Chapter Text
He'd hung up with the Thai restaurant the moment he heard Penny's eardrum shattering scream. It didn't take a genius to ascertain she was in grave need of assistance, though his apprehension at doling it out increased as he passed through the layers of her apartment.
She wasn't at the door.
She wasn't in her bedroom.
No, she was in the bathroom, in the tub, wet. Her nude body was partially covered with her torn shower curtain. Her fairly transparent shower curtain.
"It's my shoulder, I think it's broken," Penny cried, holding one hand out to him. "You'll have to help me up."
"Penny, it is highly unlikely that you have in some way broken your shoulder," he sniffed, attempting to look anywhere but Penny's body. "I would hazard a guess that you dislocated it in the fall."
"Whatever, Sheldon, just help me up!" she insisted, sounding a bit frantic.
The process of lifting Penny from the tub became a tricky one, a bit of a puzzle really. Every way he attempted to move her while preserving her modesty caused her to cry out in pain, which of course was bad. Not only did Sheldon not wish to cause Penny more pain, he also did not appreciate the threats to his person when she was agitated. Eventually, Sheldon had determined that the curtain must go, else he could not get enough leverage to lift her.
"Try not to look, okay Sheldon?" Penny begged as the curtain slipped away.
"Believe me, Penny, I am trying,” he replied uneasily, eyes cast above her head as he groped about attempting to hoist her up. Sheldon found leverage and began lifting her, but not before Penny began to squirm.
"Sheldon! Hold me around the waist," she warned.
"I..." Sheldon struggled as he lifted her from the tub. "I am attempting to!"
"That's my ass, Sheldon!"
"Guh..." he breathed out, his hands flexing against the slick skin of her posterior. "You're... wet."
"Yeah, shower duh." Penny lifted herself higher in his arms by wrapping one of hers around his neck.
"Right, obviously. Just..." Her adjustment nearly caused Sheldon to drop Penny as she slid against his body. "Making an observation." Out of his peripheral, Sheldon could see the tops of Penny's breasts pressed against the logo of his Batman shirt. He found himself stilling, gaze focusing down on them. His erection sprung to life against her, trapped between them.
"Oh my god, Sheldon!" Penny raised her voice. "You're looking! I thought you were like, asexual!"
"Jokes at my expense, I assure you," he grimaced, adjusting her further in his grasp as he moved them to the door. "This is an unfortunate circumstance for you to find out I am anything but."
"Well that changes things..." Penny murmured thoughtfully as Sheldon carried her to her bedroom. He settled her down on her unmade bed, then quickly averted his eyes.
"H-how so?"
"Well, I always assumed you weren't available," she said. "Either way, I need to go to the hospital, which means I need clothes. Underwear, shorts and a shirt."
"Where do you keep your underwear? You seem to have absolutely no organizational method for your clothing," he grumbled, peering about the chaos of her room.
"That drawer, top left one," Penny directed him.
He did so, opening the drawer to find a bounty of lacy underthings. His throat instantly dried. He picked up a pair at random, the red silk dangling from his finger tauntingly.
"Not those! Something comfortable." At her insistence, he dropped the silky thong and fished out a pale pink cotton one instead. Did this woman own anything other than thongs?
"Will this do?" He held them out, befuddled by the scant material.
"Yeah," Penny stretched on the bed, wincing as her shoulder was jostled. "You'll need to... to help me get them on, sweetie."
Sheldon nearly dropped the garment. "Help you? Why? You cannot manage that alone?" Heavens above!
"I can't move my whole arm, Sheldon! How am I supposed to pull them up?" she countered, brows drawn together in consternation. "Listen, please don't make this harder than it is. Just help me."
"I shall endeavor to assist you speedily," he replied quietly, moving towards her while still trying his best to avoid looking at her naked body.
"Hold them out for me to step in, okay?"
"F-fine." He did as he was told, holding them out and stretching the material for her, all the while he stared at her ceiling fan and determined it was in need of a dusting. Honestly, Penny's entire apartment needed a good clean.
Sheldon felt her wrap an arm around his neck again, stabilizing herself as she stepped in. He held his breath, waiting for her to let go.
"Okay, pull them up," she told him, and he lifted his hands up, not entirely sure where they were on her body. Penny's fingers moved from the collar of his t-shirt to his neck. He stopped short.
"They..." Penny said quietly, her arms tensing around his neck. "They need to go higher up."
"Oh." He could feel her warm skin beneath his knuckles as he hesitated, then he gave them a sharp tug. Penny gasped harshly, then whimpered as her fingers dug into his neck.
"Not that h-high, Sheldon," she murmured breathily, her face reddened. Sheldon similarly colored as he realized her reaction was from the pressure he inadvertently placed against her gusset. Mortified, he eased her thong down and stepped away, clenching his hands and attempting to breath. Penny fell back down onto her bed.
"Shorts and a t-shirt, please." Penny commanded quietly. "Top and middle drawer on the left."
"No... ah... brassiere?" he inquired as he collected said articles of clothing.
"Sheldon, I'm going to the hospital. I think it'll be fine."
