8:44am, March 9; 805 Grundy; Edward Nygma
Thursday night with Diedre and Nina had made coming into work on Friday and paying Flass the two-fifty he really couldn't afford just tolerable enough to get through. He played up the apologetic and fearful man Flass expected of him, earning in return a pat on the back and one of those fake friendship platitudes he now recognized for what they were. After Flass had left the room, he let his act drop and seethed to himself, breaking a pencil. He was going to have to put with this for a while, a couple weeks, maybe more, as he gathered information about Flass and looked for an opportunity to set him up. It would be a challenge. Frustrating, too. But the eventual satisfaction would be worth it.
And now he had friends who just might be willing to help him with his new goal. He wasn't going to bring it up to Oswald. He didn't know how much Penguin's friendly overtures were honest or made out of boredom, or perhaps held some further, to be determined, ulterior motive. But Diedre and Nina... Once he had a plan devised, he was going to ask them to help.
It was a decision he came to Saturday, after what could only be called his first 'caper' with them. It was hardly as convoluted as he expected his own plans with Flass would have to be, but they'd proven they were up for the sort of trickery he'd likely need them for.
He was woken up to an obnoxious pounding on his door and loud calls of "Eddie! Eeeeeedddieeee! Are you in there Eddie?" from the two of them. He stumbled out of bed and barely managed to get the door open before the two of them were crowding inside and giving him a hug before making themselves at home in his soon-to-be-not-home.
"Wakey wakey," Diedre called, searching the boxes of clothes he had.
"Eggs and bakey!" Nina finished the rhyme, opening his fridge to inspect it. "...which you do not have. Ugh. First things first, we're taking you to breakfast." She let the door shut slowly and turned on her heel, disgusted at his lack of food.
Before he could protest that his cabinets were bare because of the move, Diedre let out a long 'oooo', standing up with a shirt she'd dug out. It was one he'd gotten on a whim, but had never worn outside of the house because it had far too much shimmer and general glitz with the sequins along the edges of the cuffs and collar to justify wearing anywhere else. That didn't seem to deter Diedre, though, "This one!"
"Oh, oh, I couldn't," he laughed, reddening and hurrying over to try and grab it and bundle it back up. But she held it out of his reach and nodded enthusiastically in response to his shaking head.
"Oh yeah. Definitely this one. Black suit with this under it? You're gonna look great."
"He doesn't have a black suit," Nina lamented, taking up where here girlfriend had left off in digging through the clothes, tossing them everywhere. "Oh! But he has a green one."
"Green works. It'll match the shirt," Diedre laughed and shrieked loudly as Ed lunged for her. She ducked out of his way and jumped over Nina, forcing him to stop lest he, too, tried to hop over her girlfriend.
Nina stood before he could made that decision and held up the dark green suit. It was the muted olive one with black pinstripes he often wore to work. One that looked brown in most lighting. She held it up to him, "Well, it's not as flashy as the shirt, but that'll just make it stand out all the more. It'd be better without the coat, though. Pants and vest only."
Diedre approached, holding the shirt up and yanking it out of reach when he tried to grab for it again, "Yeah. Agreed. Vest and pants with this one. It'll be just a bit of a clash, but we don't have a lot to work with."
Ed held up his hands, stalling for a moment as he took a deep breath and swallowed it. Then adjusted his glasses and reached out, slowly, to take both the shirt and suit. The two let him have it after a short tug backwards and raised eyebrows that challenged him to just try and put the clothes away. With two of them it was a battle he'd lose and he didn't want his dignity to go with... whatever this was about.
"I'm assuming this isn't just to take me out to breakfast," he asked once he had his hands on the clothes and started to skirt around them towards the bathroom.
"Nope," Diedre confirmed, hands behind her back.
"We're going someplace nice," Nina followed up, mirroring her girlfriend's pose.
"Ten minutes," they said together in sing-song.
He was still for a fraction of a heartbeat, then rushed into the bathroom, slamming and locking the door lest they try and follow him in and force him into the gaudy outfit they'd picked out for him.
