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“Bat?” Pieck questioned while simultaneously rummaging through her purse.
“Check!” The little girl exclaimed loudly, pointing at it within the kid-sized baseball bag.
“Glove?”
“Check!”
“Batting gloves?”
“Check!”
“Jersey?”
The child proudly presented her yellow t-shirt that had the word ‘Monkeys’ on it. It was accompanied by a picture of the animal, though slightly obscured due to the child’s messy long blond hair. “Check!”
“Cleats?”
“Uh...” The child ran over to the front door, grabbing the footwear. They were tossed off in a disorderly fashion from a few days before. She sat down and placed them onto her feet with a grunt. “Mommy, I need them tied!”
Pieck set down her purse, walking over to her daughter. “What’s the magic word?”
“ABRA CADABRA!”
Pieck shook her head as a small chuckle left her lips. “No, Faye, the other magic word.”
“Oh, right! Please?”
The black-haired woman bent down at the knees to tie her daughter’s cleats with tight, double knots. The last thing she wanted was for Faye to trip and fall while running. Faye bounced in her seat, showing impatience as she waited for Pieck to finish up. Pieck then went through the rest of the list in her head.
“I have your water bottle. So I think that’s everything. Are we missing anything?”
The front door suddenly opened, revealing a tall blond man wearing a matching Monkeys shirt and baseball cap. “My most valuable player?”
“DADDY!” Faye exclaimed loudly, jumping up just as Pieck finished tying her shoes to run over to her father, her arms opened wide for a hug.
Zeke bent down to scoop his daughter up into his arms, giving her a tight squeeze. “You ready to go, Slugger?”
Faye nodded, with Pieck giving the final confirmation to her husband.
“Thank you for getting her ready.” Zeke stated, leaning down to give Pieck a quick kiss.
Faye’s expression turned to one of dramatic disgust. “Ew! Stop!”
“You’re welcome.” Pieck laughed as she picked up her daughter’s baseball bag and the rest of the cargo that she was bringing along. “Let’s get going. She shouldn’t be late to her first game. Nor should the coach, for that matter.” Pieck gave Zeke a pointed look, bumping her hip into him as she exited their home.
Zeke held Faye in one arm as he locked up before making his way over to their car. He placed her securely into her car seat before he joined Pieck up at the front on the driver’s side. He put on some light music before reversing out of their driveway to start traveling over to the baseball field.
“So what position are you going to play today, Faye?” Pieck questioned casually, though she already knew the answer. Her questioning was for the sole sake of getting her daughter excited.
“PITCHER!” Faye screamed loudly in the back, raising both her hands in the air as if she was on a rollercoaster.
Zeke and Pieck both flinched at the loud proclamation coming from the back seat of the car.
Faye then lowered her arms back down before speaking once more. “Though I wish I could throw it like Daddy does.”
“You got to be a little older first, sweetheart.” Zeke replied, glancing at her from his rearview mirror. Tee-ball doesn’t allow pitching, as kindergarten-age children were not coordinated enough yet to be able to aim and hit a moving ball. “But you can still throw it to all the other bases like daddy does.”
The rest of their car ride was uneventful, consisting of Faye singing along to the radio. They pulled into a lot, parking right in front of the baseball field. It was modified to play tee-ball, as all of the bases were fifty feet apart instead of the standard ninety. Pieck assisted Faye in getting out of the car and the family made their way over to some familiar faces.
“Uncle Eren!” Faye yelled out loud when she saw him, though did not break away from her mother’s hand just yet. “I didn’t know you were going to be here!”
“Of course. I wasn’t going to miss my niece’s first baseball game.” Eren replied with a smile, tapping the bill of Faye’s cap to knock it down over her eyes. He then looked up at both Zeke and Pieck. “Mikasa unfortunately was called into work, otherwise she would have been here. She expects a whole lot of footage though.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” Pieck started before pointing over to the bleachers. “We all know who has that covered.”
“Pieck! Eren! Over here!” Hange gave them both a wave, being careful not to knock over their tripod and camera that they already have setup. They were seated just behind where their team’s dugout was.
Pieck returned Hange’s greeting before giving Faye’s hand a tight squeeze. “Alright, sweetie, go with daddy. Mommy will be watching with Uncle Eren from the stands right over there.” She gave Faye a big hug and a kiss on her cheek. “You’re going to do great!”
Faye reciprocated her mom’s affection before giving her a determined nod and splitting off to go to the dugout with her father.
As Pieck walked over to the stands with Eren, she gestured to Hange’s equipment. “With all of this, I expect a highlight reel and slow motion replays.”
