Chapter Text
The lights flickered around the bushy area as the disco ball spun around above the pop trolls village. This was the fourth party this week, John Dory lost count to how many he has been in a month. Poppy invited him and his brothers to every party she threw. JD forgot what this party is about, but he’s enjoying himself, sitting all alone at the back close to the bar.
The last party he went too, he got extremely drunk and started spilling every detail about his childhood to other trolls which left Floyd having to clean up his mess and look after him. JD promised his little brother that he wouldn’t drink at the next party, so that Floyd can enjoy the party with his siblings.
The morning after that party, John apologised to poppy about his behaviour and she didn’t care. She just told him ‘it’s normal for trolls to get drunk at my parties.’ Which was true, every party he went to there was always a handful of trolls that were drunk, some of them including his brothers.
Currently John Dory is sitting in front of the bar, behind the counter with his coke. He’s watching his little brothers dance around with each other, they’re smiling, laughing and seem to be having a great time. John wants to join them but the feeling in his gut tells him not too, he knows as soon as he goes over to his siblings, their fun would be ruined and they will hate him for it, so John Dory sits alone in the corner and watches over his little brothers.
By the time the sun started rising, JD left the party and walked outside of the village to Rhonda. He lived outside if the village because Rhonda was too big to be inside the village and John doesn’t have a pod and he doesn’t live in Branch’s bunker like Clay and Floyd does. It’s not like Branch hasn’t offered him a place to stay in the bunker, John dory just doesn’t want to leave Rhonda alone, but he believes if he stays in the bunker with his brothers that he’ll ruin everything and that fight would occur a lot which we disrupt his brothers peace.
John Dory hasn’t expressed his feeling or thoughts to his brothers and has stayed very distant from them due to recent events of getting the band back together to save Floyd. He thinks... no, he knows his brothers hate him and if he says one thing to them, they will make a big deal of the problem and hate him forever. Him being distant from his family is the only way that everyone is happy, and John doesn’t care if he’s not happy because as long as his brothers are happy, he’s happy.
Once he made it to Rhonda, he goes inside the armadillo bus, he takes off his vest and Google’s and changes into some comfortable pants. He walks over to a small drawer and grabs out a black blanket, he walks over to the couch chucks all the pillows on the floor except for one. He place the pillows on the couch, lies down on the couch, throws the blanket over him and stares at the roof.
He thinks about his brothers and how happy they looked at the party without him being with them. He enjoyed watching them laugh and have fun, drink and dance, and many other things. This make JD feel happy.
He rolls over, face in the couch and closes his eyes. He lets the darkness take over his body and bring calm to him, he eventually falls asleep and lets his mind wonder through the memories that he locked away.
Three loud knocks echoed through Rhonda which made John wake up with a start. He jumps off the couch and stumbles to the door, trying not to trip over things that were left one the floor. JD hair is a mess and he doesn’t have a shirt on, he’s extremely tired.
He got to the door and opened it, he looks at the familiar figure in front of him. The faded pink hair and blue skin of his brother stands in front of him. “Hey JD, you ok?” Floyd asked sounding a little worried. John stared at his little brother tiredly, trying to keep his eyes open. “Floyd, what are you doing here?” he asked but never got a reply from his brother. Floyd pushed his way through JD and went completely inside. JD closed the door and turns around to face his brother.
“You left the party early dude.” Floyd said as he starts to make a coffee. John sighed, “I was tired. So I came home and went to sleep.” He watches his little brother make the coffee. There was a long pause before Floyd turned around and gave John the coffee. “Why didn’t you tell us that you were leaving? Why didn’t you say goodbye?” Floyd asked looking at his oldest sibling confused. ‘Shit, what do I say? How can I answer that? I can’t just say because I thought my presence was ruining your fun and I felt like you weren’t getting the best party experience with me being there.’ John thought to himself trying to figure out an answer that wouldn’t sound mean or express how he felt about him and his brothers. After a couple of seconds John Dory finally spoke up, “I didn’t think I needed too.” That was partly the truth, “also you guys looked like you were having too much fun, I didn’t want to ruin it.” ‘Shit did I really just say that.’
He looked at Floyd hoping that he didn’t pick up on it, and luckily for him, he did. He sighed in relief. “The guys and I are hanging out in Branch’s bunker today. It’s a bro day.” Floyd said as he passed JD his jacket, “and your coming.” It’s was like it was a demand. “What I don’t get a choice in this?” John asked sounding a little annoyed ad he put on his jacket. Floyd shook his head, “We are doing this for Branch. We missed out on his childhood and we aren’t missing out of his adulthood.” Guilt instantly washed over John Dory, he felt terrible and the constant reminder of him being the reason his brothers dint have a good relationship and that he’s the reason that they missed out on watching Branch grow up, makes him feel worse.
Floyd looked at his eldest brother as he watches as his face changes so suddenly, he seemed unsure of something. Floyd couldn’t tell what is was. “JD, are you ok?” he asked worriedly. The pink haired troll watches John look up and smile, covering up whatever he felt before. “Of course I’m alright. Let’s go to Branch’s bunker and hang out with the guys. Don’t want to miss anymore of branch’s life. We can’t waste another minute. Let’s go!” JD excited grabs Floyd arms and drags him out if Rhonda and all the way into the village.
A few minutes later, they arrive at the bunker. John Dory was hesitant to go in, he didn’t want his brother to know, so he hid his feelings away. He opens the door to the bunker and jumps in, still dragging Floyd along. They reach the hidden elevator and take it all the way down to the bottom, where the rest of the brothers were.
John Dory stood there slightly frozen as he felt 3 pairs of eyes staring at him. Branch , Spruce Bruce, and Clay were watching him like hungry animals, exactly like the ones he saw on the Neverglade trail. He moved at the slightest as Floyd pulls him along to the centre of the room to join the others. JD took a deep breath and greeted his siblings. To his surprise his brothers greeted him back, he didn’t except it but he knew it was all and act because he knew that they hated him being there. They don't want or need him anymore and that’s a fact that JD has been living with since the day he brought the band back together.
His mind never shut up about how it was a bad idea to be in the bunker, how being here was a terrible idea and that his brothers will never have fun or enjoy themselves because he’s there. John managed to quiet the thoughts in his brain, and when he couldn’t his brothers always somehow pulled him out of them. The hangout was going pretty good, but it only started. This was probably going to be an all day thing, just the 5 of them but it was only the first 3 hours and the day wasn’t even close to finishing.
The only question that kept repeating in his head was ‘is it a good thing that I’m here?’ John Dory ignored the constant thought. He questioned himself, ‘Is today going to stay like this?’