A/N: I KNOW,I KNOW! Not the best chapter, but I had to get something out there. I'm sorry it took me so long to get a chapter out. I really didn't mean for that to happen. Its just between writers block, school, and life, things have been a tad bit hectic. I promise to update whenever I can. Just please be patient with me. (puppy dog eyes)
Chapter 2: Green Eyed Monster
The first time it happens Brainy thinks he's dreaming. It scares the hell out of him. But somewhere between the warmth of a larger form engulfing his, and steady breathing, he gets over it. He wakes up every morning wondering whether it was all a dream. It goes on every night for a week and finally the Coluan gets fed up and decides to make sure its all a dream. He fakes sleep, he knows how to do it; he has 12th level intellect after all. He waits, and waits, and waits some more and finally the door to his room slides open.
Brainy doesn't move, he continues to act as though he is blissfully unaware of the physical realm. Strong hands ruffle his hair and a weight settles beside him. Everything goes still for a moment, as though the person is caught in thought, then the mattress shifts. The arms pull him close against a broad chest and he feels the person's breath against his neck. It sends chills down his spine, he's not sure that's a bad thing. An hour latter the stranger falls into deep sleep, and Brainy tries to disengage from their embrace without waking them. He succeeds of course, but when he sees who has been cuddling him every night for the last week he almost shrieks.
Fear has nothing to do with his initial reaction. He's jut surprised by it and screaming at the top of his lungs seems like the logical thing to do.
"Though it shouldn't be, I should look into that."
Kel-El looks different when he's sleeping. He looks more like the real Superman. But brainy isn't blind to the small things. He spent a long time ogling the real man of steel. He knew the little ticks Clark Kent had. The innocence he held, even in adult hood. There was a purity to Clark that Kel simply lacked.
He looked worn to Brainy. That odd quality that children who had seen a lot and dealt with a lot more then they should have or could have. Which Kel had. He was created to protect the future and from the time he was made to the present He had held the weight of not a world, but a whole universe on his shoulder. Brainy couldn't imagine having to bear such a burden on his own. And make no mistake; even with the Legion at his side Kel was always alone.
Brainy wants to ask him questions. Why are you in my room? Why are you in my bed? What's going on? What do you want from me?
Are you ok?
He doesn't though, something tells him not to. This whole organic thing is really quite confusing. He knows he'll get the hang of it one day. Or at least he hopes he will.
Scratching the back of his neck the little green skinned blond sighs and lays himself back down. Part of him doesn't want to go near Superman X. It's too weird. Yet another part of him believes that Kel-El needs this, he needs to hold on to something.
'Why couldn't it be Saturn Girl! Everyone loves Saturn Girl,' he grumbles to himself.
Snuggling close to Kel the Coluan sighs and finally drifts off to sleep. Unaware of the green eyes that have lazy cracked open to observe him.
Kel's gone in the morning and Brainy over sleeps.
He spends the rest of the day being teased by Cham.
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He has nightmares; bad nightmares that make him wake up in a cold sweat. They rob him of sleep and focus. They scare and anger him, and they leave him shaking. They come every night until finally he can't take it.
Its need that drives him to Braniac 5's room, somehow he knew that being near the Coluan would make everything better. He was surprised to find out that whatever it was right. The minute he was beside the small male he felt a weight lift. He needed that and settled for that though he wanted more. At first Brainy was unaware of his nightly visits. This caused Kel to feel rather guilty during the day. He wondered if someone could possibly consider spooning as some form of rape. Surly it was a violation of ones personal space (When they hadn't consented to spooning) but could he get in trouble for it.
'Brainy would kill you,' he had thought. Then Brainy caught him and didn't say a thing. Not during the night or during the day. Kel-El was stunned to say the least.
He wasn't sure how to take these turn of events.
