The Codpiece Topology

Claire smiled widely as she followed the odd gang of boys up the stairs of their apartment building, having just come from the local Renaissance Faire. They were quite an assortment of representatives, she had to admit, Sheldon was a medieval monk while Howard had taken to being a court jester, Raj went more for the medieval gentleman and Leonard was a knight. She had given in to a bit of nostalgia from her childhood days and dressed the part of a princess. She wasn't usually one for dressing up or even in a dress like a princess would be, but still...every once in a while it was nice to be a little girly and remember when she was a kid, every little girl wanted to be a princess at one point or another.

And her costume was historically accurate which helped.

Though it hadn't been easy to decide despite considering her youth and fancy of the time. There was just SO many things she could have gone as. Peasant, barmaid, nun, queen, wench, pirate, noblewoman, knight, ooh she had thought she might like to be a knight. But Leonard had his heart set on it, she'd spied him swinging his plastic sword around and hadn't the heart to go as the same. Sheldon had insisted they all be different, and that was fine, she had plenty of options. And therein lied the rub, she had TOO many options. It had taken her and Sheldon three hours of going through a pro and con list to narrow down what she wanted to dress up as. Because as soon as she knew, she'd have to find a decent costume, or find a terrible one and try to salvage it, as she was NOT going to go to the Faire without a historically accurate costume. In three hours they had only narrowed it down to peasant, nun, or pirate, when Penny walked in on them and suggested princess. It had reminded her of being a little girl, the 'damsel in distress' that Sheldon would have to rescue from their brothers.

Never let it be said that Sheldon Lee Cooper was not a master strategist, what he lacked in physical strength to take down their brothers, he made up for in knowing his opponents and rigging things up to take them out for him.

Sheldon hadn't seemed too pleased that she had gone with Penny's suggestion so quickly, especially not after they ruled out being a queen, but he had assessed her costume before they left and deemed it acceptable in accuracy...which was something that couldn't be said for the others, something Sheldon grumbled about the entire way there. Her gown was corsetted on the top, the neckline modest and square, her sleeves tight to her forearm where the sleeves flowed out, her skirt was a bit poofy from her hips out, the gown a dark green and made of a velvet-like material, the hems and neckline embroidered with golden thread in a small maze-like pattern. She had a few pieces of 'jewelry' mostly a cross, her hair pulled back into a snood that was connected to a small crown.

"Worst Renaissance Fair ever," Sheldon lamented as they turned a corner onto a landing.

"Please let it go, Sheldon," Leonard sighed, tired of hearing the man complaining about every little detail of the Fair.

"It was rife with historical inaccuracies. For example, the tavern girl serving flagons of mead, now her costume was obviously..."

"Germanic," Claire cut in, seeming to be the only one that hadn't gotten frustrated with Sheldon...though that was likely because she had nitpicked every thing right along with him, though she'd done it in more of an amused/teasing way than Sheldon's 'psychotic ranting,' as Penny would call it, "The German Beer Purity Law, the Reinheitsgebot, would have hindered them serving mead. The only things that were allowed in their beers was water, hops, and malt."

Sheldon nodded, pleased he wasn't the only one aware of the grave mistake, "At best they would have had some sort of spiced wine."

"You're both nitpicking," Leonard groaned, he honestly hadn't expected it from Claire...until he remembered exactly what her PhD was in halfway through the Faire when she'd stopped an improvisational Shakespeare recitation to correct them on the proper verse and what play it was actually from and then went into a five minute lecture about it. Educational, yes, but not something you wanted to sit through during a fun trip...though Sheldon had seemed very keen to hear what she had to say despite it being about literature.

"Oh ho! Really? Well here's another nit for you. The flagons would not have been made of..."

"Polypropylene," Claire cut in with a grin, "I was the one that pointed it out to you, Shelly."

"Renaissance Faires aren't about historical accuracy," Howard huffed, "They're about taking chubby girls who work at Kinko's and lacing them up in corsets so tight their bosom jumps out and says howdy."

Claire rolled her eyes at that and whacked him with the small paper fan in her hand, making him shoot her a glare and rub his arm.

Sheldon scoffed, seeming to agree with her reaction but for a different reason, "Bosoms would not have said howdy in the 15th century. If anything they would have said..."

