#9871

macklin celebrini/connor bedard | 2,300 words | T | omega/omega

in short i think they are both neurotic in ways that are incompatible. they are two sides of the same coin - there's the obvious similarities, like being 1st overall, being touted as the "next big thing", becoming the face of their franchise's rebuilds. but the other major similarity is that they are both highly intense (unstable, basically) and their ideal partner would be need to be more of a neutralizer.

mack is very high-energy and volatile, and someone like will can match his energy, but also has a casual reliability to him - he'll be there no matter what for mack. on the flip side, connor appears low-energy but you can see that he is still very reactive and intense in the way he fights and loses his temper on the ice, in the way he talks about placing pressure on himself, in the way he works so ridiculously hard and his relationship with hockey borders on unhealthy obsession (same as mack!!). someone like frank is easygoing and casually confident, flows through life in a way that connor never even had the privilege to do with all the pressure that's been on him since he was little. i dont know much about bedmint or kevbeds but from what ive seen fraser and kevin seem a lot less intense than bedsy as well (please correct me if i'm wrong!!!). obviously that doesnt mean any of these relationships are smooth sailing or perfect but in the longterm i see them working through their issues easier than 9871.

cus then if you take mack and connor - two very reactive individuals - and put them together, i honestly can't see how they wouldn't just explode. as friends, they work perfectly fine together. in fact, they even share a bond related to hockey (re: 1st overall, expectations...) that neither can achieve with anyone else. but they both have issues and fears specifically related to intimacy - neither were really able to fully develop emotionally and figure out their relationships with romantic intimacy because their senses of self are so deeply tied to hockey. with mack that comes a lot from his dad [my eye starts twitching violently] and with connor that comes from how early he was shoved in the spotlight. they don't know what they want or expect from intimacy. since their issues are so similar, and so deeply rooted, it requires a lot of personal identity/emotional upheaval that puts a lot of strain on a theoretical relationship. idk if im explaining it well but basically, they wouldnt be able to figure out how to fix each other because they don't even know how to fix those same exact issues within themselves.

macklin celebrini/connor bedard | 500 words | G | kid feelings