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Mack knows he can be a bit of a mess, fair enough, right? It comes with the territory of being a wonderkid, a sports-obsessed freak his entire life. It doesn’t help that his father entertains it, and he’d go as far as to say he fuels it. And when he meets Will, he sees someone equally obsessed, equally willing to deal with his bullshit. So sue him for being obsessed with him. He knows he has to lock it down quickly; otherwise, how could someone else come and take his Will away from him? He can’t. He won’t let anyone take Will away from him.
Anyway, who else would watch game tapes with him, deal with his post-loss tantrums, and buy his coffee every morning?
He doesn’t care if people make fun of him. In fact, deep down, under his embarrassed red face from being chirped by the entire team every time Will drives him to practice and every time he makes him play sewer ball with him and only him, he is proud that they associate him with Will. That they are WillMack and not just Will and Mack.
So when Will gets shoulder-checked in the final period by Wotherspoon during a game against the Penguins, Mack sees red.
He won’t get up.
So sue him ok. He fights. He gets the penalty. He scores during the damn overtime.
He lets Warso berate his ears off.
He doesn’t care.
He needs to see him.
He is going crazy.
His shoulders are shaking, his breathing hard, and he doesn’t realise it until Toff puts his hands on his shoulders and tells him to change.
“They moved him to the hospital. I’ll drive you.”
“Wha-”
Suddenly, Mack is in the hospital parking lot, aggressively opening Toff’s car door, Toff yelling at him to wait in the background somewhere.
If Toff were to say something about that day, he would say that Mack is acting like a madman, and Mack would disagree. Or maybe agree in his head. He would disagree for the sake of making Toff mad mostly.
The moment Mack reaches the reception, he is out of breath.
“We-’re here … to see William Smith?” he says after some difficulty.
“He’s in ward 1192, but are you clo-”
Before the receptionist finishes her sentence, Mack, out of the corner of his eye, sees a sign for the room and has already started to run, going deeper into the hallway.
When he finally sees the room, some people are leaving. When they see him, they slow down and look at him inquisitively.
“I-I’m here for Will Smith?”
The doctor looks at him, at his clothes and general demeanor. Someone behind him, probably Toff, is breathing heavily, but Mack doesn’t have the energy to tell them to fuck off.
“Unfortunately, only immediate family is allowed in at the moment. Please wait in the waiting room, Mr…?”
Mack looks at them with wild eyes.
“Celebrini,” he spits forcefully. “And I’m his emergency contact.”
“Mr Celebrini, I’m sorry, but that’s not enough.”
Oh my God, this can’t be happening, thinks Mack.
And from behind the asshole doctor, he spots Will, making a noise of confusion. One of the nurses goes back inside to see him and ….
Mack can see Will, his Will, “I-hate-being-alone” Will, sweet and confused on a hospital bed all alone, and before his brain catches up, his big mouth opens and yells.
“He's my boyfriend!”
Will looks at him, glassy-eyed, mouth open and dazed.
“We're…boyfriends?”
And Mack nods, you know, like a liar.
Someone behind him, definitely Toff, gasps.
…
If one day someone were to ask Mack how he thinks his future will look after finally making it to the NHL, he would say he has a C on his chest and a Stanley Cup in his hands. He would even guess he’d still be with his girlfriend, kissing her after winning games, cuddling, and watching movies on the bed.
He would have never guessed Will.
…
So okay, he fucks up a little bit. He may have exaggerated his relationship with Will a little. Okay, maybe a lot. But it’s not his fault. They’re friends, best friends; they couldn’t keep him away from his best friend.
So when he blurts that out, he doesn’t actually expect anyone but the doctors to take him seriously. He just wants to be in the room with Will and make sure he’s ok. But it goes a bit overboard. He assumes that after the doctor leaves, he can make a big joke with Will, but as always, Mack messes things up.
Toff starts coughing, and the doctor glares at him.
Before Toff can open his mouth, Mack speaks up.
“So you’ll let me in, right?” he says with red cheeks. “Is that family enough?”
The doctor has the decency to look a bit sheepish, but lets him in.
“Mr Celebrini, my apologies, it wasn’t on the file,” he says as he lets Mack through.
Mack ignores him to look at Will, whose shoulder seems to be in bandages. He looks tired and confused. He has a large bruise on his head, and he is quivering as the nurse checks his eyes with a little light.
“He’s confused,” the doctor unhelpfully supplies from his side.
“I can see that.”
“No, I mean, he seems to have issues remembering things. When he wakes up, he doesn’t remember the date or what he has for breakfast.”
“What?!” Mack is panicking now. He looks at Will, moving closer until he can almost touch him. Will squints up at him, confused.