He shook his head. Penny was so odd. "If you're certain." He placed her clothes on the bed and turned around, attempting to give her a modicum of privacy. It occurred to Sheldon then that there was absolutely no privacy to be had, as the mirror over her vanity gave him a clear view of her struggling to put her shirt on, and good gracious she was still topless and why couldn't he look away? Her breasts were... were arresting his senses.
"Ughn," Penny whined as she struggled to get her good arm in her shirt. "This is impossible! I'm... I'm gonna need help for this too, damn it!"
Sheldon quickly looked into a corner, not wanting to get caught looking at her reflection. "You do? I mean, of course." He moved over to her side again, not exactly sure where to look.
Penny handed him the shirt.
"Help me get it over my head and over my bad arm," she said, and he began the attempt with caution. Over her head was easy, but her arm. It was a struggle.
"Penny this is..."
"Sheldon, just grab my elbow and slip it through."
"Alright," he agreed, attempting to locate her elbow while gazing at the top of the curtain rod above her bedroom window. What he located was decidedly not elbow feeling. Instead he had a soft handful of something he was trying his hardest not to look at.
"Is that my arm?" Penny gritted out. Oh lord.
"No, I don't believe so," he replied uneasily, unsure what to do. He flexed his fingers ever so slightly, and he felt Penny shiver.
"Then let go!" she growled. Sheldon released her... her breast, then moved in the direction he assumed her elbow would be. His fingers grazed something. He heard Penny moan, possibly in pain. His eyes shot down to her, seeing in that moment that it had not been pain. He'd brushed her nipple, and she was currently flushed and quite... quite sensual looking.
Until she noticed that he was peeking.
"Look away and help me!"
He looked away, scowling a bit. "Obviously I am attempting to help, but those two things are not conducive to one another!"
"Oh, for the love of God!" Penny exclaimed, yanking the collar of his shirt down so forcibly that he couldn't help but look down.
Her chest was heaving.
"Look for all I care," she almost dared him. "But please, just help me..."
She began to look a bit misty. Oh.
"Penny, there is no need to become hysterical. I... I will help you put your things on and then take you to the hospital." He tried his best to sound reassuring, trying to tap into that wonderfully assured tone Penny used frequently. He also tried his best not to gawk at her as he slipped her elbow into the sleeve of her t-shirt, grateful that he could see what he was doing.
"You're going to drive?" Penny had a kind of watery smile, like her good humor was chasing away her anxiety. "Do you even have a license?"
"Believe me, if there were an acceptable alternative, I would not be driving." Sheldon helped Penny stand again and aided her in stepping into her shorts, this time taking care to only pull them up enough so that they could be fastened. "But it seems I shall have to dust off my... my learners permit."
"Permit?" Penny burst out with a laugh, a laugh that devolved into a moan as he struggled to button her shorts. Dear, dear, dear...
"Yes well, I hardly have any reason to drive. The permit was simply a convenient way of acquiring a third form of identification," Sheldon explained breathily, finally slipping the damnable button through the hole and taking his hands away from her. The whole ordeal was possibly the most intimate he had ever been with a woman, and it had been with Penny. What in the world would become of this?
"Time to go to the hospital," Penny frowned. Sheldon could only grimace as he trailed behind her.
-
The drive had been a simultaneously slow and yet perilous journey on the freeway. Sheldon knew he was a horrible driver, knew he should never touch a steering wheel again, but thou must. It was as much a call to action as he would ever get.
Penny indeed had dislocated her shoulder in the fall and had been put into a sling after being readjusted by a nurse. Now, with painkillers in hand, the two headed back to the apartment. Penny hadn't even asked; she'd simply followed him into his apartment and slumped into a chair.
"Pills," she whined, making grabby hands for him. Sheldon rolled his eyes at her antics and set to get her the medication she required and a bottle of water.
When he handed them over, she was giving him such an intense look as to make him avert his gaze again. She could be so intimidating sometimes.
Sheldon sat in his spot, anxiety filling him as she quietly took her medication and settled into her seat.
She was lounging in the chair by the sofa, one leg over the arm and looking pensive. Sheldon couldn't help but be reminded by the thin material of her t-shirt that she had forgone a brassier. What a bizarre day.
She was looking straight at him, too.
"So..." she drawled, looking at her nails. "You're not asexual, is that right?"
"That is... correct," he answered cautiously. What was she getting at? Was now the time for his dressing down? Any man would have had a difficult time avoiding glancing at her body.
"Why is this the first in hearing of it?" Penny asked. "The guys always say you don't have a deal and you never correct them." She smiled then, a little like a wicked cat. "You totally have a deal, though. You love helping a damsel in distress?"
"Absolutely not!" Sheldon replied, if a little too hastily. "That is not at all true."
"So, it's me then?" Penny smirked. "I'm your deal?"
Sheldon looked away, glancing at the window and blinking. He didn't know quite what to say to that, so he just stayed quiet.
"Good to know," Penny said finally, and it felt almost like a threat. Good god, what was she up to?
Only time would tell.