This is my attempt at low-angst Barney/Ted. Here's hoping it works!

Disclaimer: I don't own How I Met Your Mother.

Over My Head

They were respectably drunk. Not enough to do anything embarrassing, like saying that they loved each other, but just enough that they could blame the alcohol for anything that happened.

Ted's thumbs went under the lapels of Barney's jacket, and Barney shrugged it off. Barney threw it on the sofa, so that it landed over the back, still trying to minimize wrinkles. Ted smiled, and his lips brushed against Barney's stubble for a moment before they pulled apart.

Ted began to unbutton his shirt. His eyes were cast downwards – no eye contact, no speech. Manly. Or as close to it as possible, when you were about to have sex with your very male friend.

Barney whipped his belt off in one fluid motion. Ted thought about how many times he'd done that. Was this Barney's first time with a guy? Ted had done the experimenting thing in college – he'd been high for most of it, but whatever. Maybe Barney had done the same thing? Or maybe...

They were half-naked, and then they were kissing again. It was all so strange and new, but Ted didn't feel scared or nervous. This was Barney. This was like... like...

Oh, what the hell. Ted didn't need a metaphor for everything.

* * *

"So..." Ted said, as Barney pulled on his boxers.

"So?"

"Well, so."

Barney was obviously trying to ignore him, but then he gave up.

"Don't Ted out over this."

"I'm not Tedding out. It's a reasonable thing to be thinking about."

"Look, you know how I... you know." Ted knew – Barney was in love with Robin. But that was the funny thing about Barney. He could have a whole conversation about Robin without ever mentioning her name, or the word "love". In fact, that's what had led to this in the first place. "This was just a thing."

"A one-time thing?"

"Yeah."

"OK."

* * *

Barney couldn't quite meet Ted's eyes when the group met at MacLaren's the next day. At first Ted didn't notice it – after all, he wasn't exactly gazing at Barney. But as soon as Ted did notice, it was all he could think about.

Ted didn't bring it up until after everyone else has gone, though.

"Well," Barney said, as soon as Robin went upstairs, "I'd better go."

"Are you avoiding me?"

"No," Barney said, with a small scoff. "I just have an early meeting tomorrow."

"Are you really going to use that excuse?"

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm not going to stick around to talk about our one-time thing. God, Ted, sometimes I think you really are a woman."

"There's a difference between us hanging out and talking about it. If I'd said, 'Hey, Barney, about that thing,' then that'd be talking about it. But I didn't bring it up. So we weren't."

Barney sat back down. "Well, now we're talking about it." Barney ran a hand through his hair.

It was a while before either of them actually started talking. To Ted's surprise, it was Barney.

"This is... weird."

Ted nodded, looked at the table.

"And not in a bad way."

Ted nodded again. That most destructive of feelings: good-weird.

* * *

Ted starts the kiss this time, but Barney isn't exactly pushing away. The opposite, in fact – Barney's kissing him back like this is the most natural thing in the world. And it is. It feels good, it feels right. It feels like they should've done this before.

But, at the same time, it's gut-wrenching. What was this, anyway? Would they continue in this cycle of sex and awkwardness? Would they go back to being friends, having put the issue out into the open (as much as they could, anyway)?

Or...

The questions were whirling through Ted's mind whenever he comes up for air. But when he kissed Barney, they were gone. He had found an oblivion, an absence of thought, in Barney.

It's the lack of questions that's the answer.

Or as close to an answer as he's going to get, anyway.

* * *

When Ted woke up, Barney was gone. His cologne lingered, though – did Barney bathe in Drakkar Noir, or something?

Ted sat up, rubbed his eyes. Barney was gone. Ted couldn't decide whether it'd be better or worse if he'd stayed.

So, what? What was their relationship now?

Friendship. Not relationship. Ted needed more sleep.

Ted was just about to get out of bed when he noticed a note on his dresser. Barney's handwriting was unmistakable.

What do you call a second one-time thing?

Ted smiled and shook his head. Barney was such a weird person.

They'd need a term for a third one-time thing, too. And possibly more. Somehow, Ted knew that. And it wasn't that he was OK with that. He was still Ted; he was still thinking about what this could mean, what would happen next.

But, possibly for the first time in his life, he was ready for whatever happened.