Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

HAPPY BROPPY DAYYYY
🎉💝👏💕🥳🤩

Do you remember, the 21st night of Septemberrrrr 🎉💕

Because it's Broppy day I thought I'd give you all a sneek peek on this new book 'By your side' 🥰

It's a Human Broppy university AU

It will probably be rated as 'mature' because of subjects such as depression, self harm, mentions of suicide, NSFW sexual scenes, violence, drunken scenes, and so on but I will put a warning on top of the chapter in case anyone is sensitive to certain subjects.

A few chapters have already been written and edited but I still need to perfect the description so bare with me

I still don't know if I'll start posting chapters before or after Broppy's Bluebelle, so we'll have to wait and seeeee

'By your side' coming soon...

Chapter Text

Poppy sat in her 'history of art' lecture fiddling with her pink sparkly pencil, she wasn't listening to anything that her lecturer was rambling on about, her mind was elsewhere.
She hadn't seen or heard from her best friend in weeks, they always met up and went round each others to study and do work and honestly it was getting concerning, she had been texting and calling him non stop but there was nothing, not even a simple 'read' receipt at the bottom of the messages she sent which he usually left her with, it was like he had disappeared off the face of the earth, only one way to find out if he had, right? she decided she would go to his Grandma's where he lived to see what he was up to.

Poppy looked down to her notebook noticing that she hadn't written any notes and it was almost the end of the lecture, she looked at the board and quickly scribbled down the paragraphs about 'digging deeply into idea's and concepts of a masterpiece'.

After the lecture was finished she made her way out of the building and through campus while humming to one of her favourite songs and watching some seagulls fly over head, the university was very close to the beach which Poppy absolutely loved, in fact she had the most amazing view of the sea from her student accommodation on campus, especially in the evenings, there would be beautiful sunsets over the sea.

"Hey Poppy!" she heard a familiar voice and running foot steps behind her, stopping and turning around she saw her good friend Guy Diamond running to catch her up.

"Oh, Hey Guy!" she waved to him as he stopped in front of her panting with his hands on his knees, regaining his breath. He regained his breath and stood up strait hugging Poppy "Hey Pops, I was just wondering if you've heard from Branch yet? I still haven't and we were supposed to be going to the gym every Wednesday".

she frowned and looked down "no, unfortunately not, but I'm going to his house now to see what he's up to or what he's not up to I guess" she shrugged her shoulders.

"Damnit I wish I could come, but I've got a family reunion with my 37 cousins at the beach" he rolled his blue-grey eyes at the thought.

Poppy's eyes widened "oh wow, 37 cousins? that's a lot, anyways I hope that goes well and I should probably go see what Branch is up to, I'll see ya later Guy"

"Bye Pops, tell him to text me back!"

"Will do!" Poppy shouted back to him as she turned around and made her way out of the campus gates. Branch lived with his Grandma up the road from campus so luckily it was only a ten minutes walk to get there.

She made it to the front of the bungalow and walked up the path, she immediately realised that both Branch's car and Rosiepuff's car were in the drive, so they must be home. She got to the door and pressed the doorbell, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she waited.

And Waited...

...And...Waited...

It had been ten minutes and Poppy had pressed the bell multiple times. Maybe they were out for lunch? or on a walk? she knew Rosiepuff loved going on walks. She looked around not really knowing what to do next, she would usually check snapchat maps when looking for her friends but that would be pointless, he hadn't been on snapchat in weeks so his little person wouldn't show up on the map.

Some odd movement from the corner of her eye caught her attention, she looked over at Branch's new black Audi, yes he owned a new black Audi he was a model for a major clothing company in the country and Poppy knew his pay was good even if he didn't talk about it.

She squinted trying to see through the tinted back windows and walked closer. She rested her forehead on the window and looked through, and there in the car was Branch, was he sleeping? He was under a huge pile of blankets. Surely it was hot in that car the temperature was high twenties and it was sunny.

Poppy raised her hand and knocked on the window with her knuckle, he moved slightly nut didn't wake.

She grabbed the handle and pulled, surprisingly the door opened, what on earth was he doing sleeping in an unlocked car, he would never let that happen he'd be too worried about car thieves and kidnappers. She shook her head and opened the door fully exposing the mess inside of the car, bags filled with clothes, rubbish on the floor, something was going on here, he would never let his car get this messy he was a neat freak with everything especially with his car that he had only had for a couple months.

