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on a rainy day

Summary:

!! new christmas oneshot in the last chapter !!

When Simon bumps into a friendly looking boy, sheltering from the rain somewhere close to his apartment, he didn't expect to to fall in love with him. But love is a funny thing and sometimes it takes everything to let it work out.

Notes:

Hello again!!

I'm Emma and I've been working on this fic for quite some time now, and finally finally I felt ready to start posting.
Since I've already written a big part of it, I will update every 5-7 days. You will read this fic through both Simons and Willes point of view and trigger warnings will be put in the notes if I find them necessary to add.
I just truly hope that you'll enjoy this fic as much as I enjoyed writing it!!

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Chapter 1: on a rainy day

Summary:

‘Oh shit, I’m so sorry!’ he blurted out, streaking a soaked curl away from his forehead to get a good view of the person he hadn’t seen before.

It turned out to be a boy, around his age and a bit taller than him. He had ash blond hair which fell into his eyes a bit and his cheeks were covered slightly with acne. Despite just being bumped into, his expression was friendly, although a bit confused at the moment. Like himself, he wasn’t dressed for the rain either, having a long, dark blue coat on him and a bag over his shoulder.

‘Don’t worry about it,’ the stranger responded, ‘there’s enough room for two here.’

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Simon groaned miserably when he closed the door of the coffeeshop behind him. It wasn’t just raining, it was pouring and everyone else on the streets was either hurrying home or seeking shelter from the water that was falling out of the dark clouds above them. He pulled his collar up and stepped over the threshold into the rain, groaning again when he felt the drops soak him in less than a minute. He couldn’t wait to get home. With shoes squishing from the water, he made his way to his apartment.

It wasn’t a fairly long walk, but the rain made everything worse. He walked past several people sheltering in small cafes and bakeries, but he chose to walk on. He was soaked already anyways and his street was just around the corner.

He loved his apartment. Yes, it was small and yes, he was probably paying way too much rent, but it was his own place. It was on the first floor, a tad old, but light, thanks to the windows on the street side which covered a fairly big part of the wall and all the main services were working just fine.

His interior wasn’t much either, but it fit together nicely. He got a four-person round dinner table slash desk, a weathered sofa next to his bookcase, which contained books mainly about music and pictures of his family and in the corner was his old keyboard standing on its holder. If you went through a small hall, you got to his bedroom which was tiny, but big enough to fit his double bed and a closet. Across from it was his bathroom.

The first few days after moving in, he would just sit on his couch and look around, getting used to his new environment and still moving things around, slowly giving everything a spot. Moving somewhere new never had been Simons favorite part. He was someone who liked to stay at one place, loving the comfort of knowing where everything was and where he could find his favorite people. But he couldn’t live on campus forever and he knew that.

He had also wandered around the area, just to get to know it a little bit better. Beforehand, he knew the city centre, but he hadn’t discovered this part of the city yet.

Simon had finished his bachelor last year, but hadn’t finished his minor yet, which he was doing right now. It was a combined one of Swedish language and creative writing with which he hoped to develop his songwriting skills a bit. He loved to sing but he never gotten the chance for a study in music. This minor was definitely an opportunity to get himself a step in that direction.

As he reached his street, Simon could almost feel the rain turn into warm shower water with the scent of his favorite shampoo. He couldn’t wait to step underneath the shower and get dressed afterwards in something clean and warm which didn’t smell like coffee. He was so lost in thought that he didn’t see the person sheltering under the roof near the entrance until he bumped into him.

‘Oh shit, I’m so sorry!’ he blurted out, streaking a soaked curl away from his forehead to get a good view of the person he hadn’t seen before.

It turned out to be a boy, around his age and a bit taller than him. He had ash blond hair which fell into his eyes a bit and his cheeks were covered slightly with acne. Despite just being bumped into, his expression was friendly, although a bit confused at the moment. Like himself, he wasn’t dressed for the rain either, having a long, dark blue coat on him and a bag over his shoulder.

‘Don’t worry about it,’ the stranger responded, ‘there’s enough room for two here.’

Simon smiled, he hadn’t expected such a kind response. ‘I live here, but thanks anyways,’ he said, nevertheless stepping a bit further under the roof so he wasn’t in the rain anymore.

‘Oh, that’s convenient,’ the boy chuckled and Simon tried to ignore how much he liked that sound. ‘I live right across but I can’t muster up the strength to run through the rain.’

They stood together for a while, Simon not having a logical explanation for why he wasn’t going inside and chose to stare at the rain with some stranger. When the heavy rain turned into a slight drizzle, he opened his mouth again.

‘So,’ Simon looked between the boy and the street. ‘Are you gonna run for it?

