Ok building off my last unpopular opinion that Willie doesn’t take the name Mercer just cause I have a lot of thoughts. Willie was in the foster care system and ran away but was pretty young at the time. He spent a lot of time around the skating parks and is basically adopted by small group of skaters who teach him how to skate. They were all friends before they meet willie, now they just have a younger brother of the group. They all look out for Willie, especially the mom friend.
One time the group got stopped by cops, Willie was scared he was going to put back in the system,until the mom friend(or anyone) went “yeah that’s my little brother willie”. The group never mentions it but they know that the mom friend(or whoever said it) really meant it and cares a lot about Willie, they all do. When Willie dies they paint a memorial at the skate park where they meet.
Willie never goes back to that park cause it hurts too much to remember the only family he ever had. Which is why he joined the HGC, Caleb offered him a new family.
When Willie and Alex are talking about who should take whose name Alex mentions he’d rather take willies surname to distance himself from Mercer name. Willie already told alex about his life, so when he tells him the name Alex understands. The surname they end up taking is the mom friend’s (or whoever called willie their little brother) surname. Cause no matter how much time has passed, Willie still always considered them family
Basically I was found family Willie with chosen surname that Alex takes
omg 🥺🥺🥺 YES willie’s family being a rag tag lil bunch of kids at the skatepark!! also the idea of one of the older kids seeing willie and immediately going “yep. my brother now.” is SO JATP VIBES IT’S IMPECCABLE
the idea of his friends all painting a memorial for him at the park where they all used to skate just...makes me so soft :( maybe one day willie brings up the nerve to talk to alex about it and he gently suggests that they go down to the skatepark together one day just to check it out and they hold hands the entire time
UGH I’M SO SOFT i just want a willie backstory *grabby hands*












