Another way (Young Royals)

The headlines

Pictures of our vacation over the winter break had dropped. Wille and I were in almost all of them. Someone had taken photos of when Wille taught me how to ski for the first time and then there were pictures of us at lunch with his parents. We looked very couple-like, for obvious reasons. He was my boyfriend after all. The headlines tried to out shine each other, and I guessed that if I were to open the articles half would not be true. I had said I could take it, and I could. It was worse for Wille, who had after all grown up with it. His anxiety had gotten worse. I guessed he was scared I would not be able to handle the pressure and leave. I could not leave him. Not now. I was far too much in love with him to step away. Too invested. He was everything I wanted. Sure, it would have been easier if he was not prince of Sweden. But he was worth it and he did not see it himself.

"Would you like to come home with me tonight?" I asked Wille, who had his head on my chest. We were in his bed at Hillerska. I caressed him gently over his head. Played with strands of his hair.

"You know I want to," he replied. I smiled and kissed his temple. He was the cutest person I knew.

"Yeah, I know you want to," I replied and slipped down to lay next to him on the bed.

"Then why did you ask?" he asked. He had a grin on his lips.

"Because I like to give you the choice," I said.

"What would I do that is more important than see you, baby?" he asked. His fingers felt through my curls and caressed my cheek.

"You have not done your maths assignment and it is due on Tuesday," I said giggling.

"When I prioritise maths assignments over you I am severely sick," he said laughing. His lips met mine. I let my hands feel under his shirt. His smooth warm skin felt like silk against mine. We separated a bit to look each other in the eyes. We both smiled before kissing each other another time. "And maybe I could borrow yours?"

"Borrow my assignment? Are you saying you are going to copy me?" I teased.

"Well I can always fuck some up, and the teacher would not know," Wille joked. That made me chuckle.

"I can help you if you find it hard," I offered. He buried his nose in my shirt and breathed in.

"I am going to need a lot of cuddles and maybe some kisses as motivation if I am going to do that assignment on time," Wille said. I laughed.

"Best if you go home with me then," I said. We cuddled until we had to leave for the bus. I held his hand on our way down to the bus station. We saw Marcus from afar, working in the stables. It made me feel a bit uneasy even if he had left me alone since Sara slapped him and Wille threatened to hurt him if he ever came close to me again. The bus was pretty full, so we went to the back and sat down. Some people looked back at us, probably wondering what the prince did on the bus to Bjärstad. And if it really was me, the boy who was rumoured to be his lover, who sat next to him. I held his hand and couldn't care less about the curious people around us. It was already world news. The prince of Sweden was not straight and was dating his classmate at the prestigious boarding school that their family had attended for generations. To people who did not live in Bjärstad it probably seemed like I lived at the school too. It was a boarding school after all. Most people lived at school. It was just Sara and I who did not in the first year. We got off the bus, with a few people watching us from the window.

"Is Linda at home yet?" Wille asked me. I shook my head. She was still at work.

"Mom is still at work," I said. He nodded.

"Should we make dinner until she comes home then?" Wille proposed. It was thoughtful. Mom was always tired when she came home. She would be delighted if dinner was already on the table.

"Do you want to impress her?" I teased. "She already adores you, you know." That made him blush, but he had a little smile on his lips as well. I kissed him and agreed to make dinner with him. Even if mom adored Wille, she was probably thankful to avoid us snogging in the kitchen. Not that she had not seen us kiss in the kitchen before. We were the touchy kind and she knew that. It did not go unnoticed by her at least. That was why she supplied me with condoms. I did not know how much she thought we were intimate, because I had a little storage of them in my drawer by then. We laid the table and made everything ready until Sara and mom came home. If Wille wanted to impress, he had succeeded. If mom adored him before, she loved him even more after she understood making dinner was his idea. And he was so proud that he had made her happy. I was proud of him, just for being his sweet self. I loved him so much. Beyond what words could express. What I felt for him could only be experienced with the heart.

***********

When Wille and I woke up the morning after we went out to the kitchen to make some breakfast. We returned to my bedroom pretty quickly. We were still in pyjamas and there were journalists and paparazzi outside my front door. It was not just the one as the first time. It was a whole bunch. I wondered why they were outside my door. Did they know Wille was with me? Why would they send out all of them if they did not at least believe he was here? I was not as interesting as him, even if they were curious about me.

"What are we going to do?" I asked him. He looked frightened and his breathing became more heavy. "Baby? How are you?"

"Anxiety," he replied. He circled his chest with his hand. It was more like a panic attack. He began hyperventilating and crying. I tried to comfort him. I did my best, but it did not stop as it usually would. The threat was still outside my door. They had to go away. And I had to make them go away. Wille could not. He was way too stressed out. Who had told them WIlle was here? Mom and Sara would never rattle us out to the press. Not our classmates either. Maybe someone who had seen us on the bus. And I also suspected a certain stable boy. This was the perfect revenge. And I could not prove it, which he probably understood too. I put on clothes and made sure Wille was somehow stable when I went out into the kitchen once again. I saw so many people stare back at me through the window. I felt sorry for Wille, who had lived like this his entire life. I went up to the front door and carefully opened and stepped outside, shielding the door with my body so that no one could get inside.

"What are you all doing here?" I asked them. They were taking pictures and all tried to talk to me, which made their voices into a mess.

"Prince Wilhelm is inside, isn't he?" a blond woman with a microphone asked.

"Are you dating the prince?" another brunette asked me.

"Are you happy together?" a third one asked.

"None of you have booked an interview with me and you are currently on my mother's property and she has not given any of you permission to be in our garden that I know of. I would like you all to leave or I will call the police and report you all for harassing me," I said with a clear voice before going inside and locking the door. I went back to my bedroom and held Wille in my arms. I was worried for him.

"Why are they here? How do they know I am here with you?" Wille asked in despair. "Why won't they leave?" They did not take my threat to call the police seriously and therefore had not left. I held Wille close to me, gently rubbing his back. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and instead of calling the police, I called Erik.

"Hi Simon. What's up?" Erik replied.

"Hi, Erik. Wille is at home with me and we have a bunch of paparazzi outside. He is having a breakdown and I don't know what to do. Can you please help me?" I asked.

"Oh shit. I will talk to mom and see what we can do. I will call you back in fifteen minutes, okay?" he said. I heard that he got stressed. He hung up and I kept on comforting his little brother.

"It will be fine, okay?" I whispered in Wille's ear. "Is there anything I can do to help, baby?"

"Just hold me, please," he replied. I did. I held him and stroked his hair. When Erik called back he said that a car would come and get the two of us and drive us both back to the palace. We had to figure out a way where I could still have a normal life. Where we did not wake up to having a bunch of paparazzi outside my front door. I helped Wille get some clothes on and then bodyguards from the palace escorted us out from my family home. Mom already knew what happened and I had called Sara telling her to stay at Hillerska, as she hung out with Felice in the stables that day. When we had gone, the paparazzi would likely lose intrest in my house and go. At least I hoped so.