Rating:

Explicit

Archive Warning:

No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories:

M/M, Multi

Fandom:

Game Changers | Heated Rivalry - All Media Types

Relationships:

Kip Grady/Scott Hunter, Eric Bennett/Kyle Swift, Scott Hunter/Eric Bennett, Kip Grady & Kyle Swift, Eric Bennett & Scott Hunter

Characters:

Kip Grady, Scott Hunter (Game Changers), Eric Bennett, Kyle Swift

Additional Tags:

Platonic Kissing, Open Relationships, Queerplatonic Relationships, First Kiss, Friendship, Hand Jobs

Language:

English

Series:

Part 6 of hypotheticals

Stats:

Published: 2026-07-12 Words: 6,562 Chapters: 3/3

in my world, I’m constantly having a breakthrough

Summary

“Well, you know how to properly seal a business deal, don’t you?” Kyle continues, his forearm and chin propped up on Eric’s knee.

“Do I?”

“In some parts of Europe, I think, with a kiss,” Kip says, catching on, and gives Scott a meaningful look.

-
While Carter and Gloria are on vacation, Kip and Kyle are on a mission. Picks up right where coursing through our bodies til we're one left off.

Notes

Title from clementine by Halsey

Hello, I know this was supposed to be a series about Carter but apparently we’re doing a Kyle and Eric (and Scott and Eric) story now, I don’t know? (Our boy is back soon though! And these two are also very lovely!) The Common Goal timeline has been thoroughly messed up at this point but we’re still technically in there somewhere.

Chapter 1

Kyle wakes up to a warm hand on his back and that unmistakable sensation of someone looking at him. His lips curve into a smile, but he doesn’t open his eyes yet.

“Are you watching me sleep?”

Eric is an early riser and Kyle works late nights, so their sleep schedules don’t always align even when they spend the night together. But lately, Eric has been tempted more often than not to get back into bed for at least a few minutes after his disgustingly healthy morning routine. (No, really, that green smoothie he sometimes drinks is downright vile. If that’s what it takes to look this good at 41, Kyle isn’t sure it’s worth the sacrifice.)

“No,” Eric lies and Kyle can hear the smile in his voice. He shuffles towards him with a little huff, sinking into the familiar pair of arms that he knows will patiently hold him until he’s fully awake.

Or maybe stroke down his back and pull him close while he’s being kissed good morning. That is also a very acceptable option.

“Did you brush your teeth?” Kyle asks, considering the minty-fresh taste that has invaded his mouth along with Eric’s tongue.

“Are you complaining?” Eric asks, sounding amused, and Kyle finally blinks his eyes open.

“Hi, handsome.” Kyle strokes his fingers down Eric’s cheek, over soft skin and the bristles of his beard. It’s hard not to flirt sometimes when this is the sight that greets him. “And I’m really not. How long have you been up?”

“Barely an hour, I wanted the pool to myself before everyone’s kids get there.”

“Mhm. Fair.”

Kyle kisses him again, just because he can, and Eric meets him with the same easy energy.

“Did you have fun last night?” he asks and Eric makes a strangled little sound in his throat that may or may not be a sign of distress.

“I feel like I don’t know what the right answer to that is.”

“There is no right answer. If it’s a no, you learned something about yourself and you tell Carter to back off. And if it’s a yes…”

“What if it was? A – let’s say somewhere between a yes and a maybe?”

“Then that’s something new and interesting to find out more about if you want,” Kyle says and means it. “You know I’m fine with it.”

For all the dramatic declarations Eric likes to make about not wanting to tie Kyle down or take his freedom away from him, he’s really hesitant to believe that Kyle might want the same for him. The liberty to have new experiences and the safety of knowing you have someone waiting at home to tell all about them.

And Kyle appreciates it, in a way, how much Eric cares about his feelings. But Kyle doesn’t see why Eric should limit himself to just one person when there’s a whole wide bisexual world out there for him to still discover, when Eric could have so much fun. Granted, Eric isn’t the most likely person to be interested in just fun that way, but if his friends feel like a safe place to explore further and he’s interested – why not.

