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Simon wakes up to the sound of a knife dropping.
“Shit!” he hears his boyfriend swear from the kitchen, and a quiet groan escapes Simon’s lips. He opens his eyes just in time to see Wilhelm peek at him from around the corner.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you up yet.” An apologetic smile appears on his lips.
Simon watches as Wilhelm walks over to him and proceeds to kneel down next to the bed - next to Simon. He is wearing that blue jumper that Simon likes so much, and his favourite pair of comfy pyjama bottoms (with tiny elephants on it. Simon thinks they look sort of ridiculous, but that’s what makes them cute). He starts grinning as Wilhelm gently ruffles Simon’s curls, and then Simon mutters, “’s fine… I was gonna use the day to study anyway.”
Wilhelm smiles at that and places a gentle kiss on Simon’s forehead. “Well, good morning, then,” he says and gets up from the floor. He walks back towards the kitchen, and once he’s reached it, he adds, “I’m preparing breakfast.”
“I heard,” Simon teases and grins.
“Ugh, shut up,” Wilhelm answers, and Simon does, but he doesn’t stop grinning.
He takes a moment to appreciate this. All of this. His ridiculous boyfriend cutting vegetables in the kitchen, in their small apartment in Stockholm on a slow Sunday morning.
After their graduation from Hillerska, neither Simon nor Wilhelm had to think twice about moving in together. After several fights with her son about moving out - apparently, crown princes were expected to live in the palace permanently - Queen Kristina had someone compile a list of suitable apartments. Big apartments, with floor-to-ceiling windows and breathtaking views, balconies bigger than ever necessary and expensive, extravagant chandeliers. But Simon didn’t want any of that. He didn’t want to live off of anyone else’s money, essentially tax payer’s money - and so he wanted to live in a place where he could actually afford paying his half of the rent. Wilhelm had agreed to that, and it took them a few more discussions with the Queen (“What will people think if we send our son off to live in a… a box!”), but eventually, that’s how they ended up in their one-bedroom-apartment.
Although it is small, and there isn’t even a door between the living room and the bedroom but instead just a curtain, Simon loves it, because it’s theirs. He loves the tiny kitchen with the small dining table for two and the checkered tiles, and he loves the fairy lights that Wilhelm had insisted on putting above their bed, and he loves the pictures of his loved ones on the wall, right next to pictures of him and his boyfriend.
Simon smiles to himself as he finally gets out of bed. The curtain had already been pushed aside by Wilhelm earlier this morning, and Simon finds himself slightly surprised that the sunlight hadn’t woken him up before, but he guesses he had really needed some sleep after having stayed up late several nights in a row to work on some coursework.
He walks over to the dresser and grabs the first hoodie he can get his hands on - Wilhelm’s old Hillerska hoodie - and quickly throws it on as he makes his way toward the kitchen. Wilhelm had moved on from cutting vegetables to cutting fruit now, and is so focussed that he doesn’t notice Simon walk up behind him until he wraps his arms around his slim body. He hears Wilhelm chuckle to himself quietly as Simon places his chin on his shoulder. He closes his eyes at the sound and then mumbles, "Hi."
“Hey.”
“I didn’t say it earlier. So, good morning,” he says quietly, and presses a kiss to Wilhelm's neck before he lets go and turns around to have a look at the table.
There are sliced cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes, and at least four kinds of cheese and vegetarian cold cuts (Simon had decided to stop eating meat shortly after graduation. Wilhelm isn’t quite there yet, although he tries, but at least he has the decency to not buy any meat to eat in their apartment). Simon also spots his favourite kind of bread. He smiles.
He turns around to help himself to some coffee, when he spots a colorful pile of paper on the kitchen counter, and gasps. “The magazines are here?”
Wilhelm turns his head to smile at him. “Oh, yeah. Malin brought them in this morning.”
“Brilliant,” Simon says as he grabs the issue on top of the pile.
