The Apartment above the Photo Hut; Late Thursday Afternoon [09/15].

[hashtag_chocobro]

In the soft glow of the afternoon light through the windows, stretched comfortably on the couch with Liz there in his arms, Prompto began to feel a peace and ease that he hadn't felt for...a very long time. If there was anything to make him believe more than anything that this had to be some sort of dream, it was this moment, right here, this surreal contentment that was settling over him, in this moment that he wished he could just hold onto forever.

But it didn't take long, either, for the quiet, the peace, the soothing comfort, to start to take over in a different way, and he found himself starting to doze off. Because everything had happened so quickly, he hadn't had time to process just how exhausted he was. It had been a lot, really, finally infiltrating the Crown City, fighting their way through daemons and magitek troopers to reach the Citadel, fighting a god, all with the emotional toil of having to say good-bye to Noctis, once and for all, and, before he could even begin to contemplate that loss completely, being whisked back to Fandom, finding out that barely any time had passed at all here, and, not only that, but that Liz was pregnant. With his child. And he was realizing now that he didn't even know what had happened back in Insomnia. Did Noctis finally manage to confront Ardyn? Did he give himself over to the Kings of Lucis to banish the Starscourge, once and for all? What about the others? Gladio, Ignis...did they make it? Would they wonder where he'd gone?

Even with all those thoughts swirling in his head, as he quietly lay there, his fingers lightly brushing circles into Liz's arm, he felt sleep trying to take him away. But falling asleep here might mean waking up elsewhere, so he pushed past it, and he figured, if anything, they should at least....you know, talk about some things, especially if it helped him stay awake.

Prompto	"So." His voice broke through that comfortable silent bubble they'd created for themselves in this familiar space, quiet and caught a little in his throat. "A baby, huh?"
Liz	Liz was content just being so close to Prompto again, she had hardly dared to hope that this day would happen and here she was … lying there with him. She was also scared that any moment she could wake up and she just wanted to stay here for as long as she could. “A baby,” she smiled, “I … I know we talked about having a family, I … I just never thought it would be so soon."
Prompto	Prompto breathed out a soft laugh, his own smile a little...complicated, at that thought, but the whole time he responded, he just kept lightly brushing his fingers against Liz's arm. "A lot later than I'd have thought," he noted, "coming from my direction..." Should he tell her? About all those wide-eyed, overly ambitious plans of his younger self, about what felt like ages ago, how he'd been planning this big romantic Altissian proposal, sometime after Noct's wedding, back before everything...gods, was he really ever that innocent and hopeful? Had the world really ever been that...perfect? A soft chuckle, as his mind started reeling in that direction. "I'm actually older than you now, I think..." And he'd been...so young back then, he couldn't even imagine himself being responsible for a kid at that age...Not for longer than a weekend at a time, anyway.
Liz	“I was thinking a couple of years before we started a family … Abe told me on my birthday, it … I was so scared,” Liz admitted. Then she considered what Prompto had told her, that so much time had passed for him. “Oh I never even thought about it … you being older now,” Liz considered, “I turned 28 in June ….does … I … you’d be 31 now?” she said softly.
Prompto	Prompto's fingers stopped drifting along Liz's arm so he could better give her a reassuring squeeze, an apologetic one, not even able to even begin to imagine what that must have felt like for her. He tried to place himself back in that moment (June, yes, but that long ago? It was fuzzy, had they reached Altissia by then? They must have, they weren't in contact with Fandom anymore; that's right, that first year, it was in Altissia, right after the Tide Mother, right after Lunafreya.....right before everything....) Prompto's embrace just got a little tighter; he buried his face in Liz's hair, pressed a light kiss into it. "You said it's September, right?" he asked, quietly, after a long moment. "That'll make it 31 next month...."
Liz	Liz felt comforted by that tight embrace, that kiss and closed her eyes for a few moments before she opened them again. “Next month …” Liz repeated, she wasn’t sure if she should mention arranging something to celebrate for Prompto’s birthday, especially given how Prompto had only just come back and everything … she could remember last year, how awkward it had been when she had given him a card and money … she would have to do something extra special this year, “you know next month is one year since I moved back to Fandom? When I opened up the store … when I first met you,” she said softly. It felt strange to think how that had been one year for her, she couldn’t imagine how long ago that must feel like for Prompto.