"'Huzzah!'" Claire shouted, throwing a fist into the air, laughing when the others gave her an odd look at her enthusiasm, "Guys this was practically half my degree, I know this stuff. I'M allowed to nitpick."

"I don't care what the bosoms say," Howard muttered to himself, "I just want to be part of the conversation."

"Hi guys," Penny called as she stepped down the stairs to the landing they'd reached, a man following behind her as she took in their attire, "Looks like you've been to the Renaissance Faire...I'm hoping..."

"Yep," Claire nodded, though she was giving a small frown to the man standing behind Penny, not knowing who he was or why he was there.

"Renaissance Faire?" Sheldon scoffed, "More of a medieval/age of enlightenment/any excuse to wear a codpiece Faire."

"Ok, fine, whatever, um..." Penny trailed off seeing the boys glancing at the man, and sighed, "You guys, this is my friend Eric..."

"Hello," Howard nodded.

"Hi," Leonard waved weakly.

"Hey," Eric greeted with a smile.

"So, yeah, good to see you," Leonard looked at Penny.

"Yeah," she nodded, feeling a little awkward to be caught leaving with a guy after she'd had that date with Leonard a short while ago, "Yeah, it's good to see you too. We should really go."

"Yeah," Eric agreed.

"Bye guys," Penny pulled Eric along, wanting to get out of there quickly.

"Like your hat," Eric called to Howard as he left.

"Thanks, my mom made it," Howard told him as the man disappeared.

"Smooth Howie," Claire laughed.

Howard ignored her and turned to Leonard, "Penny with a new guy, tres awkward."

"It wasn't awkward," Leonard muttered as they headed up the stairs again, though his voice told them just how awkward it really was, "It wasn't fun," he admitted, "Besides, what's the big deal? We dated, we stopped dating, and now we're both moving on."

Claire sighed at that, it was awkward because there hadn't been an official end to the dating, from what she knew. Penny had shut the door on Leonard after he tried to get her registered for community college and...things just didn't progress. She'd told Leonard she'd tell him when she was free next, which implied she WOULD date him again, or go on another one...yet nothing came from it. She was really going to have to talk to Penny about that. Leonard wasn't like other guys, she couldn't just date him and drop him and not expect him to wait for her or think there was a chance at a second date.

"By moving on, do you mean, she's going out with other men and you spent the afternoon making 15th century soap with Wolowitz?" Raj asked from the very back of their line heading up the stairs, Claire at the forefront just behind Leonard. They'd learned that, as long as he couldn't SEE Claire's face, he could actually talk. Howard had suggested blindfolding him whenever Claire or Penny were in the same room so that he could talk instead of jot down his words on the whiteboard, but so far it hadn't been tested.

"That was NOT 15th century soap!" Sheldon cried, "My God, those people need to learn you can't just put 'ye olde' in front of anything and expect to get away with it!"

"Can we please just go in, my chainmail is stuck in my underwear," Leonard shifted as they reached the 4th floor.

"Good idea Leonard," Claire headed for her apartment, reaching into her neckline and pulling out her keys from where she'd stashed them in her corset top, not having had a purse or pockets, "I'm getting changed out of this corset, hate these things," she muttered.

"You're wearing modern underwear?" Sheldon asked Leonard, the men more staring at Claire, having seen her pull the keys out and where from while Sheldon's back had been turned to unlock their own apartment.

"Relatively modern," Leonard shook his head, the others snapping out of it when Claire shut the door to her apartment, leaving them to head into their own, "Why, what are you wearing?"

"Claire helped me fashion historically accurate undergarments out of linen," Sheldon stated.

Leonard blinked at that, "You went out and bought linen?"

"Don't be silly," Sheldon rolled his eyes, heading into the room, "I borrowed one of your pillow cases."

"Borrowed?" he grimaced, following Sheldon in.

~8~

Sheldon rolled his eyes as Leslie Winkle, one of his arch rivals, approached their lunch table in the University cafeteria, he didn't understand why Leonard would think to agree to possibly date that woman in the past, present, or future. He truly couldn't understand the appeal in someone like Leslie, her research methodology was sloppy, she was unjustifiably arrogant about loop quantum gravity, and to make matters worse...she was often mean to him. And Claire didn't like it when people were mean to him, so she didn't like Leslie. And really, Claire was the only woman who's opinion mattered to him, sometimes, on certain topics, her opinion mattered more than his own mother's.

