i think the idea of bitchy-ass barney calhoun sarcastically tossing out dog commands while hes reminding gordon of something or telling him what to do and gordon freeman obeying while being like (flushed) is very cool, and sexy
gordon freeman raising his crowbar at somebody defensively and barney just puts a hand on his shoulder and laughs like "he-hey, heel boy" and not thinking anything of it but it stops gordon in his tracks...
anything weird, like, hes just lightly poking fun at gordon.......but gordons Into It like he doesnt even fuckin think about it he just Reacts. barney could tell him to fetch and hed just blink and flush a little and just......do it. hell, maybe he does.
after having to fight his way thru so much shit without any guidance (and barely even a chance to rest in the past 20 fuckin years) being told what to do by somebody he trusts and not having to think about anything other than obeying probably feels really, really good. for just a moment he doesnt have the mantle of Savior Of The Free World on his shoulders
can you fuckin imagine. you fight your way thru black mesa almost entirely on your own and then you wake up 20 yrs later and its your job to be the Savior Of Humanity and you didnt even want this mantle, you were just some guy a few days ago, a completely ordinary scientist, and now you have all this weight on your shoulders. you have to navigate all this shit with only the vaguest of guidance from people who you only get to see in very brief intermissions. but he knows barney from before, and hes still the same guy, just a little more weathered and bitchy, and hes one of the few people gordon freeman can trust fully.......so when barneys out here tellin him what to do and bitchin at him for lollygaggin too much or not paying attention, its really, really not bad. gordon kind of......likes the guidance. likes somebody not venerating him immediately or treating him like an icon instead of a person
barney not even realizing that all his dog command talk is, like, inadvertently horny, until he sees gordon freeman absolutely wrecking shit at his command and then looking at him afterwards, like, not saying anything, but radiating that energy of wanting to be told he did well. and, like, god, the dudes a madman out there, obliterating shit with his crowbar, and hes got blood streaked across his face (not his own, thankfully) and hes sweating and flushed and his breath is heaving from exertion and thats when it clicks for barney that, uh, this is good. he likes seeing gordon like this
and when he says "uh, good job, gordon," it comes out a little weak from the toll that this sudden realization is taking on him but it makes gordon freeman brighten the fuck up and smile just a little and, wow. he really can just do that to gordon with three lil words, huh
i just cant shake the mental image of, like, barney getting used to this. barney realizing the power he has. and gordon just, you know, doing that whole thing where hes relieved to just have direction and support. and it naturally becomes a bit more concrete and barney realizes that not only does he have a guy he can bully around in the bedroom, hes got a guy under his thumb who actually makes him powerful.
because gordon is STRONG. strong enough that barney doesnt know how he's getting away with this.
and soon the dynamic finds its way into the battlefield. with barney feeling untouchable because he can just look at gordon and say, "get em." AND OFF GORDON GOES WITHOUT QUESTION TO CARRY OUT HIS WILL. he, in a way, owns somebody who is basically the post-apocalyptic messiah. just looks at a fuckin combine soldier, smiles, looks at gordon and nods his head.
no more combine soldier.
and consider....barney knowing exactly what the fuck hes doing when he scratches gordon behind the ear or pets his head after he does a good job......bullying him about it a little too......like...... "haha, hey doc, i dont think ive ever seen you turn that color before"
gordon being scritched underneath his chin and just getting shivers down his spine because its so intimate, and every single positive touch he gets just short circuits his brain because (from his perspective) in the span of two weeks he went from being a normal scientist who just had to worry about grant money and if someone threw out his casserole in the fridge to being the Savior of Humankind and also Public Enemy Number Fucking One. so people simultaneously never touch him because theyre nervous, and those that do are actively trying to harm or kill him. so whenever barney tells him he did a good job and scratches that spot on his chin just right he just goes rigid in place and loses himself and hopes that it never stops
and barney getting a power trip from seeing gordon, the strongest and most powerful dude on the fuckin planet at the moment melting into his touch whenever he gives him any sort of praise just does something to him. tensions are always so fuckin high, constantly on the run or raiding combine hideouts or being shot at and shit. so it does something to barney too when hes praising and touching gordon, nearly knocking the wind out of him when he sees gordons face grow red with every little touch or pet. and at first he bullys gordon a lil to cut the awkward tension but then gordon just grows redder and he almost has a heart palpatation when he realizes he likes it. and he keeps doing it after that because not only does he get a power trip from having gordon at the end of his (theoretical but......yknow. it could happen) leash and sicking him on combine soldiers but also that he can poke fun at gordon and know it has him getting hard as a rock in his hev suit
and . christ. the power trip of being railed by this incredibly strong dude who could absolutely end any mortal being in a heartbeat but barneys got him completely under his thumb. the biggest thing on gordons mind is just being good for him so he can hear barney choke out "g-good boy, gordon" while hes taking MIT dick like a champ
fucking frothing thinking about gordon rutting against barneys ass like hes a fuckin animal in that HEV suit and barney saying the same thing to him.......encouraging him
oh my god. and. the imagery of gordon in his hev suit being a total badass on the field killing fucking armies of soldiers but he. has a collar on under the suit the whole time. that barney got for him. with his... name.... on ... it
and consider the fuckin effort it would probably take just to find a collar like that around city 17. you cant just walk down to the store and pick one up
awkward when the vortigaunt medic is like We should make sure youre ok under there, the suit doesnt make you TOTALLY invulnerable- and gordon looks at the other human resistance/medics in the room/very nearby and hes like Um actually no ive never been better
like......maybe hed even have to make one. jury-rig a collar out of an old belt or something. put all that effort in just to make gordon his. so its real fuckin meaningful when barney does get ahold of one. its deliberate. hes been thinkin about it for a real fuckin long time
imagine. taking a belt from a combine soldier that gordon just tore thru at barneys beck and call. and making one......out of that
spendin a real long time whenever he gets a chance alone to make it look nice......taking this symbol of evil and repurposing it into something more beautiful (at least in barneys eyes, anyway) and not-so-secretly liking the thought of gordon wearing a trophy from one of his kills. so to speak. like a normal person