Penn Zero Fanfiction

Author's Note

This is the final out of the three chapters. So I know in the previous chapters, there was a bunch of stuff that isn't mentioned in the actual show at all. Now that I think back on it, there are so many holes in the basic concept of the show or things that aren't explained. I wanted to put my own spin of that so I filled in the holes as best I could. I also wanted to sort of expand this universe a bit because of the next arc I had planned. You guys will see what I was talking about in the coming months. I'm planning on doing another 'original work' like I did with the karate tournament but bigger.

I'm gonna be honest here. There's too much going on in my life right now. I really should have waited on starting this until summer vacation but I didn't and I tried really hard but I just can't balance this with my personal life. It's just too much. I sacrificed an entire weekend working on these chapters nonstop and now I'm behind on my work just because I wanted to get this out.

I'm officially putting this story on hold. I feel really guilty about making you all wait for something for so long and that is entirely my fault. So it feels even worse that I'm doing this now but I don't have any choice in the matter. So these three chapters are my parting gift to you guys. Thank you all for viewing my story. A very special thank you to PootisSpencer for your support and encouragement. There are some emotions that words just aren't enough to express. My gratitude is one of them. All I can say is thank you to you and everyone else for inspiring me to write and commit to this the way I have. So until next time...

Enjoy!

Shirley B. Awesome

"You know, besides the yelling and the abusive tendencies and the know-it-all attitude, Shirley wasn't actually all that bad," Penn told Boone and Sashi as they walked out of the theater. "And you guys can't deny she was a great hero. Giving it her all to the end for the sake of the mission."

"Yeah," Boone said, a hint of admiration in his usually uncaring and lazy tone. "I don't know anyone who'd have the guts to do that."

Penn and Sashi stared at him.

"What?"

"Boone, what do you think our job is?" Sashi asked.

"Saving the world at all costs," Boone said.

Sashi waited. Boone waited. Penn waited. Then...

"OH MY GOD!" he yelled in a panic. "WE'RE GONNA DIIIEEE! WE'LL END UP BLOWN TO BITS LIKE SHIRLEY B. SOMETHING! I'M NOT READY TO DIE YET! PENN! FIND ME A WIFE AND TELL HER TO TAKE CARE OF OUR KIDS!"

"I'm not sure that's how it works, Boone," Penn said patiently while his friend freaked out. The two of them watched their beloved Wiseman scream and run around in a panic, talking idly to pass the time and completely ignoring their friend who was having a meltdown. Finally, after two whole minutes of panicking, Boone finally calmed down, leaning over and breathing heavily, one hand on his knee and the other against his chest.

"You okay now, buddy?" Penn asked him.

"Yeah, I'm good now," Boone said, his signature lazy look plastered back on his face. Seeing that all was good, the three of them prepared to go their separate ways before Boone got an idea.

"You guys wanna come over to my house?" he asked them. Penn and Sashi looked at him in surprise. "I'm free for the day and my parents are gone to see some friends. They won't be home until tonight so it'll just be us." Penn and Sashi looked at each other, considering this. "Come on, guys," Boone insisted. "It's been a while since we all just hung out. At school, the only thing we do together is eat lunch. At work, all we ever do is fight bad guys. When was the last time we all just got together and had fun?"

Penn and Sashi thought for a moment, then Penn agreed.

"Sure, Boone. I'm up for it," he said.

"I got nothing better to do," Sashi said. "Why not?"

Boone beamed and the three of them started on their way over to his house with Boone talking nonstop the whole way. While Sashi grew annoyed quickly, she didn't say anything. At one point, she was about to but Penn had gently put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head at her and she had immediately dropped it. Penn had been touching her a lot lately, something Boone hadn't failed to notice and he didn't forget it, even after he had stopped talking and gotten lost in his own thoughts on the way over to his house.

The touching wasn't the only thing he had noticed. He had also seen how the two of them stood just a bit closer than normal now, how Sashi seemed to smile just a little bit more, or how Penn seemed to be pointedly oblivious to any female attention he got from the girls at school and Sashi's mood coincidentally seemed to improve. Despite all his shortcomings when it came to his job, Boone was still the Wiseman for a reason.

If he was being honest with himself, he really did miss spending time with his friends the way that they used to near the beginning of the year. Back then, the work they got from school and the demand from their job wasn't so hard to balance with their personal lives. Even so, as much as he missed those good times, he had another reason for doing this.

