#willmack with kids is such a cheatcode

[alltimecharlo]

hi! 😊 um, if you're still taking prompts, maybe Will with a small child (one of the older players' kids or a little fan?) and Mack simply unable to compute that image? Maybe even imagining Will with a kid with Mack's wide smile and Will's beautiful curls? anyways, thank you for your wonderful work, and the fics have been AWESOME

thank you so much!! 🥹 and uh YES a million times over. kid fics are my absolute kryptonite - fic under the cut! <3

Mack isn’t sure what he’s looking at.

Scratch that—he knows what he’s looking at. He’s just not sure how his brain is supposed to process it.

Will is crouched in the middle of the team lounge, one hand braced on his knee, the other holding a juice box for a toddler who couldn’t be more than three years old. The kid’s wearing an oversized Sharks jersey that nearly swallows him whole, and he’s staring up at Will like he’s some kind of superhero.

Which, fine. Mack gets it. Will does look kind of like a superhero sometimes. Blond hair all tousled and golden in the overhead lights, blue eyes that crinkle when he smiles, stupid perfect cheekbones. Even his laugh sounds like it was engineered in a lab to make people fall in love with him.

But still.

Watching him hold a juice box steady while making a lion sound to get a gummy smile from a kid who’s got applesauce on his chin?

Mack is toast.

"You okay over there?" Toff nudges him with an elbow, smirking.

"I—what?" Mack blinks, realizing he's been staring. Probably with his mouth open.

"You look like you're watching a nature documentary. Like Will's a rare bird."

Mack scowls and elbows him back, but his eyes flicker back to the scene in front of him involuntarily.

Will is now sitting cross-legged on the floor, letting the kid tug at the strings of his hoodie. He’s laughing, completely unbothered. The kid babbles something unintelligible, and Will nods like he totally gets it. "Yeah, that’s what I said too, buddy."

Mack’s heart actually hurts a little.

The kid’s dad—Wenny, who’s just back from injury and brought his son to practice—finally jogs over. "Sorry, sorry," he says, scooping the toddler up into his arms. "He likes you more than me now. I should be offended."

Will grins. "What can I say? I’m great with kids."

And that’s when it happens.

Mack has a vision so sudden and vivid it almost knocks him backward.

Will, barefoot in a sunlit kitchen, balancing a giggling toddler on his hip. The kid’s got wild curls, bright and unruly, but it’s the smile that hits Mack like a freight train. That wide, gummy, dimpled smile—his smile. But Will’s eyes. Their kid. Their kid.

Mack coughs, nearly chokes on air.

Will looks over, brows knitting. "You good, man?"

"Fine," Mack croaks, waving him off.

Will walks over, hands in his pockets, head tilted. "You sure? You look kind of flushed."

Mack shrugs, trying to play it cool. He’s not cool. He’s the opposite of cool. His entire internal operating system just rebooted.

"Didn’t know you were a baby whisperer," he says, aiming for casual.

Will shrugs, still smiling. "Guess I got the touch."

Mack makes a strangled sound in the back of his throat. Something like you really do but mercifully doesn’t say it out loud.

They start walking toward the locker room together. Mack keeps sneaking glances out of the corner of his eye. He can still see it—the domestic softness of it all. Will in sweatpants, toddler on his lap. Will reading bedtime stories. Will saying our kid.

He’s in hell.

"You ever want kids?" he blurts.

Will blinks. "Uh. Yeah. I think so. Someday. Not, like, now obviously."

Mack nods, a little too fast. "Cool. Coolcoolcool."

Will eyes him. "Why? You wanna co-parent or something?"

Mack nearly trips over his own feet.

Will cackles. "I’m kidding, dude. Relax."

But Mack is not relaxing.

Because co-parenting doesn’t sound like a joke. It sounds... kinda perfect.

Will opens the locker room door and holds it for him. "You coming or what?"

Mack exhales, dragging a hand down his face. He follows Will in.

Still thinking about chubby toddler fingers gripping Will’s hair and sleepy giggles and Will kissing their kid goodnight.

Yeah. He’s so screwed.

♡