Day Fifteen - Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing

[surprisetalents]

Who: Surprise, Barney
Where: Her room, then the business district
When: Late Morning
Rating: NC-17
Invasion: Mandy

Status: Closed/Finished
Summary: Surprise sneaks in after an evening spent in Pogue's room and she takes a shower before Barney wakes up.  Coming out, she decides they need to discuss what's going on here and what happened the night prior.

Comments

[fearofgreatness]

He was there, having fallen asleep with the magazine splayed over his chest and his legs out at an awkward angle, his head resting against the wall. At the sound of the shower, he sat up with an odd 'eez' sound, blinked around bewilderedly before he figured out where he was and what he was doing. Yawning once, he stretched his arms a bit, throwing on a pair of pants to wait for Surprise to get out of the shower.

At least, he assumed it was Surprise.

...He hoped it was Surprise.

...Maybe he should just go...

[surprisetalents]

She padded out of the bathroom, wet hair pinned up though a few tendrils were matted to her skin where she'd missed them or they'd fallen from the impromptu updo. Wide grey eyes looked to him, and she wandered in his direction.

"Hey," she said quietly.

She kind of felt guilty; had he waited this entire time for her to come back? A funny feeling roiled around in her stomach.

[fearofgreatness]

"Hey," he said, yawning slightly, having decided to stay. "Didn't see you last night," he said, stretching. "Did you spend the night with whats-his-name there?"

If he'd heard Pogue's name before, he'd forgotten it at this point.

"Or did you spend it in my room?" he asked with a small smirk. He supposed that was fair, if she had. He'd spent the night naked in hers.

[surprisetalents]

She shifted her towel, and looked at him rather uncomfortably.

"Um, no," she ventured, "No, I stayed in Pogue's room. I ... he ... we kind of decided I should ... figure out what's going on with you and I first before we ... did anything." She cleared her throat lightly. "I ... we didn't ..." she managed after a moment.

Coherent sentences weren't high on her list of abilities just then.

[fearofgreatness]

He wasn't sure how he felt about that. He wasn't sure how he wanted to feel about that. But he sensed another Talk coming on. He very nearly groaned. Couldn't they just have casual... he should be saying this out loud.

"Couldn't we just have..." he stopped himself. No. This wasn't how he should be phrasing it. He was going to get her all upset and then he'd had to deal with that and no. That would be a Bad Idea.

"Okay," he said. "So you'd like to be with Pogue, so you'd like for us to get to a place where it would be okay for you to be with Pogue?"

He felt a vague stab of something that felt like... jealousy? Worming around in his gut. He blinked in confusion, and looked down as though he could see a jealousy bug or something biting at him.

Of course, he couldn't. But th sensation was still there.

[surprisetalents]

"I don't ... yes?" she ventured, "Is that bad? I don't ... I never had this kind of thing happen before."

She lowered her gaze before sitting on the bed, peering to him.

"It's all been very confusing," she admitted meekly.

Not that she expected Barney to be sympathetic, but she really was bewildered by all of it. And she wasn't sure if going with what felt good at the time was the best policy or not.

[fearofgreatness]

She was forcing him to be the voice of reason. He exhaled heavily, his eyes rolling heavenwards as if asking for help, before he looked back at her.

"Depends," he said. "Mostly on what type of guy he is. We can't keep doing what we've been doing..." he trailed a hand gently up her arm, "...if he doesn't like it. But if he's fine with sharing, that's cool with me, I don't mind."

And if he wasn't... Barney had been about to think that he'd go find someone else, but then he felt a sharp pang again. Did he... not want to find someone else? Well, that was just stupid. He was Barney Stinson. Of course he wanted to find someone else.

[surprisetalents]

"Oh," she said quietly, "I don't know what kind of guy he is. I didn't ask about that."

She fiddled with the edge of the towel a moment before she lifted her gaze to him. When had this gotten so complicated? She sighed, and leaned her head against him.

