Erica stayed the night at Penny's because there was no way she was driving with two bottles of wine under her belt. Maybe she shouldn't be drinking so much anymore, it was getting harder and harder to bounce back after one of these nights.

"Hey babe," Brian was sitting at the kitchen table as she entered their apartment, and she felt like crap but he still gave her a huge smile. "I was about to message you. I went to get us a couple of breakfast sandwiches." He pointed to the bag sitting in front of him.

"Oh god, yes! I love you!" Erica went to give Brian a kiss before pawing through the bag. Brian chuckled and waited for her to be done before grabbing his own sandwich and biting into it. Neither spoke, Erica was engrossed in her sandwich and Brian simply watched her as he ate.

"HMNGRH BENNY GRMHMMH." Erica suddenly tried to tell her boyfriend, still with a mouthful of a pretty great breakfast sandwich. She made a mental note to ask him to get food from this place again.

Brian laughed. "If you've got gossip to share then chew and swallow first." He smiled as she quickly chewed, she looked like a hungover hamster, a really cute hamster.

"I said, 'Penny is not dating Sheldon'." Erica said after her mouth was free of food.

"Wait, what?!" Brian wasn't expecting that. "...Does Sheldon know that?"

Erica gave him a confused look.

"No, I mean. You know how he's running that Fantasy Football game for us right? Well, he sort of started telling us about Dungeons and Dragons and me and the other guys are kinda interested you know?. But, well, Sheldon said he can't do Saturday nights because those are 'Laundry nights with Penny.' Which I assumed meant it was sort of their date night right?"

"Holy crap…yeah, let me tell you about last night."

In between bites of their sandwiches Erica told Brian the whole story, including the dumbfounded look that Penny had shown them once the shoe had dropped that she only ever talked about Sheldon.

"Well…shit."

"What?" Erica didn't like the look on his face.

"I thought they were dating so I invited Sheldon for the Football game in two weeks. You know we're going over to Toni's and her brother is manning the grill so we thought it was a good chance to talk about that Dungeons and Dragon game that Sheldon wanted to run, after the game…and he said yes because Penny was also coming…so…"

"Well…shit." Erica needed to talk to Penny.

"Sheldon. Why did you accept Brian's invitation?"

"Last week, during our weekly call to discuss the Fantasy Football League status, it was mentioned that the group was interested in learning more about DnD. Jon mentioned that they were holding a barbecue party to watch the Steelers game to which I was invited to, so we could discuss it in person. So, you see, it was actually Jon who invited me."

"And If I'm not going?" Penny put her hand on her hip.

"I suppose that Jon, Keith, Brian and the rest of your friends might be disappointed. Hmmm, I wonder if Brian would be able to pick me up."

"Okay, I was bluffing. I'll take you. But Leonard is coming with us."

"Why would he do that?" Honest bewilderment on his face.

"Because he's my boyfriend." A challenge in her voice.

Sheldon sighed sadly. "I suppose that your stubbornness can be both a good and a bad trait. Alas, in this case we shall all be witness to the slow and painful death of your relationship with Leonard."

"Hey! You don't know that."

"Perhaps. But all of my calculations indicate that due to your lack of feelings for him, his oedipus complex as well as a general lack of confidence which will transform into possessiveness will make it so your relationship will crash and burn. Of course, this is not including the fact that in order to be intimate at all, you need to be intoxicated which is leading you down the road of alcoholism."

"...You can be such an asshole." Penny fought back tears and stormed off.

"Hey dweeb, why did you invite Sheldon to the party?" Toni kicked the back of her brother's chair.

"Woah, stop that. I'll tell mom you're the one messing up her chairs." Jon didn't even turn to look back at her, he kept playing on his phone. "And he's dating Penny so he was going to come anyway. So what's the deal? Don't tell me they're already fighting. Sheldon can be an ass but-"

"They're not dating."

"Already broken up? Man, I'll make fun of him during our weekly call."

"Nah, Penny says they never dated."

"Wait, what?" He finally turned to look at her. "For real?"

"She swears by that. Oh! Apparently she's actually dating Sheldon's roommate."

"Wild…That's so wild!...Does Sheldon know?"

Toni didn't reply but gave him the look she had inherited from their mother and that she used whenever a dumb question was asked.

"C'mon, it's an honest question. He is always talking about Penny so I would have never guessed."

