Chapter Text
New York, Kingfisher
The New York Admirals were out for a night of drinks after a win at home against Miami. Scott Hunter, Kip Grady, and Carter Vaughan were sitting quietly at a table, looking through their social media accounts while talking about the game.
Buzz
Scott sees a post from Shane Hollander, Captain of the Montreal Metros, posting about their win tonight against Toronto.
Then, something starts clicking in Scott’s brain. He doesn’t look up right away. “Okay, I have a question.”
Carter laughs into his drink. “No, Scott. We’re not going to do whatever you’re thinking of.” Carter’s sipping his glass of beer while suspiciously eyeing down Scott. It’s never a good thing when he thinks.
Kip is already shaking his head. But, Kip was curious. “What is it now, Scott?”
Scott finally looks up. Looks right at Kip and Carter. “Shane Hollander. He’s gay, right?”
The rumors have started floating around, coming from reliable sources within Montreal. Shane had come out privately to his team. It wasn’t out in the news, and the media didn’t catch wind of it yet, but they were confident in the truth behind it.
Kip just stares blankly at Scott. “No, Scott. No. We’re not inviting him over for a threesome.”
Carter immediately spits his beer. Full spray. Laughing hard. “Scott Hunter, denied a threesome by his loving boyfriend! Wait ‘till I tell the boys!” He was slapping his hand at the table, unable to control his laughter.
“Shut the fuck up, Vaughny! And no, Kip! That’s not what I was going to suggest!” Scott’s eyes did linger for a moment, an eyebrow raised. But not a bad idea…
“What I was going to ask is…” Scott starts scrolling through his Instagram feed. Looking for the Ottawa Centaurs page. “...Troy Barrett. With the Centaurs. He just came out as gay too.” Scott turned his phone around, showing Carter and Kip the photo of Troy, standing on the ice, wearing the Ottawa Centaurs Pride Jersey. And an announcement drafted by the team announcing his coming out the night of Pride Night. “Tell me they wouldn’t be hot together.”
A silence hung at the table.
Carter blinks at him. “I’m sorry…what?”
Kip grabs Scott’s phone, and looks through the announcement. “Scott…I don’t know about this…”
Scott snatches his phone back from Kip, more wild ideas rummaging through his cluttered brain. Only thinking about playing Matchmaker for two newly out gay men. “They would be so cute together! Don’t worry. I have an idea…” Scott starts typing fiercely on his phone.
Carter stares at Scott as he works. “You’ve lost it, Hunter.”
“Fuck off,” Scott says, still typing. “This is a great idea.”
***
Montreal, Metros Locker Room
The Metros had just finished playing their game at home against Pittsburg. Hayden Pike had just gotten out of the shower, trying to get out of there as quickly as possible so the team could go out for post game beers.
Hayden’s phone buzzes in his locker. Buzzes again. And again. Annoyed, Hayden looks at his phone.
“What the fuck? Why is Scott Hunter texting me?” Hayden mutters under his breath.
JJ Boiziau was just finishing getting changed next to him. “Yeah, don’t open that. Nothing good ever started with Scott Hunter texting you.”
Hayden opens the message anyway. Reads it over. Then, his face goes flat. “Oh, fuck…”
JJ looks up, seeing Hayden looking at his phone. “What? What’s he up to now?”
Hayden turns the phone over for JJ to read. His eyes scan the phone. “...no…”
Then, JJ hears his phone buzz. His heart drops. He looks at his phone. Scans it over. “Fucking Hunter, man…”
Ottawa, Centaurs Locker Room
Wyatt Hayes, Ilya Rozanov, Luca Haas, and Zane Boodram were finishing up getting dressed after their game tonight. Ilya started looking around the room, noticing someone was missing. “Where’s Barrett?”
Wyatt just shrugs, “He left awhile ago. He showered pretty quick and left in a hurry.”
A crooked smile flashed across Ilya’s face, which he did his best to hide from his team. As they finished getting their hockey bags together…
Four buzzes. Back to back. Constant. All four of them looked at each other. “What the fuck?” Zane said.
All four of them pulled their phones out. They scan their phone.
Ilya’s crooked smile immediately vanishes. “Scott fucking Hunter…” Luca and Wyatt look up at each other. A mischievous grin crosses Wyatt’s face. “Oh this is gonna be so bad,” Wyatt says, grinning.