This had become a little tradition of theirs. Every few weeks, Malin, Wilhelm’s bodyguard, would bring in some of the tabloids of the past weeks. Simon and Wilhelm would look through them together to see what was written about them. They usually refrain from reading through public opinions, it hadn't really proved benefial for their mental health in the past, but those tabloid articles in particular are sometimes so incredibly ridiculous that Simon can’t believe people would believe any of it in the first place.
“Oh, you made the cover,” Simon says as he sits down, the magazine in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. “Just a small picture in the corner, but the cover.”
“Yeah, I saw.” Simon hears his boyfriend snort. “I haven’t looked through them yet, I just saw the one on top.” He grins and sits down next to Simon at the table.
“Family At War: Insider reveals Prince Wilhelm’s newest feud with Queen Kristina,” Simon reads out.
“A family feud? Intriguing, tell me more.”
Simon grins and opens up the magazine to look for the article. Once he finds it, he reads, “Stressed out Crown Prince Wilhelm is boozing to take the edge off, insiders snitched - and it’s put him on a collision course with his mother, Queen Kristina! Now sources claim there are fears the 20-year-old royal’s growing dependence on alcohol could even lead to a full-blown family crisis.”
“Really, an alcohol addiction? Could they at least attempt to be creative?” Wilhelm rolls his eyes. “Next!”
Simon chuckles as he picks up the next magazine. Back in his teenage days, Wilhelm got labelled “Party-Prince” by the press, and despite his best efforts, he’d never fully managed to get away from that title. But of course, those gossip-obsessed hunters, or 'journalists' as they call themselves, never really care about the truth anyways, so Wilhelm just stopped caring about them at some point, and so did Simon. They both know that barely anyone believes a word from those magazines - and if they do, neither Simon nor Wilhelm had any interest in proving them wrong.
“Aw, we’re not on the cover. But look, it’s Megan Markle.”
“What’d the poor woman do now?”
“I’m not sure I wanna know.” Simon opens the magazine. “Ah, there we are.” He turns the page a little so Wilhelm can have a look. “Oh. Apparently we broke up again?”
Wilhelm is about to bite into a sandwich, but stops himself to fake-gasp. “Oh, no. And that’s not cover-worthy news? I’m offended.”
Simon goes to the page. They used a good picture of them, one of the professional-looking ones that some official royal photographer had taken of them at the palace. Wilhelm posted it on Instagram a few weeks ago. Someone had edited it so it looked like the picture was ripped in half in between then, and the headline said, “Trouble in Paradise?”
“A few months ago we already reported there was trouble in paradise for the royal couple. “Wilhelm continues to have insecurities when it comes to Simon,” an unnamed source said, referencing the time Eriksson was photographed leaving a club without his boyfriend.”
“How dare you have a life outside of this relationship,” Wilhelm says jokingly, and Simon snorts. He takes a sip of his coffee before he continues reading, “Simon is no angel, everyone knows that,” the source added.”
“Yeah, you’re a true bad boy.” Wilhelm jests and ruffles a hand through Simon’s hair before he gets up to get himself a cup of coffee.
Simon continues reading the article to himself quietly but quickly loses interest. It’s the same as always; completely unsubstantial, and just unnamed 'sources' claiming things about them. He rolls his eyes and puts the tabloid aside, then reaches for the next one.
This one made him furrow his eyebrows for a moment - it’s him on the cover. Not in the corner, but the very centre. He blinks as he sees his own face smile back at him from the cheap paper.
This doesn’t happen a lot. Wilhelm, bless him, is trying his best to keep Simon out of the prying eyes of the public, but sometimes, even he can’t help it. Simon more or less got used to it, because he had to and he isn't delusional, but usually, his picture would just be a smaller picture next to Wilhelm’s.
The headline reads, “Simon’s Secret Life Revealed!” and underneath, “EXCLUSIVE: Insider Shares the Prince’s Boyfriend’s PRIVATE Instagram Posts!”
His heartbeat picks up. “Wille? Look.”
