Chapter Text
⛪ | Chapter 1
the first time you met sheldon cooper, he corrected the pastor.
you had only been in medford for a few months, and church still felt unfamiliar. everything smelled faintly of old wood and perfume. people smiled at you, but most conversations never lasted more than a minute. you were sitting beside your parents when a voice cut through the sanctuary.
"technically speaking, that is not what infinity means."
half the congregation groaned before even turning around. you did turn around. a tall teenage boy sat a few rows back, looking entirely unbothered by the attention. he held a notebook in one hand and a pencil in the other. his expression suggested that being correct was far more important than being popular. the pastor sighed.
"thank you, sheldon."
"you're welcome."
a few people rolled their eyes. you laughed. his head snapped toward you.
for a second, he looked surprised. after church ended, you found yourself standing near the refreshment table, stirring lemonade with a plastic straw. you noticed sheldon lingering nearby, reading a science magazine while everyone else talked. he glanced up.
"you laughed."
"yeah."
"most people don't."
"maybe because most people don't interrupt church services."
"incorrect. many people interrupt church services. they simply do it less accurately."
you blinked. he was serious.
"that's the funniest thing i've ever heard."
"i wasn't attempting humor."
"i know."
for some reason, that made both of you smile. it became a routine after that. every sunday, you'd find sheldon somewhere in the church building. sometimes he was reading. sometimes he was arguing with adults.
once, he spent twenty minutes explaining why a thermostat should be considered one of humanity's greatest inventions. you listened every time. most people seemed exhausted by him. you weren't. he talked about physics, astronomy, trains, mathematics, and Germany with the same level of enthusiasm. you talked about whatever happened to be on your mind. somehow, it worked. weeks turned into months.
for the first time since moving to texas, you felt like you had a real friend. which was why it hurt so much when everything else started falling apart. it happened slowly at first. your parents argued more. doors slammed. voices carried through the walls late at night. whenever you asked what was wrong, they said everything was fine. everything was not fine. one afternoon, you came home from school and found half the house empty. the living room looked wrong.
too much space. too much silence. your parents were gone. at first you thought they were moving furniture. then you noticed the note. you read it once. then twice. then a third time. by the end, your hands were shaking. they weren't coming back.
hours later, after neighbors called the authorities and adults filled the house with concerned voices, you found yourself sitting on a couch in a place that wasn't home anymore. your eyes burned. you hadn't stopped staring at the floor for nearly ten minutes. then someone sat beside you.
"statistically speaking, this is a terrible situation."
you looked up. sheldon. of course it was sheldon. he shifted awkwardly. comforting people clearly was not one of his strengths.
"however," he continued, "statistics are useful because they describe probabilities, not certainties."
you sniffled.
"what does that mean?"
he adjusted his bowtie
"It means I don't know what's going to happen next."
for a moment, neither of you spoke. then he added quietly,
"but you'll still have a friend."
something in your chest cracked. not in a bad way. in the way ice cracks when spring finally arrives.
you smiled through your tears, and for the first time all day, you didn't feel completely alone. you had no idea that within a week, you'd be living in the Cooper house. or that surviving under the same roof as Sheldon Cooper would be one of the strangest experiences of your life.