I Guess I Do Hrpf Now?

girlbestfriend time where they giggle about how loud he breathes while kks doing a simple smokey eye bc the voices tell her he would actually be kinda pretty with makeup on so this is no longer maybe a total joke…

and then will sees himself and feels all sorts of disoriented by how much he likes how it looks but wishes he was filling out the dress a little better up top and it Kinda is no longer a joke at all

and its awful bc he spent so long ignoring guys calling him too pretty to play hockey, working harder to prove them all wrong. but like. he’s 100% into this. and it feels good.

so he shamefully asks kk if he can keep the dress and shes like yea was for some dumb grad party anyways not my style man. an she doesnt really have the right words for him but thats enough for will to beginnto notice how comfortable she is in her masculinity and its kinda like hes living in the after of it all now bc Wow imagine a world where i can just be pretty for me and it doesnt have to be anyone elses business or mean anything more than that

n then u Know he gets a lil androgynous in his locked room, ruins his tiktok alg with makeup tips, orders a couple backless tops, a matching set to take pics in bc the combo of soft baby blues and post gym pump Scratches every confusing gender itch in his brain… finally caves and clicks order on the agent provocateur shopping cart hes had open for weeks

and then he discovers if he felt good before with some lace and garters on he feels hot like really fucking hot. so of course hes having an entire photoshoot in his room phone balanced on a shaker bottle leaning down on the bed to fill out the bralette and such. and then (well and then)

mack texts him send pics from dinner last night and wills big fat fingers send 8 completely innocent photos of mack licking his lips over a spaghetti bolognese and 1 photo of him teasing the thong to the side glancing over his shoulder Directly at the camera and as his entire world falls apart mack sends back

??

Again, we’ll never truly know. But from my personal POV- I think he:

A) Believes in the value he brings to the top line/ sees the long-term benefits of developing his position as a winger and B) Genuinely loves playing with Mack.

To your second point:

The “Stenberg is bad for Will” argument doesn’t really hold water to me for a few reasons (some of which I’ve touched on in the past but bare with me here):

1) IMO, Stenberg’s game is way more reminiscent of Cherny’s play style than Will’s. He has defensive elements to his game that (if nurtured appropriately) would allow him to fill the second “heavyweight” role that the Sharks need for their top lines. Cherny basically spent the whole last leg of the 25-26 season flip-flopping between providing muscle for Mack & Misa’s lines. He has great chemy with both & can be interchanged pretty fluidly (like the Russian dreamboat he is). But he can’t be everywhere at once. Which leads us back to the Misa of it all:

2) Misa is still in desperate need of a rapid winger who can keep up with his plays/ general speed (and allow him to develop at his expected pace as a 2oa). To be fair to your argument, I do think there’s a strong chance we’d see a Cherny/Mack/Stenberg line tested out at least once. But I don’t think developing those 3 on one line would make much sense in the long-term.

Think of the 2 top lines like sandwiches- you can’t just pile on a bunch of meat and hope for the best. You need to balance the meat with some sauce. Enter Smith, 21.

Also- as mentioned in this post, Stenberg shoots left (same as Cherny) while Will shoots right. It’s definitely not unheard of for wingers to switch to their non-dominant side, but I don’t think it helps either.

Now in regard to resident blender lover Ryan Warsofsky: I do think (for all his nonsense) he seemed to see the light a teeny tiny bit towards the end of the season in terms of what the first line actually needs in order for it to flourish. (Not holding my breathe for obvious reasons but- I do think things ended on a note that bodes well for the Willmack line in the longterm).

Lots more we can dig into with this (how Will & co are still developing/ not at their ceiling yet potential wise, etc.) but for the sake of me not yapping into the next year, I shall hereby lay down my sword.