Summary: Leonard always took care of Sheldon. [S11E05] [S1206]
Word Count: 1300
Disclaimer: I don't own The Big Bang Theory or the characters.

'Sometimes, a brother is someone that takes care of you'

Sheldon came to learn, already in his late thirties, that he enjoyed food that babies usually had. It started in applesauce, went to watermelon, and would probably have no end.

He had these kind of food before, and years after he became an adult. He realized he loved it when he started to live with his best friend, Leonard. He used to cut fruit in little pieces as desert, so that Sheldon wouldn't eat ice cream for desert at dinner. At breakfast, to make sure Sheldon wouldn't have to eat chocolate all the time, Leonard would make a kind of yogurt with fruit shake, for Sheldon to put in his waffles or pancakes. Sheldon wasn't one to eat vegetables, but he wouldn't throw a tantrum when Leonard made him eat them. To make things better for him, Leonard would make purees, sometimes with a sauce to disguise the flavor. And Sheldon would eat it without complaining.

When he moved out and went to live with Amy, she didn't do such things. And Sheldon missed his purees, his cut fruit, and his shakes. He missed living with his best friend, but he missed what he did most.

But he wasn't going to say anything to his Amy. He didn't want to make her feel sad about not doing those things.

When the girls went to Vegas to get away from their husbands and kids, Amy made Leonard take care of her husband. Leonard pretended to be mad about it, maybe even a bit bitter, but he was happy about it. Sheldon coming back, even if it was only for a couple of days, it made him feel young again – even though he wasn't old –, it was just like the old days. Just the two of them. Howard and Raj were supposed to take care of Halley and Michael and with the girls away, there were no distractions.

Sheldon pretended to be upset that Amy was giving him a babysitter, but he was finally going to have his best friend driving him around, making him breakfast, basically doing everything for him and with him. It was going to be an amazing weekend, and he was barely keeping it together.

His day started with pancakes with his favorite yogurt with fruit shake: banana and oranges. They spent their morning in silence, just doing their job. At noon, just before lunch, they called their wives and had a chat with them, making sure they were settled in and were okay. After that, they had lunch. Leonard made puree with peas and carrots, with some meat. Sheldon ate it with a smile on his face, even though he didn't enjoy peas very much. Their afternoon was spent playing Mario Kart and other video games like that, and weirdly, Sheldon didn't win all. Leonard was actually getting good at Mario Kart.

After dinner – that was also very tasty – and a chat with their wives once again, Sheldon turned in. But for some reason he couldn't sleep. It took him a lot of turning, but he finally went to dream land.

It was midnight, and he jolted awake. He didn't remember what the dream was, but he was scared. Looking to his side, he didn't see his wife, and he immediately started to panic until he remembered that she was in a girl's weekend. He relaxed then, but not enough to go back to sleep. So, sleepily, he left his apartment and entered his old one, going to his old room. But as he walked the hallway, he saw another door, and behind that one was supposed to be his best friend. The one that used to make him not be scared after a nightmare. Basically his mother and meemaw, but a male version and slightly younger.

Deciding against sleeping alone in his old bedroom, he walked into Leonard's bedroom, opened the door carefully and laid down next to his brother. Under the covers he felt safe and sound, comfortable even.

He realized he didn't use to like to feel comfortable, and he didn't used to be comfortable. Not ever since his father died, not ever since he left for college. It had been hard for him, and he decided to stop being human, skip emotions entirely – even though he had pretty much done that his entire life.

He closed his eyes, and as he almost fell asleep, he was awoken by light. Carefully opening his eyes, he saw Leonard looking at him.

"Sheldon, what are you doing here?" Leonard asked, staring at Sheldon with his big, sleepy eyes under his usual dark-framed glasses.

"I had a nightmare." Sheldon explained, and didn't need to say anything else. Leonard nodded, turned to the other side, took off his glasses and proceed to go back to sleep, very well knowing that Sheldon wouldn't want to talk about what happened in the nightmare.

And just like that, they were both asleep.

When Sheldon woke up that morning, Leonard was still fast asleep, so he cautiously left the bed and went to the kitchen to have breakfast. Once he was there, he noticed that there were still pancakes from the previous day, and new yogurt and fruit shake. Happily, Sheldon took those and went to the couch to watch a re-run of Doctor Who.

Leonard got there when the episode was over.

"Good morning." Leonard says, tiredly. Sheldon answers him back, but with a different attitude. He pours himself some coffee and walks to the couch, sitting in his usual place. "The girls are coming back today." He starts, after taking a sip from his coffee.

"Yes. They are."

"Do you want to do something today? Before they come back?"

Sheldon looks at his brother and starts to think. They did a lot yesterday, just the two of them, without their respective spouses around. It was quite nice.

But he didn't want to do the same thing that day. But he couldn't think of a single thing.

"Yes." He answered, but didn't continue. Instead, he got up and took his plate with him. Leonard just looked at him go, and said nothing.

"Look, I enjoyed yesterday too. It was nice to be just the two of us."

"It was." Sheldon agreed, and moved back to the couch, sitting in his spot. Leonard faced him.

"We can just watch movies all day if you want. Or go the train store, or the comic book store or any other store. And if you want to see koalas, then we'll see koalas. You choose."

"But I always choose. Don't you want to do something of your choosing?"

"It takes me forever to decide what I want to do. Ever since I started to live with you I stopped having to make decisions, and now I make Penny choose, because it would take me forever to make a choice."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry?"

"You said you can't decide ever since you started to live with me."

"Yes, but it saved me tons of time, because decisions weren't made by me. Someone else made them. I try to please everyone, and this way I hid behind the fact that it was your decision. So, don't apologize. If anything, I should thank you." Leonard smiled and got up to clean his mug. Sheldon got up with him.

"Leonard?"

"Yes, Sheldon?" Leonard turned around to be standing face-to-face with Sheldon.

"Thank you for being my friend."

Leonard smiled at his brother. "You're welcome buddy."

They spent their day watching a movie in their old apartment, comfortably eating popcorn and sliced fruit. And when their wives got back, they both just smiled at each other and went back to their usual lives. But always knowing that if they needed, they would always have each other.

The End

After re-watching S12E05, at the scene where Sheldon is talking about watermelon (and somewhat apologizing to Bernadette), I remembered a few episodes before a scene with both characters where the same happened but with applesauce. It made me write this story, where Leonard is once again taking care of Sheldon, and using food.

Leonard is like a big brother to Sheldon, and Sheldon is actually enjoying it. Without realizing.

Also, I came to realize that I don't enjoy Sheldon on-screen, but love writing him in the story because I get to do whatever I want with him. Besides, he's a great brother to Leonard sometimes.

Hope you all like it!