Kent wasn't exactly the type of person to wait patiently.
Not to say he wasn't punctual, you could set your clock to him, it'd just be running ten minutes fast is all.
So what hisfriendboyfriendJack asked him to wait outside at the car, that he needed to take a second to calm down before leaving, well...
"Jack, open up!"
The door wrenched open. Jack was backlit by the bathroom light on bright, but Kent could still make out the blown out, wild, look in his eyes. A bottle of pills was spilled open on the counter.
"I said I'd be a second, Jesus fuck Ken-" Kent didn't wait, pushing past Jack and scooping the pills back into their bottle.
"How many did you have?" The bottle felt half-full, but there were a handful on the floor too. He's not getting those. How full was it before tonight? He can't remember right now.
"I don't need you to babysit me Kenny."
"How many." He clenched the bottle tighter. It had definitely been more full this morning.
"I- two before we came. Another two when you went off with those girls. Maybe three or four more since. I don't know."
"How many were you going to take! I mean fuck, Zimms, thats more than a days worth in what, four hours?" Christ, did he need to get to a hospital? Was it too many already? He didn't think so but-
"I just need it to be quiet, Kenny. It's just... too loud." And fuck if Jack doesn't look broken. Scared and anxious and broken and here's Kenny, yelling at him. This is why they aren't boyfriends. Shouldn't be. In a week, couldn't be.
"Alright, Zimms. Let's get you home. It'll be quiet there." It won't be. Not with pictures of Bad Bob on the wall and that fucking 'Be Better' poster above his bed but-
Kent tells Alicia what happened. Almost happened. Addiction - any kind - is much more prevalent in acting circles, so she gets it in a way Bob just doesn't. Bob still comes from an environment where a little cocaine never hurt and four or five oxy a pop is normal. If your doctor doesn't give you a refill that's a sign to find a new doctor.
Jack goes to rehab. Quietly. No one outside of the three - four once Bob pulls his head from his ass - of them knows. Jack goes first, to Vegas. Kent goes second, to Providence.
Vegas is great, despite Jack's assumptions and Kent's worries. They expected to pick up Zimmermann with the first, so they'd spent the last year building up a list of big names to flesh out the team. A team that's warm and welcoming and ready to put player's first.
They brought in Robinson. Snow. Some expensive trades gets them Mashkov at fourth pick, but they were all in on Zimmermann, so they can take the loss of next year's first and two seconds. They got Georgia Martin to AGM.
Providence is... less so. They were hurting financially already - unable to pull fans from the Bruins. Kent is good, but he's not a known name. If Providence were a hockey desert maybe he'd be enough. But it's not, and he isn't. They can't build a team around him.
Two years go by. Kent visits Jack, but doesn't stay the night. Not anymore. They're still friends, but - it's different, and Kent can't quite put a finger on it. Jack doesn't hate him for going behind his back, to his mother, but it's still a point of contention. It doesn't mean they move on, either.
Then he gets the call. The Falconers are trading him - a last ditch effort to free up cap space for a total rework. Save or sink. He's going to Vegas.
Jack calls right after. He's not the captain - the Aces don't have a C, only A's, for obvious reasons - and he didn't have to be the one to call, but he did. Kent still needs a bit more time. Especially if he's going to be staying with Jack as soon as he gets there. So he asks for - and gets, and isn't that telling about Martin and how she runs her team - the next week of games off. The week after that is bye week, so. A week to drive down, a week to figure out how he and Jack fit together after all this time.
Kent doesn't want to drive down alone. He has Kitt, but he won't submit her to a week of strange motels and inconsistent meal times. So he puts out an ad for a driving buddy, just someone to take some wheel time. He's already paid for all the rooms along his route (doubles, he thought ahead) so they won't even need to pay for more than their food on the way, and it's not like there's a French Laundry off of Route 66. He ends up only getting one reply before the forums moderator - and what sort of shitty username is JohnJohnson anyway - takes it down. No reason given.
So, he meets Bitty for the first time at a Starbucks on 6th and Main. They both get drinks that are more sugar than coffee, and Kent almost gets a pastry until he sees the horrified look on Bitty's face. They pack his things - only a small suitcase and a backpack - and are on their way.
Bitty, it turns out, is a ice skater, so they talk about that for half an hour until Kent brings up hockey.
They stick to ice skating.
The first night isn't terribly. Bitty doesn't ask why Kent looks like throwing up after his phone call, and Kent doesn't interrupt when he hears Bitty smother tears as they lay down for bed. They're almost late checking out in the morning - both have shower routines an hour long. They quickly agree that they've both been in locker rooms enough for the second person to start showering while the first is still doing the back half of their routine. It saves half an hour going forward.
The second night isn't much better. Kent tries another call with Jack. Bitty still cries, a bit more openly this time.
During the second day they reach St. Louis and it's arch. At the top Kent tells Bitty that if you stand on the glass floor and make a wish and jump and don't break the glass and fall screaming to your death it's good luck. Bitty looks at him with wide eyes, but he also laughs a little so Kent calls it a win.
The third night Kent doesn't call and Bitty doesn't cry.
