all too well // august horn av årnäs x reader

21

august and i were laying down on my bed.
it was the day after we kissed for the first time and we hadn't really established what we were.
all i knew was we were on kissing basis now. he kissed me when he snuck in through my window some time ago, and he kissed me a few minutes ago.

i looked at my phone, clicking on instagram. i noticed i had a couple unanswered dm's; more than the usual.
i opened the most recent one, which was from felice.

'y/n, have you spoken to wille???'
'do you know where he is?'
'is he okay??'
'hello???'

i read the texts, there must've been at least fifteen of them.

what happened to wille?

'no, i thought u were the last one to talk to him?'
i typed back.

i exited out of the chat and clicked on a dm from simon.

'y/n do you know if wille is ok?'
'god i feel so bad for him.'

i was worried at the last text. simon usually was expressive when texting and used a lot of caps and emojis but now it was just... plain and serious.

i looked over at august.

"august?"

"yes?"
he looked up from his phone.

"what happened to wilhelm?"

"what do you mean?"

"everyone is asking me about him."

he looked confused and went back on his phone, searching through apps.

"check your missed calls" i suggested.

he did as i said, and on his screen it said 'missat samtal från kungen'

"the... king called me."

"oh?"
i wasn't sure what to respond. i thought that him talking to the king and queen was an everyday occurrence but judging by his tone, it wasn't.

"i- i have to call back."

i nodded.

he tapped the number and called back but no one picked up.

how strange.

"google it." i said.

"what?" he laughed confused.

"google it. when my mom... um died, they posted about it. usually people post when important things happen."

he didn't question me further and went on google.
'kungliga familjen' he wrote.

the first thing that popped up was an article about crown prince erik.
'kronprins erik dog i dödlig bilolycka' was the name. it too long for me to understand and it was words i hadn't heard, but i saw the light leave august's face as he read it.

i was almost afraid to ask.
"what... happened to erik?"

he breathed out.
"he died."

"i- i'm so sorry."
i was aware he was like the brother august never had, and of course, wilhelm's actual brother.

i pulled him in for a hug.
i heard him sniffle and try to keep his composure.

it broke my heart.

the following afternoon all of us sat in the boys' common room and watched erik's funeral be broadcasted on live television.

i felt upset for wilhelm.

i couldn't imagine being in such a vulnerable state so soon after a family death, only to get a camera shoved up in my face and be harassed to make a statement.

the media was always so non empathetic when it came to everything.

it was like they forgot wille was just a sixteen year old boy.

i was beginning to understand why someone wouldn't want to be a royal; like how he said he wished he wasn't when we spoke at his initiation party.