"Hey, Leonard," Leslie called as she stood at the end of their table.

"Hey, Leslie," Leonard smiled.

"Hey, dummy," Leslie smirked at Sheldon.

"Hello to you, insufficiently intelligent person," he shot back.

"Ooh, rush me to the burn unit," she mocked, before focusing on Leonard, "Hey, Leonard, do you have a second, I need to ask you something."

"Uh, sure," Leonard nodded.

"You can't sit there," Sheldon called as Leslie moved to sit at the end of the table, "Claire sits there."

Leslie just rolled her eyes and sat down anyway.

"Well," Sheldon huffed, getting up, "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go do work that promises significant results, as opposed to what you do, which does not. Yeah, you heard me," he remarked to Leslie before turning to head out the doors, turning Claire as she moved to enter through them around to follow him, leaving Leonard to Leslie.

And really, he would not subject Claire to a person like Leslie if he could help it, if she made fun of HIM he could only imagine what Leslie would say to Claire and he had made a vow as a child to never allow that to happen.

~8~

"Great news!" Sheldon called as he opened the door to the apartment later that day, holding it for Claire to enter, the girl carrying a box, "My mom sent me my old Nintendo 64!"

Leonard sighed as he stood up from where he'd been setting the table with wine and candles, he had a date with Leslie tonight, "Terrific."

"You know what this means, don't you? Break out the Red Bull, it's time to rock Mario old school."

"I have to say I'm actually excited," Claire remarked, setting the box down, she wasn't as into video games and comics as Sheldon was but she knew them and she played them with him when he hadn't been able to find others to do it with him. She wasn't a massive fan of some games, but she had to admit, she DID love Nintendo. It was hard not to.

"I kind of have other plans tonight," Leonard gestured at the table.

"Oh I'm sorry Leonard," Claire realized what was going on just from his well dressed presence and the set up of the table.

Sheldon though just said, "But it's Friday. Friday's always vintage game night. Look, mom included the memory card," he held it up for Leonard to see, "We can pick up where Claire and I left off in 1999, when I had pernicious anemia."

"Well, the thing is...someone's coming over..." Leonard tried to explain.

"Well then, no problem, I have four controllers, the more the merrier."

"Shelly Bean I think he means he's got a date," Claire explained.

"Yes," Leonard nodded, "I have a date coming over."

"Oh, well you can't blame me for not jumping to that conclusion," Sheldon remarked.

"Why, what's so unusual about me having a date?"

"Well, statistically speaking…"

"Rhetorical Shelly," Claire cut in, knowing that there were probably a good deal of reasons why Sheldon wouldn't automatically think Leonard had a date coming over, given how long it had taken the man to ask Penny out, he didn't seem to go on or have dates often enough for it to be a consideration to Sheldon.

"Nevertheless, I have one now and I would appreciate it if you would, you know, make yourself scarce," Leonard tried to say.

"Leonard, I am a published theoretical physicist with two doctorates and an IQ which can't be accurately measured by normal tests, how much scarcer could I be?" Sheldon shook his head.

"Not literally, Shelly," Claire gave him an amused look but started to pick up the box again, "He wants privacy."

Sheldon frowned at Leonard, "You want me to leave the apartment?"

"Yes," he nodded.

"You mean just go someplace else and be…someplace else?"

"Yes."

"Well, why should I leave, this is my apartment too?"

"I know it is," Leonard huffed, glancing at his watch, knowing Leslie would be there any minute now, "And, if you and Claire would ever like some privacy, I would be more than happy to get out of your way..."

Sheldon frowned, "Why would Claire and I need privacy?"

"He means, um, if...if we ever went on a date," Claire explained, a very faint blush on her cheeks as she suddenly found shifting the items in the box to be the most fascinating thing to do at the moment..

"Oh," Sheldon nodded, actually giving pause to think about that.

A date with Claire...what would that even entail?

