Nia kind of assumed that Brainy wouldn't be doing anything for Valentine's Day.
It wasn't so much that it wasn't his style. It was definitely his style. Brainy was probably more of a romantic than Nia, even if he still seemed to think that romance was an algorithm and it was his duty to crack it.
But... Nia had told him to back off on the displays of consumeristic and cliché affection, and if Valentine's Day wasn't the epitome of displays of consumeristic and cliché affection she didn't know what was.
Brainy could be hard to understand, but he could also find things hard to understand. She wasn't sure how well telling him that Valentine's Day was a special occasion that was kind of an excuse for going crazy would go. He had been doing so well with respecting her wishes and keeping their romance lowkey that explaining that he could take things up a notch sometimes might bewilder him.
Or, it could just cause him unnecessary anxiety trying to struggle out how much was too much and what would make Nia happy not to the point of overwhelming her.
Better, then, to just not expect anything at all. Besides, just having Brainy was nice enough, right?
Right?
Yes, of course it was. Nia had been single on Valentine's Day for basically as long as she could remember. And though that had never managed to make her obsessively jaded towards the Hallmark Holiday, it had definitely stung a little. It was really great to have an amazing boyfriend whom she loved to celebrate the day of love.
"Penny for your thoughts?"
Nia blinked away from her long-since-dark computer screen and glanced up to find Kara hovering over her, wearing a pink flannel and a long french braid. She had a pencil stuck behind her ear and another in her hand and Nia frowned a little. "Why do you need two pencils?"
Kara raised her eyebrow. "You were sitting at your desk for twenty minutes thinking about why I need two pencils?"
"What? No." Nia shook her head. "I was thinking about Valentine's Day and Brainy and how he's probably not going to do anything because he doesn't want me to think it's over-the-top."
"It's Valentine's Day," Kara replied blankly. "Who isn't over the top?" She paused. "Also, I'm still lost on the two pencils thing."
Nia reached up and pulled the pencil from behind Kara's ear, presenting it to her like Oliver Queen would a pen to Felicity Smoak. "Oh!" Kara exclaimed, looking pleased. "I was looking for that earlier. Darn, I thought I was safe not having a ponytail to tuck it into. Apparently not."
She took the pencil from Nia and shoved it into her back pocket, where Nia figured it would probably be promptly forgotten about and maybe even put through the wash.
"So, Valentine's Day," Kara said, redirecting the conversation. "You really think that Brainy's not gonna do something?"
"I really don't," Nia admitted. "But that's okay. I mean, come on. It's just Valentine's Day, right?"
Kara looked dubious and Nia sighed. "Alright, fine. Yes, I would have maybe wanted him to do one of his dramatic displays of affection that he is so, um... practiced at. But I would rather him not do anything at all than revert to his old ways." She shuddered a little, remembering.
Kara snorted. "I would kill to have a boyfriend who got me that many potstickers," she said, a dreamy note in her voice. "But anyway, why don't you do something for him? Put together some show of romance and your love that will pay him back for everything he put you through a few months ago."
"You want me to romance Brainy out of... revenge?" Nia confirmed, dubious. "That seems to be kind of not in the Valentine's Day Spirit."
" 'Pay him back' was the wrong phrase," Kara relented. "Return the favor, I guess. Come on, Brainy spends half his time telling you and the rest of the world how much he loves you. I'm sure he'd be tickled pink to have you do something like that in return." She winced. "Okay, never saying 'tickled pink' again. Even if it is the right color for the season."
Nia snorted, amused. "Fine," she said. "So I do something for Brainy. Like what? In case you hadn't noticed, I'm not the most romantic person on the block."
Kara smiled mysteriously. "I may just know someone who can help you with that..." she said cryptically, before digging in her pocket for her phone. "I'm gonna send you a contact, okay? Give his guy a call after work and I'm sure that you'll be able to figuring something out before the 14th."
