Penn Zero Fanfiction

Author's Note

So this chapter is shorter than I'd like it to be but lately, I've had to re-evaluate my priorities. I'm a bit disappointed in myself since, after all this time, this is all I could come up with, but in my defense, I do have a life outside of writing and I do need to attend to that as well. This isn't my only responsibility and I have to keep that in mind. I hope you guys understand and I'm really sorry if I disappointed you all.

With that out of the way, on to the actual chapter. So since I made this an entire arc (even though I didn't mean to), I decided to take it a bit further than I normally would. You'll see what I mean by the end of the chapter. I'm not sure if this turned out to be a good chapter since a) it's really short and b) I'm not sure if it turned out to be a fitting ending. But I'll let you be the judge of that.

On a side note, are you guys okay with swearing in this or is it too much? I'd like a second opinion since I thought about including some stronger language but I'm not sure if you guys will like that. I wonder why I didn't think to ask you guys sooner but then I think back to the terrible life decision of starting this when I did and I realize that it's because I'm an idiot. Oh, well. Nothing can be done about it now.

As always, I appreciate all your support. I hope you all like my work. Until next time. Enjoy!

Day Off (Ending)

Sashi sat by Penn's bed and watched as he slept. He looked peaceful, but she knew that wouldn't last once he woke up and his injuries from the day before made themselves known to him. While Uncle Chuck and Aunt Rose had reacted with fury at seeing him in that state, something that was quite unusual for them considering their usual demeanor, the first thing they had focused on was addressing his injuries. Being related to Part-Time Heroes apparently had its perks, as they were very well-versed in first-aid, quickly assessing Penn's injuries and working effectively working to relieve them. As soon as they were done, they sent him to bed, forgoing the usual singing of lullabies and other annoying acts that Penn despised so much, instead taking Sashi out of the room and sitting her in the living room across from them. They had been uncharacteristically serious and very, very angry. Sashi had to explain what happened during the entire tournament, leaving out the part about Penn's sudden change in demeanor and how reckless and stubborn he had become, not wanting to worry his relatives even more than they already were. She had been fully willing to accept the blame for what happened to him since it had been her idea to take him to the tournament in the first place. However, Uncle Chuck and Aunt Rose had taken it surprisingly well, saying that ultimately, it was their nephew's decision to go with her and it had been his decision to push himself the way he had and that they would not hold her accountable for his choices. They then thanked Sashi for being honest with them and bringing Penn home and asked if she wanted to stay for a little while, an offer she had gratefully accepted. She had then gone to Penn's room and pulled up a chair beside his bed, sitting and waiting patiently for him to wake up.

As she sat, her mind was going crazy with a single question.

'Why?' she silently asked his sleeping form. Why would he have put himself through that? She hadn't wanted to win that tournament, she had only wanted to have some fun with her best friend. But when she tried to tell him that, it had only seemed to make him more determined to win and she couldn't figure out why. Something in him had changed during that tournament. Something big. And it had caused him to willingly let himself get beat half to death. And all for…

'For what?' she thought. What had been so important to him that he would go to those lengths just to achieve it? What had he fought so hard for? What had he been trying to prove? Who had he been trying to prove it to? Why was it so important to him that they know? Who were they? What was it?

She suddenly realized that her one question had branched off into hundreds, and the thought only irritated her more. She wanted answers, and the fact that she wasn't getting them was driving her insane. Even so, as much as she wanted answers, her concern for Penn won out, and she resolved to not wake him up or even disturb him, staying silent and still so as not to make a sound for fear of waking him up. No matter what she wanted, right now, all that mattered was that he got better. She would get her answers when he was able to talk.

After a while, Penn groaned as he woke up, the light searing through the darkness and burning his eyes as he opened them. He immediately shut his eyes again and opened them more slowly this time, taking his time to adjust to the sudden brightness.

He tried to get up but the sudden burst of pain stopped him. He gasped as he lay back down.

"Hey!" said a familiar voice from beside him. "Easy, Penn."

"Sashi?" Penn said, recognizing who it was. "Is that you?"

"Who else would it be?" she said, immediately beside him, her worried eyes searching him to see if he had hurt himself too badly. When Penn saw that look on her face again, a wave of hatred suddenly rose up in him. Sashi saw it too, and she must have thought it was directed at her because she recoiled, a look of shocked hurt on her face. Penn immediately kicked himself mentally and turned away from her, pulling his covers back up over himself as if that would keep Sashi away.

Sashi was surprised at his show of vulnerability almost as much as she was at the burning hate that she had seen only moments earlier. She slowly went towards him even as he retreated even more at the sound of her footsteps.

"Penn?" she said hesitantly, afraid to see that hate again. She hoped it wasn't meant for her.

"I need to rest," he said. At this, Sashi almost scoffed. For all his tactical prowess, he really sucked at giving excuses. At least when it concerned her. She briefly thought why this was specific only to her before shaking off the thought.

"Penn, talk to me," she said gently.

"Sashi, just go home," Penn said, and she almost pitied him.

