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When you asked 15 year old Simon what he would be doing in ten years time, almost everyone who knew him would have answered the same thing. The boy had big dreams of performing songs to adoring crowds, photos taken left and right and most importantly sharing music that helps people. He had big dreams and aspirations, that’s for sure. However, as he had been warned of before, it’s not a possibility for everyone.
When he finally came to terms with the fact he couldn’t make a music career work, he slipped into a small depression. It was all he had ever wanted, so who can blame him. Everything he ever loved and wanted had been stripped away from him before it could even be given to him.
It’s strange really, when you think about it, because the universe has funny ways of showing you what path you should be on. So, no, Simon may not be the popstar he daydreamed of becoming in home economics class, but he would argue that he found something better. Now, as he sits speaking into the microphone, looking across the desk at his co-host, he thinks it all worked out.
He gets the chances of a lifetime, he still gets to share music with people, helps people with the music he shares and still has that level of fame he had always selfishly wanted. It did have perks to be a DJ on Sweden’s biggest pop radio station after all. As well as that, he believes it helps that he and Wille are the fan-favourites. These past 3 years have been incredible, and he wouldn’t change it if he was offered a music career right now. He wouldn’t change it for the world. After all, this job is what helped him meet his best friend.
“Right, okay we have a new game to play and it does include you guys listening from home, so get your phones at the ready! Trust me you won’t want to miss out, we’ll be back after this. This is ’Birds of a Feather by Billie Eillish’.” Once Wille ends his monologue, he clicks the buttons necessary to take them off air whilst the song plays to the listeners before turning to him. Even after all these years, his co-host still releases a sigh of relief when he finishes.
Simon wonders what it is Wille is afraid of. He is incredible at the job, and rarely messes up. The man rarely stumbles on words or makes a fool out of himself, like he does.
Simon quickly discovered how to maintain his composure, but the longer he did it for, the safer he felt on air anyways. He knows Wille, though. Sadly, he is definitely aware of the added pressure and scrutiny put on him by external elements.
“Wait, what's the game?” Simon expresses nervously as he comes back to himself. There’s no way he missed something like that. How could he possibly have missed something like that in the pre-show meeting and emails?
“Well, you’ll just have to wait and see, won’t you.” Wille shrugs with a smirk playing on his lips which never fails to make Simon smile.
Wille did things like thi often, little on-air surprises for him so that the job wasn’t so boring. At least that’s what Wille had argued when Simon had questioned his actions the first time he pulled something like this. Of course, though, being on the air with Wille was never boring.
Now he thinks it’s just an excuse for Wille to gain control over the show. The producers and managers all pick what they do, down to every minute. If Wille says he has a surprise for Simon, they’re more lenient. They allow this because they aren’t stupid. They know that listens increase with the pair on the show, and they are happy to let them explore their ‘genuine bond’ not many other co-hosts seem to have nowadays, to keep their numbers high. So, even if sometimes Simon is caught off-guard, it’s worth it for Wille.
Not long after, Simon reopens the air and prepares to speak again.
“What a tune, so beautiful. Right so if you have just tuned in Wille spoke about a game and I’m going to be honest with you, I have no idea what he’s on about!” Simon laughs his way through the end of the sentence, never breaking eye contact with the boy opposite him.
“Well, yes!” Wille starts again, laughter present in his voice also, “It was a surprise! So, I need you guys to send in your favourite moments from the show, and also some fake scenarios. Now, Simme, your job is to tell me which ones are true and which are false. So, send in your wackiest, funniest moments and tell us whether it’s true or false! Text in your ideas to 0399 200.”
“Wait that actually sounds so cool,” Simon lets his personal side slip a lot when on air, because that’s what the fans like, before tuning back into the professional aspect, “so what do I get when I win?”
“I’m glad you asked,” Wille spins slightly backwards and forwards in his chair, as he can never sit still, “if you get more right than you get wrong, you get another point added to your score for the Band Battle!”
The Band Battle had become somewhat of a tradition over the years that Wille and Simon had hosted the show. Essentially, the pair each pick a band or artist they want to headline at the annual summer festival that the show hosts each summer from the list of acts available. Callers and listeners share their input and side with either one of them. It instantly became a good way to boost sales and gain interaction.
