The Venn Diagram Principle Part III
Title: The Venn Diagram Principle (Part III)
Spoilers: I play around a little with the events of "The Dead Hooker Juxtaposition" but nothing major.
Rating: PG-13 (just in case)
Disclaimer: None of this belongs to me. So sad.
Summary: Some of the interesting twists and turns Penny takes navigating a relationship with Sheldon Cooper. And the boys get a look at Sheldon's photo shoot pictures.
See Part I: community.livejournal.com/sheldon_penny/155910.html#cutid1
And Part II: community.livejournal.com/sheldon_penny/168962.html#cutid1
This story definitely is going places I didn’t originally consider. This was supposed to be the final chapter, but it’s going on longer than I anticipated, so decided to stop and finish in the next chapter which is already in development, so you won’t have to wait too long.
Not a whole lot of plot here, but felt that I wanted to write some Penny/Sheldon interaction and explore some things. Hope you guys like it.
The Venn Diagram Principle (Part III)
At exactly 6PM on Thursday, Leonard dropped Sheldon off at their apartment after a rewarding browse at the comic book store. Leonard came upstairs to use the bathroom and carefully stash his purchases. Fifteen minutes later, he left to collect that night’s take out after asking Sheldon if he wanted to come along and receiving a negative.
Penny knew this because Sheldon explained what would happen in perfect detail, so she was ready when she heard Leonard heading downstairs. His footsteps had hardly faded before she was walking across the hallway.
Sheldon was heading toward the couch, one of his comic books in hand, but he stopped at once to give her his small soft smile and Penny found herself riveted for a moment.
“Penny,” he said simply.
“Hey honey.” And she ran up to kiss him. His arms around her were more awkward than usual. He wasn’t even touching her. She looked around distracted and found he was holding his comic out of the way, so it would not be damaged by her embrace. She shook her head and stepped back from him.
“Look,” he told her. “The new Batman is out. I’ve been waiting for it. Today just ended on a high note for me.”
“That’s awesome sweetie. I’ve had an awful day myself.”
“Oh really,” he said, frowning a little. “That’s unfortunate.” He sat down on his spot on the couch. Penny sat as well and watched in disbelief as he began leafing through his comic book.
“Don’t you want to hear about my day?”
Sheldon looked at her in astonishment and held up his comic book again as an explanation.
“Sheldon,” said Penny, “one of the rules of relationships is being available to listen when the other person needs it.”
“Even when the other person wants to read the new Batman?” said Sheldon incredulously.
“Of course.” Penny marched over and sat beside him. “You must have observed it before. With your parents. With Leonard.”
Sheldon considered. “I suppose. I haven’t really made as many in-depth observations of the relationships around me as I might have. After all I’m not a biologist.”
“Don’t worry,” said Penny. “I’ve got a tonne of Cosmos I can lend you.”
“I don’t suppose that Cosmo is a reputable and well researched journal of astronomy?” he asked in a tone that suggested that he was not very hopeful. Penny pulled up her feet and rested her chin on her knee. She smiled at him and shook her head.
Sheldon sighed. “Clearly I’m going to have to write up a contract for us to sign.”
“No, no, no, no, no,” said Penny quickly, reaching out and tugging on his shirt a little so he looked at her. “No written contracts Sheldon. That is a definite no, no. Contracts have no place in a relationship. It’s all about compromise and making concessions and working things out. No contracts. It’s definitely not part of the social convention.”
“Really,” said Sheldon, looking a little bewildered. “I guess I’ll have to do some more research.”
He looked longingly at his comic book and put it carefully down on the coffee table. “Tell me about your day,” he said slowly and turned to look at her his hands folded in his lap. Penny launched into her story, and felt as she did, that the tension was going out of her. Sheldon was remarkably silent, only interrupting occasionally to ask questions instead of making long winded statements.
He watched her most of the time. Occasionally his face twitched a little - a reaction Penny had begun to realize meant that he was concentrating on concepts which were new to him. His eyes slid to his comic book once or twice, but he turned them resolutely back to her.
Penny finished her tale and looked at him expectantly. She had made herself more comfortable, her feet in front of her on the couch, her head resting on her arm lying across the back. She playfully touched a bare toe to Sheldon’s knee only a few inches from her, and he looked at her foot for a minute as if totally mesmerized.
Penny poked him in the shoulder to get his attention. “So what do you think?”
Sheldon took a deep breath. “I think you did the right thing.”
