Rating:

Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning:

No Archive Warnings Apply

Category:

M/M

Fandom:

Heated Rivalry (TV)

Relationships:

Kip Grady/Scott Hunter, Kip Grady & Elena Rygg

Characters:

Elena Rygg, Kip Grady, Scott Hunter (Game Changers)

Additional Tags:

Canon Compliant, Male-Female Friendship, Kip Grady loves Scott Hunter, Scott Hunter Loves Kip Grady, Good Friend Elena Rygg, Making Up, Morning After, Morning Kisses, Comfort No Hurt

Language:

English

Series:

Part 2 of Incremental Gains

Stats:

Published: 2026-03-21 Words: 2,211 Chapters: 1/1

The Morning After

Summary

After months of nursing what he thought was a broken heart, Kip finds himself waking up in an apartment he never thought he'd see again, with a man he thought he'd lost for good, and an irritated friend on the phone.

Episode 3 what-happened-after fic.

Notes

Thanks to Unfairwaterplain and ladyamesindy for the beta :)

He’d missed this.  The quiet sound of the heating system.  The vague citrus scent of cleaning products.  The soft sound of someone else breathing in their sleep.  The weight of the man he’d fallen helplessly in love with on top of him, heavier than a blanket but just as warm.

Trapped in the pleasantness of the moment, it took a while for Kip to realize why he’d woken up.

He picked his phone up as it started to buzz for the third time.  “Hello?”

“Where the hell are you?”

Shifting a little against one of the large pillows, Kip ran his free hand through Scott’s short, dark hair as the other man’s breath caught.  Not awake, but disturbed by the noise of the phone.  “Where am…Elena?”  Another few seconds of waking up, then, “Shit.  It’s Saturday.”

“No shit.”  His friend sounded flustered, which he knew she never was.  But for reasons known only to her, Elena didn’t go in for angry very often.  When she was upset about something, it came out as a different emotion.  This morning, it was flustered.  “Tell me you’re already on your way and the traffic is just a bitch.”

Kip sighed.  The apology on his lips was real, but so was the much larger part of him that had no interest in going anywhere.  “I’m so sorry, Elena.”

She’d been his friend for years and so she heard both things in his voice.  “Fine, I’ll make it work.”  A sigh on her end of the call, but much less content than his.  “Where are you, then, since you’re not here helping your best friend.”

Kip laughed at that, then hesitated.  “I’m…downtown.”  He licked his lips, but there was nothing to do but say it.  “Scott and I made up last night.”

It was a loud silence on the other end.

“Elena, before you say anything -”

“Why?”

The question caught him off guard.  He’d really been expecting the lecture.  Though leading with a question didn’t mean there wasn’t a lecture waiting in the wings.  “Why, what?”

“You said he’s not out and that he only ever talks about it as some ambiguous future maybe.”  Blunt, as usual.  “And it’s been months without so much as a word.”  Four long, lonely, emotionally volatile months.  “So why take him back?”

They weren’t the words he’d expected, but he guessed they must be true.  “We never really broke up.”

Another silence, this one not so loud.

Kip exhaled, opening his eyes and letting them trace their way over familiar furniture he’d thought he’d never see again.  Remembering how loved he’d felt in this apartment, even as he’d felt miserable at having to lie about something so good that he wanted to be a part of his life.  How much it had hurt to hear Scott say he didn’t think he could come out publicly until he’d retired from hockey, which was still years away, and how in that moment all Kip could think to do was leave.

He’d lost track of the number of times he’d picked up his phone to call or text or…something…only to put it back down again because maybe Elena was right and this wasn’t a thing that could make Kip happy.

But then maybe his dad was right and Scott Hunter was worth fighting for.

Kip pursed his lips as he considered his answer.  Considered the moment he’d seen Scott walk back into that smoothie shop, on the last day Kip was scheduled to work there.  The awkward conversation that had followed as Scott had asked if they could talk, and the further awkward but heartfelt conversation they’d had at one of the little tables in that smoothie shop.  The longer conversation they’d had last night before Kip had walked around the kitchen island like he had dozens of times before and hauled Scott in for a kiss. Considered, because not everything Scott had said was anyone else’s business, even his best friend’s.  “He said he wants to make a plan.”

