Didn't want to leave you guys hanging after last chapter.
Sequel to Unyielding. Penny learns about Martha.
Penny woke up feeling great, she can't actually remember the last time she felt so rested. The events of last night seemed impossible just a month ago but she had done it, Penny got her baby deer. She stayed in bed enjoying both the warmth of the covers and the memories.
She shouldn't feel as giddy as she did but she had decided to fully embrace the 14 year old girl side of her. For all they made fun of Sheldon's lack of experience she had come to the conclusion that she was not much better actually.
The things that carried her previous relationships were lust and alcohol, she skipped right over the teenage awkwardness into second base and sex and never looked back but now she didn't want to do that, and that was a scary thought by itself, Penny didn't do commitment, except, she knew that this thing between Sheldon and her was not going to be a fling and she was weirdly okay with that, mainly because she knew that if anything it would be her leading the way forward, Sheldon would not tell her that he loved her unless he actually meant it, he would not try to get into her pants right away (she's the one that has to learn to be patient, especially if he's wearing that suit, yum), no playing games with him, she needed to learn to be direct with what she wanted and how, and this last part was something that she had a hard time letting go of, she knew that Sheldon would never be that guy that brought her a dozen bouquets of roses and surprise her with a trip to Cabo…but, she didn't want that guy, she wanted Sheldon, to see that small tug of his lips when he's proud of her, to know she's the only person that can touch him without him flinching, she just needed him to be himself. Besides, it might be fun to be the one to surprise him, the one that makes him smile, that adorable little smile that makes him look 10 years old again.
But there was still something weighing heavy in her and that was the subject of Agatha/Martha. She didn't want to be THAT girl but she had to know more. Penny was not happy about this because she knew that Sheldon would not really care if their roles were reversed but…and in a moment she gets it but wishes she hadn't, Martha had looked at Sheldon the same way that Penny looked at Sheldon, and that brought all those uncomfortable feelings from that night back to the front of her mind. She needed to talk to Sheldon so she could finally let go of this.
Looking over at her alarm clock it showed that it was only a little past 9 am so she might as well go shower and eat something, Sheldon had agreed to come by around noon (meaning exactly at noon) so they could discuss how to approach this subject with Leonard as Sheldon didn't want to lie to him, she only hoped that her talk with Leonard would at least take some of the heat from the upcoming argument, because she knew there was going to be one.
Trying to mess with her Moonpie Penny opened her apartment door at 5 minutes to 12 and just waited there with a cup of coffee and sure enough 4 minutes later Dr. Wackadoodle came out from his own door and seeing there waiting for him lead to his eye twitching and his brow furrowing because of course, she was the weird one in this relationship so she smiled at him and took a sip of her coffee moving to sit on her couch and letting him to follow her inside.
Once inside he sat on her couch but didn't seem inclined to talk.
"What up Moonpie?" There's that eyebrow twitch again.
"Cute. As always your grammar leaves much to be desired and only Meemaw may call me Moonpie."
"Nope," She made sure to pop the word "Non-optional social convention. You're my Moonpie now as well." She allowed herself a smile behind her cup, waiting to see how he would react to that.
Sheldon looked at her suspiciously for a moment but then his face cleared and he nodded "I suppose that is true," small blush comes to his cheeks and he looks at his hands "And I do like it when you say it." Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck, it's not fair, she's not going to make it past 1 week without wanting to jump him, he's too adorable.
Because she can, she decides to give him a peck on the lips and she's jumping for joy when he responds, awkwardly but eagerly and she can't stop the smile that comes to her face.
Deciding that it was best to get the uncomfortable parts of the conversation out of the way first Penny reigned in on herself "Sweetie, are you sure you want us to tell Leonard first? Without the other guys there?"
Sheldon sadly lost that small smile on his face and turned serious "Yes, I feel that this is the appropriate path to take, Leonard will have a hard time accepting your decision so it's best that we're alone so Wolowitz and Rajesh can't influence or feed into the negative emotions that Leonard will undoubtedly display."
"I agree Sweetie, plus Leonard is our friend and he deserves to hear it from us first." Okay Penny, time for the other subject, scooting closer to Sheldon so their legs touched she reached out to grab one of his hands "There was also something else that I wanted to ask you about…remember how I told you about Martha flirting with you?"
"Penny, I have an eidetic memory, I rem-"
"Not the point Sweetie," She held his hand and made sure he was looking at her "I told you how I was afraid of losing you and that is because when Martha looked at you, well, she looked like a woman in love."
Sheldon paused and looked at their joined hands, he rubbed his thumb on top of her fingers and nodded thoughtfully.
"Do you have romantic feelings for her?" And her lungs stop working, she didn't want to hear the answer to that because she remembers the way Sheldon looked at Martha, that smile and the not flinching away from her touch.
"No." Not a single facial twitch in sight and she's able to take a breath again, but we're not done yet Penny.
"Could you tell me how you know her?" Her voice is soft because she doesn't want to spook him, and she can feel it, there's more to the story.
"As you know, I have excellent hearing, so often I've been able to hear Wolowitz and the rest joke about my sexuality when they think I can't hear them. My mother and Meemaw raised me to, as is so often colloquially put 'To not kiss and tell' so I was never tempted to correct their beliefs as I found their posturing and bragging in bad taste." He stopped and then looked at her "Having said that, I believe that it's important that I share the following story with you due to the recent change in our social and relationship paradigm." He looked nervous and stopped talking.
