Neither of them engaged in any form of cheating, neither of them let out the stream of curses that the other men would let out on a belt, yet neither of them seemed able to estimate how good the other was. Every time Sheldon calculated her accurate level of expertise she would do something else in which to make him re-analyse the entire equation thrice. On a similar level, Sky seemed to be at no end of frustration to the style that she was so very unfamiliar with, bar Leonard and an ex-boyfriend, she hadn't had much player experience unless with her own person on a 1-controller game; yet now they were going head to head in battle so heated that the entire room was dead silent.

Every now and then the third roommate would look between their gazes of extreme concentration and entertain the thought of interrupting, but a blast from the screen would pull him from the thought before he dared to act on it. The intensity wasn't surprising, the look of utter concentration on his little sister's face matched the aggravated glare of the tall, lean man he called his friend. He pitied the next person to walk into the room as the level of passion was almost starting make him nervous as he looked between the two gamers' they were leaning forward in their seats and barely blinking through their narrowed eyes as their fingers flew across the game pads.

It was after about half an hour of continuous and brutal slaying that finally the screen cut to the end and he was left to deal with an ashen-faced Sheldon Cooper and modestly smug Skylar Hofstadter. "I don't know how, but you cheated," the man glared at the younger sibling through dark sapphire eyes, judging and studying her. Under his gaze she felt uncomfortable and had to look away as her body flushed the pallor of a fiery sky. Before she could feel too out of place however Leonard was congratulating and cheering for her, as the older man retreated to turn off the game station with his mortified blush seemingly unnoticed by the others in the room.

"It was fair and square Sheldon, she beat you fair and square, so can she join Halo night now?" The incredibly proud older brother of the victor grinned up and squinted for a second through his glasses at his lankier friend. The chuffed look was subtly unamicable as Leonard directed his gaze to Sheldon, whilst the only female looked bashful and unwilling to call out the unfamiliar man on his beating; she simply stared at her feet with her mussed brunet hair falling in every which direction. For a moment, the tallest male was curious of her shy behaviour, as most people would hold a party just to call him out as wrong or beat him in one way or another. Yet this strange girl was simply stood back and silent, Sheldon found that he rather…appreciated this.

"I suppose, she has after all proved her worthiness, and for a female she is rather talented at the controls," He watched her cautious gaze draw up from the carpets as a slow smile reached across her face, the man watched through sea-dyed eyes as she bit her lip to contain the emotions that she was clearly not used to experiencing. "But that's not to say she has a permanent spot," Sheldon pointed a long finger at Leonard, "She has to continue her performance tonight to guarantee a spot next week,"

But the hobbit-sized man simply beamed at his retreating, defeated, figure. His hot cocoa eyes shone with something short of awe and pride towards the younger a, in immediate brotherly protocol; he extended a hand for a high-five. "I've never seen anyone beat Sheldon like that," He muttered, holding her forearms gently. "Raj and Howard are going to love you," A snort escaped her mouth, clearly incapable of being held back as Skylar ran a hand through her sun-streaked ebony hair to push the bangs hiding her vision out of the way. Looking at her slightly smaller brother, she gave a ghost of a smile and sat back down on the couch.

"S-So, does he n-not get beat e-easily?" Sky whispered, scared that something of an enemy had been made out of her flatmate as she brought her knees up to her chest tightly; blacked in by the pythons of her strong arms. Absently, her blunt fingernails scratched at the hard, inky denim that coated her legs like a second skin, the baggy t-shirt of blood-stained characters suddenly making her a little chilly. Her eyes fixated on the movement of the broken hard shell at the end of her fingers, a little too drawn to the tiny rip of skin underneath one of the chewed specimens.

"No, and he likes to remind us, like all the time…every time," Leonard looked content until he saw the wary look that shadowed Sky's face, like a death spell pulled tightly over the innocent thoughts that the girl had now forgotten to have. "It'll be fine," He tried to pull a convincing face, but even if he had a statement to accompany it, the elder knew that nothing he had to say would comfort her in her dry spells. The worst part was that he knew it wouldn't be ok, he knew his roommate a little too well, sometimes it was a plague to be able to predict such an unpredictable man, and he knew that beating him was something he wouldn't let go. From this moment forward, that man was going to try whatever he could to outsmart or humiliate her.

Nothing Leonard did or said would stop him, at all, that was one thing for certain, when Sheldon Cooper got an idea then the walls of the universe may as well go collapse in its favour, because nothing would stop him. Like a very small bull in a thankfully metaphorical china shop, he would barge around like a child with no consideration for those around him, much less the people who cared about him.

But Sky had come to this apartment for protection, for safety, for a little time away from the hurried world around them (though this was probably not the best idea since she was staying with two Physicists). The verdict remained that her safety was in his hands, but how to protect a girl with little understanding of hatred against a man who couldn't recognise it?

((A/N: Ok, so far so good, this chapter was slightly shorter, my apologies but I am writing quite a few at once so a little fogiveness wouldn't go to miss. To clarify in the last chapter when Sheldon adn Sky were talking about Chemical Romances-It's a band, so you know "My Chemical Romance," is-was-a American Alternative Rock Band from New Jersey.

Few more highlights-I recognise that there are a few mistakes in my previous chapters but I haven't really got much time to deal with them, so I apologise and I hope you can handle a few mishaps

-CJ))