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“Why are you divorcing me?”
Of all the things that Will expected to hear from Mack when he answered the facetime, this was not one. It was one of their daily scheduled facetimes that they both insisted on since they knew they would struggle with the time apart (even for a few weeks). The team had made jokes about their co-dependancy, and how they would struggle during the off-season since they wouldn’t see each other every single day. The teasing got worse when it was announced Mack was going to Worlds and Will was not. Will even got a message from Gabe asking if he was going to be okay until Mack got back from Switzerland... and he was being serious (even asked if he should message Leno on his behalf to be nice to Mack, but he chose to turn down that offer). So yes, Will may have put together a little schedule for them to facetime at least once a day, after checking the time difference and the game schedule for Team Canada.
During the calls, he often expected complaints about Sam’s snoring, or how Fraser was still “bullying” him (he’s not, Fraser is just better at coming up with insults), or even times it felt like the referees or even players wouldn’t listen to him. He even expected to hear more praise about Sidney Crosby because you know, it’s Sidney Crosby and Mack will always be a fanboy of his.
But nope. Not this call. Apparently Mack now believed they were getting divorced.
“Hello to you too, Mack” Will rolled his eyes, “I’m great, thanks for asking”
“Answer the question, Smitty” Mack had that pout on his face that all the fans loved as it made him look “precious” and “baby”. They didn’t know, or ignored, it often meant that everyone was about to deal with Mack being a brat, or bratlin as he’d been dubbed. Luckily, Will had gotten pretty good at dealing with this... but being in different continents and stuck on facetime might be a slight issue.
“I have no idea what you are talking about” Will raised an eyebrow, “Did you get a concussion in your last game or something?”
“No! I’m perfectly fine!” Mack groaned, “Now answer my question, why are you divorcing me?”
“Uh, but I’m not...”
“Then why is everyone on the internet saying you are?!”
Will had never been more confused in his life. Well, that may be an exaggeration, but his point still stands. Usually, he’s one of the only people that understand whatever Mack is doing or saying, and is often the unofficial translator for the Sharks during training (a title he takes very seriously thank you very much). But right now, he was pretty lost.
“I thought we agreed you’d stay away from the online comments?”
Now before the don’t baby Mack comments start; he agreed when it was suggested by staff after he joined the Sharks. Like he wasn’t the most active online, but everyone knows that players do lurk online. It’s also known that he often goes into his own head, and can be his own biggest critic. So why would it be a good idea for him to go online and see all the vile comments from people who are just miserable in their own lives and can only feel better by being assholes online?
“I did, but Dick mentioned something and then Fraser offered his condolences” Of course those two were involved in this. “So I had to find out what people were saying and it turns out you’re leaving me!”
And now Mack looked like a kicked puppy, and that did make Will’s chest pang. Damn those green eyes. The more Will looked, the more he realised how flushed Mack's face was, and how blown his pupils were. He'd definitely been drinking, which does explain the dramatics.
“Mackie baby-”
“You’re catholic! I thought you didn’t believe in divorce!” Okay, Will clearly had no control over this conversation. “So that means you can’t divorce me!”
“Mack-”
“No! Until we die, you’re stuck with me! I know our vows!”
“We haven’t said any vows!” Will could feel the beginnings of a headache. Not surprising considering how this conversation was going.
“Doesn’t matter, you can’t divorce me, I won’t allow it”
Will sighed as he ran a hand over his face, “Mackie, how much have you had to drink?”
“Stop trying to change the topic...” Mack was still looking like a kicked puppy as he muttered, “Please don’t divorce me”
“I’m not going divorce you” Will softly said, “I mean, we’re not married yet, but I wouldn’t divorce no matter what”
“Promise?”
“Promise, baby” Mack gave him a dopey little smile at this, and Will couldn’t help but feel slightly relieved he was able to navigate that conversation because he was struggling to understand why this was now his life. How was he meant to know Mack was this dramatic before he got to know him? Like he doesn’t regret it at all, but he definitely suffered from fewer headaches before. Also, he may need to find out why Mack believed they were married... unless Will missed something, he hadn’t even proposed yet. “Now, can you explain why you believed we would be getting divorced?”
“Because... you changed our tiktok name...”
What?
“I’m sorry, what?” Will couldn’t help but feel somewhat dumbfounded by this, “I changed the tiktok name, so that means we’re getting divorced?”
Mack nodded, “That’s what people online are saying, and then Dick joked that the locker room was gonna be awkward, and Fraser said he thought we’d be together forever and we ruined his view on love”
Okay, maybe Will needed to go to Switzerland to kill two Canadians because what the fuck. It’s like they say, he’s not surprised, just disappointed.
“Mackie, I told you I was changing the name because of the brand deal with Ford”
“Oh.. you did?”
“Yeah, their team asked me to since they can’t exactly have a brand linked to you when you aren’t signed with them” Will was quite tempted to make him check their messages, since Mack was all for Will changing the name since he never used it.
“That makes sense...”
“I still have the drafts we made, and I didn’t delete the videos we posted”
“Promise you won’t delete them?”
“I promise” Will smiled, soon spotting some familiar figures in the corner of the screen watching their conversation, “Now, can you put on Dick or Fraser on? I think I need to have a few words with them...”
So yeah... Will knew he was going to have to remind Mack of this entire conversation tomorrow, and reassure him once again that no they weren’t getting a divorce. He also hopes Mack feels somewhat embarrassed about this because he definitely feels some since this may have happened in Sidney Crosby’s presence. He’s dreading the possibility that Mack may have told Sidney of the divorce of their non-existent marriage. But that’s an issue he’ll worry about in the future when the Canada team are much more sober.
Besides, Mack was right; he’s Catholic. They’ll never get a divorce.