Season 3 Young Royals (Version 1)

52. Tabloid Headlines

"Crown Prince's boyfriend's troubled family life."

"Boyfriend's ex speaks out about Crown Prince's jealous ways!"

"Queen makes it clear she doesn't approve of Crown Prince's life choices."

"'I want my son to be happy but we need an heir!' Confidantes of Royal Family say Queen is beside herself."

"Crown Prince's lover can sing!"

"Simon seduced Crown Prince with song, say sources close to them."

"Is Crown Prince's boyfriend looking for a payout? Those close to Royal Family seem to think so."

"The [Crown] Prince and the pauper: a real-life fairy tale?"

"Exclusive photos: Adoring Crown Prince posing with school choir after boyfriend's solo performance."

"Royal family considering taking Crown Prince out of school to end inconvenient affair with commoner."
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The Queen hadn't been wrong that Wilhelm being seen with Simon would draw attention.

But they expected attention and knew what was and wasn't true about their relationship, so managed to ignore the gossip. What did surprise them was when any of it ended up being true.

"How did they know I made you fall in love with me by singing?" Simon had seen the headline in a shop.

"I don't know. It must have been a lucky guess." Wilhelm smiled.

Generally they managed not to take things like that seriously, and it was because they both knew how much they'd risked and been through to get to where they were. They knew what they had was absolutely worth it.

The boys hardly even noticed tabloids anyway. The only thing about tabloids that they felt really affected them, was when tabloid reporters would follow either of them or their friends or family around.

Although it wasn't legal, Linda was quite sure she'd noticed photographers following her to and from work, or stalking her while she was out shopping in town several times since Wilhelm's Jubilee speech.

She didn't like to mention it to Simon but she had even felt unsafe once or twice.

She often noticed the crazy headlines at the checkout when she went to buy groceries and tried to ignore them, but it was hard to do when they mentioned Simon so much and made references to his family.

The strangest incident was seeing a picture of herself from two days before, when she'd been out grocery shopping, and felt she was being watched, but couldn't be sure at the time.

She realised the photographer must have been crouched behind a car to get the shot they ended up printing.

Because of the press and attention, Simon and Wilhelm hadn't really ventured out into town together since Rosh's football game and they were feeling restless at only going between school grounds and Simon's place every once in a while.

They decided they should try meeting up in town again just the two of them.

The idea was to go to a movie, generally a good place to hide in the dark for a couple of hours.

The bodyguards had remained stationed down at the gatehouse, so Wilhelm didn't have difficulty making it to the bus. He'd decided not only to wear a scarf but also a hat for probably the first time since he'd last gone skiing the previous year with Erik.

He thought that it was a good idea to be less recognizable. He even considered sunglasses but it was already dark by the time he left the school grounds so they would have drawn more attention if anything.

He didn't make eye contact with the driver as he got on the bus, or with any passengers, but instead moved straight to the back of the bus.

About thirty minutes later he saw his stop but didn't see Simon anywhere. He hopped of the bus and checked his phone.

"The bus was really late! I'm about 10 minutes away. Meet you at the cinema, ok?"

"Ok."

Wilhelm navigated with GPS. He went to buy tickets but realised that it was another chance to be recognized and it made him nervous.

He decided to stand off to one side and wait for Simon. He avoided making eye contact with anyone but felt eyes on him a few times. He moved away then waited and approached the cinema entrance again hoping whoever had noticed him would move on.

After what felt like an hour, Simon finally arrived. He stopped in front of Wilhelm and smiled.

"Nice hat."

Wilhelm smiled back shyly. "Thanks. Do you mind getting the tickets? I'm worried people are going to notice me..."

"Yeah, sure. Be right back."

Simon bought the tickets and then waved Wilhelm over to join him quickly, trying to avoid looking at anyone.

They were ushered through to their theater and sat right at the back with a few couples around them but the movie had been released weeks ago so it wasn't the most popular option.

Before the lights went down they didn't dare get comfortable (or take his scarf or hat off in Wilhelm's case), but they did see one girl look at them a bit longer than normal as she was moving back to find her seat.

Wilhelm couldn't relax thinking that if they were identified and it made its way back to his mother, he'd never be able to go out again. The bodyguards would be put back in Forest Ridge and he'd basically become a prisoner like before.

The lights went down finally and he felt Simon's warm hand move over to grasp his, comforting him. He smiled without looking at Simon, squeezed Simon's hand back, and finally went to take off his hat and scarf.

As the movie began, Wilhem looked around the theater and saw the other couples cuddling up to each other and holding hands as well. He even noticed two boys of about their age off to their right and one row behind them that were doing the same and clearly on a date.

Wilhelm looked a split second too long and the boy with ginger hair caught Wilhelm's glance then gave a puzzled expression clearly meaning "what the fuck is he doing here?"

They locked eyes for a moment. Wilhelm's were terrified and pleading. The boy seemed to understand right away and smiled back then looked away.

Wilhelm breathed a deep sigh of relief and looked forward again, then at Simon. He slouched down into his chair and leaned into Simon who lay his head against Wilhelm's shoulder where it stayed for the rest of the movie.

A/N: December 13th: Happy Sankta Lucia!