Rating:

Explicit

Archive Warning:

No Archive Warnings Apply

Category:

M/M

Fandoms:

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

Relationship:

Kip Grady/Scott Hunter

Characters:

Kip Grady, Scott Hunter (Game Changers)

Additional Tags:

Kip Grady loves Scott Hunter, Scott Hunter Loves Kip Grady, Oral Sex, Dom/sub Undertones, Vibrators, Blow Jobs, POV Kip Grady

Language:

English

Series:

Part 3 of moments I play in the dark

Collections:

Sixty Six Days of Skip

Stats:

Published: 2026-03-02 Words: 3,013 Chapters: 1/1

praised from a new perspective

Summary

On a whim, he snaps a photo of the cup with his name on it and sends it to Scott, captioned thank you for the coffee.

When Scott texts back good boy and a winky face a minute later, Kip nearly chokes on it.

Just kidding, comes the follow-up text a second later. Unless you’re into it.

-
Kip and Scott have a conversation about finances.

Notes

...realized only after writing that it could potentially fit the #sixtysixdaysofskip prompt number 19, “perspective”, but I’m sure that still counts :)

Kip is so exhausted that it feels like his vision is starting to blur by the time he gets to Scott’s apartment. In a completely unforeseeable turn of events, working shifts at the Kingfisher until midnight four times a week combined with lectures at eight in the morning every other day is not a very sustainable lifestyle.

Despite living together (mostly), he hasn’t actually seen Scott in days. Between his busy schedule and Scott’s frequent trips, it’s more common than either of them would like. They leave each other little notes around the apartment, sometimes sweet and sometimes filthy, and it makes Kip smile every time.

It should feel like a victory, moving past their first big hurdle. It wasn’t even a fight, and didn’t turn into a full breakup, but Kip’s birthday definitely brought a shift to their relationship; pushed it into reality in a way that was incredibly painful but also very necessary.

Because if Kip knows one thing, it’s that he doesn’t want to lose Scott. They talk more openly now, about what they both need, and how they can compromise. It’s not easy by any means, but they’re both ready to work hard and make sacrifices. It’s been the most real and intense relationship Kip has ever been in, and he wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Even if it means he has had to learn to communicate better, which still feels slightly offensive. He’s great at communication. Just maybe not when it comes to his own needs. But he’s working on it and Scott has adapted, prying and prodding at him until Kip will admit what’s bothering or worrying him. They work through each other’s issues diligently, and sometimes in more fun ways than others.

And tonight, with Scott only just back in the city after winning three games in a row, should have been all fun, but Kip is genuinely very far from being in the mood after 18 hours on his feet. Maybe it will at least be an opportunity for Scott to take care of him and take him out of his head that’s still full of drink orders and group projects and assignment deadlines. That would be nice.

2 minutes, he texts Scott when he’s walking up the stairs from the subway and adds a kissy face emoji as well as two sleepy ones. Let him make of that what he will.

Scott greets him at the door with open arms and a smile on his face that Kip can only describe as besotted. He knows he probably looks exactly the same.

“Oh, I missed you,” Scott whispers between kisses, his arms wrapped tightly around Kip, and Kip leans into it, feeling his body let go of all the tension as he breathes Scott in. Finally home.

“Do you have a fever?” Scott asks with a concerned look and pulls back to press the back of his hand against Kip’s forehead as if that will actually give him any further clues.

“No, I’m fine,” Kip says around a yawn. He can feel how hot his cheeks are, but it’s just exhaustion. His body demanding rest, the old traitor. “How was your trip?”

“Good,” Scott replies, sounding distracted. He takes off Kip’s jacket for him and starts gently maneuvering him towards the bedroom. “But you are definitely not fine.”

Kip doesn’t say anything, letting Scott guide him to sit on the bed and take his clothes off for him while he feels his eyes slip closed. Layer by layer, Scott takes the weight of the day off him. That distinct subway smell left behind in the hallway with his jacket, memories of spilled beers and greasy burgers coming off with his sweater, the ghost of dry, stuffy lecture hall air from this morning’s classes being dragged off him with his t-shirt.

“You’re working too hard,” Scott says softly and kisses Kip’s temple, moving on to his jeans and stripping the last of his day off of him.

“It’s fine,” Kip replies, feeling fuzzy and faintly sore all over. “Just took a few extra shifts.” He lets Scott tuck him in, sinking into the soft, warm embrace of the bed he’s been looking forward to so much.

“Why, baby?”

“Hm. Laptop’s dying. I’m saving up for a new one.” Something inside Kip’s brain starts blaring sirens at him, because Scott wasn’t supposed to know that. But he’s simply too out of it to worry about it, or about the harsh intake of breath from Scott that he can feel against his cheek.

“Okay, we can talk about that tomorrow. Get some rest, all right?”

Kip makes the valiant attempt of turning the kiss goodnight Scott gives him into something, but falls asleep before he can find out whether or not that plan ever had any hope of working.

---

The next day comes with a blessedly free morning for both of them and Kip wakes up after a full eight hours of sleep feeling slightly less like a truck ran him over.

