will smith doesn't believe you could beat him.
this all started when a teammate of yours got pulled into an after-game interview. press gave away basic answers and your friend returned it with the same casualness, until one of them asked "i know you and y/n are close, attached at the hip some might say. what do you think helped y/n find her rhythm in this game?" and your friend lets out a genuine laugh, a memory from this morning's pre-skate warmup comes up. the interviewer's smile falters a little out of confusion as she awkwardly chuckles along.
"okay, she's got this thing," your friend tries to hold in her laugh but fails miserably, a ridiculous snort coming out of her. "y/n, you know, always comes in a bit earlier than the rest of the team to like warmup," she explains as the interviewers nod alongside her, and it's amusing to your friend to see them listening so intently that her head is filled with images of what they might look like after she finishes her story.
"and this time she arrived on schedule, and we found out that she's got this ritual? or routine of some sort," your friend looks up as if trying to compose herself for this next part.
"and apparently one of her warmupโor i guess hype upโsong is 'birthday sex' by jeremih" she finally lets out the rest of the laugh she's been holding in. the faces of interviewers are both shocked and amused, immediately thinking of questions to get more out of her. unfortunately for them, your teammate's 15 minutes with them is up, and she's escorted out to the press' dismay.
and my god, to say that that one interview had gone viral was an understatement, not only had it spread outside of pwhl's fandom and infiltrated the nhl's. fans on twitter eating it up and without missing a beat started comparing you to will. tweets like "so no ones gonna mention how y/n and wsh are SO similar? like in a sense thatโ" and getting comments like "oh oomf,, i get you i fear. cause i need them to meet like yesterday"
eventually, your little warmup routine had gotten through a few players and their WAGs. most notably, cat toffoli. she wasted no time contacting you to be on her podcast, and through your embarrassment, reluctantly said yes.
after a few minutes of banter and building up anticipation, cat finally introduces you. she asks a few questions to establish yourself to the listeners and possible non-fans watching. afterwards, she asked the most awaited question, "so y/n, that warmup song, im sure everyones heard about itโ" and you cut her off, rolling your eyes "yeah no thanks to my teammate" and a laugh slipped out both of you.
"so, is that one of your favorite songs?"
"oh yeah, definitely. its been my warmup song for a while and clearly, i have not gotten sick of it yet so"
"bold choice.." cat laughs "considering that the fans have been comparing your song to will's 'pony' by ginuwine"
you roll your eyes, hoping your laptop's camera hides it. "i think my song is wayyy better, in all aspects. and i've got a dance to itโ" cat lets out a surprised sound, chiming in instantly "i hear will has one too. i mean, the last time they were on here mack ended up exposing him."
"then i guess we have a way to settle things then?" you banter playfully. this short segment had quickly gone out of hand, getting clipped and reposted in almost every corner of the internet.
the next time the sharks played a game, no matter what happened on the ice the press would make excuses just to get will for the post-game interview, practically throwing the same questions at him. y/n this, y/n that, what do you think about her? would you beat her?
and the only thing the rest of the hockey world could ever remember from him saying was "i don't believe she's got a chance against me. but, set a date and we'll settle this" he says the last part at the camera as if he was talking to you, throwing in a wink at the end too.
now you really don't have a choice but to take him up on that challenge.
note: feels a lot like a crackfic to me LOL but i had so much fun writing this. inspo for this is my obsession with that song,, it genuinely is one of the songs i play while getting ready before school. also in the middle of writing this i felt that this would be better off as a smau, but i also dont gaf anymore