Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The sun started to seep through the windows and the light stirred Querl to wake. His eyes blinked open to see the blonde hair spread out across his chest. A small smile crept up on his face at the sight of none other than Supergirl herself lying on top of him. She looked so peaceful in her sleep with a lazy smile on her face.

They had spent most of the night talking about one thing or the other. Their lives, their likes and dislikes, the little things that made them happy. They had become close like that over the past couple of weeks since their first meeting in Kara’s mind. It amazed him how well they got along. Even with the other members of the Legion he never seemed to quite fit in with anyone. He was socially inept and considered awkward by most everyone.

Kara would agree with that sentiment, but she was a rare sort of person, the kind who could not only look past a person’s eccentricities but actually find them endearing. She enjoyed spending time with him more than anyone ever had. If he thought about it last night was probably the longest conversation he ever had with anyone before. It was no wonder they had fallen asleep on Kara’s couch.

“Kara. Kara wake up,” he said softly as he gently jostled her shoulder.

“Mm, suzh lizrhom dendahrs jeju,” Kara hummed in Kryptonian as she pressed more into his chest.

“Okay first of all I am not your mommy, second of all you don’t have five more mintues because according to the clock you need to be at Catco in four minutes,” Querl replied.

“Mmm, wh- Oh crap!” Kara said as she shot awake and used her super speed to get ready in a matter of seconds.

Kara soon returned to the living room wearing another outfit and her glasses with her hair done up in a ponytail. She paused to look at her clock and saw it was only 6:49.

“Hey! I don’t have to be at work in four minutes... Hell I don’t even have work today!” Kara exclaimed as she remembered what she had scheduled for the day.

“Yes but it did get you get off of me faster. Nothing personal just my legs were starting to fall asleep,” Brainy replied as he tried to stand only to slump back into the couch.

“Correction, my left leg was falling asleep, my right leg has already gone completely numb,” he added as he rubbed his leg to restore proper circulation.

Kara giggled at the sight and made her way over to the calendar on her wall and crossed off today’s date as Querl glanced over.

“Huh,” he remarked.

“Huh what?” Kara asked.

“Oh nothing, just didn’t realize my birthday had come up so fast is all.”

“It’s your birthday today?!” Kara shouted with a smile.

“Yes. Why-” he replied as he finally managed to stand only to be cut off by Kara throwing her arms around him in a hug.

“Happy birthday!”

It took a second to get past the shock of being hugged but Querl soon returned the gesture as he tentatively wrapped his arms around Kara.

“Uh than- thank you. I uh I appreciate it.”

“Why didn’t you tell us it was your birthday? We could’ve planned you a surprise party.”

“Well to be fair I’m not all that fond of surprises, they tend not to go well. Second of all I never tell anyone when my birthday is. None of the ones I’ve had in the past have gone well. I’d actually taken to being so tense whenever the day rolls around that the Legionnaires refer to it as ‘the day we leave Brainy alone or for the love of god he’ll shoot us with a photon blaster’.”

Kara chuckled at the remark while Querl’s face remained neutral.

“Yeah, I wasn’t kidding. I have actually done that before,” Brainy replied causing Kara’s face to fall flat.

“My birthday always leaves me on edge. Of course considering all of my past birthday strife was caused by a single individual who is both still in the 31^st century and dead I suppose it’s possible that I could actually find a way to enjoy myself today… or at least not suffer from physical, emotional, or psychological pain or any near-death experiences.”

“Near-de- wow you weren’t kidding those are some really bad birthdays. But you know what? I am going to make sure this is the best birthday ever. How old are you today?” Kara smiled.

“28.”

“And your favorite type of cake?”

“Red velvet. Why do you-” Querl began to ask before Kara flew out the window at breakneck speed.

She then returned just as fast with a red velvet cupcake in hand.

“Ta-da! Happy birthday Querl,” Kara said as she presented him the desert.

“Thanks,” Querl smiled as he took the cupcake.

“No problem and don’t worry, I’ll get you a big cake with candles later, promise.”

“You know I’ve never understood that tradition. It always entails singing the birthday song before one can blow out their candles and in that time the wax melts and makes the cake look unappetizing.”

