WISHING FOR AUTUMN | kth

06 | 11:11

THE SMILE THAT found its way to taehyung's face when the door opened to reveal autumn on the other side had become second nature. her brows drew together and lips curved up in an expression of gratefulness. "tae, you're the best!" she glanced down at his hands where he gripped on to paper bags.

"i know i am." he chimed, stepping in when she moved aside. "how's your belly?" he threw over his shoulder, setting the bags on the coffee table. "like the trojan war is being re-enacted in my uterus." she replied, letting out a groan. "sounds peachy." he remarked with a scrunch of his nose. "i bought some painkillers. the pharmacist said they're really effective." he added, disappearing into her kitchen.

"i swear, you're sent from heaven!" she ran after him, wrapping her arms around him from behind. taehyung stopped moving, his hand freezing over the kitchen cabinet he was about to open.

autumn's warmth seeped through his shirt and burned his flesh. the flames licked beneath his skin, leaving a tingling sensation that travelled from every point of contact to every other part of his body. he hoped she wouldn't notice how stiff he had gone or how strange his reaction to her action was.

taehyung felt like he was always biting his tongue, praying she would not catch on. that autumn wouldn't notice the way his gaze lingered on her longer than it should. how just the brush of their skins was enough to start fires for him. how his world stopped whenever their eyes met. or the way his heart beat louder and faster than a drummer's hands on a bongo.

but he knew he was growing more obvious over time, becoming sloppier with hiding his feelings as each moment passed. it was only a matter of time before autumn realised that he was never going to think of her as just another friend. his slip-ups had become much too frequent and it only put him more on edge.

he'd given himself away so much lately, he was surprised that autumn had yet to find out. it was amazing that she remained this oblivious after all this time.

swiping his tongue over his bottom lip, he took a quick breath. "we're still not watching harry potter, autumn." he said flatly. she leaned forward, looking up at him, her face scrunched in a pout. "but taehyung..." she whined out, rocking them from side to side.

"not a chance." he pretended to be unaffected by the extended physical contact. he finally opened the cabinet, pulling out some bowls carefully, ignoring the way her plump lips puckered up and her eyes grew rounder. "it's not working." he commented, refusing to look at her, else he might be unable to resist.

she scrunched her nose at him again, finally letting go. "you're secretly an anti potterhead, aren't you?" she screwed her eyes up at him.

taehyung let a laugh slip past his lips. "or, and i'm just spitballing here, i don't want you to make me hate harry potter. the last seven movie nights we've had have all been one of the potter movies. i'm tired." he turned and moved around her, holding the bowls to his chest. "i'm pretty sure i can recite about ninety percent of the spells. now, i can't even start to imagine how much you know. you've read all the books and watched those movies as many times as there are stars in the night sky."

"fine, fine. we can watch what you want tonight. since you brought snacks and meds." she conceded with a wave of her hand. "speaking of, seems like troy has been defeated and the war has ended." he glanced back and down at her belly. "no medicine could ever be as effective as my taehyung kim!" she hurried to his side, grabbing the sleeve of his hoodie.

his heart lurched in his chest, and taehyung began to worry about his physical state. was twenty three too young for heart attacks? because he was beginning to believe that he would develop heart problems if he kept spending so much time around autumn whilst trying to hide his feelings.

"wait no, i spoke too soon." autumn grunted suddenly, doubling over in pain. "where are those painkillers?" her face contorted in a grimace. taehyung held on to her, leading her the rest of the way to the living room as she let out tiny groans.

sitting her down and dropping the bowls, he searched through one of the bags. he saw her brows go up even though she was in pain when he pulled out the contents. "you bought a heating pad too?" her eyes came up to meet his. "you don't have one." his shoulders lifted in a shrug. "but i have a hot water bottle." she informed him softly. "well, now you have something even better." he snatched the pills out of the bag and handed them to her.

he hurried back into the kitchen and returned with a glass of water. "thank you," she beamed gratefully as he settled down next to her. placing the half drunk glass on the coffee table along with the pain relievers, autumn rested her head on taehyung's lap. she snuggled up until she was comfortable, oblivious to the fact that he was unmoving.

"what are we watching?" her slim fingers wrapped around the remote. taehyung didn't answer, too focused on silencing the erratic beating of his heart. "hm?" she glanced up at him curiously. he blinked out of his daze, eyes focusing on the screen. "since your belly's currently a warzone, i'll let you pick what you want." he smiled at her. when he saw the way her eyes brightened, he quickly added, "except harry potter, of course."

her nose scrunched as she shot him a dirty look. "killjoy." she mumbled and he laughed. "since it's halloween, let's watch corpse bride." she switched the tv on, searching for the decided movie. "you can never go wrong with tim burton." he absentmindedly played with her hair, gently brushing and curling the strands with his fingers.

"true that." she reached for the bag of gummy worms on the coffee table. "oh," she pointed, mouth stuffed with the chewy candy. "it's wishing hour." her eyes focused on the clock. "witching hour?" he dipped his hand into the bag of gummy worms. "no, wishing. it's 11:11 pm." she said with a small laugh. "make a wish." she sang out as the movie began to play.

so taehyung smiled and instead, watched her make a wish with her eyes squeezed shut, wondering what she asked for.