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"For the love of…Lightning Lad will you please listen to me!" Brainy was getting really frustrated with them. He, Lightning Lad, and Superman X had left to deal with a minor uprising halfway across the universe. None of them were necessarily pleased about this, because the uprising wasn't all that minor. In fact they had walked in to a civil war. Two great powers on the planet had finally come to a head and while they duke it out, tons of innocent civilians were dieing or being injured. This was now the sixth week they had been out here, and tensions were running high. Lightening Lad was on the verge of tearing off the heads of politicians and Kel-El had to be confined to his quarters because he had actually gone ahead and tried. It was time, Brainy thought, to call in re-enforcements.
"You didn't hear what the jerk said! He's acting like its ok that tons of orphans are running around on the streets. Feeding the people all this bull crap about how they are being sacrificed for the greater good! Who's greater good? His pockets!" Lightening Lad railed stomping and screaming around the ship. They had remained in orbit. Brainy was scared that if the landed on the world, that the ship would be destroyed or stolen. Either way would be bad all around.
"I know, I don't like it either, but we can't run out and start killing people. That isn't our way," Brainiac 5 pleaded.
"Then we hand them to the people they claim to care about. Unguarded and unarmed. Let them decide their fate," Kel-El stepped into the room and leaned against the wall, his arms crossed and a cold look on his face. Brainy knew that look, he hated that look. Superman would never look at people with that look. That was the look of someone with blood on his hands.
"And then what? We leave, go home and let them run wild and ramped? The situation won't be resolved that way!" Brainy fell back into his seat, his head in his hands. What could he do? They had never really dealt with a situation like this before. If the Legion came, and they managed to stop the fighting, that still left the people without a government and people who craved power would rise up and start the nightmare up all over again.
"What about Liam?"
Brainaic sighed and looked at Lightening Lad thoughtfully. He had forgotten about Liam.
The planet, Ciel, was separated into three separate governments. One was run by a dictator named Belie(Be-Lie). He was the one Lightening Lad was screaming about. The guy was a purple skinned, round, glutton. He stole from his people and lied about it, blaming all their troubles on the other two powers. He was a dirty politician. There was very little going on that he wasn't some how involved in. Human trafficking, prostitution, extortion. He was a damn Mafioso.
Then there was Beorge (Be-orge), who wasn't all-bad really. He was dumb as a doornail though, which drove Brainiac up the walls. He was more of a figurehead though. The one with the real power was advisor Diceney (Die-sen-ee). Now Dieceney was a force to be reckoned with. He was ambitious and cunning. A smooth talk and he knew how to rally the people. He used fear to do this, told them that they were constantly threatened by the other two powers. He wanted a war and would go as far as killing his own people to start one. In fact most of the attacks on his people were ones that he and his comrades had orchestrated.
And finally there was Liam. Now Liam was a total sweet heart. He was like Jesus, or Buddha, or any other peace-loving figure in the ancient religions of earth. His people were equal in everyway and peace loving. That didn't mean they would not and could not take up arms. If they had to be they were fierce. Their philosophy is closely related to the Eastern philosophy on earth. Zen, meditation, warrior codes, they had all that, but ultimately the whole point was to find inner peace. Brainy liked Liam a lot. He was sure that he was the kind of man Superman would be over joy-ed to meet. He was like Clark naïve and wise, gentle and powerful.
'Liam would be an ideal leader. He's already taking in refugees from the other to nations, and the people in general like him.' Brainy thought.
"But would he take on that much responsibility."
"He already is. He and his people are doing all they can to help refugees and even those who are stuck in Nacimera and Nari." Lightening Lad replied without missing a beat.
They went silent. Each one thinking his own thoughts. Lightening Lad thought about home. He missed Saturn Girl and talked to her whenever he got the chance. Which wasn't often at all. He thought about the people of Ciel and what they were going through, and inside he was screaming at the injustice of it all. A storm raged in him, waiting to unleash its self at any given moment. Brainy thought of his next move. He would have to go to Liam and speak with him. Make sure that he truly was ready for such responsibility, and then he would have to contact earth and see if he could get any help from the United Planets. He hoped he could.
"Alright everyone get some rest then. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day for all of us." Kel-El broke the silence, his back already turned to the two other males. He walked out the room followed by Lightening Lad, who wished Brainy a good night. Brainy smiled at him, a solemn smile, but it was all he could muster.
