"Dear Lord, the forces of nature have sabotaged our vintage video game night!" Sheldon exclaimed, breathing hard, and his right eye twitching sporadically.
"So what? The power's out. It's just a little storm." shrugged Leonard, trying to placate his extremely routine-dependent roommate in the darkness. Raj and Howard rolled their eyes at each other, knowing a freak-out from Sheldon was unavoidable.
"A little storm?" shot back Sheldon, looking at Leonard as if he had just killed a kitten, "Leonard, the world is a death trap out there right now! The best thing for us to do is to just stay away from all the windows and sulk about the death of vintage video game night. Should we need to evacuate, you'll find the locations to all the survival packs and escape routes in your guest manuals." He nodded to Howard and Raj.
"Yeah, totally. Thanks Sheldon." said Raj flatly.
Sheldon paused and looked at them expectantly. "Well, aren't you going to look at them?"
"Honestly, Sheldon, we're not going to bring those things with us every time we come!" sighed Howard.
Lightning flashed, illuminating Sheldon's glare, "Fine, if you want to flirt with death by your lack of preparedness, be my guest. Perhaps if Leonard is heroic, he'll show you where the survival packs are in the midst of the pandemonium."
Just as Howard was about to deliver what was in his mind a chilling retort, a clap of thunder rent through the sky. When it was done, the four men could hear the frantic knocking on the apartment door.
Leonard ran to get it and was pushed aside as Penny made her way in. "Hey, do you guys have any flashlights or matches?"
Before Leonard could answer her, Sheldon said, "Yes, but we are not using them until we absolutely need them."
Penny threw her head back and moaned, "Sheldon, please? I only need it for a few minutes so I can find my car keys. Looking with my cell phone light was not working well."
"Oh, where are you off to?" asked Leonard casually.
"I'm going to Amy's. She actually has power at her place and I just got off work, so I just wanna plop my ass down and watch tv with her."
"Penny, that is out of the question!" said Sheldon, standing up from his "spot" abruptly.
Penny placed her hands on her hips and glared at her crazy, lanky friend, "Since when did you become my mother, Sheldon?"
"I'm going to assume that you were using an expression, as I look nothing like a blonde, middle aged farm wife. The reason you may not go out is because it's not safe. You're likely to end up in a horrible accident from the way you drive every day, but tonight it is much too improbable to leave for any reason except for emergency."
"Whatever, I'm going, Sheldon. More looking with the cell phone, I guess."
As she marched towards the door, Sheldon took three long strides and stepped in front of her. He swallowed uncomfortably and said the one thing he knew would be most likely to get Penny to stay "As your friend, it is my social obligation to not let you put yourself in danger."
Penny's hands slowly fell to her sides as she gave Sheldon a cock-eyed expression, not sure if she should be annoyed or touched. Usually when she was around him she felt somewhere in between both. "Aww, Moon Pie, gimme a hug!" she shouted, wrapping herself around his middle as he cringed back; he was so fun to mess with.
Sheldon cautiously placed his bony hands on Penny's shoulders muttering "There, there…" in an awkward, scripted manner.
"Alright, that's enough torturing you." said Penny as she backed up, "I'll stay only if we do something fun. Got any ideas, Raj?"
Raj gave her a scared, surprised look at being directly addressed.
"Oh, didn't bring any booze tonight?" asked Penny knowingly.
"No, and a certain obnoxious person wouldn't let him go buy some." said Howard, glaring at Sheldon.
Penny shrugged, "It's probably for the best. You kind of make an idiot out of yourself when you're drunk, and it's bad for your health."
Raj looked down towards the floor self consciously and shrugged.
"Please, like you're the person to talk about healthy life styles! It would probably take hours to hear all the mistakes you've made while intoxicated- not that I would want to." said Sheldon.
"Ugh, see, this is why I didn't want to hang out with you guys tonight. I'm leaving!"
"Wait, wait!" said Leonard, grabbing on to her arm, "Just stay here with us. It might be kind of, you know, fun to do something together without electricity. It kind of distracts us from getting to know each other."
"Wow, Leonard, when did you become a woman?" scoffed Howard.
"While I disagree with the sexism of Howard's comment, I do agree with the content." nodded Sheldon, "Electricity has been turned into a wonderful tool to avoid direct human interaction."
"No, maybe Leonard's right." said Penny slowly, placing her finger on her chin thoughtfully, "How about we play a game of truth or dare? It would be a little more fun with alcohol, but as long as you guys have food, I'm good."
"Yeah, I could go for a little T and D." shrugged Howard. Raj nodded in agreement.
"Got you some extra thai food, over here!" said Leonard, with a big, cheesy smile. He was more than a little excited about Penny staying.
"As always, thank you Sweetie!" she said, snatching the food. As she opened the box, she looked up and said, "Who's going to start our game?"
"Please, this is preposterous!" snapped Sheldon, "I think I'd rather go over the emergency plans again."
"If you want me to stay, you play!" said Penny sternly, pointing her finger at him.
Sheldon stared defiantly until his resolve crumbled and he plopped back down to his spot. "Drat."
"Wonderful, sweetie, truth or dare?" said Penny with a menacing smile.
Sheldon looked around and gave an exasperated sigh. "Why me?"
"Because you were the only one being a brat about playing, so I thought you deserved to be picked first."
Sheldon rolled his eyes, "Fine. I suppose I'll go with…"
A/N: There's the first chapter to get things moving! As a truth or dare fic, this is going to be a collaborative effort. Leave me truths, dares, and maybe requests for more characters to enter the game in reviews and I'll do all the good ones I can. I will not take any rated M requests, but the more creative you guys can get, the better the story will be!
Aside from Howard and Bernadette, none of our characters are currently dating anyone. Penny and Leonard are in another hiatus (probably due to Leonard proposing again). Amy and Sheldon are in one of those "it's complicated" states. Raj is- well- Raj. I thought it would make things a little more interesting to have most of the characters unattached.
Alright, game time!