I never thought I'd write another TBBT fanfic once I finished the last one, but here I am. I have to thank all of the lovely Shenny writers and their stories because I've been rereading all of them and it's made me fall in love with this couple again. I wish things were still as booming in this fandom as they were when I first started writing for it. But I understand why it's slow. I haven't watched the show since like season 5 but I know the gist of what is going on now. Eh.

So, this story is going to be an AU of the early TBBT seasons because I really liked it when it was just Penny and the guys. There's going to be no Leonard/Penny. Amy and Bernadette will also not make an appearance. This isn't going to be a very long story and I got the idea when I started thinking about an event that happened in my other TBBT story, The Artificial Selection Occurence. If you've read it, you'll know what I'm talking about. ;)

Anyways, I hope you all enjoy!


Chapter One

Holding up the two glossy tickets, Penny still couldn't believe it.

In her hand, she held two tickets to the premiere of the newest Avengers movie in New York and it was all expenses paid and she got five hundred dollars in spending money.

Penny had entered the contest on a whim when she had seen it on the back of some cereal box. A few years earlier, she had seen the first Avengers movie with the guys and didn't know a single superhero in it. Now, she owned all the Iron Man, Thor and Captain America movies. Now, she was going to meet all of them.

She was going to meet freaking Robert Downey Jr!

Oh God. What was she going to wear?


Hours later, Penny finally calmed herself down (a few glasses of wine had helped). The premiere wasn't for another few weeks, which would give her time to buy a whole new wardrobe if she wanted.

Now that that was settled, Penny had another dilemma. Who would she take? One ticket was obviously for her and the other was for a friend of her choosing.

Glancing at her door and in the direction of Leonard and Sheldon's apartment, where all the guys would be gathered since it was a Friday night, Penny knew they'd all want to go. She couldn't simply just choose right there. She knew the guys and knew how'd they react.

They had once all fought over a movie prop.

Honestly, there was only one person she wanted to take.

*knock knock knock* "Penny."

And there he was.

*knock knock knock* "Penny."

Smiling, she stuffed the tickets in her back pocket and went to stand by the door to wait for her Whack-a-doodle's knocking ritual to end.

*knock knock knock* "Penny."

When he was done, she opened the door and smiled up at her gangly neighbor and best friend. "What's up, Sheldon?"

For a second, his eyes went upward, then realized that it was only a saying. "Hello, Penny. As you know, it's Friday night."

"I know, honey. I do own a calendar." And it may or not be a Batman one.

"Also, as you know, it's Chinese and Vintage Video games night. I would like you to join us, if you are not otherwise engaged." Sheldon had gotten better at asking her for things. He no longer demanded stuff from her.

"I'm doing nothing at the moment, so of course I'll come over." This was the perfect opportunity. "And I have something to tell you guys, too."

"I hope it is not bad news, Penny."

"No, it's not. In fact, I think you guys will like it." And one of you will love it.

But which one?

"I'll be over in five minutes, okay?"

"Very well." Without another word, Sheldon turned on his heel and walked across the hall to his apartment. Penny shut the door and leaned heavily against it.

What was she going to do about the extra ticket? She couldn't just go in there and tell everyone that she picked Sheldon to go with her. They would wonder why she had chosen him out of the four. Leonard wouldn't complain until after she left while Howard would be the loudest with her right there. Raj would just keep it bottled up until she left, but would give her puppy dog eyes the rest of the night.

Penny had to think of a way that she could chose Sheldon without the guys getting pissy.

Suddenly, an idea struck her. She raced to her room, took out an old notebook and ripped a piece into four sections. On each section she wrote a name. Then, she grabbed her old Cornhuskers ball cap and threw the pieces of paper inside. It was an elementary way of deciding, but she didn't care.


The seat next to Sheldon on the couch was open. By now, everyone knew that was where she always sat. She was almost anal about, like Sheldon was about his. She'd nearly bitten Howard's head off when he had sat in it last week.

"Hey, guys," she greeted sunnily and plopped down on her sweet. "Hey, sweetie," she said to Sheldon and patted his leg. He no longer recoiled from her touch, so she took advantage of it occasionally.

"Hello, Penny." He gave her a shy smile at being the only one singled out by her greeting.

"So, what are we playing today?" She reached for her container of food and reminded herself to slip Leonard a ten later.

Before moving across the hall, Penny would have never spent her Friday nights playing video games. No, her nights would have consisted of alcohol and men. She'd come a long way since, then.

"Mario Party 3," Leonard answered to her right.

"Since it is only a four player game, Howard and Raj have opted to take turns for each of the mini games." Sheldon held his Chinese food container with deft fingers. "I see no problem with that since they do everything else together, anyway."

The two men glared at him, but he ignored it.

"Sheldon said that you had something to tell us," Leonard spoke again.

"Uh, yeah. It's why I'm wearing the hat." She gestured to the ball cap she'd worn to their apartment.

"You've been drafted to play for the Cornhuskers?" Sheldon asked,recognizing the symbol from a hoodie she had worn before. (She may have also forced him to watch a game or two).

"No," she answered and rolled her eyes.

"You're...moving back to Nebraska," Leonard said slowly.

"No! If I was doing that, I would have made you all guess about a hat."

"Then, what is it?" Howard asked, ignoring whatever Raj had whispered in his ear.

"Well..." Chinese food abandoned, Penny stood and walked around the table so she stood in front of the four guys. "I know, it's probably not a big deal to you guys, but I got these in the mail today." She took out the glossy tickets. She handed one to Raj, so he and Howard could look at it and one to Sheldon. Leonard leaned close to read it.

Raj eeped first, but Sheldon was the first to speak.

"Penny, you've won a trip to the premiere of the newest Avengers movie," he said with reverence.

"I know it's not Batman or the Flash or anything," she said a little offhandedly. If there was a movie coming out soon of one of those two, she'd search every corner of the internet for a way to get that premiere.

"Still it is our beloved comic books coming to alive on the big screen." Sheldon handed his ticket back and so did Howard (reluctantly).

"Yeah, we'd kill to go to that," Howard spoke.

"Well, I hope you really don't because I can pick one of you to go with me." She tucked the tickets safely back in pocket.

"Who?" Three voices cried and one squeaked.

Penny tilted her head almost upside down and slowly took off the ball cap so none of the papers fluttered out. After counting to see that all four scraps were there, she turned her attention back to the four eager boys. "I'm going to pick a name from this hat and whoever is on it, gets to come with. This way all of you have a fair chance of going."

"Why can't you just pick who you really want to go?" Leonard asked, sitting up a little hopefully.

"Yeah," Howard agreed.

Penny glared at the little man in the brightly colored skinny jeans. "This is the only chance you'll get of going, Howard Wolowitz."

"Then, by all means, pick a name," he quickly said and sat back against the armchair that Raj was sitting in.

"Okay, here I go." Penny lifted the cap with one hand above her head and closed her eyes. With the other, she placed it in the hat and felt around for the scraps of paper.

Four geniuses sat forward in their seats. They could hear a pin drop, it was so silent. No one was breathing.

Grabbing a piece of paper securely in her hand, she jammed the hat back on her head with the three other pieces. Opening her eyes, she took a deep breath and held it open. This was it. The moment of truth.

"The person that gets to go with me is..." She tried hard not to smile. "Sheldon."


Thanks for reading!