Misguided Ghosts

Wilhelm struggles to fully relax. It's not that he's stressed about having Simon sleeping on his shoulder but rather that he has to keep track of the time and also try to forget that they're up in the air. He's not particularly afraid of heights, he just doesn't really like flying. Obviously he hesitated to wake him, or even to shift him to the other side, but he noticed the signs of anxiety Simon was showing and, strangely, he prefers to see him asleep than anxious.

“Are you all right?”, Adriana's voice prompts Wilhelm to take a deep breath to release the stress.

He presses his earpiece to connect with her. “How are you? Not too bothered by the smell of the old lady?”

“It's like being in hell, Wille, I've never smelled anything so bad.”

Wilhelm can't help but smile slightly, he knows she is exaggerating but he loves the sometimes dramatic side she takes because he knows she does it to amuse him and, if we're being honest, what is more adorable than a friend who tries to get you to think about something else because they know you tend to overthink?

“You will survive…unfortunately.”, he quips.

“Woah, why are you talking so low, is the secret service around? Do I have to tell the Swedish embassy that we've been taken hostage on the flight?”

“Simon has fallen asleep.” Wilhelm lets his head fall so that it touches his headrest. “I want to avoid waking him half an hour before we arrive.”

“Ohhhh okay. It makes sense. I took advantage of the fact that we could use the internet to notify the hotel of the approximate time of our arrival.”

“What's the schedule for today?”

“First we will have to settle down. We will be staying there for five days. At the end of the afternoon Simon has to try on his outfits for the concert on Friday, you will have to be in the room with him.”

“He can dress himself, right?”, Wilhelm frowns.

“Wille... You won't have to dress him up, you idiot. You'll have to watch, because there will be a tailor with him.”, Adriana bursts into an uncontrollable giggle in his ear, and Wilhelm can't help but smile again, even if he feels his cheeks heat up out of shame. Luckily, Simon is still sleeping.

“Oh. Damn, show business is really not my thing.”

“That's why I'm here…”, his colleague's tone is softer, and Wilhelm nods even though she can't see him, because she's right, she catches him when he's lost. 

Simon shifts slightly in his sleep, and now Wilhelm can feel his warm breath against his neck. All his muscles suddenly tense and he feels a pain in his back. His hand squeezes the armrest with all his strength. He forgets to breathe. It's so personal to let someone so close to him that Wilhelm totally freaks out.

“Uh, Addy, we'll talk later.”

He presses the earpiece so she can't hear him anymore, even though he still hears her confused sounds. He turns his head towards Simon. Breaking the rule regarding the fact that he can't be friends with the person to be protected, yes, but not too much either.

“Simon…”, Wilhelm forces himself to actually use his first name, even if the effect is strange. He pats Simon's shoulder, who sighs as he brings his hand up to his eye to brush his dark lashes. He looks so vulnerable, so adorable, so delicate, that Wilhelm feels sorry for freaking out and waking him up like that. “We arrive in twenty-five minutes.”

Simon raises his head and Wilhelm takes this opportunity to remove the earphone and return it to him, while he readjusts his black turtleneck. He cracks his neck quickly, and lets his panic subside.

If Saphir had seen him react like this, he would have faced the discussion that his friend once tried to have with him again, concerning the fact that Wilhelm struggles with physical contact. Of course Wilhelm tried to contradict him, but he knows deep down that it's true. Probably because he grew up in a family where no one ever touched each other.

Wilhelm doesn't know the tokens of affection, the basic tender gestures that many children receive, like comforting hugs during heartbreak, or a mom's tender hand in his hair. He only had the right to quick glances, but his mother was never tactile, and his father was almost absent in his upbringing and in family life in general.

Deep down, he knows he's scared of it. Contact.

He has slept with people before, but he needs to be in control and there always comes a time when he captures his partners' hands in his to prevent them from continuing to caress his skin. It disgusts him. Of himself.

“I'm sorry.”, Simon's voice pulls him out of his thoughts that were starting to attack him.

