Rating:

Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning:

No Archive Warnings Apply

Category:

M/M

Fandoms:

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

Relationships:

Kip Grady/Scott Hunter, George Grady & Scott Hunter

Characters:

Kip Grady, Scott Hunter (Game Changers), George Grady

Additional Tags:

Family Feels, Fluff, Humor, Scott Hunter Loves Kip Grady, Kip Grady loves Scott Hunter, Dogs, POV Scott Hunter (Game Changers)

Language:

English

Series:

Part 6 of who are we to fight the alchemy?

Collections:

Sixty Six Days of Skip

Stats:

Published: 2026-03-18 Words: 2,489 Chapters: 1/1

for all the places I have been, I’m no place without you

Summary

“What are you doing in Brooklyn anyway?”

“We’re building a fence for the backyard,” Scott says, probably sounding a little too excited about manual labor on a Sunday morning and Kip laughs again.

“Ah, I see. A project.”

Charlotte snuffles and tucks her head under Scott’s chin, trying to find a comfortable position to go back to sleep.

“I better not get selfies from up on the roof tomorrow.”

-
Kip is away on a trip and Scott goes to visit George. Interesting discoveries in Kip's room are made, family bonding time is had, and home improvement projects are worked on.

Set after anyone with a heart would agree.

Notes

For the Sixty-Six Days of Skip prompt Family.

The apartment feels empty without Kip. Which is a bit ridiculous because “without Kip” was its natural state for so long that it really shouldn’t feel like anything – and Scott will admit he’s maybe being a bit melodramatic. But it’s usually him going on road trips and although Kip will stay with his dad if it’s more than one or two nights, he always returns in time to welcome Scott home, because he knows how much Scott loves that.

But now, Kip is the one who is away on a trip. He’s accompanying one of his professors to listen to some probably very important art people speak at a conference. The fact that it’s in Miami of all places makes Scott think it’s secretly just a glorified spring break for art historians, but who is he to deny them some fun. It’s Kip’s first time flying, too, and he’s been excited for the trip for a while.

When Scott heard that, the gears in his head immediately started turning, trying to figure out where to take him next. Surely if he sells Italy or Greece right, Kip will want to come just to see all the culturally significant sights and forget all about how much his first-class seat costs Scott.

Anyway – for now, he’s gone and Scott has a Kip-less weekend off with no idea what to do. He could go out with the guys; someone’s always up to something. But a night out drinking doesn’t sound that appealing, and neither does staying in and just watching Netflix.

His eyes land on a little puck-shaped squeaky toy he picked up for Charlotte the other day. He could go to Brooklyn and bring it to her. Maybe go on a walk, get her out of George’s hair a little bit.

Just like Kip promised, George Grady actually is the sweetest man on the planet. He didn’t just tolerate Scott inviting himself to family Christmas like a self-important jerk, but welcomed him with open arms. Scott did absolutely not cry when George told him how proud he was of both of them for working so hard on building a real future together despite the difficult circumstances. (Maybe he sniffled a little bit though.)

He’s dropped Kip off in Brooklyn a few times before his trips and stayed for coffee, and they both come over on the weekend sometimes to see George and now also Charlotte.

Despite all that, Scott feels a bit weird about calling him. But - well. He’s not going to bother him. Just drop by, play with the dog a little bit and leave him to it. Surely that’s going to be fine?

---

It’s more than fine, is what George tells him. He hands Scott a key like that’s no big deal and then leaves for some errands at the hardware store, telling Scott to just stick around if he isn’t back yet when they’ve finished their walk, because he could use his help carrying some stuff later. He’s also bringing takeout on his way back, does Scott want Mexican or Chinese?

Scott feels oddly cared for and so, so young suddenly. He remembers Saturdays like this as a child. Most of the time they were all at a hockey game or at practice somewhere, but sometimes he’d get dragged around the grocery store, the hardware store, maybe a furniture place, rolling his eyes like kids do because it was all so mind-numbingly boring to him. They would always stop for a rare treat of junk food on the way back though. Keeping the team’s morale up, his dad called it.

This feels like that. Scott loves that George doesn’t treat him like a visitor, but just casually includes him in whatever he currently has going on instead. He treats him like, well, Kip.

Scott swallows around the lump in his throat and grabs Charlotte’s leash from its spot by the door. She’s jumping around the foyer, her excited little barks making Scott smile.

