The Apartment Above the Photo Hut - Late Friday Evening

[flamesburned]

Liz was hoping that after the last few nights of restless sleep, she was hoping tonight was going to be different, she was still a little on edge from the dreams about her brother - normally they turned.

After Noctra had been fed, changed and gone to bed for the night and the kitchen had been cleaned up from dinner, Liz joined Prompto on the couch as they settled on for the evening.

“Do you think we should try and watch something?” Liz looked over at Prompto a little tiredly, “maybe it will help us fall asleep?”

She didn’t think it would work but it was worth a try.

[for the husband and eventual visitors]

Comments

[hashtag_chocobro]

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.

[flamesburned]

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.

[hashtag_chocobro]

"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.

[theshermanfamily]

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?”

[hashtag_chocobro]

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?"

[theshermanfamily]

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.

[hashtag_chocobro]

"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."

[theshermanfamily]

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?"

[hashtag_chocobro]

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!

[theshermanfamily]

"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.

[hashtag_chocobro]

"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?"

[flamesburned]

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.