#barney harper

[doyelikehaggis]

My favourite totally canon husbands <3

[doyelikehaggis]

Scarepair Crowboat: Nate x Barney Harper (Man Like Mobeen) + “Fairground”

Assessing danger was a particular skill that Harper had. Which was why he stood firm on his defiance to step foot near the Ferris Wheel. It was too big, for one.

'Are you afraid of heights?' Nate asked, deadly serious, like he couldn't believe he didn't know.

Harper shrugged. He was aware of Mobeen and Aqsa nearby and lowered his voice as he said, 'It's not a big deal.'

'Do you know the best way to get over a fear?'

Harper sighed. 'If you're about to say exposure ther—'

'Exposure therapy.' And then, tugging on his arm, 'Once you're up there, you won't even have time to be scared. You'll be having too much of a good time.'

'Or the wheel will get stuck while we're right at the top, break down and kill us in some brutal, painful way.'

Nate stared at him for a moment, his mouth open. He flicked his eyes to the wheel apprehensively, then shook his head and turned back to him, planting a hand on his chest.

'That won't happen! It's totally safe.'

'How do you know that?'

'How do you know it's not safe?'

Harper narrowed his eyes and Nate mirrored him.He sighed again and waved a hand towards the wheel.

'Fine, we'll go on the stupid thing. But if we die, I told you so.'

Nate happily dragged him towards the wheel (and he really was dragging him, because despite his verbal agreement, his body and general desire not to die disagreed) while Mobeen and Aqsa wandered off to find some food.

They paid and climbed into one of the little carriages. Panic immediately set in. There was no turning back. No escape. Unless he came flying out, of course.

He reached over and took Nate's hand, squeezing it just a little. The other tightly gripped the safety bar, willing it to do its job for just ten minutes, please. That wasn't too much to ask, was it?

The wheel jutted and he nearly climbed out. Then it started to move. His heart stayed on the ground. When they reached the top, he did anything but look down. Instead, he looked up and was surprised to see how clear the night sky was.

'Wow,' he murmured, drawing patterns with his eyes. Everytime he looked at a star, he spotted three more surrounding it. There were so many.

Nate nudged him. 'Still scared?'

Harper finally broke his gaze to look at Nate. A smile fought its way onto his face.

'Right this second… no.'

'Go on. Say it.'

Harper rolled his eyes. 'You might be right. It's not as bad as I thought.'

'I told you so,' Nate teased.

Harper's smile was a full blown grin. 'It's a good thing I love you.'

He blurted it out before he could think twice. Clearly, being so high in the air wasn't good for his inhibitions. If they were on the ground right now, he would never have said that; though it, definitely. But they were taking things slow, figuring out what exactly it was they were doing and what it all meant.

He was afraid of heights, but the thought of scaring Nate away terrified him. He'd rather climb Everest.

Nate blinked his big eyes at him like Bambi. If they were on the ground, he would've taken off by now, Harper was sure of it.

And then, he said, 'I… I love you.'

Harper inhaled sharply. He shook his head. 'You don't have to do that. Not if you don't really…'

Nate leaned in, and he kissed him. And it wasn't like it was the first time — there had been too many to count over the last few months, starting just before their little trip to Turkey. But it was the first one in public, and even if no one could see them all the way up there, that meant something, and it rocked Harper to his core, because it was real. What they were doing was real, what he felt and what he thought — hoped — Nate felt was real.

They pulled apart, but Harper didn't open his eyes for a moment. Nate pressed their foreheads together as he took a breath.

'I do really,' he said softly.

A smile pulled Harper's face in two. His eyes fluttered open to find Nate already gazing at him, and it made his stomach swing harder than any ferris wheel ever could. Except, when he went to lean in again, he accidently rocked the carriage and nearly jumped right out of it in alarm when it rocked a bit too precariously.

Harper was so relieved to be back on solid ground that he didn't think about the fact that they were still holding hands. They moved through the funfair together, searching for Mobeen and Aqsa. When he did realise, he didn't do a thing about it. It felt like the most natural thing in the world.

[doyelikehaggis]

I wrote a short Man Like Mobeen post-s5 fic because Nate and Harper occupy my every waking thought <3

[doyelikehaggis]

I kept joking about us finally finding out Harper’s first name in the lead-up to the last season but I did not for a second think it would be Barney 😭