“Mack...?” he says, his voice rough. “Baby?” He says it like he is tasting the words for the first time as he hooks his free hand softly with Mack's.
Mack makes a strangled noise. He is about to say something before the doctor interrupts.
“Mr Celebrini, don’t worry, he remembers people but doesn’t remember exactly everything about them. But the good news is that this should be temporary.”
Mack violently turns around, wild-eyed and red in the face. “How-how long will this last?!”
“It will last a month or so.”
“A MONTH?”
“Shhhhh. Concussion patients need peace and quiet. I will get the papers for you to sign, Mr Celebrini, and let’s talk about his treatment plan after.”
“Oh, okay, sorry-” before he can answer, everyone leaves.
The only people left are him, Will, and Toff.
And they are looking at him.
“We’re together?” Will says again, his eyes filled with hope.
Mack, in a moment of clarity, is about to go “GET PRANKED BRO”, and gleefully explain everything until Toff suddenly holds his shoulder again, snapping Mack out of it.
“Oh, Mack, I’m so sorry,” He looks at him with tearful eyes,” No wonder you are so distraught when Will goes down. I have no idea you two are dating.”
Oh fuck.
“Um.”
Mack looks at the tearful eyes of Toff and at the sweet and hopeful look on Will's face and dumbly replies. “Well, it was a … secret.”
“Oh, Mack, but you know Cat and I would never tell anyone. You guys can trust us.”
Mack makes a face. He wants to touch the nape of his neck, but Will’s fingers on his hand stop him. He really doesn’t want to stop touching Will.
“Right. Um. I’m sorry, Toff.”
…
The medical team sends Mack and Will off with Will’s discharge papers and a massive file of instructions for Mack to read. Toff drives them to the hotel and helps Mack take Will back to their room. Will is still unstable and can’t walk that well, as his hips also hit the ice quite hard.
To be honest, Mack is also feeling a bit unstable. Maybe he should take some of Will’s pills that they picked up at the pharmacy 20 minutes ago. Mack shakes it off. He has to be strong for Will. His Will, who always takes care of him. He can give back.
He helps Will to his bed and takes a seat on the other bed. Taking his shirt off, he huffs as he falls on the bed. Next to him, he can see Will is doing something, making a noise in the back of his throat.
“Will, do you, like, need any help?”
Will looks at him like he’s dumb.
“Yeah, Mack, I would hope my boyfriend helps me get ready for bed after an injury.”
Mack gets up. “Oh shit,”
So Mack does help him. Helps him clean up after himself and change his clothes. It feels weird for Mack, who kind of realises it’s probably the right time to tell Will he was lying in the hospital. He just didn’t want him to stay at the hospital overnight while he waited for his parents to fly in. It should be easy. He can even say he is doing a noble thing, you know; he is just doing what a best friend should do. But when they enter the bathroom so Will can brush his teeth, Will winces at the bright light, and everything Mack wants to say dies in the back of his throat. He takes Will’s uninjured hand and guides him back. Will turns to look at him, confused, but Mack just shushes him. He goes back inside the bathroom and takes his toothbrush and puts the toothpaste on it. He also takes a cup of water.
“Here, brush”
“Mack, wha-” but before he can say more, Mack shoves the toothbrush in his mouth, brushing his teeth for him. Mack knows he’s probably really red right now, but he doesn’t care; he helps him finish and returns everything to the bathroom.
“Go to bed.”
“Mack,” Will says, but Mack ignores him.
He guides him to the bed too and decides to just fuck it. Let’s deal with this tomorrow. He gets in and feels Will's body heat next to him, his shoulder strap brushing his skin.
“Is this… what we used to do?” Will asks.
Before Mack can answer, he can hear the snoring. Will is already asleep.
…
The next few days are a daze for Mack (who is not the one with the concussion). They get on a flight to San Jose. The team glance worryingly at them and whisper amongst themselves, and Mack wonders maliciously if Mr “you can trust me” Toffoli lied and snitched about them to everyone.
He keeps his head down, mostly focusing on Will, who seems to have taken this new role of Mack being his “boyfriend” in stride. After the first night of Mack helping him, he has upgraded him to his slave, making him do everything. Mack carries all their bags at the airport, buys him drinks but not caffeine because the care packet says no caffeine, even though Will pouts and gives him puppy eyes, which makes him wanna crawl into a hole and die.
Anyway, they are back at the Marleaus, and Mack hasn’t left his side in four whole days. Not that he wants to, obviously.
At some point, Will talks to his parents and reassures them that he is okay. He must've told them that they are dating or something because a few hours later he gets a slew of texts from the Celebrini Siblings chat about how betrayed they are when they find out he is dating someone from Grace, of all people; mad that Smith’s sister knew before them.
He ignores those messages and focuses on making lunch for himself and Will.