They make constant efforts to keep Simon’s life as private as possible. After their video got leaked, Simon’s Instagram account had gained thousands of followers over night, so he deleted it and started a new one - a private one, one that has been private ever since, with just friends and family following it. It’s not that he has anything to hide, he just doesn’t want people to dissect every single thing he posts on the internet just because his boyfriend happens to be famous.
“Hm?” Wilhelm turns around and bows down slightly behind Simon to have a look at the magazine. “Wait, what?”
He takes the magazine from Simon and sits back down on his chair. Simon watches his eyes widen as he flips through the magazine.
“Simon, they got everything.” Wilhelm turns the magazine around so Simon can have a look, too. And indeed, loads of his posts were scattered all across four pages, including captions and - he blushes at this - comments from Wilhelm that were never meant for the public.
There’s some pictures of just Simon - most of them with small comments along the lines of “What a cutie!” or “Hottie!”. Simon cringes at those. There's one picture of him and Sara. One picture of him at a choir rehearsal. One picture of Wilhelm, fast asleep in their bed, which Simon had posted to tease him (and also because he secretly thought the picture was cute).
There’s one picture that a friend of his, Noah, took. He'd asked Simon if he could take some pictures of him for some uni project, and Simon had agreed. In the picture, he wears a loose shirt and holds a flower in his hand. Underneath the picture, there's a comment from the author of the article, saying, “Who would've thought that the prince is into the model-type?”. Next to it, they’d put a screenshot of a comment from Wilhelm, saying, “Damn, Papichulo” followed by a wide range of emojis. Simon buries his face in his hands. ”Wilhelm, the entire country now thinks you unironically call me 'Papichulo'.”
“How’d they even get these?” Wilhelm furrows his eyebrows in disbelief. Then he asks, “When did this paper come out? Shouldn’t someone have told us about this?”
Simon checks the cover for a date. “It just came out today. Malin must’ve got it on her way here.”
Wilhelm groans. “God, I’m so sorry this happened.” He takes the magazine back from Simon to have another look. Simon watches as his boyfriend slowly lets his fingers run over one of the pictures that shows them together. Their friend Felice took it on the beach. It had been really cold and windy that day, so Wilhelm had his arms wrapped around Simon’s body from behind and his face buried in Simon's neck. Simon was smiling the whole time.
He isn’t smiling now.
“This was just… for us. And our friends. Not for some magazine to call us #CoupleGoals,” Wilhelm mumbles and sighs. “Sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“It kinda is, though.”
“Wille…”
“No, this sucks!” He runs a hand through his hair. “You never even wanted this.”
“No, I guess I didn’t.” He tries his best to smile despite it all and places his hand on top of Wilhelm’s. “But I want you. And if this is the package deal, then so be it. I’ll take it.”
“You shouldn’t have to.”
“It‘s not like we can change anything about it. Wille, we've had this conversation so many times. You’ll always be in the public eye, no matter what. And of course stuff like this…” Simon points at the article. “Stuff like this isn't great, but… I‘ll deal with it. I’ve been dealing with it for, like, almost five years now. It's not your fault.”
They're both silent for a while. When Wilhelm starts speaking again, Simon is still looking at the article. “You don't have to pretend that this doesn't bother you. I mean, it bothers me, too.”
“It does bother me. But what am I gonna do about it?” He shrugs his shoulders.
“Why do people even care so much about this? About us?” Obviously, Wilhelm knows why, so Simon doesn’t bother answering. Instead, he says, “I mean, look, at least they are being nice about us.” He chuckles halfheartedly in an attempt to cheer Wilhelm up. “They call me a hottie. And I like how they’re making fun of your thirst comments.”
Wilhelm bites his lower lip and crosses his arms. He does that sometimes when he's thinking. “I’ll find out who leaked these. It must be someone who follows you, right?”
“Babe, no, it’s fine. Don’t get too worked up about this, it’s not worth it.”
