tampered | Log; Ongoing; Closed

When; Wednesday
Rating; PG
Characters; Billy and Penny
Summary; In-person talking. Face-to-face? Possibly with eye-contact?
Log;

Billy had been avoiding the apartment except for when he knew she wasn't there and had gone in to grab some clothes. Nothing dire had happened in his underground lair while he was gone, so he'd taken up residence there. It was more comfortable than camping out in the lab but hardly an ideal situation. He'd also promised Penny that he would actually talk to her, and desperately wanted to see her, but it was somehow really difficult to come within about 500ft of a place she might possibly be.

He was glad to have his life in the City back, where even if everything was kind of confusing it was as if he had a little more space to figure everything out. But as much as he wanted that life back, and to return to the person he'd been, it wasn't as if he could pretend the time back in L.A. hadn't happened.

He knocked hesitantly, didn't hear an answer, and let himself in with the set of keys he'd found in his lair--which had a hell of a lot of locks but none that needed a physical key for entry. Doris stared suspiciously at him from the hall and quacked. "Don't judge me, you're a duck," he said, and then, more loudly, "Hello? Penny?"

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Penny was utilizing the time left before her shift at the library by trying to nap--trying being the operative word. She was reluctant to leave the cozy warmth of her bed, but she and Billy really did need to talk. About what, she was wasn't so sure. Discussing her death would be totally awkward, and it wasn't her place to dissuade Billy from pursuing a career in villainy.

Shoving uncertainty aside, Penny maneuvered around Doris to greet her bank robbing roommate. "Billy. Hey."

Doris quacked again. To the suspicious ear, the quack may have had accusative undertones.

There wasn't really a good word for what it felt like to see someone who had did in his arms standing there right in front of him. He'd had several days to adjust, and he'd gotten almost used to knowing that Penny was dead but pretty okay regardless, but that still didn't prepare him for the shock he felt. And there was still the same familiar heart flutter that he felt every single time he caught sight of her, from the very first time at the Coin Wash.

"Huh, uh, hey." He bit down on his lower lip without really realizing he was doing it.

It was so strange going back to the Awkward Phase with Billy after living with him in the City. They'd been having entire conversations without awkwardness--whole days, even! It made sense though, didn't it? Knowing someone's dead is one thing; actually watching them die only to chat with them later is entirely different.

Penny didn't know how to approach the situation. Should she act like he'd never left? Would it be better to be a little more standoffish to avoid freaking him out? Was it even possible to freak him out more than he already was?

But this was Billy. Her laundry buddy. Sure, his day job consisted of wearing a labcoat and robbing banks, but that didn't change who he was or the fact that he'd been out of the City way too long. As such, Penny gave him a tight hug. "I missed you. ...I'm glad you're back."

He wasn't sure what reaction he'd been expecting, but it wasn't this one. Possibly because he never really expected anyone to hug him, because it very, very rarely happened. For this reason it took him several moments to remember he ought to hug back, and then he was mildly surprised to find that his arms were, in fact, already wrapped around her and his face was buried in her hair. When had that happened?

"I missed you, too," he mumbled.

To be entirely honest, Penny hadn't been expecting that reaction either. Billy had never struck her as the hugging type. She was perfectly happy to be proven wrong, however, as it was a very nice hug--kind of like the ones in the movies where the hero goes off to do something dangerous, inevitably survives, and then embraces the heroine right before the film ends. Not exactly, since Billy had been robbing banks and doing villainy things and Penny was dead, but it was close.

It was at that moment that Penny realized--clearly and without a shadow of a doubt--that she really, really liked Billy in a way that she had never really, really liked Hammer.

She loosened her grip on Billy, stood on her tiptoes, and leaned in for a kiss. It seemed like the right thing to do.

He bent down a bit and pressed his lips against hers and that was the moment that he realized that he realized that he had no idea what he was actually doing.

Wasn't this supposed to be the moment when his brain shut down for a bit and he somehow magically knew what to do and could stop worrying about messing everything up forever and ever? Only it didn't work quite like that.

It still worked okay, though.

Edited 2009-12-22 03:37 (UTC)

It was okay if Billy didn't know what he's doing. After all, it was just a nice affectionate peck, not french kissing or anything that required some kind of foreknowledge. Penny had no complaints.

She drew back after a moment, trying to gauge Billy's reaction. "So..."

"Soooooo..."

He couldn't help smiling. He was happy. That was what that felt like! He'd sort of forgotten.

"So I hope your duck doesn't actually have a problem with me being back."

Billy? Smiling and happy? This was unusual, but absolutely not bad in any way. In fact, Penny couldn't have been more pleased.

She laughed at his conversation starter--real laughter, encouraged, perhaps, by an odd feeling of warm, giddy affection--and glanced at Doris, who had lost interest in them and was picking at her feathers. "She doesn't. Doris and Babbage are both happy to have you back."

But not as happy as Penny.

Log; Ongoing; Closed

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