Chapter Text
„You always were a bit dramatic.“, Kristina said.
Wille looked at his mother, trying not to let her statement get to him. After all the years of fighting for and defining his place as a Royal, Wille knew she probably meant well. But still, at the age of 25, after being with Simon for eight years, after adapting and growing into his birthright, the words still stung a bit. Also he didn’t quite know where their conversation segued into this.
“Mamma-“
“Listen.”, she interrupted him. Wille resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Barely. “You know there is some truth to this. You have evolved so much, but your dramatic antics…” she trailed off. “I used to hope, you would grow out of it. For your own sake.”
Wille scoffed. “You hoped that I weren’t queer.”
Kristina fixed him with an unreadable expression. Wille stared back. Defying as he had done so often.
They were sitting in the Queens office. She behind her antique desk, Wille in front of it. She let out a long breath. “Yes.”, she stated. “That I did. For your own sake. And for my own. After Erik,… after he passed.”
Kristina got up from her chair and turned, looking out of the window. There was something vulnerable in her demeanor.
“Especially after he passed. I wanted to spare myself more pain. Because I knew,… Wilhelm, I knew it was going to be so hard for you. And I knew you were suffering. We all were. But you were struggling with your role as Crown Prince, with Erik’s loss and with yourself. I-“
“I was never struggling with myself.” Wilhelm blurted out. Kristina turned back around to look at him. “I always knew there was nothing wrong with being who I was.”
“And so did I, gubben. And you know that.”, his mother said. “But I also knew of the challenges you were going to face, were you to give so much of yourself away publicly. It is not done. It wasn’t done. It had never been done before, and you were so young. And so much had already been taken from you.”
“The video.”, Wille added.
“Yes.”
They both were quiet for a bit, both lingering in their own thoughts. After a while Kristina sat back down in her chair behind the desk.
“But then you fought. For your place in this world and to fill your role as Crown Prince. When you gave your first public speech at Hillerska, I felt that was quite dramatic.”
A quiet snort escaped Wille. He remembered well. He had quite literally stumbled into publicly coming out. The havoc that had followed had been immense, but so had been the support.
A small smile graced his mother’s lips.
“After that followed I slowly came to realize that your drama wasn’t necessarily something bad, for it meant you took things seriously. Even though the things you took seriously weren’t always aligned with the Royal Court.”
“No shit.”, Wille snorted.
“Oh, come on, Wilhelm. Don’t cuss.”, Kristina exclaimed, smile still painting her features.
“The thing is, Erik never… he didn’t take some things so seriously. He had an easier time adapting to his Royal duties, but when it came to partners he never…”
“Mamma, he basically was a player.”, Wille said.
“If you must put it that way, yes.”
“He literally had a thing with an Only Fans girl.”, Wille added.
“That he did.”, Kristina said. “But he also did have many other flings. I am sure I do not know the half of it. Also, I would rather not.”
“Do you know, that I used to help him sneak girls out of the palace?”, Wille teased.
“I suspected as much.”, Kristina said.
These conversations had gotten easier over the years. Talking about Erik was much rather a way of keeping his memory alive than a source of pain. However, the pain remained. It always lingered as a dull ache in the background whenever his name was brought up.
“But Wilhelm.”, Wille’s mother continued. “You always took the matters of the heart seriously. You always took Simon seriously. And therefore you always took yourself seriously. Maybe a bit too much, but that is you.”
“Or as you often like to point out: dramatic.”, Wille contributed taking a sip of his rum. “Do you remember the headline… actually I can’t recall it word by word, but they did call me a drama queen at least once. Sprinkling in some subtle homophobia…”
“Don’t make light of it.”, Kristina said. There was something pained in her expression. “Top me up, will you?”, she said, holding out her empty glass.
Wille went to the small bar set up at the corner of the room to fill up his mother’s glass with some more rum. He knew that she had always been worried for him. Especially after he came out to the public.
“I think it is time you proposed.”
Wille almost dropped the rum bottle. It was an expensive one.
“What?”, he turned around facing his mother. She almost looked smug.
“If you haven’t already. Secretly. With all your drama…”, she waved her hand nonchalantly.
Wille’s ears turned pink. Simon and him had talked about marriage often enough. They had talked about what it would mean, what it would entail. Simon had been Wille’s partner long enough to know what he was getting into. Simon’s ten year plan as the partner of a Royal had been drafted out not long after Wille’s first public speech. Simon was already in all of this. He had adapted and grown into it. Etiquette lessons, media training, NDA’s, do’s and don’ts, approved career paths, military service. Marriage had not been on that ten year plan.
“So have you already?”, his mother interrupted Wille’s thoughts.
“Have I what?”, Wille asked dumbly still standing at the minibar.
Kristina raised her eyebrows. “Have you proposed?”
“We have talked about it. But I haven’t.”, Wille said turning away from his mother to continue his task of refilling her glass. She knew full well that he couldn’t propose without consulting the Royal Court beforehand. When he returned to his chair and handed the glass to Kristina, she said:
“Gubben, it is about time you did. If you want to, that is.”
Wille watched the liquid in his glass swirl as he moved it. He felt a familiar sting in his eyes.
“Oh gubben, you know the Riksdag has approved of the heir to the throne being queer six years ago already. You will be the first openly queer King the world has seen.”
“I know.”, Wille said, looking up into his mother’s eyes. He took in a shuttering breath.
“Besides”, his mother added. “You and I both know that for you it’s not going to get better than Simon.”
In a quick motion Wille wiped away a stray tear. He let out a shaky laugh. “I know. How he puts up with me sometimes, I cannot fathom.”
“He really is one of a kind.”, his mother said.
“He is.”
“Now let’s not get dramatic again.”, Kristina said.
This time Wille rolled his eyes.