AN-I have actually discovered that Penny's eyes seem to be more brown than green. As I was curious, I went to the BBT wikia and found the picture of Penny. Then I put it into Paint and used the colour picker. Yep, turns out they're brown… or at least that's how they are in the picture. If anyone has any reason to disagree, let me know, because I really am curious.
Also, this one will be a longer chapter, I promise. I won't stop until it's at least three pages!
Disclaimer-I don't own Big Bang Theory.
Saturday was laundry night. Every week at 8:15. It was his time, alone, without having to put up with Leonard and his banal chit-chat about this, that and Penny. Between his futile daydreams about Penny, Howard's incessant droning about women, and Raj's drinking, he was more than happy to escape downstairs to do the laundry. More recently, he discovered that Penny, his exceedingly messy neighbour, also did her laundry on Saturday at 8:15, although hardly correct. Her detergent to clothing ratio was exceptionally off, she didn't wash according to the colours of the clothing, and she didn't pre-wash or pre-soak. Most importantly, she didn't fold and organize her clothes once they were washed, and she used the time to convince him to do things he didn't want to do!
He always looked forward to Saturday night, but it used to be because he liked the solitude. If he was being honest with himself, he now looked forward to Saturday night because it was the one night that he and Penny spent together. Alone together - he always did like a good oxymoron. Although Penny was far less organised and often turned up closer to 8:20, they spent a substantial amount of time together, often talking about prosaic issues, which they often ended up solving. Often things would turn out good at the end of the night, but on occasions, that didn't happen.
Sheldon walked down the stairs on Saturday night at 8:15. I knew this because a) it happened every week and b) I was keeping an eye out for him. Since I wasn't sure if my clock was right after it had stopped working a few weeks ago, I used Sheldon as my clock. His routine was exact, and, when I couldn't be bothered finding my phone, or I had no idea where it was, I just checked what Sheldon was doing, and I knew what I should be doing. Plus, it gave me a good excuse to watch him.
Truth be known, there was a small spark that first day, I just didn't want to say anything before I got to know the two guys. It's a good thing I did, because I quickly discovered that Sheldon didn't date, or touch, or, in general, care; but I don't believe that, not entirely. I believe that he does, he just expresses it differently. For instance, he did lend me money when I needed it. After I knew he wasn't interested, I still liked him, but I didn't do anything about it. Except that I paid more attention to him. I even memorised the reason why he sat on the left-hand side of the couch! I sang Soft Kitty to him when he was sick, and I even called him sweetie!
I got my laundry and headed down as well. I always arrived about five minutes after Sheldon. It was my routine. I'd head down late, chuck my laundry into a machine, and then we'd talk until we were done. I even waited for him to finish his weird folding.
As Sheldon descended the stairs to the laundry, he wondered if Penny would be joining him. He knew she wouldn't be there early, she never was, but he also knew that she would join him. She always did, it was their, as today's slang goes, "thing".
When he got to the laundry, he began loading his washing into the machine, and measured out the exact amount of detergent. Penny then entered the room, and took the machine next to his. "Hey Sheldon!" she said sweetly. He looked up momentarily.
"Hello Penny," he replied nonchalantly, he looked back down, before quickly looking back up, "Penny, I assume you are just going to 'dump your clothes' into the machine, but I am requesting of you to sort them into colour groups and use the correct amount of detergent."
"Sure thing Sheldon," she said with a quick nod. She opened the machine next to Sheldon's, as usual, and dumped her clothes and some detergent into it. She saw Sheldon's face contort with derision as he shook his head. It was a look she had always, secretly, loved on Sheldon's face. "Penny, Penny, Penny," he said. She pretended not to hear him, even though she had heard every word, and seen every emotion flicker across his face. They stood in silence for a little while, before Penny broke it. "So I watched the Star Wars movies, and I'm not sure I fully understand them." Sheldon almost laughed.
"I'm not surprised. You lack an attention span that allows you to focus wholly on something that takes longer than shopping for shoes online."
"Yeah, well, anyway, I was wondering if you would, I don't know, maybe watch them with me?" Penny wasn't exactly lying. She really hadn't fully understood them, but what she was really asking was If Sheldon would spend some time with her. If she had asked anyone else, they would've asked if it was a date, but that was where Sheldon's complete and utter lack of social skills played to her advantage. "Penny, if I may ask, but when would this take place?" She sighed.
"Oh, I don't know Sheldon. Just sometime you're free." He was so difficult sometimes!
"Oh, well okay then," he paused momentarily, "I'm free now." This startled Penny slightly, but she wouldn't let him see that. "Well okay then. You just finish up your laundry and then we'll get started."
"Penny. Once I have 'finished up' I must first take my laundry to my apartment and put them away into their allotted places." Penny just nodded, and said, a tad sarcastically,
"Fine, Sheldon. You can put your laundry away first." Sheldon just nodded and Penny swore she saw a smile, and not a creepy Joker smile.
As Sheldon folded his washing, Penny threw hers into the basket. Sheldon used Kolinahr to stop himself from taking Penny's washing and folding it himself. As they walked up the stairs, Sheldon reminded himself of what happened throughout the Star Wars saga, not that he needed reminding. He had an eidetic memory, as well as a love for Star Wars, though not as strong as his love for Star Trek, which contributed to his exact memory of the Star Wars saga and its entirety.
Once Sheldon had organised his laundry, he told Leonard, Howard and Raj that he was going to watch Star Wars with Penny. "I'm going over to Penny's apartment to help her try to understand the Star Wars saga," he said. The guys barely flinched.
"Whatever," was Leonard's response. This shocked Sheldon. Leonard was infatuated with Penny, yet he didn't even move at the chance to spend time with her, perhaps he wasn't as close to understanding the social construct as he had thought. Instead of replying, he simply walked out the door to Penny's apartment. Knock, knock, knock, "Penny." Knock, knock, knock, "Penny." Knock, knock, knock "Penny."
"I hope he chokes on his popcorn," said Raj.
"We all do," said Howard, "except maybe Penny." This caught Leonard's attention.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"Well it's just a hunch, but I'd say Penny's got a thing for Sheldon, if you know what I mean," he said as he leaned forward. "What, no! That's ridiculous!" Leonard exclaimed.
"I don't know. They're always spending time together, and she always acts a little different around Sheldon," Raj added. Leonard, who was getting more and more jealous by the second, interjected. "That's because she hates him."
"I don't know dude, love and hate are very similar, and often easy to mistake for one another."
"Oh cut it with the Twilight lessons," Howard said. Leonard didn't hear half of the argument Raj and Howard were having, he was too caught up in his jealousy and his plan to determine if Penny did have a thing for his room-mate.
AN- So I started this off as a one-shot, but as I got further into it, it got more and more interesting for me to write, and I might make it a separate fic. So tell me what you think, but I'm pretty sure it'll come out of The SheldonPenny Paradox and turn into its own fic. Also, a poll update. Sheldon/Penny is winning with only one vote, so please look and vote, or just review with your choice (it doesn't have to be one on the poll). Oh, and please review! It took me a few days to write this, and I put a lot of effort into it, so I'd appreciate it if you read it, review it. Constructive criticism, ideas and plain feedback all welcome!