“Don’t test me, I can make that happen.” Hange replied, adjusting the different angles of the tripod in order to have the camera rest at the right height. “This is a big milestone for Bean and Faye, so I want to make sure it’s captured.”
Pieck sat down next to Hange with Eren on her other side. “Speaking of, where are Levi and Bean?”
Without taking their eyes off of the camera, Hange pointed to a small patch of grass on the other side of the field. Pieck caught sight of an older man, also wearing a Monkeys shirt and cap, drilling pop-ups, line drives, and grounders to a small boy with short, dark-brown hair. “Levi has been taking this very seriously.”
Pieck chuckled. “So has Zeke, but I’m not complaining. It’s been nice to see the both of them actually work together on something.”
“Funny how productive the two of them are when they actually get along.” Hange commented with a smirk. “Now Zeke can say he’s been a partner to all of us.” The brown-haired individual then pointed to themself, Levi, Pieck, and Eren in order. “Lab partner, coaching partner, romantic partner, and partner-in-crime.”
“I wear that badge with honor.” Eren commented with a smile.
“Alright, Monkeys! Go on into the dugout!” Zeke shouted loud enough for everyone in the vicinity to hear, causing Levi and his son to also come over.
“Hey, Bean!”
“Hi, Mister Zeke!” The little boy said before Levi gave him a nudge. “Oh, I mean, Coach Yeager!”
“You read to play today?”
The little boy nodded, throwing a few punches into his glove. “I’m ready! I’ve been practicing with my dad a lot.”
“Awesome, go ahead and get on in the dugout.”
As Bean left to join the other kids, Levi stood next Zeke. “You know, when I agreed to be an assistant coach, I didn’t think I’d have to wear this.”
“What? Don’t want to be a monkey? It’s perfect for them. Look--” Zeke gestured to the dugout, which was currently a chaotic cacophony with a hoard of kindergartners running about screaming, yelling, and hitting their bats against the cage. “They’re going bananas.”
“If you make another stupid pun, I swear I’m going to quit.”
Zeke let out a laugh. “How do you think Farlan will do on first base?”
“He’s the best at actually catching a toss. He can do it.”
Bean was simply a nickname for Levi’s and Hange’s son, Farlan. When he was an infant, Farlan smashed his hands and face into a pile of green beans instead of eating it, causing him to be covered in green sludge. He ate all other foods normally, but when presented with eating kidney beans for the first time, he did it again. When he seemingly had a preference for destroying legumes, the nickname stuck.
“Can you man the first base sideline? I’ll be over at third.” Zeke questioned, scratching the back of his neck.
Levi furrowed his eyebrows. “What am I supposed to do?” Admittedly, Levi didn’t know much about baseball. He only agreed to this because Zeke needed an assistant coach and Hange volunteered him.
“At this age? Make sure they run in the right direction and step on the base.” Zeke simply smiled, patting Levi on the shoulder. Tee-ball is all about just teaching them the basic rules.
Zeke gestured for Levi to follow him into the dugout before he started signaling for all the children to come to him. “Bring it on in, Monkeys! Let’s go let’s go!” Zeke extended his hand, crouching down for the little kids to place all of their hands on top of each other. Zeke nodded over to Levi for him to join in.
“So what is the most important thing for us to do today, Coach Ackerman?” Zeke questioned, encouraging Levi to participate.
“Uh,” Levi started, not quite sure what to say to a bunch of five-year-olds. “To win at all costs.”
Zeke frowned immediately, flashing him an expression of protest.
“I mean--to do your best.”
“That’s exactly right!” Zeke confirmed before turning his attention back to the huddle of kids. “And that’s exactly what we’re going to do! Are we going to hit some balls?”
The chorus of children shouted a resounding “YEAH!!”
“Are you going to run the bases?”
“YEAH!!”
“Are we going to be good sports?!”
“YEAAAAAHH!!”
“Are we going to have fun?!”
“YEEEEAAAAAHHHH!” The kids were beyond antsy at this point.
“Okay okay, bring it real quiet, ready? Monkeys, monkeys, monkeys…”
Zeke started the chant at a low whisper, and the kids immediately caught on, bobbing up and down as they repeated their team name over and over again, getting louder each time. When they got to the loudest shout, Zeke lobbed all the kids hands up into the air, giving them one final bit of encouragement. “Let’s go Monkeys!!”
Zeke and Levi then helped spread the kids out into very lax fielding assignments before returning to standing near the dugout. As Faye and Bean both took the pitching and first base position, Hange let out a loud yell. “Wooooo! Let’s go Bean! Go Faye!”
“Zeke!” Pieck called from the stands to get his attention. When they made eye contact, she pointed at her own hair.
