Rating:

Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning:

No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories:

F/M, M/M, Multi

Fandom:

Game Changers | Heated Rivalry - All Media Types

Relationships:

Kip Grady/Scott Hunter, Gloria Grey/Carter Vaughn, Scott Hunter & Carter Vaughn, Kip Grady & Carter Vaughn, Kip Grady & Gloria Grey, Scott Hunter/Carter Vaughn, Kip Grady/Carter Vaughn, Scott Hunter/Gloria Grey, Kip Grady/Gloria Grey

Characters:

Kip Grady, Scott Hunter (Game Changers), Carter Vaughn, Gloria Grey

Additional Tags:

Established Relationship, Bi-Curiosity, First Kiss, Friendship, Platonic Kissing

Language:

English

Series:

Part 1 of hypotheticals

Stats:

Published: 2026-05-31 Words: 2,876 Chapters: 1/1

hypothetically yes

Summary

“You said Benny.”

“I said Benny what?”

“If you had to choose, you said Benny.”

“Oh God,” Scott sighs. He carefully keeps his eyes closed. This is what Carter has been mulling over for months now? “It wasn’t that deep, I just said whatever. I don’t see you guys that way.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get that,” Carter says. “But…hypothetically.”

-
Carter is having thoughts and is gently encouraged to act on them.

Notes

Title from Hypotheticals by Lake Street Drive (half my 2026 playlist is just songs from Francois’ Insta stories at this point, like this one)

Just a quick and silly little bit of fun, inspired by the scene from the Game Changer book as quoted in the beginning, and some very interesting polycule discussions the discord sometimes gets up to :)

My facecast for Gloria is Candice Patton (x, x)

“For the record,” Carter said, “if you had to choose between the three of us –”

“No,” Scott said.

“Come on,” Carter said. “I mean, I assume it’s me, but –”

“Bennett,” Scott said, just to bother Carter.

“Makes sense.” Huff nodded. “Bennett seems like a cuddler.”

---

Something is cooking in Carter’s brain. Scott can see it in the way his eyes go a little distant and thoughtful sometimes, uncharacteristically quiet. They’re tuned into each other, on and off the ice. Bodies always in each other’s periphery, center and wing, their minds almost as familiar. It’s what happens when you’ve been best friends for years and also, when one part of that equation finally lets himself open up just as much as the other half always has been. It’s been good for them, Scott being honest.

Anyway – Scott knows how hard it is to hide shit from someone like that, and Carter really isn’t particularly good at it. He’s always been a heart-on-his-sleeve kind of guy.

“Hypothetically,” Carter says one day.

They’re in the steam room together, sitting on one of the wooden benches with their heads tipped back and their eyes closed, white towels around their hips. Scott has been zoning out for at least the past ten minutes and makes an absent, questioning sound in his throat.

“You said Benny.”

“I said Benny what?”

“If you had to choose, you said Benny.”

“Oh God,” Scott sighs. He carefully keeps his eyes closed. This is what Carter has been mulling over for months now? “It wasn’t that deep, I just said whatever. I don’t see you guys that way.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get that,” Carter says. “But…hypothetically.”

“Hypothetically…?”

“If I…” He hears Carter take a deep breath, then laugh, a little high and nervous. “Nah, it’s stupid, man. Forget about it.”

Scott opens his eyes and squints at him. “What’s up?”

“It probably doesn’t – I mean, you’re probably, like, exclusive, so –”

“Vaughny,” Scott says, a warning edge in his voice. Something is clearly weighing on Carter and he needs to know what the hell is going on. Now.

Carter falters pretty much immediately.

“So maybe I’ve been thinking about it. What it would be like. And before I knew about Kip, and then you said – and I thought –”

“What?” Scott thinks maybe he’s hallucinating. It’s the steam. What did they put into that today, eucalyptus? LSD?

“Just kissing,” Carter continues, “that’s all I’d wanna – that’s all I’d wanna try. Nothing, like – serious.”

I am being cruised at the sauna for the first time, Scott thinks, a little hysterically, by my best friend. Carter probably doesn’t even know what that means.

He is nothing if not used to keeping a stoic face when confronted with emotional turmoil, so Scott just nods and lets that sink in for a moment. Carter is a little jumpy next to him, resolutely not looking at Scott.

