What Everyone Else Thought (Part 1)
Title: What Everyone Else Thought (Part 1)
Author: Elffriend26
Spoilers: Vague ones for the series and many for my other fics in this universe
Rating/Warnings: PG
Complete Word Count: 11,113
Disclaimer: Nope. Not Mine
Summary: Sheldon and Penny are in a relationship and a lot of the people they know and love have their own thoughts and observations on what is going on. Not a lot of plot but lots of S/P
(Thanks to IMjustaNERD for her awesome beta)
Note: This story takes place in the same universe as my other fic series:
The Venn Diagram Principle:
http://community.livejournal.com/sheldon_penny/215760.html#cutid1
The Gala Preparation Sequence: http://community.livejournal.com/sheldon_penny/836045.html#cutid1http://community.livejournal.com/sheldon_penny/836045.html#cutid1
This story runs parallel to these series. You might want to read those to get more out of the story. Hope you guys like.
What Everyone Else Thought.
Howard
Howard didn’t get it.
They all had their roles to play. Leonard was the hero, their fearless leader. Howard was the smart talking, right hand man. Raj was the nervous, excitable one who might break under pressure. Sheldon was the cool, robotic, often annoying member of the group - essential though they often felt like dumping him on some random asteroid as they continued their intrepid adventures through unknown space.
The dynamics of relationships like this were clear. Leonard got the main girl; random girls were Raj and Howard’s territory while Sheldon stood on the sidelines in the romance field and made awkward comments at the wrong times.
Nowhere in any movie or comic book would C-3PO get Princess Leia, not even in the kinkiest and darkest of fan fiction and Howard had checked. It just didn’t compute.
He watched them with confusion. He watched Sheldon and tried to figure out what he was doing. What he’d done differently. Howard couldn’t see it. If he could, he would have tried to emulate it somehow - anyhow. Penny wasn’t just the grand prize. She was the Ark of the Convenant, the Holy Grail and the Crystal Skull rolled into one.
He watched Sheldon some more and still didn’t get it.
Maybe his focus was wrong. Penny let Sheldon be with her. What was in it for Penny?
He asked Sheldon outright. When he and Penny had sex what did he do? Had he done some research on some tantric methods that drove her wild or something?
Sheldon stopped eating his tangerine chicken and gave him a long, long, cool look. Howard gave him a placating smile (he hoped) and fiddled with his fork. For some reason, he remembered something he had read somewhere about not looking a wild animal in the eye.
“Penny told me that you would ask me something along those lines eventually,” said Sheldon at last.
“She did?” said Howard cautiously. Was he that easy to read?
“Yes,” said Sheldon. “She gave me a message for you. She said that if you tried to pry into any intimate details of our relationship, there would be a repeat of a certain incident that happened in your room that time she went over to apologize to you.”
“Okay,” said Howard, gulping a little.
Sheldon’s gaze somehow got steelier. “What exactly were you doing with Penny in your room Howard?”
“No-nothing,” said Howard alarmed. “I swear dude. Nothing...ah....inappropriate happened.”
Sheldon continued his long look a few moments more before going back to his food. Howard looked away relieved and confused and still no closer to the answer to his question.
He tried to get information out of Leonard who looked like he wanted to sink through the floor, but Howard finally managed to find out that as far as Leonard knew Sheldon and Penny had not had sex yet and would Howard please stop asking him about it.
It was very frustrating, and Howard decided to forget about it for awhile. He needed more data and none was forthcoming, and he was getting fed up with them anyway.
He’d been not thinking about Sheldon and Penny for three days the day he arrived at apartment 4A primed and ready for movie night.
“I’ve found the perfect thing for us to watch,” he announced to the other three. “The complete series of The Red Shoe Diaries.”
“We watched those last time it was your turn to choose,” groaned Raj.
“Well it’s my turn to decide what we watch again, and I choose these.”
They all looked miffed, but rules were rules, and they would have to deal with it.
At that moment, Penny came swinging in. “Hey guys,” she said. “What are we doing?”
“We’re watching Red Shoe Diaries,” announced Howard.
“Again?” moaned Penny. “You want to watch that Sheldon? You complained last time.”
“Not particularly,” said Sheldon sourly, “but it’s Howard’s turn to choose what we watch.”
“Not me. Let’s do something. Let’s go outside.”
“Why?” said Howard. “The smut’s in here.”
“Clearly,” muttered Penny. “I want to go somewhere. I want to go for a drive. Sheldon you’ll come with me right?”
Sheldon stared at her. “Where are we going?”
