Tarin supposed they’d never know how the Mets had fared on the other side of the rift. ”Maybe there’s a hat from this side working its magic over there too…” If it worked one way it had to work the other, right?

Tarin had known he was asking a much more complicated question than it seemed on the surface when he asked Lee what her favorite song to play was. Tarin stayed quiet while Lee thought and listened intently as she spoke.

The song she played most, the one she had always loved…was a song she hadn’t played for anyone.

Until now.

It was almost like Lee was shy again, nervous, unsure about what she was doing and she took a deep breath before she started playing.

The song was…up beat…almost…peppy? It was definitely something that Tarin hadn’t heard before, but hearing Lee play it and sing it made him so happy.

By the time she was done playing, Tarin was grinning.

”I really like it when you do that…” Tarin said, ”And it was a really cool song.”

Though Lee liked the song, obviously since she was playing it at Tarin's request that she play her favourite son to play, she was a little nervous about what Tarin would think. It was so different from anything else that she had played. Different from the songs in all the playlists that she had sent him.

But Lee didn't look at him once while she was playing. And even when she had finished, Lee paused a couple moments before looking over at Tarin.

Only to see that he was grinning. A quite happy grin, it appeared.

"You think so?" Lee asked. Then tilted her head slightly. "When I do what? Because I thought we well established you like watching me play."

Lee didn’t look up while she played and Tarin wondered if it was because she needed to concentrate to get all of the notes right or if it was because she somehow thought there was something different about this song.

Compared to the other songs that Lee had played, it wasn’t particularly deep or emotional. In fact, it was downright cheery. Wait. Was that the issue? Was the fact that her favorite song to play was something lighthearted and somewhat cheerful a sticking point for Lee?

Tarin didn’t know how to ask that without coming across outrageously condescending so when she’d finished playing and looked up, he’d just grinned at her and said what he’d said.

Lee wanted some clarification on that point though and he shrugged slightly, ”When you do things for me that you haven’t done for anyone else.” he admitted candidly.

”And we have well established that other point.”

When she asked for Tarin to explain what it was he liked her doing, at first he just shrugged. At least he did explain right after.

Which left Lee to simply shrug at first in return.

"I guess I do keep doing that, don't I?" Lee asked, a smile growing on her face as she spoke. As she continued speaking, Lee's voice grew more joking and playful. "You must be pretty darn special for me to keep doing that, aren't you?"

If Lee thought about it, it really was true that she had done a number of things with or for Tarin that she had never done for anyone else. Not even Kevin's father. Which seemed rather strange. Lee had had so many 'firsts' with Kevin's father, so many things experienced with him that Lee had never thought possible for her. They had been through hell and back multiple times over the years in many different ways.

And yet, there were things she had talked with Tarin about, things she had done with him or for him, that six months earlier she wouldn't have been able to even imagine doing for anyone.

"Must be that interdimensional magic you brought with you."

Lee did keep doing that exact thing, Tarin no thought. He didn’t exactly have examples to pull out of the air, but Tarin knew that there had been other times when Lee had said as much. It felt good.

As Lee spoke, she smiled more and more widely and Tarin couldn’t help but smile in return as she said he must be special, ”Or just very very lucky” he responded. He thought his idea held more water.

As she sat there across the couch from him, Lee seemed thoughtful and Tarin didn’t interrupt her as she thought even if he was wildly curious exactly what she was thinking.

After a moment, Lee spoke again, citing the inter dimensional magic and Tarin nodded sagely, “You were skeptical of it at first, but the interdimensional magic is very potent.”

Tarin smiled, “If even the baseball gods respect the interdimensional magic, what chance do we mere mortal stand?”

Tarin was convinced that he was simply very lucky, not that he was special. "Maybe there's some luck involved." Lee admitted. "But it's not just luck that has made me open up and share so much with you."

Then Tarin was trying to be all serious about the magic, and Lee nodded with him. "What was I supposed to think initially?" Lee asked, because the whole thing was a little ridiculous. But I've seen the error of my ways." [/font]

The thing was, there had to be something special about Tarin. The two of them being together very well had a lot to do with luck, but luck couldn't explain why she would do things or share things with Tarin she had never done so before.

