flamesburned | The Apartment Above the Photo Hut

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The Apartment Above the Photo Hut - Friday Morning

The last twenty four hours had been such a whirlwind - an amazing, wonderful whirlwind and Liz was still afraid that this was a dream, that she would wake up back in her room at Dr. Lecter’s and Prompto would be gone, still unaware that he was going to be a father.

After a while they found that they couldn’t stay awake and as nice as it was on the couch, the bed was much more comfortable and so they retreated to the bedroom with Prompto stopping to have a shower on the way before they both ended up in the bed. Liz had thought that she would never get to experience anything like this with Prompto again, she didn’t want to get her hopes up in case this was all just a very cruel dream.

For a long while they had just stayed there, not willing to let the other go or fall asleep but eventually Liz found herself falling asleep. She knew that it wasn’t realistic or healthy for her to stay awake, especially after the last few weeks of not sleeping properly but she was so afraid that she was dreaming this, that she wanted it so badly that she had started to dream that Prompto had returned to Fandom.

When Liz woke the next morning, she was expecting to wake up alone but then she felt Prompto move beside her, snuggled up against her and she had to stop herself from crying.

Everything was real.

She was with Prompto again.

[for Prompto who is modded with permission!]

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And even though they'd made it through the night without having found themselves brutally thrown back into their tragically separate worlds, Prompto still wasn't sure this was real, and it showed, with the way he kissed Liz like he would never have the opportunity to do so again, like if he pulled away for anything longer than a breath, it would break the spell and everything would just vanish.

Eventually, the other thoughts would start to come in, the dizzying logistics, the questions of what he'd left behind, of what happened, of why he found himself back here, of Ignis and Gladio and Noctis and Eos....but, for now, in this moment it, it was just her and only her and his own desperate need for it to just stay this real.

Liz kissed him back just as hungrily, just as eagerly … she had long for this moment for so long and now that it was here, she wanted to savour it, she wanted to stay wrapped in his embrace and not let go.

She knew eventually they would have to break apart when a thing like breathing became a necessity but for now she wanted to keep that kiss going for as long as it was possible to do so.

Which meant that it was definitely going to go on like that for a while. Minutes? Hours? Days? Clearly, time was all relative now, anyway, just some amorphous blob that could now squeeze ten years into just a few short months, so why not weeks' worth of kissing and touching and clinging into a morning? They certainly had a lot to make up for.

But, eventually, mind even fuzzier about how long it had been than before, Prompto did pull away, with a shaking, shuddering breath, and he closed his eyes and just leaned his forehead against Liz's, still only moving enough to try and catch that breath, only to hold it again to see if it would all end.

But it didn't. He was still there. Liz was still there. Neither of them seemed to be going anywhere.

"S-sorry," he muttered softly, sincerely, though he wasn't entirely sure what he was apologizing for. For kissing her like that? For clinging? For the tears still his eyes, or for having left in the first place, for having returned like this, for having taken so long? He didn't know. Yes, probably, to all of it. "I just--"

But there were no words.

So he was sorry for that, too.

“It’s not your fault … you have nothing to apologise for,” Liz told him softly after they had pulled apart, she trembled, staring up at him as she did.

“You’re here … “ she repeated the words she had told him early, still not quite believing it, even after they had just spend all that time kissing and being in each other’s embrace, “you’re here, with me … I … I still can’t believe it …” she said softly.

“I … I don’t want this moment to end,” she said softly.

"Me, neither," Prompto admitted, like it was some big secret, smiling softly back at Liz, and taking advantage of just being able to look at her a little more, unnecessarily brushing a bit of hair away from her face, just as an excuse to touch it, to swoop his finger gently around her ear and bring it back along her chin. "It's perfect."

Well. He could probably do without the oppressive weight of dread for it ending that was heavy on his chest, but it was a very, very small price to pay.

He was also, in light of everything, starting to realize that he hadn't eaten in a while, there was a different kind of hunger starting to take over, but he'd happily put up with it right now, if only because it was serving as proof that this wasn't a dream, you didn't get hunger pangs in dreams...well, he supposed you could, but not like this, it grounded everything in reality in a way that he couldn't help but dare start to actually believe it.

Liz would have been content to just lay there, staring up at Prompto with a smile as he touched her hair, even though she was beginning to realise that she hadn’t eaten and she had missed dinner and then felt rather guilty as she realised that she had left yesterday without leaving any kind of note to where she was going.

She should really call Dr. Lecter to let him know that she was okay.

Her stomach rumbled loudly.

“Oh,” she started to blush a little, “I think I might be a bit hungry,” she admitted.

