not like that
will smith x sarah (fem!oc) x macklin celebrini
wc: 1.1K
tropes: messy unestablished dynamic, friends with tension, love triangle-ish, unspoken feelings, long-distance pining, emotional chaos
optional AU context
Insomnia leads to a call. The call leads to bickering, as usual.
Sarah stares at her ceiling, lying in her bed. Madrid’s city noises from outside her window keep her company. She grabs her phone, initially just to check the time. The clock reads 2:45. She turns to her side and opens TikTok. A Macklin Celebrini edit plays on repeat for a few seconds. Sarah opens her clock app; it’s 5:55 p.m. in San Jose. She places the call.
“Can’t sleep.”
“Hi, hello. How are you, Will? I’ve missed you.”
“Hi, Willy. How are you? I’ve missed you, and I can’t sleep. It’s almost 3 a.m.”
“So you called me for what, to entertain you or something?”
“Mmm,no, more like bore me to sleep.”
“Okay… I’m hanging up.”
“No,wait! I do have something entertaining to tell you….”
Silence is all she gets in response.
“Bitch, never mind. If you don’t care, forget about it.”
“You want me to beg or something?”
“At least act like you care.”
“You only act like this when there isn’t anything to say. If there were, I wouldn’t have time to blink before you spilled it out.”
“There soooo is—you clearly just don’t know me anymore.”
She hears him laugh, a familiar sound.
“Yeah, I’m sorry I haven’t been great at keeping up.”
He hums in agreement.
“Hey, no — actually you don’t get to say anything, because you could call once in a while too.”
There it is again, his laugh.
“What’s so funny?”
“I don’t know, maybe the fact that I’m busy playing multiple NHL games a week, training on the days that I don’t, doing media — and you’re what? Making little flower arrangements every other day?”
Sarah can hear the smirk in his voice, even through his attempt at sounding annoyed. She laughs.
“What are you laughing about now?”
“You just wanted an excuse to mention you’re an NHL player. Like, okay baby, we get it.”
She rolls her eyes, forgetting for a moment that he couldn’t see her.
His small chuckle is all the confirmation she needs.
The pause that follows stretches on, long enough for her eyes to close.
“Okay then, what’s what you had to tell me?”
Sarah keeps her eyes closed, the softness of his voice still familiar.
“I kind of have a crush on Mack,” she starts, already drifting.
“Well — not really a crush, but like… he’s so fucking cute. Have you seen the edits? Of course…”
An unfamiliar laugh cuts in.
She stops short, pulling her eyes open.
Will laughs too, almost immediately.
She hangs up before she can settle into it.
Her face burns as she lies stiff in bed. She answers the incoming call. A moment of silence follows, short but uncomfortable.
Sarah cuts Will off as soon as he starts apologizing.
“You didn’t think that maybe, just maybe, it would be a good idea to tell me I was on speaker?”
“You’re always on speaker.”
“Oh, Will, that makes it so much better.”
“You’re not on speaker now, if that makes a difference…”
“But he’s still there. Right?”
“Where else would you want him to go?” Will asks genuinely.
Sarah chuckles, still annoyed.
Where else is Mack supposed to be, if not next to Will?
She knows him too well. She should have guessed.
“Fine.”
“So when are you coming to visit?”
“You miss me too much? I’d love to see you play, it’s been forever,” Sarah replies, not taken aback by the sudden change in subject.
“Then come. I mean it.”
“Yeah, maybe I will. I’d get to see Mack in person.”
She knows it is the stupidest way to restart that conversation, but she is hoping for a proper reply this time.
“You were serious about that?”
“Will, I’m so serious… like I KNOW you’ve seen the edits too. Ugh, fuck you, you don’t even need those — you see him every minute of every hour. I’m jealous.”
She waits for a reply. There isn’t even a chuckle.
“I know I’m not the only one with a crush,” she continues, hoping to sound playful rather than pushy.
She’s met with the sound of the call ending.
Sarah calls immediately after, not doubting for a second that Will would respond.
“You said I wasn’t on speaker,” she says, even though she knows that isn’t the problem.
“You weren’t, you aren’t. It’s not that.”
“I…”
“It’s…”
“I know, sorry.”
It’s genuine, but brushed off on purpose.
She knows that if it sounds too serious, it will make things worse.
“Don’t you have to sleep or something?” he says, breaking the silence as it starts to form again.
“I can’t, please stay a little longer. Tell me something.”
She doesn’t think twice about it. She knows he won’t either.
She closes her eyes, finally finding comfort in her bed.
She can tell she’s back on speaker when Mack’s voice slips into Will’s rambling about their day.
She is finally able to fall asleep.
A few moments later, Will hangs up. He immediately feels a change in the room.
“What happened?”
“What do you mean?”
“Umm… I’m not stupid, you know.”
Will stays quiet. He picks at the skin around his nails.
“You hung up on Sarah. I know you guys do that a lot, but then you got all awkward. That, I don’t see much.”
“She was just being annoying.”
“Yeah. Sure. Okay.”
For a second, Will leaves his nails alone.
“Are you mad at her because she has a crush on me?”
“What?” There’s relief in his tone.
It’s not where he thought this was going.
“Like, you know —I don’t know. Like I— I know you’re ‘just friends,’ but who even is just friends with someone like that?”
“What do you mean ‘like that’?” Will asks, trying to follow.
“You know… a girl you’re that close to.”
“The fuck, Mack, that’s disgusting.” The reaction is instant.
“Can’t be close to a woman without getting hot or what?” He lets it tip into a joke.
“What? Who even said anything about getting hot?” Mack laughs back.
Will latches onto that.
“How about we just don’t have this conversation at all?”
“Just tell me why you’re mad at her. She’s cute and all, but bros before—”
Will’s expression shuts it down. Whatever crosses his face isn’t subtle.
“It’s not like that at all.”
Silence settles between them. Will takes it as an answer.
“You would tell me, right? If it were?”
“Sure.”
He stands up from the bed.
“Where are you going?”
“Taking a shower.”
“You just did.”
Will doesn’t respond. He closes the bathroom door behind him.