There's an annoying, jangling, ringing sound coming from somewhere far away. Robin snuffles into the sheets and turns over, her sluggish brain registering the sound but not wanting to do anything about it. Eventually she manages to open one eye, groaning as the bedroom, brightly-lit by the late afternoon sun, comes into focus.
As does the tall, dark shape standing at the edge of the bed. Robin grunts out a "Whu-?".
"I said, did you have a good nap?"
Barney's standing there, all eyes and teeth and irritating alertness. Robin manages, by Herculean effort, to open her other eye and prop herself up on her elbows.
"Wha' time s'it?" She yawns, feeling the mattress dip as he sits down. She really thinks he should wipe that look off his face. It must ache from all that grinning.
"Time you got up?" Barney replies, pulling the sheet off her shoulder. "Damn! Thought you were naked!"
"I stink," Robin protests. "Didn't even shower. Must have been more tired than I thought." The last word is muffled by an even bigger yawn.
"You smell fine," Barney says in a quiet voice, then more loudly, "C'mon, let's get you in the shower?" He wrestles the sheets from her clenched fists.
"Why?" She whines. "Can't I just stay here and moulder?"
He huffs out a breath. "Well, firstly you already missed Lily's dinner."
Oh god, Robin squints a look at her watch. Crap, she has! Lily's going to be so mad! Robin looks up at him, but his eyes are full of warmth and laughter. If she was in trouble, she'd see it in the damn grinning grin of his. Instead, he catches her off-guard by grabbing her hand, his fingers catching her wrist lightly, caressing the skin. Then he moves his hands very gradually, until their palms meet and they lace fingers. It feels weirdly intimate. As if sensing this, he pulls away, leaving her aching for his gentle touch.
"And secondly," Barney continues gruffly, "Ted wants us to go up to his lame roof-party to watch the fireworks." He glances over his shoulder and tuts. "Lame."
Robin's just about to reach out and grab his tie, pull Barney down on top of her and show him exactly why Ted's rooftop is the last place she wants to be, when she hears another voice.
"It's not lame, dumbass! It's traditional! We always do it." Ted grins, walking into Barney's bedroom. He looks down at the two of them, nonplussed. "And besides," he continues, "It's an awesome place to watch all the fireworks. Wow, Robin - you'd better get changed. The party starts in a half hour."
His back to Ted, Barney rolls his eyes and gives Robin a "what can you do?" expression.
Robin silently curses Ted to hell.
#~ o
It's cooler up on the roof of Ted's building than it is down on the sidewalk. A breeze blows off the Hudson, laced with the scent of tar, petroleum and something metallic. Barney draws in a breath and holds the air in his lungs.
His fingers itch for a cigarette, but he resists the urge. Maybe a cigar, maybe later. For now he just stands and watches Robin and Ted as they Ohh and Ahh over the starburst explosions of colour against the indigo sky. Sipping his drink, he tries to feel it - the patriotism or whatever he's supposed to be experiencing right now. But Lily's words keeps coming back to him.
"Oh, you poor deluded boy."
Ted hasn't left his side, like he's afraid that if he lets him out of his sight, Barney's going to run off to Washington and never be seen again. And as much as Barney's pretty sure that this move is the right thing to do, he can't help but feel the prickle of guilt that comes with the realization of just how much this is hurting Ted.
In a way, it's almost flattering.
There's been this thing, in the back of his mind, for two years now. For Barney, there's been this fear that at any moment Ted could take his friendship away. No matter what they go through, no matter how many life-changing moments or crises they share, there's always that fear that, deep down, Ted's just waiting to dump him again.
And reflecting on that, Barney wonders if maybe he's been projecting those same fears onto Robin too.
Because everybody leaves. Everybody gets bored with you eventually.
Or something.
Barney shakes himself. It's not like that. Ted wants him to stay and he's not going to let this go. Ted says he'll miss him. Marshall was practically in tears. It's Independence Day and he's reclaiming his independence, that's all.
"Oh, you poor deluded boy."
Lily had told him that Robin still has feelings for him. Robin… Robin has feelings for him..? Good feelings? Bad feelings? Lily had said that she didn't even think it was that much of a secret, since Robin hadn't made her mind about it herself, so she didn't feel bad for telling. Besides, it was obvious to any person who had half a brain. And since Barney was moving away, if the two of them were going to get it together, like, ever, they really didn't have much time. Lily had punctuated all this with a pointed look, the same one she'd worn when trying to get them to define their relationship last summer.
"Why now?" Barney mutters under his breath. "Why is Robin doing this to me now?"
He starts as he feels a hand on his shoulder and he turns around.
"Hey, champ." Robin says, looking gorgeous in a strapless satin dress, silhouetted against the silver sparkles of light above the rooftops of Manhattan. Smiling, she sips her drink and his eyes are drawn to her lips. Barney knows, intellectually, that the human brain is hard-wired for the pattern recognition specific to faces; that he's programmed to notice her wide eyes, the snub upturn of her nose, her full mouth. But knowing that and believing it are two different things, because when he sees Robin, in that instant he first lays eyes on her, something inside him always freezes, tenses, and leaps. Something inside him sings.
With a half-smile, he wonders what's going through her head right now. The way her fingers tighten around the stem of her wine glass makes him suddenly nervous. She takes a breath, when she opens her mouth to speak he interrupts her.
"Yeah, I know. We need to talk."