Disclaimer—I do not own The Big Bang Theory or any of its characters. Nor do I make any moneys from the posting of this fanfiction.

Hello! This is just a little something that popped into my head. This is a Shenny that takes place during the early days of the show (sometime around the first two seasons is what I'm thinking). This is completely A.U. and it doesn't pretend to be otherwise. If you don't like Shenny, you shouldn't read it. Thank you.

Soup and Crackers

No! He didn't see what he thought he just did. Leonard looked back over to Sheldon, frowning as he did so. There on his left forearm was a tattoo?

"Since when did you get a tattoo?"

"What?" a startled Sheldon looked over to his room mate and friend. "Tattoo?" He looked down at his own arm. "Oh that. Yes, I got it a year ago as of March the sixth."

"What is it?" he asked, coming over to his seat.

"Chinese," Sheldon answered. "It says 'crackers'."

"What?" The reed thin physicist just looked at him blankly. "First of all, you got a tattoo and you never told me or anyone else about it. Then to get one that says that? Does your mother even know about it?"

"Of course she does, Leonard," he replied. "As Penny and I called asking her permission for said tattoo. She said as long as it had nothing to do with crime, gangs, or the hippy liberals that seem to litter this state like so many crazy people at a sit in, she was fine with it."

Penny rushed into the apartment. "I got dessert! Did you start the movie yet?"

"We were waiting for you, Penny," Sheldon told her. "Leonard was asking about my tattoo."

Frowning she looked over to Leonard. "He's had that for a year this coming March."

"You knew?" he demanded.

"Seeing as I was there with him when he got it, I would hope so," she told him. She went over and sat down between them, thanking Sheldon absently when he handed her the food they had gotten for her.

"So why 'crackers'?" he asked. "That doesn't make sense."

Sheldon and Penny looked to each other and said together, "No reason."

Just then Raj and Howard showed up, and the topic of Sheldon's tattoo was forgotten. Well it was for Sheldon and Penny, but it was lingering in Leonard's mind. It wasn't until Penny went home and Sheldon to bed that he even spoken about it again.

"Did you two know that Sheldon has a tattoo?"

"Yes, I saw it a while ago," Raj told him. "I don't know what it says though, as it was still wrapped when I saw it."

"He told me that it says 'crackers'," Leonard provided him.

"Oh," Howard breathed quietly. "Well, that makes sense. But that would mean…" His eyes went wide. "No!" He looked to the others there. "It can't be!"

Leaping up, he rushed all the way over to Penny's apartment door and pounded on it. She answered the door and glared at him as she stood there waiting for him to speak.

"You and Sheldon?" he exclaimed.

Laughing she said, "And you were the one to figure it out. It took you long enough." She looked at the time. "Damn. Get lost would you. He'll never come over at this rate."

She promptly shut the door in his face. Howard turned in shock to look at the equally stunned Leonard and Raj.

"They're…" Leonard started.

"But this is Sheldon," Raj muttered.

Sheldon came out into the hallway between the apartments, looking from one to the other. Finally he said, "Congratulations, Howard, for the use of logic and your knowledge of Chinese to get you to this point. Now if you will all excuse me. Gentlemen." He went to the door and went into the ritual of knocking.

Penny opened the door and looked happy to see him there. "What took you so long, sweetie?"

"They were blocking the way," he told her indicating the others there.

"Yeah, I saw," she muttered. "Come in! Tonight isn't going to last forever you know!"

Then he did something that had the others there again amazed. He laughed, low and husky—dare they think it, even sexily?

"Don't I know it, sugar," he purred, walking into the apartment and shutting the door in their collective faces.

"What…" Howard started.

"…the…" Raj joined in.

"Frak!" they all finished together.

"How did you know?" Leonard demanded of Howard. "How did you figure it out?"

"You mean you've never seen her tattoo?" he asked of him. "I saw it when you put that nanny-cam that vanished nearly an hour after you put it in her apartment six months ago. She was going around the apartment in a skimpy towel." He sighed dreamily, but shook it off to go with his story. "I asked later if she ever had a tattoo and she told me about it. She said that it said courage. I read it. I'm telling you it said 'soup' and I'm pretty sure Sheldon would have told her as much too."

"So they're 'soup' and 'crackers'?" Raj breathed. "That's sweet."

"Sweet?" Leonard asked, sounding miffed. "I'm the one that called dibs!"

They looked to each other and back over to him. It was Howard who said, "Give up the ghost, Leonard. What's soup without crackers?"

The End

…

Well? How did you like it? Review to let me know. Thank you and have a great day.

Oh! And Risknight, funny enough, I already had this written when you posted your story with Penny getting a new tattoo. If I hadn't of checked the new fanfictions, we would have inadvertently posted on the same day! LOL!