‘I think I would go for it, if I were you,’ Simon continued, ‘doesn’t get much better than this, I think.’

The boy hummed affirmatively before slinging his bag a little tighter over his shoulder.

‘See you around then,’ the boy said before he looked left and right and dashed through the rain in the direction of the apartment block across the street.

Simon stood there for a second longer before shaking his confusion away, not getting why a stranger would be so kind after he bumped into him and then turned around to make his way upstairs. He certainly hoped he would see him around.

It had been a particularly busy day at work, it was almost exam season so a lot of students had come in for some study sessions, but only when he stepped inside his apartment, he felt how exhausted he was. He took a quick, hot shower, and then threw his leftover pasta in the microwave and stared at the spinning food. After hearing the promising ‘ping’, he plopped down at the table, devouring his meal. He gave himself a few minutes to finish it, before grabbing his laptop to read through one of the assignments he wrote yesterday.

Darkness fell over the apartment soon after that and it was the only sign that he knew how long he had been reading. He got up to flick on the kitchen light, not bothering to close the curtains, and sat back down, resting his eyes for a bit by staring out of his window. It was funny to think about the fact that he now knew someone who lived across from him and he couldn’t help but wonder which apartment was his.

The second that thought crossed his mind, he called himself back. Did he really just fell for someone who he had bumped into and didn’t even know? He laughed silently, refusing to think about the incident again and closed his laptop, done for tonight. Although he really liked living on his own, he missed having a relationship. His previous one hadn’t ended well, but nevertheless he just wanted someone to share his life with. He sighed before standing up, cleaned up his table and made his way over to his bedroom for a good nights rest.

 

On Tuesday evening, Rosh came over, not having properly seen his apartment yet since she was on exchange.

‘God, this is great, Simme!’

‘I know right?!’

After a short tour, they’d ended up at the dinner table, sipping their drinks and catching up about life. They had lived on the same campus but like him, she had moved out over summer, starting a master at a different university that fitted her career path more, but they had stayed in touch.

‘Have you met anyone from around here yet?’ Rosh asked, looking at him with her eyebrows raised.

‘Not really, to be honest, I just bumped into this guy a while ago, but I haven’t seen him again.’

She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. ‘And…’

‘And nothing,’ Simon said, feeling his cheeks get hot, ‘I don’t have an opinion about him yet.’

‘You should go to him,’ Rosh stated.

‘Yeah, that would be the absolute weirdest thing ever.’ Simon shot back, not really sure if telling Rosh had been a good idea. ‘Imagine me knocking on doors for minutes straight just to show up uninvited. Besides, I don’t even know where exactly he lives.’

Rosh hummed slightly more understanding and then the conversation took a different road again. Around ten they called it a night, Rosh having to drive back and him having an early morning again tomorrow.

 

The rest of his week carried on as usual but the weather didn’t change for the better. He found himself unconsciously looking out for the boy he had met in the rain, as if he could reappear through the rain every moment. He didn’t though. At least not until Thursday.

Simon had his coat pulled up high again and his head lowered while actively pacing towards his apartment. He didn’t really mind rain, but returning home soaking wet every single day for a whole week now was getting on his nerves.

Due to his quiet sulking, he almost missed the figure standing near the entrance. He wiped the water out of his eyes and spoke up before his nerves got the better of him.

‘Not up for another dash through the rain?’ he asked as soon as he stepped under the roof as well. He was met with the same friendly smile as last time.

‘Nope,’ the boy answered, popping the ‘p’ before chuckling again. ‘And I must admit that I’m pretty done with the weather as well.

Simon nodded in agreement. Again, he stood there longer than necessary, not having expected that he would ever run into the boy again.

Said boy seemed to notice his shuffling because his gaze shifted form the dark clouds towards Simon, making proper eye contact for the first time before holding out his hand. ‘I’m Wilhelm, by the way.’

‘Simon,’ he said, shaking the hand of the other boy. Their hands were cold and wet from the rain, but the only word that came to Simons mind was ‘nice’. A clap of thunder startled the both of them and they let go of each others hand.

‘This way you won’t get home any time soon…’

He tried to force the blood in his veins to not rush to his cheeks, but he felt himself failing when the boy he now knew was named Wilhelm observed him for a second too long, seemingly curious about the sudden interest he had in his life.

‘Nah, my weather app said it’ll be over soon.’

‘Do want something to drink while waiting?’ Simon blurted out before he had the change to overthink his offer. A small smile played around Wilhelms lips before he responded.

‘Yeah, sure, why not.’

Simon took this as his cue to politely turn his back to Wilhelm, hiding his own small smile from him while fumbling with his keys. Together, they took the stairs to the first floor and walked up the corridor to Simons apartment. He opened the door and let Wilhelm go in first. He quickly put on the kettle before he spoke up again.

