Lovely Figurines (Still Speak to Me Today). PG-13, Wille/Simon, post-canon (hopefully!). Romance and, uh... emotions? Yeah, emotions.
Simon pondered his reply and, more importantly, the wistful expression and soft smile on Wille's face as he glanced at the sweet figurine, no doubt remembering his deceased brother, whom he loved so much. Speaking of things that held significance to him... "You should keep it."
Note: This little ficlet is a Secret Santa present for my dearest Tui. My friend, you are one of the strongest, funniest, most creative, and most loving people I have ever had the good fortune to know. I hope this little bitty I wrote for you helps you greet the end of the year and beginning of the next with a smile. (And I hope you don't mind that I totally used your prompt as a vehicle for one of the items I've had in my "Fic ideas" folder for ages. xD)
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Edith Wharton's lovely figurines
still speak to me today
from their mantlepiece in time
where they wrestle and they play
with passions and with prudences,
finances and fears.
Her face and what it's worth to her
in the passing of the years.
~Suzanne Vega, "Edith Wharton's Figurines."
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December was always a busy month for the Swedish Royal Family, but this year even more so.
The first anniversary of Crown Prince Erik's death loomed large at the beginning of the month, and it was especially heavy for Crown Prince Wilhelm, who not only had to leave school to attend the seemingly never-ending ceremonies in his older brother's honor but also had to compress his personal grieving time to what little private time he got between events and without the physical support of his friends and boyfriend, who were still at Hillerska.
It was a difficult time for Wille, and Simon, not knowing how to help bereaved people, worried that he wasn't doing enough to help. Wille assured him over and over again that just being there for him, holding him, and showing him love was more than enough. But even that was cut far too short, as they only got one week together again before Wille was called back to Stockholm right after Lucia to participate in the official holiday celebrations.
"There's only three of us now, gubben," the Queen had told him when she called on Thursday to let him know they would pick him up on the Friday. "We all have to pull our weight."
Simon had thought it a very callous way to put things, but he hadn't voiced that thought aloud. Wille didn't need more conflict from him. Not right then.
And that was the problem, really: he could see that Wille was struggling— with the memory of his beloved brother, with the pressure of having to perform the duties of Crown Prince— and Simon wanted to help ease his struggles, but he could only do so much if the only contact they had was through a phone screen.
So when Wille called the next week and invited him to spend the weekend with him in Stockholm because "All I have to do is receive the Christmas trees at the Royal Palace on Friday and then I'm yours for the rest of the weekend," Simon should've jumped at the chance, right?
He felt terrible for hesitating, however briefly. It wasn't a secret that he was still uncomfortable with the royal side of Wille's life; Wille knew and had tried to shield him from it as much as he could. It was easy to do at Hillerska, where they could spend all the time in the world together, removed from outside factors as their school was. But in Stockholm, where he'd be staying at Drottningholm and surrounded by evidence of royalty twenty-four/seven, the magnitude of it all would be inescapable.
But although Simon couldn't get used to the pomp and luxury with a snap of his fingers— and he didn't feel he had to anytime soon, honestly; he wanted to be with Wille as long as he'd have him, but they were still seventeen and it was more than a little ludicrous to plan their whole lives before they were even out of college— that didn't mean that he wanted Wille to carry all of that weight on his own. What kind of a crappy boyfriend would he be if he knew Wille was having a tough time and turned down an opportunity to be by his side?
Plus, it was likely the last chance they'd have to see each other before Christmas. And Simon was really excited to give Wille his present, so he wasn't about to wait until after the holiday had passed to see Wille's reaction.
So after that brief moment of hesitation, Simon accepted Wille's invitation. And now here he was, watching from behind a corner, carefully out of sight of the cameras, as his boyfriend made small talk about Christmas trees with a group of Forestry students from Umeå.
Because of the lines he'd drawn with his boyfriend's royal life, it was rare for him to see Wille like this, in full "performance" mode, so to speak. It wasn't necessarily the real Wille, but that wasn't such a terrible thing, either. Not this part of it, at least. For someone who struggled so much with anxiety, he still managed to be really good at it. And he deserved to know that.
