Rating:

Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning:

No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories:

Gen, M/M

Fandom:

Heated Rivalry (TV)

Relationships:

Scott Hunter & Ilya Rozanov, Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov, Kip Grady/Scott Hunter

Characters:

Ilya Rozanov, Scott Hunter (Game Changers)

Additional Tags:

Episode: s01e06 The Cottage (Heated Rivalry), Ilya's phone call with Scott, Scott Hunter Knows About Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov, POV Ilya Rozanov, Missing Scene

Language:

English

Stats:

Published: 2026-01-05 Words: 590 Chapters: 1/1

spilling secrets

Summary

Hunter is silent for a moment. “You know, you almost sound sincere.”

“Is new thing I’m trying. You like it?” Ilya asks.

“It freaks me the fuck out."

Notes

Two days after the MLH awards banquet, when Ilya bitterly watches Scott Hunter win MVP even though Ilya has scored more goals in the season, Ilya calls Scott Hunter on the telephone. Maybe email would be smarter, because he would have time to write it out in English, but he’s not sure that he wants what he’s about to say to live in writing.

“Rozanov, what do you want?”

Considering that they’ve never had a friendly conversation, maybe Ilya should be glad that he answered at all. “I heard your speech.”

“I know, I saw you there. You calling to tell me that guys like me don’t belong in hockey?”

“No,” Ilya says. “It was—very brave thing to do.”

Hunter is silent for a moment. “You know, you almost sound sincere.”

“Is new thing I’m trying. You like it?”

“It freaks me the fuck out,” Hunter says. “So you’re calling to say how brave I am?”

That makes Ilya feel stupid. “To—congratulate you,” he tries. “You seem very happy. Many people call to tell you to fuck off?” He’s genuinely curious.

“Not everyone is thrilled to hear they’ve been playing with a—” Hunter stops. “Only a couple death threats, though, so I guess I should feel lucky about that.”

Fuck. “I promise, I only try to kill you—figuratively.” He’s not sure if that’s the right word. “On ice. Beat you,” he clarifies.

“Thanks, I guess.”

Hunter is quiet for long enough that the question Ilya’s been fighting slips out. “How did you know?”

“What, that I’m gay?”

Ilya snorts. “No, was pretty obvious. How did you know you should do it? Tell everyone? Death threats, maybe no sponsorships, maybe your career ends—why do it?” He really means why do it now, when no one suspected, when Hunter can’t be more than a couple years from retirement. Hunter is a million years old and his boyfriend lives in New York anyway.

“If you have to ask that, I don’t think you’ll understand.”

“I would like to,” Ilya says carefully.

“I knew it hurt Kip,” Hunter says. “Every time I couldn’t go somewhere with him, every time he had to pretend, just to keep my secret—it hurt him, and that hurt me.” That’s no help to Ilya. Shane doesn’t want anyone to know. “And keeping a secret like that is exhausting. It weighs on you. Either you lie to everyone around you, or you ask them to keep your secret too, and there’s always the risk that one of them will slip up. I didn’t want to be afraid anymore.”

Ilya was hoping for a better answer than that. “So you are old and tired and don’t trust people.”

Hunter snorts. “Fuck off, Rozanov. I wanted to be able to kiss my fucking boyfriend to celebrate on the biggest day of my life, okay? I wanted to walk down the sidewalk with him with a stupid sappy grin on my face. I wanted to be happy with him without worrying that it would all get yanked out from under me because someone finally noticed. What do you want from me?”

“Nothing,” Ilya says. “Nothing. Congratulations. To you and Kip. I hope you are happy.” He ends the call before he says something stupider, shoves his phone into his pocket, and goes to run on the treadmill until he stops thinking about it.

Later that night, he checks his phone again. There’s a message from Hunter that just reads It’s worth it, and it makes Ilya’s eyes burn.