Chapter Text
Will’s first real fight with Mack snuck up on him one night late in September.
Just a few weeks prior, they had spent two whole days in bed celebrating their anniversary, with only mild pit stops to play rock-paper-scissors about which poor sucker had to do the nudie run down to the kitchen for sustenance.
This week, though?
Will was in a ritzy hotel room in Los Angeles, listening to Mack’s voicemail greeting over and over and over.
Will and Mack had fought before, little squabbles about dumb, petty things, often brought on by lack of sleep or distance while Mack was on a long road trip.
These tiffs often ended in a short cooling-off period and a sheepish apology, the catalyst throwing their best puppy-dog eyes at the victim and snuggling their way through an apology.
They had never fought like this before.
Will should have seen it coming. Mack had been moody for days, the pressure of a new season and impending time apart while Mack skated around the country made him more needy and irritable.
Will was normally so in-tune with these changes in the wind, eager to pour extra love into Mack’s leaking cup, but this time he was distracted.
Long hours in the office, work dinners, and networking events were zapping more than their fair share of his time. The company was going through an acquisition, and the ever-charismatic Will had been appointed chief schmoozer.
He had also been busy helping run errands for the Fergusons as Pete recovered from surgery and Maryann was slammed with the diner.
On top of this, his sister Grace was now living in their guest room while she house-hunted after transferring to San Jose to continue medical school.
And then there was Mack.
Will’s cup was overflowing, and Mack’s portion was seeping over the sides.
The morning before Mack had flown to Vegas for Media Tour, they had planned to take Breakfast on a long walk through the hills. But as Mack and Breakfast mosied along the path, Will followed a few feet behind, talking the manager of the New York office off a proverbial ledge as he dealt with a full system meltdown.
Mack offered him a sympathetic smile as they returned to the car.
“You owe me!”
Unfortunately, when he tried to collect on this debt a few hours later, Will was too busy digging further into his own grave to deliver.
“You aren’t gonna fuck me the whole time she is here?” Mack’s eyes bugged out of his skull at the thought.
“Not while she is within earshot. I think my body will just shut down!”
Mack flopped back into the down comforter with a huff, and just a few hours later, he was on a plane to Vegas while Will was holed back up in his office, ignoring texts and slowly pulling every one of his hairs out.
The straw that broke the camel’s back arrived just two days later.
Will had spent the night in an uncomfortable tuxedo, shaking strangers’ hands and drinking far too much tray-passed champagne for someone who didn’t have time to eat that day.
Escaping to the men’s room to try and sober up, he took the time to check his phone for the first time in a few hours.
Mack: landed ❤️
Mack: you want me to pick up dinner on the way home?
Will: HIIIIIII BABYYYY
Mack: 😂 hi
Will: i want you
Mack: You can have me
Will: and burritosssss 🌯
Mack: Burritos too.
Will: and a riddeeee
Mack: A ride from where?
Will: valenciiiiiaaaaa
Will: work thing
Will: everyone is being very social
Will: i may have had some drinks
Mack: How many is some?
Will: idk
Will: numbers are hard
Will: come get meeeee 🥰
Mack: Okay.
Mack: I’m coming to get you.
Will: YAYYYYYYYYY
Will: my herooooo ❤️
Will tried his best to power through, but as the alcohol hit his brain in chaotic waves, he knew it may be time for a tactful Irish goodbye.
He wasn’t sure how far away Mack was, but he could wait outside in the safety of not being anywhere near his boss in this state.
As he mentally willed his left foot in front of his right, he felt himself sway into the broad shoulder of a fellow tuxedo.
“Whoaaaa there, you good?”
Deep laughter rippled over him as he tried to focus his eyes.
“I am so sorry. I think this champagne has gone straight to my head.”
“No, no, you’re pulling it off really well.”
Will couldn’t help but laugh, pausing only slightly at the deep brown eyes scanning across him.
“Taylor.”
A tanned hand reached forward for his own.
“Will…”
“Smith!”
The man’s face lit up with recognition.
“I have been meaning to connect with you. I wanted to pick your brain… maybe not in its current state?”
Will shook his head frantically.
“I am so sorry. I am normally much more put together than this! I think I forgot to eat and then the champagne and the…”
Will flapped his arms as Taylor looked on, amused.
