A/N- This is going to be a multi chapter rollercoaster as a result of my binge watching HIMYM, and watching the GORGEOUS relationship that is Barney and Robin go to waste, so don't forget to review, fav and follow, and most of all enjoy.
Sitting at a gold silk cloth covered table, rimmed with lace,Robin watches fondly, as Ted tenderly kisses his new wife on the marble dance floor. The couple sway gently, staring at each other in their own little bubble, as if no one else existed. She swipes her bangs out of her face and shifts her gaze back to the table, blowing a puff of frustrated air. Marshall and Lily are in another bubble. Lily giggles as Marshall says something, resting her head against the crook of his shoulder.
"This is sorta, sickening." Robin announces dramatically, pausing to make sure she popped Lily's love bubble. Okay, that sounded incredibly wrong.
Lily gives her an all knowing look. She knew that maybe Robin Five Years Ago would have said and she wouldn't have thought twice. But Present Robin is more than happy to do the same as these lovebirds. She wishes to, atleast.
"Hey, Robin, how's the job treatin ya?" Marshall chirps , breaking her out of her moody longings. She plasters on a somewhat convincable, if not fake smile.
Maybe it would transform into a real one if she tried hard enough.
"Oh great!" She croons, "It's been Beijing, Mumbai, Saudi, the works! I mean, it doesn't -" leave me with much of a personal life and time to love anything or anyone, but um, yeah, she thinks. -" yeah, it, its been amazing." She finishes, in a more depressed note than she had hoped. Sipping her third glass of champagne, now Robin tries really hard not to dwell on her failed attempt at love, she truly does, but
once more, after a million times, again, the thought penetrates through. That painful ache, that made her chest sink in and feel hollow, and her lower lip tremble feverishly. Blue eyes sparkle in the back of her mind, and for a moment she almost feels them behind her. She coughs, her throat closing up with something akin to sadness, but not quite. Longing, regret maybe?
"-yeah, and now Marvin's getting along so marvellously with the rest of the kids at preschool, i don't need to worry anymore!" She returns to the present once again to Lily's rambling. Robin's glad the two seem to be wound up in their own lives. She appreciates the distraction. She fails to notice the stolen looks of worry between the couple. If they notice her morosity, they pretend not to. They know better.
Lily smiles warmly, wriggling in her seat, all ready to launch into another one of Marvin's cute little stories, when her face goes slack, and she sputters as her eyes stay trained above Robin's head.
The cologne hits her before anything like a sucker punch. She spots his favorite gold lamé cummerband next. Sucking in a breath, Robin prays feverishly that she isn't about to have an awkward run in with her ex-husband for the first time since their official divorce at her ex-boyfriend's wedding.
"Barney!" Marshall yells,slapping his outstretched palm in a welcoming high five. His mouth turns upward, in that cute boyish way she remembers, and he hugs the two as they stand up. His eyes flit to the her side of the table and she freezes, bracing herself for, what? A look of pure hatred, or maybe a look of pure love, she doesn't know. He finally steadies his eyes on her, and says,"Hey Robin, good to see you." He has a honest to god smile, and she smiles back, tremendously relieved.
"It has been way too long. Oh my god, we need to all go to McLarens after this and get stinkin' drunk and-" Lily trails off as her eyes set on Robin."-and um, oh wait, we have that thing, right baby? That-" she says, looking to Marshall for help.
"Mclaren's sounds good." Robin cut in. She sure as hell could manage being in the same room as him for a few hours to keep her friends happy. It couldn't be that hard.
So they talk. Barney orders everyone a round of Glen Mckenna's, and Marshall is stinking drunk by the end of it, and Lily's giggling her ass off again.
The exes finally join eyes again. By this time, they're knee deep in stories about babies and sleep schedules so he does what they've done on multiple occasions to avoid stories, he runs. She does what she's done on multiple occasions, she follows him.
Five minutes later, they're both breathless and in the back garden of the inn.
Barney barks out a laugh. "Just like old times huh?"
She blows a breath, palms on her knees and hunched over. Looking over to him, she spots the twinkle in his eyes and the crease near his mouth and its so easy to pretend things hadn't changed. That they weren't ex husband and ex wife. She does exactly that.
"Remember the time we ran out during our reception, and we almost got hit by that school bus?" Robin muses, as Barney makes a move to sit on the grass, crossing his legs. They speedily dance through how do you do's and soon they're down memory lane and for a change, it isn't bitter. Its surprising, really, how smoothly conversations go over with them, how easily they can mention memories of their marriage, their wedding, and awkward didn't even make a cameo.
"Ah, legendary times!" Barney quips, when she brings up boogie boarding, and she remembers when he almost kissed her, claimed things that she supposed weren't true anymore, because he HAD let several days go by without talking to her and those days went by pretty swell.
But, like all the thoughts she's ever had, get pressed down to the deep dark place where everything she ever feared lay.
"Awesome to Sherbatsky." Barney calls, waving his hand in front her face. He frowns at her, trying to figure out her state of mind, probably. "Where's your mind?"
"I just-" she starts. She fiddles with the hem of her dress, now hiked up to near her thighs and the rim of her stocking shows. "- why is this so easy?"
The one thing about Barney and Robin. They don't believe in the whole, 'we complete each other's sentences' theory, but as if by some weird twist of fate, they can very well complete their thoughts, their words, everything. And if she'd been trying to right now, she was, she'd know that his look said, 'because we never stopped loving each other'.
She still waits for an answer. A retort of sorts.
"I don't know. I mean, i guess, we've always beaten the odds. We're like, the awesomest exes ever!" Barney pipes,extending his arm out for a high five.
She reluctantly returns it, thoughts swirling again. What was with her? She never overthought things ever.
"Should we talk?" She feels herself saying, before she can stop the word vomit.
"Um, about?" Barney asks, raising a single eyebrow in that certain way that only he could.
Robin rushes through a million different scenarios in her head. She could tell him things that she didn't really think she meant. She could tell him they could never talk again.
"About being friends again." She decides, grinning. Her eyes sparkle under her thick lashes, with something akin to affection. Her smile slowly fades, waiting for an answer.
A slow grin takes over Barney's features. "Awesome. Friendship five!" He announces gleefully. Her smile comes, and for the first time tonight, she's not faking it anymore.