flamesburned | The Apartment Above the Photo Hut

"Channel surf until we find something really boring?" Prompto suggested, shifting a little to put out his arm for Liz to snuggle in. "Or maybe a movie? What's a good snoozefest? Something with a lot of sweeping vistas and dramatic monologues?"

Liz giggled as she shifted closer and leaned in as Prompto put out his arm so she could snuggle against him.

"That does sound like it could be boring," she agreed, "or what about one of those hallmark type movies?"

"Hey, now," Prompto attempted to sound offended, but the laughing sort of spoiled it. "I like some of those movies! Especially the ones where the big shot city slicker finds themselves in some quaint little coastal town." He grinned at Liz as he gave her a squeeze. "I can sort of relate!"

Maybe a little less on the big shot part, but still! He was part of a prince's personal retinue! That wasn't nothing!

Liz looked a little sheepish at that, "okay some of them aren't too bad," she allowed with a smile, "I do sometimes like their Christmas movies," she admitted.

"You wanna be a rebel?" asked Prompto, with a grin and a waggle of his eyebrows. "Wanna watch one of the Christmas ones now?"

Liz smile was wide as she looked up at Prompto from where she was snuggled against him, "oooh a Christmas movie in July? I definitely love the sound of that," she giggled.

"Like...maybe..." Prompto grinned, nudging her a little as he came in for the kicker, "...the Space Battles Christmas movie?"

Liz's eyes were wide at that as she tried to pretend that she was horrified but was failing miserably, "the Space Battles Christmas movie?" and then she grinned, "I think that sounds like a wonderful idea,"

"Ohgodno," Prompto's laugh actually was mixed with some genuine terror. "I was joking! I was joking! Abort mission! Abandon ship!"

Liz looked up at Prompto with wide eyes, looking completely innocent and then she couldn't help it, she giggled, "it's okay ... I wasn't going to subject you to the Space Battles Christmas Movie, we do not have to watch that one," she assured him with a smile.

"Whatever we do watch," Prompto said, trying to give Liz a glaring look, but the grin sort of spoiled it, and probably so did the fact that he was pulling her in and wiggling up against her to bring her in closer, "I'm picking it. You can clearly no longer be trusted."

And picking would have to wait, anyway, because that seemed like a good time for a kiss more than anything else.

Liz returned the grin as she happily wiggled in closer, "fair, I will happily watch what movie you pick," and then she very eagerly leaned into the kiss because yes it did seem like a good time for a kiss.

"We could also just..." Prompto grinned, kissing Liz back and wrapping his other arm around her, too, as he leaned back and pulled her along with him, "...not watch a movie, too..."

Liz wrapped her arms around Prompto as she was pulled along with him and she looked up with a smile, "mmmm.... I do actually quite like that option too," she smiled happily up at him, "I think we should not watch the movie," and then she leaned in to give him another kis.

Definitely the opposite of diving into something boring to lure them into sleep, but Prompto definitely wasn't going to complain. Even if he'd wanted to, his mouth was a little busy in kissing Liz back and trying to make the most out of whatever little moments of uninterrupted time they could get.

Edited 2023-07-08 03:10 (UTC)

It was a shame then that that wasn't going to last very long.

David had figured out where Liz would be, she had always loved photography and it had felt natural stopping by the Photo Hut first and then he was at the door.

He knocked and waited for a response.

Edited 2023-07-08 03:11 (UTC)

And...there is was. But usually, when the inevitable interruption came, it was either in the form or a crying baby or a demanding cat. Not a knock on the door.

To say it threw Prompto off a little as he pulled back and frowned toward the door would be an understatement.

"Who would be knocking at this hour?" he asked, and if he ever needed proof that he was old now, that was probably it right there.

It didn't sound urgent, either, so...Frowning deeply, he shifted to get out from under Liz and off the couch.

"Stay here," he suggested, holding out a hand almost protrctively. "I'll go see what's up."

Liz nodded, staying still as she watched Prompto get up to and see who was the door.

She couldn't help but feel rather anxious, they normally didn't get visitors this late and she couldn't help but glance a direction in Noctra's room.