Kyle wasn’t feeling too great about it all at first mostly for Kip-related reasons, but that was maybe a bit of an overreaction. He’s happy for Kip, he really is. It just seemed for a moment like Kip got to have his cake and eat it too, during a time that any remotely cake-adjacent interactions Kyle had amounted to being metaphorically hit in the face with it. And sometimes, that kind of thing can bring out ugly feelings in a person.

But Kyle is doing much better now, some insecurities sorted out and old issues worked through, and Eric by his side through all of it. He has no reason to begrudge Kip anything. (And Kip is hard to be mad at anyway, being the sweetheart that he is.)

Is Kyle thrilled that this might potentially mean his boyfriend is going to end up making out (or more) with Scott Hunter of all people? Not entirely. It’s hard to feel good about yourself compared to Captain America in the flesh, and that’s not a competition he wants to enter (again). But then, rationally he knows that has nothing to do with Eric, and there’s not really any contest there except the one Kyle made up in his head.

It’s probably easier to be relaxed about these kinds of things if you’re, say, international movie star Gloria Grey.

(Also, would Kyle say no to a chance with Scott, if things were to play out that way? Absolutely not. He has eyes.)

“I’m – I’m sorry, this stuff is still hard to wrap my head around sometimes. What’s okay and what isn’t. What I even want.”

“Don’t apologize,” Kyle says. “We can just talk about it.”

“They’re – I mean, it’s a little weird though, right? It’s not just me, it really is maybe – a little weird.”

“Babe, I say that with love, but all of these people are batshit insane if you ask me, and for a number of reasons. But most of the time, that’s what makes it fun.”

“Hm,” is all that Eric has to say to that, still looking a little torn.

“How about, to distract yourself from thinking about it so hard...I’ll let you blow me before breakfast?”

“What a selfless and noble offer,” Eric says, and pulls back the duvet to do exactly that.

---

The city of Buffalo is kind enough to provide educational entertainment in the form of two art museums right next to each other, so Kip and Kyle have plenty to do while the non-public parts of the All Star proceedings take place during the morning.

Kip looks a little dreamy wandering through the exhibitions and Kyle suspects his mind isn’t entirely on the paintings.

“Good night last night?”

“Oh,” Kip says, the little smile he’s trying to hide already telling Kyle a lot. “Yeah, uhm. Pretty good. You?”

It’s not exactly busy yet, but they’re far from alone here, so it’s unfortunately not the place to get into details.

“Pretty good,” Kyle echoes with a wink and Kip makes an amused little sound.

“Look at us, huh?”

“I always thought you were so vanilla, you know.”

“What? Why would you think that?”

Kyle shrugs. It just comes with the cute face and that strangely wholesome vibe Kip exudes.

“So, Eric is…interested,” he says instead. “But also a little nervous, I think.”

“We can just – create an opportunity. And see what happens? Like gay Seven Minutes in Heaven but with adults? And…no closets, preferably.”

“Your mind is such a strange place.”

Kip pouts at him and moves on to look at the next painting.

“And you realize whatever happens with Eric and Scott might mean – might potentially include you and me. Like. You know.”

“Yeah,” Kip says softly. “Is that okay?”

For a split second, Kyle hates him a little bit. Kip has been so nice about all this. He’s always so kind. Sometimes it makes Kyle think he could be more open with him, could tell him about what happened back home, everything with Ian, why he barely talks to his family – but then he imagines Kip looking at him with so much empathy in his eyes, taking his hand and telling him that it wasn’t his fault and how sorry he is that happened – and he can’t bear it. He can’t stand the thought of Kip being so understanding and gentle with him for some reason, when he still isn’t all the way convinced that he deserves it.

He doesn’t even know why he told Eric, or how he managed to do it, but in a weird way it almost felt like a missing puzzle piece, like being transported back in time and telling an older friend about it. It might have changed things, reaching out to someone trusted and supportive with more life experience and telling them that something is happening that maybe isn’t okay, but he doesn’t know, he just isn’t sure, and maybe it’s all his fault anyway –

It’s one of the many reasons he never trusted Scott at first, and why he just wanted to shake Kip and warn him – because this is what older men do when you give them power over you, they use you up and just leave you behind when it all blows up in their face, and then everyone will say it was all your fault.

