Prompto Argentum was really bad at time management. To his credit, it had been a while since he'd done something like this, and that had been a little different, anyway, because it had been friends he'd turned to for help (man, he should really pop in and see how Sabine was doing, and he really hoped Astrid was doing well out there in the wide world, too), so it had been a little different. But he started to worry when it was narrowing in on Christmas and it still wasn't ready, although he was assured it was nearly finished! But then he was worried something might happen to it if it arrived while he was in New Jersey with Liz's family, and, sure enough, it had, but Gladio was keeping an eye on it for him, but now that he was back on Fandom and settled a little, it was time to finally get Liliana and Ignis their Christmas present.

Better a late present than no present, right?

And then there was the issue of getting it to them, which was going to be a process....it was big after all, even though it was relatively thin, and it was all boarded up for safe traveling, so the thing was surprisingly heavy. Naturally, then, he recruited Gladio to help him haul it out to their place, and he was so excited to deliver it finally that he almost didn't even notice the difficulty of the task!

....well, okay, no, he really did, why was this so heavy? He didn't remember the last one being this heavy and it had been even bigger! But whatever, the point was that they finally made it, he and Gladio could set it down, he took a moment to breathe out and wipe some sweat from his brow before knocking on the door.

Only to be greeted by the steward, which, fair, Liliana and Ignis might have been in the middle of something, but then, after asking if they were home, the steward informed them that they actually weren't even home.

They were apparently in Argentina??? Prompto was pouting at this news, especially the additional information that the steward didn't know when they expected to be back (although at least there was the guarantee of 'before Ignis' class'? They wouldn't miss the New Years party, would they??), and Gladio started laughing, which made Prompto turn on him in shock.

"Wait! You knew they weren't going to be here?"

"Yeah," Gladio snorted, "because I pay attention."

"I was in New Jersey! You let me drag this all the way out here and you knew they weren't home?"

"It was good for you! A good workout! Well, sort of. You know I was doing most of the hard work."

"You were not!" Prompto huffed indigantly, folded his arms in front of him, and pouted a little more before his hands flew up in a desperate sort of shrug. "Well, now what?"

"Take it back?" Gladio suggested.

"Drag it out of here only to have to drag it back again whenever the fuck they decide to come back?" Prompto gawked at him. "No way. We're leaving it. We're leaving it for them for when they get back, but, in the meantime, we are going to the T&C, we're going to buy all the discounted Christmas paper, and we're going to wrap this up so good, and I'm gonna leave a note. I don't even want to think about this stupid thing until they get back, and they open it, and then we'll see who won at Christmas this year!"

"It's not a competition, you know," Gladio pointed out, and Prompto just barked a laugh.

"Yeah, okay," he said. "Good luck telling that to Lils!"

[[ mostly establishly, but absolutely open if anyone wants to catch either of them while they're out there or are for whatever reason also swinging by! ]]

There was a part of Prompto that was really wondering if they could potentially get in trouble for doing this, but it seemed, to him, that the danger shop should definitely be free use for a couple of teachers for Very Important Things during school hours when no one else was using it, right? Right! Besides, this was a guy who had the prestigious honor of being one of the few students that had gotten detention at this school in recent years (albeit much more recently for the school than for him!) for all sorts of rule-breaking shenaningans, so, really, if anything, acting first and apologizing later when it came to school property was ultimately just on brand for him.

Besides, it was easily going to be the best way to teach Liliana all about cars and driving, and he'd meticulously put together a whole program to do so, and he was hoping it didn't go too much to waste. But, while the rum being set out for the squirrels had more to do with the fact that this whole driving thing was meant to be a surprise for Ignis, it didn't pass his notice that it would probably help a little if them doing this was actually a big fat no-no.

Only time would tell! If anything, they could at least get in a lesson before getting thoroughly busted and reprimanded, and that was what counted. So he was just going to be taking some time to check over his mock-up of the Regalia he'd programmed in and also the motorcycle he'd added in case they wanted to take a stab at that, too, and then just waited for his student to show up, with a wistful sigh toward the motorcycle.

Man, he really should look into getting one of those...