"Who is it Prompto?" she said softly, trying not to sound worried.

Prompto had been tempted to at least grab his gun on the way (you never could tell, around here, really), but once he cracked open the door, he was feeling pretty glad he hadn't.

"It's a kid," he told Liz, and if he sounded confused about it, well...that was pretty reasonable, he felt. Was it one of those AU Kids weekends again? Or something else entirely. He opened the door a little wider and offered a smile.

"Hey, man, hi. Can I help you?"

"Hello," David said a little shyly, he had been expecting it to be Liz who opened the door and he was rather shy around people he didn't know, "I'm David Sherman, Liz's brother," he added, "I'm here to visit her,"

"Oh," said Prompto, who blinked and then processed what the kid had actually said. "Oh."

His eyes got really big for a moment before stepping back and he looked over toward Liz on the couch.

"Uh, Liz? He says he's your brother?" he informed her, in case she hadn't heard it herself.

"My .. my brother?" Liz had gone very pale as she stood up from the couch and made her way over to the door, "h...how?"

And then she looked in the doorway and saw that it was her younger brother, she started trembling, "David?" she managed to get out in a little voice, "is that really you,"

"It's me Liz," he said softly and then the next thing Liz knew was that she was bending down and wrapping her arms around her brother as she started crying.

And Prompto, at that point, knew that there really wasn't much else he could (or should, really) do, but step back a little and give them the space for this moment, while his head reeled with what was going on here. A little tight clench in his chest for what this was going to do to Liz or mean for her, and a small shake of his head as he tried to piece together exactly what aspect of Fandom it was that would have Liz's little brother showing up at their doorstep.

Liz would eventually realise she was still in the doorway, clinging to her brother but for the moment she was trying to wrap her head around the fact that David was in Fandom...David was alive.

All that guilt poured out of her as she hugged him and kept sobbing, "I'm so sorry," she kept saying, "I'm so sorry,"

"It wasn't your fault Liz," David said quietly as he hugged her, "we don't blame you for the fire,"

And that made her sob even harder.

And that new outpouring of sobs made Prompto feel even more like he didn't know what he should or even could do in that moment, frowning thoughtfully at this bittersweet reunion with his heart going out to both of them. And feeling like maybe a little bit of an intrusion, like maybe he should just leave them alone, but his desire to just be there for Liz right now overpowered that substantially.

It wasn't much, it probably wasn't anything at all, but, for now, he'd just go to grab a box of tissues and bring it over, and lightly set a hand on Liz's shoulder for comfort.

It took Liz a while longer before her sobs began to quieten and she just clung to her brother, afraid that he would disappear on her …even if some part of her knew this was only temporary but she was trying to not think about that.

Her brother was here, he didn’t blame her for the fire …

“Thank you,” she said gratefully to Prompto, when she saw him there with the tissues, she shook a little but she straightened slightly, an arm still around her brother as she reached over for a tissue.

"Don't mention it," said Prompto, softly, with a small nod and an even smaller, hopefully encouraging smile as he gave Liz's shoulder a small squeeze. "You guys..." He hesitated a little, still feeling a bit like he didn't really have a hand in any of this (well, besides the one on Liz's shoulder), but also feeling like he couldn't just, you know, stand there the whole time, either. "Wanna move it inside a little more? Couch is nice and comfy, right? Do you need anything, David? Something to drink? Are you hungry?"

He then seemed to realize this kid would have no idea who he was.

"I'm Prompto, by the way," he added, lifting a hand in a small wave.

He probably could have added that he was actually Liz's husband, and everything, but they already had a lot on their plates right now without trying to shove that onto it, too.

Liz nodded, wiping away some of her tears, “the couch would probably be better,” she agreed, her voice shaking slightly.

David looked curiously up at Prompto, he knew that a lot more time had passed for Liz but it was still hard to process seeing his older sister much older than 14.

“I would like something to drink please,” he finally nodded and then after staring a little more, he asked curiously, “are you Liz’s friend?”