But then Scott turned out to be nothing like that, of course. History doesn’t always repeat itself. Not for people like Kip, anyway.

“Yeah,” Kyle finally says, dragging himself out of his thoughts. “It really is. I’d tell you if it wasn’t.”

---

They treat themselves to some lunch in the museum café and head back just in time to squeeze in a quick massage at the hotel spa before the skills competition starts. (Kyle feels like Eric and Scott are getting the short end of the stick on this trip, having to essentially work all day, but they seemed happy enough with that so far.)

The little challenges are fun to watch: parkour and speed-skating, accuracy shots and finally one-on-ones. Kip knows most of the players by name and gives Kyle a little anecdote on each of them. It’s nice – it’s also a vision of a life flashing before his eyes that Kyle isn’t necessarily interested in, the way it seems to revolve around Scott’s job. He knows Kip has a good head on his shoulders and is going to keep working on his own education and career, but it seems hard not to have all his efforts be overshadowed by hockey sometimes.

Seems like he met Eric at just the right moment in time, the hottest retiree he’s ever seen.

Not that Kyle has any great career ambitions he wants to pursue. Sometimes finishing his degree at all seems like an excuse to be able to keep working at the Kingfisher. And he feels stupid about it, not even wanting to achieve more than that, when he had all the right conditions to do whatever he wanted to. Sure, on his parents’ end, paying for his apartment and his studies was mostly a way to ship him the fuck out of town without looking like they were doing just that, but still – sometimes he feels like he’s wasting it. Then again, let them pay. Let them pay tenfold for the way they acted, let them sink their money into an apartment he barely even lives in anymore for all eternity as far as Kyle is concerned.

Anyway. It never felt that way to him, one job being worth more than another, even though his family would heavily disagree. But what’s the difference, whether he ends up selling art to rich people in some fancy gallery in Chelsea, or he sells drinks to his own community in a bar? Is one really more important than the other, in the grand scheme of things? If anything, providing a comfortable and safe place for queer people to spend time seems like a more worthwhile effort to him personally. Eric seemed like he saw that when Kyle told him about it. Kip would see it, too – maybe. There are so many things he hasn’t told Kip about lately.

Kyle steals some of Kip’s popcorn and draws his legs up, folding himself into his seat. It’s not really the time or place for deep thoughts about life, and he’s just going to put himself into a gloomy mood for no reason. They have other things to consider today anyway, like how to get the world’s most awkward pair of friends to kiss each other for their boyfriends’ entertainment?

Chapter 2

The four of them have dinner together and Eric and Scott get roped into some sort of group conversation among the players that looks like half strategy meet, half drinking game, while Kip and Kyle end up in a deeply confusing discussion about WAG jackets with a Boston player’s wife (apparently bedazzling them the wrong way sparked some big debate).

Kip is kind of glad that the Admirals are generally less intense about these things. Yes, the wives and girlfriends do WAG activities; no, they do not find the term a little one-dimensional, but having a life outside of all that is generally accepted. Gloria probably paved the way for that one before Kip was officially included. There was some disappointment about the Captain’s and Alternate’s partners both being a bit of a letdown in terms of party planning and, say, interest in baby showers and multi-level marketing schemes, but they got there. Plenty of other women to happily take the lead on all that who are much better at it.

Kyle looks at Kip with raised eyebrows and Kip just shakes his head. Kyle will never have to learn the ins-and-outs of all that. (Though all the ladies were a lot of fun at karaoke last night, Kip will give them that.)

Eric waves at them from across the room, tilting his head towards the door – looks like time for a quick exit. Both him and Scott already expressed some apprehension at the karaoke machine being fired up again, so the plan was to escape before anyone is drunk enough to have that idea.

So, back to the room it is. Which works just fine for Kip, actually. He’s been getting increasingly impatient did they kiss yet?? texts from Carter all day (as if the man has nothing better to do on his vacation) and he might finally be able to reply with an update by the end of the night.