Prompto	It was definitely a lot for Prompto to wrap his head around, especially when there was so much else going on in there right now, too. "Guess a lot can happen in a year," he noted, a little wryly, unable to help thinking about what all had happened in just those few months after he'd left, and how everything after that just seemed like such a long...slog of almost nothing happening except the same damn thing, nothing but fighting for survival, until all of a sudden... They'd only had Noctis back for a few days, really, but in that small amount of time.... "...including ten years," he snorted faintly, "apparently..." Oh, this was going to make his head hurt for a while now, wasn't it?
Liz	“It must be … I can’t imagine what this has been like for you … coming back to Fandom, the ten years passing … the baby and everything,” Liz said softly. She hesitated, “I’m sorry,” she said quietly, “for making this so complicated for you.”
Prompto	"You?" The sound that wedged its way out of Prompto was almost a little indignant, though it was mostly just surprised and guilty, as he shifted a little, as if to better look at her face when he spoke without sacrificing their comfortable little entanglement. "Making it complicated for me? Liz...you're not the one who just up and disappeared for ten years..." Or a few months. Same difference, apparently. "You're not the one who...left...who...abandoned..." It cut off with a distressed grunt. Time could heal a lot of wounds, but that one...that one had remained gaping wide open the whole goddamn time...
Liz	“It wasn’t your fault though,” Liz said quietly, as she tried to turn slightly so she could look up at him, “I …” She closed her eyes, “you’ve been through so much and now …” she opened them, blinking back those tears that had started to fall, “and now I’ve told you you’re going to be a father on top of all of that.” “I couldn’t … I had to … she was my only link to you,” her words came out all jumbled as she tried to process what she was thinking, the tears were falling more freely now.
Prompto	There was a painful wrench in Prompto's chest at what that last part seemed to imply, so much sharper for something he'd only known about for...what? An hour? Maybe two? But it just made him think about how, with everything that had happened, with everything that could have happened, it was really kind of a miracle, wasn't it? That he was here, now, or even at all? That both of them were... That all three of them were. It definitely didn't help with the whole pressing weight of the idea that this was all just a dream, anyway, though...Everything just seemed so surreal, so bizarrely intertwined, to be anything but a dream, or maybe some sort of particularly cruel Fandom weirdness... "I've already been through the end of the world," he pointed out softly, with a small grab toward levity. "How much harder can it be, being a dad?"
Liz	Liz lay there, trying to stop her tears, “I know you’ll be an amazing dad,” she said softly, she remembered the alternate future Prompto and how he had been with all …well his and the other Liz’s kids, she didn’t feel ready to talk about that possible future but she focused on what she could, the idea that she could even have a future with Prompto after months of uncertainty. “I …I’ve been keeping a record of everything, photos …I …I didn’t want you to miss out on anything,” she told him quietly.
Prompto	This news hit Prompto with a little bit of a surprise, although he supposed it really shouldn't. But it did, and it was a good surprise, and he couldn't help smiling, just a little, while trying to chase away the thoughts that had started trying to sneak in about how much he'd have been missing if he'd been away for ten years Fandom time, too.... "...really?" he asked, the hopefulness carried light and eager on his voice.
Liz	Liz nodded, really glad that she had been keeping track of everything now,, “I’ve …I’ve been keeping a journal,” she explained, “and I’ve been writing everything down,” she explained. She paused, “there’s also photos, I’ve … I’ve been working on making the baby’s crib with Amaya,” she told him, “and I started growing some flowers with Nell, there’s photos of everything,” she said with a smile.
Prompto	"That's...amazing," Prompto said, his grin brightening a little bit more, even though it was also pretty quick to soften, too. Still somewhat unable to get past what a miracle it was that it would have only been a few months that she'd been recording, and not the ten years he'd gone through. Would she have kept recording? Or would there be a certain point where she'd have just given up, if it really had been longer? "I...took a lot of pictures for you...too," he added, softly. "For a while. But once..." He hesitated a moment, regretting having mentioned it now, because here she was, telling him something so positive, and he just wanted to bring the darkness into it. "Let's just say," he offered instead, "they wouldn't have been very good pictures, after a while."
Liz	“I can get everything printed out so it’s an album and everything,” Liz told him, “I mean you can also look through the camera as well, if you don’t want to wait …my camera equipment is at Dr. Lecter’s along with my memory boards,” she said, realising she couldn’t show him everything straight away. She paused as she considered the last part. “I’d … I'd still like to see them, I saw the ones you messaged me,” Liz said softly, “I - I got all your Happy birthday posts with the photos of the cake …” she smiled, “thank you for that, for…for still thinking of me.”
