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The Perk - Saturday Morning

Liz felt a bit weird going for coffee after her breakdown in front of Prompto the other day but she knew she couldn’t really spend another day at the store and (crying) moping in her apartment so she decided to brave the outside and go for a coffee and hopefully not start crying again.

She was tired and her eyes were still rather red from the crying she had been doing on and off since Thursday but she found a seat by the window and stared out of it as she considered what had happened in the last couple of days.

Had she made a mess of it? She wasn’t sure, Prompto hadn’t run away when she told him the truth because most people didn’t react well to the ‘I killed nearly 40 people with my powers’ situation but at the same time … would he still want to be around her knowing what she’d done, what she could do?

Liz stared down at her coffee, holding the hot mug tightly for comfort as she tried not to think about the possibility that she had screwed up. Then there was still the dilemma over whether or not she wanted to go back home for Thanksgiving and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to do that either.

She closed her eyes, trying to fight back the fresh tears that had already started building and she kept them closed til she was confident she wasn’t about to start breaking down at the Perk, because she definitely didn’t want to deal with that mortification.

She took a deep breath and opened them again and stared out the window as she tried to figure out what she was going to do about Thanksgiving and try not to think about how she may have screwed up with Prompto.

[so very open!]

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His morning started with the usual round of training, and then Gladio started to feel a little bit of a craving for some of that seasonal Perkly goodness. Maybe he was starting to understand a little more about why Ignis was the way he was with his Ebony after all, a thought that made him snort as he made his way into the Perk to cull that craving. With all his railing against Cup Noodle^TM, did that man really have any place to talk?

Anyway, once he got his coffee (just the one drink...for now) and was about to just head back out with it, he noticed Liz sitting there and paused. Sure, he was the muscles of this operation, but that didn't mean he didn't have a brain, and even if he didn't, it wouldn't take much of one to put two and two together, what with Prompto being oddly mopey these last few days, and now Liz sitting there looking like she'd maybe been crying for a week straight or something.

Geez, Pipsqueak, how'd you mess this one up?

So Gladio rerouted, moving over to Liz's table with a faint smile and a lift of his free hand. "Hey," he said, then cocked his head curiously, "Liz, right?" His hand fell to his chest. "Gladio. Remember me? I think it was homecoming, you were a bit more, uhh, green, then," he chuckled a little, "I was a bit more...daemonic?"

Liz startled a bit because she hadn’t been paying to anyone who might have entered the perk.

“It’s …it’s Liz,” she said quietly, glancing up at him and to her horror a sob escaped, “hi Gladio,” she managed to get out, it took all of her resolve to not just lose her composure and start crying all over again.

...well, that sob was interesting, and Gladio started to wonder just how bad all this actually was, but, well, he was in it now, so he just gestured toward one of the other chairs at her table. "This seat taken?" he asked. "Want some company?"

And if she didn't, then he'd gladly take that excuse to leave her be, and then head immediately back to the apartment. He wouldn't want to upset Liz further, but he'd have absolutely no qualms about wringing (maybe literally) the information out of Prompto.

And, hey, maybe he was wrong, and it was entirely unrelated, but...come on.

“No… no you can sit there,” she said quietly and stared back down at her coffee, “sorry,” she trembled but thankfully managed to not start crying again.

"Still plenty of other chairs, too," Gladio pointed out, with a glance around before looking back at Liz, head tilted thoughtfully. Giving her plenty of chance to change her mind, essentially, and he shrugged. "I don't mind, either way. Just thought I'd come over and say hi."

“It’s okay,” she glanced back up at him, realising there were now tears building in her eyes again, “ I’m … I …” her voice trailed off and a tear escaped down her cheek, she blinked the tears back but that made it worse.

Gladio shook his head a little as he was already picturing the no doubt very interesting conversation he was going to have with Prompto later, but he didn't sit down quite yet. He detoured back to the counter first, where he grabbed a few napkins to hand over to Liz before pulling out a chair across from her and sitting down.

"Rough day?" he guessed.

Liz took the napkins gratefully and wiped at her eyes, hoping she could keep them under control and not have a complete breakdown in front of Gladio… who she barely knew. It had been hard enough the other day…

She put them down, “rough few days,” she admitted, “I …I think I screwed up and I don’t think I can fix it,”

That quirked Gladio's eyebrow a little, as he took a sip from his drink, but, instead of making him wonder if he'd maybe gotten it backwards and it wasn't actually Prompto who screwed up, it just made him lean more toward whatever Liz was going through as being completely unrelated. Otherwise, it just didn't seem to make much sense to him.