He talked it through with Kyle on their way back from the museum and it sounds like Eric is amenable. Kip knows Scott is, too. He isn’t exactly very vocal about these things when it comes to his friends, but the way he asked Kip twice this morning “did you see when Benny –” and left the question unfinished, looking slightly flushed, pretty much told Kip all he needs to know.

Scott is very hesitant about seeing his friends in a sexual way, for reasons that Kip completely understands. He made such a big effort not to do exactly that for years, and that’s a hard habit to break. Carter kind of pushed him headfirst into it in that very casual and honest way he has, and Scott warmed up to it. Still, there’s a sort of respectful distance that remains between them and that Kip suspects will never be fully crossed. It’s probably the same with Eric, only Eric won’t be proactive the same way Carter is, so someone else needs to figuratively and maybe physically push them both together.

Which brings them all here. In Scott and Kip’s room again (which is a lot nicer and larger than the others’ rooms and Kip has his suspicions about how that came to be but will not complain about it), Kip and Kyle on the floor in the living-room space looking through photos from the day on Kyle’s phone and Scott on the couch with Eric and discussing – the Kingfisher, apparently.

“Did you two make a drunk promise to each other in your twenties to buy a bar together when you retire?” Kyle asks. “Because no one’s gonna hold you to that, you know. Everyone promises each other that.”

“It could be an investment,” Eric says thoughtfully and Scott nods, as if either of them know anything about investing except their financial advisor’s phone number.

“Fuck off, you’re not buying the bar,” Kip says. “I love it, but it’s falling apart. It’s a money pit.”

Not that the money is really an object for either of them, but it’s more the principle of the thing.

“It needs some renovations, maybe,” Scott admits. “New furniture.”

“I’d have the free time to manage all that.”

“And it would be kinda nice to have a project together when we don’t see each other at practice every day anymore.”

And that’s actually kind of sweet, but the idea still seems a little...unorthodox. Kip gives Kyle an incredulous look because what is happening here, but Kyle just shrugs.

“You’d make a handsome couple of business partners,” he says instead, in that way he has that could make anything sound like he’s insinuating something dirty. He turns fully around to face Eric and fixes his eyes on him. “Are you gonna wear a suit and say stuff like stakeholder meeting and return on investment?”

“I think this is the stakeholder meeting,” Eric says, gesturing at the four of them, but looks a little flustered by Kyle’s tone. It’s very endearing.

“Well, you know how to properly seal a business deal, don’t you?” Kyle continues, his forearm and chin propped up on Eric’s knee.

“Do I?”

“In some parts of Europe, I think, with a kiss,” Kip says, catching on, and gives Scott a meaningful look.

“You just made that up,” Scott protests and Kip rolls his eyes. Scott traded fruit-based innuendos with Kip like the best of them within literal seconds of meeting him, but seems completely immune to a less subtle brand of flirting.

“I think they’re trying to tell us something,” Eric says and Scott clears his throat.

“Yeah, no, I know.”

Kyle snorts and gives Kip a look from the corner of his eye.

“Do you –”

“It’s okay if –”

Scott and Eric speak over each other and then both break off, looking at Kip and Kyle a little like two school boys in the principal’s office.

“All right,” Kyle says. He looks ready to take over and manage this whole thing. “What’s the problem here? Nerves? Or not interested?”

“Not the second one,” Scott says carefully and Eric nods, humming his agreement.

“Okay. Cool. That’s what I thought.” Kyle gets to his feet and then sits down sideways on Eric’s lap, one arm around his shoulders. He reaches his other hand out for Kip. “Will my assistant join me on stage, please?”

“Why am I the assistant?” Kip asks, but follows Kyle’s lead. Scott wraps his arms around Kip’s middle and pulls him close, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

“No offense, but you’re definitely not the magician,” Kyle says. Four people are clearly too much for the little couch, but they make it work, Kip and Kyle’s knees pressing together in the small space between where Eric and Scott are sitting.

“You’re, like, an Etsy witch at best,” Kip says and adjusts his position in Scott’s lap a little, shifting around to get more comfortable and...oh. Interesting. His attention is clearly needed here much more urgently than in trading friendly barbs with Kyle. He leans in, mouth wet against the side of Scott’s neck, kissing his way up to his ear.

