the changed verse
Fly Girl

 

“You’ll get it, you know.”

Robin blinked, returning to the present. Watching Ted pretend to fall through a wall to make the girls giggle was a little hypnotizing, even though she should be used to it now.

Barney was looking at her, something knowing in his eyes. She wasn’t sure if she liked how insightful he could be – she didn’t want to be so easy to read.

“Get what?” she asked, playing dumb.

“Powers.” He made it sound simple.

“What makes you think I want any?” She tried her best to sound blasé about it. She liked to think that she was getting pretty good at it, after all these months.

“Oh, please,” Barney said. “You think you’re lacking on the awesome scale just because you don’t have powers.”

“I do not!”

“Do too.”

“Do not.”

“Do too.” He flexed his wings then, picking that moment with absolute knowledge of how it would distract her. Those huge white wings, tucked in behind him as much as he could but still always there, still always visible. She had only touched them a handful of times; the feathers were downy and so, so soft.

“I don’t want powers,” she said. “What if I turn into—a mermaid or something? Then I couldn’t hang out with you guys anymore.”

There were colonies of mermaids out in the ocean now and she hoped they were happy, but she didn’t want to join them. She wanted to stay right here, in New York with her friends. And if that meant no powers, then she preferred that.

At least that was what she told herself.

“What if you could have wings?” Barney asked. “Or be a pre-cog, like Lily?”

“No one gets to choose.” Families had been torn apart by that fact.

“But if you could,” Barney said. “What would you pick, if you could choose?”

He looked so earnest, so interested in her answer. She swallowed, buying herself some time by taking a sip of her drink. She wasn’t sure she wanted to answer; wasn’t sure she wanted him to know.

“C’mon, Scherbatsky.” His eyes were insanely blue. All together, with the wings and the blond hair and the sky blue eyes, he certainly did look like the angel one girl he’d hit on had called him.

“I’d like to be able to fly.” She said it before she had the time to censor herself, to chicken out.

He cocked his head to the side. “Really?”

“Yeah.” She studied her glass more carefully. “Just—be able to get away from everything. To be up there in the sky – it always seemed so serene.”

“Also, you’re up there and can look down at everyone else,” Barney said, smirking slightly though there was still softness in his eyes.

“Yeah, that too.” Robin flashed a smile.

Barney downed the last of his drink and held out his hand. “Come on, Scherbatsky.”

“What? Where are we going?”

His smirk grew wider. “Up.”

In the year since the world had gone crazy and he’d grown wings, she’d only flown with him once – and she hadn’t had much presence of mind to enjoy it then. Now, he was offering to just take her up, no destination in mind except the serenity of the sky.

“No, I can’t—”

“And why’s that?”

“Because it’s insane!”

“So are you and so am I. And we’re awesome! So it doesn’t count as a reason.”

She couldn’t come up with a single reason that didn’t sound stupid, even in her own head.

“Thought so,” he said and grabbed her hand. He tugged her along gently but firmly, pulling her out of the seat, and a moment later they were outside.

The sun was just starting to set, the sky alit in red and gold. There were a few clouds scattered low on the horizon. She couldn’t see much of it, though, because this was New York and there were tall buildings in the way everywhere.

“Perfect weather conditions,” Barney said. He pulled her close. “Do you trust me?”

With my life, she wanted to answer, but she’d never been that honest with him so she didn’t know why she should start now. She could feel the heat of his body beneath the suit and her body remembered what he felt like, naked, all over her.

“Yes,” she said.

Trying her best not to think about what she was doing – because if she did, she’d probably run in the opposite direction and there was a part of her that really wanted to fly with Barney again – she wrapped her arms around his neck. He lifted her up and she felt like a damsel in distress, which annoyed her until—

He unfolded his wings and her eyes grew wide. She had seen them before, had seen him fly before, had even been in his arms like this once before – but she had never taken it in, had never truly seen how magnificent his wings were. The sheer perfection of each feather, sleek and pearly white. The force behind them; a sheer, raw power.

