𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐀! 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐥𝐬

ᴇʟᴇᴠᴇɴ

Jealousy, Jealousy

Wilhelm hadn't imagined there would be reporters and photographers so close to the palace grounds, but he appeared he was once again wrong. He awoke the next morning to Evangeline waving the morning paper in his face, pissed beyond recognition.

"You had one job, and that was to stay under the fucking radar," Evangeline was saying, as she frantically moved around the living room, tidying as she went; Wilhelm realised this must be a sort of response to her building anger, "And you couldn't even do that! I mean, photographed while you were still inside the Palace grounds. Look at this bloody headline-" She shoved the paper in his face, "Consequences be damned? No! Consequences not be damned, because if they are then we can't hang out anymore, I don't do this kinda drama".

Wilhelm furrowed his brow, "Royal drama?"

"Boy drama. Between you and Aurelia, and you and that Spanish kid I can't freaking keep up!" Despite Evangeline's quick movements and fast talking, Wilhelm couldn't help but smile. When he had first met the barista, he had figured she was around his and Aurelia's age, seventeen or eighteen. Turns out she was actually twenty one, which made the whole situation right then so much better. He almost felt sorry for her, having to deal with all this chaos that he and Aurelia were causing; She didn't seem too angry about it (excluding, obviously, that headline).

"Aurelia is going to lose her shit if she happens to see this," Evangeline mentioned, as she gathered her belongings in a hurry, throwing them into her bag in no specific order.

"Pardon?" Wilhelm asked, not understanding what she had meant.

"Aurelia specifically told you don't get in trouble, and then you go make a fool of yourself on the front freaking page," Evangeline explained, hoisting her bag onto her shoulder, "Because you're an idiot who can't keep your mouth shut".

"I'm the Crown Prince," Wilhelm said, smiling as he began to follow her out.

"Not under my roof you ain't," Evangeline replied, "Make sure that door locks". Unable to contain his expressions, Wilhelm let out a snicker as he locked the door behind himself. Evangeline pointedly ignored it, as she headed down the stairs, away from her apartment.

"Oh, fuck no," Evangeline muttered as she and Wilhelm reached the front of Rosknopp. She had spotted the familiar tanned skinned boy before Wilhelm had. Simon reached the front steps at the same time the friends did, and Evangeline wasted no time opening the glass doors. "This joint opens in twenty; don't make a fucking scene, you hear me?" She asked, eyeing Wilhelm, "I am not dealing with another bloody headline". She closed the doors behind herself.

Wilhelm, once again, was unsure where to look. He folded his arms over his chest to find the fact he was picking at his nails. "Uh, hi," He said after a few moments, only glancing at Simon in quick intervals.

"Hey," Simon replied, also looking away from Wilhelm. "I saw the headlines. Probably shouldn't be a surprise, though. Everyone knows the press works like the wind".

"Yeah," Wilhelm forced a chuckle.

Simon bit his lip uncertainly, "I was just wondering if you wanted to grab coffee sometime, or something like that. I've tried to reach you for the past couple weeks, even stopped by here a few times, but you sort of disappeared".

"Yeah, sorry about that," Wilhelm rubbed the back of his neck anxiously, "My friend, Aurelia - do you remember her? She works as a barista here," he nodded towards Rosknopp, "She, uh, she disappeared...a couple weeks ago. Evangeline and I have been trying to find her".

"So you just go and abandon all your other responsibilities to look for a girl you barely know?" Simon asked, "Just seems a little, I'm not sure....impulsive?"

"Aurelia is my friend," Wilhelm said defensively, unsure where all this negativity was coming from, "What would you have done in my situation?"

"Aurelia," Simon stressed, "Is a girl you barely know. How do you know she's worth the time?"

"Like how did I know you were worth my time?" Wilhelm asked, taking a step towards Simon; his anxiety had dissolved by this point, only to be replaced with anger, "I don't know if she is, just like I didn't know if you were. But it's my turn now," He continued, "Why the hell are you acting like this? We were fine a couple weeks ago".

"'Acting like this'?" Simon questioned, "How am I acting, Wilhelm? Please, tell me," His tone was a challenging one, but Wilhelm knew he couldn't go back now.

"Jealous. You're acting jealous," He replied, Simon appearing taken aback.

"Jealous?" He scoffed, "Of her? No way". Wilhelm went to respond, but a sharp tap sounded by his head, against the large glass windows. Evangeline eyed him challengingly, as she wiped down the tables by the window. He took it as a warning; stop making a scene.

But it was too late - he had spotted pedestrians with their phones out, more professional photographers with their expensive cameras and their angles ready. "I have shit to do," Wilhelm said after a few beats of silence, his voice more calm and composed this time around, "We can work this out, in private, another time".

Simon just shook his head, though. "No," He said, "There won't be a next time".

Wilhelm knew he had to get inside Rosknopp now, in order to stop any major headlines from appearing in tomorrow's paper. Not wanting to leave the conversation as it was but knowing he had no choice, Wilhelm pushed open the glass doors of Rosknopp. "Yeah, walk away," Simon said harshly, "It's what you do best".

Closing the doors behind him, Wilhelm raced to the counter, before collapsing against it, as he slid to the floor. His knees were against his chest, but he refused to let the tears which welled in his eyes fall. Evangeline finished wiping over the counter as she asked, "You want to talk about this?"

"No," he said.

Evangeline thought this over for a second. "Alright," She shrugged, "But we're opening soon, so if you're going to have a breakdown, do it in the backroom. That's the designated breakdown area".

Wilhelm glanced up at her, "You guys have a breakdown area?"

"We work in customer service. Yeah, we have a breakdown area," She replied. He nodded as she got back to work. Glancing out the windows, Wilhelm couldn't find Simon anymore; he had probably left at this point. Wilhelm sighed angrily.

Of course he had to fuck it up all over again. 

_____________

(1100 words)

ngl, i love writing about wilhelm and evangeline's friendship. they give me such brother/sister vibes which is sort of what i was going for. 

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