"Penny is bringing her actual boyfriend to the party so you have to uninvite Sheldon."

"Hell no, Sheldon is running our league and he's also coming over to help us set up a Dungeons and Dragons game."

"Jonjon." She used her serious voice.

"I'm serious. What kind of scumbag would I have to be to uninvite him?"

Toni chewed her lip, she knew he was right but she didn't want Penny to feel awkward. She had seen the look on her friend's face when she realized that she hadn't talked about her boyfriend in like…ever.

"Okay…but, make an effort to make her boyfriend feel welcome."

"As long as he's not an ass then it won't be an issue."

*Knock, knock, knock.*
"Penny."
*Knock, knock, knock.*
"Penny."
*Knock, knock, knock.*
"Penny."

"What?!" Penny wrenched the door open and glared up at Sheldon.

Sheldon avoided her eyes and nervously ran his hands on the front of his shirt. "I believe that I might have upset you. It was not my intention to do so."

"...That's not an apology." She wasn't going to make it easy for him.

"Really Penny?"

"Really Sheldon."

Sheldon let out a frustrated breath, still avoiding her eyes. "While I'm sorry to have upset you, I am not sorry for telling the truth."

"Sheldon! You!..." She took a calming breath. "You still don't get it! You're supposed to be happy for us."

He finally looked at her straight in the eye. "Penny. While initially I was not confident in our friendship, in these past two and a half years you have become an integral part of my life and now I fear that your absence would cause me a great deal of inconvenience and distress. I am simply trying to avoid a scenario that will cause the group to break down."

"But you don't know that!" She insisted.

"Evidence points to one inevitable result." Before she could reply Sheldon raised his hands. "However, I will not express my opinion in this matter in the future and I will not tell you 'I told you so' if my prediction does happen."

"Always so self-sacrificial."

"Sarcasm?"

"What do you think?" They were not fully okay but they were going to get there.

"Jonjon!" Carly called out as he was drying off the sweat from his last set. While usually he really enjoyed that their group was part of the same gym, this time he already knew what she was going to ask.

"Barley, I know, I know. I shouldn't have invited Sheldon. But I really thought he was dating Penny!"

"What?" Carly's face was full of confusion. "Oh, yeah I don't care about that."

"Wait, really? My sister was acting like it was the end of the world."

"Yeah, I mean, we don't even know Penny's boyfriend right? He might be cool."

Jon nodded after a moment. "Yeah, yeah."

"See! No, I wanted to ask you if I could bring Katia to the party?

"Who?"

"Brunette, olive skin, Italian accent and you were drooling as she was doing yoga?"

"Shhhh hey man, not cool. I wasn't drooling." Jon kept his voice low and looked around making sure no one had heard Carly.

Carly laughed without a care. "Yeah right, but that's Katia."

"I mean, sure. The more the merrier…so…is she single?"

"Thank you Jonjon!" Carly walked away without answering his question.

"C'mon Barley! That's not cool." He told her back.

"Sheldon, please! This is the first time I'm meeting Penny's friends, I need to make a good impression. Don't embarrass me!"

Leonard was pacing their living room as Sheldon typed away at his laptop and ignored him.

"I still don't understand why you're going to the party at all. There's going to be alcohol, food not pre-approved by you, loud music and you know, socializing."

Sheldon simply kept typing away while occasionally looking at an open book on the side.

"I mean, you don't even know anyone there." Leonard returned to pacing and wringing his hands. "Buddy, please, these people don't know that we're nerds."

At that, Sheldon finally turned to face him.

"Don't look at me like that. These people are going to be talking Sports and, and, and, and, and Football and clubs! And who knows what else. They're not going to be interested in Halo or Comic books or Anime or even Star Trek!" Leonard pleaded with him. "I need them to like me, Sheldon."

"I see. And you feel my presence will somehow reflect negatively on you?"

"Yes!" Leonard was happy that Sheldon seemed to get it.

"And me not attending will make it so you feel more comfortable around this new group of people?"

"Yes! Thank you!"

"Leonard, I was personally invited to this event. I can't just-"

"I'm invoking clause 9.3 of the roommate agreement!"

Sheldon froze for a moment before nodding slowly. "Understood." He carefully and methodically put away the books and notebooks he had been working on. "If you excuse me, I need to make a call."

Leonard grinned and patted himself in the back. The 9.3 clause was one that he never thought he would use but he was glad that Sheldon had included it.