“You’re hard,” he whispers when he gets there, so low that the other two won’t hear it, and feels Scott shiver against him.

Maybe that’s what the hold-up is on Scott’s part, being embarrassed because he’s a little too into it?

Some other parts of the puzzle also make sense to Kip, suddenly – Scott and Carter have a familiar dynamic to fall back on that works well for this: Carter stepping on the gas, but Scott with his hands on the wheel as a sort of teacher, older and more experienced. That gentle dominance Scott sometimes uses with Carter (and Kip) is well-suited to it, but clearly not coming out with Eric. At all.

Maybe it’s just the age difference going the other way, Kip thinks, or maybe Scott had a little thing for Eric back when he first joined the team. Which would be cute. Kip certainly wouldn’t blame him.

And Eric, well – Eric is shy, and he just likes being told what to do, according to Kyle. But Scott certainly isn’t telling him. It’s almost a little funny, both of them waiting for the other person to make a move.

Kip deliberately flexes his thigh and presses down against Scott’s erection, drawing a soft moan out of him.

“That’s so hot,” Kip says under his breath and kisses along Scott’s jaw. Scott makes another little noise, more urgent this time, arms tightening around Kip’s waist, and Kip lifts his head. Scott is staring at Kyle and Eric next to them, kissing deeply.

They look all but lost in it, eyes closed and tongues clearly in each other’s mouth, Kyle’s hand on Eric’s chest and Eric’s slipping up the back of his shirt. It might technically just be a kiss, but it’s almost indecently sexy to watch.

“Fuck,” Scott breathes and Kip kisses the word off his mouth, the hot slide of their tongues together insistent and immediate.

Kip nearly forgets all about the plan they’re in the middle of enacting. It’s what Scott always does to him, pulling Kip’s focus in a way that feels like the world around them ceases to exist, making Kip want to immerse himself in nothing but Scott’s presence, his smile, his touch, his love. And usually, that’s what he does.

Now though, Kip draws back a little, his kisses turning soft and teasing, and he lets Scott chase him, making him groan when he presses his leg down again.

“Kip,” Scott says, his voice rough, and it sounds like a plea.

“Yeah,” Kip replies, lips barely even still brushing Scott’s. “I know.”

He looks over at Kyle and Eric, who are now watching them. It’s not like they’ve never seen Scott and Kip kiss before (if anything, there have been complaints about seeing that too much), but the setting is decidedly different.

Scott blows out a breath and drops his head back, meeting the soft cushioning of the headrest on the couch. He turns it to the side, looking at Eric. There’s some sort of non-verbal exchange happening that Kip can’t quite follow, but then Eric’s lips curve into a gentle half-smile and he leans in to kiss Scott.

They’re careful with each other at first, despite how worked up everyone clearly is, and Kip can feel Scott’s deep, heavy breaths where he’s leaning against his chest. He looks over at Kyle, who is watching with the same kind of fascinated attention, and Kip takes his hand, lacing their fingers together.

Eric reaches out to cup Scott’s cheek, angling his head just a little to deepen the kiss, and Kip feels Scott’s fingers flex where they’re resting on his hip. He can feel Scott’s breathing picking up and then Eric makes a low little sound in his throat and it’s like a barrier breaks between them.

The sight of it makes Kip’s stomach flutter. Scott’s free hand in Eric’s hair, his body angling towards him. Eyes closed, mouths suddenly frantic; they’re kissing each other without restraint now, undeniably hungry.

Carter is going to be absolutely furious that he missed this.

“Jesus, okay,” Kyle says quietly and Kip squeezes his fingers. He catches Kyle’s eyes and pointedly looks at Scott’s crotch, then raises his eyebrows in question.

Kyle nods. Same here. He drags his hand over Eric’s chest, down his abs, and only stops short of the waistband of his jeans, tilting his head when he looks at Kip. Are we doing this?

Kip swallows the excited little laugh that threatens to bubble out of him. God, they haven’t done anything like this in so long. Just having fun and causing trouble together. Kyle seems to read Kip’s mind and grins at him.

Scott groans when Kip covers his hard-on with his fingers and rubs him through his pants, a broken and positively delicious sound that is echoed by Eric only a second later and they break the kiss, heaving in ragged breaths against each other’s mouths.

