"Oh, you got to be kidding me..."
Waiting for the email the night before, Velma had indeed fell asleep. Thankful for her foresight and setting an alarm. That allowed her to get up with enough time to get ready and get out of the door, traveling to the location in time. Relying heavily with her GPS on her smart phone, to reach the address that had been sent to her. But in her rush, she hadn't gotten the time to see where she was heading...
Which earned the groan as she craned her neck to look up at the towering, store before her.
It was Gotham's most famous, and expensive jewelry shop in the city. Sitting its whopping half a city block wide, and several floors high, the looming shadow of the massive building made her heart drop. This wasn't the kind of store that her patents would go with, making her afraid of the motive behind her being there. It was gaudy, it was huge... and no doubt expensive. Just oozing rich and the wealthy shopped here. Only the upper class is allowed in. Peasants like her, need not apply.
'No, he's not really like that. You know that now, don't you? He didn't bring you here to flaunt this wealth over his new girlfriend... right?'
Her mind tried to remind her, but a part of her brain knew that there was still going to have to be these sorts of things for them to deal with, if they were to work as a couple. Especially being in the public eye. And Velma would probably have to end up dressed up to the nines to attend some of the fancy pants things that he needed to do as the illustrious Bruce Wayne. Not that she would like it, but she had to do something similar at times for mysteries. So, a necessary evil, in her mind. Just not one she was looking forward to, or wished to have to do any time soon.
Her mind still clashing with her doubt at the thought of being titled 'girlfriend' and calling him 'boyfriend'. Calling 'THE' Bruce Wayne, 'her' boyfriend. Mind blowing to think about. But he has asked her early on in a message if she would mind. And since he had offered to go on a legit first date, she said yes. Even though it ended being more work and questions then anything else.
But it had been a 'date'. Earning the titles that came with such an event.
Looking down at herself, clad in her normal wear and her lab coat. She had originally thought that this was going to be a work thing. But looking at where she was, she figured that wasn't the case. Unless there was more to the location then she realized.
She would have to wait for him to arrive, before she would be able to get the truth. But the clues in front of her, made her grumble internally. She normally wasn't a fan of shopping, but she even liked these sorts of stores even less. Most of the jewelry got in the way, or was outrageously expensive for no reason. And the only diamonds she liked; were in her computers, laser beam lenses and her drill bits. (Ignoring that the hype around diamonds and their price, was all a marketing thing from back in the day trying to make weddings fancier.)
"Hey, yous one pretty Dame. Ju's know that? Looks like yous waiting for someones... Wanna instead spend a lil' time with me, instead of that scrub?"
Feeling a hand on her shoulder, Velma stiffened up and balled one fist to get ready to clock the person behind the sleazy sounding voice, grabbing her from behind. But the voice was... oddly familiar even though it was trying to be nasally and altered. Revealing to her who it was. Even with his terrible, New Jersey sounding accent. Plus she had been looking around as she was waiting for Bruce, yet this person had snuck up on her. Very few people could do such a thing. So, she was tempted to punch him, out of spite. To teach him for ambush her from behind. But she doubted it would hit, unless she accidently caught him off guard with the swing.
Spinning around, she looked at who she was expecting to be Bruce, putting on an funny voice. But ended up seeing someone that she was surprised to see before her. Sure, it was still Bruce alright... But he had certainly dressed down, for the occasion and there was some interesting alterations. Enough to raise an eyebrow at.
(She didn't catch masked villains for a living and was detective for nothing. But his appearance might fool normal people well enough.)
His short black hair was replaced by a mop of ragged brown, long hair that hung about his ears. Clearly a wig, but a really good one. And his normally crystal blue eyes, had been turned a muddy brownish green sitting over a pair of tacky shades. (No doubt with contacts, an easy enough change.) Added to his normal chiseled facial features, was a horrible looking, ragged scar that had not been there the day before. It snaked up his strong chin and clipped the edge of his lip to end at the side of his cheek bones. And a greasy, thin mustache sat under his nose.
Apparel wise, he was wearing a battered pair of dark blue jeans, with stains on the knees. Looking slightly off from his silken, two toned black stripped buttoned up shirt that he was wearing for a top. But with several, slightly obnoxious looking gold chains that hung across his chest, revealed by the top two buttons not being fastened. Bearing a bit of his chest under the gold chains that Velma tried not to dwell too much on. On his feet was a pair of ratty back sneakers to complete the look.
