Archive of Our Own ^beta

The next time that Teddy sees his navy buddies, Bob and Linda do hold his hands. In fact, Linda is the one to grab Teddy’s hand first, deliberately and with a smile that glints a little feral. Bob is less showy–of course; it’s Bob–but his grip is no less tight.

“Hey, Slips Ahoy!” Teddy calls across the bar where their reunion is taking place. It’s early enough in the day that it’s fairly quiet and Teddy’s voice carries. Tony groans and rolls his eyes as Billy, Raul, and the three women with them chuckle. “How ya been? Any swimming lately?”

“Tone it down a bit, Teddy,” Bob mutters as they approach the others at their table. Teddy takes the advice to heart in a way that he never would have years ago. Before he had Bob and Linda helping him help himself. Teddy barely stops himself making another joke, but he does stop.

“Eh, you know how it is,” Tony laughs with his arm around what Teddy assumes must be his wife. “Let me introduce you to my better half, Wendy. I don’t think ya met her at the ceremony.”

Wendy waves and says hello. Billy and Raul follow suit, each introducing their partners with obvious affection. Teddy’s happy for them, his little navy brothers that he’s only just recovered.

Now it’s Teddy’s turn and he freezes. He’s not ashamed of Bob or Linda, but he’s terrified to lose his friends so soon after getting them back. What if they don’t like Bob or Linda? What if they think that Teddy is a weirdo for having two partners? What if he manages to trip over his own feet and face plants on the sticky floor?

“I’m Linda, Teddy’s girlfriend! And this is Bob, my husband and Teddy’s boyfriend!” Linda pipes up with a grin so wide that it touches her eyes. Bob’s smile is thin but it’s there; he agreed to come to the reunion for Teddy’s sake but he doesn’t really like big crowds. That’s why they’re meeting so early, before the dinner rush and the evening mania.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Molly, Raul’s wife says, smiling at them in a way that doesn’t feel mean. “How did you all get together?”

“Well, lemme tell ya,” Linda begins with gusto. Teddy, relieved beyond description, picks up steam to add details and interject. No one is looking at them like they’re freaks. Everyone is smiling and laughing, especially when Linda tells the story of how she figured out that Bob was in love with Teddy long before Bob figured it out himself. Bob pouts a bit as Linda reams him, but he smiles at Teddy under his mustache when the taller man bumps their shoulders together.

“I’m glad you’ve got your friends back, Ted,” Bob says quietly as Linda continues to describe almost-evictions and family theater productions.

Teddy Looks adoringly at Linda and then at Bob. “I’ve always had my best friends, Bobby. And that’s the only reason why I got them back, too.”

Bob squeezes Teddy’s hand on the table and Teddy squeezes Linda’s. They’re a current, and Teddy is a live wire of affection. His smile is bright enough to light up a frigate, scuttled or not.