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Minatozaki Sana thought it was silly at first, but she's now confident that Chou Tzuyu is marmalade orange.
She thought it was silly at first because even though everything about Tzuyu pointed to marmalade orange, the internet said otherwise. When Sana looked to see what the color orange meant, she was excited at first. Sana was excited to tell her girlfriend of almost two years that she represented positivity and warmth. She was excited to tell her girlfriend that made her heart soar that she represented youth and creativity.
She was excited to tell her girlfriend everything that marmalade orange represented until her eyes flitted over to read all the negative things that it also represented. It represented superficiality and deceitfulness. It represented immaturity and impatience. But Tzuyu wasn't any of those things. She couldn't be.
As Sana dove deeper into her research of this now frustrating color, she didn't notice Tzuyu calling her name from their bedroom. It takes a few times of Tzuyu yelling various pet names — baby, love, angel, honey, babe — for Sana to even hear anything.
"Were you saying something, Tzu?" Sana only tilts her head up a bit, not tearing her eyes away from her phone as she finally registers her girlfriend's voice.
Tzuyu lets out a small chuckle and walks out of the bedroom as she starts to pull her head through the neck hole of her beige sweater. "Are you ready to go to the pumpkin patch? They open in a half hour and I want to make sure we get the really good pumpkins."
By the time Tzuyu has successfully pulled her head through her sweater, she notices that Sana has managed to get up from the couch and shuffle over to put her shoes on but still hasn't looked up from her phone. Tzuyu sighs and shakes her head, playfully rolling her eyes as she steps in front of Sana. She gently pulls Sana's phone down and smiles, placing a gentle kiss to the older's forehead. "There's my girlfriend."
Sana gives Tzuyu an apologetic smile and tucks her phone away in her back pocket. She leans up to give Tzuyu a quick peck on the cheek before grabbing the keys from the bowl that sat by the door. "No more phone unless it's for pictures. I promise."
//
Fall does nothing but compliment the fact that Tzuyu is marmalade orange and it's only slightly concerning to Sana as she's staring at her girlfriend. Tzuyu is slightly hunched over, hands neatly folded behind her back as she scans the various baked goods offered at the store in front of the pumpkin patch.
Fall — Sana is very confident — is Tzuyu's season. The warm colors in contrast with the chilly and crisp air embody the younger girl so perfectly.
Whenever Tzuyu is around her friends, her family, and especially Sana, she's like the warm colors. She's happy and smiley and way more talkative than usual. Whenever Tzuyu is around new people or in a too big group at a party, she's like the chilly and crisp air. She's quieter but her presence is still refreshing and welcome.
As Sana watches Tzuyu carefully look through which bread she wants to eat while they pick pumpkins, the only thought on her mind is marmalade orange. She can't stop thinking about all the negative things the color represents. She also can't stop thinking about just how well the color fits Tzuyu. It's fall, it's warm, and it's just so undeniably... Tzuyu. But that's the problem.
If Tzuyu is marmalade orange, then she's all the positive things the color represents as well as all the negative things. But there's no way that Tzuyu is superficial or deceitful. In Sana's eyes at least, Tzuyu is the most gentle and kind person she's ever had the pleasure of knowing.
"Did you not want anything to eat while we're picking out pumpkins, baby?"
Sana was brought back to fully focus on the cute face in front of her, a slight blush creeping to her cheeks at the pet name. Sana just gave Tzuyu a small smile and shook her head, wrapping her arm around the taller girl's waist. "I'm okay, but thank you. Buy as much bread as you want. I want my Tzu to be happy."
Tzuyu chuckles and thanks Sana, picking out one more baked good to save for later or just in case Sana ends up wanting a bite of hers.
//
Two pieces of honey bread, about a thousand pictures, and three slow walks through the first two rows of the large pumpkin patch later, Sana finds herself taking a picture of Tzuyu with a tiny pumpkin.
"Doesn't it look like Chaeyoung?" Tzuyu laughs and turns the pumpkin toward herself.
"Is it just because it's tiny?" Sana chuckles and lays her hand on top of the 'Chaeyoung pumpkin'.
"Not just that. It's got a tiny little bump here that kina could be like Chaeyoung's mole. I want to get this one for her." Tzuyu carefully places the tiny pumpkin on top of the one she's picked out for herself. She smiles and suddenly, Sana can't breathe.
It had been two years since the two started dating and Tzuyu never failed to take Sana's breath away. Sana has multiple albums in her phone solely dedicated to Tzuyu's pictures and she sees the girl almost every day since they live together, but there's still moments like this that she's caught off guard.
If Sana had to put words to Tzuyu's smile, she would say that it's like the sun. It's radiant, warm, and so painfully cute whenever her little dimple appears if she's truly smiling.
As she drinks in Tzuyu's smile, trying to burn it into her memory, she gets wrapped up in her thoughts again. She thinks about marmalade orange and this time she only thinks about the negatives of the color. Her brows furrow and her lips turn down ever so slightly.
Tzuyu somehow manages to notice this very minute change in Sana's demeanor. She's about to say something but Sana quickly shakes the icky feeling away and ushers Tzuyu down the row of pumpkins. As much fun as they're having here, Sana does want to carve her pumpkin today.
Tzuyu lets Sana lead the way through the rest of the row they're in and makes a mental note to ask Sana about her mood later. She doesn't want to push the girl to talk when she's not ready and she really doesn't want to spoil the mood.