“You do?” said Penny, astonished.
“Yes.” He frowned slightly as he talked on, trying to get the details just right.
“You had the right to complain to your boss about juggling your shifts, so he could give extra ones to Cheryl. Just because, as you say, he wants to get into her pants, doesn’t mean that he should short change you or the other servers. Particularly because many of you heavily depend on your earnings just like Janine (did I get her name right?) who has a baby and another on the way, and her boy friend is an absentee father, or as you put it, a dick wad. I think speaking up about your concerns to him was both valid and necessary.”
Penny felt inordinately pleased that he agreed with her. She reached out and laid her hand on his forearm. “Thank you sweetie.”
But he was considering something else. “Penny, if I remember correctly your time at the Cheesecake Factory was supposed to be a temporary stopover until your acting career got profitable.”
“Yes,” said Penny, sitting up a little. She’d been having a lot of similar conversations with other people recently and her chest tightened. She really wasn’t in the mood for this.
“Then perhaps you should focus your time more. Trying to negotiate better conditions at your current job might be useful in the short term, but it ultimately does nothing for your acting career.
Not him too? Penny felt distinctly less relaxed. It was like explaining herself to her father all over again. “I’m doing the best I can,” she said tightly. “What do you think I’m doing by going to all these stupid auditions and taking stupid acting lessons and singing lessons and everything else?” She spoke louder than she had meant to when she started.
Sheldon watched her with an arched eyebrow, and she paused.
“I wasn’t finished,” he said promptly. “I propose that we work on your way of marketing yourself. For instance, your Facebook profile mentions that you’re an actress, but you have no Facebook page devoted to you. That would be a good start. Do you have any idea if you’re qualified to be listed on the Internet Movie Database?”
“I’m not sure. I think that may only be for people who’ve been on film or TV. Like that new girl upstairs Alicia. Do you know she is auditioning to play a dead hooker on CSI?”
“Leonard mentioned something like that, but I think we need to investigate your options further. There must be workshops you can be attending. Maybe you need a website or a blog. I need to put more thought into this.”
Penny looked at him with astonishment, his eyes had taken on the inspired look he had whenever ideas were evolving in his mind. “You have time to do that?”
“Why not? It shouldn’t be too difficult. Surely you’re not questioning my abilities. Look what my sense of innovation did for Penny Blossoms.”
“No Sheldon,” she said, smiling faintly. “I’d never question your ability to surprise me.”
“Yes,” said Sheldon, as if he weren’t really listening. “We’ve got to get you more exposure. Have you tried Disney Land? Maybe you could play one of the characters. Perhaps we can find some community theatre websites.” His sat up straighter as an idea came to him, and he turned to her with an exhilarated expression. “Maybe we can even get you a part in Fiddler on the Roof. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”
“That would be awesome,” said Penny looking at him with enchantment. “Would you come and watch me?”
“Front row,” said Sheldon with enthusiasm. “Of course, you have no singing ability to have a major part, but -“
“Hey!” said Penny punching him on the shoulder.
Sheldon grabbed at the place where her fist landed, took a breath then said, “Ow! My God are you trying to cripple me? Good Lord.”
“You were questioning my singing ability.”
“Well you’ve destroyed all the nerves in my shoulder,” yelped Sheldon, squeezing his eyes shut. “The pain is excruciating.”
Penny couldn’t quite keep a grin off her face. He was so fussy and affected sometimes. “You’re such a big baby.”
“I am not.”
“Does ums want me to kiss it and make it better?”
Sheldon looked at her in surprise. “What?”
“I can kiss it and make it better,” Penny repeated, feeling mischief bubbling up inside of her.
“That’s not necessary,” he began as Penny lunged and grabbed on to him, slipping her hands under his jersey. He gave a wild giggle.
Penny stopped, surprised. He gave her a panicked look.
“What was that?” said Penny, narrowing her eyes at him.
“Nothing,” cried Sheldon desperately.
“Sheldon,” said Penny, an evil smile curling across her face. “Are you ticklish?”
“Penny,” he said hastily. “We could both make an attempt to be adult about this.”
“Nope. Too late,” said Penny briskly and ran her fingertips over his ribs. Sheldon erupted in wild, helpless giggles. “Penny....I’m warning you.....oh my God stop it.”