“That definitely ups the stakes! We’ll get right to the game after this! This is a new release for you, this is ’Taste by Sabrina Carpenter!”
_________________________________________________________________________
When their shift is finally over, the two boys quickly collect their things and leave the studio for Freya to take over.
“So, what are you doing now?” Wille asks as they push through the big clear doors to leave the building.
“Nothing, why?”
“Wanna go to thar coffee shop down the road?” They did that often, going out together after the shows or even spending weekends together. Sometimes Simon thinks of their relationship as high school kids because they’re together all of the time.
“Sure, but you’re buying!” Simon giggles, and so does Wille. Both of them know they’ll pay for themselves, they’ve been here before.
The air has a cold breeze for the end of May, and Simon’s starting to regret leaving his jacket in the studio with the intention of just getting it tomorrow. Curse his lazy attitude.
However, before they can get even a block away, Wille’s phone starts to ring in his pocket.
“It’s Noah?” Their manager. Why would he be calling them when they just left the building.
He listens closely to Wille as they stand in the middle of the street. He listens even more intently when Wille says that, yes, they were together. A few more deflated ‘yes’s’ later and for some reason unknown to them, they have turned back heading towards the building.
“Thank you, boy’s, sorry for bringing you back so quickly but we feel this meeting is very important. Head up to meeting room 3, Linus and Chantel should already be there and I’ll follow up shortly.” Noah states as soon as they have reentered.
“What is this about?” Simon asks with the same level of confusion in his tone that he is sure is evident on his face.
“You’ll find out soon enough, right once again sorry for pulling you back.”
The elevator ride to the 3rd floor is practically silent, with the two of them only sharing looks that can only be considered as fearful. Neither of them had any clue what this could be about, which made it so much worse. At least one of them always knew what was going on, so this was throwing them off. They had no clue what they were walking into, what they were facing. But they would be facing it together, so whatever.
The room is so quiet and stark, the chair beneath him squeaky as he takes a seat. Everything felt off. They were never left in the dark when they were used to being strung in on big decisions they probably shouldn’t have a say in, but do. When Noah enters, the meeting can fully begin.
“Why are we here?” Wille asks once he’s relatively settled.
“We have been looking at the interaction you two get on social media and we have some ideas for marketing we need you to get on board with.” It’s some random woman with pinned up, bleach blonde hair saying whilst flipping through papers.
“What? Get on board with what?” Simon finds himself asking, fear settling itself deep in his chest, making itself home. He kept looking over at Noah, but he didn’t give any indication of emotion he could read. There was no way of knowing where he stood.
The looks that get shared across the table probably could kill, if he’s read Wille right.
“Just tell us,” Wille tries to keep his voice calm, but Simon knows him too well by now. He knows he’s freaking out more than Simon, which feels impossible.
“So, you’ve been gaining traction from TikTok, editors on the app have been sharing parts of the show and putting together your interactions.” she takes a breath moving around papers, listing statistics, “We have calculated the traction you would gain, and by being in a relationship would increase your streams by 12%”
“That’s insane!” Simon laughs with disgust at the audacity that they have, “Why would that work?”
“You have been being shipped online, the #Wilmon has been trending online for the past 2 weeks. The people want you two together. So, what do you say?”
“I have a boyfriend? This is so dumb too, how are we supposed to keep it up?” Simon spits out. He shared a look with his co-host; one full of confusion and anger.
“Is your relationship public?” Some other man piped up, stunning Simon to silence.
“Surely that wouldn’t help, the hype of the ship would be over. Sure we’d gain traction but we’d lose it just as quickly.” Wille choses to state, and Simon is glad he glazed over the question previously aimed at Simon. When he’s composed and thinks through things, Wille is one of the smartest people he knows and can really think about audience interaction.
That’s mainly how he got his job, from what Simon can understand. When Wille had discovered radio, he thought he would be a manager and focus on the logistical side of things. However, he fell in love with being on air, and the people loved him. Things seemed to have worked out for him, that way.
The table goes quiet again, papers shifting and people writing the only small sounds. Usually, they have a large amount of power over these decisions due to their experience and importance for the station, but this time, Simon doesn’t feel he has any say. He’s tongue tied and relying on Wille’s quick thinking and well rounded logistics.
“Yes, you have a good point.” The woman mutters slowly. Then for the first time in the meeting, Noah speaks.