She needed answers now "Branch" she whispered, being careful not to startle him from his deep sleep.

No Movement

"Braaannnchhhh" she said with more volume

Still no movement, she would think he was dead if she didn't hear him breathing.

She sighed and pulled the blankets off the boys body, exposing him in a grey hoodie and jeans, seriously? surely that was uncomfortable.

She really hoped he wouldn't punch her with what she was about to do "Branch wake up!" she shook his shoulder vigorously, making the poor boy jump out of his skin, bolting upright into a sitting position. After looking around erratically thinking he was about to get mugged or even killed his eyes landed on Poppy standing in front of him with her hands on her hips giving him a face he really couldn't tell what meant. He rubbed his eyes free from the remaining sleep

"What on earth is happening here? where have you been? and why haven't you been replying to my texts and calls?" Poppy actually looked stern for once.

Branch just shrugged and looked in another direction, but now that she had gotten a better look at him, he didn't look good at all, bloodshot eyes, huge discoloured bags under them, his hair was messy and greasy, he clearly hadn't shaved and.....wait were those tears in his eyes?

"Budge up, I'm coming in" not even giving him a choice.

Branch sighed "Poppy, what are you doing here?" he said in a hushed tone, almost a whisper.

"I wouldn't be here if you had replied to my texts now budge up and let me in" she pushed his broad shoulder and he sighed but reluctantly shifted up so she could come in. "you gonna tell me what's happening here orrrr?" She watched him as he fiddled with a fray on his hoodie arm, something was definitely wrong here.

She heard him faintly whisper something incoherent and asked him to repeat louder.

"She's gone" he whispered again, that's when she saw a tear roll down his cheek before he quickly swiped it away with his sleeve and looked the other way.

"she's gone Poppy and she's never coming back" that's when the water works started, more and more tears falling down his face, he sniffed and tried to hide his face.

Someone was gone? What did he mean? The only person he loved and cared about was......oh god. She looked over at the house, was it empty? oh god no, was he talking about Grandma Rosiepuff?

That's when her own waterworks started, tears glistened over her brown eyes, she grew up with Branch and Rosiepuff, her and her dad would go round Rosiepuff's every Sunday to bake and end up having a Sunday dinner, she had known them practically her whole life. her hand flew up to her mouth to silent whatever noises were about to come. she looked back over to Branch then launched forward, arms around his neck holding him tightly, he feebly tried to push her but quickly gave up and hugged her back, his long body engulfing her tiny form.

The small occasional sniffle turned into sobs from both off them. his chin resting on top of her head as he held her and cried, this was the first time he had spoken to anyone about it since it happened a few weeks ago and all the pent up emotion was just streaming out.

All the scenarios were flying through her brain, Rosiepuff wasn't even that old even as a grandparent, she was only in her early sixties, what could have gone wrong?

They both let go of each other and Branch looked down and started fiddling with his sleeve again, Poppy sat it silence giving him time to gather his thoughts and start talking.

"a couple weeks ago" Poppy looked up at him as he started to talk "I came back home from doing a shoot at the beach and....she was lying on the sofa, she looked pale and I asked her what was wrong" he swiped some more tears away "she told me she was having chest pains and she wanted me to take her to the hospital, I kept looking at her on the drive there to make sure she was okay but she didn't look well at all" he sniffled and rubbed his nose on his sleeve "they basically said her heart was struggling and that she had an serious undiagnosed heart condition. I was sitting next to her when she was in the hospital bed, she took my hand and said..." his voice cracked, he swallowed and tried again " she said that she loved me so much and that she was sorry that my parents left me as a baby, but I told her not to be sorry, I couldn't care less about them, she was my only guardian and I loved her and appreciate everything she did for me" he stopped again, darkness in his blue eyes as he stared at nothing "about a minute after I told her I loved her and that she would be okay....." Poppy grabbed his hand and stroked circles with her thumb, Branch looked at her for a second before looking away again "the flatline sound blared through the room, and doctors came rushing in, I couldn't let go of her hand, I just couldn't, but someone tared me away from her and pulled me out the room" tears fell down his cheeks " I waited in the relatives room for what felt like hours, a nurse came in eventually and said...…." Poppy nodded at him showing she understood and that he didn't need to finish that sentence. "I don't have a family anymore...…..she was my family, and now she's gone.....and I don't know what to do with myself" he started sobbing again, Poppy hugged him tightly again, rubbing his back letting him poor everything out.

