Chapter Text
One day, Macklin Celebrini hoped to be able to say that he learned a lot of positive things from his experiences playing and being team captain at the hockey world championships.
Unfortunately…it didn’t seem like that day would be coming for a long time.
Failures in his young career continued to mount one right after the other: losing the Olympics, no playoffs, no World Championship medal…on and on the failures went, painful and public for the whole world to see.
It was easy for other people to see losses on a big stage and just assume that Mack couldn’t handle the pressure. But the truth was, nobody really knew what he was going through or the high expectations he had for himself.
Mack did his best to stay positive and power through, especially around the media; he didn’t want to give them anything else to gossip about. But when he was alone, it was getting harder and harder to keep up the positivity since the hits kept on coming and the successes were few and far between.
And though it was always tough when he took a break from hockey, for once…Mack was grateful for the time off.
He needed to get out of the public eye, out of his own head and go through a major reset before he faced the next NHL season. Though he was still pretty new to the professional hockey world, he already had a good understanding of the demands of an NHL season and how focused one needed to be in order to be successful.
Plus, with being a younger guy, the media always loved focusing on his age. When he played well they called him a generational talent and a phenom. But when he played poorly they said that he was overhyped and a bust.
The media didn’t care that he was just a guy trying to do his best in the NHL and make his way. They just wanted headlines and it didn’t matter if they were building him up or tearing him down–as long as they got their stories.
And after the Olympics and now Worlds, the media had gotten plenty of stories about the young hockey player.
Mack had always been pretty good at shutting out the noise, but it was harder when he was being interviewed all the time and when the cameras were constantly on him. He understood that the reporters were just doing their jobs…but it was hard not feeling positive about anything.
Which is why a break was absolutely essential.
And for Macklin Celebrini, one of the best places to take a break and refocus was obviously at home in Vancouver with his family.
His parents had always been supportive and he knew that they wouldn’t make a big deal about what had happened at Worlds or put any expectations on him.
He hadn’t been able to spend a lot of time with them after the Olympics because he was still right in the middle of the NHL season. That had been a pretty painful time as well, having such a great tournament then falling short in the last game. And though his parents had tried to be supportive back then as well, Mack had gone back to San Jose pretty quick after the games had ended.
Partly because he had to, but also because the sooner he got back to the regular season, the sooner he could just put everything that had happened at the Olympics behind him. There were questions from the reporters and his teammates of course, everyone wanting to know about his experience and if he was okay after the big loss.
Still raw after such a tough break, Mack had given short, concise answers to all of those questions and focused on moving on to the rest of the season.
That plan had worked well after the Olympics…but when Worlds was over…there was no NHL season to hide behind. It was the off season, which did still mean some training, thankfully, but it also meant a lot of down time.
Like a lot.
The year before, Mack had really enjoyed his summer vacation and the time off. But this year…after everything that had happened, Mack was desperate to be busy…and that just wasn’t happening.
Initially it had been nice to return home to Vancouver and see his family, but they still had their regular lives too. Aiden was still in Boston, Charlie and RJ were busy with practices and games most of the time and his parents worked.
Plus, a lot of Mack’s friends were busy for the next month or so. And yes, eventually he would be able to start training with some of those buddies, but just like everything else…it wouldn’t start for a while.
Which once again, meant lots of downtime.
On paper, having downtime made sense. For most players it was good to take the first few months of the off season to relax and get away from hockey for a while before the demands of the season picked up again.
But after everything that happened over the past few months…Mack didn’t want to take it easy, he just wanted to put everything behind him and get back out on the ice.
Unfortunately…he seemed to be the only one that felt that way.
Everyone else he knew was going on vacation, relaxing by the pool and having the time of their lives.
But every time Mack let himself try and relax…all he could think about was all the ways he had failed over the past few months. But when he was busy, it was easier to push all those negative thoughts away and move forward.
And since he had trouble staying busy…moving forward was not going well.
At first he thought that returning home to Vancouver would be the solution to all of his problems…but very quickly it was clear that was not the case.
And since he didn’t have anything productive to do and not a lot of friends to hang out with, more often than not, Mack found himself moping around the house. He didn’t mean to be so moody and irritable, but when he didn’t have anything to focus on other than his own thoughts and his own failures…it was pretty hard to get out of his own head.
