Val

"What's a little discomfort between family" is exactly how he treats Pantalone, just like Columbina said. But unlike Columbina, or literally anyone else on the planet, Pantalone doesn't fear him. He fully accepts that that's just Dottore, and flaw or not he doesn't care to try and change it. And he knows when and where to draw the line between "Dottore being dottore" and "Dottore being a freak", and Dottore respects that, and respects him for doing that.

It's a strangely realistic depiction of love, actually. Love like that isn't all bliss, it's a lot of discomfort, a lot of labor and indulgence of the other person. In some ways, it's like a transaction. Maybe that's how Pantalone thinks of it. Because no matter how much he gives Dottore, he does get it back. He gets back the investments he makes into his research, the experimentation on his own body in the form of bleeding-edge healthcare only he is privy to, the company of a partner who truly and fully understands him. This isn't a kind of love you dream about, but it's a kind of love you very well could have and hold.

To put it simply in the words of Whizzer and Marvin from Falsettos;