Chapter Text
Ted shows up to Nelson Road in a suspiciously good mood. He’s always projecting a pretty positive vibe, if you will, but this? This is excessive. Even for him. He’s downright bubbly.
“Did you get laid,” Roy asks him, squinting, so flatly it doesn’t sound like a question.
“No idea what you’re talkin’ about, Roy,” says Ted cheerfully. He’s practically bouncing with every step.
Roy grunts but simply does not care enough to push, or rather, doesn’t want to be seen as to be caring enough to push, and so leaves it alone.
The second he’s out of hearing range, Beard, who had been reading a book motionlessly in the background, without so much as twitching, says, “Did you get laid?”
“Nope,” Ted says, popping the p, but he’s still grinning in a way Beard suspects may mean yeah, kinda!
“Do I need to call the Diamond Dogs?” says Beard, finally lowering his book to look over it at him. “Not for intervention. For celebration.”
“Nah, nah,” says Ted. “Do you wanna know or not?”
Beard sets the book down and lowers his sunglasses to show how Absolutely Serious he is. “Spill.”
Ted sits across from him, because he’s actually a bit private about this sort of thing but he’s excited, okay, and he wants to tell someone, and Beard is—well. Beard. Ted trusts him with his life.
“Basically,” he says, “I bumped into someone last night, and he was—well, he wasn’t having a good day, y’know? So I wanted to cheer him up a bit.”
Beard nods. Familiar Ted territory.
“So I kind of accidentally took him on a date about it?” Ted says.
Beard nods slower. Slightly less familiar Ted territory, but definitely sounds like something he’d do.
“He invited me to his apartment—flat—and we… hm. Kind of…”
“Bumped uglies?”
Ted screws up his nose in a way that says he wants to laugh but doesn’t think he probably should. “No,” he says. “More like… made out.”
“…huh,” says Beard. “Okay.”
“And it was really nice,” Ted continues animatedly, “and we talked some more, and I actually really like him, which is a bit confusing, but fine, I guess, and we ended up sleeping together. Not like sex, just sleepin’, you know? And he’s real cuddly, which was nice. I kinda had to go, but I left him a note, and I’m gonna call him later?”
He says that last bit almost like a question.
“You should,” Beard says, in support of anything that makes his friend happy, let alone this happy. Moving on is also probably a good idea, generally speaking, because Ted’s always going to be a great dad to Henry, but being hung up on Michelle wasn’t a necessary part of that.
“Wellllll,” says Ted. Oh no. “There is a slight complication.”
“…what,” says Beard.
“I mean, I don’t hold it against him, it’s just, you know. It might be kind of a problem. Logistically speaking.”
“What, is he married?”
“No!” Ted says, twisting to look at him properly. “You think I’d do that?”
Beard spreads his hands out. “Not judging,” he says. Sometimes people are married who don’t want to be. He trusts Ted’s judgement.
“Well, he’s not. Anymore,” Ted says. “Anyway, it’s arguably worse. He may or may not be a sports journalist.”
Beard stares at him for a long moment. And then…
“Ted,” he says. “Did you make out with Trent Crimm?”
Ted doesn’t even slightly try to deny it. “Have you seen him, Coach??” he demands, maybe a hint hysterically.
Okay, that’s fair. That’s one gorgeous man. Beard gets it.
“And he’s great,” says Ted, slightly despairing but also a bit dreamily, which was an odd combination. “He’s funny and smart and—”
“You should call him,” Beard says again.
“…I should?” says Ted, who had definitely been going to do that but also agonizing over it a bit, considering the potential consequences—for both of them.
“You should,” Beard says, flipping his sunglasses back down.