Wilhelm turns his head towards him and frowns. Simon is nervously fiddling with the earphone wire that Wilhelm had in his ear a few minutes ago. “For what?”

“I got a little bit bold falling asleep on you like that, I didn't want to make you uncomfortable…”

Wilhelm looks down at Simon's fingers. He only realizes now that not only was his way of waking him up a little rough, but also that he threw the earpiece away too quickly, showing an annoyance that had nothing to do with Simon.

“Simon, it's alright... We're just about to arrive, that's all.”

Simon nods. Then he puts his phone away completely and quickly puts his vest back on as if he was cold. The sudden silence between them is awkward and uncomfortable. Wilhelm starts chewing on his thumbnail as he thinks fast. His thoughts become noisy again, as if his mind would overwhelm him at any moment.

“You're going to hurt yourself…”, again it's Simon's voice that pulls him out of his thoughts as Wilhelm watches his thumb and immediately lowers it.

“Sorry. Old habit.”

“Is it anxiety?”, Simon is still watching him, so Wilhelm does the same, their gazes meeting each others. He nods. “I have that too, but biting my nails never crossed my mind. Must say that it would be a little bit disgusting…”

Simon raises his hand, showing his black nail polish. This makes Wilhelm smile slightly, who arches an eyebrow in a disgusted fake expression. “I admit that the idea of eating that is not very appealing.”

“You should try.”, seeing Wilhelm's completely lost look, Simon laughs. “To put on nail polish to stop biting them, not to eat nail polish.”

“Oh.”, Wilhelm also laughs lightly. “I’ll keep the advice in the back of my mind. Thanks, Simon… Fasten your seatbelt now, we're going to land.”

Simon leans towards him, surprising Wilhelm. He presses the bodyguard's earpiece, and fakes a desperate voice: “Help, Wilhelm thinks he's my father, someone save me…!”

Adriana's laugh in his ear prevents Wilhelm from answering. “What are you doing to poor Simon, Wille?”

“I just told him to buckle up! No- but- that's enough with you two! A little seriousness!”, Wilhelm frowns.

He's not annoyed but a little distraught by how natural the other two act around each other, Adriana seems so relaxed compared to him, and Simon is still looking at him with a very amused and proud expression. Wilhelm rolls his eyes as he puts the earpiece back on off mode and leans back in his seat.

“Don't be offended Wilhelm! I'm just teasing you.”

“I'm not offended Simon, but I have to stay professional.”

“I risk nothing here, you know? I mean, no one can attack me without having to step over you, and if the plane crashes I doubt there's anything you can do to save my life.”

“Don't talk about misfortunes.”, Wilhelm knows very well that somehow Simon is right. “I hope you won't always be so chaotic.”

“You know.. you remind me of someone.”

Wilhelm's heart suddenly quickens. His hand squeezes the armrest again, and he carefully avoids Simon's gaze. “Because I'm boring?”

“No. Because-”

The captain cuts Simon off by telling them to fasten their seatbelt in several languages, which Simon ends up doing while sinking back into his seat. Wilhelm is more than relieved that the conversation ends there. His thoughts had begun to travel to Hillerska again.

But he's pretty sure Simon wouldn't have acted so kindly if he had recognized him. They never had a fight there, but Wilhelm was often stuck with his arrogant cousin or people like Henry. He still remembers the discussion between Henry and Simon in class, and how much it could have degenerated if their teacher had not intervened.

Back in his thoughts, Wilhelm must cling to reality when the plane lands. He motions for Simon to stay seated to let people get off, before getting up to let him pass.

They are joined by Adriana, who clings to Wilhelm's back for a second to whisper something to him. Then the two bodyguards observe Simon trying to retrieve his bag in the overhead bin.

In height.

Simon.

He looks so small when he is struggling like that.

“Simon…”, Wilhelm holds back a smile to avoid offending him, he grabs his bag and lowers it to let Simon retrieve it.

“Thank you… Don't say anything, please. This is my biggest problem in life.”

“This isn't a problem. Let's go?”

