BPRD Headquarters ; Newark, New Jersey; Thursday [11/24].

[hashtag_chocobro]

It was hard not to enjoy a holiday that centered around getting together and eating lots of delicious food, even though Prompto couldn't really bring himself to actually eat much of it. His stomach was just too fluttery with nervous an anxiousness, a feeling that got worse and worse with each passing bite. The sooner the meal ended, the sooner his plan would take effect, and even though he'd been thinking about and obsessing about it privately for weeks now, he was now faced with it actually happening.

The main meal was winding down, so it was time to bring out the pie and the cake (pumpkin and mint chocolate, of course, and respectively) that he and Liz had made. He cast a quick glance across the table toward Hellboy to confirm, before launching into action.

"Who," Prompto declared, placing his hands on the table and pushing back his chair as if to stand up, "is ready for dessert? Should I go get them now?"

But Hellboy chimed in with a hand held out as if to stop him, as he pushed back his chair, too. "Don't worry about it," he said, beating Prompto to standing up. "Sit tight. I got it."

Prompto, leaned over the table slightly as he was hald-way up himself, blinked over at Hellboy quizzically. "You sure?"

"Yeah," Hellboy was already halfway to the other room as he waved a dismissive hand over his shoulder. "Don't sweat it. You're the guest."

Prompto looked like he was going to protest, pulled back, and sighed. Shrugging his shoulders, he settled back in the chair, with more relief than he meant to show, because perfect. So far, so good! And once he was seated again, he grinned over at Liz.

"I'm not even sure," he admitted, "how much room I've got left for something like dessert."

