Work Text:
It was a very standard day at Kintree. Busy workers moving from place to place, carrying papers and files of all kind. Occasional stops happen to make quick conversation, ranging from fun chatter to reminders about deadlines and work. This combined with the tactile clicks and mechanical hums of keyboards and computers creates an environment that feels calm despite the noise. Volcana, unfortunately, was not in the mood to resonate with the workspace around her, so she kept quiet and focused.
"Persephone and I were gonna go get a few treats in the break room if you wanna come," Tulip requested, waving and snapping her fingers knocking Volcana out of her intense focus.
She turned and gave Tulip an unamused glare, "Not really feeling it right now, thanks though," Volcana responded unenthusiastically. She was close friends with Tulip and had a slight crush on Persephone, but her crankiness combated both her hunger and curiosity.
Tulip makes a subtle frown and approaches, "Are you sure? Carmellia brought in some pretty tasty donuts and I doubt they're gonna last that long. Better dig in while you can," She chuckles a little as she finishes.
Her orange cracks glow slightly brighter as she speaks, "Then just get me one... I'm really not feeling it right now, had some bad traffic and I'm a bit backed up with work today. Sorry, I guess," She says before turning back to her work. Tulip's petals shift impatiently and she continues to stand by Volcana, watching her work expectantly. Volcana begins to look more agitated. "I'm not going to change my mind, you can just go. You're leaving Persephone alone anyway." She reminded, slowing down on her work as the distraction interrupts her attempt to repair her flow.
Tulip gently rubs Volcana's warm hair, "Come on!" She groaned, "Taking a break will probably make you feel better anyway! You know how hangriness is!" Tulip pleaded, ruffling Volcana's hair a little. She quickly retracts her hands as Volcana attempts to run her wrists over them, her agitation making them much hotter than they usually are.
"Oh my god you're so annoying!" She snapped, "You've wasted more time trying to convince me than you would have if you just gave me one of the donuts and went back. If you were as backed up as I was you'd want to focus on your work too!" She pouted, shooing Tulip away and exhaling before wiping a trickle of lava off of her forehead and getting back to work.
Tulip finally stops her assault and smirks as she retreats, flower unfurling, "Bet you're just nervous about accidentally burning Persephone like you did before, which for the record, they thought it was pretty funny even if it did hurt." She giggles and watches Volcana's exterior glow more and more orange. Her smirk turns into a full smile as Volcana finally decides to stand up, bubbling.
Tulip meets an angrily flustered grin as Volcana stares back at her, joy turning into slight concern as she watches her take her gloves off, "If it's still so funny even if it hurts, you should be able to still feel the love from this hug I want to give you oh so bad." She begins approaching Tulip as she says this, hands stretched out but careful to not accidentally touch an uninvolved coworker. Tulip begins walking away, occasionally checking behind herself to see how close Volcana is. They walk past several confused and concerned coworkers, occasionally bumping into a few before ending up inside of the break room. Persephone sits inside expectantly, their chat with some nearby acquaintances ending abruptly as Tulip stumbles into the room.
"Persephone, help!" She squealed, "She's trying to burn me to a crisp!" Tulip finishes before backing up behind Persephone, her flower churning with both excitement and a slight feeling of fear. She couldn't tell how far Volcana would go with this and that was enough to give her some slight concern.
The sheer abrupt chaos of the situation leaves Persephone to do nothing but laugh, "Tulip I doubt she's going to do anything. But why is she so orange? She looks like she could start a fire with her body heat!" They point to the glowing Volcana as they laugh, making her glow even brighter at the acknowledgement, not recognizing just how much her temperature was visibly rising. Tulip makes a small chuckle at the sight and Volcana returns her focus to her.
Tulip's smile fades and she begins shaking Persephone, "She's gonna hug me until I'm nothing ashes, do something!" Tulip says worriedly as Volcana finally reaches grabbing distance of her, waiting patiently for Persephone's input with a smirk on her face. Persephone moves in between the two of them and blocks Tulip with her body, feeling the warmth from Volcana as they approached, and realizing that they are way too hot to touch, even as a joke.
"If you put your gloves back on, I'll hold her still so you can hug her as much as you want." They negotiate, "And afterwards, how about we all just sit down and talk, I've yet to actually try any of the donuts and you guys are lucky they aren't all gone." They reach up to touch Volcana's hair before quickly letting go and pulling away, "Even your hair is too hot to touch, and it's usually the only part of you we usually can." They wrap their tails around Tulip, holding her tight. She startles and squirms before easing as Volcana puts her gloves back on and approaches Tulip for a warm hug.
