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floating-in-the-blue · 8 months

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Willex Red White & Royal Blue AU

So me being me, of course my brain has been toying with a Willex Red White & Royal Blue AU since becoming obsessed with the movie and the book but I don’t think I will actually write it because, though having some changes, it’d still be so close to rwarb that it wouldn’t be that exciting but I thought I’d share my ideas for it for Willex Wednesday this week and you guys can imagine the scenes for yourself without me having to write a whole long fic about it.

So. Long musings to follow (it helps if you know the book/movie but you don’t really need to if you’re just here for some fun willex au though there will be tons of spoilers of course). Also there be some smut here because these are two horny idiots for sure!

Also thanks to @merihn for looking it over and making sure that the changes I've introduced to the rwarb plot fit the new characters.

Okay, here we go.

On the American side we have Caleb as the president (yes, I know, it’s a man now but he would have so much fun being a politician and making everyone his bitch).

Willie is his nephew who has been living with him since his own parents died in a car crash when he was like five. He’s not really that interested in politics per se though he supports the more liberal side of his uncle’s program. Generally though, he dislikes the whole publicity stuff and would be much happier just being an obscure kid skating around. He is, however, out as bisexual. I know that an important part of rwarb-book!Alex’s journey as a character is his discovery of being bisexual but I just cannot picture Willie not knowing he’s attracted to guys. Or being able to hide that. So he knows and the country knows. He mostly tries to stay out of trouble but he doesn’t always quite manage.

Rose Molina is Caleb’s Vice President (with Ray as her puppy husband who’s too nice for politics, really) and so Willie and Julie live together in the White House and are best friends. Julie’s other best friend is Flynn (they go to the same college?) so they mostly hang out as a trio.

Willie has been slightly into Prince Alexander from the British Royals since he was a teen, ever since seeing a poster of him in some teen magazine (because I love that bit from the book!!). Although I’ve also been toying with the idea of him discovering him much earlier and including him in his childhood games, ie. saving or being saved by Prince Alexander and stuff like that. Very innocent of course but I think it’d be cute.

But the first time he actually meets him at some official thing (Melbourne Climate Conference ;D) goes really poorly.

Switching over to the British side: Alex is of course our repressed English prince. If I actually wrote the thing it’d mean finding a bit of a new voice for him that’s a blend of jatp!Alex and rwarb!Henry but for this little headcanon thing, it doesn’t really matter all that much.

Alex’s grandfather is the king, his parents are both still alive and massive assholes and very overbearing. He has an older brother (let’s keep Philip) who is also an ass. And he used to have a sister but she died (switching up the rwarb trauma backstory wound but it makes more sense for me with canon jatp stating his parents were ‘not really cool’). His sister was the only one in the family he really got along with and trusted so now she’s dead he’s even more isolated. He is, naturally, gay as a maypole but of course he hides that because he has to maintain the traditional royal image and also because of anxiety.

Getting back to that first meeting of Alex and Willie: Alex basically falls in love/into attraction with Willie at first sight but also knows it is a VERY bad idea so he tries to keep as far away from him as possible. Also it’s shortly after his sister died and the Palace insists on parading him around so he’s just generally not in a good state and being a panicky prick, basically.

For Willie though, it reads as ‘of course the pretty prince is really just a stuck up elite and entitled white boy who’s a massive homophobe (and also maybe a racist).” An impression that is cemented afterwards because Alex keeps on avoiding him.

Since Willie isn’t that confrontational, I think he’d go about his rivalry a little differently than rwarb!Alex, so I just picture him and Julie, with Flynn’s invaluable help, starting to prank Alex whenever possible. Nothing too serious because he’s still a British prince and they can’t afford an international incident (hah!) but just in a subtle way that could almost be accidental.

Alex does realise what’s going on but he’s almost relieved because if Willie dislikes him there’s less chance of bad things happening between them (ie kissing). So he plays along with the animosity and acts the petty prick around Willie so Willie will never ever become a danger to him and his hidden homosexuality.

