Friday March 23, 2018

"Penny!"

The blonde swung around as Sherman called her. She smiled as her best friend made his way toward her through the throng of students eager to get out of school and live their weekend to the fullest.

"Hey Sherman, last class of the day?" she asked him.

"Yeah," he smiled. "I wanted to ask you something."

She shifted her bag further up her shoulder. "Sure, what is it?"

"Can you help me with a birthday party for Mr. Peabody?" he asked.

Her face flashed with realization. "Oh yeah, it's his birthday soon isn't it?"

"Yeah, on Monday." Sherman nodded.

She smirked. "Man, how old would that make him? Wouldn't he be over a hundred years old by now?"

Sherman laughed. "Yes, a hundred and nineteen, but since he's not like most dogs, we just count his birthdays normally instead, makes it easier, which would mean he's going to be eighteen."

"That's kinda weird…" Penny said as she turned to start walking toward the front doors.

"How come?" Sherman asked as he started following her.

"Well, I mean, he's seventeen now, a teenager in our terms and… he is your dad, and has been for the past eleven years…" She said slowly.

Sherman shrugged. "Yeah, I guess it's weird, but what does it matter? He was in college before that, so it's obviously not like he had the same maturity level for his age."

"I guess." She shrugged too.

"So, will you help me?" he asked again as they pushed through the front doors. They both squinted as the bright afternoon sunlight hit their eyes.

"Of course. What did you have in mind?" Penny said as they walked down the steps.

"Well, normally on his birthday we travel in the WABAC to some time, but I thought it would be fun to give him a birthday party in some other time, namely with Leonardo Da Vinci." Sherman said as they stopped and stood at the curb, waiting for their parents.

Penny grinned. "That sounds like an awesome idea Sherman!"

Sherman smiled too. "Yeah, Mr. Da Vinci is probably his favorite historical person, we visit him the most."

Penny laughed. "Probably because he's a nerdy engineer just like your father. Have you asked Mr. Da Vinci yet?"

Sherman looked worried and wrung his hands. "No, and I haven't been able to whenever we're there. I never get a chance to be alone with him. Mr. Peabody is always with us."

"So, is this going to be a surprise party or…?" Penny questioned, an eyebrow raised.

"Well, it's not going to be like a real surprise party, like where we jump out and yell 'happy birthday!' more like, it'll just be a surprise to Mr. Peabody that this party back in time is for him." Sherman said, smiling his goofy smile.

"Oh, well in that case…" Penny said, drawing her lips in an uncertain smile. "Has Mr. Peabody changed the access codes to the WABAC?"

Sherman's eyes widened. "NO. We're not doing that. I knew you'd suggest it." Sherman said firmly, folding his arms.

"Well I don't know what else you could do." Penny said shrugging her shoulders.

"You know what happened the last time I did that, which was all your fault by the way." Sherman half-glared at her.

Penny rolled her eyes. "Yes, I know, which means if I don't come with you this time, maybe the space time continuum won't blow up." She quipped.

"I'm sure it wouldn't if you did, but I don't want to take the risk." Sherman said.

"Well, no surprise party for Mr. Peabody then." Penny sighed with an air of finality to rub it in.

Sherman stood there, fidgeting, before finally sighing. "Ok fine, I'll do it."

He smiled and suddenly asked: "Do you want to come over for a sleepover tonight?"

Penny shook her head in confusion. "I thought we were going to plan Mr. Peabody's birthday?"

"We are, I just need a good reason for going down the elevator. You'll come over for a sleepover, and then tomorrow I'll say I'm going to the library with you."

"Ah… right." Penny nodded in understanding.

"I know!" she suddenly exclaimed. "We can say we're going to the library to study, but you'll go ask Mr. Da Vinci, and I'll get party supplies we can bring there."

"Noooo, we can't do that!" Sherman frowned and shook his head.

"Why not?"

"Well for one, American party supplies in the fifteen hundreds would be a dead giveaway, Mr. Peabody would know I took the WABAC without permission. Everything will have to come from there. So, we'll just go there together. And second, it already turned out disastrous for the timeline when everyone took something of America back with them."

"Oh… right. Well a sleepover sounds like fun anyway, I'll ask my parents once they get here." Penny smiled.

Just then Peabody drove up on the moped.

"Hello Sherman. Hello Ms. Peterson." He greeted them.

"Hi Mr. Peabody!" Sherman smiled at his father. "Can Penny come over for a sleepover tonight?"

Peabody chuckled. "Your enthusiasm suggests that you might not have talked to her about it yet."

"Oh, I did, she just has to ask her parents once they get here." He said. Penny nodded in agreement.

Peabody thought about it for a few seconds, mentally running over the calendar in his head.

"I believe we have room in our schedule." He finally said.

He turned to her and smiled. "Just ask your parents and if they say it is alright they can drop you off at around six."

Penny nodded again. "I'm sure they'll be ok with it."

"Bye Penny!" Sherman said as he got into the moped and put his helmet on.

"Bye Sherman!" Penny winked at him, and he winked back.

Peabody revved the moped and they drove out of the wraparound entrance of the school and into the street.

"So Sherman, how was school?" Peabody asked him.

Sherman smiled. "I finally beat Michael in chess club today." He said happily.

Peabody smiled, proud of his son. "Congratulations Sherman. It seems all those chess lessons with me finally paid off."