“Your account is private for a reason, and this is just plain disrespectful. And it's not just you. There's pictures of us, of me, and friends and family. And no one agreed to this. ”
Simon sighs. “I know you feel responsible for this, but how would you even figure out who did this in the first place?”
“I mean… Mamma seemed to have no problem finding out about August a few years ago.”
“Wille…”
But he already gets up from the table. He leaves the room, and when he comes back, his phone is in his hand.
“Minou texted me.” Minou is one of the royal family’s PR managers. “Over an hour ago. The photos are all over the internet, apparently. Basically all tabloids in the country are talking about them.” He lets himself fall back into his chair.
“People are so...” Simon groans. “It’s not even that big of a deal. It’s just… regular pictures. They know we’re dating. They know who I am, where I live, where my family lives, who I’m friends with. Why isn’t that enough?”
Wilhelm just sighs next to him. “I’m sorry,” he mumbles.
“Stop saying that, please, it’s… you can’t help it.”
“I’m really trying to keep you as far away from all this as possible.”
“I know. And I love you for that. But I also know that sometimes, we can’t avoid this.” He places a hand on Wilhelm’s shoulder. “I’d be utterly delusional to expect that from you.”
Wilhelm lets out a long breath. “I'll call Minou and ask her what she thinks we should do about this.” Simon nods and watches as Wilhelm walks out of the kitchen, already dialing the number on his way out.
After Wilhelm leaves, Simon grabs his own phone from the kitchen counter. He's too curious, so he googles his own name and taps on the News section. Minou didn't lie - there are quite a few articles about the pictures, and Simon randomly chooses one of them to read. It's similar to the one in the magazine, so he quickly scrolls down to look at comments.
“Why are these being published? You literally mentioned in the article that these are from his private Instagram account, so obviously, he didn't feel like sharing these with the world. Just leave him alone.”
"Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if Simon leaked these himself to get attention."
Another comment said, “that's a huge invasion of their privacy, wtf.”
Other than that, there's people calling him or Wilhelm or the both of them things like “cute” and “adorable”. Of course, there's also one obligatory comment featuring puke-emojis. Simon rolls his eyes at that one and continues eating his breakfast.
»»————-
Wilhelm left for a meeting with his mother and Minou a while ago, and Simon is currently trying his best to focus on his coursework. He has an essay due in just three days, and he barely even started because there is just too much on his plate.
He welcomes the distraction of his phone vibrating to notify him about a message. He grabs it quickly and takes a look at the screen. It's a message from Noah, one of his friends from uni, the one that took the picture of him with the flower. “Hey, you got a minute?”
Simon furrows his eyebrows as he types, “Sure. What's up?”
Noah replies immediately. “Can I call you?”
Simon agrees, and not even a minute later, his phone rings. “Hey, Simon.”
“Hey... what's going on?” he asks and leans back in his chair. He hears Noah sigh on the other end of the line.
“It's about... you know, the pictures. From your Instagram? That were leaked.”
Simon furrows his eyebrows once again. “What about them?”
Noah lets out a long breath before he says, “I need you to know that it wasn't personal. I just...”
“Huh? What are you on about?”
“Simon, I... It was me. I-I sold the pictures to the press. I'm sorry.”
Simon sits up. “What?”
“Look, Simon, I'm sorry-”
“You sold me out? We're friends!” Simon gets up from the chair and starts pacing around the room. He hears someone unlock the front door and knows that Wilhelm is about to walk in.
“We are! Simon, I'm so sorry.”
“Do you even realize how fucked up this is? What the fuck, Noah.” Wilhelm quietly enters the room, looking fairly confused when he finds Simon shouting at his phone.
“I know, I can't-”
“Just-“ He sighs. “Why?”
For a moment Noah doesn't say anything. Wilhelm is standing next to Simon now, whispering, “What's going on?” but Simon doesn't answer.
“I'm sorry, man, I... th-they were paying good money, and I... really needed it.”
“I could've helped you out. You know you could've come to me. I would've understood. There is literally no excuse for you to sell me out like this.”
