Interesting Times, By GirlX2
Chapter Seven
o0o0o0o0o0o
Ted spilled packages into the car's passenger seat. "See? That wasn't so bad."
"Ted, if you don't take me out of your pocket right now, I'm gonna get Marshall to slap you. And he'll do it—he wants to make it up to me."
Ted carefully extracted Barney from his blazer. "Look, I'm sorry that-"
"Save it, I know you're not." Barney glared at him, and hopped off his hand, onto the passenger seat. "Let's just go."
"You're gonna ride out here?"
"Yes." Barney set his back against a package of modeling clay and looked out the window, away from Ted.
Ted shrugged and made a mental note to take the turns as slowly as he could. Barney shook a little as the car rumbled to life, but said nothing.
'Well, he's not scared any more, just pissed at me.' Ted sighed inwardly. His plan had worked. Sort of.
o0o0o0o
The ride home was uneventful. Just very quiet. Ted carried Barney up the apartment, and tried to ignore the stares and gasps from the few people they passed.
He placed Barney on the coffee table with the furniture Marshall had bought. Barney, still saying nothing, got into the huge chair and stared at the muted TV.
"If I'm gonna make you a place to live, we probably should discuss what you want."
"Just make it like my real apartment."
"There's nothing you'd want to change?"
"My apartment is awesome already. If you can actually find something to improve, go ahead." Barney said coldly.
Ted saw he wasn't going to get anywhere until Barney cooled off. He trudged to his desk and began to sketch.
After a while, Barney risked peeking over at Ted. His friend was concentrating on drawing. Usually when he worked, he looked goofily happy. Now, he just looked sad.
An iota of what passed for guilt flitted through Barney. Ted really was just trying to help him…And frankly, being outside the apartment hadn't been nearly as scary as he'd feared. Granted, he'd been in Ted's pocket the whole time, and hadn't seen anyone, but still. It was a step.
"Ted?"
"Yeah?" Ted looked up hopefully.
"Maybe…maybe there's one or two things you could make a little more awesome." Barney gave him a small smile.
Ted grinned. "I was hoping you'd say that."
o0o0o0o
After a few hours of sketches, Ted had a firm basis for the Lilliputian-sized apartment. It was gonna have a removable roof for easier access as well as a few other handi-capable changes, but basically resembled Barney's actual apartment.
"Ted, can we go to MacLaren's tonight?"
"Um, sure. You're ready to go out?" Ted asked, surprised.
"I don't know. But like you said, the longer I put it off the worse it's gonna be." Barney shrugged. "And after today, I really want to have some fun."
"Okay. But we still have a while before everyone else gets off work. I'll get started on the frame."
"Cool. Just one thing first."
"Shoot."
Barney peered over the edge of the desk. "I want you to put me on the floor."
"What?"
"I'm sick of being stuck on top of things; I want to walk around a little."
"I…I'm not sure that's safe."
"Ted, we're alone. I'm not gonna get stepped on, and I'm not going to get eaten by anything." Barney rolled his eyes. "I won't even leave the living room!"
"Well…" Ted was clearly uncomfortable with the idea.
"Don't make me use the puppy dog eyes."
"Yeah, that only works on girls."
Barney rolled his eyes. "Just a few minutes. Please?"
Ted nodded reservation in his eyes. "Alright. I guess you can't get into too much trouble."
Barney stepped into his hand and Ted lowered him slowly to the floor.
"It's not dusty." Barney noted with a touch of surprise.
"Just because I'm a bachelor doesn't mean I'm a slob."
He wandered under the table. "No huge easy-to-fall-into floor cracks, either."
"Okay Barney, I get it. You're safe." Ted sighed.
Barney wandered aimlessly under the desk, noting the dings and scratches with surprise. The desk had looked amazing six feet ago (well, as amazing as any desk made out of non-mahogany, unlike his magnificent desk, could). In fact, a lot of things looked more worn and uneven from his new perspective. To wit, the sudden ditch in the floorboards he found himself stumbling over.
This was all so bizarre.
He jumped over the gap. It wasn't nearly big enough for him to fall into; even Ted would have noticed a dent that big.
"You alright?"
"Yeah, fine." Barney shook his head. He walked out from under the desk, towards the couch. Feeling a tad less adventurous, he glanced back at Ted. He was laying some wires onto a wooden board.
'He's making the floor of my apartment.' He swallowed a sudden painful lump. This was really going to happen; he was going to be living with Ted. until God knew when, in what essentially was a fancy dollhouse.
He turned back to the back of the couch. Its leather was a lot more worn from this angle.
'I could climb that.'
"Challenge accepted." He said under his breath. Ted probably couldn't hear him anyway, but better safe than stopped by his well-meaning best friend.
He started to climb.
Ted was absorbed in his work, for how long he couldn't say—he didn't even glance up until Barney was at the top of the couch.
"Ted! Check it out!"
"Wh…how did you do that?"
"Um, I'm awesome, remember?" Barney panted, a bit out of breath.
"Yeah, but that had to be almost a hundred foot climb for you." Ted was astonished.
"Pfft, no biggie. I climb rocks all the time, this was way easier."
"When do you climb rocks?"
"When I'm doing 'The Rock Climber.' Have you even read the playbook?"
"You could have fallen!"
"Ted, please, I'm not some klutz who—whoa—" Barney waved his arms theatrically, making Ted jump to his feet. "Ha! Made you flinch."
"Not funny." Ted growled.
"You're overprotective." Barney waved dismissively. "I'm fine."
The door to the apartment flew open as Robin ran inside. "Guys, you'll never believe what the station wants me to do!"
The rush of air from the door swept over the full sized inhabitants unnoticed. To Barney, it felt like a gale-force wind.
"Ted!" He cried out as he was swept from the couch.
There was no time to think. Ted dove towards the couch, hands stretched out.
o0o0o0o
A/N Merry Cliffhanger-mas!