This story is based around the lyrics of Ed Sheerans song Firefly. Hope you enjoy it.
Disclaimer: I own neither the song nor the characters. Sad face :(
I fell in love next to you
Burning fires in this room
It just fits, light and smooth
Like my feet in my shoes
Little one, lie with me
Sew your heart to my sleeve
We'll stay quiet underneath
shooting stars, if it helps you sleep.
And hold me tight, don't let me breathe
Feeling like you won't believe
That was the moment it happened, he remembered. It was the moment he realized that what he had felt for her before had been only lust, because what he felt for her at that moment was much, much more than that. Infatuation was what he had felt the first time he saw her and he lusted after her every day after that, but it didn't take long for his feelings for her to grow.
He remembered the first time she had held him. Her body pressed tight against his. It was an innocent hug that only lasted for a few seconds, but the sparks flew the moment their bodies touched and to this day they still hadn't left.
The first kiss, he remembered, brought more than sparks. It brought a whole new breed of electricity, it brought fireworks. They shot up in the air the moment her lips touched his and exploded when their tongues met and caressed together. And with every kiss ever since, those fireworks still came, becoming louder and more powerful as time went on and their feelings for one another continued to grow.
The first time they made love however, had been awkward. It was the big step between them being friends and becoming much more and there had been so much pressure for them to get it right that it got the better of them, but they persisted. They fought past the awkwardness and thankfully it didn't take long for their passion for one another to show in the bedroom, and that passion turned those sparks, and those fireworks, into raging fires. Those fires burned all around them as they showed each other how much they cared for one another, in the most special and intimate way possible.
He remembered the moment he fell in love with her. He remembered looking over at this beautiful, goddess of a woman, and realizing what he felt for her was more than infatuation and lust. He knew then, that the fires they had burned together had charred his heart, scarring him and she would forever be a part of him.
It was meant to be. She fit him perfectly, completing him. Others said that they were two completely different people, and they would never last. They said that a genius like himself, who spent his work day figuring out the inner workings of the universe, should never be paired with a simple waitress like her, who spent her work days bringing out food and making drinks at a bar, but those people just didn't understand.
She was different to him, that was for sure, but that was what he loved. He had been with women who were much similar to him in the past. He had dated scientists and doctors and lawyers. Women who other people would say were more suited to him. They would say it would work out because he had more in common with those women, but it never worked out, because none of those women were her.
No, she wasn't the smartest, and she wasn't the most successful. She didn't understand what he did for a living and had very little, to no real interest in it, but she taught him things, things that no other woman had, and he taught her things too. She taught him about the world outside of his nerdy little bubble. She showed him a life he never really knew existed. She took him to trendy bars, taught him about music and most importantly, she taught him about love. She took him from his extra-ordinary world, and showed him what was ordinary.
He took her to lectures that she didn't understand, and to see informative documentaries at the cinema. He showed her around his lab and explained to her, as best as he could, what he done on a daily basis. He taught her about all the geeky stuff he loved and he taught her about love itself. He took her from her ordinary world, and showed her what was extra-ordinary.
They were two completely different people, who had come together to show one another the other side of life, in a way no one else could have. They completed each other. What he lacked, she had in abundance and what she lacked, he had more than enough of. Separate, they were only halves, but together, they were complete. He was the bare foot, and she was the shoe that covered him and made him whole.
He remembered the moment she first told him she loved him. Not the time when she had said it in the heat of the moment, but the moment when she meant to say it, and meant what she said. It happened a few days after her outburst, which neither of them had mentioned. She had put her guard up after she had said those words because she was scared, even though she would pretend that she wasn't. She would show everyone around her that she was a tough woman, a lioness, but deep down inside, she was nothing more than a fragile kitten that was scared of the world that existed around her. Very few people saw that side of her, but he was one of the few. He saw that little kitten that existed deep inside her being, the kitten that would run, sprint, and gallop away if he made too much noise. So he stayed quiet. He never asked her about what she had said even though every fibre of his being needed the re-assurance that she had meant it.
Those few days passed and he remembered lying on the sofa, watching television when she came in. She had been tired and stressed from work and he told her to lie down beside him. He remembered how she smiled and immediately lay with him, fitting against his body, bringing out those sparks again. She lay almost on top of him, with her head on his chest. He remembered every movement and every touch like it had only just happened. He remembered how she sat up slightly, placed a hand on his jaw and turned his eyes away from the adventures of Dr. Who and on to her. At that moment he thought she was going to kiss him and ignite those fireworks, but she didn't. She did something better. She just looked into his eyes as she gently stoked his cheek with her thumb and said those three magic words. She spoke in a whisper, gentle and timid, but it didn't matter. He heard those words like they had been shouted at him through a megaphone and they echoed throughout the room. She said nothing after those words. She just looked into his eyes as hers began to swim in water. Those big, beautiful green irises said all the other words that needed to be said. They showed him how much he meant to her, as she finally let that little kitten out, and in that moment, she had not only worn her own heart on her sleeve, but she had sewn it to his. She had given her heart to him in the hope that he would keep it, protect it and keep it safe from ever being hurt again, and that was exactly what he was going to do.
