fic: it just wasn't meant to happen
and the last one, I think.
Title: It Just Wasn't Meant to Happen
Author: veritty
Fandom: How I Met Your Mother
Characters/Pairings: Barney/Ted (pre-slash), referenced Ted/Mother, Barney/Robin
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~1150
Disclaimer: I don't own HIMYM.
Summary: Ted meets the Mother. Somebody gets hurt.
A/N: Set in the future, light angst, Barney's POV.
it just wasn't meant to happen
Everything is perfect. Everything is going perfect, everything is going to be perfect, and Barney hates it. No, that's not true - at least it's not the whole truth, because Ted is happy, and Lily and Marshall are kind of girlishly happy for Ted, and Robin is kind of adorably happy for Ted, and Barney is, too. He really is.
But it's been eight months already and he sees where it's going. It's not like he's seen it from the beginning or anything likе that, but two months into it? Three? Sure.
Barney has always known that it was going to happen one time or another, one way or another. But then, somehow, there were too many of them, many girls that Ted nailed and even more that he liked/loved. (How's that even possible? Barney wonders.) And so he thought that maybe this will last forever: two of them bro-ing out, confirmed bachelors and all that. Yeah, Ted was really into that commitment stuff, but what Barney does really well is ignore the things he doesn't like.
Including ones about himself.
Including those... those stupid...
It's been in him for so long, surfacing only for the big moments - like The Fight and then The Car Accident, - that it's not even an ache. It also was there when he fell so desperately for Robin - funny how for a lot of time there were no feelings, and then, suddenly, there was somehow room in his damn black heart for two diseases. Two.
One of them has started way, way before the other. It doesn't really matter in the end: they both have left holes of pretty much the same size.
It's not like it's never been like this. Sure it has. Because Ted's really into that commitment stuff. It was inevitable. Someone right was destined to come along.
~~
Barney's always loved big moments. He'll admit that easily. Big moments are happy laughs and drunkenness and picking up girls and cursing and falling asleep in the late night/early morning half-sitting on the sofa. That is, of course, if they didn't score with the chicks.
What Barney won't admit is how fond he is of the small moments that are quietness and sadness and comforting each other. How Ted sometimes is a sad drunk. How he becomes a little bit clingy after too much scotch and how Barney, having drunk the same amount, doesn't really mind. How Ted won't tell anybody about picking up the little Barney-shaped pieces after his break-up with Robin.
This is way, way too sappy for him. It's rare that he admits these things to himself. Small moments. Meaningless moments. Silly moments. Damn it then, why does he miss them already?
Barney hides it well. He's funny and awesome and offensive and insane - everything his friends expect him to be. He's really, really good at hiding his - totally inexistent - feelings.
So when some time passes - and then some - and Ted tells him on another bro's night out (which don't happen that often lately) - anxious, excited, happy - that he plans on proposing to her, Barney manages a smile.
Affsome, he thinks.
"I… have to. Eh. Be right back," he mumbles half-coherently and storms out. The best he can do now is try and not go outside to see if there are any TV-sets left. He goes to the bathroom instead. That's where they've met, huh? Right here.
"You okay?" comes voice from behind. Barney curses (in his mind); Ted just had to follow him. Damn you, nothing to distract him!
What should he say? "Please don't get married, I want to be the most important person in your life"? But he never was. Never. "I need us to stay wingmen forever"? "I think I value our friendship too much"? Because he was okay competing with Marshall. He even liked it that way.
He can't compete with future Mrs. Ted Mosby.
He doesn't say anything, ends up just staring at the wall. Then he turns back, Ted looks at him with those damn chocolate brown eyes of his and the ever thoughtful, sad expression on his face.
"'m fine."
Barney evaluates his options, not looking Ted in the eyes. He could storm off, he could just calmly walk back to their booth, he could try to… he could pick up (there's no "trying" with chicks for Barnacle, please) some girls - any girls! Anything to avoid awkward situations. Oh, wait, not anything, of course… He could play the "Have you met Ted?" card. Oh wait, right, he couldn't.
