A couple of days later, Murphy returned mid-morning from a mysterious errand, and immediately bounded over to Oswald, full of energy and excitement. "Come on," he said brightly. "The weather's actually decent today, so we're going out." He looked over Oswald's attire, then added: "We'll need to get you some different clothes first, though."
Oswald looked up at Murphy, his eyebrow raised in confusion. "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"
"Oh, the suit's very stylish, and looks fantastic on you as always," said Murphy. "But it won't work for what we're doing. You'll need something more casual, trust me."
"Why, where are we going?" Oswald asked going to the door to put his shoes on, trusting Murphy but at the same time skeptical about where Murphy was taking him.
"You'll see when we get there," Murphy said grinning, and took Oswald by the hand. "Come on, let's go!"
Oswald followed Murphy outside, walking alongside him in silence. At least it wasn't raining anymore. Sure the sky wasn't blue, it rarely was in Gotham but it seemed to be a decent day out at the very least.
"You're not even going to hint at where we're going?" Oswald asked.
"Nope," said Murphy cheerfully. "Hey, I think I caught a rare sighting of the sun just now. Almost forgot what it looks like." He headed for a nearby clothes store. "You should be able to find something more casual here."
Oswald looked at the store sign and the shop window. It looked like something you would find a couple of teenagers at, not a few grown men, young as they may be. "DJ Ray Skate and Surf Supply?" Oswald asked, unsure of why there was even a surf store in Gotham. Maybe the fashion was in with the teens of Gotham. Who really knew anymore, teen fashions changed faster than Oswald could keep up with, even when he was a teenager. "I'm not dressing like I'm fourteen. It's bad enough I still get ID'd everywhere I go."
Murphy rolled his eyes. "You're 20," he said. "You're supposed to get ID'd. No one wants to lose their liquor license, even in Gotham. Now, will you just go inside? Like I said, you'll need something more casual for this. There's no one you have to impress today, anyway."
"This is beyond casual ..." Oswald said. "I'm not going in there. I don't care where we're going, what I'm wearing is fine."
"It really won't be," Murphy insisted. "Can you just trust me about this small thing at least?" He took Oswald's hand. "Onward!" He proceeded to head into the store.
Oswald shook his head but followed Murphy into the store, pulling his hand out of Murphy's before anyone saw. It wasn't that he was ashamed to be seen with Murphy it's just that ... Well, Gotham wasn't exactly the most accepting of homosexuals.
Murphy didn't take it personally that Oswald pulled his hand away like that. No one had been really looking at them at the time, but… it was always a good idea to be careful. Anyway, he'd gotten him into the store at least, which had been his goal.
"Okay," he said, starting to look over the skateboard selection. "Go pick out an outfit you don't hate. You'll also want comfortable shoes with good traction."
It didn't take a genius to figure out what Murphy had planned. "Murphy, I can't skateboard. No."
Murphy looked back at Oswald with a somewhat chagrined smile. "Was I that obvious?" Granted, he hadn't exactly been a master of subtlety about this. "It doesn't matter," he said. "I can teach you. It'll be fun to try something different for a change."
"No. I'm going to make a fool of myself." Oswald said shaking his head. He heard the sound of giggling and looked over to see two teens laughing at him. "Can we just leave?"
Murphy looked over at the teens and said mildly: "Shouldn't you two be in school? The truancy officer owes me a favor anyway…" The teenagers shot him an angry glare before clearing off. Murphy turned back to Oswald. "You will not make a fool of yourself. You'll just look like any other beginner starting out. Everyone who's actually skated," and wasn't some damn poser teenager trying to look cool. "Knows what it's like to be just starting out. No one there's going to laugh at you. Please, I just want to do something together."
"Can't we do something else then? Bowling maybe? I can do that ..." At least it sounded easier anyway. He'd never been bowling before. Well ... At least not participating anyway. He remembered his dad taking him and his brothers bowling once, but he wasn't allowed to play because it was cheaper paying for three boys instead of four.
