A/N - Hello! The other day Nicole (WeBuiltThePyramids) tweeted this AU Prompt thing where somebody picks a number and ship and submits it to you, and you write about it. So I re-tweeted it because it looked really awesome. It's actually on Tumblr but I don't really use it, so I'm posting them here :) I have a few submissions (is that what they're called?) so they'll be posted as they've been written and I have time to get them over here. If you wanna see the list & submit anything, let me know. I love a good AU writing sesh!

This is Nicole's submission: Leonard & Penny 37 - meeting in prison au.

(Yes, I recently watched both seasons of Orange is the New Black so a lot of inspiration came from that. Sorry not sorry.)

37: The Lock-Up Disclosure

Curious, Penny thought, carrying her lunch tray as she slowly walked the canteen area in attempt to find a table. The table she had occupied mostly alone during her first week now had a new inhabitant - and she could tell by the color of his uniform that he was new here, if his awkward demeanor didn't give it away. He looked... misplaced for a prison. He was short, bespectacled, and very withheld. He looked as though he should be sat hunched over a book in the library, or playing video games in an apartment adorned with posters of superheroes all over the walls. Certainly not in a prison, implying he had committed a crime of some sort.

Intrigued, she walked over and sat down opposite him. "What brings you here?"

"Umm..." Leonard gulped as the blonde looked at him. Evidently, keeping to himself wasn't working thus far. Unsure of what to respond, he cleared his throat. "Sorry?"

"Sorry. I'm Penny." Penny pointed to her identity tag. "I hate my surname. But my pictures pretty cute, right?"

"Uh, sure." Leonard nodded, glancing at the photograph on her tag. "I'm Hofstadter... Leonard Hofstadter."

"Hi, Leonard." Penny grinned.

"Hi."

"So... what brings you in here?" Penny asked, circling back to her original purpose of sitting with him. "I mean, I know I'm not supposed to ask - but no offence, you don't really look like the kinda guy who'd end up in prison."

That made Leonard chuckle. Who'd have thought that was possible in prison? "That's actually not offensive at all. It's kind of a long story."

"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours. By the way, I'd avoid that dessert." Penny pointed at the dessert tub on his tray. "Nine times out of ten you will end up on the toilet in the middle of the night. I've been here a week and I learned the hard way."

"Oh, thanks." Leonard poked at the tub, before cautiously starting on the food. It wasn't the best thing he'd eaten, but... it could be worse. Especially considering he'd been sat there for the best part of ten minutes just looking at it, leaving it to go cold.

"So you gonna tell me or what?" Penny asked, chewing on her food. He still looked uncertain, so she shrugged. "Okay, I'll go first. My boyfriend - now ex, by the way - was into the whole drug scene. And I stupidly got involved because I loved him and I thought that's just what you do when you love someone. Plus my brother did it so I thought hey, can't be that bad, right? Though he's in rehab so I really should have known. Anyway, then I caught him cheating on me after weeks of figuring it out for myself but denying it, and he pretty much made sure that I ended up in here." Penny rolled her eyes. "Fuck knows where that bastard is now. Probably screwing some blonde and getting her into the same mess as he put me in."

"Wow." Leonard blinked, unsure of how to respond. She seemed more angry than upset, but from what he'd learnt form his mother, sometimes people were angry to mask the fact that they were upset. "That's... quite a story. I'm sorry that happened to you."

"Oh, well, thanks, but it's my fault for getting involved. I had a choice and I chose to do it." Penny shook her head. "You know I actually considered taking him back for a while? How stupid is that?"

"That's not stupid." Leonard assured her.

"It is... but hey, when you get here, kinda kicks that whole pathetic thought of getting back with him right out of you." Penny gave him a weak smile. "Tell me about you."

"Like I said, it's a long story." Leonard said nervously. "I'm a scientist and it's kinda complicated."

"Ah, a scientist." Penny nodded, amused. That made sense. "So give me the... simplified version."

"Okay. Umm... let me see." Leonard thought for a moment while Penny continued with her food. "There was a close call with my ex-girlfriend who was actually a Korean spy, and I blew up the elevator in my building."

"Whoa. I don't know which one I want to hear about first." Penny blinked, surprised by his revelation.

"They kind of link... both involve rocket fuel and the government. Technically, Joyce Kim - the ex-girlfriend slash spy - doesn't actually have anything to do with why I'm in prison. Luckily. It's the whole blowing up the elevator using illegal rocket fuel that got me here."

"Okay, so tell me more about the elevator thing." Penny pushed her tray to the side to lean forward, closer to him.

"Right. I'm an experimental physicist, and my friend Howard had this model rocket which inspired me to get this rocket fuel and show them a mini-version of the reaction it could create. It was supposed to be completely safe but then my roommate - also a scientist - pointed out I had gotten the formula wrong. We argued and long story short, he was right. We tried to evacuate the container and he pretty much saved my life by pulling me out of the elevator. The doors closed and a few seconds later... bam, elevator exploded. Looks fine from the outside but the residents all got a surprise when the elevator stopped arriving at any of the floors and the maintenance guy found there was no elevator to maintain."

"Oh my God! That's like, unintentionally badass." Penny's eyes lit up. This guy had more to him than that whole nerd thing after all. "How did they find out it was you?"

"Once they got down to it, they narrowed down the suspects. I felt guilty and explained the whole thing." Leonard blushed. "Pretty lame."

"Well, morally you did the right thing." Penny smiled, squeezing his hand quickly.

It was at that moment that he realized just how beautiful this woman was. Keeping to himself meant that he took as little notice of the people around him as possible in order to keep himself out of trouble. Even in the awful prison uniform and a bare face, she still had a youthful glow about her. Sure, he could see the sadness and anger in her eyes over her situation, but the closer he looked the more he was certain that she was the most beautiful person he had ever met.

When Leonard didn't say anything else and simply stared at her, Penny giggled slightly to herself. His eyes really were captivating, she thought, realizing that her own hadn't left his the whole time. The dark curls framing his face were adorable too. God, I would just love to run my hands through his hair. Biting her lip, she smiled at him with the hint of a smirk. "Hey, wanna share my headphones tonight? There's a movie on at seven in the common room."

Instantly, Leonard wondered if this was the prison version of being asked out on a date. But then again, perhaps she was just being friendly. "Thank you, that sounds nice." At least he wouldn't be spending his first evening here completely on his own.