Writing Tag Game!

Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada.

Generations of damage. For Putin.

At least I'm not trying to be someone else. No one likes me when I'm myself. *I* like you when you are yourself!

Chapter 3 of When Two Worlds Collide is out!

Drawing of Simons alien-creature-pet (She's really nice, he swears.)

Chapter 3: Fake it till you make it.

Simon knew they were rich, no one can afford a spacecraft like that without swimming in wealth. The crash site alone was as big as his hometown. It makes him feel all sorts of ways, none of them good.  

His nose scrunches, "Fine, just waiting for this to be over." Simon leans his chin on top of his crossed arms.  

The light twitch of Rosh's eyes, her telltale sign that Simon is talking bullshit, makes him brace for a harsh comment. 

Just when she opens her mouth to fire away, a knock sounds from the door. Simon calls out in permission and Wilhelm shuffles into the room. The hand that is running at the side of his neck gets caught on some protruding gauze. He hisses, blows some air out of his mouth and only then notices the two other people in the room.  

"Oh- I can come back later." 

As Wilhelm moves to turn around Rosh and Ayub's heads jerk to the door. "Is that him?" Ayub stands on his toes, as if that would help. His hologram sizzles.

Simon sits up straighter, waves a hand at him in a 'come here' motion. "Stand next to me, you're not in their range of view." 

Wille obliges and walks over to Simon, he waves a little awkwardly at Simon's friends. "Uh, hi?" 

The upturned corners of his mouth vanish when Rosh snaps a "Hello." at him, and gives a very non-subtle disapproving glance up and down. Ayub just narrows his eyes. 

An awkward silence settles over them, Ayub and Rosh have some non verbal interactions that include multiple hand gestures. What Simon manages to make out of it is something along the lines of 'Are you seeing what I'm seeing?' And a head shake that, arguably, looks a lot like 'What the fuck?'. 

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Or read from the start!

The smile that has worked its way on Simon's face drops the second he spots a familiar figure hovering on the curb in front of their house. All the chatter around him drowns out as he locks eyes with his dad. 

Every fiber in his body stands on alert, surely Micke will get the hint that this is not the moment to hop by for whatever reason he deems necessary.  

He doesn't.  

His dad's face lights up a tad, and Simon hopes with everything that he has that Micke is sober. That there are no faint traces of cigarette ash on his sleeve, that his eyes aren't bloodshot, that he smells of sandalwood and tangerines instead of the sour odor of alcohol and sweat. 

or:

After a short road trip, Wille and Simon settle down in Bjärstad. Wille is in the midst of meeting Simon's extended family when a certain someone shows up, uninvited.

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Post S3 oneshot of how Wille meets Micke! Read on ao3 - Wrestle Your Love Out Of My Heart

S3 is written like the writers were playing Episode with no diamonds.

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Oh this is so cool thank you!!

1 I used to own stick bugs

2 I've never had spareribs before

3 I can tie a knot with my tongue (I did it like, twice once so I can basically do it forever now. That's totally how it works)

This is such a banger of a song tbh.

this one feels a lil silly, had lot of trouble with colours and was sleep deprived for half of it. Might remake it someday.

Favorite (1.4k)

WANTED: TO BORROW AN ORANGE CAT Wanted: to borrow an orange cat to have a lasagna dinner with Garfield-loving twins, aged five. Will return the cat happy and cared for. Cat will not be required to eat lasagna if contraindicated. Please take your cat back at the end. Not looking to adopt. Thank you.

"This guy has completely gone mental," is Simon's first thought when he sees the ad on the bulletin board at the university campus. He considers it; he has an orange cat, after all, but this guy doesn't sound sane at all, or maybe he is a serial killer who wants to take cat owners out of this world because he has a personal vendetta against them. No, Simon, you are watching too much crime drama. Maybe the guy is a sweet dad who wants to make his little children happy. He takes a photo of the paper, still not sure if he will call this Wilhelm guy to borrow his innocent cat for a dinner party with two toddlers. This is insane.

He makes the call. He is skeptical at first, and Wilhelm, or Wille for short, as he wants to be called, mentions it before Simon even has a chance to and tells him it is very understandable. He sends them the picture of the children with their Garfield plushies, watching the cartoon with an adorable look on their faces. It looks legit, and Simon believes him. So they set up a date for Simon to bring his cat on one condition that Simon will be there as well.

Wille opens the door with the most enchanting smile, and Simon is already captivated by his charm. Okay, he was very gorgeous in the photos with the kids, but the real him standing right there is not enough for words. Fuck, why does he have to fall for the most unavailable guys? This guy is married with children. Could he be more unlucky?

Wille invites him and his cat in, and the little girls look at them behind their dad's legs with curious eyes. Simon takes his cat out of the box and makes proper introductions. He tells them what Jelly likes and does not. She usually gets on with kind children, but better safe than sorry.