Simon nods and Adriana walks past them to exit the plane first, checking that all is well with a quick glance as she is followed by Simon, and then Wilhelm last.

— ✰ — 

The ride to the hotel was quite quiet. Adriana took the lead once there to check them in. Then they went up to the right floor, and Adriana went into the first bedroom down the hall, while Wilhelm and Simon had to go much further, their bedrooms are side by side at the end of the hallway.

Currently in his own bedroom, lying on his bed, Wilhelm stares at the ceiling. He knows that he has nothing to complain about, he is traveling at the company's expense to protect Simon who seems so nice to him, but something bothers him in the fact of having to fulfill a mission that directly links him to his past he tried to flee.

As he sits up and pulls his suitcase beside the bed, Wilhelm is startled by a knock on a door. But not the main door through which he entered. He gets up from the bed to open the suspicious door and is surprised to see Simon behind it, who also seems panicked.

“Dios mío, Wilhelm. I almost died of fear. I wondered what that door was.”

“What are you–”, Wilhelm glances behind Simon, into what appears to be Simon's bedroom. He frowns and purses his lips.

“'Guess you're so assigned to my protection that you're going to have to share a suite with me, because we only have one bathroom.”

“What?”

“Oh, it's okay, at least it's not the cliché one bed trope.”, Simon laughs.

He returns to his side without too much difficulty, and Wilhelm can observe his surroundings in more detail. Indeed the door in question is the one that leads to a bathroom, and the door opposite, left wide open by Simon, leads to his room. So, clearly, if they leave their doors open they can see each other from bed to bed… is that the plan?

Wilhelm clears his throat, and he comes to scratch his eyebrow with his index finger nervously.

“I'm pretty sure Adriana has already taken the first shift outside your door, so I'm going to wisely close mine because I think you can handle yourself for now. I'll be joining you for the tailoring later, okay?”

“Alright, yes. No problem…”, yet Simon seems almost disappointed. Is loneliness already weighing him down?

“If you need me, just… you know.”, he points to the door he's still holding and pushes it back a bit. “Knock on the door.” Wilhelm smiles lightly before closing the door completely.

For a long time he stands behind it, completely lost. Then he goes back to his bed. Who had the absurd idea of sticking them in such adjoining rooms? The fact of constantly having to stay glued to a person who sends him back to his past wasn't enough, he also had to be forced to risk falling on him every time he's going to have to pee or take a shower?

Wilhelm groans as he rolls over on his bed. Except this time he pulls out his phone.

Me:

Tell me you're free for the next five minutes. I need to call someone urgently.

His eyes fix the small symbol which means that his message has been sent. He waits for it to change to "read" but… nothing.

“Please…”, Wilhelm takes a deep breath, as if he is searching for air somewhere deep in his lungs. He is having trouble breathing. The message finally changes to "read" and it does not take long to receive a response.

Feli♡:

Yes! Sorry, I had to get away from my boss!

Wilhelm sighs in relief and slides down the side of his bed until he sits on the floor away from the bathroom door. He presses his screen to start the facetime call and he quietly waits for his best friend to deign to answer him while placing his phone against his suitcase.

“Wille?”, the familiar face of Felice appears on the screen and Wilhelm takes a deep breath.

“Yeah…”

“Woah you look like you've got a lot of things on your mind. Tell me everything.”

“…I'm in Spain.”, Wilhelm didn't know how to express all the waves of emotions, of anxiety, of too many things, which surged through his being like a storm. It was the first thing that came to him.

“For…your work?”

Wilhelm nods and lowers the level of his voice. “I'm Simon Eriksson's bodyguard.”

A great silence ensues. It doesn't help Wilhelm at all, who is breathing heavily and even sees his fingers shaking. Felice balances her phone too and seems to be trying to put the puzzle pieces in order in her mind. “The Simon Eriksson? Who was…?”

“With us at Hillerska. Yes.” He starts biting his thumbnail nervously. He seems to be searching for words, as if something was blocking his throat.

“Go ahead and say whatever you want, Wille. I feel it needs to come out.”

