Robin and Barney spend the next hour dancing, drinking, and having fun the way they'd hoped to before. Then, when midnight rolls around, they get the surprise of learning just exactly why Okay is the hottest club in town: when the clock strikes twelve it turns into something of a permanent rave. All the overhead lights go off, one of those weird robot-head DJs takes over, and everyone clambers onto the dance floor in a crush as bright strobe lights and colorful lasers flash about the room. It's a wild, chaotic, psychedelic atmosphere, but with one simple look at each other they decide to just go with it, having much too much fun to call it a night.
Somewhere amidst the dancing and drinking at this rave they didn't even know they were attending, they work out an impromptu little dance routine just for the fun of it. They don't even realize until midway through that it's attracted the attention of a small crowd who have cleared out a circle of space on the floor to watch them do their thing. The cheers egg them on to their audience's delight, and when Barney half-lifts Robin into the air for the big finish – both chickening out on attempting the full Dirty Dancing move – the crowd erupts into applause.
Their big moment doesn't last long, however. The song they just ended bleeds into another and the crowd quickly turns their attention elsewhere, leaving the two to dance in relative obscurity again. By the end of the next song, Robin grabs Barney's arm, still catching her breath. "I'm having a blast! But this music is so loud. It's given me a headache. You don't happen to have some aspirin anywhere in that lady catching shirt, do you?"
"No." He shakes his head. "Sorry. Maybe there's a machine in the bathroom?"
Robin nods. "I'll go check."
When she returns, he asks, "Find anything?"
"Only a dispenser for tampons and glow sticks."
"Don't get those two confused, am I right?" Barney quips, making her laugh.
"It's okay, though. I met this girl in there who gave me some Tylenol. Now let's keep dancing!"
"Fine by me," he grins. "You want another drink?"
"Hell, yeah," Robin replies enthusiastically, already bopping to the music. "I'll take a beer this time."
"Two beers, coming up!"
The club is packed and it takes Barney longer than expected to return with their drinks, but they enjoy them – Robin downing half at once – without any incident.
Everything seems normal.
His first hint of any oddity comes later, back out on the dancefloor, when Robin cups the side of his neck and earnestly tells him, "Thank you for coming with me tonight. Sometimes I think you're the only one who understands me." Such frankness and the level of gratitude in her tone are a little strong for the situation. But, though weird, he brushes it off.
It's not quite as easily dismissible when, ten or so minutes later, she starts giggling and looking around the room, positively enraptured, and then grabs the front of his shirt, exclaiming, "These lights are so beautiful!"
He looks up at the strobe lights that after this length of time are actually becoming somewhat annoying. "O-kay."
Robin grips his shirt tighter. "No, Barney, you don't get it," she says urgently. "Really look. It's the most beautiful thing…." She looks into his eyes with importance. "I have never truly seen color before tonight."
There's no denying something's off now.
"Robin…." He studies her face as best as he can through the flashing lights. "Do you – do you feel alright?"
"Are you kidding?!" she laughs, jumping in time to the music. "I've never felt so exhilarated and alive!" She gasps as if a thought just occurred to her. "I think maybe I've never felt. But this night, this club, the air, the atmosphere, the lights – it's all so perfect."
She's oddly euphoric about a loud, crowded, all-around unimpressive club. Something is definitely not right here. He's never known her to be that type of party girl, but he has to ask. "Robin, are you…on something?"
"Yah, the dancefloor!" She starts flailing her arms and dancing about so wildly that she knocks into the man dancing behind her, causing an immediate jolt to spread through every cell of her body at the contact. "Woah," is all she can murmur.
Since Robin looks stunned, just standing there blinking at the guy wordlessly – which Barney can't honestly blame; he is a sight to see in a neon green faux hawk fade, sporting several waist-length beaded necklaces, with a glow stick in one hand and sucking on the ring pop he's wearing on the other – Barney apologizes for her. "The groove got a little too far into her. Just a dancefloor causality."
"That's cool, man," the guy slurs slowly enough for Barney to be certain that he is undoubtedly on something. "Everyone in the world keeps trying to divide us, you know? But we're all one, all a part of Mother Gaia, just put here on the planet to dance and learn and love."
It's the longest string of nonsense Barney has ever heard. That's why Robin's response stuns him.
"Totally." She vigorously nods her head in agreement.
Then it hits Barney: the whole club is filled with weirdos like this guy – people who are also probably on something – and Robin's odd behavior all began about forty to fifty minutes after she came back from the restroom. It all clicks into place. He touches her shoulder, getting her attention. "That pill the girl gave you, what did it look like?"
"Aspirin," she says like he's being silly. "It was an aspirin. Keep dancing." She grabs for his wrist to push him into movement. In the heat of the club, Barney has his sleeves rolled up and her hand meets warm bare skin. Robin's mouth drops open with a swift intake of air; it's like a rush through her fingertips of the best sensation she's ever felt.
