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#it's silly. it's fun. it's silly fun. i was just in a brainysupes sorta mood
owl-with-a-pen · 8 months
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Winn had been in the future for way too long, how else could he forget just how heavy Kara’s infamous game nights could be? Add Lena and Alex to the equation as the worst enablers in history and he was certain he’d have a wicked hangover come morning.
But, hey, this was a party, and he was only back in the twenty-first century for a couple of days. So, consequences be damned, he was going to make every second count.  
At least, that’s what Drunk Winn thought. Future Winn, well, he might have had some choice words to say on the matter.
Good thing he was living in the present.
Winn was in no way close to being the worst offender of the night, he could thank his very human alcohol tolerance for that. That being said, games requiring strategy - or even general dexterity - were well beyond anyone’s ability right about now. So, they’d all taken to the floor of Kara’s apartment - some in better states than others.
Lena was the only one who had kept the high ground up on the sofa, wine glass deftly balanced between three fingers as she curled snugly into her chosen corner.
Down on the ground with the common folk, the couples had predictably coupled together. Kelly was lazing across Alex’s lap, resting her head against the cushions that weren’t currently being occupied by Lena’s legs. On the other side of the coffee table, Nia and Brainy sat arm to arm, an impressive hoard of snacks littered around them.
It was in that blissfully intoxicated state that Kelly had proposed the terrible idea of playing a game far less taxing to the ol' thinker: truth or dare.
Winn had expected outrage, a cacophony of booing, at least one person begging they switch to Netflix instead of trialling more party games – especially of the high school variety.
What he hadn’t expected was to find himself lured into an impromptu circle not ten seconds later, an empty beer bottle poised at the centre like a deadly snake ready to snap. Kelly had been immensely pleased with herself.
Guess Alex was rubbing off on her, now Winn had three enablers he had to worry about.
Thirty minutes and half a solo cup of questionable liquid later and so far, so good, Winn had yet to divulge any timeline altering secrets to the party. He had a pretty airtight plan to avoid that, in actual fact. It was a simple execution: he just avoided 'truth' at all costs.
Oh, the things he’d done already for those damned dares. He still wasn’t sure where his left shoe was. Or his Legion ring.
Another Future Winn problem. For right now, none of that mattered, especially when it was his turn to spin again. Winn couldn’t say his spin had been very eloquent; the bottle travelled impressively slow, a hollow warble echoing from the empty glass until, eventually, the bottle’s neck came teetering to a halt in front of one unsuspecting Coluan.
The second the bottle stopped, Brainy peered down at it as though its very presence had personally offended him. Winn smothered a snort with his hand. He’d been lucky to avoid the bottle’s judgement so far, but even a twelfth level intellect’s luck ran out eventually.
Unable to contain his glee any longer, Winn grinned broadly. “Well, well, well, Querl Dox,” he announced, slapping his free hand against his knee, “we haven’t heard much from you tonight. So, what’ll it be, buddy? Truth or dare?” He pointed to Brainy with an overgenerous hand, slopping the contents of his cup across his wrist in the process.
“Winn!” Alex scolded.
Winn rolled his eyes. “Alright, alright!” he said, making a show of putting the cup down. He wasn’t surprised when Alex thrust him a handful of paper towels to clean up his mess.
While Winn mopped up his sleeve and a good portion of the floor, Brainy sat with rigid posture as he pensively observed his options. His eyes flittered towards the ground, then back up again. Once or twice, he caught Nia’s gaze, who smiled at him encouragingly, brushing her hand across his knee. Her superhero name had never been more deceiving – it looked like Dreamer was the brightest eyed of the bunch by miles. The only close contender was Brainy, although it wasn’t a particularly high bar overall. With the alien grade alcohol sat between them, Winn knew for a fact that neither one of them was particularly sober.
Eventually, Brainy narrowed his eyes, lifting his head. “Very well,” he said, puffing out his chest as though he’d just volunteered himself for a suicide mission. “I choose truth.”
Winn’s eyes widened in surprise. Well damn, maybe he had.
He’d sort of expected Brainy to pick dare like just about every other superhero sat around the circle. The only outlier was Lena, who had promptly bowed out of the game before it had even started, electing to act as umpire from her perch on the sofa.
Winn drummed his fingers together beneath his chin. It was rare that he was ever given the opportunity to ask Brainy something that – barring certain prohibited topics – he’d answer honestly and without hesitation. Whatever he asked still had to match the vibes of the game, of course. In which case, he knew he had to play this safe.
“What to ask the smartest person in the room,” Winn wondered aloud, mostly to buy some time. The truth was, there wasn’t much he could ask that was game-night appropriate – otherwise, he wouldn’t get a fun answer. And he really wanted a fun answer.
Which only left, well, the most generic of all high school truth or dare questions.
A devious smile spread along Winn’s face. He could make that work.
“I’ve got it,” he declared, leaning in as though he was the one about to divulge a secret. “So, Querl, tell us, who was your first kiss?”
Everyone loudly oooo’d at that. Everyone except for Nia, who grinned mischievously into her cup. “This is gonna be good,” she muttered, taking a sip.
Brainy, however, looked vaguely wounded at the question posed. Picking up on his discomfort, Nia ditched her cup and took her boyfriend’s hand instead, squeezing his fingers reassuringly.
“Is it too late to change my answer?” Brainy asked.
“Absolutely,” Alex and Kelly said together.
“No take-backs, those are the rules,” Lena reminded him with a wink.
