This chapter is for Ireallylovepuppies101/myheroships whose birthday is tomorrow. Happy Birthday!

Runaway

Just as Poppy, known to everyone in Troll Village as Party Princess in her Hero disguise, was about to sing the baddie into submission, the baddie just stopped. Or rather, couldn't keep running because he was suddenly floating.

Staying back, Poppy watched as a teen boy, dressed like something out of the seventies with purple sunglasses as a substitute for a mask stepped out of an alley and eyed the robber, "I suggest you drop your stolen goods."

"How are you going to make me, hippie?" asked the robber, trying to reach forward to smack his capture but couldn't quite reach.

Glancing up, the hippie hero hummed, "I could float you higher and drop you, if you prefer?"

Grumbling, the robber dropped his bag.

"That. Was. AWESOME," Poppy cheered, leaping forward to grab this new hero's hand and shake it as she asked, "I'm Party Princess, what's your name?"

"Ah, Levitas," the hippie hero answered slowly, having not noticed her before. "Sorry, I hadn't realized this robber was already being pursued by a hero."

"It's okay, I hadn't made my grand entrance yet," Poppy grabbed out some of the handcuffs Branch kept stocked in her blue flower pouch on her belt. She offered them to Levitas but cuffed the robber to the mail box when he declined. "Are you new in town?"

"Just passing through," Levitas returned to the alley to pick up a backpack.

Looking over the over hero, Poppy noticed that Levitas' yellow pants were a bit dirty and his tennis shoes, different from the sturdy boots most heroes preferred, were wearing out. That plus the backpack, plus the 'passing through' remark meant this teen was probably homeless.

Sadly, it wasn't uncommon for powered kids and teens to run away after their powers awoken. Even more sad were the kids and teens who were kicked out by parents who were afraid or couldn't handle their kids' abilities. Most stuck to bigger cities where it would be easier to hide than medium towns like Troll Village though.

Reaching out again, Poppy grabbed Levitas' hand and smiled, "You're coming home with me."

"Now what a minute," Levitas began to protest but could not get any further words out when this Party Princess began to sing 'Follow the Leader' and his body obeyed her powered command.

Branch frowned when he came to the kitchen and found Poppy attempting to cook. Not only as Poppy's version of cooking adding obscene amounts of sugar to perfectly good food but there was a brightly dressed stranger sitting at their kitchen table looking bewildered at how he got there.

At least Branch hadn't left his room without his mask, "Princess, did you abduct this guy?"

As Levitas nodded, Poppy scoffed, "Of course not!"

"What were you singing as you walked here?"

"Follow the- oh, my bad," Poppy didn't look like she felt bad as she went back to 'cooking'.

Sighing, Branch turned to the abductee, "Did she at least blindfold you before she brought you into my bunker?"

"No," Levitas shook his multi-colored haired head, "But I won't tell anyone, I'm leaving town in the morning."

"To get new shoes I hope," Branch watched Levitas sort of tuck his feet under his chair to attempt to hide his feet. Just great, Poppy brought home another stray, just like she did when they were kids. "I'm Woodsman, what's your name?"

"Levitas," replied Levitas, offering his hand for a shake but lowering it when Branch didn't move to accept. "How long is she going to keep me here?"

"I'm not keeping you here," Poppy protested. "How much sugar do you like in your mac and cheese?"

"Sugar in what?" Levitas was sure he misheard but Branch rushed forward to take the sugar container away from his abductor.

"Stop ruining our food!" Branch scolded her, "We can't order pizza all the time, you know."

"It's not my fault that you don't have any taste," Poppy pouted.

"Just because my tongue hasn't adapted to your eternal sugar rush," Branch tried to argue, groaning and rubbing his face when Poppy physically plugged her ears with her fingers.

With them both distracted, Levitas eyed the door. It would be easy to leave while they argued but he was also hungry. There was also no way he was eating sugared mac and cheese.

"It's been a while since I've had access to a kitchen but I'm a decent cook," Levitas called their attention to him as he stood, "Would you mind if I prepared lunch?"

As Poppy all but shouted, 'of course not', Branch glowered at his unwanted guess but didn't verbally forbid it.

After making sure the darkly dressed teen didn't have any sharp objects within reach, Levitas took a look at had he had to work with. Unfortunately, most of it was easy to prepare or quick meals but there were enough ingredients to make a decent, non-sugared pasta with some chicken. It would have been better if he had been able to marinate the chicken for a while but he didn't have the needed ingredients or time for that bit.

As they ate, Poppy made such happy noises and complimented his cooking so much, that Levitas' face burned the entire meal. He probably would have fainted if the heavy aura of Woodsman's silent didn't keep him on edge.

Finishing his food, Branch took his plate to the sink and paused by Poppy on his way out, simply stating, "He can stay," before escaping Poppy's happy squeal and inevitable hug if he had stayed still long enough for her to tackle him.

Instead Poppy tackled a very alarmed looked Levitas, "New roomie!"

"I'm not sure if this is a good idea," Levitas tried pulling Poppy's hands off of him.

"You're right, it's great," Poppy bounced up to her feet, pulling Levitas with her. "Let's start with fixing your hair, it's fading and I can see the roots coming out."

Absently, Levitas reached back to look at his ponytail. The light green looking dirty, rather than the intended color, and the higher up blue showing bits of his natural raven colored hair throughout. He imagined his roots were definitely more prominent since it's been a while since he could trade for some dye.

"That's nice of you but you don't have to," Levtias managed. He really hadn't stayed in one place for very long for a long time and he wanted to be a burden on these two, who had been strange but kind thus far.

"It's what friends are for," Poppy reached up and removed her mask, smiling at the surprise on Levitas' face. She knew she would be chewed out for this by Branch later but it would be worth it if she could convince Levitas to stay, even if just for a little while. "My name is Poppy. It's nice to meet you, Levitas."

For a minute or two, Levitas stared at the mask in the pink haired girl's hands. This was definitely a leap of trust that he couldn't recall ever being offered before. He felt the need to run, to get away and be alone, but something in Poppy's eyes centered him.

Swallowing, Levitas removed his sunglasses, "I'm Creek."

Poppy beamed, "It's very nice to meet you Creek."

Branch sighed at his computer screen, wishing he hadn't left the two of them alone. He should have known Poppy would do anything to keep the obviously homeless teen from leaving, including compromising her secret identity. He was going to have to have Peppy scold her later since Poppy always ignored his, 'paranoid rants'.

Within minutes of searching, Branch found Creek's missing person file. The hippy teen was a little older than them and had been a runaway for nearly a year now. And, if the file was any indication, Creek's parents had no idea about Creek's powers, meaning Creek probably ran away rather than find out what his parent's reactions would be.

Possibly Creek ran away from a home that would accept him. Or maybe he got out, ahead of a rejection he knew would come. It wasn't Branch's place to judge or make a decision on, but he hid the search and programmed his system to alert him if anything updated on the file.

Why did being a teen hero have to be so complicated?