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Bill gets back from grocery shopping one stupendous afternoon, and immediately nearly trips over his eponym as she sprints across the hall, tossing a wildly giggled apology over her shoulder while Bill fumbles with the precarious balance of his bags.
"Careful where you're going, little Bill!" he calls after her, but is immediately answered with the tell-tale thumps of Billie ricocheting off a wall.
"I'm okay!" she shouts before Bill gets a chance to get worried, and he shakes his head in amusement when she shushes herself and continues on up the stairs.
He puts the groceries away with relative ease, but can't help but wonder where everyone else is. The princesses are probably still at work, but usually Ted emerges from wherever he's been to meet Bill when they split up on chores like this.
So Bill hurries to finish putting things away and then hurries to go hunt down the rest of his most atypically quiet family. Though he doesn't even make it to the living room before he's intercepted by none other than little Ted, who's parked herself firmly in the doorway Bill had been about to pass through.
"Sh!" he's instructed firmly when he opens his mouth to greet her, a prim little stomp of her foot emphasizing the order when it only makes Bill laugh. "Ted fell asleep."
It still makes Bill feel totally strangely happy, in a way he doesn't fully understand, that their kids accidentally wound up calling them all by their first names just because they got said too much during the girls' formative years. It's been turning out to be a most surprising issue with teachers and other parents now that the girls have actually started school though, but really, what a sweet problem to have.
"Uncle Ted," he corrects, if a bit half-heartedly.
"Dad Ted," she returns, and giggles when that makes him grin all wide. Then she seems to remember her priorities and quickly goes stern again. "Sh!" she chirps again, and only scampers off to go join Billie when Bill pinkie promises her that he'll stay quiet.
Ted is indeed asleep, which explains why he hadn't come to greet Bill when he'd gotten home. He's sprawled out on the couch in a loose little curl, with a bunch of the girls' papers on the floor in front of him that tell the story of him falling asleep while helping the girls out with their homework. No wonder Billie had seemed so eager to scurry away, Bill laughs to himself a little, but he goes ahead and just picks up all the papers anyway.
He doesn't actually know what's what though, so mostly it all goes into a haphazard pile on the side table, but he can help the girls sort it back out and finish anything up later. Plus, they're in the same class anyway, the teacher is probably used to getting mixed up papers from them, so it'll probably be fine.
It's not until after he's mostly done with that task that he takes another look at Ted, and the feeling of pure tenderness that rises up in his chest at the sight nearly bowls him right over.
He's curled up a bit on his side, and Bill can imagine him laying that way to look over the girls working on the floor, before he'd fallen asleep at least. Ted's face is warm and slack against the pillow, half-hidden by his hair that's all ruffled up from where he was probably running his hands through it while trying to figure stuff out for the girls. Most importantly of all, there's a little cow tucked neatly in the space between his arms and his chest, its little face peering out at Bill all sweet-like.
It's hard to say if the stuffed animal had already been in Ted's possession before he'd drifted off, or if maybe it was placed there by one of the girls when they'd noticed he'd fallen asleep (probably Thea, since Bill's pretty sure this one's hers), but it's totally adorable either way. After all, it's no real secret that Ted has been most fond of those things as of late, despite his best efforts to hide it.
Billie and Thea had been the ones to most enthusiastically introduce them all to the creatures at first. Both thrilled to pieces at the news that the toys tied straight to some internet game they could play with their friends. Bill doesn't really get it, but he'd been as happy as the others to indulge them. Though in time the girls have seemed to enjoy the game more than the toys, and Ted seemed to pick up that slack on his own.
Bill thinks it's fun to see Ted so interested in a new thing again, it feels like it's been forever since it was anything but music that got him all wiggly excited. He thinks he remembers there being a card game when they were kids that Ted had spent a long time trying to explain to Bill, but it wound up petering out when his dad had refused to let him get any new ones to add to his collection that wound up tossed out anyway soon after.
They're the grown-ups now though, and Ted's dad isn't around to be a dickweed about things Ted like anymore. Bill knows that Ted's still totally insecure about it anyway, but Bill's still holding out hope that he'll be able to enjoy himself more freely soon.
"Hey Ted," he whispers, standing up from his squat and nudging him a little. "Move over a bit, dude."
Ted blinks up at him blearily. "Where're the girls?" he mumbles, but he does shift enough that Bill's able to squeeze his way onto the couch too, wiggling under Ted to make sure he doesn't just slip off the side.
