The Five Things
Author: RubyHunny
Title: The Five Things Sheldon Cooper Learned From His Friends
Rating: FRT
Genre: Family/Friendship
Pairing(s): Mostly gen, light Sheldon/Amy
Warning: (If Any): Spoilers for the Alien Parasite Hypothesis.
Summary: Sheldon Cooper thinks he knows everything, well he doesn't. The five things Sheldon Cooper learned from the people in his life.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
1. George Cooper - All the things he wanted to teach his son.
To say Sheldon's family didn't understand him was almost a laughable statement.
His mother and his Memaw of course understood him but his father and siblings didn't even come close. His father tried, George was a devout man who loved his children with all his soul. When it came down to it, he just wanted Sheldon to be normal, to fit in, and to have the same interests as his classmates. Not because he was disappointed in who Sheldon was but because George knew that while it was important for Sheldon to know he was always safe at home, he knew it was also important that Sheldon find some way to live in the world and to relate to the world.
While Mary and her mother wanted to embrace Sheldon's differences George just wanted his son to be happy, which at least in his head meant pulling Sheldon out of his head and making him live in the world with people. He just didn't want him to grow old and realize he had missed an important part of life. In the end George didn't need to worry, Sheldon's friends took care of it for him.
2. Raj - Working with people isn't so bad.
Sheldon had always been something of a loner, and he liked it that way; especially when he was working. His work was his life and quite frankly no one else could be trusted with it. Who knew what kind of damage they could do? Other people simply got in way, told jokes he didn't entirely understand but was sure were at his expense, and undermined him. Which was completely unacceptable.
When he'd invited Raj to work with him it was out of the kindness of his heart, he couldn't let his friend get deported; but it also went against every instinct he had. So he went into it expecting the worst, and he got it. Raj was constantly in his way, requesting equal credit on papers and whining about being given work that he considered beneath him. But still Raj was his friend so he would endure it, not for himself but for Raj.
As it was he kept having to remind himself that Raj was in fact his friend. It had been six hours of arguing back and forth, of making points only to have them shot down, of waving their arms around without much success. And neither of them were giving in. Raj was questioning every one of his conclusions, him, Sheldon Cooper, the greatest physicist on the planet. Well the greatest physicist currently on the planet.
Then three things happened at once. Raj started in on his sixth line of questioning, Sheldon's stomach growled, and there was a knock at the door.
Sheldon was getting frustrated, he was hungry, it was lunch time and in his excitement over the argument with Raj he had forgotten to order his Wednesday lunch from the local Chinese place. Dumplings with an order of brown rice, diced chicken, low sodium soy sauce and spicy hot mustard.
Raj, exasperated, got up to answer the door, saying, "Geez Sheldon I'm just saying something doesn't add up. We should retest the data. If your right we'll just have more evidence of that fact."
"You ordered food? You ordered Chinese? Without consulting me? How did you even know I'd be hungry?" Sheldon asked as Raj paid the delivery boy and opened the bag, pulled out a carton and shoving it in Sheldon's face.
"Because you're always hungry this time of day, you always order Chinese on Wednesdays and it's always dumplings, diced chicken and brown rice with low sodium soy sauce and spicy hot mustard." Raj said matter-of-factly.
Sheldon shrugged and ate his meal. As he ate he starred at the research data they had written on the white board. It wasn't until he'd finished his lunch that saw it and said, "Well I'll be, you're right that subset of data doesn't add up. We need to retest it."
Raj just smiled over his own carton of food.
3. Howard - Even non-PhD holders can have good ideas.
Sheldon very carefully ran the red fabric through the sewing machine. Normally he would hand stitch his comic-con costume, believing not only that using a sewing machine was tantamount to cheating but also that it produced subpar results. However, he was in a time crunch. The gang didn't think they'd be able to go to comic-con at all but a last minute change in plans was allowing them to attend.
He sighed as the fabric once again snagged. The rest of the costume was ready to go, the emblem, the padding, the headdress, but the main portion of the costume simply would not cooperate. Upon the fifth sigh there was a knock at his bedroom door. He abandoned his fruitless work to walk to the door and open it only to find a nervous looking Howard waiting.
"Yes Howard?" Sheldon asked, "How can I help you?"
"Um, hey Sheldon, I was wondering if you had an extra zipper. Mine isn't long enough and Leonard and Raj don't have any extra," Howard asked, begrudgingly.
A smirk overtook Sheldon's face, "Well, well, well, didn't plan ahead did ya Howard? Well I guess that's why ya don't have a PhD yet. How's that master's degree working out for ya?"
Howard sighed, exasperated, and said, "Please Sheldon we're running out of time, make fun of my intellect later."
Sheldon mumbled out, "You mean your lack of intellect," but shook his head and said, "Very well, yes I do have an extra zipper," Sheldon replied as he walked across the room to his meticulously organized supplies.
Howard followed Sheldon, glancing around the room as he did so. He smirked as took in the abandoned red fabric and the sewing machine, "Having some problems with the sewing machine? How's those PhD's working out for ya?"
Sheldon sighed and sent Howard a glare, "Yes it seems the fabric is too thin and snags even on the lowest setting."
Howard walked over to the machine, took one look at it and said, "No, no, no, you've got it threaded wrong. That's why it's snagging. Here do it like this," Howard quickly took the machine apart, rethreaded it, and put it back together. "Now try it," He declared.