“What does Gloria say?”

“Oh, Gloria said hot. So.”

“Uh huh.” Scott feels his face heat a few more degrees.

Why exactly did Carter have to start this conversation while they’re both naked and sweaty, alone together in an enclosed space? He wasn’t lying when he said he didn’t see his teammates that way. He compartmentalizes – locker rooms are off-limits.

“So…”

“And you’d wanna try that – with me? Hypothetically?”

“It’s cool if you’re not into it,” Carter says, sounding like that would be the least cool thing he can think of. “Just kinda…throwing it out there.”

“Vaughny,” Scott says again, a lot more softly. “Give me a minute to think about it, okay? It’s a little, uh, unexpected.”

“It’s not that I’m like – I mean, you’re my best friend. It’d just be – it would feel safe. With you. But you really don’t – it’s cool. Like I said.”

Jesus Christ. Scott is really looking forward to that ice bath after this.

---

When he tells Kip about it, Kip laughs like it’s the best thing he ever heard.

“Okay, firstly – rite of passage, okay? Don’t be spooked. You come out, and then confused straight boys who wanna experiment just sort of manifest around you. It happens.”

“Does it?” Scott asks dubiously.

“Trust me. And spoiler alert, they all break your heart.”

“Well…”

“No, I know, it’s not that kind of scenario here.”

Kip has finished packing his backpack for the next day and joins Scott on the couch, nudging him to put his head in Kip’s lap so Kip can smile down at him and run his fingers through his hair. Scott groans at how nice it feels.

“Secondly,” Kip continues, “we never talked about this, because it didn’t come up, but if you, you know – if this is something you wanna do, I’d be fine with it.”

“Really?”

“I mean, I’d wanna be there to see it. For, like, horny reasons.”

“Obviously,” Scott says flatly and Kip bends down to kiss him, sweet. All smiles.

“So what are you thinking?”

That is a very good question that Scott has been trying to find the answer to all afternoon.

“I think…I wouldn’t mind it? It wouldn’t really be that big a deal to me, I guess. But it seemed pretty important to him. I’m kinda touched he trusted me with it.”

“Yeah, Carter’s a good guy,” Kip says softly and strokes his thumb over Scott’s cheek. Scott lets his eyes slip closed and sighs. “And it doesn’t have to be a big deal. It’s just a kiss.”

---

It’s just a kiss. That’s what Scott tells himself.

Thankfully, nothing seems to have changed between Carter and him when they see each other the next day. It’s one thing Scott appreciates about him, how things are never awkward with Carter. He’ll always find some way to diffuse the situation, say something charming or make a joke. Make everyone around him feel a little more at ease. Scott would like to give that back, do the same for him. In a slightly different way.

He bumps his shoulder into Carter’s when they walk out of the stadium that night, everyone in a triumphant mood after a win against Boston.

“Hypothetically, yes.”

Carter immediately knows what he means, nodding and clearing his throat before he looks at Scott. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. What’s the play?”

“Gloria wants to be there,” Carter says and Scott laughs.

“Kip wants to be there.”

“A whole event! We should sell tickets.”

“We’re not recreating the Cup win, just so you know,” Scott says with a smirk and Carter pretends to be put out about it.

“Gloria also said she wants a go so that it’d be fair, but I think that was joke.”

“What, with me?” Scott asks, brows furrowed. He feels slightly objectified but in a pleasant way, turns the idea over in his head for a moment, and then decides, “hell, yeah.”

“Wait. What?”

“Vaughny, I’m gay, not stupid. Who says no when Gloria Grey wants to kiss them?”

“When you put it that way…”

---

It’s not much of an event at all, in the end, which is probably for the best.

Scott and Kip have been on a few double dates with Gloria and Carter at this point, usually out to fancy restaurants, and Kip has mostly gotten over how very starstruck he was the first few times. (And Scott, too – just because he’s famous, doesn’t mean he’s not still impressed by other famous people, he’s just a lot more used to encountering them in the wild.)

This time, they decided on a more quiet dinner at Scott’s place, no outright expectations but a number of…possibilities, unspoken between them.