He had been alone with her many times before, they had engaged in, what he was sure was, typical date events. They watched movies, both at home and in theaters, they had dinner sometimes, they walked places together, they went to the comic book store and regular book store, they exchanged gifts on the day they met...sometimes she even held his hand when he got scared during a movie. They did all those things, but he was fairly certain that it didn't qualify as a date...

Did it?

~8~

Penny stopped short as she entered her apartment to see Claire and Sheldon sitting on her couch, playing a Nintendo she was pretty sure she didn't own that was hooked up to her TV, "Hey guys...what's going on?" she asked in greeting.

"Playing Super Mario," Sheldon called.

"Ok...why here though?" Penny looked at Claire but Sheldon answered again.

"I'm a modern day Napoleon exiled to the Elba of this apartment because Leonard, get this, has a date."

"Huh?"

Claire paused the game and turned to her, offering her a smile, "Napoleon was kicked out to Elba for a little while. And Leonard kicked Shelly out of the apartment for his date."

"Oh," Penny nodded, moving to sit on the armrest of the couch, "Oh, well, good for him," she muttered, though she didn't sound pleased to hear Leonard had a date at all, "Well...if Leonard's on a date, why didn't you two go to a movie or something?"

"Together?" Sheldon blinked.

"Yeah."

"Like on a…a…date?" he repeated the notion Claire had brought up before, wondering why everyone kept mentioning that to him.

He wasn't...he didn't...Claire was his friend. Dating implied girlfriend and while Claire was a girl and his friend, he was certain she wasn't his girlfriend. And really, would that be a good thing if they did date? Look at Leonard and Penny! They were friends, they dated, and now things were very awkward for all of them because now they were not-dating. He didn't want that to happen with Claire, she was his very best friend. If things ever grew that awkward with her, he didn't know what he'd do.

Though he probably didn't have to worry about that, Claire didn't want to date him, he was sure of it.

"Why not?" Penny shrugged with a smile.

"What if I choke on my popcorn?" he shook himself from his thoughts.

"Then I'd administer the Heimlich maneuver," Claire cut in.

"Or just don't order popcorn," Penny pointed out, starting to get excited, because neither of them had turned down the idea flat out yet.

"No popcorn at the mo…listen to yourself," Sheldon scoffed, restarting the game.

"You could always go to a coffee shop," Penny tried to steer the conversation back to that.

"Shelly doesn't drink coffee," Claire said.

"What about cookies? Pastries, bear claws..."

"No," Claire grimaced, "Neither of us like bear claws."

Penny sighed, "You know, for someone so normal you sure miss a lot of clues..."

They paused, Claire's retort falling quiet as they heard the door to the apartment open through the walls, Leonard greeting Leslie more than a little loudly, almost as if he wanted Penny to hear.

"Leslie Winkle," Sheldon sighed, "Of all the overrated physicists in all the labs in all the world, why does it have to be Leslie Winkle?"

"Well, they have a lot in common," Penny shifted uncomfortably, "I mean they're both scientists..."

"Oh please," Sheldon scoffed, "The only way she could make a contribution to science would be if they resume sending chimps into space."

"Pen," Claire turned to her, putting a hand on her arm, "You DO realize he's only dating Leslie because you haven't really kept up with the dating HIM thing, right?"

Penny clammed up for a moment, "Well look at the time, I have a date to get ready for, see ya!"

And with that, Penny ran back into her room, leaving Claire to shake her head at her roommate, she really did have to talk to Penny about this.

Sheldon sighed, "Everybody has a date. Even you, Mario, going after Princess Peach. And what am I doing?"

"Enabling him," Claire cut in, shaking off all her thoughts about dating that Penny and Leonard had brought up, not wanting this to be as awkward as the last few times she'd been alone with Sheldon, "Now come on Shelly, back to the game!"

Sheldon, however, paused the game and looked at her, "We're engaging in an activity," he stated.

"Yes..." she trailed, not sure what he was getting at.

"Together, just the two of us, alone," he frowned, "We've ordered food, we're talking, and we're interacting..." he hesitated a moment, "Is this a date?"

Claire blinked twice at him for that, "No," she answered instantly, a little too quickly though Sheldon didn't seem to notice, "No, this is...this is two friends, hanging out, playing video games. If it was a date, Shelly, you'd know."

"I would?"

"I'd tell you," she promised.