And then, of course, they topple into a cake at a Royal wedding (Phillip’s) and suddenly have to play nice with each other. Maybe the whole cakecate is less Willie being confrontational and more they crash into the cake because maybe Willie wasn’t looking where he was going and stumbled and grabbed the nearest thing to stabilise himself (Alex) but they just both topple the cake in the progress. The end result, however, is the same: they’re on the floor, covered in cake, and the whole world gets to see and laugh and there is an international incident after all.

I’ve cast Aunt Victoria in Zahra’s role as campaign manager. Different vibe than in rwarb but I think her mixture of affection for the children and strictness could work really well here. I’m not sure if she’s actually Rose’s sister but she does have all the children call her Tia anyway. Couldn’t really find a match for Shaan in jatp canon so he stays as Alex’s equerry (aka personal assistant). They can totally have a love affair on the side as well. Good for you, Victoria!

Anyway, Willie gets sent over to London to do damage control and to pretend he and Alex have been best friends for ages. Willie does not look forward to it. Alex is getting slightly panicky but tells himself everything will be fine. Because it’s going to be totally fine, right? Sure …

They do the photo ops and interviews, hiding their animosity behind polite petty backstabbing, and then go to visit sick children in the hospital for a PR thing and then get shoved into a closet together at the perceived threat of a gunman (really just a kid bringing fireworks for a friend). I’ve cast Dante and Fuego as Willie’s secret service agents, btw.

So, closet time. Willie is not happy but Alex is now really having a panic attack so Willie helps him through it, because Alex may be a dick but panic attacks are no jokes. A little bonding experience but not the talk they have in rwarb.

Still, once Willie is back in the states he starts texting Alex to check up on him (I guess they officially swapped phone numbers for the whole ‘pretending to be friends’ thing) and they start talking.

Alex knows it’s a bad idea to get closer to Willie but Willie is very insistent and charming and hard to say no to so they talk more and more and Alex lets more and more of his real personality shine through and Willie is fascinated how different Alex, the guy in his phone, is to Prince Alexander. So far, it’s just a bit of fun for Willie, and he keeps the flirting light. But he loves the sarcasm and intelligence and honesty he gets to see from Alex.

Alex, of course, just falls deeper in love with him and suffers.

Also I think Willie is the only person really calling him “Alex” instead of “Alexander” aside from his sister (dead) and his best mates, Luke and Reggie (yes, that makes them British. Yes, I can’t really picture that either. Just go with it. Or maybe they’re American exchange students who stuck around. I’m sad to say they’re not all that important here so just go with whatever version you prefer). And I think that is not very helpful for Alex.

At Willie and Julie’s famous New Year Party, Alex is required to put in an appearance and things are going fine even though Alex has to struggle hard to hide how much he is in love with Willie. Flynn totally clocks it though. And Luke and Reggie already know of course (they were brought along as moral support and so they can meet the girls).

Since their friends helpfully ignore them and abscond, Alex and Willie talk a lot. Willie tries to get Alex to dance, but although Alex loves dancing, he doesn’t really do that in public so he’s a bit stiff and reluctant.

At the chime of midnight, though, things fall apart (how fairytale of them) because Alex watches Willie being kissed by random people, both girls and guys, and he flees the party tent, unable to handle it. Only Willie gets the absolutely wrong idea. Because he thinks that his first impression of Alex as a stuck up homophobe was the right one. That Alex went along with the texting and chatting only for as long as he wasn’t reminded of Willie’s queerness but the moment he sees him kissing a guy, it’s all back.

So he follows Alex, intent on confronting him but when he accuses Alex of being homophobic, out there in the snow, Alex just laughs a little hysterically and denies it (hello beloved squeaky voice). Willie doesn’t believe him and pushes and then Alex’s brain short circuits, he says “Okay” and he kisses him.

It has the desired effect of shutting Willie up but of course that kiss was exactly what Alex had tried to avoid so he flees once again. Now the whole continent.

Willie, on the other hand, calls in an emergency meeting with Julie and Flynn the next day (both of whom are very sad that Luke and Reggie disappeared along with the prince) to discuss what happened. Flynn immediately claps her hand and smugly declares that she called that, Julie is swept up in the romance of it until Flynn reminds everyone that “honey, princes aren’t allowed to be gay.”