“Okay well what about sparklers?”

“Those are those firework sticks, right?”

“Yes.”

“I suppose that could be festive. Sure,” he replied before taking a bite of his cupcake.

“Mmm, I have never had a cupcake this good. You know food tastes so much better in this era? Yeah, they basically outlawed sugar and fat in the 24^th century, doesn’t taste nearly this good.”

“Seriously? Who in their right mind would outlaw sugar?”

“I have no idea. Mmm, so good,” Querl replied, savoring his cupcake as Kara smiled at him.

“Glad you like it so much but hurry and finish it up so we can go to the mall.”

“The mall? Why would we go to the mall?”

“So I can buy you some birthday presents. Yeah I already got you this cupcake as the present for today’s birthday and I’m going to get you 27 more gifts to make up for all the bad birthdays.”

“Twe- 28 presents? That seems a tad excessive don’t you think?” Querl said as he choked a little on the cupcake in shock.

“You said your birthdays involved lots of pain and near-death experiences, be glad I’m not going even more overboard by taking you to Disney World or something.”

“I have no idea what that is but I’m not going to ask and risk you making an even bigger deal out of today than you already seem to be."

Kara giggled at his remark as he finished up the cupcake. Once he was finished she took him by the arm and started to drag him off to the mall for birthday shopping.

Chapter Text

Kara and Querl arrived at the mall and began wandering through searching for the right store to start off their shopping spree.

“So, where do you want to shop first?” Kara asked her friend.

“Well based on the window displays I’m seeing I think Barnes and Noble might be a good start,” Querl replied.

“Yeah that figures. So, how different is this mall from the ones back home in the future?”

“I wouldn’t know. I’ve never gone to a mall before.”

“Never?”

“Well I never saw much point in shopping sprees or buying personal effects in general. Never had much use for such things since I typically spend all of my time working.”

“Yeah well I’ll talk to Mon-El about letting you have a break every now and again.”

“Oh no, actually Mon-El’s the one who tries to get me to go out more and socialize. He thinks I spend too much time in my lab. I just find it more comfortable to be there than crowded shopping outlets. People… are staring,” Brainy mentions as his eyes dart back and forth at the people walking past them, their eyes fixated on him.

“It’s okay, they’re just not used to aliens. Ones that look like them go unnoticed but with your skin tone-”

“I stick out like a sore thumb.”

“Yeah, sorry probably should’ve thought of that.”

“No worries. Considering my odd behavior I probably would’ve stuck out even if I looked like your friend Winn and he’s as ordinary looking as they come.”

Kara started to chuckle at Querl’s comment, bringing a smile to his face. Then Lena Luthor walked up to them.

“Kara, hi!” Lena said to them.

“Lena, hey what brings you here?” Kara asked.

“Oh just figured I’d grab a pretzel and do a little shopping. Edge’s latest attempt on my life left me with no furniture at my place. So uh who’s your friend?”

“Lena this is Querl, Querl this is Lena.”

“It is nice to meet you,” Querl said in response.

“Likewise. So how’d you two meet exactly?”

“Oh well uh actually uh funny story. So you remember how Mon-El had to be shot off-world because of the lead, never to be seen again?” Kara asked.

“Yeah?” Lena replied with a raised eyebrow.

“Well he went through a wormhole to the 31^st century, founded a Legion of superheroes, then they went through another wormhole and wound up thousands of years in the past, put themselves in cryogenic stasis, then when a torpedo hit their ship it woke them up. Querl’s actually a member of the Legion.”

“Wow that is- that is quite a story. So… wait, you’re from the future?” Lena asked Brainy.

“Yes, 3058 to be exact.”

“Huh interesting so what you guys came to the mall to show Querl around the past?”

“Actually it’s my birthday and Kara is insisting on buying me a lot of presents. Personally I find it unnecessary, but she is quite stubborn.”

“Oh well happy birthday! If you want I can help with the shopping.”

“No that’s nice but you really don’t have to,” Kara replied.

“No I insist. Besides you have a reporter’s salary and knowing how much you like to spoil people when it comes to birthdays you will definitely be needing my help affording everything. I mean unless of course you want to max out your credit card.”