"Alright," he nodded, restarting the game.

Claire tried her best to focus on the game after that, though she was mentally slapping herself for answering so quickly. She'd panicked! She'd only JUST realized she might like Sheldon in a non-friends way and she knew him, he would need much more time to process it than she would...and boy was she still processing it. If she said that yes, what they were doing right now was a date...well, she honestly didn't know what he'd do. Sheldon had never been on a date before, but he'd always implied he didn't see the point in them nor did he want to go on one. If she said it was a date and...and he reacted badly?

She didn't want to think about it.

Maybe if she HAD said yes, that it was a date, he would have been ok with it? Maybe they could have talked about it, about themselves and their relationship. But...Sheldon hadn't really done anything differently with her, hadn't reacted or treated her differently, not in a way that made her feel like he might like her as more than a friend too. And did she want to risk it? Risk dating him and have it become as awkward as Penny and Leonard were being?

They had been friends for SO long she just...she couldn't risk that friendship till she really knew what she felt, whether she genuinely did love...LIKE Sheldon, or if it was just Penny getting inside her head and making her think things she didn't really feel.

Sheldon was too important to her to not be sure.

~8~

A few hours later would find Penny rushing into her apartment, only to see Claire standing before the door, her arms crossed, shaking her head and smirking, "Don't think I didn't see that little kiss-war you and Leonard had going on just then sugar," she laughed, recalling how she'd been looking out the peephole because she'd heard Penny return but then heard nothing at all after Leonard's voice sounded too...only to see both Penny and Leonard kissing their dates but trying to outdo the other in the passion of the kiss, clearly trying to make the other jealous, "You two are so gone about each other!"

"Please don't," Penny nearly whined, "It was just..." she huffed, falling onto the couch, "I don't know what it was. I don't even like Eric that much."

"I'll tell you what it was, sugar," Claire moved to sit on the small coffee table to face her, "A little think people call jealousy."

"I'm NOT jealous of Leonard and Leslie."

"Maybe not, but you certainly wanted to MAKE him jealous."

"Oh please," Penny shook her head, "That's just...ridiculous."

Claire looked at Penny seriously a moment, "Pen..." she began, not sure if this was proper for roommates to talk about but hoping that she and Penny were friends enough to discuss it, "What happened with you and Leonard? You came back from that date with him practically floating. And now you're avoiding him at all turns."

Penny fidgeted at that, "Nothing, nothing happened," she answered, "We had a good date but it...look, let's just say that it proved to me that...I'm not smart enough for him," she thought back to a small physics trick he had done for her, how it had ended up a little lecture that she hadn't followed. And then, so soon after, hearing from Sheldon that Leonard hadn't really dated normal women? And that part where he'd tried to get her back into college? It just...she wanted a guy that would like her for exactly who she was, not someone that wanted her to get a degree when she didn't want one, when she was content with where she was in her life.

"You're kidding me," Claire gave her a look, "Pen, didn't the physics bowl prove that those guys," she pointed at the door, "Aren't exactly all that smart either?"

"Yeah, but those questions were all pop culture," Penny sighed, "It's not anything that's important, like...like science. It's not going to change the world if I know who the Kardashians are instead of that Fig Newton guy."

"Isaac Newton," Claire corrected absently, wincing when Penny gave her a look, "Penny...you realize that half the things in their lives, the shows and movies they're obsessed with, more than half those people that they watch, the characters that they play...are actors," she reached out to take Penny's hand, "They barely have a clue the scientific mumbo jumbo they're spouting on that screen, but the boys love it. You know what helped Sheldon get through years of bullying?" Penny was silent but shook her head, "Spock. He related to Spock. Now I know you don't think Leonard Nemoy is an actual alien from the planet Vulcan, he's an actor...but he influenced Shelly's life, Penny. And ACTOR affected his life, just like all the other ones in science fiction helped build the men those four became. Thousands, millions, of children are going to go to the movies and watch some actor playing a scientist and think that is just the bees knees and they're going to get interest in science because of them. That actor don't know a thing about the difference between a proton and an electron, but those kids will. Actors are affecting the lives of everyone that sees their movies, especially kids. So don't you DARE tell that your aspirations to be an actress, that you becoming one, wouldn't change the world. Trust me, Pen. It WILL."

