The Caffeine Emporium Alternate Universe

"Crazy Tea Guy, right on time." Emily murmured as she glanced at the front door of the coffee shop from the corner of her eye.

Penny looked up and over confused. This was her first day on the job, she'd already have to deal with crazy customers.

When she took him in, yeah she could see why he might be crazy. Wearing a tweed jacket, no tie, and messenger back strap across his chest, hair perfectly flat. He was tall and skinny.

No one else was in line, they'd just opened. He walked up to the counter and stood there, before the words could leave his mouth, before Penny could utter a 'good morning." Emily had his cup of tea on the counter.

He glanced down at it. His eyes met Penny's for a moment as he handed Emily the money, $3... He left without taking back the 50 cents owed to him.

Left before Emily got the register closed.

Penny was confused by the whole transaction. She looked at Emily who was also confused.

"Weird... He never leaves a tip." She said with a shrug before dropping it into the glass jar.

Penny didn't have time to think about it further, people started to walk in, time for business.

~.~

Go to LA…. Become an actress… it'll be so easy! Yeah right. It was two years later for her and she finally broke up with her loser boyfriend who she knew since junior high, moved into her own place and quite the cheesecake factory job. Not that working at this little coffee shop was any better, but at least she could dress cute, didn't have a creepy manager breathing down her neck and the pay was a little bit better.

Her days were usually pretty normal, routine and nothing crazy happened, they had their regulars and she started to know everyone by name.

All accept one.

Every day like clockwork, 'Crazy Tea Guy' would walk in and Emily would have his tea ready. Penny had been afraid to ask his name. .. Just seemed like he was a customer Emily would rather not want to deal with. She had no problem chatting with everyone else. So Penny let it go for the two weeks that followed.

~.~

She started to notice how he had three different tweed jackets, all in three shades of brown. He wore a different colored dress shirt each day of the week. He'd come in at the exact time every day. He would never say anything, he'd leave $3 and that was that.

Until one morning...

The place was packed the second the doors opened. It was kind of crazy. A tourist bus had stopped out front, instead of everyone going to the Starbucks a couple of blocks away, they wondered into this place. They had called in for backup, in the form of Raj, he only worked the weekends.

While he pulled shots and Emily handled cash, Penny cleaned up the seating area. She was wiping down the small table when he walked in. Still on time. She saw his face looked displeased at the sight of the crowd.

Penny noticed his tea at the bar, Raj had set it out. Penny quickly darted over; she grabbed it up, and danced around a couple of older Canadians to make it to Crazy Tea Guy as he stood by the door.

"Here, sorry about the crazy, I guess this happens a couple times a month." Penny wasn't sure why she was apologizing for this.

Crazy Tea Guy took the offered cup, he handed her a $5 bill.

Penny was thrown off by the sudden change in currency. "I'll get your change." Penny said as she turned to fight her way back.

But after she'd entered the money in and pulled out his change, she looked up and saw that he had gone.

She was oddly disappointed.

~.~

The following week was the same, but he'd started to leave a bigger tip.

Much to Emily's shock.

"Why is he 'Crazy Tea Guy'?" Penny asked as they started to close down. The coffee shop closed at 3pm every day.

Emily looked over, "you're really interested in him..." Emily asked with a smirk.

Penny backtracked. "No... It's just... A lot of odd people come in here and he's the only one you never greet…" Penny said. Hoping she saved herself.

"He's just an arrogant ass... My roommate was going to school and he taught one of her classes, he's a hardass and thinks that just because he came super close to solving some world mystery and that he's allowed to act like a jerk..." Emily gave a shrug.

"Oh… he doesn't seem like an ass," Penny said after a moment.

A customer walked in and Penny was grateful because Emily kept giving her this look.

Penny thought about this a little bit. He seemed more shy then anything, but she also didn't know him.

~.~

It was a Wednesday morning when Emily called Penny to let her know that she wouldn't be coming in, some cold thing that got her bad.

So while Penny got set up, Crazy Tea Guy walked through the front door.

Penny saw him, she cursed under breath for not having his tea ready.

But she spun around when he got to the counter. "Good morning, English breakfast?" Penny asked in a sweet voice.

He looked at her shyly; he looked own, not looking directly at her, "Yes," He said. He seemed a little off kilter because the tea wasn't ready.

Penny spun around, grabbing a paper cup as she did; she put the bag in the cup and pressed the button for hot water.

"So, off to work?" Penny asked over her shoulder.

"Yes."

Penny nodded slightly, "you're an early riser... I never used to be, but this job sort of makes me that way." Penny said as she turned around to hand him the cup.

He had his cash out, waiting.

She took the $5 bill and he took his tea and turned and walked out.

Penny watched him. He wasn't a jerk, but he was clearly very shy.

~.~

Emily was still sick and Penny didn't actually mind tending to the coffee shop alone. Well for the first 5 hours, Raj came in yesterday in the afternoon to help out. Penny liked the quiet. She read a book after any rushes and had enjoyed it.

This morning, she again didn't have his tea ready. He walked through the door; he wore a bright blue button down and light brown tweed. He strode up with his careful steps and looked around, he didn't see the tea and he then he looked up to meet her eyes.

"Good morning," Penny said sweetly.

"Morning," he replied. He was already reaching for his wallet.

Penny turned around to get his tea. She smiled to herself, progress. Even if it was very little.

"So what's on the agenda today?" Penny asked as she turned around.

He looked at her a little wide eyed. He only gave a little shrug.

