Keeping Afloat (A Wintumn Story)

I love you, I'm sorry

TW MENTIONS OF SH
A/N Thought of this I'm the shower, had to get it down before I forget. I'm sorry in advance.

Autumn and Winter both had a horrible day.

Nothing seemed to go right. Autumn relied on a routine for her day to run smoothly. Today just so happened to be one of those days where her routine fell apart. She slept through her alarm, making her late for work. Nothing seemed to be working at work either, the system went down an hour into her shift meaning they had to call Reece over from his nursery to come fix it. Marjorie had also brought up the idea of therapy. Autumn hated the idea. Why would she want to sit on a sofa for an hour whilst some random person who had no idea who she was, talking about why she felt the way she did.

Winter day to begin with seemed to be alright until he got to work. Every single parent seemed to have a problem with one thing or another leaving Winter in a foul mood for the rest of the day. Also all the children seemed to be misbehaving making a bad mood, worse.

The difference between the pair was when Autumn was in a bad mood she would pretend she wanted to be alone whereas Winter actually would.

The car ride home was spent in silence until Autumn turned around and asked. "How was your day my sweet?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

The pair sat in the tension until they got home. They entered their house. Winter made a beeline to the sofa. Autumn took herself upstairs and got changed into something comfy then came downstairs and sat next to Winter on the sofa. Nether one spoke to the other. Both sitting in the same tension from the car.

Autumn broke this silence by clicking her nails together. Something about the sound comforted her. Winter was trying to ignore the sound.

"Autumn can you please stop that."

"Stop what?"

"The clicking, it really getting on my nerves." Winter said with a sigh. "Sorry." Autumn muttered. "Don't apologise, just stop." Winter said back. They both sat in complete silence for a bit longer until Autumn asked. "You want to talk about your day now my love?" Winter turned to look at her. "No, can you just stop asking." Autumn sat up. "I've literally asked you twice, I'm just trying to make sure you're okay, your not the only one who's had a bad day." Winter got up to go upstairs. "Can you just leave it, I'll talk about it when I'm ready. Sometimes you are just too much." With that Winter went upstairs leaving Autumn in the living room.

She sat on the sofa for a minute, trying to take in what Winter had just said. That's it she thought. She started to cry. She couldn't lose Winter. She needed him.

Meanwhile Winter was upstairs hating himself for what he just did. How could he do that to the one person he was meant to love and protect. That's when he heard the door slam close. Where was she going? He thought to himself. He thought it was best to leave it. Both of them needed time to calm down.

Autumn had taken herself on a drive. It was her newest coping mechanism. Anytime she felt she wanted to hurt herself she'd take herself on a drive to distract herself from it. But today was different. The drive wasn't working. She couldn't distract herself. She couldn't stop thinking about what had happened. Sometimes you are too much. Was the only thing she could think about. He thought she was too much. Too annoying. She annoyed him. She took herself to the only place she knew to go.

She knocked on the door. Marjorie awnsered. "You alright my love?" She asked, confused why the younger woman was there. "Where's my brother?" She asked looking down. "He's in the kitchen, are you oka--." Marjorie couldn't finish her sentence before Autumn had pushed past her and made her way to the kitchen.

"Gorgeous, who was at the doo--." He turned around to see his younger sister standing in the entrance to the kitchen. Her eyes are still red from crying. "Aut, what happened?" She shook her head before putting her head in her hand. Reece closed the kitchen door and pulled out a seat for Autumn at the kitchen island. They both sat in complete silence for about 30 minutes until Autumn turned to her brother. "I think I've lost Winter." She said finally breaking the silence. Reece turned to face his sister who was looking up at him, her eyes starting to water again. "What do you mean you think you've lost Winter." Autumn wiped a stray tear that was falling down her cheek and then explained to Reece what had happened. "Okay, before I do anything else I need to ask." Autumn looked up at him again. "Have you done anything?" Autumn looked at him confused. He made a gesture to her wrist. "No." She turned and looked forward. "Aut, you haven't lost him, he's was just annoyed, not at you, just at whatever happened today." Reece started. "That man is besotted with you, a silly argument isn't going to change that." Autumn looked back at her brother. "You sure?" She asked, playing with the necklace she had one. "Positive." They sat in silence for a bit longer. Reece broke the silence this time. "You need to go home and talk. You sitting in my kitchen isn't fixing anything is it?" Autumn shook her head, got up and went to exit the kitchen. "Thank you." She muttered before she left. She said goodbye to Marjorie as she left. Got in her car and drove home.

At home, Winter was starting to worry. She'd been gone for an hour at this point. He gave her a quick message.

Where are you? I'm starting to worry, message me when you get this. I love you xxx

He wasn't expecting her to reply. After what he'd done he wasn't expecting her to come back for a couple more hours at a minimum. Just then he heard the door unlocked and Autumn walked in.

Before she could say anything he ran up to her and wrapped his arms around her. "I'm so so sorry my love, your not to much. I love you so much. I'm so sorry." Autumn didn't say anything, she just gave him a kiss on the forehead before resting her head on the crook of his neck.

They stood like that for a bit before Autumn pulled away. Wiping her eyes as she did. "I'm sorry, I should of just left it. I could tell you were in a bad mood, I'm so sorry." Winter held her hands. "You have nothing to apologise for, it's me, I shouldn't of had a go. I'm so so so sorry." Autumn wrapped her arms around him putting her head into his chest to muffle her crying. "I thought I lost you." She finally turned round and said. "Your never loose me my love."

After a while of hugging they both went upstairs. Neither one in the mood to cook decided they'd order in their favourite takeaway and watch their favourite series at the moment, Lucifer. Once food had arrived. They sat together in bed. Autumn was sitting in Winters lap. Eating and watching their favourite show together. Until Autumn started to drift off to sleep. Winter turned the TV off moved all the plates and cutlery off the bed onto his bedside table. Moved Autumn so he could get in a more comfortable position. Winter sat up for a bit longer stroking Autumn hair before giving her a kiss on the forehead and going to sleep herself.

W/C: 1313

A/N: tysm for reading. Sorry for not posting recently I've been really busy. Any requests lmk. Hopefully should be posting more as I'm sick n can't go out rn. Again tysmm for reading and seeing you in the next one 🫶🫶