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If you had asked Tyler a year ago if he would be having a talk with his wife over something he overheard Will say on the phone he wouldn’t have believed you. But he also wouldn’t have believed the kid to be so blatantly homophobic. He’s rolled the moment over and over in his head since the team left their house and now standing in Cat and his kitchen he’s having one of the most heartbreaking conversations with his wife.
With so much going on he had never realized that Will had disappeared off somewhere, not that it was really all that concerning that he did, the boys have free reign of their place anyways. He had gone to grab some more beers from their garage when he heard a voice, he had inched closer to listen in a little bit and figure out who it was. It became very evident that it was Will on the phone with someone, granted he knows he doesn’t have the full context of everything that was being said but words only have so many meanings. Clear as day he had heard Will Smith, in his and Cat’s warm and welcoming home, say, “he’s a fucking faggot who will shove it down and marry a woman if he knows what’s good for him.” He didn’t stick around long enough to hear the rest of whatever rancid shit Will was gonna continue to spew.
And now here he is telling his wife this information, watching the sadness in her eyes grow. She’s clearly heartbroken to hear what someone she’s considered like a son believes and is willing to say about another person to someone else. He’s glad Misa is off hanging with Eky right now because he really doesn’t think he has it in him to dive deeper into all of this with anyone else besides his wife. He pulls her into a hug, his large hand on the back of her head pressing her into his chest. “I can’t believe he would say something like that. I know he’s catholic but I didn’t think he thought like that. He’s so caring and sweet with everyone it feels so wrong to think he would say such vile shit.” She pauses to take a breath and suddenly gasps, “oh my god Mack! Fuck babe, what about Mack? It’ll break him, god, finding out his best friend hates him for who he is. Fuck…” she trails off.
He doesn’t know why it took so long for this to hit, how could he have forgotten the Mack of it all? Mack, who they are pretty sure is gay. Mack, who they are pretty sure has a crush on Will. The same Will who he’s clearly settled for having as a best friend because Will isn’t gay. Will is so not gay that they found out he’s incredibly homeophobic. This is gonna break Mack.
“I think we need to talk with Will, he needs to either change his mind or know he’s not gonna be welcome here.” He says definitively.
“We can invite him over tomorrow, we need to deal with this as soon as possible.”
Cat ended up being the one to invite Will over, he had asked if he could bring Mack and she had told him not to. He asked why, and she had told him they just wanted to chat about something. He can’t stop thinking of all the ways this could go wrong. What if Will doubles down on his horrific words and gets mad at them for confronting him about it? What would that kind of outcome do to Mack?
They don’t have to wait too long to find out. Soon, Will is knocking on their door and Tyler is letting him into their entryway where Will takes his shoes off. The younger man follows him to the living room where Cat is seated on their couch, mug of tea in her hand. Will plops down on the couch, comfortable as always, and looks at them expectantly waiting for them to say something. Cat is the first to break the silence, “Will we want to talk to you about something Tyler overheard you say the other day.” His face tenses, Tyler figures that he’s probably trying to search his memory of what they could be talking about.
He’s fidgeting with his hands, maybe with nervousness, his voice reflects similar things when he speaks, “uh… what did you hear me say?” It’s good Will’s nervous Tyler supposes, that means he at least knows he’s in the wrong for what he’s said. That should hopefully make this talk easier or maybe even mean he was just saying the awful shit to try to get approval from the person on the other side of his phone.
“Will, I heard what you said on the phone. You called someone a slur Will, and then said they would be better off marrying a woman if they know what’s good for them.” Tyler watches as Will becomes paler as he speaks.
“It’s not what it looks like,” he rushes out.
“Will you said a slur. How is that not what it looks like?” His wife questions.
“I can’t really say,” he stammers out.
Tyler looks at him with disappointment and watches as Will curls in on himself, “Will, you have to know how this looks. We really don’t want to believe that you’re homophobic but you’ve shown us nothing that proves otherwise. And Will, I care too much about this team and the people on it to let that stand. If you aren’t willing to change and learn why you’re wrong then I’m gonna half to ask you to step away from being friends with Mack for his own good.” He had practiced his little speech in the mirror this morning.
His speech doesn’t look like it’s gone over the best with Will though. He’s backed himself in the far corner of the couch, burying himself the best he can in the crevice. Tears are leaking down his face, which is all scrunched up. He’s silently sobbing and looks so much younger than he is. “I’m not homophobic I swear!”
“Then can you explain to us what Tyler heard you say on the phone then?” Cat asks him gently.
“It’s… it’s something my boyfriend’s dad told him. I was just tell… telling Grace about it.” He hiccups out.
Oh.
They got this completely wrong and Tyler doesn’t know how to react. His wife has always been better than him at these things and after maybe only a moment of hesitation jumps up from where she’s sitting to comfort the boy. Cat pulls the crying boy into her arms and, just like he did to her yesterday, she pulls Will’s head into her chest and holds him there. “I’m so so sorry Will, we should have gone about this a different way. Don’t worry, we won’t think of you any different.” She continues to comfort him.
Shit. What are they gonna do about Mack? If Will has a boyfriend then that still means Mack is still gonna get his heart broken over this crush. “Does Mack know?” He asks.
“Uh yeah… Mack definitely knows.”
“Are you aware Mack has a crush on you?” Tyler says without thinking. Cat whips around and looks at him like he’s insane, she might be right.
Will’s eyes go wide, and the young man starts stammering. “Uh… yeah… he’s… uh… my-my boyfriend.”
Oh!
“We are trying to keep it a secret so Rick doesn’t get even more mad at Mack over it. He’s… not the happiest with it and we don’t really wanna rock the boat more than we have to when it comes to him.” So it was Rick that Will had been quoting.
Cat’s yet again the one to speak on behalf of the both of them when she says, “well Rick sounds like a dick. Know that you two always have a place in our home.” He’s so glad he married such a perfect woman.