“You’re not even playing!” Kara objected.
“C’mon,” Nia said, bumping Brainy’s shoulder. “You told me, it won’t break the timeline.”
Winn eyed her suspiciously, but Nia only shrugged, offering him a not-so innocent look that very much read wait and see.
Fortunately, they didn’t have to wait for very long. Nia’s guiding touch seemed to be the final element required to sway him, and with an awkward shuffle so that he could gain closer access to the circle, Brainy lowered his voice to them all. “So long as it does not leave this room,” he told his friends with critical seriousness. “Can I count on you to uphold that?”
“Jeez, Brainy, now you have to tell us,” Alex said. “We promise.”
A volley of promises followed Alex’s, and although Winn could confidently say that no one here was sober enough to be believably reliable, it seemed Brainy was just drunk enough to trust in their honesty anyway.
“Very well,” he said, leaning in a little further. Collectively, everyone else did the same. Alex even removed a very disgruntled Kelly from her lap just so she could get a better angle on the action.
Winn scooped up his drink, coddling it close to his chest in anticipation.
Brainy took a deep breath, keeping his eyes trained to the centre of the circle. “The first kiss I ever had was with… Kal-El.”
The reaction was instantaneous.
Kara spat her drink straight back into her glass. Winn damn-near choked on his. He coughed, only to jerk when Alex clapped him so hard on the back that he felt his teeth rattle inside his head.
Up on the sofa, Lena stared on with a coy look of approval.
“Kal-El?” Winn repeated, his voice barely a squeak. When Brainy didn’t even try to elaborate, Winn cleared his throat viciously enough to burn. “Tell me you are not talking about the Kal-El… as-as in Clark Kent, Kara’s cousin, literal Superman?”
“Told you this was gonna be good,” Nia said.
Winn turned to her incredulously. “And you knew about this?”
Nia smirked. “No secrets, remember?” She tapped her cup with Brainy’s whose green skin was quickly beginning to darken into an awkward blush.
Winn shook his head, paused, then drained the last of his drink in one solid gulp. The fire in his lungs at least cleared some of the static in his brain. Or made it worse. At this point, it was hard to tell. “Woo boy,” he gasped out, “first off, I am jea-lous. Second, I have questions.”
“Truth or dare only permits one question per round,” Brainy cautioned, his voice tight.
“Screw that, I want the juicy details!”
“Seconded,” Lena said swiftly.
“Thirded.” Alex tipped her glass towards Brainy.
“Traitor!” Kara cried, shoving her sister playfully on the shoulder.
Alex scoffed, “What? He’s not my cousin!”
“Let’s call this part 1b of a multi-layered question, ‘kay?” Winn said, scootching forward. He’d practically thrown himself into the centre of the circle by now. “How was it? Was it more than once? Oh my god, when did this even happen?”
“A long time ago,” Brainy said, somewhat gravely. “We were both teenagers at the time, Kal—Clark, visited the future on several occasions when he was still learning to utilise his powers. He trained with us, for a time. And… we grew close.”
“So wait, you guys were actually an item? How has no one in the Legion ever mentioned this to me?”
“It didn’t last long,” Brainy said quickly. He lowered his gaze, raising his shoulder in a half shrug. “It couldn’t. Clark belonged in the twenty-first century to ensure the present day of the thirty-first.”
Nia bit her lip. When it was clear Brainy was done explaining, she cleared her throat. “Also… for our present to exist, a lot of Clark’s time in the future had to be erased from his memory.”
Kara’s face fell suddenly. “Oh, Brainy…”
Unperturbed, Winn raised an eyebrow. “So how far did it go? Are we talking just kissing or did you find out how hard the Man of Steel really is?”
“Oh Rao,” Kara groaned, throwing herself onto her feet. “That’s it, I’m going out to get more snacks.”
“It’s nearly two in the morning,” Alex said, frowning down at her watch as though this was news to her, too.
“Not in Paris it isn’t,” Kara announced with forced cheer. “At least from there, I won’t be able to hear any more of this conversation.”
“Can I get a croissant?” Winn asked, batting his eyelashes.
“Croissants aren’t for traitors,” Kara said, ruffling his hair. She patted Brainy’s shoulder as she crossed to the door, offering him a gentle smile before she sped out of the room.
In the awkward silence that followed, Kelly cleared her throat, looking over to Nia with a wince. “Sorry, is this whole thing weird for you, too?”
Nia laughed abruptly, shaking her head. “What? No way, I literally asked the exact same questions when he first told me. Believe me, you’re gonna have to try a lot harder before I start hearing anything new.”
“Well in that case,” Winn said, turning his grin back on Brainy. “What was Supes like in the sheets?”
Brainy only offered a strained smile in response, leaning helplessly towards Nia. “It appears we have opened a can of worms,” he muttered.
Nia wound her arm around his back sympathetically. “Only answer what you want,” she said, resting her head against his shoulder. “I’ll put them all to sleep if they get too nosy.”
“Uh, you know we can hear you, right?” Winn said.
Nia raised her free hand in warning, vibrant springs of dream energy already coiling around her fingers. “You know that was a threat, right?”
Winn lifted his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay, well received. But seriously, Brainy, what was it like dating Superman?”
Brainy rolled his eyes, reaching for the nearest bottle and taking a lengthy swig from it.
Winn’s grin widened. It looked like things really were about to get juicy.
Thank God they had the rest of the night. Something told him this was going to be a long story.
And it would require an even longer recovery.
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