"Are things like this where you come from too, Barney?" she asked,

And then she wondered if there was a reason for the Adult Conspiracy for Keeping Interesting Things from Children in Xanth. Because this seemed like just the sort of Interesting Thing that children certainly shouldn't get into.

[fearofgreatness]

He chuckled. "Yes, exactly like this. This kind of situation? This is like home. Moreso than any of this fighting nonsense."

He wrapped his arm around her - what? She hadn't made a decision either way yet! - pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

"You should probably talk to him about this," he said with a shrug. "But ultimately? It'll come down to a decision of who you'd rather be with - him or me."

He knew who her choice would be. How could anyone not choose him? He was awesome. But really, if it came down to it, he might be self-sacrificing and make her choose Pogue.

Ugh. Or maybe not. The idea seemed to be giving him indigestion.

[surprisetalents]

Surprise's shoulders fell, but she knew he was right. She sighed, tilting her head to look up at him without moving her head from his shoulder.

"He's teaching me how to swim later," she ventured, "Maybe I'll talk to him about it then. And then ... I guess I'll have to think about it."

This was not turning out well at all, she thought, and she chewed anxiously on her bottom lip, heaving another sigh.

[fearofgreatness]

He nodded his head lightly, sighing heavily. He thought about dropping his arm. This was probably not the smartest idea. He suspected he was already too attached and should probably start pulling out now - figuratively and literally.

He heaved a sigh, moving his arm in a faux stretch, wondering already which girl he would try to seduce next. Probably someone new, who hadn't heard of his reputation yet.

"Sounds like fun," he offered to her. "Hey," he said when he noticed her mood. "Come on, sounds like fun, right?"

[surprisetalents]

"Sure," she agreed, "I guess. There's ... well, there's not a lot of swimming in Xanth. Most of the water has been affected by magic in one way or another. Or it's filled with allegories or something." She shrugged. "It could be interesting, anyways," she ventured.

She didn't feel very good. This whole thing made her feel kind of sick to her stomach, really. And very much like she'd like to curl up in bed and not come out of her room. But ... that didn't solve anything, and she didn't think it was smart to try and run from her problems. She'd deal with it, she'd ... just not feel very good about it for awhile.

[fearofgreatness]

"Filled with..." he started to say, before he shook his head, deciding he didn't really care one way or another. "This is in that new pool they just put in, right?" he asked, wondering why that made him wary. "Just the two of you?" he clarified. "Or is it a group swimming lessons thing?"

Not that he was thinking of inviting himself to it. He wouldn't dream of doing that.

Though he might spy from the entrance. Maybe. If he didn't get distracted.

[surprisetalents]

Surprise looked confused for a moment.

"There's a pool?" she asked; she had yet to read that morning's missive, "I thought we were just going to try in the ocean. But maybe a pool would be better." Her brow furrowed slightly as she considered his other questions. "I think he meant just the two of us, but other people could need help too," she ventured, "I've never been swimming before. I don't even know where to start, really."

Heck, she didn't even have a suit. She didn't even know she needed a suit.

[fearofgreatness]

He reached over to pass her the missive he'd read while she was in the shower. "Guess it just arrived," he said with a shrug. "Figured it arrived yesterday or something, and that's why you had the sudden interest in swimming."

He wasn't bitter. Not in the slightest. He was damn happy that she was going swimming with another guy.

And he wasn't going to ask to come along. No. He was going to let her go on her little date and let that be that. He'd go... find someone else. He was Barney Stinson after all.

Constant repetition of this fact was the cure to his condition, he was sure of it.

[surprisetalents]

"No, Pogue mentioned he was on the swim team and I said I didn't know how," she said absently as she skimmed the paper, "He offered to show me. I don't even know what you wear to that sort of thing."

She figured on something that you didn't mind getting wet, but other than that, had no idea. She read to the end of the paper and frowned.

"I'm no good at riddles," she murmured, "Puns, I could do. Riddles, not so much. How about you?"

Wide gray eyes looked questioningly to him, and she handed back the paper.