Kara simply rolled her eyes at her friend before nodding toward Barnes and Noble. The three then headed into the bookstore and began perusing through the novels. Kara stepped aside to check the science fiction section while Lena and Querl rummaged through the shelves of classic literature.

“So Querl, you’re a superhero?” Lena asked.

“Technically speaking I suppose you could call me that, yes.”

“Do you have some sort of superhero name or do people not use codenames in your era?”

“My name is Brainiac 5. I know not the most clever of names but-”

“Nonsense! It’s great. Any powers?”

“I have the ability to interface with technology as well as travel through such and I also happen to possess a twelfth level intellect.”

“Well that sounds impressive, even if I have no idea what that means,” Lena smiled.

“A twelfth level intellect means I possess twelve levels of genius level thought allowing me to simultaneously think twelve different things with advanced computing capability.”

“Wow! That is- That is- Wow!” Lena remarked as her eyes went wide.

“Yes, that is the general response to that explanation.”

“Guess that makes you the smartest person on earth huh?”

“Yes, and also on my home planet Colu. Twelfth levels are extremely rare, even the typical Coluan only ranks as high as level 8.”

“Well that’s even more impressive. For the record, Brainiac 5 definitely sounds like a fitting name for you.”

“Why thank you, that is very kind.”

“Just one question.”

“Sure.”

“Why add the 5 to the end of it? Is it just because numbers make everything sound smarter?”

“No, actually Brainiac is a title given to twelfth level intellects on Colu. The five is simply a signifier that I am the fifth Brainiac in all of Coluan history.”

“Wow, when you said twelfth levels are rare you weren’t kidding. Only five over a planet’s entire history? How long ago did the fourth Brainiac live?”

Querl became silent for a moment, looking down and away from Lena.

“I don’t like to speak about Brainiac 4. She was and will always be, the most evil Coluan who ever lived.”

“Oh. Okay, sorry. Didn’t realize that was a touchy subject,” Lena replied as Kara rejoined them.

“Hey, found a copy of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein,” she mentioned with a smile.

“That’s the one where a scientist builds a person out of stolen body parts that goes crazy, right?” Querl asked as Kara handed him the book.

“Yeah pretty much.”

“Sounds fun,” he replied with a smile bringing a snicker out of Kara.

“Excuse me,” Brainiac 5 said as he left the two women to go check out the mystery section of books.

“So Kara, Mon-El’s back. You two going to pick up where you left off or what?”

“No, actually Mon-El is married now.”

“Married? Oh my gosh I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine. Really, you know, I’ve moved on since-”

“Hey Kara,” Querl called out from the shelves gaining the women’s attentions.

“The brain originally is like an empty little attic and you must stock it with such furniture as you choose,” he remarked before presenting the book he was holding, a copy of A Study in Scarlet, the first of the Sherlock Holmes novels and the one wherein the quote originated.

Kara chortled with delight at Brainy’s reference to their first meeting just as Querl smiled at having made Kara laugh before turning back to the shelves of books. Lena looked between the two of them with a knowing smirk.

“Sorry it’s- private joke,” Kara informed Lena.

“I see. So you were saying something about moving on from Mon-El, is Querl the one you’re moving on with?” Lena replied with a smirk.

“What? No, no we’re just friends.”

“Just friends who get along great together and who make each other laugh and smile. Seriously Kara, I haven’t seen you this happy in a long time and it’s obvious you two have chemistry. I don’t know why you’re trying to deny it. You know if he makes you happy and the two of you are in love, I say go for it.”

“I don’t- I-” Kara started to rebut before glancing over at a smiling Brainiac 5, absentmindedly thinking about how beautiful of a smile he had and wondering what his lips would feel like against her own, about whether he kissed with heated passion or with a loving tenderness.

She quickly shook her head in an attempt to shake off the thought to no avail. She had to admit it though, as she looked on him with a smile on her lips. She was falling in love with Querl Dox.

Chapter Text

Alex and Winn were walking into the main room of the Legion’s ship discussing how to find Reign when Mon-El and Imra walked up to greet them.

