"Snacks, check! Balloons, check! Dance floor, check! Area that separates the teenage boys from the dancefloor, check!"

"Branch!"

"What? I set up a fun zone for them."

"Yes because deflated balloons and rotten berries is every teenagers dream."

"Male teenagers, Poppy. Male teenagers."

"But it feels so dull from the rest of the party!" she protested.

"There's no such thing as a perfect party."

"It was if I would have planned it," she muttered under her breath.

"What was that?"

"I said, it would be better if I planned it!"

"Oh really? Then why didn't you plan it?"

"I was going to until you had to butt in and say you'd do it!"

"If you didn't want me to you could've said something! Plus she's my daughter."

"She's just as much as my daughter as she is yours."

"She has my blue skin tone."

"She has my hair."

"She has my eyes!"

Poppy thought quick, determined not to lose this stupid fight. "She has my stubbornness."

"We're both stubborn."

They were now face to face with each other, growling, showing their teeth as though they were two lions cornering their prey. "I helped make her you know," said Poppy.

"Well I helped too!"

"What's going on?" he heard a familiar voice ask from the back of them before Poppy could throw another insult at him. This caused both of them to cock their heads at the same time in the direction when they had heard the voice. Both of their eyes widened when they realized it was Blossom. She was looking at them questionably as she held hands with Peggy.

"Honey Bunches!" Branch said, smiling while Poppy rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "We were just…"

"Never mind that," Poppy interrupted. "Where's your brother?"

Peggy smiled and pointed at a higher branch of the troll tree. He just popped his head out, biting into an apple. "There he is!"

"The apples are finally ripe!" he exclaimed happily.

"Yeah. Now get down," Branch said through his teeth.

Barry sighed, holding the apple between his teeth and swinging from branch to branch until he made it down.

"Ooohhh! I wanna taste, I wanna taste!" Peggy jumped up and down.

Barry smiled, pulling one out of his hair and handing it to Peggy, then one to Blossom. Peggy began eating hers right away while Blossom studied hers. "Are you sure it's fully ripe?"

"Tastes ripe to me," said Peggy with her mouth still full, spitting some juice on Barry as she took another bite.

"Yuck! Watch that juice goes!" the blue troll said irritably.

This time she waited to swallow before she spoke. "Sorry."

Blossom shrugged, deciding it looked okay judging by the way her sister as gobbling it down and how Barry was eating it slowly but surely. He was one to savor his food while Peggy gobbled hers up because she always thought everything was too good to savor. She set any food you set in front of her. Blossom always checked before she knew what she was eating and more importantly who gave it to her. Branch was even more cautious. Sometimes he'd even look through a microscope to see the germs lingering on it.

"Barry, where your hands clean?" she asked.

He thought. "Hm. Must've slipped my mind."

"I'll go get the microscope," said Branch, about to go back into the pod, half as an excuse to go inside.

Blossom stopped him by pulling on his arm. "Dad, that won't be necessary, it's still food. Even if it's infested with your younger brothers germs," she murmured the last part.

Barry stuck his tongue out of her but had nothing to say for himself.

"Just wash it with water, it'll be fine," Poppy advised, somewhat irritably, taking down the caution tape Branch had put up so her back was only facing them.

"Hey hey hey, what are you doing?!" Branch demanded, rushing to his angry wife and trying to stop her.

"What does it look like? I'm taking down this stupid zone. From now on I'm in control of this party!"

"Go ahead, I don't care! You can do it a whole lot better than me!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

A frustrated Branch stomped out of the village and into his pod. Once the door slammed and he sinked down he was starting to feel a little guilty. He just wanted Blossom to have the best birthday ever, but maybe he didn't go about it right. He didn't know the first thing about planning a party, even after all these years. Poppy had done all the planning along with everyone else. Even Peggy was better at planning than him.

He jumped when he heard knocking on the door.

"DAD! DAD! DAD! DAD! Dad are you in there?" demanded Blossom.

He opened the small slot that was in front of their door. "What are you doing here?"

"Uh, I live here," she said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Did you enjoy your little tantrum? It almost made Peggy cry, you know."

Branch swallowed the lump in his throat, closed the slot and opened the door that he had blocked by leaning against it. Blossom made her way in and sat on the couch, staring at him with those big blue eyes.

His eyes.

"I'm sorry," he said softly. "I should've yelled in front of you guys, and I didn't mean…"

"Before you apologize to us, you should apologize to mom. I know that both of you just want me to have the perfect party but I don't think that exists."

That's exactly what he was saying! How could a perfect party exist? "If Poppy planned it it'd be the best party ever," he said sarcastically.

"You know Mom, it's her way or the highway," Blossom laughed. "You should know this more than anyone."

Branch nodded in agreement although he knew he shouldn't have. He shouldn't let his daughter talk that way about her own mother but it was kind of true. It seemed as though everything had to go Poppy's way whether it was a party or just the way something was placed. That's just the way it was and that's probably the way it'd stay. Him and Poppy had very different ways of seeing things which is what made them clash, but also that's what made them perfect for each other even if it did take a long time to compromise.

"I better apologize," he muttered, knowing that it wouldn't make a difference and she was still going to take down the caution tape that separated the boys from the party.

Blossom nodded eagerly and smiled. "Happy wife, happy life, right?"