Liz	Liz watched Hellboy leave to get dessert, rather curious as to how quickly he had volunteered to get up and leave the room to get it but that only kept her distracted for a couple of minutes and she turned her attention back to Prompto, “I know I ate a lot, more than what I probably should have,” she admitted. “I think she really enjoyed her meal though,” she smiled as she rubbed her stomach, “we might be able to fit in dessert though, I know I’m looking forward to the Mint Chocolate Cake,” she added, which was not really that much of a revelation.
Prompto	"We did do a pretty good job with it," Prompto mused, grinning broadly and hoping that was enough to hide the mild panic in his eyes; oh, gods, what if it went all wrong? Poor Abe right now, having to deal with the overwhelming mess of doomed scenarios no doubt running rampant in his brain right now. "Besides, I mean, I don't know much about Thanksgiving, but I thought I heard somewhere that if you don't pretty much need to be rolled away from the dinner table, you're doing it wrong." Said the guy who barely ate much of anything at all, but you try eating when you were spending a whole meal internally flailing!
Liz	“That’s true,” Liz smiled, “we did do a good job didn’t we? I think it’s definitely something we should make more often, I did enjoy making the pie and cake together,” she was aware that Professor Broom and Abe were also at the table with them and listening to this conversation but right now her focus was on Prompto, still amazed that after everything she was having Thanksgiving with him at the BPRD.
Prompto	"I mean," said Prompto, grin going a little crooked and more than a little nervous as he tried desperately not to give into the temptation of looking toward the door Hellboy had gone through, "I enjoy making pretty much anything with you." So, sorry, everyone else at the table! You were going to have to deal with a different kind of sweetness before getting to your dessert, because, apparently, Hellboy was being a dick by taking his sweet ass time, which Prompto probably should have figured he'd do, so now he was just sitting there, sweating it out and trying to stall for time. At least he hoped it was just Hellboy being a dick. Because if it wasn't, then something had gone wrong, and, ohgods, what if something was wrong? Why did have have to go an make this big elaborate plan out of it, when he should have just kept it simple and safe with far less margin for error?!?
Liz	It was definitely something that Hellboy liked doing, even though now Liz was wondering if maybe he had started eating the dessert in the kitchen and that was what was taking so long. Liz giggled and blushed. “So do I,” she grinned. “I’m glad we were able to make this, it’s nice that we’re all together for Thanksgiving.” At this she did look over at Professor Broom and Abe with a warm smile before turning to look back at Prompto.
Prompto	And when Liz turned back to him, Prompto felt a distinct wave of nausea, one that was only made worse by the sudden swell of panic that, ohgods, he was seriously going to throw up... It was at that timely moment that the door finally opened again, and Hellboy emerged, bearing a dessert in each hand. Was there a not-so-discrete forkful taken out of one of them? Maaaybe. But good luck noticing it, because as he started to announce that the dessert had finally arrived, he cut himself off as he was followed by a wave of twenty-plus cats streaming into the room behind him. Twenty plus cats that were all riled and worked up on catnip and tumbling over each other (and the table and the chairs and the people sitting there as well) to get to the treats that had been discretely hidden around the room in hard to reach but easy to notice places. "Hey!" Hellboy called out. "How'd you all get out?" "Oh, noooo!" Prompto joined in, pushing back his chair to stand up. "All the cats!" Relying on cats to create the perfect cacophony of chaos for that moment was a risky venture, but Prompto had to admit, with a swell of a relief and the briefest of grateful glances toward Hellboy, that they were actually beautifully exceeding his expectations. He quickly reached for a black cat that had leaped up on the table and was already trying to pick at the leftovers. "Hey, you stop that!" Only to have it be replaced by another cat doing the exact same.
Liz	Liz blinked a lot as she took in all the cats swarming everywhere and she looked over at Prompto snd Hellboy with a smile. “I think the cats wanted to join us for Thanksgiving,” she said with a laugh and she moved to stand up. “I’ll help l round them up,” she offered as she looked to see where the nearest cat to her was.
Prompto	"Wait, no, Liz," Prompto said quickly, a hand reaching out for her arm to stop her a little bit, because if she went chasing after some rando cat, this could get difficult. He also had to think quickly as he surveyed the sea of cats for the one he was looking for, with bated breath, to double check that not only was she among the swarm, but that there had been, as meticulously planned, a ribbon tied around her neck, and (the biggest relief of all) something very shiny dangling from it. "Hold on. You should find Rain, I think....I think I saw her grab something, we gotta make sure it's nothing dangerous or something!" Look, maybe it wasn't the best subterfuge, but as long as it got Liz grabbing Rain and seeing what she did actually have...
Liz	Liz tilted her head thoughtfully at the cats as tried to locate Rain. “Okay I’ll go find Rain,” she said, rather curious about why Prompto was insisting that she did. She scanned over the cats and then found Rain. “Rhere she is,” she smiled as she found her. "I’ll go and see what she’s picked up?” Hopefully it wasn’t anything dangerous.
Prompto	It took every single fibre of Prompto's being to not all but push Liz toward Rain or to just go pick her up and hand her straight to Liz herself. What had he been thinking? It could have been a nice, simple, elegant thing, but nooooo, he decided he needed two dozen cats and everyone in a food coma instead. "Yes," he encouraged. "Quick, quick, before she gets away!" Please ignore that Rain had definitely seen them and was already heading their way with a happy meow. And Prompto wished he could ignore that Hellboy, at this point, was probably going to burst from holding in his laughter right now.
Liz	Liz was not entirely sure what was going on but she happily obliged and went to meet Rain and pick her up as quickly as she could, which was a bit hard after eating all that food, so the fact that she was already coming towards them did make it easier for her. “Hey there Rain, what did you pick up?” she said as she brought her closer and came back to the table. "You didn’t pick up anything dangerous, did you?” And that was when she spotted the very shiny and expensive looking ring around her neck and her mouth fell open in surprise as she stared at it, hardly daring to believe it as she held the ring out in her palm as she did.
