every troll is asleep. every troll except you.

today, you and a few friends — branch, clay, floyd, john dory, bruce, poppy, and viva — had decided to set up camp outside. it had been an exhilarating day: you'd all gone down to the beach and played frisbee, and then you'd come back up to barbecue lunch. after that, you all played some volleyball. as the day drew to its eventual, but reluctant, close, all of you had huddled around the fire, roasting marshmallows and telling scary stories.

giggling softly in your sleeping bag, you remember how clay had conjured up a particularly eerie one about killer chickens, and how everyone had sat there shivering in terror (you swear you'd even seen bruce cry), everyone except branch.

"not scary!" he'd declared, rolling his eyes and stumbling to his feet and going to get another marshmallow from the bag. as he sat back down, you couldn't help but notice how the glow of the fire illuminated his features. in moments like these, he looked so...

oh, never mind.

you smile, the memories of the day flooding back. it had been so much fun that you just can't sleep, you don't want to wake up tomorrow and have to pack everything up. you don't want today to become another yesterday, you want to stay here forever.

but you're thirsty. really thirsty. who knew eating half a bag of marshmallows would make your throat so dry? in an instant, you decide you needed something to drink; it simply cannot wait until morning. now, you're tasked with not waking the others.

shuffling and shifting in your sleeping bag, you try to wiggle out smoothly, but the thrashing of the silken fabric makes more of a ruckus than you'd anticipated. you hold your breath and suck in, pushing your feet against the bottom to propel yourself up far enough that your arms could be freed. it works better than you hoped, and allows you to plant your hands on the floor and free the rest of your suffocating body.

you scramble to your knees and then stand up, impressed that you'd been able to get out so quickly. usually, you spend around ten minutes fumbling with the stuck zipper of the old thing. note to self, you think to yourself, don't bother with the zipper.

unfortunately, your triumph is short lived.

"leaving already?"

the voice echoes from a few feet in front you, from a brooding figure that sat up on the grass.

"branch?"

he swivels smoothly without getting up so that he faces you. "yep, it's just me. disappointed?"

"what are you doing up?" you whisper-shout, as to not wake up the others.

he sighs. "if i told you clay's story was actually scary and now i can't sleep..." he trails off, putting his face in his palms, "would you laugh?"

the crickets of the night chirp in perfect harmony, filling the void of silence as you walk gingerly over to him. "probably," you start, bobbing down beside him, "but i wouldn't tell anybody."

branch gives you a tired, grateful smile, and you can't help but admire the way the wind whistles through his hair, and how peaceful, how genuinely happy he looks in the serene calm of the quiet night.

"i saw you today." he says plainly.

"hm?"

he realises he left his thought incomplete. "oh, sorry." absentmindedly, he rips a chunk of weedy grass from the ground and chucks it into the air. "during the volleyball. you were really good."

"oh, right." you whisper back. "yeah, me and bruce against you and floyd. you guys weren't bad."

branch stifles a laugh. "we were terrible." noticing your fallen expression, he flails his arms about to explain. "me and floyd are probably the least athletic trolls around, we can accept that gracefully. but you were really good, i mean, bruce was okay, but you were on fire."

tucking your hair behind your ear, you look away slightly so that he might not see you blush. you didn't know why you were blushing over a compliment from branch, of all trolls, but the swirling in your stomach that accompanied it wasn't an unwelcome feeling.

all around you, the trees sway in the gentle breeze, and the owls chorus their hoots in a calming rhythm. that, coupled with the stars that twinkled so brightly above, made for a perfect night. it was beautiful.

suddenly, branch lay down on the grass. you peered down at him, and he patted the space between the two of you, inviting you to join him. in initial reluctance, you allow your back to rest against the grass, and you notice the distance between you and branch get slightly smaller.

"sometimes," branch whispers, his voice cutting through the night and making your heart skip a beat, "i like to look at the stars on nights like these." he turns his head so that it faces you, a calm smile splashed across his face. "i usually do it alone, and i don't really tell people about it... but i think you might like it."

immediately, your face heats up, the swirling of your insides quickens, and the blush on your face deepens. branch was sharing something deeply personal, and he was sharing it with you alone. not with poppy, not with viva. with you.

his arm extends and points into the deep purple sky, the sky that is so close and yet so far away.

"that's orion's belt. i don't know many actual constellations, but that one's pretty easy to spot."

your head rolls to the side to face him. "what do you mean, 'actual' constellations?" you swallow thickly, trying to ignore the butterflies in your chest. "i mean, what constellations do you know?"

"well," branch hums blissfully, "that one there looks like a flower." his finger traces the outline of the stars, and you follow it. "see?"

you nod, though he can't see it. "yeah, i think so."

his finger adjusts, sliding to the side, and he continues. "and a little to the right, this one looks like a kitten. or just a regular old cat, i guess, but kittens are cuter."

"oh wow, it does." you truthfully, are astonished, not just by the stars, but by the fact that you are seeing a whole new side of branch, potentially a side of branch that he has never let anybody else see before.

"and this one..." he starts again, though this time his voice wavers, and as he moves his hand up, it trembles slightly, "well i've always thought this one kinda looks like you."

in that instance, the world stops turning. you look at the constellation only briefly, and it truly does look like you — it outlines your cheeks all the way to the top of your hair — but you cannot focus on it for long. turning your head to face him,  you notice that he is already looking at you, his blue eyes glistening with wonderment against the dark, fantastic night.

all of a sudden, apprehensive branch is gone, and assertive branch is in his place. "i know you like me." he says confidently, maintaining eye contact with you. "i saw you today. at the firepit, staring at me."

and all of a sudden, everything clicks. you like branch. and it was just typical that he would know it before you did. for a few minutes, you say nothing. you spend a while in this state of bliss, in this bubbly pocket in time where it is just you and him, and you haven't yet faced the consequences of your response.

"yeah," you speak at last, voice cracking. "i think i do."

branch smiles wide, rolling onto his side and closing the distance between you ever further.

"good." is all he says, before planting a delicate kiss on your lips. it isn't overly passionate, but it is sweet, it is caring, it is gentle, it is everything that you have learned about branch in this past half-hour, and it is perfect.

you break into a grin. "let's stay up just a little longer."

[end]