After that startled first second, her lips curve into a delighted smile at the pleasure of touching him, and she expands her fingers to feel as much of his skin as she can reach. "I'm so glad we're here together," she tells him ecstatically. "This club is perfect. The world is perfect! There's so much joy all around us." By now she's gliding her hand up and down his arm, finally sliding it all the way down to take his hand, playing with his fingers before linking hers through his.
"Scherbatsky, I really don't think that was aspirin."
She just keeps dancing, now holding his hand palm-to-palm, using her fingers to straighten his. "Your fingertips are amazing," she gushes, rubbing her own fingertips along his, down the lengths of his fingers and around their backs up to the nail beds. "I get it; this is why you have jerk nails. They're so smooth!"
There's no doubt in Barney's mind now. "You're on X," he says, pulling his hands away. But that doesn't seem to be computing. "MDMA." Still, no reaction. "Robin, I'm saying you're on ecstasy, laced with God knows what else."
A full beat goes by of Robin staring blankly at him. Then she bursts into laughter. "What are you talking about? It's fine; I'm fine. It's just aspirin. Now come on," she grabs his hands again, "keep touching me."
"Robin, this is – " While he considers himself a man of the world, Marshall, Lily, or Ted would be far more equipped to deal with this or any situation involving any type of 'sandwiches'. The truth is he's had zero personal experience with illegal drugs. "I need to get you home." That seems like the responsible thing, right?
"No! We have to stay – and live and dance and love!" Robin exclaims, extending an arm with each word like she's dancing to the rhythm of her speech. "We can't leave now." She twirls around in a circle, laughing at the way the lights swirl with her. "It's only just starting. We should get some of those glow sticks though!"
She's so joyously out of her senses, so deliriously happy right where she is that it's hard to resist her plea. He's seen her drunk plenty of times. This probably isn't all that different. "Okay," he relents, and she actually squeals with excitement, making him smile. "Not to the glow stick thing, but I guess it would be alright to stay a little while longer." As long as he keeps a close eye on her. She's already exhibiting behavior that's wildly out of character, drastically beyond anything she's ever done drunk, and he's not about to let someone take advantage of her. "But just keep close to me, okay?"
"Not a problem," she beams, throwing her arms around his neck. "I love being close to you…Let's stay close like this all the time," she breathes somewhere near his ear.
After another twenty minutes of full-energy dancing with her hands twined around his neck, Barney nudges Robin back a little to take an assessment. "Are you sure you're still feeling okay?"
"I feel fantastic!"
"Yeah, well…" Out at a rave, at this hour, at their ages? Maybe in their early twenties, but Barney can't help thinking that at this point they really are too old for this stuff. He never puts in this much physical exertion outside of a workout or sex – and he's not reaping the benefits of either here. Plus, Robin is a bit of a loose cannon in her current state. It would be best for them both to get her out of here sooner rather than later. "I think I'm winding down."
"What? No!" she protests. "We've only been dancing for, like, a minute."
"Robin, it's been almost two hours." Since Okay went full-on rave, it has been. It's been nearly three hours since they got back in the club. They were doing more talking and drinking than dancing at that point, but it still counts.
"No," she giggles disbelievingly. "That can't be true."
"Yes, it is," he counters slowly, the way you'd speak to a very confused person.
Robin considers that, gradually processing its truth. "Wow. Time really does fly."
"Yee-aah."
Before he can finish what else he was going to say, Robin's eyes widen in amazement and she gasps. "Do you think it actually does? Fly? Are we all just flying on time?"
"Come on," he chuckles, storing this all away to tease her with later. "It's time to go."
"Not yet! Just dance with me a little while longer. I love looking at your eyes. They're so, so blue," she coos.
He smirks in amusement. "How can you possibly see my eyes in here? It's too dark."
"Nooo." Robin seems scandalized at the very thought. "Barney, they're so bright," she insists, gazing intently into his 'so, so blue' eyes. "When the light hits them, they shine as bright as the lasers. And the others were wrong about your shirt, by the way. It's bright and sparkly too….like a beacon that draws you in." Reaching up, she twists fistfuls of the fabric into her hands. "It feels so soft and slippy under my fingers." Robin lets go of his shirt and smoothes it back into place but she keeps her hands on him, slinking them down and over his chest. "I want to feel it forever."
Unfortunately for Barney, his body doesn't recognize 'high' or 'off-limits' and readily reacts to her touch. "I think maybe we should just stick to dancing," he says, moving her a discreet distance away. If she insists on staying, dancing is the most innocuous of the potential options here, and to encourage her to do just that he begrudgingly resumes dancing to the EDM music himself.