"Mmm." It came out as a deep, thoughtful kind of grunt. Kind of vague, obviously, because he didn't know what was going on with her, and also didn't want to pry. "Been there before. But, hey. I'm sure things'll work out in the end, one way or the other, even if it's not the way you thought it might."

The tears started building again and she tried to wipe them away but they kept falling more quickly, “I ..I told Prompto some things about me …about my past,” she let out another sob, “I …I don’t think …I think he might hate me,”

Yes he had said that he wouldn’t but Liz was feeling pretty miserable about the whole thing and she didn’t think at the moment it would ever be all right.

And now both Gladio's eyebrows were lifted. Maybe he was just too used to being around people that had an unspoken agreement that you just generally didn't talk about things, and he really didn't want to pry because of that, but as far as applying any pressure went, he barely even waved a hand in Liz's general direction, and...

Was there...was there another Prompto that he didn't know about on the island? It didn't exactly seem like a common name, but that didn't sound...

"You think...Prompto...would hate you?" he asked, as if to just clarify this point. "Prompto Argentum? Quite possibly one of...the squishiest people I have ever met? What did you do, shoot puppies?"

Boy, was this going to take an awkward turn if she actually did go around shooting puppies.

But it would make sense.

She shifted really uncomfortably in her seat, “n…no,” she stammered, “I…” and apparently it wasn’t enough for her to cry in front of Prompto, she was now openly crying in front of his friend too.

...great. Just great. Gladio sucked in a breath, releasing it slowly and audibly as he ran a hand back through his hair. He slumped back in his chair a little, looking across the table at Liz and maybe wondering if he shouldn't have stirred this pot after all, now or after everything that went down during homecoming. Talk about a misfire!

"Look," he said, leaning forward again, as decided that while he prefer it that this wasn't his problem, Prompto was his teammate, and if it affected his performance negatively (and based on their training this morning, it definitely had), then that made it his problem. He lifted his hands almost imploringly. "Whatever it was, obviously, you do feel bad about it, and that can...go a long way. And I've been working with Prompto for a few years now, and believe me, he's not the hateful type." He snorted faintly, with a sighing roll of his eyes. "Almost to a fault. You want me to call him? I can guarantee you, he's not doing anything important right now."

Probably just sprawled out on the floor underneath the cat staring at the ceiling more. A spot he'd probably never have even moved from if Gladio hadn't dragged him out for training earlier.

“I …” Liz stopped and then started, part of her was scared to see Prompto again but then she might not have another chance. What if he decided to quit and she couldn’t see him at the Photo Hut anymore? Would he even want to see her anymore?

“Ye…yes,” she finally managed to stammer, “if you’re sure he’s not busy,” there was another sob.

There was definitely a part of Gladio that was not expecting her to actually say yes to that, so he just needed a moment to sort of gawk how his attempt to curb a new addiction apparently led to him playing hand-holding relationship councellor, and he sighed again as he pulled himself out of his chair to his feet and pulled out his phone.

"Alright," he said, "just give me a sec."

And he walked away, albeit it probably not far enough that Liz wouldn't have heard the conversation that followed, or, at the very least, Gladio's end of it. "Yeah. You busy? ....Good. Come down to the Perk....don't worry about it, just do it....I'll buy you a drink, what do you want? ....No, don't--Don't bring Ignis! Just you....We're doing extra squats on Tuesday if you're not here in ten minutes...Then you'd better get moving!...Yeah, bye."

He ended the call and slipped his phone back into his pocket as he turned to Liz. "He's on his way," he offered, in case she hadn't figured it out, then hitched a thumb toward the counter. "I'm getting his drink."

“Th…thank you,” she managed and then wondered what she was even going to say to Prompto.

What do say you say to someone after you told them you killed nearly 40 people with your powers?

That was of course assuming Prompto would even want to be in the same room as her, he may decide to just turn around and leave when he realised she was there.

She started to sob quietly, holding on to the coffee that she had barely drank anything from.