"We'll go bowling next time," said Murphy. He'd considered that as a possible date idea already, and he wanted to come up with a variety of activities they could do together. So far, the only things they'd done just the two of them were sex and homicide, and he wasn't sure what that meant. "But right now, this is something I really want to do together," he said. "Just give it a try before you decide you can't do it. Please?"
"I haven't decided I can't do it, I know I can't do it." Oswald said crossing his arms over his chest. "Fine." He said annoyed. "But I don't know what I'm looking for, I don't dress like this."
Murphy couldn't help smiling slightly at the petulant look on Oswald's face, or the way that he crossed his arms. "Thank you for being a good sport about it," he said, patting Oswald's shoulder briefly, not letting his touch linger long enough to draw attention. "I'll make it worth your while later," he added in a low voice, then said: "Come on, I'll help you pick something out."
Oswald sighed as he followed Murphy over to the clothing section of the store. "These clothes are expensive Murphy ... I'm not wasting my money on something I'm only going to wear once." He said hoping it would get him out of this.
"You're not paying, so don't worry about it," said Murphy. "Anyway, it's not like they cost nearly as much as those suits you wear, and you wouldn't want to risk tearing one of those while you're skateboarding." Since Oswald was a beginner, losing his balance a few times was pretty much inevitable.
He picked out a black hoodie, a pair of pants that looked like they'd be a comfortable fit, in about the right size, and a shirt that he didn't think Oswald would particularly object to. He handed the ensemble to Oswald. "Go try these on and see if they fit," he said.
Oswald looked annoyed as he took the clothing and headed over to the change rooms. He took his time as he took his suit off and pulled the clothing on. His black pants fit but where a lot baggier than he liked as they weren't fit for him like his suit was, and the hoody was a bit too loose, but he supposed it was supposed to be like that. He looked at himself in the mirror and sighed.
By the time Oswald had finished reluctantly changing, Murphy had already selected a couple of boards of reasonable quality, and was waiting outside the changing rooms. "Everything okay in there, Oswald?" he asked. He'd been in there awhile.
"No, everything is not okay." Oswald whined. "I look ridiculous." He said not wanting to come out of the change room. He looked stupid.
"I doubt that," said Murphy, smiling slightly. If he accomplished nothing else from this outing, maybe he could at least get Oswald to stop being so overly critical about his own appearance. "Why don't you come out and get a second opinion?"
"Murphy, I could be wearing a potato sack and you'd say I looked good." He said slowly opening the door and poking his head out to see if there was anyone else in the hall. He sighed and stepped out. "I look dumb …"
Murphy grinned. "You do not look dumb," he said. He thought the hoodie looked adorable on him, and the look worked well with his hairstyle. "And while I'll admit I might be slightly biased in my opinion that you could pull off wearing a potato sack, no one at the skate park's going to think you look dumb wearing the same kind of clothes everyone else is. You look good, I promise."
Oswald sighed. "Fine, let's get this over with." He said going back into the room and changing back into his suit.
"It'll be fun," Murphy insisted. But he appreciated that Oswald was at least going along with this for him, even if he didn't seem overly enthusiastic about it right now. He went to pay for the clothes and the two skateboards.
"$200 for a skateboard?" Oswald whispered to Murphy, picking up the deck and looking at the bottom. He shook his head at the picture of a penguin on an icy background. "Don't do this … It's too much money."
"You don't want a crappy board that'll break, or that won't maneuver properly," Murphy reasoned. "Trust me on that. It's better long-term to buy one decent board than to keep buying crappy ones."
"You keep implying I'll be doing this more than once. And was the Penguin necessary?" He asked annoyed.
"Well, you'd have to do it more than once to get good at it, wouldn't you?" Murphy reasoned. "And if you really hate the penguin skateboard, we can trade. Though if you don't think you'll use it more than once, does it really matter that much?"
Oswald glared at Murphy before walking away from him to wait at the entrance before he started an argument.
Murphy ignored the glare and went ahead and paid for the items, then went to meet Oswald at the entrance. "Shall we?" he asked.