Hearing that rumble made Prompto laugh a little, though his eyes didn't stray away from Liz's face for even a second.

"I'm actually a lot hungry," he admitted, and, here came yet another thing to marvel at, swirling out of the whirlwind of thoughts just constantly churning in his brain right now, "and I'm not even eating for two."

It felt...weird to say it, honestly, because he still felt he couldn't be sure what was real and what was made-up, what existed in some sort of delirious dream state. Had he even been gone at all, when it felt like things were right back to where they were? Maybe some parts of last night had been imagined, including everything Liz had said about being pregnant. He hoped it wasn't, even though his mind started reeling whenever he tried to think about it for more than a second.

To be fair, his mind was kind of reeling about everything right now.

He gave Liz a smile.

"I'm so torn," he said. "Food would probably be good. Food would be smart."

And it would be real food, too, not just rations and hunted meat and fish, there would be fresh vegetables here, even fruit. It was September, there would be pumpkin spice everything at the coffee shop....oh, gods, pumpkin spice!

And now Prompto's stomach was responding in kind and he laughed again, mouth now as watery as his eyes.

"But I don't want to even move from this," he admitted, pulling Liz in again and shifting underneath her to increase the comfort of it all. "I just want to stay right here, like this, forever."

“I know,” Liz agreed with a smile as she made no effort to leave the bed, “it’s so nice just being here, like this …even though I know I do need to eat,” a hand went to her stomach just then.

Then she heard Prompto’s own stomach and her smile widened at that, a giggle of her own escaping.

She looked a little guilty, “I don’t have any food though that would qualify as a proper healthy breakfast,”

"Believe me," Prompto snorted faintly into Liz's hair as he nuzzled into it a little, "it'll still probably be better than half the stuff I've been eating for..." He trailed off, just for a moment. "...a while now."

But he did remember her telling him yesterday that she'd been staying at Dr. Lecter's place, so what she had here probably was equivalent to the 'not much at all' his diet had consisted of lately.

"Nice thing about Fandom, though," he mused, "is that there's never been a shortage of places to order from, right? Unless that's changed in the last...er, since I left."

Liz gave a soft murmur of contentment as Prompto nuzzled into her hair and she smiled up at him. “There’s still plenty of delivery options,” she assured him.

“Then we should definitely order a massive breakfast,” she considered what Prompto was telling her, wishing that her phone wasn’t all the way over on her nightstand.

It really wasn’t that far but it would still require moving away from Prompto and she really didn’t want to do that.

“I’ll have to go shopping and stock up the fridge and cupboard though at some point,” she realised.

Oh, gods, Prompto was going to get so sick from having so much food available, wasn't he?

But...well, it wasn't like he didn't know how to rein it in when he had to, and all the stuff he was really craving? All the stuff he hadn't really had in nearly ten years? Fresh stuff, vegetables and fruits, the kinds that didn't really do well in a harsh, sunless environment...were overall mostly good for you, anyway. With maybe one major exception.

"Oh, man," he said. "Can we order pizza? I can't even remember the last time I had pizza."

Then he laughed, as another thought came to him.

"Or Cup Noodle^TM! I'm pretty sure Gladio ate every last remaining Cup Noodle^TM by, like, year three, unless he was holding out on us with a secret supply somewhere, but, believe me, we looked."

There was going to be so much food.

Liz smiled at that, “how about we order both?” she suggested and then listened to that last part, “you mean Gladio’s gone seven years without Cup NoodleTM?” she blinked a bit at that.

“actually maybe we could order quite a few different dishes,” she was getting pretty hungry, she realised and she was beginning to hear Summer’s voice in her head about not eating properly and she felt guilty.

"Well, you know," said Prompto, a little quietly, "we've all had to make our sacrifices. It..."

He trailed off a little, that mirth that had been there just a second ago drained away, and he bit his lip. His fingers started to trail idly on Liz's arm, already wishing he hadn't said anything. Bringing down the mood like that. The last thing she probably wanted to hear about...the last thing he wanted to talk about was...any of that.

"...hasn't really been easy," he finished. He was quiet for another moment, before he sort of smiled, softly. "We've got time, though," he said, "to work through all the options, I'm sure. Let's get whatever you want. What's good, lately?"

“I’m sorry,” Liz said quietly, “that you all had to go through that,”

She wished she had been able to help more, she should have done more.

“Pizza does sound good,” she nodded, “I heard there’s a new owner, I haven’t met him yet,” she added.