“Listen, I’ll cut you a deal. Let’s go and follow that man wielding a tray of annoyingly small hors d’oeuvres, shuffle down a few, and then I can help you find an Uber. You can pay me back next week with a working lunch where I can actually pick your brain about this new software?”
Will smiled, thankful that he had stumbled into an apparent guardian angel.
“Deal!”
And that is how Will found himself laughing raucously, blond curls thrown back, as Taylor’s strong arm braced his midsection, weaving him toward the curbside, passing small skewered meats between them.
“Here, hold this while I book your Uber…”
Taylor held a kebab in front of Will’s mouth, which Will’s hungry mind accepted eagerly.
“Hopefully someone is at home to collect your drunk ass on the other side!”
“Yeah, my… MACK!”
A memory flashed before him, promises of love and burritos.
Will swung his head around, and sure enough, there was Macklin idling near the taxi cab, eyes locked on Will.
“Thanks… I… I’ll email you about lunch, but I better…”
Will gestured toward the waiting car, shoving the empty skewers into Taylor’s confused hands before crossing the parking lot in four big strides.
“Babyyyy…”
Will dipped a playful toe in the water.
A stone-faced Mack, hood pulled tight around his face, meant maybe this was an incorrect read.
“Hi. Burrito.”
He dropped a small foil-wrapped football across the centre console before ripping the car into park while Will’s door was still wide open.
“That’s odd. It’s a little cold…”
Will’s stupid, stupid brain blurred out as he sunk his teeth in for the first bite.
“Well, it’s been sitting in the car for the last 45 minutes waiting for you…”
Mack huffed, taking a corner slightly more aggressively than normal.
Will caught his own phone in the corner of his eye.
And sure enough, several messages spanning several minutes.
Mack: I’m outside
Mack: Will?
Mack: I’m parked out front
Mack: You okay?
“Baby, I’m so sorry…”
Will dug into his back pocket for that trusty pair of puppy-dog eyes, but even at a red light, Mack’s gaze stayed far away.
“It’s fine. Can we not? I’m really tired, Will.”
So they drove in loaded silence, Mack ripping the door open the second he parked, shutting the bedroom door before Will had even reached the front step.
Will had an early flight to LA that next morning for a work event, and that is how he found himself here, stone-cold sober yet already hungover with an aching heart.
Will: hey
Grace: hey
Grace: how’s LA?
Will: good
Grace: that’s a lie
Will: okay it’s fine
Will: work is just insane
Grace: mhm
Will: can i ask you something?
Grace: you just did
Will: very funny
Will: how’s Mack?
Grace: …
Will: what?
Grace: you really want me to answer that?
Will: yes
Grace: he’s quiet
Will: quiet how?
Grace: like
Grace: really quiet
Will: is he mad?
Grace: Will
Will: what?
Grace: you already know he’s mad
Will: I know he’s mad at me
Will: I just don’t know how bad it is
Grace: pretty bad
Will: fuck
Grace: he’s not being mean or anything
Grace: he’s just keeping to himself
Will: has he been eating?
Grace: yes
Will: sleeping?
Grace: probably
Will: “probably” isn’t very reassuring
Grace: I don’t exactly have a surveillance system installed in your bedroom
Will: thank you for that clarification
Grace: Anytime!
Will stood on the stone driveway, exhaustion deep in his bones, the long work hours not aided by the restless nights of sleep his ongoing freeze-out from Mack was affording him.
Will and Mack had been together for over a year, and this was the first time this beautiful white house, encompassed in love and flowers, felt unwelcoming. The glow of orange lamplight seeped out of several windows, normally a beacon of home.
“Baby….” Will yelled tentatively as he crossed the threshold.
“Hi, sweetheart!” Grace giggled from the lounge room, cross-legged on the cushy rug, surrounded by heavy textbooks.
Will rolled his eyes as he abandoned his suitcase by the door and fell face-first into the couch.
“Long day?”
“Long life.”
Will was positive he could hear Grace roll her eyes at his dramatics.
