Outside Work We... •[TNN One-shots]•

Paper Rings •|| WINTUMN ||•

Prompt: The Wintumn love story based on Taylor Swift's song, "Paper Rings".
[AU]

The first time Autumn met Winter, it was at a staff party she didn’t want to attend. The Nursery staff had convinced her to show up, promising it wouldn’t be too chaotic. They lied.

Winter was new—freshly hired, buzzing with energy, and the center of attention as he recited some dramatic story about a rogue glitter accident in his classroom. Autumn sat at the edge of the room, arms crossed, watching the chaos unfold with a smirk.

He noticed her almost immediately. While everyone else laughed, she just sipped her drink, calm and detached. “Why’s the guard dog sitting alone?” he teased, plopping into the seat next to her.

She raised an eyebrow. “And who are you?”

“Winter. Teacher. Lover of chaos. And you must be Autumn, the one everyone’s scared of.”

She snorted. “Good. Keep it that way.”

But as the night went on, she found herself laughing at his jokes and feeling lighter than she had in years.

°•°•°--**--°•°•°

Autumn didn’t believe in romance. At least, not for herself. She’d seen too much of the world’s ugliness to think she deserved something as bright and soft as love.

But Winter didn’t care about her walls. He broke through them with small, thoughtful gestures: a cup of tea on her desk, a kind word when she was overwhelmed, or a silly doodle slipped into her planner. One day, he crafted a paper ring out of an old Post-it note and slipped it onto her finger during a meeting.

“For when you finally admit you like me,” he whispered, grinning.

She rolled her eyes but kept the ring in her pocket for months.

°•°•°--**--°•°•°

Their relationship wasn’t planned. It started with late-night talks and shared lunches, grew through moments of vulnerability—like when Autumn confessed the trauma of her childhood, and Winter held her hand without saying a word.

One rainy evening, as they closed up the Nursery, Winter turned to her, his curls sticking to his forehead from the drizzle. “I know this might ruin everything,” he said, voice trembling, “but I think I’m falling in love with you.”

Autumn stared at him for a long moment before stepping closer. “Took you long enough,” she muttered, pulling him into a kiss.

°•°•°--**--°•°•°

It wasn’t always easy. Autumn had her moments of pushing him away, afraid of getting too close, too vulnerable.

One day, after a particularly bad fight, she stormed off, leaving Winter standing in the middle of the street. But instead of giving up, he showed up at her door hours later, drenched from the rain.

“I’m not going anywhere, Autumn,” he said, his voice steady despite the storm raging around him. “Not until you let me in.”

And she did.

°•°•°--**--°•°•°

When Winter proposed, it wasn’t at some fancy dinner or with a diamond ring. It was in the Nursery carpark, with a makeshift ring he’d folded out of a candy wrapper.

“Autumn,” he said, his usual sass replaced by raw sincerity. “I don’t have a lot to give, but I have myself. And that’s yours if you’ll take it.”

She laughed, shaking her head. “You’re ridiculous.”

“Is that a yes?”

“Of course it’s a yes, you idiot.”

°•°•°--**--°•°•°

Their marriage wasn’t perfect. They argued over little things—like Winter’s refusal to stop singing loudly in the mornings—and big things, like the grief of losing their first child.

But through every hardship, they chose each other. When Winter’s words weren’t enough, Autumn’s steady presence spoke volumes. When Autumn’s walls threatened to rebuild, Winter’s patience and humor broke them down again.

°•°•°--**--°•°•°

Years later, their wedding bands sat in a drawer, replaced by two paper rings they made on their first anniversary. “This,” Winter said as he slipped the new one onto her finger, “reminds me of how we started. Simple. Real.”

She kissed him, her heart full. “And perfect,” she whispered.

°•°•°--**--°•°•°

Their love wasn’t about grand gestures or shiny things. It was in the quiet mornings, the shared meals, and the nights spent dancing in their living room with Cadaver watching curiously. It was in the paper rings, the Polaroids on the wall, and the life they built together.

Because for Autumn and Winter, love wasn’t about perfection. It was about choosing each other, every single day.

[A/N: This is all over the place, I'm sorry. I hope you guys know what lines I based these off of.]