“Come on,” Scott encourages her, locking the door behind himself as they step out. “Where do you wanna go? The park?”

---

They eat Mexican on the couch while they watch Anaheim lose to the LA Kings on TV. George tells him about work, about the neighbors Scott has never met but feels like he now knows personally, and about his projects around the house.

“I’m building a fence around the backyard so the little lady can play out there. If you wanna stick around and help, we can probably get it done by tomorrow afternoon.”

Scott recognizes it as the kindness it is. George knows why he came here today. He also seems to understand that Scott is happiest with a job to do, something to make him feel useful. He never would have asked to come back tomorrow or even stay the night, but this makes it easy. Makes it look like he’s just doing George a favor.

Scott is handed a fresh toothbrush in its packaging and given Kip’s room to sleep in after they’ve finished their dinner and carried all the parts for the new fence from the car to the backyard, Charlotte’s watchful eyes on their every move like she knows it’s all for her.

He’s been trying not to text Kip too much during his trip, because there is probably a lot more exciting stuff to see than his phone screen, but he does send a quick selfie sitting on Kip’s bed.

Scott [22:25]: Snooping so hard I’ll know all your secrets when you come back.

[22:27]: “Dear Diary, today Scott Hunter came to the Straw+Berry and bought a smoothie from me. He is soo dreamy! I want him to be my boyfriend!” (I know it’s gotta be here somewhere)

[22:28]: No dirty magazines under your bed in your actual teenage bedroom? Disappointing. What am I gonna read before going to sleep? I was hoping for some vintage pieces.

Kip calls him on FaceTime a little later, his cheeks pink with either a bit of sunburn or maybe a couple of drinks, smiling widely.

“You already know all my secrets anyway,” he says.

“That’s what you want me to think. I’m sure I’ll find something incriminating eventually. How’s the conference?”

“So good! We had a networking thing earlier and it was just - cocktails on the beach and nerding out about everyone’s research. And the weather down here is amazing.”

He turns around with his arm outstretched, showing Scott the view of the beach and the ocean, dipped in the golden sunset.

“You have to let me take you on a trip in the summer,” Scott blurts out, not at all as smooth or subtle as he was planning on bringing that up.

Kip just laughs though, looking happy and carefree. “Yeah, that sounds good.”

Huh. That was suspiciously easy.

“Are you gonna jerk off in my bed?” Kip asks next and Scott tilts his head as if to say we’ll see. “Even with no reading material.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees the door still open a crack and feels a little nervous suddenly. George is in his own bedroom and there’s absolutely no way he heard that, but maybe he just knows.

Scott gets up to close the door, which stirs Charlotte from her sleep on her dog bed in the living room. She trots over to him, her paws making quiet little tapping sounds against the floor. Scott scoops her up, angling his phone so Kip can see them both.

“What’s that kinda talk in front of Lottie?”

“Well, I didn’t know she was there. Hi, honey.” Kip gives them both a sappy smile and Scott sits down on the bed, leaning back against the pillows with Charlotte held against his chest, door now firmly closed.

“So that’s a no?”

Scott huffs. “That’s a maybe.”

“Much better.” Kip sits down in the sand, his phone propped up for Scott to still see the view behind him, as if he needs any view but Kip himself.

“What are you doing in Brooklyn anyway?”

“We’re building a fence for the backyard,” Scott says, probably sounding a little too excited about manual labor on a Sunday morning and Kip laughs again.

“Ah, I see. A project.”

Charlotte snuffles and tucks her head under Scott’s chin, trying to find a comfortable position to go back to sleep.

“I better not get selfies from up on the roof tomorrow.”

“Why would anyone be on the roof?”

“Because my dad loves a side quest and you with your sturdy workhorse vibes even just being around will give him ten new home improvement ideas by tomorrow.”

“I don’t have –” Scott starts to protest, siting up a little, but Charlotte nudges him with her snout in a very clear instruction to stop jostling her.

“Someone thinks it’s past your bedtime,” Kip says and Scott nods.

“I love you and I promise no one is getting on the roof.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” Kip says. “Have fun tomorrow. I love you, too.”

Scott falls asleep that night much more easily than he knows he would have at the penthouse. The bed here smells like Kip the same way that his own does these days, but it’s a different sense of home that it invokes here. There’s an easy safety to it that Scott hasn’t felt in years.

