#two twelfth level intellects walk into a bar

[smoakinn]

continued from here for @allthemmuses

“Is this seat taken?”

Winn looked up, shaking his head with a kind smile.

“Not at all, unless you want to sit there?”

He asked graciously.

Felicity smiled at Winn and sat beside him, turning away from the celebrating crowd of heroes.  The multi-dimensional team-up had gone great.  Kind of.  Sort of.  It had gone how it usually did.  “It’s nice not being the only tech on a mission for once.  Thanks for all of your expertise on xenolinguistics out there.  My only skills in it are Klingon, so.”  She shrugged a little, chuckling.

[mollythezebra11]

Vending Machine Choco

Kara's POV~

“What's up my homo?” Brainy says when I open my door after he knocked.

I choke on the juice I had been drinking, laughing. “I'm sorry what?” 

“What is up? I thought that that was what I was supposed to say.” He says walking into my apartment.

“I meant the other thing, you called me your homo.” I can't help but laugh.

“I was under the impression it meant friend, is that incorrect? Did I just say something rude? I said it to Alex earlier and she laughed but didn't say anything about it.”

I laugh to myself again, “Of course she didn't.” 

“I really don't understand. Does homo not mean friend? Alex would have corrected me if i used the wrong word.” Brainy seemed a bit stressed, I hadn't meant to freak him out.

“I think the word you are looking for is homie, not homo.” I explain.

“Ah, I see. Well then why didn't Alex correct me? What does it mean?” 

“It is short for homosexual, meaning someone who is gay.” Brainy still seems a little bit confused. “Do you not have gay people from your time?” I ask seriously concerned.

“I am not sure what you mean? Is it a kind of alien? I don't recall anything about gays.” Brainy looks deep in thought.

I smile, taking another drink of juice, “It's not a kind of alien, it just means someone who likes the same gender as them. Do you honestly not have gay people in the future? That's terrifying.” I can't really imagine a world where Alex couldn't be herself.

“Oh no we have them, they just don't have specific labels, you guys are really big on labels here.” Brainy explained.

“Wait, so you just don't question it, there are no labels? You just like whoever you like? People don't just assume you're straight?” That actually sounds amazing, I know what it's like to have to hide a part of who you are from everyone, and while being an alien is different from being gay, coming out is hard. 

“I'm not quite sure what you mean by straight, however there really aren't assumptions, and the only labels people use the genders they are attracted to, and even then only sometimes. Do you guys have multiple labels? It just seems inconvenient.” 

“It is, and it's also really stressful for people who aren't sure who they like.” I say.

“You mean like how you are confused about how you feel for Lena?” I nearly choke on my drink. 

“I'm sorry, what?” I am definitely not confused about how I feel about Lena. I'm just in denial, and I would like to keep it that way.

“Is that not common knowledge?” He says calmly as ever.

“No, i have no idea what you're talking about.” I want to change the subject. “Do you guys not have labels for transgender people either?” 

“I actually know that one, I once heard some people bothering this lovely lady for it, so I did my research. In my time we don't need a specific label for that, it's just widely accepted. Why do you ask?”

“I'm just curious,” I was also partially asking for Nia, because I know how she feels about Brainy and how heartbroken she would be if Brainy were to be upset if he found out. 

Then there was a knock on the door. I quickly x-rayed the door to see who it was. “Speak of the devil,” I say opening the door to Nia.

“Was the devil spoken of?” Brainy questions.

I see Nia visibly stand up taller when she sees Brainy, but I can also see that she looks slightly disappointed to see him. “Nia how are you?” 

“I've definitely been better, but um, I was just coming to talk to you about a dream. I've actually been having trouble sleeping, but every time I close my eyes I have this dream.” Nia says still standing at my front door. 

“Well come on in, tell me about this dream.” I close the door behind Nia and we go sit in the living room with Brainy following closely behind us. 

“Well, every time I close my eyes I see the same thing. It's nothing overly terrible but I just see it so much that it haunts me.” She looks tired, Nia is always sleeping, I can't imagine how this is affecting her.

I set down my cup. “What is the dream?”

She takes a deep breath, “Well, I'm standing in the hospital hallway, and the vending machine falls on me. It hits me but I get out and I don't get crushed. But I don't understand it, why would I dream of having a vending machine fall on me?”

I don't know what to tell her, I don't have the answer she's looking for. But I guess I don't have to, as Brainy speaks up. “Was there any other details? Any clues that could help decode what the dream is warning us about.” 

“Um, I haven't really checked for small details,” Nia looks slightly ashamed. “Hold on,” Then she closes her eyes for a brief moment before they snap open. “The light in the hall is flickering, and when the machine hits the ground, a choco bar falls over by my foot. There are other candy bars too but that one is just more clear.”

None of that means anything to me, but it seems to mean something to Brainy. 

Brainy POV~

“Hospital hall, vending machine choco, lights flickering.” I list off. I see understanding cross Nia's face. 

She stands up, “Um, I should go,” she says.

“No, I am the one in the wrong here,” I say, I realize how tired Nia looks, and she looks thinner too, I can't imagine being the reason she can't sleep or eat. “I should be the one leaving.” I start to walk over to the door.

“I have absolutely no idea what is happening between you too right now. However I have a feeling this is something you two should talk o-” Kara was cut off by the sound of sirens. “You guys stay here and talk this out,” Kara sped over to her room then out the door. I guess she hadn't put her suit on under her clothes today. 

Nia looks at me wordlessly, she sits back down on Kara's couch. “I'm sorry, I made this weird, I should never have kissed you. I was so stupid.”

I feel a twisting in my gut, something I've never felt before, I would be rather upset if Nia had never kissed me, even if we can't be together. I sit down on the couch facing her. “Don't apologize, it wasn't stupid.” I say, I'm always right, but what if i was wrong this time? 