After half an hour of crying and hugging Branch explained that his phone was dead which was why he wasn't replying and he was practically living in his car because he couldn't go back inside that house, there was too many memories and pictures everywhere, it was too soon, he had also showered a couple times at the beach showers.

Poppy felt awful for him, he had no family, she couldn't imagine what it would be like if her Dad wasn't around anymore. She let go of him and got out the car "Come on lets go"

He looked up at her questionably "go where?" he sniffed and wiped his nose.

"im not letting you live in your car, no way, and its not what you need right now soooooo...your coming to live with me" she grinned at him.

Branch's tired eyes widened "No, no, no Poppy, I'm not living with you, that's not fair on you, I'm fine sleeping in my car"

"Sorry, I'm not taking no as an answer" she grabbed the collar of his hoodie and yanked him out the car, he banged his head in the process but he was used to that by now, at 6ft 2 tall it always happened. He got out and rubbed his head, he let out a big sigh, he had a feeling he wasn't going to be able to get out of this. When Poppy had an idea she always went through with it.

"now, what do you need? I can go inside and grab your things" Poppy was already on her way to the front door.

Branch's eyes widened "No, there's no way I'm letting you go through my stuff"

Poppy looked back at him with a smirk "scared I will find your man stuff?"

Branch raised an eyebrow, he didn't really know what she meant by 'man stuff' and he didn't really want to know what she was thinking of "I've got my clothes in my car"

"what about toiletries?"

"I'll buy some"

"your laptop and study notes?"

His mouth opened but closed, Okay that caught him off-guard, he did use his laptop for everything including work and uni. "fine, just get my things of my desk, and don't go rummaging through my things" he rummaged through his jean pockets and pulled out a key.

She took the key from him, unlocked the front door and walked in.

Tears glistened over her eyes as she walked in and looked around the open plan living area, memories flooded through her head from her childhood, baking in the kitchen with Rosiepuff and Branch all of them covered in flour then eating the whole batch of warm cookies afterwards, sleepovers and Blanket forts which Rosiepuff would spend hours on making sure they were perfect, her and her Dad coming over for dinners and staying until late at night because Branch and Poppy would fall asleep on the sofa and Rosiepuff wouldn't want to wake them because they looked adorable.

Poppy swiped the tears away, and walked to Branch’s dark wood bedroom door, she stepped in as the door creaked and looked around the plainly decorated room with light grey walls and fairly basic furniture.

She walked over to his desk and grabbed the notes and stationary that was neatly placed and ordered, she also grabbed his MacBook that was sitting in the middle of the desk, he would definitely need it for lectures, studying and work emails next she hastily opened the top draw hoping to find chargers for his laptop and phone. The top draw wasn’t what she was looking for, it was filled with batteries, some sort of equipment maybe some screwdrivers or something? This was definitely his man draw, she quickly closed that and went to the next draw, bingo, this was the one, filled with wires, old phones, she rummaged through and eventually found the chargers she was looking for.

She looked round the room trying to think what else he would want to bring, maybe something important to him? She grabbed his poetry book as well, that boy loved his poetry although he was extremely private about it she knew it was important to him.

Poppy’s eyes went to his bedside table where a small blue teddy sat, she sadly smiled, that teddy was given to him on his 5th or even 6th birthday, she wasn’t sure but his Grandma gave it to him and even 13 years later she knew it was very important to him, but would it be too memorable for his current state if she brought it? What’s the worst that could happen? He’d appreciate having it eventually, she swiftly grabbed it from the bedside table and exited the room. She struggled with all the things in her arms, desperately clinging onto everything, he’d probably kill her if she dropped any of these items. She managed to shuffle through the house and out the front door, she stopped when she found Branch in the same place she left him, staring at the ground hands in his pockets, she could only imagine what was going on his head at the moment. “Here you go” she gently said incase she made him jump because he didn’t realise he was there. His head snapped up “thanks” he mumbled back and walked up to her and took the things out her arms. He put the items in the backseat of his car along with all the other things he had stashed the last few weeks. “Uh...I also picked up Otis” Poppy fiddled with the tiny blue bear in her hands not sure what his reaction would be.

He looked over to Poppy, with was that a blank expression? She wasn’t quite sure so she looked back down to the bear “I Uh..I didn’t know if you’d want him...but I know he means a lot to you...and-“ she stopped talking when Branch’s hand very slowly took the bear from her hands.

