Distraction Reaction

by poopaw

(Disclaimer: not mine.)

"The results of the experiment…"

Leonard squints at his laptop, unable to make sense of the data that the university provided him. He groans at the amount of work he still has to do. Could it be possible to just throw his laptop out the window and still get his paycheck?

"What?"

He looks up at the sound of his girlfriend – no, wait, fiancée's voice. Penny is seated on the kitchen counter, sparing him only a quick glance before turning back to her task at hand. Her lithe fingers are type, type, typing away on her laptop. The space between her eyebrows is scrunched up together in concentration.

She's been working hard – harder than all her years at the Cheesecake Factory and her auditions, small roles, and Gorilla movie combined. It makes Leonard smile to see her so hard working. He's been so worried about her lately. Her failures were starting to seep through her strong resolve and he was afraid it might break her – break her to the point where he (or Chardonnay) can't fix it anymore.

But Penny is proving him wrong and he's never been happier to be mistaken.

Leonard puts his own device down and decides to take a break. Obviously, he's not going to reach a conclusion any time soon. Might as well give his brain a few minutes to rest.

"Nothing," he shrugs. Penny simply nods and returns her full attention back to her notes. It takes him ten seconds before coming up with what he thinks is the most brilliant idea ever.

"Hey Penny," he stands up and carefully walks to his fiancée. When the only response he gets is a hum, he puts his hands on her shoulders and starts to rub her tense shoulders slowly.

"Penny," he whispers in her ear. Leonard hopes he's doing it right. He's trying to mimic the same actions Penny usually does when he's engrossed in work and she wants to play and see how long it'll take for him to toss away his work in favor of spending time with her.

Fun fact: the longest it has taken her was a minute and a half. He's a bad scientist when it comes to choosing between work and the love of his life.

"Leonard," she stops typing and looks over shoulder. "I'm busy. I have to finish this before going to bed."

"But you've been working far longer than I have today and look at me – I'm taking a break," he can't help the whine that comes out of his mouth. He doesn't have it in him to be seductive or alluring. Hopefully, this doesn't ruin his game.

If he had any game to begin with, he thinks to himself.

"That's because you're being lazy, mister," she scrunches up her nose in the most adorable way. It makes his heart beat a little bit faster. Penny stretches her neck a little and pecks him on the lips quickly before turning back to her work.

Leonard pouts a little and returns to his task of massaging his way to victory. He knows all the pressure points that she loves the most. He always remembers what she likes and dislikes. It's just something he came to accept over the years they've been together (and not together).

"Come on, babe," he drops a kiss to her exposed neck. He doesn't call her babe often but he knows she loves it when he does. The soft sigh she releases is proof enough. "You deserve a break."

"Leonaaaaaard," she chuckles, turning her body fully to his direction. "I love you and I'm going to marry you someday and we're going to have lots of sex and grow old together but if you don't stop distracting me, I'm going to have to leave you."

Leonard can't help but smile back at her. He loves her laugh and her humor. He also can't help but beam every time she says those three special words to him. It doesn't matter that it's been a normal occurrence for quite some time now. It still makes him giddy whenever she says it and looks at him like he's the love of her life.

"Fine," he finally concedes, dropping his head to kiss her. "I'll let you be the nerd that you truly are. Study and ignore your hot boyfriend."

She laughs again and it makes him so happy to have had a hand in making that melodic sound happen. "Fiancé," she corrects him firmly, flicking his nose for good measure.

Leonard beams once more and leans in for another kiss – one last kiss to try and convince her over to the dark side. He had no idea how it happened but what he intended to be a brief kiss turned into a heated one quite quickly. Leonard nibbles on her bottom lip for one last time before pulling away. He smirks a little as he leans his forehead on hers. She's looking back at him with darkened eyes and he takes note of the fact that she's just as breathless as him.

"I – I have to," her eyes are torn between staring at his own eyes and his lips. "Work."

He's happy to have distracted her. It's nice to know that after all these years together, she's still not tired of him. "Yeah," he pecks her once more.

"You," kiss.

"Have," kiss.

"To," kiss.

"Work," kiss.

When he pulls away one last time, Penny drops her hands from his chest and pushes him slightly away. Leonard laughs once more at the dazed look on his fiancée's face and takes a step back. Mustering up all his will power, he steers his thoughts back to his report and decides to do both of their professional careers a favor by going across the hall to debate with Sheldon about the results of his experiment.

He's almost at the door when he hears Penny stand up from her chair. He looks back and sees her slowly walking to her bedroom, stripping along the way.

"You win," she says, tossing him a quick look over her shoulder. "Let's go, lover boy."

To be honest, even if Penny hadn't caved, he'd still feel pretty victorious because out of all the men she could've loved, she chose him to love for the rest of her life.

AN: That was too cheesy, I am not so comfortable with this fic. But what comes out of my mind is what I publish. Anyway, can I just share something? I'm so iffy about Penny's hair not having a backstory on the show but man, I love her and Leonard together. There will always be a special place in my heart for this ship and irl for Kaley and Johnny. Yay for them having mature relationship storylines.