By the fourth day Kent realizes Bitty doesn't know who he is - which, fair, if he was well known in the area he wouldn't have been traded. He also doesn't know who Jack Zimmermann is, or Bad Bob Zimmermann. He knowns Gretzky, but that isn's saying much. He also learns Bitty doesn't have any plans for what to do once he gets to Vegas, he just couldn't stay in Samwell. Kent decides to try something new and stupid and opens up about himself. About how he used to hook up with a friend when in the Q and how it all almost went to shit and then it did go to shit. About how he worries of what could have happened if he'd walked slower or waited longer or - Bitty cuts him off with a kiss. He tells him it's not his fault and for once Kent can believe it.
The fourth night Bitty finally tells him why he hates hockey. How he had to take it up to hide who he was and still get to be on the ice. How it became a ticket out of his too small town to Samwell, where he could be himself. How he couldn't take a check and no-one knew how to help and he was cut. How he couldn't go back to Madison after knowing what it was like to be out. Kent tells him it's going to be fine, that he'll help him with ice time (Bitty has already promised by now to show off some of his figure skating) and if he wants he'll help him learn to take a check. And Bitty has something to look forward to, again.
They make out with the history channel on in the background and fall asleep in the same bed.
The fifth day starts as awkwardly as their first few did. Kent goes for a kiss when Bitty hands him a mug of coffee and gets waved off. Bitty assures him that everything is fine between them but, well-
Kent wasn't exactly subtle about who his friend in the Q was, and Bitty had woken up an hour earlier than Kent and put two and two together. He admited that he liked Kent, and would be there for him, but didn't want his first relationship to be being second fiddle. Especially not when Kent would be living with Jack for at least until he could get an apartment of his own.
So they drove in silence for a day, each in their own head.
The fifth night Kent goes for a walk, and leaves his phone. Bitty thinks its his when the ringer goes off and picks it up.
"Hello!"
"Uh," the voice sounds distant, like it pulled back from the phone. "Kenny?"
"Oh," Bitty pulls back himself, realizing this isn't his phone. "No, sorry, Bitty. Bittle. Eric. I'm his rideshare for the trip."
"The ice skater, right?" Jack's voice picks up. "He mentioned you the last time we talked."
They go on for an hour before Jack apologizes for keeping him up, and promises to call back for Kent later. They trade numbers at Jack's insistence, he wants to know that Kent's okay and he hasn't exactly been reachable the last two days.
Bitty's asleep before Kent gets back.
The sixth morning Bitty wakes up to Kent bringing in a tray of roomservice. Kent admits to still being in love with Jack, and also his belief that Jack doesn't, can't, love him back. Bitty admits to answering Jack's call the night before, and that he thinks Jack still loves Kent. He offers to chaperone a phone call between the two - well, he says video call because he thinks it'll be better, but Kent doesn't want to make Jack uncomfortable before he even says a word, so phones it is.
They stop at the Grand Canyon. It doesn't seem as wide as Kent once thought.
The sixth night they call, and they talk for two hours before Bitty leaves to give them some privacy. When he comes back an hour later Kent is asleep still dressed with the phone on his chest.
On the seventh morning Kent wakes up feeling better than he ever has. Bitty is no where to be found. He assumes he went down for breakfast, but he doesn't find him. After an hour he starts to panic, and regrets never trading phone numbers with Bitty. He calls Jack, who mentions that he has Bitty's number and hangs up to call him. An hour later Bitty is back in the room. When Kent asks where he was, he says he had to make a call and didn't want to use his cellphone. Kent doesn't know what to make of that, so he lets it slide.
The drive is tense, neither Kent nor Bitty saying anything but an occasional 'want to switch?' or 'stop at the next restroom'.
When they stop for the night its like the calm in the center of the storm. It unsettles Kent, because he didn't even realize it'd been coming until this morning. Finally, he snaps.
"Will you just fucking tell me what I did wrong? Was it calling Jack - because that was your idea!"
Bitty is quiet, staring at the ground. It takes Kent a second to realize he's crying.
"Shit, I'm sorry Bitty I didn't mean to yell." Kent starts to apologize, but then Bitty's head snaps up and he's interupted.
"No, no Kent it's- I- you're right, it was the call with Jack."
And they talk.
Kent about how worried he was that morning. About how thankful he was to have Bitty in his life. About how Bitty brought out the best in him - and in Jack from what he's seen.
Bitty about how he was so so happy Kent and Jack were fixing their relationship. About how happy he was to have them as friends - even best friends, despite only knowing each other for barely a week now. About how torn up he was, how he regretted helping Jack and Kent reconnect, and how he hated that regret.
About how he was falling in love with Kent, and hated himself for it.
The eighth morning was Bitty and Kent's last of the trip. They're talked and cried themselves out last night, and both woke up feeling - not good, but better.
Bitty still had more to say, but Kent begged off. "Two hours to Vegas," he said. "Please, just... Jack should be there for this." And Bitty felt the lead settle in his chest, but he agreed.
And so they drove, and soon enough Kent was knocking on Jack's door and it was opening and
"Hey Zimms," he whispered. "Did ya miss me?"
And the eigth night was spent talking, all three of them, about where they all stood. Kent, who loved Jack but couldn't imagine it being returned, who loved Bitty but knew he deserved better. Jack, who loved Kent but thought he had burned that bridge long ago, who had only spoken with Bitty three times (and an endless number of texts to be fair) but knew, in his 110% Jack Zimmermann way that he loved him. Bitty, who loved Kent and refused to stand between him and Jack, who could see himself loving Jack so, so easily.
The next morning Kent woke up, Jack pressed against his back and arms wrapped around Bitty, and smiled.
