The jingle of Zayne’s keys in the front door is normally a sound you look forward to, but now it just makes you sink further into the couch with a pout.
“Darling, I’m home,” he calls out, followed shortly by the crinkling bags of groceries he bought on his way home from the hospital. You let his greeting go unanswered for one, two seconds longer than usual before giving in, because to be honest—you did miss him today.
He’s already unpacking the bags when you walk into the kitchen, a task that is briefly abandoned to give you your courtesy kiss on the forehead. All the annoyance starts to fizzle away in your chest. But then you refocus to see the carton of eggs on the counter, and you cross your arms with a huff.
“How were the sales?” You bite out, leaning against the cabinets. Zayne’s peering into the fridge, reorganizing the produce drawer to make room for some broccoli, but his back tenses at your tone.
“They were… okay.” The moment he looks up, you’re passing him the tub of yoghurt like it’s a bag of trash, gaze set resolutely out the window. Every kind of alarm bell goes off in his head. He can’t think of anything he did today to upset you, though he’s been in a relationship long enough to realize that something is still wrong, so he chooses to tread lightly. “I know you said you didn’t want anything in your text, but I still picked up some stuff for the snack drawer. It was running low.”
He hesitantly proffers one of the reusable bags to you and despite yourself, you take a peek. It’s everything you like—sweet, spicy, savory. There are also chocolate-covered pretzels even though you banned them from the house after he gave himself a stomachache after eating a whole bag in one sitting. His ears are tipped pink, caught in the act, but he’s still holding the bag open for your inspection.
You nod silently, stuck between your irritation and the all-encompassing endearment towards your boyfriend. A lump forms in your throat, which only grows with guilt as you see the gears working overtime behind his eyes.
“Did… you want something specific after all?” He tries, already reaching for his keys. You swipe them away before he can make contact, and his brows furrow adorably in confusion.
God, you can’t be mad at this man. You mumble petulantly under your breath and Zayne just leans in closer, gently prompting you to repeat yourself. Your cheeks burn with embarrassment, an almost childish pout to your voice. “I wanted to come.”
He blinks. “To the store?”
“Yeah.” You stare down at the tiles, tracing the grout with your toes. “You keep going without me recently. But I like going grocery shopping with you.”
Understanding dawns on his face. His hands come to rest on your upper arms, rubbing them apologetically. “I’m sorry, my love. It’s on the way home from work, so I thought it would be an easy chore for me to take care of without you having to concern yourself.”
“It doesn’t feel like a chore when we’re together.”
“It doesn’t,” he agrees, smiling softly. Another kiss is pressed to your forehead, then he dips lower to sweetly peck your cheek as well. When Zayne comes back up, you’ve already forgiven him. “How about we watch a movie and open some of these snacks right now? Then we can go shopping together sooner.”
“Okay,” you say, warmed with his love. He steps away to rifle through the bag of snacks before you straighten, remembering— “But no touching those pretzels! Since you went and bought them by yourself, you can sit and watch me eat them by myself.”
He’s never going to the grocery store alone again.
a/n: why does he keep leaving home to go shopping whyyyyyyy 😭
