Chapter Text
Mack hadn't felt well that entire morning. It started early, when the sun was just peeking through his curtains. He had the most awful headache, the kind that hurt too much to do anything about, but it didn't hurt enough to knock him back out. He sat there, eventually finding the energy to push a pillow over his head to block the bright orange rays from his face. He drifted off again, at least he thought, and by the time he woke up again, he heard his alarm going off. He scrunched his eyes shut tight and reached over to grab his phone. He decided to hit snooze just once, then set his phone down again. He was immediately out cold.
The next time his alarm went off, he snoozed it again. And again. And again. By now, he was twenty minutes behind schedule. When he was grabbing his phone to snooze it again, he caught a glance at a fleeting text from Will.
Good morning babe
Dunkin' today? Mack's eyes opened a little wider.
Mack opened the chat window to text him back.
Good morning
Please
Can u also get me some advil or something? Head hurts so bad
Will liked the message. Mack breathed a sigh of relief. He set his phone down again and went back to sleep.
The next time he woke up, he was being shaken. "Dude, Mack, wake up," Will's voice carried through the darkness. Mack's eyes opened. He blinked away the sleep and looked up at Will. "Hey, sleepy," Will teased. He set down some Advil pills and a glass of water on Mack's bedside table. "You better hurry up, or we're going to be late."
That got Mack to sit up. He would never be late. He tried to fight off the way his head spun as he sat up. He shook it off and grabbed the pills and water, quickly downing them. "Thanks again," he said. He went over to change out of his clothes, pretending to not notice the way Will eyed him. Will came up behind him and wrapped his arms around his waist, then kissed the back of his head.
Mack smiled a little, melting into Will's warm arms. He shivered a little and pressed himself closer to Will.
Will gasped. "Mack, you're so warm!"
"No, 'm cold actually," Mack said. "But you're nice and warm."
"Babe, are you sick?" Will asked.
Mack quickly shook his head. "Wha-no, why would you-I just have a headache, I'm fine," he said. With that, he broke free of Will's grasp and ran into the bathroom to pee and brush his teeth. When he came out, he saw Will frantically texting someone with a worried look on his face. Mack walked over to him and grabbed his hands. "Hey, it's okay. I'm fine," he said. He kissed Will's cheek. "Fine, I promise."
Will didn't believe him at all. "Okay, Mack, sure. You're fine."
With that, they turned to walk out the door. Will was right, they were running late, but they would probably still make it on time. Will also had Dunkin' waiting for Mack in the car, as promised. It wasn't lost on Will that Mack didn't eat most of his food. When Will asked him about it, Mack simply said he wasn't hungry, that the food smelled a little different than normal and it was grossing him out. Sure, Mack was a weird guy. He loved Mack to pieces, of course, but that could not take away from the weird little guy that Mack was.
When they got in to the dressing room, Mack winced a little. The loud sound of everyone talking, laughing, excited for practice made his head hurt a little. He pressed his fingers to his temples and rubbed for a second before quickly hiding any signs of pain on his face. He could do this.
Practice was going well, for the most part. Mack thought the Advil seemed to be helping. His headache was starting to go away. The only issues were his dizziness and his growing sense of nausea.
He visibly stumbled a few times on his skates, with Toff even catching him one time as one of his knees buckled. He swore that he was okay, just got distracted for a second. With his reassuring grin, Toff bought it and let Mack go.
When he was on the bench to catch his breath, he was downing water and leaning against the boards. He took deep breaths, and Will tried to ignore that Mack looked very pale, but also maybe turning a shade of green? He had to be imagining it...right?
He got the answer to his question as Mack quickly stood up and rushed down the tunnel. Warso called after him, but he was too far gone. Warso looked at Will. "Go figure out what's wrong with him."
Will hopped up and briskly walked down the tunnel, although he didn't go far until he saw Mack, leaning against the wall with one hand, and hunched over. He heard the awful sounds of retching and fought back the urge to do the same so he could support Mack. He came up behind Mack and gently put his hand in Mack's hair. "Hey, Macky, it's okay," he whispered. "Just-just get it out." He couldn't hide the fact that he was a little worried.