“Wille makes a good point, I think you guys should start to flirt more intentionally on air. It would help to increase streams and gain new attention from social media sites. Everyone loves romance, don’t they?” That’s when Simon realises he’s made a mistake. Stupidly, he thought Noah would be on their side, even though he was clearly aware of the plan. After all, he was the manager, of course all he cared about was the audience.
Defeated he shares another look at Wille, communicating with their eyes like they’d learnt to do in meetings like this one. It sucks, but they both know they have to agree. They love their job too much to risk it.
“Fine, we’ll do it.” Wille breaths out.
_________________________________________________________________________
“I'm home!” Simon calls out as soon as he enters the flat, instantly being greeted by Joob, his grey tabby cat. He quickly toes off his shoes and leans down to quickly pet her head. His call out isn’t responded to, but he quickly finds Marcus sat on the sofa watching some random TV show.
Throwing his bag down beside it, he takes a seat on the other edge of the couch, bringing his knees up to sit cross-legged, “good day?”
“It was alright. You?” He asked back, not peeling away his eyes from the screen, but opening his arms as an invite to embrace Simon. The smaller boy accepts and crawls into his arms, nodding his head gently against his chest.
He wasn’t an idiot. Tension was clearly filling the air, thickening it so he couldn’t take anymore into his lungs. Should he apologise? Should he cry and beg for forgiveness? But did he even do anything wrong? Maybe he should just explain the situation? He can’t do that though, so he does nothing.
“So.” Marcus starts, his voice piercing the air like daggers on his skin. It’s not like he said much, but he said enough, “you are very late home, care to tell me why?”
No, he didn’t really.
“I had a meeting and was pulled back. Sorry, I would’ve told you.” he mumbled out into the space between them. Right now, he couldn’t even care to make himself sound okay. It sucked, he trusted his team and they went behind his back, forced him and his best friend to flirt and kept him in the dark about it to be able to corner them all for a bit more fame. It’s not even like they needed it, they were the most streamed Swedish radio.
“Take it, the meeting wasn’t good. What did you talk about? Do they want you to do anything?”
Honestly, Simon wasn’t sure how to approach this topic. Wille had always made Marcus jealous, for one reason or another. Whether the boys went out with other colleagues without him, or they got ‘too touchy’ - whatever that meant. Obviously, Simon had assured him that nothing was going on between the two of them, because that was the truth.
“Well…they tried to get me and Wille to pretend to date…” and Marcus scoffed at that, which made Simon feel as though someone understood, “we didn’t agree with that, but they told us to flirt on air. I bet it’s only a matter of time before they force us into dating.”
“Yeah, I bet you can’t wait.” Marcus softly pushes Simon off of him, beelining to the kitchen and downing a glass of water from the tap.
“That’s not fair! This is so hard on me, I’ve been so upset about how they bombarded me with this!”
“Come on Simon! Why are you even with me?” And here we go again.
“Because I like you!” Simon finds himself shouting, pacing the island before leaning his elbows on it, running his fingers through his untamed curls.
“You don’t though! It’s been 7 months and you still can’t tell me you love me. Because you love him.” he looks like he’s crying, but Simon can’t deal with that right now, so he pushes that thought to the back of his mind, choosing only to focus on the spoken words.
“No!” is all he can argue back. It’s the same argument again and again, set off by them grabbing a drink after work on the way home or running to go round and help him after a panic attack. Why didn’t Marcus get it? He was fed up with making the same argument.
“Just tell me Simon, say you love him,” Marcus’ voice is almost too calm, he looks too composed. It throws Simon off balance.
“I’m not in love with him,” his word choice was different, because to some extent he did love Wille. He was his best friend, “but I…I don’t love you either.”
The words should feel like stabbing himself in the heart. By saying those words he loses his home (which he shares with Marcus) and also his stability. Now, as well as that, he also loses his excuse to say he can’t fake-date Wille.
However, the words feel like relief. He hadn’t realised until that point that he had been trying to make something broken appear brand new. He’d been living a lie that he no longer wanted to live. No, he wasn’t in love with Marcus. Before, he used to think he could learn to fall in love, but he realises now that’s not how it works.
“I don’t love you, Marcus.”