He also gets a separate text from Aiden, saying “I KNEW IT.”
He pointedly ignores that too.
But obviously he can't ignore everything, and that evening, while Will is napping and safe, he is strolling through Instagram when he gets jumpscared by a call from his father. His phone almost falls on his face before he swipes to accept.
“Hello.”
“Mack, why am I hearing about you dating someone from RJ?”
“Um.”
“Mack.”
“Ok but look at my performance.”
Rick is flabbergasted.
After a beat, Rick finally replies.
“So you’re… gay now?”
Mack's head swirls with all the information he's ever gleaned from stalking his own name on socials, and he smartly replies.
“I’m, like, bi?”
Rick humphs, and through the phone he can hear him release air through his nose.
“What’s with the tone? You’re not sure?”
“No, I’m sure. I am bi.”
Mack vigorously nods, even though his dad can’t see him.
“Well, I’ll have to talk to the agents about this then. We can’t exactly let this get out. Now I hope you have taken the courtesy of making guys also sign the NDA we drafted for you before you-”
Mack, red-faced, interrupts him.
“Dada, stop, there hasn’t been anyone!”
“Oh, I suppose Will is the first. Makes sense. I knew you two would be close. That’s good”.
Mack is a blubbering mess, but he can’t deny it. Otherwise his dad will find out. Worse, his dad will probably tell Will he was lying the whole time.
He’d probably lecture him about integrity or something.
“I have to go, I need to check on…”
“Yeah. Go see your boy. Don’t forget to send me his recovery plan, by the way, when you get it.”
Mack’s heart lurches at the ‘your boy,’ and he quickly ends the call.
…
Mack groans. “I don’t want to watch The Princess Switch. We’ve seen it so many times.”
Will shoves him, making him fall to the side of the couch.
“Exactly, and afterwards we can watch the sequels, and I’ll make you banana bread if you behave during the whole movie.”
Mack sits up straight. “Really?” he says as his eyes twinkle. He hasn’t had Will’s banana bread since, well, the accident.
He snatches the remote from Will and starts up Netflix. Cozying up to him, they both share a blanket as the movie starts. Mack, for once, keeps quiet, instead focusing on trying to fuse as much into Will as he physically can. At some point in the night, they’re head to head, and if Mack were to turn, he could probably kiss Will. He feels Will’s eyes on him, his hand steady on Mack’s waist. And he can feel the rumbles of movement as Will is about to turn, just as Stacy is about to kiss the prince. But before he can make a mistake, like kissing Mack, for example, Mack turns his head to dive into Will’s chest, clinging to his hoodie.
Will doesn’t move, frozen. After a few minutes, he moves to change to the next movie.
“This is nice,” Mack says. “I like hanging out with you.”
Will’s eyes go soft. He whispers back, muffled by Mack’s hair.
“Me too.”
…
He wakes up with their limbs tangled, Will on top of him. He’s looking at him with an intensity Mack doesn’t understand.
“Mack,” Will’s tone is hard.
Oh fuck.
“What the fuck.”
Ok he can fix this.
“Why did you lie to me? Do you think this is funny”
Ok he can’t fix this.
“No, no, baby, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. I just wanted to see you.” Mack is crying now. Which is stupid because Will is on top of him and he’s pressing so hard that Mack can’t breathe.
“Mack,” but Mack isn’t listening to him anymore. He can feel as Will moves his head to be against his shoulders. Mack is hiccuping, shivering hard as Will brushes his hand in his hair, calming him down like he’s a toddler.
He can feel Will’s lips on his head as he speaks, “Mack, calm down. It’s ok.”
But Mack can feel how Will's injured arm is holding him up so he can hold Mack properly, and he can feel the way it’s quivering, and Mack begins sobbing even more. He just feels so bad. He truly fucks up, and Will is always so nice to him, and he couldn’t even do this one thing right.
“Mack,” Will says for what feels like the hundredth time, but Mack just clings to him, his arm now holding Will down so they’re even closer and alleviating Will’s sprained arm.
“Imsorryimsorryim-” He babbles on. He’s suddenly hit with clarity as he looks up at Will, who’s looking devastated, his eyes glossy. He doesn’t want to let Will go. He has to let Will know he can’t let him go. “You can’t leave me, please. Will, please.”
“Mack, are you in love with me too?”
“Too?” and Mack gets cut off with a kiss.
…
Extra:
Will and Mack are breathing hard, and Will is looming over Mack, as the fluorescent light on the ceiling highlights his curls, making Mack hysterically think of an angel. Will’s necklace dangles in front of him, and Mack is absentmindedly playing with it until he notices that Will is using his right hand.
“Your arm.”
“It’ll live”
“But my Dad said.”
“Stop talking about your Dad while I’m on top of you.”