Their communication through charades was effective, as Zeke quickly went back over to Faye to quickly put her hair into a very messy blond ponytail before going back to stand by the dugout.
The first little girl on the opposing team went up to bat as one of their coaches placed the ball onto the tee. She could barely hold the bat straight, but she hit it on her first go, knocking it towards the right side of the in-field.
Faye and Bean instantly took off towards the ball like moths to a flame, causing them to both crash into each other.
“GO GO GO BEAN G--ooh.” Hange cut their cheering off short as they crashed into each other. Eren couldn’t help but snort. The little girl ran past them and made it to first.
“That’s okay, guys! Good job going after the ball!” Zeke called out to help them shake it off. “You’ll get the next one!”
The next batter, a little boy, took his stance and whacked it into the field. This time it was a grounder right to Bean.
“Get it, Farlan! Get it!” Levi encouraged his son, doing a fist pump as Bean successfully grounded the ball. “Now tag him! Tag him!”
Bean remembered both steps of this process of the game, though when he ran to tag the other boy, he pushed him super hard with his glove, almost knocking the other kid over.
Zeke winced. “A little more gentle next time, buddy!” The blond then leaned over to whisper to the shorter man standing beside him. “You didn’t have to teach him to tag so hard. This is baseball, not rugby.”
“He got the out, didn’t he?” Levi wasn’t going to admit there was a problem.
The next batter went up, hitting a pop up straight to Faye. She held out her glove, and despite the ball bobbling for a little bit, she was able to keep it in, resulting in the bleacher squad to all cheer.
“I did it!” Faye exclaimed, holding her glove up to present it to her parents. “Mommy! Daddy! Did you see! Did you see!”
“I saw it, sweetie!” Pieck called from the bleachers, holding her hands above her head to clap.
Faye was too busy showing off her catch that she was completely unaware she could have gotten the little girl that was on base out, who had to be corralled back to first.
A few more batters went up and got on base, each hit resulted in a gaggle of children leaving their posts to chase the ball. Eventually, they got three outs and the Monkeys switched to batting. Levi took his post alongside first base while Zeke hovered at third.
Zeke had arranged the batting order so that Bean was third and Faye was fourth. The first two kids on his team did not make it in time to first and were tagged out. Bean was next. As he walked up, he took a few practice swings before hitting it to the left of the field.
“YEAH BEAN!! THAT’S MY BABY!” Hange shouted from the stands, zooming in on their son.
Bean, however, started running in the direction of the ball. Zeke immediately waved his arms and started pointing to Levi. “No, Bean! The other way! Go the other way! Run towards your dad!”
Bean turned his head, seeing his father frantically try to wave him over. “Run, son! Run to me!” Bean didn’t have to be told twice. Although he didn’t run along the lines of the field, he did successfully make it to first base before the other team could toss the ball over. Levi gave Bean a big high-ten before having him settle down and stay put.
Faye then approached home plate, dragging her bat in tow to cheers coming from her mother and uncle up in the bleachers. She took her stance, taught to her by her father, before hauling her bat back and taking a big swing--! Only to completely miss the ball. The big show of confidence that led to a complete miss caused some of the other kids to laugh, point, and snicker.
The laughter caused Faye to freeze, and soon tears started to form in her eyes. Zeke saw the warning signs of a meltdown immediately, and while Faye started to back away from the plate, he flashed a timeout symbol to meet her halfway in between home and third base.
Pieck stiffened from the stands, ready to get out of her seat at any moment; she was on mommy standby.
“Hey, Faye. What’s going on?” Zeke whispered as he leaned down to be more at her eye level, resting his hands on his knees.
“Everyone’s laughing at me.”
“What? I’m not laughing. Neither is your mom, or Uncle Eren, or Dr. Hange.” Zeke gestured over to Levi. “And Mr. Levi doesn’t even know how to laugh.”
The comment would’ve normally gotten a chuckle out of his daughter, but instead her lip quivered.
“But I missed. I can’t do it, Daddy.”
“Sure you can. Daddy misses a lot of the time.”
Faye shook her head quickly, her tears spilling over and down her cheeks. “I’m b-bad at this.”
“No, you’re not. Just because you missed doesn’t erase all the cool stuff you did. You caught a pop-up, remember? How amazing was that!” Zeke tried to console her quietly, now bending his knees fully to be at the same height as her.
“B-But you can hit it far and r-run very fast.” Faye took a shaky breath before continuing. “I just want to b-be good like you.”
