Work Text:
“Kronii… are you sure this is ethical?”
“Don’t worry about it, Fauna,” Kronii stood up straight, wiping a stray flower petal from her chin— a whole bucket’s worth of them sitting in the sink in the kitchen area of Tea/Time Boba. Honestly, it was impressive— Fauna had no idea how that many tea leaves could come out of her boss’s lungs.
Well, technically she knew the cause, it was more a space issue than anything else. Was hanahaki magical? It seemed so, how else could you explain a disease caused by unrequited love?
In any case, Fauna could really do nothing but watch as Kronii hefted the bucket. They had about half an hour before the shop opened, and they both had opening duties to attend to. For Fauna, that meant checking to make sure the night crew had replaced everything in the facilities, getting the ovens warmed up for the small variety of baked goods they offered, and getting the chairs off the tables.
For Kronii, it meant spending thirty minutes coughing up flowers as she thought of the cute florist next door (Seriously! Freakin’ seriously, it was like the story wrote itself!), in order to save on costs for some of their more expensive floral blends.
In a way, Fauna was living in her own personal hell.
Fauna sighed, leaning on a table as she stared at the quiet streets outside. She had to get up earlier than the average person on their way to work— such was the way of those that dealt in caffeine— and the sky was still barely blue-tinged towards the horizon. Occasionally, a car would drive past, probably other “earlier than early” shifts like herself, or maybe even the rare overnight worker. Watson’s pick-up was still parked in the lot behind their shops, which Fauna supposed was one of the perks of having a shop downstairs and an apartment upstairs.
It was infuriating, really. Here Kronii was, with the perfect excuse to live out the sort of romantic-drama dreams that Fauna had read about and adored all her life, and does she capitalize on the opportunity?
Well… TECHNICALLY yes, but not in the way she was SUPPOSED to!
She huffed, walking back behind the counter to count in the drawer, eye twitching a little as she heard Kronii wrack up another coughing fit over the sound of the boilers.
‘Uuuuuuu, it’s just not fair!’
The till clinked into place as she pushed the drawer shut— maybe a little harder than she needed to— and she let out a sigh. Honestly, it’s not like it was her business in the first place to be getting worked up over her boss’s love life. She had Mumei back at the apartment, it’s not like she was yearning— at least THAT would add enough spice to this situation that Fauna could feel like she was living out the romantic dream!
But no, she simply watched as Kronii did little more than scratch up her throat, coughing up chamomile, lavender, rose, and hibiscus. Obviously she had gone to a doctor first, but the moment Kronii was told that hers was a mild case, instead of the life-threatening variant, it was like a switch was flipped and the woman lost any semblance of rational thought about her condition. If she had any to begin with. Fauna had known her since college, the woman was a disaster— of course she’d rather monetize the situation than confront her own feelings.
Fauna glanced to the side, out through Tea/Time’s window and into the building next door— beautiful, varied foliage and plants of all types growing beautifully inside Watson’s Arrangements.
‘I wonder if it’s because she’s a florist, and that’s why Kronii coughs up so many types of flowers over her?’
Honestly, that little nugget of oddness over Kronii’s particular strain of hanahaki had interested Fauna to begin with— tip-toeing around her, trying to wheedle information out, maybe figure out if it was because she liked multiple people— but no.
Kronii had bluntly launched into a whole diatribe. She knew it was Watson at the source of this— had made absolutely sure to catalog all the types of flowers she produced. Her best theory was that whatever metaphysical aspect of hanahaki that made the flowers symbolic had blended her tea business with Watson’s expansive array of floral arrangements into “cough up a whole bunch of different tea flowers”-itis.
She made it sound so… clinical. Like her feelings were, at most, a nuisance to push aside in favor of cutting some costs for the business.
But you know what the worst part was?
Every day— every single gosh-darn day they were open— Watson would come in at 8:45 sharp, fifteen minutes before she opened her own shop, and only ordered the floral blend teas.