It definitely didn't take Prompto ten minutes to get there (he made sure of that!), but it had taken him long enough that the drink was finished and Gladio had gone back to the table to drop it off, pick up his own, and also leave another stack of napkins for Liz, all the while wondering what kind of new drama they were all going to be dragged into by default and being reminded that this sort of thing was exactly why half the time, relationship stuff just wasn't worth the trouble...

...but then Prompto did arrive, not knowing at all what was going on or what to expect, and probably wouldn't have, after a million tries, have guessed this. He blinked at the door when he burst in with the intention of finding Gladio, starting a few steps toward him when he did spot him, and then stopping when he realized who he was with.

"...oh."

Yeah. Yup. Definitely did not see this one coming, and he blinked again before his eyes started bouncing between Gladio and Liz and trying to figure out exactly what was going on.

It didn't help that Gladio stepped toward him, put a heavy hand on his shoulder for a moment, then just sort of shook his head and gave him one of those stern warning looks. Squeezed his shoulder, patted it, threw in a very inappropriate but probably not all that surprising smack on his butt as he passed by, and left him to it.

Prompto was just going to take a moment to regret ever inviting that guy to come join them in teaching on the island for a second before breathing out slowly and continuing toward Liz's table.

"...Hey," he started, shoulders sagging, head down, until he actually saw that she'd been crying and his eyes went wide. "Ohgod, Liz!" He was already kneeling down next to her, reaching for one of the napkins to hold out for her. "What...what did he say to you? You know what, don't listen to that guy, he can seriously be a real jerk sometime, believe me, I should know!"

What the hell, Gladio? Seriously, like, total what the fuck moment right now!

That made Liz cry even harder, sorry about that Gladio, as she took the napkin from Prompto.

She tried to calm down enough to try and say that it wasn’t Gladio’s fault but all she could manage to get out was, “I’m so sorry,” and sat there sobbing into the napkin.

Edited 2021-11-20 22:01 (UTC)

"Hey, no, hey," Prompto said, somewhat frantic, and he had so many more napkins on the ready in his hands as he looked at Liz, worried and distressed but mostly confused and concerned. "It's okay, it's alright. Take your time, it's okay..."

She sat there trembling as she cried, she didn’t think she had any tears left to cry considering how much of it she had done the last couple of days.

Finally she did stop, “I’m sorry,” she said quietly again, “I know I’m the last person you want to see right now,” she couldn’t bring herself to meet Prompto’s gaze to confirm that fear of rejection and stared down at the pile of scrunched up napkins that had formed in front of her.

"That..." Prompto frowned, shaking his head, because that was not helping with his confusion right now. "That's not true. That...that's definitely not true..."

And he'd almost followed that up with asking why she would even think that, but, well, that part, at least, he wasn't confused about. But he thought...or at least he'd tried!...to make it clear on Thursday that he wasn't...at least he wasn't planning on going anywhere.

"I just...I just figured you'd....want some space...or something."

And he was still working through a lot of his own thoughts about it, too, but, well, they didn't seem to matter as much, in the long run.

“Oh,” she sniffed, daring a glance back up at him, “I thought…you didn’t …I …” she hesitated, “I thought that maybe you were going to call the cops?” she stared back down at the table, another shade of red mixed in with the other red blotches from the crying that she had been doing.

Liz had considered that possibility …well technically she had confessed to 38 counts of murder and arson after all.

She had half expected to be arrested yesterday in between the crying and moping she had been doing.

"...the...cops," Prompto repeated, and now he really was going to just stare at Liz and gawk because if there was ever a moment that was a good use of the why would you think that?, this would definitely be it, to the point where, if she wasn't crying so much, he'd almost think she was just trolling him at this point.

"Liz. I wasn't going to tell...anyone."

Much less the cops.

Especially when it sounded like she already sort of worked with her world's version of the secret kind of cops that would even deal with that sort of thing, and, uhhhh, unless he was getting the story wrong, they kind of already knew?

“I …” Liz stared back up at him and trembled, “it…after Pittsburg…my record…it’s…” her voice went quiet, her thoughts were jumbled up and she knew she wasn’t making a lot of sense, “it’s bad …if Fandom PD knew… ”

Would they ask her to leave Fandom?

it still didn’t help clarifying her thought process or why she’d think Prompto would do that to her, “I…”

The tears started building again, “I’m sorry,” she said again.

Yeah, Prompto was also pretty sure that maybe records like that were probably already on file. At least somewhere. And that if the FPD had to personally handle every mark on everyone's file....

