#chernywill

Macklin tugs at hem of Igor's jersey as they return to the bench, pulls him towards the end of the line, and Igor knows that means Macklin wants to talk to him about something. Igor fixes up his hair and wipe his bucket as he walks. Will catches Macklin's gaze from towards the front, takes a quick glance down, and nods, lips firmly pressed shut. Talk to him. Gentle reminders, Mack, Will says in the back of Macklin's mind. Macklin can probably only promise that one out of two of Will's thoughts will come true.

As they're walking through the halls, Macklin takes the opportunity to sneak Igor to the side, keep the both of them against the corner that sits just shy of the locker room entrance. He grabs Igor by the scruff of his neck, pulls Igor close to his side, keeps his voice low as he mutters close to Igor's ear. "You have to calm yourself. Behave. We still have two more periods left. Control it."

"But sir– Mack, they–"

"I don't care what they did," Macklin interrupts, and Igor's lips snap shut. A burning feeling sinks into Macklin's gut at Igor's immediate compliance, and he strokes Igor's neck as a silent apology for being on the receiving end of his temper. Fuck, maybe he's still shaken from the Habs game, after all. "I care what you do. It's just how the game's played, Cherny. I got scared when your bucket came off, okay?"

Igor gulps, staring at the ground in front of him, not daring to make eye contact with Macklin because he's so, so unconfident that he won't do something he can take back. "Okay," he gets out, voice raspy and low and straining to keep himself down. He curls his tongue around the apology hanging off the tip of it when he hears the desperation in Macklin's voice, the quiet voice crack at the tail-end of his question. If he could, he'd whine out loud at the thought of making Macklin feel this bad. Macklin can tell Igor wants to say something else, so he starts petting his neck, gently, slowly, almost beckoning Igor to speak up, and who is Igor if not to listen? "Is Willy…?"

The question gets a soft chuckle out of Macklin. "Will's alright. You know him. Not very into fighting. That's why I have you, yes?"

"Yes sir," he mumbles, slurring his words together, finally letting himself relax when he can tell Macklin's softening up. He slowly lifts his eyes up towards Macklin, holding his breath and trying to steel his resolve so he can go into second period strong, strong enough to stand by everyone else. "Was it– Is it okay? That I fight like…?"

Macklin smiles, tilting Igor's head up further, almost like he's observing Igor from where he stands just a few inches below. Will should almost be finished re-taping his stick by now, so Macklin knows he has to wrap this up quick if he wants Igor to get a chance to refresh his mind as well. "Yes, yes it was okay. Even though you scared me a little, I'm proud of you. You fought well. Just have to hold back a bit, but that's what I'm here for. Thank you." His grin is wide, gums peeking out from under his lips and he strokes Igor's cheeks the way Igor did just moments prior, lightly tapping them for good measure. Igor smiles back, letting out a breath of pure fondness out through his nose, and closes his eyes as he leans into the touch.

"Anything for you, Mack."

"I know, Cherny."

Mack pats Igor's neck twice before letting go, dragging his hand towards the small of Igor's back to guide him deeper into the locker room where he knows everyone else must be waiting. Igor already misses the warmth on his nape.

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additional notes: little to no editing at all on this (small revisions as i worked), i lowk wrote this in one go. this is fiction so i can do what i want (regarding hockey technicalities) but i guess that's the disclaimer for every single fic of mine that anyway ☝️ not like the intro is accurate to game footage either from the end of 1st period, but if i dont willmack i Die. i DIE. I SHRIVEL UP AND DIE!!!

can you tell i've been thinking too much about this. is a v2 coming soon? who knows. i don't. probably yes. i wanna expand this idea but the drabble above is kinda the baseline for what i'm yapping about n i'm just writing to write #finalsweek #tryingtostaysane man idek anymore my brain is fried throws hands up in exasperation. willmack iteration of this will appear at some point in the grand scheme of time and space because like it'd be blasphemy if i didn't

She had what people wanted, but that didn't mean she felt like it was perfect. She hadn't been feeling like it was perfect for a while, she didn't even know why until recently.

It wasn't something small, it was eating her from the inside and god did it suck. She couldn't even tell anyone, it was terrifying and she knew it could ruin everything.

☆

"You can't be serious, you have two beautiful girls wanting your attention and you decide to play... video games?" Mack's voice was coated in pure disbelief, looking at Will like he was an idiot.

"You both had my attention all day, I need to get past this thing." Will responded, trying to play some lego game. Cherny just watched them, they were so... easy with eachother, atleast that's the only way she could describe it.

Mack huffed and lightly kicked Will's side, making him groan in a very exaggerated way before smiling. Mack turned her attention to Cherny, smiling at her.

"Atleast I have my pretty girlfriend to pay attention to me, right?" Mack hummed with a grin, looking at Cherny like she might eat her.

"Can you not?" Cherny sounded annoyed with her, which she clearly didn't mean to sound. Mack furrowed her brows and sat up, turning to look at her properly.

Will had paused his game, looking at Cherny like she just cursed his entire bloodline. She had never once acted like that towards Mack, and that wasn't something she should start a habit of.

"Excuse me?" Mack looked like she was offended, she didn't like that tone at all.

"I meant like can you not call me that...?" Cherny sighed, Will immediately softened but Mack didn't. Will could see that something was wrong, Cherny was such a nice girl usually.

"Not call you my girlfriend? Are you trying to say you're no longer my girlfriend, Irina?" Mack questioned, saying the name that filled Cherny with something she couldn't explain. Nobody called her Irina these days besides family, everyone said Cherny or her full last name.

"...I don't want to be your girlfriend." Cherny admitted, which she quickly realized sounded super wrong. "I mean like... I also don't want to be Irina."

Mack just stared at her, feeling very confused. She couldn't tell if she was being broken up with or not, this wasn't a normal situation.

Will immediately knew the issue, he knew exactly what she was talking about. Will had went through it, through something like what he knew she was likely going through.

"I still want to be your partner... just not girlfriend or even boyfriend." Cherny tried to fix the mistake, not wanting Mack to spiral or anything. Everyone knew she could spiral badly, which wasn't something Cherny wanted.

"I don't feel like that name, I feel different..." those words from Cherny made something click in Mack's head, realizing what Cherny was getting at.

Mack immediately softened, looking at Cherny with soft eyes that nobody else except Will also got. She carefully reached out, pulling Cherny close when there wasn't any discomfort shown.

"I don't know the name but I just don't want to be a girl anymore or a guy..." Cherny mumbled, burying their face in Mack's shoulder. They felt less scared now, seeing how Mack and Will didn't react badly... instead they seemed fine with it.

"You don't have to know what it is yet, it's not going to change anything with us." Will said, watching the way Cherny peeked up at him. His hearted melted, seeing them look so sweet.

"...can I go by another name? Like... Igor?" Cherny asked, which made Will and Mack nod. They wouldn't say no, it wasn't their decision to make.

"Of course, Igor is a great name... it fits you." Will admitted, he knew how much a different name could mean to someone. He found it sweet, they had a perfect name that fit them.

Igor smiled to themself, arm moving so they could hold Wills hand as they cuddled Mack.