"Oh... Well..." She started, taking him all in.
"You are not, taking me in there... looking like that." Certainly, he was not dressed properly to enter such a fancy jewelry store. Not that she was prepared either, so them as a pair would probably not get past the front door. Though she was certainly confused, since he had told her to meet her here and yet he was dressed up the way he was.
"Well, that is good, because I asked you to come here for a different store." Tossing a thumb across the street, Velma had actually been on the wrong side of the road. Splitting his face open with an eager grin, he put out both hands out in front of him. Making a grand declaration!
"We're going to play hooky today!"
Casting her eyes across the street, it was just a normal city street. A collection of normal looking stores compared to the behemoth that sat behind her. She wasn't sure what he was offering as a store for them to be going to instead, and not sure what to make of his claim of playing hooky today.
"I thought we were coming here for work." Velma said with a huff, but happy he had dropped the sleazy accent. It didn't suit him, and if she was going to be skipping work to be with him, she would rather that he was more himself... Sort of. Resigning herself to the fact that this was not for any of their joint projects.
"Yeah, well, I lied. Sorry. I couldn't wait to see you again, and felt bad that our first date was just in the office. Going to have Playboy Bruce be frivolous and not show up for work! Alfred and Lucius will take care of things for today. But I stayed up all night working on getting the project up to snuff, just so we could have another date today without it actually cutting into the lab work progress."
"These bags under my eyes aren't makeup at least." Bruce laughed, pointing to the dark circles under his eyes. He was used to running on fumes normally, but this was the first time in a long time, that he had done it on purpose.
"Let me get this straight, you lied... so, we can lie some more with you pretending to not be you... And we can go on a date in Gotham?" Putting her fingers under her glasses, to rub the bridge of her nose. Velma was processing what she was hearing. Though the words of Daphne popped in her head, from their conversation last night.
'I heard an 'at least for now' So, that means you are willing to go on a date date with the guy, eh? Curse Daphne and her intuition. But yeah, I was willing... just not expecting him to propose one so soonish. Or for him to show up looking like... that.' She mumbled internally, but not fully against the idea. She chased guys in disguise for a living, so now she was chasing another for romance. Sounds about right with her luck... Then again, he's normally a man of mystery, shrouded in the darkness.
So, this was just another Tuesday for both of them, really.
"It was the best way I could think of, for us to try to have a normal-ish date, without any strings attached. Before we get serious enough to have to deal with the rest of things. But, well... It does mean that the best way I can be honest with you, and spend time. Is to lie to the rest of the world for today." Bruce admitted honestly. He probably could have come up with something better, but he was in a rush to be by her side. Aiming for a short cut he was able to cobble together the night before, so they could be together that day.
"So, will you join me in lying... so, we can have an 'us' date?" Bruce offered, ever eager.
"What, me lie too?" Looking up at him, she was confused. Why would she need to lie? Though her heart skipped a bit with him pleading with her to join him. Batting his baby blues hiding behind the muddy green contacts, and flaunting his current 'bad boy' roguish good looks against her. Not that he was trying on purpose, which just made it worse.
"Well, I don't want to taint 'The' Velma Dinkley's Reputation, being seen with a lowlife like Matches Malone, here," Flipping out a match stick, Bruce slid it into his mouth like a toothpick. It was far to smooth, to not have been done countless times in the past. Figuring this was not the first time, Matches might have come out to play. But a second later he scrunched together his dyed brown eyebrows in conflicting thoughts.
"Though, Matches is a bit of a criminal, I wouldn't want you being seen with him anyway. Though I'm not exactly Malone's exact look today, but it is similar to what I use for him. So, I guess we'll have to come up with other names to be called today."
Thinking about it, he didn't want to have his girlfriend running around with a crook. Especially with her reputation and all. Even though it wasn't official with them being together, never knew who might be watching or taking pictures. So, they would pretend to be someone else for today. At least, in name to help cut back on being noticed. Maybe in the future he would make an alter egos for her so they could go on more 'normal' dates. Not 'Bruce Wayne' dates. But that was thinking too far in the future. First, he would have to see how she would react to this crazy idea in the first place.