Lee didn’t think that it was just luck. Well that was gratifying and Tarin kept right on smiling as Lee said it. He wanted to ask her why. Why was he, of all people, who Lee had felt compelled to open up to? It felt somehow wrong or attention seeking to ask though, so he didn’t. It was enough that Lee had made sure to say it was more than just luck.

”Whatever the reason, I’m glad.” he said, and he genuinely was. Tarin firmly believed that he got far more good out of their relationship than Lee did and knowing that Lee realized and was aware that she could open up to Tarin felt really good.

And now she was admitting that the magic was real? For a moment Tarin wanted to ask who this was and what they’d done with Lee, but instead he just smiled, ”Well, as long as you’re willing to admit it…” he said, ”Maybe it will continue to work in our favor.”

Tarin continued to grin at her, and when he did that, it seemed like it would be impossible for her to not at least smile, if not outright grin, back at him.

"I'm glad too," she told him. Though a lot of the things that they talked about like that were dark or troubling, Lee was glad that they were able to open up to each other like that.

And maybe one day, she would be able to name what it was about Tarin that made him so special in this way.

"Well, I'll admit it's real for as long as it appears to be," Lee replied. "And since there is a game tonight, it'll have a chance to prove it's true."

Or it was a reason to make Tarin disproportionately happy from the small effort of wearing his hat.

If he was completely honest with himself, Tarin hadn’t thought he would ever have someone he could share with like he shared with Lee. If he’d been being particularly optimistic he’d sometimes hoped that he’d eventually find someone he could give a bare bones version of the things in his past and just pretend like the rest had never happened. He’d always known, in reality, that even that was unlikely because of who he was and the way that most people would react to even half of what there was to tell.

Lee knew everything though, and instead of making him want to shut down, that fact made him want to tell her more. It always had.

It seemed like things were at least a little similar for her. Maybe she had different motivations and different reasons…but it didn’t really matter because they were on the same page, as they so often were.

Even about interdimensional magic, it appeared. Lee was going to believe as long as it appeared to make a difference?

”Better make sure we’ve got the hats ready for tonight then…” Tarin said.

Glancing at his watch, Tarin sighed, it was still early. Leaning forward to grab his coffee and take a drink before speaking again, “You want some breakfast?” he asked with a shrug, ”I was thinking about making some eggs unless you want to keep playing all morning…” Either option was really fine.

Lee just rolled her eyes at Tarin when he brought up having the hats ready for the game that night. Lee wasn't sure when the last time Tarin hadn't been wearing the hat she'd bought for him while watching the game, and she had even been wearing his old hat for most of the game recently.

"Breakfast sounds wonderful, actually," Lee said with a smile. That was another thing that had changed in the last few months for Lee: regularly eating breakfast again. Before Tarin, her 'breakfast' had consisted solely of coffee. She had always ensured that Kevin ate before school, but anything more than coffee for herself was asking too much.

It was amazing what actually having energy in the morning was able to do.

Standing up, Lee took her guitar back to its stand in the corner before turning to grab her own coffee off the table. "Do you think you'll need some help?" Lee asked, only a little hesitant and nervous. "Or do I get to just watch you cook?"

Tarin just grinned when Lee rolled her eyes at him. If she was really annoyed he’d have known it for sure. He could handle being vexing.

Lee thought that breakfast was a good idea and considering that it was the only thing Tarin was confident that he could consistently cook well, he had absolutely no problem with obliging the request. He needed to eat even though being hungry was an overstatement for how he was feeling.

As Lee put up her guitar, Tarin got to his feet, stretching and yawning a little bit. The little bit of music and relaxation had been exactly what he had needed after the rough start to the morning.

Did he need help? Lee was still hesitant about the offer and after everything she had done to help him feel better this morning, Tarin shook his head. ”Nah, I’ve got it. Feel free to spectate.” he said, making his way towards the kitchen.

Once there, Tarin spent a few moments gathering a pan, a bowl, the eggs, some milk…all the things he’d need to make some eggs and toast.

Lee was still more than a little uncomfortable cooking. But she was getting better. She had willingly offered to help Tarin cook the eggs.

