inspired by "OCD" by Neil Hilborn - his performance of it is on youtube, take a look it is really good.
He watched her chest rise and fall as she breathed gently.
He brushed a golden strand of hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear.
She lay still, lost in her dreams, cradled against his chest, one hand rested over his heart, the other wrapped around her waist.
He let his fingers run through her soft hair and sighed, quite content.
How strange that he, Sheldon Cooper would find himself lying naked with his girlfriend; the beautiful Penny from across the hall, after having had coitus.
He had changed so much over the past few years. He could say it was when he had first started dating her that the changes came into effect, but it was from the first moment they had met.
The first time he saw her, the world seemed to grind to a halt.
She had stood in her apartment, door open, music playing. His eyes had drifted over her standing there in a sky blue top and denim shorts, long legs, clear skin, feet encased in a pair of ugg boots.
"New neighbor?" his roommate had asked.
"Evidently" he had replied, moving to join Leonard who stood before the lift, hands fiddling with the strap of his bag as he gazed into the apartment opposite theirs.
"Significant improvement from the old neighbor,"
"200 pounds transvestite with a skin condition? Yes, she is."
She had looked over to them then, sparking eyes in a pretty face light up with a warm smile. Sheldon had ducked his head down to stare at his feet, surprising himself with his shy behavior and sudden rise in body temperature.
"Oh hi!"
The sound of her sunny voice caused him to raise his head to look back at her, responding along with Leonard with an awkward repetition of Penny's greeting.
I guess I'm your new neighbor," she had said in that same sing song, happy voice. She clicked the music off and moved to stand with them at her doorway, "Penny."
Leonard had introduced them but Sheldon found himself unable to speak never mind pay attention. His eyes were determined to sweep over every inch of her, yet unable to meet her eyes for more than a moment.
The usual mantra of science equations, difficult questions, possible dangers, lists of household needs that usually stormed through his head were gone. Leaving him with a mind that seemed only capable of saying "hi."
Penny came over for dinner that night.
Sheldon still found himself annoyingly blank around her, but every so often he was snapped out of it by small quirks of hers that reminded him who he was. She sat in his spot, and quickly learned not to. Not that it stopped her.
It was easy for Leonard and his other friends to accept him now. Sheldon had never gone out of his own way to hide his need to control his life in an organized and practical manner. but with Penny, there was a strange desire to impress he found building within himself that made it difficult for him to reproach her about her sloppy ways.
For a short while, anyway.
Penny seemed to have a great many annoying habits - more so that Leonard, he couldn't believe - and he found it second nature to reprimand her.
Over time she got used to it, fighting back against him which was interesting and infuriating all the same.
How difficult was it to sit in another chair? Or to get the engine on her car checked? Or to chew with her mouth closed? Or to clear her plate away once she had finished eating? Or to bin the empty take away containers? And who could possibly believe in horoscopes? Or constantly go after men that treated her poorly and ended up leaving her in a highly emotional state the usually distant Dr Cooper couldn't help but respond to.
Like when she had made the mistake of dating Leonard.
He remembered the hellish nights he had spent, lying in his bed glaring at the ceiling and wishing his noise cancelling earphones worked much better.
His thoughts would distract him as always; did I lock the door? Yes. Did I wash my hands? Yes. Did I relieve myself efficiently? Yes. Can I really hear Penny moaning my name or is it just my deranged imagination fuelled by my anger that Leonard is in there with her and I am not?
The entire idea of coitus had always been absurd to him. How could two people want to roll around naked, sweating and spreading bodily fluids over each other in the name of love when really they were pathetically lonely and victim to the idea that release was what they needed to survive.
But deep in the night when Sheldon dreamed, he dreamed of her. Of her nails scraping against his scalp, her lips on his, her tongue, her mouth her voice, her. He would wake aching and warm, disgusted by his body's reactions and angry at the woman who was slowly ruining his life.
But that morning when she would breeze into the kitchen with her hair piled messily atop her head, a bright smile on her face, eyes sparkling, dressed in slippers and a pink dressing gown he couldn't deny that her presence warmed him. He liked having her around.
He had never asked her out. Nor had she asked him.
He wasn't even sure when it had started. But he remembered one night he went over to her apartment. A friendship had bloomed between them over the many years they had known one another so visits like these were not in any way unusual.
It had been a relatively normal night. They ate Chinese food, he told her about his research and she replied sarcastically but he could see the look in her eyes that showed him she was still amazed. She told him about happenings in the cheesecake factory or the next audition she had, he would tease and comment that he had no interest in such tales but he secretly enjoyed listening. He liked to watch her mouth when she spoke. He remembered she had asked about his ended relationship with Amy. He had given her the brief acknowledgement but didn't want to talk about it much.
He couldn't remember much after that, but he remembered being curled up next to her on the couch and the look on her face when she had leaned in close to him. When he had kissed her, he remembered initially thinking of pulling away. He thought of all the germs that she could be giving him when her tongue timidly licked at his bottom lip.
But after a while, his mind went blank again. His hands moved of their own accord. He felt like he was getting a little taste of freedom, rather than being tainted.
She tells him she feels safe with him.
She would lie in bed and watch him shut the door, take off his slippers and place them neatly beside each other on the floor at the foot of his bed. She'd smile and run a hand through her hair when he took off his dressing down and hang it next to the bed, then slide into the covers beside her. She'd giggle when he reached over her to turn off the light, then kiss his lips before he lay back down.
She tells him she loves him. He watches her mouth when she speaks and is fascinated by the way the corners curl upwards when she says those three words.
He starts to find other things about her he loves.
Like the way she holds the steering wheel when she drives him to work. Or the way she runs a hand through her hair when she's frustrated. Or the sound of her voice in the morning when she is still half asleep. Or when she sings softly in the bath when she thinks he can't hear. Or how she blows out the candles, cradling one hand behind it to catch any wax because she knows he hates it when she gets wax on the table.
He finds it easier with her.
He doesn't obsess so much anymore.
He still locks the door, but once he has, he doesn't lay in bed running through his head wondering if he really did lock it. Did he lock it right? Should they get a better lock in case the one they have breaks?
When he does, he lays quiet thinking about it.
She leans up on her elbow and looks down at him. She traces a finger down his brow, gently pushing his frown away.
His eyes meet hers and the corners of her mouth curl up.
"You locked the door, sweetie."
He smiles at her, ignoring the small pang of annoyance he feels because she knows he is obsessing over it and he wished he wouldn't.
He glances over to the light beside the bed casting a soft glow to illuminate her in the dark.
She follows his gaze and smiled again, rolling over and reaching out to it, "I'll get it," she says.
"No, leave it," he blurts out. She looks at him over her shoulder, frowning in confusion but her smile is still there.
"Really? But you hate the light being on," she says.
"I know, but you said you like it - you like to see me. You said."
She rolls back over to face him, head tilted to the side, gazing at him questioningly, "Sheldon?"
"Leave the light on," he says. But what he means is I'll bend my rules for you. I'll do what I can to make you happy.
She knows, and she loves him for it.
She kisses him and he melts into her.
And when he rises up above her, bracing his weight on is hands either side of her head, he can look into her eyes and he kisses her smile.
He sometimes forgets to lock the door now, but she does it instead.
She gets the car checked and the engine light isn't on anymore.
Sometimes he lets her sit in his spot while he sits in hers.
She clears away the plates once they finish their meal.
He leaves the light on most nights.