"But you're not dancing with me right," she complains, gesturing to the space between them. "We're not even touching. I can't feel you, and I want to feel you. Dance with me like you do the other girls. Dance with me like you danced with your cousin."
"Hey!" His eyes dart about defensively. "We weren't talking about that. It never happened, remember?"
"Yes, it did," Robin replies, matter-of-factly. "You were totally grinding with your cousin all night, you said so."
He looks around again in a panic. "Ixnay on the ousin-cay. Do you want people to think I'm some kind of freak?"
"Alright." Robin shrugs, turning her back to him. "I won't say it anymore." With a mischievous grin, she retorts over her shoulder, "If you dance with me that way."
Barney doesn't see that he has much choice. If he refuses, she's likely to make a scene, and the last thing he wants is to get the two of them separated. Maybe he should just go along with it. After all, what's the harm in a little club dancing?
So when she backs up into him, he allows it and starts tentatively grinding with her like she'd asked. Despite the sexiness of it, Barney feels like he can handle it, keep it under control. Until Robin reaches behind and runs her hands over his upper thighs, eliminating even the sliver of space he's left between them by pressing his pelvis into her ass.
And now he sees exactly what the harm can be. Because his groin is unquestionably responding to that stimulation in a growing hardness she's certain not to miss. "Okay." He brings his hands to her hips, pushing her away. "That's enough for now."
"You're right," Robin agrees, spinning around beneath his hands. "It's much better front to front." She closes the space between them again and is back to rubbing her hands over his arms, chest, and shoulders. "Have you been working out?" she asks appreciatively.
He should put a stop to this he knows. And he will. Soon. But he can't help but be flattered. "No more than usual," Barney brushes off the compliment like it ain't no thing.
"Right. You probably have to for your job."
That sets off alarm bells. He can't have her blowing his cover. "Robin. No talking about my job or we will leave." He takes her chin between his thumb and forefinger, making sure he has eye contact. "I'm serious about that."
"Alright, geez," Robin smiles, rolling her eyes. "No talking about your job." She bites her lip hungrily, sliding her hands over his pecs. "I'm just glad it makes you have to work out."
"I don't do it only for the job," Barney objects, a bit insulted at the implication that he'd only work out if he was made to.
"Right. You do it cause you want to feel good. And look good….Mm, and feel really good," she sighs as she continues to touch every inch of his torso. "But also look just as good; have I ever told you how good you look? Your body is just – "
He makes a little high-pitched sound as her fingers attempt to edge beneath the waistline of his pants. "Scherbatsky," he says, plucking her errant fingers away, "you're getting kind of handsy now."
Robin smiles blissfully. "You're the only one who calls me that. I love it when you call me that." Her arms slink up around his neck where she holds herself tightly in place, plastered against his body. "This feels amazing. Don't you feel it? It's so good." She nuzzles her face into his neck, brushing her lower lip over the warm smoothness of his skin as she breathes him in. "You smell incredible."
Unhooking her arms from around his neck, Robin glides her hand down his back to his shoulder blade. She watches his back sometimes when they play laser tag, mesmerized by the pull and ripple of his muscles, nearly alive themselves, so masculine and desirable. Though Barney isn't moving now, she still revels in her chance to finally touch them. "You feel so good." All of him in her arms this way, the shape of him, his solid strength and hardness…she wants to stay pressed against him forever. "God, you were right," she murmurs, slow rolling her hips against him like they're back at The Lusty Leopard and this time she's giving him the lap dance.
You're the one who's right, Barney thinks. It is amazing and I absolutely feel it. However, when she slides her hands down to his ass, he knows he has to stop things. This isn't right for any of the parties involved. "Okay," he says, stepping away from her, "it really is time to go now."
"No." She inches her body back to his. "I like it right where I am."
"So do I," he says wryly, hoping to convince her with the lie, "but the club is closing."
Robin moves back a little and looks around them. "Everyone else is still dancing."
"Yes, but…" He thinks quickly, grasping at anything that comes to his mind. "…you're Robin Sparkles."
"Shhh!" she yells, unnerved, drawing more attention to them than his statement ever did. "Nobody knows that!"
Seeing her alter ego has an effect on her that penetrates even through the drugs, Barney runs with it. "Yes, and if you want them to keep not knowing, then we have to leave. Right now."
"Oh." She nods expressively. "It's like Cinderella. I turn back into Robin Sparkles at midnight."
There's no logic there whatsoever, as it's nearly two o'clock, but he's not about to argue. "Yeah. Right. Like that."
"Alright." Robin continues nodding. "Let's go then."
Barney takes her hand, leading her out of Okay with a heady mixture of foreboding and anticipation at the thought of him and this Robin together in the dark, intimate confines of the backseat…all the way out to Brooklyn.