"Tzu! What about this one?" Sana excitedly hoists a medium sized pumpkin and presents it to Tzuyu. It's a little sloped on one side but it's perfect to her. It's got a certain personality that Sana loves.
"It's a little funky, but I like it. Is that the one you want?" Tzuyu asks and giggles when Sana excitedly nods.
They pay for the three pumpkins and load them in the back of the car, Tzuyu insisting on buckling the 'Chaeyoung pumpkin' in because it's so small.
//
Tzuyu has a tiny bit of whipped cream leftover on the corner of her mouth from where she had been drinking her hot chocolate. Her eyebrows are drawn together and her tongue is poking out between her lips as she concentrates on scooping out the last of the pumpkin seeds.
Sana's already stenciling on her design for her pumpkin and looks up. She sees the tiny bit of whipped cream on Tzuyu's face and giggles, setting her marker down. "Tzu," Sana says softly as she leans in closer to her girlfriend.
Tzuyu looks up, all adorable and doe-eyed, her hand resting in her pumpkin. She's a little surprised to see Sana so close to her but she'd never complain.
Sana clears her throat, a silence hanging in the air as she glances down to the corner of Tzuyu's mouth where the whipped cream is. Sana feels her heart beating a little faster as she reaches her thumb out, gently swiping at the whipped cream. "All good." The words leave Sana in a whisper and she's now very aware that her face is a mere inch away from Tuzyu's. Sana can see every wrinkle on Tzuyu's lips. She can smell the younger's vanilla shampoo mixing oh so well with her faint cinnamon perfume.
It only takes another second and gentle hand wrapping around the back of Tzuyu's neck to pull their lips together. Sana hums into the kiss, soaking in the taste of Tzuyu's vanilla chapstick and the feeling of her soft lips. They've kissed at least a billion times by now, but it never fails to make Sana dizzy. She sees stars as their lips effortlessly move together, and she smiles at the small hum that leaves Tzuyu.
Everything feels so right and so warm and Sana feels like there are butterflies trying to burst out of every inch of her body until her thoughts get the best of her again. Marmalade orange.
The two words creep into the forefront of her thoughts and she suddenly stills. She pulls away from Tzuyu and a frustrated groan escapes her as she presses her palms into her closed eyes, trying to rub away the negative thoughts taking over her brain.
"Hey, what's up? Are you okay, baby?" Tzuyu's voice is laced with concern. She scoots closer to Sana, her clean hand gently pulling Sana's hands away from her face.
Sana lightly shakes her head and leans into Tzuyu. She rests her forehead against Tzuyu's shoulder. She knows it's such a stupid thing to be so upset by. She shouldn't be letting a color ruin such a good day with her favorite person.
"Do you want to talk about what's making you feel bad?" Tzuyu doesn't push Sana, but she gently rubs her back, letting her know it's okay.
Sana hesitates, torn between sounding silly for being so upset by a color or just keeping it to herself and trying to recover their good day. Ultimately, she decides to tell Tzuyu about her silly negative thoughts because she knows that if she doesn't it'll keep eating away at her and it will only make her feel worse.
"It's really silly and stupid that I'm even getting upset by it, but... you're just so orange."
Tzuyu's hand stills on Sana's back, her eyebrows knit together in confusion as she slowly asks, "I'm orange?"
Sana nods and lets out a small sigh, building up as much courage as she can to look up into Tzuyu's eyes. "Yes, but you're not just orange. You're marmalade orange."
"I'm sorry, baby. I'm not sure I know what you mean."
"I just. Okay. When I was sitting on the couch this morning I was looking at my phone and I was looking at pictures of us and I saw this one of you when we were at a party and you were wearing a really cute Christmas sweater and you just looked so cozy. As I was looking at it, I suddenly realized that you're marmalade orange." Sana quickly tries to explain herself as she ignores the weird feeling it gives her as Tzuyu looks at her in confusion. "I looked up what the color represented and it said all these positive things. Orange represents things like youth, creativity, warmth, and positivity."
Sana pauses, taking a breath before she continues. "It represents all these positive things that I see in you every day, but it also represents a lot of negative things. Orange also represents things like impatience, deceit, superficiality, and immaturity. But you aren't any of those things! You're too sweet and good to be any of those negative things. You're too... Tzuyu."
Tzuyu looks at Sana, still a bit confused but she admires the way that Sana gets a little heated as she explains 'her color'. She admires the way that Sana so deeply believes that she's marmalade orange that she's been thinking about it all day.
Tzuyu moves her clean hand from Sana's back and reaches down to intertwine her fingers with Sana's. She lightly squeezes her hand and places a gentle kiss on her cheek. "I'm sorry that it upset you so much, but you know that you don't have to look at all the negative things. You know me better than even I know myself. If you think that I'm marmalade orange, then I'm marmalade orange."
Sana relaxes at Tzuyu's words and now she feels a little silly that the color had made her feel so bad the whole day. She's so thankful, though. She's thankful that Tzuyu doesn't think that it's silly. She's thankful that Tzuyu knows just what to say to calm her down and make her feel infinitely better. She's thankful that despite her pumpkin covered hand, Tzuyu is still willing to treat Sana like she's the most important thing in the world.
She's thankful that Tzuyu is marmalade orange.