#walking around randomly getting a bunch of money from the swedish state

[norsesuggestions]

"Yes, it was during the early days of the hiv crisis. Then, around 1984, we got money from the swedish state's org for disease prevention to produce gay porn about safe sex"

- Gay rights activist Walter Heidkampf, saying what i feel is the most swedish 1980s sentence ever.

Just, yes then the state gave us gay rights activists some money to produce porn, no big deal lol

From a clip produced by rfsl: link

Ps. Walter Heidkampf clearly was aware of how.... surprising this sentence is himself, and later in the interview points out this was most likely because of the personal lobbying of some if the swedish doctors that worked with early cases of HIV in sweden.

And not thanks to like. The collective swedish state. But still! Such a swedish 1980s moment

[starrybethany]

William Nylander: Part 4

Word count: 2006

Should I be doing this? I really shouldn’t be doing this. If Mills knew I was doing this, he would kill me. Like literally kill me.

And shouldn’t I have told William I was coming before just randomly showing up at his apartment? Will he think it’s creepy? He probably will, especially since I haven’t talked to him in a week and I didn’t show up at his party like I said I was going to. Plus, it’s eleven o’clock on a Tuesday night. Why would anyone visit that late on a workday?

I sigh, forcing myself to reach forward and knock on the door before I turn and run away.

I bite my lip, hard, as I wait for the Swedish man to come to the door. Shit, I didn’t even think about what I would do if he didn’t come to the door. What if it was some girl that he met and started dating after the party and then he has to explain to her, hey, this is a girl I started to spend time with before you, and I break them up?

Or worse, what if Kappy answers the door?

I don’t have to worry too long because the door swings open and an exhausted Willy stands on the other side. I start to feel bad just by looking at his baggy eyes and pouty lips.

“Hey,” I say awkwardly.

Really, that’s it? I wake the man up when he has a game tomorrow and all I have to say is ‘hey?’

“Hey,” he replies, leaning against the doorframe. “What’s up?”

Okay, cool, it’s casual.

“Not much,” I twist my fingers uncomfortably, “You?”

“Not much,” he repeats with a shrug.

His tired eyes meet mine and we stare at each other in silence, him examining me curiously, probably wondering why I woke him up just to say hi but not wanting to be rude by asking.

“Um, I just wanted to apologize for telling you that I’d come to your party and then never showing up,” I state. “That was a bitch move.”

He lets out a loud laugh. “It wasn’t a bitch move, I just assumed you had something come up and we don’t have each other’s phone numbers so you couldn’t text me that you weren’t able to make it. Speaking of…”

He turns around, walking into his dimly lit apartment. “Oh, you can come in, by the way!”

I head into the apartment unsurely, closing the door behind me and looking around the spacious apartment. I’m surprised at how modest it is with how much money he’s making. It’s definitely an updated apartment but it’s smaller than I imagined, plus it’s probably just a two bedroom.

Will appears back in front of me, holding out his phone with the new contact page pulled up. “Enter your number so we can actually make plans instead of accidentally running into each other.”

“Sure, accidentally,” I wink, taking the phone and entering my number.

He laughs as I pass him back his phone and give him my phone so he can enter his number.

“Nice place you got here,” I compliment, stepping around him to look further into the living room.

“Don’t you have the exact same apartment?” He questions.

“What?”

“All of the layouts in this building are identical.”

“Oh, yeah,” I curse myself in my head for momentarily forgetting my lie, “I meant like your decorations and shit.”

“Oh, thanks, my mom and sisters actually helped pick them out,” he confesses sheepishly.

I giggle before looking into the kitchen, peering at his fridge curiously. I bet he has a shitload of food in there, he is a millionaire after all.

“You don’t want to look inside my fridge, it’s practically empty. I don’t keep a lot of food here since I’m gone a lot for hockey or I’m visiting my family.”

Or not.

“I could order a pizza, though, if you’re hungry,” he offers. “That means you would have to stay a while, though.”

“Is that an invitation to stay a while?” I ask, raising my eyebrows at him suggestively.

He smirks at me, dialing a number into his phone. “What’s your favorite pizza place?”

~

“This is really good pizza,” I compliment, taking a bite of the slice in my hand.

“See what happens when you don’t limit yourself to places that close at nine?” He teases.

I roll my eyes, throwing my feet onto the ottoman in front of the couch.

“Getting comfy, are we?”

“Is there a problem with that, Nylander?”

“There’s no problem at all,” he dismisses, grabbing his remote and flicking on the TV. “What do you want to watch?”

“Pocahontas,” I respond instantly. He begins to laugh at that. “What? Is there something wrong with Pocahontas?”

“We’re Canadian,” he manages to get out.

“So, it’s a good, important story!” I defend. “It may be all about the Americans but there’s a talking racoon and a bombass song.”

“Fine, I will turn on Pocahontas,” Willy snickers, entering the title into the search bar.

“Have you ever seen it before?”

“No.”

“How can you laugh at me when you’ve never even seen it?” I whine.

“You’re right, I’m being prematurely judgemental,” he agrees. “I’ll give it a chance.”