"Maybe." Sherman sighed. "I've never beaten you, except that one time…"

"…that one time which was a result of my mind wandering, so you won by default. But you know what I always say, failure is the best teacher." Peabody smirked. "That and experience of course."

Sherman's phone chimed, telling him he had a text.

"Penny said her parents said it's ok and her parents will drop her off at six." Sherman said happily.

"Splendid." Peabody said.

They arrived home and after eating dinner Sherman worked on his homework as he waited for Penny.

Six o'clock finally arrived and they both heard the doorbell, or rather, elevator bell.

"I'll get it Dad!" Sherman shouted down the hall as he exited his room. He checked the video feed in the elevator on the little monitor next to the doors to verify it was Penny and pressed the button to let her in.

"Hi Penny." He greeted her as the doors opened. She had changed out of her school uniform and was wearing simple jeans and a light blue striped shirt, and she had a big duffel bag slung over her shoulder.

"Hi Sherman." She replied, walking inside. "I've always wondered, how does security work for your house? Couldn't anyone just push the button for your floor, or even worse, the WABAC room?"

"Oh, the doors didn't open automatically, I had to make sure it was you in the elevator first, then push the button to open them and let you in. Have you ever noticed that little number keypad near the buttons? You have to enter the passcode to get in without Mr. Peabody or me checking first. Same goes for most of the secured floors, otherwise you can just press the button and go to that floor freely. And obviously the code for all the other floors are different than the one to our house or the WABAC. And there's a second elevator that only goes to the floor below the WABAC to reduce congestion."

"But what if you have a fire?" Penny asked as she followed Sherman down the hall to his room.

"We have a one-way door that leads to the fire escape stairs." Sherman said as he opened his bedroom door and walked in.

Penny nodded and threw her bag on the floor and put her hands on her hips.

"Ok, are we doing this? Planning Mr. Peabody's 'surprise' birthday party?" she asked as she air-quoted 'surprise'

Sherman opened a drawer on his desk and pulled out a pen and notepad. "Yep."

They both stretched out on the floor and began to research how most birthdays were celebrated in Florence, Italy in the fifteen-hundreds.

The evening light finally faded away and Sherman had to turn on his overhead light.

Suddenly they both heard a knock at the door.

Penny frantically pulled all their notes together and shoved them under her sleeping bag.

"Come in." Sherman said.

Peabody poked his head in. "Children, I made popcorn. And Sherman, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. starts in 5 minutes, we don't want to miss it…" His brows furrowed in confusion. "What are you two doing?"

They were both sitting on the floor near Sherman's bed, seemingly doing nothing other than possibly talking, which Peabody found odd.

"…Playing." Sherman said innocently. And before Peabody could question further, Sherman quickly got up and ran past him, Penny following.

"Thanks dad, you're the best!" he said as he headed for the kitchen.

Peabody sputtered. "You're welcome… Sherman." He turned back to Sherman's room and looked at it curiously for a moment before turning and following them down the hall into the kitchen.

Sherman was a major Marvel fan and had all the comic books and enjoyed all the movies put out and the TV show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. He also wanted to watch the shows on Netflix, but Peabody refused. ("Absolutely not! They are way too violent and mature for you. Maybe when you turn 18.")

Penny was a casual fan, (she'd occasionally catch the show and watch a few of the movies) but not as much as the father and son.

They watched the episode and after it ended Sherman turned to Penny. "Did you catch the hundredth episode two weeks ago?"

Penny shook her head. "No, I didn't, what happened?"

"Fitz and Simmons finally got married!" Sherman said happily from his spot on the couch next to Peabody, bouncing up and down.

"Emphasis on the 'finally'." Peabody added.

"Oh yes, haven't they been a thing through the whole series pretty much?" Penny asked.

Peabody laughed. "Yes, they have been a 'thing' as you call it. What I don't understand is why they took so long to finally tie the knot. They were both aware of each other's affections." He put his paws together. "But, regardless, it's time for bed you two."

They finally brushed their teeth, changed into their pajamas, and went back to Sherman's room.

Sherman crawled into his bed and Penny slid into her sleeping bag.

"I can't wait for Infinity War, it's gonna be so cool!" Sherman suddenly exclaimed.

Penny cocked her head. "What's that?"

"The next movie! The big bad guy Thanos is finally coming to earth and all the heroes throughout all the movies are going to fight him together!" he said excitedly, poking his head over the edge of his bed.

"Ah. That should be fun."

Sherman frowned. "Although one or more characters might die."

"Oh." Penny sighed. "Ok, so tomorrow, we're going to tell Mr. Peabody that we're going to the library to study, but we're going to take the WABAC to Florence and ask Mr. Da Vinci if we can have a 'surprise' birthday party at his place for Mr. Peabody." She said as she looked up at the glow stars scattered across Sherman's bedroom ceiling.

"Yeah…" Sherman said, he had forgotten in his fun of having a sleepover with his friend that he was going to take the WABAC and now he didn't feel like doing that anymore.

Penny sensed his hesitation and sat up. "Don't tell me you're turning chicken now?"

"No! I'm still doing it." Sherman said, resolving himself despite his doubts to the contrary.

"Ok good, goodnight Sherman." Penny said.

"Goodnight Penny." Sherman said as he took his glasses off and placed them on his bedside table. He turned the light off and they were shrouded in darkness, the only light coming from the glow stars on Sherman's ceiling and the New York cityscape out his window.