Except Willie doesn’t want to accept that because now he’s been kissed he can’t stop thinking of Alex. Or rather, he realises that that has been the case for so long he can’t even remember when it started. And he definitely wants to be kissed again. And kiss back. And do other things to Alex.

Alex ignores all texts and calls though and drives Willie near mad but he does appear, as promised, at the state dinner thing as Willie’s guest some weeks later. He avoids Willie but Willie gets Dante to help him arrange a clandestine meeting in an adjacent room and while Alex steels himself to stammer his way through an awkward apology, Willie hardly lets him say anything at all before kissing the living daylights out of him. And Alex is utterly unable to resist Willie.

They get interrupted but Willie tells him to come to his room at midnight where he wants to do bad things to him.

Midnight comes and passes and Willie gets more and more antsy, worried he may have gotten everything wrong after all but maybe ten minutes later, there’s a hesitant knock at his door.

“You’re late” - “I know. I wasn’t sure if this wasn’t all a big mistake.” - “And now?” - “Now I know it’s a big mistake but I don’t seem able to care.”

Willie grins happily and pulls him inside and continues to kiss the living daylights out of Alex, who kisses him back with a mixture of reservation and desperation that Willie finds very intoxicating. Just like his responsiveness to Willie giving him a blowjob. Alex doesn’t return the favour but he does help him get off with his very nice hand so Willie doesn’t mind. He only regrets it a little bit that it wasn’t the hand with the signet ring because that would have been even hotter.

They have the talk about keeping things casual and for Willie, that’s truly his intention. Alex, of course, already knows he’s in love but he thinks it will be fine as long as Willie doesn’t return his feelings, he’s only hurting himself after all, and he truly doesn’t expect Willie to fall in love with him so they’re totally fine, right? Sure …

They manage to hook up again at Alex’s charity polo match, and Willie is the one taking the lead again, Alex mostly just responding very enthusiastically.

It’s when they’re meeting up in Paris (I forgot the book reason, the movie doesn’t give one so who really cares) that Willie asks Alex how long he’s known he’s gay.

“Just slightly longer than I knew princes aren’t supposed to be gay. Or if they are, they certainly aren’t allowed to act on it.”

Willie declares that to be bullshit and teases Alex that surely he didn’t follow that verdict. And is very surprised when Alex says that he did indeed do just that (divergence from rwarb!Henry but at least in this verse, I don’t see Alex doing casual hook-ups what with his anxiety and the pressure from his family).

“So …”

“So I only kissed one other boy before you. When I was five. Which was when my parents sat me down and explained how it was my duty to never ever do that again because it would upset everyone very much and surely I didn’t want that.”

“So that first time we …”

“...was indeed my first time,” Alex admits.

Willie is shocked and he also suddenly gets the whole reservation/desperation thing Alex has going on.

“You totally had me fooled,” Willie says, a little impressed.

“I’ve had a lot of practice pretending to be things I’m not, darling. Although you make it very hard to pretend anything around you.”

Since they actually have use of a hotel room this time around, Willie is now determined to give Alex a proper first time. So he proposes that they ‘make love’ and Alex is very nervous but also very determined. He tries telling himself that it won’t change anything. That it won’t change anything for Willie. That he’s just being nice to him. Sure …

Except Willie very much falls in love with Alex, even if he doesn’t quite admit it to himself yet. Besides, Alex wants to keep it casual, right? He’s probably just using Willie to finally get some dick. Which Willie can’t even blame him for. So it’s fine, right? Sure …

Willie offers to bottom but Alex surprises him when he says he wants to feel Willie inside of him.

“You sure?” - “Just because I haven’t had sex with another person yet doesn’t mean I haven’t experimented.”

Willie nearly combusts trying to imagine Alex “experimenting.”

They do in fact make love and it’s way more intimate than either of them thought possible. Cue very important image of Alex urging Willie deeper with a hand pressing down on the small of his back ;P

And then it’s back to long distance texting and calling. Alex starts writing emails to Willie which he never sends. He just needs to pour out his longing and love and thoughts somehow, keeping them out of the actual texts he swaps with Willie, which are carefully just horny and not soft.

