Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! So sorry for the long wait for this chapter. I kept wanting to write more chapters before I ran out, but it just wasn't happening...

Anyway, this is just a fluffy piece...a more serious one will be posted next (and I'll try and get it up by next week, I promise!).

...hope you enjoy it! :)

Nothing Suits Me Like A Suit

Try to see it my way
Only time will tell if I am right or I am wrong
While you see it your way
There's a chance that we may fall apart before too long
We can work it out

- The Beatles, We Can Work It Out.

"Let's go... wait, what was it that we were going to do again?" Robin asked as she stepped into Lily's apartment. Lily had called her up in a ball of excited energy this morning and demanded that she accompany her and Barney on a trip of... yeah, that was the part she didn't quite get the grip on...

"G.S.S.U.B.C.C... or, as I like to call it, 'ger-sub-c'!"

Robin shook her head, uncomprehending.

"Guiltless Shopping Spree Using Barney's Credit Card, ger-sub-c!"

Robin raised a questioning brow at her friend. "Yeah... I don't think that anagram quite works Lily..."

Lily pouted, eyes screwing in concentration as she turned the term over in her head. "Yeah," she finally responded with a sigh, "catchy anagrams are hard to come by. Coffee?" she offered, handing Robin a mug. Robin laughed as she took it.

"Anyway, you sure it's right to do that?" she asked, taking a sip of the steaming espresso and smiling as she felt it warming its way down into her stomach. "I mean... it's kinda mean to take advantage of your friend like that, even IF he is Barney. Plus, he doesn't even work anymore, so who knows if there's even money in his bank to pay it off?"

"Oh, Marshall already sorted that out," Lily waved her off dismissively. "Barney had enough leave saved up to last at least another year, and then after that his company is still required to pay him an ongoing disability pension... and that alone is worth around five times Marshall's wage."

Robin almost choked on her coffee. "What DOES he do for a living?!"

Lily shrugged. "Marshall said that part of his contract was classified, so he wasn't able to access it."

"Well... now I don't feel so bad about using his money. Say, I heard a new Tiffany's opened downtown..."

Now it was Lily's turn to laugh. "Robin Scherbatsky! What kind of people do you think we are?" she mock scolded. "We're only going shopping for Barney's stuff, so unless you convince him that he really needs something from Tiffany's, you are staying away from that store, my lady!" she finished, wagging her finger disapprovingly at her friend. Robin scowled playfully at her.

"Robin!" Barney's cheerful voice interrupted them, racing over from his bedroom to smother her into a hug whilst Robin did her best to hold her burning hot mug away from him. Having him regressed back to a child, they found that Barney was surprisingly affectionate, especially considering Barney as an adult generally shied away from any gesture that could be construed as "feelings" of any kind. But this was child Barney, his state of mind before he built a ten foot solid iron impenetrable wall around himself.

"Whoa, hey Barney!" she greeted him back once she managed to safely place the drink onto the coffee table. He snuggled into her a bit more before lifting his head to face her, blue eyes wide and beaming, short blonde hair sticking out at various angles that told her he had tumbled out of bed not too long ago. Well... that and the fact that he was clad only in boxer shorts and a thin T-shirt... a very thin T-shirt. Alarmingly, she quickly pushed down the tiny niggling voice inside her that recognized she was actually a little turned on right now, by the intimacy, the attraction, bringing her back to times she had convinced herself was better left forgotten.

"Lily says we're going shopping!"

His voice, the same voice but intoned with so much childish wonder that it was also so very much not the same, pulled her out of her reverie.

"Yes we are, but not in the state of dress you are in right now, young man," Lily admonished, pulling him up and steering him back towards his bedroom. "I thought I told you to get dressed?"

"I couldn't find a suit!"

"You're not wearing a suit," Lily chided, sighing as though she had repeated the same sentence a thousand times prior.

"But I need to suit up!"

"Barney," Lily warned, causing him to bite back whatever he had intended to say next.

"But I can't get my arm through the sleeve," he whinged instead, swinging his cast for emphasis.

"Fine... Come on, I'll help you," she resigned, the two of them disappearing into the bedroom whilst Robin giggled.

