Chapter Text
If there was one thing Simon never thought he would need to get used to was a Swedish prince bursting into his apartment whenever said prince felt like it, ranting like a broken record and pacing enough to get Simon’s heart rate up.
“Alright, alright, calm down, you’re about to dent my floor pacing like that” he put down the book (he had stopped paying attention the second Wilhelm came through the door), getting up to stand in front of the taller man, interrupting his pacing. “Can you take some deep breaths?”
“Not right now, no” the blond shook his head, hair slowly falling out of the styled look
“Try for me, will you?” Simon rolled his eyes, reaching out to hold Wilhelm’s face “Two seconds in, two seconds out, hm?”
The prince rolled his eyes too but did as told. One of Simon’s hands rested on his stomach, guiding the breathing through touch. It took a couple minutes, but the tension on Wilhelm’s shoulders somewhat relaxed, his eyes drooped, and he became almost malleable in his friend’s hands. That was when Simon moved again, guiding both to sit down on his couch.
“Feel better?” he asked, only getting a hum in response. He took a couple seconds to fully take in the scene in front of him: Wilhelm was in one of his suits but had forgone a tie. His nails were still painted the soft pink Felice had chosen last time they hung out, but the nail polish was bitten off and his cuticles were abused.
He winced. Wilhelm had gotten a lot better since their school days, rarely ever missing a therapy session since his brother’s car accident, but anxiety wasn’t something that he could completely eradicate. However, there were very few things that would send him into seeking out his old coping methods.
“That bad, huh?” Simon broke the silence, watching the man nod and sigh “What did she want?”
“You won’t believe it”
“Try me” he stroked his thumb across Wilhelm’s hand, “I’ve seen a lot”
“A lot like my mom trying to marry me off?” he blurted out, looking up to Simon, who was now staring at him with wide eyes, “Yeah, that's what I thought”
“I will say… It’s usually my mom who tries to set me up” the brunet cleared his throat “Did she imply it or…?”
“Queen Kristina doesn’t imply” he grunted, “I think she planned the whole meeting to get me cornered. We barely talked about her jubilee” throwing his head back, he closed his eyes “It was bad enough that Pappa asked her to stop”
“That’s a first” Simon chuckled softly, trying to lighten the mood. He had to clear his throat again before asking “Did she have someone lined up and everything?”
“Yes, actually” Wilhelm turned his head toward him with a small smile, “Felice”
“Our Felice?” that got Simon laughing “As in the one dating my sister Felice?”
“The one and only” the prince sat up straight, mockingly putting on a serious face “‘What about Miss Ehrencrona, Wilhelm? I thought you were good friends’. I don’t know, mamma, maybe because she’s practically engaged to a girl!”
“You did not!”
“No, I wouldn’t out her like that” he rolled his eyes “I’m pretty sure Felice was just the only acceptable woman I’m friends with she could think off”
“You’re good friends with Maddie”
“I did say acceptable” he jokingly highlighted, Simon shaking his head and laughing, “Just when I thought she would lean off of me for a little bit, I get an ultimatum”
“I’m very sorry, Wille” Simon tightened his grip on the blond’s hand “She… She can’t actually marry you off, right?”
“No, God knows she would’ve done it already if she could” he sighed, sagging back into the couch, “But she can express her concern to me and Parliament and Pappa and whoever will listen to her, which, accounting for the fact she's the Queen, it’s a lot of people, so in general, there will be pressure” he looked back at his friend “I’m so sorry, Simme, I didn’t even ask if you could listen to me”
“You’re fine, principito, I knew you’d end up here eventually” the man smiled, “Better here than at a bar again. I can picture Jan Olof’s relieved face right now”
“You’re mean” he pushed Simon away, rolling his eyes fondly. The aftermath of the last time Wilhelm and his mom had a meeting was a bloodbath, a situation that had divergent opinions between even the closest of friends. Most people had forgotten the prince’s drunken stumble out of the bar, but it was a looming shadow over his reputation. Maybe it was what pushed his mom to insist on a relationship. A calm, collected and settled-down prince was easier to sell than one going through a quarter-life crisis.
“I’m your best friend, is my job to be mean” Simon pointed out, picking his phone up, “Are you staying over? Cause if you are, you’re paying for pizza”
“We had pizza two days ago, let’s get sushi”
“Oh, you’re definitely paying”
Wille chuckled and picked his own phone up, “Our usual?”
“As if you have to ask” Simon abandoned his phone again, instead reaching for the TV remote, “What do you feel like watching?”
“Do you have to ask?”
“Just checking” he retorted, logging on to Wilhelm’s profile and going through his rom-com list “You gotta update this, we watched all of them already”
“We can always rewatch Pretty Woman”
“Not all of us share your ridiculous crush on Gere, Wille” the man faked a disappointed sigh, “Some of us have self-respect”
“I’m not sorry for being a little weak when it comes to a man in a suit”
At some point, between the shopping scene and them finishing their dinner, Wille had made himself comfortable on Simon’s couch. He’d laid down, head on Simon’s lap, and covered up with the throw blanket the other man kept draped on the couch’s arm. It was almost instinctual for Simon to lay a hand down on Wille’s hair, gently stroking and breaking down the product left over from the styling.
