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slybrunetteTitle: Send The Autos Swerving
Fandom: The Big Bang Theory
Characters/Pairings: Leonard, Sheldon/Penny.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,768.
Author's Note: This is Leonard POV, and my first time at it, hence I'm a little unsure about it.
Summary:It’s five minutes to midnight, the door’s locked, and he can’t find his keys no matter which pocket he digs through. And then, from the other side of the door, he hears it.
Leonard’s just gotten off the plane from a week-long jaunt to Seattle, work-related and important enough that he got to watch Sheldon’s mouth twitch when he realized that he wasn’t invited. That alone made getting his flight switched at the last minute bearable. But the point is it’s five minutes to midnight, the door’s locked, and he can’t find his keys no matter which pocket he digs through.
He can hear the television on low, almost inaudible, which isn’t surprising, even if it’s late and Sheldon’s working tomorrow. Plus it means he doesn’t have to search for his key and can instead knock, which is what he’s just about to do, fist raised, centimeters from the door, when he hears something that is surprising.
It’s nothing more than an “okay”, but it’s feminine, breathy, and quickly cut off, the sound of something soft, quite possibly a pillow, hitting the floor. It’s Penny. In their apartment, near midnight, not sounding at all angry, and with the absence of the kind of ruckus that might be expected from Sheldon, Howard, and Raj using her as the fourth person in their Halo game.
Suffice to say, he lets his arm fall back down along his side, listening in for no other reason than the fact that he can’t quite regain control of his basic motor functions just yet. There’s the beginning of a laugh, also hers, and then the sound from the television disappears, an “oops”, and hearing all of this and not knowing what’s going on is doing nothing but drive him crazy.
He knocks, finally; he wants to know what’s going on, but he isn’t sure he wants to actually see it.
There’s a sharp intake of breath, and then footsteps crossing to the door, and he sticks his hands in his pockets and tries to look like he didn’t hear a damn thing prior to this moment. He might not have anyways; for all he knows he’s reading into this. He doesn’t know the circumstances or the context, and those thoughts comfort him while he listens to the locks being undone.
“Leonard,” Sheldon asks, his form in the doorway only partially blocking his view of the rest of the living room. Penny, however, is not one of the things that he’s blocking, and he can see her on the couch, right in the middle, with her legs curled up underneath her, her shorts riding up her tan thighs in a way that he’s fairly sure that she isn’t all conscious of. “I’m fairly sure your flight isn’t due in for another ten hours.”
“They switched my flight,” he says, moving past Sheldon, duffel bag in tow. “Hi, Penny.”
“Hey,” she says, with a smile that’s half-genuine, half-stretched too thin. He chooses to believe it, for his own benefit. “Welcome back. How was Seattle?”
“Good. Lots of rain and seminars and there was this one speaker who…” he notices Penny fidgeting out of the corner of his eye, and Sheldon’s moved from standing by the door to standing in the kitchen, awkward behind the counter, and so he cuts himself off. “It was good. Everything going okay here?”
They both look at him a little oddly. It’s the way his voice raises a full octave.
“Yep, everything’s just the way you left it,” Penny replies, a little too brightly, shifting positions on the couch. She stretches her legs out so that they’re halfway onto the far left of the couch, Sheldon’s spot, and he’s surprised when Sheldon’s gaze flicks over her and then settles back on him, like nothing at all is out of place. For her part, Penny fixes her gaze on the bag in his hand and says, “I’m sure you’ll want to unpack and get settled in, so I’ll just let you get to that.”
“No,” he has no idea why he says it, it’s just instinctual, “you don’t have to leave. Just let me put this down.”
Leonard heads into his room, tossing his bag down on his bed, hearing absolute silence from the living room, and when he comes back out Sheldon’s resumed sitting on the couch, Penny next to him but not in his personal space. Sheldon looks confused about something; Penny looks far too cheerful, like she’s panicking on the inside. He’s not like Sheldon, he can read between the lines with people; her bright smiles and enthusiasm aren’t fooling him.
His hands slip back into his pockets; it’s rapidly becoming habit. “So…what’s been going on?”
Both the awkwardness and the tension in the room could be cut with a knife and now Leonard’s silently cursing the airline for changing his flight at the last minute, so he could come home to this seriously confused situation.
After there’s been nothing but silence for close to a minute, Penny’s lips moving around soundless words, trying to find something to say, Sheldon finally looks at her and says, “I fail to see how this plan benefits anyone.”
“What?”
