Kurt Hummel-Anderson grunted in frustration and threw his pencil on the drafting table. He stared at the mother-of-pearl gray, one sleeved, asymmetrical dress that he was trying to design; he was trying to figure out what was missing from the look he was attempting to create. After a moment, inspiration hit him. He covered the board with tracing paper, so he could see the dress template but not damage it if he decided that he didn’t like the newly drawn idea. He then drew a ribbon belt around the waist and soft pleats in the skirt. When he finished sketching his idea on the tracing paper, he picked up the board and critically analyzed the look. It looks too frumpy and so matronly–yuck! he thought. Come on Hummel, you can do better than this! You are one of the top, up-and-coming designers! Why is this so difficult?

He removed the tracing paper from the board and carefully stored it in his portfolio for later use. He added a clean piece of tracing paper to the board, picked up his pencil, and stared at the wall, in a trance-like state, looking for a new flash of inspiration. It was several minutes later without any new inspiration, when Kurt set his pencil down and he rubbed his eyes. I’ve just been at this too long, he thought tiredly. Just then, he heard several squeals of delight, lots of cheering, and excited applause. I wonder what’s going on? Kurt left his little studio and walked down the hall of the apartment and into the living room.

Sitting on the oversized, overstuffed, black leather couch Kurt saw his husband Blaine and their two little girls watching a baseball game on the wall-mounted 60” TV screen. Kurt stood there admiring his two little girls in contentment. Kurt thought he had everything he wanted when he and Blaine got married and moved into their current apartment as newlyweds eight years ago. But now, looking at his family, Kurt knew now that he had everything he ever wanted in life. He felt so happy and at peace with his life.

His three year-old daughter, Sabrina, was sitting on Blaine’s lap. She had Blaine’s unruly and curly black hair, olive skin tone, and brilliant green eyes. Tiffany, their six year-old daughter, had Kurt’s chestnut-colored hair, his pale skin tone, and slightly muted blue-gray eyes. Sabrina was bouncing happily in Blaine’s lap, while Tiffany was cheering loudly at the action on the TV screen. Blaine was cheering and clapping as wildly as he could, without knocking Sabrina off his lap.

“You three sound so excited. What’s going on? I could hear you all the way in my studio.” Kurt asked as he sat down on the couch next to Tiffany.

“I’m sorry sweetie; did we distract you from your work?” Blaine asked. Blaine quickly got the girls to quiet down.

“No, I was just about to bang my head on the wall in frustration because my design isn’t coming out as well as I had hoped. So I was kind of at an unintended stopping point when I heard all the commotion out here. What’s all the excitement?” Kurt asked as he pulled Tiffany into his lap.

Tiffany turned towards Kurt. “Panda hit a home run! He hit a homer, Daddy!” she informed him a little too enthusiastically. Kurt winced a little as Tiffany bounced in his lap. Sabrina started to chant “Home run, home run, home run!”

“Um, Panda hit a home run? Would you care to explain?” Kurt questioned, turning towards his husband.

Blaine gave Kurt a slightly sheepish look. “Oh come on, Kurt! This is the first game of the World Series! The San Francisco Giants are mauling the Detroit Tigers! Panda just hit his third home run of the game!” Blaine shimmied a little in excitement.

Something was missing for Kurt. Well, that was expected because Kurt was not a sports fan. “Ok, first, why the Giants? And second, what is Panda?”

“That’s the Panda, Daddy! That’s the Panda!” Sabrina shrieked, pointing at the TV screen when the player hopped out of the dugout for a curtain call.

Looking at Kurt, Blaine explained, “Kung Fu Panda is the nickname of the player that was taking the curtain call. That’s Pablo Sandoval and he plays third base. I’m not sure why his name is Panda; maybe because ‘Pablo’ and ‘Panda’ sound similar?” Blaine shrugged as Kurt nodded his head. “The Giants also have a first baseman named ‘Baby Giraffe’ and a pitcher called ‘The Freak’.”

Kurt made a face. “Panda? Baby Giraffe? The Freak? Seriously?”

“Seriously. It’s all in good fun, Kurt. When a player is popular with the fans, he usually gets a nickname.” Blaine told him.

“Why Baby Giraffe? Why The Freak? It just seems kind of…strange.” Kurt asked.

“Well, Baby Giraffe because the day that Brandon Belt started playing for the Giants, a baby giraffe was born at the San Francisco Zoo. The media noticed that the baby giraffe was the same height as Belt, and because they are both quite tall, Belt became known as the Baby Giraffe. And the baby giraffe was named Brandon.” Blaine smiled a bit as he shifted Sabrina in his arms. She had fallen asleep and Blaine adjusted her into a more comfortable sleeping position on his chest. “Tim Lincecum is The Freak because of the explosive power he gets on his pitches despite that his physique is very similar to yours. A pitcher with his physique is not expected to have the kind of power that Timmy has on his pitches.”