At first, his parents didn’t say anything about it. They just encouraged him to call up friends, go for a run, or spend some time by a lake. Those activities worked at first, but after a few weeks, Mack was acting completely unlike himself and no matter what his parents tried, nothing helped.
Finally, one day, when his siblings were at practice, Rick and Robyn asked to see Mack in the kitchen. He figured they just wanted to talk about something fun he could do to kill time, but was shocked when the conversation went in a completely different direction.
We want you to see a sports psychologist,” Rick said bluntly, hoping Mack would take the news better from him.
Mack blinked a few times in surprise; that had been the last thing he assumed his parents wanted to talk about. “You mean a shrink,” he asked.
“I mean, someone who specializes in sports psychology and working with struggling athletes,” clarified Rick.
Macklin stiffened. He hated the insinuation that he was weak or needed help. Sure, the past few months had been kind of tough for him, but that didn’t mean he needed to go cry to some shrink about what he was feeling.
Over time, Mack knew he would be fine as long as he kept powering through. It’s what he had always done and it had worked pretty well so far. His parents were just overreacting.
“But I’m not struggling.”
“Macky,” Robyn said, speaking up for the first time. “We all know that’s not true.”
“Okay, fine, so I’ve had a couple of bad months,” Mack admitted. “But after a disappointing Olympics and then Worlds…anyone would be bummed out,” he said, justifying his behavior.
“That’s true, and we’re not upset that you’ve had a hard time, it was a lot,” she agreed.
“Then what’s the problem,” Mack asked, tossing his hands up, still not understanding where the conversation was going.
“We’re worried about next season,” Rick said, hoping they could get Mack to see reason. “Losses happen in professional sports and you have to be able to deal with them in a healthy way in order to keep moving forward.”
“That’s all I’m trying to do,” Mack exclaimed. “Move forward.”
“And that’s great sweetie, but there are professionals who can help you do that,” Robyn said, reaching over to put a hand on Mack’s shoulder, which he instantly shook off.
“You guys aren’t listening to me. I don’t need to talk to a professional,” Mack said, his defenses rising.
“We disagree,” Rick said simply. He had assumed that Mack wouldn’t be thrilled, but he hadn’t expected so much of a fight.
“You can’t make me do this. I’m an adult,” Mack insisted, despite the fact that at the moment he sounded like a petulant child.
“Yes, but we’re still your parents and we want what’s best for you. So if you don’t agree to this, we’re going to go to the Sharks and give them our opinions and see how they want to handle the situation. I’m pretty sure they would agree with us.”
Mack paled. “You wouldn’t.”
“Yes, we would and we will,” Rick said, resorting back to the steady, unwavering figure he had been throughout Mack’s childhood.
“This isn’t a punishment Macky,” Robyn said, once again approaching the situation with a kinder, more sensitive approach. “We’re just trying to help you.”
“You would actually go to the Sharks…to my bosses with this,” Mack said, shaking his head in disbelief. “And I don’t even get a say.”
“Macklin–”
But the teenager had heard enough. Mack stormed back upstairs, into his room and slammed the door. He began running his hands through his hair in frustration, pacing back and forth in his childhood bedroom where the walls began to feel like they were confining him.
Didn’t his parents get it? He was trying to move beyond everything that had happened at the Olympics and Worlds…not talk about them more.
And just because his parents insisted that they would find somebody who specialized in working with athletes, didn’t mean that person would actually have any clue what he had been dealing with.
No, what Mack needed was to get out of Vancouver and in a new environment. Leaving probably wouldn’t change his parents' minds about the whole therapy thing, but if Mack could get into a little better mood, then maybe it would be easier to deal with.
But where could he go? He had made plans to see different friends throughout the summer, but not for a few months yet. Though he had some great buddies, no one was going to want him to drop in randomly just because he was trying to avoid thinking about all his failures.
Mack paused. Well…there was one person.
Finally feeling some motivation, Mack pulled his phone from his pocket and began scrolling through his contacts.
If there was anyone who could help him out of this slump and maybe convince his parents that he didn’t actually need to go to a therapist…it was this guy.
He always had Mack’s back no matter what they faced on or off the ice and was literally one of Mack’s best friends in the entire world.
With a smile on his face, Mack selected the contact.
Will Smith.