In true "performance" fashion, the moment the trees, the students, the staff, and the cameras went away, Wille's shoulders sagged and the Crown Prince persona was shed, stored somewhere deep inside him until it was needed again. He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands before turning around to look for Simon, his expression brightening the moment his gaze fell on his boyfriend's form.
"Welcome to the circus," Wille said wearily as he approached him. Simon just opened his arms wide, so that his boyfriend could gladly fall into them.
"You did so great!" he assured the fatigued boy, squeezing his frame tight.
Wille shook his head— or at least he attempted to as much as he could in his position. "It's all stupid, anyway," he said, his voice muffled because his cheek was smushed against his boyfriend's neck.
Simon rubbed his back comfortingly. "I don't disagree," he said with a chuckle, which Wille echoed. "But that doesn't change the fact that you were still great at it, and I'm so proud of you. And now it's done, and you don't have to worry about it anymore."
Wille pulled back only far enough to kiss Simon hello, just a brief press of their lips in relief at finally being back together. Simon glanced around the hall, half expecting Farima to jump out from behind a column and chastise them for unbecoming PDA in public (it was just a peck, geez), but nothing of the sort happened.
"Come on, let's go drop off your stuff," Wille said, pulling back and taking Simon's hand in his as he started guiding him toward a private exit. Sören, one of Wille's CPOs, materialized from... somewhere... and followed them down the hall.
"Do you want to maybe stay at the palace today?" Simon shook his head, realizing his blunder. "The other palace, I mean," he corrected, tamping down the voice in his head that reminded him how ridiculous those words sounded. "We can hang out there, spend a night in."
"What? No, I promised I would show you some of my favorite places in the city," Wille retorted. And it was true that he had promised that, but it wasn't the city Simon wanted to experience— he just wanted to spend some time with his boyfriend before Christmas. It didn't matter where.
"Yes, but you're also really tired," he countered. Admittedly he was, as well; he'd had to get up early to travel to Stockholm. But Wille had been tired for a while. "You've been stretched really thin this month. I don't mind taking things chill for today. We still have all day tomorrow and most of Sunday to explore."
In the end, Wille's protestations turned out to be moot: he fell asleep with his head on Simon's shoulder the second they got in the car and didn't wake up until they were pulling up to Drottningholm Palace some 40-45 minutes later. He could no longer pretend he wasn't exhausted.
"You know, you can still show me some of your favorite places, even if we stay here for the day," Simon said as they walked into the palace, each carrying one of Simon's bags which he absolutely needed to bring with him even though he was only staying at the palace for two nights. "I mean, I've already seen your room."
Wille made a face. "My room's really not that special."
Simon had to give him that— living at a UNESCO World Heritage Site wasn't really conducive to him making his bedroom, well, his. As large and luxurious as Wille's room was, Simon knew very well he would rather it be small, as long as he could personalize it, make it feel lived in. But unfortunately, he wasn't allowed.
"Okay," Simon proceeded, "but this place is huge. Surely there must be some part of it that holds some significance to you, right? Just... someplace where you like to spend a lot of time. Maybe we can spend some time there together, instead."
Wille's steps slowed down, and Simon matched his pace until they were both standing still in the middle of a hallway. Wille looked at Simon, biting his lip. "Okay. I'll show you."
He led Simon upstairs to the family wing, except instead of taking a left down the hallway where Wille's room would be, they took a right turn. Down a short set of stairs, all the way to the other end of the hallway, and up another short set of stairs.
He hesitated at the door. "So, this is, um... this is Erik's room." Simon's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to object, but Wille pre-empted it with a shake of his head. "It's okay. I want to show you." He squeezed Simon's hand, which he was still holding. "It's like you said: this is the only room in this entire complex that really means something to me. And Erik never got to meet you, but this way you can get to know him. In a way."
Simon's heart clenched with affection for this boy. "Mm-hmm. Okay."
His first impression of Erik's room was that it seemed smaller than Wille's. That might have something to do with the décor, or perhaps it was just the shape of the room that created that illusion; the door to the attached bathroom was on the opposite side of the bed that couldn't be seen from the door, and the entrance to the walk-in closet was almost camouflaged by the antique wallpaper.
And then there were the photos and portraits. Many more than in Wille's room, where the walls were sparsely populated by framed art pieces that he probably hadn't chosen. He looked around, taking it all in. "It's..."