“Oh, ho! So now you’re looking at baseball players’ physiques?” Kurt teased as he winked at Blaine. Tiffany looked up at her parents in confusion, but said nothing.

Blaine blushed a deep red as he stammered, “N-no, Kurt! N-never! You know there’s only one physique that I love to stare at!”

Kurt burst out laughing. “Chill out Blaine…I’m just teasing you!” He leaned forward and gave Blaine a chaste kiss. “Believe me, the way you make me feel when your eyes ravish my body as you drink me in…” Kurt blushed and shuddered deeply. Blaine chuckled softly at the embarrassment that Kurt was obviously feeling.

Kurt needed a moment to collect himself after embarrassing himself. “I’m going to go get a snack. I’ll be right back.” Five minutes later, Kurt returned with a tray of cookies and a steaming pitcher of hot chocolate. It was cold, dark, breezy and rainy outside, so Kurt thought the snack seemed a good fit with the weather. When he got back, he noticed that Blaine and Sabrina were gone. “Where are Papa and Rina?” Kurt asked Tiffany, as he poured mugs of the warm drink.

“Papa went to put Rina to bed… Oh, goodie! I love hot chocolate! Thanks Daddy!” Tiffany said as Kurt gave her a half mug of the warm liquid. Tiffany picked up a cookie, dipped it in her drink, and then ate it.

“Be careful sweetie. That drink is very hot. Blow on it a bit and then just sip it!” Kurt warned his daughter.

“What is that fantastic aroma?” Blaine asked, sniffing the air as he returned to the living room. He settled himself on the couch next to Kurt, while Tiffany sat on Kurt’s other side. Kurt simply handed Blaine a mug as Tiffany told him what it was. “Hot chocolate…mmm! My favorite!” Blaine took a long pull on his mug, until his eyes bugged open and he began fanning his mouth, while tears of pain formed in his eyes.

Kurt smirked in Blaine’s direction. “And that’s why we blow on hot drinks before we chug them down, Tiffi. Papa just showed us what happens when we don’t.”

“Have sympathy for me!” Blaine gasped. “I have no taste buds left and my mouth is on fire!” Tiffany giggled at Blaine’s misfortune. Kurt leaned over and whispered in Blaine’s ear, something about Blaine tasting him later that evening. Blaine blushed. Kurt had an all-knowing smile on his face and a slight look of lust in his eyes, which Blaine ignored. He and Tiffany continued to drink their beverages.

After a few minutes of watching the game, Tiffany realized, “Papa, you didn’t answer Daddy’s first question!” Kurt and Blaine both looked down at Tiffany, a questioning look in their eyes. Tiffany squeaked, “Why the Giants?” and then she added, “Why do we like them so much?”

“We root for the Giants because they are the team that I cheered for when I was a kid growing up. I am going to turn you and your sister into Giants fans and maybe your Daddy too!” Blaine looked at Kurt with his famous, gets-him-anything-he-wants puppy dog eyes.

“Yeah, good luck with that Blaine!” Kurt smirked. “You know that I’m not into sports!” Kurt paused as he thought about something Blaine just said. “Wait. You grew up a Giants fan? Wouldn’t it make more sense for you to have been a fan of one of the Ohio teams?” Kurt inquired.

Blaine smirked back at Kurt. “Well, if I was originally from Ohio, then yes, it would make sense. But seeing as how I was born and raised in San Francisco, the Giants became my team!” Blaine paused a moment as he watched the action on the screen. Panda just hit a single to center field. He and Tiffany cheered.

Kurt did a double take. He had no clue that his husband was from San Francisco. He always just assumed that, since he met Blaine for the first time at Dalton Academy in Westerville, he was from Westerville. “Why have I never known that you’re from San Francisco?”

“I guess it just never came up. It’s not all that important in the grand scheme of things.” Blaine replied as he took another swig of his hot chocolate. “But since you seem interested, I was born, and raised there for 10 years. When I was 10, my family moved to Westerville. That’s pretty much all there is to it.”

“Blaine, there’s more to this…” Kurt started, but he was cut off because of the action on the screen. Blaine and Tiffany were completely focused on what had just happened.

“Papa, what just happened?” Tiffany asked.

“Pagan just stole second base!” Blaine cheered as he pumped his fist.

“Is that good?” Kurt wondered.

Blaine turned to Kurt, surprised. He didn’t really expect Kurt to ask anything about the game. “Um, yeah. It’s really good. It puts another runner into scoring position.”

“Scoring position, huh?” Kurt winked saucily at Blaine. “But judging by the score, it doesn’t look like they need anymore points.” Kurt observed.

