Work Text:
To be fair, Will was really bad at realising he needed something until it was too late. So it wasn’t his problem that everyone seemed to catch on it before him.
It was like somebody wrote it on Will’s forehead and everyone but him could read it.
The voices in the locker room were louder than usual today. Maybe it was because everybody was exited for the movie night that was scheduled for today. Perhaps it was because it was the end of practise and his teammates were happy to finally shower the sweat down the drain.
Will was looking through his bag for god knows what when Mack nudged his side with a raised eyebrow.
Will let the duffle bag drop to the floor from where he was lifting it to get better access to it.
He sighed and pined his eyes to Mack “What?” He asked flatly.
“You already have a shirt on your lap.” Mack pointed to it.
Will’s eyebrows grew closer together in confusion and he glanced down to where the finger was pointed at.
While Mack’s reaction was kind of valid because Will always dressed from toe to head and was missing a shirt, it wasn’t it.
It wasn’t what Will was looking for.
Not that he knew what he was looking for anyways. He was hoping that he would just pick up some random thing and realise that that was it.
“I’m looking for something else.” Will dismissed and lifted the edge of the bag to start searching through it again.
“Will, there is literally nothing in the bag.” It was Mack’s turn to sigh.
Will saw in peripheral vision as he took off his shirt for whatever reason and lifted it to Will’s face, almost smacking Will with it in the process.
“Will this help?”
Will instantly dropped the bag and almost snatched it out of Mack’s hand, immediately feeling the colour drain from his face as he quickly gave it back to him and stared at him with wide eyes.
“You can take it.” Mack gently nudged it back to him, his eyes never leaving Will’s.
Will slowly took it back, unsure whether Mack meant it or if he was playing the guess-what-happens-next game.
His eyes darted from one green to the other green iris when Mack placed his elbows back on his knees, their eyes on the same level.
Will lifted the shirt to his nose carefully, still cautious and then buries his face in it.
Mack’s scent melting his face features into relaxed, a complete contrast to what it was a minute ago.
He could feel his limbs unwinding, mind quieting and a calm settling over him like a blanket in winter.
“Yo what’ya give to Smitty?” Eky’s voice light with humour.
Will didn’t see what happened but Eky’s tone went from amusement to sheepish and shy in seconds,
“sorry sorry”
“Don’t even look at him, I don’t need Mack to go all beast mode on us dude” Sam whisper yelled.
Mack sighed again, probably rolled his eyes dramatically and leaned closer to Will, only for him to hear when he says softly,
“hey, come on, let’s get you home”
Will turns his head to the source of noise, rubbing his neck over the fabric in progress and he hums out a barely audible ‘okay’ as he tugs Mack’s shirt over himself and throws his own back to the bag.
His mood instantly lifts the moment the smooth material touches his skin. The corners of his mouth lifting in a small smile.
“Good?” Mack asks him, his eyes searching his face, finding a depth to whatever he’s thinking about.
“Yeah.” Will’s smile reveals his gums.
Mack looks him over, after he’s reassured himself that Will is content, he fishes out another shirt from his duffle bag and puts it on.
Will doesn’t end up questioning why Mack has so many shirts on hand since he uses only one of them, even though he should.
Mack stands up, rubs his hands together and grabs their bags, throws them over his shoulder and jerks his head in the direction of the door.
Mack doesn’t wait to see if Will is following before he heads out.
The movie isn’t bad exactly.
Will falls asleep after the first ten minutes, embarrassingly so.
He’s sitting sandwiched between Eky and Mack - more so sleeping now.
His head lols to the side where Mack’s lying down tucked into the L shape of the couch.
It isn’t until he feels a hand trace his waist to pull him in to collide with Mack’s body that he blinks awake.
His eyes flutter open to peer down as Mack’s arm pulls the rest of WIll’s body to his.
Once he’s satisfied with the way Will’s leaning, half on top of Mack, against Mack, he moves a gentle hand to his head and cradles it to his neck.
Will’s eyes fall shut, relaxing and letting his body go wax in his embrace.
He distantly hears the ‘aws’ and ‘grosss’ and ‘shut up’, but they don’t bother him the way they normally do, ‘cause Mack’s here and that’s all that matters.
Will’s so happy and grateful to have a friend like Mack. Even though he’s always going to miss what they could have had if Will was normal.
Will doesn’t know what normal means to him, but he’s sure that he is nowhere near it.
Mack throws a blanket over Will, the blanket shushing Will’s thoughts away and then there’re fingers in Will’s hair - and he never really stood a chance, did he?