Wille did actually set up a kids' table for them to eat their dinner, his cat included. He put on actual cutlery, but fortunately plastic ones. He serves the girls their long-awaited lasagna and some cat food to Jelly---her favorite one since he kindly asked Simon which one it was with the most persuasive reasoning that it's the least he could do for their favor.

He set up another table near the kids for them as well, very similar to the kids' table, but this one is more adult with real cutlery after all. Simon almost thinks this is like a date. He serves them some lasagna as well, and it is the most delicious thing Simon has ever eaten. They ask each other a couple of questions about life and work and some mundane stuff. It is not awkward at all, but it should be because they only know each other for thirty minutes, but it is not.

"You must have been very young when they were born," Simon comments out of the blue. Wille never mentioned the wife in the span of one hour they spent together. Maybe he is a single dad, and he has a chance after all. But that doesn't have to mean he's into guys at all. He needs to get his mind out of the gutter asap.

"I was 17, I think." Wille thinks it over, "No, I was 16. It was way before my birthday."

"You were so young. It must be very difficult to raise them with uni and your job."

"Their mom doesn't trust me at all when it is my turn to babysit," he chuckles. "She is calling every hour to check up on me, and I think I am doing great here. What do you think?" He smiles, and Simon's own matching smile falls flat. Yes, the mother is still in the picture, which is a downer, but babysitting? He calls taking care of his own children babysitting? He must be an asshole despite all this sweet persona. At least this will soften the blow when Simon can't have him.

"Can we do this again?" Wille asks with a small, shy smile on his face. Is he hitting on him? All of a sudden, Simon doesn't find him attractive at all. "I didn't think the girls would be that happy. I know I am being greedy here, but if it is possible for you, we would be really happy."

"I don't know," Simon mutters. He doesn't want to see this guy who is flirting with him in front of his children. He is not that guy.

"They are going to run to me in about three minutes asking if they can keep the cat; just wait." he chuckles. Why does he have to have the most beautiful smile? He is an asshole. It is not fair.

"You said you didn't want it for adoption."

"I am not trying to deceive you here."

"I wouldn't be so sure." Simon mumbles under his breath.

"Can we adopt the cat?" The girls come yelling in unison. At least he knows them very well.

"No, we can't," Wille explains. "You know your mom is allergic to cats. That's why we are doing this when she is not around. Remember?"

The tears well up in their eyes as Wille speaks. "I should have seen this coming."

"Uncle Wille, please. Pretty please." they beg in unison again with their little puppy eyes, and Simon is an idiot.

"My brother and his wife are coming in an hour to pick them up and I really fu--fudged up big this time." Wille whispers, censoring the swear word in front of the children, and he looks like an absolute dream; all the ugliness coming from the misunderstanding Simon caused himself disappears because when has Wille said they are his children at any point in his conversation?

Simon gets down on his knees to get to their eye level. "You don't want your mom to get sick, do you?" The little girls shake their heads with sniffles. "How about I bring Jelly again when you are here next time? Does that sound okay?"

They nod their little heads, satisfied with this solution. Simon tells them to go and say goodbye to his cat because they would have to get going soon.

"You don't need to do that if you don't want to," Wille says in apprehension after the girls are out of their earshot. "I really should have thought this through. This is on me."

"It is not a problem." Simon smiles. "How else am I going to find an excuse to see their very hot uncle otherwise?"

"Oh." Wille blushes. "I thought I was alone in this."

"You were definitely not. It is just that I was dumb." Wille scrunches his eyebrows in confusion, and Simon tells him to let it go. It will be a very embarrassing story if things go further.

"You know what we should do right now?" He smiles with a mischievous look. "We should set up another date."

"They won't---"

"Without the kids and my cat. Just us."

Wille, that asshole, licks his lips before he replies. "Sure, can't wait."

"Wait a second." Wille asks later, after their second first date, and Simon finds himself in Wille's apartment again, but this time in a room he hasn't seen before. "You thought I was their dad, didn't you?"

"No."

"Simon."

"Shut up."

"Look at the pictures I sent you. The pictures with the kids and me," he chuckles. Simon takes his phone from the nightstand and opens up his chat with Wille and looks at the pictures again.

"What am I seeing here?"

"Look at the mugs," he chuckles again, but he sounds more entertained this time.

Simon looks at the mugs the girls are holding in the picture with Wille in the middle. It was very cute when Simon first saw it, or his face. The letters stare back at him this time. "World's Best Uncle."

"I am a dumbass. A real dumbass."

"You are cute," he snickers. "You probably couldn't take your eyes off of me. I understand."

"Shut up, you smug asshole." Simon shoves him playfully out of the bed, but Wille hangs onto him and crashes their lips together with lots of giggles in between. He was right after all.