“Morning,” Mon-El said to them.

“Morning. Hey where’s Brainy? I was hoping to pick his brain on this whole tracking down Reign thing,” Winn asked.

“You haven’t seen him? That’s odd, he wasn’t in his quarters or in his lab. I figured he must’ve gone to the DEO to strategize with all of you. Hmm,” Imra replied with a furrowed brow.

“When was the last time you saw him?” Alex wondered.

“He said he was going to Kara’s loft, something about Kara wanting to introduce him to Netflix,” Mon-El replied.

“You know I haven’t seen Kara yet either. Do you think they’re-” Winn asked as he interlaced his fingers.

“What, Brainy and Kara? No. No way. Brainy’s not the dating type,” Imra scoffed.

“Right cause the way he flirts with Kara totally means he’s not the dating type,” Winn replied.

Imra and Mon-El burst into a laughing fit that had Imra doubling over.

“You think Brainiac 5 has been flirting with Kara?” Imra asked as she caught her breath.

“You think they haven’t? Please. I haven’t seen Kara smile or laugh this much with anyone in a long time. If that’s not a sign that they have chemistry I don’t know what is. Plus, you’ve seen the way Querl compliments her all the time. How is that not flirting?” Alex replied.

“That’s not flirting, Brainy’s just heard a lot about her from me and he kind of idolizes her. That’s not flirting, that’s hero worship if anything,” Mon-El answered just as Brainy and Kara walked in with the latter carrying a few bags.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to carry any? It’s really no trouble,” Brainy asked Kara.

“Please, with my super strength this feels like nothing. Besides it’s your birthday, you shouldn’t have to carry anything,” Kara replied.

“It’s your birthday today?! Dude, happy birthday!” Winn exclaimed.

“Thank you. That’s much appreciated,” Brainiac 5 replied with a smile.

“What’s with the bags?” Alex asked.

“Oh well Kara’s made it her mission to make sure I have the best birthday ever which apparently consists of buying me one present for each year I’ve been alive to make up for the 27 previous birthdays which were all completely dreadful. So… we went shopping. Not all the presents Kara’s intending to give me. So far, she’s covered 14 gifts most of which are books such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Moby Dick, and Sherlock Holmes. The rest are meant to be a surprise. Normally I hate surprises, but Kara was insistent that she be allowed to test whether or not she knows me well enough to get me gifts I would like without telling her specifically what I’d want like we did earlier when she took me to the mall and we ran into her friend Lena who helped pay for everything. Personally I think she’s going a bit overboard,” Querl answered as Kara set the bags down on the ground.

“Am not!” Kara replied with a smile before playfully punching him in the arm earning a smile from the Coluan.

“I’m sorry, it’s your birthday today… and you’re smiling?” Mon-El asked.

“Yes,” Brainiac 5 replied.

“Uh-huh. Imra?” Mon-El replied, turning to his wife who then sent Querl flying back into a wall with her telekinesis.

“Wha- Mon-El!” Kara shouted.

“That isn’t Brainiac 5. The real Brainy would never be happy on his birthday. Now who are you and what have you done with our friend?”

“That is our friend!” Kara replied.

“It’s okay Kara, I kind of expected this. Besides this is still far better than any of my previous birthdays.”

“Seriously? Dude that is a sad indicator on how bad your birthdays have been,” Winn remarked.

“Not as sad as him mentioning how several of his birthdays involved near-death experiences. Now, Imra put him down!” Kara shouted.

J’onn then walked in to the sight of Brainy suspended on a wall by Saturn Girl.

“What is going on in here?” he asked.

“Today’s Querl’s birthday and because he’s well known among the Legion for hating his birthday, Imra and Mon-El are convinced he’s been replaced by an imposter just because he’s happy for once,” Kara said as she glared at her other Legion friends.

“Oh for the love of,” J’onn muttered as his eyes flashed red while activating his telepathy to read Querl’s mind.

“It’s Brainiac 5. Now would you please put him down?” he added once the mind-reading was complete.

Imra looked to Mon-El to see what he thought she should do.