‘Go sit wherever you like. Do you mind if I put some dry clothes on?’

‘Of course not, I’ll wait here,’ Wilhelm answered while taking place at the kitchen table, which Simon thankfully has cleared the night before.

Simon smiled back at him before disappearing into his bedroom. He quickly got out of his wet clothes, throwing them in a corner before digging in his closet to find something warm but proper. Then he took a look in the mirror and tried to fix his curls the slightest bit.

‘This’ll do,’ he muttered to himself and made his back to the kitchen again.

The water had boiled in the meantime and Wilhelm was flipping through one of his books. He looked up when he came back in. Simon quickly readied the tea and sat down at the table as well.

‘I see you’ve found my study books?’ He opened the conversation, arching his eyebrow questioningly.

Wilhelm nodded. ‘What do you study?’

Simon dived into a short summary of his wobbly study traject before asking Wilhelm the same question.

Wilhelm, or Wille, as he was called by his friends, as Simon came to know, was in his last year of his psychology studies. He had only one assignment left and a thesis to write and then he was finished. He’d already gotten a job offer at one of the best medical centers in Sweden where he had been an intern last year, so he could just focus on finishing off his studies without worrying about a job.

He used to live on campus as well, but he found it too overwhelming from time to time, which he tried to hide by saying he just grew out of living there. His parents were rich enough that they payed his rent and although he was mildly enthusiast about that, he let them.

The air between them was light, conversation came and went and Simon felt himself really at ease with Wille in his apartment. When they had finished their teas, the water outside had stopped pouring as well and Wille sat up a little bit straighter, readying himself to leave.

‘Uh, well, thanks for the tea…’ Wille said, leaving his sentence unfinished.

‘No problem, anytime actually,’ Simon smiled at him, hoping to calm his own nerves as well as those from the boy across from him.

‘I would love to,’ he answered, pushing his hair back and getting up from his chair, making his way to the hallway but not before shooting Simon another smile.

Simon watched him put his coat back on and let him to the doorway.

‘Maybe we—‘

‘Do you want to—‘

Wille chuckled and it was a sound Simon started to like a little bit too much too fast.

‘You go first,’ Simon said, flicking his eyes down so Wilhelm hopefully couldn’t see the blush appearing on his cheeks.

‘I was thinking that maybe I could get your number? So we don’t have to meet up every time while sheltering from the rain, you know.’

‘Yeah, that would be nice actually.’

He watched how Wille got his phone out of his pocket and added his number to his contact. After that, they said their goodbyes, promising to see each other soon.

Simons evening went on as normal, but his stomach kept summersaulting and he checked his phone way too often for just a normal evening. His assignment wasn’t distracting him from his own head and eventually he gave up on it. Just as he started to doubt his decision of inviting Wille and thinking it could actually get somewhere, his phone pinged.

Unknown number: [21:53]

Hej

Next meet-up when the sun shines?

Might be bad luck otherwise

This is Wille by the way

As if he expected any other texts by an unknown number that night. He chuckled to himself before responding.

Simon: [21:55]

hii

yeah definitely, not really wanting bad luck tbh

He saved the number as ‘Wille’ and closed his phone for the night, content.

——

‘Shit.’

Simons shift at the coffeeshop had only just begun, but he had already managed to break a mug and spill hot milk over the counter two times today. This really shouldn’t surprise him though, as he was clearly not thinking straight. Was he ever?

‘Where’s your head at, Simme?’ Ayub asked him, throwing him a dishcloth to clean the spilled milk. Simon caught it, feeling his cheeks turn red before he started to clean up the mess he made.

‘I don’t know, just a lot to think about this week.’

‘We should hang out again soon, with Rosh,’ Ayub said, observing how Simon cleaned the counter thoroughly. ‘We used to do that a lot more and I miss it.’

He sighed, wringing out the cloth above the sink. ‘Yeah, me too, we should plan something without our busy lives getting in the way.’

He watched how Ayub nodded before making his way over to the counter, shifting his attention from him to a customer. Simon wrought to towel out one last time and then exited to the back to take it to the laundry pile. He definitely should focus on his work.

Luckily for him, the rest of the afternoon was really busy and he hadn’t more time to think about assignments or anything else. The hours flew by and thank god, he didn’t spill or broke anything else.

The shop he worked at had always been a student packed coffee shop on the other side of campus. Simon used to go there a lot and he didn’t need a lot of time to think when he saw the vacancy of them looking for employees. The shop had an industrial vibe with vintage chairs and tables, scattered almost messily through it. Plants hung everywhere and even though it was often busy, there were a lot of tables which offered a somewhat quiet working ambience.

