Going with Barney tonight because I have Calhoun brainrot lets GO
❣️: Reminds you of your F/O
Mr Loverman- Ricky Montgomery
I've shattered now, I'm spilling out
Upon this linoleum ground (Mr. Loverman)
I'm reeling in my brain again
Before it can get back to you (Mr. Loverman)
Oh what am I supposed to do without you?
Barney is just so. Uniquely tragic, especially the way I interpret/write him. This man can fit so much love for others inside him! And so, so often he's fighting in that love's honor, and sometimes in their memory. He's alone so much and he's so tired. I imagine he's a hopeless romantic at heart, even after all these years with all these walls up. But on the inside he's just, nothing but a lover. He's soft inside, and the world is so hard.
🕔: Makes you think of the first time you met (in canon)
This one was really hard actually ghdfuosighdfo because Raymond and Barney's first meeting was... a little awkward? And tense? But I think the general early relationship song that would work well would be:
Be Nice To Me- The Front Bottoms
I try to write you poems, but the words they don't make sense
The hand tries to grip the pencil, but the fingers are too tense
I try to show emotion, but my eyes won't seem to wet
I'd love to tell you stories, but I can't remember how they went
You're a flashlight in a dark room or the loneliest black out
You were all we had left after it all was filtered out
There's this... period between Raymond and Barney first meeting when they're not sure what to make of each other. Barney's on edge because Raymond dropped a copy of Gordon's thesis into his hands on the first day they ever spoke because he overheard him talking about him. Raymond's on edge because, undercover or not, Barney is working with Civil Protection, and he is constantly carrying extremely illegal books, and has no idea how far Barney would go to keep his cover from being blown.
In the end they reach this sort of mutual understanding type situation I guess? Because Barney realizes the guy is the first person to not try and beg for stories about Gordon from him. The first person to treat him as just Barney after finding out about his past, and not Barney-Gordon-Freeman's-Friend. And so Barney shows him a moment of vulnerability, and appreciates Raymond's work, and its got the man tripping over his feet falling for him. Despite the weight of the world on their shoulders, they find a softness in each other, even before they realize they're in love.