The glare Penny fixes him with could make lesser men, or possibly just more socially aware men, wither and die, but Sheldon doesn’t even so much as break eye contact. “Don’t you have to work tomorrow?”
“I also fail to see what that has to do with my previous statement.”
The stare-off continues.
Apparently, they’ve decided Leonard isn’t to be included in this conversation. Great.
The pains she takes to enunciate her words is clearly visible, her lips forming exaggerated shapes a she says, “Go to bed.”
His eyebrows lower. “You do realize this is my apartment. You can’t order me to do things in my own apartment. You can’t order me to do things at all. I have no incentive to do what you say.”
“Oh my god,” Penny exclaims, her patience hitting its limit. “Fine. Sheldon and I made out.”
It shouldn’t be surprising, because the sounds he heard before pointed in that general direction, but now that it’s come out of her mouth he finds himself reeling from something pretty damn close to shock, with a side of jealousy. Sheldon doing anything sexual, including kissing someone, is enough to baffle the mind, but adding Penny into the mix all but brings the gears in his mind to a standstill. It’s Penny. The girl from next door who he’s had a big old thing for since she moved in, and Sheldon’s quite possibly managed to get farther with her than he has.
Before he can say anything, not that he has any idea what he’d say, she starts up again. “I’m really sorry, I just thought it would be awkward if you knew so I told him we should just play it off and act like nothing happened.”
She’s standing now, halfway looking like she’s expecting a dressing down from him. Sheldon remains in his spot, unaffected by this entire situation, his concern instead directing to reaching down to pick up the pillow and the remote that Leonard had heard fall to the ground earlier.
Leonard must not realize how long it takes for him to come up with a reply, because she’s already taken his silence as a sign that he’s mad at her, and she starts to head for the door, “I’ll just go – “
For the second time that night, he stops her. “No, no, don’t worry about it. I mean, it’s not a big deal. Things…happen, with a lot of alcohol or,” it occurs to him that they are both definitely not drunk, “boredom.”
He doesn’t want to come off as a jerk. He doesn’t want to kick her out or storm out or yell. He’s not that guy, never has been, and never will be. He’s used to not getting the girl; it’s just not usually a friend of his that ends up with her. Not that Sheldon’s ended up with her. Sheldon’s made out with her, apparently, but that doesn’t mean he’s in a relationship with her. Sheldon doesn’t even know what a relationship entails most likely. This isn’t necessarily permanent, and it’s certainly not over. Acting like an asshole about it won’t get him anywhere.
“Really?” She’s still kind of wringing her hands, like she’s fairly sure she just got off way too easily, and he’d like to say that if he was the type to get mad she wouldn’t be the one he got mad at, but he can’t and he won’t. “You’re not mad?”
“No,” the word is long, drawn out, and she’s fairly sure that she can see through that by now, but she still allows a small smile to pull at her lips. Right before she hugs him. It’s quick, but it’s a hug and it’s genuine, and it makes him smile no matter what he’s feeling on the inside.
“You’re a good guy Leonard,” she says, locking eyes with him to emphasize the meaning behind her statement.
He is a good guy. Maybe too good. His gaze flicks over to the silent party on the couch, and he’s definitely going to have words with Sheldon about this, but that’s for later, when he’s slept on it and isn’t feeling like, if provoked, and Sheldon’s always provoking him, he might want to strangle him.
“Anyways, I’m going to go to bed. Jetlag and all.”
“Oh, yeah, of course.”
“Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
He listens from his bedroom, to the whispered argument that starts up in the living room, Penny scolding Sheldon for not keeping his mouth shut and Sheldon voicing his confusion as to why he should even bother. It goes round and round, veering off topic once or twice any time Sheldon really gets going, and the fact that Penny doesn’t give up and go lets Leonard know that maybe she cares about them both more than he had initially thought. She’s sitting there arguing with Sheldon, trying to make him understand her point despite the near impossibility of that ever happening, and she’d apparently gone to some lengths to keep Leonard out of it, out of concern for his own feelings.
It makes him a little unsure about just how temporary this whole situation is.
Leonard unpacks his clothes, throws the dirty ones in a bag to be washed tomorrow, and peels the ‘hello, my name is’ sticker that they made him wear at the conference from one of his shirts. He rips it in half, tossing it in the trash and moving on to the next shirt. It’s a parallel; he feels a little out of place now, but he’s shaking it off and moving on.
It’s what guys like him do.