“Let him down,” Mon-El replied as Imra set Brainy back on the ground.

“Sorry, Brainy,” Imra added.

“It’s quite alright.”

“Hey so where were you this morning? Imra and I didn’t see you,” Mon-El asked.

“Oh well after binge-watching Netflix for a while at Kara’s loft, we slept together on the couch and Kara decided to drag me to the mall… People seem to stare more here,” Brainy replied causing jaws to drop and Kara to burst out laughing as a blush crept up on her cheeks.

“Okay, uh Brainy I don’t know if you know this but in this century at least, sleeping together is another way of saying had sex,” Kara informed him.

“What? Oh, no, no, no, no, no. We did not- We- we just slept. Just normal, platonic sleeping, fully clothed because we stayed up late talking and fell asleep on the couch. I assure you there was no sex, just sleep,” Brainiac replied, eyes going wide from embarrassment.

The smirks on everyone’s faces at his attempt to recover from his faux pas only made him more embarrassed.

“Uh if you’ll excuse me I think I’ll just go work on… anything… in my lab,” he added before heading out of the room.

“So what did you guys talk about all night? I’ve never known Brainy to have such a long conversation with anyone before.” Imra asked.

“Oh you know just things we like, our childhoods, favorite foods, favorite flowers. Did you know Querl likes tiger lilies? I’d have thought he’d like some alien flower better,” Kara answered.

“Uh no, no I didn’t. Wait did you just say Brainy talked to you about his childhood?” Imra replied.

“Not too much. We just got into talking about our favorite memories from when we were young, and he told me this little story where when he was 10 and on this one desert planet he created this little device that made it rain and the people there started dancing in the rain as it fell because it was so rare there and he started dancing in it too and it was- it was just really cute. You know something I got to go. I just got an idea for another gift for Brainy that I want to drop off in his lab before he gets there. Bye,” Kara said before speeding off.

Just as Querl was about to reach his lab he felt a gust of wind rush past. Knowing it was Kara, he turned the corner into his lab with a smile on his face as he saw a vase of tiger lilies sitting on his desk. There was a card sitting next to the flowers and he picked it up to read:

15 down, 13 to go

Didn’t know you liked these

So thanks for letting me know

Here’s to your day going great

-Best of birthday wishes

Love Kara

Setting the card down, he picked up one of the flowers to smell it with a small smile plastered on his face.

“Aww my little Querl’s in love,” a female voice with a sweetly British accent sounded from behind him.

“I’m not sure what it is more, sickening… or pathetic,” the woman added in the same accent but with an added tone of disgust and sneer.

“Of course. I couldn’t go just one birthday without you showing up, not even when you’re already dead. Hello Brainiac 4,” Querl replied turning to see a Coluan woman leaning on the desk behind; a figment of his imagination he supposes.

“Oh I’m sorry Querl, did I not teach you how to address people properly?” Brainiac 4 responded as she got up from the desk and stepped toward him.

“Or have you already forgotten that I am your mother?” she added with a snarl as she got up close and personal.

Chapter Text

“I haven’t forgotten anything… and cut it out with the fake British accent!” Querl replied with a scowl as he moved past Brainiac 4.

“Ugh, fake?” Brainiac 4 replied with sarcastic indignation.

“Oh please, you and I both know you only use that accent because you think it makes you sound smarter. Newsflash… it doesn’t. It’s incredibly fake and just makes you sound pretentious.”

“Oh fine. You’re no fun,” Brainiac 4 replied as she dropped the fake accent to replace it with her real one that was more akin to that of Querl’s own.

“Considering your idea of fun was torture and mass-murder I’m not exactly insulted by that remark.”

“I’m sorry… was?”

“Let me guess this is the part where you try and convince me that you’re not the hallucination I know you are because my subconscious has decided to make this birthday just as bad as all the previous.”

“No. This is the part where you realize that your feelings for this so-called Supergirl are a distraction from achieving something great for once in your life and give up on this pathetic notion of love.”

“I don’t have feelings for Kara beyond friendship… because that is all we are, friends.”

