(Untitled)

[going_inmy_blog]

Who: Barney and Red. At it again?
Where: Red's apartment
What: Barney says that he wants his scrapbooks back. Really, he wants to help.
When: Backdated to last nite. After Barney went out with Robin. So..late last nite!

Comments

[incapacitates]

Five minutes was a very long time.

And five days of over-the-counter pain pills were just as bad.

Red was splayed on the couch, her bad arm propped up with pillows. Clarice had stopped by now and then, making her sandwiches and hot and cold pads -- generally being helpful. Red didn't know what to say. She was a self-sufficient person and here this fifteen-year-old freakshow was being kind to her for the simple sake of kindness.

It was remarkable.

She heard the door open and didn't sit up, but for a moment shaded her eyes. The bruise around her right eye and temple had faded to a yellowish-purple mess, but she could see, and that mattered.

"I don't know how you got in, and I don't want to know."

[going_inmy_blog]

He held out his copy of her key in between two fingers and then moved his hand quickly. With the movement, the key disappeared. "Because I am awesome." Simple as that.

He looked around, since it was the first time he had been in her apartment, and then looked at her. Briefly, Barney looked flustered at what to say. What could he say? "Miss me?"

Probably not the best thing to say! But he did pull out the white bag of prescription painkillers and moved to give it to her as compensation.

[incapacitates]

Her eyes widened, jaw dropping into an undignified little O. Seeing him -- real -- was the biggest relief since that time in the hospital. When she'd been imagining things (...right?) And when his reaction wasn't as surprised to her current condition as she thought it would be, Red began feeling the deep, repressed inklings of suspicion.

And when he held up the familiar little prescription bag...

I think I love you.

She stretched out her good arm with a pleading little whimper, curling her fingers toward it. She hadn't even realized the momentary thought that slipped through until she was rooting through for the bottle of pills that would make the world go away. For all of two seconds, she froze.

...no, I couldn't have.

[going_inmy_blog]

He grinned a little when she took the bag, completely oblivious that she had been going so long without them. But only oblivious for so long, because he noticed how urgently she was looking for the pills.

"Did I miscount how many you had?" She should have had enough until tomorrow. So he paused, giving her a weird look. Of course, admitting that he knew how many Red should have had was admitting that he knew anything at all. That made him blanch briefly before smoothing the expression out with a brief lift of his eyebrows.

[going_inmy_blog]

The desperate kisses turned more tender. The alcohol he drank with Robin was still in his system, simply making him a little more pliable than normal. A little more apt to just let go.

"You're still beautiful." He reminded her quietly.

[incapacitates]

"Come on, don't be like that." Red scowled into his hair, but didn't mean it. The words didn't come as sharply as the should have, more insistent than anything. Recited. "Don't be that guy...if you start telling me how much you care about me, I'll -- " You'll what? Red hid her mouth in his hair again, behind his ear.

"You're not that guy, Barney." And she wasn't that girl.

[going_inmy_blog]

He paused, a small grin (much more wry than anything else) pressed against her skin. That was ever the problem, wasn't it? Being that guy. But no, he wasn't that guy.

Barney could have been, though.

"I mean, you're totally do-able still. Still a hot-ass chick, fun in bed." He pulled his mouth away, settling beside her on the couch. His grip loosened slightly and he closed his eyes, clearing his throat. "Ahem. So. You..need anything?"

[incapacitates]

Red sighed a little when he pulled away. Wistfully. Red sighed a little and followed him, leaning with her good hand on his thigh. "Yeah, I really am, aren't I?" That was better, him asserting that.

Did she need anything? Red thought about it.

"Want to wash my hair?" Clarice had done it yesterday, the sweetheart.

[going_inmy_blog]

"Nothing with you is easy, Red." And that was kind of why he liked it. Masochist that the blonde man was, apparently. "But there are other ways to do it. Most not including bodily harm. No getting hit by buses either. Full body cast? Not. Awesome."

He looked down at her tugging hand and grinned a little. "I'm racking up points to cash in later."

[incapacitates]

"Oh, is it a point system now?" She moved her hand to her head to hold the towel in place, fingers brushing against his in the process. "Do you honestly keep track?" Red wouldn't be surprised; Barney seemed like the sort to make foolish lists for foolish reasons. "How many points do I have and what can I spend them on?"

[going_inmy_blog]

"Of course it is." How was it not a point system? He gave her a funny look about that! Always games and schemes for Barney, even his own life. Because he liked to gamble.

"I have a tally board. You haven't seen it?" He snorted a little, grinning. "And you have fifty seven points. I have one hundred and three." Right. Of course he did.

[incapacitates]

"Cheater." Red murmured the word grudgingly against his leg when she got close enough, leaning on his knee. "Redeemable for favors?" Of a naughty sort, she hoped. "I think I earned a hell of a lot of points for that bit after Valentine's Day." If she hadn't -- well then they would both knew Barney was a liar.

"Fifty points. At least."