Young Royals: Season 2

Episode 7

There he was, for the first time in a little over a month, there he was right in front of him. Simon. His hair had gotten a little longer since the last time he had seen him, his curls invading his face a little more than usually. His cheeks seemed to be brushed a light shade of pink from enduring the winter breeze already, though it hardly distracted from his warm caramel skin. Time seemed to stand still as he gazed into the other's eyes. In a way, it felt as if the rest of the world had blurred, his mind only being able to focus on him. He had practiced what he wanted to say to Simon the first time he saw him again so many times the past few days, unsure if he'd even get the chance. He feared he would try to avoid him, so he thought it would be better to not let this chance get away from him. However, it seemed someone else had a different idea, everything coming into focus once more when he saw Sara drag her brother away in a hurry. Wilhelm took a few steps after them, his mouth falling open to call after them, yet decided it was best to stay quiet. He didn't need to be drawing attention to himself like this. He watched as the two disappeared from his sight, dropping his head with a sigh. "It's too much right now, give him time," he mumbled to himself, raking his hands through his hair. Shaking it off, he picked himself back up and headed off towards class, he's get to talk to him eventually. Right?

That proved to be a little harder than he had expected. Even though he knew the two of them would cross paths throughout the day, they didn't seem to quite as much as normal. His fear was becoming a reality. Simon was avoiding him. At first he assumed he was just overthinking it all, and that he wasn't actively avoiding him, and that he was just catching him at the wrong time. There being a few times the prince noticed him walking in the hall and would speed up his walk to try and catch him, only to turn the corner and discover he had seemingly disappeared. Or when he tried to speak with him after math class, only to see him running out of the room with Sara and some other girl, giggling to themselves. It wasn't until lunch that the truth became evident. Wilhelm had entered the dining room just as Simon was taking his seat at the table. He seemed to be on edge, looking around the room as he ate his food rather quickly. It wasn't until he turned all the way around, looking behind him at the line of boys that he noticed Wilhelm. The prince could see a multitude of emotions flash behind Simon's eyes in the short few seconds he was able to see them. A mixture of panic, fear, uncertainty and sadness, it left him confused. He knew that the two of them hadn't exactly made up the day everyone left for Christmas break, but he thought they had some sort of understanding of how they felt. He had told Simon he loved him, and to see him look fearful of him, it really hurt. Before Wilhelm could step out of line to try to talk to him, Simon was rushing out of his seat, fumbling with the silverware on his plate that was still full of food. He quickly scraped off the excess food into the bin, placing his dirty dishes with the others before exiting the dining room without a single word said. No one else seemed to notice the commotion, too entranced in their own conversations, but Wille saw it all. Letting out a sigh he grabbed his food, trudging over to the table, about to sit down only to hear a voice he'd rather not here ever again. "Wille! Why don't you come sit with us?" August called from the other end of the table.

His fingers curled around his fork tightly, his knuckles slowly becoming white in the process. He couldn't believe that August could act so casual towards him after everything he had done. Did he think Wilhelm was just going to pretend this never happened because the Queen was protecting him? He had made it very clear that he no longer wanted anything to do with his cousin. As far as he was concerned, they were no longer related. No matter what his mother said or did to try to convince him to forgive August, he wouldn't. He couldn't. He was led to believe he was the one he could trust, the one person there that would be there for him, even if he he wasn't fond of him at the time. When in reality he was the first person waiting for him to slip up, waiting for his downfall. It wasn't until he felt a sharp pain in his jaw he had realized he been clenching it so tightly. Slowly taking in a breath he brought his hand up to massage the back of his jaw, pursing his lips as he heard August begin to speak once more. "Wille? Did you not hear m-..." "Shut. Up. August," he did not raise his voice, though he didn't need to yell when his words dropped like bombs. He didn't even turn his head to look at him, and that somehow added to the weight of his tone. It was the first many in the room had heard Wilhelm ever speak with such force. Everyone coming to a stop when they heard him, August himself frozen in shock, thinking the prince wouldn't dare risk looking bad in front of his peers. Eventually, the silence was covered by the light shuffling of plates and whispers from the boys at the table, allowing Wille to let himself relax. He didn't want anymore attention than he was already getting, the whispers and stares he received since setting foot on campus anything but secret.