Eric turns to look at Kyle briefly and there’s a kind of heat in his eyes that makes Kip swallow hard.

“You two,” he says, voice all gravel, and while it’s not all that clear what he’s actually trying to say with that, it’s pretty obvious it’s not stop.

Kip presses the heel of his palm against Scott’s erection and he pushes his hips up into the touch, his arm tightening around Kip’s waist and his mouth finding Eric’s again. Kip watches them devour each other and feels almost overwhelmed all of a sudden, this thing he and Kyle started with a couple of silly lines so quickly spinning outside their control. But it feels good.

It’s also so different from the careful, measured steps they took with Carter and Gloria, and for a moment it feels like anything could happen, like there’s no limit to where things might go.

It’s Eric who draws the line eventually. Kyle undoes the button on his jeans, then waits to give him time to object to it, and he does. His hand covers Kyle’s, stilling it, thumb stroking over his knuckles.

Scott and Eric’s kiss slows until it breaks, foreheads still pressed together and noses almost touching. It feels like something seemingly complex just happened that actually turned out to be so, so easy.

Eric cups Scott’s cheek and gives him a little shake, all buddy and teammate again, and Scott huffs out a breath. The moment dissolves as quickly as it manifested. They both pull back, and Kip lets go of Kyle’s hand and immediately wraps his arms around Scott’s shoulders again, holding him close and pressing his lips to his temple, nose into his hair.

“Oh my God,” Kip whispers with a smile and Scott nods, leaning into him, face pressed into his shoulder.

Kip looks over to Kyle and Eric, expecting to find a similar display, but – no, that’s just Kyle pretty much mauling Eric’s neck, his hand between them clearly back on Eric’s cock.

“We should –” Eric starts, not sounding entirely convinced of what he’s about to say, but Kyle hears him and pulls back, getting to his feet.

“I’d say sorry for the hasty exit after all that, but…you get it.”

Kip laughs and watches Eric very unsuccessfully try to hide the bulge in his pants as he stands up as well.

He definitely gets it. The door hasn’t even fully closed behind Kyle and Eric before Kip has Scott’s cock in his mouth.

Chapter 3

Eric has officially lost control of the evening. Not that he ever really had it to begin with, but being pressed back against the mirrored walls of the elevator, Kyle’s hands covering his on the handrail behind them, and being kissed like Kyle is searching the meaning of life in Eric’s throat with his tongue – that’s definitely outside of any heretofore known boundaries.

He likes it. He likes it so much. It feels absolutely insane.

By some small miracle, no one else gets on the elevator with them and they make it to their room without incident. It’s not that Eric would mind any of the other players putting the pieces together and realizing that he’s here with Kyle (and probably some have), but there’s being seen sitting at breakfast together and then there’s public indecency.

Kyle crowds him back against the door as soon as they’re inside, hands pushing under Eric’s shirt, over his abs.

“What do you want?” Kyle asks. He rolls his hips forward, grinding their erections together, and Eric gasps.

What he wants is sometimes hard to define, because usually, with Kyle, it’s everything at once. He wants to lick and kiss and rub his face all over him and suck him off; he wants to stare at him for hours and try to understand how someone so beautiful is his; he wants Kyle to play with him and deny him and keep him on edge and then pound into him so hard he’ll see stars.

But realistically, he lacks the patience for any of that right now. They probably both do.

“Just touch me,” Eric says, hands already working Kyle’s jeans open.

And usually this is where Kyle would tease him, ask for specifics and withhold what he very well knows Eric wants for a while, but not this time. He steps out of his pants and pulls Eric towards the bed while he does the same, and in a tangle of limbs and heated kisses, they fall to the mattress.

Eric sits up and pulls Kyle into his lap, lips hot all over the base of his throat as he pushes his underwear down just enough to take his cock out. Kyle lets out a breathy little moan that sound like relief and does the same for Eric, giving him a few tight little pumps around the head that feel absolutely electric.

“Just this?” Eric asks, and Kyle nods, tilting his head down for a kiss and panting against his face.