[[ for the budding Death's Driver and NFB, por favor! ]]

Prompto would be entirely honest; if there was anything a bit different going on in town, he was completely unaware of it, because he'd been singularly focused since pretty much Friday on getting things all ready and set up for Noctra's birthday party today. The decorations were an amalgamation of both puppy things and football things, with a both First Year Down! and Let's Pawty! balloons to really drive it home.

And, of course, the birthday girl herself was showing her appreciation for the theme, as well! Unfortunately, with her dad's excitement all morning in getting things up, she hadn't been able to nap like he was hoping she would, so he was holding his breath that the whole thing wouldn't make her too cranky or overwhelmed, but at least there was plenty to distract her in the meantime. Including a little help from Rain pulling in duty as Party Ruferee.


Then there was getting everything with the catering set out for the guests, which included your typical moddable game day fare, but especially puppy chow, mini hot dogs, and, of course pizza rolls! There were a puppy bowl birthday cake, even, with some vegan cupcake puppy players!

And, of course, near the entrance, there were plenty of party hats for anyone who wanted to claim their allegiance for Team Ruff or Team Fluff or just Team Noctra (he suspected those would be the most popular, really).

And for once, after everything was set up and copious amounts of pictures had been taken, Prompto actually wasn't feeling like he hadn't gone enough on the theme, and was feeling pretty good about this one, actually!

[[ open party is open! If you've ever talked to Prompto or Liz even once, you probably got an invitation. Heck, even if you've never talked to either of them, you could have ~mysteriously~ gotten one, too! Maybe it's your big destiny to meet your true love at a one-year-old's puppy bowl party, you don't know!! ]]

Prompto had considered a return to the same resort that he and Liz had shipped off to a year ago for their honeymoon, but with so many islands down in the Caribbean to enjoy (and without Summer footing some of the bill as a wedding gift), he figured he should angle for something a little different. But once he saw one of the islands with a relatively affordable resort on it was called St. Lucia...well...

How could he not?

They'd arrived yesterday, of course, and they took a lot of time to just sort of get a lay of the land and a feel for the place and tried to relax on the beach for a nice St. Lucian (!!) sunset, but most of that time was also spent trying very hard (and failing) to not constantly check their phones and text Gladio about how things were going with Noctra, if there were any troubles, was she eating okay? She didn't seem to be crying or upset or distraught they were gone, did she? Did they need them to come home? They could come home!

But Gladio had been very patient at reassuring them, and, when that patience started to slip, he just had Ignis take over with the reassurances, and, between the two of them (and the mention that Nell had also offered to help if needed, too), Prompto was able to at least relax enough to eventually get some rest and look forward to at least a few more days of worrying in paradise.

He really did hope that Saturday would be less worrying and flailing as they started to get more familiar with the idea of it being just the two of them to enjoy the sun and the warmth and each other's company.

There was a little stab of guilt for it, but, Prompto had to admit, it was really nice actually sleeping in and being woken up by the warmth and the sun and snuggling into his wife beside him in bed without any kids or cats immediately demanding attention, and just gave a happy, contented sigh.

[[ mostly for the wife, obviously, but can be open for texts and calls that will definitely not induce flailing, really! ]]

You know, it was kind of funny, that somehow, in their usual jog around the island, neither Prompto nor Gladio nor Ignis noticed anything quite amiss that morning; maybe that was just a testament to how ridiculously early Gladio got them all started. Then there was a small training session at the gym, and that was probably when it happened, so when they parted ways and Prompto headed back to his place to get started on a nice breakfast for Liz to wake up to, he found himself coming up on the Photo Hut with two unfamiliar teenagers loitering outside the door and kind of giving each other the stink eye.

Well, maybe not unfamiliar, because there were definitely a few things about them that looked undeniably familiar, and...

"Oh, shit," he muttered to himself in realization, because last night was prom, and he knew what usually happened after prom, and there was no denying a very strong genetic line in both of these kids, although they were much older than what he was used to getting. Were they older because he was older now? He shook his head and realized he'd worry about that later, and just as he was about to say something, they both started when they saw him approaching and said, at the same time, "There you are, Dad."