Prompto	Prompto had been so distracted by making sure Liz managed to snag Rain up that he barely even had any time to panic about what was going to come immediately afterwards, so it hit him all at once, because shit. Shit shit shit, this was it, this was the moment. His throat suddenly felt dry, he felt his feet wouldn't move, but somehow, he managed to do it, his stomach churning as he stepped toward Liz and reached out for her other hand. And when he opened how mouth to speak, he thought maybe he couldn't, that the words were all jammed up, but, somehow, they managed to make it through, his face filling with freckles and blushes. "Elizabeth Anne Sherman?" And then he was dropping down to one knee, and his face went at least five shades of red deeper. But he let out a nervous laugh, dropping his head before shaking it slightly. "God, you have no idea how long I've wanted to do this..." He looked up, gave Liz a smile with his blue eyes bright with hope, and....almost thought of just saying hi, but there was no way he was spoiling this. "Will you marry me?" And then he had to fight back a wince, as one of the cats chose that moment to try and climb up Prompto's back and managed to get a good dig of his claws into him before Hellboy managed to pull him off. Look, the cats seemed like a good idea at the time!
Liz	Liz was slightly distracted by the cat climbing up Prompto first before she fully processed what Prompto was asking, that this was happening, she stood there, trembling, her cheeks turning slightly red as tears of joy began to spill down them. “Yes,” she said in a voice that was barely above a whisper, she cleared her throat again. “Yes,” she said more loudly, “yes, I…I will marry you, yes,” she said again, in case the first couple of times weren’t enough. The tears were flowing more freely now, she had dreamed of this moment and she had never thought it would happen but here she was … Prompto was proposing, in front of her family and all the cats. It was perfect.
Prompto	So...so many cats. And Prompto was suddenly wondering if the whole on-one-knee thing originated from just making sure the groom-hopeful was already close to the ground so that he didn't hurt himself too much when they collapsed with relief. He let out a breath of a laugh, just needing a moment for his head to catch up with not only the fact that he actually finally did it, but that Liz had also said yes. And then there were tears, and Prompto had expected tears, but it was impossible to not instantly need to scramble back up to his feet and go to Liz whenever she was crying. Scooping her up into an ambrace, and then shifting it a little to give her an incredibly relieved, incredibly eager kiss. If he wasn't careful, he might start crying, too. Oh, who was he kidding? It was definitely going to happen.
Liz	The tears were fully spilling over now as Prompto scooped her in an embrace and then when he leaned into kiss, she happily returned that kiss with everything that she had. Yes she knew that everyone was watching this but she wanted to enjoy this moment, how perfect everything was, how right it was … she didn’t want to let go. She didn’t want this moment to end.
Prompto	Prompto was in no rush to get through that kiss, and the entire world seemed to just fade away around him. When he eventually did break away, he barely moved away at all, leaning his forehead against Liz's. His eyes were closed, just savoring the moment. Then he grinned. "Not exactly how I originally thought this would go," he admitted softly. "I was going to propose in Altissia, after Noct's wedding..." But, clearly, that hadn't quite panned out.
Liz	Liz returned that grin, her eyes still shining with tears. “This is perfect, all of it,” she assured him, enjoying the feel of Prompto’s forehead resting on her own. "You even got the cats involved,” her smile widened, “especially Rain.” She fell silent for a few moments as she savoured just how amazing this all was, “this is incredible, thank you … I love you so much." Then the tears began to start over flowing again.
Prompto	"Oh." The tears really were unfair; Prompto thought he was prepared for the tears, but he really was not, and it was all he could do to just wrap her up in another hug and squeeze her gently. "I love you so much," he managed to get out, with another breath of relief and one or two rogue tears of his own managing to escape. He'd worry about those later. "I'm so sorry I couldn't have done this sooner." Even though Liz said it was perfect, even though she was clearly thrilled, he still couldn't help apologizing, maybe just because it was him.
Liz	“You don’t have to apologise,” Liz assured him, leaning against him as she savoured just how wonderful this moment was, she let out a couple of hiccups as she made no effort to hide her tears. “This is amazing, I’m here with you, this is ..just amazing." She really couldn’t think of the words to describe how she was feeling. “I love you,” she said again and hiccuped again.
Prompto	There was one more soft squeeze before Prompto pulled away a little, just enough so he could unwrap his arms from around Liz, to lift his hands and cradle her face, and use his thumbs to wipe some of those tears away and just smile gently at her to catch her eyes. "I love you," he echoed. "You're amazing." And he let that linger a little before the soft smile went a bit crooked as he added, "So? Are you going to try it on? See how it looks?" Sure. He had to guess a little on the size, but he hoped he'd gotten it close enough to at least fit.
Liz	Liz gazed up at Prompto, smiling happily as he brushed away her tears. “And I love you,” she was never going to get tired of saying that, “you’re amazing and wonderful and I love you so much.” She blinked a bit then, nearly forgetting that she still had the ring that she was holding onto. “Oh, yes” she said with a nervous giggle. “Of course,” she picked up the ring and slid it on her ring finger and held it out to show Prompto how it looked on her finger. “It’s perfect,” she gushed. “Thank you.”

And, considering how Prompto just met that with another kiss, and considering how these things usually went with these two, Hellboy was just going to go ahead and get to digging into and distributing those desserts to everyone else at the table. Maybe if they were lucky, the might even leave some for them for whenever they managed to pull themselves apart.


[[ preplayed with the fabulous flamesburned, naturally! Establishy and NFB for distance, but of course 💍💍C is definitely welcome!]]