“Hey,” Zeke started, placing his hands on her tiny shoulders. “I don’t want you to be me. I want you to be you. And if you’re being you, then all that’s important is for you to have fun and to do your best.” He lifted his right hand to pat the back of her jersey, which read ‘Yeager 13’. “You’re a Yeager, and my daughter, and I’m always proud of you, no matter what.” Zeke moved his hand to wipe the tears away from her cheeks with his thumb. “Besides, if you hit a home run, you don’t have to run very fast.” A sudden smile flashed across his features before giving his daughter a wink.
It was just enough of a confidence boost that Faye gave one final sniff before she gritted her teeth. She gave her dad a definitive nod, ready to try again.
Zeke stood back up before giving her helmet two small pats. “Now go get ‘em, kid.”
Pieck let out a sigh of relief as Zeke flashed her a small thumbs up. As she watched her daughter return to the batter’s box, she cupped her hands around her mouth to provide her with a little more encouragement. “You got this, Faye! You can do it!”
Faye took her stance once more. She gripped her bat tightly, holding it up behind her while taking a deep breath, her eyes zeroing in on the perched ball in front of her. What started as a low growl in her chest suddenly erupted into a scream as she pivoted and shifted her arms to swing. The bat connected to the ball with a loud POP, sending the ball flying in a line-drive right in between first and second base.
The bleacher squad roared with cheers. “YES!! RUN, FAYE! RUN! RUN!” Pieck shouted, standing up out of her seat.
“Go Farlan! Run to second!” Levi shooed his son to start running before gesturing for Faye to come to him.
While Bean was incredibly fast for his age, Faye most definitely inherited her speed from her mother. By the time Bean was halfway to third, Faye only just got to first. It didn’t matter though, as while Zeke was beckoning Bean on over to him and signaling him to run to home, the kids in the outfield looked like a gaggle of geese as they stumbled and tried to chase down the ball.
“YEAH BEAN! STOMP ON THE PLATE!! YOU DID IT!” Hange screamed as their son made it across home plate, raising their fists high in the air to celebrate. “AHHHHH! YES!”
As Faye got to second, Eren could not help but to also jump out of his seat in excitement. “THAT’S MY NIECE!! THAT’S MY NIECE!! LET’S GOOOO!”
When Faye locked eyes with her dad, she was gasping for air as she ran towards him to touch third base.
“C’mon Faye! Keep running! Don’t stop! Go to home! Go to home!” Zeke encouraged. The moment Faye made it to third, he started running alongside her as she made her final dash to home plate.
Once he saw Zeke running, Levi also began to move towards home, everyone amalgamating together towards a single point. Bean was still there, jumping up and down as Faye came closer. The other team finally got the ball back into the infield, but it was not quick enough in order to stop the Yeager girl from jumping onto the plate with a victorious stomp.
“HOME RUN!” Zeke yelled, scooping Faye up into his arms and hoisting her into the air.
“We did it, Faye! We did it!” Bean cheered excitedly, jumping up and down before giving his own dad a big hug. The rest of the Monkeys came out of the dugout to join in the celebration at home plate.
“I did it!” Faye cheered, turning her attention towards her mother while her father kept her up in the air. “Mommy! Did you see that?! Did you see that, Mom?! I knocked it out of the park!”
Pieck’s smile spread across her face from ear-to-ear. “I saw, sweetie! You did it!”
The rest of the game was not as eventful as that first inning, but even though no official score was kept in tee-ball, the Monkeys unofficially made it out on top. As both teams packed up and left their respective dugouts, Faye and Bean ran from the field towards their parents that were sitting on the bleachers.
“You both did amazing! And I got it all on camera.” Hange stated, giving their son a hug before ruffling his hair. “We’ll get to watch it in a slow-mo replay with some cool sound effects tomorrow.”
As Faye gave her mother a hug, she turned her grey eyes towards her uncle. “Thank you for coming, Uncle Eren!”
“Course. I wouldn’t miss it for the world. Though I swear you looked just like your dad when he used to bat. That scream?” Eren turned to Pieck, encouraging her to provide some input.
“Oh, definitely. I think we got a ‘Little Beast’ on our hands.” Pieck smiled, giving her daughter a small shake.
“Well, I certainly think this calls for a celebration.” Zeke said, walking over with Levi to join the group. “What do you think, Levi?”
“Hmm.” Levi mused aloud, narrowing his eyes as he pretended to debate. He left Bean and Faye in suspense, who were both clasping their hands together in a pleading type stance.
The black-hair man leaned down, and waited just a few more moments before giving his answer. “Ice cream?”
“ICE CREAM!!” The two children both cheered at once.
“Can I get two scoops, Dad?” Bean asked.
“Yes.” Levi replied almost instantaneously, much to Hange’s surprise.
After all, this was the start of a tradition for many, many years to come.