The past few weeks of the relationship had been so screwed up. What had been so easy, so effortless at first, had gotten so hard.
But the way it happened and how it was now was the weirdest part. They'd always been so sure of themselves and who they were.
But now Barney was acting so shy. He retreated into himself, too scared of him and his tendencies to mess everything up. He had grown up so much with Robin in his life, but he just couldn't catch on to this. It felt like he was falling down off a cliff and as many chances as he had to grab hold of something, he missed them all. Even with his best efforts, it never worked. So he turned into what he never wanted to be, but thought he had to be in order to keep things up. And that meant spending almost all of his time at the bar.
And Robin, who had always seen him so clearly, saw that he was scared, but didn't know what to do about it. It was different as a couple, she couldn't just tell him to grow a pair and get over it.
Instead she pushed and pulled to get Barney back, to get him of out his theoretical shell. Robin tried entirely too hard, becoming almost obsessed with not ruining it. She had to try her hardest, if she did, she couldn't fail. That was how she treated everything else so why not Barney?
But the more she pushed him the more he pulled away. She was felt like she was trying to approach a pigeon. It would step back every time she tried to get closer, even though all she ever did was help that bird… It was just so frustrating for the two.
Sometimes at the bar when a guy would hit on Robin, she would go mental, seeing an opportunity for Barney to act more like a boyfriend and less like a pigeon.
"Barney, kick his ass." She prompted him. Since she loved fighting and he loved to argue, it should be an easy fix, right?
"Stop," was all he said. Very un-Barney, of him. The thing was that no one knew whether he was taking to the guy or to Robin.