The Photo Hut - Thursday

[flamesburned]

Liz found that she did have quite a fair bit of paperwork to work on that morning when she came down to the store and set up for the day, so she was taking the time to sit down and finish her general admin work. She wasn’t sure why there was suddenly so much since it seemed like it hadn’t been that busy but she didn’t mind working on it since she preferred to do her computer work on Thursdays.

In particular she had a lot of emails to go through and that was taking up most of her morning, so she was trying to respond to them as quickly as she could.

[the Photo Hut is open!]

Comments

[hashtag_chocobro]

And here came Prompto, right around lunchtime, try and contain your shock and surprise, although with the camera slung around his neck, it was clear he had some other plans that would at least make it so that he wasn't all up in Liz's space for too long.

Tentatively.

You definitely wouldn't hear him complaining if she wanted him all up in her space, but, well, he worried, about just when those rapidly diminishing returns on their still lingering clinginess to each other would start to kick in.

"Water," he started, of course, handing over the bottle before getting to the good stuff. "And not a sandwich this time, so there."

He leaned over extra to hand Liz herself, as an excuse to deliver it with a kiss, and give a peek over at the computer and what she was working on.

"Busy?"

[flamesburned]

Liz was definitely more than happy for Prompto to be in her space and she smiled brightly when he came over, turning from the computer to look at him as he came over to the counter.

“Thank you,” she told him as she accepted the bottle of water and looked at the salad that he had made her, “I can’t wait to eat this,” she told him, “it looks delicious,”

She was also very happy to accept the delivery with a kiss.

“I seemed to get quite a few emails this morning,” she explained as she moved the computer over so that he could have a look, “I’m not sure where all the paperwork came from, it was quiet for a couple of weeks but I’m not busy enough that I can’t take a break,” she assured him.

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Good," said Prompto, definitely feeling glad that Liz was the one handling all the administrative stuff and not him, practically feeling his brain glaze over at just two seconds of looking at the computer. "Because you shouldn't have to wait to eat that, and breaks are important."

Especially ones that involved having lunch with him, but he'd admit, he was a little biased on that one.

[flamesburned]

Liz’s smile widened at that, “they most definitely are,” she agreed wholeheartedly with that as she picked up the bottle of water to take a drink from it, “and …” she added a little shyly once she had finished taking a mouthful of water, “they’re especially important when I get to spend them with you,” a faint blush spread across her cheeks as she agreed with the narrative and looked happily up at him.

[hashtag_chocobro]

And how could Prompto be expected to respond to a reaction like that, except to blush in kind, that splotchy blossoming of red across his cheeks that still made all his freckles stand out like constellations. His grin a little crooked and awkward and self-deprecating.

And he almost made a comment about how bad all that work must be if even putting up with him was sounding good right now, but he stopped himself, managed to just appreciate the compliment for what it was without immediately trying to dismiss it.

In fact, he was actually going to lean hard into the other direction.

"You're right," he stated, with a confidence that seemed to contradict that sheepish expression. "I'd even go so far as to say that breaks with me are the most important."

[flamesburned]

“They are indeed and they’re also the best kind of breaks,” Liz’s blush deepened a little as she gazed up at Prompto.

“I look forward to spending them with you,” she added, apparently it was possible to go even redder.

[hashtag_chocobro]

Prompto had to marvel a little bit, over the fact that they could still be like this, even after all this time, but then his brain did that little, jarring shift again, that disorienting reminder that it actually hadn't been that long. At least not for Liz...

"Not sick of me yet, then," he noted, softly; the defiant burst of confidence had been nice while it lasted, at least, "huh?"

[flamesburned]

Liz smiled up at him, “I could never be sick of you,” she assured him, “this is all amazing, you being here with me, getting to have lunch with you,” her smile widened, “I still can’t quite believe that this is real,”

[hashtag_chocobro]

Here, Prompto had a 'famous last words' all locked and loaded for when Liz said she'd never be sick of him, but the rest of what she said, and that smile on her face, softened thay right out of him.

"It better be real!" he said instead, with a small laugh. "Because if I'm stuck with Gladio giving me a hard time, even in my dreams, then I'd like to file a complaint!"

But, with that, he then grinned over at Liz before leaning forward for a long, lingering kiss, one he didn't pull away from very much when he did draw away to grin and point out, "Feels pretty real, anyway."

[flamesburned]

Liz giggled and had no problems leaning in for a kiss , especially a long one.

