Chapter Text
The kids are in bed and Teddy is a little nervous. Between dinner running long and giving gifts the family didn’t really have time for much else but more picking up. After sending the youngest Belchers off to dreamland, the three adults head to their room. Bob and Linda start getting ready for bed themselves, apparently oblivious to the internal struggle that Teddy’s having in the doorway.
“OK, I guess I’ll see you two tomorrow.” Teddy blurts out as Bob pulls on his sweatpants and Linda throws her nightgown on over her head.
“What are you talking about?” Bob asks, tossing his clothes in the general direction of the hamper. He misses by an inch and sighs but doesn't get up off of the bed to put the clothes in properly.
“Well, I told ya last week that I’d let you two have tonight to yourselves. I’m gonna sleep on the couch.”
Bob lays down, pulling the blankets out from under himself with a grunt. “Teddy, we talked–”
“I mean, I can sleep in my truck if you want, Bobby. If that would make you happy.”
“Teddy, that’s not–”
Teddy cuts Linda off. “I’ll even sleep on the lawn if you want me to!”
“Teddy!” Bob raises his voice, the annoyance crystal clear. “I don’t want you to sleep on the lawn!”
“We don’t even have a lawn.” Linda says mostly to herself as she slaps lotion on her arms on the other side of the bed.
“We already told you. You don’t have to sleep somewhere else tonight.” Bob gets under the covers fully with only a little creaking of joints.
“I just want you two to have time together. It’s a gift; a chance to reconnect with one another.” Teddy can’t help the small quiver in his voice. He’s been Bob and Linda’s biggest cheerleader for so long. Even if he'll miss them, he wants them to be happy.
Linda smiles over at him as she makes some atrocious SPLATS with her lotion. “We get time together, thanks to you. We’ve had more dates in the last three months than we’ve had in the last three years!”
“Yeah, you watching the kids so much helps a lot. Even if we just fall asleep on the couch most of the time.” Bob says, the one good pillow under his head.
“Besides, we’ll have all of next Saturday and Sunday nights with just us two.” Linda continues as she finishes her skin routine. She puts the bottle away in the bedside table drawer, takes off her glasses to lay them on the table surface, and then mirrors Bob's position under the blankets with a sigh of her own. “Tonight I want my husband and my boyfriend.”
Linda’s grin is sweetly suggestive. It makes Teddy blush and Bob smile, even as he pulls the covers up to his chin. Her demand also helps jog Teddy’s memory.
“Oh! That reminds me!” He pulls a small envelope from his back pocket, bulging in the middle, and hands it to Bob. It’s a little flattened and plain white; not nice like the others from earlier in the evening. Teddy had only had the idea a few days ago and didn’t have time to do a really good job.
“Another present?” Bob sits up to open the envelope as Teddy closes the bedroom door and starts stripping down. Linda leans over on one arm to see what’s inside the packet.
“Is this another coupon book?” Linda grabs the booklet from Bob who allows her with only a small huff of annoyance.
“Yeah.” Teddy finishes getting into his pajamas and puts his clothes in the hamper, picking up Bob's as well. Bob and Linda look through the coupons as he crawls over Bob’s legs to snuggle down between his best friends. “But for, like, adult stuff. I didn’t have the idea until I remembered that you all tried ‘sexy dice’ once.”
Bob is unwilling to explain further and forbade Linda from telling Teddy exactly what happened that time. Maybe homemade coupons will be more fun than mass-produced dice. Teddy may not be a total stud muffin and they may not have a lot of free time for intimacy but he does know his partners better than probably anyone–even themselves. He's got a lot of great ideas in that little book of printer paper all cut down to size.
“Oh, wow.” Bob blushes, the color a very pretty dusky pink on his darker skin. He’s liberated the booklet from Linda and he’s staring down at the current page with a look of shocked excitement. Linda's face is all lit up with glee.
Teddy looks over and grins when he sees which one Bob’s on. “Yeah, I’ve been meaning to ask about that one.”
Linda’s smile is as bright as Teddy's own. “That one’s a definite ‘yes’ when the kids go to the school lock-in next month.”
“I don’t know if I can wait that long.” Bob mutters as he puts the coupons on his own side table and turns off his lamp. Linda does the same and the three lay down fully in the quiet dark, broken by old appliances and middle-aged bodies. It’s a familiar and soothing sound.
“We didn’t brush our teeth.” Teddy points out a moment later.
Bob shrugs and leans over Teddy, his stocky build warm on Teddy’s own. “Too late now. I’m not getting out of bed again.”
Bob kisses Linda and Teddy in turn, then lays back down with a sigh.
Teddy kisses Linda, who smiles against his lips in the dark. “Bob really likes number eight, too.” She whispers as Teddy lays back, an arm around both Belchers.
“Hush, you two.” Bob says wearily, though Teddy can hear his smile.
“Goodnight, Bobby, Ted. I love you.” Linda yawns.
“Goodnight, Lin, Ted. Love you.” Bob echoes, his voice muffled by the blankets.
Teddy draws them both to him and closes his eyes with a smile. He’s warm and safe and he’s not sleeping on the lawn.
Good thing, too; they don’t even have a lawn.
“I love ya Bobby. I love ya, Lin. Happy anniversary.”