Closing Doors (Wilmon AU)

Gimme Shelter

Tuesday, January 17th:

"This one! This one!" Simon said, holding his phone out to Wille.

The picture showed Wille wearing a blue bib apron with 'Volunteer' stamped across the top and big yellow rubber gloves. But what really stood out was the way his nose was wrinkled up, clearly reacting to cleaning up a really dirty puppy kennel.

The last few hours had been a blur. It had been a bit awkward on the ride to Linköping, sitting in the back of the car, not saying much. At the shelter, the Court photographer took pictures of Wille shaking hands with the staff, and then left, allowing everyone to relax. One staff member showed them around, explaining their duties, and then left Simon and Wille alone to work.

"I think the caption should be 'The Prince Gets Down & Dirty at the LPS', Simon smirked. Enjoying this far too much.

Wille tried to grab the phone from him, but Simon was too quick, holding it out of his reach with one hand while his other arm held Wille back.

At the shelter, they had to work together, moving the animals around, cleaning the kennels and litter boxes. Simon seemed impressed that Wille jumped right in, doing his fair share of the messy work without any complaints. It reminded Wille of mucking out horse stables, but on a much smaller scale. They were relaxed and joking around by the time they were riding back.

Sinking back down, Wille looked through the photos he'd taken. "Then I'll post this one of you," he taunted, showing Simon with a small fluffy white dog, grinning as she licked his cheek.

Simon shrugged, clearly not bothered at all. "I'm not embarrassed by that. Dogs loooove me."

Wille sighed. "Fine. Send me your picture. The Court wants the photos posted by me."

"Not the drug dealer?' Simon asked with an arched brow. But Wille could tell he wasn't that irritated by it. "Fine. Can you send me the pics you took of me? I'll post them to my Insta. I won't mention you, don't worry."

They got busy with their phones, texting pictures to each other, laughing at the funny camera angles and talking about the animals they had interacted with.

The car stopped and Wille looked around in surprise. "Oh fuck, we are already here? We did do any math stuff-"

Simon rested a hand on his coat sleeve. "Relax, Wille. How about we meet in the library later? Do it then?"

Wille agreed and then headed their separate ways. In his own room, Wille edited the picture a bit, cropping it and fixing the colour. But he did end up using Simon's caption in the end, 'Down & Dirty at the LPS'. He added his tags, and the full name of the shelter, Linköping Pet Services.

...

Wednesday, January 18th:

"It's only been a couple months, and you are more popular than me."

Wille was smiling so widely his cheeks ached. "Erik! It's so good to finally see you."

Erik grinned back, looking more relaxed and happy than he had for ages, even on the small screen. "You too. My program ends soon, so I'm allowed a few phone calls each week. Reintegration into real life."

"When are you coming back?" Wille asked, eager to go home and give him a big hug. Spend a weekend catching up.

"Well, I was going to talk to you about that," Erik said, his expression becoming a bit more serious. "Because I was thinking of staying here, in Austria, after my program ends for a little while."

"What? Why?"

Erik looked down. "Um, well, just to readjust to things. Without the pressure of the media in Sweden."