Penn was his greatest friend in the whole world and he truly cared about him in a way he never would anyone else. Despite his apparent cowardice when it came to his job, if Penn ever got too deep into trouble, Boone knew for a fact that he would dive in to save him, to hell with the consequences. He had grown plenty from the Wiseman he used to be when he started this job and he was much more capable than he let on. He would do whatever it took to protect Penn from whatever was threatening him. And that didn't always mean enemies. Sometimes, it meant friends, too.

Boone had initially not been very happy with the change that had recently begun taking place between Penn and Sashi. He had always viewed Sashi as being way too rough and Penn being way too soft. He didn't want his friend to be committed to someone who didn't deserve him and in Boone's opinion, with the way Sashi sometimes treated Penn, she didn't deserve him.

But then things began to change. Sashi began to change. At first, it was almost too subtle for Boone to notice, but eventually, he caught on. Sashi had begun to change, first in small ways, then in bigger ones. And it didn't take long for the Wiseman to realize why. And from that observation he had concluded that if Sashi was willing to change if Penn wanted her to, if she was willing to put in the effort to do that just because he asked her, then maybe she did deserve him.

But then, he lost all the good faith he'd had in Sashi because when they had gone to the Dragon World, Sashi had forgotten all about Penn, a guy who had saved her life almost at the cost of his own multiple times, and became completely obsessed with a guy who she knew nothing about, over looks.

To say that Boone had been furious would be the understatement of the century. He had legitimately wanted to kill someone. At that moment, he had decided that even though Sashi might be trying to change for the better because she cared what Penn thought about her, she didn't really care all that much for him.

But then he noticed something else.

It was no secret that Penn was really popular with people in general. He was a great guy and everyone liked him for his good-natured sense of humor and easygoing attitude. But he also had a one-of-a-kind charm that set him apart from everyone else. And that made him especially popular with the girls.

But none of them looked at him the way Sashi did.

The girls were all in love with the image they had of Penn. And while Penn didn't keep up an image like many of the most popular and charismatic people did, those girls still didn't know the real him. But Sashi did. And when she looked at him, Boone could see that the love in her eyes wasn't for an image of him, but just for him. And it was definitely love that Boone saw in her eyes, no matter how much she would try to hide it.

Boone's dad had once told him of a few girls he had dated before he met his future wife. He told them how some of them wanted different things for their lives and how some of them just couldn't keep him in their lives for whatever reason or how some of them just turned out to be the wrong person for him. He had told Boone that nothing hurts worse than a broken heart, and even the toughest Heroes feel it.

Boone had always viewed his dad as the strongest person in the world. To hear that from him had a jarring effect on Boone and he'd become more determined than ever to protect his best friend.

But when it came to Sashi, he didn't need to. Sure, she might crush on a few guys here and there, like Teddy or Blaze, but if it ever came to making a real choice, there would only ever be one choice for her, and it wouldn't be either of those guys. And knowing that had finally been enough to convince the Wiseman that maybe she deserved him after all.

But as good as all that was, as for something actually happening between them, that was an entirely different matter altogether, and infinitely more frustrating.

Boone wasn't as oblivious as he otherwise let people think he was. He had seen the change that was taking place before him and after a while and much thought and judgment of Sashi, he couldn't be happier that it was happening.

But it was taking so f***ing long. Boone had desperately desired to give either one of them a nudge or a push in the right direction but he had firmly resolved to stay out of it. Sashi would remain oblivious to how she felt, that much he knew for sure, but Penn would eventually figure it out. At first, he would pointedly ignore all the signs and maintain his distance from Sashi. Then he would deny that the change was happening, then he would try to convince himself that he was fine with how things were, then he would wonder if it was worth risking what he had for something Sashi might not be willing to give. But eventually, eventually, he would make a move.

However, Boone wasn't willing to wait that long. Despite knowing how this would all play out and knowing exactly what both of them would do, he had decided that it just wasn't worth the wait. He had overheard Penn's talk with Amber and had decided to respect Penn's wishes and not push him, but giving them a push was completely different from giving them an opportunity, which was exactly what the invite to his house was for. Despite how much he missed the good old days spent with his friends playing video games and watching tv shows and stuffing themselves with food and falling asleep on the couch once they couldn't eat anymore, he had long ago accepted that the two of them would eventually find something with each other that he couldn't be a part of. More than anything in the world, he wanted his friends to be happy, and if they could find that happiness in each other, then he would do anything he could to give it to them, no matter where that left him.