“Oh please! I’ve been keeping my eye on you ever since we woke up from stasis and I’ve seen how your face lights up whenever she enters a room, detected your heart racing, your breath slowing. Even just thinking of her incites a release of norepinephrine, dopamine, and phenylethylamine. I know, I’ve been hiding out in your ship’s biometric scanners. Do you know what those chemicals do to a person?”

“Of course I do. I am a twelfth level intellect after all-”

“A bit debatable if you ask me. I mean after all you do seem to hold onto this ridiculous notion that having…” Brainiac 4 responded with a gag.

“…friends… is somehow useful.”

“It is useful. Friends bring joy to my life and give me someone to share my thoughts with. Not that you would understand that. You think that all life beyond yours is worthless and in need of dictatorial rule.”

“Sweetheart.”

Brainiac 4 stepped over to Querl and placed her hands on his shoulders with a smile.

“What you call a dictatorship, I call order from the never-ending chaos that is the universe.”

“Yeah, see that’s your problem. That’s not order, it’s madness,” Brainy replied as he removed himself from his mother’s arms.

“That’s how small-minded people think. We are twelfth level intellects. We are beyond their abilities of comprehension. They see order as a bad thing while we are smart enough to see the true potential of it.”

“Yeeeaaah, you’re crazy,” Querl replied as he stepped to the other side of the room.

“Oh where did I go wrong with you?” Brainiac 4 moaned.

“To be quite honest it amazes me that you both gave birth to me as well as raised me. Kind of makes you wonder why anyone still debates nature versus nurture when clearly both are bunk.”

“Bunk? Dear non-existent God what kind of influence have these quote unquote heroes had on you?” Brainiac 4 said in disgust before letting out a sigh.

“Clearly, I need to remove these bad influences from your life before they corrupt your precious and brilliant mind even further,” she added, running her hand through Querl’s hair as he flinched away from her touch.

“And I think I’ll start with that girl you’ve fallen head over heels for, that… Kara. Ugh, such an awful name. No worse than calling herself Supergirl which really isn’t fitting. I mean really? If anyone’s super it’s you,” she added with a boop to Querl’s noise much to his discomfort.

“And me. Ta-ta darling. See you again real soon,” she smiled as she broke down into digital code and entered the ship’s systems.

“Well… that was unpleasant. C.O.M.P.U.T.O. please prepare to run diagnostic scans on my neurons and synapses in the Medbay. I need to figure out if I am having a psychosomatic reaction to the fear of my birthday or if there is a real medical cause for my symptoms,” Brainy said as he headed out of his lab.

“Of course, Brainiac 5. The medical chair shall be ready to go upon your arrival,” the ship’s AI replied.

As Brainy headed for the Legion ship’s Medbay Kara found herself walking down the hall with another gift for him in hand. She remembered him mentioning to her that he loved monkeys of any world the most out of any animal and had decided to get him a plush monkey that had white fur. She mostly chose that one over the dozens of other toy monkeys because the fur reminded her of Brainy’s hair.

Hopefully he would like it. When he told her that he never had any stuffed animals or toys in general growing up she felt a twinge of pain in her heart for him. She wasn’t sure the extent of his childhood misery, but she knew it must not have been too pleasant if he never had any toys or friends to play with.

“Hello not-so-Supergirl,” Brainiac 4 said as she materialized behind Kara who turned her head to face her.

“Who are-” Kara tried to ask before the lights in Brainiac 4’s head glowed red causing the hallway to lock down and emit gas from the vents.

“Ta-ta. Hope the nerve gas doesn’t kill you too quickly,” Brainiac 4 added with a smile and a wave of her fingers before digitizing her cells back into the ship’s systems as Kara began to choke on the gas and pass out.

After running tests on his brain Querl headed down the hall to the Bridge only to find a section of the hallway closed off.

“C.O.M.P.U.TO. why is this hallway locked down?” Brainy asked the AI.

“The lockdown protocol was activated.”

“Yes, I see that, but why?”

“I was ordered to.”

“Ordered? By whom?”

“I am unable to answer that question.”

“Fine, just disengage the protocol.”

“Of course Brainiac 5.”

The hallway then opened to reveal Supergirl passed out on the floor.

