Rating:

Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning:

No Archive Warnings Apply

Category:

M/M

Fandoms:

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

Relationships:

Kip Grady/Scott Hunter, Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov

Characters:

Kip Grady, Shane Hollander, Scott Hunter (Game Changers), Ilya Rozanov, Elena Rygg

Additional Tags:

POV Outsider, Scott Hunter Clocks Hollanov, Room 1221, slight timeline change, Established Relationship

Language:

English

Stats:

Published: 2025-12-06 Words: 2,088 Chapters: 1/1

third-favorite

Summary

In which Kip and Scott are an item during the All-Stars Skill Showcase.

In which Kip catches a certain someone running into Room 1221.

Notes

i've had this idea rolling around in my head for a few days and i hammered out writing it in... one hour......... this has not been proof-read but it was fun to write!! kip you're a fascinating fella i like getting inside your weird head

Kip's texting Elena as the elevator takes him all the way up to the twelfth floor. In one hand is his third-favorite takeout that's really only his third-favorite because it happens to be way out of his usual price range. The only reason he was able to afford it was because a very handsome and very covert all-star hockey player managed to tuck a hundred dollar bill into his uniform pocket as Kip passed. There was also a neon sticky note attached, and really, for a man not wanting to draw any attention at all to their relationship, Scott certainly isn't subtle. 

Kip, however, is totally capable of being subtle. 

E: kip you better not be getting yourself into something i know you can't get out of

K: i can get myself out of any situation just fine <3

E: do you need me to bring out receipts?

K: please don't

Kip would rather not be confronted with proof of his past carelessness. To be fair, he was in college for most of those times. To be fair, he's going to be back in college soon if he ever actually hears back from Boston U. College is the primary time for mistakes, and since Kip technically isn't out of the woods yet, he surely has plenty more time to be making mistakes. 

One of those mistakes might as well be hooking up with Scott Hunter. Again. Right after his shift at the after party serving at the all-star showcase. He may not be a fancy bartender like Kyle, but Kip knows how to hold a tray. Most of the time. He can smile, though. He can look plenty pretty and that's enough to earn him plenty of tips, including the crisp hundred dollar bill that he broke when he went and got his third-favorite takeout. 

And besides, it's not really hooking up if they've been seeing each other exclusively for the past few months and the fact that Kip is pretty much living at Scott's apartment ninety percent of the time. A bad idea? Probably. Elena sure thinks to think so, but Elena also thinks that she knows everything, so Kip really only listens to her most of the time. She has her own life to worry about. Successful career, gorgeous face and body, plenty of money and a chance to move up the corporate ladder to make even more money. 

When he and Elena first met in freshman year of high school, back when Kip somehow stumbled into cheerleading tryouts and Elena actually took him seriously instead of laughing at him, Kip had a feeling that he wouldn't get rid of her for a long while. His assumption proved to be correct as she sat next to him at lunch the next day and brought the rest of the cheer team with her. Kip found out then that he had made the team, and he spent the next four years with Elena as the base of every pyramid that they were a part of. Kip didn't get any fluffy pom-poms or fitted uniforms, but he was happy to be with the girls and the genuine friendships he made. Frumpy t-shirt and short uniform and all. 

Both Kip and Elena gave up cheerleading when they went into college, and some part of Kip wishes that he at least stuck with some sport into his adulthood. That may or may not be because he's practically dating one of the best athletes in the entire fucking United States. Kip keeps in shape. Not, like, rock-hard abs and thighs of steel shape, but good enough shape to at least keep up. 

He shifts as the elevator comes up to the twelfth floor. 

The elevator next to him pings and Kip glances over to find the doors of the other elevator closing. Someone else must've just gotten off. 

Kip doesn't think anything of it as he rounds the corner of the bougie hotel, one that Kip would never in his lifetime ever be able to afford on a minimum wage smoothie and serving salary. The carpet is plush underneath his dress shoes, and it makes Kip want to apologize to the building and take them right off. He's changed out of his suave uniform he wore to the after party, but he forgot a spare set of shoes. He probably looks really stupid wearing shiny dress shoes with his loose jeans and old hoodie, but there's nobody in the hallway to judge him--

Wait. No. There is someone here.

Kip pushes his glasses up on his nose just to make sure. 

He hasn't noticed Kip, but Kip notices him. Dark hair, pale skin, freckles, and tight shoulders that are surely a sense of urgency as he bounces on the soles of his shoes to wait for the door to open. 

Eventually it does, and the kid practically runs inside. Kip raises a brow. 

Was that Shane Hollander? 

Now Kip doesn't exactly keep up with hockey. He watches Scott's games and that's pretty much it. If Scott has a rant, then Kip will listen, and he'll try to absorb all of the names possible, but granted that hockey players tend to use nicknames far more than their actual names, Kip isn't quite sure who's who anymore. 

That, however, had to have been Shane Hollander. 

It isn't often that Kip can recognize someone from afar, and it's not often that he can clock them with just a bit of a glance, but Shane Hollander is someone mentioned on literally every single broadcast, regardless of who's playing. Shane Hollander was sitting next to Scott the entire All-Star Showcase. Shane Hollander was the one who broke the Russian guy's record right after the Russian guy broke Scott's. 

Kip thinks the kid is fine. No strong or negative opinions about him, but he does think that the fact that he was anxiously standing in a hotel hallway strange. 

Kip walks past the door Shane Hollander sprinted into--Room 1221--and moves to the next one where Scott awaits. 

