Context: 3x13
Prompt: #061 Worrying
Word count: 200
Comment: I think Ted treats Robin quite poorly after their break-up, and I tried to explore how she reacts in this chapter. What do you think? I don't believe that Robin still has feelings for Ted, but I think she'd still feel a bit petty once he meets Stella. And above all else, I wanted to show Barney's on her side, always :)
When Ted and Robin broke up, Barney worried she would decide to drop out of their group. He noticed the way she wouldn't jump in when he, Marshall or Lily teased the architect about some thing or other. He observed how the two of them never remained in a room alone, and he tried to brace himself for the day she'd tell them she was too busy, too overworked, too tired to pretend anymore.
But she never did, and when he spins some tale about how Stella could only fall for men with a moustache, Robin doesn't miss a beat.
"I got it a little bit," she says, poker face perfected, surprising not only Ted, but also Barney.
"Well played, Scherbatsky," he says once Ted's gone. "I should make you part of my schemes more often."
"You should," she says. "You should also spend the ten dollars you're gonna win on me."
He does spend the ten dollars (and then some) on her, when it's just them standing at the bar.
"To shitting Ted," he says in cheers.
"To shitting Ted," she echoes, voice catching involuntarily.
He bumps his shoulder into hers. "Serves him right."
She bumps his shoulder back.