The ones coming out of Kronii’s lungs.
Fauna wanted to scream over this. The universe could not be painting a CLEARER picture, but what could she do? She wanted to grab Kronii by the collar and shake her, to scream in her face to just confess to her already, to march over to the florist’s shop and spill all the beans.
Unfortunately, she had bills to pay— and friends or no, Fauna was more than willing to bet that Kronii would fire her for getting rid of such a windfall to her business’s profits.
Stupid… capitalism.
The sound of Kronii’s flats clicked closer, and Fauna straightened up as she walked out of the kitchen door, stretching and clearing her throat.
“Alrighty, got the petals potted, and washed the clippings from the ones I planted last week- Tuesdays are usually pretty chill, yeah? Should probably be good for the day.”
Fauna frowned, eyebrows knitting together as she gave her boss a concerned look.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to brew you up something? Maybe with some… honey and lemon? Your voice is pretty hoarse, Kronii.”
She waved a hand.
“I’ve got cough drops— anyhow, we’re open in five minutes and twenty-seven seconds, have you checked the bathrooms?”
Fauna rolled her eyes.
“Yes. Toiletries are all taken care of, I’ve got the chairs down and gave the tables a wipe, drawer is counted, I have multiple batches of muffins baking while you were gagging back there—”
Kronii grimaced, “Yeesh, does it really sound that bad?”
“You sound like a dying animal.”
“Oof— well, it be like that.”
It took every iota of Fauna’s power not to scream. With a thumbs-up and a tired grin, Kronii turned towards the back.
“I’ll keep an eye on those muffins— four minutes and forty-one seconds, Fauna! Those doors open no earlier, and no later!”
“I know! It’s still insane that you keep track of the time down to the second like that!”
“Sounds like a skill issue!”
Fauna let out a breath, and— true to her word— unlocked the doors and flipped on the neon “We’re Open!” sign at exactly seven o’clock.
And, much like nearly every Tuesday she had ever worked, their first customer walked in an hour and forty-five minutes later.
The bell above the door chimed, light and airy, and Fauna glanced over at the head of blonde hair that pushed her way through; golden-brown apron with her shop’s logo printed up top, a flower that sort of resembled a gear or a cog. One day she’d figure out the story behind that, but Fauna liked the mystery; it let her make up her own stories in her head. She wiped the tired expression from her face, and gave Watson a kindly grin. Even if Kronii was absolutely insufferable because of this girl, at the very least she couldn’t blame her for it.
“Morning, Amelia— your usual?”
Ame cracked a grin, “Morning Fauna— actually, I think I’m gonna switch it up today!”
There was a clang from the kitchen immediately followed by a very distant “I’m alright!”. Fauna’s brows furrowed again, but she turned back to Ame.
“Okie dokes… sorry, right— uh, okay! What’ll it be?”
“Well,” Ame hummed, “You were talking about that matcha-thingy you usually drink a couple days ago, and I’m a little curious.”
“Ooooh, yes! Matcha with vanilla— I promise, you’ll love it. It’s like,” She stuck out her tongue as she thought, “It’s… okay it’s sort of like— did you ever watch “The Land Before Time” growing up?”
“Oh yeah?”
“Okay, so imagine drinking a tree-star smoothie— I know some people are like “Oooough, it tastes like graaaaaass”, but it’s tasty grass, I promise!”
Ame laughed, holding her hands up in surrender, “Nah, nah, no need to get defensive! I’m gonna try it.”
Fauna nodded, with a cheerful hum and she rang her up, “Definitely recommend the tapioca pearls with that.”
“Eh, I think I’ll stick with my coffee jellies. Need a little bit more of the boost.”
“The customer is always right~”
Ame stuck out her tongue, as the unsaid rest of the phrase hung between them, like a friendly jab— honestly, Amelia was a delight to be around, and Kronii’s type did tend to be girls that could run around her like the Roadrunner to her Wile E. Coyote.