Penny was delighted. She hadn’t had a good tickle fight in years. It had been one of her favourite games with her cousins. Some of her fondest memories were of tickling her annoying cousin Phil until he wet himself. She probably shouldn’t do that to Sheldon. He definitely wouldn’t appreciate it. It was enough fun seeing him out of control, barely able to stay on the couch, reduced to mad girly giggles. Penny was giggling hard herself and this was probably why he was able to finally escape.
Sheldon scrambled away from her in the most ungainly way she had ever seen him move, his t-shirts pulling up and revealing an interesting expanse of lower back. He stopped once he was safely away from the couch, his hair dishevelled; his clothes in disarray; his whole chest rising and falling; residual titters burst involuntarily out of him now and then. Penny covered her mouth to try to keep in her laughter. She shook all over and tears came to her eyes.
“Penny,” gasped Sheldon at last. “That is not fair.”
“I’m sorry,” said Penny. “I couldn’t help it. That was so funny.”
“Inducing a tickling response can be positively diabolical. Do you know in Ancient Rome, they used to dip torture victims’ feet in salt solution? A goat licked the salt off in a process which induced unwelcome tickling and eventually became very painful.”
“I’m sorry,” said Penny again unsteadily. She still couldn’t quite stop laughing. “Are you speaking from your own experience here?” she added, giving him an exaggerated quizzical look.
“Well,” Sheldon conceded, “I’ve fortunately never undergone Ancient Roman Tickle Torture.” (Penny gave a squawk of laughter.) But Missy and Emma used to hold me down and tickle me when they wanted to get me to surrender. It was most unfair.”
“Aww,” said Penny. “Is Emma your other sister?
“Yes. She’s younger than Missy and I and considerably smaller. She particularly was inclined to use devious methods to overcome me.”
“Well sweetie. If it’s any consolation, I promise to never tickle you to get my way. It’s like when you said that thing from Spiderman. ‘With great power.....”
“...comes great responsibility’,” he finished. “I see what you mean.” He still looked doubtful. “Do you promise? You see if we used contracts, there could be a useful clause added about this.”
“No honey. You’ll have to take my word of honour on this, and if you like, we’ll have an exchange of trust.”
“What do you mean?”
“I know you’re ticklish. I won’t tell anyone, and I’ll tell you something about me. I’m ticklish too.”
“Really?”
“I swear. Now you have a means of retaliation if I ever break my word.” She raised her eyebrows teasingly at him. “I’ll even show you where I’m ticklish if you like.”
He was so oblivious about some things, she did not expect him to catch the innuendo in her words, but he tilted his head to one side and gave her a long look which suggested interest, curiousity and something else which made Penny’s breath catch.
She became very interested in what he would say or do next, and of course Leonard and the others chose that moment to come in.
“Of course,” muttered Penny.
“Yes Howard, I suppose if you were having sex with Wonder Woman, her orgasms could conceivably kill you,” said Leonard in a resigned way.
“Yeah, but what a way to go,” said Howard reverently.
“Hey Penny,” said Leonard. “Hey...Sheldon....you okay buddy?”
“Yes,” said Sheldon after a moment. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Well you look a little flushed and your hair’s all over the place.”
“Did you guys get my order?” said Penny quickly. “I’m starving.”
While Leonard was distracted, Sheldon vanished into his room and came back looking less disordered. By then Howard had changed the subject to the new neighbour upstairs, and no one had time to think about Sheldon anymore.
“No wonder she’s auditioning to be a hooker in CSI,” exclaimed Howard. “She’s got the legs for it.”
“What do her legs have to do with being a hooker?” said Penny in disgust.
“I agree with Wolowitz,” said Sheldon.
Penny looked at him in surprise. “You do?”
“Well clearly having strong legs could be a useful physical attribute for hookers. The term ‘street walkers’ come to mind. Considering the amount of time these women spend on their feet would suggest that it is in their best interest to keep their legs fit. Besides the number of men who find a woman’s legs to be her most attractive feature is considerable. It would be instrumental for a hooker to have attractive legs to attract more customers.”
“So you consider Alicia’s legs to be attractive?” said Penny slowly. Most boyfriends would balk at answering such a question, but Sheldon looked at her as if this answer was obvious. “I believe that Alicia’s entire physique matches the typical preferences for quite a high percentage of males.”
“A very high percentage,” said Howard in his confidential voice.
Leonard and Raj both nodded in agreement. Penny scowled at them all. Even atypical guys could be so typical.
[Have you noticed Sheldon acting kinda weird lately?]