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Kel-El hasn't slept since this mission began. Well no that was necessarily true. He had stint naps, about 5 minutes or so once a day but that was pretty much it. Not much of anything really. This would explain why he was more irritable then usual. Though he was sure neither of his comrades had noticed. He blamed this on the fact that he could no longer go to Brainy's room. Not because the door was locked or anything. He knew that door wasn't locked, but because he really wasn't around to be sneaking into the Coluan's bed. And even when he was Brainy was either really busy or passed out in the pilots seat. Besides Lightening Lad was the only other Legionnaire around and he really didn't want for that redhead douche to start asking questions.
So instead of sleeping Kel-El was staring at his ceiling. He wasn't thinking about anything, he didn't want to , it made him think of home and he still hadn't gotten over the sting. He was just staring. Staring, staring, staring. His eyes began to itch and he blinked. Maybe staring into space (No pun intended though somewhere out there Cham Had just burst into random laughter) was not the best idea.
Sitting up he growled and grumbled to him-self. If he were still the old Superman X, before he came in contact with the Legionnaires, he would have resolved this situation already. He simply would have offed Belie, Beorge, and Dieceney. Leaving it to Liam to pick up the slack. But that was then. Now he had to take the long way, over throw two governments and prepare another to expand. He sincerely hoped this worked. He wanted to leave this place.
He didn't like Liam. Liam stared at Brainy, Liam made Brainy laugh, and Liam made Brainy blush. Liam was too much like Superman. Kel-El didn't like Liam.
SCREEEEEEEEEEECH!!!!!!
Kel-El winced as the sound of metal scraping on metal reached his ears. Looking down at the frame of his bed winced even more. Apparently he had bent the side without realizing it.
"Shit," he hissed.
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Blond hair, pointy ears, piercing green eyes, and dark chocolate colored skin. Liam was handsome, really handsome. He had a smile to die for and was quite the tease when he wanted to be. Though it was mostly all in jest. He liked sweet things, he enjoyed being in the gardens that surrounded his home, and to be among the people. He knew everyone and everyone knew him, which is to say he had an amazing memory.
But none of that excused him for what he had just asked of Brainy in Brainy (or Kel-El's) eyes.
"I'm sorry Liam I must have heard you wrong. Could you repeat what you said?"
Liam smiled that winning smile of his and replied, in a casual tone no less, "I'll take on the responsibilities but first you have to give me…a kiss."
'No,' Brainy thought, 'I heard right.'
Kel-El growled and stormed up to stand beside Braniac 5.
"You can't be serious! There are lives at stake!"
Liam gave them both a rather deadpan look. Whether Liam was serious or not was irrelevant. All that mattered was that there were people that needed their help. The future of a whole planet was in the hands of the Legionnaires. It was their duty to protect them, no matter what the cost. And what Liam was asking for wasn't anything impossible, or dangerous (at least as far as Brainy could see). It was just odd and inappropriate. Brainy could live with that.
"Deal," Brainy said.
Beside him, Kel-El, shot him a stunned look, and, had Brainy taken the time to notice it, there were hints of hurt and jealousy floating around in Kel's eyes. But Brainy was barely aware that the clone had reacted at all. The Coluan's attention was fully focused on Liam.
Liam who had practically skipped over to the Coluan in his glee.
"Close your eyes Brainiac 5," Liam cooed, and Brainy listened without hesitation. So he totally missed the exchange between a very unhappy kryptonian clone and a very pleased politician.
Feeling Liam's hand on his left cheek, Brainy automatically leaned forward.
He had fully expected the kiss to be on his lips. But of course Liam was too playful and mischievous the follow that idea. Instead the elfish alien gave Brainy a peck on the cheek.
Kel-El never knew a person could blush as much as Brainiac had in that moment.
"I'd have done it either away, dear Brainy, but I wanted to see just how committed you were," Liam explained with a smile.
Brainy felt that he should have known all that from the beginning.
"Come we have much to talk about!" Liam announced to his court, suddenly becoming very serious.
Kel-El watched Liam and Brainiac head for the gardens and growled deep in his throat. He really couldn't stand Liam.