"Barney, what is it?" Ted calls to him once again.
"Nothing. It's nothing. Absolutely, completely, utterly nothing." Maybe he should spell it, too? Nah, too much.
He flashes Ted a smile and thinks about a calm storm-off and then a hook-up with a chick. But Ted will probably bring it up again, later, and then it'll get awkward. Now he at least can blame it on being drunk (except he isn't drunk, not really).
Maybe Ted is drunk himself so he won't really notice Barney's state of, eh, undrunkenness?
"Let's get drunk," Barney proclaims and manages a calm storm-off.
Ted follows him - to the booth, then out of the bar and back to his apartment. Barney lets him open the door - he couldn't even if he had the keys, due to his hands being filled with beer and not-really-beer bottles. He puts them all in the fringe.
When Barney's already on the sofa, he looks up and finds Ted watching him: he rises an eyebrow, but his eyes seem to fail him for Ted's got his sympathetic expression on. Full-mode.
"It's not like I'm gonna disappear, you know."
"Pfffsh. Please," Barney completes it with a right tone and all other right stuff, but he's been dug too deep, it seems. All the way down.
Ted's silence and his look tell Barney more than his words could. Barney, though, can't for the world stand the "meaningful silences". He wants to say anything… He wants to say something--
"And you're not pathetic. You're… awesome!" Ted flashes him a grin while sitting down beside him. "It's okay."
Barney hates these words: they sound pitiful and not even Ted's style, to say nothing of Barney himself.
He's angry and disappointed and hurt and happy and miserable and many other things at once. Damn right, he is pathetic! People move on while he's being left behind, not knowing what to do with his fucking feelings. Is he okay?
If it wasn't enough before (which Barney finally, finally admits), it sure as hell won't be enough now. Still, Barney settles for smile and alcohol, even though these two will be less for him and then, maybe, never for him.
But he brings the beer when asked, sits on the sofa. Bottles click with a soft sound.
And he wonders.
fin
Title: It Just Wasn't Meant to Happen
Author: veritty
Fandom: How I Met Your Mother
Characters/Pairings: Barney/Ted (pre-slash), referenced Ted/Mother, Barney/Robin
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~1150
Disclaimer: I don't own HIMYM.
Summary: Ted meets the Mother. Somebody gets hurt.
A/N: Set in the future, light angst, Barney's POV.
it just wasn't meant to happen
Everything is perfect. Everything is going perfect, everything is going to be perfect, and Barney hates it. No, that's not true - at least it's not the whole truth, because Ted is happy, and Lily and Marshall are kind of girlishly happy for Ted, and Robin is kind of adorably happy for Ted, and Barney is, too. He really is.
But it's been eight months already and he sees where it's going. It's not like he's seen it from the beginning or anything likе that, but two months into it? Three? Sure.
Barney has always known that it was going to happen one time or another, one way or another. But then, somehow, there were too many of them, many girls that Ted nailed and even more that he liked/loved. (How's that even possible? Barney wonders.) And so he thought that maybe this will last forever: two of them bro-ing out, confirmed bachelors and all that. Yeah, Ted was really into that commitment stuff, but what Barney does really well is ignore the things he doesn't like.
Including ones about himself.
Including those... those stupid...
It's been in him for so long, surfacing only for the big moments - like The Fight and then The Car Accident, - that it's not even an ache. It also was there when he fell so desperately for Robin - funny how for a lot of time there were no feelings, and then, suddenly, there was somehow room in his damn black heart for two diseases. Two.
One of them has started way, way before the other. It doesn't really matter in the end: they both have left holes of pretty much the same size.
It's not like it's never been like this. Sure it has. Because Ted's really into that commitment stuff. It was inevitable. Someone right was destined to come along.
~~
Barney's always loved big moments. He'll admit that easily. Big moments are happy laughs and drunkenness and picking up girls and cursing and falling asleep in the late night/early morning half-sitting on the sofa. That is, of course, if they didn't score with the chicks.