Penny looked apprehensively at Leonard’s instant message. She had left them discussing the logistics of Secret Agent Laser Obstacle Chess and eventually gone online to find Leonard lurking on Facebook. He always hailed her when they were online at the same time. His question came up suddenly in the midst of their other idle chit chat.
[What do u mean?] she typed. Better to be cagey with this one.
[He’s been acting....different I guess.]
[How dif? Distracted or smthing?] She wondered if the toll of keeping the information from the others was wearing on Sheldon.
[Actually not distracted at all. He’s been following his old routine, but he‘s up to something or other. He’s been working on something and doing a lot of unrelated extra reading. It’s nothing to do with his research, but he’s very into it. He’s the opposite of distracted I guess; he’s focused, and Sheldon’s focus can be pretty intense.]
[Mayb he has sum project or other he’s up to.]
[I figured, but that’s the weird thing. Usually he bounces ideas off of me when he’s latched onto something new....whether I like it or not J]
[J Then I’m sure he’ll let you know eventually.] She felt a guilty twinge as she typed. She knew the bond that existed between the two intellectuals, and she suddenly felt strongly that she didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize their connection. She had seen and understood how much Sheldon needed Leonard, and she didn’t want to disrupt that. They would have to tell him. Sometime soon.
[I suppose he will.] Leonard replied to her message.
Time to change the subject.
[I notice Stephanie posted on your profile page.]
[Yeah she just wanted to say hi.]
[She’s online rite now.]
[Yeah. I know. Talking to her.]
Only Leonard could make an instant message sound hesitant and sheepish.
[Really? U guys thinking of getting together? ;)]
[I dunno. It got kinda crazy last time.]
[Jus make sure you make it clear u want to take it slow. U have a say in the relationship 2.]
[I guess. We’ll see.]
She looked thoughtfully over their past conversation. Leonard needed someone nice. Stephanie was nice, and now Leonard had had a chance to mature a bit, there might be a chance they could handle it better. Better than she and Leonard ever could.
“The thing is that my combination of ingredients is a careful juxtaposition of contrasting flavours and textures,” explained Sheldon. “A meat lovers pizza is so redundant.” This was clearly an old argument which had been rehashed before, but which was pretty one-sided tonight because the comment was directed at Raj who could only throw up his hands and roll his eyes.
Penny actually liked Sheldon’s combination of ingredients. She munched away at her slice and wrinkled her nose at him when he glanced at her. He looked away quickly, contemplating the magazine on his lap, but she could see that he was smiling.
She felt completely comfortable and relaxed sitting with them, even when they started talking ‘shop’. In the time she had got to know them, she had developed an ease with them that she would have thought was impossible when they first met. She had even got used to being around Howard or at least to handling him when it was necessary.
Of course, her connection to Sheldon was her biggest surprise, yet she felt easier with the idea than she had ever felt possible. Perhaps because she could imagine them continuing like this, easy and comfortable with their friends even as they explored their own attachment.
Sheldon suddenly looked up alertly and shifted so he could pull his cell phone out of his pocket.
“Hello Jayden. Well actually I am sitting down to eat something right now.” Everyone in the room’s attention was immediately fastened on Sheldon. Penny watched his mobile face and couldn’t read his expression, but the next moment he looked quite pleased.
“Oh good. I’ll check my e-mail now. Thank you very much. Oh I’m sorry about that, but no, no, I’m sure you two will get back together eventually.” Howard made an exasperated sound. “No that’s kind of you but no. Okay have a good night.” He hung up.
“She just asked you out again didn’t she?” Howard said in a whispery pained voice. Sheldon stared at him. “Yes.” Howard shut his eyes and pressed his lips together. Clearly he had deemed Sheldon to be a hopeless case.
“Third time’s the charm Howard,” said Leonard obviously enjoying his friend’s discomfort.
“Third time?” said Penny. Somebody was persistent.
“Yeah, she keeps calling to clear stuff about the photo shoot,” said Leonard, obviously getting a kick out of the whole thing. “I personally think she can’t get enough of Mr. Nerd Stud over there, and Howard’s been having kittens over it.” Both he and Raj gave Howard smug smiles.
“I’m done,” said Howard between gritted teeth. “I wash my hands of him.”
“Anyway,” said Sheldon with the air of someone who had had enough of the babble of inferior beings. “Jayden says that she e-mailed the layout of the photo shoot to me. Now I can finally show it to Gablehauser. Perhaps he can stop hounding me then.”
