The Photo Hut; Monday [10/25].

[hashtag_chocobro]

Well, today was Prompto's birthday, finally, and while he was planning on doing something with the guys once he got back to Insomnia later, for now, he was at work, and that was actually just fine. He did plan to splurge on one of those cameras he'd been eying as a gift to himself, anyway, and having a nice quiet day at the Photo Hut suited him...and his annual birthday tradition.

He spent the first part of his shift doing various work-related things, checking to see if Liz had left him any note or anything about stuff to do and then just taking care of some inventory and general tidying up, but once that was finished, he went back to the counter and set on top of it a very bright take-out box from J,GoB and extracted from it this year's Sad Lonely Birthday Cupcake.

Sure, it had been quite a few years since Prompto had actually had a Sad Lonely Birthday, but...it was tradition. It was still something he liked to do for himself, especially now, thinking about how they weren't so sad and lonely anymore, and thinking about that first time he'd had a Sad Lonely Birthday cupcake here at Fandom, and how it was really, technically, his last one, the moment Vette came over and saw him there with it...

So he lit the candle, sang himself a quiet little birthday song, smiled softly to himself, and blew the candle out. Picked up a fork, and started to dig in.

Because, really, the best part of the Sad Lonely Birthday Cupcake tradition was getting to eat the actual cupcake!

Photo Hut is open!

Comments

[flamesburned]

Liz had noticed it was Prompto’s birthday coming up based on his employment forms and had gotten him a card with some money,she hadn’t been sure what else to get him but she had still wanted to get him something since he was an employee.

Well he was her only employee but that was beside the point. Was it weird for a boss to get an employee a card? Liz wasn’t sure but she still headed downstairs sometime later when it was still his shift.

“Hi, happy birthday,” she smiled.

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Oh, hey, Liz!" Prompto, clearly distracted with the shiny new camera he'd picked out for himself, looked up, snapped a quick picture, and grinned. "How's it go--"

And that was when she she was caught up with him, stopped him, and made him blink, a little surprised. Not that it didn't make sense that she would wish him a happy birthday or anything, it just caught him off guard when most people did.

"--ing?" he finished, as all the freckles on his face seemed to spring up under a new blush of crimson across his cheeks. Then he laughed, hand immediately going behind his neck to rub it sheepishly. "Errm, uh, thanks! It's, uh, no big deal, or anything," especially when could argue that it wasn't even really a birthday at all, buuuut...

"But I appreciate that!"

[flamesburned]

“I uh actually don’t really have much experience with birthdays,” she admitted as she handed him the card with the money, “it’s not a lot but I wasn’t sure…” her voice trailed off as she spotted the camera. “New camera?” she asked with a smile.

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Oh!" Prompto blinked again in surprise as Liz handed him the envelope, which really didn't help with his blushing....or his awkwardness...or his whole...everything, really. "You....wow, you didn't have to--I mean, thank you! That's....really super nice of you!"

And now he had an envelop in his hand and he really wasn't sure what to do with it. Did he open it now? With her there? Or did he wait until later?

He didn't have much experience with birthdays, either!

But then she asked about the camera, and he was going go seize the chance to latch onto something he was significantly less awkward about, setting down the card and all but diving to the camera so he could show it to her.

"Yeah!" The excitement swept in easily. "Check her out! I couldn't stop thinking about her pretty much all last week, so I decided, you know what? It's my birthday, why not, right?"

[flamesburned]

“Oh wow that is nice,” Liz said as he showed her, “how has the photo quality been?” sometimes she considered getting a new camera but she really liked her current Polaroid for the moment.

[hashtag_chocobro]

"I mean," Prompto chuckled a little, "we might have to wait and see how it translates into actual photos, but the quality on the preview screen looks amazing. I've been shooting a few things around the store already, if you wanted to have a look. Might head over to the shelter before I had back home, too, see how it can handle a good puppy assault!"

And also it was his birthday, he deserved a good puppy pile! He missed those!

[flamesburned]

“If you wouldn’t mind I’d like to take a look,” Liz smiled, “you’ll have to let me know how the puppy photos turn out,”

[hashtag_chocobro]

"I mean," said Prompto with a grin. "They're puppy pics. They're gonna be amazing by default, but....yeah. I'll definitely show you. I can...maybe even send them to you if you don't want to wait until, like, next week or something."

[flamesburned]

Liz wasn’t going to say no to that, she also really liked animal photos and had a lot of cat photos from Hellboy, “actually,” she returned the grin, “that would be great if you could, how did you want to send them?”

[hashtag_chocobro]

"I always upload everything to my phone," Prompto said; it made it easier to post things on his socials and also spam Noctis with them, as well! "So...phone?" He already had his out, ready to go. "Or would you prefer, like, email? Do you do any of the social media stuff? I could just add you, and you can see them all there, too!"

