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Mack couldn’t be more grateful that Will is in his house. Worlds destroyed him in a way he'd rather not think about. He spent years dreaming of playing for Team Canada. Never once did he see himself with the C on his chest, but there it was. He was honoured and fucking terrified.
When it was all over, he wanted to crawl into a hole and die, to put it simply. But life doesn’t work like that. He had to go home to face his family. Also, wait a long week before he saw his boyfriend. Who magically always had the right thing to say.
When he saw Will in his room, the shame of it all dimmed. And when Will spoke to him and held him, the pain changed from an aching feeling to more of a dull itch. One you can’t quite get rid of but is bearable.
And after a long day of enduring his family's antics and keeping his distance from Will, he is aching for something else. Don’t judge him, it’s been weeks. And Mack really, really needs him.
Of course, his siblings stay up so fucking late with them. They watch a movie that Will picks, and then they argue about the ending for an hour.
Once they finally decide to head upstairs, Mack is on Will. Will kisses him back with equal fervour for a moment, then he goes tense under Mack.
“What?” Mack says as he pulls back. He pauses his hand from where they are roaming on Will's body.
“We can’t do this here,” Will says.
Mack rolls his eyes. “Well, we can’t really do this upstairs. They are not even sleeping,”
“We are going to get caught,” Will argues.
“No, we’re not,” Mack says as he leans back in to kiss Will. “You just have to be quiet,”
Will laughs through the kiss. “Oh, it’s me who struggles to be quiet huh?”
“Shut up,” Mack says as his hand slips down Will's body.
Will grabs his hand to stop him when it gets to his waist. He pushes Mack off of him.
“Will,” Mack whines. He is straight up going to explode.
“I have to tell you something. But you can’t freak out,” Will says.
Mack instantly starts freaking out.
“This morning,” Will starts, much too slowly.
Mack’s hand swinging back and forth, to tell Will to get on with it.
“Your mom walked into your room when you were still sleeping,” Will says. “On top of me,”
“And she saw-“
“Yes. We talked,”
“You talked?” Mack all but screams. “What do you mean you talked?” Mack asks. The blood is rushing through his ears now. “What could you have possibly talked about?”
“I just apologized, and she said it was okay. That was it,”
“Oh my god,” Mack says. His hands coming up to pull at his hair.
Will yanks them away.
“Don’t,” he told him.
But Mack’s hand itches to do it again. The pain grounds him, sometimes.
Mack’s brain starts to run faster than he can keep up with. What was she thinking when she saw them? Was she disappointed? Oh god, did she tell his dad?
Will pulls him out of his thoughts by gathering his face in his hands. He forces Mack to look at him.
“It’s okay. She’s okay with it.”
“You don’t know that,” Mack argues.
“Yes, I do. Otherwise, she would have said something to you today.”
Will is not wrong. Mack is surprised his mother acted like nothing happened at all. Mack never thought she was homophobic or anything, but she has always been very protective.
Mack’s been scared to tell his parents. It’s such a big thing. And at the same time, he hates that it has to be such an ordeal. He hates that he can’t just be with Will without the world freaking the fuck out.
The more he delays it, the bigger deal he makes it
He can’t help his knee from bouncing up and down. He’s got all this energy now inside his body that he doesn’t know how to handle.
Will's hand settles on his knee, gently easing the shaking limb. In the touch grounds, Mack. It’s almost as if he feels the energy being sucked out of him.
“Okay,” Mack says.
“Okay,” Will echoes.
“I’ll talk to them tomorrow,"
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3
Will keeps Mack thoroughly distracted for the rest of the night. Mack passes out almost immediately after his orgasm is ripped from him. Did he mention his boyfriend is an angel?
He manages to stay awake for a few hours before his thoughts wake him up, and keep him up. Said angel is still passed out beside him, and Mack is not about to wake him.
Mack's a worrier. He overanalyzes everything, which isn't always a bad thing; it's part of why he's so good at hockey, because he obsesses over every element of the game. He works on it until he gets better and better.
But sometimes, it's not a good thing, like tonight. And other nights, he simply can't fucking sleep. The noises in his head are too loud, the sheets are too scratchy, and the moonlight is too fucking bright.
The thing that is driving him the most insane is that the choice was ripped away from him. He had a plan. Well, he was working towards a plan. One that minimized the damage, the shock
He ran all the scenarios, over and over. He thought about the worst thing that could happen. He's tried to prepare himself, but today he doesn't feel prepared enough.
He takes a deep breath and focuses on the facts. First, his parents love him. They have always supported him. They have always been there for him. Nothing about this situation should change that.
Falling in love with Will was basically out of his control. He tried to avoid it. He tried to deny it, but there was no use. He is truly happier than he has been in a long time. And if his family can't accept that, then he will spend his summer in Boston. Or in San Jose. Wherever he needs to wait until they change their minds. Till they come around.