“The pictures are not even that bad, and from what I've seen, the press was being pretty nice about it-”
“That doesn't matter! Don't you get it? This is my privacy, and Wille's, and you decided to just...” Simon huffs exasperatedly and looks at Wilhelm, who is still standing right next to him. Simon turns away.
“I know. I'm sorry. I really am. But I wanted you to hear this from me. I feel horrible about it.”
“Well, you should!” Simon sighs. “You know what, I'm done talking about this.”
“If there's any way I can make it up to you...”
“No. Just leave me alone.”
“Simon...”
“Goodbye, Noah.” He hangs up before Noah can say anything else.
Slowly, he turns around to face Wilhelm. He could immediately read the pity in his eyes. “So… Noah? Really?” he asks, and Simon just nods slowly. It's Wilhelm who takes the last step to close the distance between them, and pulls Simon into a tight hug. “I'm sorry,” he whispers, and Simon buries his head in his neck.
“I thought... I thought I could trust him. I mean, we are not the closest friends, but... I don't know. God, I feel so naive.” He sighs, and Wilhelm lets go of him so he could look at Simon. He gently sweeps a loose curl from Simon's forehead, and then Wilhelm's hand cups his cheek.
“My entire life I've been told not to trust anyone,” Wilhelm starts, “because people could take advantage of me. And they did. And... I hate that this is happening to you right now.” He leans his forehead against Simon's. “But please don't lose your ability to see the good in people, alright? Being trusting isn't a bad thing. It's the world that sucks sometimes.”
Simon nods lightly and closes his eyes. He sighs and lets one of his hands find Wilhelm's wrist. He grabs it, feels the familiar warmth of his skin, the shape of the inherited watch he always wears, the soft fabric of his jumper. He nods again. “I know.”
Wilhelm pulls away, but Simon is still holding on to his wrist, before he eventually intertwines their fingers. "How'd the meeting go?" He asks then. Wilhelm lets go of him to sit down on the sofa, and Simon follows.
"Minou thinks that we shouldn't do anything, and Mamma agrees."
"What? Really?" Simon's current emotional state feels like the definition of 'disappointed, but not surprised'.
Wilhelm nods. "She said that it doesn't really matter as long as the press isn't portraying us in any negative way. That it makes you look better, actually, more likeable, less mysterious. More trustworthy, or something. Because we're apparently not sharing enough about you. Although she also said that my comments were not really appropriate considering my position, and that I should make a secret private account if I want to interact with people like that." Wilhelm mimicks his mother and rolls his eyes. "It's dumb. Like it wasn't just for fun."
"Really? That‘s what they're worried about?"
"Did you expect any different?"
Simon shakes his head and sighs in frustration. He leans back into the sofa.
"People will probably forget about it in a few days, I suppose," Wilhelm mumbles.
"I guess," Simon mutters. The fact he can‘t really do anything frustrates him immensely.
"What about Noah?" Wilhelm asks, and Simon turns his head to look at him. "I don‘t think what he did was strictly illegal, but maybe-"
"Wille, no." Simon groans quietly. "What he did is terrible. But… I won't…"
"He betrayed your trust, you don't need to defend him."
"I know that. But… I feel like…" He hesitates. "I don't want to press charges, or whatever. I'll stay away from him, I don‘t wanna be friends with someone like that. But…" He shakes his head.
Wilhelm nods and takes Simon's hand. "Okay. We won't do anything you don't want to."
"Thank you."
“But...” Wilhelm smiles the slightest bit and looks up at Simon. “I still want to address this somehow. Even if Mamma and Minou think we shouldn't.”
“As long as you don't deny it's you in the pictures.” Simon grins cheekily at the groan this caused from his boyfriend.
“Fuck you,” Wilhelm mumbles, but Simon sees him smile. He's glad they had both learnt to joke about this by now, even though it had taken them a while to get there.
"So?" Simon asks then, “What did you have in mind?”