Their hands brush jerking each other off, cocks pressed together so closely it’s actually a little impractical, and someone probably should have grabbed the lube, but – fuck it. This is perfect. They’re both already so on edge that it almost doesn’t matter anyway, but this is good, this is great, simple and quick to satisfy the urgency of the moment that Eric can feel pulsing in his blood.

“Couldn’t wait to get my hands on you,” Kyle tells him between kisses, always much more of a talker than Eric and it drives him crazy; Kyle’s thumb swiping over the head of his cock, spreading a drop of precome. “God, you’re so fucking hot.”

Eric can feel Kyle trembling against him, body going taut, and then he spills over both their hands, on Eric a little bit, easing the slide of his fingers, and Eric follows only a moment later.

He holds Kyle close for a minute, ignoring the mess between them, and they kiss slowly. Eric’s head feels like it’s swimming a little, almost like the evening’s excitement is flowing out of him all at once in a wave of exhaustion.

“Let me – get something,” Kyle says, and Eric watches him walk to the bathroom and return with paper towels to clean them both up.

They lie down together, Kyle’s head on Eric’s chest and Eric thinks that maybe he can just close his eyes for a bit. Maybe five minutes.

---

Eric wakes up to the sound of the door closing. It’s dark in the room but he can see Kyle coming in by the lights from outside the window. He’s holding two take-away coffee cups, which briefly confuses Eric – did he sleep until morning? No, that doesn’t make sense. He looks at his phone, which tells him it’s just after ten PM. More than five minutes, but less than passing out all night, at least. That would have been a little embarassing.

“Hey,” Kyle says quietly and kicks off his shoes by the door.

“Are you drinking coffee?” Eric asks, still a little out of it, and Kyle makes an amused little sound.

“It’s decaf, don’t worry,” he replies and puts both cups down on the bedside table on his side, taking his jeans off before he gets onto the bed with Eric. “I won’t keep you up all night.”

“I don’t know that I’d mind so much.”

“You probably wouldn’t,” Kyle says and, as soon as Eric has sat up against the headboard, hands him one of the cups. “Oatmilk chai latte.”

You really like me, Eric thinks.

And that’s not – that’s not new, not really, but sometimes it still hits him out of nowhere like this. When Kyle does something thoughtful for him or gives him one of those warm, soft looks from across the room. Some days, he still needs to work on believing it, that Kyle wants him, of all the people in the world he could have, but it’s slowly been getting a little easier. His brain is collecting little moments like these as proof.

“Thank you,” he says quietly and presses a lingering kiss to Kyle’s lips.

“You fell asleep and I was kinda – I don’t know, just awake, I guess. So I went down to get a drink,” Kyle explains. Eric takes a sip of his chai and wraps his free arm around Kyle’s shoulders, pulling him into his side until he puts his head on Eric’s shoulder with a small sigh.

“Are you okay? After, you know...”

“Yeah,” Kyle replies breezily, “of course. That was really hot.”

Eric knows all about the way Kyle likes to deflect by now, and has also learned the difference between actual flirting and flirting that is, well, that. Like right now.

Recognizing it is one thing, but the harder part is having a real conversation when Kyle puts his walls up like this. They sit in more or less comfortable silence for a while and Eric mulls it over.

He didn’t exactly expect for things with Scott to go the way they did, to put it mildly.

It was all just good, harmless fun with Carter and Gloria the day before, and didn’t actually stretch the boundaries of his comfort zone as far as he might have expected. Still. Eric doubled the number of people he kissed within the last 20 years in only one evening. And he knows he’s probably the exception that way, but that means something to him. Physical interaction is an extension of an emotional relationship, and he hadn’t considered before that that emotional relationship didn’t have to be romantic in nature.

Well, he had with Kyle, briefly, but if he’s being honest with himself, those feelings were romantic from the start. They just both tried to pretend otherwise.

And Scott is kind of a special case one way or the other. Eric remembers when he joined the Admirals: generational talent, immediately made Captain, so driven and determined to give it his all. Admittedly kind of high-strung, at times. But beneath all that, endlessly kind.