“Aw, poor Willy, it must be so hard being so smart and handsome and loved and successful! While some of us are drowning in assignments and fighting for our lives on Hinge, you are crushing it at work and coming home to your hot NHL-playing boyfriend. Wah, wah, wah…”
Will turned his head to watch her little comedy bit, taking in her cozy flannel pajamas and odd-looking silky noodle contraption entangled around her hair. She looked so comfy and at home here, and Will couldn’t help but smile.
“Hey, speaking of… is Mack here?”
Grace shrugged as she offered him her most reassuring smile.
“I’m not sure… haven’t seen him tonight.”
Will glanced over to the kitchen, normally alive with cooking and conversation, instead dark and quiet.
“I’m gonna go unpack….”
“Do you wanna talk about it?”
“Not really….”
Will gave his big sister a quick shoulder squeeze as he went to collect his bag from the entryway and pull it up toward the bedroom, his eyes catching on the words of love letter number #3 as he climbed.
I can’t wait to come home to you forever and ever and ever.
As Will opened the large double doors to the bedroom, the scent of oud washed over him, the room glowing under lamplight and the made bed slightly ruffled from an afternoon nap on top of the covers. The tears hit him like a train, silently streaming what had been held in for days.
It all felt so stupid.
The scariest part was that there was no big fight he could trace the coldness back to, instead just a slow cracking between them that grew large enough for a cold breeze to settle in.
This wasn’t them.
They were warmth and joy, love.
As Will began throwing the contents of his suitcase into the hamper, he felt himself drawn to the sock drawer on his side of the closet, unfurling his ugliest pair of Christmas socks that Mack wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole if he ever reached in to borrow a pair.
And popped out the ruby-red box.
Huddled on the floor of the large walk-in, he spun the simple gold ring between his fingers, rubbing it like a lucky penny.
“I’ll do whatever it takes…” he muttered to the universe. “I’ll be anything he needs…”
The closet door being pushed slightly more ajar startled Will from his prayer, his heart immediately rocketing into his throat.
The large chocolate eyes beaming down at him instantly caused him to relax.
“Breakfast. You scared me, baby!”
He pulled the giant lovable pup down on top of him as he spread out on the closet floor, enveloped in her unrelenting affection.
“Where is Daddy, my love?” he pondered as he scuffled her belly for a moment longer. “This is his. What do you think?”
The gold ring was placed on her wet black nose, her eyes crossing to try and catch a glimpse.
“I love it too!” Will offered with a nod before returning it to its home in the sock drawer and finally lifting himself off the closet floor.
A quick, albeit scalding-hot shower later, and Will was back in the closet pulling on his coziest sweats, desperate to feel engulfed in the comfort he was so desperately craving, when a light from the garden caught his eye.
The pottery barn.
Glowing amber amongst the darkened trees.
Suddenly overcome with stupidity that he hadn’t thought of it sooner, Will shucked on a stray pair of Birkenstocks and headed down through the now-quiet house, across the garden they both loved so much, and pulled at the wooden door, his hand touching the childishly carved MC + WS 4 Eva.
He found Mack hunched over the small table at the back of the shed, headphones covering his ears, humming softly as he worked on glazing a small flower pot.
Will studied the ridges of his muscled back as those pesky tears threatened to make their second appearance of the night. A few tentative steps and his palm was resting on the aforementioned back, much to the heart-stopping gasp of its owner.
“HOLY FUCK!”
Mack’s knee smashed against the tabletop as he frantically looked over his shoulder at Will like a startled raccoon.
“Baby….” Will watched Mack tap a palm to his racing heart. “You scared the fuck out of me!”
“Sorry, sorry, sorry….”
Feeling emboldened by Mack’s casual pet-name use, he plonked down onto the stool, encompassing a standing Mack’s body in his arms and tucking him into his grasp, desperate to thaw some of the air that had been hanging between them.
The feeling of Mack’s hands running through his curls sent those waterline tears down his cheeks instantly, dampening Mack’s hoodie.
“Do you remember when we stood right here last year and you told me you needed me?” Will heard the words tumbling from his tear-damp lips before his brain was even aware.
“Will….”
“I need you more, Mack. I need you so much. Tell me what you need me to do and I’ll do it. Just please don’t tell me to leave….”