Stopped, turned to their heads to glare at each other, and then started talking at once, but different things this time.

"This is clearly one of those portal things, Dad, but she claims to not know anything about it," the boy was saying, which bounced over the top of the girl saying, "What is this? Is this one of your clone things? We destroyed Niflheim, how could there still be clones?"

Clone definitely stuck out in the babble and Prompto took a deep breath and darted his eyes toward the boy who did look remarkably like him, but not enough, and his eyes were, thankfully, different, and so he let out a slow breath and shook his head, holding up his hands. "Listen," he said, "this is a whole thing and I'll explain it to you guys in a moment, but if you're both my kids, I know you guys aren't going to want to do this on an empty stomach, so how about you both come on upstairs, I'll get some breakfast started, and we'll figure out who's who. Just....be quiet, okay? I don't need you two waking up Liz or the baby."

Good luck with that, Prompto. Even that, as you went to go unlock the door to go inside, set them off again. The boy with a groan of "Ugh, baby? Which one? I didn't end up with baby Noctra, did I?" and the girl just giving a distressed, "Who's Liz? Where is this place? Oh, man, I knew I shoulda just stuck with Fort and Avis, but noooo, I had to follow Clone Boy over here."

"Not a clone!"

"You look like a clone!"

Yeah, Prompto was going to need a miracle if he hoped to get this sorted out before Liz woke up.

[[ for the wifey, of course! ]]

It had almost passed Prompto by entirely; he had nearly forgotten about it, which just mind-blowing in a way, because it had definitely been his absolute favorite Earth tradition/holiday. He was definitely going to blame some sort of version of anticipatory baby-brain for not realizing until pretty much that morning that it was even a thing, but something Apu had said on Friday about the Super Bowl jogged Prompto's memory. It just didn't reach its destination until today.

THE PUPPY BOWL!

And, oh, gods, that took him back, he remembered the last Puppy Bowl he'd celebrated before everything happened, it had been here in this apartment and everything, and he'd held a Puppy Bowl party every year since he'd first heard about it. It was too late to really throw together a party today (and he wouldn't want to, anyway, with Liz ready to pop at literally any moment now), but he threw out a few texts in case anyone did want to swing by, hopped on down to the store for a few snacks and drinks, and then got ready to spend his day watching adorable puppies scramble around a tiny football field and just doing their best.

Maybe. Hopefully. Unless Liz went into labor, in which case Prompto could not even be mad about it, because how perfect would that be, his daughter, born during the Puppy Bowl! It'd make sense, right, that she'd want to see it for herself?

[[ post is open, if you want to swing by, get in touch, mod a text, or whatever! At least one little drop of wholesomeness before the pollen really starts to take off lol ]]

Prompto would not be making it downstairs for work that day.

He would probably barely even make it out of bed, that day, same as yesterday, although there was that party later. So a good chunk of today would probably just be spent trying to muster up the energy to go and pretend like everything was okay. Like he hadn't just lost nearly four whole days to living out one of his absolute worst nightmares. Like he hadn't viciously attacked his friends (who it turned out hadn't needed him after all). Like his disappearance hadn't caused nothing but distress and fear and pain to the woman he loved, who was going to have their baby, who was going to be his wife someday. Like the possibility that Ardyn or Verstaal could return at any given moment was blown wide open...

...What was worse was he couldn't even sleep away those hours, either, because most of the time, when he closed his eyes, he was just assaulted with the memories of everything he'd been subjected to in that other life, mingling uncomfortably with things that had happened in his real life, to the point where part of him worried that he might not be able to tell which was which any more. When he did actually manage to snag a little bit of sleep, it was usually brief and fitful and filled with more nightmares.

He knew he should get up. He knew he should go do something, other than the occasional zombie-like shuffled through the apartment to use the bathroom or grab small bites to eat of things he figured he could easily keep down, but he just couldn't. He would, eventually, for the party later, but for now, he just sort of wanted to wallow in it.

At least Rain seemed to sense that he wasn't feeling very well, and, helpfully (and perhaps because Liz was right, that she had missed him while he was gone, too) spent a lot of her time curled up with him in bed, too. It was a little thing, sure, but it helped.

