Work Text:
Thank god Alfred has connections. Because without him, you'd be without a dress for dinner tonight, and Bruce would be upset.
You tried to go shopping like he asked — you really did! You had one of Bruce's credit cards and the whole day to do as much damage as you would need. Moving back to Gotham, you had close to nothing, and Bruce taking you in for the week before you could move into your apartment was insanely nice of him. Since you had nothing suitable to wear to the events Bruce has, he sent you shopping, and it was going to be the best week of your life. Of course, if you could make it past the first dinner party.
Bruce had a busy week, and it was going to make his life so much easier to have you at his side, so he doesn't have to worry about endless amounts of women (and men) trying to take him back to their apartment. Between putting up his front as Brucie Wayne, CEO, and his crime-fighting as Batman, it was a super busy week. He was working on countless cases at the same time, hunting down multiple Arkham escapees, and securing deals for Wayne Enterprises; he needed his plus-one to have an excuse, without any questions, to leave the parties with no one but you.
When you got back to Wayne Manor, Alfred was ready to take a handful of bags with nice clothes in them from you. But instead, he met you at the front door empty-handed, seriously confused about why you didn't buy anything. If it were Bruce, you would have figured out a way to keep your emotions hidden. But this was Alfred, and when you cried to him about what happened at the stores you went to, he already had a solution.
One phone call and thirty minutes later, a dress perfect for you was in his hands.
You should have known Alfred would have it covered. Alfred always has it covered. Though it's been a few years since you've seen him, you shouldn't have ever doubted him.
As you got ready, Bruce headed back to the manor to pick you up for dinner. He was a bit worried about what you bought for dinner tonight. He's being optimistic, but also, he only knows what little information about you that Alfred told him, and when you ran into him on your way to meet up with your family friend. He thought about it the whole way back to the manor and took a deep breath as he opened the front door.
And quickly lost his breath when he saw you chatting with Alfred. You were facing away from Bruce, but when Alfred looked at him, you turned around to make eye contact. "You're late," You smirked.
"You're..." Bruce stared at you. "Stunning."
Your smirk dropped and turned into a normal smile. "Okay, you're forgiven."
Bruce walked over, offered you his arm, and led you out of the house back to the car. Alfred followed, ready to drive both of you to dinner together. The plan was a great idea: you were having fun, even convinced him to dance once, and he didn't have to deal with women trying to take him home all night. Then, he got to leave early without being questioned so he could be back in time to be Batman. It was working out perfectly. You both just had to remember that at the end of the week, this was over.
---
Bruce liked hearing all your ideas on how you could spend the day together. Walk barefoot through the grass, read books, or just watch TV. And as much as he wanted to, he had work to do and had to turn you down. "Well, why don't you go shopping again? You only bought one outfit, and we have other events to go to this week," He reminded you.
You sighed, turning away from him. "I don't want to go back there. They were mean to me," You said, not explaining anymore.
Bruce stopped flipping through the papers Alfred gave him and made eye contact with you. "Mean? Who was mean to you?" He asked, completely serious.
"Some of the shop ladies. They're not nice people," You said.
"Well, yeah. They're never nice to people; they're nice to credit cards," He nearly rolled his eyes. "You know what, Alfred: cancel my meetings. We're going shopping," He declared, and Alfred nodded, quickly turning away to make a call.
Your head snapped over to him. "What?"
Bruce adjusted his tie and repeated himself. "We're going shopping. To get you new outfits. Together," Bruce clarified. "Come on," He nodded towards the door.
You shuffled once towards the door, eyes getting wide. "We're going now?" Bruce didn't say anything, only nodded. "But I'm afraid!"
"There's no need to be afraid," He assured you and opened the front door to let you out first. "With confidence and attitude, you can walk into any room just like you own the place."
"Is that your secret to becoming Brucie Wayne that no one suspects has a secret double life?" You asked, trailing behind him as you two walked over to the car.
Bruce shrugged. "It works, doesn't it?" He said and opened the car door for you. "Besides, you're beautiful; you got style and grace. You can do this." Bruce half-smiled, shut the door, and walked around to the other side to sit next to you. It almost took you by surprise that Bruce was complimenting you like this, but maybe he was just trying to boost your confidence.
