The remote control paradigm
This fic is like 3 y/o so deal with young me style of writing. I love Leonard with all my heart and more but there's literally no content with him in tk community. I'm actually not writing for fandoms unless it's a rare one lol
Words count ≈ 1611
Another stupid day. Another stupid fight over TV shows.
"Why? Penny, why?" Leonard groaned. He clearly couldn't understand Penny's passion for those mushy, romantic dramas.
"Oh, Leonard, come on! You're just going to turn on that dumb space show again," Penny demanded, reaching for the remote.
"Actually, I wanted to put on a superhero show, but either way, it's better than your stupid dramas!" Well, maybe the argument was starting to get a bit more aggressive.
"Give me the remote, nerd, or you'll regret it!" Penny leaned over him a bit.
In an attempt to keep control of the remote, Leonard stretched his arm out and leaned back further onto the couch. But Penny was no pushover. She grew up in Nebraska and clearly had no intention of giving up.
Penny was lying on top of him, trying to grab her chance to make it before the show started, while Leonard, on the contrary, stretched his arm as far as possible to keep the girl from doing so. But today, luck didn't seem to be on his side. Not even close.
It all happened just as stupidly as it had begun. Trying to pull herself closer, Penny grabbed onto Leonard, and quite successfully at that. The moment she squeezed his side a little, the man instantly blushed and tensed up. She didn't really understand this reaction. Did she squeeze too hard? Was he in pain? "Oh, crap, awkward!" flashed through the girl's mind.
"Hey, are you okay? Did I hurt you?" Penny asked, concerned. What the hell was going on with him? What was with the blushing?
Meanwhile, Leonard extended his hand with the remote again, and avoiding his girlfriend's eyes, nervously blurted out, "No, of course not! Everything's fine. Oh, well, just don't do that again."
What was wrong with this smart guy? But the battle for the remote continued, and Penny decided to play dirty. "Don't do that? I'll take that as a challenge," she thought. She pulled herself up toward the remote again, squeezing the scientist's side. No matter how hard Leonard tried, his silly jacket didn't save him from the touch or from a foolish squeal.
Penny stopped again, but now she understood what was happening. Why hadn't she noticed this before? It was obvious that this sensitive idiot was ticklish! It looked like she had just won this war.
The guy lying under her, on the contrary, was now looking at her in panic, plotting an escape plan. Of course, it wouldn't work. Of course, Penny would get him either way. His thoughts were interrupted by a couple of pokes and the girl's delighted voice.
"What a discovery, Leonard! How could I not know about this?" The girl smiled. The whole situation was now obviously under her control. Just like the silly four-eyed boyfriend who refused to give up the remote. But to hell with the remote and the show. Leonard Leakey Hofstadter was terrified of being tickled, that's what mattered!
"No! Penny! Please! Oh, please, don't!" he managed to yell out between attempts to stifle his laughter and giggling. The remote turned out to be useless here too. Right now, he was only interested in how to hide from Penny, who was craving his suffering.
"Seriously? All these arguments with you could have been won like this? Oh, what a useful piece of knowledge," the girl's smirk only grew. It got even worse when Penny decided that simply squeezing his sides was getting boring. Her fingers crept higher toward his ribs. The touch was gentle, her nails sharp. The closer the girl got to his armpits, the more Leonard squirmed and laughed. But there was no resistance. He just lay there, not even trying to curl up or get away.
"I could literally stop any talk about physics this way. It's so simple! Oh, seriously? You can make those kinds of sounds too?" The girl was loving all of this. Her boyfriend was just a cutie, and in this state, he looked damn adorable. But that was no reason for pity, and she continued to gently stroke up and down his ribs.
"Don't you dare! Sheldon must never find out about this!" The guy tried to speak clearly, but much of it was drowned out by his ringing laughter. "He won't hesitate to manipulate me through this... No, Penny, please, just not there!"
All of this was driving him crazy, and when the girl started moving and poking her fingers into his armpits, he almost screamed from the tickling and jumped.
"So I'm not allowed to tickle you like this in front of your crazy roommate? Oh, sweetie, I'm afraid I can't make any promises," Penny's teasing tone did its job, and the scientist's laughter rose an octave higher. "Why not here? What's wrong with this spot?"