"...weird that he had portraits of himself in his own bedroom?" Wille asked with a smirk. "It's okay. You can say it."
Simon chuckled. "I was going to put it more politely, but yeah." His gaze swept over the wall, to the mirror on the far wall which had photos all around the edge of the frame, to the window to one side and the desk stationed right in front of it.
Something that sat atop it caught his eye. "Oh, hey!" he said, approaching the piece of furniture with an extended hand before remembering he hadn't actually asked for permission to touch anything in this room. "It's just like the one you have at Hillerska!" he said, settling for pointing at the little ceramic frog figurine that rested on the desktop. Wille couldn't know that Simon was caught off-guard by the coincidence.
Wille smiled, moving closer. "Yeah, the frogs were Erik's thing," he explained. "The snow globe I have at Hillerska, my grandpa gave that to Erik when he was little because he was the Crown Prince. Erik gave it to me when I got sent to Hillerska, to make me feel better."
He touched the little frog's crown with the tips of his fingers. "I don't know where this one came from. It just appeared one day— I think Erik brought it with him during a break while he was at Hillerska. I always assumed some secret girlfriend must've given it to him, but I never asked."
Simon pondered his reply and, more importantly, the wistful expression and soft smile on Wille's face as he glanced at the sweet figurine, no doubt remembering his deceased brother, whom he loved so much. Speaking of things that held significance to him... "You should keep it."
The suggestion snapped Wille out of his reverie. "The frog?" He shook his head, pulling his hand back. "It's not mine. It's Erik's."
"So was your snow globe," Simon countered. He didn't want to say it out loud for fear it might come off as insensitive, but Erik had passed and no longer had any use for the cute ornament. The little frog would have a new purpose if it could offer some comfort to the people he left behind. One person in particular.
Wille thought about it for a second. "That's different. He gave it to me."
"He would've wanted you to have this one, too," Simon insisted confidently. He wasn't trying to be pushy and would back off if Wille asked, but he wanted to remind him that it wasn't wrong or selfish to want to hold onto more than two of his brother's things. Within reason, of course.
Wille rolled his eyes at him, but there was affection in the gesture. "How do you know? You never got to talk to him."
"Because he loved you," Simon said. He moved closer to his boyfriend and took hold of his hand, intertwining their fingers. "And I love you. So I think I have some idea of what he would want for you."
That was enough to melt away the last of Wille's reservations. "I love you, too." He smiled shyly and tugged Simon closer, leaning in to kiss him sweetly. "Okay. Okay, yeah, I'll take the figurine."
"Great!" Simon said with a grin. "Now, let's go back to your room, yeah? You can show me more stuff in here later. I want to hear all of Erik's embarrassing stories."
"I do have a few of those," Wille agreed, laughing. He picked up the frog prince figurine really carefully— apparently, it was heavier than it looked— and followed Simon out the door, carrying it in his arms. "I'm still sleepy, though."
"Actually, before we take a nap..." Simon began. He gave his boyfriend a sheepish smile. "I was going to wait until Sunday to give you your present, but now I really want to give it to you right away."
At the word "present," Wille's steps halted abruptly. Simon looked back at him over his shoulder and found him gaping at him, mockingly aghast. "What?"
"You got me something? You said I wasn't allowed to get you a present!" he protested, and the picture he made looked rather comical given that he was holding a ceramic frog wearing a crown.
Simon smirked. "No, I said you weren't allowed to buy me a present," he clarified. "There's a difference. Now come on!" He signaled for Wille to get moving, like his room was kilometers away rather than just at the opposite end of the hallway. "I can't wait to see the look on your face."
He hurried down the hallway— the Queen would not approve, but while the cat was away, the mice could play. Wille, carrying a fragile object in his arms, followed at a much more moderate pace. "My face is pretty annoyed right now, what with you setting that rule and then cheating," he teasingly chastised his boyfriend.
He set the figurine down on his desk as Simon rummaged through one of his bags. "I didn't cheat, you big baby! I didn't buy your present, either. I swear. Ah, here it is." He pulled out a small, rectangular, light-blue decorative pillow with a little cartoon frog wearing a crown embroidered in the front.