“Anywhere.”
“Anywhere?” said Sheldon dubiously. “To the mall? Disneyland? Mexico? One of the seven levels of Hell? Do you see how imprecise your statement is?”
“Yes and I make no apologies,” said Penny grinning widely.
Howard chuckled and turned to put the DVD in the player.
“Come on Sheldon,” Penny pleaded in a different tone. Glancing over his shoulder, Howard saw that Penny had knelt so she could be level with Sheldon’s gaze. One of their usual staring matches, Howard observed. The usual Sheldon tirade would follow.
He turned to make sure the DVD was in and heard Penny say, “Please” in a low voice.
“Very well,” said Sheldon and Howard turned to see Penny jump to her feet. She hurried to the closet to get Sheldon’s jacket.
Leonard and Raj were both looking a little flustered and Howard wondered if he had missed something.
“Let’s go,” sang Penny, tossing Sheldon’s jacket to him. “Now. Now.”
Sheldon stood up, uncertainly clutching his jacket. Penny grabbed his hand and guided him around the couch. “Bye you guys,” she called.
“Gentlemen,” said Sheldon nodding gravely to them. He shut the door behind him.
“How’d she convince Mr. Stick Up His Butt?” wondered Howard going to the couch.
Leonard and Raj looked at each other.
“She just looked at him,” said Leonard. “They had one of their stare downs.” Raj nodded.
It was then Howard had a revelation. There was something behind Sheldon caving in to convention, behind him throwing off his robot trappings and revealing the flesh and blood underneath. It explained his behaviour during their disastrous visit to the beach the week before.
“He is so whipped!” he told the others gleefully.
Leonard frowned, looking confused. Raj slowly shook his head.
Howard spread his hands, confused in his turn.
“What?!”
The Fan Club
Margery hurried over to the lunch table and set her tray down with an air of having great news. “She’s here,” she said slowly and impressively.
The other three women at the table looked up at her.
“Who?” said Anisah looking up from her bright blue laptop.
“Dr. Cooper’s girlfriend!” Margery said the last word in a loud, awed whisper and immediately the others tensed, their eyes darting around the lunch room. Only Ramona sat unmoved, but her jaw was clenched and she was no longer digging into her chicken salad.
“Where?” said Anisah.
“I saw her in the hallway,” said Margery sitting down. “I heard her ask a guy the way to the cafeteria. I ran so I could get here first. I’m pretty sure it’s her. She looks just like her Facebook pictures.”
They all looked across at the four men sitting diagonally to them, particularly at the tallest one, wearing a Justice League t-shirt and heatedly contesting how powerful Jean Gray of the X-men was. Almost in unison, they all looked cautiously at Ramona. Their friend seemed to be girding herself up for something.
“You okay?” asked Wendy, peering at the tall redhead from behind her glasses.
It was Ramona after all who had the greatest stake in this. After all, she was the one who had infiltrated Dr. Cooper’s inner circle and had become so close to him. After the unfortunate break between them, they had thought that Margery might have a chance with him, but apparently she had touched his pizza on the very first night she went to his apartment, and she had been summarily dismissed.
After some debate, they had decided that Ramona had first dibs on Dr. Cooper as she had reached so far with him, and he had clearly enjoyed her company.
“I’ve made a decision,” said Ramona suddenly and carefully. “If Dr. Cooper prefers this woman, then there must be something more to her than we can see. If we are so interested in his welfare, we should accept his judgment.”
“But from everything we’ve seen,” said Anisah tossing one of her long braids over her shoulder, “she doesn’t have any academic qualifications. If you or any of us were close to Dr. Cooper, we would encourage and promote his research advancement. Though if he chose me instead, I would be willing to be very nice to him. Nigerian women are very good at pleasing their men.”
“Oh don’t start that again,” said Wendy. “I assure you I am quite capable of worshipping those freckles of his.”
“Will you stop objectifying Dr. Cooper for a second!” snapped Ramona. “The fact that he is singularly handsome does not mean we should forget he is one of the greatest minds of this century.”
They all jumped to attention and nodded.
“Apparently she’s only been to community college, and she has no working knowledge of physics,” Wendy said, getting back to he matter at hand.
“How do you know?” asked Margery. “That wasn’t on her Facebook page.”
“Howard Wolowitz will tell you anything you ask if you spend enough time talking to him,” she replied with a little shudder. “He wanted to know if I wanted to go out to dinner at the Olive Garden, but I told him that I was going to that Stephanie Myers book signing.”
