Closing Doors (Wilmon AU)

New Year's

Saturday, December 31st:

"Cheers!"

Felice smiled, and clinked her champagne glass against Wille's. After taking a sip, she sighed. "What will we do at midnight?"

"A kiss is traditional," Wille said, smirking.

Rolling her eyes, Felice looked around the huge hall. This New Year's Ball was a hot ticket item for most the Swedish nobility and the richest 1%. Somewhere on the dance floor, her parents were dancing, schmoozing with lots of people.

They were in a raised alcove, with a great view of the whole hall. They could see, but also be seen. Security discreetly stopped people from coming close unless welcomed.

"Do we really need to pour more fuel on that fire?" Felice said, smiling at Wille. He looked quite handsome, his new haircut giving his hair some height and keeping it off his face. His suit was a charcoal grey with a bit of a sheen, paired with a snowy white dress shirt, the top couple buttons open. All part of the Court stylist's work, polishing him up for more public appearances.

Her dress complimented his outfit. It had a full long skirt of black tulle. The bodice was off the shoulders, a mixture of black and a dull gold.

"How about a short kiss, no tongue?" Wille shot back, grinning.

Putting a hand on his chest, she pushed him firmly away. "We hardly even did that when we actually dated."

Wille grabbed her hand, raising it to kiss the back of it. "Our parents would love it," he cajoled.

Felice scoffed. "As if that would sway me."

"It did a few months ago."

"It's a hard habit to break out of. The next thing I need to do is convince my mother to sell Rousseau," Felice sighed.

"I have every confidence in your success in that." Wille stood and held his hand out to her. "Shall we dance, m'lady?"

"We shall," Felice quipped back, fluttering her eyelashes at him.

They had been doing this all evening, joining the crowd on the dance floor for a few songs and then taking breaks in their private area. Felice was better in these types of social situations than Wille was, and she could tell when it was becoming a bit too much for him.

The live band was covering the hottest songs, mixed with more traditional favourites for the older people in the crowd. Wille had only had a couple glasses of champagne, sticking to sparkling water most of the night. It was enough to let him relax a bit, and just get into the music.

Pretty soon, there was the countdown. Felice grabbed Wille's hand, running with him to their alcove. It was going to be loud and raucous, perhaps better to experience from a safe distance.

"3...2....1! Happy New Year!"

A huge cheer came from the crowd, and Wille wrapped an arm around Felice, dipping her deep, and leaning in close. "Happy New Year, Felice," he whispered, and gave her a quick kiss.

"Happy New Year to you too!" She grinned, happy to be vertical again. She was sure many pictures of them would be all over the socials in the next few hours.

They sipped champagne, chatting what they wanted for the next year.

"You already mentioned quitting riding," Wille said.

"And you will be attending more royal functions, at least until the summer."

Wille nodded, "Hopefully with you by my side, until you discover how dreadfully dull most of them are."

Felice shook her head. "No, no. We make our own fun, my dear. You'll see."

"Sounds quite ominous," Wille chuckled. "Of course, keeping up our grades."

"But the big question is, of course, what to do about August," Felice said.

Wille glanced at his phone. "Our car is ready. Shall we continue this conversation in there?"

She nodded, gathering her glittery purse. The security were nearby as they headed out.

Their roomy back seat of the car was sealed off with a glass partition, giving them privacy.

"Well, thanks to your amazing investigative skills, we know he filmed that video," Wille nodded to Felice.

During their car ride to Stockholm, they had gone over everything thoroughly. Wille had told her Simon's explanation about how and why he got mixed up with August. Felice had agreed that it seemed legit. They had been a bit stumped on what to do next.

"And you have already confronted August about it," she added. "I can't believe he hadn't come up with some elaborate excuse for doing it. Or found a way to blame someone else."

Wille sighed. "I'd really like to know the real reason he did it. He keeps texting apologies, no matter how many times I've told him to fuck off."

"If only we could find a way to get that weasel kicked out of the school. And preferably out of the country," Felice said, completely on his side.

Wille nodded. "There were a lot of intense meetings with my family and members of the Court over the holidays. Apparently, the headmistress allowed our security in and they searched everywhere on campus. They even brought drug-sniffing dogs."

"What the fuck?! Really?"

Wille nodded. "She wants to clean up the school, doesn't want it to get the reputation for being too tolerant of drugs and alcohol."

"Did they find much? In my limited experience, the stuff tends to get used up pretty quick."

"I didn't get the full details, but they found a bit here and there. Not much." He had tried to discreetly ask in they had found any prescription bottles, but had no luck getting a clear answer.

"I'm glad the Court didn't force you do make a statement about it. It wouldn't have helped at all."

"It was better just attending events with you, giving the media something else to focus on." They were driving up the long driveway to Felice's house now. "I hope things are better for Simon. I feel bad for him, even though I really don't know him that well. I don't think he's some big time drug dealer."

"Knowing Sara, and having met their mom a few times, I can't picture it," she said, as the car stopped by the entrance.

Wille leaned closer to give her a goodnight kiss on the cheek. "Perhaps my best investigator can crack this case as well? Figure out if there was any real reason August posted that video? I can't believe he just did it out of spite towards Simon or me."

"I'll look into it," she said, smiling.

One of the security guards opened the door, and helped her to get out with her long, full gown. "Goodnight!"

This had been the third time they had attended functions together in as many weeks. Wille was very grateful, as she was always lively company and actually seemed to enjoy them. The press was having a field day with all the pictures, trying to label then as Felhelm or Welice, both awful in his opinion. But it was a good distraction for the public from the drug video, so the Court was ecstatic.

By the time he was back at the Palace, an idea hit him. He went to Eric's room instead of his own. It looked the same as when he'd last been there, before Erik went to rehab.

Wille did a quick search, knowing what he was looking for. He found it in a drawer in the desk. The key ring still had a key fob with the Ferrari insignia, but the car key was gone. Likely removed when the car was quietly sold over the holidays.

There weren't that many other keys left on the key ring. But there was a simple gold key there. That was it...he was pretty sure. He slipped it off the ring, and put it in his pocket. Erik would never notice it was gone.

...

-A/N- Things will get more Wilmon focused in the next chapters.... Thanks for reading!