She smiled brightly when Prompto pulled away briefly, “it does feel real,” she agreed, “it feels nice, really nice,”

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Really, really nice," Prompto agreed softly, leaning his forehead again Liz's. He moved one of his hands up to brush his thumb against her cheek, closed his eyes and just savored the moment.

[flamesburned]

Liz gave a contented murmur in response, not feeling the need to say anything, and just take the time to appreciate how nice this moment was and how real it all felt.

She didn’t want it to end, she knew it would have to but she was happy for it to go on as long as it was able to.

[hashtag_chocobro]

Prompto himself was thinking he could pretty much do this all day, but it was because he knew he could just do this all day that he knew that, eventually, they should probably move on.

Eventually.

And, when his guilt about distracting Liz and taking up her time started to have a little more pull that the very nice contentment of just being with her, he finally murmured out, "I should let you get back to work..."

[hasaknightjob]

Steven told Liz he would touch base with her. Also he needed to give her spare keys to the flat. So with slowplay being love he poked his head in at the Photo Shop in what he hoped wasn't an inopportune time. "Hello? Liz?"

[flamesburned]

"Steven hi," Liz smiled as she looked up from her computer and the mun was free from work, sp is always amazing!, "how are you today?" she asked gently.

[hasaknightjob]

"Better," Steven said as he came over to join her. "Helped having Llewellyn there, and Nell who brought amazing food for dinner. It was good having you check in as well. We're very fortunate, Marc and me, all the friends we have here. How are things with you and yours?"

[flamesburned]

"I'm glad you're doing better today," Liz told him, "and that you had people over to stay with you, I was happy to check in, sorry I wasn't able to join you last night," she added apologetically. "and we're doing very well thank you,"

[hasaknightjob]

"It was last minute, completely understood," Steven said. He fished through his pockets producing keys and a piece of paper. "Here, before I forget. Keys to the flat and instructions for the fish and the plant. I can email those to you as well if it's handy. Instructions, of course. Can't really email keys can you?"

Steven smiled at his own joke.

[flamesburned]

“Oh thank you,” Liz smiled, “I’ll keep the keys safe,” she promised, “and maybe it wouldn’t hurt to have an extra copy of the instructions?” she considered, “no I suppose you really can’t email keys,” she added with a grin. “You must be excited about your trip though, it’s coming up pretty quickly,”

[hasaknightjob]

"Could send you a picture of them I suppose, wouldn't get you far into the flat though," Steven said with a grin. "And yeah. Still haven't decided what all I'm taking yet. Been forever since I've gone on holiday. Then there's Marc. Not that he wants to join but figure have some of his things just in case, yeah? Don't want him caught out if something happens."

[flamesburned]

“My last holiday was the school trip to Africa,” Liz told him, “I went with Prompto but I know what you mean about packing,” she nodded, pausing as she considered, “it probably wouldn’t hurt having something of Marc’s ready to go, at least then you wouldn’t have to try and buy something in Portugal,”

[hasaknightjob]

"Least he and I use the same shampoo and all," Steven said. "Saves room. Otherwise hard planning for all the scenarios, isn't it? What if it rains, what if it's too warm, what if you spill something on your shirt?"

Steven was totally going to be up late Saturday night not having packed a thing yet besides a couple of spare outfits for Marc, basically.

"Don't suppose you've any advice?" Steven asked.

[flamesburned]

“I think my main concern was making sure I had all my photography equipment,” Liz admitted, “I don’t think I was that concerned with my outfits, since they’re all the same really, at least they were at the start of the year,” she said with a fond smile as she placed a hand on her bump, “except for having a swim suit, maybe it wouldn’t hurt to have a few jackets in case the weather’s cold, pack a few casual outfits and a couple of dressier outfits? Oh and an umbrella in case it rains?” She offered, then she considered Steven’s point about spilling something on his shirt, “and maybe you could pack a spare outfit in case you do need to change?”

[hasaknightjob]

Steven nodded along until he realized there was no way he was going to remember all that. "I should write this down. Hang on."

He fumbled in his pockets until he found his phone and his glasses and used both as he started making a note of all of Liz's suggestions. "...and a spare outfit. There. Think I've got it all. Cheers. Last time I traveled it was Marc taking us to Cairo and there wasn't much time for packing."

None, in Steven's case. And Marc constantly kept his things in a state which made it easy to grab them and go so hardly time had been needed there.

[flamesburned]

Liz smiled, “you’re welcome, I hope that helps. I know I used to keep things pretty light when I used to travel for missions, I can understand not having a lot of time to pack,” she told him.