Penny smiled at that, "Thanks."

Claire nodded, "Leonard wasn't always this smart, neither was Shelly, believe it or not..."

"Not," Penny muttered.

"They're just better at learning, Pen," she squeezed her hand, "No one is born knowing that E=MC squared, they have to learn about it, read it, work it out themselves. I hated math, I was much better at English. We're all different, we all are smart and better than others at different things. Just cos you're not smart in science, doesn't mean you're not smart in so many other things. Do not let a man's intelligence set the bar for your own. You know things Leonard doesn't know, A LOT of things."

"I know," Penny sighed, "I just...I've never dated a guy so smart before and it's just...even hearing him talk about comic books makes me feel like he's smarter than me. Even then he uses words I've never heard before."

"Try growing up with Shelly," Claire deadpanned, "I spent so much time in the library looking up words in the dictionary and thesauruses..." she shook her head, "It just stuck better with me," she looked at Penny, "We had a deal, Pen, remember?" she squeezed her hand again, "You help me not burn down the apartment when I try to cook and I'd help you understand the boys. That doesn't just mean translating what they say into simpler terms. I'm gonna help you really understand what they're saying, and one day it'll stick and you won't need my help anymore, cos you'll be just that smart that you can talk to them in all that science speak too."

"I don't think that'll ever happen," Penny laughed at that, though she was smiling again.

"Good," Claire let out a little breath, "Cos I don't think I'll ever be able to not burn food, so we're gonna have A LOT to bond over the next few years."

Penny laughed at that, "Thanks."

Claire nodded, "I get that you don't feel so great about yourself when you think about dating Leonard. So I'm gonna help you get to a point where that doesn't happen. And maybe, later, you can give him another chance, cos he really is a great guy."

"I know he is," Penny agreed, "I want to get to that point too. And...as a jumping off point...E equals MC squared?"

Claire chuckled, moving to sit next to Penny as she explained what that meant.

~8~

Claire laughed as Sheldon continued to grumble about the Faire as they sat in the cafeteria eating lunch the next afternoon, "I'm sorry, I am not going back to the Renaissance Fair."

"Come on, Sheldon, there's so few places I can wear my jester costume," Howard whined.

"I don't care. There are far too many historical anomalies for my comfort."

Claire perked up at the word 'anomalies' and smiled at how the boys' expressions fell, not seeming to realize the opening Sheldon had just given them. So she held up her hand to them in a 'leave it to me' motion, turning to Sheldon, "Shelly, why don't you go as a member of Star Fleet sent down to a planet similar to Earth in the 1500s as part of a task force to gather intel?"

Sheldon stiffened, considering that, "Fascinating."

"Hey fellow scientists," Leslie called as she passed with her tray, "Bookworm," she nodded at Claire, before smirking at the glare Sheldon gave her for it, "Sheldon."

"Hey, why don't we all move over there so Leslie can join us," Leonard asked, seeing Leslie move to a larger table to sit by herself.

"Hmm, let's do it," Howard agreed, standing, with only Sheldon and Claire still sitting.

"If you're having trouble deciding where to sit may I suggest one-potato two-potato, or, as I call it, the Leslie Winkle experimental methodology," Sheldon remarked.

Leonard sighed, "Don't make this hard for me."

"It's not hard," he stated, "It's simple. You can either sit with Claire and myself, me being your friend, colleague, and roommate, or you can sit with an overrated scientist you might have sex with or..." he paused, blinking, "Wait a minute, why am I arguing that you stay when I'd rather it just be me and Claire anyway. Carry on," he shooed Leonard off.

"I have no idea," Leonard rolled his eyes, moving to sit with Leslie.

Sheldon leaned forward, ignoring him, and focused on Claire, "Now...tell me more about the task force's mission."

Claire just smiled, knowing she'd gotten him to agree to the Faire once more.

~8~

Penny shook her head, a small smile on her face when she saw Claire and Sheldon in her apartment again after she got back from her shift at work, the two at the couch, playing Nintendo, "Hey, Sheldon, Claire."

"Hey Pen," Claire called back as she and Sheldon raced.

"Penny," Sheldon greeted.