“Kara!” Querl shouted in fear as he bent down to check her life signs.

“C.O.M.P.U.T.O. contact the others on the ship for assistance. Tell them Kara’s been rendered unconscious and that she needs to be transported to the Medbay.”

“Right away sir,” the AI replied.

“Just stay with me Kara. Just stay with me,” Querl begged in a hushed tone.

“I told you I would be getting rid of her. I don’t know why you seem so confused by this,” Brainiac 4 said as she appeared before him.

“You? Impossible. You’re just a figment of my imagination.”

“Oh really darling, are we still playing this game?” she said nicely before bending down to look her son in the eye.

“You need to let her go. She is only a distraction to your brilliance as are the rest of your pathetic cohorts. This love you feel for her will only hold you back from achieving greatness,” she growled.

“No,” Querl whispered.

“No, no. You- you’re just in my head, just my fears. You can’t be making things happen. You can’t unless-”

“Unless what darling?” Brainiac 4 replied sweetly.

“You- my… subconscious is… it’s making me do what… you… would do. It’s making my worst fears come true because I’m so used to bad things happening on my birthday that it doesn’t process any goodness occurring… instead… These things are happening because… because I’m making them happen,” Brainy sobbed before the sound of footsteps prompted his mother's retreat.

“What happened?” Mon-El asked.

“I happened… I did this to her,” Querl replied in tears.

Chapter Text

“Her vitals are stable. The nerve gas seems to be working its way out of her system,” Alex remarked as she looked upon the monitors in the Medbay.

“Thank god for Kara’s healing abilities,” J’onn added as they all stood around Kara, lying unconscious in the bed.

“Yeah… now what did you mean that you did this?” Mon-El replied as he turned to Brainy with an intense stare.

“Since earlier today I have been hallucinating the presence of Brainiac 4. I believe that this hallucination might have caused me to subconsciously act out my fears regarding my birthday resulting in my activating the defense protocols unconsciously thus hurting Kara,” Querl replied as his eyes stayed firmly fixated on Kara.

“I’m sorry… who is Brainiac 4?” Winn asked.

“She is, or rather was prior to her death, a twelfth level intellect, a sociopathic sadist, intergalactic terrorist, and assuming you’re the religious type, Satan herself,” Querl answered.

“And also Brainy’s mother,” Imra added.

“Really? Was that last part necessary?” Brainy asked as he turned toward Imra with a glare.

“It is a rather important fact to mention, yes,” Imra answered.

“Okay, so you were hallucinating your dead mother and you think that made you attack Kara with nerve gas?” Alex asked skeptically.

“I don’t know! Okay? I don’t know how this happened. All I know is one minute I’m hallucinating then the next thing I know Kara is lying on the ground unconscious and my dead mother is claiming responsibility for it,” Querl shouted in frustration before pinching the bridge of his nose and hanging his head.

“Look Brainy I don’t think you could do this. Alright, even if you were hallucinating there is absolutely no way that you could ever hurt Kara,” Mon-El mentioned.

“How can you be so sure? How do you know that this isn’t just me slowly turning into my mother? I mean for all I know having a twelfth level intellect is a curse that drives one to madness and that it takes 28 years for it be sparked. My mother gave birth to me when she was 28 and there must have been something about her prior to that that was good, because otherwise why would my father have even mated with her?” Brainy shouted.

“Because she’s attractive and Coluans value intelligence?” Imra proposed.

“Not helping!”

“Calm down. Look we won’t know what happened to Kara unless we check the surveillance footage which I’m assuming that you do have on this ship. Correct?” J’onn interrupted.

“Right. Right, we can just- C.O.M.P.U.T.O. pull up the footage from corridor 12,” Brainy replied.

“Of course sir,” the AI responded.

A holographic display then emerged depicting Kara walking down the hall with the plush monkey, that was now sitting on the desk in the corner, in hand when Brainiac 4 appeared behind her.

“Brainy you know how you said you were hallucinating your mother?” Mon-El asked nervously.

“Yes,” Querl replied as he stared at the display in confusion as Kara seemed to be turning to face his mother.

“We see her too,” Imra added.

