Interesting Times, by GirlX2

Chapter Ten

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"When are you gonna call James and your mom?"

Barney acted like he didn't hear and continued to nibble on the scrap of toast in his hands.

"You've gotta call them. Your brother will be pissed if you don't tell him." Ted said.

"I don't want to tell them. My mom will freak out, and James…" He shook his head. "James will want to take care of me. He's got a kid; he's already busy taking care of something tiny and helpless."

There was bitterness in these words that Ted was getting accustomed to. "If you don't call them, I will. What if it was James? You'd want to know."

"James is too awesome for this to happen to him." Barney mumbled.

"Right. If you'd only been as awesome as your big brother you'd still be normal." Ted rolled his eyes. "You're calling them."

"Fine. But after that, I get to call my tailor and make an appointment to get more suits made." Barney was wearing a plain tee-shirt and track pants. It was the last thing Marshall had found in his size. "I can't be seen in this stuff."

"Deal."

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"Okay. Yes. Yes. Mom—Yes! Love you too. Bye." Barney stamped the END button on his phone. "She's worried, but agrees that staying with you is a good idea."

"I'm glad." Ted nodded. "What about James?"

"Working on it." Barney strained to press the appropriate buttons.

Ted's hand wavered in the air above him. "Do you want me to—"

"I've got it!" Barney growled. He took a few more seconds to finish dialing.

"Bro! What's up?" James's voice rang out cheerfully. "Are you still coming over next week? Your nephew misses you, you know."

"Uh…yeah. About that." Barney swallowed hard. "There's…a little problem. I just called mom and told her."

"Told her what? Are you alright?"

"Well…sort of. I'm not hurt or anything."

"Then what's the matter?"

"It's embarrassing."

"What? Do you have a date with an over-thirty year old?" James joked.

"It's…" Barney fumbled for words. How the hell did you tell someone that you'd shrunk? "Have you seen the news?"

"Have I seen what on the news? That…Lilliputian thing?" James sounded scared. "Barney, are you-?"

"Um…yeah. I've got that."

"Oh, my God." James gasped. "Bro—where are you? Are you okay?"

"I'm with Ted. Everything's cool. I'm…I'm gonna stay with him for a while."

"Barney, why didn't you call me sooner?" James pressed. "I can be there in two hours, and-"

"James, its fine. I'm okay, really. You don't need to come."

"Bro, if it was me, would you stay away?"

Barney remained silent.

"Yeah. Look, I'll come over around seven tonight, okay?"

"Um…sure. I guess that's cool."

"Alright. Just…be careful, okay? I don't want to get there and find out you've been squished by a pissed off woman."

Barney let out a small laugh. "No problem. I'll see you then."

"Cool…little brother." He could hear the grin in James's voice. "Dare I ask how small?"

"Three inches, or so."

"…Damn."

"Yeah."

"Right. I'll see you tonight."

The call disconnected. "He's coming over tonight."

"That's cool. It's the weekend; he can stay over a few days." Ted said.

Barney wanted to argue that it would be embarrassing and pointless, but he couldn't. Seeing James always cheered him up; his big brother was one of his favorite people on the planet, supermodels and bimbos included. Seeing James sounded awesome.

"Well, aside from working on your apartment, my day is totally free. Is there anything you want to do?"

"Can't I help?"

"Barney, you don't know how to use tools." Ted reminded him gently. "And even if you did, you're too small to work them."

Barney looked atypically depressed at this. "Oh. Yeah."

"Look, I can put something on TV. Anything you want. Not porn!" Ted added the last part quickly.

Barney shook his head. "I'm not used to have weekdays free. I can't go to the bar, and…well, I can't really go anywhere."

Ted was at a loss. "Well…we could go for a walk. Maybe in central park; it'd be quiet this time of day."

"I don't want to hang around in your pocket all day."

"Who said anything about pockets?" Ted said a little mischievously.

"I thought we were gonna take it slow. I'm not ready to deal with people." Barney felt rotten about saying this. He loved to be the center of attention, usually. It felt wrong, being scared of that.

"Look, I know a trail that's underused. We can just hang out for an hour or two." Ted tried. "If you don't want to, I won't make you."

"It…it sounds okay. Better than watching reruns of soap operas, anyway." Barney conceded.

Ted grinned. "It's gonna be legendary."

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Barney wasn't really the outdoorsy type; generally, he only went to Central Park to pick up chicks. But he had to admit, this was a nice spot. It was a secluded alcove with short grass and several trees shading it from the main path. You'd miss it if you didn't already know where it was.

He pushed a few blades of grass aside. They were about chest high to him. "Ted, how did you find this spot?"

"I got lost my first time in the park." Ted admitted sheepishly. "I was here for an hour before Marshall found me."

He removed a large fuzzy catapiller from Barney's path through the grass, hoping the tiny man hadn't seen it. Barney wasn't a bug-phobe, but after the cockroach incident yesterday, Ted was taking no chances.

Barney found a large rock and quickly scrambled to the top. "At least I can still work out. I'd hate to be tiny and out of shape."

Ted murmured an agreement and set his back againt a tree. He quietly watched Barney explore the alcove. The blond seemed to be enjoying himself.

A yellow butterfly fluttered past Barney, alighting on a flower near him. He watched it, eyes wide. "Ted, look!"

"I see it." Ted tensed slightly, ready to bat the creature away from his friend if he had to.

Barney edged closer to it. "It's the size of a kite! This is awesome."

"Really?"

Gingerly, Barney reached out and stroked the edge of it's wing. The butterfly flapped the paper-thin appendages, causing a dusty powder to shake off. It flexed slowly, then took off, stirring the air. Barney laughed as the breeze hit him, watching the butterfly soar into the sky.

"That was amazing! Ted, did you see that? It let me touch it!"

"Yep. Pretty cool." Ted smiled. The childlike glee on Barney's face was actually cute. It was a good thing Lily wasn't there; she'd have been unable to stand it.

'Lily…I have to get her to stop seeing Barney as an adorable little doll.' The smile dropped off Ted's face as Barney continued to explore. Maybe Marshall and Robin could help…

Well. That was the future. Now, all he had to do was let Barney enjoy himself.

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A/N The image of Barney and the butterfly just popped into my head. Everything else kinda evolved around that.