It’s easy, between the four of them. Gloria is warm and funny and open, clearly a match to Carter’s energy but maybe a slightly softer version of it. She adores Kip, and also adores that he talks to her about more interesting things than hockey, oh my God, save me. (Carter and Scott can get a little lost in shop talk if left unsupervised.)

It’s very obvious tonight that Kip and Gloria are giving them space, while also keeping very interested and watchful eyes on them both. They sit at the kitchen island drinking wine after dinner while Scott and Carter talk on the couch, half-watching a football match as background noise.

Scott realizes he’s probably going to have to make the first move here, because Carter is looking a little jumpy again, the usual banter noticeably dialed down now that the conversation is just between the two of them.

“Hey,” Scott says quietly and Carter looks at him. “We don’t actually have to do this, you know that, right? You can change your mind any time.”

“Yeah,” Carter says, and his face does something complicated that Scott has literally never seen before. His eyes drop to Scott’s mouth. “I’m not changing my mind.”

“Okay.”

Carter still doesn’t move though, so Scott scoots a little closer where they’re sitting next to each other on the couch and puts one hand on his cheek. Carter takes a breath and licks his lips, then nods.

“Okay,” he repeats softly.

Scott leans in very slowly, stopping when their lips are so close to touching that he can feel the warmth of Carter’s breath against his face, feel the pull between them that he knows is entirely new.

It’s Carter who closes the gap, pressing his lips to Scott’s and exhaling slowly. Scott lets him lead; a soft, dry brush of lips slowly turning into something more enthusiastic, a little more heated.

It feels familiar, even though it’s clearly not, but somehow, it gives Scott a nice and calm sensation in his chest. It’s just Carter. Of course it feels good.

“What the fuck man, your beard,” Carter says, and Scott isn’t sure whether that comment is meant to be good or bad, but he has no time to think about it, because Carter is already kissing him again.

In the background, the Seahawks score against the Cardinals, and all the noise from the TV makes them both laugh.

“Fuck, that feels like the manliest thing I’ve ever done,” Carter says, nodding towards Scott and then the TV.

“Exceptional timing,” Scott confirms.

Carter leans back and takes a sip of his beer. It strikes Scott how completely normal all of that felt.

“You good?”

“Yeah. Processing. But, yeah.”

Scott nods and looks at the TV. Processing. He nudges his shoulder against Carter’s and Carter nudges back.

Gloria and Kip give them two more minutes to decompress and then join them on the couch, Gloria on Carter’s lap and Kip curled into Scott’s side.

“Hi,” Kip says, very exaggeratedly wiggling his eyebrows, and Scott kisses him on the nose.

“How we doing, baby?” Gloria asks Carter and Carter gives her the most brilliant smile. “That good?”

Carter looks back at Scott as if to make sure it’s okay to answer that question and Scott tilts his head to the side, giving him a considering look.

“Yeah,” Carter says gently and then they’re already kissing again, Scott’s hand on Kip’s knee beside him and Gloria stroking Carter’s hair, her knees pressed against the side of Scott’s thighs. It seems to make them both feel bolder, having their partners close, and Scott makes a soft sound in his throat when Carter licks into his mouth, tongues sliding together hot and wet.

The Seahawks score again and Carter breaks away, laughing.

“Damn, I think their fate is in our hands now.”

Scott chuckles and leans back, letting himself sink into the couch. Damn indeed.

He turns towards Kip, folding himself into his waiting arms and breathing him in while Kip kisses the top of his head and strokes his hand over Scott’s back.

“That was hot,” Kip whispers into his hair and Scott nods into his chest. He feels like he doesn’t really know what to do with himself now, like it shouldn’t have been this easy.

Gloria is whispering to Carter, too, and when Scott lifts his head a moment later and turns to look over at them, she’s smiling.

“I think that settles that,” she says.

“What, exactly?” Scott asks and Carter shrugs.

“Man, I don’t even know. I don’t wanna suck your dick or anything – no offence. But that was nice. That was real nice.”

“Uh, thanks,” Scott says awkwardly and Kip laughs.

“There’s not just straight, bi, gay, you know,” he says to Carter. “It’s a lot more nuanced and, like, fluid? You can just like kissing men sometimes, but nothing more than that. As long as everyone’s on board, no definition needed.”