“You know damn well what's happening.”

“Wilhelm, you were 16. We all were 16.”

Wilhelm groans and stops his movement to rub his chest. 

“Woah, you're still doing that? Why are you so anxious about this job? Is there something I don't know?”

Wilhelm nods. For a moment, he lets the silence sit. Then he sighs. “You know I had a crush on him.”

“And as I said…you were 16.”

“I helped someone to get into a relationship with him.”

“Wh- Can you repeat that?”

“At that time you spent a lot of time with his sister, so I saw Sara a lot in spite of myself. And there was this guy there... In the stables.”

“Marcus?”

“Yeah, him. Felice, I stole Simon’s music notebooks to give it to Marcus to make it look like he left it somewhere. Then I managed to get Simon's number and give it to Marcus. By stealing it from Sara's phone.”

“Wilhelm…”, Felice laughs. “This was just some dumb teenager shit.”

“I covered for August and Marcus.”

“What are you talking ab- oh my god.”

Suddenly, Wilhelm feels ridiculous and full of guilt.

“Wille… Are you telling me that…”

Wilhelm nods. “That's why I did all that for Marcus. August was with him. You remember that whole story, right ? They filmed Simon in the locker room and posted it as a joke… but my mother was covering for August and Simon couldn't afford a good lawyer to defeat her. She was always protecting August, ever since his father passed away… One day I- Feli, I didn't want to know that but I overheard a conversation between them and- and-...”

“Wille, breathe…”

“August told Marcus that I knew. And after that, Marcus was threatening me. He told me that I was so obsessed with Simon that it would be easy to blame the video on me. He was deadly serious, Felice. He even stole my sketchbook and made some copies of my drawings, to hold it over my head.”

“Okay, can you calm down? Simon knows it was them?” 

“He knew about August only. Not Marcus. Marcus ended up becoming his boyfriend. Because of me and what I did. Felice, he posted Simon naked on socials and then I helped them become a couple. I knew it was Marcus too and I said nothing.”

“It was so many years ago, Wilhelm…”

“What if they're still together and at some point I have to see Marcus again? What if they're not together anymore but I have to learn that he was an asshole to him and it's my fault? Because I did it.”

“If he was an asshole? Wille, he manipulated Simon into a relationship and he manipulated you to help him with that? He is an asshole. Oh my god-”

“Yeah… I tried to leave all this behind me when I left Hillerska and I did my best to forget about it Felice, what am I supposed to do now?”

Felice smiles after a quick silence, and comes closer to her phone. “Is he still beautiful..?”, she asks with a teasing voice.

Wilhelm can't help himself and smiles slightly while running his fingers through his hair. He lets his head fall on the edge of the mattress behind him, before looking at the screen again. “Definitely.”

“Huuuuhhhhhhhh I KNEW IT! Maybe he was your right person at the wrong time-”

“Shhhh!!!!” His earpiece makes a little sound and he touches it while telling Felice to keep it silent for a second. “Addy?”

“Tailor appointment in ten minutes. What or where does Simon want to eat tonight?”

“Give me a minute, Addy.” He gestures silently to Felice to tell her he'll call her later and he hangs up to get up. He opens the door and goes into the bathroom. Even though Simon's bedroom door is still open, he knocks on it and Simon sits up on his bed. “Adriana wants to know what do you want to eat tonight and if you want to go out for that?”

Simon shrugs his shoulders, a little bit lost. “I don't know anyone here… So it depends on if you can go with me?”

Wilhelm presses the earpiece to avoid Adriana hearing them. He comes closer, entering the room, pushing his stress away for a minute to try to look as confident as he wishes he could be. “We're here to be with you, if you want us to go with you we can. But are you okay? You seem… a bit off, since we've arrived here.”

“I just called mamá. It feels weird to be away from her, it's the first time for me… I'm sorry– I don't want you to think I'm a baby or anything.”

“Oh, so you feel like a baby...” Wilhelm smiles slightly, and Simon frowns. “I asked Adriana to come with me because I was scared to leave the country for so long without someone that I know.”

