Author's Note: Okay! Time to continue the long-awaited conversation.
"So, um..." Nia pushed her hair back with her free hand. It was about three times messier than it had been when she put it in a ponytail earlier that morning. "I was really worried. About you."
"A common human emotion when someone they care for gets kidnapped," Brainy agreed, nodding.
"Yeah," Nia said. She absentmindedly played with Brainy's fingers, rubbing her thumb across the edge of his nails and fiddling with his hand. "I- I dreamed your future and... I saw you get shot. God- it was awful. Like, I threw up." Nia realized a second after she spoke that that wasn't the most attractive thing in the world and Brainy didn't need to know about it.
He just nodded again. "Seeing a death is... disturbing. It was a legitimate reaction."
Nia blew back her hair and jiggled one leg. "I'm- I'm not very good at saying how I feel," she admitted, scooting closer unconsciously and licking her lips. Her heart was up somewhere near her mouth.
Brainy let go of her hand and reached out, watching his own fingers as he stroked a loose strand of hair back from her face. "I can assure you, Nia Nal," he murmured slowly. "You are much better than I."
Nia leaned forward and kissed him.
Kissing Brainy was like nothing she had ever experienced before. She had had boyfriends before, of course, and even with ones that she had really liked, kissing them hadn't felt like this. Butterflies and tingles burst from her stomach, sending shivers up her spine. When she pulled away her face was flushed and she immediately started gigging, overcoming with a heady and stomach turning mix of giddiness and anxiety. Brainy was looking at her in utter wonder.
"Are you... okay?" Nia asked cautiously when he didn't say anything for a full ten seconds.
"..Yes.." Brainy replied slowly, blinking a couple times. "Yes, yes, I am very much alright. "I, uh... I have never... done that before."
"You've never kissed someone before?" Nia asked, feeling honored and a little alarmed that she was his very first kiss.
Brainy shook his head. "Is it always... like that?"
Nia smiled widely. "So it was good?"
"Good?" Brainy looked bewildered. "How can you- how can you use the word 'good' to describe such a feeling?"
"So it was good," Nia finished, smiling even wider. "I guess it sometimes is, but... only with the right person."
Brainy nodded. "Then this... this makes sense. Because you are... most definitely the right person."
Nia smiled, and kissed him again.
linebreaker.
After a couple more days, Brainy was released from the med bay with a clean bill of health. He thought that meant that he could be back in action, working with the DEO again, but Alex put a stop to that pretty quickly.
"You just got kidnapped, shot, and nearly died," she said when he approached her with the news that he would be restarting work.
Brainy paused for a long moment, as if waiting for her to make her point. "And...?"
"And that is a very traumatic experience!" Alex cried. "Just take a few weeks to rest, recover, spend some time with Nia..."
A wide smile spread across Brainy's face at the mention of the woman he already referred to as "his Nia Nal".
Alex pushed her point home. "Girlfriends are always the most needy right at the beginning of the relationship," she told him. "Find a show you both like and curl up on the couch and watch it together. Go out to dinner. I dunno... kiss or something. Just be low-key for a little bit, okay?"
Brainy nodded slowly. "Alright," he agreed. "But you must call me if anything of importance comes up so I can assist you."
"Of course." Alex wasn't planning on doing that unless things got incredibly dire, but Brainy didn't need to know that. "Enjoy your time off."
Brainy walked towards the exit, and Alex saw him pull out his phone. A couple seconds later, he began to talk. "Hello, Nia Nal. I am doing quite well. Would you like to join me in sitting on a couch and watching television that we both enjoy for an extended period of time? Yes... binging. Oh. Of course. After work, then. I will... make food. That sounds good. Alright. Goodbye."
Alex smiled, watching as he tucked his phone back in his pocket and practically skipped out of the DEO.
Brainy would be just fine.
Author's Note: WLERHAS DCHAEW PH AHHHH I really really really REALLY want to write a story where they're dating now OMG!
Okay, now that this is over I'll get back to oneshots. I've got loads of ideas (aided by your guys' prompts, of course!)
Let me know what you thought of the story in a review! Also throw in your favorite Brainy Nia moment, if you want :) (mine was probably when he called her at CatCo and "asked her out" to dinner XD)
