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Sung Hanbin was peeling mandarin oranges at the kitchen table.
Zhang Hao's melancholic sigh came amidst the usual busy chatter of the dorm; background noise from game playing and muffled guitar strumming and bickering. "I wish it snowed earlier so that my mom could see it."
"She'll still be in Seoul for a few days, right?" Hanbin carefully pushed his thumb underneath the orange peel. "I'm sure it'll snow soon."
"Hopefully." Zhang Hao absentmindedly let his hands wander to the plush white dog in his lap, squishing its ears contentedly, then changed the subject. "I can't believe this Shiro cost 18000 won..."
"Hey, but I got it for you in the end," Hanbin playfully interjected. The peel left the mandarin flesh in a satisfyingly smooth curve. "I think your mom found me a bit silly to keep trying for that long, though." He kept his tone light, but was unable to mask the slight tinge of concern that laced the edges of his words.
Zhang Hao laughed, perhaps a little too hard. "A little. But she thinks everything you do is cute so it was endearing. And, it shows you're a man who won't give up."
Hanbin gently picked the fibers from the mandarins. "Stubbornness is a double edged sword. Stubborn people are persistent, but they also don't know when to give up."
The other end of the table was silent for a while. Hanbin hadn't looked up from the mandarin he was carefully plucking, so he wondered if Zhang Hao had fallen asleep.
Another signature sigh from Zhang Hao. "Sung Hanbin... what are you even saying..."
Hanbin laughed. What was he saying? He already forgot. It didn't matter anyway, if Zhang Hao said it didn't. Instead, he turned to the mandarin, now devoid of white fibers- just a small, round, orange ball. "It's bald now," he proclaimed.
That got a gentle giggle from Zhang Hao, who now had his head resting on his arm on the table, looking up at Hanbin with warm eyes. "It looks like Hanbinnie."
"Are you saying I'm bald, then?" Hanbin faked an offended face, putting his palm on his chest dramatically. "Hao is older than me, though. If anyone's going bald it'll happen to you sooner."
Zhang Hao replied monotonously, "That's not how it works." Yet he didn't explain any further, just opened his mouth.
Hanbin popped a mandarin wedge into Zhang Hao's mouth, smiling when a scrunched up face greeted him back. "It's sour?"
Zhang Hao nodded sleepily, prompting Hanbin to try for himself. It was indeed sour, oddly enough for the season.
Zhang Hao's eyes shifted to the peel left on the table, seemingly awakened at the sight of it as he lifted his head up. "Ah- Sung Hanbin..."
The sudden callout bewildered Hanbin a bit, but he chose to respond languidly: "Hmm?"
"How'd you do that so well?"
"Do what, gege?" Hanbin replied bashfully.
Zhang Hao lifted the long, coiled orange peel by two fingers, seemingly inspecting it carefully. "Interesting."
Hanbin laughed, and although he could feel his ears getting a little pink from the attention, he managed to get out: "I'm good enough to be someone's husband, right?"
Yet another sigh from Zhang Hao, masking endearment with exasperation at Hanbin's antics. "Don't peel other people's oranges like this. Only peel mine. Peel theirs badly. Or actually, just don't peel theirs at all!"
Hanbin, already having opened his mouth to agree, quieted down when Zhang Hao started to say something again, this time with an air of seriousness.
"You know, earlier at the restaurant, when you went to the bathroom, my mom..." Much to Hanbin's suspense, Zhang Hao trailed off.
Hanbin held his breath.
"She said that I look happy. And she said she's never seen me look this happy before in my life. And she hopes we will be together for a long time." Zhang Hao poked at the peel gently, eyes trained on it as if he were too shy to look up at Hanbin. "So when we get married, peel my oranges this way every day."
When was a beautiful word. It was so sure of itself; a solid rock of a word that made no room for doubt. Not if, but when- the air was getting knocked out of Hanbin's lungs and the love of his life, the last person he'd ever love or breathe for- was sitting across the table from him toying with an orange peel, acting like he hadn't just dropped an earth-shattering sentence.
"I will." The only words Hanbin was able to get out for the rest of the night.