Wille's jaw dropped, this time in genuine surprise. "Simon... that's..."
"So, the pillow, I've had for a couple of years," he said, presenting the gift to his boyfriend. "Sara drew the little froggie, and Mamá embroidered it." He grinned as he handed Wille the pillow. "Now you have something to hug at night when I'm not there."
"I love it. Thank you," Wille said, clearly touched by the gift. He took a moment to kiss Simon again, a little slower and more ardently. Simon wouldn't admit it, but he was more than a little breathless when they pulled back.
Wille licked his lips, and for a second Simon thought he was about to suggest they forgo their nap in favor of more... stimulating activities. (They'd always tried to keep things mostly chaste while in the palace, out of respect for— and fear of— the Queen. But now, with how clouded Simon's mind got after that kiss, he wasn't sure he was in a position to object to any such suggestion.)
Much to his dismay, Wille instead groaned and hid his face against Simon's shoulder. "This is so not fair!" he whined, making Simon laugh. "You got me this super thoughtful present, and I didn't get you anything."
"You don't have to get me anything," Simon reiterated easily. "I don't want to add more to everything you already have on your plate—"
Wille shook his head. "No, that's not— You said I couldn't buy you a present because you didn't want there to be an imbalance, right? Because I can afford a much more expensive gift, and you didn't want that to make things feel imbalanced between us."
"Yeah?" Simon confirmed, a little confused as to where his boyfriend was going with this.
"Well, now you've given me a gift, and I gave you nothing. How is that balanced?" Simon opened his mouth to argue back, but then he realized he didn't really have a good argument. Wille made a really good point.
"Okay. I see what you mean," Simon conceded.
"Cool, so I'm definitely going to find the time to get you a non-bought present before Christmas. Actually, wait—" He picked up the frog prince figurine from his desk. "—I want you to have this."
It was Simon's turn to gape at his boyfriend. "What? Wille," he said, basically unable to form a full sentence at the magnitude of the gesture Wille had suggested so casually. His thoughts started running away from him, but he couldn't help it; the idea that Wille would just gift him a figurine that belonged to his beloved brother was just— too heavy, too much.
"You can't," he finally pushed through a choked throat. "It's Erik's."
"You just said it was mine," Wille countered, his confidence growing in the face of Simon's shock.
"Yeah, but that's— it's not the same," Simon tried again to explain why this was blowing his mind so much. "He's your brother. You have a claim to it."
He was still struggling with putting his astonishment into words, though. But perhaps he should be, because, well, the idea of Wille just handing an object so important, so cherished, to a boy he'd barely been dating for a year— and not even continuously, at that, since they'd been broken up for a significant chunk of it!— was preposterous on its face, wasn't it?
Not to Wille, it wasn't. "And you have a claim to me," he said like it was so obvious. When Simon still looked apprehensive, he added, "Simon. It's okay. I want you to have it."
He shrugged. "Plus, it's also practical, when you think about it. If I keep it here, I'll only see it a few times a year. If I take it with me to Hillerska, someone might steal it as a prank, or it might break as the snow globe did." Simon refrained from pointing out that the snow globe had broken under fairly exogenous circumstances that would hopefully not repeat themselves. "On the other hand, I visit you in Bjärstad pretty much every other week. If you take it home with you, it'll be near me whenever I'm there."
"But what if we—" Simon cut himself off, hoping he didn't sound as agitated as he felt on the inside. What if we break up? was the question he couldn't bring himself to formulate out loud.
He certainly didn't intend for them to break up if he could help it, but they were only seventeen, and just assuming they were going to be together for the rest of their lives was— it was a lot, to say the least, and came with many other implications Simon could scarcely fathom if he tried. And if they didn't go the distance, whatever that meant, then the figurine would be just one more bond to disentangle between them.
But if Wille was worried about that, was even thinking about that, he didn't show it. "Even then, Simon," he said, honey-gold eyes boring so deeply into his that even though he couldn't possibly have known what he'd been about to ask, Simon still wanted to believe him.
Careful to keep a secure hold on the frog prince figurine, Wille once again took hold of his boyfriend's hand, his thumb brushing a soft caress on the back of it.
"The thing is," he continued earnestly, "you gave me your heart, and I broke it. I'll always regret it, and honestly, some days it's still hard to believe that you gave me a second chance." He breathed deep, then let the tension out slowly.