“You better,” I turn to give him a teasing glare just to find he’s already looking at me.

The joking atmosphere diminishes as we hold eye contact. Pocahontas plays in the background but it fades away by the throbbing silence between us. His blue eyes twinkle and my eyes flicker between them and his thin lips surrounded by scruff.

I don’t mind the scruff. In fact, I like it. It suits him, the facial hair with the long hair is a good look that makes him look really attractive. Well, he would be attractive without it but with it he looks even better.

I see him inch closer to me slowly, testing the waters to see what my reaction will be.

I let him.

I actually want him to kiss me, I’m excited for it.

But I can’t let him kiss me.

When he’s two inches away from my face I turn my head, showing him my cheek.

I close my eyes, cursing myself out in my head. All I want to do is kiss him but I know if Mills were to ever find out he would literally kill William and I’m not selfish enough to risk it.

Willy sighs, resting his face in the crook of my neck and letting out a loud groan.

“I’m sorry.” I’m not even sure my words reach his ears.

We stay in this position for a little while longer before he pulls back, slouching down, wrapping an arm around my waist, and leaning his head against my hip. I settle for running a hand through his hair as we watch Pocahontas in full silence.

The movie ends and the credits begin to play.

“You know what you should do tomorrow night?” He asks quietly, threading his fingers through mine and playing with my fingers.

“What?”

“Come to my game.”

I don’t respond.

“It’s Leafs versus Rangers.”

“So I’d really get to see Henrik Lundqvist in person?” I tease.

He gives me a look and I laugh.

“I’m never taking you to Sweden with me,” he mumbles, making me laugh harder.

“Of course I’ll go to your game, Willy.”

~

I nervously walk down the hallway, fiddling with the pass in my hand. Willy gave it to me after I agreed to go to his game and told me that I need it to go to the WAGs box to be with all of the other partners.

Then I asked him if he considered me his partner and he didn’t respond.

That’s an argument for another day.

I show the security guard my pass and he opens the door for me, letting me step unsurely into the room. A bunch of other women are already in the room and they all look at me as I enter, mixed expressions of judgement on their faces.

“Are you Y/N?” A pretty blonde asks.

I nod, not trusting my voice to answer for me.

“William left you something,” she smiles politely, pointing at a box on a nearby table.

I open it curiously, aware of all of the eyes watching me. I can’t help but laugh when the top of the box is removed and a blue, 88, Nylander, jersey is revealed. He told me he was going to get me a jersey after I told him I don’t own any Maple Leafs merchandise, so I told him to get me a Kapanen one. He got annoyed at that.

I tug the jersey over my torso and the girls go back to their conversations that they were having before I arrived.

“I’m Alannah,” the blonde introduces herself.

“Y/N,” I smile, shaking her hand.

I definitely feel out of place in this room. Everyone is stunning, like they’re runway models or something. And then here I am, in the jeans I bought from Goodwill and a T-shirt I stole from one of my old friends.

Alannah introduces me to a couple of the other girls and ushers me into the seat beside hers when warmups start. “Will’s going to look for you, I just know it.”

I give her a doubtful look but soon find number eighty eight on the ice, watching him as he skates around for a little bit before pausing, looking up at the WAGs box.

“Wave,” Alannah urges.

I give her a look, unsure that he can even see me from how high up we are. Despite this, I lean forward, waving at the Swedish man.

I can barely see the grin that spreads across his face but he waves back up at the box.

“Hi Zachy, have a great game,” Alannah shouts from next to me to her husband. It’s cute that she says that even though she knows he has no chance of hearing her.

I ignore the buzzing in my pocket throughout the game, too focused on the puck and the players and their movements. I know who it is, and I know I should answer it and what’ll happen if I don’t but I’m having too much fun to worry about that right now.

It’s a dumb excuse, I know, but it’s true.

“What takes so long?” I ask curiously after waiting in the hallway for a half an hour.

“They have to shower and get dressed. And sometimes they have media,” the tall blonde informs me, smiling widely when her husband leaves the locker room. “Great game, baby!”

She pulls him into a hug and he laughs. It seems like he recognizes me as soon as he lays eyes on me.

“This is Y/N,” Alannah introduces me anyways and I make small chat with Zach as I wait for William.

Soon, the blonde exits the locker room with a wide smile and I can’t help but reciprocate that action.

“Great job, Will,” I murmur, pulling him into a hug in the heat of the moment.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t get a goal for you,” he mumbles into my hair, rubbing my back caringly.

“You got an assist, though. That’s something, right?”

“That is something,” he laughs at my lack of hockey knowledge, moving me to the side to hold me by the waist.

I meet a couple more of the guys and see the guys that I met the other day at breakfast. They all raise their eyes at the hand on my waist, but I don’t care to move it.

“Do you want a ride home?” William asks me.

“No, I drove here,” I lie easily.

“Oh, okay.”

For a split second I want him to drive me home, just because of the hurt in his voice, then I remember the lie I’m upholding and realize that I can’t have him seeing my apartment.

“I’ll see you soon, William.”

“See you soon, Y/N.”