They hook up again some time later, which is when Aunt Victoria busts them and nearly has a heart attack and does a lot of swearing in Spanish and forces Willie to tell his uncle.

Caleb, the gossip loving bitch, is honestly impressed by Willie managing to hook up with a real prince but as the president, he does have to caution Willie not to fuck everything up and to figure out if he feels forever about Alex because a relationship like that will define his life one way or another. But Willie isn’t really sure about that at that point. Because while Paris blew his mind, he and Alex are back to being vaguely casual about everything so who knows what’s actually going on here. He sure doesn’t.

Except then one fateful day Alex is maybe a little drunk or maudlin (maybe something to do with his sister’s death anniversary or something else that triggered that) and lets it slip that these emails exist. And of course Willie immediately needs to read ALL of them and needles and prods Alex until Alex goes “fuck it” and sends them, immediately regretting it and closing his laptop and burying himself in his bed to hide.

And Willie, well, he is overwhelmed by this deepest truth Alex just revealed to him. The emails paint a picture of him he hardly dares believe is truly how Alex sees him. They contain all of Alex’s love and his hurts and thoughts about the monarchy and they are so truly and utterly Alex that their shared texts so far pale by comparison. And Alex shared all of that with him. Laid himself bare. Opened himself completely to Willie, body and heart and soul.

It does a pretty solid number on him and for a few days he is actually just truly overwhelmed (because canon Willie doesn’t handle things getting serious all that well, does he?) and doesn’t know what to say to Alex.

Except he misses Alex more than ever before (and yes, all the while Alex suffers acutely from thinking he just ruined it all).

Willie eventually texts back and invites Alex to hang out at his uncle’s luxury cabin in the woods for labour day weekend where they can really talk (he can also bring Luke and Reggie because Julie and Flynn will be there as well and they demanded he ask for Alex to bring his friends).

Alex is convinced it’s a bad idea but he goes anyway. Luke and Reggie might convince him for purely selfish reasons because they want to hang out with the girls, but Alex is also too desperate to see Willie again even though he is 100% sure it’s a very bad idea.

Things are new and strange between them but also softer than ever before and while Alex panics inside about the possibility of Willie actually, inexplicably falling in love with him, he is also unable to tear himself away.

They have a great weekend together and go into a bar in town, trying for incognito but the whole Secret Service and Alex’s bodyguards thing is a bit on the nose (plus everybody was warned away from filming them etc, you know, super not suspicious). Willie falls even deeper in love when he watches Alex absolutely killing it at karaoke (after some vodka shots or many). That man can both sing and move when he forgets he is being watched and Willie is not okay!

Alex only drank all the alcohol because he tried to shut up the voices in his head worrying about the whole ‘this wasn’t supposed to get serious’ thing.

But it’s fine, right? Sure …

And then the next day has Willie just about saying out loud that he is in love with Alex, except Alex flees again before Willie can get the words out. First the bathing platform and then the continent. Again. Luke and Reggie are not happy but mostly they’re just worried.

Alex disappears into his cocoon phase, determined to nip the whole thing in the bud even though it seems a little late and he really shouldn’t have let it get that far.

Willie goes crazy over Alex’s radio silence and while Flynn is all in favour of pranking Alex in retaliation and enacting some kind of revenge, Julie suggests he should use his air miles and go to London and maybe talk to Alex first. Flynn suggests he take some eggs with him just in case. He doesn’t of course. I’m not sure you can even import eggs to the UK from America in your carry-on luggage.

Anyway. So Willie flies to London and storms a palace in the rain to confront his prince. It goes pretty much as in the movie, with Alex declaring he can’t afford to have a relationship because of the whole prince thing. And that this has been a big mistake from the beginning and he shouldn’t have done it and Willie was never supposed to fall in love with him. That he was never meant to get hurt in this.

“What about you?” - “It was always too late for me.”