Macks finds his eyes getting a little damp imagining his life like that, without his family. He can't sit in the bed anymore, so he slides out from under Will's arm. He stops to press a kiss to the side of Will's head before heading downstairs.
It's four in the morning, which is much too early for coffee. Plus, if he consumed even a drop of it, it would be sure to make his heart explode. As it is already hanging heavy in his chest, already beating faster than normal.
So he just sits there, by the kitchen island and waits. He knows if Mom will be the first one up. Which is what he wants. He needs to talk to her first. Clear the air, get her on his side before he faces his father.
It's around 5:30 by the time he hears footsteps on the stairs. He focuses on breathing as the steps get closer.
“Macklin?’ he hears her call.
He doesn't turn around. He fears his eyes are a bit too red from the tears he was unable to stop from falling earlier.
“Mom,” he says. Quietly.
“Honey, what's going on?” she asks, and she pulls up a chair beside him.
Her hand lands on his shoulder. Mack feels like he doesn't deserve the comfort.
He can stop the words as they fall out of his mouth. “I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you. It's not that I didn't want to. I just-” Mack sucks in a breath. “I just didn't know how to. I didn't want to ruin anything, and I didn't want you to be disappointed in me.”
“Disappointed?” Robyn echoes in confusion.
But it doesn't stop Mack from talking. “I like him a lot, Mom. Like so much, and I need him. So I need you to be okay with it,” Mack turns to her, so he can really look at her when he asks. “I need you to be okay with this, Mom.”
Robyn wipes the tears from Mack's face, which he didn't even know had fallen. “I'm okay with it,” she says quickly. “Honey, of course I'm okay with it. I'm so happy for you-”
She barely finishes the sentence before Mack falls into her arms. Relief floods his body quickly.
His heart rate evens out as his breath becomes more even. After a moment, he pulls back from his mother's hold.
“Can you-” Mack says quickly before stopping. Maybe what he is about to ask is overstepping, but he can't help but feel like he just tackled the easier parent. The fear still lingers. “Can you tell Dad. I um- I can’t do it,”
“I can do that. But honey, he's not going to care,”
“I know. But I just think it will be better coming from you,” Mack explains just as he hears soft footsteps on the stairs. He looks up to see Will at the bottom of the stairs. Sleep is still holding in his features; his eyes are barely open. He scans the room for Mack, and when he sees him, his eyes fold into concern.
“Are you okay?” Will asks.
Mack nods as he walks over to him. He wraps Will in his arms the minute he is close enough. “Okay,” Mack mumbles into Will's shoulder. He presses a kiss to Will's lips when he pulls back to emphasize the point.
His mom passes by them, “I'm going to chat with your dad,” she says..
Mack tells Will all about what happened while his mom is upstairs. After a period of time, which Mack thinks is much too quick, his parents make their way downstairs. Mack's hand is intertwined with Wills and he squeezes hard as his dad pads into the kitchen. Mack all but holds his breath as he watches his dad.
Who doesn't waste much time. He just walks straight up to Will. “Know that you are no longer here as a guest. I think it's your turn to help with breakfast.”
Will stumbles out of his chair and joins Robyn in the kitchen. Rick takes the seat next to Mack.
He doesn't say anything; he just pats Mack on the back.
Which says more than a thousand words could to Mack. The two of them sit there as they watch their partners move around in the kitchen.
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3
Later that morning, RJ and Charlie join him at the island. On either side of Mack. He takes the opportunity to turn to both of them. “Guys!” Mack yells. Then adjust his volume because it’s much too high. “Will's my boyfriend,” he says with a huge grin on his face.
And then he waits. Looking around at the not-so-shocked looks on all their faces.
He looks over at his boyfriend, who is the only one who doesn't seem shocked either by Mack's antics. He just keeps stirring the eggs.
“Are we supposed to be surprised at this?” Charlie mumbles beside him.
“So obvious,” RJ adds as he rolls his eyes and turns back to his phone.
Which makes Mack laugh. He wraps RJ in a hug because he knows his younger brother will hate it. Then he punches Charlie in the shoulder, which she quickly returns.
When he’s done fighting with his siblings, he looks over at Will, who is being handed a plate of food by his mom.
Will looks a little uneven by the whole situation. Which makes Mack smile, because it is the cutest face he’s ever seen on Will's face.
He wants to add to it, so he walks over to his boyfriend and places a soft, quick kiss on his mouth.
RJ makes a gagging noise behind them, and Robyn instantly tells him off.
Mack laughs at the even more shocked look on Will's face before turning to his mom, who hands him a plate. They sit down next to each other at the table, just away from all the chaos in the kitchen.
Will turns to him. “Did I mention that I love you?” Will asks.
Mack turns into goo.
“While I’ve been conscious, just the once,” Mack teases and digs into his food.
Will shakes his head and does the same.