped on the buttons of her controller. Her character was thrown off screen and she slammed the controller down, “Dammit!” She grabbed her drink and chugged it, “I almost had you!”
“You really didn’t.” Branch said. He grabbed another piece of pizza and quickly took a bite as he let his hair take over on the controller.
“You’ve got really fine control over your hair. I don’t think I could press the buttons with my hair.” Barb said.
“Yeah, Branch’s hair is really strong too, even for a Pop Troll’s.” Ablaze said.
“I trained it.” Branch said, “Practiced and did exercises every day so that it would be at peak health. If I was gonna avoid the Bergens, I needed my hair to be at its best. You could probably do it too if you put in the extra effort.”
“You know what, sure, why not?” Barb said, “I already go to the gym to pump iron, it shouldn’t be any problem adding some extra reps to my workout.”
Branch took the controller back in his hands and finished the round, then sat it down on the coffee table and cracked his fingers, “Alright, my fingers need a break. What should we do next?”
“Ooh! How about face masks?” Boom reached into his hair and pulled out several packs of face masks that all promised things like healthy, clear skin and used various buzzwords like “hydrating”, “brightens” and various vitamins that it allegedly had.
“There’s no glitter in them, right?” Barb asked.
“What? Haha, no, of course not!” Boom said, slowly moving a couple of the face masks away from Barb. Branch could see the word “reglittering” on them. “They’re completely normal face masks.”
“Alright, I’ll give them a try.” Barb said.
Boom passed out headbands to keep their hair out of their faces, then began passing out face masks. Barb was clearly confused by hers, so Boom helped her put it on, and Barb yelped at the coldness.
“What’s the appeal of these things?” Barb asked.
“They’re luxurious.” Boom said.
“They’re cold and wet and slimy.” Barb said.
Boom gasped in offense, “They are not slimy! They’re hydrating.”
“Fancy word for slimy seems like to me.” She said.
“I dunno, I kinda like them.” Branch said, “The cold feels nice on my face. I think they’re a load of bull, but I gotta admit they feel nice.”
Boom gasped again, “They are not bull either! They’re part of a good skin care routine! How do you think I keep my glitter looking so,” He took a deep breath and sang, “Shiny!”
“It’s glitter, it’s naturally shiny.” Branch said.
“And it gets everywhere.” Barb added.
Branch nodded, “And it’s annoying.”
“You two are definitely siblings.” Boom said in a clipped tone, looking completely done with the two of them.
Branch just grinned. He loved any reminder that he was now Barb’s little brother.
“Branch definitely takes after Barb more than he takes after his brothers, who shall remain nameless.” Hype said.
“Yeah! He might have looked like his brothers, but he acts way more like Barb.” Trickee said, “I don’t think Branch has anything in common with his brothers.”
“Plus he looks way more like Barb now. Maybe he still has BroZone’s face, but if you look at Barb and Branch together, they’re clearly brother and sister.” Ablaze said.
“I don’t even know if I still have their face. Grandma used to tell me I looked just like my brothers, but it’s been so long, who knows if that’s still true.” Branch said, forcing casualness in his voice. It was a weird thought, that there were people out there with his face that he didn’t even know but still hated. He thinks he’d prefer if they looked nothing like him. Less of a connection there if so. If they don’t want a connection with him, he doesn’t want one with them.
“No clue, but even if you did, it wouldn’t matter. You’re my little brother now. They can go find some other kid to abandon for a decade.” Barb said.
“Hey, maybe they did.” Ablaze said, “Maybe they just go around finding kids to get close to and then leave. Floyd’s probably promising some kid he’ll be back soon right now.”
Branch’s eye twitched, “Let’s quit talking about BroZone. I think if I have to think about them and Floyd’s promise, I might break the TV and then we can’t watch any scary movies tonight.”
“I don’t wanna watch any scary movies at all!” Boom whined, “You know me and horror don’t mix!”
“Awww poor baby. Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.” Trickee teased, petting Boom’s head.
“You’re mean. If anyone’s gonna protect me, I want it to be Branch. You’d probably just mess it up. Plus, Branch has a sword.” Boom said.
“Branch could probably fight off anything.” Ablaze said, “Ghosts, zombies, hungry Bergens.”
“And whatever Twigs can’t handle, I can!” Barb said, pointing to herself proudly, “So you have nothing to worry about. Twigs likes you guys, so I’ll protect you.”
“Woohoo! New sister!” Boom cheered, throwing himself at Barb for a hug.
