could you please explain the shift of willmack post olympics compared to pre olympics for us new fans?
This is going to be a sorts of expedited Willmack MASTER POST. I was going to post this last night but of course WILLIAM destroyed my plans by posting himself. Okay let's tuck in.
First, lets talk about a few of the IRL behavior before we RPF as to WHY.
Rookie year was a blissful honeymoon. They had an adorable friendship. It was hyped like crazy by Sharksmin. This is our new rookie duo!! Please go see them interact!! They got up to antics. They stared at each other (maybe a bit too long IMO but thats RPF - maybe these two fuckers just stare a lot). The 40 people at the family picnic were along for the ride and RPF'd many many narrys. But they didn't give us much HOLY SHIT behaviors last year. Lets be clear the rookie year was a house the narry built. The fandom had to analyze a single look, a single celly, a single "did mack just check out Will" for EONS. Even our beloved Sweden was somewhat narry built - it was the mudroom add-on to the house if you will.
People monitored their insta posts throughout the summer. Found a few Easter Eggs such as a few too many sad ass songs for happy sunshine times. Then our beloved OG blog broke Halifax and the whole fandom went HUH. Okay sure? Maybe that's a bit weird? What is actually going on with these two?
October came along. It was fall for most of the western world. Pumpkin spice was in the air. A fallen leaf flew by your face. Christmas was on the horizon. Life was GOOD. And then the balcony vid happened. The internet exploded. I even followed FAN ACCOUNTS on my very strictly sports TWT (I am a stats and betting biyatch) to figure out WTF was happening with these two. Were they playing gay chicken? Were they f***** flirting in front of their teammates? Alright we may have a real story here.
Ahhhh the Pens game. I remember it like it was yesterday. I was but a little girl enjoying her favorite game waiting as always for someone to get clocked in the mouth and lose a tooth. Will goes down. Mack goes apeshit (come at me hky tumblr, he can fight for will, but he overreacted) and then one of the greatest comebacks in Sharks history occurs.
Simultaneous to Will's IR we get HR. The world explodes! BEING GAY IS SO COOL. What timeline am I living in? Gays? The most popular show on TV? Okay yay! Sometime in December the algo and TT admins decide HR = Willmack. Send all HR fans to Willmack edits. THE FANDOM EXPLODES. Every girl age 14-24 suddenly has a hard-on for Will Smith Hockey. Or Mack. Or both (stop asking for 3somes at games people).
People are now paying attention. Rocking back to the wholleeeee timeline on Tumblr. Re-analyzing vids. Interactions. Why do these two always stare at each other? Why do they do the weird butt to front skate? Who has had a GF? Who are they following? Yada yada.
Olympics arrive. Mack is now not just Sharks/hockey famous the rest of the world knows who he is. What he can do on the ice. The world is straight up paying attention to Mack. We can call this the "Return of the Mack" phase. The fandom wanted Will to show up at the Olympics. He did not. He went home. And did nothing cool (as is his MO). He slept little. He had bags under his eyes and looked like he was on a constant bender.
During this time we got (all from Will BTW) "just one guy", the elevated cupcake experience, his uncomfiness when someone called Mack his best friend, pupilgate, Will pumping up Mack with Brodie Brazil and admitting the TT account is on his phone, etc.
Alright so how have their behaviors shifted? Mainly their bench and on-ice behavior. Them sitting up underneath each other (yes they sat next to each other smooshed before but no not to this degree), the sexual smelling salts, Mack actively calling Will over numerous times to sit next to him, Will touching Mack on the waist lots of times when they skate butt to front.
The physicality we have seen in practices and games is also more open. More "normal" as they never seemed to ever touch each other unless a celly was happening before. Is this flirting?
Then we get the pièce de résistance - the joint hype edit.
So the question is why? Why is this all happening? Alright RPF hats on people!
Their rookie year was pure attraction. They were best friends. Who had the hots for each other. Did a no-homo handie ever happen? Maybe. Hockey guys love handies so lets assume yes. But they never discussed it and it was just a friend thing they did.
1st shift - summer. They missed each other. More than they expected. A question popped up in the mind. Do I like? like? this person?
2nd shift - Pens game. From Will's perspective he never thought Mack was ever a real long term possibility. Just his BFF that he was gonna have to crush on until it went away. But seeing Mack fight for him? Lit a fire in his loins. He knew he stood a chance.
3rd shift - Olympics. Will already knew he was down bad. He missed the shit out of Mack. Didn't sleep. Was constantly thinking of ways their dynamic might shift. And shift it did. Mack had the wholeeee world at this fingertips. He had god damn Connor McDavid, SidCros and MacKinnon praising him. Loving him. Playing with him. He doesn't need anything else right? WRONG. There was a giant Will sized hole in his heart. None of that shit mattered cause Will wasn't there to experience it with him. Fuck. He knew it. He was down bad too (lets not even talk about how he's probably had a crush for long time).
So SOME kind of convo is had. "I missed you. I missed you too. Is this like something? Yea I think it is. Okay lets post a joint-hype edit where I tell people I fuck you without a condom. Sure Will, that sounds like the best idea ever". Now are they together? Probably not. But based on the most recent Piscean hidden message song they know they are SOMETHING. And it is getting serious.
Y'all I cannot wait for what they present to us in the off-season. I feel like I am watching a movie trailer - we've only gotten the highlights so far.