Not him? Lee made a fair point, but Tarin wasn’t necessarily convinced. Prevailing evidence absolutely suggested otherwise, but this was probably one of those arguments he wasn’t going to win.

Besides, he’d gotten a kiss and the rest didn’t really matter at the moment. Lee settled in to watch the game and Tarin eyed her a bit suspiciously as she talked about how things really weren’t that bad and why. Pretty damn fluent for someone who professed to dislike the game.

”True…” he said as the third out was recorded and the teams went about switching places for the bottom of the inning, ”Though maybe…”

Tarin eyed Lee for a moment longer, then reached up pull the hat from his head and put it on hers instead. ”Let’s see if that helps.” he said, running a hand through his hair to try and fix it after wearing the hat.

Part of Lee wanted to turn to Tarin as the teams changed places, tell him ‘I told you so’. The problem with that is it would show too much interest in the game. And, while she did actually like watching baseball with him, Lee had spent far too much time over the last few months playfully pretending to not like the game to give in that easily.

”Though maybe…”

”Maybe what?” Lee was just turning to look at Tarin with a confused frown when she felt something settle on her head.

And saw that he wasn’t wearing his precious Mets hat.

Lee’s eyes widened slightly in surprise and she sat up straight, turning to look at Tarin more directly. ”What in the world...” Lee exclaimed, though one side of her mouth was turned up slightly. It was rather sweet that he thought her wearing his hat would be more lucky. ”You’re just lucky there’s no one here to see this.”

The hat was a bit big on Lee, but there was just something about her wearing his hat that made it perfect.

What in the world? Tarin shrugged, ”Desperate times.” he said, draping his arm across the back of the couch and settling back in as some commercials played between innings.

Lee commented that Tarin was lucky that nobody was there to see, and he turned to look at her with slightly raised eyebrows.

”That hat is from another reality.” he said with a small smile, ”I’d say it’s a pretty cool thing to wear.”

”Besides…I was right. You do look really cute in a ball cap.” .

Desperate times? Tarin thought that desperate times called for her to wear his Mets hat?

Lee was about to take it off to put it back on Tarin's head, forcibly if needed, when he commented that the heat was cool since it came from another reality. That…

That definitely changed things. Even if it was just fooling around to see who could end up getting the other to wear the hat, Lee didn't want to risk damaging it. With the Rift closed, it was irreplaceable, and while he didn't have many great memories, it was still the world that he had grown up and spent most of his life in.

So instead Lee decided to pretend to grump about it, though that didn't last long either since the next thing Tarin said caused her to blush. ”I do not lol cute in it,” Lee said with a pout as she crossed her arms, looking over at Tarin out of the corner of her eye.

With the blush still covering her cheeks.

It had been a risk putting the hat on Lee’s head. In the past when Tarin had mentioned that he thought she’d look cute in a ball cap, Lee had reacted less than favorably. Now that the moment had arrived though, she was keeping it on her head…very begrudgingly. Still, the hat remained on Lee’s head and the Mets had two on base with a single out and their power hitter coming up to bat.

Lee pointed out that she did not look cute in the hat and Tarin turned his head so he could look right at her instead of the game, ”You absolutely do.” he said, right as he heard the crack of the bat. It wasn’t a thud, it wasn’t a clunk, it was a solid crack.

”And it looks like you’re going to have to wear it a lot more.” he added, still not even looking at the screen, but knowing that had been a 3-run homer.

”It’s even cuter when you blush.”

After she spoke, Tarin turned so that he was fully and directly looking at her. And claimed that she did

Right as the Mets hit a homerun to bring the score to 3-1. And without even looking at the TV as this happened, Tarin said that she'd have to wear his hat more often.

Lee really wasn't minding the hat that much, and though she was concerned about how she looked in it, Tarin's was really the only opinion that mattered beyond hers

Still, she crossed her arms and stuck her tongue out at Tarin.

Right as he pointed out that she looked even cuter when she blushed with his hat on.

That just caused Lee's blush to darken again. ”You’re missing your game,” Lee said, her arms still crossed as she looked at the TV for a moment before her eyes moved back to Tarin.

Lee crossed her arms and actually stuck her tongue out at him and Tarin had to smile and shake his head a little. That was cute too, but he knew he’d really be pushing his luck if he pointed it out.

And the blush got even darker, dark enough that Tarin was pretty sure Lee’s ears and neck were turning red too and he chuckled as she pointed out that he was missing the game.

Tarin supposed Lee was right and turned back so he was facing the TV instead of Lee. There was still only a single out and the next batter had gotten on base.

Tarin grinned over at Lee and her crossed arms.

”Well that is certainly a improvement.” he said as the next better hit a line drive to right field and took his double as the runner on first made it to third.

Not only were the Mets starting out the game playing well, Tarin had to go and punt that out. Again. After he'd put his hat on her.