“You’re getting glitter on me you little pest!” Barb yelled, then sighed, “Alright fine.” She hugged him back, though not as enthusiastically as she always hugs Branch.
“Pile on Barb!” Ablaze yelled, then jumped off the chair on top of Barb.
Hype and Trickee took that as their invitation to jump on Barb too, creating a hug pile on top of her. A single hand reached up through the pile, clawing at the air.
“Twigs! Help me! The dorks are being affectionate!” Barb yelled.
Branch took out a nail file and began buffing out a rough spot on his nails, “Oh noooo. So sad. I’ll mourn you.”
Barb then let out the most devastated “Nooooo!” he’d ever heard.
“Oh, you’re fine, you big baby.” Branch said.
“Save your big sister!”
“What happened to being able to handle anything I couldn’t? You expect to take on a monster when you can’t even take on a surprise hug pile?”
“Fair point.” Barb pushed her way out of the hug pile, rising from it like a zombie clawing its way out of its grave. “RAHHH!” Boom hung from her arm, while Trickee was latched onto her leg. “Begone, demons from Pop!” She tossed Boom onto the couch and shook Trickee off her leg, jumping out of the remnants of the pile.
Kismet just laughed at her antics, evidently enjoying her dramatic tendencies. Branch couldn’t blame them, his sister was hilarious.
“Barb! Let me paint your nails!” Boom said, “Please? Pretty please with sugar and sprinkles on top?”
“Do you have black?” She asked.
Boom winced, “I have hot pink? It’ll match your eyes!”
“My eyes aren’t pink.”
Branch looked up at Barb in confusion, “Yes they are?”
“No they’re not, they’re light red.”
“Are you messing with me dude? They’re like hot pink.” Branch said.
“I dunno what you’re talking about, my eyes are red. Always have been, always will be.”
“Well whatever color your eyes are, can I paint your nails?” Boom asked.
Barb groaned, throwing her head back, “Fiiiine.”
Barb sat down, holding her hand out for Boom. Boom looked like he’d just been given the greatest gift in the world as he shook a bottle of hot pink nail polish. Barb was such a softie, so Branch wasn’t surprised she caved to him over her nails, even though he knew Barb would hate having such cutesy nails.
Trickee and Ablaze sat down to do each other’s nails, and Hype held out a bottle of nail polish to Branch, silently asking for help with his own nails. Branch didn’t have a lot of opportunities to do nails, but he had done them a few times since moving to the city. Amy Lee would sometimes ask him to paint her nails at sleepovers. He had a steady hand, so he was pretty decent at it, easily covering Hype’s nails in blue paint.
“Hell no!” Barb yelled, and Branch looked over to see Boom holding a glitter topcoat. “You’re not putting glitter on my nails!”
“Please? The pink looks best with glitter!” Boom pleaded.
“Absolutely not!”
Boom turned towards Branch, “Branch, will you make her?”
“Make me? Twigs can’t make me do anything!” Barb said, crossing her arms and scowling.
Branch looked at Barb with the biggest and saddest eyes he could manage, “Please Barb? You’d be the best sister ever if you let my friends put glitter on your nails. We can even have a special sibling hang out day, like we used to! Remember when I first moved here?”
Barb’s scowl wobbled as her resolve faltered. She let out a sigh, head drooping, “Alright, fine. Do the stinkin’ glitter.” She looked up, “But I expect that brother-sister hang out day! The whole day, not any half day nonsense!”
“And that’s how you do it.” Branch said proudly.
“Truly, the master is at work.” Hype said.
“I can still change my mind, you know.” Barb said.
“No take backs!” Boom said, quickly coating one of her nails in glitter, “There, now you have to let me finish or it’ll look weird.”
Barb made a face like she’d just stepped in gum, “Ew. I hate it.”
Boom pouted, “It looks so good on you though! It matches your skin tone really well!”
“Branch, want me to paint your nails?” Hype asked.
“Yeah,” Branch took a bottle of black polish out of his hair, “Black, please.”
Barb looked over and saw the black polish in his hands, gasping loudly, “You had that the whole time?! And you let them paint my nails pink with glitter?! I should sell you and buy a doberbug instead!”
“I wanted to see Barb the Rock Princess with her pretty, pretty nails.” Branch teased.
There was a quick snapping sound, and Branch looked over to see Trickee holding a camera. “This one’s going in the album.” He said.
“Burn that!” Barb yelled, “I look ridiculous with this face mask and these stupid nails!”