Soon after, Mack finished puking. Instead, his shoulders started to heave up and down as he sobbed. Will's heart shattered. "Shhh, it's okay," he said, pulling Mack into a hug. He kissed Mack's forehead and let Mack lean on him. Eventually, Mack looked up at him, "I'm gross," he said under his breath.
Will shook his head. "Hey, it's okay. Let's get you to a bathroom, okay?"
He led Mack to a single user bathroom. He had to help Mack get there, as he was now so dizzy he couldn't walk straight. "Will you be okay by yourself?" he asked. Mack nodded. "Okay, do you need new clothes or anything?" He looked Mack up and down. Mack shook his head this time. "Okay, just get yourself cleaned up. I'm going to go tell Warso and some staff what happened so they can clean up and you can go home.
Mack pouted. "Home?"
Will just looked at him. "Mack. You can hardly walk. You aren't going to go out and skate now." Mack only further proved Will's point by slumping against the wall, unable to hold himself up anymore. "Are you sure you'll be okay by yourself?"
Mack nodded. "Yeah...Just...come back soon?"
"Of course," Will said. With that, he kissed the top of Mack's head one more time, then left to give him some privacy. He went back and found Warso, who then told whoever he needed to for the custodial staff to come and clean up the mess before the other players unknowingly walked through it or discovered it. He also insisted that the team doctor go and see Mack.
The team doctor immediately told Mack he had to go home, which just got a teary-eyed Mack. Will wrapped his arm around him. "Hey, it'll be okay Mack," he said. "You'll get well sooner if you rest." The doctor nodded in agreement with Will.
Warso ended up dismissing Will early so he could take Mack home. The two of them were now in the dressing room, much quieter than before. Will got all of his gear off before having to assist Mack, who was just sitting in his stall with his head down. He gently helped Mack get everything off.
After that, the two of them walked out to Will's car. Mack was walking a little more steadily now, but definitely not enough to get back on the ice. When they got in the car, Mack began to cry again. Will held him silently.
-
When they got back to Jumbo’s, Mack almost immediately fell asleep after Will suggested he take a nap. Will smirked to himself. Finally, Mack was listening and taking care of his body.
He decided that with his free time to care for Mack, he would make him one of his favorite meals when he was sick: garlic tomato soup and grilled cheese. Mack had mentioned his mom making it for him and his siblings when they didn’t feel well, and while Will wasn’t much of a chef, he did have Mack’s mom’s phone number.
He hesitated for a moment before calling her. She was sad to hear that Mack was sick, but also very willing to help Will along the process of making the food. An Instacart order and an hour later, Will had the food ready. He sent Mack’s mom a picture, and she approved!
Will gently knocked on Mack’s door. When he opened it, Mack was still asleep. He came over and gently shook Mack to wake him up. “Mack, wake up, I have something for you.”
He was very excited, and proud of himself. This was a new feat for him as Mack’s boyfriend.
Mack stirred a little. “Hmm? What’s-“ he took a breath in and froze. “Smells good,” he whispered. He was still half-asleep.
Will smiled and kissed the top of his head. “I made your favorite, babe,” he said. “Do you want to go out there and eat it, or should I bring it here?”
Mack raised an eyebrow at Will. “Probably out there?” he asked.
Will nodded. “Okay. Do you want help up?”
Mack rolled his eyes. “I’m sick, not dying. I can get up.” With that, he got out of bed, wincing as his joints hurt. He swayed a little, but the rest seemed to have helped. Will smiled at him.
The two of them walked into the kitchen, and Mack’s face lit up when he saw the plate and bowl. “Oh my God, Will…” he whispered. Will eagerly pulled a chair out for Mack. Next to the food were two more Advils and a big glass of water.
