Chapter 2
"Wilhelm begins to place some pieces of information about Simon together.He finds
out in passing that Simon is indeed his age, which makes him a year younger than Sara.
That comes as a bit of a surprise to Wille, since judging by his protective instincts, he
thought that he might actually be the big brother. He also gets to know that Simon likes
music when Sara complains about him blasting his playlists while he cooks or cleans up.
Wilhelm kind of stalks his Instagram and discovers that he’s fond of video games, often
having gaming sessions " "with his friends. He also seems to be frequently attending the
local women’s football team games. There are some pictures of Simon with Sara and their
mom too, a woman with a welcoming s/mile and warm eyes, definitely the features Simon
took after her. It's still not much, but Wille feels hyperactive every time Simon’s name,
even casually, comes up in their conversations. Felice and Maddie begin to try to bring
him up more often than usual, pretending to casually ask Sara questions about her
brother. She may not notice this sudden interest in him, but Wille does and he knows
exactly what his friends are doing. Which was also something he wanted to avoid. This
isn’t fair, neither to Sara nor Simon. If Wille only had the guts to talk to the boy
himself…They’re hanging out near the fountain outside during their free period, spread
on the grass and enjoying the last rays of the sun. Maddie lays with her head in Felice’s
lap as the girl scrolls through her phone, Sara is engrossed in doing their English
homework, while Wille just sits and tries to steer his thoughts away from Simon. "He’s
considered telling Sara about his crush, but is it worth it if he’s probably never even
going to act on it? Maybe he should just keep pining in silence?
"Is Simon dating someone right now?"
Wille almost chokes on his water as he takes a sip just when Maddison asks out of the
blue.  Everyone freezes at the question. Felice’s thumb stops mid-air from scrolling
through her phone and Wille tries to sneak a careful look at Sara, who raises her eyes
from her textbook a bit suspiciously. Only Maddie remains unbothered as ever as she
examines her nails."
"Not that I know of, no," Sara answers after a moment, then returns to her homework.
Maddie shrugs and lets out a little huff. Wille tries to send Felice a warning look so
she can somehow stop their friend from digging into it further, but she only returns
with a slightly panicked expression and a shrug that seems to be saying what can I do?
Well, now they are being obvious. Wille beings to feel a little too hot in his blazer as
he runs his hand through his hair and tries to exhale steadily.Just when he thinks
they can all forget about the conversation from before, to his surprise it’s not Maddison
who speaks, but Sara."But you’re not his type," she says and Maddie sits up, looking at
her curiously but she only shrugs "just so you know.""What’s his type then?" Maddie
questions further, her eyes straying to Wille for a brief second that he hopes Sara
doesn’t notice."Men. He’s gay," Sara answers unceremoniously, not really bothering to
look up from her textbook. Which Wille is thankful for because he’s pretty sure he’s
beginning to unfold into his own little "freakout and would hate for her to notice.
Felice seems to do so though, as her phone lays disregarded on the grass next to her,
now that she’s giving her full attention to the conversation.
Sara looks up eventually when they’re being silent for a little too long.
Her eyes trail over them but she just shrugs again.
"I’m not outing him, it’s just not a secret," she states "he doesn’t care who knows."
"Yeah, of course, we weren’t thinking that," Felice assures her instantly in a gentle
tone. "Yeah, I was just feeling betrayed because you’ve been preventing me and your
brother from becoming queer besties since you’ve withheld that information,"
Maddie’s obviously teasing response seems to break any residues of tension around
them as they all laugh lightly. Sara throws her a s/mile before continuing with her
reading. Wilhelm pretends not to notice Felice’s and Maddie’s excited gazes on him, nope.
It changes nothing. Simon is into boys? So what?
That does not mean he could ever be into Wilhelm in particular. He should probably
be thankful that someone as stunning as Simon spears him as much as a look and a conversat
ion, while he can obviously aim much higher and deserves so much better than the mess Will
e actually is.He doesn’t really talk much till it’s time to go back to school for their ne
xt class. It’s social studies and he shares the desk with Sara. They’re supposed to be dis
cussing something in pairs, he’s not actually sure what, hasn’t really been focused. He
turns to Sara to ask about the specifics, but "but before he can open his mouth, it’s she
who speaks."You don’t think I’m stupid, do you?" The question takes Wille aback and
he can feel his eyes widening. He shakes his head before he can form his words.
"What? Of course not, Sara, what makes you think that?"
"I see the way you look at my brother."
Shit."
"And since we went to the pizzeria together, the girls seem to constantly, so casually
bring him up," Sara continues. Wille can’t really read her expression, he can feel his
palms starting to sweat."Sara…" he begins, not really sure what he wants to say.
"Why didn’t you say anything?" Sara’s voice is a bit more gentle now.
Wilhelm shrugs."I- I don’t know," he stutters.
Sara only keeps looking at him questioningly
"I just-, I thought it may be weird or something…"
"Wilhelm, I am the last person to judge-""No, not in that way," Wille shakes his head ag
ain, trying to form his words more properly. Of course, he’d never even suspect Sara of be
ing disapproving of him liking another boy, it’s not that at all "between us, I mean. I li
ke being your friend, Sara, and with me liking Simon…" He shrugs again, but his friend’s e
xpression turns more understanding."Look," she begins after a heavy exhale "my brother’s l
ove life is not my business. Like, at all. So no, I’m not going to help you to score a dat
e with him or whatever, I’m not going to whisper in a good word for you or[…]""Wille lets
out a breath and it feels almost as if he was holding it since he found out Simon is Sara’
s brother. She’s right, of course, she is. It’s none of her business who Simon decides to
date or not to date. Still, what if miraculously Wille musters up the courage to ask him o
ut and he’ll refuse? Won’t that be weird then? Sara seems to be good a keeping those thing
s separated but can Wille? What if every time he looked at Sara he would be reminded of th
at failure with Simon? It’s stupid, of course, it is, but Wille’s brain is kind of stupid
too after all."Wille," Sara must notice the thoughts passing in his mind through his eyes
or something. She ducks her head to catch his gaze "it’s okay. I mean it."He nods, sending
her a soft s/mile which she easily returns. What was it that Felice said? That he should
just get to know Simon and see if something’s there. Sara also said getting to know him
is the best strategy he can take on now. Getting to know Simon it is then.
"The question is how can he do it? He can only handle so much pizza, but hanging out
at the pizzeria seems to be the best plan to be around Simon…
He won’t ask Sara for help, she’s made it clear that he has to do it himself and he
respects that.Wilhelm may get sick of pizza, but if he manages to get closer to Simon,
it will be worth it."
Excerpt From: littlefandom (Ao3). "Can I Take Your Order?"
[I'm sorry for the strange layout, but manual layout is too troublesome]