"Hold still, Barney!" Lily ordered for the hundredth time, using one hand to pin Barney's arm to his side whilst she attempted to measure his shoulder width against the shirt she was holding up with her other. They were at the men's clothing section of a lush department store, Lily trying to find some suitable casual clothes for him.

Barney whined unhappily, struggling away from her.

"No... I don't like it!"

"Barney," Lily groaned in frustration as the shirt slipped out of her hands and onto the ground.

"It's yucky! It's Ted!"

"I guess it does look more like something Ted would wear more than Barney," Robin interjected, bending down to pick the shirt back up and handing it to Lily. "How about we try those two sleeved ones... you know, the ones where it looks like you're wearing a short sleeve over a long sleeve? Would you like those more, Barney?"

Barney gave her a dirty look before stamping his feet in protest. "No! I want suits!"

"Well, we're not getting suits, so either you pick something you like here, or we'll just get you ten of these shirts," Lily scolded, losing her patience with him. Robin shrunk back, but Barney didn't seem fazed.

"NOOOOOOOO!" he screamed, grabbing the whole rack of green and brown patterned shirts and pulling them to the ground. Several onlookers and shop assistants started approaching them, but stopped a few feet away, afraid to confront the grown man having a livid childish fit before them. Robin kept her eyes on the ground, willing for a hole to open up and swallow her whole.

"Barney Stinson..." Lily seethed through her teeth, eyes blazing. "You pick those up right now," she ordered him, but he stubbornly crossed his arms, glaring at her challengingly. "Fine." Robin finally peeked up from the ground at Lily's change of tone, "That's fine, Barney. I was just about to pull them all off and buy them anyway, since I know just how much you love them and would like to wear them every single day so you can look just like your good friend Ted, am I right? Thanks for helping me take them of the rack!" She smiled smugly at him, bending down to pick them all up into her arms before turning to walk off in the direction of the cashier. Barney reached out and grabbed her arm in a panic, tugging her back, a sob escaping his lips.

"No..." This time it was soft, remorseful. "Please..." He sniffed. Lily turned back around to face him.

"You don't want these shirts?" she asked testily. He shook his head desperately, a lone tear spilling from the corner of his eyes. "What about the ones Robin suggested? You want to try those on?"

He nodded, using the back of his hand to swipe away the stray tear.

"Okay then," Lily reached out to gently squeeze his shoulder, "but first I want you to clean up this mess you made," she told him, lifting up the pile of shirts he had pulled. He sniffed again, a blush of red tinting his cheeks in embarrassment. Reaching for the pile of shirts, he sheepishly began hanging them back neatly onto the rack, struggling to complete the task with a cast over one arm. Somewhat pitying her chided friend, Robin smiled as she too grabbed some of the shirts to help him. Having succeeded in reprimanding her charge, Lily turned her attention to the crowd of judging eyes.

"That's enough people, show is over," Lily hollered, glaring hard at them. "Goodbye." Robin grinned in admiration at Lily's spunk as the crowd began to disperse.

Once the shirts were all neatly hung, Lily continued her retail blitz, pulling them to every stand within sight to measure up the items against Barney. Having been thoroughly reproached, Barney for the most part kept quiet, answering only with shakes and nods, a pout permanently fixed on his lips. They made their way through various racks of shirts, T-shirts, pants, shorts (Barney shook his head adamantly in this section and almost burst into tears when Lily tried to convince him to try a pair on – "Marshall said I have skinny little chicken legs" he had whimpered to them), jackets, sweats, hoodies and even socks, before Lily finally announced that they acquired enough on this floor and that they could leave, a dozen bags of purchased goods in their arms. Robin noticed Barney looking much chirpier on the escalator, though misery once again contorted his features when they reached the next floor of the department store and were met with what seemed like even more aisles of clothing. Seeing her friend staring glumly at the ground whilst Lily started browsing through the sleep wear section, Robin comfortingly squeezed his arm.

"You holding up alright, Barney?" she asked, trying to prompt some conversation out of him. He pouted at her miserably, engulfing her into his arms and leaning his head onto her shoulder. Taken aback by the reaction, she hesitated slightly, but eventually wrapped her arms back around him, giving him a hug.

