flamesburned | Liz's Apartment Above the Photo Hut

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Liz's Apartment Above the Photo Hut - Saturday Afternoon

When Liz had gone to the Perk
this morning, thinking that Prompto hated her and she had made a mess of everything - she didn’t think it would have ended with them coming back round to her place for coffee and to talk because Prompto needed to talk to her. She was a bit nervous but he wanted to talk and after the other day, she wanted to be there for him and listen like he had done for her.

At least her apartment was kept neat and tidy, admittedly she didn’t have a lot of possessions to worry about that so much but it was one less thing about having to worry about.

“It’s not much,” she said, almost apologetically and indicated the sparsely decorated living room when they entered the apartment, her photo board on full display in the living room. If Prompto looked closely there were definitely a few photos of him on there.

Rain came bounding up to meet them and was definitely excited to see Prompto, she started purring.

[for Prompto and their conversation is NFB please!]

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It was hard not to let out a small breath, a small, grateful smile at her comment about her being glad he was there, biting back the natural inclination toward self-depreciation by saying something like well, then at least that's at least one of us...

...but then what she said after that seemed so out of left field for him that her just sort of turned his head toward her in confusion.

"The photos?" he asked with a frown. "What--?"

Then he remembered the photo board when he came in, and looked toward it again, though it didn't help his confusion.

"Why would--?"

That was when he realized who else was on the board.

"Oh. What? No. Why would I...? N-no, it's fine. I wouldn't..."

She was totally just friends with something straight out of his existential crisis nightmares, that's all! It was tooootally fine!

“Are you sure?” Liz hesitated, maybe she shouldn’t have even brought it up … he likely hadn’t noticed the photos and wow she was really on form this week between her breakdown and now she had photographic evidence of her friendship with Hellboy, whose existence was more than likely going to cause problems for Prompto and … what if Hellboy visited for Parents Weekend next year? He used to visit her all the time at school … and … oh god Hellboy and Prompto meeting …

She could feel her hands starting to shake … and it took every ounce of self control to take control and breathe and bring her thoughts back down …nope, she was focusing on Prompto and being there for him, this was not about her today, she took several deep breaths, “it’s …I’m sorry … I didn’t know about …” of course you didn’t know Liz, you didn’t have psychic abilities, “I can take them down,” she finally said again.

"Don't," Prompto said, firmly, maybe even with a little exasperation, as he squeezed Liz's hand and rolled his head over to look at her. "I mean it. It...it's fine. The only reason I even told you is..you told me your stuff, it wouldn't be right for me to keep mine from you, too. It's...kind of a secret, no one really knows, except the guys and my sister, obviously, but....well. after....after what you told me, it just...didn't feel right. Keeping it from you."

And maybe she was just freaking out about the pictures as sort of a way to distract her from thinking about how he was...just some...failed experiment, some weird laboratory freak, or something, but she didn't seem too weirded out by it...yet...so he'd take it.

Edited 2021-11-21 04:30 (UTC)

Liz steadied herself, trying to recall those meditation techniques that Billy had taught her all those years ago back at school, because the last thing anyone needed right now was for her to have an episode right there, “I .. thank you for telling me,” she said softly, “I promise I won’t tell anyone …” there was a pause and, “it doesn’t worry me, about you being a clone,” she told him because she realised she hadn’t directly addressed that, “I still … I still want to be with you … I do really like you and spending time with you,” and there was a pause, “I mean … if you still want to be with me that is,” and yes there was blushing as she said it because of course there was.

Yeah, her burning down half the island just because he dropped the whole 'I was only supposed to exist to suffer horribly' bomb would definitely be a pretty harsh blow to the ego...

But the rest made him smile, almost, faintly, though still oddly somewhat pained. Or at least skeptical.

"Is that what this is?" he asked softly, almost as if, if he said it too loud, it would just hurt that much more. "We...we're with each other?"

"I ... I ... I'd like to be," she stammered, unsure if she was saying the right thing or not, "this ... I don't know how this …is ... it's new," she admitted awkwardly and that was pretty obvious Liz, “um … “ her voice trailed off and she smiled shyly at him, the first proper smile she’d given in a couple of days.

It was nice to get a smile out of her again through all those tears and stammers. And it was a rare thing, that Prompto would find himself actually the most confident person in a room. So it was those two facts, he figured, plus the fact that she really didn't seem weirded out by it, that encouraged him to pull himself closer, to pull Liz into him, potentially getting the cat stuck somewhere in between (sorry, Rain!) into a hug.

"Look at us," he said as he wrapped his arms around her. "The pyrokinetic and the escaped clone, back at it again...

Rain let out a meow of protest as she found herself getting stuck in a hug so she decided to jump down off the couch.

Once Rain had jumped down, Liz leaned into him, wrapping her arms around him and leaned into his chest. She let out a laugh that was more from nervous relief than anything, she was blaming that on the roller coaster of emotions of the last few days.

“It seemed unlikely but they got through it,” she added softly with a small shy smile.

Prompto was definitely going to have to make it up to Rain later! But that laugh, nerves or otherwise, made it entirely worth it. Prompto smiled a little, his own body relaxing in its relief, giving Liz a squeeze before planting a kiss on the top of her head.

"Yeah, they did," he said, and was just going to hold that moment and enjoy it.

Liz didn’t really have anything to add, she let out a murmur of contentment when Prompto placed the kiss on her head and she didn’t want the moment to stop either, so she just continued to have her arms wrapped around him and have her head rest against his chest.

Prompto never had been good at still and quiet, even in the best of times, so it was kind of impressive, that he was able to just hold onto that moment for as long as he had. But even if the fidgeting didn't start to take over, the multitude of thoughts swirling in his head now became louder in the quiet.