‘She just needs to tell her instead of being a dummy coward about it.’
“Eh?”
Fauna straightened, clearing her throat— oh boy, she was muttering about it now, wasn’t she?
“Nothing— sorry, was thinking out loud about… something annoying.”
Immediately, Ame’s face shifted from curiosity to concern, sliding down the counter to where the cup-sealing machine was.
“Anything serious? Need to vent?”
Fauna sighed, and plastered on a placating smile.
“Nothing serious— it’s just early, is all.”
Concern shifted to an attempt at reassurance— but something in Ame’s eyes told her she didn’t fully believe it.
“Yeah, you guys do have to get up pretty early to get this place running, huh?”
At least she had the kindness not to press the issue.
“Well, it… certainly “be that way sometimes”, as Kronii likes to say.”
Ame snickered, eyes flickering towards the kitchen door with a hint of fondness, “Yeah, well… Kronii works herself too hard, doesn’t she? Haven't seen her up front in a while.”
“You have no idea.”
The machine beeped, and Fauna plucked Ame’s drink from the holder, as the florist stabbed the top with one of the large boba straws, taking an experimental sip. Immediately, her eyes lit up, and the corners of her mouth turned.
“Oh man, that’s pretty good!”
“See? What’d I tell you.”
Chuckling again, Ame gave Fauna a two-fingered salute.
“Never doubted you for a moment— alright, I’ve gotta get my own place opened up. Hope your shift doesn’t suck!”
“Same for you!”
With another chime of the bell, Tea/Time was empty once more. Idly, Fauna grabbed a napkin and wiped up the tiny drops of tea from Ame’s cup-stabbing, before the kitchen door flew open with a BANG! Fauna jumped, glancing over as Kronii glared at the front door to the shop, the tip of a fang poking out from her pursed lips, and her knuckles white from her absolute death-grip on the door.
“... She didn’t get her usual.”
Fauna blinked.
“What?”
Kronii let go of the door, muttering incomprehensibly under her breath as it slowly closed behind her, while Fauna stood with her heart pounding in surprise, stock-still, like a deer caught out on the road after being narrowly missed by a semi.
“...What!?”
“It was so bizarre! I swear, I haven't been that intimidated by her since I first met her, Mumei!”
Hours later, Fauna returned to her apartment— immediately diving into the oddity of her day. Mumei nodded along, listening as she tapped her capped highlighter against her chin. She was supposed to be studying, but Fauna had plopped this perfect opportunity to procrastinate in front of her— and she needed a break anyways.
“Well, it's not out of character for her to be sort of intense,” Mumei hummed, glancing over as Fauna paced. She smiled lightly, getting up from the table in the adjoined dining/living area, gently grasping Fauna’s wrist and guiding the both of them to the couch. Fauna pouted, leaning her head against Mumei's shoulder.
“True enough, but I’ve never seen her actually that mad before.”
Mumei hummed again, as she thought.
“Well… she’s still got that disease, right?”
“Uuuu, don't remind me, I have to watch her hack up petals every shift!”
“But that's important to consider,” Mumei put her hands on Fauna’s shoulders, looking her in the eye, “She’s coughing them up every day, yeah? A whole bunch?”
Fauna twisted her face into a grimace, “Yes— what are you getting at?”
“Don't the symptoms of hanahaki only pop up when the infected person has contact with or thinks about their crush?”
“I… that sounds right?”
“So,” Mumei held a finger up, “Kronii can’t be ignoring her feelings here— she has to think about them every day to fill up her dumb quota, yeah?”
There was a beat of silence, as Fauna blinked— before sinking into the couch and pressing her palms against her eyes, groaning from a tiredness that had seeped into her very soul.
“Oh my god, she’s an even bigger idiot than I thought.”
“Yeah— I mean, I always thought she would be more of a sadist, so it’s a little surprising to find out it's the other way around.”
“Mumei, please.”
