After their kiss on Sunday, Penny went back to her own apartment. Declarations of love aside, it was too soon for anything else.

On Monday, Penny had a closing shift and couldn't join them for Thai night. Around eleven thirty she snuck into Sheldon's room and sat on his bed, gently running her fingers through his hair.

"Sheldon," she whispered, trying her damnedest to keep him from shouting 'danger' when he woke. It seemed to work; he opened his eyes a crack and knew it was Penny.

"Penny, what are you doing here?"

Penny smiled. He was adorable when he was sleepy. "I just came by to tell you I got home and kiss you goodnight."

He nodded, still mostly asleep. "Very well."

Penny leaned down and brushed her lips against his. Sheldon breathed in and lifted a hand to run his thumb over her cheek.

She pulled back and his hand returned to the blanket. "Night, honey. I love you."

Sheldon, eyes still closed, whispered, "Mmm. Love you too." Almost instantly, he was asleep once more.

Penny quietly made her way to her own home and dressed for bed, falling asleep with a smile on her face.

~*DD*~*DD*~*DD*~

Tuesday saw her closing again, except that night when she snuck into Sheldon's room he was still awake, sitting at the small desk against the wall he shared with Leonard. When Penny opened his bedroom door he closed his laptop and turned to her, raising his finger to his lips.

Whispering, he said to her, "I believe Leonard fell asleep approximately forty-five minutes ago, but we should be quiet just in case."

Penny smiled and nodded. "Same drill as last night. Today was a bitch so I'm just gonna go home and pass out."

She and Sheldon met in the middle of the room; she immediately put he arms around him and buried her face in his chest. She breathed in his scent of fabric softener, Irish Spring, and deodorant. Of course Sheldon was the type of person to apply deodorant before bed.

Sheldon's arms carefully wrapped around her in return, just shy of awkward. It came across as sweet consideration and Penny's smile grew. Keeping her arms around him, she pulled away far enough to look at him. "I'm surprised you're still up. Working late?"

Sheldon shook his head. "Merely waiting for you to come home. After last night I figured you might sneak in again." He smirked. "I was right."

"Well duh," she whispered. "I gotta get my goodnight kiss." She brought her hands around and up to his face, drawing him down to her. Unlike their two previous chaste kisses, Penny immediately sucked Sheldon's lower lip between her teeth. Sheldon's arms tightened around her. He tasted like Listerine. Penny hummed against his lips in contentment, then pulled away. Sheldon rested his forehead against hers, eyes closed.

"We should go to sleep," he whispered. "I need adequate REM sleep in order for optimal functioning at work. And you did imply you were tired."

As if in answer, she yawned in his face. "You're right. Again. I'll see you tomorrow, then." She pressed another short kiss to his lips and stepped toward the door. "Love you, Sheldon."

Sheldon pulled back his blanket and got in bed. "I love you too, Penny. Don't forget to lock the door on your way out."

~*DD*~*DD*~*DD*~

Penny actually had Wednesday off, and was able to sleep in. Even after waking at eleven o'clock and a hot shower she didn't feel human without coffee. She was tempted to steal some of Sheldon's milk, but decided to just go to Starbucks instead. Then she'd do some window shopping at the mall.

Her day was full of pretty things she couldn't afford, but she didn't let it get her down. Instead, she just added things to her mental wishlist and resolved to audition more. She wasn't gonna get famous just by wishing it.

She was sitting on her couch hours later, letting her toenails dry (she'd finally decided on a shiny chrome), when she heard the boys in the hallway, home from the comic book store. She'd give them time to settle in before she went over.

One her toes were dry, she made her way over. Tonight should be interesting, she thought. It was the first day since their relationship changed that she'd had time to spend with them. A small part of her worried over Leonard's reaction but the larger part drowned it out by imagining the looks on Raj's and Howard's faces when they found out.

Penny walked through the door and took her seat on the center cushion. Sheldon brought her a bottle of water and sat next to her. She was about to say thank you when the door opened and Raj and Howard came in with the pizza.

"I call Sheldon!" Penny shouted before anyone could say anything. More accurately, she staked her claim before Howard could try to claim her.

Setting the pizza on the kitchen island, Howard said, "In that case, I'm out for this round. Let Leonard and Raj take the beating." He tossed his friend a beer and pulled up a computer chair to watch.

Leonard and Raj brought their A game. Raj even managed a couple of kills in a row. He was sitting next to Penny on the end of the couch. He managed another hit on her before Penny had an idea. She slipped off her flip flops as she respawned and propped her feet up on the coffee table and popped her toes to draw attention to them. Sheldon may berate her later, but hopefully he uses it for the distraction it is. One more kill and they win, and she was too far away from Raj's or Leonard's avatars.

It worked. Sheldon turned his head to tell Penny to get her feet off the table, but he noticed Raj's distraction and took advantage. Sheldon was able to sneak up behind him and knife him in the back.

Immediately, Penny leaped up and shouted, "YES! IT WORKED! HA!"

Shedon got up to get his Lysol wipes but Penny grabbed him before he could even turn. In her excitement she yanked him forward and wrapped her arms around his neck. It was a quick, hard kiss that took him by surprise in its intensity. When Penny broke away Sheldon scowled. "Please keep your feet off the table."

Penny grinned. "Only if you admit my shiny toes were the distraction you needed to sneak up on Raj."

Raj, as well as the other two, stared at them in dumb shock. Penny and Sheldon continued to mostly ignore them. Sheldon resumed his quest for Lysol wipes and wiped down the coffee table. "Thankfully we've finished eating or I would've had to give you a strike. However, as it was an adequate distraction I shall let it slide this once." He finally noticed the guys staring. "What?"

Leonard was the first to recover. "What the hell was that?!"

"Penny that was patently unfair! You know I'm easily distracted by shiny things!"

Leonard turned to Raj now. "Really? Penny just kissed Sheldon and that's what you focus on? Her toenails?"

"Oh please, I've been waiting for this for literal years, but Penny knows it's unfair to exploit a weakness in the real world. Game mechanics are one thing but chrome toes are too cute to ignore." He crossed his arms in self-defense and glared.

Howard hadn't said a word. He was still staring at Sheldon like Billy the Big Mouth Bass. "Oh no," Penny laughed. "I think we broke him."

Sheldon spared him a glance on his way to throw away the used wipes. "He'll get over it."

Leonard didn't take too kindy to being ignored and repeated himself. "Sheldon, what the hell? You wanna catch me up?"

"Very well," he sighed. He relayed the events of Sunday night and when he was finished he said, "And now I assume that since she has also infiltrated my room the last two nights for 'goodnight kisses,' we are now in a relationship. Evidence to support this assumption includes her kiss approximately ten minutes ago." Sheldon then looked to Penny for confirmation. She nodded.

"Yup. Are we done here? I'd like to take you back to my place and make out a bit before bed."

Howard could be heard muttering "I'm in an episode of the Twilight Zone" over and over again to himself but it was easily ignored.

Seeming to weigh the pros and cons, or whatever it was he was thinking, Sheldon came to a decision and nodded. "Alright."