Penny shrugged back as she took his money and he took his cup of tea.

He turned to leave and Penny had to say something. "That blue color is nice on you it brings out the color of your eyes." She watched him hesitate as he walked, but he never looked back.

~.~

She wanted to say that she wasn't shocked... But when he showed up each day that week wearing a different hue of blue shirt, she smiled secretly at him. Any conversations cut short because Emily was there.

...

She wanted to know his name; she didn't want to ask Emily... Didn't need anymore "you think he's cute?" Inquiries. So she just waited it out.

She got her shot a week later when Emily didn't come in due to an already planned trip. It was only four days but it meant that Penny would be at work alone, until Raj showed up.

So she waited for him. Like clockwork he walked in, he'd been looking at her more when he came in, since neither spoke, he'd just look. He almost seemed startled to find her alone.

"Hey, sweetie." Penny said.

She saw his face do something, go from its usual stoic, emotionless blank face, his eyes lit up.

"Good morning." He replied as he walked to the counter.

"So let me guess, vanilla latte with three shots?" Penny asked in a light tone.

His eyes got wide and started to shake his head. "No, why on earth would I-"

"Just kidding, sweetie." Penny said as she reached over and gently touched his arm. She was smiling but worried because he had started to get worked up.

He glanced at her hand and she pulled away. "Sorry, habit," Penny said. She flushed pink; she didn't mean to touch him.

He looked up at her, "it was a joke?" He asked.

Penny furrowed her brow and then she remembered what he was talking about. "Yes, just a little coffee shop humor." Penny replied.

"Oh." And then he made a little huffy noise, his lip lifted a little. He was laughing. It was short and quick.

Penny was a little startled and then she smiled. "Let me get you your tea." She turned to get him his tea.

He left that day, giving her a nod when she told him to have an awesome day.

"Like baby dear," she said to herself.

~.~

He walked in the next day. He gave her a little smile, he was wearing a blue button down, and he didn't have his jacket on.

Penny smiled warmly at him, "hey, sweetie."

"Why do you call me sweetie?" He asked suddenly. He looked curiously at her.

Penny froze, she wondered if he thought that was crossing a line. "I don't know your name?" Yeah that would work.

He looked confused. "I'm Dr. Sheldon Cooper... I didn't realize that you didn't know my name." He said. He blinked as he seemed to think back to all of their previous encounters.

Penny's heart sped up; she knew his name now, "Penny, Penny Lane." She said as she reached her hand across to shake his.

Dr. Cooper glanced at it. He took her hand and shook it gently. "Like Lois Lane." He said suddenly.

Penny hadn't got that one yet, people always associated her name with the Beatles song.

"So, tea?" Penny asked.

"Yes... Yes my tea." They didn't realize that they were still holding hands until she started to reach for a cup.

Sheldon pulled his hand back, he got shy again.

Penny was suddenly struck shy and awkward. She nearly spilled his tea when his hand with the cash collided with her hand of tea. Disaster was averted and Sheldon made a hasty retreat.

~.~

Emily nearly tripped over her own feet when Crazy Tea Guy walked in and gave Penny a little wave and a polite, morning greeting.

She almost dropped the cup of tea when Crazy Tea Guy smiled at Penny and gave her his money.

And she nearly fell over when Penny reached across the counter to touch his arm gently.

Emily had to step closer so she could hear the conversation.

"And I understand if it isn't something you'd normally like." He trailed off.

Penny smiled. "Sheldon, I said I wanted to start watching Star Trek... I appreciate the dvds." Penny said.

He looked at the counter, shy again, "if you want to, we could watch them together sometime." Sheldon said, he looked up from the counter at her, peaking through his long eyelashes.

"I think that would be fun… we should set a time." Penny said as she kept smiling at him.

He nodded, and then some other costumers walked in and he took his tea and was off.

Emily looked at her like she was crazy. "What was that!?" She asked.

"Sheldon is letting me borrow his Star Trek blur-rays." Penny gave a little shrug.

Emily was confused.

~.~

Sheldon shocked Penny when he walked in around 2:30pm a few days later. He walked right up to her as she stood wiping down a counter.

"I've been informed that I'm supposed to ask you out." Sheldon said suddenly.

Penny looked up at him, her eyes wide, "w-what, honey?" She wasn't sure if she actually heard him right.

"I've been told by some of my friends that I should ask you out. You make me happy and apparently I haven't been able to stop talking about your laugh or how your hair reflects the light or how your green eyes have a gold speck in them..." Sheldon took a deep breath.

Penny was speechless, "um... Yes I'll go out with you." Penny whispered.

Sheldon's eyes lit up. "Excellent." And then he leaned down and pressed a brief kiss to her lips. "I've also been told that this is the next step... Or is this step after the date?" Sheldon furrowed his brow. "Oh, drat... Seems I've messed this up." He looked miffed at himself.

Penny gently grabbed his jacket and yanked him down for another kiss. She pulled away slightly. "No I like this order... Very much," she whispered.

Fin.

My god… this is so much fluff it's kinda silly. Just wanted to write a quick fic, tide ya'll over for some bigger stuff coming up in the coming weeks.

I also had a question: which of my one shots would you like to me make a art two of? I'd make a poll but I don't know how.

I am also very much aware of "Laws of Love/Physics" has not been updated in a bit and I am working on that!

Um… we got the 200th Episode coming up tomorrow. How about the Jim/Kaley stuff we've been getting?! Love their friendship so much!

Anyway, happy readings folks, and happy Shenny