Two hours and a lunch break later, Nia was back at her apartment and looking dubiously at the phone number Kara had texted her. The name on the contact read Winn Schott, which sounded a little familiar. Nia was pretty sure he had worked at the DEO. She might have even heard Brainy mention him, but Brainy really did talk quite a bit and it was hard to keep track of and remember every single little thing he said.
With nothing to lose, Nia pressed the call button and held the phone up to her ear.
"Nia!" was the first thing said. "Kara said you'd be calling."
"Winn?" Nia guessed cautiously.
"That's me," Winn replied happily. "So what's up? Kara didn't tell me much; she just said you had a question in the romance department and required my assistance."
"Uhh..." Nia shifted on the couch, feeling impossibly awkward. "I'm... trying to surprise my boyfriend, Brainy, for Valentine's Day. He's always doing these big romantic gestures and I kind of want to... do something in return."
"Gotcha," Winn said. "And so Kara sent you to ol' ex-Superfriends Winn Schott for some ideas, huh?"
"Wait, you were apart of the Superfriends?" Nia asked, latching onto the first thing she heard that wasn't introductory or about her romantic life.
"Yep!" Winn confirmed. "I was an OG. In fact, I was the very first person besides Alex that Kara told about her identity."
"You're kidding," Nia gaped. She shifted forward on the couch and gripped the phone a little harder. "So, you were around when she was just starting out as Supergirl? Back when she fought her Uncle Non and that woman Indigo who's Brainy's, like, third cousin two times removed or something?"
"Didn't know the thing about the cousin," Winn admitted. "But yes. Wow, you've really done your research."
Nia grinned, pleased. "Yeah, you know. I like to brush up on the history of Supergirl. Mostly so that when Kara starts yelling at me for screwing up in the field I can remind her that she had her failures, too."
Winn laughed. "I'm sure that goes over great."
"Oh, it's a solid plan every time," Nia agreed jokingly.
They fell into silence, and Nia figured it was time to get back to the subject of her call. She was starting to like this Winn guy, and since she still had nothing to lose she might as well accept his help. "So... any ideas on what I should do for Brainy?"
"From what I remember about Brainy," Winn mused. "He likes puzzles and things that make him think. And technology."
"You don't say," Nia muttered dryly.
Winn laughed again. "Point being, I think he might appreciate something a little more elaborate than the casual bouquet of roses and box of chocolates. Just as long as it's clear that you're intentions are romantic. Things get lost in translation easily for him."
"Which is kind of ironic, considering he can speak like every language," Nia sighed. "So... elaborate. What, like I set up a complex scavenger hunt that somehow implies my feelings for him..."
She trailed off, her mind kicking into action. "I can hear you thinking over the phone," Winn joked. "You've got an idea?"
"I do," Nia agreed slowly. "Thanks Winn. That was pretty helpful. I may be in touch."
"Hey, anytime," Winn said. "Besides, I don't have a life outside my phone so if you text or call I'll probably reply pretty quickly."
They said their goodbyes and Nia hung up before grabbing a sheet of scrap paper and a pencil from one of her drawers. She was a little nervous about time, considering she had less than 48 hours to put everything together.
It was going to be a late night.
linebreaker
Nia could have chosen to be one of those people who set up mysterious scavenger hunts for their loved ones and made it so they weren't involved at all, leaving clues ahead of time and not communicating with their chosen detective.
But Nia knew that Brainy would probably just try and guess where she was leading him and skip all of her riddles and hard work. Besides, she, again, had rarely spent Valentine's Day with a boyfriend and she wanted to spend it actually with her boyfriend.
So, after getting herself and a few other things into position, she slipped into a chair and texted Brainy a 'Happy Valentine's Day' with numerous heart emojis.
He wrote back almost instantly: 'Happy Valentine's Day my love :)'
Nia smiled, found the cute blushy-smiley-face emoji with the hearts floating around it, and sent him a few. He sent a heart back, and then his speech bubbles bobbed for a second.
Too excited to wait, Nia typed anyway. 'I've put together a bit of a scavenger hunt for you...'
The about-to-talk bubble disappeared almost immediately, before coming back and leading to the message, 'A scavenger hunt?'
