The Photo Hut - Thursday

[flamesburned]

The weekend had been …different and Liz wasn’t entirely sure how to process it, even after a few days had passed.

Still it had been nice to spend time with both Trevor and Cidney, even if she hadn’t been able to spend as much time as she would have liked and she was still trying to wrap her head around the idea of Noctra being 14 already in one universe.

She had a new email from Hellboy that day and there were new photos of all the cats, so she was rather distracted by all the photos and not much actual work was being done at the moment.

[the Photo Hut is open!]

Comments

[hashtag_chocobro]

Yeah, the weekend had thrown Prompto off in about a gazillion different ways, he felt, and not all of them bad, but most of them were complicated, and so it definitely had him feeling a little off, and weirdly guilty, although he knew that nothing could be helped, when these sorts of things happened. And he was so used to these kids showing up and just showing all these horrible possible futures that he had no idea how to handle one that showed up to show....well, not even a future, but a completely different version of history that could never, ever happen.

(Well, except in an alternate universe, and if you wanted to talk about really fucking with his head....)

But he was trying not to think about it too much and he was trying to focus, instead, on the here and now, and the life he did have, and the amazing kid that was real, even if she still wasn't much of a conversationalist yet (but not for lack of trying). And the amazing woman he was sharing that life with and the absolutely insurmountable odds that they'd faced to get to get to this point.

Which meant taking a page for Ignis' book and pouring himself into making a really great lunch to bring down to Liz while she was down at the shop, a lunch that he sort of burnt a little bit, but he hoped still turned out okay.

Also, maybe not the best at-desk-while-possibly-juggling-a-baby meal, but it sounded really good, and was a little more effort than his usual meals, and that was sort of where his focus had been.

So, baby? Check. Food? Check. Coming down to the shop and immediately sweeping in with the most humble and almost apologetic kiss on the forehead ever?

"Hi."

Check.

"You hungry?"

[flamesburned]

“Hi,” Liz smiled brightly at the kiss on the forehead, turning round to face both Prompto and Noctra, “actually food sounds really good right now,” she admitted.

“It smells amazing,” she grinned as she tried to take a peak at what it was, “how has your morning been?”

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Busy," Prompto reported with a bit of a grin back, nudging the food closer across the counter so Liz could start digging into it and he could shift his hold on Noctra a little, who mostly just curled up sleepily against his chest at the moment, clearly having felt the effects of the busy morning herself. "It ended up a little more involved than I was expecting, but I think it turned out okay. How've things been down here?"

[flamesburned]

Liz smiled, wiggling her finger a little at Noctra, “thank you, I’m looking forward to eating it,” she told him, “actually I haven’t been doing that much work,” she admitted, “HB sent over more photos of the cats,” she turned the computer a little so Prompto could see them.

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Oh?" Color Prompto both interested and intrigued....and eagerly jumping on any distraction he could. All the more benefit that it was a cute and adorable distraction, and he leaned in for a better look. "New cat pictures are always good! Any good ones of my main little guy?"

[flamesburned]

“Of course, he sent over lots of photos of Leo in particular,” Liz smiled as she went to those photos so Prompto could see them, “he’s grown so much, I mean I know we saw them at Christmas but I can’t believe how big they’ve gotten, especially the kittens,”

[hashtag_chocobro]

"We're going to probably be saying the same about this little nugget," said Prompto, with a light little brush of the soft, dark hair on Noctra'a head, with a faint grin and a dedicated attempt to not think about teenagers running around recently, "here pretty soon. Wondering how it's even possible."

[flamesburned]

Liz smiled warmly at that, also trying not to think about certain teenagers and anything like that, “I still can’t believe she’s a couple of months old now,” she said fondly, getting a little distracted with waggling her finger at Noctra.

[hashtag_chocobro]

And this hadn't really been where Prompto thought he'd been going with all of these musings, but here was where his mind wound up, what with the thinking of the passage of time and the last week, the last few months, the last few....well, everyone.

"Think maybe," he mused, "it's about time to see if she's up for another couple hours with one of the guys, see if they're up to babysitting again, so we could, I don't know, get out together sometime? Just us? Get dinner or maybe a movie or something?"

Granted, the last time they tried to snag a little bit of time for themselves, a whole section of the island burned down, but that was clearly just coincidence, right? It might be good for them, especially in light of everything from this weekend...

[flamesburned]

Liz blinked a little as she glanced up from Noctra back at Prompto, she smiled, “actually that does sound nice,” she admitted, she tried not to think about what happened the last time they’d been child free but surely it wouldn’t happen a second time right?

“If they wouldn’t mind babysitting, I’d like for us to spend some together, just the two of us,” she smiled.

[hashtag_chocobro]

Prompto smiled a little easier, that she didn't just outright reject the idea, although that initial blink had him a little worried at first there.

"Maybe give it a week or two, though," he said, "after the last weekend, they might want kind of a break from kids."

[flamesburned]

Liz smiled softly at that, “I think we can definitely do that,” she assured him and she leaned into give him a kiss, “but I think a couple of hours to ourselves does sound really nice,”

[hashtag_chocobro]

The kiss did even more to help reassure Prompto, who lingered in it a little while to kiss her back, and then rest his forehead against Liz's for a moment.

"I think we need it," he admitted softly. "I think we could use a break from kids, too."

Especially ones that alternate versions of him kept having with Cindy, apparently.

But at least they'd managed to skip Lucy this time!

[flamesburned]

Liz smiled softly as she took the moment to enjoy the feel of Prompto resting his forehead on her own, “that does sound nice,” she agreed, “really nice,”