11 Works by fringe_problems
Listing Works
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If you’re wondering what the fuck happened to Scott Hunter, the answer is this: a series of cascading catastrophic decisions. A domino effect, a Rube Goldberg machine that starts at a club in Ibiza and ends with him eating a Montreal bagel on the floor.
In which Scott Hunter accepts a trade to Montreal, just as Shane Hollander is named captain.
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“What makes him your best client?” Kip asks.
“He’s nice, his dog is well behaved, the apartment is insane, and he has a very set schedule. It’s not a daily gig, it’s kind of random. You have to stay at his place in the Upper West Side a few times a week, but again, the apartment is amazing. He’s some kind of athlete? So the schedule is also nuts. But he gives, like, six months of dates in advance.” Maria answers.
A set schedule of dates works for Kip, who is, these days, trying to make his own schedule.
“And,” Maria smiles wide, “I think you’ll like him.”
That beatific expression will come back to him, five days later, when he meets Scott Hunter for the first time.
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Kip Grady is a PhD student who takes a side-gig walking Scott Hunter's dog. Along the way: the precarity of academia vs hockey; keeping something good at arm's length despite an innate desire for safety and love; gratuitous metaphors about both.
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“Would you let me?” His heart flutters with the thought, “Not with my phone. The Polaroid. Just for me. For when you’re on the road.”
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Kip takes some photos.
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20 Questions & Mutual Destruction in Elevator 2T by fringe_problems
Fandoms: Heated Rivalry (TV)
19 Feb 2026
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Ilya takes out his phone and swipes to Jane and types quickly, eyes on Hunter: I am trapped in elevator. With Scott Hunter. I am coming soon as I can.
While Ilya is typing, Hunter has been staring at his phone as his eyebrows slowly move closer and closer together. Ilya is tempted to make a joke about Hunter getting wrinkles.
“Does your phone work?” Hunter says, looking up from his own phone. For a brief, panicked moment, Ilya is worried, but then, the three dots of Shane typing, and then Shane has responded: Are you joking??
Ilya types back quickly: No. Elevator stopped. They say 20 minutes.
Shane responds immediately: Please don’t kill Scott Hunter
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Ilya Rozanov and Scott Hunter get stuck in an elevator during the Tampa Bay All-Stars.
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like a song with no end (get right back to it) by fringe_problems
Fandoms: Heated Rivalry (TV)
11 Feb 2026
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Kip is hit with a wave of relief when he sees Scott at the front of the crowd, sweat-dried hair a mess from everyone rubbing his head. He’s out of his pads and jersey, in a black Under Armor shirt Kip has only ever seen in the laundry. The charge of seeing Scott like this, sizzling with energy and salty with sweat, surrounds Kip like a net and pulls him under.
He is not used to this feeling, the thrill that courses through him that this Scott—team captain, public figure—can be claimed as his. He wants to do so, but has no idea how to negotiate this new world and new arrangement. Scott scans the room and sees him, eyes bright.
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Scott and Kip have only been back together, properly, for three months when Scott comes out. Now it's the summer after.
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“Hey man, did the LASIK already fade? Thought it was supposed to last longer—my sister was thinking about it, and I told her how well it went for you and Jonesy.”
Hunter looks up from the table, confused, “Huh? No, my eyes are great. Still recommend it.”
“Oh, I saw the contact lens solution, and I thought…” Carter trails off. He suddenly realizes he’s prying, something he hates doing in general but learned long ago not to do with Hunter specifically. Hunter opens his mouth and then shuts it. His whole face looks like a rabbit caught in crosshairs.
“I, that was,” he stammers, pauses for a beat. “My cousin visited. Thanksgiving. She forgot hers, and I bought some for her.”
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Carter Vaughn does not want to pry. But he does want to know what's going on.
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Scott watches the typing dots appear and reappear, and then:
Kip: come find me
And then the message fills with a link to location sharing, Kip’s small icon is a moving bubble in downtown Boston. The world narrows to the point on the screen
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Scott Hunter texts his ex-boyfriend after losing the playoffs.
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The first time he saw Kip Grady, it was like a vague hum: the soft glow of initial, immediate attraction to a handsome man, letting himself test the water, a few brief words exchanged. Later, at his game, he’d been lacing his skates when the thought had occurred to him—what if Kip is watching? Attraction zeroed in on a singular focus.
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Scott and Kip break up, get back together, or: how to change your life (gradually and then suddenly).
Series
- Part 2 of a new name for everything
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if you come back, bring a new name for everything by fringe_problems
Fandoms: Heated Rivalry (TV)
07 Jan 2026
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Of all things, it starts with a tweet. It’s a picture of Scott in a People magazine Sexiest Man of the Year roundup. Not the cover star, but a stylish photoshoot, wearing skintight Under Armour, looking coquettishly over one shoulder. His friend’s tweet reads: “am i crazy or is this low key kind of fruity?”
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Or, Scott and Kip fall in love again.
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- Part 1 of a new name for everything
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New Year’s eve as symbol for feelings, or, 5 imperfect New Year’s and 1 perfect one.
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A little meditation on grief, told from Essek’s point of view. What we seek and what we want from the ones who leave us.
(death itself is off screen and not a focus of the story)