“Hmm?”
Fauna sighed, letting her arms flop down as she stared up at the ceiling.
“What am I going to doooooo, this is so insufferable!”
“Wouldn't you be the expert there?”
Once again— because Mumei was such a fountain of odd commentary, it was practically a daily occurrence in Fauna’s life— Fauna gave Mumei a confused look.
“How do you figure? You're the only person I've dated, Mumei— and it wasn't like we had a particularly fraught courtship. I think the most dramatic it got was when you had to get Sana to act as your interpreter because you were blushing so hard you couldn't speak—”
Mumei let out a whining noise, putting both her hands on Fauna’s mouth as the owlish girl did her best reenactment of the event in question.
“N-not like that! I mean— you're the one who reads all those stories and fanfiction! Isn't this basically a goldmine for you to set them up?”
… Huh. Fauna had never thought of it quite like that— she was so preoccupied with Kronii’s insane way of dealing with the whole situation, she hadn't figured that she had such a fertile field of fic tropes at her disposal. The shock must have shown in her face, as Mumei stopped covering her mouth. After a few seconds of working her jaw as she thought, Fauna turned to Mumei.
“Mumei, you’re kind of a genius, you know?”
Mumei smiled, with her eyes shut.
“You’re welcome!”
“Hmm, but where to start…”
“Well,” Mumei shrugged, “You could always start by just getting them in a room together? Maybe Kronii will hack up some flowers right in front of her?”
Fauna glanced over at her girlfriend, considering for a moment— before her mouth curled up into a grin, as she twisted a lock of green hair around her finger.
“You know, Mumei… we’re alone in a room together.”
Mumei blinked. Then, a second later, smiled as her cheeks did their best impression of a tomato.
“Oh!”
Honestly, Fauna thought it would be harder to plan a way to get Kronii alone with Ame— but the two of them were so punctual with their timing, it worked perfectly in her favor.
The very next day, Fauna was on time— and very deliberately left her name tag in her car as she went inside. Kronii was already at work prepping for the day, as expected, giving Fauna a thumb’s up in greeting. Opening went by in a flash, as Fauna tried to suppress the tiniest jitters of nerves over her plan. Wednesdays were a little busier; she actually had a handful of office workers coming through to get their caffeine fix for “hump day” as it were, and when the clock hit 8:43 Fauna took a breath before calling towards the back.
“Hey, Kronii?”
After a moment of silence, her boss called back.
“Something wrong?”
“Nothing major— just realized I don’t have my name tag, I’m gonna see if it fell out in my car!”
“Oh— yeah, go ahead, I’ll watch the front.”
As soon as Kronii passed through from the kitchen, Fauna power-walked through the back and sprinted to her car. It was right on the passenger seat— and she didn’t want to miss a single second of the interaction.
Quiet as a breeze, she slipped back in, stepping lightly across the kitchen linoleum towards the front, and keeping her hearing focused. She heard the tinkling of the door bell, and paused.
“Morning, Fau- Kronii?”
Fauna sidled up to the doors, back pressed against the wall and trying her best to slow her breathing. She could hear Amelia clear her throat a little awkwardly.
“Why do you sound so surprised? It’s my shop, you know.”
“Just— y’know, been a bit! Figured you’d be in the back, little miss workaholic.”
Kronii let out a scoff, and Fauna could imagine her waving her hand around in dismissal, “Like you’re one to talk— anyways, what did you want? Another matcha today or whatever?”
“Ehhh, it was pretty good but I think I’ll go back to my usual, today.”
There was a beat of silence, broken only by a surprised cough from Kronii.
“Oh— uh okay yeah— usual. That’s…”
“Floral blend, honey, and some coffee jellies— c’mon, it hasn’t been that long since we’ve talked, yeah?”
“I-I know what it is! I’m just— it’s early, cut me some slack!”
“Nah, only Fauna gets my slack.”
