Scott Hunter/Kip Grady = Benton Fraser/Ray Kowalski, sorta (Fannish Fifty #11)

[verushka70]

So I posted this little fanon/canon analysis on Tumblr, and thought I'd post it here, too [SPOILERS for Heated Rivalry TV series/the novel Game Changer]:

"No, no, no, wait, wait, wait - hear me out. Fraser is Scott Hunter and Kowalski is Kip. I swear Fraser/Kowalski has the same, or some very similar, relationship dynamic(s) as Scott Hunter/Kip Grady:

inexperienced vs experienced (wrt gay sex)

covers his inexperience with top/dominant tendencies vs totally willing to bottom but likes to switch it up

covers his general inexperience at many Life Things with being Mr Bossypants vs is secure enough to just go along with that, for now (but... almost every time)

everyone speculates about his love life vs no one speculates about his love life

rarely shows all his cards until he knows he's got this vs can't hide his cards/wears his thoughts and emotions on his sleeve

has to be in control all the time vs likes to be in control but is easygoing enough that he'll let it slide and let Fraser/Scott be in control

is tired of denying himself, his desires, and who he really is for sooo long now vs knows who he is and is ready to give up the so-far unfulfilling search for love with all the wrong people

has fallen for his lover's open, vulnerable way of being vs think's his lover is way out of his league

This all just came to me while re-reading Game Changer (and rewatching S1E03 of Heated Rivalry for like the 6th or 7th time... I'm losing count).

OK yeah, there was half a gummy involved too, it's for sleep, I'll be in bed in ten minutes, what"

Then dirtyzucchini replied with 100000% agreement, lol, and I replied to that reply.

And I just thought of a couple more Fraser=Scott or Scott=Fraser parallels, too:

• Fraser and Scott are both orphans (in the HR TV series)*
  
• Kowalski and Kip both have their parents and decent relationships with them (except in the TV series, Kip only has his dad - whereas in the book, Kip has both parents)
  

Obviously, Scott Hunter/Kip Grady relationship dynamics don't 100% parallel Fraser/Kowalski dynamics - but there's a surprising number of intersections.

*yes, I know technically Fraser wasn't orphaned; only his mother was killed. But his father dumped him off with Fraser's grandparents, so - for Fraser - functionally, emotionally, he is an orphan... His relationship with his father only improves when the man returns as a ghost, ffs!

Here's me hoping that S2 of Heated Rivalry, which Jacob Tierney is writing now, focuses on the Scott Hunter/Kip Grady relationship arc - because S1E03 and the end of S1E05 simply can't be all we get of the novel Game Changer and Scott Hunter/Kip Grady. It just can't be, dammit.

Scott Hunter/Kip Grady has captured my fannish heart, eclipsing the main Heated Rivalry pairing of Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov. I get that they're both angsty pairings due to the closeted nature of both relationships - but, imo, Scott/Kip is much angstier because of their very different levels of closeted-ness/fear of being outed (Kip is out, and has been for years, so he doesn't have that fear at all - whereas Scott is terrified), and the negative way it impacts their relationship: being with Scott effectively shoves Kip back into the closet, as Kip points out in the novel, and also isolates him from his friends and family (except bff Elena) because he's forced to lie to everyone in order to keep Scott's secret. So, so angsty.

And the Heated Rivalry soundtrack is fucking fantastic - it's all I've been listening to for fucking weeks, and I'm happy as a clam about it, Yay!
:-)