Hello there, here's just a simple little one-shot, inspired by "On Top of the World" by Imagine Dragons. Merry Christmas!
The Summit
"This was a terrible idea," Sheldon remarked, clutching tightly with both hands onto Penny's arm as he nervously focused on keeping his footing.
His anxieties were getting the best of him. His nerves had already been frayed by the incessant work of the past few days, and this risk-fraught situation that he was now in was doing nothing to aid them.
She still wasn't sure how she had managed to convince him to accompany her on a mini-hiking expedition, or how she had managed to drag him this far up the mountain. She also wasn't sure as to why she had felt this would be a suitable getaway for the two of them, especially Sheldon. They had both been incredibly busy lately, and they both could use some time away from the pressure of their everyday lives, but the longer his anxious fingers squeezed around her arm, the harder it was for her to remember why she had wanted to do this particular activity with this particular person.
Trying to justify herself out loud, Penny replied, "Sheldon, sweetie, you spent three whole days in a row cooped up in that office of yours. I think I can still see the reflection of your computer screen in your eyes."
"It was time well spent, mind you," Sheldon replied indignantly. "I made a major breakthrough in…"
Before he could start explaining, Penny interrupted, "Well, now you're hiking with me, getting some fresh air into your strange little system, so shut up and enjoy it."
Sheldon would have thrown his hands in the air if he wasn't hanging onto her for dear life. "And just how am I supposed to enjoy it when I am faced with the possibility of falling to an untimely death and ruining the chances for humanity…"
"Sheldon, look," she interrupted softly, making him reluctantly tear his wide-eyed gaze away from his feet.
They had reached the top.
Above them was a great expanse of sky filled with stripes of cloud and setting sun, which swiftly brought them both back to their days growing up in Texas and Nebraska, far from smog and city lights.
Penny hadn't anticipated getting there that late in the day, but every step in getting Sheldon there had dragged on and on, both literally and figuratively. Still, she found herself not minding so much, feeling as if things were somehow managing to fall into place of their own accord.
Sheldon unconsciously eased his grip on Penny, momentarily silenced by the view, something nearly as awe-inspiring to Penny as the scene around them. She smiled up at him and gently squeezed his hand as he looked around, his eyes big and filled with strikingly warm hues.
She almost wanted to say something in that moment, but she couldn't find the right words. They were both good at having something to say at all times, but neither of them had anything right then. Their words usually filled any silence in a room, took up any void space hanging in the air, but standing on that summit, there was no need for them to add anything, no space to embellish, only that which was to be taken in.
Everything was already full.
Maybe it wasn't the tallest of mountains, and maybe the moment would be fleeting, falling back into amiable arguments and mumblings about science and having no idea why such a scene or a moment would mean so much if anything to them, but just within that simple moment, Sheldon and Penny were on top of the world.