Fandom: The Big Bang Theory
Characters/Pairings: Leonard, Sheldon/Penny.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,768.
Author's Note: This is Leonard POV, and my first time at it, hence I'm a little unsure about it.
Summary:It’s five minutes to midnight, the door’s locked, and he can’t find his keys no matter which pocket he digs through. And then, from the other side of the door, he hears it.
Leonard’s just gotten off the plane from a week-long jaunt to Seattle, work-related and important enough that he got to watch Sheldon’s mouth twitch when he realized that he wasn’t invited. That alone made getting his flight switched at the last minute bearable. But the point is it’s five minutes to midnight, the door’s locked, and he can’t find his keys no matter which pocket he digs through.
He can hear the television on low, almost inaudible, which isn’t surprising, even if it’s late and Sheldon’s working tomorrow. Plus it means he doesn’t have to search for his key and can instead knock, which is what he’s just about to do, fist raised, centimeters from the door, when he hears something that is surprising.
It’s nothing more than an “okay”, but it’s feminine, breathy, and quickly cut off, the sound of something soft, quite possibly a pillow, hitting the floor. It’s Penny. In their apartment, near midnight, not sounding at all angry, and with the absence of the kind of ruckus that might be expected from Sheldon, Howard, and Raj using her as the fourth person in their Halo game.
Suffice to say, he lets his arm fall back down along his side, listening in for no other reason than the fact that he can’t quite regain control of his basic motor functions just yet. There’s the beginning of a laugh, also hers, and then the sound from the television disappears, an “oops”, and hearing all of this and not knowing what’s going on is doing nothing but drive him crazy.
He knocks, finally; he wants to know what’s going on, but he isn’t sure he wants to actually see it.
There’s a sharp intake of breath, and then footsteps crossing to the door, and he sticks his hands in his pockets and tries to look like he didn’t hear a damn thing prior to this moment. He might not have anyways; for all he knows he’s reading into this. He doesn’t know the circumstances or the context, and those thoughts comfort him while he listens to the locks being undone.
“Leonard,” Sheldon asks, his form in the doorway only partially blocking his view of the rest of the living room. Penny, however, is not one of the things that he’s blocking, and he can see her on the couch, right in the middle, with her legs curled up underneath her, her shorts riding up her tan thighs in a way that he’s fairly sure that she isn’t all conscious of. “I’m fairly sure your flight isn’t due in for another ten hours.”
“They switched my flight,” he says, moving past Sheldon, duffel bag in tow. “Hi, Penny.”
“Hey,” she says, with a smile that’s half-genuine, half-stretched too thin. He chooses to believe it, for his own benefit. “Welcome back. How was Seattle?”
“Good. Lots of rain and seminars and there was this one speaker who…” he notices Penny fidgeting out of the corner of his eye, and Sheldon’s moved from standing by the door to standing in the kitchen, awkward behind the counter, and so he cuts himself off. “It was good. Everything going okay here?”
They both look at him a little oddly. It’s the way his voice raises a full octave.
“Yep, everything’s just the way you left it,” Penny replies, a little too brightly, shifting positions on the couch. She stretches her legs out so that they’re halfway onto the far left of the couch, Sheldon’s spot, and he’s surprised when Sheldon’s gaze flicks over her and then settles back on him, like nothing at all is out of place. For her part, Penny fixes her gaze on the bag in his hand and says, “I’m sure you’ll want to unpack and get settled in, so I’ll just let you get to that.”
“No,” he has no idea why he says it, it’s just instinctual, “you don’t have to leave. Just let me put this down.”
Leonard heads into his room, tossing his bag down on his bed, hearing absolute silence from the living room, and when he comes back out Sheldon’s resumed sitting on the couch, Penny next to him but not in his personal space. Sheldon looks confused about something; Penny looks far too cheerful, like she’s panicking on the inside. He’s not like Sheldon, he can read between the lines with people; her bright smiles and enthusiasm aren’t fooling him.
His hands slip back into his pockets; it’s rapidly becoming habit. “So…what’s been going on?”
Both the awkwardness and the tension in the room could be cut with a knife and now Leonard’s silently cursing the airline for changing his flight at the last minute, so he could come home to this seriously confused situation.
After there’s been nothing but silence for close to a minute, Penny’s lips moving around soundless words, trying to find something to say, Sheldon finally looks at her and says, “I fail to see how this plan benefits anyone.”
“What?”
The glare Penny fixes him with could make lesser men, or possibly just more socially aware men, wither and die, but Sheldon doesn’t even so much as break eye contact. “Don’t you have to work tomorrow?”