“I think you look good!” Trickee said, quickly hiding the photo in his hair, “I need something to remember you by when we leave.”
“Oh, yeah, you have to leave next spring. How do you guys feel about that?” Barb asked.
“Well… we have to go home. It makes sense.” Hype said, “Obviously we can’t stay here forever. We have our career back in Paradise Beach to get back to. Our parents sacrificed a lot so we could be famous.”
“Yeah. And obviously we miss our parents.” Trickee said.
“And our little siblings.” Ablaze added.
Boom looked around as the others looked at him expectantly. He seemed to wilt under their gaze until he threw his hands down against his lap, “Okay, I’m just gonna say it! I don’t wanna go back! I’m not even sure I wanna be in Kismet anymore!”
Hype let out a relieved sigh, “Oh thank god someone else said it first.”
Trickee and Ablaze nodded, murmuring similar agreements.
“Wait, what?!” Branch cried, “But you love Kismet!”
“We do!” Hype agreed quickly, “We love the band, and we love performing. I can’t speak for the others but… I never realized how much work I do for Kismet until I suddenly didn’t have to do it! I’m almost always busy with something for the band, or thinking about things that need to be done. Even when I’m relaxing, I’m not fully relaxing, you know? It’s just… it’s a lot and I kind of dread going back to it all. Working at the library has shown me what normal work is like, and I kind of prefer it.”
“Same here.” Trickee said, “I’m not officially Uncle T’s apprentice, but learning from him has been great and it kind of makes me want to focus more on a career that’s gonna last. I mean, realistically Kismet’s not gonna last forever, and I found something I’d like to do more. I’ve been thinking about how cool it would be to take over the shop, but the thing is that Uncle T’s looking for someone to pick up the trade young. If I wait until Kismet slowly fades from the limelight, he’s gonna have found someone else to take over by then.”
Ablaze nodded, “Yeah. I’m finding hobbies and stuff that I never have time for or would have even thought about back at Paradise Beach. Like, I’ve been learning how to cook! But the thing that really gets me is… I kinda want to experiment with Rock music. I still enjoy Pop, but I want to try out a new sound and I can’t really do that with Kismet.”
“Yeah, Kismet was supposed to be fun, but now it’s an obligation. I don’t wanna let the band down, but working in the fashion industry is way more fun. It’s a real challenge to figure out what looks good to Rock Trolls while still putting my own flair on it!” Boom said.
Branch froze.
‘Kismet was supposed to be fun, but now it’s an obligation.’
‘It was supposed to be fun.’
‘It was supposed to be fun.’
‘This used to be fun, now it’s all about being perfect.’
It was like he was being dragged back to that room as his family fell apart, watching everyone he loved leave him. Clay’s voice was echoing in his head, as clear as it was that night that BroZone broke up.
“Twigs Hey, Twigs, look at me.” Barb seemed to come into focus, crouched in front of him, her eyes knit with worry, “You’re thinking about BroZone again.”
“How could you tell?” Branch asked, his voice small.
“You always grab your vest when you do.” She said.
Branch looked down where his hands were gripping his vest. “Oh.”
Barb took his hands in hers and said softly, “This isn’t like them, alright? This is four friends deciding to retire the band because they want to do other things. They’re not leaving, they’re still gonna be friends. They’re still gonna be your friends.”
Branch squeezed Barb’s hands, “I know, it’s just… hard to remember.”
“We’re always gonna be your friends, Branch!” Hype said, “Even if we want to quit Kismet, that won’t change. Besides, nothing’s official yet! We don’t wanna be rash, so we need to think this over. We’re not gonna quit just like that, right guys?”
The others all agreed.
“Okay, I’m okay now.” Branch said, letting out a shaky breath. “I guess BroZone messed me up, huh?”
“The abandonment issues and that ugly leaf vest were the only things they left you.” Trickee said.
Branch snorted, “I thought you said my vest was charming?”
“I was being polite. It’s ugly. Now that you don’t wear it, I can be honest.”
Their bracelets chimed. “Hug Time!” Boom said excitedly, quickly moving to hug Branch.
The others joined in on the hug, and even Barb pulled Branch close, her cheek resting on the top of his head. He still wasn’t much of a hugger, but this was fine for now.
Barb was the first to pull away, “Okay, that’s enough of that. Who’s ready to watch horror movies?”
“Ooh, me!” Ablaze waved his hand in the air.
“Noooo! Please, let’s watch a romance!” Boom cried.
“Ew, I don’t wanna watch that!” Barb yelled.
Yeah, this was fine for now.