The Apartment above the Photo Hut; Monday [08/14].

[hashtag_chocobro]

Prompto was not going down to work at the store today.

Prompto could barely get himself to get out of bed today. And it had been the same yesterday, where he just wanted to curl up as he fell in and out of fitful sleep and all the nightmares flooding back, though he tried to get up, he really did, he'd already left Liz to handle everything for nearly two weeks, it was the least he could do to get up and try to do something. Everything made him want to just break down. The thought of food made him sick to his stomach. Just even looking at Noctra made him sob desperately, so forget about actually holding her or taking care of her, which he desperately wanted to do, but he just kept getting flashes of all the things that happened in that house...

Things were bad, sure, when he got back, almost a year ago, but a lot of the worst stuff had happened a long time ago, he had the buffer of time, and he didn't have the heavy burden of fatherhood on his shoulders then, either. But now....now...everything he'd managed to carefully, expertly, deftly pack away had been dredged up and pulled out of him by that house, and now he felt hollow, he felt raw, he felt eviscerated.

He wanted to get up, but he couldn't. Every move, every turn, reminded him of something. He was incredibly tired and he wanted to just disappear for a while into sleep, but the nightmares would find him there more than anywhere else. His only respite was taking impossibly long showers, where he just hoped the running water would cover the sounds of his sobs because he didn't want to cry in front of Liz, as if he could actually keep any of this away from her in his current state.

Even just the fact that he couldn't break out of this just emphasized how weak and pathetic and worthless he was...

Prompto was not going down to work at the store today.

Prompto was not doing much of anything but feeling miserable.

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Comments

[flamesburned]

Liz had been reluctant to leave Prompto, scared to let him out of his sight after the last couple of weeks.

After she had taken care of Noctra and fed and changed her and got her settled, she was back by Prompto’s side.

“Is there anything you’d like me to get for you?” Liz asked gently.

[hashtag_chocobro]

When Liz came in, Prompto didn't stop staring up at the spot on the ceiling he'd been staring at for....he didn't even know how long...a few minutes? A few hours?...but his hand flopped out toward Liz, at least.

"M'fine," he murmured, in quite possibly the least fine-sounding way ever.

[flamesburned]

Liz immediately took Prompto’s hand, holding it gently and giving it a reassuring squeeze to let him know that she was there with him, “would you like me to make you a tea? I can make one of Nell’s herbal ones for you?” she said gently, knowing that food would be the last thing that Prompto would feel like eating right at that moment.

[hashtag_chocobro]

To call what Prompto gave Liz's hand a squeeze back would be incredibly generous, but, hey, at least it was something?

"No, it's okay," he said. "Thanks, though. It's....fine. I'm good."

Liz had already done more than enough for him, and then some, all that worrying and taking care of Noctra and helping him get out. He really shouldn't keep wasting her time. And tea would mean having to sit up to drink it, and uggghhh.

[flamesburned]

Still holding tightly onto Prompto’s hand, Liz bent down to kiss his forehead, “I’m not going anywhere okay,” she says gently, “I can make you something later if you feel like it?”

[hashtag_chocobro]

Well, maybe that was the problem. Maybe Liz should go elsewhere, drop his sad, pathetic, messed-up ass and actually be somewhere with someone who wasn't constantly randomly disappearing for unknown lengths of time. Someone actually normal and well-adjusted who wasn't just a big old ball of hang-ups and self-doubt, someone who wasn'r just made to be discarded, or to be a monster, what if he really did become the monster he was meant to be one day? How much better off would she be without him?

His view of the ceiling became blurry as he felt hot tears stinging his eyes again.

"Yeah, okay," he said. "Maybe. We'll see how I feel then..."

Spoiler alert: it was going to be exactly how he felt now.