He’d expected the judgement, but he’d also expected more of it.  “A plan?”

Elena’s dark eyes held his, caring and merciless.  “What’s the plan, babe?”

“Coming out is scary,” Kip said, choosing his words carefully.  Mindful of sounding like he was making excuses, but also of Scott’s privacy.  Of feelings that weren’t Kip’s to share.  “And even if it wasn’t, making a public announcement next week isn’t great for anyone.”

He could hear the unspoken but you, but Elena stayed quiet.

“But,” Kip continued, “he said that he doesn’t want to hide this.  What we have.  It’s not fair to me, and it’s not fair to him.”  Scott’s brown eyes had gone wide as he’d said it, as if he was almost more terrified to admit that he was making this choice for his own happiness, too.  “So he wants to come up with a plan.  A list of steps for getting from telling no one to telling everyone.”

“A list of steps.”

Pushing his head deeper into the pillow, Kip explained their idea to the ceiling.  “Steps.  Like introducing him to my friends.  And introducing me…to his.”  The extra step went unspoken.  “Taking Scott home to meet my dad.”  Kip swallowed, the bubble of hesitant joy that had motivated that walk around the kitchen island swelling once more inside his chest.  “And figuring out how to go on real dates.  Being together.  Outside of the apartment.”

“The thing about secrets,” Scott said, the tip of one finger tracing nervous circles on the counter top, “is that, because you know you have one, your default is to assume other people must know you have one.  And so if they say something that comes within a hundred miles of that secret, you panic.  Because it must mean that they know.”

“Even if they don’t,” Kip said, not following.  “What does that have to do with going on a date?”

Scott was going to really hurt himself if he kept pushing his tongue against his teeth like that.  “I get lunch with my friend Carter all the time and never worry that anyone will think we’re a couple.”  He looked up at Kip, willing him to understand.  “People go places all the time and nobody pays them any attention.  They certainly don’t all default to assuming two guys taking a walk in the park must be gay.”

They couldn’t be super romantic dates.  Not yet, anyway.  But the idea of going out for lunch or to dinner.  Of seeing a show or exploring a museum.  Of walking around Central Park or down by the pier.  Even if they couldn’t kiss until they got back home.

“He wants to come up with a plan to be together,” Kip said, the feeling of hope making his throat tight.  “To be out in private…until we can be out in public.”

For the third time, Elena was quiet on her end of the line.  Kip waited, feeling awake and alive as emotions from the last few days zipped through him.  Nervousness and elation and fear and hope.  All whirling together to make him feel electrified, and grateful for Scott’s grounding weight.

As if the buzz of feelings had transferred between them, Scott shifted in his sleep, resettling himself with his cheek resting over Kip’s heart.

“Wow…good for him.”  The judgement was gone from Elena’s voice.  Kip almost thought he heard something like pride.  “He’s going to have to prove it, of course.  Walk that sexy talk.”

“Elena,” Kip laughed.

“What?  I can’t call your handsome man sexy?  Have you seen him?”

Dropping his chin as Scott exhaled and opened his eyes, Kip smiled.  “Yeah, I’ve seen him.”

“Then you can’t really chastise me for stating a fact, Kip Grady.  The truth is an important thing.”

Scott raised his eyebrows in a question and Kip shook his head, wrapping his arm about Scott’s shoulders to keep him in place.  It earned him an undemanding kiss against his sternum.  “Listen, I’m sorry I overslept.  And I’m sorry I’m leaving you shorthanded today.”

“Did your not-sexy boyfriend just wake up?”

“Yes,” Kip said as Scott resumed his position, cheek once again over Kip’s heart, “so I’m going to get off now.”

“That is so way too much information.”

“Elena!”

“You owe me.”  As if Kip didn’t owe Elena a dozen times over.  “Now go enjoy your morning.  I love you.”