"Hey Honey, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, I think I got my answer about Martha." Penny lied but she didn't want to make him feel bad and force him to spill his guts out, she could live without knowing, but Sheldon shook his head and she squeezed his hand in reassurance.
"It's not a story that makes me relive negative emotions if that was your fear, however, it's something I have only voiced to a few individuals. This takes place before Leonard ever became my roommate, as you know I spent some time in Germany during my formative years and met several acquaintances, one of them was my last research partner, a brilliant young lady by the name of Nana, she was to be wed and I received an invitation which I, after much thought, decided to accept. Mostly so I could enjoy the sights of Germany once again."
Penny sat on the couch watching as Sheldon went into his story. She liked the way he moved his hands and had to laugh a little to herself when Sheldon mentioned enjoying the sights, because for Sheldon that probably meant a laboratory or classroom and not exactly a forest clearing or a tourist spot.
"Once there I was forced to attend and endure the 'stag party'" yes he did the quotes with his fingers and rolled his eyes "despite me not being acquainted with the young man that was being celebrated. Initially it all went as it's often portrayed in popular media, we were taken to a bar where alcoholic beverages were consumed and several small speeches were proclaimed for the young couple to be, as well as some only meant for the groom."
She really, really enjoyed the way his throat moved and wanted to give him a little nip, just a tiny nip but forced herself to stay put. She had no idea where Sheldon was going with this but she was going to be a good listener and not miss anything.
"After this, we moved to a club, that was the word used to describe it, but I was confused, clubs were usually indicative of loud and ear damaging noise but this club was quiet, private." Clears his throat "We were directed to a room that had several chairs pointed at a small stage and I thought that we might actually get to see a theater performance or perhaps someone reciting poetry and the curiosity to know what it would be kept me at my seat."
She could see the blush that started from his neck all the way to his face and she held her breath..
"After a few moments a woman and two gentlemen entered the stage, each of them was wearing a raincoat that covered them so I thought it might be a modern art presentation. I was mistaken. Without anyone talking the people on the stage disrobed themselves, the woman was wearing leather underwear and the men were bare chested and each of them had a length of rope in their hands which they then proceeded to tie and restrain the woman in ways I never thought possible."
Penny thinks that if it was the middle of the night she would be able to light up her entire apartment with Sheldon's blush alone. She's riveted by Sheldon's tale, she can imagine a younger Sheldon mortified but curious at what was happening in front of him, but she has to wonder how this will connect with Martha.
"I wanted to get up and remove myself from the building but strangely found my body unwilling to comply. I sat there until their presentation had ended, the men never touched the woman inappropriately, there was no coitus but I still found it terribly stimulating, the manner in which the ropes restrained yet also enhanced the female form, how the rope seemed to guide the woman to present herself, the look on her face was…fascinating."
Holy fraking shit. Penny had her mouth open because whatever she was expecting, this was not it. Sheldon had a look of amazement on his face and she imagined that this must have been the face he was making at that time.
"After returning to the US I found myself unable to forget what I had seen and decided to do some research on what I came to learn was called 'Bondage', this research also revealed that a similar club existed in Pasadena and…"
Penny couldn't believe it, her Sheldon, her innocent Wackadoodle had visited a sex-club. Wow. But wait a second. Her eyes opened wide and her jaw hit the floor but no sound came out. Martha.
"And I found that they could teach me how to safely perform this activity on one of the personnel hired by the club. The place I visited was very receptive to all of my cleaning standards requests and Martha was assigned to guide me in this endeavour." He finally turned to look at her and even he with his 'can't see when Penny upset' knows that something is up because he quickly adds "I never engaged in coitus with Martha. She just helped me to learn Shibari, Sukaranbo, Karada and Shinju. I always wore gloves and never touched her directly."
Making a note to google those words later she took hold of Sheldon's hands to reassure him "Hey, hey, it's fine. Thank you for sharing this with me." She saw him relax, he was probably terrified that she was going to run out screaming or something. Ropes huh…
"Sweetie, is this something you want to do with me?" She could see that his eyes went as wide as possible and she tried to make her face as open as possible.
Very hesitantly he replied "In time, yes"
What the frak? She could feel her hackles rising, so he would still go to Martha? "In time? So you don't want to teach me?"
"What? No, I mean, yes, but…Penny, I am perfectly aware that this is not 'normal' and I'm not an expert and I don't want to scare you and I just thought that we could gradually-" Sheldon continues to ramble and her anger disappears immediately, He was concerned for her, He wasn't trying to exclude her. Goddamn it Penny.
"Sheldon, Hon. I'm sorry, I thought you meant that you wanted to keep seeing Martha and I…I got jealous and insecure. If this is something you like to do then I would like to experience it alongside you. You're not scaring me, to be perfectly honest this might be the most 'normal' thing about you." she smirked and hoped that he would get the teasing note in her voice.
The relief in Sheldon could be seen from miles, she continued "You just said that you're not an expert right? So that means we can learn together!"
She was sure that Sheldon would never hurt her, besides she'd be lying if she said she wasn't a little bit interested. So they sat there holding each other's hands when a noise from 4a brought them back to the now, there was still something pending before they could explore their relationship and now that Penny knew that Sheldon was interested it removed a weight off her shoulders. Maybe Sheldon would like to be tied as well, 'there's an idea' she thought with a smile.
"C'mon Moonpie, we got us a homunculus to battle."