Will felt warm, paint-covered hands grasping his cheeks and pulling him away from the warm cocoon of Mack’s chest.
“Baby….”
He felt the feather-soft finger strokes of tears being scooped from his cheeks as his favourite eyes in the world walked laps of his face.
“I don’t want you to leave.”
Will watched the crease in his brow deepen and felt an unrelenting urge to massage it away.
“I never… ever… ever… want you to leave.”
Mack gifted every word with its own feather-light kiss to Will’s lips.
“I am tired. I’ve been feeling moody and lonely, and you’ve been busy and, like, that’s okay! I get busy too! I don’t want you to think you can’t want things of your own. I’m so proud of you and what you have been achieving, and then I get mad at myself for selfishly wanting more of your time and li—”
Mack’s rambles were cut off by Will’s lips crashing into him, desperate and wanting.
“Sorry….” He smirked. “Continue…”
Mack rolled his eyes.
“I’m sorry for being needy.”
Will’s head was shaking so vigorously he couldn’t be sure it hadn’t affected the local jet streams.
“Being needed by you is my favorite thing in this world. I’m sorry I have been a shit boyfriend this past month….”
Those poor jet streams felt the sudden rattle of an opposing wind as Mack’s head shook with an equal amount of force.
“Never! You are perfect!”
Soft lips pecked lightly at the tip of Will’s nose, and he couldn’t help but laugh.
“We are so disgusting.”
“Hey, don’t talk about my baby like that!” Mack jokingly shook Will’s smooshed cheeks between his fingers.
“Seriously though, Mackie… I’m sorry for losing focus this last month. I never, ever want you to feel overlooked….”
Mack’s hazel eyes nodded down at him, big and blinking and warm.
“I’m sorry for being moody….”
Will couldn’t help but lean in to kiss his perfect little moody mouth before untangling his arms from around Mack’s waist to hold a slender pinky in front of his nose.
“Pinky promise I’ll be better….”
Will felt his pinky encompassed in the warmth of Mack’s mouth.
“Ew, sicko, you are doing it wrong….” Mack giggled as he popped his lips off and replaced them with his own pinky wrapped perfectly around Will’s.
“Pinky promise I’ll be better!”
The air in the small pottery shed felt lighter than it did when Will originally snuck in, and the sight of Mack’s smiling face so close and tangible again made every knot in his body finally unclench.
The sound of soft kisses as mouths became refamiliar was broken by Will’s scowling face.
“Also, you looked so fucking hot in those Lululemon pictures…” Will smirked. “Brokenhearted and bricked up at LAX was cruel and unusual punishment.”
The full-body laughter erupting from Mack made the whack to the back of the head almost worth it.
Will: baby
Mack: yeah?
Will: what are you doing tonight
Mack: below deck
Will: …
Mack: grace got me into it
Will: 🙄
Mack: i’m on season 6
Will: Mack
Mack: what
Will: I was hoping to steal you for the evening
Will: dinner
Will: wine
Will: candles
Will: I will even wear a button down
Mack: why
Will: because I’m trying to be romantic
Mack: what about below deck?
Will: would a handwritten love letter help persuade you?
Mack: probably
Will: excellent
Will: i’ll write you one
Mack: okay ❤️
Will: Grace
Grace: what
Will: you are ruining my sex life
Grace: good morning to you too
As the fall weather settled over San Jose, Mack got busier with hockey and Will stayed busy with work, yet the effort they had promised to pour into each other remained steady and constant.
Mack spent his only afternoon off in a four-day homestand lugging pumpkins around the property just because it made the older boy smile under the cheesy witch’s hat he had plopped on his head at the checkout and refused to take off.
Will flew to Montreal to spend an off day under the sheets at the Four Seasons, pushing his return flight home back three separate times under Mack’s manipulating mouth, cutting it so close he had to speed straight from the airport into his 8 a.m. all-hands meeting.
While Mack was on the road, Will had Grace, and while Mack was home, Will was wishing Grace was never born so he could spend some precious alone time with his man.
It was perfect.
Everything was perfect.
And on a random Thursday in October, Will felt overcome with the need to share it.
“I’m going to ask Mack to marry me…”
Will let the words hover above the walking track he was circling in an effort to assist Pete with his rehab.