Sometimes, Heroes had to sacrifice things for the greater good. That was what made them Heroes.

They finally got to Boone's house and went inside. Penn and Sashi began preparing for their video game and movie marathons and Boone began preparing for his master plan.

A little while later, they all sat down in front of the tv, an abundance of junk food in front of them. Penn and Sashi grabbed the controllers and started the video game while Boone munched on some snacks on the couch behind them.

"Let the games begin," Penn said dramatically to Sashi as he pressed the Start button.

'Indeed, let's,' thought the beloved Wiseman from behind them.

Later, it was just Penn and Sashi munching on snacks and watching movies. They had decided to sleep over at Boone's house. Boone's mom and dad had already bought two sleeping bags for them from their last few unannounced sleepovers so there was no big issue on sleeping arrangements. Boone's master plan had just been that he get the two of them so absorbed in the marathon that they didn't mind or didn't notice him leaving. He also didn't want the two of them to leave just because he did, so he had stayed even longer. However, just in case, Boone had stayed until it was plenty dark outside so that the only logical option would be for the two of them to sleep over. This was to ensure that the two of them would at least share a moment, if not something more, rather than just go home.

At the moment, Penn and Sashi were watching 'How To Train Your Dragon 2'.

"How do you tame an ALPHA?!" Sashi yelled at the screen in disbelief. "It is by nature the leader of the other dragons and it's obeying a human?! It has its authority challenged and it's just going to roll over?! WHY?!"

"I told you you'd enjoy this movie," Penn said as they watched the two Alphas battle for the right to lead the dragons.

"I'm yelling all the reasons why this movie is terrible," Sashi said as she turned her eyes on Penn whose own eyes were still glued to the screen. "How is that me enjoying the movie?"

"Because if you didn't like the movie, you would have left already," Penn said matter-of-factly.

"That's not why I stayed," Sashi said quietly. Penn looked at her but she didn't look back, instead settling comfortably against him again and turning her attention back to the movie. Penn was sitting on the floor, leaning back against the edge of the sofa, one arm behind his head, the other around Sashi's shoulder as she leaned against him. He didn't know when this had happened but he wasn't about to question it.

After the movie was finished, Penn moved to put the next one on but Sashi wouldn't let him move his arm. He looked at her in confusion.

"Uh, Sash?" he said. "Could you let go of my arm?"

"That's enough movies for one day, don't you think?" she said.

"But we still have to watch 'Frozen'," he said in a child-like, whiny voice. "And 'Tangled'," he added after a pause. He saw her react ever so slightly to the mention of 'Tangled', but then she relaxed and shook her head. Getting the point, Penn sighed and leaned back against the sofa and Sashi readjusted herself against him.

The two of them stayed like that for a while, neither one of them saying anything. After staring at the black tv screen for a few minutes, Penn sighed.

"Okay, Sashi, just say it," he said. Sashi looked at him in confusion.

"What?" she said confusedly.

"I can see your face in the tv screen. You've got that look you always get whenever you want to say something but you don't think you should say it. So just say it." He emphasized the last part, implying, though not outright stating, that he was getting tired of this habit of hers. This seemed to have its intended effect on her, as she decided not to try to play dumb and make him drop it.

"I just feel really bad about what happened today," she said. She looked up at Penn apologetically. "I should've stood up for you against Shirley and backed you up like I was supposed to. I should've trusted my friend more than my idol and I didn't. And because of that, we got caught and Shirley had to get blown up just to save us. What if that had been in the real world? What if she'd been a real person who had to do that to save us? What if one of us had to make that sacrifice? What if-"

Suddenly, Penn pulled her closer against him, quieting her immediately. She looked up at him with sad, tearful eyes and he gently smiled down at her.

"Sashi, people make mistakes," he said to her comfortingly. Sashi was about to say something about how that wasn't a good enough reason to do what she did, but he cut her off.

"Let me finish," he said before she could talk. The firmness in his voice caught her off-guard and she immediately stopped herself. Satisfied, he continued.

"Sashi, you might think that heroes are these people who always make the right choice and do the right thing, no matter how easy or how hard it may be. You might think that the only reason things ever go wrong for them is because of the bad guy. But that's not true. Heroes are just people trying to do good in a world where it's too easy to do bad. Sometimes, they make mistakes. Sometimes they mess up. We've all done that at least once by now. But we never let that keep us down. My dad told me once that heroes aren't those that rise above everyone else. They're just those who stand up when no one else will. They're those who are willing to fight, those who are willing to give it their all without wanting or needing something back. They're people like you, Sashi." He smiled at her. "You're one of the strongest people I know. And you're the best partner I could ask for. It's okay if you're not perfect. No one is." At this, he looked away guiltily and withdrew his arm from her. "Besides," he said, turning away. "You're not the one with something to be sorry for."