“Love you, too,” Kip said.  He ended the call, dropping his phone gently back onto the side table before turning his attention to his definitely-sexy boyfriend.  “Good morning.”

“I didn’t realize you had somewhere to be this early.”  Scott twisted to meet his gaze, head still resting on Kip’s chest.  “I would have let you sleep last night.”

“That’s not incentive to tell you when I have to be up early,” Kip said, grinning as Scott’s cheeks pinked with a faint blush.  “But yeah.  Technically I told Elena I would help her set up for a charity thing today.”

“You can still go.”  There was no reproach in Scott’s voice.  No sulk.  Nothing but an honest invitation for Kip to get up, get dressed, and grab breakfast on his way to help a friend.

But the sunlight was slanting in at just the right angle to be beautiful without being blinding, and the pillow was just the right amount of squished to be irresistible, and Scott was guilelessly nuzzling Kip’s chest.  Reveling in being able to, after they’d both so clearly thought they’d lost the other for good.

“You were there?” Kip asked, unable to keep the emotion out of his voice.  “At the Kingfisher?”

“I was terrified,” Scott said, that note of self-loathing back at full volume.  “You looked so happy, and what if I walked in and ruined your night?  Congratulations, by the way.”  At Kip’s confused look, he added.  “On grad school.  The window was open and your friends are loud.”

“Knowing Elena, she’s already restructured her entire morning and reassigned all the necessary tasks,” Kip said.  “If I show up now, she’ll just have to redo all that problem-solving all over again.”

“What a thoughtful friend you are.”

But Kip could hear the smile he couldn’t see, and Scott’s next kiss was a little more lingering.  An invitation of a different kind.

Despite that, Scott pushed himself up and off Kip so that he was sitting next to him.  Expression a mix of excitement and fear, underlined by the kind of determination Kip was used to seeing on the face of the Captain of the New York Admirals.  “Since your morning is now unexpectedly free, how…would you like to go get breakfast?”

“Go get breakfast?” Kip asked.  “As in walk to the kitchen?”

“As in go to this diner I know.”  There might have been fear in Scott’s expression, but there was none in his voice.  “They do the best scrambled eggs.”

The bubble of joy was back, and Kip tried not to let it make things weird.  “I like scrambled eggs.”

He’d really tried, but this was Scott and he’d always been a little weird.  So it was OK that he’d noticed the hitch in Kip’s voice and met it with a too wide smile of his own.  “Yeah?”

Kip’s couldn’t help but smile in return.  “Yeah.  But first.”  Reaching up, he cupped the back of Scott’s head, pulling him down gently and kissing him.  Undemanding.  Happy.  Full of hope and fear and eager determination.

“I can walk my sexy talk,” Scott whispered as they parted, and Kip did his best not to laugh in his boyfriend’s face.

“You heard that.”

“I did.”

Kip kissed him again.  “She’s rooting for you.  You know that, right?”

Scott nodded.  “She said I deserve sunshine.”

Kip blinked, the question halfway to his lips, as Scott kissed him again and then rolled off the bed.

“I think I also deserve scrambled eggs.”

Watching his boyfriend disappear into the bathroom, Kip let himself smile.  So wide it hurt.

It wouldn’t be easy.  And maybe things wouldn’t work out.  Though the thought alone made his chest hurt like someone had run one of those ancient knight’s swords through it.  But they would try.  They would fight for the man they loved.  Both of them.

“The eggs are much less delicious as delivery,” Scott called from the bathroom, and Kip rolled out of bed himself.

He’d never been a breakfast date kind of guy.  But then he’d never been helplessly in love before.  So maybe, he thought, as he walked into the en suite and was greeted by the sight of Scott Hunter grinning around his toothbrush, it was a day for trying new things.  For believing in hope and the kinds of things intense, brown-eyed hockey players said when they’d spent four months working up the nerve to talk to him again.  For going for scrambled eggs as good friends and coming home to kisses that meant they were more than good friends, and then spending the rest of the morning planning how to tell his dad that he’d met the love of his life.

Formally.

Because of course, as a heartbroken Kip had found out most of four months ago, his dad already knew.