What Barney won't admit is how fond he is of the small moments that are quietness and sadness and comforting each other. How Ted sometimes is a sad drunk. How he becomes a little bit clingy after too much scotch and how Barney, having drunk the same amount, doesn't really mind. How Ted won't tell anybody about picking up the little Barney-shaped pieces after his break-up with Robin.
This is way, way too sappy for him. It's rare that he admits these things to himself. Small moments. Meaningless moments. Silly moments. Damn it then, why does he miss them already?
Barney hides it well. He's funny and awesome and offensive and insane - everything his friends expect him to be. He's really, really good at hiding his - totally inexistent - feelings.
So when some time passes - and then some - and Ted tells him on another bro's night out (which don't happen that often lately) - anxious, excited, happy - that he plans on proposing to her, Barney manages a smile.
Affsome, he thinks.
"I… have to. Eh. Be right back," he mumbles half-coherently and storms out. The best he can do now is try and not go outside to see if there are any TV-sets left. He goes to the bathroom instead. That's where they've met, huh? Right here.
"You okay?" comes voice from behind. Barney curses (in his mind); Ted just had to follow him. Damn you, nothing to distract him!
What should he say? "Please don't get married, I want to be the most important person in your life"? But he never was. Never. "I need us to stay wingmen forever"? "I think I value our friendship too much"? Because he was okay competing with Marshall. He even liked it that way.
He can't compete with future Mrs. Ted Mosby.
He doesn't say anything, ends up just staring at the wall. Then he turns back, Ted looks at him with those damn chocolate brown eyes of his and the ever thoughtful, sad expression on his face.
"'m fine."
Barney evaluates his options, not looking Ted in the eyes. He could storm off, he could just calmly walk back to their booth, he could try to… he could pick up (there's no "trying" with chicks for Barnacle, please) some girls - any girls! Anything to avoid awkward situations. Oh, wait, not anything, of course… He could play the "Have you met Ted?" card. Oh wait, right, he couldn't.
"Barney, what is it?" Ted calls to him once again.
"Nothing. It's nothing. Absolutely, completely, utterly nothing." Maybe he should spell it, too? Nah, too much.
He flashes Ted a smile and thinks about a calm storm-off and then a hook-up with a chick. But Ted will probably bring it up again, later, and then it'll get awkward. Now he at least can blame it on being drunk (except he isn't drunk, not really).
Maybe Ted is drunk himself so he won't really notice Barney's state of, eh, undrunkenness?
"Let's get drunk," Barney proclaims and manages a calm storm-off.
Ted follows him - to the booth, then out of the bar and back to his apartment. Barney lets him open the door - he couldn't even if he had the keys, due to his hands being filled with beer and not-really-beer bottles. He puts them all in the fringe.
When Barney's already on the sofa, he looks up and finds Ted watching him: he rises an eyebrow, but his eyes seem to fail him for Ted's got his sympathetic expression on. Full-mode.
"It's not like I'm gonna disappear, you know."
"Pfffsh. Please," Barney completes it with a right tone and all other right stuff, but he's been dug too deep, it seems. All the way down.
Ted's silence and his look tell Barney more than his words could. Barney, though, can't for the world stand the "meaningful silences". He wants to say anything… He wants to say something--
"And you're not pathetic. You're… awesome!" Ted flashes him a grin while sitting down beside him. "It's okay."
Barney hates these words: they sound pitiful and not even Ted's style, to say nothing of Barney himself.
He's angry and disappointed and hurt and happy and miserable and many other things at once. Damn right, he is pathetic! People move on while he's being left behind, not knowing what to do with his fucking feelings. Is he okay?
If it wasn't enough before (which Barney finally, finally admits), it sure as hell won't be enough now. Still, Barney settles for smile and alcohol, even though these two will be less for him and then, maybe, never for him.
But he brings the beer when asked, sits on the sofa. Bottles click with a soft sound.
And he wonders.
fin