Fauna had to clamp a hand over her mouth to keep from giggling, tiny tears forming at the corners in strain.
“Where is she, anyways?”
“Forgot her—” Kronii suddenly stopped herself, overcome with a coughing fit, and Fauna held her breath. This could be it. This could be—
“Holy shit, Kronii you okay?”
There’s another moment of silence, and Fauna wished she could see what was happening. There was a small choking noise, followed by a gasp.
“—Good! I’m good— sorry, spit went down the wrong pipe.”
“Jeeze, you’re a disaster!”
“Rubber and glue, Watson.”
… Dang it. She recovered too well. With the whirring of the cup sealer, Fauna sighed and passed through the doors. Kronii glanced over to her, eyes glancing down quick enough to see her name tag affixed to her apron.
“Took you a bit to find that.”
“It must have fallen out of my purse, I had to check below the seats and everything,” Fauna said, waving her off before looking towards Amelia, “Morning Ame!”
Amelia smiled, “Morning, Fauna!”
Kronii held out the tea, and for a brief second Amelia’s fingers brushed hers as she grabbed it. Fauna stared from the corner of her eye, seeing Kronii strain for a half second to appear totally normal— DANG it, she was good at this.
Amelia took a hearty gulp from the tea, humming in delight.
“Yeah— sorry Fauna, think I’m gonna stick with my usual for a bit longer.”
Fauna waved a hand, laughing, “Oh, it’s no issue! It’s good to have a solid idea of what you like— right, Kronii?”
Kronii merely grunted, before walking past Fauna and back into the kitchen. Fauna sighed again.
She’d need to up her game.
The next attempt was at movie night— a time honored tradition for their shared friend group to keep up with each other after college. The host rotated through their group of five, and very often there’d be some extra invitees: Sana’s childhood bestie Ina, Bae’s girlfriend (whenever the two of them weren’t fighting) Irys— or her “sister from another mister” Calli, if she was in town. If Calli came, there were even odds that either Kiara or Gura would be with her— though the sharky girl sometimes showed up on her own, close enough as she was with Kronii, Bae, and Fauna.
It was sort of a chaotic mess of people, and as the date approached Fauna eagerly volunteered her apartment to host— and dragged everyone besides Kronii into a group chat to discuss her plans.
Sana was immediately on board. Bae was in the middle of a squabble with Irys, so the very idea of love was disgusting to her, but Fauna managed to wring a promise out of the mousey girl to not sabotage her. Mumei, of course, was on her side, and Sana quickly piped up again to confirm that Ina was on-board for “Operation: Matchmaker”, as she put it.
So, it was five plus one this week— with the addition of one very special guest that Fauna had invited herself, with Kronii none the wiser. The smell of popcorn filled the apartment, with happy chatter flowing from the living room as Fauna prepared some snacks. Almost everyone was here—
A knock sounded on the door. Mission was a go.
“Kronii, could you get it?”
“Yeah, yeah, sure.”
She watched as Kronii extricated herself from the almost-crowded couch, pulling open the door and immediately stiffening. Ame stood on the other side, her own eyes going a little wide in surprise— before a smug smirk worked its way onto the florist’s face.
“Starting to think you might miss me, Kronster.”
Kronii groaned, before turning to level a glare in Fauna’s direction.
“And why is this absolute fucking menace here?”
“I invited her,” Fauna said, shrugging as she grabbed the large metal bowl of popcorn and made her way around the kitchen island, offering some to Ame as she breached the apartment’s threshold.
“Popcorn?”
“Oooh~!”
Ame grabbed a handful, skirting past Kronii and immediately stealing her previously held spot on the couch, next to Ina and Sana. Sana shot Fauna a wink, scooting over so the only spot available was the one next to Ame.
“C’mon, Kronini~! Everyone’s here, let’s get this movie started!”