"You know, I still don't understand why you just don't go to dinner or something," Penny moved to stand behind the couch, watching the game.

Sheldon rolled his eyes, it was getting old now, all these people bringing up that he and Claire should go to dinner. Was that what it was going to be like every time they ate alone together? People asking if the date went well? He hoped not. In order to avoid such questions the logical thing to do would be to not have meals with Claire alone any more...and he didn't want to do that, he liked sharing meals with her. She always provided stimulating conversation and was respectful of his quirks and idiosyncrasies when it came to how he ate and organized his food.

"Penny, are you sure things can't work out with you and Leonard?" Sheldon asked instead.

"Excuse me?" Penny blinked, thrown.

"I'm just wondering if you really gave it the old college try? Or in your case the old community college try?"

"Ok, where is this coming from?" Penny looked at Claire.

"Leslie, Shelly's 'arch enemy,' is over again," she explained, "Shelly doesn't like it."

"His arch enemy?" Penny raised a brow at that.

"Yes," Sheldon nodded, not seeming to catch her incredulous tone, "The Dr. Doom to my Mr. Fantastic. The Dr. Octopus to my Spiderman. The Dr. Sivana to my Captain Marvel. The..."

"Ok," Penny cut in, "I get it, I get it, I get it."

"Do you know, it's amazing how many super villains have advanced degrees," Sheldon remarked to Claire, "Graduate school should probably do a better job of screening those people out."

"Sheldon, come back, you're losing me," Penny called, seeming on the verge of snapping her fingers to pull his attention back to the topic at hand.

"Leslie Winkle belittles his research," Claire simplified.

"Oh, sweetie, I'm sorry," Penny gave a little laugh, putting a hand on Sheldon's arm.

"She called me dumb-ass," Sheldon pouted.

"I know. I've heard."

"Given this situation, I have no choice but to withdraw my previous objections to your ill considered relationship with Leonard."

"Oh, gee, well, thank you for that," Penny chuckled, "But, um, I think for now Leonard and I are just going to stay friends."

"No," he shook his head, "That response is unacceptable to me."

"Sheldon, you are a smart guy, you must know…"

"Smart?" he scoffed, "I'd have to lose 60 IQ points to be classified as smart."

"Shelly let the woman talk," Claire fixed him with the look, quieting him.

"I'm sorry," he zipped his lips.

Penny smiled, "Thanks," she offered Claire, before she turned to Sheldon, "You must know that if Leonard and Leslie want to be together, nothing you can do is going to stop it."

"You continue to underestimate my abilities, madam," he remarked, his chin jutting into the air.

"Ok," Penny sighed, "Let me put it this way, if you're really Leonard's friend you will support him no matter who he wants to be with."

For some reason, Sheldon felt a pit form in his stomach at Penny's words. By that logic...wouldn't it also mean that, if he was really Claire's friend, which he was, that he should support her with whoever she wanted to be with? Which he certainly didn't. That was part of their best friend agreement, they each needed to get a seal of approval by the other for any and all potential boyfriends or girlfriends. It had been his request to put that in. He had managed to protect Claire from falling into the ditch of stupidity the rest of his family lived in despite her friendship with his sister...he hadn't wanted to see her potential wasted by a lesser man.

No, if someone was going to court his best friend, he was going to make sure they were good enough for her.

None had passed his tests so far, not that there had been many tests given, Claire didn't have a boyfriend.

He shook his head at that, not wanting to even think about the remote possibility of Claire getting a boyfriend, and focused his discomfort onto the topic Penny had opened with, Leonard, "Why am I doing all the giving here? If Leonard's really my friend, why doesn't he have to support me in my hatred of Leslie Winkle?"

"Because love trumps hate," Penny answered.

"Oh now you're just making stuff up," Sheldon muttered.

"It's like you and Claire..." Penny continued.

"Like me and Claire what?" he frowned.

Penny blinked at that, glancing at Claire who had fallen very quiet, though she spotted a small pink tint to her cheeks, "You hate people with English degrees, but Claire is your best friend and you think she's brilliant."

Sheldon stiffened, as though just realizing the fault in his logic that he'd hoped to use against Leonard.

"Goodnight Sheldon," Penny smiled, before standing, looking at Claire, "Can you keep it down?" she gestured at the TV.