Thankfully, Tarin said that he had the cooking taken care of. That she could 'spectate'.

Lee grinned as Tarin turned and started making his way to the kitchen. Oh, she had every intention of 'spectating' his cooking. Silently, the grin still on her face, Lee followed Tarin to the kitchen.

She didn't go into the kitchen, though. Lee stopped in the doorway, leaning her shoulder against the wall, as she watched Tarin moving around gathering what he needed to cook some eggs for the two of them.

It really was a nice change, in some ways. There were so many times that Lee caught Tarin just looking, staring at her: playing guitar, when she was sparring…and those were just the ones she'd caught.

Sometimes, it was nice to just be able to do the same. To do nothing except look at Tarin, him being her entire focus. Without things turning into how they had been the night before.

And while his looks initially had nothing to do with her attraction to him and what happened that first night after the bar…it was a benefit that Lee was definitely appreciating that morning as she stood looking at Tarin cooking with a smile on her face.

Tarin knew that Lee was there in the doorway of the kitchen and that she was watching him gather the ingredients and get everything set out and ready to go. Her attention wasn’t unsettling, but he couldn’t help but notice her there, watching him. Pulling his attention from that fact, Tarin forced his focus to the task at hand so he didn’t do something silly like mess the whole meal up.

Tarin was anything but confident in the kitchen, in general, but he’d managed to learn to at least cook basic things so he didn’t have to rely on takeout all the time. Nothing he could make was fancy or remotely gourmet, but it was edible and over the years he thought he’d gotten particularly good at making the eggs.

The key was the milk. Most people didn’t think that milk belonged in eggs, some people added water, some people went to the extremes and added things like cream. Tarin just added a splash of milk to the eggs he’d cracked into the bowl and then went to work whisking them together. A little salt and pepper were added and that was really it.

The pan was heating on the stove and since it was almost time to start the eggs, Tarin grabbed a few pieces of toast and got them down in the toaster before adding the eggs to the pan. There was no immediate sizzle, which was a good thing, that meant the eggs weren’t going to stick.

From there it was super simple and he just stirred the eggs around in the pan as they cooked, forgetting for the moment that Lee was even standing there and watching.

Eggs don’t take long to cook and just as they were finishing the toast popped. Moving the eggs from the hot burner onto the back of the stove so they would stop cooking, Tarin looked over at Lee and grinned, ”Want to grab plates?” he asked, ”It’s not fancy, but it’ll definitely do.”

(OOC: 4000th post!!!!)

What Tarin was doing wouldn't be considered special or fascinating by most. Probably almost no one, in fact. But as he moved around the kitchen to cook the eggs - a lot more confidently than she could have managed - Lee found she couldn't pull her eyes away. Not that she wanted to.

Though the morning had started it as anything but normal, Lee's smile grew slightly as she stood there. Having coffee and breakfast with your boyfriend before you started your workday was what most people would do in the mornings, wasn't it? A very mundane, normal thing to do.

A thing that they could do every morning, or just periodically if they preferred, for the foreseeable future.

After a few moments, Tarin's voice pulled Lee from her thoughts. "Of course," Lee replied, finally stepping fully into the kitchen.

Just like cooking the eggs, grabbing played and cutlery did not take much time at all, and almost before she knew it, there were eggs and toast loaded onto each plate.

"Maybe not fancy, but perfect for breakfast," Lee said as she looked up at Tarin. "Thanks sweetie," she continued as she stretched up to give Tarin a soft kiss.

Lee agreed to snag the plates and once he had them Tarin set about getting the toast ready. The cooking had gone particularly well and as he dished up the eggs he had to smile a small little satisfied smile.

Lee didn’t seem to mind that they were eating simple fare and she even declared it perfect for breakfast and gave him a kiss.

”Any time…” he said, smiling but suddenly a bit bashful as they stood there in the kitchen, food ready to eat. Was this another strange thing about the two of them? How they could rubber band between the darkness and trauma that seemed to constantly rear its head far too often and these perfectly happy and almost serene moments of normalcy. Deciding that it didn’t matter, Tarin leaned down for one more quick kiss, just because, then snagged the plates.

”I’ve got the food, you get forks.” he said with another smile and headed for the table.