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“Jaebeom-ah, can you get me an orange from the kitchen?”
Jaebeom looks up from where he’d been lounging on the couch with his notebook. On the other side of the couch sits Jinyoung, their feet intertwined in a weird parody of holding hands. They had been sitting quietly, enjoying a rare free day that aligned in their schedules.
Jinyoung doesn’t look up from the book he’s been reading until the silence stretches and Jaebeom makes no move to get up. He looks up briefly and raises one eyebrow, as if asking, “well? Are you going to do it?”
Jaebeom had already returned to his notebook, but feeling Jinyoung’s stare he looks up to find his boyfriend looking at him with a glint in his eye. Jaebeom shifts uncomfortably in his seat, Jinyoung was never up to any good when he got that glint in his eye.
“What did you want Jinyoungie?”
“An orange. Can you get me an orange?” Jinyoung still has that strange look in his eye. It makes Jaebeom’s hair raise. He can almost always read what Jinyoung is thinking and feeling, to the point it has become a favorite joke of the group against them. But right now, he didn’t have a clue.
“Uhm…ok.” Jaebeom gets up to go to the kitchen. Once there, he stands in silence, trying to manifest oranges he knows don't exist in their apartment at that time. He was the one that did grocery shopping and he knew for a fact he never picked up oranges.
After more futile minutes, Jaebeom grabs a peach and trudges back into the living room. He hands it to a bewildered Jinyoung and sits back down. Just as he settles in, the same peach he had just handed Jinyoung hits him - hard - against his solar plexus, leaving him doubled over and wheezing.
Through watery eyes he sees Jinyoung jump up from the couch, “You can’t peel a peach idiot!” before stomping into their bedroom and slamming the door behind him.
//
“I need to break up with Jaebeom” Jinyoung crashes into BamBam’s apartment with flair and dumps the bags he has in his hands on the kitchen counter. He starts taking items out and organizing them across the fridge and various cabinets, completely ignoring Bambam and Yugyeom sitting in the room staring at Jinyoung in abject horror.
Jinyoung is ferociously shoving bread onto the counter when a pair of hands forcefully turns him around. He comes face to face with a pissed off BamBam, with a near tears Yugyeom standing behind him.
“What do you mean you’re breaking up with Jaebeom hyung?! What the hell happened!?”
Jinyoung rolls his eyes as he pushes free, “he failed the test. So I have to break up with him.”
“WHAT TEST?” a unison shout echoes through the room.
“He didn’t peel the peach! I mean - the orange! He didn’t even get me an orange!”
Bambam and Yugyeom look at each other in confusion and then back at the angry man. Jinyoung huffs out an exasperated breath of air, “from tiktok! The orange peel theory! He didn’t pass!”
Jinyoung’s explanation does nothing to clarify what the problem is. Yugyeom opens his mouth as if to say something, only to close it, but then opens it again. A few more fish impersonations and Jinyoung explodes, “just say it! Whatever it is, just tell me!”
“...hyung…you don’t even LIKE oranges?”
The room descends into silence. Jinyoung begins to sputter, unsure what response he should give to the verifiably true comment.
Bambam sighs and holds one hand up, other hand on his hip, indicating the beginning of a rant.
“See this is what happens when tech illiterate people try to go on the internet. Hyung you are so dumb.”
Jinyoung’s shout of outrage is ignored as Bam continues, “it’s not about the oranges! It’s what the oranges mean hyung!”
This time it’s Bambam who is faced with two confused faces. Another long suffering sigh is pulled from his body.
“Jinyoung hyung, when was the last time you had to make coffee in the morning?”
Jinyoung takes a moment to answer, thinking back to the previous weeks and months. Even on the busiest days, where mornings were hectic chaos, or the slower days with groggy shuffles, there was only one answer.
The realization must show on his face because Bambam gives him a meaningful stare, “Jaebeom hyung doesn’t even drink coffee, you know.”
Yugyeom is quick to catch on and jumps in, “or, or, or when’s the last time you had to undo the dog ears that YOU make in books, huh? Remember you complained ONCE about the aesthetic and now Jaebeom hyung replaces every dog ear you make with bookmarks and post it notes!”
Jinyoung looks a little chastened but still confused, “but…the orang-”
“THE COFFEE IS THE ORANGE” Bambam shouts at the same time Yugyeom yells “BOOKMARKS!” before unceremoniously shoving Jinyoung out of the apartment with orders to not do anything stupid.
//
Jinyoung mulls over their words on his walk home, coming to the conclusion that he should probably stay off tiktok for the foreseeable future. He enters his and Jaebeom’s shared apartment with the idea to let Jaebeom know he’s not upset anymore. Unfortunately, he’s only greeted by tiny meows when he opens the door.
Figuring his boyfriend must be out, Jinyoung heads to the kitchen to grab some water. He opens the fridge and freezes.
Inside, in a ziploc bag, are two peeled oranges.
Jaebeom walks in with groceries while Jinyoung still stands frozen, “oh Jinyoungie, you’re back! Welcome home.”
Jinyoung swings around with the ziploc gripped in his hand, “what is this?”
“Oh you suddenly started liking oranges so I thought I’d start stocking up on them. But then I was putting them away and thought it might be easier for you when you’re rushing out if I peeled them so you wouldn’t have to,” Jaebeom nonchalantly states as he begins to empty the grocery bags onto the counter to put away.
Jinyoung watches mutely, oranges still in hand, as Jaebeom reaches into the bags and pulls out more oranges, some chocolate covered oranges, orange creamsicles and candied ginger orange peels.
Suddenly, Jinyoung bursts into tears in front of an absolutely baffled Jaebeom.
“I HATE oranges!” he manages to get out in between the sobbing.
Jaebeom very clearly does not know what to do. He’s fumbling with the various orange flavored foods in his hands and struggling to mentally compute the drastic change in emotions. Before he can do anything, Jinyoung launches himself at Jaebeom, causing him to drop everything he was holding to hug Jinyoung back instead as Jinyoung kisses the breath out of his lungs.
When Jinyoung finally pulls away, his eyes are shining and he’s beaming, “But I love you so so much.”