{fic} - Boy meets girl
Title: Boy meets girl
Author: split_the_ocean
Spoilers: There aren’t really any huge spoilers for recent episodes, just tiny allusions that you’ll probably only understand if you’ve watched the episodes.
Rating/Warnings: PG-13
Word Count: 2,918
Disclaimer: Nope, not mine.
Summary: Post 3.18, post Leonard/Penny. Some moments of Sheldon and Penny’s story.
A/N: Um, hi *waves*! First time posting here so I hope I’ve done everything alright. The amount of talent in this community is so crazy and unlike anything else that I’m pretty nervous about posting this. Hope its okay! Since it’s my first attempt at S/P any comments and/or con. crit. is really great.
Their story goes roughly like this:
Boy meets girl. Girl finds boy kind of cute. Boy opens his mouth. Girl forgets that last thought.
Girl dates boy’s best friend. Boy is jealous (but of course he doesn’t know it, how could he?).
Girl breaks up with the best friend.
Boy and girl become closer.
Girl kisses boy
Sheldon doesn’t enjoy this feeling at all. Not even in the slightest. His world is built around routine; carefully constructed and moulded to his precise specifications.
This does not fit into his plan. She certainly doesn’t fit into his plan.
Penny.
Penny, who beats him at Halo, Penny who hugs him, Penny who nudges him in directions he’s never ventured before, Penny who doesn’t take his no’s as an answer, Penny who is warm and real and... and so much more, he thinks. He’s got a list somewhere. It’s already 4 pages long.
It’s only the beginning.
Her edges clash with his contours; they won’t ever be good friends, she thinks. He just thinks that she’s another person who doesn’t fit into his life. He shrugs it off. She won’t.
She keeps pushing herself into the little space he’s opened up for her. A little area that he’s moulded for her and she should fit, he thinks. He doesn’t understand why her friendship won’t fit itself into that spot beside Raj’s and Leonard’s.
Then, one day, in the dim, cool, slightly musky laundry room she presses up on her toes and kisses him, right in the middle of whirring machines and with the scent of her laundry mixing with his in the air. Hands on his shoulders as she presses closer, and this time she slips right into place and, oh, she fits there.
She slides in closer to him, presses herself nearer than anyone has ever been before.
(Clumsily, over time, she’ll stumble into his heart and press up next to his soul, and that’s where she’s belonged all along.)
He places his hands on her hips, kisses her back.
Sheldon still doesn’t like this feeling. He tells her this, all serious corners and pursed lips. She just smiles smugly and points to the socks that he’s mismatched.
Perhaps the feeling isn’t so bad he reflects, as long as she laughs and brushes soft fingers against his warm cheeks.
Boy and girl fall in love.
She whispers it to him one night in his apartment, “I love you.”
They’re not alone, and it’s not quiet (its halo night and all the boys are there). He’s just beat her for the first time in a while and his arrogance is nearly unbearable. But he turns to her, by his side, after he’s hi-fived all the guys and he says, “A commendable battle Penny”, then kisses her, quick and close-lipped because he can hear Leonard’s groan and Howard’s wolf-whistle in the background. Pulls back and she whispers it in his ear.
“I love you Sheldon.”
He’s sitting in his spot and she’s wearing her cheesecake factory uniform and they’ve got game controllers in their hands and it’s a perfect moment.
He tells her with actions; he doesn’t get angry when she steals one of his shirts to wear to bed, only rolls his eyes, he sings her soft kitty without being prompted, he hugs her back when she finally lands a small role in a sitcom, his eyes grow slightly softer and his hand presses firmly into the small of her back when a co-worker tells them they’ll have beautiful babies.
Penny doesn’t need him to say it, because she knows.
But she wishes he would anyway.
Boy and girl sleep together.
After the first time they have sex, Penny forbids him from calling it coitis. Because, really? It should be so much more than just a scientific label.
He’ll protest and grumble at her, but he’ll do it. Because he understands her better now, he knows what pleases her and has learned to smile back, he notices when her eyes are clouded by tears and she’s taught him to hug more gracefully.
He refuses to call it sex though. Because, really? What an atrocious word; so common and tacky. It’s something that other people do, not Sheldon Cooper.
He calls it making love, asks her if that’s alright with her.
She smiles shyly, perfect, she whispers into his mouth. Perfect.
Boy and girl break up
She knows that the words coming out of her mouth are harsh and mean. But on a basic level, she knows that they’re true also.
She does need more from him, and he is slightly cold sometimes, he does have thick walls around his heart that he won’t let her break down.
What hurts the most is that, even as she says these horrible things, even as she makes herself cry and scream, he stands there and all he does is stare.
