Chapter Text
The last thing Wilhelm is expecting on a random Tuesday is an invitation to the White House. He has barely left his room in the palace since he returned after the last day of school, his head filled with thoughts of Simon. Malin drags him out to eat, and for any daily briefings, as well as for their obligations as royals over the Christmas period, but Wille hasn’t felt very present during the last week. It has been like walking through fog. He’s honestly surprised Malin hasn’t given up trying yet.
Maybe not surprised. More like disappointed. All he’s ever wanted was to be left alone, but especially here, he doesn’t have that luxury.
However, this time when Malin drags him to a briefing–his least favourite part of any day–the Queen tells him that he has been invited to a New Year’s Eve party at the White House. Initially he thinks he has heard wrong, so he just blankly stares at her, confusion evident on his face. Eventually she sighs, clearly disappointed by his reaction, and explains that every year the First Son and Daughter of the United States throw a party, or, as she calls it, the Young America New Year’s Eve Gala. From what he can gather Erik used to attend every year and it will look very bad on them if Wilhelm does not follow in his footsteps. It’s the same thing he is told multiple times a week.
It occurs to him that maybe it is unfair to expect him to do all this while he is still grieving, but he has no energy to even try to refuse. He vaguely remembers that over the last few years Erik went to Washington D.C. for New Year’s Eve, so this glorified party rings a bell. The people around him go on about how it will be good publicity for him as the Crown Prince to be seen at such a prestigious event. Wilhelm doesn’t know why they are talking about it. It seems obvious that he has to go–it isn’t like he has much choice anyway–and he says this out loud. He immediately regrets it when his mother responds with, “Well, after the unfortunate situation a few weeks ago, I am not sure it would be proper for you to be seen around Prince Henry.”
Wilhelm has to think hard about this comment. He hasn’t seen Henry in years and barely remembers him. There is an 8-year age gap between the two of them, so he was closer in age to Erik. As he sifts through the filed away information at the back of his brain he remembers seeing the articles a few months ago and he has to force himself not to express what he is feeling inside; of course the Queen doesn’t want him going to a party hosted by a gay prince’s boyfriend when everyone knows he is conflicted over lying about Simon.
The Queen continues, sending a pointed look in Wilhelm’s direction. “As you can see, this puts us in a difficult position, but we have decided you must go. You are allowed a plus one, so we are requesting that you attend with a girl. I think Felice Ehrencrona would be a good choice here.” Wilhelm thinks that it sounds an awful lot more like an order than a ‘request’. Deciding that resistance is futile–they’ve had this conversation before, after all–he mumbles his slightly frustrated agreement and the topic of conversation changes to something else. He knows he should be listening but he is barely paying attention, too busy thinking about how in a few days he will be meeting someone who may finally understand his situation.
Since the last few days at Hillerska he has become much closer with Felice and they have been texting regularly, so when Wille returns to his room he calls her before he loses his nerve. She picks up immediately. Of course she does. “Wille, hi, how are you?” she says as soon as she picks up the phone.
“I’m… I’m okay I think, I seem to have been invited to a party.” He pauses before continuing. “At the White House.” Felice’s squeals of acknowledgement give away that she has definitely heard about this event before.
“Wait, they invited you to the Young America Gala!? That’s amazing Wille! And the Queen is letting you go?”
“Well, I can go but only if I take a girl… I can’t be seen around a gay prince on my own after the video. I was wondering if you wanted to be my plus one; I don’t really have anyone else to ask. Just as friends of course. I’m… I’m not… I’m not over him.” He desperately hopes that his voice doesn’t give away the tears forming in his eyes.
“God, Wille, of course I will come. I wish I could give you a hug right now. This is perfect actually; I can go and visit Maddie in New York after it and get away from my mother.” Wille isn’t able to hide his sigh of relief. He doesn’t know what he would have done if Felice had said no to him.
“Thanks, thank you, Felice.” They talk a bit more about how they are and Felice tells him about her Christmas, seemingly content to talk while Wille listens. It is nice, feeling like someone actually wants to tell him these things, as small as they are. As the conversation goes on, Wille starts feeling like maybe he could be looking forward to this trip. It has been a while since he has been able to look forward to anything. He only wishes it could be Simon he is bringing with him. God, he misses him so much. They had a brief conversation at Christmas time where they discussed how they were but it felt very stilted, like they were both holding back. Wille shivers at the uncomfortable memory, trying to push it out of his mind.
“Wille, are you okay? You’ve started sounding a bit off,” Felice says, forcing his thoughts back to their conversation.
“Yeah, sorry. You’re right. I think this trip will be good for me.”
When the time comes for Wilhelm’s flight the Queen briefs him by saying that he must not do anything that would look bad on the crown while he is away and that she is trusting him not to cause any problems. Crown Prince Wilhelm, the problem child, he thinks to himself as he gives her a tight lipped smile goodbye.
While they are waiting for the flight to take off a scheduled post goes up on Felice’s Instagram of the two of them standing next to the plane with the caption ‘On the way to #YoungAmericaGala2021 with @HKH_PrinceWilhelm’.
Simon likes it. That is all he can think about on the flight to Washington, and he hates himself for it.
Why can’t he just get over this and be who his mother wants him to be? Why can’t he just be Erik?
