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golden--doodler · 1 year

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Bob's Burgers AU

This is basically a repost from an Ask I did on @drawthething's Tumblr (which you should definitely check out, like, yesterday, because it's amazing and everything I need in life). I'll also be adding a couple ideas or so I didn't put the original Ask which I thought of later:

Basically, the idea for this AU is that, for whatever reason, Linda was able to hear up until around the age of seventeen or so before going deaf, and now relies (mostly) on hearing aids, sign language, and lip-reading. I don't know why I thought of Linda specifically, maybe it's because she's such a free spirit and loves singing so much, my brain thought it would be an interesting change. Here are some headcanons I have:

--Bob is even more of a partner of the year because once he learned Linda was deaf, he made a HUGE effort to learn sign language just for her. He's not perfect, but dang it, he tries so freaking hard for her. Whenever she got even a little down on herself about this part of herself, he reminded her how much he loved her and this part of herself. This was an added reason why she wanted to help with the restaurant so badly because he already made such an effort to communicate with her on her level, and was so kind to her about all of this, so she wanted to assist him with his dream. Once, he tried signing her name, and ended up making a mistake with it (it wasn't a huge mistake, he just ended up making her name shorter, which is how he got the nickname "Lin" for her-- she ended up loving the mistake so much she wanted him to keep using that sign for her name, which he still does to this day).

--Mr. Fischoeder just casually knows sign language, and was very casual about Linda being deaf (he was just like "oh, cool, that makes sense, you're not getting discounted on the rent though") and is actually quite enthusiastic about using sign language in front of Linda, because he's just like that, it's honestly a little sweet (though he's strangely averse to explaining the reasons why. Maybe he learned for illegal reasons somehow...).

--Linda still enjoys singing every once in a while but doesn't do it as often as she does in the show. Whenever she does, she usually does it alone, but whenever someone hears her (especially Bob) she gets complimented. She still has a relatively nice voice.

--Speaking of her voice, she's practiced endlessly to have her voice be as clear as a deaf person's can be (because she knows how much easier it is to understand people when their voice is clear, she wants to make sure hers is clear for others), so she still sounds pretty similar to how she does in the show, with her even retaining her New Jersey accent. Everyone, or at least most people, has definitely noticed how clear and usually easy to understand the tone of her voice is. This was definitely helped by the fact she used to be able to hear in her youth.

--During the events of the movie, Grover thought Linda's hearing aids were some sort of device she could use to call for help, so like her and Bob's old cell phones, he grabbed ahold of them and put them in the ocean. He was shocked when he found out they were her hearing aids at first but ultimately didn't care because he figured they were going to perish in the submarine anyway, so it didn't matter. Because of this, at the end of the movie, Mr. Fischoeder not only helps pay for the bank but also helps get Linda some new hearing aids, which actually work slightly better than her old ones, which she's ecstatic about.

--Teddy knows some sign language! He's definitely not fluent, but he does know an impressive amount for some reason I haven't come up with yet and loves to show off his skills for Linda. Occasionally, Linda will actually catch Teddy and Bob having a conversation or two in sign language, even when they think she's not around. She finds it hilarious, and also surprisingly sweet.

--Kristen Schaal has stated she thinks a "secret talent" Louise has is picking up new languages really fast, so Louise probably knows the most sign language out of her family, besides Bob. Gene barely knows any, and hardly ever uses it, and Tina definitely tries the hardest with it and studies it the most, but it's come the most naturally to Louise. Whenever she uses it in front of Linda, though, Linda gets all excited and sometimes teary-eyed, which embarrasses her. Secretly, though, she likes how much Linda appreciates her knowledge of sign language.

--Felix Fischoeder doesn't know sign language but pretended he did when he learned that Linda's deaf, to everyone's annoyance.

--Jimmy Pesto once made some sort of comment about Linda being deaf, whether he was intentionally trying to be rude or not, and that was probably the moment when Bob knew he hated Jimmy Pesto.

--During the episode in which Bob and Linda have their "snoring contest" (I think it's Season 8, Episode 12), Bob wonders if Linda is even able to hear their snoring, especially because she has to take her hearing aids out to sleep. She commented that while she mostly can't, she can actually hear it faintly, because of how loud it is. She also can very much feel the vibrations of his snoring specifically, which she says is very comforting for her. He didn't expect to find that so touching, but he does.

--There was one occasion in which a slightly younger Gene tried performing one of his songs for the entire family, only to remember Linda's deafness. Bob actually stepped in and tried his best to translate the song into sign language, and Linda, of course, loved it. Just another reminder for her why she loves her family.

--One time, Tina got an ear infection, and this caused her some temporary hearing loss (the inspiration for this came because the same thing happened to me once, but my hearing came back relatively quickly) and this allowed her to walk in Linda's shoes for a day, and it gave her a new perspective on life and a new appreciation for Linda.

--This doesn't have to do with the actual AU, but if you want to see a bit of the inspiration I got for this AU, definitely check out the deaf, Queer YouTuber Jessica Kellgren-Fozard, because she's amazing and deserves all the love. Her channel might be where I do some of my research for this AU.