"So now I'm giving you my heart"— He put the frog figurine in Simon's hand— "and I know that you'll never, ever do the same. I know you'll keep it safe, no matter what happens with us. Because you know what this really means." He smiled encouragingly. "Please, Simon. Take it."
And, well. What could one possibly say to that?
Simon nodded emphatically. "Okay." With his free arm, he pulled his boyfriend into a hug, hoping he could convey through the tightness of the embrace just how overcome he was with love for him. "Okay. I love you."
"I love you so much," Wille said, squeezing him back just as tightly. They remained like that, entangled together, swaying in place so lightly like floating on a cloud, for a length of time undetermined. Until Simon just had to kiss his boyfriend, and kiss and kiss and kiss him, when it became a necessity as urgent as breathing. Or, truly, more.
"You know, though," Simon started as they pulled back, breath choppy and lips pink and sensitive from their enthusiastic kissing, "that this doesn't really count as a Christmas present?" He smirked, stepping backward out of his boyfriend's arms to carefully set the frog prince figurine down on the desk. "If you think about it, it's more like a re-gift."
That drew a guffaw out of Wille. "Okay, fine, I'll get you another present, then."
"But you can't buy it!" Simon reminded him cheekily, prompting his boyfriend to groan overdramatically.
"Oh, come on!"
While Simon was busy cackling at him, Wille took his chance to grab him by the waist and half carry, half drag him over to the bed. The whole thing dissolved into a tickle war, the room vibrant with laughter and squealing until they ended up so utterly entwined that the Court might need to use a crowbar to get Wille to his next royal engagement.
Simon was fine with that. They had until Sunday, after all.
"Sleep," he whispered, carding his fingers gently through his boyfriend's hair.
"I love you," Wille mumbled, sleepy, his slow, even breaths tickling Simon's clavicle. He had a comfortable hold on both Simon's waist and his new embroidered pillow, which he swore he'd sleep with every night from that day on.
Simon smiled. "I love you," he replied in kind before pressing a kiss on the crown of Wille's head. "Happy Christmas, Wille," he added, his only response the stillness of the room, as his boyfriend was already in the land of dreams. So he closed his eyes and joined him there.
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Author's notes!—
An alternate title for this story could be "Let's see how many times Carla can use the word 'boyfriend' in 4000 words." (The answer is 21, in case you were wondering. And don't ask what's up with me writing about the two of them napping in royal residences. I guess it's a thing.)
Gubben (lit. "old man") is a Swedish term of endearment that we hear Kristina use for Wille on the show. Stockholm Palace, also known as the Royal Palace, is located in Gamla Stan, Stockholm, adjacent to the Riksdag building. Drottningholm Palace, located in Drottningholm (on the outskirts of Stockholm), is the official private residence of the Swedish Royal Family and has indeed been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1991.
Every year, members of the Swedish Royal Family receive their official Christmas trees at the Royal Palace from students of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU). Though SLU is headquartered in Uppsala, it also has a campus in Umeå. If you're interested in seeing what that looks like, here's Crown Princess Victoria and her husband Prince Daniel receiving the royal Christmas trees in 2022.
If you haven't listened to Suzanne Vega's "Edith Wharton's Figurines," I hope you do after this, because it is a beautiful, haunting song that introduces so much food for thought. The Needlefish can explain it better than I ever could, but it's a song not about Edith Wharton or her writing, or even Olivia Goldsmith, but rather about women and gender and the way societal expectations transform every single one of us into figurines of ourselves rather than the fully realized, complex human beings we are. It is very much a Wille song, in my humble opinion, given how he feels about being a prince.
How hyped are we for S3 in March?! As a March baby, I am very appreciative of my birthday present, Netflix. ;) But anyway, I don't anticipate being back around these shores until January, so happy holidays to everyone celebrating currently or soon! =D Remember that you can follow me on any of my social media: on Tumblr (girls-are-weird), Mastodon (cpinillad at creative social), Post (cpinillad), Spoutible (cpinillad), Discord (cpinillad), Bluesky (cpinillad at bsky social), and even on Threads (cpinillad). See you in the next chapter of TRIMBW!