"Went to their room to play, I think," Bill tells him, as Ted shifts his head onto Bill's chest. He scoops a bunch of hair out of Ted's face and winds up with a clearer look at the cow's face as well as his partner's, which is now pressed between Bill's tummy and Ted's arm where it winds around his middle.
"'s working on homework," Ted explains, but his eyes are already drifting shut again, so he's clearly not worked up about it. Sure enough, he adds, "Probably needed a break anyway," without Bill even needing to suggest it.
"We can finish it up after dinner," Bill reassures him anyway, and earns a sleepy hum in response that makes him smile to hear. He traces his fingers over Ted's browbone simply because he can and luxuriates in the way Ted's body goes loose and heavy over Bill's side as he relaxes into the touch.
"Hey Ted," Bill says, chest full of light and feeling good enough to press his luck a little.
"Yeah Bill?" Ted hums, tilting his head up at Bill a bit even though he doesn't actually bother to open his eyes.
"Can you tell me about the little kins any?"
He nudges the little cow demonstratively, and Ted does open his eyes at that, blinking in confusion at it, supporting Bill's theory that Thea had put it there before she left. For a quick moment, Bill worries that he played his hand too soon and that Ted will just push the little cow to the side and ignore the question, or even worse, start to fret about it not making him a good dad for some reason instead.
But then Ted shrugs, squeezing both Bill and the cow a bit. "Webkinz," he corrects sleepily, the words softly slurred. "They're little 'n, friendly. Fit right in my hand."
Bill grins, beyond pleased. "Your hands are quite big, babe," he says indulgently, finding one of Ted's hands to play with his fingers a bit just to underline the point.
It earns him a sleepy shake of the head though. "They're just small," he argues. "And full of little beans... beads. Like Beanie Babies, remember?"
"Yeah, I remember. Do the girls have any of those?"
"Think I gave Liz one once," Ted mumbles. "But the Webkinz are softer, and they've got the little hairs. You can tug on them a bit and they won't come out - you can see the little zigzags in the fabric. Most excellent to feel out." He rubs his face against Bill's t-shirt, dazedly organizing his thoughts while getting totally lost in the sensation of his beard catching against the worn fabric. "The girls play the game, but I don't understand that part much. They come with special gifts on there though, I guess. The girls keep printing out pictures so I know which goes with what. I don't know about all that though, I just think they're cute, and Dad never let me have anything like them growing up."
"Tremendously cute," Bill agrees, deciding not to engage with the comment about Captain Logan even though it makes his stomach turn angrily. "Almost as cute as you," he adds instead, which makes Ted wiggle happily as best as he can all squished between Bill and the back of the couch like he is. Bill's chest could nearly burst. "You should totally get more."
"Want the lion," Ted admits, and Bill knows he's nearly asleep again if he's saying that out loud at all. "Reminds me of you."
"Really?" Bill asks, delighted, and Ted grins a bit and nods.
"'s totally..."
"Excellent," they finish together, and Ted's clearly too sleepy to air guitar properly, but he wiggles his fingers against Bill's right before he winds up falling asleep again.
"I'm totally gonna get you that lion, dude," Bill whispers, beyond thrilled that Ted got to open up that much without seeming nervous at all, even if he did have to be almost asleep to do it.
They listen to new albums together all the time these days, but Bill almost misses when they used to have to listen separately, when Ted would regale Bill with little speeches of information and opinions. It's one of the few instances Ted talks a whole bunch all at once, and Bill loves hearing him talk. It's nice to be able to hear him do it again now that they've finally gotten a bit of diversity in their interests after so long.
He really hopes it'll turn into one of those things Ted relearns how to do without thinking - like hopping and flapping his hands when he gets excited or only eating foods he actually likes - shedding the anxiety instilled in him by other people when he was just a kid.
Even if Bill has to remind him every day that it's alright, that it's good - that he loves it and the girls love it (and how if that's the case, then it couldn't possibly make him a bad dad), and that Ted's allowed to love it too, then it'll totally be worth it. One hundred percent.
But, for right now, Bill just goes ahead and pulls Ted a bit closer and leans his head back against the couch's arm as comfortably as he can. They're probably getting a bit too old to sleep on the couch anymore, and the girls probably shouldn't be left to their own devices for too long, but Bill's pretty sure he can let Ted sleep a little longer, and snag a few righteous Z's of his own, just for a bit.
The little cow watches over both of them in their most peaceful nap the whole time.