Prompto	There was a long pause, after which there was really only just one thing Prompto could say to something like that, and it was so quiet, he wasn't sure she'd even hear it, fingers trailing along her shoulder again. "How could I think of anything else?"
Liz	The tears started to build up again as she lay there, unable to still believe that she was here, with Prompto and feeling incredibly guilty about everything, about how she had been in the weeks that Prompto had first left. “It’s …I …I was just so scared that I wasn’t going to hear from you again,” she said softly, “I kept wearing the communicator, in case we could get through,” she was still wearing the communicator that Goose had given her. “I - I didn’t …” her voice trailed off as she tried to process her thoughts, “I tried not to worry, to keep going …to keep busy, then there was that reunion weekend…” she stopped, realising that she had brought it up without meaning to.
Prompto	Prompto's eyes drifted over Liz, toward where he'd draped his coat over the chair, where the communicator, broken down and rebuilt over and over and over again, had been safely tucked into one of the pockets, with a brief, erratic thought about whether it would actually work now. There was a good chance he'd actually fried the thing ages ago by exposing it to all that electrical magic...maybe he'd have to ask Goose... ...but that was hardly what he wanted to think about right now, frowning a little, furrowing his brow. "Reunion weekend?" He vaguely remembered one of those, but it had been long before he'd even ever met Liz. That was when he first learned the truth about his... Faintly, he winced, and tried to focus, instead, on his fingers on Liz's arm, the sound of her breathing, the warmth of her against him...
Liz	Liz could only nod, “you were there … I mean a future version of you, with.a future version of me …” all these different timelines were still complicated to her, “we … we had 12 kids,” she told him, “I remembered the weekend when it was over and I just … I just cried a lot that day,” she admitted. “I … I wanted that future and I … I know that it was selfish of me, to want to be that Liz …I’m afraid that I’ll never be anything like her,” she blinked back more tears and a sob escaped.
Prompto	There was a comment in there, about the twelve kids, that Prompto would have made if it weren't for Liz mentioning that she'd spent the day afterwards crying...and then started crying again now, so he just held her tighter again for a moment. Just let her get it out a little as he thought about what else to say. "But it's all still you, isn't it?" he asked, trying to think back to what else he remembered about his future self from that one time, which wasn't much. There was the clone thing, that kind of took over everything else, except that there was already the darkness, and he remembered being sick... "And this," another squeeze, another kiss pressed into the top of her head, "is the Liz I love, anyway."
Liz	Liz lay there, crying a little as she tried to calm herself down and eventually the tears stopped. She bit her lip at that, nodding, “and you're the Prompto I love,” she told him, “I … I’m trying to focus on being this Liz, it’s hard when I remember the other Liz how much more confident and put together and in control she was,” she paused, “I even had blonde hair that weekend,” she told him.
Prompto	"Blonde?" Prompto asked, and, despite himself, he had to laugh a little. "That'd really be something to see! I like your dark hair, though." A small smile, a hand finding its way up to brush it slightly, and maybe a touch of awkwardness on how he....well, didn't exactly have a whole lot of luck with blonde girls, anyway... With heat flooding sheepishl to his face, he cleared his throat a little, shifted for comfort and maybe to bring her closer still, somehow. "And, hey," he offered, softer, "who's to say you won't still be that confident? And, well, twelve seems like kind of a lot, but..." He almost couldn't believe he was about to say this, and he shifted a little more, until one of his hands could fall lightly near her stomach. "We've already got a start." It was now his turn to bite his lip, the red in his face deepening. "Gonna have to work pretty hard to keep that up, though."
Liz	Liz gave a small smile at that, “maybe one day I’ll go blonde,” she considered, “I’m still getting used to the short hair though.” Then her smile widened at that last bit, turning her head slightly to look up at him, “we have gotten a start, haven’t we?” she placed a hand on her little bump, “I still can’t believe it,” she admitted, “that we’re going to be parents, that we’re going to have a daughter.” She also started to turn slightly red, "there were a few sets of twins and we even had triplets," she told him, "we named them after the Beatles." she added.
Prompto	Well, if Prompto's hand was resting on her stomach, and Liz's hand was now there, too, Prompto was just going to go ahead and link their hands together, intertwining their fingers. "We're going to have a daughter," he echoed, and just let that....linger. Let that sit. Let that process, marveling over how surreal and astounding that really was. And then a laugh. "But aren't there four Beatles?"