"Um, yeah," Claire cleared her throat, "No problem Pen," she quickly turned the volume down as she and Sheldon resumed the game, though both of them felt the awkwardness of the silence they found themselves in during it.

~8~

Claire walked up the stairs of the apartment building, slinging her bag over her shoulder, coming from a night course she taught, a seminar on Arthurian Legend, only to stop short on the 4th floor landing, seeing Sheldon sitting in the hallway, on his laptop, just outside his door, "Oh Shelly," she sighed, "What happened?"

He pouted and pointed at his door, "Leslie came over so Leonard exiled me again before I could grab my key to your apartment."

She nodded, "Ok, let's settle this once and for all," she moved to sit beside him, "Listen Shelly, this is what we need to figure out..."

~8~

Claire watched, amused, standing in the doorway of her apartment as Leslie stormed out of Sheldon's, muttering under her breath about how dare Leonard support string theory over her own work in loop theory! The nerve.

"Look on the bright side," Sheldon was comforting Leonard, Claire able to see them sitting on the couch through the open apartment door.

"What's the bright side?" Leonard sighed.

"Only 9 more months to Comic Con."

Leonard perked up at that, "Oh yeah."

"So..." Claire smiled when Sheldon glanced over at her and got up to walk to her apartment to speak to her in private so Leonard wouldn't hear, "I take it the plan worked?"

"Exceptionally well," Sheldon smiled up at her, "Thank you Claire Bear."

"You may be smart Shelly, but I'M a girl," Claire winked at him.

Really, once they'd worked out what Leslie was very defensive and proud of, something that she would not stand for someone taking a side against her on, something that Leonard WOULDN'T take her side on, it was easy for Sheldon to bring that up in conversation and let Leonard drive Leslie off himself.

And really, if the woman wasn't willing to compromise or accept that Leonard just didn't agree with her about that subject, did she really deserve Leonard in the end? Relationships were built on compromise after all.

~8~

The group of boys and Claire walked around the Faire once more, Claire now dressed as a nun as it was a bit chilly out and clutching a rather large cross dangling from around her neck in her hand, ready to use it to whack Howard if he kept making comments about the corsetted women and barmaids that were walking around. Sheldon followed behind them...completely decked out as though he were Spock, Star Fleet uniform and pointed ears and all, "Captain," he called, pretending the scanner in his hand was working, "I'm getting an unusual reading..."

"Yeah, that's great, you guys want corn dogs?" Leonard called.

"Yeah," Howard nodded.

"Huzzah," Claire laughed.

"That's a temporal anomaly!" Sheldon/Spock cried, "Corn dogs didn't come into existence until the first half of the twentieth century!"

A/N: I love the Renaissance Faire :) I'm planning to go to the NY one on September 5th for Time Travelers Weekend ^-^ Yay! :)

Thank you guys for all your suggestions for pairing names! I love them all! :) I'll still be taking suggestions till the end of this week and will open the poll on Sunday ;)

On another note, missed my train in both stations trying to get home today :( But I wanted to update the chapter as soon as I got back to my room lol ;) I hope you liked it!

Some notes on reviews...

Oh Claire and Penny will be nudging each other quite a bit yup ;)

I can say there will be a time where Sheldon lets in on Howard for how he talks to Claire, the boys will be very startled at how defensive and angry he gets about it }:)

Lol, that's definitely going to be an ongoing theme that Sheldon, when he gets drugged or drunk is very open and close to Claire ;) Claire definitely talked with Penny about her insecurities and Leonard here, she'll be trying to nudge Penny back to Leonard as it goes ;)

I think Amy does get jealous at times, yup, I think though that how she expresses it never really ends up being something really terribly mean or harsh, she'll definitely feel jealous of how close Claire and Sheldon are, but I'm just going to try to keep her from doing a 180 or becoming someone unrecognizable when it hits ;)

That happens to me all the time :) I'll be watching Doctor Who or Sherlock and start wondering where the OCs are...and then I remember they're not real :( It also happens in the reverse too, I'll be watching a movie or a show and be like...what's the OC doing there? :)

I can say that there will be an experiment Sheldon does when he realizes he might like Claire. Though it may be one that Claire isn't too fond of in the end ;)