“Oh, William!”
He felt a palm clasp his shoulder and shake him with spirited vigour, pulling a smile to his lips.
“When? Oh my gosh, I’m so happy for you. Who knows? Can I tell Maryann? No, no, I wouldn’t. Oh my gosh!”
Will felt the joy ripple off him as his pale blue eyes got glassy at the thought.
“Petey, are you crying?” he needled, pulling the older man under his arm for a sideways hug as they hobbled along the track arm in arm, Will answering the questions that were fired at him in rapid succession.
He wasn’t sure yet.
Just you… and Mack’s parents.
Yes, you can tell Maryann, but I want to be there for it too!
“Oh my gosh, you asked his parents?”
Will was almost sure if Pete hadn’t just had a hip replacement, he would have clicked his heels together with joy.
Will spent one full lap of the track retelling Pete, in great detail, about the most nerve-racking day of his life: driving up to the Celebrini home in Livermore, a loaf of homemade sourdough and a tray of blueberry muffins in hand, to let the elder Celebrinis in on his secret.
“I love Macklin, so, so much…”
The tears were already prickling at his eyes as he looked at Rick and Robyn’s smiling faces, backlit by the setting California sun as they ate al fresco.
“It hurts sometimes, how much I love him, and I know that sounds so cringey and dumb, but it’s also honest. I can feel how much I love him in my ribs sometimes…”
Robyn’s tears did very little to stop his own from falling.
“I know you don’t own Mack, and this isn’t exactly conventional, but I’m a traditional man, so I’m here to ask for your permission to ask Mack to marry me…”
In that moment, as he studied the teary, smiling faces of Mack’s parents, he couldn’t help but see every little feature they had poured into Mack: Rick’s eye placement, Robyn’s smile and colouring.
The two faces staring at each other, beaming, Rick pulling Robyn in for a teary cuddle and forehead kiss, were so much of Mack.
“Of course, Will… of course…”
The only words he needed as he was enveloped into a Celebrini sandwich, which turned comically into Will and Robyn quite literally jumping for joy as Rick kept them tethered to the ground like a child wrangling two overzealous helium balloons.
Pete chuckled at the memory.
“And to think I got to witness the very first page of the love story!”
Pete dabbed at his cheeks with a hanky he had pulled from who knows where.
“You lil sap, Petey!”
“Hey now! You don’t stay married for 62 years because you are afraid of loving love, William! Now come on, my hip is killing me, and Maryann is expecting us for dinner soon!”
Will extended his arm to help Pete up the stairs towards the parking lot.
“Oh, and William? Please make sure Maryann is sitting down when you tell her. I can’t have your marriage ending my own!”
Mack: Dear Mr. Smith,
Will: oh no
Mack: You are formally invited to join me for an evening of pregame beverages at Birdy’s
Will: oh???
Mack: Followed by a romantic evening under the stars at our residence
Will: OUR RESIDENCE
Mack: Yes
Will: who are you
Mack: Please refrain from interrupting until I have finished the invitation
Will: sorry
Mack: Thank you.
Mack: Dress code: handsome
Will: finally a dress code I can get behind
Mack: Dinner will be provided
Mack: I have also arranged accommodations for Grace for the duration of the evening
Will: …
Will: what
Mack: She has been booked into a spa
Will: where
Mack: Far away
Will: how far is far
Mack: Very
Will: Mack
Mack: Several hours
Will: YOU SENT MY SISTER AWAY
Mack: I sent your sister to a luxury spa
Will: you planned this?
Mack: Yes
Will: you are insane
Mack: I prefer thoughtful
Will: what happens after dinner
Mack: We sit outside
Will: okay
Mack: Drink wine
Will: okayyy
Mack: Look at the stars
Will: 🥹
Mack: Maybe go swimming
Will: swimming
Mack: Maybe
Will: Macklin Celebrini
Mack: What?
Will: are you suggesting we go skinny dipping?
Mack: I didn’t say that
Mack: I said maybe swimming
Will: naked swimming?
Mack: Depends how brave you are
Will: I am suddenly extremely brave
Mack: Thought so
Will: what time is this very formal engagement
Mack: Birdy’s at 6
Will: and after?