Well, they certainly wouldn't be able to complain about not having much to do anymore!

"Liz," Prompto said, moving in to just give her a hug. "I thought you said you went to school here. This place is pretty much crawling with weirdos and secret criminals and dark pasts and who even knows what else. That's part of its charm."

Liz could only nod, not trusting herself to speak at first but she wasn't going to refuse a hug, "I'm sorry," she finally said again, "I knew I was going to have to tell you but ...I ... I ...it's all..." she stopped and started again, "not many people know, I haven't really told many people," that part was kind of obvious Liz or you wouldn't be currently freaking out like this.

"Even when I was at Fandom before, there were only a few people who knew ... or at least knew part of it," she admitted.

And that was when, really, something else that Prompto had been thinking about an awful lot in these last few days started to tug on his brain a little bit, especially since...well, it was a little hypocritical, wasn't it? Here he was, trying to tell her it was all okay when she'd pretty much been bearing out her entire soul to him about this, and he hadn't even touched on his own secrets...

...to be fair, though, hers was....kind of a tough act to follow.

So when he pulled away from the hug, he took a second to maybe help brush away some of those tears, gave her a soft sort of trembling smile, and look at her with a nervous sort of frankness.

"There's...actually probably something I should tell you, too," he admitted. "I...I was going to anyway, just not...I thought maybe....because of all this...."

He bit his lip a little, chewing on it as he looked around the coffee shot.

"Just...not here. I don't know, maybe we...maybe we could go to your place, or something? To talk. Probably a better place...to...to talk..."

"Oh?" Liz blinked as Prompto drew back from the hug because even with her experiences at Fandom, with everything going on she hadn't factored in that maybe he had secrets of his own and now she felt rather bad that she had been so absorbed in her own problems that she hadn't considered the possibility that he had problems as well.

"We can do that," she said quietly, "if you would like to,"

Compared to hers, Prompto'a barely felt like anything at all, really. Or, at least, that's what he kept trying to tell himself, and now that he'd went ahead and put it out there...

He was already feeling the knots in his stomach.

"We can also totally wait!" he found himself sputtering. "I mean, whatever you want. You...it's been a hard weekend....for....for both of us. And it's....I mean, yours....it's up to you! But...maybe..." As he stumbled his way through all that, his head dripped with a sigh of resignation. "I mean, I should. It's, uh....it's only fair....right?"

"It's important to you," she said softly as she looked up at him, "um...you've ... it's ... you've been really great listening to me and everything ... more than I deserve," she paused as she tried to form the right words to say, "I want to .. if you want to that is ... I want to be there for you as well," she finally managed to finish, hoping he understood what she'd been trying to say.

Of course, Prompto didn't really want to, but that just kind of meant he had to, didn't it? He drew in a breath, and was definitely feeling a lot more empathy for how Liz must have felt on Thursday. Scared. Worried. And hating to have to face what you really were.

He stood up from where he'd been kneeling next to her and held out a hand. "Yeah. Let's blow this popsicle stand." He gave a watery sort smile. "You need a refill or anything? Before we go?"

Liz stared down at her coffee, which had gone cold and she'd barely touched it since she'd gotten there this morning, "actually um ... I might do that ...or I could make us coffee back home?" she said with the barest hint of a small smile as she took his hand and stood up.

[did you want me to put up a separate post for their talk at Liz's place?]

Prompto's smile had to grow a little when Liz took his hand, but the squeeze he gave it was maybe a little too tight from his nervousness.

"I think," he said, "coffee at your place sounds good."

He still had a whole ass drink he hadn't even touched yet, though.

[[ whichever you prefer! I am about to disappear for a wee bit, though, as a head's up. Yeah! Timing! ]]

Her smile widened just a bit, if she was bothered by how tight the squeeze was she didn't say anything.

"Then I can definitely make us coffee," it most likely wouldn't be as good as the Perk's but well she could still make a decent cup of coffee, at least she hoped - she didn't have much practice making it for other people.

[not a problem at all - I'll put the post up in a little bit :)]

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The Perk - Saturday Morning

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NFB from here please!

Re: NFB from here please!

Re: NFB from here please!

Re: NFB from here please!

Re: NFB from here please!

Re: NFB from here please!

Re: NFB from here please!

Re: NFB from here please!

Re: NFB from here please!

Re: NFB from here please!

Re: NFB from here please!