Kip doesn't even have to knock before the door whooshes open and Scott stands with the largest, dopiest smile that Kip's ever seen. 

"Hi," Scott breathes as if he still somehow isn't convinced that Kip will actually show up for him. 

"Hey," Kip says slowly in response. He points to the room next to theirs. "I think that was Shane Hollander."

"I'm not going to unpack that right now," Scott says, his expression not changing in the slightest. Kip goes to say more, but Scott lunges forward to seize his wrist and drag him right inside for a searing kiss. 

Now, Kip's not complaining about being shoved against a door and have his entire fucking world rocked right to tomorrow, but he just got off a full shift. He's tired. He's hungry.

"Scott--" Kip mutters between kisses, weakly pushing at his chest. "Scott, sweetheart--"

That at least causes Scott to back off a little bit, but instead of attacking his lips, he moves to Kip's neck where he nibbles at the flesh right below the collar of his sweatshirt.

"Scott, I'm tired--" 

With one more kiss against his neck, Scott backs away, eyes shimmering and lips pulled into a smile. "Sorry. Sorry, I just get--" He runs his hands down Kip's biceps and rakes his eyes down his unimpressive body. "You brought food--"

"Isn't that why you wanted be here?" Kip says, half teasing as he holds up the bag. It smells pretty damn good, and it had taken quite an impressive bit of willpower to not dig in on the elevator ride up. 

"I want you here because I want you here," Scott says so earnestly that Kip thinks he's going to melt. "Here, let's--" He doesn't really finish the sentence and just gestures vaguely to the little living room because this hotel is so fancy that they have full living rooms in them. Kip's only known the stale interiors of Motel 6s and Super 8s. Hell, he hadn't even been on a plane until he was an adult and Elena had surprised him with her first huge paycheck with a trip to the Caribbean. The only bowtie that Kip knows is the one that he dons before going to work for the elite. The only benefits his job offers are ones that save him six dollars a day with a free smoothie every shift. His shiny shoes are second hand. His third-favorite takeout is one that he would never be able to afford without a hundred dollar bill tucked into his waistband. 

Kip is here, in this luxurious skyline hotel room, because Scott wants him here.

It's weird.

He doesn't know if he really deserves it all that much. 

But Scott smiles at him and Kip knows that just his presence makes Scott happy, so Kip takes their takeout to the couch and sets it right on the table. Because Scott is an extra son of a bitch, he vaults over the back of the couch and lands right at Kip's side. 

"What did you get?" He's looking at the bag of food like it's the one gift he got for Christmas underneath the tree.

"Just what I usually do," Kip answers with a shrug as he reaches for the chopsticks and hands Scott a pair. "Nothing special." Noodles, beef, some vegetables too. Fairly well-balanced and somewhat healthy. It's better than the cheap stuff that's Kip's first and second favorite. 

"It is special." There's that damn earnestness again that has Kip looking right at the glass coffee table instead of anywhere near Scott. "It's special because you got it."

It's literally just takeout, Kip wants to say with the biggest eye roll of the twenty-first century. Half of the time Kip just wants to grab Scott's shoulders and tell him to relax, but if he was relaxed, then he wouldn't be Scott Hunter. Obsessive, adorable, earnest Scott Hunter. 

"So," Kip begins as he brings out the first cartons of food. "What's the deal with Hollander."

Scott snorts and reaches for the carton Kip just opened, purposefully brushing his hand over Kip's. "He and Rozanov are fucking."

"Rozanov?" Kip echoes. "The Russian guy?" 

"There are so many Russian guys in the MLH, but yes, that Russian guy."

Kip takes a second to blink. He sits straight up, brows furrowed as he looks through the wall that connects the two rooms. Hollander in the hallway, more nervous than Kip had ever seen a professional hockey player. Hollander in the skills challenge, breaking a record that was set just a minute prior. Hollander who happens to be queer in some direction?

"What?" Kip exclaims after a long moment of silence. "Aren't they rivals?"

"Oh yeah," Scott says with a deep nod and wide eyes. "They're not being subtle about it."

"Yeah, Hollander was just." Kip gestures with his chopsticks. "Standing in the hallway." He takes a bite of his food, chewing it furiously as he thinks. Hell, he can't even enjoy the taste he's so busy thinking. He doesn't want to think. Kip came to this fancy hotel to bring his fancy boyfriend some fancy takeout. He doesn't want to be involved in this forbidden romance shit. Isn't Kip's life hard enough?

He thinks that Rozanov should work his fucking smoothie job just to see what it's like. Do they have smoothies in Russia? 

"Is this legal?" Kip asks after his fifth bite. He doesn't remember bites two-through-four which is really irritating because he was looking forward to eating his third-favorite takeout with Scott. "Like is there any sort of rules in place about... fraternizing with the enemy?"

"Fraternizing with the enemy?" Scott echoes, the stupidest smile on his face. "I don't... I don't think there's any rules in place. Nobody's thought about fucking their rival before."

"I'm sure at least someone has thought about it. Acted on it?" Kip's sure to stop talking so he can at least enjoy his sixth bite. "New territory, isn't it?"

"Entirely." 

Entirely.

Being queer. Being out. Being actually involved with someone else on the ice. 

Kip thought Scott could be complicated, but apparently Hollander and Rozanov enjoy being the best at everything that they do, and if being the most complicated is what they wish to be, then so be it.

Kip can't say he envies them.

Scott nudges him with his knee, and Kip meets his eyes with a smile. 

Kip can't say he'd envy anyone put in this sort of situation.