"Together. Yes.." said Brainy. "That's what has to change."
"I-I don't understand," she stuttered.
Nia replayed the conversation in her head again, trying to make sense of it. All she wanted for him was to be himself. And if that meant he couldn't be with her, that was fine.
Well, it hurt, but maybe she could understand.
Maybe if he had just told her why.
All of his decisions seemed to be based on logic, so why couldn't he at least tell her what made him do this?
She realized she had been standing there, staring at the door, for the past five minutes. She walked to her bedroom, changed into pajamas, and crawled into bed.
Alone.
She had gotten so used to his warmth, his presence, and now that he was gone... it was just empty.
Was it something she had done? Maybe he felt like she had been trying to suppress his true self, even though all she ever wanted was the opposite.
All the times he told her he loved her... was it a lie? How long had she been making him want to end things?
What had she done wrong?
The shock began to wear off and the tears started coming. Soon, she was curled up and sobbing.
She felt selfish for feeling this way. Maybe Brainy would finally be the person he wanted to be, just as she wanted.
But she had always thought she would be with him no matter what.
She couldn't even tell how she felt. Nia wanted to be angry about the lack of explanation but this was Brainy. She loved him, even though it hurt.
Nia didn't remember falling asleep, but she woke up the next morning, she woke up to the sunlight streaming through the window. She had forgotten to set an alarm and overslept.
She rushed into the bathroom to get ready, but when she looked in the mirror, her eyes were red and slightly swollen. It would take more skills than she had with makeup to completely cover it, but she did the best she could.
A half-hour later, she arrived at Catco. She desperately hoped Andrea didn't notice her absence, and she was in luck. Andrea was at her desk speaking with William and hadn't noticed her extremely late entrance. Nia got to her desk and started working on the latest fashion article.
Kara was passing by and rushed over to Nia, who barely glanced at her.
"Nia, are you okay? You were late, which is so unlike you and I was worried you had been attacked, or-"
"Kara," said Nia turning in her chair, "I'm perfectly fine."
"Nia, have you been crying? Who did this to you?"
"No one, Kara, I'm fine, just leave me alone!" snapped Nia. She felt awful as soon as the words left her mouth. Kara had just been trying to help.
"If you won't tell me, then I'm calling Brainy, and you know he'll come in here and do something embarrassing again."
"Go ahead," replied Nia flatly. "See if he bothers to come." Her voice shook a little on the last part, and she hated it.
"Nia, did something happen with you and Brainy? After he took off the inhibitors?"
Nia stopped typing. If she let it all out to Kara, there was a chance that she wouldn't be able to keep it together.
"Brainy broke up with me last night," said Nia, trying to sound nonchalant.
"What!? Why would he do that? I mean you two were so...you know, in love and what not! He was obsessed with you and practically stalked you after you met," Kara said, shocked.
"I really don't want to talk about this at work, but it's fine. I always told him he could be himself around me, but I guess that didn't work out so well. It's going to be okay," said Nia.
Kara took Nia's hand. "I'm here for you if you need me. You know that, right?"
"Yeah," replied Nia, smiling. "Thank you."
Kara went back to her desk and Nia continued to work on the fashion reports.
At five, Nia packed up and left. She hadn't eaten lunch and got everything done earlier than usual, which was good, since she needed a little time alone.
She got home and heard voices. It sounded as though they were coming from her apartment! She was immediately on the alert and put on her dream-power gloves-the gloves that Brainy had designed for her.
She unlocked the door and paused. The voices had stopped, but just before she opened the door, there was a small thud from someone in the apartment, followed by silence. There was definitely someone, if not more than one person in her home.
Nia took a deep breath and opened the door, raising her gloved hand, which was glowing with dream energy.
She found herself face to face with Kelly, Alex, and Kara. Kara was holding five boxes of pizza.
It was from the same place where she had met Brainy, she noted with sadness.
Why did everything have to remind her of him?
"Surprise! We heard what happened and brought you dinner," said Kelly, enveloping Nia in a hug.
"And drinks," added Alex, holding three bottles of liquor.
"Guys, I appreciate the food, but you didn't need to do all of this!" exclaimed Nia.
"It was about time we came to see you anyway, there have been far too many missions without you lately," said Kara.
"Really, it was just a breakup. You don't need to make a big deal over it," said Nia. She just didn't want to think about it, and she couldn't do that with the three of them there.
"We know. But we're family, and we're going to be here for you whether you like it or not," said Kara, pulling her into a hug. Kelly joined them and dragged Alex with her.
Nia felt tears pricking the back of her eyes. She remembered her real family, Maeve, who had also said she'd be there for Nia, but wasn't.
Kara squeezed her tightly as if she sensed where her thoughts had gone.
"We're not going anywhere," she whispered.
"Thank you," said Nia, meaning it more than they could know.
A/N: Thank you LittleMixFirey for your request! I have more one-shots on AO3, I just never really got around to posting them. I'll try to update more often for you guys though. :)
