I watch Ellen whenever I'm off of school on a weekday. (Snow day today!) Today I was sitting in my kitchen making a poster for school, the show on in the next room, and I heard her say something that inspired this fic. I know we aren't allowed to have real life people in fics, but this isn't Ellen APPEARING, per se. It is Penny watching something that really happened. Today. (Well, today as of the publish date.)

DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely nothing.

Penny hauled her clothes out of the washing machine and shoved them into the dryer. She should have just bought new clothes, but…she was still living paycheck to paycheck, and there was no way she was letting herself fall into debt again. No. Freaking. Way. It was embarrassing enough happening once-she was not having Sheldon bail her out again so she could survive while Leonard helped her cut corners.

She leaned against the dryer, tapping her foot as she waited for the clothes to be done. After touching Sheldon's food by accident, yesterday, she knew that he'd be waiting for her to leave her laundry unattended, and that was yet another mistake she was not making again.

Suddenly, she noticed another dryer was running, and the laundry basket that was on the table she had seen before. Sheldon. Licking her lips mischievously, Penny moved over to the dryer and paused. All the wonderfully horrible things to do to him…she eyed the buttons on the dryer.

"Hey."

Penny was looking down, momentarily distracted by a smudge on her slipper, when she heard the voice. Her head snapped up. "Hey, Leonard," she said, smiling.

"What are you doing?" His voice displayed only natural levels of curiosity as he picked up the laundry basket and walked over to where she was standing. He bumped his hip against hers in a silent request to move over, and she obliged. He opened the dryer and began pulling clothes out. So he was planning a prank on Sheldon too? She was about to open her mouth and voice her thoughts when Penny noticed the clothes-plain white T-shirt…brown shirt with a periodic table printed on the front…oh God, she was about to mess up Leonard's clothes! That would have provoked less of a response than Sheldon's attire would have, but of course Penny would feel much worse about it.

Silently thanking whatever force prompted Leonard to come into the room before she'd had a chance to wreak havoc on his wardrobe, Penny scooted around him and back over to the table. "So," she said as he came over with the basket. "You didn't read the sign that says not to leave your clothes unattended?"

"Eh," Leonard said, picking up a shirt. "Who's going to do anything to them?"

"Very, very true," Penny agreed, reaching over and grabbing another shirt.

Leonard must have detected her too-casual tone. He looked sideways at her. "What?"

She gave a dramatic shrug. "Nothin'." She looked down at the shirt intensely, as if folding it took every ounce of concentration that she had. She could see out of her peripheral vision that Leonard was looking at her. He knew. Of course he knew what she was planning to do. Biting her lip in an effort not to smile, she carefully folded the shirt, refusing to look at Leonard.

Suddenly, something hit her on the side of the head. Penny swatted at it and found herself holding his white tee. "What was that for?" she asked innocently. Leonard looked just as innocent for a moment before grinning and trying-and failing-to hold in his laugh.

Penny balled up the T-shirt and chucked it at him. He caught it against his chest and acted like he was going to throw it again. Penny put up her hands to block it, but he had faked her out. The instant her hands went down the shirt nailed her in the face. She shrieked. Instead of throwing it back, Penny lunged at him. Caught off guard, Leonard stumbled backward and slipped. Penny took advantage of the moment and grabbed the laundry basket, emptying it on top of Leonard as he fell on his butt on the floor.

"Hey!" he said. "I just washed all of those!"

Penny laughed as he flailed his arms to get all the clothes out of the way. She dropped to the ground herself and put both her hands firmly on his chest to prevent him from getting up, sliding herself over his body to sit on his stomach. He was trapped. Once Leonard shook his head clear of the clothing, he looked up at her and playfully frowned. His glasses were crooked. "You suck."

Penny stuck her tongue out at him. They both giggled. "At least fix my glasses," Leonard said. Penny agreeably reached up to adjust the frames, Leonard shoved himself into a sitting position and Penny found herself to be the one on her back. Leonard stood and brushed himself off, beginning to pick up the clothes. As he stepped forward, Penny grabbed his ankle, but he managed to keep his balance. "Ha!" he said triumphantly.

Penny pulled herself to her feet. "Whew," she said, bending to help him pick up the clothes. She and Leonard's eyes met, and they started laughing again. Even when they seriously got down to folding the laundry, his, and then hers, they couldn't go for more than a minute without swatting each other or laughing. She never felt this slaphappy when she was sober.

The next day, Penny lay on the couch watching The Ellen DeGeneres Show. While Leonard was showering she took full advantage of having her loveseat to herself, and she was sprawled across the length of it. She wasn't really watching, just resting before work, but when Ellen started to talk about The Bachelor, she sat up and began to pay attention. That show was set in such a romantic setting…that seemed to be what was being talked about, as well. Penny listened, realizing how much sense the host was making. All they did on that show was drink and party. Of course it was easy to fall in love-or think you were falling in love-when put in a situation like that. Penny hated how so many people were more rational than she was! Penny glanced down at her nails, distracted, but her head shot up at Ellen's next words. She was talking now about how you don't really know a person when all you do is drink and visit in a romantic location. "If you want to know if you're compatible with somebody," Ellen said, "fold laundry with them."