Sheldon let out a loud sigh as he sat down and moved the fabric through the machine. His eyes lit up as the fabric passed though without getting snagged, "Well I'll be I guess that Master's in Engineering is good for something after all."
Howard took the zipper from Sheldon, shook his head and said, "Yeah I guess so," on his way out the door.
4. Penny - It's okay to show emotion.
Sheldon never had much of an issue with self-confidence except possibly that he had too much of it. His ego combined with his massive intellect meant that it was very hard for him to even know his own emotions, much less show them. His lack of friends growing up meant that other than the vulnerable demeanor he adopted around his mother and Memaw he didn't know how to act around people except to show them how much smarter he was. At first he couldn't help it, he was smart and it just kinda came out; then it more of a way to impress people, who wouldn't want to be friends with the smartest person in the state. Finally it became a shield; Sheldon began using logic and knowledge to shield himself from his deeper emotions.
The thing about Penny was that other than his female relatives Sheldon had never spent much time around girls. At first he reacted the same way to her as he did to other strangers, by not really noticing them. Slowly, once it became clear that she wasn't going anywhere he fell into the pattern he had with his mother and Memaw. He allowed himself to be vulnerable in front of her, conceded to her wishes and generally accepted her presence as a woman who happened to know more than he did about the one thing he wasn't an expert on, people.
Somewhere along the way it became clear that she knew his own emotions better than he did. Maybe it was after she sang him Soft Kitty, or when Leslie and Leonard got together. Regardless of when, Sheldon now knew it to be true. He also knew that somehow, someway Penny made him examine his own feelings in a way he never had before.
Sheldon sat on the staircase outside Penny's apartment for an hour after Amy left. When Penny got home from work she sat down next to him and asked, "So you said you'd tell me how it went."
Sheldon sighed deeply, "Well I found your friend Zach and Amy Farrah Fowler decided to practice the Vulcan ritual of Kolinahr."
Penny's face contorted as she asked, "Kolin-what-ar?"
Sheldon scoffed, "Kolinahr, it's a Vulcan ritual that suppresses unwanted emotion."
Penny's eyebrows rose, "Wait so you didn't have sex with her?"
Sheldon looked outraged at the very idea, "What? Where would you get an idea like that?"
"Well because you said you were going to take care of her urges," Penny answered.
Sheldon gave her a look, "Yes, by getting in contact with your friend Zach and asking him to engage in coitus with her."
Penny took a deep breath before responding, "Sheldon, honey, you said that because of her urges you might have to let her go."
Sheldon nodded.
"You also said that you hoped it wouldn't come to this before you called Zach."
Sheldon nodded again, "Well yes but…"
Penny interrupted, "No give me a minute," Sheldon nodded and Penny continued, "Is it possible that you didn't want Amy to sleep with Zach because you were jealous?"
Sheldon scoffed again, "Please I am no slave to my baser instincts."
Penny hid a smile, "Well no but it is possible to be jealous that someone would rather do something with someone other than you, even if you don't want to do it with them."
"Penny, exactly what are you trying to say?" Sheldon asked.
Penny sighed, "Maybe you're jealous that Amy would rather have sex with Zach than you, even though you don't want to have sex with her. Is it possible that you thought she was like you, as in not interested in having sex, but now that you know that part of her is interested in it you're upset that you weren't the one to bring it out in her?"
Sheldon stayed quiet for a long moment before answering, "I suppose you're correct I mean look at me and look at Zach, I should have been the one that she had a biological reaction to, I'd be the better mate and any offspring I produce would be far superior to any that Zach produces. Perhaps that is what I'm upset about."
Penny gave Sheldon an exasperated smile, patted him on the shoulder and stood to go into her apartment, "And hey Sheldon?"
Sheldon looked up at her.
"It's completely normal and understandable for you to be jealous that Amy was attracted to someone else."
5. Leonard - Friendship is a good thing.
One of the more severe consequences of Sheldon and his brother and sister not getting along while they were children was that Sheldon didn't have much companionship. There was no one to watch Star Trek and laugh at the Physics improbabilities with, no one to discover the wonders of science fiction with, no one to wake up early with him on Saturdays and watch BBC TV. Over the years Sheldon worked hard to convince himself that those activities were better experienced alone anyways. Friends would just ruin the experience. People just got in his way.
Then he met Leonard.
Leonard was not the first person he'd ever met who agreed with his The Original Series over The Next Generation but Picard over Kirk hypothesis but he was the first that ever listened to the whole thing. Leonard was the first person other than his mother that he could live with fairly peacefully. Sure they had their disagreements, sure they argued, but ultimately Leonard was the first person that even came close to understanding him.
Sheldon never thought he'd have a best friend but then Leonard not only changed that but he changed Sheldon. Before Leonard Sheldon had exactly one chair, only ate at Big Boy, and rarely left the apartment for anything other than work or the comic book store. But Leonard talked him in to getting a couch, introduced him to new food, and introduced him to Howard and Raj and Penny.
Leonard taught him that friendship was not a hindrance put upon him by other people or even an interesting phenomenon to study but an important part of life to be cherished and amazed by. And Sheldon Cooper wasn't amazed by much.
"Oh please, the Return of the King is clearly better than the Fellowship of the Ring," Sheldon protested.
Leonard gave him an incredulous look, "How do you figure that?"
Sheldon gave Leonard his best 'duh' look, "Because that's when the entire trilogy is resolved, not to mention there are significantly more Olephaunts and I've found that the more Olephaunts a film has the better it is."
Leonard just laughed and turned back to the movie.