He flexed the wings and flapped them once, twice – and suddenly, they were soaring above the ground. He kept beating his wings, kept them rising up, up, up.

“Oh God, oh God, oh God,” she mumbled.

“Yes, my child?” Barney smirked.

She had to laugh at that, loosening her death grip around his neck to slap him lightly on the chest – then quickly returning the arm around his neck, because they were at least a hundred meters up in the air now, and she had just a slight fear of heights.

“Relax,” Barney told her. “I’m not going to drop you.”

“Do and you’re dead,” Robin said, even though she was painfully aware that if Barney did drop her at this height, she’d be the dead one.

They kept rising. The air turned a bit colder as they got farther up and Robin wondered if she should have grabbed a jacket. Then again, when would she have had time for that? She held on tighter to Barney, feeling the heat radiate from his skin.

“Check out the view,” Barney said, his voice very close to her ear. He sounded slightly out of breath and she figured it had to be a bit heavier to fly with her in his arms than on his own.

She raised her head from his shoulder and truly looked out.

The city of New York spread out around her. She’d seen it from above before – from the Empire State building and once from a helicopter when she’d done a piece on touristy stuff to do in NY – but never like this. Never without glass or fences in the way, obstructing her view. Never unlimited view in every direction, simply by asking Barney to turn slightly.

“Wow.”

She heard his smile, close to her face. “Legen—wait for it—dary.”

Her heart was pounding loudly in her chest, adrenaline coursing through her.

“This—I—this is amazing,” she said. “I can see my apartment – and Broadway, and Central Park, and—”

“Look the other way,” Barney said.

She did and was almost blinded by the glittering ocean. The sky, in every color from red to pink to yellow, reflected in the dark water. The skies were endless, the horizon sharp as though it really was the end of Earth.

And despite the loud thumping of her heart and the adrenaline, she could feel what she had always thought she’d feel: serenity. There was nothing so calm as this. She felt tiny, in the infinite universe around her. Each breath of cool evening air soothed her.

Barney’s arms around her kept her safe and warm. Each flap of the wings, swooshing softly, made them sway a little in the air. They were hanging freely in mid-air and yet she had never felt safer, more secure.

She had no idea how long they stayed there, but the sun sank beyond the horizon and the reds and yellows turned into purples and then blues. They saw airplanes coming and going above them, and birds flying this way and that as they started hunting in the night. Finally, when she shivered, Barney turned them around and started descending.

A few minutes later, they touched ground and he let her slip out of his grip. The pavement felt almost weird beneath her feet – too hard, too solid.

“Thank you for flying with Air Barney,” Barney said, a smirk playing in the corner of his mouth. “We hope you’ve enjoyed your flight and that you’ll fly with us again.”

Robin chuckled. “Thank you, Barney.”

He sobered, a little. “You’re welcome, Scherbatsky. And you know, really. Anytime. I don’t mind.”

She cocked her head to the side, seeing only honesty in his eyes. “You really don’t, do you?”

For a moment, his face was open and vulnerable – then the guards came up again, walls around his heart just like she had hers.

“You know, it’s good to know I can still sweep you off your feet,” he said, ignoring her words.
She wondered what he was hiding, wondered if her suspicions were right – but feelings and all that crap had never been either of their strong suits, so she let it slide. Two could play that game; she could ignore things too.

“Want to get another drink?” she asked instead. After all, he had landed them outside of McLaren’s again. “Lily and Marshall are probably wondering where we went.”

“They left first,” Barney said. He rolled his eyes. “They really need to get a more subtle codeword.”

She smiled as he held open the door for her. He kept on talking and she listened as they went inside. Lily and Marshall were indeed back and they all sat down – Barney on his chair as usual, because those wings couldn’t fit into the booth seat. Lily gave Robin a knowing look which she did her best to ignore.

She glanced at Barney instead, remembering the feeling of him, warm and so very close, with the skies stretching out around them. She could get used to that feeling.

Read? Review!