She slowly looked up at his face which was trained on the blue bundle in his hand. Was this good? Did he appreciate her getting the much loved bear?

In a quick reflex, he stuffed the tiny bear in his hoodie pocket and walked to his car “if your going to force me to live at yours we should probably get going”

The quick motion snapped her out of her thoughts “Uh yeah, yeah okay let’s go new roomieee” he didn’t reply to Poppy’s enthusiasm. She sat next to him in the passenger seat and watched him as he turned the car on and squinted pressing the buttons on the screen to get the reverse camera.

“Your okay to drive? You seem to be struggling to see”

He turned and glared at her “I’m fine, I’m just not used to this car still, that’s all” he continued to press buttons on the screen.

Poppy raised an eyebrow, had he seriously forgotten how to drive “you might wanna, oh I don’t know, put the car into reverse”

His hand quickly yanked the gear stick into reverse and Poppy rolled her eyes.

The very short 5 minute drive to the campus was silent, even Poppy didn’t sing or hum, she just watched out the window occasionally glancing at Branch.

Branch parked rather poorly in a space next to Poppy’s pink fiat 500, and they both grabbed all his things.

They made their way into the accommodation building and up the stairs to the fifth floor, Poppy got out her key card and unlocked the door, she swung it open dramatically “ta daaaa, your new home!” She added jazz hands to try cheer him up, he didn’t even crack a smile.

Poppy cleared her throat “well you’ve been here plenty of times so I don’t really need to give you a tour or anything” she ushered him in and closed the door behind him.

Leading to the front door was a hallway which consisted of four doors and at the end of the hallway was the living area with the kitchen and lounge which was complimented with huge floor to ceiling windows where the sea could be seen from.

“So you’ll obviously have the spare room, it’s a little plain but it’s got a double bed, a desk and a fitted wardrobe. We can decorate it if you want” she walked to the door and opened it, placing his things on the bed. When he didn’t reply she carried on “uh well you know my bedroom is just opposite so if you ever want me just come in, my doors usually open though, oh and Toby sometimes comes over to stay the night aswell”

That caught Branch’s attention, god he hated Poppy’s boyfriend, he didn’t trust the guy, he would disappear for days and Poppy just didn’t understand why it was sketchy. “Well let me know before he comes so I can hide” he mumbled as he sorted through his things.

“Will do” Poppy said cheerily “do you need help putting your things away?” Branch shook his head “okay well I’ll leave you to it, I’ll just be in the lounge” she walked down the hall and into the living area, she plopped onto the soft L shaped sofa, took her phone from her Jean pocket and started typing.

Poppy👑💞: I’ve found Branch, it’s not the best news :( come round tomorrow? xx

As she waited for a reply she took hold of the handset and scrolled through Netflix trying to find something new. Her phone buzzed.

GD🕺✨: oh, a sad face?? that can’t be good, I’ll be round yours tomorrow xx

For the rest of the day and into the evening Branch didn’t come out of his room, it worried Poppy a little, she hadn’t even heard anything.

She made her way to his door and knocked with her knuckle “Branch would you like dinner? I don’t know what I’ll make but I’m sure I can do something”

“No thanks, not hungry” she heard him very quietly say.

“Can I come in?” She knocked with her knuckle again, there was no reply - that’s not a definite no though? Right

She turned the door knob and stepped in, nothing had changed since she left him in this room, all the things were still on the bed and Branch was sitting on the side of the bed staring into nothingness, had he seriously been like this for the past 4 hours?

When she stepped closer she realised he had the little bear in his hands. “You okay?” She inched closer and sat next to him.

He didn’t reply, he was in a trance like state.it made Poppy so upset to see him like this, he was usually not an emotional person, this seemed so unlike him. Tears started to fall down her cheeks, she sniffled and wiped them away. The sniffle caught Branch’s attention and he looked at her “what’s wrong?” Poppy sadly smiled at him, this guy could be the sweetest even when he didn’t realise. “Sorry, it just upsets me to see you like this” she quickly hugged him and swiftly stood up “I’m going to make dinner, you can come and have some of you change your mind” It was 10pm, dinner had been made and consumed by Poppy and Branch still hadn’t come out. Poppy really hadn’t dealt with anyone who was grieving, yes she was upset about Rosie’s passing but Branch seemed worse. She yanked her laptop onto her lap and searched ‘how to help a grieving friend’ maybe that was weird? She wasn’t sure, but one thing was for sure, she wanted her best friend back, and she was going to find a way.