The lasagna picture with the girls and his cat easily became Simon and Wille's favorite yearly tradition.

I just found this on Insta and it's amazing! Check out Legopathie - there's more than just these!

Meeting the Erikssons

Another little roundup of YR observations, this time focusing on the main non-royal family and what we learn about them that's shown, not said.

Let's start with Simon and Sara on the bus.

Even this tiny little snip tells us so much. They're taking goofy selfies where they both look stupid, compared to the shots we see Felice later posting, which are all carefully posed and curated to present the most ideal version of herself and her life, to the point of untruth. These two are presenting their authentic selves, and they're unafraid to hide their affection for one another. Following on from their earlier dialogue we understand that they're used to relying on each other and to some extent feeling separate to the rest of the world.

Rosh and Ayub give us another important insight into Simon (and themselves) which becomes important later when August keeps warning Wilhelm that Simon, and non-elites in general, will want to get close to him, to use their proximity to get attention and favours. But Simon and his friends genuinely do not give a crap about Wilhelm at all (at this stage anyway). They're not even interested. They poke fun at the GIF of the fight and ask with mild curiosity if he's the loser they think he is, but that's it. Like August, they see Wilhelm as inhabiting a different world to themselves, but it's not one they aspire to or want to know about. Unlike someone else present...

The dinner scene, like the palace press conference scene, sets the tone for how this family lives and relates to each other and the world. The room is small, but there are lots of large windows which let in natural light and also show these people aren't hiding. The room is dark but there are a number of lights switched on - at least three small lamps as well as the big light over the table - which gives a warm glow. There are plants all over the place, not sedate formal flower arrangements but green houseplants spilling their tendrils down the walls. There are what appear to be postcards or just small pictures on the walls haphazardly. It's a warm place filled with growth and life.

Ayub is staying for dinner; he's helping lay the table, which indicates he's a familiar face here, more family than guest. However Sara has to teach him the "correct" way to do it, which shows us that Ayub's own family don't do the formal dinner thing and also implies that Sara has only recently started being so specific about dinner etiquette.

And they're informal enough as a family that Simon can swear in front of both his mother and their guest. (Also, continuity error: there's already spaghetti in the bowls when Simon brings the pan in, but in the next shot they're empty).

Sara complains about the way Simon chews, and asks her mother to sit up straight in a reversal of the traditional mother-teen daughter dynamic, to the point where Linda even rolls her eyes a little.

While the boys snicker by Sara's new poshness, it shows us again how casual the Erikssons are that Sara can talk money, and Linda can reprimand her, in front of Ayub.

Sara scorns the 'diverse' crowd at her old school, but she kind of has a point - IF you define 'amounting to something' as economic success and can overlook her bluntness. Later when Simon tells Ayub and Rosh that he doesn't want to stay in Bjärstad all his life, things get a little awkward. Rosh and Ayub seem to be happy to stay there. Both Eriksson siblings aren't, but they have very different attitudes about where they want to be and how they want to get there. Simon wants to stand out with his talent and good grades; Sara wants to blend in by taking on as many signifiers of the elite world as she can.

A few other things that struck me rewatching this:

Sara is the only one using both a fork and spoon to twirl her spaghetti. Everyone else is just eating straight from the fork.

Simon asks his mother how her day was, showing a little of the 'man of the house' role that later becomes more obvious

Sara isn't incorrect. The cheaper items do wear out quicker. it's the Sam Vimes Boots Theory.

And we still have one more Eriksson to meet.

This scene is heartbreaking. And Micke's surroundings again tell us about him and his circumstances. It's noisy in his building. There are multiple locks on the door - he doesn't feel safe, probably because it's a high crime area.

From the way Simon glances around, it could be the first time he's actually been in this apartment. The couch is disheveled with a messy blanket - Micke sleeps there. There's a framed picture leaning against the wall, implying Micke either hasn't finished sorting his place out or doesn't have the room for all his stuff. Also, THERE IS A LITTLE BASKET OF SATSUMAS - did Simon pick up the taste for them from his dad?

(Another little thing that links the two of them - they both have artwork depicting faraway cities on their walls. Simon has a London poster, his dad has New York.)

Piles of mail, the TV remote, cigarettes and lighter and Micke even has the gas gun from the stove in here. Is that because he's sometimes too uncoordinated to flick the lighter cleanly, I wonder.

There are plants here too, but they're not doing well. They're straggly, not thriving. The apartment's disorder is of course reflected in Micke himself, unshaven, bloodshot eyes and crumpled grubby clothes. You can almost smell him.

The way they hug is uncoordinated. Micke desperately wants the contact with his child, but neither of them is used to it, they don't know how to fit together.

This was the first scene that made me marvel that that this was Omar's first acting job. Heartbreaking.