Longest AN ever, keep scrolling if you're only here for the story!

First of all, thank you for the nice comments! But there's a thing here - Should I change my pen name? I currently have one in mind, but I was hesitant because I know my current name is how some people recognise me, and I didn't want them to be all 'Huh? Who's that?' afterwards. I know I'll be writing a ton more and I was wondering if it's better to just change it now so when my audience (hopefully) gets bigger there will be less confusion. What do you think?

"Day Five. Rise and shine, Scherpoopie!" Barney's voice rang through the house as he squatted near Robin's bedside, tugged at her blankets as well as her bed-sheets, trying with all his might to wake her up. And so far, he has had no success.

Sighing, he got up and walked to the other side of her bed, doing the same 'tugging-of-blankets-and-bed-sheets' routine all over again, this time pulling the blinds open, satisfied as he watched rays of sunshine pour into her room.

"Come on. Wake up. Damn it! It's eight in the morning."

He nudged and she grumbled.

"Barney, it's too early in the morning. Don't ask me to wake up. That's rude." She murmured, trying to go back to sleep as she pulled the covers up to her chin again. Burrowing her face deeper into her pillow, she stuck her arm out, gesturing for him to leave her alone.

"It's not early! We need to go places, we need to see things, and we need to meet people!" His voice was desperate and needy, almost equivalent to that of a cry for help.

Given up on driving him away, she faced him, lying still, with eyes still closed. "Can't we just stay in today? We've been out for four days straight. I need to take a break. My wallet needs to take a break."

"Oh." He responded, his tone like firecrackers that had been put out a bit too suddenly. "Do you really want to stay in?"

"Yes please," was all she could offer as she struggled to keep the conversation going, barely willing to move a muscle of the mouth anymore.

"Okay then. I'll just go get changed." His voice sounded slightly strained, but caring nonetheless.

She faltered.

"I thought we're staying in… I mean, if that's fine by you, of course. I know I can be a selfish bitch sometimes, so I don't want you to think that I'm the one making the decisions, because that'd be unfair to y-"

"Yeah, I know. Chill! I'm just going to go get changed… Back. As in, I changed into a suit twenty minutes ago, because, fun fact, contrary to the popular 'Ted Mosby belief', I don't actually sleep in suits."

She paused and sat up, opening her eyes.

"Oh Barney. I'm so sorry. I didn't know you got c-"

"No, it's fine." He smiled. "I can tell you're tired. I'm tired, too. A bit worn out from all the adventures we've had over the past few days. So I guess we can both stay in today? It's not a problem. We can do something mellow."

"No! No. It's just that I feel bad now, after hearing you sound a little down." She winced. "I was pretty cold just now-"

"No you weren't. Be quiet and return to your deep slumber. I'll wake you up in an hour, what do you think?"

She shrunk back under her covers and gave him an apologetic smile.

"Okay, then. I guess we'll do something less exhausting today."

Barney's eyebrows shot up.

"Like sex?"

She had gotten completely used to his quirky sense of humour and his constant need to tease her again, which was good news, because otherwise she would have treated him like any other man sexually harassing her – which would be to punch him hard on the face.

She sighed.

"Not sex. Anything but sex." She declared. "Maybe Twister."

"Yeah, that's basically the same thing."

He snorted, and she shot him a look.

"Don't worry about me, I'll entertain myself. Go get your beauty sleep!" Barney spoke quickly as he left the room before she had a chance to say anymore. He closed the blinds as he did, as well as shut the door behind him carefully, which had just happened to raise a smile on Robin's dreamy, sleep-deprived face.

Barney was sat on her couch, using his phone when Robin had entered her living room, looking fresh and made up despite still being in the tank top she had slept in.

He looked up upon hearing the shuffling of her footsteps and pulled a face of genuine surprise.

"Oh, you're up. It's not been that long."

She paused, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Barney – it's one in the afternoon."

And to that, he shrugged. "Well you looked tired. Proof you needed that sleep, I guess."

"Thanks. For, you know, letting me sleep in."

He let out a laugh, shaking his head. "Are you seriously thanking me for that? Come on! You're an independent strong female who does not need to ask for permission and you know it."

"Still. I was supposed to be taking care of you, and not the other way." Robin smiled and settled on the couch with him, her hand resting subconsciously on his thigh.

Not knowing whether that action was intentional or not, Barney decided not to talk about it anyway. During his years of existence, he had learned – the hard way, sometimes – that if you are ever unsure of your feelings towards someone, the best thing to do is to walk away from it in order to avoid trouble or further explanation.

He knew he had broken his own rule by gushing about Luke and their friendship over emails with Robin, but at least that had seventy percent of his embarrassment avoided by doing it online. He had learned to avoid face-to-face confrontation at all costs, and needless to say, he had also learned to be quite good at it.

Trying not to think about it, he returned the smile along with a wave of his hand, as if to dismiss what she had just said.

"Whatever. We all need to be taken care of sometimes."

"Seriously, thanks."

Robin looked at him in the eye for a brief moment, her smile fading and her expression solemn. Sensing tension building, he yanked her hand away from his thigh, which caught her by surprise.

"Stop being sentimental with me now!" He spoke, quickly changing the subject. "What do you think we should do?"

She was still a bit stunned by him pushing away so suddenly, and was afraid she would take things the wrong way, but decided not to talk about it as well. She thought of him as a friend, and she was positive he felt the same about her. What she did not want was to 'talk about it' and discover additional feelings that were not originally there, nor were needed in the first place.

"Brunch?" She shrugged, laying out a suggestion.

"But I thought you said we're not leaving the house."

"We're not."

She grinned, and he grimaced, upon realising what she meant.

"Wait - we're going to be cooking?"