Nia grinned. 'Yep. You want the first clue?'
'I would like nothing more in the world'
Biting her lip happily, because this was already pretty fun, Nia pasted her first clue into the message box:
Some girls like guys who play baseball and are sexy/ But I love my boyfriend because he's smart and cheesy.
She allowed Brainy a couple of minutes to reply. 'I presume I'm trying to deduce a location?' he confirmed after a moment.
'Yep' Nia answered. 'Lmk if you need a hint. This isn't supposed to make you frustrated, just for fun :)'
'Oh don't worry, I figured it out' Brainy replied and Nia rolled her eyes, because of course he had. Honestly, a clue that Brainy didn't figure out today was probably due more to her bad riddle-writing than his skills of riddle-solving.
After waiting a few more minutes, Nia figured she should confirm something else. 'When you figure out the spot, actually come to it ok then you can get your next clue.'
"I figured that," a voice said, and Nia glanced up from her phone to find Brainy standing at the entranceway of Shabid's Pizza Place.
Nia sprang up with a bright smile and greeted him with a hug and a quick peck on the lips. "How did you guess?" she asked eagerly as she led him over to the booth she had picked up for them. After the ownership of the pizza place where Brainy and Nia had first met had changed hands, the interior had been redone to include seating, and Nia figured she'd take advantage of it.
"Well, I began with noticing that the mention of 'baseball' seemed extremely random. It took me a moment to remember that it had been a baseball bat that I was threatened with the morning we met and you stood up for me. After that, the word 'cheesy' just locked in the clue," Brainy explained, sitting back and smiling in satisfaction.
"Good work," Nia grinned. "So, I know it's a little close to breakfast and I probably shouldn't have made this our first stop but... you wanna get a slice of pizza for a snack?"
Brainy smiled widely. "Pizza sounds lovely."
Once Nia grabbed the two pizza slices she had requested of the owner before Brainy arrived, she got them some napkins and brought the whole load over to their table. They dug in, and Nia got about halfway through her piece before Brainy mentioned the scavenger hunt again.
"When will I be receiving my next clue?" he asked curiously, dabbing his mouth with a napkin.
Nia just raised her eyebrows as a piece of paper fluttered from the napkin and to his lap. Eagerly, Brainy abandoned his pizza and smoothed out the strip.
To be honest, you hit me like a shot in the dark/ But now I love you so much it almost short-circuits my heart.
Brainy frowned in concentration at the clue for approximately ten seconds before shooting to his feet. "I've got it," he declared, stuffing the last bit of crust into his mouth in one giant, cheek-bulging bite and going to dump his paper plate and napkin in the trash. Nia hurried to finish and clean up, too. She was too excited to know whether or not Brainy had really figured out the clue to tease him about not offering to throw away her plate along with his, and was soon hurrying out the door after him.
"So...?" she prompted once they were walking quickly towards the metro station. The day was brisk but sunny and she squinted against the glare on the patches of ice smeared along the sidewalk.
"We are headed to the hospital," Brainy said, and Nia grinned her approval. "At first I thought that you were merely using the phrase 'shot in the dark' to just... use the phrase, but I realize now that nearly everything in these short riddles has some sort of meaning. The 'shot' is supposed to remind me of when James got shot, so we are heading to the hospital."
"Where in the hospital?" Nia pressed. "That's a pretty big building."
Brainy looked thoughtful for a moment. "I'm going to assume the waiting room near the vending machine..." he speculated slowly. "Because these places seem, so far, to be spots that we have not only been together but have had an impact on our blossoming relationship."
Nia had to admit that that was true. "In my defense," she went on. "I would have picked, like, a random bench in a random park but I wasn't sure how I'd write a clue that would lead you to it."
"Fair point," Brainy acknowledged as they reached the metro station. "Now, was I right? Are we headed to the vending machine where we had our first kiss?"
Nia spent a moment considering whether she wanted to tell him right away. "Look at the clue again," she decided. "If you can figure out what part of those lines points to our first kiss or the vending machine, I'll tell you if you're right or wrong. If not, maybe we actually have to go to a different spot in the hospital. Where we met Kelly, or something."