”Uh huh…” Lee said.”You do realize that I will not wear this hat every game just so they might win, right?”

And she definitely wouldn't, because with how irreplaceable she now realized this one was, Lee was already making plans. She definitely did not want this one being damaged on him.

But as the next batter came up, Lee's arms relaxed slightly as she settled into the couch again, leaning into Tarin a bit.

Lee insisted that she wasn’t going to be wearing his hat every game and Tarin looked at her like that was obvious, ”Well yeah, people would get suspicious if they won every game.” .

The current batter hit a long fly ball to center and Tarin leaned forward just a little bit, waiting to see if the runner on third was going to tag up and try to get home. It was a deep fly and the second it hit the outfielders glove the man on third took off.

The throw from center hit the cut-off and the runner slid head first into home just before the catcher was able to get the tag down. ”Heck yeah.” Tarin said, holding up his hand for a high five.

Two outs, but now the lead was 4-1 and they weren’t even out of the first inning.

Lee couldn’t help the slight laugh when Tarin pointed out that of course she couldn’t wear his hat every game because it’d be suspicious. ”I hate to say it, Tarin, but I don’t think even me wearing your hat is that lucky.”

But then the game really got Tarin’s attention, so much so that he was leaning forward slightly. Looking at Tarin slightly more than the game, Lee smiled. He really was rather cute when he got excited like this.

And as the score went to 4-1, Tarin held his hand up.After only a moment’s hesitation, Lee gave him the high five as she shook her head with a smile. ”I told you they weren’t doing too bad,” she told him. ”And I doubt it has anything to do with me wearing this hat.”

”Oh ye of little faith.” Tarin said, but he was grinning the whole time. Lee might not believe in sports superstitions, but they were a powerful and little understood force.

It only took Lee slightly longer than it should have to return the high five and then she was insisting that the fact that she was wearing the hat had nothing to do with it.

”Mmhm.” he said simply and with a look skeptical enough to say exactly what he was thinking without words.

The next batter struck out swinging for the fences, and while Tarin couldn’t complain about how the inning had gone, he couldn’t help but think it would have been smarter to just play some small ball and work to advance the runner.

Oh well though, 4-1 in the first inning was nothing to complain about.

More commercials were on now and Tarin couldn’t help but look at Lee again and grin. An idea occurred to him and he tapped his phone where it was sitting on the arm of the couch, ”Do something for me?” he said.

Lee was no stranger to sports superstitions. Both of her brothers had played baseball and hockey. But the Mets had started off the game playing well before Tarin had put the hat on her head. So obviously them ending the first inning winning 4-1 was not because of her.

Tarin, however, clearly did not believe that. Lee just rolled her eyes at him slightly as she turned her eyes back to the TV. In time to see that it was time for commercials.

”Do something for me?”

Lee turned back to Tarin with a confused look on her face. ”Do something for you?” she asked. ”You mean on top of already wearing your hat so the Mets win?”

”Do something for you?” You mean on top of already wearing your hat so the Mets win?”

Tarin smiled winningly at Lee as she said it, hoping that he’d be able to convince her, because this might never happen again.

It’s a big ask too.” he said, considering the wisdom of the request.

Still tapping his phone for a moment, Tarin picked it up and held the little button that brought up the camera, then tapped the button that would flip the perspective so it was front facing.

”Selfie?” he asked. Despite the fact that they’d been together for quite some time, pictures had not really been something they’d done. Whether it was a product of them both being fairly private individuals, or just because they’d been too busy doing other things, it was a simple fact.

”Please? Then you can take it off.”

Lee’s eyebrow rose when Tarin stated that it was a big thing that he was asking.

Then he asked, and Lee simply stared at him for a moment. He wanted a picture of them. Of her. Wearing this hat.

The first two were simple to answer. The third…

The only reason that Lee didn’t give an outright ‘no’ to Tarin’s request (because she honestly did not think she looked good in hats and did not want there to be evidence of that fact) was because they really didn’t have any pictures of the two of them.

Lee had gotten better with making sure that she took pictures with Kevin, as he grew, but she was not the reason that there was a box of pictures in his closet.

She took a deep breath, letting it out with a sigh. ”One,” Lee finally allowed. ”And only because we don’t have any.”

While Tarin hadn’t expected Lee to be enthusiastic about the picture, he hadn’t really expected her to be so hesitant.

Still, she’d said yes and Tarin knew that Lee wouldn’t have said yes unless she meant it.

So, Tarin slid his arm down around Lee’s shoulders and shifted so that their heads were leaning close together. ”Smile” he said, then clicked the picture. Just one.

He didn’t move right away, but pulled up the picture and showed it to Lee. Tarin thought it was good, and Lee really did look good in the hat. “If you don’t like it, I’ll delete it.”