Rating:

Mature

Archive Warning:

No Archive Warnings Apply

Category:

M/M

Fandoms:

Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid, Heated Rivalry (TV)

Relationships:

Brad Hammersmith/Sebbin, Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov

Characters:

Brad Hammersmith, Sebbin (Heated Rivalry)

Additional Tags:

Post-Book 6: The Long Game (Game Changers), Post-Canon, No Beta We Live like Ilya, Idiots in Love, Fluff, Crack Treated Seriously, Established Relationship, Dumb Hockey Boys, Soft Hockey Boys, No Smut, Light Angst, Angst and Feels, Valentine's Day, Cookies, Brad Hammersmith is Obsessed With Sebbin, Fluff and Crack, Married Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov, POV Brad Hammersmith, Friendship/Love, We Just Love Each Other, And We Love Love

Language:

English

Series:

Part 10 of Just Game Changer things that my brain needs to write, Part 6 of Hammer/Sebbin is my close personal headcanon

Collections:

*Heated rivalry melts my heart*

Stats:

Published: 2026-03-21 Words: 3,144 Chapters: 1/1

Front Row Seats to Love

Summary

Couple watching is Sebbin’s favourite Valentine’s Day activity, and Boston on Valentine’s Day is full of restaurants with red paper hearts taped to the windows, red dresses and flowers, and a hockey player called Brad Hammersmith pretending they’re just best friends who sleep together sometimes.

Or, Seb loves love, and Hammer would like to stop overthinking their relationship.

POV Brad Hammersmith :)

Notes

Yes, yes and yes to a POV Hammer finally!
Hammer's not stupid, he just sometimes says stupid things, okay? Seb loves him just as he is.

I kept getting sidetracked by these Boston boys in texting fics, which are recommended reading to be properly invested in these cuties as a couple, but you can read my Seb/Hammer fics in any order, even though there's a vague timeline, so read them later if you want. You can find them in the series Hammer/Sebbin is my close personal headcanon. Enjoy mwah mwah!

Seb loved love.

Brad Hammersmith, who was proud to call himself Seb’s bestest friend and sometimes lover, thought Seb loved love a bit more than he needed to, but liked the man too much to say no when Seb dragged him out of the restaurant to couple watch, which meant they were now tipsy enough after dinner to walk out with their hands around each other’s waists.

Hammer had thought couple watching would mean sitting indoors, warm with every dessert the restaurant had, and pointing out strangers like they always did. Seb, however, had apparently decided to try something new, so now it meant being slightly tipsy, pleasantly full of steak, walking around Boston in February on Valentine’s Day like two idiots, weaving through groups of people heading in and out of restaurants with red paper hearts taped to the windows, red dresses and flowers and the soft glow of candles through the shop glass.

“See?” Seb hummed happily, nodding toward a couple from outside a bakery window. “That’s a good one.”

Dinner had been great. The owner had recognised them, and they came together to this fancy restaurant often enough because Seb liked trying their experimental menu and talking with the chef at the end of the meal. Hammer didn’t care as long as the food was good, so the staff didn’t think it odd that the two of them were here on Valentine’s Day, and as a gag, had sent them wine and strawberries.

It wouldn’t have bothered Hammer that it was a joke before, and he would have played along, but today, he played along because it annoyed him, like when someone flirted by asking him how tall he was. What did it fucking matter? They were fucking here together on Valentine’s Day, shouldn’t that tell them Seb and Hammer were together? Not that they were together together, but it was a shitty assumption to make.

Hammer squinted at the people in the bakery that Seb had been pointing to. “They’re just getting cake.”

“They’re sharing a fork,” Seb said, like that proved whatever it was he saw.

Hammer looked again. Okay, yeah, they were sharing a fork. The guy fed the girl a bite, and she laughed and wiped frosting off his lip. Earlier at the restaurant, Seb had been chomping on the strawberries they had gotten as part of the gag, and the chocolate he’d dipped them in dripped down the side of his lips. Hammer had given in to an unexplainable urge to wipe the chocolate away, full of annoyance at the staff, and Seb had smiled at him, a shy smile that showed crow’s feet at the ends of his eyes and the dimples Hammer loved so much.

