Apologies (BrainyxNia Nal)

Apologies

Brainiac-5, or Brainy as he was called by friends, stood in the elevator of the CatCo Magazine building, watching the little light closely at it indicated the floors. As soon as the doors opened, he stepped out, and hurriedly walked towards one particular desk. Nia Nal's desk.

"Nia Nal?" he asked.

She looked up and smiled when she saw him. Brainy couldn't help noticing that the smile seemed a bit forced. "Brainy, hi! Is it lunchtime already?" Checking the clock, she said, "Give me just a minute, I need to finish this article."

After checking in with James Olsen, the pair made their way out of CatCo and to a small cafe around the corner where they had agreed to have lunch. Once they had placed their orders, Brainy cleared his throat. "Nia?" he asked tentatively.

"Yeah, Brainy?"

Brainy hesitated. He didn't know why. The machine part of him was screaming at him to say it, but the organic part was holding him back. He did a mental calculation, and found that there was a 52.63% chance that Nia would forgive him. More than half, but not by much. Which meant the probability that she would hate him was less than half, but again, not by much.

Finally, he took a deep breath and decided to just say it. Like ripping off a band-aid, one might say. "I'm sorry," he blurted out.

Nia looked confused. "What?"

"I'm sorry, Nia," Brainy said again. "I... wish to apologize... for abandoning you back at the warehouse. I couldn't help but notice how... distant we've become since then, even though the event happened mere days ago. I..." He glanced up at Nia, who was watching him attentively.

He scooted his chair closer to hers before continuing. "My species has ancestral memory. What our ancestors remember, I remember. Most of my ancestors... weren't very good people. I usually keep those memories locked away, but when I was captured... They beat me, Nia. They beat me, and beat those memories loose. I was flooded with this... emotionless wave of pure logic that completely drowned out any and all feelings I had for you, J'onn, anyone I knew. In short, they rebooted me, aligned me with my more... emotionless ancestors. The organic side of me was completely suppressed, and when I found you, I only saw a means to an end. But when I saw you in danger, potentially dying... I was reversed to my normal state. I guess what I am trying to tell you is that I'm sorry, I wasn't myself, and that my feelings for you are what brought me back." He was rambling by now, and he didn't notice the single tear sliding down his cheek. Nia did, however, and wiped it away with her thumb, which caused Brainy to flinch, then look up at her. She was smiling softly.

"It's okay, Brainy. There's no need to apologize. J'onn had already explained it to me. But I do think it's sweet you feel the need to apologize." She gave him her unused napkin. "Here, use this."

Brainy stared at it for a moment, before wiping his eyes with it and setting it down. "Are you sure, Nia? Because there was a 47.37% chance that you would hate me for-" He was cut off when she placed a finger on his lips.

"You think too much," she said, smirking, before leaning in and pressing her lips on his. He stiffened at this, before slowly relaxing into the kiss. After about two seconds, Nia broke off the kiss, grinning, but Brainy just stared at her.

After a few more seconds, Nia started to get worried. "Brainy?" She waved a hand in front of his unmoving eyes. "Brainy? Oh God, I didn't break you, did I?" Before she could do anything else, her face was cupped in his hands as he kissed her. Nia squeaked in surprise, but then giggled as she kissed him back.

After what seemed like forever, they finally separated, gasping for breath. Brainy was still reeling from what was going on. Nia Nal kissed him. Nia Nal kissed him! Sure, she had kissed him before, but he hadn't wanted it back then as much as he wanted it now. He felt... fluttery, was the only way he could describe how he was feeling. Even as twelfth-level intellect, he was speechless. The only thing he could think of now, when he looked Nia Nal, her beautiful face and her eyes and her hair and her everything, was three simple words:

"I love you."