After, like, almost 5 months of development hell, and 2 Corona Bombs, I finally made this fic. FINALLY.

Without further ado, I present:

The Calm Before The Storm

Chapter One

This latest mission had absolutely kicked Penn and Corona's butts-they won as usual, but nonetheless, it was stressful as hell for the two of them. Corona threw herself onto Penn's bed, sprawled out, her face on his pillow. She groaned loudly.

"Peeeennnnn, undress me and put your pajamas on me. I'm too exhausted to do it myseeeeelf." She whined a little.

"Turn over first."

"But I'm too tireeeed"

Penn sighed, and rolled his eyes in a playful manner, and gently flipped her over onto her back, and pulled her to sitting position.

He pulled her boots off. "Y'know, you're 16 years old, you should consider taking your own shoes off." He joked.

Corona rolled her eyes in an equally playful fashion. "I'll do it when I get my own pajamas." She said, snatching his pajama shirt from the side of the bed, and waving it in his face.

Penn laughed, and unzipped her dress, pulling it off of her. She put on his pajama shirt.

"Button it." She said sticking her tongue out at him.

"Kiss me first."

And she did, she kissed him.

He gently wrapped his arms around her, as he deepened the kiss. He pulled her closer, continuing to gently kiss her.

She broke away for air. "Now button it."

He laughed, and buttoned his pajama shirt. She hugged his shirt on her body, taking in his scent.

"Hey, why sniff my shirt when you can sniff me?" Penn smirked.

Corona laughed. "Sounds weird but okay." She pulled him up against her, and buried her face in the zero logo on his shirt, on his chest.

He chuckled and stroked her now almost black hair. By the end of summer, the purple dye will have completely washed out. He kissed the top of her head. "I love you, Corona."

"I love you too Penn." She yawned.

It was contagious, soon enough he yawned too. He got out of his clothes. "Maybe tomorrow's mission will be easier on us." He said, turning off the light, and curling up to her.

"Hopefully." She said.

But it wasn't. Oh dear lord, it wasn't.

They came home, beaten, tired, Corona was crying. She hid her face with her hands.

Sure they were successful, but what did it matter? With each mission, they were getting worn down.

The poor exhausted, and very sleep deprived Corona was breaking, soon she'd fall apart. This deeply concerned Penn.

Corona curled up on his bed, putting her head on her knees, her body being racked with sobs and sighs. Penn sighed as well, and sat next to her, gently stroking her hair and back.

"Shh, Corona, everything will be okay, I promise." He wrapped his arms around her.

"It's not that! I…I just…I don't know!" she gripped at Penn's shirt, and cried on him.

He wrapped his arms around her, and gently rocked back in forth at a steady pace, hoping to calm her-seeing her like this made him feel a deep sadness.

Then, out of what felt like nowhere, Penn's aunt Rose practically burst in.

"Phone for Corona. I assume. I'm not sure, I don't speak Spanish." She said

Penn took the phone from his aunt.

"Corona, I think there's a phone call for you." He said gently, and quietly.

Corona unburied her face from his chest and sniffled a bit. "O-okay." She took the phone.

Whoever was on the other line, they made Corona smile. Penn smiled in response.

"Sí, abuela, yo te echo de menos" she said.

She proceeded to have a conversation in Spanish with whom Penn assumed is Corona's grandmother. Penn smiled brightly, he was so happy to see her smiling and laughing.

Then he got a crazy idea. He smirked. Corona noticed his smirk, though she assumed he meant something else, and smirked back, kissing him on the lips.

He blushed.

He just hoped this idea would work out for him…

~u~

The very next morning, Corona woke up, she stretched out, and yawned.

Penn was hovering over her.

She giggled. "Penn, why do you have that giant smile on your face?"

"Well…I did some digging around…a few phone calls…a quick run out…aaaand…" he held up two plane tickets.

"Are those…plane tickets?"

"Yes!" he shook, excitedly.

"Where?"

"To Mexico. To see your grandparents!"

Corona laughed. "Penn, we can't just drop everything to see my grandparents. Believe me, I want to see them, but, heroing, remember?"

"I worked it out with Phyllis."

"Wait, wait….Phyllis is letting us go?"

"Yes, she said she'd just have Marnie fill in."

"But what about packing?"

"I packed for you."

"When do we leave?"

"In an hour."

"Oh my god Penn…you planned all of this last night?"

"Yes."

Corona played with a button on Penn's pajama shirt while she evaluated that this was actually a real thing that was happening.

"Well? Aren't you gonna get dressed? We have to get to the airport…"

"Y-yeah give me a sec." She got up and went to the bathroom to do her daily routine.

She was excited about the trip, yes. But she was scared, for whatever reason, that something bad might just happen.

She unbuttoned Penn's pajama shirt and let it fall to the ground, as she turned on the shower, adjusting the water and getting in.

Her concerns went away as the warm water hitting her back soothed her sore and tired body, she only thought about the smell of cherry blossom shampoo.

Even more purple hair dye washed out with the foam of the shampoo, and then she got out of the shower. That was out of the way.

She dried off, and got dressed, in something floral and form fitting, as she usually wore. She applied her make up.

She left Penn's bathroom. "I'm ready…aren't you gonna shower?"

"There's no time for that."

"Penn, you smell like sweat."

"Okay fine, I'll take a quick one."

Then, after Penn's quick shower, they headed to the airport.

As the plane took off, Corona hoped this trip would ease her stress, rather than make things worse, like the small feeling in her gut kept trying to tell her it would.

~u~

3-15-18-15-14-1-19 14-9-7-8-20-13-1-18-5-19 13-5-1-14 13-21-3-8 13-15-18-5, 23-8-1-20 4-15-5-19 20-8-5 6-21-20-21-18-5 8-1-22-5 9-14 19-20-15-18-5

Yes, that's right, I'm adding ciphers. They have tidbits about the story, characters, maybe even stuff that could be relevant later on...or maybe it's all jokes. You never know what you'll get. Anyways, get ready, cause, honey you got a big storm comin'