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It’s more than a miracle when Erik makes it out of his coma. He’d essentially been waiting to die, the doctors had said. The only reason they hadn’t cut the life support was that one in a million chance, and that, well, they could afford to keep it going.
It’s a weight lifted off of Wilhelm’s shoulders to no longer be the de facto crown prince.
It’s a weight off of his parents to have a distraction off of his so-called sex scandal.
And it’s a weight off his heart to have his brother back again.
By all accounts, he should be grateful for this miracle, and excited beyond all words to see Erik again.
So when Simon texts him asking how he’s doing, he’s surprised that his answer is “terrified beyond all reason.” He doesn’t send that though.
A little nervous.
He presses send.
“He’s ready, your highness.”
His mother rushes in first, heels clacking on the floor. His father follows. Wilhelm trails after both of them.
The door clicks shut.
Erik sits in the hospital bed, disheveled.
He’s scruffy, hair no longer perfectly gelled, and he’s still wearing a gown, with an IV poking out of his arm.
His mother, first again, embraces him, muttering something softly. His father joins her, sitting next to her on the bed. When she lets Erik go, their father gives him a solid clap on the shoulder.
“Good to have you back.”
Erik smiles at both of them. Wilhelm shuffles forward.
He inhales. Then he sits on the right side of the bed, opposite his parents.
Erik smiles at him, more playful.
Wilhelm can only bring himself to tilt the corners of his mouth up slightly.
Erik stops smiling, and raises his eyebrows, but before he can say anything his mother has already attempted to bring him up to speed on all the official matters. So Wilhelm resolves himself to sit through the rest of her blabbering and talk to Erik later.
—
It hits Wilhelm halfway through the ride home that Erik has no idea about Simon.
Well, Shit.
He deliberates telling him right there, sitting across from him as he is.
Then he remembers that his parents are in the car, and all his mother will do is turn it into a story about his irresponsibility, and the role of duty in the life of a prince.
So he waits.
—
Wilhelm walks back to his room in the palace.
He couldn’t sit still the entire dinner, bouncing his leg and sneaking glances at Erik, which causes Erik to grin at him, before raising an eyebrow after Wilhelm keeps staring at him blankly.
Erik probably already knows something is off, if Wilhelm is being honest with himself. But he'll keep putting it off for now.
The palace is abuzz with PR people, some of which Erik can tell are not just there to document his miraculous recovery. What they’re there to report on, Wilhelm hopes Erik still doesn’t know.
He’s already been outed to the entire world, so it doesn’t really matter if Erik finds out now. He would’ve, anyway, once their mother decided that Erik’s self-requested break from royal duties was over. Which, Wilhelm would add, caused her to gape at Erik in shock. How scandalous that the crown prince doesn’t want to work for a few days after having woken up from a coma leading to nearly certain death.
Still, coma aside, would it be too much to ask, if he wanted come out to his brother on his own terms?
Probably.
—
Apparently fate has a weird sense of humor and wants to prove Wilhelm wrong, because barely five minutes after he was released from dinner, someone comes knocking on his door.
“Come in.”
“Hey.”
It’s Erik.
“Oh. Uh, hey.”
Erik sits down on the side of his bed, twisting to face him where he lies sprawled out.
“So.” Erik looks at him expectantly.
“So?” Wilhelm tries to look innocent.
“So, you’re going to tell me what in the world is going on, why you’re acting so strange.” Erik reaches over to stroke his head.
Wilhelm flinches, rolling onto his back.
“Nothing, I-“ He sighs. “It’s nothing.”
“It’s clearly something, you’re acting like we’ve never met.”
“Well it’s nothing important that the crown prince needs to be tending to.” Wilhelm snaps back.
Erik’s face softens, and he kicks his shoes off, letting them land on opposite sides of the nearby rug.
“Hey, sorry,” he says as he lies down next to him.
Wilhelm sighs again, covering his face with his hands.
“No, it’s fine. I just-“ Another sigh.
There’s so many things to say. They needed him to be crown prince, he missed Erik, his mother demanded perfection and everything he will never be, he likes Simon, he’s dating Simon, also, he’s not straight, Erik’s no longer dead-
“I-“ His voice breaks before he can find another word.
Erik watches as the first tear lands on the sheets, followed by a second, then a third. Then a fourth, and then a fifth, and again until he can’t count how many have fallen.
“I just- We though you were dead. I was supposed to be the crown prince, and Mom told me I needed to be perfect, and everyone needed me to perfect, and I didn’t even have you to help me and-“
Erik reaches over to pull him into a hug.
The force with with Wilhelm returns it feels like it’s crushing Erik’s lungs.
And Wilhelm is happy again, and not just for the precious few hours he spends with Simon.
Wilhelm keeps crying. Cries until he’s run out of snot and tears to smear on the sheets and Erik’s sweater, and they pull away and sit up.
“I’m sorry that you had to go through all of that.” Erik’s smile is sadder, but it’s sincere.
“S’not your fault. Don’t you dare leave me alone like that again, though.”
“I promise.”
Wilhelm nods.
“Was that all it was about?” Erik asks, after a few more moments.
Fuck.
“Uh, yeah, that was it.” Wilhelm nods, not meeting his eyes. “Anyway, I’m tired and you probably need to rest or something, so I’m going to go to bed.” He pulls the cover over himself. “Goodnight, Erik.”
Erik's eyebrows twitch, but he nods and stands up. “Goodnight, Wille.”
—
As it turns out, Wilhelm does not sleep. Instead, he texts Simon.
How did you come out to your family?
The response makes his phone ding a few moments later.
Uh, it wasn’t anything special, I kind of just told them at dinner, my sister nodded, my mom said “That’s fine,” and we went back to eating.”