“Let’s see it,” said Leonard. “I want to see it.”
“Why?” said Sheldon. “I’d rather not. I’m eating.” Raj jumped up eagerly. Howard got up too. “Come on we’re your friends Sheldon. We want to see your pictures. I’m sure you have nothing to be ashamed of,” he said snidely.
“Well of course I don’t,” said Sheldon, giving him a surprised look. Penny stood up too, and they all looked at him expectantly. Sighing, Sheldon got up, muttering something about getting it over with.
They all had to look away while he entered his password to his e-mail. Jayden had sent him a link to her website where all of the pictures for the shoot were available. Penny leaned on the back of Sheldon’s chair to see better and unexpectedly caught the scent of vanilla coming off his skin. She breathed in and hummed. Around them the others were silent as they contemplated the shots.
“You look good buddy,” said Leonard at last with a grin. “Definite nerd studliness.”
Raj whispered something to him, and Leonard nodded in agreement, tilting his head contemplatively. “Yeah those colours really do bring out your eyes.”
Penny gave a squeak of laughter and Sheldon stiffened. She realized that her breath on his neck was bringing out goose pimples on his flesh. She valiantly resisted the urge to kiss the place where his neck met his shoulders, but she couldn’t stop herself from blowing softly on him from pursed lips - she felt a tremor run through the chair she was leaning on.
Leonard and Raj were looking delightedly at Howard who was having an internal struggle of his own.
“Sheldon looks good right?” said Leonard, grinning evilly.
“He’s okay,” said Howard tightly. “They’ve obviously done a lot of brush up work and used a lot of makeup.”
“Excuse me,” said Sheldon. “Jayden Howe said I had wonderful skin (I always have), and she said I didn’t need much makeup at all.”
Howard’s face started to twitch rapidly, rivalling Sheldon’s best facial tics. “Alright I’ve had enough of this,” he muttered stalking away.
“Aww Howard,” said Leonard following. “It’s so hard when another hottie comes on the scene huh?”
Raj gave Sheldon a thumbs up and went back to sit on the couch.
“I think you look very sexy,” whispered Penny putting her mouth close to his ear. Sheldon took a long deep breath. She jumped up. “I think he looks kinda sexy Howard,” she said louder, skipping back to the couch. Howard held his head and groaned loudly.
Now Sheldon was online. Sure enough, the dot next to his name on Facebook was bright green.
Penny glanced at the clock: 11:45.
Impulsively she grabbed up her phone and dialled.
“Penny?”
“How come you’re still awake?”
“If you didn’t know I was awake, you shouldn’t have called. My sleep cycle is very likely to be thrown off by late night interruptions.”
“I saw you online genius thought I’d risk it.”
“Well you and I are very lucky your gamble was not ill-timed.”
“I bet Jayden Howe didn’t call you at all hours.”
“No, she always seems to be very conscious of not bothering me at inopportune times. She apologized profusely for calling me this evening, but she thought I would want to know right away.”
Oh please. “And she has no assistants to do the calling for her? She’s still hung up on you.”
“Really?” he said, but not with any interest. “Anyway it is fortunate that you called after all. I’m working on your Facebook page as we speak. I’ll need you to vet it tomorrow. Can you find some good pictures I can post?”
He was working on her Page as he said he would. Well after his bedtime, disrupting the same sleep patterns he had just scolded her about. Forget Jayden Howe. Penny felt her tensed body relaxing into her pillows. How much more precious could Sheldon Cooper be?
“I’ve got plenty you can use,” she told him. “I’ll e-mail them to you tomorrow.”
“Maybe that one of you when you were playing Anne Frank. We want to emphasize your theatre experience.”
“Honey, thank you so much for doing this for me. I know you need your sleep.”
“Well I’m going to bed in a moment,” he said. “I don’t want to catch a cold.” His voice sharpened with fussiness. “Do you know Leonard spilled tea on my pyjamas bottoms for tonight after you left? I really need to start purchasing spare pyjamas for each day.”
“What is with you and your pyjama bottoms?” laughed Penny.
“It’s Leonard’s fault,” he said defensively. “If I get sick sitting here he is going to pay the consequences.”
“Wait. Do you mean you’re sitting up at your desk with no pyjama bottoms right now?”
“Yes. I’d make Leonard wash them, but I don’t trust his laundry methods.”
“Sheldon Cooper,” said Penny a little breathlessly.
“Yes, Penny?”
“Don’t make me come over there.”