“They’re called runs, Daddy!” Tiffany corrected him.

“Kurt, this is the World Series! The Tigers are the stronger team, so the Giants need that run to ensure they win the game! Even though it is 8 to 1.” Blaine told him in a slightly panicked voice.

“This game is really important to both of you, isn’t it?” Kurt asked. His husband and daughter both responded in the affirmative. Kurt looked at both of them and saw how deeply invested they were in the game. He smiled wistfully at how Blaine and the kids were bonding together because of baseball. He felt slightly neglected at not having that connection to the kids that Blaine had. In that moment, Kurt decided that he was going to share his husband and kids’ passion for this sport and this team; for the love of his family, he will learn to love baseball.

“Aren’t you going to go back and finish your design?” Blaine asked as Kurt
poured another mug of hot chocolate.

Kurt settled into the couch cushions and sipped his drink, while Tiffany snuggled into Kurt’s side. “Nah. I’ve been focused on it for so long that I’m suffering from diminishing returns. I’ll go back to it tomorrow. In the meantime, teach me about baseball.”

“Yay! Daddy wants to know more about baseball!” Tiffany cheered. She threw herself into Kurt’s arms.

“What do you want to know?” Blaine asked.

And for the next half hour, Kurt asked about the game, while Blaine and Tiffany answered his questions. They fell into a stunned silence as the Tigers rallied to score two more runs. “Come on Bochy! Change the pitcher! We don’t wanna lose this lead!” Blaine moaned in panicked frustration. Kurt internally scoffed; the score was 8 to 3. He didn’t see what was causing Blaine to panic.

Tiffany burrowed into Kurt’s chest and closed her eyes. “Don’t worry Papa. It’ll be all right…” she said as she drifted off to sleep. Kurt looked down at her and smiled. He turned to Blaine and said, “It’s like she said, don’t worry; they’ll win.”

Blaine just smiled, but as the pitcher walked two more batters, his smile faded and the panic was settling back in. Blaine’s prayers were answered when Bochy, the Giants’ manager, went to the mound and changed the pitcher. “It’s about freakin’ time!” Blaine yelled at the TV in exasperation.

The Giants’ closer, Sergio Romo, came into the game to secure the last two outs. Together Kurt and Blaine sat there in anticipation, watching Romo get the second out and then the final out of the game. Blaine exploded into a euphoric celebration as the last out was recorded. Kurt leaned over and kissed Blaine’s cheek in celebration. When he felt a snore vibrate in his chest, Kurt picked up Tiffany and took her to her room and put her to bed. He returned to the living room just as Blaine finished tapping something out on his cell. “What were you doing?” Kurt asked as he settled himself on Blaine’s lap and wrapped his arms around his neck, while Blaine put his cell on the coffee table.

As soon as he felt Kurt’s arms around his neck, Blaine said, “Check my twitter account.” Kurt checked Blaine’s twitter account on his own phone. “One down, three to go #GoGiants.” Kurt looked at Blaine, perplexed. Blaine told him that the World Series is won when a team wins 4 of the 7 games.

They fell into a comfortable silence as they started to make out very lightly. After a few minutes, they pulled back and rested their foreheads against the other’s.

“I wanted to thank you Kurt.”

“Why’s that?” he asked.

“Because you’re willing to learn about something that you really have no interest in. My love of baseball was something that I wanted to share with the girls. It’s something the three of us can share. But I just can’t tell you how happy it makes me that you want to learn about it and share it with us.”

Kurt gave Blaine a sweet kiss. “Sharing this passion for baseball with the girls creates a special bond between the three of you. I want to share this bond with all of you because I love all of you so very much. But you’re going to have to be patient with me, though, because I’m sure that it’ll take awhile for me to understand the game.”

Blaine nodded emphatically. “Tiffi, Rina, and I will teach you what we can with only six games left to go in this post season. But there is always next year. When the Giants are in town, we’ll all go see them play against the Mets. And maybe, sometime in the future, if and when we visit San Francisco, we’ll go see the Giants at Ring-A-Ding Park. It is a beautiful field.”

Kurt quirked his eyebrow at the name of the stadium. Blaine looked sheepish. “Well, it’s called AT&T Park, formerly SBC Park, formerly Pac Bell Park. I just thought that since three phone companies have owned the name rights, it was just easier to refer to is a Ring-A-Ding Park.”

Kurt laughed softly, but then he tightened his arms around Blaine’s neck and touched his lips to Blaine’s. “I look forward to all of that,” Kurt whispered against his lips. Kurt felt Blaine smile against his lips. And then Blaine, with Kurt still in his lap, stood up and carried his husband into their bedroom; carrying him away on nocturnal waves of passion.