It dings again.
Why?
Wilhelm types back his response.
It’s probably on the news, but Erik came out of his coma yesterday. I wanted to come out to him, properly, since basically the entire world found out through a sex tape.
Another ding.
I didn’t know him well at Hillerska, since he was so much older, but I think he’d be fine with it. He seems to care about you a lot, anyway.
A ding.
Coming out is scary though, so remember that you should feel free to do it on your own time.
Okay that might be kinda hard since the whole world sort of knows. But still.
Wilhelm texts back his final reply.
Yeah, of course. Thanks, by the way. I’ll see you again in school in two days, but I’ll text you tomorrow. <3
Simon texts him a heart back.
Wilhelm sets his phone aside, and stares at the ceiling.
August knew Erik well. August told him that Erik would want him to be himself.
That was probably true.
And Erik always pushed for the royal family to host a pride event, or at least release statements on pride month.
But that was probably just for the sake of appearances.
Still, he was the most vocal for LGBTQ+ rights of anyone in the family.
But Erik is definitely straight.
And Erik always only asked him if there was a girl he liked. Never a boy.
But then, he never said it couldn’t be a boy. He just never asked if there was a boy.
But, Erik said nothing would ever change that he was his brother, and he loved him.
Wilhelm sighs again.
Then he slides out of bed, and heads to Erik’s room.
—
He knocks on the door.
“Come.”
He pulls it open, groaning as Erik turns on a lamp.
“Hey!” Erik blinks a few times before smiling. “What’s up?”
Wilhelm jumps onto the bed, flopping unceremoniously and letting out a grunt.
Erik chuckles.
“Yeah?”
Wilhelm stills, trying to stomp down the butterflies in his stomach and lightheaded feeling in his head.
He inhales, then exhales.
“Remember-“
He can’t get himself to say it.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, remember the last conversation we had? Before everything?” Wilhem doesn’t meet his eyes.
“The one where you met someone, right?”
Fuck, this is it.
“Yeah, that one.”
Erik leans back on the crimson covers.
“What about it?”
“Well-“ Wilhelm sighs.
“Are you together?” Erik grins. “Who is she? Do I know her?”
“Right, about that…”
“Yeah? Oh, don’t tell me you broke up.”
“No!” He shouts the word, enough that Erik jumps a little and his smiles falls.
“Sorry? What about that then?”
“She’s uh…” Wilhelm inhales.
“Well, you probably don’t know her, she’s in my year. I really like her. And she’s got dark-ish skin,” he says as his voice wobbles.
“And really curly black hair.” He continues, as it breaks.
“And um- really pretty brown eyes, and long eyelashes.”
His voice breaks before he can finish the last word and he begins to cry again.
“Wille, what happened with this girl?” Erik’s brow is furrowed, an unusual look of concern written over his face, usually saved for when he’s delivering a statement on death or human rights abuses.
“She-“ He grabs the sheets. “She’s-“ He looks up at Erik as he cries. “She’s a he. A boy.”
Erik blinks once, before understanding washes over his face.
For the second time that day, Erik pulls him into a hug.
“I’m so sorry Wille,” Erik whispers.
“So sorry. That- that’s completely fine. You’re still my brother, I love you, always. That’s absolutely okay, please don’t worry about it, I’m sorry that you even had to worry about it, I-“
He’s rambling at this point, which is rare for him, praised for being articulate as he is.
Wilhelm sobs into Erik’s shirt.
“It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s completely okay, don’t worry.” Erik pets his head.
Wilhelm takes a few shuddering breathes, sniffing. He shivers.
“You’re sure it’s completely fine?” He asks, voice still crackling over the words.
“Yes, yes, absolutely. You didn’t think it would change anything, did you?”
Wilhelm sniffs again. “I dunno, not really, but then again, you were basically dead for a month. And you never asked if I liked boys. And I was just really scared and-“
Erik looks at him.
“I’m so, so sorry Wille.” He pushes a strand of hair back. “Forgive me?”
Wilhelm nods. “Mhm.” He sniffs again.
Erik smiles a little. “Thank you for trusting me.”
“Mhm.”
“So, let me do it right this time.” Erik lies down, shifting onto his side. “What’s his name?”
“Simon,” Wilhelm replies, smiling a little bit.
“Nice name. Is he cute?” Erik asks, wiggling his eyebrows.
Wilhelm blushes. “I- yeah, he is.”
“Awwwww.” Erik grins. “Have you kissed him yet?”
All Wilhelm can muster is a nod.
“Is he a good kisser?”
Wilhelm huffs a laugh, smiling. “I- Fuck off!”
Erik laughs.
“Okay, okay, sorry. When can I meet him?”
Wilhelm’s face falls.
“Right, um…”
Erik’s brow furrows. “What?”
“So you know how there’s a lot of press around?”
“More than usual, yeah.”
“Someone uh… someone might’ve recorded a tape of us making out and put it on the internet?”
Erik’s eyes bulge.
Wilhelm continues. “And uh, it might be considered a huge sex scandal which Mom is forcing me to make a statement about, saying it wasn’t me in the video, and that I’m not gay?”
Erik’s eyes bulge even more. Then they harden.
“Seriously?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you want to release that statement?”
“No.”
Erik pauses.
“Then you won’t.”
Wilhelm raises an eyebrow at him.
Erik continues. “We’ll talk to her. I promise, we’ll find a way around it.
“Really?”
“Of course.”
Wilhelm looks down, pausing.
“Thank you. By the way. For everything.”
Erik grabs his shoulder and stares at him.
“You don’t need to thank me, you’re my brother. I love you, end of story.”
And for the first time in ages, Wilhem grins.