But Leonard could no longer answer. Being tickled in such a sensitive spot definitely put him out of commission, and the teasing broke him completely.
"Oh, our genius can't handle a simple touch? What's wrong? A little ticklish? Use your brain to deal with it!"
As if he could use his brain right now. The only thing occupying his mind at the moment was the thought that this all tickled like hell.
When his laughter turned raspy, Penny stopped. Thoughts of asthma immediately kicked in, and she quickly handed the guy his inhaler.
"Are you okay? This all seems like a bit much for you..." The girl felt a little guilty. Maybe he didn't deserve this, but he shouldn't have laughed and squirmed so cutely!
After a couple of deep breaths, he just curled up on the couch and giggled softly. Having recovered a bit, he was finally able to answer, "If you do that in front of anyone, I'll die of embarrassment. I'm fine, I guess... But, hah, that was brutal. Was it all because of the remote?"
Penny noticed that even though she had already stopped, the physicist still looked terribly embarrassed and nervous. She thought about it all. He could have easily curled up. Crawled away. At least tried to stop it all! Heck, he hadn't even asked her to stop...
"I've had the remote for a while," she said, showing off the hard-won prize, but her thoughts were far from the show. "Why didn't you try to stop me?"
Leonard blushed even deeper and tried to hide his nervous smile with his hand. He carefully looked away, searching for an answer to her question. An answer that wouldn't make her think he was weird.
Failing to come up with anything good, he gave the first excuse that came to mind, "Um, well... You're just too strong for me!" He tried very hard to sound convincing, but didn't succeed much.
"Sweetie, I can tell when you're lying to me. I was barely holding you down, but you didn't even make an attempt." The gears in Penny's head began to turn again. A cute blush, a nervous smile, and zero attempts to resist...
"Oh my god, you like it!" The realization left Penny in a stupor for a short moment.
But it threw Leonard into an even greater stupor. He covered his face completely with his hands and groaned in embarrassment. Even through his hands, you could see he was red. Even his ears turned a bit pink.
"I'm right, aren't I?" the girl asked with interest and concern. In response, she got something completely unintelligible. This worried her even more.
"Talk to me! What happened? Earth to Leonard," she pulled his hands away from his face and looked straight into his eyes. "Answer me. Am I right?"
He nodded slowly and hesitantly.
"Why didn't you tell me about this before?" She was still a bit shocked. This was a day of discoveries.
"Because it's weird! And god, it's embarrassing! Do you think I'm crazy?" Anxiety was written all over his face. He thought it was all stupid and awkward. And why did he even like it? But Penny obviously thought otherwise.
"I accepted you with Star Wars and Star Trek. Accepting this won't be a problem at all. And it's not weird at all. Unusual, but not weird. It's actually pretty cute that you're literally helpless if I do this," a couple more pokes made him flinch again and put his hands out in front of him.
"Hey, hey! I'm having an important moment of confession here," he smiled, already looking more relaxed. She accepted him. A feeling of peace and joy washed over him. But her playful gaze still didn't bode well.
"Well, after your little confession, I can tickle you as much as I want and ignore your protests. How lovely!" At her words, the scientist noticeably tensed up and smiled involuntarily.
"I haven't even done anything yet. But since you don't mind!" She ran her fingers across his stomach, causing a muffled giggle.
"Da-ha-amn it, Penny! What if Sheldon shows up?"
"Well, then he'll just have to find out your little secret." After this phrase, the girl squeezed both of the guy's knees, causing a piercing squeal and loud, startled laughter.
"NO! Ple-he-he-ease, not the-he-he-ere!" Speaking proved difficult, making his pleas sound less pitiful than planned. Everything inside him tightened from the sensation, and he grabbed the nearest couch cushion.
"Why? I really like your reaction! It's cute, you have to accept it. Otherwise, I'll keep going."
A few minutes later, his asthma made itself known again, and Leonard had to admit that it wasn't weird at all and not in the least embarrassing.
It all ended with cuddles on the couch and a solemn oath not to tell Sheldon about it.
