The Big Bang Theory || Preferences and Imagines

{Preference} First Meeting

Leonard: University Cafeteria 

You stood in the cafeteria, paying for your dinner, which was a small salad and a can of coke. Controversial, I know. "Sorry." Man next to you said. "Please may you pass me another napkin?" You looked to see a man smiling at you. "Sure." You replied, passing him the napkin. As you did, you heard another man shout, "Leonard, don't forget my extra napkin!" He rolled his eyes and turned around, waving it to the man that was sat on the far table, with two other men. You noticed that he had a pile of napkins next to him. "How come he needs so many napkins?" You asked, curiously. He laughed. "He has a four napkin system. One for his face, hands, lap and personal emergency." He sighed. "We had to petition to have him get a  guest one." You stared at him in disbelief. "He's weird, I know." You laughed. "Oh. I'm Leonard." You shook his hand. "Leonard Hofstadter?" He nodded. "Wow. I'm (Y/n). I'm a huge fan of your work. I thought your recent paper was just brilliant." He smiled. "Well, thank you. I'm glad someone liked it." He admitted. "My roommate." He signalled the man that had previously asked for another napkin. "said that I should give up experimental physics to go into something else, like teaching history after he read it." He sighed. "Well, I thought it was great." You said. "Listen, if you have time, I'd love to pick your brain over coffee." He smiled. "I'd like that." You grabbed another napkin and wrote on it. "Here's my number. Let me know when you're free."  You smiled, picking up your tray and heading to your table.

Howard: Bar

You sat at the bar, taking a sip of your drink. You had expected this, another night alone and no other place to go.  You looked up at the TV, the news was one. You saw a small group of men arriving at the airport, according to the TV, they had just arrived from the international space station. "Lucky bastards." You muttered to yourself; you'd rather be there than here right now. You took another sip of your drink as a man sat down beside you. You look up to see a man in a NASA Jacket. You looked back at the TV, but saw that the subject on the news had changed. The man next to your ordered his drink. You looked at him and smiled. "This may sound weird." You started "But, I recognise you." He shook his head slightly. "Really. I doubt it." You looked at him. "No. I do. You were in the international space station." He was clearly confused as to how you knew that. "You were on TV. That and you're wearing a NASA jacket." He laughed. "You got me." You took a sip. "What was it like?" He smiled, looking thoughtful. "It was great, the opportunity of a lifetime but towards the end, I began to miss gravity, y'know." You nodded. "I made my friends drop things when I Skyped them." You listened to more stories about his trips in space. He was fascinating, not to mention cute. "How did you get such an amazing opportunity?" You asked. "I'm a engineer at CalTech. I designed components for the space station and they needed someone up there to operate them and fix them if they needed." He stopped. "I'm Howard, by the way." You realised that you hadn't told him your name. "I'm (Y/n). Let me buy you a drink." He shook his head. "You don't have to do that." He said as you called the bartender over and ordered two more drinks. "It's the least I can do. You've been to space and back. You deserve it." He smiled. "Thank you." He said, receiving his drink. He held up the bottle. "To NASA, Good company and gravity." Your glasses clinked against one another. "Cheers." He stopped. "Would you want to meet up for another drink sometime?"  You nodded. "I'd like that." You replied as the two of you talked into the night. 

Raj: Coffee Shop

You were sat at your table, a coffee beside you and your laptop in front of you. You were currently working on another paper and you found that going somewhere like a coffee shop helped you to concentrate and this way, you didn't have the distractions of home or your roommate. You looked up from your laptop to see a man stood at the counter, ordering his coffee. He turned around and smiled at you. You smiled back and looked down, back at your laptop screen. You recognised him but couldn't think from where. Had you seen him in here before? Then you remembered where you'd seen him; he walked past you. "Excuse me?" You said, he turned to you. "Do you work at CalTech?" He nodded. "That's where I know you from!" You replied. "Sorry. I couldn't think why you looked so familiar." He sipped his coffee before replying, a smile across his face. "No, it's okay. I was actually thinking the same." He looked at the empty seat in front of you. "May I?" He asked. "Please." You replied, closing your laptop. "I'm (Y/n)." He shook your hand. "I'm Rajesh but everyone calls me Raj." He smiled. "You're friends with Sheldon Cooper right?" You asked, you hands around your coffee cup. "Yeah." He admitted. "I've now beginning to believe I did something wrong in a past life." You laughed. "You must be incredibly patient to put up with him." He smirked. "I don't know how I haven't killed him yet. None of us do." He noticed your laptop. "I didn't interrupt anything did I?" You shook your head. "No. Not at all. I was just finishing off a paper." You looked at him. "Your field is astrophysics right?" He nodded. "Would it be totally crazy if I asked you to read over some of my work?"   You asked.  "Not at all." He smiled as you opened you laptop and showed him your work. He helped you to add and change anything that needed to be changed. "You know." He began. "If you wanted, you could come to the telescope lab with me next week. That might help with your paper." You smiled at him in disbelief. "Really?" He nodded. "Wow. Thank you so much." You ripped a piece of paper out of your notebook and wrote on it. "This is my number. Text me when's best for me to come by."