Brainy looked at her dubiously but nodded, digging the clue out of his pocket so he could look on it while they were on the metro.
A couple stops away from where they were headed, Brainy stuck his finger in the air. "Aha!" he cried, making a few people glance over. "I've got it."
Nia raised her eyebrows, interested to see what he would have pulled out.
"I had forgotten what happened after we kissed," Brainy explained. "See, I was just so shocked that you had kissed me that the memory of the power flickering had been pushed completely to the back of my mind. I don't think that the lights actually short-circuited, I believe it was more of a power surge, but..."
Nia nodded, and held up her hand for a high-five. "Nailed it in one," she commended, smiling widely.
They arrived at their stop a couple moments later and walked the short distance to the hospital James had been admitted to that horrible day a few months ago. After considering the front door for a little bit, Brainy finally walked into the lobby and headed for the elevator, Nia following close behind and trying to act like they both belonged. She felt a little guilty about virtually sneaking into a hospital without actually having anyone admitted there, but no one would know. Besides, they'd be gone in a few minutes.
When Brainy arrived at the vending machine, Nia reached into her exceptionally large purse and pulled out a small paper bag, which she handed to you. "Your reward," she said, a teasing note in her voice.
Brainy opened the bag and tugged the tissue paper off of the top, peering inside to see at least two dozen chocos staring up at him. His face lit up. "Delicious!" he cried, reaching in and unwrapping one. "Would you like one?"
"Sure," Nia agreed with a shrug. This was one of the reasons she didn't understand why people hated on Valentine's Day so much- sure, the romantic love thing could make you feel bad if you were heartbroken or single. But Valentine's Day was literally an excuse to eat chocolate without guilt.
Maybe the true Valentine's Day Haters were actually lactose intolerant, not broken-hearted.
After eating their candy bars, Brainy gave Nia a quizzical look. "I assume that wasn't the last clue."
"No," she agreed with a laugh, but didn't offer any more explanation.
After rooting through the chocos in search of another slip of paper, Brainy finally found it taped to the bottom of the bag. He careful untaped the slip and read it.
You will always be my fav partner in crime/ No matter which way we spend our night
"I believe that most would take this with a dirty connotation," Brainy joked once he was finished reading the clue.
Nia shrugged and grinned. "Depending on what version of the word 'dirty' you're thinking of, they'd be right."
Brainy tilted his head thoughtfully. "Partner in crime... spend our nights... clearly you are speaking of our superhero-ing activities."
Nia raised her eyebrows, smirking slightly and trying to give nothing away on her face.
It seemed she didn't do a very good job, because Brainy peered suspiciously at her. "Then again... the micro-expressions you're displaying are telling me that that's not the case. Besides, our only concrete spot to fight crime is the DEO, and I believe you would use different clues for a location like that. Let me reconsider... how else do we spend our nights while still being parters- oh!"
Nia grinned.
"Game night!" Brainy cried, and raced for the elevator. Laughing, Nia followed after him, pleased he was getting so excited about her little game.
It didn't take them long to arrive at Kara's apartment, and when they did Nia put a hand on Brainy's arm to keep him from entering. "I know we don't technically have game night in the hallway," she said. "But I felt weird actually having your next clue be inside Kara's apartment. So you get a free pass..." She reached into her bag and pulled out a new slip of paper, along with another gift.
Eyeing her quizzically, Brainy opened up the package. "Ah!" he cried. "Pop Culture Trivia- a Game About Fashions, Fads and Crazes. I believe that this will come in handy for me once I have memorized all the cards."
Nia snorted. At least he was being honest. "I hope I can beat until you do that, then," she said with a grin. "Then my knowledge of pop culture will really be tested against your point-blank memorization."
Nia took the game back from Brainy to stick in her purse for safe-keeping, stashing it next to the chocos he had also given her to carry. Then Brainy eagerly unfolded the slip of paper and took in his next clue.