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The next day he slumps into the booth, tired and tear stained from the night before. His backpack falls at his feet. Meeting Wille’s eyes just wants to make him cry all over again. Averting his gaze, he sticks his headphones on, hoping the noise cancelling effect can help drown out his thoughts.
He wouldn’t say he regrets the breakup, but still it threw the course of his life off balance. And still, a breakup is a breakup.
Wille eyes him up, his eyes practically piercing his skin. He looks as though he wants to say something, his mouth hanging open before he makes the decision to close it once again. He must look terrible, his hair frizzy, his eyes puffy and red.
He manages to rally himself enough for the show, bringing the most energy he can muster up. As expected, Wille subtly flirts throughout the show but Simon can’t bring himself to do the same. Not today. Sure, he’ll get told off but in the moment, he just couldn’t bring himself to care.
“Why aren’t you flirting back? Am I not good enough for the Simon Eriksson?” He chuckles gently in one of the off-air brakes he has as an obvious attempt to lighten the mood in the studio.
“Wille, not now.” Simon nearly breaks down there, his voice catching on almost every syllable.
As soon as he can, he scoops up his bag and practically runs out of the building. The world is spinning around him, which is ironic because it feels like it’s stopped at the same time. He can’t hear anything, everything sounds like he’s underwater. He barely registers Wille calling out for him until he’s holding him back by his arm and pulling him in for a tight hug.
Simon just starts crying there and then, he can’t hold back the flood anymore. HIs defences are broken and the water is coming crashing to his home - his world. Wille holds him unbearably close in the corridor, letting him wail into his shirt.
“Come on, lets go to mine,” Wille gently nudges them out of the space, which Simon is actually quite grateful for.
The ride home is silent, apart from Simon’s occasional sniff. Even the radio is turned off, which for them is weird, considering their line of work.
They shuffle into Wille’s apartment, both toeing off their shoes and slowly making their way to the sofa. They sit together in silence for a long time, just staring at one another. Wille is probably waiting in anticipation, for an answer as to why he broke down. So, Simon gives him his answer.
“We broke up.”
Wille just frowns, he doesn’t need anymore. He knows the rocky ups and downs of his now past relationship. Once again, he just opens his arms, welcoming Simon to fall into them. He tells Wille the whole story of how he had stayed at a hotel the day before. Like the good friend Wille is, he helps Simon come up with a plan for the future.
_________________________________________________________________________
Months passed and Simon quickly healed from the breakup. He wasn’t quite back to himself but it was good enough. He had gotten used to the little odd bits of flirting with Wille, even sometimes enjoyed it.
So, yeah. He was doing well, all things considered.
“Well that song is something truly beautiful,” Wille starts, “just like Simme who’s now going to tell you about how you can enter this week's Sing ‘n Win!”
The pair of them chuckle under their breaths, that was definitely one of Wille’s more sloppy attempts.
“Thank you Wille! Yes okay so, when you hear this song,” and then Simon plays a snippet of Hot To Go by Chappell Roan, “then text 0399 200 as quick as you can to be in with a chance to enter! All you need to do is sing to win, we play a song, you sing the next line. Wish you all luck!”
“Right, in the meantime, have you ever gone on a date? How bad have they been? Well on the line we have Henrik who thinks they have experienced the worst date in the history books! Hey Henrik, tell the people your story!”
This segment was something that had started to hopefully build more suspicion of a potentially blooming relationship.
“Hi, so I was on a blind date. I was set up with this girl through a mutual friend, I thought you know why not. Turns out I shouldn’t have bothered. When I saw her I thought she was really nice, but she was so expensive and expected me to be loaded, she was just really rude to be honest!”
“Yeah don’t worry Henrik I completely get you! Wille is a bit like that, he spends way too much on his special skin-care stuff!” Simon laughs into his hand, watching as Wille looks utterly offended.
“Excuse me! I do not! You spend so much money on your hair-care stuff!” Wille fights back.
“Yeah, because I need it! It makes my hair look nice”
“Yeah, okay, I guess it does.” Wille’s smile is actually sickening, but it still makes Simon smile along with him, giggling slightly. He almost forgot he was on air, so it was good Wille didn’t, “Thank you for your story Henrik, bye!”
“Bye, Henrik!” Simon quickly follows up with.
