Greatest Hits - HIMYM Barney/Robin fic - 2/2
Title: Greatest Hits
Author: modernxxmyth
Rating: PG-13
Fandom/pairing: How I Met Your Mother, Barney/Robin. Mentions of Barney/Nora.
Warnings: Language, I guess.
Spoilers: None officially, but there are some things from 7.05 mentioned, so if you haven't watched yet, don't read!
Summary: Nora cheats on Barney, and he goes to Robin for comfort.
Greatest Hits (Part 2)
The day after Robin's late night conversation with Barney, she broke up with Kevin.
She very much liked to think it was because the conversation had reminded her of her residual feelings for Barney and it's unfairness to Kevin and not because Barney was suddenly back on the market again.
But there was no denying it was a lucky coincidence.
Timing, is what she kept reminding herself. They had the chemistry still. Robin was sure of it. It was just the timing they needed.
* * *
Days passed, and Barney thought about what Robin had said.
She was right, of course. She usually was, though you wouldn't see him admitting it out loud, and especially not to her.
Nora was never quite right for him. He'd always been so busy trying to please her and keep her happy that he never had the time to really look at himself and look at what he'd become. It wasn't natural. It wasn't him.
He wasn't the kind of guy that went to a woman's workplace to serenade her. He wasn't the kind of guy that sent gift after cheesy gift that had nothing to really do with him and everything to do with cliche romantic gestures just to try and maintain a girlfriend he already had.
That wasn't awesome. That was an unbalanced relationship.
Yeah, he guessed doing nice things for his girlfriend (he still occasionally scoffed at the word) wasn't such a bad thing. But he was finally starting to realize that the guy he was with Nora wasn't really him at all.
Nora had let a part of him out - the secret sap who really just wanted a special someone - but she'd never known the whole him. Not every part of him that created the real him.
He was pretty sure that there was only one person in his life who did know the real him, but he wasn't quite sure he was ready to think about that yet.
* * *
The days turned into weeks, and Robin and Barney found themselves hanging out with each other a lot.
Not just a lot - all the time.
In fact, it was a rarity when they weren't together. Robin had caught Ted giving the pair of them scrutinizing looks a few times when Barney was over hanging out with Robin for the umpteenth time in a row.
He approached her about it at breakfast a month after their mutual break-ups.
"Sooooooo, Robin. What's going on between you and Barney?"
Robin choked on his sip of coffee. "What?"
"You and Barney? What's going on there? You guys are hanging out all the time."
"Nothing's going on. We're just hanging out. We're friends. We do that. You hang out with Marshall all the time, and no one implies that there's something going on between you two."
"We both know that's not true! You and Lily imply that Marshall and I have latent homosexual feelings for each other all the time! But that's not the point. Marshall and I are best friends and don't have a romantic past. You and Barney can't say the same thing about yourselves. Now tell me what's going on between you two."
Robin sighed and took a bite of her pancake.
"Honestly, I don't know. We're not together, if that's what you're asking."
There was something in her eyes that made Ted say what he did next.
It was more of a statement. "But you want to be."
Robin sighed. "No point in denying it, is there? Yeah, I want to be."
"It ended so badly last time," Ted pointed out. "What's changed?"
"It's hard to explain. We've both grown up, I guess. I mean, he's been with Nora. I've been with Kevin. We've had serious relationships. We've figured out what we want." She paused. "Well, I have anyway. I don't really know about Barney. I think he wants another serious relationship at some point, but I can't really get a straight answer out of him. And I don't want to push it because I'm afraid he'll figure out why I'm asking. And I'm not ready for that."
"Think you'll ever tell him?"
"I might."
Ted nodded. "Good luck, Scherbatsky."
She chuckled into her coffee. "Thanks, Ted."
* * *
Barney and Robin continued to spend most of their time together. Sometimes it was at MacLaren's with the gang. Sometimes it was at the cigar bar. Sometimes they went out to dinner. Sometimes it was just hanging out watching movies. But the majority of their spare time was spent together. If anyone other than Ted had taken notice of the fact, they hadn't said anything. But of course, Lily and Marshall had been pretty busy with the pregnancy.
Robin thought she had caught Barney giving her a certain look now and again - a look similar to the one he used to give her a few years ago. It was the same look he used to give her before they got together the first time that she did her best to ignore. She'd been seeing it a lot again lately and was praying it meant the same thing this time around.
It was one day, a little over a month after her conversation with Ted, when they were simply sitting around at her apartment that she got her answer.
They were watching a movie in relative silence. It had been on for maybe twenty minutes when Barney turned to her and spoke up.
"So are we going to do this or what?"
Robin furrowed her brows. "Huh? Do what?"
"We've basically been in a relationship for the past two months without the labels and the sex. We spend all our time together, and for some crazy reason, we both seem to be on board with commitment in our lives now. So I'm asking you…are we going to do this?"
It all sounded so casual coming from him. This thing that Robin had been thinking about 24/7, trying to figure out how to approach discussing it with Barney…he'd already been thinking it. And he just outright asked so casually.
She grinned.
"Yeah, I want to do this."
The smile on her face was so large it was almost painful.
They both knew it wouldn't be like last time. They wouldn't let it be. They were actually ready for it this time.
"Good," Barney said.
"Good," Robin echoed.