She wants him to yell back at her, she wants to know that he cares. She yells herself hoarse and then collapses to the floor in a trembling heap.
This isn’t who they are, she knows that. They’re not normal and she doesn’t want them to be, but she wants to know what he’s feeling for her.
If all of this is just as scary for him as it is for her.
He bends over and helps her to her feet, walks her to her room, tucks her into bed.
After he kisses her on the forehead he says quietly, in a hard voice she’s never heard him use before, “I think I’m breaking up with you Penny.”
She knows she should feel as though her whole world is being pulled out from under her, like she has when other guys have broken up with her. But she doesn’t, she knew this was coming. That’s what the whole conversation had been about anyways. She turns over and lets him walk away.
She cries herself to sleep that night. Wishes someone would sing her Soft Kitty.
Girl misses boy.
She misses so much about him.
Misses the soft pads of his thumbs running up and down her spine, misses the squeak of a marker against a white board, misses the feel of his hair against her cheek as they lay together and fall asleep, misses the sweep of his tongue, misses the rumble of a slight Texan twang that sneaks out of him in the mornings, misses the feel of him beside her, misses the softness of his shirts against her body, itches for the feel of his hand in hers.
How is it possible to love someone this much? She sighs; he could probably tell her the exact chemical reactions that make it so.
Boy misses girl
He doesn’t expect to miss anything about her. Because she still comes over, albeit less frequently, but he still sees her every Tuesday for his burger and she still manages to find time to beat him at Halo. So how is it that he can still miss her?
He misses such silly things too; the smell of her hair, the tickle of her fingers across his chest, the sight of her wearing one of his shirts, the way she hugged him first whenever she got an acting job, the feel of a casual touch, the whisper of her lips against his ear as she tells him how much she cares.
He shouldn’t miss these things about her. He sees her every day. How is it possible to still miss even more about her?
Boy and girl get back together
Penny doesn’t know why she’s down here at this time, except for the fact that she really needs some clean clothes, there’s no need for her to be in the laundry room, especially on this day, especially at this time.
(Years later he’ll tell her it was most likely her subconscious that made her get off the couch and come down on laundry night. She’ll stick her tongue out and tell him it was fate)
The moment she steps into the familiar room she knows this is a mistake. This is a big, bad, mistake. Because there he is, arms folded across his chest, neck curved gracefully as he leans against a machine and waits for his load to finish. Suddenly, it’s like no time has passed and everything is still perfect and she’s about to skip over to him, peck him on the cheek and they’ll do their laundry together, like they always did.
Then he looks up at her and the fantasy is shattered into thousands of pieces of blind hope. His eyes are so piercing and so, so blue. She’s missed him so much and for a split second she thinks she can see something vulnerable in those deep, wide, eyes. Then he shuts himself off again and she shakes herself out of this and steps purposefully into the room.
She does her laundry the same way she always does (which is to say, she dumps it in and hopes for the best) and then there is silence. If she’s honest with herself, when she walked in to the laundry room tonight she was expecting something completely different than heavy silences and muted breaths. She was expecting heartfelt apologies and grand romantic proclamations of love and heartbreak.
But this is Sheldon. And this is her. And they aren’t that type of people and they definitely weren’t that type of couple so she stands in the dimly lit laundry room in silence.
She’s finished before he is (which is always the case because he’s so picky about his sorting and his folding) and instead of jumping up onto one of the machines and watching him fold his clothes like she used to do, she pads silently across the room to leave.
That’s when he says it, “Penny.” And it must be a dream, because his voice doesn’t sound like that ever; so much emotion is one word for a man who couldn’t even tell her how he felt.
She turns slowly to look at him and she thinks that his eyes can see straight through her they’re so piercing. She has no idea what to say; just looks at him and studies his features and breathes in and out.
Then he’s saying her name again in that same low, gravelly voice, and her heart does a quick leap at the pieces of Texas she can hear in his next words, “I don’t know-“ clears his throat, she can tell he’s trying to shake the twang out (it’s what he did every morning until she told him that she thought it was sexy), doesn’t work this time, his next words are laced with the sweet curve of Texas and more emotion than she’s ever heard, “I don’t know what the protocol is in a situation like this, I... Penny I want to... I wish we could...” he stumbles over the words and she places her basket down and moves a step closer.
“I’m very sorry Penny.” His eyes slip down and she wants to place her fingers on his cheek and feel the heat spread under them.
“I know Sheldon.” Her voice is low, but it doesn’t waver, she’s stronger now.
“I think-” He breaks off his sentence, eyes slide up to meet hers and she can feel so much in that moment.
“Me too.” She whispers.
Then he pushes forcefully towards her and he’s like a storm; coming down at her full speed and she’s needed this so badly.