Often enough, people came around who he either vaguely knew or very well, and today wasn’t that different. Just before his shift ended, he was cleaning up already, a familiar coat showed up through the door, revealing his sister with one of her friends, clearly discussing something.

‘Simon,’ Sara started off, without even greeting him first, ‘Felice thinks her party will suck because she doesn’t have a theme like many have these day, but please tell her you agree with me that it isn’t gonna suck?’

Simon thought quickly before deciding that he certainly didn’t want to have his sister against him in yet another discussion and nodded in agreement while turning to Felice.

‘It’s really not about the theme, and besides, all your parties have been great so far?’

He had been to almost all of them since his group of friends overlapped with his sisters to some extend. She knew Ayub and Rosh quite well thanks to all the game slash movie nights at their house and Felice had come over for dinner regularly.

Felice looked at him, clearly still in doubt. ‘You don’t think it’s boring?’

‘Definitely not, just make sure the music is good,’ he laughed. ‘Can I get you guys anything?’

He took their orders, making them take-away and they moved a bit to the corner of the counter, Sara not yet done convincing Felice. He busied himself with their coffees while zoning out a bit, not actually interested in parties that much. It was fun, until everyone got drunk. He had seen enough drunk people in his life.

‘Here you go,’ he said, putting the two hot cups in front of them.

‘Thanks, Simon,’ Felice said, instantly warming her hands on hers. ‘You should come, by the way. To my party.’

Simon swallowed a sigh but his sisters pleading look made him agree and they arranged that Ayub and Rosh could come over too, if they wanted to come. They chatted for a bit longer, his workday was almost to an end anyways and besides a few cramming students behind their laptops, the shop was almost empty.

Nevertheless, after a few more minutes, the door opened again, bringing a cold rush of air inside before quickly being closed again. Simon was just cleaning one of the machines while talking to Sara when he heard Felice exclaim a name that had been going through his head over and over the past few days.

‘Wille!’

Simon almost dropped the towel he was using, receiving a weird look from Sara in the process before peeking around the machine.

And there he stood. Wille. Blue coat, hair slightly in his eyes and the same friendly smile as earlier this week. Oh, he was definitely fucked.

‘Hej, Felice,’ he heard him say, slightly muffled due to embracing her.

‘Are you coming to my party on Saturday?’ Felice asked instantly, now fully convinced that it was going to be fine. ‘Sara and Simon here are coming too and they said it’s gonna be fun.’

Sara quickly introduced herself and made space for Simon to do the same, but as soon as their eyes locked, he couldn’t do anything else then awkwardly wave. Willes smile widened a little when he saw him and Simon tried not to blush under both the smile and the confused faces of Felice and Sara.

‘As long as it isn’t raining, I’ll be there,’ Wille said and Simon almost snorted.

‘Uh, okay… See you there then.’

Felice looked questioningly between him and Wille, who was trying not to laugh out loud. Her eyes tightened the slightest bit before she looked to Sara, who looked back with almost the same confusion. But before Sara could open her mouth, Felice grabbed her arm and whispered an urgent ‘lets go’.

‘I’ll text you,’ Sara said, emphasizing every word before being hauled out of the shop by Felice, who clearly saw the signs and took action on them. Simon gave his sister thirty minutes to start texting him excessively for all the details.

‘So, what does your weather app say for upcoming Saturday?’

Wilhelm chuckled in response but didn’t answer, asking a question instead. ‘Are you gonna be there?’

Simon nodded.

‘Felices parties are the only bearable parties and my sister is gonna kill me if I won’t be there, so yeah. Are you?’

‘I guess I am now…’

The silence dragged on and Simon felt his cheeks get more and more hot the longer it took. To give himself something to do, he started fumbling with the towel he was still holding.

‘Do you want anything, by the way?’ he asked, stepping back into his role as employee, hoping Wille didn’t notice how flustered he was.

‘Oh yeah, sure,’ Wille moved his eyes from him towards the screen behind him and Simon could breathe again. He quickly moved away to start up the machine before taking Willes order, which turned out to be a small hazelnut cappuccino.

He payed and hesitated for a bit before speaking up one last time.

‘So, see you on Saturday?’

‘Definitely.’

After Simon waved him off, he returned to his cleaning, trying to keep his mind to the tasks instead of what the hell just happened. Ayubs prying didn’t help either, even though he had only heard half of the conversations. After double-checking everything was tidy, he untied his apron and escaped to the back to get his coat. He put it on and a grin spread on his face. He for once couldn’t wait till tomorrow evening.

Notes:

hope you liked the first chapter!! more will come soon, but in the meantime, don't hesitate to let me know your thoughts in the comments or on twitter: @softwilmcn