"Penny?
"Mmm?"
"Let's make a promise."
"About what?"
It had been a month already. The little crush that Billy had on Penny had come through just fine. They saw each other every day now. They both had very little money, so they didn't expect much from the other. Billy spent a lot of time at her apartment; they'd talk, or surf the net, or read. They enjoyed the company of the other. They had been together a month, and Penny noted that she had never seen the inside of Billy's apartment. They had done so much together; signed a petition, gained more signatures, did laundry… but she hadn't been in his apartment. They were in hers at the moment; Billy was lounging on her couch, Penny was curled up on his chest half asleep. It was so comfortable.
"Let's promise never to lie or hide anything from each other."
"Wow, you're serious over me, aren't you?"
"Of course I am."
"Alright, deal. Why this all of a sudden?" He was quiet. Billy thought back to the day after he had hooked up with Penny. Meeting her again in the alley, signing her petition, almost running her over with the van. Throwing himself in front of that van. She had almost seen who he was. True, it would probably never happen again. But he couldn't take that chance. And with the mishap at the bridge that had the ELE watching his every move…
"Have you ever noticed how many villains and heroes there are in this city?"
'Odd change of topic.' Flashed through Penny's mind before she answered; "Yes."
"There's a pair of them that are always on the news. We met one, remember? The day at the petition signing, Captain Hammer." God, he had to be so casual about it. That jerk, he was always running everything. Even when he wasn't there. "And, um, the one that pushed you? Dashing Horror or something."
"Dr. Horrible." He almost beamed with pride at how quickly she was to correct his name. perfect.
"Yeah him. Um, what would you do if you were to meet one of them?"
"I already have. Hammer man, remember? You pulled me away from him. He's a bit of a jerk." Oh thank GOD!
"And the other?"
There was quiet. She had to think about that one. Billy was nervous, what would she do? Would she freak out? Would she hate him? Would she punch him like Hammer did? Well, no, not like Hammer did, as Hammer hurt and he didn't think Penny would hurt that much. No, Penny wouldn't hit him at all. She wasn't the hitting type.
"I guess I'd thank him."
"Thank him? For what?"
"He pushed me out of the way of the van. He can't be that evil. He didn't want to hurt me. You know, he's been on the news, and I've never heard of anyone being hurt or killed in one of his attacks. He's been at this for years and I think the worst he's ever done was set off an asthma attack with a smoke bomb."
Oh how he loved her. Oh how he remembered that. Stupid smoke bombs.
"What would you do, say, hypothetically, if I was Dr. Horrible." She shifted onto her elbows, looking down at him, hair framing her face and tickling his ears. Here green eyes were laughing at him.
"I'd say that it took you long enough."