diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-02-12-11-20-00.gh-issue-140009.json.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-02-12-11-20-00.gh-issue-140009.json.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..08fe44d66f8938
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-02-12-11-20-00.gh-issue-140009.json.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Optimize :mod:`json` decoding with ``object_pairs_hook`` by using :c:func:`PyTuple_FromArray` instead of :c:func:`PyTuple_Pack`.
diff --git a/Modules/_json.c b/Modules/_json.c
index c7e62c4fe55c64..8189df81576dcc 100644
--- a/Modules/_json.c
+++ b/Modules/_json.c
@@ -806,7 +806,8 @@ _parse_object_unicode(PyScannerObject *s, PyObject *memo, PyObject *pystr, Py_ss
                 goto bail;
 
             if (has_pairs_hook) {
-                PyObject *item = PyTuple_Pack(2, key, val);
+                PyObject *items[] = {key, val};
+                PyObject *item = PyTuple_FromArray(items, 2);
                 if (item == NULL)
                     goto bail;
                 Py_CLEAR(key);