Mack: Home whenever we feel like it
Will: no Grace
Mack: No Grace
Will: wine
Mack: Wine
Will: stars
Mack: Stars
Will: skinny dipping
Mack: We’ll see
Mack: See you at 6, Mr. Smith
Will: Looking forward to it, Mr. Celebrini
Mack: ❤️
Will: ❤️
“I feel like a little oyster cracker…”
The sound of Macklin’s giggles radiated around the backyard as he floated on his back, wine-drunk and content in a haze of steam rising off the pool.
Will dangled half out of the pool, reaching for one of the stray bottles of wine they had dumped in a pile of towels nearby, yelping slightly as he felt teeth sinking into his toe as Mack floated by.
“Can I tell you something, Willsy?”
Will felt a firm body push up against the length of his back, arms encircling him to float him back toward the deep end as he balanced two wine glasses above the water.
“I didn’t ever think I would be this happy… ever since I realized I liked men, I figured I was going to live a lonely life, at least until I retired. Then, once I had faded into oblivion a bit, maybe then could I find someone to love me…”
Mack paused to take a contemplative sip.
“I figured I would make a good second husband to a man who also spent the first half of his life hiding. I could be a good step-parent to some adult children, just happy to see their dad finally happy.”
The water washed around their entangled bodies as Mack floated them around like a naked little tugboat.
“We would both be older, retired, and finally able to just lean into the life we always wanted. Maybe travel… live abroad… find some new hobbies. Tennis, maybe, golf obviously… I always thought he would be fun and I would be sensible, and we would get to live out the second half of our life together…”
Will felt tears pool at the idea of the half-life Mack was painting.
“I never thought I could have this…”
The dam wall creaked as a stray tear snuck down Will’s cheek. Suddenly, he was so happy to have the back of his head bobbing gently against Mack’s firm chest so he could have these tears in secret.
“I love you so much, Will, and I know you say I’m crazy, but I’m certain I fell in love with you before I even met you.”
Will felt a strong palm lay firm across his left pec.
“And I fall in love with you more and more every day. I love your character and your ambition and your humor and how thoughtful you are…”
The warm pool water rushed against them both as Mack continued to tipsily spin them around beneath the twinkling fairy lights.
“I love how much you care for me… I love how you get mad at me for giving Breakfast food scraps while I cook, even though you let her eat off your plate… I love the way you treat Grace and all of your friends… I love how selfless you are.”
Will felt out of body, naked and tipsy and held so tight in the firmest, most secure arms he had ever known.
The words washed over him like sunbeams, before he was suddenly doused in ice-cold Arctic seawater at the very next sentence.
“Which is why I wanted to ask you…”
Will flung his body around at the sound, just in time to see Mack reaching his hand into a nearby flowerpot to retrieve a small red box, identical to the one Will hadn’t stopped thinking about for four months.
“WAIT!” Will yelled before his brain had a second to catch up. “I’LL BE RIGHT BACK!”
Will pushed himself out of the pool before shuffling across the bricks to the sliding back door, leaving behind giggling Mack and the faintest comment of:
“Ugh, cute butt.”
Will was through the house as fast as his soaking-wet body could take him, digging desperately through his sock drawer before shivering his way back toward the steaming pool.
As Mack stood damp and dripping in the shallow end, the cutest look of confusion and red box still encased in his strong hands, Will tossed a balled-up pair of Christmas socks directly at his head.
“Owww, Wills!” Mack screeched as a tidal wave of water knocked into him as Will splashed back into the pool.
Grasping for his soggy Christmas socks, Will held them proudly in his hands before standing chest-to-chest in front of Mack.
“Continue.”
Mack studied the beaming blond and his ugly Christmas socks, a little thrown off by the last two minutes of his life.
“Uhm… right… as I was saying…”
“You are the love of my life, Will, and I want to spend every day for the rest of it with you. You are my home, and I am so excited about where we are headed, and I can’t wait to get you pregnant…”
Will couldn’t help the eye roll that escaped him as Mack giggled at his own joke.
“Or we can adopt… either one… but as long as it’s you and me, it will be perfect, and that’s why I wanted to ask…”
The ring box popped open, and a ring almost identical to the one that had kept him up at night dreaming was staring back at him.