Luca looked a bit concerned, but didn’t think much of it. Just waiting to see what would come next…
Ilya and Zane look at each other for a moment. “Rozy! This should be interesting…”
Ilya nods, faking a smile. Waiting to see what Scott would say next.
Ottawa, Media Room
Harris Drover was finishing up some paperwork in his office. Troy Barret was falling asleep on the couch in Harris’s office, waiting for Harris to finish his work so they could get out as quickly as possible for dinner at home.
A single buzz from Harris’s phone. He ignores the first one.
Then another buzz. And another. A continuous buzzing, vibrating on Harris’s desk.
Troy looks over at Harris, annoyed. “You gonna look at that, or are you letting it buzz on purpose to ruin my life?”
Harris, always cheerful, didn’t get annoyed. He was used to his phone going off all the time. “It sounds like something’s going on. Maybe one of my group chats for work.” Harris cheerfully adds. Harris pulls up their phones to see what’s going on.
His eyes widened.
What the…
Los Angeles, Universal Studios Dressing Room
“Ugh, get me out of this costume, please!” Rose Landry was exhausted after almost 12 hours of filming, stuck in her full body costume for the X-Squad series that she was filming. Her trusted stylist was immediate on it, helping her relax. “Here’s your phone, Rose! Let me take care of this,” her stylist said, getting right to work on getting her out of her costume.
“You’re the best.” Rose starts unlocking her phone.
Multiple notifications
“....what’s this?” Rose opens the notifications. She freezes in place, looking at the messages on her phone.
“Oh…my…God,” Rose mutters.
***
Scott Hunter has added you to Operation: Puck Buddies
Scott: Welcome, everyone
JJ: No, Hunter
Hayden: What the fuck is this, Hunter?
Carter: I’m sorry guys
Zane: WTF is this Hunter
Wyatt: Hold on lets hear him out
Kip: Scott…
Scott: Everyone shut up for two seconds
Scott Hunter is typing…
-
Scott Hunter is typing…
Scott: Shane Hollander and Troy Barrett should be dating. I’m right.
-
Wyatt Hayes is typing…
Luca Hayes is typing…
Multiple people are typing…
Wyatt: I’m already on board 😂
Luca: wait…
Hayden: No. Fuck off Hunter
JJ: Did you get hit hard tonight?
Hayden: Absolutely not
Carter: No he’s being serious
Kip: Unfortunately he’s serious
Hayden: You are not setting Shane up like this
Scott: I’m not setting them up. Facilitating 🙂
JJ: That just sounds worse
***
Private Chat: Ilya & Harris
Ilya: You are in group chat too?
Harris: Yeah
Ilya: This is problem
Harris: I know
Harris: Did you know about this?
Ilya: No.
Harris: They can’t do this, right?
Ilya: They can, and they will try 😡
Ilya: Fucking Scott Hunter
Harris: What are we gonna do?
Ilya: We stop this
***
Operation: Puck Buddies Group Chat
Scott: So here’s my plan. Step one: we create a natural meeting
Carter: 🤮
Wyatt: “natural” 😂
Luca: Like accidental?
JJ: You’re all insane
Hayden: No one is doing anything! 😡
Scott: We plan everything. Start to finish. No gaps. 😁 We plan it out carefully
Kip: Since when have you ever planned anything carefully
Carter: He can’t even plan this group chat properly
Rose: Are you for real, Scott?
Scott: Yes! They would look good together!
Wyatt: 😂
Luca: 😂
Zane: You’re an idiot Hunter 😂
Carter: I’m so sorry
Rose: I swear to god, Scott, if this goes bad and Shane gets hurt by this, I’ll end you. All of you.
Scott Hunter is typing…
-
Scott Hunter is typing…
Scott: Noted
***
Private Chat: Ilya & Harris
Ilya: Harris. We need plan
Harris: Yeah
Ilya: Better than theirs
Harris: This is gonna be bad
Ilya: Yes, I think so
Harris: So, what’s the plan
Ilya: Follow my lead 😈
***
Operation: Puck Buddies Group Chat
Ilya: So when are we doing this?
Scott: In Montreal. The Charity Gala in a few days
Multiple people liked this message 👍
Harris: Ok so what’s the plan
Rose: I swear this is a bad idea, Scott
Scott: No it isn’t! It’ll work out great! Trust me!
JJ, Kip, Hayden, and Rose disliked this message 👎
Scott: 😡