Shifting her weight on one leg, she put a hand to the side of her head to think. It hadn't been the first time she had lied about her name, when traveling. It was a useful thing to do, when the gang traveled around a lot. And it came in handy at times when on a case, to not use her real name. So, Velma understood the concept. Though it did feel a bit silly concept for a date. A reasonable one, because of who her 'boyfriend' was but still felt silly. Especially with his current look, along with his puppy like demeanor with hoping she would join him for the idea. So, even her self doubt, was not going to find a reason not to join him today.
At least, not yet.
Combing through her previous names, nothing really fit the two of them. Since most of her names were from the gang an their previous cases and didn't suit Bruce in his current ensemble. Though it did get Velma wondering about how either Fred or Shaggy would look in Bruce's current attire, which caused her mind to snort at the thought. But that was derailing herself... She needed a different train of thought then. Shifting her brain moved more to TV shows and cartoons she liked to look for inspiration as names. When her brain finally settled on a possibility to bring up to him. A pair that might suit them for now.
"I guess I'm Lydia then, and you're BJ. Close enough to B... Well, and he is a slimy man in a stripped suit." Velma mused, poking at the silk shirt with a finger in amusement. Relenting to the idea, and going with their new names.
"So then BJ, what do you have in mind for this 'date' of yours?"
Accepting the idea of lying for a second date. Caving, because 'why not'? Not like she had work she should be doing, so she could play hooky with the boss at his request. Especially when she was not able to feel as guilty avoiding the lab work, if he had stayed up working on it. She was intimately close with a racoon mask herself. With countless hours she had put in effort in the past and wore similar bags under her own eyes many a time. She could tell his was not fake like his scar was, earned with long hours and hard work to get those dark of circles. It helped knowing the real truth and seeing past his façade. She knew that his work ethic was at Batman level and the work would be covered for today.
Giving her no excuse to turn him down... at least lab wise.
"Well, I figure first we will get you something to wear to match, and then I want to head to somewhere local that I need to make a stop at to pick something up. And then maybe we can get lunch before we head down town for a bit of exploring, and shopping. I'll get more into that later, but that is the plan for now..." Bruce listed off what he had been thinking about before a thought crossed his mental path.
"Wait, So I'm Beetlejuice. Well, technically Betelgeuse but it's easier to spell otherwise." Bruce placed a hand to his rugged face, pondering the new name with the possibility. He had seen the movie, and he wasn't against the association. Plus the shortening of the full name, made it seem less obvious for them to use aloud. Plus, he didn't mind the actor that had played Beetlejuice in the film. He had a charisma to him, that Bruce felt akin to. Certainly entertaining to watch.
"Sounds close enough, but yeah. I'll be Lydia and you will be BJ. More off the cartoon, then the movie though. Since their relationship was better in the animated series, and they went on more hijinks that seems suiting for a lying date like this. More friends then a couple in the cartoons, but still. Hijinks ensued." Velma brought up as her reasons. Plus, she had used similar name in the past with the Gang, so Lydia wasn't too far off something she was used to responding too before. Which was why she picked it.
"Sounds good enough for me. Sound reasoning and fun characters." Bruce said with a nod, approving of her choices. With no reason to turn down the names she came up with. Worked for him.
"I am curious on how the Musical is..." Velma mentioned offhandedly. Momentarily forgetting who she was talking to. As the grin crossed his face, bringing up a hand that she had to quickly shoot down.
"No! No... Well... maybe later, but not today! So NO!" Velma quickly jumped to correct, earning a snapping of Bruce's fingers but the grin persisted. Making the scar shift to the side.
She wasn't sure if Gotham had a showing of the musical, but Bruce was a man with not only a personal plane on his public side... But a top of the line, Bat plane as a fast travel option on his Dark Knight side. And she didn't know his real self well enough, to know if he was willing to use such a fancy crime fighting tool for something as silly as using it to go to a Broadway musical across state lines, on a whim.
But, well... at least they wouldn't have to worry about parking.
"Well, I might regret this... but lead the way, BJ!" Tossing her hand out in front of her, in an offering gesture. She closed her eyes for a second at the accidental rhyming. Not meaning to do that. But Bruce let it slid, not wanting to tease her too badly today.
At least... The day was still young.