“Wow, what a story! Can anyone top it? Text your worst date stories to 0399 200. However, Simme, I hear you have some bad date stories up your sleeve”
“Really who told you that?” and they both giggle, knowing full well Wille knows everything about him, “Well, I guess what I’ll say is I dated a co-worker once, total mistake, we broke up and everything was awkward, actually, scrap that. It was always awkward! So, new rule, no dating co-workers!” If Simon didn’t know any better, he would think Wille looked almost disappointed at what he’d said.
“Yeah, that’s probably a good lesson to learn, I’ll take your advice” and yes, Wille definitely sounded a bit more down. Quickly, though, he picked back up and they finished the show with no more awkward moments.
They were just leaving the building after agreeing to meet up that evening for a takeaway at SImon’s when they ran into Noah. He quickly approached them, clapping his hand to Simon’s shoulder.
“Great show today boys! Glad to see you stepped up your flirting game, Simon! Wille, great job as always. Where are you two headed off to now then?” His whole sentence threw Simon off. Had he been flirting? He didn’t mean to?
“Headed home now, but we are meeting up again tonight!” Wille answers, ever composed.
“Really?” and Simon didn’t look the glint in Noah’s eyes, “well, if you take any photos, feel free to post them.” Yep. Noah was encouraging them to lean further into the lie.
How did he have the audacity? If he wanted to be an actor, that’s what he would’ve done. If he wanted to fake relationships he would be doing so by his own accord. But that's inane, so he doesn’t. This isn’t his job, his job is radio.
“Yeah, no. If I want to post with my friend, it will be because I want to.” He doesn’t even bother to keep the slight anger out of his voice.
“Just give it a thought, okay? See you tomorrow,” he’s still cheery, Noah’s face the complete juxtaposition of his own.
“Already have,” Simon snarks before quickly leaving the building, letting Wille awkwardly trail behind him.
_________________________________________________________________________
His apartment is filled with only the light of his warm fairy lights. The soft buzz of the night time radio coming from the TV as they sat under the fluffy blankets eating pepperoni pizza from the box.
“I’m so done with them trying to get us to act like we are dating for numbers, it’s so fucked up!” Simon groans, his mouth full of pizza still.
“I don’t know, it’s not a terrible plan. Would dating me be that bad for your reputation?” It’s obvious he’s joking from the way he wiggles his eyebrows. Simon chucks the pizza down into the box, blinking slowly at the boy.
“No, but it’s a lie,” he counters, bringing his knees up to his chest.
They sit in silence for a moment, the radio, their friends talking in the background. It was always strange, when he first joined radio, to think that he could tune in and listen to his friends.
“It’s not lying, really.” Wille starts, “besides, it could be fun,” he shrugs in his nonchalant fashion. He can not be serious right now.
“What?” Simon laughed. Genuinely laughed, because how else could he have reacted.
“Yeah, I mean we are both single? It could be a great way to get back at Marcus,”
“Yeah, that would work really well,” he says, rolling his eyes. It wouldn’t work, so why does it sound so appealing coming from Wille? Why does it sound like fun?
He’s not proud of it, but soon they are taking photos of each other sharing pizza and huddling up on the sofa, ready to watch a movie. There’s one where Simon is smiling, mouth open to accept the pizza from Wille’s hands. Taking it was a disaster, using the 10 second timer, balancing the phone against the glass on the coffee table, it constantly falling off, then laughing too much at the obscurity of the situation to do it properly. To them, it looks like a cute moment of friendship, but put on Wille’s instagram with a cheesy caption looks like a soft-launch.
They take photos of their hands next to one another on top of the blankets, in a way that could be seen as friendly, but certainly wouldn’t be received that way by their fans. It’s actually a really nice night.
“You really want me to post this? We can’t go back. Don’t let me and Noah pressure you.” Wille was being so attentive and careful with his feelings.
Without a second thought, Simon reached his body over Wille’s, pressing the ‘post’ button. Suddenly, the close proximity felt too much, in such a way that made his breath hitch. His hand was on Wille’s thigh, their faces mere inches away from one anothers.
They don’t move, just breathing in each other’s air, “there, done,” Simon whispers.
“Ca..Can I?” Wille barely has to finish his whispered question before Simon surges forward, their lips meeting tentatively. They definitely shouldn’t be doing this, but Wille’s lips are so soft and his hands are guiding him onto his lap and his mind goes blank. He lets it happen.
