#media availability

i'm so glad you get it op because i can honestly say that this dynamic is my guilty pleasure for most ships and it's crazy because it's not super common in the willmack zeitgeist but it's there i swear! i'm a sucker for cute little cliche tropes sometimes

in my head, there's a college house party and will's one of the hosts. he's buzzing with all his beautiful-popular-untouchable friends who basically eat out of his hand, and mack arrives, shoulders hunched desperately gripping onto a pack of white claw like a peace offering. will's friends make fun of him in hushed tones, because yeah he plays hockey too but he's a little strange and doesn't really have any friends, but will rolls his eyes, telling them to knock it off in his half-teasing, half-serious voice. his friends trickle out of the kitchen but will stays as mack walks in, but he'll never admit to himself that he was waiting for mack just to get to look at him up close. he hasn't done that before and the alcohol in his system is just on this side of enough to give him the courage to do it regardless of what anyone would think. truthfully though, he didn't really care anyway.

mack looks a little lost so will guides him to the cooler, daring to brush his hands over the sleeve of mack's hoodie while he's helping him. will revels in the way he makes mack blush when he says "thanks baby" under his breath the moment mack catches his eye. they're standing so close that will can smell mack's cologne and probably the fabric conditioner he uses, and mack can barely hold his gaze. will chuckles to himself--he's got his target locked.

will could probably spend the night making eyes at anyone at the party, and he knows they'd know exactly what to say and what to do, and it would end up somewhere between the bathroom and will's bed. but that couldn't be further from what he wanted right now. he spotted mack again sitting alone on a loveseat in the corner of the living room, not just on his phone but holding it horizontally like he was watching a video. will had two solo cups in his hand, filled with some sad excuse for a cocktail but it was strong and sweet so who really cared anyway. he plopped himself down beside mack, invaded his personal space, pushed the cup into mack's hand, took away his phone. mack almost didn't know what to do about it, so delightfully awkward as will coaxed words and reactions out of him.

they'd probably get roped into playing some stupid game like truth or dare, and will drags mack into it. inevitably, they'd be dared to kiss and both would get cheers for entirely different reasons. once both of them get pushed into the closet under the stairs, mack gets nervous and rambles about how will doesn't have to do all this just because he feels bad for him, and how he knows he'll get made fun of because he doesn't know how to do any of this, but will soothes and hushes him before asking if he wants will to kiss him or not, because if mack doesn't it's totally okay. after a moment of silence, mack almost whimpers that he really, really does.

Auston Matthews, Leafs Media Availability | 2/3/25

Auston being normal about his teammate challenge:

"He [Max Domi] gives the most taps on the ass that I've ever seen out of a teammate, so that's something that I really appreciate about him."