She blew his mind, she really did, but every now and then, he would do something that would blow hers. He wasn't the most romantic man that ever lived, but he knew how to make her smile. He knew what to do to make her feel like she was the only woman that ever existed. He hated to see her sad, upset or in pain and he would always do anything to make her feel better, no matter what it was. She was a special woman, and she deserved to be treated as such.
He remembered one night when she was restless. She tossed and she turned, and she groaned and she moaned, as she tried her best to get comfortable. She had put her arms around him and snuggled into his chest and he thought she was falling asleep, until she groaned again and turned over. He tried to sooth her, turning in his sleep to put a hand to her shoulder and gently massage her back. It usually worked, but not this time. She turned back to him and whined, "Leonard, I can't sleep." He opened his eyes to her and saw the pain in her face. She was frowning and her bottom lip was sticking out a little. Her eyes were tired and full of sadness. She couldn't sleep and there was usually a simple solution to this. It was usually the reason she would have woken him up, but not this time, because this time the very thing that was giving her pain and keeping her awake, was the very thing that stopped him from putting her to sleep the way he normally would. Mother Nature really could be a bitch at times, but he wasn't fazed, he was no 'one trick pony' and he had the perfect solution to ease her pain.
He stroked her hair and flashed her a smile, before getting up and grabbing all the sheets and cushions that he could find. She questioned him, but he told her to help him without giving a reason as to why. So that's what she did, she helped him collect all the covers and cushions they could find around the apartment and headed into the hallway and he led her up to the roof. It was a clear, warm summer's night, there was barely a chill in the air and it was perfect. He laid a sheet on the floor and then a bunch of cushions on top it, which they lay on top of. He remembered how she laughed and told him he was crazy and had the weirdest ideas, but then she lay down with him, putting the remainder of the sheets around the both of them. He held her tight to him as he pointed to the stars, showing her all the different constellations as she listened to his words intently. He laughed when she got excited because she thought she saw a shooting star, which he informed her was actually an airplane. A few moments later she done it again, pointing to the sky claiming she saw a shooting star and he was prepared to tell her it wasn't, until he saw it too. One, then another, and then another, flew across the sky, making Penny gasp in awe each time. "Make a wish." She had said, but he shook his head and told her no. He told her he didn't have to, because he already had more than he could ever have wished for.
They lay awake on the roof, looking up at the stars in their make-shift bed. It wasn't the most comfortable, it was hard and lumpy, but she seemed happy as she snuggled in beside him and played with the curls on the back of his neck, and before long, she was sleeping soundly beside him. He was content, happy in the thought he had once again succeeded in making her feel better and helping her get to sleep.
There's a firefly, loose tonight
Better catch it before it burns this place down
And I lie if I, don't feel so right
But the world looks better, through your eyes
And here he lay now, with the woman he had shared all of those experiences with. The woman who made him feel like he was ten feet tall, the woman who made his heart leap out from his chest. The woman who made him smile, who made him laugh, and made him shiver at her very touch. The woman who made him happy, and the woman he loved. She lay with her arm wrapped tightly around him. He could barely breathe, but not because of how tight she was holding on to him. He struggled to breathe simply because she took his breath away. Her beauty and her touch against his skin, her heart beating against his and her leg as it entangled with his own, everything she done as she lay asleep beside him, took his breath away. It was a feeling he never really understood, or could ever really explain to her, and even if he could, she probably wouldn't believe it.
They had been together for so long, but those sparks hadn't faded. Those fireworks still went off, and those fires still burned brightly. Even as they slept now, little fireflies flew all around them. They were doing nothing special, nothing out of the ordinary. They were just lying together in the same way they always did, stuck together like glue as those small burning flies danced around them, holding inside them everything they felt for one another, all their love and all their passion. It didn't take much for those little flies to catch fire. It could be something as simple as an accidental touch to the skin, or as purposeful as an unconscious grope, but whatever it was, it would wake them up to each other. They would lie there, millimetres from one another, with those undefeatable fires burning all around them, threatening to set them alight.
Everything was right. It was as it should be and always would be. Nothing would, or could tear them apart, they were too strong. Together, they were a force to be reckoned with, a fire that could not be put out. They were each other's and always would be. People would say that there was no way he could know this, that anything could happen in the future that could rip them away from each other, but those people were wrong. As he lay there, looking into her twinkling eyes that were full of her love for him, he knew that they would be together forever, because that's what they told him. No matter what went wrong in the future, no matter what hurdles they had to jump, he knew they would survive, because those eyes don't lie.