“Will you marry me?”
The hopeful sincerity radiating off his normally goofy love made Will’s heart race.
He was completely torn between crying or smiling or laughing or spinning Mack around and bending him over the side of the pool.
He selected option E, scooping Mack against his chest and peppering him with long, drawn-out kisses, intermixed with words of acceptance poured directly into his mouth.
It turns out it’s almost impossible to properly make out with the one you love through big, toothy grins, as a soaking-wet ring box slowly floated away toward the pool filter.
“My ring!”
Will suddenly dove to grasp for the box, the flash of paper-white butt cheeks as he did it earning a giggle from his naked fiancé.
As Mack took the box from his hand and slid the simple gold band down his pruney finger, Will suddenly remembered the floating ball of socks he had lobbed lovingly at Mack’s skull.
“And you…”
Mack’s brow furrowed in confusion as Will unfurled the Santa-covered monstrosities, his breath catching in his throat as he saw the small red box emerge from their depths.
A dramatized deep breath escaped from Will as he filled his lungs with oxygen before sinking below the water’s surface to get down on one knee beneath the pool’s surface, bubbles escaping around him as he began waxing poetic from below, much to Mack’s drunken amusement.
“You are such an idiotttttt!”
Mack pulled at the shoulders below, and with one cheeky kiss to the belly, Will emerged with a smile, blond curls dropping across his forehead, an expectant look on his face.
“Sooo… what’s your answer?”
He couldn’t help but crack up at his own comedy routine as he gestured to his below-sea-level confession.
Mack flung himself dramatically into his arms, thick thighs encompassing the waist of the man he loved, firm hands gripping Will’s cheeks to manhandle his lips toward his mouth.
“Yes, yes, every day of my life. Yes!”
Will popped an equally shiny ring onto an equally pruned finger before throwing an equally soaking-wet red box onto the nearby bricks and clocking in for his own shift as the little naked tugboat, swaying Mack around the pool as he did his best work devouring Will’s neck.
“I just want you to know I had thought of all the ways I wanted to propose to you, and drunken and naked in the pool never cracked the top ten…”
Mack took a break from teething his name into Will’s neck to stare at him with the brightest smile he could muster.
“I think it’s perfect…”
He paused.
“And if our parents ask, it happened over a candlelit dinner where we were very, very, super-duper fully not naked…”
Will: hello sister
Mack: hi grace
Grace: why are you both being weird
Will: we have an announcement
Grace: OH MY GOD
Grace: ARE YOU PREGNANT
Mack: 😂
Grace: sorry
Grace: wrong announcement
Will: VERY wrong announcement
Mack: we have something to tell you
Will: we’re engaged ❤️
*Picture of a soaking wet Mack and Will flashing their rings*
Grace: SHUT THE FUCK UP
Grace: OH MY GOD
Grace: OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD
Grace: YOU’RE ENGAGED?????????
Will: 🥹❤️
Mack: ❤️
Grace: I’M SO HAPPY
Grace: WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN
Will: tonight
Grace: TONIGHT?????
Grace: YOU PROPOSED TONIGHT???
Mack: 20 minutes ago….technically we both did
Grace: WHAT
Will: it was a little complicated
Grace: I need DETAILS
Mack: We both had rings
Grace: YOU BOTH HAD RINGS?????
Grace: I’m going to cry
Grace: wait
Grace: YOU SENT ME AWAY
Will: 😂
Grace: YOU SENT ME TO A SPA SO YOU COULD PROPOSE
Mack: technically yes
Grace: YOU MANIPULATIVE LITTLE ROMANTIC
Grace: wait
Grace: did you send me to a spa so you could have sex in the pool?
Mack: Grace
Grace: THAT IS A YES
Will: in our defense
Grace: THERE IS NO DEFENSE
Will: we are newly engaged
Grace: YOU HAVE BEEN ENGAGED FOR TWENTY MINUTES
Will: it’s been a very busy twenty minutes
Grace: I hate both of you
Grace: I’m so happy for you I could vomit
Grace: I was at a spa
Grace: drinking cucumber water
Grace: while you two were getting engaged AND having sex in the pool
Will: I’m blocking you
Grace: congratulations lovebirds ❤️