Archive of Our Own ^beta

"What's a kumquat?" Jennifer lifts up one of the small, orange fruits and shoves it in Lucy's face.

Backing away so she can get a better look at the fruit without having to cross her eyes, Lucy gives it a careful look and shrugs. "It kinda looks like a tiny oblong orange. Put it back, we'll get some normal-shaped oranges."

Jennifer frowns but places the small fruit back on the mound of kumquats and accidentally causes a fruit avalanche, sending kumquats rolling all over the place. Customers stop and stare. Jennifer has a look of panic on her face.

"What're we going to do?" Jennifer asks, eyes wide as saucers as a kumquat rolls over her foot.

"Make a run for it," Lucy says under her breath. She's already maneuvering the wagon away from the fallen kumquats, careful not to smash any under the wheels. When Jennifer just stands there, Lucy snags her arm and pulls her along. 

"We should have stayed to clean them up," Jennifer says when Lucy finally stops in the canned goods aisle.

"They have people for that," Lucy says, though she winces in commiseration with the grocery workers who will have to clean up the mess that her roommate made. She's had to clean up after Jennifer countless times as well, she can relate.

"It's not very nice to cause a kumquat landslide and run," Jennifer says, lips quirking upward.

Lucy lets out a full belly laugh, and Jennifer soon joins in, clutching Lucy's arm for support as both girls nearly double over with laughter in the middle of the aisle. Unaware of their audience (a little girl and her mother who quickly skirt around the two), they hold onto each other as they struggle to get their laughter under control.

"You caused a kumquat avalanche," Lucy says through another bout of laughter.

"A kumquat slide," says Jennifer.

"Clean up in produce!" an announcer's voice comes over the PA system, and both girls lose their composure once more as the devolve into laughter. 

When their laughter finally peters out, both girls are still holding onto each other. They look into each other's eyes and suddenly sober up. 

"We should get some peas," Lucy says, reaching around Jennifer for a can on the shelf behind the blonde. 

"And some artichokes," Jennifer says, reaching past Lucy to grab a jar on the shelf behind the brunette. 

As they reach for the vegetables, their lips brush together, and both girls feel a jolt of something go through them. It's quick, there and gone, but their breath quickens, and their pupils dilate, and their cheeks grow pink.

Lucy clears her throat and pulls a can off the shelf, tossing it into the shopping wagon without even looking. It's a can of corn, but that isn't what matters now. What matters now is the way that Jennifer is looking at her, and the way that Jennifer's lips are slightly parted, the way the blonde's tongue darts out to lick those lips, and the way that Jennifer moves in to steal a kiss that makes Lucy's heart stampede in her chest.

Jennifer pulls a can of pickled beets off the shelf without even looking, and places it in the wagon. Her eyes are locked on Lucy's, and neither of them look away.

"We should get some shampoo," Lucy says through tingling lips. "I could use a shower."

"I could use a shower, too," Jennifer says, reaching for Lucy's hand and lacing their fingers together. "You know, we could conserve water if we shower together," she whispers in a husky voice that makes Lucy shiver in anticipation.

"It's good for the environment," Lucy says with a tongue that's suddenly gone dry.

"It is," Jennifer agrees. "Just think, by showering together, we'll be doing our part to help save the planet."

"Future generations will thank us," Lucy says, as she navigates the wagon down the aisle, hand in hand with Jennifer who pulls cans off the shelf at random.

Jennifer nods and gives Lucy a smile that shows off her dimples. "We should shower together for the sake of the future."

"For the sake of our grandchildren," Lucy says, pulling a can of stewed tomatoes off the shelf without looking and tossing it into the cart. 

It's not until they're home, showered and huddled together in Lucy's bed, snug under the blankets, that they realize they will need to make another trip to the grocery store, because they only got canned goods and shampoo. Lucy doesn't mind, though, even if there's another kumquat avalanche with her roommate's name on it. Heck, maybe they'll even get some kumquats on their next trip to the store. 

"What're you thinking about?" Jennifer asks. Her head is resting next to Lucy's on the pillow, and she's tracing a pattern in the freckles on Lucy's arm. 

"Our next trip to the grocery store," Lucy says.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I'm thinking maybe we should get some kumquats," Lucy says.

"Why kumquats?" Jennifer asks.

"They're what brought us together in a manner of speaking," Lucy says, blushing as Jennifer leans closer to give her a kiss.

"You mean my accident in the produce section caused us to get together," Jennifer says.

"If you think about it, we owe it to our future grandchildren to buy kumquats," Lucy says, completely ignoring Jennifer's comment.

"How do you figure?" 

"Well, if it wasn't for your accident with the kumquats, we wouldn't have kissed in the canned goods aisle, and if we hadn't kissed, then we wouldn't have showered together, and if we hadn't showered together, we'd still be using up way too much water, and if we were using up too much water, then there'd be no water left for our grandchildren to use. So, the way I see it, we owe everything to the kumquats," Lucy says. During her explanation, she'd turned to face Jennifer who is giving her a look of absolute adoration.

"I suppose we do owe the kumquats something," Jennifer says, drawing Lucy in for a kiss that makes the brunette's toes curl, and leaves both of them slightly breathless.

On their next shopping trip, they do end up buying a handful of kumquats and of course a bottle of Head and Shoulders shampoo. And when their children are grown and married and have children of their own, they tell the story of how they fell in love during an avalanche, and helped the environment, and they hand out kumquats to their grandchildren.