They just sit there, breathing each other in, lips connected when Wille’s tongue licks at his lips, begging for them to part. This shouldn’t be right, he shouldn’t be doing this…but, god, does he want to and it definitely feels right.
Until it doesn’t. Because what is he doing?
He quickly climbs off of Wille’s lap, stuttering over words he can’t find. Wille stares at him, like a deer in headlights as he paces across his living room.
“Should I…Should I go?” Wille asks sheepishly, standing on shaky legs. All Simon can do is nod frantically.
“I…I think that would be best.”
_________________________________________________________________________
He takes a week of work, he can’t bear to see Wille and pretend to be happy on air everyday. But, slowly, a week turns into a month of sitting around, having meaningless hookups.
They all meant nothing though, no matter how hard he tried to click with someone, no one measured up to the few minutes he had with Wille. It was scary, terrifying even, but he knew now he liked Wille. Probably more than that. He couldn’t move on, and he’d ruined everything by running out. He’d wrecked the relationship before it started. Crushed the flower before it had begun to bloom. He’d lost Wille, even if it was just as a friend.
His phone pings everyday, fans wanting updates as to where he is, managers needing to know when he will return from his so called ‘mental health break’. It gets to a point where he has to come back in, to prevent himself from getting fired.
He’s generously welcomed back, the morning crew hugging him tightly and hoping he is okay now. Maya hugs him extra tightly, even though he has barely spoken to the breakfast show host before.
“Simon! Thank you for coming in early. We need to have a talk in my office.” Noah approaches him, his perky demeanour gone. Simon only just got back, what could he have possibly done?
“Yeah, sure”
He settles himself in the chair in the large office. Sunlight peeled in through the big window he was facing. His eyes scanned the room seeing the photo frames with photos of Noah’s family.
“Why am I here?” Simon asks.
“Well…Wille has quit.” What.
The room starts spinning, and his head is pounding. Noah continues to talk about logistics and what will happen with the show but Simon doesn’t care. He had only ever done radio for a year before he was on a show with Wille, and now he can finally say that those 3 years were the best of his life. Because of Wille. Wille, who for the past month he had been trying to forget. To get over. No one makes him feel like Wille did. Marcus was right. He loved Wille, more than he thought. Now, he was losing him.
“I have to go,” Simon says, making a split decision and getting up.
“You have a show to do!” He hears Noah’s anger evident in his voice.
“Not without Wille.” His tone is sharp, a finality.
“Simon I’ve been supporting your leave, getting in other people, saving the lunchtime show for you but I can’t keep pulling my weight for you! If you leave now, Wille won’t be the only one no longer a lunchtime host.” He’s tapping a pen on his desk, closing his eyes for a long time. Simon isn’t stupid, he knows he doesn’t want to do this. He knows he's good for numbers, that the fans love him.
“That wouldn’t be good for you though, would it? Surely numbers would drop?” He says, taking a page out of Wille’s book and arguing with statistics and logistics.
Noah sighs, “No, I don’t want to drop you Simon but your inconsistency is already causing problems. If you don’t do today’s show, I have no choice but to let you go.”
It wasn’t what Simon was expecting, he thought he was concrete in the company. He should feel as though he is stuck, at a fork in the road without a clue which way to head. That’s not the truth though, he knows what way he wants to go. He knows what way he would go every time. Plus, other radio stations would be interested.
“Then, I guess I’m fired.”
The building is quickly behind him, he’s practically running through the street, cutting through the underground and paying way too much just to get on the first underground to Wille’s. Once he got out, it was raining hard. He was running through the rain and he didn’t even know why, it wasn’t like he was on a time crunch. However, he couldn’t spend even a second longer not being with Wille.
His hands reach up to knock on the door. Waiting felt like an eternity, standing at the door, his clothes soaked through, begging the door to open. And then it does.
Wille looks rough, not like he’s ever seen him before. The shock on his face would be comical if they were in a different situation.
“Why are you quitting?” Simon chokes out quickly. The only response he gets is Wille opening the door more to let him inside.
“You're soaked, you must be freezing.” Wille is clearly stating facts, his voice quiet.
“Answer the question, Wille.” He is losing his patience now.