Soon enough, Alfred was behind the wheel and driving the two of you to where the most popular shops are in Gotham. The car stopped at one you didn't go into the day before, which was probably for the best. This time, Alfred opened the door for you while Bruce exited on the other side. "I'll do the talking to make sure we get the best assistance," He said, offering you his arm before pushing the door open and walking in.
Immediately, Bruce was greeted by a saleslady, and he announced, "I'd like to speak to the manager, please." The saleslady obviously recognized him and rushed to the back of the store for the manager.
While you were waiting with Bruce, obviously a bit embarrassed that you stuck out like a sore thumb in this shop, he had a smug look on his face. "What do you think you're doing?" You muttered to him, which he heard, but elected to ignore.
"Hello, I'm the manager!" A man walked up to both of you. "How many I help you?"
Bruce stuck out his hand for the manager to shake. "Bruce Wayne," He said, already knowing that the man knows who he is. "Do you see this lovely lady?" Bruce turned and pointed at you, the manager nodding. "Do you have anything in this shop as beautiful as she is?"
The manager stared at you for a moment. "Oh, yes!" He said, only getting stunned silence in response. He turned on his heels to look back at Bruce. "No! No, we have things as beautiful as she would want them to be," He corrected.
Bruce nodded, staring the man down. "Great, because we will need a lot of people helping us out. We are going to be spending an obscene amount of money in here," He said as the manager tried to hold it together. To continue Bruce Wayne's image of being a spoiled, rich boy, he finished with, "And we are going to need major sucking up," He smirked.
"Yes, sir," The manager said and called over three sales ladies. They started to suck up to Bruce, but when he shook his head and pointed at you, they rushed over with compliments. The look that turns heads wherever you go. They started showing you dresses and outfits they thought would be perfect on you, and honestly, it was a bit overwhelming. But also really fun.
You pointed to things you liked, and the woman holding the outfit would rush it back to a fitting room, only to return with something new for you to look at. You showed Bruce a few things, and he nodded with a smile, agreeing that they are good choices.
Quicker than you expected, you were in the dressing room trying things on. Of course, there were a few dresses you said no to, but overall, you were having a much better time shopping than you did yesterday. Probably due to the fact that Bruce was there as support and the shop respected him, but that didn't matter.
The women were excited to help you, letting you think through each outfit and complimenting you when you told them you liked it. And while you were in the fitting room, Bruce was outside making small talk with the manager. "Now, sir," The manager started after he tried to suck up to Bruce more, but understood that Bruce wasn't having it. "Exactly how obscene an amount of money are we talking about? Just profane or really," He paused, "Offensive?"
Bruce leaned back in the chair he was sitting in, pulling out his credit card that signified rich to any normal person. He handed it to the manager very smugly. "Really offensive."
"I like him so much!" The manager said to no one in particular and walked over to where the sales ladies were ringing up all of the clothes you were buying. Finally, the manager swiped Bruce's card and thanked him as he took his card back, happy that you actually found some stuff that you liked and that the people were nice to you.
Just as Bruce was turning around to wait for you, you walked out of the dressing room with a huge smile on your face and a new outfit on your body. "Wow," Bruce awed. "You're beautiful," He said.
You giggled a little and quietly thanked him. Your hands were full with the bags of clothes you just bought, which, again, was a bit overwhelming for you. "How do you feel?" Bruce asked as he walked you outside.
You sighed in relief. "I feel alive," You said, a bit corny. "Definitely a different experience than what I had yesterday. Seeing your world is...a lot."
"Well, I think you fit in well," Bruce complimented.
A few seconds later, Alfred pulled the car up and smiled wide when he saw you. "I see the shopping trip was successful," He said. "Good choices from both of you," Alfred concluded, and Alfred's approval always felt good.
"Thanks for going with me," You said to Bruce once in the car.
"Of course," He replied. "I'm glad I could help. You really do fit in well to this world."
You gave him a confused look. "You got that from one evening and a shopping trip?"
Bruce shrugged. "You don't think that's enough?"
"Well, for other people, no. But you are the world's greatest detective, so I guess that checks out," You said. He didn't say anything in response, just smiled at you as you smiled at him. After this week was over and you were in your own apartment in Gotham, you were really going to miss it. And Bruce was going to miss having you by his side. Maybe he'd have to do something about that.