Title: Breakfast
Rating: PG
Summary: You know what, we can sort this out later – Barney (The Leap, 4.24)
Spoilers: 4.24, The Leap
A/N: This is my first HIMYM fic. So, I'm a little nervous and excited all at the same time. Mega thanks go to roland44 over at LJ for her beta.

***

Over the next few months, they ended up not discussing it a total of 16 times. Not that Barney was counting. He just happened to tick off one of her "No"s every time they didn't discuss it, feeling immensely pleased for himself and for little Barney as the number dwindled till it reached zero.

And then both he and Robin started to find new ways to talk about it without really talking about it.

***

He showed up one morning at the station, just as she was leaving, carrying the best damn coffee she'd ever had and a bagel. Sure, it was weird, Barney just showing up without any warning, bringing her breakfast, making some lame-ass excuse of having a business meeting around the neighbourhood later. But it was Barney, and he was the very definition of weird in her book. Plus, it was free breakfast and there's no way Robin's going to turn that down.

The second day, he brought her more of that coffee and French toast. This time, he just happened to have passed by the building on his way to meeting an old friend. 3 hours and a quickie in her dressing room later, Robin wondered whether Barney's friend was still waiting for him.

The third day was coffee and doughnuts. They had coffee and a chicken sandwich on the fourth day. Every day he brought her something different, something delicious along with that damn coffee that she was getting addicted to. Sometimes it was just a quick bite before he had to leave for work and sometimes they literally had a quickie.

On the 15th day, Robin ended her show to find no Barney Stinson waiting for her, holding a snack on one hand and balancing 2 cups of coffee in the other. A short call to Marshall told her that Barney was asleep at home, having spent an all-nighter working on an important work-project. Quickly squashing down any smidgens of disappointment she'd felt, dismissing it simply as hunger, Robin made her way home, making a stop along the way.

At 1 pm that afternoon, Barney woke up to find a cup of coffee on his table and some pancakes.

The 16th day found her already waiting for him in front of the station when he finally came by, bearing more coffee and chocolate pies. Much to her chagrin, Robin found herself liking the surprised grin that came on Barney's face when he saw her waiting impatiently, a little bit too much. And when she caught herself thinking of that grin, later that night, a small smile on her own face, she admitted to herself that maybe breakfast wasn't really breakfast anymore.