Chapter 47: The Gang Reaction
Wednesday afternoon. Comic pickup day.
The gang arrives together—Leonard and Sheldon from Caltech, Howard and Bernadette from the facility, Raj from wherever Raj goes during the day.
Normal routine. Normal Wednesday.
Then Penny walks in holding my hand.
The shop goes silent.
Five people freeze mid-motion. Leonard's reaching for his pull list. Sheldon's examining a trade paperback. Howard's mid-sentence telling Bernadette something.
All stop.
"Hi guys!" Penny says cheerfully, squeezing my hand.
"Statistical prediction confirmed," Sheldon announces to no one in particular.
Raj makes a sound like a wounded animal, then rushes forward to hug us both. "THE COSMIC FORCES HAVE ALIGNED! I KNEW IT! The energy between you two was so obvious!"
"Raj, you're crushing my ribs."
"Sorry! Excited! So excited!"
Howard's grinning. "About damn time. Three days, right? You lasted three days after asking her out."
"We're efficient."
"You're whipped already."
Bernadette elbows him. Hard. "That's sweet. I think it's sweet." To Penny: "He's way better than Dan."
"Literally anyone is better than Dan."
Leonard hasn't moved. Still standing by the pull list, frozen.
I catch his eye. He tries to smile. Fails.
"Leonard—" I start.
"It's fine. It's—I'm happy for you guys. Really." He grabs his comics, heads to the register without looking at us.
Penny notices. "Should I—"
"Give him a minute."
Sheldon approaches with his tablet. "I need to inform you both that I'm conducting a longitudinal study on relationship dynamics. You two are ideal subjects. I'll require access to—"
"No," Penny interrupts. "Whatever you're about to say, no."
"But the data—"
"Sheldon, we're not your experiment."
"All relationships are experiments. I'm merely documenting—"
"No."
He deflates. "Can I at least take baseline measurements?"
"What kind of measurements?"
"Interaction frequency, physical contact duration, conflict resolution patterns—"
Penny looks at me. I shrug.
"You know what? Sure. Document away. But we're giving you false information just to mess with your data."
Sheldon's eyes widen in horror. "You can't—that would invalidate—but the scientific integrity—"
"Should've thought of that before announcing we're guinea pigs."
I pull Leonard aside while Penny and Bernadette examine the new releases.
"You okay?"
"No. But I will be." He's not looking at me. Just staring at comic covers. "How long?"
"First date Friday. Made it official yesterday."
"Fast."
"Yeah."
"You really like her."
"Yeah."
"And she likes you."
"Seems like it."
He finally looks up. "Then I'm happy for you. Trying to be happy for you. It's—Stuart, I'm trying really hard here."
"I know. And if this is too weird—"
"It's weird. Super weird. But I'll deal." He manages a real smile this time. Small, but genuine. "Just—don't bring her to game night for a while? Give me time to adjust?"
"Deal."
"And if you hurt her, I'll—I don't know what I'll do. Something physics-related and painful."
"Noted."
"Okay." He exhales. "Okay. We're good."
We're not good. But we're trying. That counts for something.
Sheldon follows Penny and me around the shop with his tablet.
"Physical proximity maintained at 8.4 inches. Hand-holding continuous. Eye contact frequency elevated—"
"Sheldon, this is creepy."
"It's science!"
"It's creepy science."
Penny leans close, whispers: "Want to really mess with him?"
"Always."
She pulls me around a corner, kisses me dramatically. Then we break apart and return to browsing like nothing happened.
Sheldon's furiously typing. "Spontaneous affection display. Duration: four seconds. Intensity: moderate to high. Initiation: female. Response: enthusiastic—"
"Sheldon!"
"I'm merely recording observational data!"
Howard's laughing so hard he's crying. Bernadette's trying not to encourage him. Raj is filming this on his phone.
Leonard's pointedly examining the far corner of the shop.
"Alright, that's enough harassment for one day." I grab Penny's hand. "We're going to lunch. Sheldon, stop stalking us."
"It's not stalking, it's longitudinal observation—"
"Goodbye, Sheldon."
Outside, Penny's still laughing.
"Your friends are insane."
"I'm aware."
"But like, good insane. Entertaining insane."
"They're growing on you."
"Maybe a little." She loops her arm through mine as we walk toward her car. "Is Leonard going to be okay?"
"Eventually. He needs time."
"I feel bad. I knew he liked me, but—"
"But you don't control who you're attracted to. Neither does he. It sucks, but it's nobody's fault."
"Very mature of you."
"I have moments."
We reach her car. She turns to face me.
"Thank you. For handling this right. Not making it weird with Leonard. Being honest with everyone."
"Thank you for taking a chance on the comic book guy."
"The successful businessman comic book guy with a penthouse and mysterious investment strategies."
"Still a comic book guy at heart."
"Good. That's the part I like." She kisses me quick. "Text me tonight?"
"Already planning to."
She drives away. I stand in the parking lot thinking about Leonard's forced smile and Sheldon's creepy observations and Penny's easy laughter.
Dating Penny is going to complicate everything.
Leonard's hurt will take time to heal. The group dynamics will shift. Sheldon will continue his "research." Everyone will have opinions.
But watching Penny drive away, thinking about Friday's disaster date and yesterday's balcony kiss and this morning's comic shop chaos—
Worth it.
All of it.
Completely worth it.
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