“Oh did you get her to sign my edition of Eclipse?” said Margery.
“Did she sign it with a sparkly pen?” said Anisah sarcastically. “Honestly, Lestat would have happily torn Edward’s throat out.”
“Dr. Cooper,” said Ramona, interrupting the familiar tangent of an age old argument, “is not the type to be interested in a trophy girl friend. I cannot believe that. We’ve seen his tweets about her, and from what we’ve observed so far, he has not become less prolific in his work. We have to hope for the best for him.”
At that moment, a blonde woman looking distinctly incongruous in a colourful floaty blouse and jeans walked into the cafeteria. She saw Dr. Cooper almost at once, called out to him and walked over. Several males in the cafeteria stopped what they were doing to stare. Oblivious, she went straight up to Dr. Cooper and laid a hand on his arm.
A handsome young man near them sighed audibly and turned away. “Poor Jessie,” said Margery. “He still hasn’t gotten over that crush he had on Dr. Cooper.”
“Well I don’t blame him,” whispered Wendy. “He actually thought that he would go out with him. Remember that time he gave him his phone number? Don’t worry about him. He’s getting cosy with Halloway in the chemistry department these days.”
“You’ve got the right attitude,” said Anisah, reaching out to touch Ramona’s hand. “Everything we’ve seen about Dr. Cooper suggests that he would not jump into any situation without careful thought.”
“And if he’s wrong. We’ve just got to wait and observe and be ready to cushion his fall if necessary,” said Margery encouragingly.
“True,” said Ramona nodding slowly.
“In the meantime, don’t forget tonight’s classic Dr. Who night at my place,” said Wendy encouragingly, “and there’s the book fair on Saturday. We’re sure to get some early edition Jane Austens.”
“And you said that Tony Yen asked you to go to the movies with him again,” said Margery triumphantly. “I’m glad you agreed. Any guy who can quote ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’ is a keeper.”
“Thanks you guys,” said Ramona smiling at her friends. She was very lucky to have found her own clique within the science department.
Leslie Winkle passed them and fiercely emptied the contents of her lunch tray into a nearby bin, looking over their heads with a scowl. At least I’m not alone, Ramona thought. At least I have friends.
She turned to look in the direction where Leslie was glaring and stifled a sigh as Dr. Cooper was tugged toward the exit of the cafeteria, Penny’s arm linked in his. Barry Kripke walked in at that moment, and stepped back against the wall in shock. Penny gave him a sly look as they walked by and Sheldon narrowed his eyes at him. They strolled out the door.
Kripke stared at them until they were gone and turned away, blinking in shock.
“By the Powew of Gwayskull!” he muttered as he walked past the girls’ table. “It’s twue!”
Raj
Raj thought it was cute.
They had been wondering what was up with Sheldon before they found out about them. Leonard had fond Cosmopolitans lying around in odd places. Sheldon was preoccupied too, examining his social logs and missing out on wading into conversations with long diatribes of information they didn’t need.
They thought it was weird, but they also thought that it was just Sheldon weirdness, and the cause of it would ultimately surface. They had no idea that the symptoms of the weirdness would be so earth shattering.
Raj had been the most shocked when they found Sheldon in a lip lock with Penny, her hands groping under his t-shirts, but he was also one of the first to accept it, and he thought it was...well cute.
Not talking in front of any females except his mother from very early in his adolescent life, had given him a tendency to observe situations. And even though he had been shocked into talking more, he still tended to be silent when women were around, and he still tended to watch.
Penny and Sheldon didn’t do anything much in front of Leonard. PDA clearly wasn’t Sheldon’s thing. But Penny was Penny. She touched. She leaned. She hugged. She poked.
Once while Raj and Sheldon were finishing up their work for the day, she came in to pick her boyfriend up, her eyes shining with a look that startled Raj.
She hesitated when she saw him, then looked at Sheldon. “You don’t mind, do you Raj?” she said pleadingly.
“No,” spluttered Raj, startled. “No of course not.”
They kissed. And Raj turned away and looked determinedly at his white board for a count of ten before turning back. Penny looked gratefully at him. Sheldon gave him a look he could not fathom, but after that they were more demonstrative in front of him, and Raj felt strangely as if he had been let into an exclusive area and felt awed.
Once when he was in 4A with Leonard, Penny and Sheldon, and Leonard went into his room for a moment, she got up, walked lightly across the room and kissed her boyfriend, softly, sweetly, then slipped back into her seat as Leonard came back.
She gave Raj a grin as she sat down, and Raj looked away out of habit, but he smiled to himself.