Charlotte lies curled against him, her warm little body rising and falling with her breaths.

(He does not jerk off with a lady present, because he has manners. And also it feels weird, with George just a few rooms over. But he can’t deny he does entertain the thought for a bit. Thanks, Kip.)

---

Scott doesn’t have to climb to the roof, but he does get intimately acquainted with several dark corners of the garage fetching various tools for George.

He’s in a pair of Kip’s sweatpants that end a few inches above his ankle and an oversized old t-shirt he found in the back of Kip’s closet that says West Brooklyn Community High Cheerleading on the back. Which very urgently needs to be investigated further once he’s done with the fence. (And also pressure-cleaning the deck and cutting the hedge, apparently. The promised side quests have begun.)

They get an early start to their work and take a break for coffee and bagels around ten. George does the crossword in the paper and Scott half-heartedly reads the sports pages and then gets a little too invested into one of the word search games. It’s weirdly calming.

Scott sends Kip a photo of himself in his clothes that he took in the morning, with his back angled towards the mirror so the print on the back of the shirt is visible.

Scott [10:23]: Incriminating evidence found and collected. Prepare for prolonged questioning as soon as you’re back.

Kip [10:25]: Ready to be ruthlessly interrogated.

Scott and George make easy conversation, working alongside each other on the fence, with Charlotte sniffing and inspecting each new section like she’s conducting an audit.

“Yes, it’s for you,” Scott tells her. “So you can play out here in the summer. What do you think?”

She barks and then runs off, distracted by a bird that’s landed in one of the trees.

---

“Thank you for this,” Scott says earnestly when they say their goodbyes later that afternoon and George waves him off.

“Nonsense, thank you. Anytime either of you boys wants to put all that muscle to good use, you know I’m here for you. I might redo the whole yard before summer.”

Scott laughs and lets George give him a hug, feeling a little off-balance. Digging up the backyard sounds like a pretty good use of a Sunday suddenly.

---

He picks Kip up from the airport on his way back to Manhattan, happily chattering away about his trip. He’s trying to act like it isn’t a big deal, but Scott can tell Kip loved seeing a little bit more of the world.

Once they get home, Scott very generously offers his assistance in washing the stale airport smell off of Kip, holding him close in the shower while the hot water fogs up the room around them. All is right in the world for Scott again, with Kip both in his arms and his apartment, there to stay.

“Are you happy?” he asks later, lying in bed with Kip’s head on his chest.

“Of course I’m happy,” Kip replies. “Where is this coming from?”

“Just…we’re doing better this time, right? You’re seeing your friends and your dad and not having to lie to them so much…I’m not – I’m not stealing you away from your life again?”

Because that’s what it felt like, in hindsight. And Scott feels bad about it, now that he knows more about the life Kip already had before they met. Friends and family that love him and missed him. He didn’t imagine he’d be taking Kip away from anything because, well – he isn’t used to having a life as full as Kip’s. It didn’t even occur to him at the time.

“Babe.” Kip lifts his head to look at him and Scott feels a little nervous suddenly. “You’re not. And you didn’t back then either, it was just…a lot to wrap my head around. Things are so different now and I’m so happy with you. We’re making the best we can out of a really difficult situation, and I think we’re doing amazing. You’re doing amazing.”

Kip wraps his arm around him again, his hand finding Scott’s. “And you?”

“And me?”

“Are you happy?”

Scott doesn’t know what to say to that for a moment, because happy almost seems too shallow, like an oversimplification. He is deliriously happy with Kip. Every single aspect of his life is better because Kip is in it, whether it be his hockey games, the relationship to his friends and his team, the fact that Kip’s mere existence is giving him a home and a family.

“I didn’t even know it was possible to feel like this before I met you. You’ve changed absolutely everything.”

---

He almost forgets to ask about the t-shirt. Almost. Kip just laughs and promises to send him a YouTube link later (ominous but promising).

That’s how Scott ends up watching an extremely grainy two minutes and 37 seconds of highschool senior Kip tossing girls into the air and doing backflips on the side of a football field.

Scott [12:56]: All available evidence has been reviewed. Repeatedly and in detail.

[12:57]: Ever dream about kissing the captain of the football team back then?

[12:57]: Because I happen to be good at a lot of sports.

Kip [12:59]: The football team were all douchebags, sadly. I might kiss the captain of the hockey team though, if he asks me nicely.

Scott asks very, very nicely.