Liz	Liz smiled warmly as Prompto's hand linked with hers and they both rested on her growing bump, their daughter growing inside her ... "We are," she said softly and then she laughed as well at Prompto's next question, "there are four Beatles, we named them John, Paul and George," she looked a little apologetic at the next part, "I think you wanted Ringo instead."
Prompto	Aww, poor Ringo. "That sounds about right," he admitted, with a faint snort and a wry grin. "He does have the best name out of all of them." You know. Coming from a guy named Prompto. "Probably would have been unfair to the other two." Uh-huh. Keep telling yourself that, Prompto.
Liz	Liz did smile at that, “I think that might have been the reason why, especially when his brothers were John and Paul.” Well it was probably more to do with the fact that there wasn’t a Ringo in the bible but Liz was more than happy to give this one to him, “I mean there’s always a chance that they did have more kids and there was a Ringo later?” she considered, yes they had been adamant that after Luna was born there wouldn’t be any more but then they had said that about the triplets and then Luna had arrived a couple of years later.
Prompto	"Lucky number thirteen, huh?" Prompto mused, with a faint chuckle, but there was an odd quietness there, too, as he thought about how it felt a little bit wild that he could even have any children at all, much less possibly twelve of them. Procreation wasn't exactly what he'd been made for; in fact, he'd been made for the exact opposite, destruction, and nothing but, so then the fact that he even could just made him start to wonder: just some lazy oversight that Versteal did bother thinking about? Or intentionally kept to serve the expected purpose? Considering how meticulous and obsessed the man had been with his lineage, with his immortality... Prompto shivered a little, like someone'd dragged ice down his spine, trying to push out that intrusive image of the man's face, as he lunged for him, reached for him, covered in Starscourge and pain and anger, two seconds before he... He closed his eyes and squeezed Liz's hand. "I'm so glad I'm back," he managed to whisper out. It was definitely all just a dream now, he was sure of it, but, fuck. What a dream to have!
Liz	Liz returned the squeeze, taking comfort in the gesture, she had missed those gentle squeezes. "I'm really glad you're back," she said softly, hardly daring to believe that this was all real. She took a deep breath, "I've missed you so so much," she told him, "I don't ...I don't want to lose you again," she said softly.
Prompto	"I'm not going anywhere," Prompto said, loosening his fingers as he realized that he was probably clinging to Liz's hand pretty hard as he said it, and even as he said it, he started to feel an overwhelming guilt over the fact that he really didn't have say in the matter, did he? "If I can help it," he added, and it came out a little pained, to realize that he really couldn't help it. "I don't...I don't even know how I got here in the first place. We were at the Citadel, Noct went in to face Ardyn, we stayed behind, to fend off the daemons. And then there was just this....this...bright light, and the next thing I knew, I was....I was here." And that hadn't even been more than a few hours ago... "I don't even know what happened. If they're all okay. If Eos is okay..."
Liz	“Oh,” Liz said softly, “I’m so sorry … “ she paused, “maybe we could ask Summer? Her portal gun might be working again? Maybe there’s a way to get to your dimension now?” she was scared about the possibility of losing Prompto but she knew how worried he must be about everyone he left behind and she wanted to be able to help. She wanted to be able to do more than she could before, to be there for Prompto.
Prompto	"Maybe," Prompto said, but lightly, with an odd uncertainty, a feeling like, even if there was a viable connection between there worlds again, how could he go back? Why would he want to? To be stuck facing another ten miserable, lonely years? When here, he had Liz, he had sunlight again, he had a daughter on the way... Why risk losing all that, all over again? Especially when, for all they knew, he would just be snatched back to Eos as swiftly as he'd been snatched back to Fandom just now. "I'm not in any rush." He just wanted to stay here, right here, in this moment, for as long as humanly possible.
Liz	Liz smiled softly at that, “I’m here, I’m not going anywhere …” she assured him, at least she hoped this wasn’t a dream, “I …staying here is nice,” she said, “being here … this is nice, I’ve missed this …” she told him, “us … here in the apartment.” She did begin to wonder if that meant she should move back in and how that would all go, her in patient therapy with Dr. Lecter … Then she took a deep breath, Prompto had only just come back … she could worry about living arrangements and things like that a bit later, she just wanted to enjoy this time with him.
Prompto	They could worry about a lot of things, later. For now, though, Prompto just wanted to soak this all in, even just closing his eyes, and listening to something as simple as just her breathing, just because it was there, because it was real. (Felt real, anyway). "I"ve missed us...anywhere, really," he murmured quietly, the peacefulness, the serenity of this moment almost making him start to feel that sway of sleep again, that reminder of how hard the last twenty four hours....the last ten years...had been. "But this....this really is nice. Perfect, almost..." Which is why he didn't trust it. Which was why he was going to cling to it for as long as he could.