The first year is usually what determines whether the sudden money and fame turn rookies into assholes for the rest of their career, but that was never even a concern with Scott. He was too genuine, cared way too much. And he worked as diligently on bringing the team together as he did on his skills on the ice. He was hard to say no to, all bright eyes and earnest questions.

Also, he seemed to like Eric from the start. Which was unusual – Eric was used to keeping to himself and didn’t much mind it. Part of it came with being a goalie anyway; part of it was not being interested in partying, drinking, or picking up girls in clubs, which cut him off from most team activities at the time. But it’s not like it really bothered him. People learned to leave him alone with all that and it worked out well for everyone. Maybe he wasn’t in on the jokes about whatever wild night everyone last had, but no one was unfriendly about it.

And then there was Scott. There was the way his shoulders relaxed when he was around Eric, the way he looked a bit calmer, like he didn’t have to perform anymore. The tension never bled out of him fully, but there was sort of an understanding between them from the start, that they weren’t quite like the others in some ways and that, when it was just the two of them, that was okay. Eric, in his position, had the freedom to be a little strange at times anyway, but Scott, as Captain, definitely did not.

Eric was happy to make a friend like Scott, and he felt protective of him from the start, almost like an older brother. Only not quite. Scott was – still is – undeniably handsome. Eric never pretended to himself he didn’t notice that. But it was a moot point either way. He was married; they were both, as far as anyone knew, straight. Scott being attractive didn’t mean anything.

And it doesn’t mean anything now. It also doesn’t mean anything that things got a little more heated than expected earlier, except an acknowledgment of that attraction to a friend that Eric loves dearly, but platonically.

Even though they talked about it, technically, and Kyle was so supportive it bordered on pushy, it feels like there is more to be said now. Eric puts aside his empty cup and kisses the top of Kyle’s head, stroking his fingers through his hair. Maybe the direct approach is the best. It’s not like he has any other strategies.

“You know I don’t feel that way about Scott, right?”

“Sure,” Kyle says easily, but he curls into Eric’s side a little closer. That’s – something.

“It’s just – I know how that must have looked.”

“You were into it. It’s fine. That was – sort of the goal, wasn’t it?” Kyle’s voice has gone quiet, a little unsure, and Eric wants to get to the core of that vulnerability and wrap himself around it with nothing but warm reassurance. He can see how Scott specifically might be a bit of a sore spot after the whole story with Kip.

“I was,” Eric says, “but I’m learning you can be into things just for fun. Apparently.”

Kyle laughs softly and presses a kiss right under his jaw. “I see my lessons are finally bearing fruit then.”

“Yeah, after you and I failed at just fun a little bit,” Eric says and feels Kyle’s lips stretch into a grin against his skin. “And I’m really glad we did.”

“Well, what can I say, I’m irresistible.” Kyle is still deflecting more than a little, Eric can tell, but he’s glad he’s said his piece anyway.

“You really are.”

---

The next day is game day.

Eric has a little moment of uncertainty when he sees Scott and Kip from across the room on their way to join them for breakfast. Scott looks to be feeling about the same way, giving him a wide-eyed look and Kip sighs next to him.

“Okay, guys. We’re not gonna be awkward about this, okay?” he says and Scott nods. “Think about what Carter would say.”

Eric laughs and the spell is broken. Because what Carter would say is probably a combination of words that no one has ever even thought before, in that slightly unhinged but incredibly sweet way he has. And most of the time, he’d be right, too.

Sometimes Eric really doesn’t know how him and Scott even functioned as friends before Carter joined the team. They definitely didn’t talk as much.

“Ready to lose today, Scotty?” he asks and Scott scoffs, but smiles at him. They’re on opposing teams for the All Star game this year, because the league likes to come up with new ways to mix them up every year (mostly to try and find ways to have Hollander and Rozanov play against each other, because that is apparently still interesting after almost a decade).

“Not even a chance.”

“Don’t forget, I know all your little tricks,” Eric reminds him and sees Kyle and Kip exchange a glance.

“On the ice maybe,” Kip says innocently.

“So many other places he can score, though,” Kyle adds, and they both look very happy with themselves while Scott sighs and shakes his head.

Eric catches his eyes across the table and they shrug at each other. What can you do.