Closing Doors (Wilmon AU)

You Can Count Me Out (In)

Monday, February 13th:

Wille woke up in a great mood, and it only took a second for the memories of the weekend to come rushing back.

Simon, Simon, Simon...

All this time, Wille had enjoyed being around him. Felt the attraction, often looked his way. Felt irritated that he was with Marcus. Thought about what the song he recorded for the shelter video meant... grabbing at every scrap, any morsel, he could. Anything he could use to support that maybe, just maybe, Simon liked him too. More than just a friend.

And then to have Simon come to him like that at the ball. So direct. Standing right in his space. Hardly even speaking before kissing him. And then their perfect Sunday, just a normal, real date with the most fantastic guy.

Wille showered, grinning to himself like a fool. Soon, soon, he'd see Simon again. When could they kiss, be alone together, again? A thousand ideas flew around his head until he felt drunk with the possibilities. Delightfully dazed. Could Simon sneak into his room again? Or Wille go back to Simon's house?

He shaved closely, and dressed with care. A light purple sweater that was one of his favourites.

At breakfast, he wrapped up a sandwich for Simon in a napkin. In class, he pushed it on the desk towards Simon, knowing he just had a choir practice, as part of the Jubilee prep. "I made you a sandwich, in case you didn't have time for breakfast."

But Simon just kept reading, giving no response. The complete opposite to what he was expecting.

"Don't you want it?" Wille asked, wanting any reaction to understand why Simon was ignoring him. A feeling of dread hit him. "Has something happened?"

Simon just sighed. "I need to finish this," he finally said, still not looking up from his book.

At lunch break, Wille wandered around the library, and found him finally in the music room, plinking randomly on some piano keys. "Hi." He closed the door, wanting their conversation to be private.

Simon looked up, his face blank, his eyes dull. "What do you want?"

It threw Wille. "I ...wanted to see how you were doing. Did anything happen?"

Simon took a deep breath, and let out a sigh, his shoulders dropping. "It's just that everything I try to do turns into a problem when you enter the picture."

"But I -" Wille stepped closer. "I thought that we, you know, we could start over, after this weekend- I mean, you- I mean, we went on that date-"

"It's not only about that. The only thing I really love and am good at they take away from me," he sighed again. "I'm not allowed to sing a solo at the Jubilee. Jan-Olof switched it to the group version of the song. They don't want you to be associated with me. As per usual."

"Simon, that's not my fault," Wille replied, still so confused. How could Simon's feelings have changed so much since yesterday?

"How long am I gonna be punished for that video?" Simon vented, so frustrated. "You don't get it because you haven't felt the consequences."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"OK, I understand you've had it rough for a while, taking on more duties with Erik being away. But it feels like you've been prancing around pretending like nothing's happened-"

"Simon, what the hell are you saying? You have no idea what's really been happening. They don't give a fuck about that December video. They are more concerned about the one a couple weeks ago, with your song."

"Yeah, well-"

"You must have seen the comments, speculating on our relationship. I got hauled back to the Palace and had my mom lecture me about my Royal duties and there was references to 'unfortunate romances'."