“I also fail to see what that has to do with my previous statement.”
The stare-off continues.
Apparently, they’ve decided Leonard isn’t to be included in this conversation. Great.
The pains she takes to enunciate her words is clearly visible, her lips forming exaggerated shapes a she says, “Go to bed.”
His eyebrows lower. “You do realize this is my apartment. You can’t order me to do things in my own apartment. You can’t order me to do things at all. I have no incentive to do what you say.”
“Oh my god,” Penny exclaims, her patience hitting its limit. “Fine. Sheldon and I made out.”
It shouldn’t be surprising, because the sounds he heard before pointed in that general direction, but now that it’s come out of her mouth he finds himself reeling from something pretty damn close to shock, with a side of jealousy. Sheldon doing anything sexual, including kissing someone, is enough to baffle the mind, but adding Penny into the mix all but brings the gears in his mind to a standstill. It’s Penny. The girl from next door who he’s had a big old thing for since she moved in, and Sheldon’s quite possibly managed to get farther with her than he has.
Before he can say anything, not that he has any idea what he’d say, she starts up again. “I’m really sorry, I just thought it would be awkward if you knew so I told him we should just play it off and act like nothing happened.”
She’s standing now, halfway looking like she’s expecting a dressing down from him. Sheldon remains in his spot, unaffected by this entire situation, his concern instead directing to reaching down to pick up the pillow and the remote that Leonard had heard fall to the ground earlier.
Leonard must not realize how long it takes for him to come up with a reply, because she’s already taken his silence as a sign that he’s mad at her, and she starts to head for the door, “I’ll just go – “
For the second time that night, he stops her. “No, no, don’t worry about it. I mean, it’s not a big deal. Things…happen, with a lot of alcohol or,” it occurs to him that they are both definitely not drunk, “boredom.”
He doesn’t want to come off as a jerk. He doesn’t want to kick her out or storm out or yell. He’s not that guy, never has been, and never will be. He’s used to not getting the girl; it’s just not usually a friend of his that ends up with her. Not that Sheldon’s ended up with her. Sheldon’s made out with her, apparently, but that doesn’t mean he’s in a relationship with her. Sheldon doesn’t even know what a relationship entails most likely. This isn’t necessarily permanent, and it’s certainly not over. Acting like an asshole about it won’t get him anywhere.
“Really?” She’s still kind of wringing her hands, like she’s fairly sure she just got off way too easily, and he’d like to say that if he was the type to get mad she wouldn’t be the one he got mad at, but he can’t and he won’t. “You’re not mad?”
“No,” the word is long, drawn out, and she’s fairly sure that she can see through that by now, but she still allows a small smile to pull at her lips. Right before she hugs him. It’s quick, but it’s a hug and it’s genuine, and it makes him smile no matter what he’s feeling on the inside.
“You’re a good guy Leonard,” she says, locking eyes with him to emphasize the meaning behind her statement.
He is a good guy. Maybe too good. His gaze flicks over to the silent party on the couch, and he’s definitely going to have words with Sheldon about this, but that’s for later, when he’s slept on it and isn’t feeling like, if provoked, and Sheldon’s always provoking him, he might want to strangle him.
“Anyways, I’m going to go to bed. Jetlag and all.”
“Oh, yeah, of course.”
“Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
He listens from his bedroom, to the whispered argument that starts up in the living room, Penny scolding Sheldon for not keeping his mouth shut and Sheldon voicing his confusion as to why he should even bother. It goes round and round, veering off topic once or twice any time Sheldon really gets going, and the fact that Penny doesn’t give up and go lets Leonard know that maybe she cares about them both more than he had initially thought. She’s sitting there arguing with Sheldon, trying to make him understand her point despite the near impossibility of that ever happening, and she’d apparently gone to some lengths to keep Leonard out of it, out of concern for his own feelings.
It makes him a little unsure about just how temporary this whole situation is.
Leonard unpacks his clothes, throws the dirty ones in a bag to be washed tomorrow, and peels the ‘hello, my name is’ sticker that they made him wear at the conference from one of his shirts. He rips it in half, tossing it in the trash and moving on to the next shirt. It’s a parallel; he feels a little out of place now, but he’s shaking it off and moving on.
It’s what guys like him do.
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Date: 2009-08-13 07:18 pm (UTC)This was awesome. You did a phenomenal job writing Leonard's POV.
