The morning sunshine beams in through the curtained windows, the guys still lie sleeping on the couch.
"Wake up, sleepyheads!"
Fred opens his tired eyes and is greeted by Betty standing over him
"Huh?.. hey Betty.." He groans whilst
Barney still clings on, cuddling him from behind as he sleeps
"You boys look so cute all snuggled up together..!" She compliments them.
"Y-your not mad?" Fred seems confused, expecting negative reception
"Why would I be mad? I'm so glad you two have worked things out." Betty smiles
...
The talking causes Barney to snap out of dreamland and open his eyes, too.
Betty sees that he's awake and greets him
"Awwww... my Barney!"
"You looked so happy and you were cuddling Fred.. how cute.!"
He blushes
"I-I was??"
"Yes, Barney- you're such a good friend"
Fred smiles at her complement to his pal
"Shucks, Betty... and you're not mad?"
Barney replies, bringing a confused look to Betty's face
"You both worry too much- I have no reason not to be ecstatic that you're so caring for Fred."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fred sits up and Barney follows
"Group hug?" He asks
"Of course"
Betty and Barney reply in sync before coming into a tight hug with Fred.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Now don't be late for work, Fred. Wouldn't want to make Mr. Slate cranky.." She says, relaying Wilma's message since she's still in bed, sleeping.
...
Before walking away, Betty kisses Barney and leaves one on Fred's forehead
"See ya later, boys."
...
...
"Let's get ready, Barney"
"Okay, Fred"
They proceed to walk into the bathroom to get ready.
Fred fixes his hair, has a shave, and brushes his teeth
Barney brushes his teeth, too, then gets a shower- and even though he's not at home, he still sings as he washes himself.
Instead of ridiculing him, Fred chuckles and smiles- realizing how cute it is.
...
...
When he's done, Barney hops out- he grabs a towel and combs out his beautiful blond hair in front of the mirror. To style it, he uses some of Fred's hair gel to slick it to the left side and have it stay there.
"Hey, Fred- c'mere for a second" he calls
"Yeah, Barn?" Fred comes in to see what he needs
"Do ya like my hair this way?"
"...and do I trim up the beard or keep it shaggy?"
He asks for Fred's second opinion
"I say you're lookin' handsome, as always."
"But... if you want my opinion, I think the beard is sexy- and if it's buggin' you, trim it up a little."
"Most importantly, don't worry about what I think, though, do what you like."
Fred reassures him
"Awww.. thank ya Fred.."
He steps out to let Barney finish up getting ready
"Now to quietly get my clothes.." Fred thinks to himself as he sneaks into the bedroom where Wilma still sleeps.
Being aware of how noisy he is- he tiptoes to the closet and fetches his orange fur and his usual tie. Fred then proceeds to tiptoe out, closing the door behind him.
"Well done, Fred.. a job well done.." He pats himself on the back.
Barney walks out of the bathroom and puts on his everyday shirt- while Fred slips out of his PJs and changes into his work clothes.
...
Heading into the kitchen, he grabs his lunch pail and then gets a few things from the icebox- secretly bringing something for Barney as well.
"Ready to go, Barn?"
"I'm ready, Freddie!" Barney gleefully replies
"So let's go." Fred motions for him to follow him out the front door.
They walk out together and hop into Fred's car. Once they get far enough from Betty and Wilma's line of sight, Barney looks to his friend and asks
"Where ya gonna take me?" in a cheery tone
"Heh-heh- you'll see!" Fred smiles
...
...
...
"Oh- a surprise? Gee.. Fred, why so much excitement so early in the morning?? Hehehehe."
There's a pause before he adds
"With the excitement ya gave me... last night- I outta be good for a week!"
Fred acts confused
"Excitement?"
"What do you mean?"
He scratches his head, much like he did before. Putting on his nervous, innocent act.
The next minute or so of the ride is silent.
"I mean... what we did." Barney reminds him
"What did we do?"
"We cooked dinner for the girls and watched a fight on TV- what's so exciting about that???"
Fred teased
Barney can't tell if he's being serious or not.
He frowns.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fred startles him by suddenly nudging him with his elbow
"You gotta quit fallin' for it when I play dumb, Barn.!"
"Uhh... y-yeah- sorry, Fred."
...
They approach an intersection and the worker chimp on the signal pole turns the sign to 'STOP'
...
He slows the car, then brings it to a stop.
"Don't scare me with those kinds of jokes... please..??" Barney looks at Fred with a pleading expression
"You don't want me worryin' all the time, do ya?" He asks
Fred looks Barney in the eyes
"No.. I don't want to make you worry... and- I-I'm sorry... from now on I'll joke about other things instead, how 'bout that, Barn?"
"Thank ya again, Fred."
He leans in and Fred does too, they share a quick kiss before being interrupted by the signal monkey
"Wow! I get a real show... two guys kissing!"
"-and they say I'M the one 'monkeying around-"
The monkey makes fun and cackles at them
...
Fred angrily hops out of the car and shakes his fist
"YOU SHUT YOUR LITTLE MONKEY MOUTH BEFORE I SILENCE YOU MYSELF!!"
"OOOH! OOOH! OOOH!" the monkey taunts
"You're not untouchable just because you're on a traffic signal, punk!"
"I'll tear you to pieces!" Fred continues yelling while looking up towards the creature
The signal changes and the monkey continues laughing
"go, go, and a-go! Silly boys!"
A car honks from behind them
"Get goin' bub, we ain't got all day!"
a man calls from the car
"Let's get outta here, Fred." Barney pats him on the shoulder, trying to comfort his best buddy.
They resume driving- and with his left hand on the steering wheel, and the other hand holding Barney's, the journey to the surprise date continues.
Soon, they've completely forgotten about the run-in with the mean monkey.
Besides, they're probably smarter than he'll ever be- with his dead-end job on the traffic pole..
The rest of the way there is a peaceful ride, their warm hands still cling together as they roll down the road, shamelessly-