The year was speeding by for Prompto again, and before long Scarlet's second birthday was approaching. Somehow, with trying to balance raising a kid, going to college and beginning Crownsguard training, everything went by in a blur.

But now he had his little girl's 2nd birthday party to plan, and he wanted to make it even better than the last one.

His mind raced with new ideas for a theme, one that would be just as cute as before. He would also try to invite the mom's and their children from the mother's club at the library. Maybe he could even have it take place at some fun kid's place, though that would have to be something he would need to research. There were still plenty of things he didn't know about, and that included what places were best to hold birthday parties at.

"Dada!"

He looked up from his phone as Scarlet came running in. "Hey Scarlet, what's up?"

Scarlet held up a piece of paper, on it was a little doodle of something. "Puppy!"

"Aw, you drew that? That's such a cute drawing!" Prompto beamed.

"I draw kitty now!" Scarlet shouted happily before running back to where he had been drawing.

"Then you go do that, little strawberry."

"Dada draw with me?" Scarlet asked.

Prompto smiled, getting up from his chair. "Alright, I can go do that."

The two of them walked over to Scarlet's little play table where a ton of crayons and paper were scattered about. Scarlet sat down in the little kid's seat and Prompto sat down on the floor next to her.

She grinned as she held a piece of paper out to him. "You draw too."

"You really want me to draw?"

"Yeah!"

Prompto took the pieces of paper and placed it down in front of him at the table. "Okay, what should I draw?"

Scarlet smiled, bouncing in her seat as she thought about it. "Hmm draw chocobo!"

"Of course you'd want me to draw that."

Scarlet giggled again. "Dada is chocobo!"

"Hey! Now who told you that?"

"Unca Noct!"

Prompto patted his daughter on the head. "Of course he would say that. He's a silly uncle isn't he?"

"Silly Unca Noct!"

"But okay, I'll draw a chocobo for you."

"And I draw kitty!"

Giving another laugh, Prompto tried his best to draw a chocobo. His drawing skills weren't the strongest, but he gave it his all, happily drawing alongside his daughter. As he drew, he noticed Scarlet was trying to brush hair out of her face.

'Guess it's time for another haircut.'

Back shortly after Scarlet had turned one, Ignis informed him that it was a good time to give Scarlet her first haircut. It had been a bit of a struggle, with Scarlet fussing a little throughout the process, but the result had ended up being cute.

He wanted her to grow her pretty red hair out longer, but he started to realize at such a young age it was probably best to keep it a bit shorter. Maybe once she was a couple years older he would start letting it grow out, as he knew Iris definitely wanted to braid her hair one day.

"Scarlet? You doing okay with your hair? Want a haircut?"

Scarlet nodded. "Ya! Haircut!"

"And you want Uncle Iggy to cut your hair again?"

"Yes!"

"Then I guess I will let him know."

Together they kept drawing, with Scarlet humming little melodies she had learned from her music toys.

Prompto was proud, knowing that Scarlet seemed to not only have a good creative mind, but a good musical ear.

He made a mental note to try to watch more movies with Scarlet that had songs in them. It was just another note to a long list of things he wanted to do.

Eventually, Prompto had settled on a birthday theme. Originally, he had thought of doing a chocobo theme for Scarlet, but after some thought he wanted to save that birthday party for another year. That kind of theme, he decided, would be best for when Scarlet was older, for a time when she would be able to properly enjoy and remember it.

So for this year, the theme was going to be a cute beach theme, an idea he had thought of the previous year. He thought of it again when looking back at the old beach photos of Scarlet.

"You think Ignis would let you rent a truck to dump sand into the ballroom?" Noctis asked after hearing the idea.

"Wouldn't your dad be the one to ask?"

"Prom, you know at this point my dad would be willing to do anything for Scarlet. It's Iggy who would blow a gasket if a mountain of sand was dumped into the Citadel. Well, him and maybe Clarus…"

"And Cor!"

"Oh definitely Cor! I can imagine it now! Clarus and Cor barge into my dad's office to tell him off about the sand in the ballroom and he is just holding Scarlet like…"

Noctis looked to the floor where Scarlet was playing and scooped her up. He faced her towards Prompto and started to tickle her, making her laugh happily.

"He would say 'how can you say no to this face?' Then Clarus and Cor would just give in, knowing my dad is a crazy grandpa."

"I totally can see it," Prompto said with a laugh.

"Haha! Unca Noct stoooop!" Scarlet giggled.

Noctis stopped and then set Scarlet back down, who immediately ran back to her toys as if nothing had happened. Seeing a little toddler in acting was so fascinating. It really made Prompto think back to his own childhood, or lack thereof.

It still haunted him sometimes when he thought about it… how he never had any of this growing up. He couldn't recall any moment where his parents would sit down with him and would play or talk with him. They would tend to him, giving him food and other necessities, but he never could remember seeing any deep form of love coming from them.

All the more reason he had to shower Scarlet with as much love as possible. He never wanted a day to go by where she felt neglected or unloved.

"So… sand in the ballroom?" Noctis asked.

Prompto stopped his ramped thoughts, pulling himself back into the moment and grinned at Noctis. "I'm willing to ask your dad if you can come with me. I'm actually kind of curious what he'll say."

This birthday party was going to be bigger than last year, with Prompto actually deciding to invite the moms from the club at the library. When he visited them during one of their meets, all of them expressed their excitement to come to the party.

Sadly, the sand in the ballroom plan didn't work out, but the theming was still more than Prompto expected. Regis went all out with setting up the ballroom as if it was like a beach resort, just minus the actual sand. There was, however, a bounce house set up that was themed to look like a beach.

Prompto had dressed Scarlet up in her newest swimsuit, a shimmering mermaid design, wanting to keep on theme with everything else.

"That is such a cute color for her."

"Scarlet looks so sweet!"

"You've got a good taste in fashion, maybe I should take you with me when I shop for my childrens' clothes ha ha."

All of the moms were showering him with comments throughout the entire party, making him feel a mix of flustered and proud emotions. He knew they were all looking out for him and he appreciated it, but it still made him a bit nervous after all. He wasn't even twenty yet and he had a now two-year-old daughter.

Still a bit crazy, but he knew he wasn't going to change it for anything.

"Okay Scarlet, are you ready for cake?" Prompto asked after he wrangled her out of the bounce house.

"Cake! Yeah! Yeah Cake!" Scarlet muttered excitedly.

"Do you remember what everyone has to do first before we eat the cake?"

"Hmm, sing!"

"That's right! We sing for you," Prompto said before placing her into her high chair.

"Sing! Then eat cake!"

Prompto laughed. "Just wait a few moments okay?"

With everyone else coming to the large table to sit down, Regis had the head chef bring in the cake. It was a large cake with just as amazing theming as the party itself, with so many little details of a beach made out of frosting and other cake materials.

Prompto turned on his camera and started to snap pictures, just as everyone started singing. Scarlet was very good at waiting, evening looking at Prompto and smiling for a few of his pictures.

Once everyone finished singing, Prompto grinned at Scarlet. "Okay Strawberry, go and blow out your candles."

With the strongest breath she could muster, Scarlet tried to blow out the two little candles on her cake. Everyone cheered once she actually managed it, and soon enough cake was served to everyone.

Another successful birthday, and once again, Prompto had to remind himself this was only the second party. There were going to be so many more to come after this, but he was still ready to keep cherishing every single moment.