Disclaimer: Sly Cooper is owned by Sony, not me.
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A Developing Interest
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With the Cooper Gang returning to their hideout in Paris, France, Sly Cooper allowed his lifelong friends, Bentley and Murray, to continue planning on their eventual break-in of the Cooper Vault and Dreamtime training respectively, while he bonded with the first ever girl member of their gang, Penelope. While her duplicitous actions back in Holland left Sly a bit unsure of the mouse girl's trustworthiness, he genuinely wanted to know Penelope better, especially if she stayed on for future thefts.
Which is why both the raccoon in his blue, iconic attire and the mouse in her casual purple, red, and yellow mechanic clothes were in the hideout's living room sitting in opposite chairs facing each other.
"Honestly, Sly," Penelope began with a tone of voice that sounded emotionally hurt, even if it had a playful tinge to it, "it's like you don't trust me."
Sly showed an uncertain frown, but he replied in an assuring way, "I want to trust you, Penelope, but while you did explain that you made up the Black Baron persona to fly without the age restrictions stopping you then, we never got into the part about you bending your own ACES rules."
In response, the mouse actually looked surprised with the sentence to match. "The turnabout bothered you that much?" At Sly's disapproving frown, she then tried to amend her words, saying, "For what it's worth, I get that I should've followed the rules of my own competition, but at the time, I kinda wanted to see how far you would've gone to win." A bit more awkwardly, Penelope then added, "Although, I would be lying if I said my sense of pride didn't have a part to play in that, too."
Humming in thought, Sly soon nodded as he said, "Pride is one of the Seven Deadly Sins which has affected me as well," he then allowed a chuckle as he added, "and it's not like I'm above trickery myself, especially whenever it involves a good getaway from the law, so your lack of fair play is understandable."
"So, no hard feelings, right," Penelope asked with a coy, yet hopeful, smile.
"Maybe," Sly answered with a joking smile that brought a giggle out of Penelope, prompting the raccoon to comment, "You seem really eager to stay on with a bunch of 'small-time amateurs' like us, huh?"
Penelope, at least, had the decency to be sheepish at the remark. "I was just toying with the guys who took down the Fiendish Five and Klaww Gang, Sly. Nothing more." Showing a sincere smile, she continued to say, "And I don't regret meeting you all. Bentley is brilliant, Murray and the Guru are nice, and you're my kind of Prince Charming, ringtail."
Hearing the young lady use his occasional nickname, Sly looked at her curiously, especially when Penelope herself realized what she just said herself. "Huh," the raccoon finally let out before adding, "I don't hear anyone call me that unless they're flirting with me. Not counting Carmelita Fox."
A bit embarrassed, Penelope finally asked, "Any girl in particular you like?"
Starting to see where Penelope was coming from, Sly shortly answered with a befitting grin, "No one I'm currently tied to, Penelope. So go crazy."
Immediately, the mouse girl grabbed onto Sly's head to deliver several kisses, leaving the world-renowned thief to wonder how things would have been different if he did not advise Bentley to use his unedited photo for the earlier forum chats between the latter and Penelope. In another lifetime, the two geniuses would have been sweet together.
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I commissioned a Sly/Penelope fan art from Moon-Phantom on DeviantArt, even if I noticed only one other tribute to the ship there as well. I know that Penelope's depiction in Thieves in Time was anything but fabulously sensible, but I am optimistic that, if a sequel was finally made, her actions and personality would be freshened out better, and I do like the AU concept of her being paired with Sly. After all, before she truly fell for Bentley, Penelope initially had a crush on Sly in Honor Among Thieves.