Wilhelm can see Simon's face getting lighter suddenly. The smile he has is comforting, and Wilhelm can feel how these words just lifted a weight from Simon's shoulders. He presses the earpiece again.

“Wille, you shut me down! I can't go out tonight, I have an important call. I need to be in my room.” Adriana's voice is enough for him to know that she is sorry about that but she really can't change it.

Wilhelm keeps a silence while looking at Simon, then he sighs and nods. “Your day is over, Addy, I'll go eat with him tonight. Enjoy your evening, okay?”

“...Okay? Take care.”

Wilhelm removes the earpiece to go to his room and put it in the case so he can charge it. He comes back to Simon's room exactly when the tailor knocks at the door, so he doesn't have to look at Simon and overthink his reaction to what he just did. He opens the door and lets the tailor do his work, carefully watching every move he makes around Simon.

— ✰ —

When he closes the door after everyone finally leaves, Wilhelm feels a bit overwhelmed. The tailor had so many assistants and everyone was so noisy around him that he needs a few minutes to process the silence.

“I can handle myself tonight if it's too much for you…” 

God, Wilhelm wishes he could say yes but Simon's voice makes a shiver run down his spine and suddenly he feels lighter. He turns around to see Simon and he tilts his head slightly. 

“If you wanna be alone, that's fine. Otherwise, we can go eat somewhere.”

“I'd love to go somewhere with you.”

This is the worst idea he has ever had. But instead of stepping back, he nods and goes into his room to take his jacket and put it on.

“I'm warning you: I don't know the city, and I can't speak a single word in Spanish so everything will be on you.”

Simon smiles while putting his own jacket on as well. “I speak Spanish fluently so… you're saved.”

“Don't act like I'm in distress or I'll fight you.” Wilhelm opens the door to let him go out first. “After you, Spanish prince.”

“Woah…thank you, dear.”

And Wilhelm can hear his laugh while he joins him in the corridor. He follows him, so they can get out of the hotel together. Walking with Simon was actually nice for Wilhelm, no pressure even if he was really watchful to everything around them, they talk about little things they see around the city on their way to a restaurant that Simon chose on his phone.

“You're gonna looooove my idea!!”

Wilhelm raises an eyebrow, looking at him with a fake serious expression. “I know I will probably not.”

“Damn, you're so serious all the time.”

“I'm still working.”

“Oh my bad. I thought you were just going to a restaurant with a friend, so dumb of me.” Simon opens the door of the restaurant before Wilhelm can, and it's his turn to do a polite gesture to let the bodyguard enter first. “After you, dear Swedish princess.”

“I'm not a princess.” Wilhelm rolls his eyes but follows the movement into the restaurant. He lets Simon in charge of talking, he's not able to speak Spanish even if he tried so hard to learn with Adriana. She gave up when he was struggling so badly with the pronunciation of some letters that his accent became a nightmare, almost as if he was insulting her language. 

When Simon comes back to him, getting his attention again, Wilhelm follows him into the restaurant. The waiter seats them at a table and they both sit face to face. Luckily they are a little bit farther away from the other tables which is better for Wilhelm anyway, so he can relax and avoid having to focus on the people around them who could've been a menace for Simon's security.

“Have you ever tried tapas?”

Wilhelm raises an eyebrow, again, and puts his phone on the table while looking at Simon. “Do I look like I've ever been in Spain before?”

Simon giggles, and somehow this is one of the nicest sounds Wilhelm has ever heard. He can remember how he used to love hearing Simon sing when they were at Hillerska. When classes were boring, he used to draw every feature of Simon's face until Felice snapped his attention back to the class. 

Now he is here. Years later.

Sitting in front of Simon because he felt this urge to please him, to let him know that he is not that alone. 

If he was honest with himself, Wilhelm doesn't want to be here. He doesn't even want to be in this country, on this mission, if he weren’t he wouldn't have to think about his past and everything that is now in his mind. This guilt is so complicated to deal with.

