The Night Marshall Got His Friends Together

Note: Parts of this are taken verbatim from the show since this fic is inspired by it and the italics are going to be the flashbacks of people telling the story.

"Yeah, actually, there's another reason that I didn't go home with her," Ted mutters, the words surprising Robin a bit.

Marshall furrows his brows, confused as he listens to Robin's recounting of the story. Ted has been trying to find someone to date, or at the very least sleep with, to try and get over this funk he's been in for a while, since Stella left him.

"He's gay!" he hears his mother shout through the phone and frustration wells up within him.

Of course his mother was listening. She is trying to get better, to not wallow in the misery of losing her husband, and Marshall knows that, of course he knows that, but it's incredibly frustrating sometimes when she focuses in on every single thing he does, micromanaging him.

He just wants to have a private conversation with his friend.

Instead of getting angry though, he takes a moment to think about what his mother just said.

Ted couldn't be gay, though, right? He's so in love with Robin and he almost got married to Stella not too long ago. There was no way he was into men.

Although, he does sabotage himself in relationships with girl's... often. He told Robin he loved her way too soon and he invited Stella's ex to their wedding even though he was clearly still in love with her...

Was he purposely sabotaging his relationships?

There was no way.

"Umm... no. Ted isn't gay," he settles for, shaking his head as though she could see him, trying to convince himself of the fact.

The line, from both is mother and Robin, are both incredibly quiet. Then Robin speaks up. "Actually—"

"Noooo," Marshall says, drawing the word out, trying to figure out how he feels. Obviously it's not an issue, considering James was gay, but it was so weird to think of Ted as wanting anything other than the wife and kids he'd always said he wanted. "How do you know?"

"Yeah, actually, there's another reason that I didn't go home with her," Ted mutters, the words surprising Robin a bit.

"Hmm?"

"I'm in love with Barney."

"Oh, my God!" Marshall exclaims, only slightly surprised his mother was listening when she repeated his sentiments, despite his earlier attempts to get her to stop listening to their conversation.

"Ted's in love with Barney? But, it's Barney. That boy needs an intervention."

The line was silent for a second again. "Funny you should say that."

"Does anyone know why we're here?" Zoey asks, questioning the other two girls, confusion causing her brow to furrow, looking at the intervention sign behind her, looking worn, rundown, like it's been used a dozen times.

"Yeah, who called this intervention?" Lily asks, sounding just as confused. They heard from Carl the bartender that they were needed upstairs and the sign was already there.

She was even more confused when she realized that Barney wasn't there and neither was Ted, but Zoey was and she clearly didn't know what it was about.

Who was this intervention for? What was it about? How long did they have to wait to find out?

"I did. It's for me," Ted explains as he steps into the apartment with almost now grace, checking behind him to make sure that Barney didn't follow him.