"What do you mean?" Sashi asked, growing both concerned and confused. Penn sighed.

"Sashi, I look to you for support. I expect you to stand by me no matter what we're up against. I expect that from you because we're friends. We're partners. We're a team. And today, you didn't care about any of that. You threw all of that away and…" He paused, his expression full of hurt. "I understand why. I'm not a good Hero. I never have been. And I've never cared about it either. You have. You still do. But no matter how much you asked me to do the same, I never did. I expect so much from you and you give it without asking me for anything in return except that I actually do my job properly and I don't even give you that. And even now, you still think you have something to apologize for when the person who's really at fault here is me." He turned to her. "You picked Shirley over me because she's everything I should be. She's a real Hero. And me…" He looked down, ashamed. "I'm a disappointment."

Sashi's eyes were wide. "Penn-" she began but Penn continued talking.

"Sashi, I can't do anything I've already done any differently. I can't undo all my mistakes or fix all the things I've screwed up. But I promise you, from here on out until the end, I'll do better. I'll train more. I'll take my job more seriously. I'll do whatever it takes, push myself as much as I have to, I promise. Just…" He looked up at her and his eyes were practically begging.

"Sashi, just don't leave me," he said, his voice barely more than a whisper.

Faster than he could blink, Sashi was on him, her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. He froze, his eyes wide with surprise. He couldn't help but notice how small Sashi's body was compared to his and how vulnerable she seemed as she pressed herself against him. Slowly, his arms wrapped around her and he held her gently. Then he noticed her body shaking and it took him a second to realize she was sobbing. His grip on her suddenly tightened protectively and he held her to him, shushing her gently, trying to calm her down.

"I'll never leave you, Penn," Sashi said. "Don't ever say that to me again, got it? Or I'll rip your arm off and stick it right where the sun don't shine and then reach down your throat and shake your hand, you hear me?"

Penn laughed at the absurdity of the threat as well as the fact that Sashi was hugging him while making it.

"You're not a disappointment, Penn," she said. "You're exactly what the worlds need. Real heroes aren't good enough. That's why we do what we do. Because the worlds don't need heroes. It needs us. It needs you." She hugged him tighter. "I need you." Another sob shook her body. "My whole life, I prepared for this job. My whole life, I did what I was supposed to. And my whole life, I was miserable. A life lived for other people isn't worth living, Penn. That's what I've been doing my whole life. And I hated it. Then I met you." She sniffed. "And you made me laugh. You made me have fun, even when I thought it was a waste of time. You made me open up. You made me love movies, and video games, and junk food, and…" You. "And you made me love my life for the first time. All that work, all that misery, everything I missed, everything I never had because of this life, all of it, it was worth it. Because I got you for it." She pulled back just enough to look at him, her arms still around his neck. "Shirley might have been a hero, but she could never be a partner. She could never be a friend. She could never be you. If it came down to choosing between her and every other hero in the Multiverse, or you, I'd choose you. Because you're my hero, Penn. You're mine." She hugged him again. "And I'll never leave you."

Penn sat there in shocked silence. He didn't move a muscle. He just sat there, completely still, for a long time. Then, without warning, he wrapped his arms around Sashi and squeezed tightly, as if he were afraid to lose her and that holding her the way he was now was the only thing keeping her with him. Slowly, the two relaxed, although they never stopped holding each other. They sat there, the movies, games, and food long forgotten. Penn's head was filled with the one thing he was too afraid to say out loud.

I love you.

Unknown to him, Sashi thought the same.

Sometime later, the two had fallen asleep. Penn was leaning against the sofa, his head back against the edge, his arm around Sashi who was comfortably snuggled against him. The two slept peacefully, their chests rising and falling steadily as they breathed. Boone came downstairs a little while later when he realized he couldn't hear the sound of movies or games from downstairs and he was afraid his friends had left after all. However, when he saw the sight in the living room, he smiled. He silently cleaned up the food, turned off the tv, and gently draped a blanket over his two best friends.

"Goodnight," he whispered. As he was leaving, he looked back at the two of them and smiled. "I love you guys," he whispered.

And he walked out, leaving the two of them to sleep peacefully next to each other.