Chapter Text
The first time it happened the team was listening to their post-game, pre-kegster pump-up playlist. It was blasting out of the speakers a little louder than usual because even though they won the game the team needed to raise their spirits a little.
They had gone into overtime when Harvard had scored with 10 seconds left in the third. Will hadn’t been on the ice due to a bad hit late in the second but he felt as if the puck had bounced off of his stick into his own goal when he looked at his captain’s expression.
Jack was usually intense and serious but easily handing out congratulations when they were deserved. Will had never seen him look as gutted at an potential loss as he did when the referee signaled a good goal.
Will thinks maybe it’s because his dad had flown down to see him play. If Bad Bob Zimmermann was his father and he had almost lost in front of him he probably would’ve cried, hell he kind of wants to cry anyways. All things considered Will admired Jack for his composure. Especially after it happened for the first time.
Over the quick beat of a song Will vaguely recognized came Jack’s slightly accented voice from where he was bent over tying his skates.
“Hey, Dad, look at me. Think back, and talk to me,” Still in his skates Jack gets up and walks to the front of the dressing room where he usually gives his speeches. The music that had been playing begins to transition into the correct beat for Jack’s singing. “Did I grow up according to plan?”
Will looks around bewildered. He’s been on the team for almost a full season now and Jack has never once broken into song. Holster yes, but not Jack. Nobody else looks fazed though so he turns his attention back onto Jack who is still singing.
“Nothing lasts forever,” the rest of the team get up behind Jack who is now… dancing? Will is so confused. The team follows along to Jack’s moves like it was choreographed. “I’m sorry I can’t be perfect. Now it’s just too late. And we can’t go back.”
Maybe this is some weird flashmob. Will’s not sure why he would be the only player not involved though. Or why the team chose such a sad song.
Jack’s back at his stall again refocused on his laces as he sings the last line to the song, “I’m sorry I can’t be perfect.”
As the beat retransitions into the upbeat tune from before Will realizes that someone is calling for him.
“Dex, man you alright. You zoned the fuck out.” Ollie gives him a weird look.
“What the fuck was that?” Is all Will can get out.
“What was what?”
“Jack?”
“Dude, give him a break it was a hard game.” Wicks pipes up from beside Ollie.
That didn’t answer his question at all but he decided not to push it right now. He warily eyed Jack again as the last line from the song rang in his ears.
Will definitely admired Jack for his composure.
The next time it happens Will is just as confused as the last time.
After the locker room ballad Will had been sure to work his ass off in practice so he could take some pressure off of Jack by having another solid d-man. He also asked Bitty if he could teach him to make maple sugar crusted apple pie because as much as Jack groaned about it not being in the diet plan Will was sure he secretly loved it.
Will had tried to ask his teammates about the song but none of them had any idea what he was talking about. So, he attempted googling the song but the only lyric he remembered was the last one and that was a dark rabbit hole he fell down. Eventually, he consulted the team’s resident walking karaoke machine and Holster almost instantly knew that it was a Simple Plan song. That in itself slightly worried Will, did he have to watch both Jack and Holster? He made sure to thank Holster and tell him that he was a great bro before he left.
Since then Will has been on the lookout for sudden song changes or an out of place box step. When it didn’t happen for a week Will let it go. Maybe he should’ve been on concussion protocol.
Then after team dinner one night he was in charge of drying dishes while Wicks washed them. Ollie was planted at the kitchen table with a textbook open as he talked to the two. During a lull in conversation Will swears he hears music but quickly brushes it off until he hears Ollie start singing from behind him. At first Will is too shocked that it’s happening again to listen to the words, then he’s even more shocked when Wicks takes over. Finally, when they harmonize at what he assumes is the course Will can finally pay attention enough to listen to the lyrics.
“Lucky I’m in love with my best friend. Lucky to have been where I have been. Lucky to be coming home again.”
The two men are now singing to each other as they sway. Even if the song lyrics weren’t a dead giveaway Will could figure out that Ollie and Wicks were in love with each other. His skin prickled in discomfort. They hadn’t told the team, he obviously wasn’t supposed to see this. He felt like he was invading a private moment even if they were doing this with him there. As the song comes to an end the men are back across the kitchen from each other.
Awkwardly, Will clears his throat, “How long have you guys been going out?”
Wicks drops the plate he was cleaning and the crash echoes throughout the kitchen.
“W-what?”
“You know, you’re in love with each other so I just made the assumption that you’re dating?”
“How did you know?”
“Guys, it was pretty obvious I was standing right here while you sang to each other?”
If possible, Wicks looked even more confused than before, “Sang?”
“Yeah, about being in love with your best friend.” Will motions to the spot where they had just been.
“Dude, no we didn’t.”
“I mean technically we are together and in love with each other but we definitely did not sing to each other,” Ollie seemed to have suddenly found his voice.
Will’s mouth snapped shut. What the hell? They had definitely been singing. “Uh, I’m going to go back to my dorm guys I’m not feeling good.” Before they could say anything Dex was out of the kitchen.
