The Photo Hut - Thursday

[flamesburned]

Liz was glad that she had been able to get started on the reports that she wanted to get done before Professor Broom arrived as she was finding it harder to concentrate that morning since she was looking forward to Hellboy and Professor Broom visiting. She hadn’t seen them since she had visited for her birthday back in June and Abe had told her she was pregnant.

In between the reports she was working on, she was also trying to complete some of her general admin tasks that she normally liked to do on Thursdays, so she was able to keep herself fairly busy that morning and was trying to not be to distracted by the upcoming weekend.

[the Photo Hut is open!]

Comments

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Water."

And there was Prompto, just a little bit after noon, coming downstairs and greeting Liz with a large insulated water bottle, which he handed over, before also bringing attention to a few containers in his other hand. "And I made some lunch."

It was a fancy salad and a frittata, recipes he'd gotten online that were full of stuff that was good for pregnancy, and he was absolutely no Ignis, and the kitchen was an absolute mess right now from his efforts (but he'd have plenty of time to clean it up before she was done down here!), but hey! Food! He was being helpful!

[flamesburned]

Right on cue Liz’s stomach rumbled and she turned away from the computer to look towards Prompto and the food he brought down.

She smiled brightly, “these look wonderful, thank you,”

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Want some company?" Prompto asked, depositing everything carefully on the counter, everything that definitely included enough for the both of them, so clearly he had anticipated what that answer was going to be even before he asked it.

[flamesburned]

“I’d love some company,• Liz grinned as she moved closer to the counter, “I should definitely take a break, I got a fair amount of work done this morning,” she added.

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Good," said Prompto, grinning lopsidedly as he fell into that old habit of leaning on the counter, practically without even thinking about it, "because I'm going to ruin all of that."

He wouldn't, of course. He'd probably make a hasty retreat once they finished eating, but still...

"Good morning, though?"

[flamesburned]

“It has been a good morning, I finished most of those reports for Professor Broom so I can show him over the weekend,” Liz told him with a smile, she paused, “I’ve missed this, lunch on Thursday’s,” she added quietly.

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Don't even get me started," said Prompto, with one of those light laughs of his that seemed to be his response to almost everything these days, so understated and just marveling over... all of it, "on how much I've missed lunch on Thursdays. Or lunch in general. But especially," and now he passed over a grin at her, "lunch with you. Definitely something I'm looking forward to annoying you with again."

[flamesburned]

Liz brightened even more at that if that was even possible, “you wouldn’t be annoying me,” she assured him, “I’m looking forward to having many more lunches with you,” she added, her smile widened.

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Oh, sure," Prompto said, grinning crookedly over at her as he, being reminded of how much he really did miss lunch, especially lunch with fresh food, pulled one of the containers with the salad a little closer to himself, "you say that now..."

[flamesburned]

Liz’s stomach rumbled again, reminding her that she did need to eat.

She took a drink of water and then picked up her own container, “you could never annoy me, I’m so happy that you’re here, that we’re together again,” she told him softly, returning that grin.

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Famous last words," Prompto noted, although he did so mildly, his grin softening a little. He knew when not to dig so deep into a joke like that that it ended up being pretty much a self-fulfilling prophesy, and was just going to genuinely enjoy the moment for what it was, as he took a bite of food and just sort of...basked in it, for a moment, before his attention shifted with toward the food.

"Hey," he said, sounding surprised and impressed with himself, "this isn't actually half bad."

Granted, his standard for good food had been significantly broadened due to the last two years, but still!

[flamesburned]

Liz took a bite of the frittata and immediately took another bite, realising just how hungry she was, “this is amazing,” she told him with a smile, “thank you for making me lunch,”

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Of course," Prompto said, looking exceptionally pleased now that the food also had Liz's approval, and he figured her tastes were at least a little more discerning than his had become. "Wasn't like I was doing anything else. It was kind of fun, actually, trying to find a good recipe, something not too complicated. I can definitely see why Iggy always enjoyed cooking so much."

And it made him feel helpful, like he was actually doing something, small as it was, to start making up for the last few months/ten years.

[flamesburned]

“I never really learned how to cook,” Liz admitted as she took another bite of good, “I can make a cake and that’s really it but that’s not really healthy food to eat,” she paused, “I suppose it’s something I should learn,” she considered with a tilt of her head.

[hashtag_chocobro]

"I...still have a lot of room for improvement," Prompto mused. "Maybe...." And it was funny, wasn't it? How he still felt that little thrill of nervousness when it came to suggesting something like this, to Liz, who he'd been with, who had shown in this last week how much she still wanted to be together, with whom he was going to be starting a family with, but he guessed he could just blame the big fat gap in the timeline for, "...we can learn together."

Spending some time in the kitchen, fuddling their way through recipes together? It didn't really get much cuter than that.

[flamesburned]

Liz smiled happily up at him at that suggestion, “I would very much like to learn how to cook with you,” she told him, “I would … I would like that a lot,” a faint blush began to appear on her cheeks as she said that.

[hashtag_chocobro]

"I would suggest," Prompto ventured, "getting a start on it this weekend, but I think we'll probably have our hands full with Bloom and HB swinging into town. Will definitely help cut the cost of our take-out budget, too."

Had he started being a little more conscious, in all of his research, of just how expensive something like having a child was going to be? Oh, yeah. Definitely, gnawing at the edges of his brain in a spark of a whole new anxiety for him to add to his already long list of them.

[flamesburned]

Liz nodded thoughtfully, “it would also help in making sure I’m eating healthily,” she considered, since she did still feel very guilty about the two weeks where she wasn’t eating much at all, “I think cutting back on take out isn’t a bad idea, especially if we can start saving some money,”

She did have some savings set aside but they weren’t anywhere near enough to help raise a child, every little bit helped. “How about starting on Monday?” she suggested.

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Dinner after I'm done here at the store?" Prompto mused, and then he snorted a laugh. "Assuming I manage to survive the weekend, anyway..."

Definitely feeling no small amount of terror over how things were going to go with that.

[flamesburned]

Liz did wince a bit at that, since there was really no telling how HB was going to be, “I’m sure it will all be fine,” she wished she sounded a lot more confident than she did.

“but Monday after you finish work sounds like a perfect time,” she nodded, hoping they did manage to get to Monday without any incident.

[hashtag_chocobro]

Prompto was going to just pass over to Liz a very skeptical look and give himself a reminder that Hellboy was small potatoes compared to what he'd had to deal with these last ten years, but then he smiled.

"Sounds like a good plan. Think about what you might want to try to make, then, and maybe we'll go from there."

[flamesburned]

Liz managed a sheepish look in response at that, “I can definitely do that, I’ll have a look at what recipes I can find, at least we have a pretty full kitchen, we shouldn’t have to do any big grocery shops,”

Since they were trying to save money and all and she knew she wouldn’t have to worry Prompto about carrying a lot of bags.

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Even if we do need to pick up some stuff," Prompto grinned faintly, over the fact that something so simple could just be so....nice and comforting, "we can just do that together, too."

[flamesburned]

“It will be nice to do that together,” Liz smiled happily, “I still can’t believe that we get to do this …make plans like this,” she added shyly, “I’ve missed this,”