"Penn, look at me," she said more firmly, and the sudden shift in her tone was all Penn needed to know that she wasn't going to take no for an answer this time.

Slowly, he took off the covers and looked at her and she was surprised to see a look of naked shame on his face. Sometimes it surprised her how easily she could read him. He was like an open book to her, never able to hide anything from her, even when he tried, just because she knew him that well. She wondered if the same was true for him, too.

"Penn, what's going on with you?" Sashi said, coming closer, causing Penn to retreat again. She stopped, holding her hands out in a calming gesture as if trying to tame a wild animal. It seemed to work, as she slowly took another step forward and Penn didn't immediately recoil again.

"I don't want to talk about it," Penn said quietly, almost mumbling.

"Well, I want answers, Penn," Sashi said, becoming suddenly angry. After all the trust she had put in him, after all that she had endured for him, both on their missions and especially from his aunt and uncle, she was going to get some answers. He had promised her that and she wasn't going to let him get out of it.

She opened her mouth to tell him all of that when she saw understanding on his face as he looked at her and she realized that he had read her the same way she had read him. So it wasn't one-sided. He sighed and pushed back the covers all the way before turning to face her.

"What did you wanna ask me, Sash?" he asked her, almost sounding resigned. Her concern for him returned at the tone of his voice, but she didn't let that distract her from what she wanted to know.

"Penn, what were you thinking?" she asked, surprising him at how calm her voice was. "I told you, we didn't need to win. I just wanted to have some fun and I did, so why did you do that?"

"Because I wanted to win, okay?" he said, trying to get her to stop asking. She didn't.

"No," she said. "You didn't do it just because you wanted to win."

"Well, if you know that, then you can probably figure out why I really did it, can't you?" he said, sounding more frustrated now. Sashi, however, was unfazed.

"Yeah, I probably could," she admitted. "But I want to hear it from you."

"Why?"

"Because I thought I knew you, Penn," she said. "And what you did today made me doubt that. I never thought you'd do something like that."

"you never thought I'd take the fight seriously for once?"

"I never thought you'd hurt yourself," she corrected him. "Especially since you knew I wouldn't want that." Penn looked like he wanted to say something, probably another attempt to push her away, but he seemed to think better of it and just sighed.

"Penn, what's wrong?" she asked again, coming closer slowly, still afraid that he might recoil again.

"Me," he answered. At Sashi's confused look, he elaborated. "I'm what's wrong. I'm not meant for this. Saving worlds, fighting bad guys, saving people, I'm not meant for any of it. Sashi, I'm an awful Hero," he said, and she realized why he had looked so ashamed before.

"Penn, that's not-" she began but he cut her off angrily.

"What?" he demanded. "That's not true? Really? Sashi, how many times have me and Boone fooled around? How many times have we nearly failed the mission? How many times have you had to save the day?" He paused, looking down, tears welling up in his eyes. "How many times did anyone thank you for saving the day instead of me?"

"Penn, what are you-"

"How many times did I thank you for it?"

She paused and he looked up at her and she could feel the self-loathing oozing off of him.

"Sashi, your parents don't even know what you do. And I know I said that we're all still proud of you and I know you think that that's enough, but it isn't, okay? It ISN'T! And you shouldn't believe that it is. You save everyone all the time and they thank me for it even when it's my fault for not being a good Hero. Boone's parents are proud of him. My parents are proud of me. But your parents don't even know what you do. And you have to live with that every day. You live without that pat on the back or that proud smile and you keep doing your job and you keep saving us and you keep smiling through all of it." At this, his voice broke and Sashi, out of sheer impulse, sat on the bed and pulled him into a tight hug, letting him cry into the crook of her neck, gently stroking his messy hair even as his tears stained her skin and shirt.

"You just keep smiling like it's all okay. You sacrifice so much for us all the time and no one even cares. And I didn't realize it at all until now. And it… It killed me inside to find out how much you'd had to sacrifice. You didn't even think twice about it because you'd been doing it so long that you just thought it was part of your job. It's not. It never should have been. It only ever was because I made it. And I'm sorry for that, Sash. I'm so sorry."

He continued to sob and she just held him, continuing to stroke his hair and calm him as his emotions poured out of him.

"I let you down. Every time, I let you down. I'm so sorry, Sash."

As he cried, Penn realized that even now, she was still the one taking care of him and again, his disgust at taking her comfort for granted caused him to try to pull away from her. However, she held him firmly and when he struggled again, she pulled him harder, holding his head against her chest, unwilling to let him go. When he realized he wouldn't be able to get free, he gave up and hesitantly wrapped his arms around her waist. She continued to hold him until he finally calmed down and stopped crying.

When he was calm again, she spoke.

"Did you really think I ever cared about any of that?" she asked him. Before Penn could speak, she went on. "I don't want the fame and glory, Penn. I never did. A Sidekick isn't supposed to have that. I knew that when I took this job. And I took this job because I never wanted any of that in the first place."

"But didn't you want your parents to be proud of you?" he hesitantly asked her.

