lirazel: An outdoor scene from the film Picnic at Hanging Rock ([misc] brainwashed by smeyer)
lirazel ([personal profile] lirazel) wrote2010-01-08 11:23 am

Fic: How I Met the Vampire Slayer

Title: How I Met the Vampire Slayer
Fandom: How I Met Your Mother
Characters/Pairings: Ted Mosby, Barney Stinson, Marshall Erikson
Rating: PG
Genre: Humor
Written for: [livejournal.com profile] redsilverchains and her madcrazyevil prompt of "Edward Cullen"
Disclaimer: None of the included fandoms (*wink wink*) belong to me.
Summary: Barney's got a new pickup line. Why is no one surprised? But this one has some interesting results....

"Barney, in all the time I’ve known you, how many women do you think I've watched you pick up?"

Barney's cracking his knuckles, shifting his shoulders, rolling his neck: basically turning this whole thing into a performance. As always. Barney’s the biggest drama queen Ted knows, and in a group involving himself, Lilly, and Marshall, that’s saying a hell of a lot.

“Oh, I don’t know, Ted. Thousands?” Somehow Barney manages to sound both smug and bored at the same time. How does he do that? And why oh why oh why does Ted continue to hang out with him?

One of life’s greatest mysteries. Like, How do you find the one you’re supposed to be with? and Why does the prequel trilogy suck so hard? Also like, How does Barney come up with this stuff? Ted shakes his head, knowing that that’s one question, at least, he’ll never discover the answer to. “And in all that time, this is the stupidest line I’ve heard you come up with. Stupider than the one comparing yourself to Barney the dinosaur.”

Marshall looks up from his hot wings, face all lit up with curiosity and barbecue sauce. “I haven’t heard that one!”

“Trust me, buddy, you don’t want to. It’s perverse. And vulgar. And flat-out disgusting.” He turns back to Barney. “But this line. I’m serious. It’s stupider than the one involving that Weird Al song with all the bad pickup lines.”

Marshall giggles, licking some sauce off of his fingers. “Oh, yeah. That was a good one. Barney, you looked great with cocktail sauce in your hair. That chick was scary.”

Barney sends him a dirty look, then turns back to Ted. “Bro, I don’t understand why you can’t see the genius that is this line. It’s perfect. Flawless in every way.”

“It’s stupid,” Ted repeats flatly.

“I don’t know, Ted,” Marshall says thoughtfully. “I think it could work.”

Barney throws his hands up in the air. “Thank you! Someone who appreciates the well-crafted grandeur that is this line.” Now he leans forward, elbows up on the table. “Ted, listen to me. This line has it all.” He starts ticking off its attributes on his fingers. “It’s timely—tapping into the zeitgeist of our modern era. It’s playful, making use of great pop cultural references, while also speaking to the secret longings that lie at the bottom of that endless black hole that is the heart of a woman. And most importantly of all—“ Another smug smile. “—it’ll work.”

“Yeah. On a fifteen-year-old,” Ted snorts. And then freezes. He wouldn’t. He wouldn’t possibly….

Barney clearly catches on to his train of that, because he rolls his eyes and waves his hand dismissively. “Ted, you know that I always check ID before the actual deed. And I’m better at spotting a fake than the NYPD, every bartender in America, and the few Nazi grandmas who actually check IDs at R-rated movies combined, I’ll tell you that. Eighteen and above. Only.” He pauses thoughtfully. “ Unless I’m in Europe.” Another dirty grin. “Say, did you have any idea that the age of consent varies widely from country to country?”

Ted so doesn’t want to know this. It might be the very last thing on earth he wants to know. He’d much rather steer the conversation back toward how stupid this line is. “Any woman over the age of eighteen is going to laugh in your face.”

Barney shakes his head mournfully. “Ted, Ted, Ted. I find your lack of faith disturbing. This. Will. Work.” He takes a last swig of bourbon and straightens his tie. “And it’s going to work on that girl right there.”

And then he’s gone.

Ted and Marshall exchange looks, then bolt from the booth, Ted darting back to grab a napkin. He offers it to Marshall. “You got a little—“ He waves his fingers around his face.

“Oh! Thanks!” Marshall grabs the napkin and immediately starts mopping at the barbecue sauce smeared around his mouth.

Then they edge closer to where Barney’s approaching a—really adorable—brunette at the bar: close but not too close. Over the course of their friendship with Barney, they’ve learned that watching him in action is like going to SeaWorld: sit too close to the show, and you’re going to end up soaked. It’s been a lot of things over the years—water, soda, every kind of alcohol imaginable, ketchup, mustard, relish, and every other variety of condiment (even, a couple of times in Australia, Vegemite). Once, at a super-fancy dinner party (Ted thinks it was thrown by Donald Trump, but he’s never been entirely sure) Barney convinced the group to crash, a gorgeous redhead hurled a plate of caviar at Barney’s head. Fortunately, by that time Ted had figured out the SeaWorld Rule and was standing far enough away that his rented tux didn’t get fish-egged.

But it was an art, really, figuring out how close to stand so that you could hear everything that went on, but being far enough away so that you were sure your shirt/pants/shoes wouldn’t end up as collateral damage.

They position themselves in the perfect spot just in time to see Barney lean one elbow against the bar, lounging lazily right next to the adorable brunette. “Hello, gorgeous.”

She just looks at him.

Barney is Barney, however, and so completely undiscouraged. He grins and then says with all the gravitas of Lincoln giving the Gettysburg Address: “I’ll be the Edward to your Bella.”

Marshall giggles. That’s Marshall’s usual reaction to a bad line.

Ted chokes. He can’t believe Barney actually said it.

The brunette arches a brow. “Yeah?”

Barney’s grin widens into the leer he gets when he senses victory at hand. “Absolutely. It’ll be undying, immortal love, baby. The kind that’s so powerful, so momentous, so transcendent—nay, so earth-shattering—that it makes teenage girls and their desperate housewife moms stand in line for hours at Comic-Con just to catch a glimpse of it .” He leans closer to her, his face inches from hers. “What do you say?”

She tilts her head to the side, pretending to think. Then: "No, thank you,” she replies so sweetly that Ted thinks everyone in the bar will probably develop diabetes. “But I'll be your Buffy if you'll be my random vamp. Stake, fire, beheading: pick your poison.” And with that, she sets her drink down, slides her purse strap over her shoulder, and walks away.

Ted stares after her. Barney and Marshall are probably also staring after her, but Ted doesn’t notice because suddenly this girl has catapulted from “adorable” to “sexiest woman alive.”

Ignoring Barney, who’s gaping like a fish (SeaWorld, remember?) and Marshall, who’s giggling again (and he definitely missed a spot: there’s a huge gob of barbecue sauce on his chin), Ted straightens his shoulders and heads determinedly after her, thanking the god that is Joss Whedon for the big blinking neon sign screaming, “SHE’S THE ONE.”

--

And that’s how Ted Mosby met the mother of his children.

--

End.

Whatever, y’all. Ted’s totally a Buffy fan.