"Lily should be done soon," she reassured him, but felt his head shaking against her.

"No she's not, it's going to take forever and forever," he sniffed back at her, lifting his head to make sure Lily was not within hearing range. Robin stifled a giggle at how much fear Lily had managed to instill into him. She felt him burying his face back into her shoulder and her heart filled with pity for her friend. Lily was tough to contend with when in shopping mode.

"How about... the two of us go look at something else while Lily is finishing up here?" she whispered into his ear, smiling as his head perked up, eyes widened in disbelief.

"Really?"

Robin nodded, grinning when she felt him wrap his arms tightly around her again, this time excitedly.

"Hey Lil, we're just going to go look around. You have his measurements right? We'll be back here in... half an hour, okay?" Robin informed Lily, the latter simply nodding back, too caught up in the assorted pairs of patterned pajamas she was trying to choose from. Without any hesitation, Barney grabbed Robin's hand in excitement and pulled her away, racing to the nearest escalator.

"Wait, Barney, where're we going?" hollered Robin as she was dragged after him. Barney giggled, finally turning to face her when they stepped onto the escalator.

"To see SUITS!"

They ended up buying as many sets of three piece suits as Lily did pairs of pajamas, though Barney amusingly tried to hide the bags behind his back when they went back to see Lily, the latter shaking her head in resignation.

"You can wear them for special occasions, I guess," she sighed, affectionately tickling his side as he grinned triumphantly. The three of them decided to visit Marshall's burger restaurant for lunch, as a treat, and afterwards browsed through a couple of smaller stores before Lily noticed Barney's drooping eyelids and realized he was due for his afternoon nap (The doctor had warned them that Barney would require much more rest while he was healing, due to the stress on his mental and physical body. And since they found him almost face planting into his dinner every night, Lily decided to make him nap in the afternoon). Now, they were in a cab, on their way back to Dowisetrepla. Barney was seated between Lily and Robin, his newly acquired suits hugged tightly against his body as if they were going to disappear if he didn't hold onto them well enough. He had refused to put them in the trunk with the rest of the shopping.

"Can I wear my suits tomorrow?" he asked, turning to Lily who frowned at him.

"Only on special occasions, Barney," she answered him. "Tomorrow's not a special occasion." He pouted, and Robin could almost see the wheels turning in his head.

"Is a wedding a special occasion?"

Lily nodded, eyes rolling slightly, though ever-patient with him.

"Yes, you can wear your suits at a wedding."

"What about birthdays?" he asked again.

"No, Barney, no suits on birthdays."

"But, we wore a suit to your birthday last year," he rebutted.

"That was different. It was a black tie event."

"So I can wear a suit if it's a black tie birthday?"

"Yes, if it's a black tie birthday, then you can wear a suit."

"Robin, Robin... can you have a black tie birthday party?" he turned to her now, eyes shining in hope. Robin laughed.

"Well... sure Barney, if you want... though, I was thinking of holding my party at the Hoser Hut this year, so we'd look pretty out of place!" she joked, laughing even more at Barney's pained expression that followed. He turned away from her in disgust.

"Can you have a black tie party next year too, Lily?"

Lily shrugged, shaking her head. "We'll see," she answered, pulling him so he could rest comfortably on her shoulder when she noticed his eyelids drooping again.

"Is Christmas a special occasion?"

"Uh huh."

"Easter?"

"Barney, we don't even celebrate Easter!"

He rose from her shoulder and turned to stare at the front in silence for a moment, before turning to face her.

"Can I wear a suit when I go to Easter Mass on Good Friday and Easter Sunday?"

Something in his eyes and expression told her that he wasn't making up the tradition, and she questioned just how much of Barney Stinson she understood. Seeing him yawn, she cuddled him against her again, beckoning for Robin to take his bag from him.

"Rest," she told him when he struggled to pull the bag back into his arms.

"But you haven't answered my question yet."

"Fine... yes, you can wear a suit when you go to Easter Mass, okay?"

He nodded, satisfied, finally succumbing to his heavy eyelids and closing his eyes.

"I love suits..."