There had been a guffaw from a table behind them when Hammer finished wiping Seb’s chin with his thumb, clearly having recognised them. “You guys are a riot, man.” Why was the dude watching Seb and Hammer instead of his date? But it had already broken the moment, and Seb had looked away from Hammer to wink at the fucker. Hammer had licked the chocolate off his thumb, and the smear had been good, mixed in with a taste that was uniquely Seb.

“Ah, those two are so sweet.” Seb was still watching the couple in the bakery and bumped his hip into Hammer’s, interrupting Hammer’s daydreaming about licking chocolate off Seb’s abs one day, and sighed like he was watching the final scene of a romance movie. Hammer blamed Roz and Marly for putting the dumb idea of dating into his head, and now he couldn’t get it out of his mind.

He had missed the hell out of Seb when Seb had been traded out to fucking Toronto, but Seb had come back after a single season, so Hammer wasn’t too mad. He’d been very cool about it at the time. Well, he hadn’t been mad about the fact that Seb had come back, but he was still mad that Seb had gotten a girlfriend out in Toronto in the year he’d been there and forgotten all about poor old Hammer all alone in Boston. Hammer hadn’t been as alone as Seb must’ve been in fucking Toronto, but he had still expected them to be best friends, and they hadn’t been that year.

Things were back to normal again, mostly normal, other than Hammer’s increasing dread. Maybe if Hammer just dated Seb himself, he wouldn’t have to worry about Seb eventually dating someone else and disappearing on him again? People were weird like that, and once they found out Seb and Hammer used to fuck, they demanded Seb stop hanging out so much with Hammer, which was fair, because Hammer would be mad too if Seb was spending so much time with someone he used to be with.

Seb grinned then, a thick arm tightening around Hammer’s waist as they started walking again from the bakery. “Best year for Valentine’s, right?” Seb said that every year, except the time he had been traded, and Hammer had ended up googling Toronto tabloids to see grainy pictures of Seb and his girlfriend online. Hammer had never told Seb because it felt stalkery to complain about your best friend dating someone.

It still ranked in the top three worst years of Hammer’s life, these being the year his grandpa died, the year he had knee surgery, and the year Seb made him sad. Seb had broken up with the chick less than a month after he had moved back to Boston, but Hammer was still mad, and still sad, and had so many feelings he didn’t have a name for, not that he would ever tell Seb that.

Seb had been back for three years now, so why was Hammer still feeling that way?

When Hammer didn’t answer, Seb bumped their hips again. “Worth it tonight?” Annoyingly, yeah, it was, even though the tabloid that had snapped a picture of them coming out of the restaurant would tomorrow run another shitty piece on hockey bros supporting each other through Valentine’s or whatever crap they came up with, but tonight, Hammer tried to be happy.

The Boston air was cold enough to bite, but Seb ran warm like a damn furnace, so Hammer had stolen his scarf halfway through the walk from the restaurant, and they were both a little buzzed, and Boston was doing that thing it did where the city lights reflected off the snow like everything was glowing, and Seb had his hand around Hammer, which was totally normal.

Hammer cleared his throat. “So how many couples do we gotta watch tonight before we can go back and I can finally fuck you?”

“We haven’t even had a second dessert yet,” Seb said. Seb and his desserts were inseparable, and Hammer had the unenviable job of hiding the sugar in their house. He needed to find a new hiding place every day because Seb kept finding it like a bloodhound, but with sugar. Was sugarhound even a thing?

Seb’s eyes were already wandering across the street. The Bears were out of the playoffs, so Hammer and Seb were just waiting out the season to announce their retirement. Seb hummed thoughtfully before pointing across the street. “See those two? So cute.”

Hammer followed his finger to two women walking hand in hand, one of them animatedly talking while the other listened, hanging on every word, just like Hammer did with Seb, except he’d never admit he hung on every word. Seb talked a lot, and Hammer liked it that way.

Maybe it was time to call Teresa, Seb’s ma, and complain about Seb with her, which always made Hammer feel better. Hammer had gotten really close to Teresa when Seb had moved to another fucking country, and he loved having brunch with her. He had complained about the Toronto girlfriend several times, and Teresa hadn’t liked her either, which vindicated Hammer in his opinion.