"Ow! Stop it! Come on!" Tulip pleaded as Volcana hugged her tight, occasionally nuzzling Tulip's face with her very hot but actively cooling hair, stinging Tulip each time. Her pained groans fade into laughter as Volcana's hair finally reverts to it's normal state. Tulip pulls out a chair and slumps into it, slightly drained from the experience. Persephone and Volcana follow and each get pull out their own chairs to sit beside her. They each grab a donut.
Tulip fidgets with her flower as she chews, "She originally wasn't even going to come. I had to 'convince' her to get up." She boasts, "So you both should be thanking me for setting this all up." She was interrupted by Volcana flicking her on the head with her free hand. Persephone laughs and does the same.
"Don't get all confident just because I ended up coming eventually." She chuckles, "I should make you do my work for me! Classic bully style." She takes another large bite out of her donut, "Anyway, these are really good."
"Yea, Carmellia has some great taste, these were definitely worth the wait. Even if it was nearly 10 minutes of waiting." Persephone says, finishing up their donut and visibility contemplating eating another, before ultimately deciding against it. Tulip waits for Volcana to before nudging her, making sure to hit only her suit to avoid any burns. Volcana turns and notices her very smug expression.
"So be real, were you really just backed up on work? Or was it some other thing?" She says with a tone that makes Volcana's eyes roll, she already knew that Tulip believed the latter, even if it wasn't true, but the accusation being thrown while Persephone was sitting with them made her glow a little.
"What thing, it got her all flustered so I need to know!" Persephone says sharing Tulip's smug look, signaling to Volcana that she wouldn't be able to escape this mild embarrassment no matter what she does. She groans as Tulip begins to speak.
"I sorta maybe 'encouraged' her to come over here by teasing her about the burns she gave you a few days back. I guess she must've really been embarrassed about it because it immediately broke he-" Tulip is interrupted by a burning flick to the forehead, Volcana has took her glove off during the explanation and her glowing hand was hot, "Ow, come on! You're definitely too hot for that!" Tulip yelps, rubbing her new injury with a pained expression, flower writhing.
"You know this doesn't really help your case right?" Persephone says growing more smug, "Now it just seems like you were even more embarrassed than you were originally." Volcana responds with another burning flick to the forehead, "Ack!" They scream before giggling, "I guess I should've expected that, all things considered."
The sight of pain causes Volcana to burst out laughing, completely extinguishing her of her rising temperature. "Oh man, I should've did that in the first place. So satisfying." She says teasingly before calming down, "Anyways, I really gotta get back to work, I'm actually pretty backed up. If there's extra donuts please save me one. And make sure Tulip cleans her wilting up, its all over the place." She walks out and ignores her friends asking her to stay.
A few hours later, Volcana exits her extreme flow state. She lets out an exasperated sigh, she felt like she had been disconnected from everything but her monitor for way longer than she actually was. She packs up her things and prepares to leave, satisfied with the work she got done today, and not really wanting to do any more overtime. She notices the carefully bagged donut around the end of her desk and picks it up with a subtle grin. She turns on her phone to check the time and makes a shocked expression at the 6:08 displayed on her screen. She unlocks her phone and begins typing to Tulip.
"Worked way too long dude"
"Yea we could tell, you were completely locked in"
"Thanks for actually saving me a donut"
"That was all Persephone, I completely forgot LOL"
"Figures"
"What you up to now?"
"I'm probably just gonna head home tbh"
"Sleepover?"
"????? we BOTH have work tomorrow be real"
"Persephone already agreed to it so it's double the pressure!!!"
"Ok fine"
"Works every time"
"Only because we're a trio and it would be fun"
"But I'll have to head to my place first to grab some of my pajamas because y'know..."
"(she doesn't know she left a few pairs here already)"
"God I'm a slob"
"Be there soon"
"I know!!!! lyyy"
"Yea love you too girl"
"And"
"Thanks for semi forcing me to take a break"
"Even if it wasn't for that long"
"I knew you liked it already"
"I could tell when you started cracking up before you left"
"Get it?"
"Ok moment ruined"
"LOL"
"Cya soon"
She turns her phone back off and slides it into her pocket, says her goodbyes to some of her other coworkers working overtime and leaves the office, snacking on her donut.