The apartment smells of coffee and something sweet (French toast? Pancakes? Definitely something with carbs) and Kip permits himself a few more minutes of dozing in bed and listening to Scott clattering around the kitchen before he gets up to join him.

Kip is allowed precisely ten minutes of morning kisses and small talk about their week before Scott gives him an expectant look.

“So. The laptop.”

Oh shit. Right, he might have mentioned that last night.

“Not a huge fan of you working yourself to death over it,” Scott says very gently.

“I’m fine,” Kip automatically replies. “Just a couple more weeks of double shifts.” He can’t look at Scott. This is very much not within the agreed parameters of telling each other what they need and allowing mutual support and all that other healthy shit they’ve decided on.

Scott takes Kip’s hand and squeezes his fingers, clearly considering his next words very carefully. “I would very much like to help, if you’ll let me. I don’t feel like I’m taking very good care of you when you come in looking like you did last night.” Perfect I-statements. Kip smiles.

“What, sleep-deprived raccoon doesn’t do it for you?” he tries to joke and makes himself meet Scott’s eyes. Scott just…waits. And he’s being so patient and sweet about this that Kip has to give him something, even if it makes him feel all queasy inside.

“Look, I…I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I just thought, you’re gone a lot this month anyway, I might as well use the time to get some extra hours in.” There, that sounds sensible, right? “This is a pretty average student life experience, you know. It’ll be fine. I can make it work.”

“But you know you don’t have to, right?”

Kip sighs. He knows. He does. Scott would buy him the moon if he asked for it, but it just feels…wrong. Like he’s cheating at life in some way.

“Look. Okay. Let me put it this way,” Scott starts and clears his throat. “Would you say that my job has made your life unreasonably more difficult?”

“Uh. I mean.” Kip gives him a quizzical look. “I wouldn’t say unreasonably, but…”

“Okay. You’re being nice about it, but I know it has. We would be living a very different life if not for who I am and what I do.”

“Yeah, probably,” Kip agrees. It’s a heavy topic that he doesn’t feel remotely ready to get into right now.

“And would you also agree that, in exchange for that, it would only be fair if my job sometimes made other parts of your life a little easier?”

Oh, that’s where they’re going. And Scott has clearly thought about this. Had this argument with himself in the shower and worked out his line of reasoning, probably. A little shift in perspective. Kip can’t help but smile.

“By having you spend the money it makes you on me?”

“I know you don’t like it,” Scott says and strokes his thumb over Kip’s knuckles. “But I won’t watch you work yourself to the bone over something I can solve so easily. You wouldn’t let me do that either.”

“No,” Kip agrees quietly, his head replaying for him every time he’s seen Scott too exhausted, too burnt out, pushing himself way over his limits when he didn’t have to. “No, I wouldn’t let you get away with that at all.”

“So. Do we have a deal?”

“You drive a very hard bargain, Hunter.”

“You haven’t seen nothing yet,” Scott replies, a winning smile spreading over his face as he lifts Kip up and starts carrying him back towards the bedroom.

---

The deal they agree on is this: Kip is given a credit card and no further questions are asked about what he does with it.

Scott makes sure to emphasize that indulgent little treats are strongly encouraged at all times, and somehow, that makes Kip feel even worse for a minute than thinking about using it to buy a new laptop does.

But he figures, if this is the man he’s going to share the rest of his life with (which Kip has secretly been certain of for an embarrassingly long time, actually), he’s going to have to learn to handle that part of their relationship, too. The cheat code to so many things in life that he doesn’t feel like he’s worked hard enough to even remotely deserve.

So he starts small. He buys himself a ridiculously overpriced Starbucks drink, his fingers sweaty when he hands over Scott’s card for it. Which really is absurd. It’s a cup of coffee. It’s hardly the end of the world to have your millionaire boyfriend pay for that, right?

Kip sits down in one of the comfy chairs in the very back and waits for his ancient laptop to boot up so he can do some work while he’s here. On a whim, he snaps a photo of the cup with his name on it and sends it to Scott, captioned thank you for the coffee.

When Scott texts back good boy and a winky face a minute later, Kip nearly chokes on it.

Just kidding, comes the follow-up text a second later. Unless you’re into it.

Unfortunately, Kip finds that he is kind of into it. He sighs and wonders where all those high and mighty morals from five minutes ago suddenly disappeared to.

---

The new laptop is great. It is indeed very helpful for your general academic prowess if you don’t have to wait two whole minutes for a simple Word document to open and can start a Skype call without provoking the blue screen of death every single time.

Scott smiles the first time he comes home to see Kip using it, but doesn’t say a word about it. He kisses the top of Kip’s head and then settles onto the couch with a book, letting him do his coursework in comfortable, companionable silence.

Later that night, when they’re in bed, Kip is given strict instructions not to move while Scott kisses every inch of his body with excruciating slowness.

Which would be fine in and of itself, however – before Scott started his journey by pressing his lips to every single one of Kip’s fingertips on his right hand, he also had the brilliant idea to put a vibrator (well, technically a prostate massager, but Kip refuses to call it that because it sounds weirdly medical and makes him feel a thousand years old) inside him.