Quiet moments like these were rare lately but brought both of them a sense of nostalgia like nothing else. It was a little tradition of theirs, started all the way back in Hillerska. Their first year was a blurry mess of memories, if Simon was completely honest, and he knew Wille shared that impression. The only moment he could clearly recall was the movie night he was invited to. That night a confused, but confident Wille kissed him.
It was far from his first kiss, but it was just as exciting as if it were. He didn’t miss his heart skipping a beat, or the way Wille kept pulling him closer, and a small part of him, one that admired the young prince from far away, had woken up. He wouldn’t call it a crush; the fleeting feeling didn’t have time to grip down like that. Not when Wilhelm was whisked away a few days later.
His brother was in a car accident. Alive, but barely.
The Crown Prince would continue to fight an uphill battle for two months, and then finally wake up from his coma on the third. He wouldn’t be out of the hospital for another month, finally going home to Drottningholm Palace just as the seasons started to change. Wilhelm wouldn’t leave his brother’s side, as much as the Headmistress tried, remotely finishing his school year.
When Simon got the full-ride scholarship his second year, he knew he would have a roommate. With luck, it would be someone who wouldn’t bother him too much. At least they couldn’t call him a non-res anymore. But apparently the universe was at his side, and he had ended up sharing a dormitory with none other than Wilhelm, freshly back from the palace. They smiled awkwardly at each other for a couple of days, and then, after class one day, Simon entered the room and saw Wilhelm in the end of a crying session.
“Sorry” he immediately said at the time, darting to the bathroom as fast as possible. He stayed there for a while, coming out slowly to a very composed prince. “I’m really sorry” he said again
“No, don’t be” the blond sniffed, looking away, “It’s your room too”
“I… I know we don’t really know each other” Simon spoke again after a few seconds “but you can talk to me about stuff”
“It’s just that…” the boy hesitated, enough for Simon to talk again
“My mom was in a crash, once” he said slowly “Drunk driver. She still has back pain from that”
“Erik called me,” Wille said, accepting the olive branch. “His mind gets fuzzy from time to time. He couldn’t… He couldn’t remember what we did for my last birthday” he looked down to his hands, “We’re not supposed to agitate him, but how can I tell him my last birthday was just praying he would survive without agitating him?”
“You don’t” Simon sat down at his bed, shrugging, “You smile and tell them something about hugs and, I don’t know, whatever food you like. And you hope they won’t remember”
“Sounds like you have some experience in that department” Wilhelm stated, the question clear in his tone. Simon shrugged again.
“I told you. Drunk driver” he watched as the prince sat across him in his own bed. “Hey, do you wanna watch something? Get your head out of it for a while?”
“That sounds good” the prince smiled at him, the first genuine smile since the movie night, and so, a tradition was born.
As Edward finally decided to grow a pair and run after Vivian on the screen, Simon looked down at the man lying down in his lap. Wilhelm had grown a lot since their teenage days, no more long gangly arms and babyface, but a proper man. He wasn’t particularly muscular, but definitely strong, all angled looks and handsome whilst being the most caring and adoring person Simon had ever met. Whoever won his friend’s heart would be a champion in all senses of the world.
“I love that she saves him too” the prince muttered softly, then sighed “Do you think we’ll ever find a love like this?”
“Your brother did” he ran his hand through the blond’s hair one more time
“I guess that’s true” Wille turned around, staring at the ceiling as the credits started rolling, “I don’t know if there’s someone out there for me”
“Wille, you’re the most romantic person I know, what bullshit is this?”
“I just think that, if there was someone out there who I was meant to spend my life with, I would’ve met them already”
“Because 24 is too old to find your soulmate” Simon rolled his eyes
“Think about it! If we don’t count Felice, you’re the person who’s been around the longest” the prince looked at him, “Though, I gotta say, if there’s anyone I would like to spend the rest of my life with, it’s you”
“That’s sweet” he booped the other’s nose, “It’s mutual, principito”
“You know what, we should’ve made one of those promises” the man started rambling again
“What promises?”
“You know, if we don’t find someone until we’re… 25, we marry each other”
“Considering the fact that I’m 25 already and you’ll be 25 in a month, I think we ran out of time there”
“Oh c’mon, don’t pretend you hate the idea of marrying me” he teased, “Can’t you picture yourself walking down Stockholm’s Cathedral, waking up to the beautiful gardens of Djurgården and living happily ever after with me?”
“First things first, I’m Christian and if abuela even thinks I’m converting, she’ll disown me” Simon chuckled “Second, I don’t garden, and third…”
“Is this a roundabout way of saying you like it?” Wille teased, knowing him well enough to see past his words
“...Yes, it does sound nice” he relented, “But it’s an unfair agreement! I can’t possibly meet and start a relationship with the love of my life before your birthday”
“Let’s change the rules, then” Wille’s eyes twinkled in a way that meant danger “If you go to one first date that isn’t a complete disaster - and that will be judged by both Maddie and Felice - then you get and extension”
“And if I don’t?”
“Then, you get to be the first same-sex partner to someone in the direct line to the throne” he winked “You’ll start a revolution”
“Don’t you dare try and play to my revolutionary ideals”
“So, we got a deal?”
“Yeah” he smiled, “It’s a deal”