Young Royals: What...now?

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Wilhelm

Wilhelm found Simon after Math class and pulled him into an empty classroom, closing the shades on the door window.

Simon smiled. "Hey," he said, pulling Wilhelm into a light kiss. 

Wilhelm's whole body trembled from Simon's touch. It was like feeling alive for the first time, every time. He knew it didn't make much sense, but it didn't make sense to him either.

"I missed you," whispered Wilhelm as Simon gently rubbed Wilhelm's shoulder. 

"Yeah, me too," responded Simon, resting his head on Wilhelm's chest. 

Wilhelm reluctantly directed Simon to a chair, and Wilhelm sat in the one beside him. He put his hands on the table connecting them. "I've been thinking, and I think I know what to do about, you know, everything."

Simon raised his eyebrows. "Yeah? We're going to talk to Dr. Lilja?"

Wilhelm shook his head. "No, something a bit tougher, unfortunately. We're gonna talk to the other students. Tell them about us, and ask them for help."

Simon's eyebrows went from raised to scrunched up in a matter of seconds. "Why...would we do that?"

"I have a confession to make," Wilhelm begrudgingly announced. "I've been talking to Dr. Nilsson."

"Ok." Simon gazed into Wilhelm's eyes, and Wilhelm didn't note even a flicker of judgment from him. 

"And, we talked about why Erik and Ana never had an issue, and he talked about how people liked Erik, wanted to help Erik, and with us, well, nobody really knows us. We, I mean, I take a long time to trust people. But, that's the problem. Our best protection is to let people in, ask them to protect us, make them want to help."

"You've gotta be kidding me," said Simon, his eyes flicking around the room and finally settling on Wilhelm's hands. "This is not going to work." 

"You don't hate me." Wilhelm looked at the ground, forcing himself to not glance up at Simon. 

Simon leaned in and gave Wilhelm a peck on the cheek. "It's not that. It just, you know these aren't really my people. They haven't given me much reason to have a lot of faith in them, ya know?"

Wilhelm blushed a light pink as he took Simon's hand. "Will you at least think about it? I really want to be able to be like this wherever we go. But, if we can't do that, at least at school we'd be able to be us. I know this is a big ask. Trust me, I know. And I know being with me is tougher than with guys you've been with in the past. I --"

Simon cut him off. "What other guys?"

Wilhelm looked at him quizzically. "You know, other boyfriends you've had." He stared at his feet. This was getting awkward fast.

Simon held onto Wilhelm's hand tighter. "Wille. I've never been with any other guys."

Wilhelm paused. It didn't add up. "But, no, wait. Of course you have. You're way more experienced. That was definitely not your first kiss. And, I mean, you know what you're doing. You always take the lead when I don't know what to --"

Simon grinned. "Wille, I promise you. I've never dated anyone. Sure, I've kissed someone before, but that's it. And it was once, at this all-inclusive resort in Turkey in one of the teen club events when I was 13, and I never saw the guy again. I think he was Russian? Or maybe German? I don't even know. I'm telling you, I am not that experienced. I just watch a lot of porn, and I take good mental notes, I guess."

Wilhelm looked up at Simon. This was way more embarrassing than he could have ever predicted. He had always just assumed Simon didn't want to talk about his past. He'd always taken the lead physically. It made sense that he'd just been in relationships before, and that's why he was so confident with that part. Wilhelm wished he could go hide, maybe set Hermione's Rememberall back 5 minutes and get a redo.

Simon broke the dead air between them. He put his head on Wilhelm's shoulder and said, "I want to be with you in public, too. And I know you're doing this for me. But, can you give me some time, to think about all this? This is all just, a lot."

Wilhelm frowned. Maybe this was the wrong move. Simon was getting cold feet, which was the last think that Wilhelm wanted. 

He backtracked. "It's too much. I get it. It's fine. I can think of something else--"

Simon put his hand over Wilhelm's mouth.

"Stop. Shhh. It's not too much. I just need some time. Okay? Can you do that?"

Wilhelm gazed into Simon's warm eyes. "Okay. I can do that."

Simon smiled, trying to soothe Wilhelm. "Okay. Let's meet tomorrow. 4pm, rowing shed?"

Wilhelm grinned. "Okay. Sounds like a date."