"I think," he said softly, eventually, when he knew he'd have to sacrifice either the stillness or the quiet and decided to go with the latter, and there was a sigh in there from him, "you should go to that Thanksgiving thing. Back home. I...I know it won't be easy, but....people like us...we have to hold onto the friends we manage to get. And who know? You might regret it if you don't...."

And that was definitely coming from a place of his own regrets.

Liz trembled against
Prompto but she took a deep breath to steady herself and lifted her head to look up at him, “okay,” she said finally, softly, “I’ll go …I mean it’s just for a few days right? Um…” her voice trailed off.

Part of her was tempted to ask him to come with her but she was pretty sure that it was way to soon in their relationship to bring him home with her, she should probably clear it with Professor Bruttenholm first and then there was that tiny matter of Prompto meeting Hellboy and …she was pretty sure he was already way to anxious at the idea of her being friends with him than what would happen if he suddenly met him in person.

Prompto waited a moment, feeling like that um was meant to lead into something more, but when that didn't seem to come...

"Just a few days," he agreed. "Besides, you...you've got to miss them, right? Your friends?"

Even if things were probably a little awkward between them at the moment.

He almost thought of offering to go with her, for support, but if that wasn't the most presumptuous thing ever, he didn't know what would be! Plus, he definitely did not relish the idea of being face to face with her actual straight-up daemon friend. If this whole thing between them got any traction, he supposed he'd have to, sooner or later, but that was not an encounter he was looking to just rush into!

“Yeah, I do,” she said softly, looking down at his chest and then back up at him, hesitating again before she finally took the plunge, “if…if I got it cleared with Professor Broom, um you don’t have to …I know this is very sudden …would …you consider coming with me? I mean if you didn’t already have plans that is …I mean…” it came out in a nervous rush.

"I don't have any plans," said Prompto, quickly, maybe a little too quickly, but he didn't want to give himself any room to start second-guessing and self-doubting and backing out. Just the fact that it almost felt as if he'd read his mind...he let out a soft laugh. "I don't even celebrate this thing. Ignis'll probably throw something together just because it's a food thing, but it's fine. I'm sure there'll be leftovers."

Liz had half expected a refusal because this was all so new and she wasn’t sure if this was rushing things so she gave a nervous laugh, “oh um…I’d really appreciate it if you could …um I’ll clear it with Professor Broom, it shouldn’t be a problem but well it is supposed to be a secret government agency I’m sure they’d like the heads up I’m bringing a guy home,” it all came out in a nervous excited babble and she wasn’t sure if Prompto followed any of that - then she was definitely going to have to give Hellboy the “I really like him please don’t give him a nervous breakdown” warning.

Oh, Hellboy's mere existence was going to give Prompto a nervous breakdown regardless, but, thankfully, he was a verifiable expert in keeping all that healthily bottled up inside on lockdown.

But the whole prospect of needing approval (understandably so, all things considered) and the easy out that would come with possibly not getting it helped stave off any such breakdowns for the time being, and he chuckled a little.

"I mean," he offered, "I am an elite member of an actual alien military force. That's got to earn me some kind of ambassador credentials, or something, right?"

He had no idea of that was how any of this worked, but maybe?

“I’ll definitely make sure sure to mention that,” she beamed and laughed, “I know Professor Broom will love to meet you,” also there was the fact that Prompto was the first person Liz had ever brought home with her …he was definitely going to be curious about that.

“Also …um,” she hesitated, “remember my friend Abe, who’s psychic? He can be kind of intense and he may start telling you facts about you and I’ll try to warn him not to do it but sometimes he can’t help it, it’s just natural to him that he knows stuff about people he meets,” she knew based on their conversation how that would be more than unsettling to Prompto, she felt it was only fair to warn him.

"Uhhhhh..."

Damn. Had Liz mentioned a psychic friend? Prompto tried to remember, all he could recall was focusing on the amphibious part, so it probably, unfortunately, slipped right under his radar, and he was glad for how they were positioned right now so that Liz couldn't see the dread draining his face right now.

But at least he didn't have to worry about the clone stuff coming out as a surprise to her now! And maybe this Abe guy would take one look at the absolute mess of jumbled thoughts that was Prompto's brain and promptly nope the hell right out of there!

Like, seriously. Good luck in there, buddy!

"...sure," he finally managed, hoping it sounded more casual than it felt. "Yeah. Of course. I'll...try and remember that..."

Which meant he was now likely just going to get hit with an obsessive wall of Prompto reminding himself remember this guy's psychic, don't think any embarrassing thoughts. Don't think any embarrassing thoughts...

Which would, naturally, just usher in a flood of said embarrassing thoughts.

Yaaaaay.

Liz had half expected Promoto to back out so the fact he hadn’t was rather a relief. She had no idea about the narrative struggle right now or she’d feel rather bad about mentioning Abe.

“I…I think that’s everything other than …” her voice trailed off, she knew Hellboy freaked him out so she tried not to mention the elephant in the room and instead decided to try and focus on something that hopefully wouldn’t stress him out about this visit, “you can meet all the cats,” she told him with a smile. “Rain can visit her brothers and sisters as well,”

Yup. That'll do it.

"Oh, hey, that's right!" Liz could probably feel Prompto brightening up at that. "I forgot about all the cats!"

Did you want him to spend the whole time clinging to cats, Liz? Because that was definitely how you got him to spend the whole time clinging to cats.

Or as much time as he could manage.

“Well there are 20 of them,” she grinned at Prompto’s reaction, hopefully Hellboy would not mind that he was probably going to lose access to his cats for a few days, “and there are so many different kinds as well,” she added, “they’re not all tabby’s like Rain is,”

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Liz's Apartment Above the Photo Hut - Saturday Afternoon

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