[[ ooooopen! ]]

It would figure, Prompto finally got in a good night's worth of sleep, only to be woken up early in the morning for a training day, the soft buzz of the alarm on his phone pulling him out of it, and him being quick to reach over and shut it off so that it didn't start to disturb Liz. Looking over to see that she was still sleeping, the temptation was strong to just say fuck it to training (what were they even training for anymore anyway?) and just snuggle up and stay in bed, but he didn't want to deal with Gladio blowing up his phone and pestering him, so he reluctantly pulled back the covers and dragged himself out of bed, snagging up his phone as he shuffled quietly out the door to the bathroom.

It took him until he got to the kitchen, after he finished feeding Rain and started putting together a pre-workout protein shake that he noticed a message from Gladio already coming in.

"Come on, man," he grumbled groggily, "it's not even time ye--"

Then he read the message:

We got mistletoe. Enjoy the day off. Unless you WANT to come over and start puckering up.

To that, Prompto just grunted, because he absolutely did not, thank you very much, but...he took a moment to consider this news, put all of his breakfast stuff back away, and shuffled back into the bedroom, immediately slipping back into the covers and snuggling up to Liz, fingering brushing against her shoulder, followed by soft kisses, along with a light "Babe, babe. Wake up."

He kept his voice light, though, almost a little playful rather than serious.

"I don't want to alarm you, but we might have a problem..."

[[ for she who is in the bed, obvi! ]]

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."

( A Thanksgiving Proposal....with Cats. )

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!]]

The light that filled the sky was blinding, impossibly bright and burning through the darkness that had surrounded them for so long. So bright that Prompto found himself cringing away from it, a gasp of pain seering through his eyes as he lifted arm to cover them and curled away from it. For a brief moment, he wondered....was this what it had been like? For Ignis? When he slipped the Ring of the Lucii onto his finger? Was this...was this what would happen to them all now, in light of Noctis' fight, his sacrifice? Then, a moment later, he felt himself transported, entirely, into somewhere not of this world, somewhere in the ether between worlds, his body suspended in a vast ocean of nothingness. Ignis and Gladio and Noctis there with him, Ardyn before them; the two Kings lifting their arms and reaching forward, and then, suddenly, Lunafreya was there, reaching for Ardyn's hand. The moment they touched, another burst of golden light, this one warm and embracing, but just as blinding, as he winced again and closed his eyes....

...before he opened them, the weightlessness was gone, he stood once more on solid ground. The light...the light was still so...so bright, but, groaning at the pain, Prompto fought through it to open his eyes again. Had it worked? Was this...sunlight, already? So soon? It had been so long since he'd seen sunlight, it would take a while for his eyes to adjust, and while he struggled to see, there was a rumble at his side, in his pocket. His phone, going absolutely crazy, vibrating and chiming with notications, puzzling enough to distract him slightly from the burning light. But, squinting, he realized the scene was becoming clearer, shaped presenting themselves, but it wasn't the Citadel he saw before him, it was...

"What?" he breathed out, staring with disbelief. "Fandom?"

His mind was reeling. What was....what was going on? Was he dreaming? Was he dead? Why would he be...after all this time....what had happened....with Noctis...with Ardyn....with Insomnia, with Eos? He held out his hands before him, turning them over, shaking his head as if he couldn't quite believe they were real, and then looking up, down the causeway, that familiar skyline, the castle on the island, of his youth....

And his phone, his persistent phone, still vibrating, enough that he dug it out of his pocket frantically just to get it to shut off, only to stare at it in marveled fascination at the absolute slew of notifications that it was being hit with, sent nearly a decade ago, finally making it through. Voicemails, texts from Liz, from Summer, even one from Yang...He shook his head, unable to process the whirlwind of thoughts and emotions racing through him as he lifted his eyes back toward the island.

"I..." he managed to stammer out, barely able to believe it himself, "I'm....back?"

( At first, Liz didn't realise what was happening... )

[[ preplayed with the ever lovely flamesburned; NFI and to be continue in another post shortly. Mild CW for some poorly dealt with surface-level trauma, and the OG Chocobro has officially returned! *internalized high-pitched squealing* ]]