A/N: Beta'd by the wonderful Darkly Dreaming. If you haven't already, go read her stories, they're really good.

Penny set their plates down on the coffee table, and then sat down in her spot.

She wasn't entirely sure why 'her spot' was the spot right next to 'his spot' when it was a three person couch, and there were two other comfortable chairs in the living room, but that had become her spot, and she always sat there.

"So, how's work been?" she asked, as she picked up her plate and took a bite.

"I believe I am close to making a breakthrough on one of the more complex strings," he began, before Penny cut him off.

"No, your other job."

He turned and looked at her.

"You want to know about my other job?" he asked with a mix of disbelief and confusion. "I thought you didn't like my other job; that you only stayed because you recognize that it is a necessary evil, you're still slightly scared of me, and the rent is really cheap. But mostly because of the rent." There was a small smirk playing on the corner of his mouth at this last part.

Rolling her eyes, she replied, "Whyever I'm staying, I'm here. So I might as well get to know my roommate a little better."

"Very well then. What would you like to know? And what would you not like to know?"

"Um…Let's start with why. Not why the people you pick, that I can understand, but why do you do it at all."

"As I stated before, I'm a psychopath. Killing is literally something I cannot stop myself from doing. Almost like an addiction, only it actually is impossible for me to stop. It's a compulsion."

"Is there a specific reason you pick the people you do, or is it just because they're bad?"

"That I would rather not discuss," he mumbled, looking down at his hands.

Penny could tell there had obviously been something in his past, but she was smart enough to know better than to press him at the moment; even if he wasn't a psychopath.

"So how many since I discovered you…you know, do what you do. But no identities, and certainly not how."

"In the three weeks since you found out; two," he replied.

"Here?"

"Yes."

Penny looked down at her food. Her stomach was starting to protest slightly. "Um, I think that's enough for tonight. Why don't we switch this to a more dinner friendly topic of conversation for a while."

"All right, what would you like to talk about?"

Penny thought for a second. "Mind hearing about my day? I could stand to vent on a few things." Sheldon opened his mouth, but before he could reply, Penny added, "But you have to promise me you won't kill anyone I vent about."

Sheldon thought about arguing, but upon seeing the glare his fairer roommate was giving him, he simply nodded his head and said, "I promise."

So Penny spent the rest of supper venting about her bosses, a few of her coworkers, and a large number of her customers, and then they spent the rest of the evening in comfortable silence, watching Silence of the Lambs.

The following morning, when Penny walked into the living room, Sheldon was standing in the kitchen. Whatever he was cooking smelled absolutely delicious, so Penny's stomach took the opportunity to growl loudly.

With his back still turned to her, he said, "There's plenty for you as well. Your coffee is on the table."

She wandered over to her spot and sat down, taking the cup into her hands. A few minutes later he sat a plate down in front of her. As he sat down next to her in his spot, he reached for the tv remote and asked, "Do you intentionally wear the skimpiest clothes you own in an attempt to seduce me?"

She looked down at her sleep clothes, as he flicked on Netflix. It certainly wasn't the most revealing thing she owned; in fact, it was pretty tame compared to what she used to wear. When she'd moved in with her at-the-time unknown roommate, she'd intentionally slept in something more conservative, and always fully dressed before she came out of her room. Even since she'd got to know him, and became comfortable enough to wear her sleep clothes in the common areas, she'd never had the desire wear anything flirty. She knew he wouldn't react, anyway, even if she did.

"This is no more revealing than half the tank tops I wear all the time. And believe me, this is on the more conservative side of what I own," she finally replied.

"Those camisoles need to be addressed as well," he grumbled, "but you still haven't answered my question about whether you wear them in an attempt to seduce me."

It was kind of adorable that he thought she was trying to seduce him with something that she considered so conservative, but that brought up thoughts that she really didn't want to think about, so she immediately pushed it out of her mind.

"What are we watching this morning?" she asked, directing the subject off of her clothing, hoping he would forget about it.

"Phineas and Ferb," he replied, hitting the play button.

He might be the smartest man in the world, have a Nobel Prize hidden somewhere in his room, and be a psychopathic murderer, but he had a thing for adorable kids shows, and it always made her smile.

They sat in comfortable silence watching the antics on the screen, and eating breakfast. As he picked up their plates later on, and moved to the kitchen to clean them, Penny piped up, "We should go do something fun today."

"Very well," he replied in a voice of complete indifference, not looking up from where he was washing their dishes. "So long as you put on some respectable clothing. I can't be seen out in public with you wearing some of the things you pass off as clothes."

So much for him forgetting about her clothes.

Penny walked into her room, and looked at her wardrobe. She decided to play a little prank on her neurotic roommate before she got dressed for real. True, that might not be the smartest thing to do when your roommate was already one lab accident past becoming a super villain, but when did she ever make the smart decision over the fun one.

She pulled out her shortest jean shorts, most revealing camisole (a dark purple), and a bright pink bra that would peak out nicely over the top of her camisole. If he was going to complain that her clothes were too revealing, she was going to give him something real to complain about. A tiny portion of her brain that she was resolutely ignoring kept wondering if she really did just want to tease Sheldon.

She threw them on real quickly, adjusted her top to be even more revealing than normal, and stepped back out into the living room, where Sheldon had resumed his spot on the couch. His reaction was immediate; he let out a high-pitched "Eep", before covering his eyes with his hands and refusing to look at her.