“Hey, are you okay?” Simon frowns. 

Wilhelm nods, forcing his mind to focus on Simon to avoid overthinking again. “Yes, of course. I don't know anything about tapas, so I'll trust you on this one.”

“Good. I trust you with my life, you trust me with your food, that's a good beginning, I think.” The way Simon giggles at his own sentence makes Wilhelm smile with him, even if it's a shy, light smile.

But he still can't remove his eyes from Simon. He looks so fucking divine, sitting there naturally with all these perfect curls falling around his pretty face like a provocation. 

“Are you going to explain to me what it is? These tapas. The information isn't going to pop into my brain by itself..!”

“Woah, giving me orders? Bold of you, mister bodyguard.” They smile at each other, just before Simon slightly leans forward onto the table to start explaining. “So, basically, there are so many different kinds of tapas, but I think you should at least try croquetas and papas bravas-”

For a minute, Wilhelm is so lost. Not only because of the Spanish parts in Simon's words but because he's so close that he can smell his perfume. And he could swear that Simon didn’t smell like this on the plane, which is very confusing for his brain and he doesn't know why. He likes it, for sure, but it somehow doesn't really smell like Simon.

“Don't you dare try to make me eat olives.” Wilhelm is deadly serious on this one.

Simon looks so offended suddenly that Wilhelm lets out a soft laugh. “You don't like olives? That's a crime, only criminals don't like olives.”

“Oh yeah, you think?”

“That's so crazy and so-”

The waiter cuts his words off, asking them in perfect Spanish what they would want and once again Wilhelm goes silent, letting Simon speak for them both. When he leaves them Simon puts on his dramatic mask again, and this time Wilhelm's smile is so real.

“Pretty boys always hate the good things anyway.” Simon sighs. 

Wilhelm suddenly feels a hot wave burning under his skin. He whispers some excuses and makes his way to the bathroom very quickly. Unprofessional, he is not supposed to leave Simon alone, but he needs a minute to process some things. He bends over the sink, trying to catch his breath until he feels his fingertips again.

Then he realizes. 

He just had a panic attack. Being so close to the past he tried so hard to avoid awakened some old feelings and some old habits too. He uses cold water over his hand to make sure the feeling has fully returned to them, then he puts some water on his neck and over his cheeks quickly. 

Fuck.

Simon just called him pretty? He can feel some heat in his cheeks just thinking about it again, and when he looks at the mirror he knows he is right: he is blushing so hard that it is embarrassing. 

He takes out his phone, thank god he had the presence of mind to take it with him before leaving the table.

Me:

I'm so FUCKED Feli'. So fucking fucked up.

Feli♡:

Tell me more? 

Me:

Not only is he still so beautiful but I think this crush is still under my skin and I hate it so much.

Feli♡:

What happened? 

Me:

Restaurant with him.

Me:

I wanted to make him feel better because he was feeling so sad being away from his mom. He was lonely. He started talking about whatever shit of tapas, and suddenly he called me pretty. 

Me: 

Feli', I had a panic attack. In the restaurant's toilets. 

Me:

Like a FUCKING teenager.

Feli♡:

Woah... okay can you breathe? Wille, you're not 16 anymore. You're a grown ass man, get your ass back into this restaurant and see how things go. 

Me:

I hate you.

But for some reason, he puts his phone back in his pocket and finds his way back to the table. Simon seems worried, but his face is also marked by another emotion that Wilhelm is not able to identify.

“Are you okay, Wilhelm?”

Wilhelm nods. “Sorry. It's a bit hot here, and I'm used to the cold. My skin is… always hot. So, you know...”

“I'm sorry if I said something that was out of place to you, or if I made you feel uncomfortable, or-”

“Simon.” Wilhelms waits for him to stop talking, and when their eyes meet he raises an eyebrow. “Everything is fine. You didn't say anything wrong. Actually, it was quite right, there's always something good that pretty boys don't like.”

Simon smiles a bit and nods to show him that he understands. The waiter brings them their plates, and Wilhelm waits for him to go back to whatever other table to look at Simon. “I'm sorry I left like that but… I'm happy to be here with you.”

