Another way (Young Royals)

The initiation party

Simon had thought that he had a quiet night filled with cuddles ahead of him. Little did he know that the boys and I had been planning his initiation party. He was finally a true member of the forest range. I knew the girls had planned something for Sara too that night. We were laying on our bed in our dorm. We were still kissing. And I could not stop. It was like he had enchanted me. I felt his fingers under the fabric of my shirt and I had my own fingers in his black curls. The boys would be here any minute. Us kissing was nothing they had not seen before. I just had to make sure Simon had not stripped all of our clothes off until then. That was something I wanted to keep in private from now on. Simon did not even notice when the boys knocked on the door. He was too much into kissing me. The boys all stormed into our room. That was the only thing that got Simon to react. The boys were all dressed up in weird costumes and had masks on. And as usual they were loud.

"Wille, what is happening?" he asked.

"Welcome to your fucking initiation party," Vincent shouted. Simon held on to me as if they would hurt him. He had probably heard of my initiation. It had been pretty rough. I would not let them do the same to Simon. I hoped he understood that I would not let them go all crazy.

"Well if he does not come with us voluntarily we will have to carry him," Henry said. The other boys cheered and went closer to the bed. With shared forces they got him out of bed. Someone handed me a mask that I put on. It was quite ugly.

"Guys, guys, guys," Simon screamed and tried to get out of their grips. He was extremely ticklish. He twisted and turned, like a fish taken up on land.

"Wille would you like to carry him? He is kind of difficult to handle," Nils said.

"Because you are tickling him," I laughed. "If carrying him is essential I can do it. I know how to carry him without torturing him." They put him down on the floor and Simon fled into my arms. He looked like a scared little animal being chased by a group of predators.

"Hey, you don't need to be scared. Your boyfriend has ordered us to go light on you," Alexander said laughing. "And we don't want to get in trouble with the royals. So see that as a big perk of being Wille's favourite." Simon got into some shoes and then I picked him up bridal style. We were headed towards the palace.

"Do you really need to wear that ugly mask, baby?" Simon asked me. He had his arms around my neck.

"Well it is tradition," I replied.

"It is also tradition to make fun of the person you are initiating," he replied. Simon was a bit negative of our traditions, which I understood. My own initiation party had been a bit frightening. It at least ended well. It ended with me and Simon kissing. I had some hope that Simon's would end up with us kissing too.

"I have told them to be nice. Okay? And I am here and I promise I will save you if they go a little bit crazy," I said. "And I have told them not to pressure you to drink any alcohol, so you don't need to be scared they will." Simon's father was an addict and Simon did not drink. I was not a big drinker either, really. It added to my anxiety, I had realised. I had not been drinking since my own initiation. I did not know what the boys had prepared in detail, but they knew I would protect Simon with my own life if needed. When we got to the palace there were a few egg cartoons on the table. There was also flour.

"So we are going to play a version of truth or dare, okay? You can decide to not answer or do the dare, but then we are going to egg you and throw flour over you. And we are playing until we have cracked all the eggs," Vincent said. "Wille, put down Simon on the chair, will you?" I did. We all took off the masks we were wearing. All the boys were standing in a circle around Simon.

"Truth or dare, Simon?" Alexander asked.

"Truth," he replied.

"What do you really think about the forest range?" Alexander asked.