"I just don't know what to do," Ted trailed off, taking a swig from his beer and staring dejectedly at the bowl of peanuts in the center of the table in Maclaren's bar. Marshall smiled sympathetically.

"It'll all be okay buddy. You'll find somebody. You're a young successful architect, who wouldn't want you?" He said reassuringly. Ted nodded. The voice in Marshall's head piped up, telling him that, whatever he did, he must not tell Ted that it's the day they're supposed to watch the original Star Wars trilogy. All it would do is make Ted reflect on how much his life hasn't turned out the way he wanted it to, he argued with himself. Another little voice, this one perhaps wearing devil horns, whispered that it was a tradition. It was wrong of Ted to forget about it. Sensible Marshall responded, telling devil Marshall he was an idiot, and then apologizing because of the rudeness of that comment. The fighting got too much for real life Marshall who burst out suddenly with a "Knock it off you guys!" Startling everybody in the bar. Ted eyed him wildly.

"Woah, what was that Marshall?" He asked, looking around for the cause of the outburst. Marshall shrugged and leaned on his hand to seem casual. He didn't want Ted to catch on to what he had been thinking. He must seem as normal and as not weird as possible. He must pick a random thing to talk about.

"So...I saw a shooting star wars, STAR I SAID STAR, last night. First time I've ever seen one," he said, attempting nonchalance. Ted raised an eyebrow.

"No, actually i've never seen one either, but there was an architect around the time of Galileo who saw a shooting star and drew inspiration for one of his greatest buildings, however his downfall was in the area used for the desigsgblah blah blah blah blah," Ted seemed to say, softly lulling Marshall to sleep. His eyelids grew heavy, and Ted's gibberish dissolved into a mantra. His face transformed into a stormtrooper helmet and a slow chant of star wars star wars star wars spilled from his mouthpiece. Marshall felt himself drooling on his hand, falling into a brief sleep.

"TED TODAY IS TRILOGY DAY. IT'S TRILOGY TIME!" He burst out of his slumber, stunned and confused. As he became aware of his surroundings, he registered what he said. Ted seemed startled but unfazed.

"Woah, how could I forget about that? I'll call Barney! He's gotta let us watch it on his giant TV," he said, pulling out his phone and calling him. He picked up on the second ring.

"Go for Barney!"

"Hey Barney! I can't believe I forgot about this, but it's trilogy time! Marshall and I will bring popcorn, but we're watching it on your TV," he said excitedly. There was a pause in the conversation, and Ted listened to the other man breathe shallowly on the other end.

"Uh, my apartment is kind of messy right now, can we do it at your place?" He asked hopefully. Ted laughed.

"I've never seen your apartment messy, I'm curious. Besides, bros don't care if each other's places are messy. We're just watching Star Wars. We'll be over in ten, bye," he said, finishing his beer and setting out with Marshall to Barney's place.

Marshall was worried that when they inevitably said where they were going to be the future, Ted would break down. Barney of course would have some outlandish fantasy that he didn't really believe would come true, and Marshall would imagine himself teaching Marvin how to play basketball.

They arrived at the door with two bags of Smart Food and a six pack of Red Bull. Barney

came to the door in a wrinkled suit and untamed hair. Marshall stared in astonishment. Barney was all about appearance, so it was odd to see his hair a little longer, curlier, wilder. Barney rubbed his hands together.

"Please excuse my appearance. You caught me at a bad time, I did my best," he said, escorting them into the room. There was stuff everywhere. Barney's usually immaculately cleaned living room was full of papers and photographs and clothing strewn about carelessly.

"Doing some spring cleaning?" Ted asked innocently. Barney mumbled confirmation.

Halfway through Empire Strikes Back, the predictions began. Marshall of course, predicted that he would be older, teaching his son how to play basketball and maybe welcoming another child into the world. Ted went next. He sighed and stared at the carpet.

"I don't know where I'll be," he began. "I set these goals for myself. I say that I'll have my life together with a wife and child, but I don't think I will. I just keep getting older and older," he said stoically. Marshall was surprised. Ted was taking it better than expected. Marshall smiled. Barney cleared his throat.

"I uh, I think i'll be basically the same as I am now. I don't really see anything changing," he said somewhat gloomily. Marshall pursed his lips. This was not typical Barney. Barney normally said everything would stay the same, but he was normally ecstatic about it. He loved his life. He didn't want it to change. This time he seemed just like Ted, but more bitter.

The movie started again, and Marshall received a call from work. He excused himself to the bathroom to not disturb the film. He listened to the voicemail, something about the intern losing all the files, and left a message back. He groaned as a headache started to form behind his eyes. He opened Barney's medicine cabinet, hoping to find some aspirin, but he did not see a bottle of aspirin. He stared in shock at the cabinet. There were razor blades, clearly used, roughly, laying on one of the shelves. Then there were bottles, dozens of pill bottles. Most of the medicine Marshall didn't recognize, but a few he found familiar, medicine for anxiety, depression, and a type of personality disorder.

He clumsily knocked over all the bottles, sending them crashing to the floor in a massive explosion of tiny white capsules. Barney immediately knocked on the door.

"Marshall are you ok?" He didn't answer. "Marshall I'm coming in," he said warningly, opening the door and stopping in his tracks. He looked down despondently at the scattered pills. Marshall stood in the middle of the bathroom, guilt radiating off of him. Ted came up behind him.

"Woah, what's all this stuff?" He asked. Barney pinched the bridge of his nose.

"So, you guys should go now. I have a lot of work to do," he said robotically. Marshall, happy for the escape, grabbed Ted and headed out the door.