Grasps her hair in his fists and pulls her so tight against him she doesn’t think that she’ll ever breathe again.
The kiss is strong and desperate and hard. Raw emotions are tumbling out of him and he doesn’t know what to do, but this feels so right.
Penny pulls back and braces herself against his upper arms, grasps the fabric of his shirt tightly as she speaks her next words, “This is never going to work if you’re just going to ignore all your feelings and shut yourself out, and sometimes you have to tell me how you feel because I can’t just guess and hope all the time.” Takes a deep breath and looks into his eyes. “Alright?”
“Alright”, then he’s kissing her again and this time its slow and romantic and everything that she needs.
He doesn’t tell her right away. He doesn’t pull back and look deep into her eyes and proclaim his undying love for her right there in the laundry room, but she’s okay with that, she understands him better now, knows he’ll take his own sweet time, but he’ll get there in the end.
He tells her three weeks later, in the morning, when she’s snuck into their apartment to get some milk and has plopped herself down onto the couch to watch some early morning TV before work. He walks briskly into the kitchen a few minutes later and narrows his eyes at her, sitting in his spot again, she just grins back and takes a long sip of coffee.
He turns around mid-way to the kitchen and walks right up to her, places his hands on the couch on either side of her and presses his lips to a spot just beside her mouth.
“Did you take our milk again?”
“Maybe...”
“You are being cheeky.” He chides her, but she can hear the slight undercurrent in his voice that tells her he loves it.
She tilts her head to the side and kisses him hungrily, runs a hand though his hair, still damp from a shower, presses the other to his jaw, smooth and clean. He presses back for a moment before pulling away just enough to look her in the eyes.
And then, “I love you.” Like the words had been nestled on his tongue forever, and were just waiting to be spoken.
Presses her forehead against his, “I know.”
Boy and girl get engaged.
She’s lying next to him in bed, tracing a flurry of misshapen thoughts across his chest. His breathing is slow and she knows that he’s close to sleep, she nudges against him slightly, “Sheldon?” He makes a soft sound that she can feel rumble through his chest more than she can hear it.
“Tell me again how we fall in love.” Pushes herself closer beside him still, he doesn’t flinch away, he’s growing so much.
She can feel his sigh under her palm and then he’s explaining chemical formulas and reactions and she can picture them in her mind as he traces molecules and equations across her back.
She nods along with his explanations and watches as his long fingers dance through the air, making images only he can see. When he’s finished, she turns her head slightly and kisses him lightly on the shoulder.
“Penny?” he speaks differently now than he had only second before. He sounds older and younger at the same time.
“Yeah?” she mumbles this into his chest, giggles when he jerks away slightly at the tickle of her breath.
“Will you marry me?”
Looks up into bright blue eyes, she knows him well enough now to see the anxious anticipation in the line of his mouth, recognizes the love in his eyes.
“Of course.” Of course, of course, of course, she wants to yell it out over and over again, of course.
He smiles quickly (and it doesn’t remind her of a psychopath), his beautiful eyes fill with emotion and she loves this look on his face so much she says it again, “Of course I’ll marry you Sheldon”
Leans down to pepper light kisses all over his face, laughs gleefully as he tangles long fingers into her hair and pulls her tight to him and kisses her.
He pulls back slightly, (only about a millimetre and two thirds he estimates).
“Of course.” Whispered against her lips. “Of course.”
The rest, as they say, is history.
Years in the future he’ll tell their kids stories of adhesive ducks while she sits back and whispers about rounds of Soft Kitty. He’ll speak about the average amount of milk consumed by his neighbour in the span of a week while she gloats about dancing in his kitchen and watching his eyes open wide.
She’ll pass their daughter a box of laundry detergent when she moves out and teach her the mechanics of sneaking it into someone else’s washer, and he’ll warn their son about laundry rooms and the repercussions of all your clothes smelling like her because of a well-timed kiss and a slight disregard for the sings.
She’ll speak about learning physics, and of comic-con, and white boards.
He’ll whisper about grand romantic gestures and cuba libres and a Christmas in Nebraska.
She’ll make their son wear a suit that’s only one colour (one that makes his blue eyes pop, she’ll say) and he’ll spoil their daughter something silly (she really does have an amazing intellect, he’ll point out).
He’ll teach their children how to make his Meemaw’s special apple pie while she sits and tells the story of a trip to Texas and a badly burnt desert. He’ll lift his eyes from the crust that he’s moulding deftly with his long thumbs and look over the dark heads of two twins and into her eyes, still so green, and smile easily.
She’ll crinkle her eyes in return and they’ll live happily ever after.
Years in the future he’ll tell their children why the only thing he ever lets her cook on her own is soup while she traces the Chinese character for courage on his palm.