--One time Bob was watching something on TV at night while the kids were asleep and this piqued her curiosity a ton. However, her hearing aid's batteries ended up dying, and she couldn't understand what was going on. But she didn't want to stop his enjoyment of the movie, so she didn't say anything until after. When he learned about this, he immediately got her new batteries and opted to tell her everything that happened in the movie while snuggling in bed.

--During the events of the song "Bad Things are Bad" in "Wharf Horse, Part 2" at the end of Season 4, Tammy, Zeke, Jimmy Jr., Rudy, plus all the other kids who're talking to Linda, Gene, and Louise hold up signs while they're talking with the words they're saying written on them (such as "maybe you'll find him inside of this vase"). This is because Tina and Louise are the only ones there who even mildly know sign language (besides Linda, of course), so they wanted to make sure Linda understood what they were talking about, especially with how dire the situation was. She did appreciate the gesture.

--One of Bob's wedding vows (taken directly from Jessica Kellgren-Fozard's wedding vows) was that despite Linda being deaf, he felt she was the first person who ever really listened to him/understood him in a meaningful way.

--Gayle is quite sensitive/astute to Linda's deafness, being her sister and all, and having experienced Linda losing her hearing in the first place, but doesn't really know any sign language. She doesn't pretend to know it like Felix, but she does try extremely hard, to a kind of annoying degree (she uses weird hand gestures sometimes). Bob has tried to teach her, but she's kind of impossible to teach. Because of all this, they usually communicate through the written word, which is much easier for Gayle. That, and Linda just tries very hard to understand her. Bob says on a regular basis that if he were her, he'd just ignore Gayle most of the time. Linda thinks this is a joke. It is not.

--As is common knowledge, Bob has a "thick, luxurious" mustache that Linda loves. However, facial hair does make lip-reading basically impossible. Despite this, though, Linda still refuses to let Bob get rid of it, just because of her love for it and its Tom Selleckianness. They're still able to get by because Linda actually understands really low tones much better than higher-pitched tones, and Bob's voice is notoriously extremely deep. Plus, as stated earlier, it does also help that he's the most adept at sign language in the family besides her.

--Gloria and Al are even more terrible than in canon. Well, mostly Gloria. For whatever reason, Gloria keeps forgetting, or just straight-up denying, that Linda's deaf (saying things like "oh, you're still saying she's deaf, we're still doing that, okay"). Bob has questioned this line of thinking on multiple occasions, and when Linda wasn't around to hear, he straight-up tried to call Gloria out on it, saying it was gaslighting. This conversation didn't go anywhere, though. He's also questioned the fact that this line of thinking could even exist, wondering how Linda got her first pair of hearing aids in the first place if her own mother keeps denying her deafness (the answer is, Linda got them herself with Gayle. Also, Gloria didn't exactly deny it back then, but does in the present for whatever reason).

--It's revealed in the Season 11 Episode "The Terminalator II: Terminals of Endearment" that Linda's dad, Al, uses hearing aids like Linda, but he just has them because he's old. In the episode, I imagine Bob making a comment about how being around Al made him appreciate Linda even more because he insists Al is somehow way more difficult to deal with when it comes to his hearing loss than she ever was.

--Linda has gone through quite a few pairs of hearing aids, and they're not cheap, so that was pretty hard to deal with. Ironically, all of her kids had a part to play in her losing a few pairs. When Tina was a toddler and teething, she ruined a pair by sucking on them. When Gene was young, he used them as a pair of drumsticks with pots and pans, ruining them. When Louise was young, she pretended she was Godzilla and used Linda's hearing aids as a stand-in for helpless citizens, and crushed them with her little toddler foot (Linda didn't have them in on all of these occasions because she was either napping or taking a shower).

--Linda learned how to sign the entirety of "I Love U So Much (It's Scary)" by Boyz 4 Now. during the events of "The Hauntening" in Season 6, to get into the Halloween spirit. Tina immediately insisted Linda teach her how. Louise also eventually admitted she wanted to learn, especially because she was in a good mood after the family put in so much effort to scare her on Halloween for the first time. In fact, everyone was kind of impressed she was able to learn how to sign the entire song. Of course, when Linda began teaching them, Louise still vehemently denied her celebrity crush on Boo Boo.

--As mentioned before, Gene doesn't really know sign language, and basically never uses it. However, he does know one phrase: "More cookie, please" (this was just taken directly from the "Hawkeye" show but it's very fitting for Gene). He still uses this one phrase from time to time once the occasion calls for it. Linda finds it very endearing.

That's all I can think of for now, this is getting way too long already (I gave away so many secrets for the actual fic but its fine shhhhhhh). Hope this was at least mildly enjoyable

#bobs burgers #bob belcher #linda belcher #gene belcher #tina belcher #louise belcher #teddy bobs burgers #mr fischoeder #felix fischoeder #jimmy pesto sr #bobs burgers movie #grover fischoeder #bobs burgers au #sign language #deafness #deaf representation #bob belcher being the best partner #wow I made this way too long

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