“Maybe some pastries from the bakery as well? I’ve been really enjoying soft pretzels as well,” she admitted, “it’s been one of the foods I’ve been craving these last couple of months,”

"So it's true, what they say about cravings?" Prompto asked, letting a little bit of his amusement back in, along with a small shake of his head, because it was still a lot to wrap his head around, that Liz was actually going to have a baby...their baby. "I could definitely do some soft pretzels. Maybe a few cupcakes while we're at it."

His grin grew more sincerely.

"Pizza, pretzels, and cupcakes," he noted. "A true breakfast of champions!"

The long, sustained grumble of his stomach clearly agreed.

“I haven’t had too many cravings but soft pretzels is one of them, I actually discovered it by accident,” Liz admitted, “and I’ve been craving it ever since, well that and s’more soda,” she tilted her head a bit as she looked up at him.

She wondered if it was possible to reach for her phone without moving too much and while still staring up at Prompto she reached back towards the nightstand and fumbled for a bit before she got her phone.

She realised she had messages from Steven and Marc as she went to her door dash app to place an order. She would eventually reply but for now food was definitely the focus because her stomach was rumbling as well.

“Cupcakes, pretzels and pizza,” she smiled as she began to make the order, “is there any type of specific pizza that you’d like me to order?”

"Mmmmm," Prompto hummed a little thoughtfully, tempted to just say 'everything,' but, with a soft grin, decided, "Something with just a lot of veggies? And....this is probably going to sound crazy, but I'd kind of kill for a salad right now, too..."

“How about a supreme vegetarian pizza?” Liz suggested, “there seems to be a lot of good vegetable toppings,”

She looked at the menu, “and a salad does sound like a good idea,” she agreed, “I think I might order one as well,”

She had another look through the pizza, “pepperoni also sounds good,” she admitted

Which wasn’t really healthy for breakfast.

"Let's get one of those, too, then," said Prompto. "Why not? Leftover pizza just means we won't have to go out for food again quite as soon..."

And he didn't know how Liz felt about it, but he knew that he had absolute no intention of going anywhere else if he could help it for as long as he could manage it.

“That is a nice thing about leftover pizza,” Liz agreed as she placed the order for the supreme vegetarian and the pepperoni and then the two salads.

Then she placed an order for the cupcakes and pretzels.

“Oh did you want me to order you a coffee as well?” she did have tea and coffee supplies but maybe Prompto would like a Perk coffee after all this time.

“I just want to stay here with you as long as I can,” Liz told him softly.

There was a brief, fleeting moment where that reminder that pumpkin spice was a thing was a thing again, but they were already getting kind of a lot, it probably wouldn't be good to overdo it, either. So he shook his head. "I'm good," he assured her. "I haven't really had coffee in a pretty long time, either. At least the Ebony outlasted the Cup Noodles^TM a little longer, but even that...." He snorted, faintly, grinning for a moment to press a kiss into the top of Liz's head. "We tried just handing Iggy a can with the regular stuff in it, once it did, but he could tell before even drinking it."

And then, that thought, that was slowly working its way to the forefront of his mind now that the fog of everything else was clearing, bubbling up.

If he was here, where were they? What happened after that bright light? How could any of this have even happened?

Liz nodded, finalising the order and managed to put her phone back down on the nightstand without turning away from Prompto.

She gave a small smile of contentment as Prompto kissed the top of her head, she had missed this so much and she moved in closer now that she wasn’t holding onto her phone.

“I can’t imagine what it must have been like for you, going through all of that,” she said softly, “I wish I had been able to help you,” she said again.

And Prompto was just going to help with that closeness by wrapping his arms tighter around Liz as he pulled her in.

"I'm glad you weren't," he said, much like he had yesterday. "Then you would have had to go through all of it, too, Liz. And I just couldn't..."

He shook his head.

"It's better, that you were here."

“I would have been with you though,” Liz said softly as her head found its way to Prompto’s chest and she rested it there while she snuggled in, “I - I missed you and all I wanted was for you to be with me and that - that’s so selfish of me when you’ve been through so much,”

She closed her eyes and a sob escaped, “I - I …”her thoughts were too jumbled up and a few tears began to roll down her cheeks again.

"Hey," Prompto said, softly, squeezing Liz reassuringly before his hand rubbed her shoulders, rubbed her back, trying to soothe out any more sobs. "It's okay, it alright. You're fine. It's not selfish. If only I'd just..."

Just what, though? Known that his best friend's wedding would turn into a nightmare where the entire fate of the world was hanging in the balance?

"...it's okay. I'm...I'm here now. I'm....sorry it couldn't have been sooner."

It was kind of a miracle it was even a thing at all...

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