The celebration sex was legendary.
----------
Fin.
Author: modernxxmyth
Rating: PG-13
Fandom/pairing: How I Met Your Mother, Barney/Robin. Mentions of Barney/Nora.
Warnings: Language, I guess.
Spoilers: None officially, but there are some things from 7.05 mentioned, so if you haven't watched yet, don't read!
Summary: Nora cheats on Barney, and he goes to Robin for comfort.
Greatest Hits (Part 2)
The day after Robin's late night conversation with Barney, she broke up with Kevin.
She very much liked to think it was because the conversation had reminded her of her residual feelings for Barney and it's unfairness to Kevin and not because Barney was suddenly back on the market again.
But there was no denying it was a lucky coincidence.
Timing, is what she kept reminding herself. They had the chemistry still. Robin was sure of it. It was just the timing they needed.
* * *
Days passed, and Barney thought about what Robin had said.
She was right, of course. She usually was, though you wouldn't see him admitting it out loud, and especially not to her.
Nora was never quite right for him. He'd always been so busy trying to please her and keep her happy that he never had the time to really look at himself and look at what he'd become. It wasn't natural. It wasn't him.
He wasn't the kind of guy that went to a woman's workplace to serenade her. He wasn't the kind of guy that sent gift after cheesy gift that had nothing to really do with him and everything to do with cliche romantic gestures just to try and maintain a girlfriend he already had.
That wasn't awesome. That was an unbalanced relationship.
Yeah, he guessed doing nice things for his girlfriend (he still occasionally scoffed at the word) wasn't such a bad thing. But he was finally starting to realize that the guy he was with Nora wasn't really him at all.
Nora had let a part of him out - the secret sap who really just wanted a special someone - but she'd never known the whole him. Not every part of him that created the real him.
He was pretty sure that there was only one person in his life who did know the real him, but he wasn't quite sure he was ready to think about that yet.
* * *
The days turned into weeks, and Robin and Barney found themselves hanging out with each other a lot.
Not just a lot - all the time.
In fact, it was a rarity when they weren't together. Robin had caught Ted giving the pair of them scrutinizing looks a few times when Barney was over hanging out with Robin for the umpteenth time in a row.
He approached her about it at breakfast a month after their mutual break-ups.
"Sooooooo, Robin. What's going on between you and Barney?"
Robin choked on his sip of coffee. "What?"
"You and Barney? What's going on there? You guys are hanging out all the time."
"Nothing's going on. We're just hanging out. We're friends. We do that. You hang out with Marshall all the time, and no one implies that there's something going on between you two."
"We both know that's not true! You and Lily imply that Marshall and I have latent homosexual feelings for each other all the time! But that's not the point. Marshall and I are best friends and don't have a romantic past. You and Barney can't say the same thing about yourselves. Now tell me what's going on between you two."
Robin sighed and took a bite of her pancake.
"Honestly, I don't know. We're not together, if that's what you're asking."
There was something in her eyes that made Ted say what he did next.
It was more of a statement. "But you want to be."
Robin sighed. "No point in denying it, is there? Yeah, I want to be."
"It ended so badly last time," Ted pointed out. "What's changed?"
"It's hard to explain. We've both grown up, I guess. I mean, he's been with Nora. I've been with Kevin. We've had serious relationships. We've figured out what we want." She paused. "Well, I have anyway. I don't really know about Barney. I think he wants another serious relationship at some point, but I can't really get a straight answer out of him. And I don't want to push it because I'm afraid he'll figure out why I'm asking. And I'm not ready for that."
"Think you'll ever tell him?"
"I might."
Ted nodded. "Good luck, Scherbatsky."
She chuckled into her coffee. "Thanks, Ted."
* * *
Barney and Robin continued to spend most of their time together. Sometimes it was at MacLaren's with the gang. Sometimes it was at the cigar bar. Sometimes they went out to dinner. Sometimes it was just hanging out watching movies. But the majority of their spare time was spent together. If anyone other than Ted had taken notice of the fact, they hadn't said anything. But of course, Lily and Marshall had been pretty busy with the pregnancy.
Robin thought she had caught Barney giving her a certain look now and again - a look similar to the one he used to give her a few years ago. It was the same look he used to give her before they got together the first time that she did her best to ignore. She'd been seeing it a lot again lately and was praying it meant the same thing this time around.
It was one day, a little over a month after her conversation with Ted, when they were simply sitting around at her apartment that she got her answer.
They were watching a movie in relative silence. It had been on for maybe twenty minutes when Barney turned to her and spoke up.
"So are we going to do this or what?"
Robin furrowed her brows. "Huh? Do what?"
"We've basically been in a relationship for the past two months without the labels and the sex. We spend all our time together, and for some crazy reason, we both seem to be on board with commitment in our lives now. So I'm asking you…are we going to do this?"
It all sounded so casual coming from him. This thing that Robin had been thinking about 24/7, trying to figure out how to approach discussing it with Barney…he'd already been thinking it. And he just outright asked so casually.
She grinned.
"Yeah, I want to do this."
The smile on her face was so large it was almost painful.
They both knew it wouldn't be like last time. They wouldn't let it be. They were actually ready for it this time.
"Good," Barney said.
"Good," Robin echoed.
The celebration sex was legendary.
----------
Fin.