In the car on the way from the airport Felice tells him the little bit of information she knows about what she calls ‘Alex and Henry’s own sex scandal’ and chats excitedly about getting to meet them. Hearing those words makes Wille’s pulse speed up; all the discomfort and feelings he has been pushing to the back of his head start fighting their way forward and his hand flies to his chest in an attempt to calm his racing thoughts.
Felice tells him that she doesn’t know much aside from the fact that Alex and Henry were outed when their private emails were leaked by the president’s competition in the last General Election. Just thinking that someone else had gone through something so horrible and disgusting makes Wilhelm feel more than a bit ill.
Eventually the subject changes to all the people who will be at the party and she shows him picture after picture of actors, musicians and other children of nobility who will be attending. He tries his best to commit the images and names to memory. He has always been good with faces but never with names; he can recognise a person who he has spoken to before immediately, but names always evade him. Erik was always having to remind him. God, he misses Erik so much.
When they arrive at the White House someone collects their bags and shows them to their rooms. They are both staying at the White House as a courtesy, and they get changed before heading to the gala. Wilhelm feels pretty overwhelmed; he really isn't in the mood to shake hands with strangers and make polite conversation so he really appreciates having Felice with him as she is really bubbly today, more than happy to do most of the talking.
He is more than a bit glad to be away from Sweden and the castle and the Queen, though, since here it is much less likely people know who he is and reminding himself of this makes him feel more at ease. Maybe he can be Wilhelm the person instead of Wilhelm the prince–or at least try and figure out who that is. Who is he when you strip away the royal title?
They are greeted by two girls when they reach the door, and he recognises them as Nora Holleran and June Claremont-Diaz, two thirds of what the press call the ‘White House Trio’, the people who are hosting the gala. The First Son, Alex Claremont-Diaz, is notably absent. They introduce themselves and June apologises for Alex’s absence: “He is definitely making out with Henry right now, when he should be greeting our guests.” Her voice raises at the end of this even though it is way too loud in the room for Alex to hear her from wherever he is. She shakes her head at the unsurprising lack of response but Wilhelm notices she is smiling slightly. “It is really nice to finally meet you,” she says, extending a hand for him to shake. He really appreciates that June didn’t try to apologise for what happened to Erik or send her condolences even though he could tell she wanted to, he wants to enjoy tonight and any mention of him will send his thoughts spiralling to a place he is desperately trying to avoid.
He replies, “It’s really nice to meet you, too,” with a smile that he realises might actually be genuine.
June and Nora leave to go and greet some more guests so Felice drags Wilhelm over to a crowd of people, saying that she is going to make him enjoy himself and that he deserves to have fun. After a few awkward introductions it quickly becomes clear to her that he is very uncomfortable so they head off to get some food and she says that he can choose who they talk to next. He spots two people in the corner that also look like they don’t know anyone and they head over. “So, I guess you also don’t really know anyone here,” is what Felice says when they approach, earning a shocked look from Wilhelm.
“Well, we are actually friends with Alex and Henry; we help out with a lot of stuff at Henry’s youth shelters, but they are clearly preoccupied,” one of them says, and Wilhelm’s eyes are directed to another corner where two people he recognises as Alex and Henry are engaged in an intense make out session, “and we don’t know anyone else here.”
When Wille finally recovers from wanting to burst into tears after seeing the Prince of England be very publicly gay with his long-term boyfriend (Felice may have had to elbow him), he introduces himself: “Well we don’t really know anyone here, either; we’re from Sweden. I’m Wilhelm and this is my friend Felice.”
The two girls smile back at them. “It’s nice to meet fellow outsiders. I’m Jenna and this is Mia.”
The four of them slip easily into a conversation about how their holidays have been going, and what they all do for a living and Wille finally begins to relax a bit. Eventually, they head off to go and get some drinks, leaving Wilhelm and Felice wondering who to talk to next.
Fortunately, after about a minute of awkward standing around, they see Henry finally pull himself away from Alex and notice that Wilhelm has arrived. Alex looks noticeably guilty that the Crown Prince of Sweden arrived and he didn’t notice, but Henry is dragging him towards Wilhelm before he can dwell on it for too long.
Wille doesn’t realise he has been watching them until Henry looks directly at him. Alex’s greeting is enthusiastic and charming. “Wilhelm! It is great to formally meet you. I am so glad you could make it.”
Henry’s greeting is a much more subdued, “It is great to see you again,” which feels like there is some extra depth and sincerity to the words. Wille knows that Henry isn’t exactly a stranger–they’ve met before, after all–but he didn’t expect him to feel like a friend after just seven words.
Wille really doesn’t know what to say to either of them and reverts a bit back to his shy behaviour, letting Felice lead the conversation. Henry definitely notices that something is wrong and keeps giving him looks that seem to be asking ‘Are you okay? Because you look like you’re about to burst into tears any second.’ Wille almost lets out a laugh at how spot on that impression of his thoughts is. It doesn’t take long for Henry to ask Wille if he wants to go and talk somewhere quieter and he nods. He can feel the anxiety building in his chest and needs to get out of this room full of people.
As Henry leads him away, he looks over his shoulder at Felice to make sure she doesn’t mind him abandoning her. She just smiles encouragingly back at him before she lets Alex guide her towards a large group of people.