Gloria nods and Carter looks like he could be comfortable with that explanation of it, but isn’t entirely sure yet.

“Scott?” Gloria asks and tilts her head, looking very…intentional. Oh, right.

“Absolutely,” Scott replies and smiles when Gloria leans in, holding his face in both hands as she kisses him.

It’s very chaste and her lips feel soft and pleasant against his. Nothing like kissing Carter a minute ago, but…nice. Good.

On TV, the Cardinals score.

“Goddamnit,” Carter says and Gloria pulls back and laughs, bright and happy. “We have too much power.”

Scott sees Kip looking at him with big, round eyes, his cheeks a little pink. It’s the very same face he made the first three or four times he saw Gloria in person. They’re friends now, but it doesn’t change the fact that Kip is still a bit of a fan in his heart.

Gloria sees it, too, and reaches over to take his hand. “Oh, honey. Don’t feel left out.”

In a very bendy and athletic maneuver, she leans forward and over Scott’s lap enough to be able to get to Kip. She cups his cheek and gives him a sweet smile, and then Kip closes his eyes when she leans in to kiss him, too.

The Cardinals do not score, relieving everyone of their responsibility of deciding this random football game via straight vs. gay kisses.

“Thank you,” Kip says, sounding a little breathless, and Gloria grins. She settles back into her original place on Carter’s lap and presses a kiss to his temple. He wraps his arms around her waist and puts his head onto her shoulder.

“So that’s just something you can do?” he asks, Gloria and Kip both nodding their confirmation.

“I kissed lots of girls in highschool,” Kip offers, which is new information to Scott, “even touched a boob once.”

“A boob, singular?” Gloria asks, laughing, at the same time that Carter says, “all right, Mr. Second Base.”

Understanding suddenly dawns for Scott on why Gloria made that whole production about kissing him in the first place – making it all a little easier for Carter to understand. That you can just do things that feel right sometimes.

“What about you?” Carter asks Scott and Scott shakes his head with a chuckle.

“It’s between your girlfriend and Melissa Kowalski in seventh grade. Zero boobs, but both of us had braces.”

“Ah,” Carter says, clearly understanding the struggle. He slowly looks from Scott to Kip and then back again. “So, uh…”

He seems hesitant to ask, but both Scott and Gloria can read him well enough to know where his mind just went.

“Kip?” Scott asks and nods towards Carter. “You two wanna complete the set?”

“Oh,” Kip says, sounding surprised but also a little pleased. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m game.”

Carter looks almost shy now, which is also a facial expression Scott has never seen on him before in his entire life, and Scott trades places on the couch with Kip, letting them sit next to each other.

Scott holds Kip’s hand in his lap, but otherwise keeps out of it. Kip murmurs something to Carter quietly and Carter laughs. They’re both so good at making others feel comfortable, and Scott is starting to recognize a pattern to his relationships. He watches the back of Kip’s head move and Carter’s eyes close, listening to the soft sounds of their breathing, their kissing.

“Yeah, okay,” Carter says after Kip pulls back, more to himself than anyone else, and blows out a breath. “All right. Yeah.”

Kip gives Scott a very smug smile and cuddles into his side.

“That wasn’t a competition,” Scott tells him and Kip rolls his eyes, because they both know anything is a competition to Scott. “And I wasn’t trying.”

“What do you mean, you weren’t trying?” Carter asks, clearly shaken out of his freshly-kissed haze, sounding indignant. “Did you half-ass it? Is that what I deserve after all these years?”

“That feel half-assed to you?” Scott asks, matching Carter’s tone, but smiling.

“Well how would I know that? I don’t know what you kiss like.” There’s a smile tugging at Carter’s lips, too; a laugh just waiting to come out.

“Like that, Jesus, Vaughny. Sue me for trying to be gentle for your first time.”

“Nothing wrong with gentle, Kip was gentle.”

Gloria’s eyes flit between them, clearly very entertained by the antics.

“I was,” Kip confirms very unhelpfully.

“Well, maybe next time –” Carter starts and then cuts himself off. “Uh.”

The moment stretches between all four of them, looks passing back and forth. Everyone seems generally in agreement.

“What would you like to do next time?” Scott asks softly. “Hypothetically?”