Closing Doors (Wilmon AU)

Starting Again

The choir joined Simon for the chorus, their voices filling the the space beautifully.

...

In the first class, Wille ended up sitting beside Simon, as Sara and Felice were sharing a textbook. They were also bonding more than ever, since they were roommates now. Wille said 'Hi' to him, but Simon didn't seem receptive to talk more.

"So, let's see if your brains retained anything after so many weeks off," Mr. Englund said, holding up a bunch of papers.

Many students groaned as he passed out a quiz. It was short, only ten questions, and he had them pass their papers to the person behind them, reading out the answers so they could get graded right away.

Simon grunted and flipped his paper over when it got passed back.

"I thought you had signed up for private lessons," Wille asked softly.

He got a scoff as an answer. "Yes, until I got the first bill. They are fucking expensive."

The bell rang, and Simon quickly grabbed his books and bag, rushing out of the classroom.

...

Tuesday, January 10th:

Rowing practices started back up, and Wille was tempted to quit the team, just to keep away from August. But pride made him come and do it, staring at August defiantly until he looked away. Wille wasn't going to change his habits, slink away. He hadn't done anything wrong.

Simon must have had the same defiant attitude, as he was back as well.

...

Thursday, January 12th:

Later that week, it was sunny and not too cold out. After lunch, Felice encouraged Wille to sit outside before afternoon classes. Sara and Simon were already at a picnic table, so Felice wanted to join them, immediately chatting with Sara.

Wille nodded at Simon, but couldn't think of anything to say, so he pulled out his phone to check his messages. After scanning through a few, he let out a groan.

Felice chuckled. "What was that for?"

He passed her his phone. "Look at this list! It's places they want me to pick from for volunteering."

"Ah, yes, all part of the public appearances stuff they want you to do, right?" Felice asked, as she read the email. "Hmmm... tutoring kids, visiting with seniors in an old folks home, working at a food bank, a teen suicide hotline..."

"They all sound awful! Probably with the PR people there the whole time, making me pose for pictures as I feed an old lady soup." Wille closed his eyes tight, and tried to calm the tension he could feel building in his chest.

"Oh wait, this doesn't sound so bad. It's for the animal shelter in Linköping," Felice said, passing the phone back.

"That's good. You like working with animals," Sara chimed in.

"Yeah, I guess. But it's going to be so boring," Wille said, shoving his phone back in his pocket. He got up, saying goodbye to head off to his class.

Simon caught up with him. "Um, maybe I could do that volunteering with you? I need to do extra curricular stuff, to make sure I get a grant to come back here next year."

"Really?" Wille said, smiling. "That would be great! way better to do these things with someone else, like Felice coming to all those parties with me over the holidays."

"Message me the details on Instagram," Simon replied, before heading off to the library.

...

That night, Wille researched the animal shelter. It was a place the Queen had visited officially a few years ago, so already screened by security thoroughly. They had pictures online of her holding a fluffy, white kitten, looking quite enchanted by it, it's tiny paw on her chin.

The public loved pictures like this, and the Court knew it. People loved their pets, and showing Royalty with animals made them more relatable.

Compared to the other options, it seemed the easiest. He could work with the animals and hopefully not that many people. Animals didn't act funny around him, wondering if they should bow and call him Your Highness at the end of every sentence.

He sent the link to Simon.

Here you go. Check it over. If it looks OK, I'll ask the Court admin people to get things set up. -W

They would be OK with us going together? After the video? -S

I think enough time has passed, things have calmed down. Besides, I have security now, and they can drive us to the shelter. It will be faster than taking the bus. -W

I don't know about all this. -S

Sighing, Wille took a moment to look through Simon's Instagram photos. Maybe he should have discussed this with him, face to face. They still didn't know each other that well. It was harder to figure out the issue without the non-verbal cues.

Um, well, Linköping is about a 20 minute drive each way. How about if I tutor you in math during the drives? Like free private lessons. -W

Do you get good grades? -S

I get A's. -W

Nothing else was tolerated, since he had started school. If he ever got a low test score, tutors were assigned to him until he did better. Over the years, he learned it was easier to just study hard on his own than go through all that.

OK, it's a deal. -S

Wille originally replied with 'Great!' But deleted the word before he sent it. After a minute of deliberation, he sent his message.

OK. See you at rowing practice. -W

A bit boring, but safe.

...

-A/N-- What??? Simon is gay?? 😉

Simon's Solo: I bet he would do a wonderful cover of the infamous Leonard Cohen song, 'Hallelujah', similar to the hauntingly beautiful Jeff Buckley version.