He was too busy debating between contacting the trainer or going to the student health centre that he didn’t even say bye to the rest of the team who were in the living room. He decided he would try the student health centre and if they couldn’t help him then he would talk to the trainers in the morning. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that though because his athletic scholarship didn’t allow him to miss too many games.
He had just started walking in the direction of the student health centre when a voice startled him, “Bro, that isn’t the way to your dorm.”
He hadn’t realized that Nursey had been walking with him for the last two minutes until then. “A-yuh, I’m not going to my dorm.”
“Oh.”
The one word sounded weird to Will so he looked over at Nursey just in time to see him pull his chill mask on. “I’m going to the student health centre.”
“You don’t need to explain yourself to me,” Nursey’s tone was suddenly icy and Will knew that was a sign that they were about to have a fight. He didn’t have time for this.
Then a beat started playing from seemingly nowhere. Will really didn’t have time for this. “Ladies let’s go, soldier let’s go. Let me talk to y’all and just you know, give you a little situation. Listen.”
“Stop, please stop,” Will hadn’t tried begging yet and apparently, he wasn’t above it.
Nursey just kept singing and dancing, moving his hips in ways that Will didn’t think he should in middle of campus. “Don’t cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me? Don’t cha wish your girlfriend was a freak like me? Don’t cha?”
Nursey was now right up on Will which is the only explanation for how Will’s hands ended up on Nursey’s arms. He decided to take advantage of the position though and hold Nursey still. “No!”
And miraculously it worked the singing and dancing stopped. Nursey who was back to where he had been when the song started jumped at Will suddenly yelling. “Sorry, I just- I just don’t have time for this I have to go the health centre. See you at practice.”
As he was walking away Will realized that that was the only song that he didn’t understand the implications of it being sung.
The health centre was no help other than giving him three different pamphlets on the dangers of drug use. That in itself stopped him from approaching his trainers because he knows his drug test would come up negative but there is no other explanation for “sometimes people break out into song and dance around me that nobody else seems to hear,” without sounding like he needs constant care.
So, the next morning with a bribery coffee in hand he makes his way to the Haus. The whole way to the Haus and the whole way up the stairs he knows it’s not the best solution but all the other ones end with him going insane.
When he finally raises his hand to knock on the attic door he knows that his fate is sealed. Ransom opens the door looking surprised to see Will. “Hey man, what’s up?”
“Um, is Holster here? I really need to talk to him.”
“Yeah little d-man come in.” Will was so absorbed in his task that he didn’t even remind Ransom how much he hated being referred to as a little d-man which is probably why Ransom decided to give them some privacy.
As soon as the door closed behind him Will started pacing. Holster tracked his movement for a moment before raising his eyebrows.
“This is going to sound crazy, but I’m not.” Probably not the best way to preface something if you want people to believe that you’re sane.
Holster made a go on motion with his hand and Will took a deep breath before launching into his whole story. How he first heard a song after the game with Harvard, the one that Holster gave him the name for. How when he asked around about it nobody seemed to know what he was talking about. How Ollie and Wicks sang a personal song and looked at him like he had three heads when he asked about it. How on the way to the student health centre Nursey sang a song but when Will cut the song off he was in the same place he had been before the song started. And finally, how he had no idea what the hell was going on or how to stop it.
“So, let me get this straight. People are singing to you while not really singing?” To his credit Holster looked like he was holding off judgements until he could fully understand.
“No,” Will sighed and ran a hand through his already disheveled hair, “not entirely. They really are singing to me. Just they don’t seem to remember it but the first song and Ollie and Wicks’ song had meanings behind it that I could easily decipher. I don’t know about Nursey’s song.”
“The songs you could easily decipher, what were they about?”
“Well, you know what the first song is about, not living up to expectations. The second song was personal but it was very clear.”
“Dude, maybe people’s emotions are being portrayed to you through song.”
“As if experiencing other people’s feelings normally wasn’t hard enough.”
“Yeah man, you don’t exactly have the highest emotional intelligence.” Will shot him a pointed glare, “Wait until I tell Rans.”
“You can’t tell anyone! They’ll think I’ve gone crazy, Holster.”
“If I explain it to Rans he won’t.”
“Please, don’t.”
“Fine, unless this doesn’t get any better. So, what did Nursey sing to you anyways?”
Will feels his cheeks heat up at the thought of Nursey grinding his hips to the beat again, “Another thing I'm not good at in this equation, knowing songs. Anyways, I’m not really sure what the song meant but it was about wishing a girl was like him or something.”
Recognition flashed over Holster’s face, “What brought about the song?”
“I was walking to the student health centre because I was seeing people around me singing when they weren’t. I hadn’t noticed that Nursey was walking with me and he said that that wasn’t the way to my dorm. Then I told him I wasn’t going to my dorm and he just started singing.”
“Would you recognize the song if I played it for you right now?” When Will nodded Holster started the exact song Nursey had been singing.
“That’s it! Do you understand the emotion?”
“I do. But I’m not going to tell you it yet.”
“What the heck man they’re my… my songs.”
“Heartsongs?” Holster offered.
“No, just my songs. Now tell me what Nursey’s meant.”
“Patience you must have, my young Padawan.”