Nia looks at me confused, “It wasn't?” 

I'm not sure what to say now, I should have the answer, I always have the answer. Nia is doing something to me, I can't think straight. It's true that Nia and I can never be together, it would never work, but I can't shake the feeling of her lips on mine, her hands on my cheeks, and her telling me to listen to my gut. I know how i feel about intestinal inclination but maybe there is more to it “No, it wasn't stupid at all.”

Nia looks slightly confused, but she smiles anyway. “What are you saying?” She asks softly.

“I- I don't know.” It's true I still don't know, but I'm starting to doubt myself and regret my actions.

Nia POV~

“No one has ever made me feel this uncertain.” Brainy says twisting his ring around his finger anxiously.

I'm not sure how to respond to that, I don't want to make him feel uncertain, I want to make him feel safe and loved and supported. “I didn't mean to make you feel uncertain, I'm sorry.”

"It's nothing to apologize for, I've just never felt like this before." He says without looking up at me.

"Well how do you feel?" I know exactly how I feel, I feel bad about kissing him because it made things weird between us and I am mad at myself because I still want to kiss him again. However, I have no idea how he feels.

He takes a deep breath and looks up at me, "Honestly, I'm not quite sure. It's very unsettling because i am always certain, but right now i am just very confused. I don't want you to regret what happened at the hospital, I definitely do not." He doesn't regret it, that's good, but I'm sure there is more. "But there is a big part of me that is telling me that it could never work, I have seen first hand how relationships between those who work together work out, and it's not pretty." He looks sad, I really didn't mean to make him sad, I just want him to be happy.

"Brainy, do you like me?" I know that he's not great with subtlety so I figure the only way to get through this is to be direct.

"Well actually I believe that I am in love with you." He replies. That is not at all what I was expecting.

"Well," I'm at a loss for words, how do I respond to that. All I want to do is kiss him and cuddle up next to him but I know that that wouldn't be very fair of me. He thinks he loves me, but he thinks it'll never work. "What would you do if I kissed you right now?" It escapes me before I really process what I'm saying.

"There is an 89% chance that I would internally panic." He replies immediately.

"In a bad way?" I ask,

"No," He says. I move closer to him slowly, giving him time to pull away, then I lean in and kiss him. Brainy pulls back and meets my eyes, "make that 100%," he says softly.

I giggle, if I'm honest, i think i might be internally panicking as well. "If you think that it won't work out, then I'm going to respect that, I realize I didn't last time and I'm sorry. So I will respect whatever your decision is, but just keep in mind that number one, if you let doubt and fear hold you back, you won't get far and number two, even if it doesn't work out, we will still be friends." 

"Nia?" He whispers,

"Yes?"

"Can I kiss you?" He says louder this time.

"Definitely," I smile. He leans in and places one of his hands on my waist, which I must say, I really like. I'm really confused though, he said that we can't be together but he also just said he loves me and now he's kissing me on Kara's couch and good God i hope she doesn't come home yet. Brainy pulls away and looks into my eyes silently, I can't tell what he's thinking, but he looks so annoyingly adorable so I lean in and kiss him again.

"Nia?" Brainy whispers again as he pulls away.

"Yes?"

"Would you like to go out with me? On an actual date this time and not just an outing?" He looks as if he's expecting me to say no, I'm sitting here on our friends couch kissing him and he thinks I'd say no to go out with him, for a twelfth level intellect he's not very smart.

"Of course I'll go out with you Brainy," He looks relieved and surprised, honestly, sometimes he just baffles me. 

"Fantastic," he says cheerfully.

Then I kiss him again pushing him backward on the couch until he was laying down with me over him. But what I was not expecting was the gush of wind coming in the door that scared me so bad I fell off of Brainy and thumped onto the ground.

The gush of wind had been Kara as I realized as I stood up looking flustered. "What did I miss?" Kara says looking between Brainy who is still laying down on her couch and me now standing looking quite flustered.

"Oh nothing" 

"A lot," Brainy and I reply at the same time. Kara looks back and forth between us and just laughs. 

"Well since everything is fine at the DEO now and you two seem to be getting along would you like to stay and watch a movie? I could use the company," Kara offers. 

Brainy looks over at me questioningly and sits up, "I would enjoy watching a film with you," he said turning to Kara. 

"I think I could go for a movie too as long as you have popcorn," I say,

"Of course I have popcorn," She smiles.

. . .

 

Kara POV

I don't know if they think I don't notice that they are sitting closer together than usual or that they are holding hands even though they are trying to hide it. I just smile and look back to the TV. Then Nia stands up and walks to the door opening it as if she's expecting someone. Sure enough just then Lena pops up and smiles brightly at Nia. 

"I hope you don't mind that I stopped by, I was bored of being alone." She says walking into the apartment.

"Of course I don't mind, I love having you here. We were just watching a movie if you'd like to join us." Lena takes off her heels and walks over to sit next to me on the loveseat.

"I'd love that," She says. "Hello Brainy," she smiles over at Brainy.

"Hello Lena," He replies as Nia takes her seat next to him, I think even closer than last time.

Lena looks over at me with a questioning look and I just shake my head smiling.

We sat and finished the move together. I was expecting Nia to fall asleep on Brainy at some point, but somehow Brainy ended up falling asleep on Nia. I think Nia was as equally surprised as Lena and I. Brainy isn't one to let his guard down around others however I had noticed that he looked as if he hadn't been sleeping well or at all recently. So it's good for him to get some rest, and him lying on Nia's shoulder with his long hair covering part of his face is absolutely adorable and the little smile on Nia's face everytime she looks at him makes me happy. They both deserve this.