"Do I have a choice?" He asked not even wanting to know exactly how much Murphy just spent on all the items. It had to be at least a week's pay. "Since I doubt they have a change room wherever we're going ... Where am I changing?" He asked looking at a black flat brimmed baseball cap. "You really like me in black don't you?"
"You happen to look very striking in black," Murphy said matter-of-factly. And he would really love to see Oswald develop the confidence to go with it. He glanced at his watch. "We can go get lunch somewhere first, and you can use the restroom to change," he suggested.
"Fine." Oswald said, still clearly annoyed that he had to wear those clothes out in public. "Where are we going?"
"Since I picked today's activity," not to mention Oswald's clothes. "Do you want to pick the restaurant?" If not, Murphy could think of a few, but he didn't want Oswald to feel like he didn't have control over anything.
"I don't care." Oswald said, clearly unhappy about this. Murphy just spent way too much money on something he's expecting to do more than once and he knew he wasn't going to be able to do it.
"Okay," Murphy said, putting a hand on Oswald's shoulder. "Come on, there's a good sandwich place near the park. That sound alright to you?"
"Yeah that's fine." He said following Murphy down the street.
Murphy led the way to a small but cosy and relentlessly clean sandwich shop, the specials of the day written neatly on chalk signs. An elderly-looking man behind the counter gave them a kind smile as they offered to take their order as soon as they were ready.
"I think we'll need a minute to decide, thanks," Murphy said pleasantly, and glanced over at Oswald, who still seemed a little sulky.
"I'm ready whenever you are." Oswald said barely even glancing up at the menu. He already knew what he wanted, it was what he always got at sandwich shops like this, on the rare occasion his mother had taken him to one growing up. As an adult he hadn't found a need to go to one, he could afford to eat most places in Gotham now … Well, most lower grade restaurants anyway.
Murphy ordered a ham and Swiss sandwich, and then waited for Oswald to place his order, getting out his wallet so that he could pay for both of them. He knew Oswald didn't like how much money Murphy had spent on the skateboards and clothes, but surely he couldn't object to Murphy buying him a sandwich..
Oswald shook his head. "I'll get a tuna sandwich please." He said handing the man a 20 before Murphy could object otherwise.
"Hey," Murphy protested. "I was going to take care of that."
The man behind the counter shrugged. "Too late now," he said, as he took Oswald's 20 and gave him back his change, then set about preparing their sandwiches.
Oswald stepped away from the counter as the man gave him back his change and gave them their sandwiches. "Where are we going to eat?" He asked, looking around and seeing no where available to sit.
"Well, the weather's still decent for Gotham," Murphy said. "Why don't we take our sandwiches to the park, find a bench, enjoy the distinct lack of rain. You should probably go use the restroom to change before we leave, though. I'll hold your sandwich."
Oswald sighed and handed Murphy his sandwich before heading into the bathroom with his bag. He changed quickly, holding the hat in his hand as he went back to meet Murphy.
"I look like an idiot." He said as a small group of kids in a booth where pointing and laughing, though he wasn't sure whether it was because of the way he was dressed or just him in general. That happened quite often no matter what he was wearing.
"No you don't," Murphy said, handing Oswald the tuna sandwich and held the door open for him. "Come on, let's go." He glanced over at the group of kids and said, not bothering to keep his voice down: "There's a bunch of losers hanging around here anyway."
The kids burst out laughing as Oswald left the restaurant, the kids calling out insults insinuating he needed his boyfriend to protect him. Shouts of "faggot" came from the building as Oswald went out onto the street. "Sure ..." He said as he started walking down the street towards the park.
Murphy ignored the foul-mouthed brats as he left with Oswald, though a dark expression settled over his face at the word 'faggot.' Someone seriously needed to wash their mouths out with soap. He tried to forget about it. They were just a bunch of idiot kids. They didn't know any better. Of course, they probably wouldn't know any better as adults either. Nothing ever changed. He couldn't keep thinking like this today, though. Oswald was sulking enough for the both of them. He brightened as they neared the park. "There's a bench over there that's not taken," he said.