Liz	Liz gave a smile at that, “I was so scared this would never get to happen again,” she admitted, “I’m … I’ve missed you so much, I ..I. I tried to stay busy, so I wouldn’t worry… I still can’t believe that you’re here …that we’re together,” it all came out in a bit of a rush, “I … I “ Her voice trailed off as she tried to collect her thoughts and then didn’t know what else to say so she was silent a bit. “I’m sorry, I … I'm just so happy that you're here," she said softly, even though as she said it her eyes were starting to fill with tears. She was blaming the hormones.
Prompto	But he was going to be quiet for a moment, too, still just soaking it all in. "I can still hardly believe that I am here," he murmured back. But, in that moment, despite all odds, despite all logic, he was, and that was enough to start bringing the tears to his eyes, as well. If Liz could blame the hormones, what did he get to blame? Would nearly an entire decade of darkness count for anything?
Liz	Liz would definitely consider that to be a valid reason. “I …I don’t want to go to sleep,” Liz admitted quietly, blinking back the tears that had already started to fall, “I’m …I’m scared that this all a dream, that… I’ll wake up and you’ll be gone,” she trembled.
Prompto	The only response to that, for a while, was just Prompto's arms around her again to hold her close, hold her tight, letting the embrace doing the talking for him since he, too, felt the weight of impermanence in all of this and didn't want lie to her by saying he wasn't going anywhere. Because he just didn't know, he couldn't possibly know, and he couldn't do that to her again. "At least this dream's a good one," he finally said, hesitating a little before he added, "A lot better than most." And with that in mind, and with how absolutely, completely fucking exhausted he felt right now, he stirred, just a little, shifting position to something a little less comfortable, lest the sway of slumber take over him. "Should we do something?" he asked, trying to think of ways to stay awake that hopefully didn't involve pulling apart from each other too much. "Watch a movie, or something?" Which sounded so utterly mundane, it almost seemed impossible, but, because of that, it sounded incredibly comforting, too. "Are you hungry?" he then suggested. "I could make something to eat? Or...well, if you've been living at Dr. Lecter's, there probably isn't any food here, huh? Or, hey, maybe there is! If this is a dream....dream logic, you know?"
Liz	Liz smiled softly at that. “Its definitely better than the last few weeks,” she agreed , even though she didn’t want to tell him how bad it had been getting and most nights she hadn’t been sleeping at all, she enjoyed the comfort of being wrapped up in his embrace. She didn’t want this to end. She considered his suggestions, “I …watching a movie sounds nice,” Liz said softly. Then she tried to think what food she did have, “I haven’t been keeping track of what’s in the kitchen,” she admitted, “I know there’s tea in there and some coffee as well,” she told him. Which she realised wasn’t actually food.
Prompto	It wasn't, and there was a part of Prompto that felt a sudden surge of disappointment at this information. When was the last time he'd actually had food, real food, that wasn't rations or whatever they could scavenge out of old settlements or meat freshly hunted or whatever wilted, rubbery vegetables managed to somehow pull though despite the utter lack of sunlight? But this was probably just a dream, right? You didn't need to eat in a dream, he'd be fine. He was pretty used to it, anyway. Why waste precious dream time on something that didn't matter? "...Space Battles?" he suggested, smiling softly as he shifted so that he could look and try to see her face. (Just so long as they skipped the prequel ones, the ones with all the clones...)
Liz	Liz did enjoy that suggestion and her eyes lit up, “I would like to watch Space Battles,” she told him with a bright smile. There was a pause, “would …would you like me to order something?” she said quietly, “we could get it delivered here?”
Prompto	It was a while before Prompto answered, but this time, it was just so that he could soak in that smile Then he smiled back and lightly shook his head. "Nah," he said. "I'm good." He hadn't been this good in a very, very long while. "Maybe later. We've got plenty of time." He hoped.
Liz	Liz smiled up at him, it had been so long since she had felt this content and happy and she wanted to enjoy those feelings again. In case it turned out to be a dream after all. “Okay,” she agreed, “later then,” she nodded, desperately hoping that there would be a later.

[[ Continued, of course, from here and once more preplayed with the fantastic flamesburned. CW for light on-the-surface trauma and shameless slander against Ringo Starr, NFI since they'll likely be at it like this for a while now, but OOC is always welcome ]]