Wille just stands there, staring Simon in the eye. Suddenly, he can’t help himself anymore, something in him takes over. The flood gates open and he’s crying, hysterically.
“Wille, please don’t leave”
“Simon, I’m leaving for your sake. Let this happen,” Wille sighs.
“This isn’t for my sake, I want you to stay!”
“Simon, we kissed and you freaked out. I can’t work with you, or even see you anymore. I’ve pushed it down for too long, Simme,”
What?
“Pushed down what?”
“Simme, surely you know,” but he doesn’t know. Wille takes a deep breath before he continues, “I’m in love with you.”
Wow.
“Wille,” Simon sighs, reaching his hands to the man’s shoulders and squeezing gently, “I love you too,”
Wille pushes his head down, meeting Simon’s lips once again. His hands come down to Simon's waist, pulling him in closer. Their mouths move in perfect harmony, like they’ve always known what to do, as if this was something they did often. It’s soft, yet passionate. Full of love and devotion.
It’s strange, all they’ve known is being friends for the past 3 years. This is all new and unexplored, but it feels like this is all they’ve known, at this moment. Slowly, they break apart, but neither moves far.
“Don’t leave me again,” Wille whispers into the space between them.
“No, I won’t. I promise.” And he truly does mean it, “So, you quit for me? Because you didn’t think I liked you?” He felt Wille nod against him, their noses nuzzling against him. Then, he quickly picks up his head, fear running through his eyes.
“Aren’t you meant to be on air?”
Yes. Well, no.
“They fired me.” Wille brings his hands to his shoulders, squeezing in comfort, a look of pity in his eyes, so Simon feels he needs to answer the obvious unanswered question, “I refused to do the show without you.”
Before he can say anything else, Wille’s lips are attached to his again. He drinks in the feeling, savouring the flavour, never wanting this to end.
“So you still want to do radio with me?” Wille looks almost nervous, as though that wasn’t what Simon just said. It’s insanely cute.
“Of course, you dummy!” Simon chuckles, running his fingers across the man’s collarbone.
“We better find another station that will have us then,” and, because they already can’t keep their hands off each other, their lips are reconnected.
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“So, Wille, Simon, let me ask the obvious question. Why did you two take almost half a year off and switch stations?” The interviewer was a brown haired, smiley lady. They had been expecting that question, it was half the reason they agreed to come on the show.
Wille smiles over at Simon, a smile he can’t get enough of, before looking at the in-house audience with a smirk.
“So, I’m sure you all remember when we put those photos on instagram about 8 months ago, well at the time everyone suspected that we were together, which wasn’t strictly true.” Simon started, remembering the month that came after before the words could come out of his mouth choked him slightly, so much so that Wille rested his hand on his thigh as a sign of support. “After that, we had no contact, which led us both to…crumble a bit? It was so hard because Wille was my best friend, but also because I loved him. So much.”
Wille could sense it was his turn to talk, what with the way that Simon was choking up, “I then quit STV Radio, because the pain of working with him was too much. Simon then refused to do the job without me. That day was the first day we spoke since the photos, and that was also the day we officially got together!” Wille smiles the whole time, they maintain eye contact basically the whole time.
The audience cheered, knowing how long they awaited the announcement. They didn’t do it then, though, they had already put a post up stating that they were together.
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The pair of them enter the apartment hand in hand, tired from the day they had just had. SImon’s eyelids feel heavy as he slumps into Wille’s chest. He feels his fingers in his hair, soothing him and making him even more tired.
“I think someone’s tired,” Wille teases with a sing-song tone, but Simon can’t bring himself to care. All he does is accept it and reach his arms up to wrap around Wille’s neck. Then, he’s lifted off the floor, wrapping his legs around his waist and lets himself be carried to the bedroom.
Soon they are laying under the covers, legs intertwined and wrapped around each other. It’s nice, being embarrassed by the warmth of his boyfriend comforting him, lulling him to sleep.
Then, randomly, Wille starts humming some song Simon knows, but can’t quite place. Then he starts singing the words quietly into the dark room.
”It takes a fool to remain sane, takes a fool to remain sane,”
“Wait, is that?” Simon murmurs, feeling his eyes start to well up. He knows exactly what it is. He doesn't think he’ll ever forget. He feels Wille nod more than he sees it.
It’s the first song they ever played on the radio together. It’s their song.