Maybe love shouldn’t be built on a foundation of compromises, but maybe it couldn’t exist without them either. Not the kind that forces two people into shapes they don’t fit in, but the kind that loosens their grips, always leaves room to grow. Compromises that say, there will be a you-shaped space in my heart, and if your shape changes, I will adapt. No matter where we go, our love will stretch out to hold us, and that makes me feel like… like everything will be okay.
I have this quote hanging on the wall in my little book nook and I can’t help but think of them when I see it.
Like, 2 years ago these two never would have guessed what they would become to each other. Coming from always playing on bitter rivalry teams, fighting tooth and nail for championship games, scoring titles, league awards… and always just watching from afar, sizing each other up, trying to come up with ways to stop the other from succeeding.
They had to go from that, to walking into dev camp and what probably seemed like the rest of their lives, with a completely open mind. Instead of actively working against each other they were suddenly forced to be friends.
But they got there, and they played together, and boy did they hit it off. They found fun, laughter, companionship, and a mutual fundamental understanding of who the other is as a person, down to the core. Where hopes and dreams and fears and all the other big stuff lives, they realized that they didn’t actually have to force anything at all.
And when you find that with someone, it becomes easy to grow with them. To not even realize you are making commitments to the other until it’s already done and staring you in the face. Will, who was so used to strutting around and being the star on every team he played on, found himself struggling in his first season, while Mack made his NHL leap in stride and never stopped running. But rather than be jealous or petty, Will was never anything other than supportive of Mack. He adapted to what Mack needed him to be, even at his own detriment as he eventually gave up his lifelong hockey identity as a center.
And Mack, who was there for Will through what I imagine was a very difficult time when Will was struggling and facing incredibly harsh criticism. He became the family that Will was craving. Need a dinner buddy? I’ll be there. Trouble sleeping alone at night? Room with me, I’m weird about sleeping too. Worried about that shot you missed last night? I will wake up early to go to the rink and pass you one timers until our arms are ready to fall off.
They just kept becoming what the other one needed until they were so intertwined that the fans, the media, their teammates and maybe even they themselves, saw them as a unified entity. Two years later and they continue to layer their lives and contour around each other.
Anon, first of all, how dare you flatten me with this quote and your spot on interpretation 😭 It becomes more devastating every time you return to it because it frames love not as making yourself smaller, but as remaining flexible enough to hold each other through every change. That’s the Willmack of it all to me: neither seems afraid of who the other is becoming. Will can watch Mack grow into the face of a franchise, while Mack makes room for Will to reinvent himself from centre to dynamic winger, without either mourning the versions they used to be.
And time is moving so fast. Mack looks like he’s aged five years since the Olympics, all sharpened features, subtle confidence, and interviews he no longer stutters his way through. We’re watching him grow into the leader he was always destined to be, and Will is going to return to this new version of him too. They were boys together once, and now they get to keep finding each other as they become men.
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