10:04am, March 9; Wayne Plaza; Edward Nygma
'Someplace nice' turned out to be the Gotham City International Motorcycle Expo. And industry show that wasn't open to the public and for which he was most certainly inappropriately dressed. But apparently that was the goal. To make him look just ridiculous enough that, with Diedre and Nina on his arms, the assumption would be he was some private billionaire with a little too much time and money on his hands and no sense of taste whatsoever.
The show wasn't so much for him, though, as it was for Nina.
"I've been wanting to come for years," she admitted on the car ride over. "Never managed to figure out a way in. But when Mr. Cobblepot asked about us leaving, and Diedre told him it was to see you, he wanted to make sure everything was all right. So I jumped in and said you seemed really torn up about the move and just needed a nice day out."
"And that's when she suggested maybe getting on the list for the Expo might cheer you up," Diedre continued as she slowly maneuvered the car around the parking garage of Wayne Plaza to find a spot. "You know, just being able to go to an industry event that you'd have no chance of getting into normally. When he asked if you had an interest in motorcycles, I vouched for you. So remember, if he asks, you like motorcycles."
"Right. Motorcycles," he nodded, smiling.
"And," Nina went on, leaning against his side, "I thought it would be to spend time with you. You're basically my girlfriend's boyfriend at this point, so I should get to know you, too."
That caught him off guard, "I- no! No no no no, I'm not-"
"Oh, not like that," she interrupted, rolling her eyes with a soft 'pfft', "Relax."
Diedre parked the car, shutting it off before turning to face them from the driver's seat as she held out the invitation, "Alright, kiddos. Here's the pass inside. It's for one Mr. Nichols, private investor. Mr. Nichols himself was unable to come. Bad case of broken fingers, so I heard. I'm sure it'll pass. Anyway, Mr. Nichols is, instead, sending you, his son, to look on his behalf."
Ed nodded along, eyes going a little wide a the flippant mention of broken fingers, but otherwise taking it all in stride.
"No one here should know his son, because he doesn't have one. So don't worry about anyone calling you out. Just play the part of rich boy and if you need help with any of the technical stuff, Nina's your girl. No one should pry, but if you get the feeling someone is, give me a nudge. I'll do the distracting and conversation change. Most of the guests should be men and the women from the industry will likely want to avoid a spoiled millionaire with a couple of bimbos on his arms."
"Got it." He committed the instructions to memory, then looked between the two, "Anything else?"
Nina leaned across his waist and opened the door, "Remember to have fun."
8:09pm March 9; 1544 Cypress Court; Nina Damfino
She unzipped Diedre's dress and helped her step out of it. The cloth fell to the floor, pooling around her feet. The vision of her, dressed in a leather bodice and thong that had no business being worn under a such a thin, skintight sleeve of a dress, made her smile. A secret just for her.
She wrapped her arms around her girlfriend's shoulders and kissed her hair, lips moving to her ear and then down her jaw. Diedre tilted her head to accommodate, letting out a happy hum as she shut her eyes and enjoyed the affection.
"I take it that means you enjoyed today?" she asked as Nina's teeth started to nip at her collarbone.
"I did," she answered, lifting her head, then nuzzling into Diedre's hair. "You didn't tell me he actually liked motorcycles. When he started in about the engine structure of the HXT Leopard, I almost couldn't keep my jaw off the floor."
"I didn't know. We talked about hobbies and brought it up, but he seemed more interested in what skydiving was like." Diedre turned to face her, arms circling her waist loosely. She bit at her lip, eyes down for a moment, then looked up so she could meet her gaze, "You like him?"
Nina nodded, "Yeah. He's nice. Like, really nice. Not once did his hand stray where it shouldn't. Didn't expect that. You've had shit taste in men before, you know."
"You're gonna hold that against me forever aren't you?" It was asked with good humor. An old joke between them.
"Only a little bit longer. I can be convinced to shorten it, though. But you have to have a very good argument."
Diedre leaned in to kiss her. Slow, a languid affair they'd shared hundreds of times but never got tired of.
"Mmm," she breathed out as they parted, "That's a good, solid opening statement. Got any more?"