"Of course I did, Penn," she said, her tone lighthearted and soothing. "But it was better for them if they didn't know. I didn't like it, but I accepted it. It was just part of the job. Besides." She smiled. "Sidekicks specialize in kicking and fighting and destroying and ripping things apart. Now that's what I wanted."

"That's very psychologically concerning," Penn said, suddenly feeling very unsafe in Sashi's gentle embrace. She chuckled and some of the tension in the air was released.

"Penn, you might not be the typical Hero," she admitted, "but that's exactly why you were chosen. All the typical heroes of all the worlds we saved weren't good enough. You are because you're not like them. You're better than them. And you should never be ashamed of that."

"But Sashi," he began, "don't you want people to know about anything you do for them?"

At this, Sashi sighed and let go of Penn and Penn was suddenly hit by the cold of the room temperature. He knew it should have been perfectly comfortable but he couldn't help thinking that he kind of missed Sashi's embrace.

"Penn, what we do doesn't reward us at all. We do it for the good of the people. And they don't even know it. We don't get paid. We don't get congratulated. My parents don't even know what they should be proud of when they look at me. I have to live with that every day. I know that. But I'm happy, Penn. I'm happy because of you. This job isn't supposed to be fun but it is. And it's all thanks to you. Whenever I'm down, you're always there for me. Not because you want me to be a good Sidekick, but because you want me to be okay. You don't do it because it's your job, Penn, and you have no idea how much that means to me. You're not my partner, you're my friend. If you took your job seriously like I do, we wouldn't have fun. We wouldn't laugh. We wouldn't be happy. We wouldn't… We wouldn't be friends. If I had partners instead of friends, I'd still be alone. And I… I don't want to be alone anymore, Penn. So be stupid. Be funny. Be you. Because I don't care if you're a good Hero, Penn. You're you, and that's all I want."

Penn stared at her in shock, trying to take in her heartfelt confession, trying to process everything he had just heard.

He was so busy trying to process her words that he didn't even notice her come forward on the bed until she wrapped her arms around his head and pulled him close again.

"You're the best, Penn," she said simply. "Don't you dare forget that. Ever."

Penn couldn't express his feelings at that moment so he opted for just wrapping his arms around her slim waist tightly. She grunted and he was worried he might have squeezed her too hard, but when her grip on him tightened on him as well, he relaxed. He remembered how strong she actually was and he felt stupid thinking that he, a ninety-pound underweight teenager, could hurt her.

He didn't know how long they stayed like that but it must have been a long time because there was a hesitant knock on his door and his aunt and uncle's voice from the other end.

"Penn?" his uncle called.

"Are you awake, honey?" his aunt asked through the door. The knob turned and Penn and Sashi sprang apart. Uncle Chuck and Aunt Rose poked their heads in to see Penn and Sashi a little too far apart. Despite them putting the pieces together in their heads, they decided not to say anything.

"Feeling better yet, kiddo?" Uncle Chuck asked, sounding painfully similar to his brother. Penn shook off the thought and nodded, hoping his face wasn't too red. He looked at Sashi to see her with her knees tucked up against her and her hands holding the covers up to her face so that only her eyes were seen over them. He would have laughed at how cute the sight was if not for the embarrassment he was feeling.

"Well then," Aunt Rose spoke up, getting the two kids' attention. "I think it's time for Sashi to head on home now."

At the disappointed look on Penn and Sashi's faces when they said that, the two adults looked at each other with a smug grin before looking back up innocently at the two kids on the bed.

"Unless you'd like to stay," Aunt Rose added, sounding deceptively sweet. If the two were a little older, they would have been able to see through their little act, but they weren't so they didn't and the two adults felt all the more triumphant because of it.

"No," Sashi said, although she sounded regretful. "I think it would be better if I went home now. My parents are going to want to know what's taking so long if I don't get back soon, so I should get going."

"Okay," said the two adults, sounding almost too disappointed. They sighed and left the room.

Penn and Sashi looked at each other, both their faces bright red and burning. Not able to stand the awkwardness, they both stood up and walked out of Penn's room. As they came down the stairs, Uncle Chuck and Aunt Rose were seated at the table playing cards, watching inconspicuously as Penn followed Sashi to the front door.

"Uh, see you later, Sash," Penn said, trying to sound normal, even though they both felt anything but.

"Yeah, you two," she said, a pained and forced grin on her face. The two of them turned, Sashi walking away and Penn closing the front door. He waited, counting to three in his head, before spinning around, trying to catch his aunt and uncle who he had been sure were staring at him and Sashi before. To his disappointment and utter confusion, they were sitting at the table, playing cards completely normally. Even though it seemed completely normal, Penn narrowed his eyes, wondering suspiciously if the Heroes were the only ones in the family with special skills. He shrugged off the thought and walked back to his room and laid down in his bed, where the faint scent of Sashi's perfume still lingered. His face burned in embarrassment as he thought of what had transpired between him and Sashi only minutes before and he tossed and turned in his bed.

The moment he had left their sight, Uncle Chuck and Aunt Rose dropped all pretenses of subtlety and went back to conspiring with each other for when Valentine's Day came around.