Well, he figured he couldn't really avoid it for too long, really. Prompto wondered if he should let Liz handle that one, but, well...Liz was kind of dealing with a lot at the moment, so he figured he should just let her process things for a while, and he gave David a bit of an awkward grin.

"Husband, actually," he said, holding up his hand to point out the ring. "So you know, that actually makes you and me kinda like brothers, right? And you wanna know something else really wild?"

Liz gave a small grateful smile to Prompto just then as she tried to calm herself down.

David’s eyes were wide at that, “oh wow,” he looked from Prompto to Liz, “I always wanted a brother but mum and dad weren’t going to have any more children,” he said softly, “it was just Liz and me,”

He tilted his head curiously, “something more wild than having a brother?” he said rather excited to find out.

"I didn't have any siblings growing up," Prompto shared, with a small smile, especially since, well, the growing up was the important part in that sentence, wasn't it? "So you're pretty lucky to have had a big sister."

Let's just....ignore the part about how that big sister lost control of her powers and started the fire that ended up killing him for now, though, yeah? But if that was an issue of contention, boy, did Prompto also have something to counter that with in regards to his own 'siblings.'

"And, yeah," he nodded. "Way more wild. You've also got a niece. We have a little baby. She's sleeping right now, but I'm sure you'll have a chance to get to meet her when she wakes up."

And Liz couldn't help it, she let out a sob at that as she stared at her younger brother sadly ... all of that guilt that he never got to grow up and get married and have a family of his own.

A fresh wave of tears threatened to spill over and she bit her lip as she tried to hold them back.

David's eyes were even wider, "you do?" he squeaked out, "I would very much like to see her, what's her name?"

Prompto winced, as he realized he might need to do a little bit more of a balancing act, between making David feel comfortable and safe and Liz also feeling the same. He shot her an apologetic look, a sympathetic one, a if I could go over there right now and hug you, I would look, but he tried to keep his attention mostly on David, and he started to gently guide the kid over toward the kitchen.

"We do," he confirmed. "Her name's Noctra, we named her after..." He felt an odd little twinge in his chest, especially considering all the dreams he'd been having about him lately, "...a very good friend of mine who also died, making a great sacrifice that actually allowed me to come back here to your sister after a very, very long war. But that's kind of a long story, and we haven't even gotten you your drink ye--"

Was it, somehow, mentioning him that caused it? Or was it mere poetic coincidence, that as Prompto spoke, his phone began to ring. But he was busy right now, so he was going to ignore it, although there was a little nagging tickle at the back of his brain that said that no one would be calling him at this hour unless it was something important.

But this was important, too.

"So what do you like? Just water? Soda? Some orange juice? Capri Sun?"

What? Prompto loved those things!

"I'm sorry about your friend," David said quietly as he started to follow Prompto to the kitchen, glancing back at Liz briefly. Liz had understood the look Prompto gave her and she nodded back that she would be okay, even as those tears started to spill over.

David then looked a little curious as Prompto listed the drinks and tilted his head at the last one, "what's Capri Sun?" his parents had never given him the drink before.

Edited 2023-07-09 01:44 (UTC)

"Oh, that definitely settles it," Prompto said with decisive confidence, "you gotta try one, they're great. Here."

He took a moment to pull one from the fridge, taking the initiative to unwrap the little straw and poking it into the beverage because it could be pretty difficult to get right if you were new to it, and then handed it over to David.

"Here you go, buddy. Try not to squeeze it too much when you hold onto it, or else it might get messy."

His phone finally stopped ringing, and so Prompto figured it would just go to voicemail, but it just started ringing again.

"Shi--" he started, remembered David there, and corrected himself, hopefully smoothly."--oot. I should probably take this."

So he finally pulled it out of his pocket, saw that it was Gladio, and frown.

"Hey, man, what's up?"

David looked at the drink in fascination, "thank you," he said, remembering his manners as he started to slowly sip the straw and then immediately understood why Prompto liked it so much, he began to drink it a little quicker.

Liz had taken a moment to compose herself and then started to walk over to join them in the kitchen but stopped as Prompto answered his phone, she decided to wait until he was finished before she walked over.

The Apartment Above the Photo Hut - Late Friday Evening

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