Teresa was a hotshot lawyer and a partner in her firm, which was very cool, and she was very, very cool, and she talked to Hammer about the news and politics and all sorts of things Hammer didn’t care to read about. If Hammer had to be honest, he would admit neither Hammer nor Teresa was much of a cook, and they didn’t want to be, so they competed to find the best restaurants and alternated between choosing a place for brunch.

Seb had stopped wanting to come to brunch with them, calling their choices pedestrian, whatever that meant, once he found out that Hammer’s ma was a fantastic cook. Hammer could find Seb sitting in his ma’s kitchen most Sunday mornings, and Seb gossiped with her about her book club friends, even though Hammer didn’t know how Seb even knew those women. Seb helped Hammer’s ma with the cooking, talking and eating as they went along. Hammer loved all the cooking and baking they did because he could eat the leftovers without needing to do any work.

“—and that’s what makes a solid couple,” Seb finished, looking at Hammer to agree, and Hammer nodded on instinct, not having listened to a word. Something weird happened in Hammer’s chest then, which was stupid. They did this every year on Valentine’s Day, and Hammer got sentimental all the time, and it was fine. It was fine, all super normal.

Seb was almost always right about couples anyway, like he had been about Roz and Jane, who they later found out had been Hollander. Seb had known it was a dude before anyone else, and had only told Hammer long before Seb had been traded to fucking Toronto. Hammer still couldn’t talk about that city without swearing, and maybe played a little too hard against them, even if the team had nothing to do with his anger.

Hammer shoved the feeling aside and asked, “You ever think people are looking at us on Valentine’s and doing the same thing?”

Seb blinked at him and laughed. “Hammy, nobody thinks we’re a couple.” Why couldn’t they be a—Why couldn’t they just be?

Hammer didn’t know why that made something twist in his stomach. They should know we’re a couple, Hammer thought, and was about to say so when Seb suddenly grabbed his arm and pulled him to a stop.

“Oh, my god.”

Across the street, a boy who looked about thirteen and was probably in his twenties was proposing on one knee outside a restaurant while the girl covered her mouth and cried. Why couldn’t the dude have proposed inside? It made no sense to do it out in the cold when the girl could have slipped the ring on a warmer finger that wouldn’t fall off as she admired the ring, but Seb looked delighted, like he was watching the finals of the Stanley Cup, so Hammer kept his mouth shut.

Hammer watched despite himself as the girl nodded through her tears and the guy slipped the ring on her finger. Hammer kept his hand around Seb’s waist when Seb started to clap with the other people on the street, because, of course, Seb did. Hammer shook his head, but he was smiling anyway.

Seb leaned into him, shoulder pressing into his side. “You think we’d ever do something like that?” Seb looked completely relaxed, curious even, like he was asking whether Hammer preferred thin crust or deep dish pizza, and not something that had short-circuited his brain for a second.

Hammer’s brain helpfully supplied a picture of Seb on one knee in front of him, and he was sure Seb would cry before he finished proposing. Hammer would also cry, but then it occurred to him that Seb probably meant proposing to different people, not each other, and then Hammer wanted to cry too.

Hammer opened his mouth to answer and closed it, a frown settling into his face, and they stood there for a moment, watching the newly engaged couple kiss with Hammer’s arm around Seb and Seb’s warm weight against Hammer.

“You want some more dessert at the bakery we saw earlier?” Hammer asked instead of all the other questions crowding his brain.

It wasn’t like Hammer didn’t love love, only that maybe he didn’t love love as much as Seb did.

Hammer had been twenty once, and this really cute, big guy had told Hammer that Hammer couldn’t bench as much as him, and Hammer had gotten hooked on the man when it turned out the cute guy really could bench more than him.

Seb could watch romcoms forever and sob, and Hammer liked it when Seb cried into his shirt and clutched him really tight, but a hockey team had never been the right place to show that side of either of them.

“Yes, let’s go. I’ll even feed you some of my cake if you want.” Hammer wanted. He always wanted Seb.

Seb replaced his arm around Hammer’s waist and steered them back toward the little bakery on the corner, like that was the most natural thing in the world, sneaking peeks back at the now kissing kids, who Hammer was sure would be very out of breath at the end of it, because it looked like they were choking each other.

“They aren’t even coming up for air!” Seb poked Hammer in the stomach when Hammer shared his opinion on their kissing.