Except Willie doesn’t back down and while he isn’t as forceful as rwarb!Alex in that scene, he uses his pitiable puppy dog eyes, and the shivering and hugging himself to full effect and sadly declares that he will only go if Alex directly tells him to go.

Cue “Don’t make me” and Willie getting the first inkling of hope that Alex will not actually be able to tell him to go. And of course Alex can’t.

Instead he takes him to the Victoria & Albert museum and tells him how he always wanted to bring someone he loved here and dance with him amidst the statues. He starts dancing on his own, slowly, without music, but then Willie pulls up a song on his phone and draws Alex into his arms and dances with him and it is everything Alex always wanted and Alex decides that he cannot lose this. Cannot lose Willie. They’re both determined to make it work somehow and Alex sends Willie home with his signet ring while he receives the key to Willie’s childhood home in return that Willie is always wearing (and hey, isn’t that a neat coincidence that Willie canonically already comes equipped with a key?! ;D)

They keep writing emails to each other, baring their souls, and then of course these same emails get hacked and published for the whole world to read.

In place of Miguel in the movie, I imagine the creepy Hollywood Ghost Club guy maybe worked on Caleb’s campaign and had a crush on Willie but when he made his move on him, Willie declined. He did not take that well, left the campaign and started working as a sleazy journalist who somehow gets hold of a picture or video of Alex and Willie at that karaoke bar and puts the clues together.

And it’s bad for Willie, because it is an invasion of his privacy but at least the world already knew he was also into guys. It just learns how much Willie hates being in the spotlight and misses the freedom of just skating down the street like a normal guy again.

It’s so much worse for Alex though because now his whole careful prince persona is absolutely shattered and everyone knows the deepest secrets of his heart. That he is gay. That he can be a sarcastic little shit (which princes are also not supposed to be). That he loves literature, music and dance. And that he hates being a prince and thinks the monarchy is an antiquated institution. It’s all out there for everyone to read and he is sure that everybody absolutely hates him now.

The palace forbids any communication and they take away Alex’s phone and Willie is once more driven crazy with the radio silence although he is very sure that this time it’s not Alex’s decision and that Alex is doing much worse because he doesn’t even have a supportive family that stands behind him as he does (because Caleb, Victoria and the Molinas + Flynn are all absolutely there for him).

He makes the speech from the movie, confirming the relationship and rallying against the invasion of privacy and Alex’s forced, non-consensual outing, and reminding the world that this has always been at the heart of the queer liberation movement, the right to decide when or if to come out. He braces the journalists and the camera flashes and gives that speech even though he hates giving speeches and hopes that Alex sees it. So he knows that nothing has changed for Willie. That he still loves him and stands by him. Even if the whole world turns against them.

Victoria finally manages to get Alex on the phone for Willie thanks to Shaan and Alex is Very Not Okay and even through the phone Willie can hear that Alex is close to a panic attack again. He immediately leaves for London.

The rest pretty much goes as in the movie. Alex and Willie are called in to talk to the king (Alex’s parents being present and being very judgemental) and His Majesty tries to convince Alex to deny everything and pretend it is all fake and a ruse to destroy his reputation etc yada bla but (since a sister is not at hand) I think Shaan comes in on the heels of the palace guy talking to the king and alerts Alex to the crowds gathering in support outside Buckingham Palace. Alex finally stands up to his parents and grandfather and he and Willie officially declare their relationship in front of the crowd.

They are very happy.

There might also be some election stuff going on but tbh, I’m not all too concerned with that.

Also, at some point, Willie asks Alex if he wants to have kids and Alex says no because whatever happens, his life will never be normal and he doesn’t want that for his kids. He never wanted to give any heirs to the institution of the British monarchy and even considered sterilisation to make sure of that. He might still go through with that. Also, selfishly, if he abdicates and escapes he wants to live the life he always wanted, which is absolutely fine with Willie. They can be cool gay uncles to all of their friends’ kids without tying themselves down too much, rejecting the heteronormative happy ending with 2.5 kids and a picket fence, and instead enjoying their freedom.

So that’s the Willex Red White & Royal Blue AU I won’t write. Except for giving you 4.4k of headcanons for it ;D

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