“Not sure. I considered taking this to Instagram? Just... I don't know, a quick, condescending post about the press.”
“Hmm, are you sure PR will allow it?” The PR team monitors the royal family's social media presence closely to keep up their reputation. Usually, Wilhelm doesn't really feel the need to share everything he does on his socials, so when they tell him to post something, he just does. He comments on his friend's posts sometimes, but that's about it, and of course, Simon knows that. Simon also knows that Wilhelm had considered making a private account for a while, but had decided against it eventually. Given their current situation, maybe that was the right call.
"Maybe I don't need to run it by them."
"You really wanna piss off your mother like that?" Simon gasps exaggeratedly to tease Wilhelm, and it works, because Wilhelm smiles and pushes Simon away from him lightheartedly. Then Simon asks, "But don't you think a post will draw even more attention to the pictures?"
"Possibly, but I need to get my point across. If that's okay with you.” Wilhelm sighs. “I don't even think a post would change anything. But... it'd feel wrong not to say anything. I keep stressing to the public how important your privacy is to us, and it'd feel hypocritical to pretend that nothing happened when someone literally leaked your private posts. But as I said, I'll only do it if you're fine with it.”
Simon nods in agreement. "I think so. I mean... like you said, I don't think that a post would change anything. But you're in some of the pictures, too, so I guess it'd be a good thing to show where we stand, you know?"
"Exactly." Wilhelm gets out his phone and leans his head back before he starts typing. Simon notices he's using the notes app to type out a draft. "So, how should we do this?
They spend the rest of the night typing out a post. Wilhelm wants it to sound professional, and carefully considers every single word. Simon helps him with the content, and eventually, helps him choose a picture to post with the caption. They both agree that it should be a picture of them together, so Wilhelm goes through some of the professional pictures that were taken of them at the palace a few weeks ago. Those pictures were meant for official use anyways.
They read through the caption they'd come up with, over and over again, occasionally changing a few things until they felt like it was good enough to be read by millions on the internet.
When Wilhelm finally presses the "Post" button, Simon squeezes his hand.
»»————-
[https://hant.se/kungligt/Crown-Prince-Wilhelm-addresses-the-leak-of-Simons-private-Instagram-posts/]
HÄNT EXTRA
Home │ Entertainment │ News │ Royals │ Hollywood
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'Respect our privacy!' Crown Prince Wilhelm addresses the leak of Simon's private Instagram-posts!
by Marie Sjöberg │ September 4, 2024
Just yesterday, Sett & Hört revealed private Instagram-posts of the Crown Prince's boyfriend, Simon Eriksson, and received backlash from not only fans of the couple, but also Prince Wilhelm himself. In a new post to his own Instagram account, the young prince speaks up about the leak of the pictures, saying, “I usually refrain from addressing rumors spread by tabloids and similar news outlets, mainly because they are often untrue and therefore do not feel worth talking about. However, I found myself needing to address this current situation as it does not concern just any rumor but an actual invasion of my partner's and, frankly, my own privacy.” The text is accompanied by a picture of the pair, taken at the Royal Palace in Stockholm.
[Picture could not be loaded.]
The prince adds, “Simon is very aware of his status in the public eye, but the pictures in question were meant for our friends and family. While we know we cannot expect the press' behavior to change any time soon, we would like to emphasize that neither myself nor Simon condones or welcomes it. So, we kindly ask the public to respect our privacy.” He further claims, “We should be allowed privacy, since we are already sharing the biggest parts of our lives with the rest of the world. We're only human, just like everyone else.”
So far, Sett & Hört has yet to officially respond to Prince Wilhelm's public outcall. However, an insider tells us, “We think Simon is a hypocrite. Don't go off dating the Crown Prince if you don't want any attention. If you're not giving the people anything, of course they will start looking for information themselves.”
What do you think? Is Prince Wilhelm's request for more privacy a valid one or do you feel that the public deserves to know more about the man by the side of our future king? Comment below!
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