Kronii’s glare shifted from Fauna to Sana, then back again— sweat starting to prickle on Fauna’s forehead as she could tell the gears in her boss’s brain were starting to turn. Thankfully, Mumei swooped in to rescue her as she came up behind Kronii, and started pushing her by the shoulders.
“Movie time, c’mon c’mon!”
“GWAK— hey, quit pushing!”
Without much choice, Kronii found herself slotted onto the only free space on the couch, curling up on herself a little to keep her knees from knocking into Ame’s. Originally, Fauna planned on choosing a scary movie, to up the ante and maximize potential for cute couple-like moments, but… well, to be honest most of the people present were sort of weenies when it came to the genre.
Especially Kronii.
With Bae putting a kibosh on any sort of romcom or the like (to buy her silence), Fauna was left with little that could foster the right mood. So, she opted for some funny, actioney schlock that at least everyone could talk and make commentary over. Not the best option, but hey it was something.
At least, she THOUGHT it would be— if the two of them would actually TALK to each other! A whole one hundred and twenty minute run time of some absolutely excellent popcorn fodder, and she could count the number of conversations the two of them had on one hand— with fingers to spare! What the FUDGE.
This called for desperate measures. Fauna glanced over to Sana once again, blinking twice with her left eye, then once with the right. Sana… proceeded to give her a confused look, because the two of them absolutely did not set up some sort of secret code beforehand. She grit her teeth, subtly jerking her head towards Kronii and making as small of a shoving motion as she could.
That seemed to come across, as Sana made a small “ooooh”, nodding before she yawned and stretched in the most obviously fake way—
Before hip-checking Kronii and sending her sprawling towards Ame. Fauna grinned, as the whole thing seemed to happen in slow motion, but her smile faded as quick as it appeared. This wasn’t some cutesy, “accidentally land in her lap” sort of situation— Kronii was the second tallest person in the room, and Ame… wasn’t exactly packing any extra inches.
Kronii’s forehead collided directly with Ame’s nose, the both of them hissing in pain as Kronii continued to tumble down onto the floor, and Ame’s hands flew up to face as she doubled over in pain.
Sana immediately panicked, arms flailing at the situation as her brain short-circuited and couldn’t figure out who to try to help first. Ame stumbled off the couch, heading towards the bathroom as fast as she could, while Kronii continued to hiss on the floor.
… Double fudge!
It was hopeless. Everything she tried— every situation, every trope, every attempt was met with failure. It was like her boss was some sort of evil genius hell-bent on keeping her emotions in her chest and then one day she’ll die, and Ame’s previously endearing parallels to the Road Runner were as much a hindrance to Fauna’s schemes as they were to Kronii ever getting a one-up on her.
She had one last shot. One hail-mary she could attempt as a last resort:
Just… telling Amelia directly.
The toll this was taking on her mental health, at this point, outweighed the benefits of her paycheck— at least, in Fauna’s opinion. So, she found herself on her day off right outside Watson’s Arrangements, head hanging low and a sigh escaping her mouth as she stepped inside. It had been a bit since she’d been inside— she loved flowers, but the potted plants she kept at the apartment were about all she could feasibly take care of considering the space.
At least the scent was lovely— verdant and vibrant, and her eyes fluttered closed as she savored it for a moment, before opening her eyes to a… to a field of blue dominating the florist’s shop. Asters and poppies, hydrangeas and forget-me-nots, thistle, cornflower, anemone— the color dominated the space like a suckerpunch.
Amelia came out from the back, and froze.
“F-Fauna? Hey— wow, uh! Been a bit— what’s, what’s uh—”
Fauna completely ignored her, slowly walking forward as she took in more flowers. Blue daisies, monkshood, grape hyacinth— she stopped right in front of the check-out counter, where a vase containing blue roses sat, staring her in the face with the sort of mocking smugness only roses were capable of.
She stared at the flower for a good long time, while Amelia kept speaking— starting and stopping, and cutting herself off constantly. Fauna could feel the blonde’s face reddening as she continued on, before turning to look at her.