"What's the matter Sheldon?" she teased, as she ambled over to him, and plopped down in her spot as close to him as she could, making sure to brush up against him. "Don't approve of my clothes?"

He attempted shrink into the corner of the couch, but slid his fingers apart so that he could look at her through the slits in his fingers. Penny leaned forward as much as she could, to give him a full view. He instantly closed his fingers again.

"Please. Go change," he whispered pleadingly.

She sighed, and leaned back and adjusted her top slightly to make him less uncomfortable. This wasn't going quite as she had expected. "Come on, Sheldon, look at me," she coaxed. He finally cracked open his fingers the tiniest bit, and she could just see slivers of his deep blue eyes.

She shook her head, and lightly chuckled. "You're a psychopathic murderer, and you freak out over a little boob?"

Sheldon almost imperceptibly shook his head, before whispering so quietly she almost missed it, "Just you."

Her mind momentarily froze. After a moment, she mentally cleared her head, processing what he'd just said, and putting two and two together.

"You're okay with other women dressing like this?" she asked softly.

A tiny nod of his head.

"Because you don't have any reaction to them."

Another tiny nod of his head.

"And you're embarrassed because you do have a reaction to me and you don't want me to know about it, so you attempted to get me stop wearing revealing clothes so you'd stop reacting."

A third, almost completely imperceptible, nod. He looked completely mortified.

"It's okay, sweetie," she said soothingly. She wanted to rub his arm, console him, but she knew that would only make things worse. "That's completely normal. The fact you don't react to anyone else is the only weird part."

"No! It's not okay!" he screeched in a shrill whisper. "I can't be attracted to someone, and certainly no one can be attracted to me! I've spent my entire life making myself impermeable to human interactions. This can't be happening! And certainly not with my own roommate!"

He tried to jump up and flee to his room, and Penny reacted without thinking. As he tried to push himself up off the couch, she flung her arms around his chest, and tackled him back onto the couch, landing on top of him, her breasts pressed against his chest. He tried struggling momentarily, but years of junior rodeo had taught Penny how to keep a struggling animal from escaping. He finally stopped struggling and just froze underneath her, a look of complete terror in his eyes.

If Penny wasn't so worried about having broken him (well, more than he already was, if that was possible), she would have laughed at the irony; a psychopathic murderer, who regularly killed the worst people out there, was terrified of a 5'6" blonde lying on top of him.

She slowly released him, and propped herself up above him so that she wasn't pressing into him anymore, but so that she could pin him down again if he tried to escape.

She had no clue what she was doing. She took a deep breath. She still had no clue what she was doing.

What had started out as merely a way to tease him had completely snowballed.

She began slowly, trying to get a full grasp on the situation. "You don't think it's okay for you to be attracted to someone, or for someone to be attracted to you, because of what you do?"

Tiny nod.

"But you are attracted to me despite all your attempts not to be."

Tiny nod.

Penny thought for a second.

"Are you more afraid that I'm not attracted to you and won't return your feelings, or that I am attracted to you?"

She thought she knew the answer, but wanted to make sure, since the conversation would go two different directions depending on his answer.

"That you are. The first would make things easy," Sheldon whispered.

Penny had to think long and hard before she let herself say what was next on her mind.

When she had broken up with Kurt after four years, she had sworn off of relationships. She knew she might one day find someone, but she expected that that would be years down the road. So she'd never even considered her roommate, even before she discovered what he did.

She wasn't sure what she felt towards this crazy man, if she even felt anything at all. But the tiny part of her brain she'd been resolutely ignoring since she started this had rounded up a megaphone and was trying to scream that she obviously felt something, or she wouldn't have done anything that had happened over the last few minutes.

She finally made up her mind. She knew this was either going to break him forever, or make him ever so slightly more human. It was a fifty-fifty chance at the moment. But even if it wasn't her, he needed to understand that he could still be loved, even with who he was.

"And if I am attracted to you, you will refuse to go out with me because of what you do."

Tiny nod.

Very slowly and deliberately, she leaned down towards him, keeping her body off of him as much as possible. He tried to shrink down into the cushions, but didn't bolt; though that was most likely because he was still frozen in shock. As gently as possible, she brushed her lips against his for just a moment, before pulling back a few inches.

His eyes were still terrified and he was still rigid with shock, but he didn't look as if he wanted to bolt quite as much as before. She dipped back down, and kissed him a little firmer, and held it for a little longer before she pulled back up.

"Promise not to bolt if I give you a little space?" she asked.

When he barely nodded his head, Penny sat up on her knees, giving him space; though she still straddled his stomach, essentially preventing him from bolting even if he wanted to. Looking down at him, she said softly, "Despite what you do, you can still be loved. I can't condone what you do. It's certainly illegal, and I'm about 99% sure it's morally wrong, too. But it does make the world a slightly better place. It would be better if you could just use your massive IQ to prove to the police what these people are doing, but I know you can't help it.

"But despite knowing all that, I'm still here. And I'm not going anywhere. You need a roommate who will protect your secret. And I think you would also do well to have a girlfriend who will protect your secret.

"I don't understand myself why I'm offering to do this, why I want to do this, and it's certainly not because I'm trying to change you at all, because I'm not, but this feels right for some reason. So I'm going to ask, and I won't accept 'no' for an answer; Will you go out on a date with me?"

After a long pause, during which he just stared at her, his head finally made the faintest of a nod.

"Good. I'm going to go change into something more appropriate, and then we'll go out mini-golfing like we'd been planning."