Mack eagerly picked up the spoon and put the soup in his mouth. He smiled to himself. “Wow, this is… really good,” he said.
Will grinned. “Thanks, I called your mom and got her recipe.”
Mack’s eyes teared up. “You did? Will…” he put his spoon down and put his arms out. Will got the hint and came over to hug him.
-
Mack had to miss the game a few days later. He was still so dizzy and nauseous that he wasn’t able to skate without being a serious danger to himself. This didn’t stop him from sending Will lots of loving texts, photos of the game on his tv, and selfies of him watching the game, curled up in his blankets with a bowl of Will’s soup.
He blew Will’s phone up when Will scored a goal, and as the celly, he pointed at a camera and made a heart with his hands, then blew a kiss. Mack knew that it was for him.
Once he raised the soup to his mouth, his body immediately rejected it. He felt so nauseous he had to run to the bathroom. He questioned what could be going on, because this was the same soup he’d been eating for a while now, and Will had just made him some fresh this morning. Why did it taste so weird?
He got back to the couch after taking care of that crisis and turned to Google. He typed, “What sickness makes things taste weird?”
The results came back as Diabetes, Kidney Disease, Alzheimer’s… probably safe. The best on the list was pregnancy. He laughed, then thought for a second.
Just to humor himself, he looked up pregnancy symptoms. This time, what came up? Headache, nausea, dizziness, faintness, raised temperature, fatigue, and food taste changes. His heart started beating a little faster. There was no way… right?
To ease his worries, he decided to buy a pregnancy test off of Doordash. He even paid for priority delivery. He needed to rule this out now, before he spiraled and freaked Will out.
He waited anxiously. Normally, he would’ve paced, but he felt too tired to. In fact, he felt quite sleepy. He made a mental note to take a nap after this.
As soon as the test got there, he read the instructions. Well, at least the first half. He knew what to do. Piss in a cup and stick the strip in. Easy enough.
He quickly took care of that, then set a timer on his phone to check back in 5 minutes. He left the test on the bathroom counter and went back to the living room, to lounge on the couch and watch the end of the Sharks game. They won, 3-2. Will had scored the game-winning goal. He sent Will one more text, then cozied in to watch the postgame media. He quickly remembered how tired he was when he felt himself drifting off to sleep. He welcomed it, forgetting what was waiting for him in the bathroom.
He woke up to the door opening. When he opened his eyes, Will’s grinning face was looking down at him. “Hey, babe, how are you feeling?” he asked.
Mack smiled at him. “Better, now that you’re here,” he said.
Will rolled his eyes. “Oh my God, cheesy,” he said. He set his bag down. “You go back to sleeping, I’m going to go take a longer shower,” he said.
Mack settled back into the couch cushions and blankets. “Yeah, okay,” he said with a yawn. Will walked into the bathroom. Mack’s eyes widened. “Wait, Will-“ he stumbled off the couch to follow him.
When he got to the bathroom, Will was holding the pregnancy test. He looked between the test and Mack a few times. Mack’s face turned bright right. “I’m so sorry, I-“
“You’re cheating on me? You got someone pregnant?” Will asked.
Mack looked confused. “What? No, that’s mine- Wait what?”
Will looked up at him. “You’re pregnant? Yeah, okay Mack.”
“Will, I took that earlier, during the third period. I-I fell asleep. It’s positive?” he asked. He looked down at his stomach. There was no way…
Will knew Mack wasn’t lying. He could hear it in his voice. “You’re-What-uh-“ his face turned pale.
Mack’s eyes widened. “Fuck, Will-“ he said. He dragged Will, who was now stumbling like Mack at practice. He managed to get them both to the bed. Will looked like he was going to faint.
Will slowly turned to look at him. “Dude, is it going to come out of your…?” he glanced down at Mack’s crotch.
Mack clapped his hands over his dick. “Dude, I don’t-fuck what do we do? Do we tell the team doctor or like go to Planned Parenthood or-or-“ he stopped talking. They locked eyes. “Toff?”