“You.”
Amelia immediately stopped, mouth pressed into a thin line as she was frozen in place by Fauna’s stare. With a trembling fist, Fauna reached across the counter and grabbed her by the apron, her other hand gripping the wood of the counter to keep her stable.
“I can’t believe… you’re both so FREAKING STUPID!!!”
“Ah-buh-bwah?”
Fauna let go of Amelia, pressing both her palms into her eyes as she let out a screeching groan. Idiots! Absolute idiots who deserved each other for how dumb they were! There couldn’t possibly be a caring god out there if they would force someone to witness such a monumental display of stupidity!
“She has hanahaki TOO you- you- YOU!”
At that, Amelia choked— a flutter of blue petals coming out of her mouth and confirming it beyond a shadow of a doubt. Fauna screeched again, leaning over and grabbing Amelia by the shirt— earning a brief squeak of fear— before invading her personal space to look her dead in the eyes.
“Amelia H. Watson, I swear to every cruel and unjust deity out there, if you do not MARCH your way over to Kronii and tell her how you feel by the END of the night— I’m not normally a violent person, but I swear I- I- I will have an emotional breakdown and make you feel incredibly responsible for it!”
There was a beat, before Amelia finally found her voice again.
“She… she likes me too?”
“Oh my god.”
Fauna let go of her, taking a couple steps back and doing her best to not burst a blood vessel. This was bad for her health. She should take a few days off work, maybe.
“The floral blend, Ame. That’s hers.”
Amelia’s eyes practically bugged out of her head.
“W-WHAT?!”
“She got SO mad when you got that matcha one time.”
“She… she doesn’t cough them up right into the tea, right?”
Fauna shuddered, “No! No— she plants the petals and takes clippings. She’s just… really bad at gardening.”
Amelia raised an eyebrow.
“Okay, if she manages to kill even hanahaki flowers, I’ll be impressed, these bastards will take root in anything.”
“Oh, I’m aware,” Fauna said, “I am so well aware of the ins and outs of hanahaki, Amelia. I have done so much research. And again—”
She stepped forward, pointing a single finger forward, and with how quickly Amelia raised her hands, it might as well have been a gun.
“If you don’t confess to her by the end of the day, I will rain a storm of guilt upon you, Amelia Watson.”
“God, not the guilt…” She tried to be sassy about it, but with the look Fauna was giving she gave up on that tone pretty quick, “Right. Yup. Okay, not being an idiot about it anymore, gotcha.”
“Good. Now— I’m going to go home to my apartment, I’m going to snuggle with my girlfriend, and if I don’t hear from Kronii when I clock in tomorrow—”
“You’ve made your point! Get out of my shop, jeeze! I already said I’ll do it!”
Fauna snorted once, and then nodded before she turned back towards the door.
It was quiet the next day, when Fauna clocked in. No hacking coughs, no clanging containers— just silence. Blessed silence. Fauna had to stand at the threshold for a moment— Kronii kept to her schedule like clockwork whenever she could help it, the fact that she wasn’t already here was almost unthinkable—
There was a stumbling sound from the upstairs, followed by a soft curse— two pairs of footsteps descending, as Kronii rounded the corner, frantically tying her apron on and freezing the moment her eyes locked on Fauna.
A few seconds later, Ame bumped into Kronii from behind, still pulling on her own shirt. Fauna could feel her lips curling into the smuggest expression she had ever worn in her life.
“Looks like someone’s been having fun.”
Kronii spluttered, trying to speak but aborting every other half-word that made it out of her mouth for a solid few seconds, before finally huffing.
“I… I hate you. I hate you so much, Fauna.”
Smile still plastering her face, Fauna walked past Kronii, patting her once on the cheek as she headed towards the front of the shop.
“No you don’t.”
Kronii groaned once, as Ame put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Fauna would get the details later, one way or another— but right now, she had a till to count, some chairs to bring down, and a batch of floral tea to brew.