You're so smart that you rarely need advice/ But maybe a look to the future would suffice
"This one is easy," Brainy said, smiling. "I am still embarrassed by the way I acted."
He was mentioning a moment that had gone down a few days after their first kiss. He had come to her so that she would look into his future, even after scolding her for looking into hers mere weeks before because he was worried about the timeline.
"All worked out in the end," Nia said, and reached over to rub his arm. "You know where to go?"
"To CatCo!" Brainy declared, and they were off again.
It went like that for the next hour, the majority of the time spent darting between different locations in the city. The clue in the CatCo lounge read Everything down to your voice is astazing/ looking at you is almost better than stargazing, and brought them to the alley behind the alien bar where they would go and get some fresh air and alone time.
The next clue (The only thing better than being your girl/ is being your partner while saving the world) lead them to the DEO. Like out front of Kara's apartment, Nia didn't have them go inside, but handed Brainy his paper along with a new pair of leather half-gloves to go with his superhero outfit. Then Brainy opened his last riddle:
You'd think after this that I'd be sick of poetry/ but it's almost as relaxing as spending time just you and me.
The clue was a little risky, considering it brought up the all-too-recent memory of Brainy's 'poetry phase'. But Brainy just smiled and looked up at her. "Your apartment," he guessed, and she nodded, and they set off.
When they arrived at Nia's apartment, Brainy unlocked the door with the key she had given him and they walked inside. Nia had set up vases of flowers and candles, and Brainy smiled at the decorations.
"Happy Valentine's Day," Nia said, handing him a single flower from one of the vases along with a big smile.
"Thank you, Nia," he said, taking the flower before reaching into his pocket and spreading the clues out on the table. "This was fun."
But there was almost an expression of disappointment in his face. Something was off, and Nia let out a sigh. "What's wrong?" she murmured, reaching forward to rub his arm. "You had fun, and I'm glad, but there's something not right."
"I just, well, I..." Brainy shook his head. "It's... stupid, I know. But I supposed I thought that there would be something a little more... meaningful, in all of this."
Nia smiled gently at him and pushed the slips of paper a little closer towards his side of the table. "Read them again," she suggested. "I think you were so focused on solving the riddle that you didn't actually see what they -what I- was saying."
She had spent a lot of time on the clues. It would have been easy enough to just make something cryptic and emotionless, but that hadn't been the point of this whole scavenger hunt. Nia had wanted Brainy to spend the day (or at least the morning), reliving memories of their relationship. But she had also wanted to make his romantic side melt a little.
Brainy looked up at her, clearly not understanding, so Nia moved around her counter to stand next to him and wrapped an arm around his waist. " 'I love my boyfriend because he's smart and cheesy'," she murmured, quoting the first clue from memory before going on to the next. " 'I love you so much it short-circuits my heart'. 'You'll always be my favorite partner in crime'. 'Looking at you is almost better than stargazing'."
She rested her chin on his shoulder and watched as Brainy's eyes welled for a moment before he blinked the tears away. That had been the reaction she'd wanted, the one she had been hoping for at every clue he read. Nia should have guessed that his more analytical side would get in the way of him actually feeling any sort of sentiment, but it was okay. He'd had fun anyway, and now he was getting to actually feel what she had wanted him to.
"I love you," Brainy said simply, turning in her arms to push his forehead gently against hers. "And now I'm rather wishing that I'd done something for you. I wasn't sure what you would want, or what would make you happy, so... I went with the asinine decision of nothing at all."
"I thought you might," Nia admitted. "Which is why I did all this. But 'all of this', Brainy? It's just us. Where we've been and the moments we've had. And yeah, I got you some chocolate and a game and a flower, and I made up some cute riddles. But the point of today was just to be with you and, I dunno, remind us of everything we've gone through to get to where we are."
Brainy smiled faintly, tilting his chin to capture her lips in a kiss. "You are," he said, "truly the best Valentine's Gift I could have ever asked for."
Nia grinned and gave him a playful nudge. "Told you you're cheesy."