Author's Note: Guuuuysss, I love all of you and your support. I'll be in Berlin for the next few days so there won't be an update but trust me, the next one's gonna be nice :P Thank you all so much and keep the comments coming :) gives me so much motivation to keep writing!
Bernadette placed the brisket on the table. It was Howard's mom recipe and she couldn't have been any prouder that her husband had tried and approved of it already. She smiled, staring at the big table. The brisket and all the delicious looking salads draped around it. Raj had even baked two cakes for dessert.
Howard stood up from his chair to cut up the brisket. His friends handed him his plates and he filled it with the deliciously steaming meat.
When all of their plates were filled with all the goodness on the table, Howard looked around with a big smile. "Bon appétit, Nerdmigos!"
The group laughed and started eating.
Sheldon couldn't help but side-eye Amy while she innocently shoved a piece of cucumber into her mouth. He grinned and lowered his eyes back on his plate, hoping she hadn't seen that he had looked.
"We need to settle one thing right now" Raj murmured with a full mouth, clearly enjoying Bernadette's brisket. "Who's gonna be the Dungeon Master?"
"Do we get to vote?" Sheldon looked up from his plate.
"I suppose that's fair" Leonard shrugged. "I vote for myself"
"I vote for Leonard, too… but… only because I really don't care" Penny looked around deadpan to underline her statement and then concentrated on her plate again, while Leonard shot her a deadly glance.
"Well then, out of solidary, I go for Howard" Bernadette smiled at her husband and he smiled back.
"I'd go for Howard, too" Raj sheepishly agreed.
Sheldon, whose mouth was full of food, nodded eagerly and Amy just shrugged. "Yeah, Howard, I guess"
Leonard raised his hands. "Okay, okay. He won. He's the Dungeon Master."
"Don't worry" Penny sighed and ran her hand through the hair on the back of his head. "You still are the coolest guy I know"
"Don't even try" Leonard mumbled and quietly kept eating.
Bernadette kept getting compliments about the brisket and with each, her smile became brighter.
Amy was the first one to finish. Completely filled she leaned back and took a deep breath.
"Full already?" Sheldon quietly asked while the others already had another conversation going on.
Amy nodded.
"How about some more cucumber?"
She looked up and her jaw dropped when she saw Sheldon's cheeky grin. What had happened to him? Was there anything she had missed? Of course, they had gotten quite intimate the other day but usually when something like that got interrupted or ended, Sheldon was not someone to simply tie in with it again.
"Hey, did you like it?" Howard asked towards Amy but she was still so flabbergasted by her boyfriend, that she didn't even hear her friend.
Howard squinted a little. "Amy?"
"Y-yes…?" She stuttered and blinked a few times, looking at him.
"Did you like dinner?" He smiled and she just nodded and looked away again.
Howard actually had tried to subtly ask if she was okay but she seemed to have missed the point. He wondered what in the world Sheldon had said again to calm her. How could this man mess up so badly and still manage to keep this great woman in his life? She must have really loved him a lot and Howard wondered if Sheldon even knew how lucky he was.
Everyone was having a blast at the Dungeons and Dragons game and it was probably mostly because Penny had gotten a little, well… tipsy and was totally lost in the game.
"Die, you stupid, ogre… die, die, die!" She smashed the dice onto the little couch table and a second later both her hands hit the tabletop, her eyes being actually way too close to the dice. "Fifteen!"
"Fourteen" Leonard corrected her. "But hey, they're still dead"
"YESSSSSSSS!" Penny jumped back into a standing position again and skyrocketed her arms which caused her to get dizzy.
"Oh my" Raj mumbled, when she almost fell onto him. He grabbed her hips and sat her back down next to him. "And I thought I had a problem with alcohol"
"I don't have a problem with it" Penny protested. "We get along very well!"
"Yeah, anyway" Bernadette stared at her deadpan. "No more today"
Penny pouted and leaned back, while Sheldon grabbed the dice. Howard went on with the story. Sheldon's warrior got in trouble; he got caught in a dungeon and even though Sheldon tried to get him out by using a spell, the dice didn't accept his fate.
"I'm sorry, buddy. Only Amy can rescue you now."
The neuroscientist grabbed the dice and told Howard to try rescue Sheldon. Unfortunately Amy's character fell into the dungeon as well and once again the dice only rolled seven.
"Thanks for your help" Sheldon sighed.
Leonard was the next to roll the dice.
"Cast a love spell!" Drunk Penny suddenly woke up from her trance.
"We had that last time, didn't we?" Leonard hissed between his teeth. "I'll try to rescue both of them and walk up to the dungeon, using my magic sword"
"Magic sword, guys, get it? That sounds like a threesomeeee!" Penny giggled in her spot and Raj couldn't help but chuckle. He immediately stopped, when he saw Bernadette's death glare.
"How about we take you to bed, sweetheart?" She asked and already stood up, her voice being so sweet and high-pitched that it could have killed someone immediately by giving them diabetes. Usually not a good sign.
But Penny refused and since no one wanted the evening ruined, Bernadette gave in after Howard begged her to.
Leonard just sighed and rolled the dice.
"Sixteen. You're all free!" Howard seemed relieved. Just as much as Leonard, Amy, and Sheldon.
Two hours later Penny had somehow managed to talk her friends into drinking a few cocktails she had mixed in the kitchen. It had quite lightened everyone's mood. While Raj was happily sipping his Grasshopper, Sheldon stared at his Swimming Pool. "That is preposterous. A swimming pool doesn't have this shade of blue."
"And a Grasshopper doesn't have this shade of green. But it helps tolerate you." Raj mumbled, hiccupping.
Sheldon stared at him and slowly blinked, then he grinned. His friend grinned back and they raised their glasses to each other.
While the both of them seemed to be having the best time, Bernadette hung in her chair, swaying her Martini glass. "I cannot believe you did you cousin"
"Second cousin. And I was fifteen." Howard sighed and rubbed his eyes.
Now that all of them were drunk, Penny seemed like the least drunk one and looked around. All of her friends were clearly not used to alcohol.
"I'm telling you, I am not gay for Howard" Raj angrily yelled towards Leonard in the meantime. "And even if so, I'd still have better chances with him than you."
"Of course you would. He didn't even hold back from his own family." Bernadette mumbled and took another sip.
Leonard just rubbed his temples while Sheldon started giggling.
"Why is the virgin laughing?" The engineer growled and looked up at Sheldon.
"HEY!" Amy shouted and knitted her eyebrows.
"Okay" Penny raised her hands. "Enough of that. We'll play another game to get you all relaxed a little, okay?"
Sheldon stared at the D&D board and then back at his blonde neighbor. It was beyond him how they all could play again in this state of mind. He looked around. Leonard was almost asleep, Howard and Bernadette were staring at the ceiling and Amy seemed a little dizzy. Raj just smiled to himself and no one knew why.
"I have a new game in mind and you all know it" Penny grinned. "Spin the bottle!"
She grabbed the empty wine bottle from the table. "Sheldon. You'll begin."