It was the difference in Sheldon which was the most interesting. Howard talked about the fact that Sheldon was still Sheldon, but Raj thought that it was because Howard was not an observer like him. When Penny came in, Sheldon would look up. No matter what he was doing, he would look to her.
Sometimes he touched her. Yeah Raj had seen them kiss, but Penny had looked like the one in charge those times. But sometimes he saw Sheldon touch her hand or brush against her when he went past her. For a guy like Sheldon who was so deliberate with his touching and more often not touching, it was clearly momentous, and judging by Penny’s looks when those moments happened, she saw it as something major himself.
He wondered because Sheldon’s relationships were not casual either. Certainly not his friendships. It made sense to assume that Sheldon wasn’t having a casual fling with Penny, but what did she think? They’d only known Penny in casual relationships. Maybe that’s all she wanted. Maybe she thought Sheldon would be fine with that.
He wasn’t thinking of Sheldon or Penny of course the day he was climbing up the stairs alone to go to 4A for Halo night. He was thinking more about Jordanna Mueller, and the way her hair flowed behind her wherever she went, so he was completely startled when someone “psssted” at him very loudly, and he jumped and turned around.
Penny was leaning out of her apartment, clearly lying in wait. “Great. Perfect. Come here. I need your help with something.”
Raj had not yet had any one-on-one conversations with Penny, and he felt the old panic at having one now, but it was Penny, and she was insistent even as she was grinning at him.
He walked slowly toward her apartment, and Penny pulled him in and shut her door.
“Look at this,” said Penny hurrying to the couch where her laptop sat on the coffee table.
“You know Sheldon’s birthday is in a few months right? I was shopping around for something to give him, and I found this. What do you think?”
Raj felt his heart give a jump when he saw the image on the screen.
Penny grinned widely. “It’s hand-made,” she said. “Each one is one of a kind. Sheldon would love it, right?”
Raj stared solemnly at the Star Trek clock for several reverent seconds, then told her, “He’ll be in nerdvana.”
Penny clapped her hands. “Yes! I am so going to buy him this.”
“This is expensive,” said Raj doubtfully. “Penny, are you sure you can afford this?”
“Nope,” said Penny. “It’s a good thing I found it now. I’m going to have to fill some extra orders of Penny Blossoms and pick up some shifts to do this. All the stuff you guys like is always so expensive. It’s crazy! But can you imagine Sheldon’s face ? It’ll be so worth it.”
She chattered on, and Raj discovered that her excitement allowed him to nod and listen. He began to feel a bit more relaxed as well, and when Penny asked which version of the clock Sheldon might prefer, he was able to point to one he was sure about. He proudly named each ship for Penny, and as he finished, she suddenly gave him a sideways hug.
"Thanks," she said. "I know this is still hard for you. Don't think I haven't noticed. You're doing great."
Raj squeaked, but then was able to murmur his thanks.
Penny let him go and went on talking without looking at him to allow him to recover himself. "I can't wait for Sheldon to see this. He's going to flip. After that Leonard Nimoy napkin I have to maintain my reputation of giving awesome presents you know. Especially since the whole gift giving process is such a big obligation." She rolled her eyes.
"Well," said Raj, "he is an endearing and important part of your life."
Penny smiled at him, and Raj was startled to see shyness in the expression which made him turn away from her, his eyes wide.
"I better get over there."
"Oh yeah. Halo night."
"I don’t want to be late."
"Better hurry before His Majesty has a hissy fit."
Leonard was taking out the trash as Raj came into the hall.
"Hey," said Leonard looking surprise. Raj grinned triumphantly at him. "I was helping Penny pick out a gift for Sheldon's birthday. Dude, he's going to fall apart when he sees it."
"What is it?"
Raj followed Leonard down the stairs. "A handmade Star Trek clock with little replicas of the major Federation ships. What an awesome present."
"That is really cool," said Leonard impressed. "I admit I was kinda eh about those two when this first blew up in our faces, but I think they're not doing too bad. It's kinda cute even though I don't know where this is going."
Raj stopped as they reached the garbage chute.
He thought of Sheldon refusing to go to bed until he’d checked to see if Penny were home. He thought of him allowing her to convince him to go to the “cesspool of germs” he called the beach. He thought of them walking toward the CalTech gala hand in hand, and he thought that something paradigm shifting had occurred in their midst, and it was very important that Leonard realize this.
Leonard looked to him as he took a breath, "Dude I think they're in love," Raj said.
cont'd