Disclaimer: I do not own The Big Bang Theory and no profit is being made from this story. I want to thank Amie357 for beta reading.
The drive to the tailor's was a silent one. Sheldon was too lost in his thoughts to say anything and he assumed that Penny was too. After all, it was now out in the open that they were mutually attracted to one another in a romantic sense. Sheldon was not sure how to proceed: should he keep ignore the attraction by getting a new roommate? Should he ignore the attraction and not get a new roommate? Should he attempt to woo Penny? Perhaps he should just focus his attention on the upcoming trip to Stockholm and deal with the Penny situation when they got back home.
Sheldon decided that the last option seemed like the best one. He had, after all, finally achieved his life long dream so he should not let anything distract him from reveling in the glory that winning the Nobel Prize entailed. Yes, it would definitely be best to focus on the Nobel Prize, including the task at hand; getting measured for his new clothes.
The fitting itself went fine. Sheldon was pleased that the tailor didn't once poke him with any needles. He was not too happy about the cost of having a suit custom-made, but the way that he figured it, one only got one Nobel Prize in a lifetime and, since getting a Nobel Prize required the most formal attire there was, it was worth spending the money on the proper attire.
Sheldon was happy that the tailor sold most of the accessories that he required. Having looked up what exactly he needed on the Internet, he picked out white silk suspenders, a black silk top hat, and a white silk evening scarf with tassels on each end. For his bow tie, made of the same white cotton pique fabric as his double breasted vest, he was tempted to go with a bat wing shaped bow tie, because the name reminded him of batman, but he ended up deciding to go with the butterfly shape because that was the classic.
One thing that Sheldon had not anticipated was that he would have a choice between several different cufflink, button, and stud sets. Yes, he was aware, thanks to his research, that the cufflinks, vest buttons, and shirt studs had to match, but he hadn't given much thought to picking them out.
"Help me," Sheldon whispered to Penny as he stared at his options, feeling overwhelmed. He was completely out of his comfort zone.
Sheldon saw Penny give him what he thought was a sympathetic look. He saw her look at the sets carefully before pointing to her favorite.
"Those are really nice," Penny said with an encouraging smile.
"Let me see those," said Sheldon to the tailor.
The tailor raised his eyebrow and gave Sheldon a nod. He looked over to his salesman and summoned him over with a subtle jerk of his head.
"These are platinum faced with genuine mother of pearl," said the sales man, who worked at the same shop as the tailor, as he handed the set to Sheldon.
Sheldon and Penny both looked at the price tag.
"Do you have anything less expensive?" asked Penny, who must have been thinking what Sheldon was thinking. Once in a lifetime event or not, Sheldon did not want to go completely broke, especially since he was now solely paying for his apartment. Platinum was just too expensive.
In the end, Sheldon, with Penny's help, settled on white gold studs and cufflinks, both faced with genuine mother of pearl, and mother of pearl vest buttons to that matched the facing on the shirt studs and cufflinks. They had decided not to go with the sterling silver set because Sheldon did not want to have to worry about polishing.
When it came time to choose pleated or flat-front pants, Sheldon was unsure as to which to get. He decided to leave the decision up to Penny. "Which do you think I should get?" he asked Penny.
"Flat-front," answered Penny. "Pleats just bunch up and don't look as good."
The last decision to be made was the shirt front. Should he go with a stiffened cotton pique or with a fine linen? Again, he let Penny decide.
"I think you should go with the linen," said Penny, "I think it might be more comfortable."
Finally, everything had been decided on except for one thing. "I still need shoes," Sheldon said to Penny. "I'm sorry, but I need you to drive me to a shoe store."
"Oh, I love shopping for shoes!" exclaimed Penny sounding happy.
"I know you do," said Sheldon.
"I've never actually shopped for men's shoes, though, unless you count the time I bought my dad a pair of sneakers for his birthday and they were the wrong size."
"I've never been shopping for shoes with a woman before, unless you count my mom, my meemaw, or my sister. It will be a new experience for both of us."
When they reached the shoe store, Sheldon realized that, thanks to Internet research, he knew more about what kind of shoes that he needed than Penny did. "I might have to do the talking," he told her.
Penny browsed the shoes while Sheldon talked to a short, balding shoe sales man. "I'm going to a white tie event and I need either black patent leather pumps or black patent leather oxfords."
"White tie, huh?" asked the sales man.
"Yes, I'm going to be awarded the Nobel Prize for physics."
"Wow! I'll see what we have in your size."
It turned out that they had both of the requested shoe styles in Sheldon's size.
"What do you think?" Sheldon asked Penny.
"I think you should go with the oxfords. The bow on the other ones looks a little girlie," answered Penny.
They soon paid for the shoes and walked toward the car in companionable silence. They reached the beaten up little red vehicle and Sheldon turned to Penny with a small smile playing around his lips.
"Thank you Penny," Sheldon said sincerely. "This shopping trip would have been a lot more difficult for me had you not been here. I would have had to take the bus and I would have had to make more decisions on my own. You really were a big help to me."
Sheldon saw Penny smile before she said, "You're welcome, sweetie."