This is not a lie. He is happy to be with Simon in this situation. It would have been awkward with anyone else. 

“And I'm thankful to have someone to beat my loneliness with, Wilhelm..!”

“Wille.”

“What?”

“No one really calls me Wilhelm anymore. It was to maintain…a distance between us. But it's Wille.”

Maybe it is just his brain that is making him see things, maybe he is hallucinating right now, but Wilhelm is almost sure that he saw Simon's eyes getting shinier when he told him about his nickname, letting Simon get closer to him on the way.

“Okay, Wille. You should try to taste what I have on my plate. Really, I want you to try some ambas al ajillo.”

“This name makes me want to leave immediately.”

Simon laughs and pushes his plate closer to Wilhelm, who hesitates a bit before doing the same. “Let's share, I'll be able to say that I've tried everything.”

“I was hoping you would say that.”

And Simon doesn't know it, but it is actually crazy coming from Wilhelm. Because he can't drink or eat something that was touched by someone else, he can't even drink from the same glass as Felice. But right now, he couldn't care less. Because, for the hour they spent together in this restaurant, giggling and tasting some things, talking about literally everything, Wilhelm has never felt so normal in his entire life.

— ✰ —

When they make it back to Simon's room again, it is already past midnight. They are still talking and laughing like teenagers, which is a weird yet so comforting feeling for Wilhelm. 

“...I never said that!”

“Oooohhhh, Wille!!!! You're so innocent!”

“Shhh!” Wilhelm giggles while closing the door. “You're going to wake up the whole building. And believe me, you don't want to wake up Addy.”

“Is she our dragon?”

“What dragon?”

Simon laughs again, but in an uncontrollable way. He is so done that Wilhelm bursts out laughing with him without really knowing why. Oh my god. They look like they are drunk except they didn't drink anything but water and ice-tea. 

“Dear lord, Simon, stop laughing!”

But Simon keeps laughing, it is even worse because he falls on the bed holding his ribs. Wilhelm rubs his eyes to brush away the tears, he tries so hard to calm himself down because of the little pain he can feel in his stomach. “Is there alcohol in tapas? Why are you laughing now?”

Simon exhales so loudly that Wilhelm raises an eyebrow. He is still smiling so hard that even his cheeks hurt. God, his whole body is not used to him feeling happy. 

“The dragon. You know, in fairytales.” Simon sits on the bed. “There's the princess that needs to be saved, the prince that comes for her and the dragon. The one to fight.”

“Who's the princess here?”

“Probably me in this story.”

Wilhelm giggles again and shakes his head. “Yeah, there's no way I'm fighting Adriana, even for your beautiful eyes.”

“So the pretty boys are deceiving and the princes too. Adult life sucks.”

Wilhelm takes a little pillow from an armchair and throws it into Simon's face, who chuckles. “I'm not a fucking prince, save your own ass, princess.”

Simon lets his head fall on his pillow even if his eyes are still turned towards Wilhelm. And Wilhelm feels out of breath at this view. Simon suddenly looks tired, so happy but so sleepy at the same time. His cheeks are red from all the laughs they shared, his lips are marked because of the amount of times he bit them to keep his giggles quiet, his eyes look fucked and red-ish, probably because he has been awake for too many hours now. His curls are a mess around his face but he is so beautiful, so mesmerizing.

Simon looks like the most demonic angel Wilhelm has ever seen. 

So fragile and vulnerable,

so pretty and innocent,

so sleepy and cuddable,

…yet so sexy and tempting.

“You should sleep now, we have to wake up in less than six hours for your first full day here.” Wilhelm manages to piece his thoughts together. 

He can see Simon nod, too tired to answer right away. But when he turns his back to him to head over to his own room, Simon's voice is heard: “Thank you, Wille… And goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Simon…”

Wilhelm turns the lights off and goes to his room, closing the door slowly. 

Damn, Simon, if only you knew how much Wilhelm wanted to thank you, too.