'As a best friend, you are entitled to one request per year. This request can't be denied.'

Of course this was Sheldon so there were pages upon pages on what type of requests were acceptable and which weren't.

Leonard could breathe easier now. This party was going to be a success.

Jon looked at the screen of his phone and frowned in confusion before picking up the call. "Sheldon?"

"Hello Jon, that is correct. This is Sheldon Cooper."

"Oh, what's up man?"

"I am calling you to inform you that unfortunately I will be unable to attend next week's party."

"Wait, for real?"

"Oh, this is very real."

Jon chuckled a little at Sheldon's serious tone of voice. "Nah man. I meant…why?"

Jon's smile disappeared little by little as Sheldon explained the reason. He put his phone on speaker before asking Sheldon to repeat what he had just said.

Sheldon's crackly voice was heard clearly. "I dislike repeating myself. As I said, my roommate has requested that I don't attend the party as he fears that my presence will impact his image negatively. Because of this I would like to schedule a meeting so we can further discuss your introduction to DnD."

"Sure man, listen, we'll work around your schedule, just let us know what time works for you."

"Excellent, have a pleasant evening."

Jon clicked to end the call and turned to look at the group of friends sitting around his couch. Clicking his tongue Jon told no one in particular. "Well…I think it's safe to say Penny's boyfriend is a dick."

Brian was frowning. "What did he mean by 'impact his image negatively'?"

Jon shrugged and shook his head but Keith spoke up. "Hey, you know how Sheldon is in the spectrum right? So maybe the roommate thinks that we'll make fun of him for being friends with Sheldon?"

"Nah…right?" Jon didn't like the implications of that.

Brian was quiet before standing up and poking his head out the door. "Babe! Could you come here for a moment?"

Erica and Toni made their way into the living room and the guys explained what had just happened and asked for their opinion.

Toni let out a frustrated breath and ran a hand through her hair. "Okay, initially I was all for Sheldon not coming but now I'm pissed off. But! I still think it's a stretch for your guys' theory."

"You did say that Kurt was being an ass at Penny's party right? Maybe Penny's boyfriend thinks that we're like that?" Keith was always the more level headed one.

"I mean…if that's true, can you blame him? Kurt acted like an ass after his breakup with Penny." Erica said, now having occupied her boyfriend's lap.

The boys nodded.

"Okay, so we should keep an open mind. This might be a big misunderstanding." Brian quickly added.

"And who knows, maybe Penny's boyfriend thinks that he's doing Sheldon a favor. He's afraid that we're going to bully him or something." Toni offered her own theory.

"That's all fine and dandy but that still leaves us with the heart of the matter. What do we do about Sheldon no longer coming? It don't sit right with me." Jon wanted to make sure the rest knew what he was thinking.

"How about this? You invite Sheldon to dinner so that you guys can talk about your geeky stuff, maybe bust out a board game or something and just in general spend a nice evening together." Toni took charge and started giving orders. "We girls don't need to be here so maybe we can go dancing or something and let you have the house to yourselves."

"I don't know…it doesn't feel right, but yeah, Sheldon is not dating Penny so…" Jon shrugged and reluctantly agreed.

Penny barreled into 4A, her shift had just ended and she needed to bring Sheldon to the mall ASAP. Said man was currently sitting on his spot and writing something on his laptop, while Leonard was drinking a glass of water at the kitchen island.

"C'mon, let's go Moonpie. Chop, chop. Time's a wastin' Let's go buy you a real pair of pants." Penny stayed by the door and clapped twice while pointing at the hallway.

"Penny? Why would you take me to buy pants?" Sheldon looked bewildered.

"For Sunday's party. C'mon, let's go." Another pair of claps.

"I don't appreciate your clapping, it makes me feel like some sort of show horse that is expected to perform. Besides, I am no longer attending the party." Sheldon returned to his laptop.

"What do you mean you're no longer going?" She was confused, he had been adamant before because Jon had invited him personally.

"Leonard asked-"

Leonard loudly cleared his throat and moved towards them finally. "Ahem, what Sheldon is saying is that I asked him to be honest about wanting to attend the party or not. There's no need to force Sheldon to go if he doesn't want to."

"Is that true?" Penny asked Sheldon but before he could answer, Leonard was pulling her towards the door.

"But I'll be happy to buy new pants for the party, let's go."

Before the door closed, Penny could swear that Sheldon's face was twitching.