thinking again about this video where macklin calls will ‘willy’
i’m so convinced (for rpf purposes) that will has hated that nickname his whole life, really hated it.
like eight year old wsh sat colleen and bill down with the most serious little face and told them he was will now, not willy and he would not be answering to it anymore.
they thought it was hilarious. grace used it as one of her main weapons to annoy him for years. gabe and leno tried it once in college and got shut down so hard they never tried again.
he doesn’t even know why it bugs him so much. it’s always just sounded wrong coming from anyone else. too soft, too babyish, whatever.
until mack says it.
a few weeks into them actually being together, they’re on the couch one night and mack’s half asleep on top of him when he goes “night willy” real quiet, will freezes because… there’s no irritation at all, just this stupid little warm flutter in his chest, he likes it when mack says it. like a lot.
so he says nothing, just pulls mack closer and starts calling him mackie the next day, they match now, willy and mackie. cute!
then they’re at smith family dinner in boston and mack casually drops a “willy can you pass the salt?” and grace’s head snaps up so fast while colleen hides her smile in her wine. will immediately knows he’s in trouble and later whisper hisses at them “do not ruin this for me i’m serious.”
they behave. mostly.
but then gabe hears it a couple times and gets all concerned because everyone knows smitty hates willy. so he pulls mack aside like “hey man maybe don’t call him that” and gives him the whole lore.
and mack, sweet boy that he is, gets kinda bummed because he thought will liked it. but now he’s worried he was making him uncomfortable this whole time. so he stops and just goes back to will, smitty etc all the safe ones.
will lasts about a day and a half.
because of course he notices. smitty is fine, dude is fine they’re all fucking fine. but they’re not willy. and he actually misses it. embarrassing.
so he corners mack in the kitchen and backs him up against the counter.
“why’d you stop calling me willy?”
mack goes a little pink and looks down, fiddling with will’s shirt. “gabe told me you hate it. i thought you liked it when i said it but i didn’t wanna keep making you uncomfortable if everyone else knows not to say it. sorry.”
and will just stares at him for a second he’s so fond of this boy oh my god!
“mackie” he says soft, cupping mack’s face. “baby, you’re the only one who’s allowed to call me that, i don’t know why it doesn’t suck when it’s you, it just doesn’t. it’s yours now. you can’t just stop.”
mack lifts his head, this tiny shy smile breaking through, a little relieved. “yeah?”
“yeah mackie”
mack’s smile gets bigger, soft and happy “okay willy”
will kisses him immediately, grinning into it like an idiot because hearing it again just feels right.
they’re so stupidly gone for each other it’s unreal.