Just for the cute puppy pics, of course! Not there there's be any other reason to want to get in on friending his cute, like-minded-about-his-passion boss on social media, or anything like that!

[flamesburned]

“I think the last time I updated my social media was in like 2011 when I lost contact with Fandom,” Liz admitted, “its still a few years away in my time so I’m a bit out of the loop with what’s current at the moment,” someone was going to be in for a surprise when she found out about instagram, “I should probably work on that,” she smiled, “I can do either email or phone though …I upgraded my old one handwavily so it’s more modern,”

[firstofitskind]

Speaking of things being not so Sad And Lonely anymore, here was Liam, with a box of his own (tupperware, not the kind from JGoB), as well as a package tucked under one arm.

“Hey, Prompto,” he greeted. “What a surprise.” Like radio hadn’t reported that Prompto had picked up a job here, and Liam hadn’t this come in looking for him, specifically.

[no, i didn’t INTENTIONALLY go for two Canadian sites for the links there, but those were my favourites of the google search results, lol.]

[hashtag_chocobro]

Not to mention, wandering into shops with Tupperware and other boxes was just a little sus.

"Oh, hey, Liam," Prompto blinked up from where he had been adjusting a setting on the camera and gave a faint smile. Then a sheepish laugh to match.

"Yeah," he added, "I've been kind of picking up some extra work around here? Not that I need it, or anything, I just kind of thought...any excuse to work around cameras more, you know?"

And an excuse to be on the island a little more, too, really, before it got to point where he couldn't be around much at all...

"You coming in for anything in particular?"


[[ uh huh, suuuuuuure ]]

[firstofitskind]

“Mmhmm,” he nodded. “Not for anything photography related, though,” he admitted. “Just wanted to come by and wish you a happy birthday.”

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Pffft," said Prompto, eloquently, because it's not like he'd actually know what to say to something like that, and he grinned a little crookedly and a lot sheepishly. He almost said that Liam really didn't have to do that, but, really, he knew he wasn't surprised that Liam actually would, and he just sort of...shrugged his shoulders and existed in a world where eye contact apparently wasn't a thing.

"I mean," he tried agian, "thanks. It's, like, not a big deal or anything, though..."

[firstofitskind]

“Guess I’ll have to cancel the marching band I ordered to serenade you with ‘Happy Birthday’ as soon as you step outside, then,” Liam said teasingly. “Damn it.”

[hashtag_chocobro]

Well, that at least seemed to do a good job of solving the eye-contact problem as now Prompto's eyes were very much on you, Liam, nice and wide and worried.

"You...you didn't actually..." he asked. "....did you?"

Nina was his siter, and you were her dad, Liam, and also they did this kind of thing for pretty much everyone else, so you could't tell him it wasn't in the realm of possibility!

[firstofitskind]

And the fact that the two of them could be depended on to pull exactly those kind of shenanigans was why Liam was pretending to have done so; because that meant of everyone on the island, Prompto was one of the few who wouldn’t immediately assume Liam was kidding.

“I’m kidding,” he assured Prompto. “I did get you a little something, though.”

[hashtag_chocobro]

Prompto breathed out a sigh of relief, but, obviously, he wasn't fully in the clear just yet. His eyes immediately drifted toward the boxes Liam carried with him, though he tried not to let them do that, and then he looked at Liam.

"You...really didn't have to do that, man," he said.

And, yes, he had a feeling he knew what the response to that was going to be, but it needed to be said, anyway.

[firstofitskind]

“You’re family,” Liam said with a little half shrug. “And I wanted to. Big deal or not, you still should get some birthday presents.”

[hashtag_chocobro]

Well, part of that was what Prompto had expected Liam's response to be. But the other part...?

The other part, he was pretty sure, had existed in some sort of amorphous realm of uncertainty. At least, it always had for him, and that was nothing new. He'd always felt like he was just there, attached by default, some little tangential addition that was technically there, but not really...

So it was going to take him a moment to for him to manage to act like hearing Liam say that word didn't actually mean a whole mess of things all of a sudden.

(It didn't. It shouldn't, right? He was just being nice, because of Nina...)

And, apparently, brushing it off was going to have to take the form of an eye roll. "It's not like I don't get presents."

They were just often kind of impersonal or practical, from his parents. But not always. They were the ones who got him his first camera, after all.

But his grin drifted back. "But thanks."

[firstofitskind]

He was not “just being nice, because of Nina”, Prompto. Maybe at first, sure, but you’d worked your way into his heart of your own accord, there.

“You’re welcome.” He put the tupperware down on the counter, followed by the wrapped package (which did, admittedly, skew a little towards the “practical”, because who couldn’t use a good sweater?).