Hammer had grown up knowing that love was an amazing thing, had seen his parents be the best versions of themselves because of each other, and still be gross after forty years of marriage. Hammer’s uncle, his mother’s brother, was still embarrassingly in love with his husband, still lived next door to Hammer’s parents, and Hammer had grown up as much in their house as he had in his parents’.

Seb’s parents were also disgustingly in love, and Nick, Seb’s father, was exactly like Seb, a total hottie. Teresa agreed with Hammer about Nick being a hottie, so it wasn’t weird or anything. Hammer thought it was just a good look into how Seb would look when they were older, and Hammer liked what he saw.

Seb’s arm tightened around Hammer’s waist as they turned the corner and waited for the light to change. “Don’t say that, let them be in love!”

Hammer knew he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but he had learnt early to keep his mouth shut about his opinions in any hockey room. His first time on a peewee team, someone had made fun of his uncles, and Hammer had beaten them bloody.

The only reason he hadn’t been kicked off the team for breaking that idiot boy’s jaw was that he had been too good a hockey player, but his uncle had taken him home and told him that he couldn’t beat up all the hockey assholes he would meet because there were too many of them to punch, and he couldn’t teach them because people didn’t want to be taught, and that sometimes he just had to take it all with a grain of salt. Hammer didn’t know what salt had to do with anything, but he had learnt to keep his opinions to himself.

Hollzy and Roz, even with how fantastic they were as players, hadn’t escaped the hockey world’s intense scrutiny of their marriage. Hammer and Seb were good players, sure, but nothing like those two, or even Hunter, old man that he was, even if he was two years younger than them. If Seb and Hammer had come out during their playing years, they would definitely have been kicked out of the NHL, so it probably was a good thing they weren’t officially dating.

His uncle had been right, and the League had too many assholes, but if he beat up some of them on the ice sometimes, just because they were assholes, that was just a part of being a defenseman. It was his little secret. Seb never asked him why they were ganging up on certain people. Seb went along with it because Seb loved hockey and Seb loved the violence of it and the chaos, and maybe Seb even knew why Hammer went after some of them, but Hammer had never clarified.

Hammer groaned when he saw Seb catch sight of the cookies through the front window of the store. “Heart cookies!”

Seb was already opening the door before Hammer could make a token protest, but he wanted a heart cookie too, so he allowed Seb to tow him inside, where it was warm and smelled like sugar. They stood in line, still a little buzzed, still shoulder to shoulder, Hammer’s hand clasped in Seb’s.

When they got to the counter, Seb pointed at ten different cookies. “Nine for me,” he said, “and one for my boyfriend.” Hammer choked on his inhale. Boyfriend? What boyfriend?

“You two are so cute together. How long have you guys been dating?” Seb looked delighted with himself as the cashier cooed at them, and Hammer elbowed Seb hard in the ribs. Seb didn’t look remotely worried, which worried Hammer.

How long have you guys been dating?

Hammer didn't know the answer to that question. He didn't know they were even dating. Did Seb think they were dating? Had they been dating, and Hammer was the one who didn't know? If they had been, Hammer had more than a decade of Valentine’s gifts to give, but if it was just a joke, Seb had to realise they would be fucked.

It was fine when people thought it was a joke, but calling each other boyfriends was a bit too explicit to brush away as being hockey bros. Hammer recognised it was hypocritical of him to be mad when they weren’t recognised as a couple, and also when they were, but he felt the way he felt, and Teresa could tell him what it meant when they met next.

For a weak moment, Hammer considered letting Seb go along with it all, and if people thought they were a couple, maybe Seb wouldn’t walk away from Hammer so easily again.

“A long time.” The asshole laughed, handed Hammer the plate of cookies to share, and picked up the glasses of milk. Hammer dragged Seb off to find a table before Seb decided to share anything else. The cashier definitely recognised them, and Hammer hoped he wouldn’t wake up to a queer players in a relationship headline in the morning.

“You’re an asshole.”

Seb slid into a booth and immediately broke a cookie in half, holding the bigger piece up to Hammer’s mouth.

“Open,” Seb said. Hammer rolled his eyes at Seb but leaned forward anyway, and Seb brushed the crumbs off Hammer’s beard like he always did.

Seb had the best taste in cookies, and Hammer had always known that.