“Oh my god,” Penny exclaims, her patience hitting its limit. “Fine. Sheldon and I made out.”
I think I love this statement a little too much. You did a great building up the tension in this moment, and I was wondering if this story would go there or just leave Leonard wondering. But I like that you got it out, Sheldon's reaction, Leonard's perception of Sheldon's reaction--or lack thereof--and then Penny facing up to it. This is now one of my favorite Leonard-finds-out fics. :)
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Date: 2009-08-13 07:22 pm (UTC)I'm very glad that worked for you and that you liked this! Thanks for reading and reviewing!
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Date: 2009-08-13 07:25 pm (UTC)The way you wrote Leonard's POV was perfect. You have captured the essence of his character so well.
I could picture the events of this story unfold in my mind as I read it.
"He doesn’t want to kick her out or storm out or yell. He’s not that guy, never has been, and never will be. He’s used to not getting the girl; it’s just not usually a friend of his that ends up with her."
I felt for him so much after reading this part, it was so well written.
Sheldon and Penny were totally in character especially the struggle to pretend everything was normal.
I cannot wait to read more from you!
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Date: 2009-08-13 07:28 pm (UTC)I'm glad you liked this! Thanks for reading and reviewing!
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Date: 2009-08-13 07:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-13 07:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-13 07:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-13 07:58 pm (UTC)I'm glad you liked this! Thanks for reading and reviewing!
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Date: 2009-08-13 09:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-14 01:01 am (UTC)I'm glad you liked this! Thanks for reading and reviewing!
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Date: 2009-08-13 09:15 pm (UTC)Your characterization is so spot on. It's like...even though I think I do ship Sheldon/Penny at this point it's still mostly really unbelievable for me! But this, I totally believe this.
I also really love that it's from Leonard's POV. You captured a lot of what I would expect to be his reaction really well, which also makes me feel rather sad for him. :(
But yes, this is awesome!
♥!
no subject
Date: 2009-08-14 01:10 am (UTC)Sheldon/Penny is my OTP for this show...and yet I even have trouble believing it sometimes. It gets easier though -- the more I write them, the easier it gets.
I'm glad you liked this! Thanks for reading and reviewing!
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Date: 2009-08-14 01:44 am (UTC)Yeah, after I read this one I went back and read like all the rest of the stuff you've written for them and now I'm like craaaaving more really badly! lol
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Date: 2009-08-14 01:46 am (UTC)I'm writing something else with them as we speak, so there will be more. And if you ever have prompts don't hesitate to let me know...
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Date: 2009-08-14 01:47 am (UTC)<3!
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Date: 2009-08-13 09:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-14 01:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-13 11:03 pm (UTC)As everyone else agrees I can really feel the tension, as I read my shoulders clenched more and more, your great at the build up and the pay off is amazing.
You've done well too to make me feel for Leonard, he doesn't get a lot of a look in in s/p most times. Great that you've used present tense as well, I think it adds to the tension even more.
Fantastic, well done!
B
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Date: 2009-08-14 01:13 am (UTC)Anyways, I'm glad you liked this! Thanks for reading and reviewing!
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Date: 2009-08-14 04:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-14 08:25 pm (UTC)I'm glad you liked this! Thanks for reading and reviewing!
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Date: 2009-08-14 06:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-14 08:26 pm (UTC)I'm glad you liked this! Thanks for reading and reviewing!
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Date: 2009-08-14 05:37 pm (UTC)&hearts
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Date: 2009-08-14 09:01 pm (UTC)I'm glad you liked this! Thanks for reading and reviewing!
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Date: 2009-08-14 05:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-18 01:19 am (UTC)I'm glad you liked this! Thanks for reading and reviewing!
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Date: 2009-08-14 10:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-18 01:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-08 09:43 pm (UTC)Aw, I loved it. That last line is perfection. Seriously.
Leonard unpacks his clothes, throws the dirty ones in a bag to be washed tomorrow, and peels the ‘hello, my name is’ sticker[...] that detail is lovely. I'm a sucker for injected moments of realism, and this is one that I adore. ^_^ There's something pathetic about that image. And everything about this situation is pathetic, so it makes a nice addition, Leonard the guy who never gets the girl being upstaged by the guy who doesn't even notice the girl. Sad. Seriously. And I always wonder how he would react to finding out about them whenever I read fic, if it was anything like this, I'd be ecstatic.
Lovely characterisation. You should not be worried about your Leonard, it's fantastic.
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Date: 2011-09-30 12:49 pm (UTC)