At that point, things were also still mostly fine. With the vibrator on its lowest setting, it wasn’t more than a pleasant buzz inside Kip, helping to ground him in his body.

Now though, Scott has made his way down Kip’s chest and stomach, turned the toy up to the next speed, and decided to completely bypass any of the more interesting places in favor of lifting Kip’s leg to his shoulder and starting a new row of kisses at his left ankle.

Kip makes a frustrated noise and only remembers that he’s not supposed to be moving when his right hand is already halfway to his cock. He huffs out a breath and drops it at his side instead, hoping against hope that maybe Scott hasn’t seen.

“That was close,” Scott says, because of course he saw that. “Do you need any help staying still?”

It’s an empty threat, because they both know Kip doesn’t like being tied up much. Restraints are always really good and calming for Scott, but they make Kip too antsy for some reason.

Still though – the question helps Kip concentrate on what matters. He can give Scott this. He doesn’t need to think about anything; doesn’t even need to do anything except stay still and relax for him. It’s easy. He wants this. He just needs to let himself.

Kip shakes his head and looks at Scott with big, dark eyes, already blown wide with want.

“That’s good, baby. I know you can do it.” Scott continues his way up Kip’s leg, making him shiver when his lips drag over the sensitive spot at the back of his knee. “I know you can be so good for me.”

Kip makes another little sound in his throat, soft and pleading. The last time Scott said he was being good – he thinks of the text Scott sent and feels hot all over. He can feel that floating sensation at the edge of his awareness, his brain starting to disengage.

“Did you mean it?” he asks.

Scott seems to know what he’s talking about at least, if his amused little huff of breath against Kip’s skin is any indication.

“Of course I did. I love when you let me take care of you.”

He has reached Kip’s inner thigh by now and soft kisses are turning into little bruises being sucked into his skin. Kip spreads his legs wider (because surely that much movement must be allowed) in the hopes of motivating Scott to maybe put his mouth on his dick.

No such luck.

Scott pulls back to look at Kip, hard and aching, leaking against his stomach.

“Please?” he asks and Scott shakes his head with a patient smile. He picks up Kip’s other leg and starts at the ankle all over again.

Kip sighs and does his best to keep his body relaxed, even when it wants to tense up, wants to grind down against the toy buzzing away inside him, wants to pump his hips up against nothing.

“What do you want me to do?” he asks, his voice sounding far away to his own ears. “With the card?”

“Oh, sweetheart.” Scott hides his face against the side of Kip’s knee and laughs, almost a little embarrassed. “This isn’t the least bit sexy.”

“Tell me anyway?” Kip is pretty sure Scott could recite last season’s goal stats and it would get him going right now.

“Okay.” Scott drags his lips up the inside of Kip’s right thigh, stopping for a little bite before he continues speaking. “I want you to buy your textbooks with it. I want you to get yourself something nice for lunch, not just that dining hall food you hate. I want you to call yourself an Uber when it’s late.”

“Mhmm, okay,” Kip agrees. The subway after midnight is not a place he necessarily needs to revisit, like, ever again.

“I want you to get tickets to any museum or fancy exhibition or whatever you smart artsy people like. And I promise I’ll come with at least once and not freak out about it.”

“Scott,” Kip breathes, whatever else he was going to say turning into a whimper when Scott licks over his skin, all the way up to the crease of his thigh.

“I want you to get whatever makes you happy, because you deserve it all,” Scott says, pressing his thumb down behind Kip’s balls.

“Oh my God.” Kip is seeing stars with the way it amplifies the vibrations inside him, pressure against his prostate from the inside and outside. “Oh fuck, please.”

This time, Scott doesn’t make him wait any longer. He takes him into his mouth, lips wet and tight, perfect right away.

Kip knows he’s talking but isn’t sure what he’s even saying, he’s so close already just from the toy that nothing in his brain is computing anymore. Scott hums around him and reaches up to take Kip’s hand and put it near his shoulder, permission –

He twists his fingers into Scott’s hair, feeling the movement of his head, up and down, his thumb still firmly pressing into that spot –

Kip comes with a series of breathless moans spilling out of him, his head spinning with all the sensations at once. His whole body keeps shaking with it, on and on, until Scott powers down the vibrator not one second too early, gently pulling it out before Kip gets too sensitive.

He lies on the bed completely spent and boneless for what must be a few minutes, stroking Scott’s hair where he’s resting his head on Kip’s thigh.

“I don’t think anyone has ever dirty-talked to me about Uber,” Kip says after a while and Scott snorts.

“You wanted to hear it.”

“Maybe,” Kip says around a yawn, “maybe you can get a brand deal for, like, product placement in your bedroom.”

“You are talking way too much for someone who just came so hard.” Scott props himself up on his arms and crawls up the bed until he can lie next to Kip and put his arm around him.

“I’m just thinking about new opportunities for you to make money,” Kip says with an almost-straight face. “Now that I’m gonna be spending it and all.”

“Oh yeah?” Kip can hear the smile in Scott’s voice and snuggles back against him.

“Turns out I’m easy. One Frappuccino and a good boy text immediately corrupted me.”

“Mhm. I’m looking forward to our Starbucks ad campaign with that one.”