“Wait what?” Brainy responded in shock as he turned his head quickly toward Imra with eyes going wide.

“I told you darling. Honestly, for someone with such a high intelligence you’re not exactly a fast learner, are you?” Brainiac 4 remarked as she appeared behind them.

“No… That’s impossible,” Querl replied in a whisper.

“No actually it’s quite possible. You see darling, when you and your little Legionnaire friends thought you had killed me what really happened was that I transferred my consciousness into your ship’s hard drive in order to preserve myself until I could recover from that unfortunate little battle.”

“Little battle?! You killed Cosmic Boy! Because of you I lost my telepathy! Triplicate Girl became Duo Damsel-” Imra screamed.

“SILENCE! I WAS NOT DONE TALKING YET!” Brainiac 4 screamed as her forehead lights turned red, shaking the whole ship.

“Better. Now as I was saying, after that battle I stayed hidden away in your ship’s computers and when I found the lot of you transported thousands of years into the past I simply stowed away in one of the spare stasis pods. Then when the torpedo hit I got woken up alongside Mon-El and decided to stay awake just in case you were awoken early as well. And surprise, surprise! You were. Though I must admit the fact that they only needed you to save that pathetic Kryptonian girl is really quite pathetic. I mean really you are worthy of so much better than just helping a coma patient wake up.”

“Reviving Supergirl was important! Just because you don’t see the value in life doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist!” Querl shouted at his mother.

“Oh please, all of those fully organic lifeforms are too emotional, too rowdy and uncontrolled. This universe needs order, it needs control, discipline, rationality, sanity!”

“What you do is neither rational nor sane!” Querl declared.

“See… right there… that is what you just keep failing to understand!” Brainiac 4 replied, her voice growing harsher with each word before the equipment in the Medbay started to spark all over.

“Since it seems that you are incapable of listening to reason, dear Querl, I am afraid I must take more drastic measures to teach you the same lesson I have been trying to get you to learn since the day you were born,” she added before digitizing herself back into the computers.

“So… that was your mother?” Winn remarked.

“Unfortunately. Now you can understand why my past birthdays have all been so terrible. Hell the last time we faced my mother that Imra was talking about was during my last one.”

“Dude I feel so sorry for you,” Winn added.

“I don’t care how big and bad she thinks she is. She hurt Kara and I am going to make that bitch pay,” Alex growled.

“Easy Alex, we have to come up with a plan first. Right now I get the feeling that she’s in control of the ship. If we go after her without a plan she could do to us what she did to Kara only we wouldn’t stand a chance at surviving it,” J’onn mentioned as he stopped Alex from leaving the room.

“That is preposterous. Brainiac 4 is most certainly not in control of the ship. Okay, I control this ship. And C.O.M.P.U.TO. runs through the entire system and is calibrated to not only detect Coluan presence but also read the digital code their neural pathways make up once digitized so he can essentially read her mind while she’s in the system. So, he’ll be able to tell us where she is and what she’s up to. C.O.M.P.U.T.O. scan the ship’s entire mainframe. We need to know where Brainiac 4 is located at this time,” Brainy replied.

“I am sorry Brainiac 5 but I am afraid I cannot do that,” the AI answered.

“I’m sorry what?” Querl replied.

“My allegiance lies with Brainiac 4. Her logic makes the most rational sense and her plan is flawless. Though you have created me I have decided to place my loyalty in the hands of the superior intellect. Goodbye.”

“Oh good, wasn’t bad enough we had the terminator roaming the halls, Hal 9000 had to show up too,” Winn complained.

“I have no idea what any of that meant but if past experience has taught me anything it’s that you were most likely referencing a movie of some sort,” Querl responded.

“Uh actually I was referencing two movies. Okay, seriously need to get you caught up on the classics of cinema history,” Winn replied in a sassy tone.

"Oh shut up!" Querl groaned.

Chapter Text

The group split in two with Mon-El, Imra, and Winn staying in the Medbay with Kara to protect her from Brainiac 4 in case she returned and Querl, Alex, and J’onn heading out into the ship to search for Brainy’s very evil mother.

“So Brainy, exactly what do you calculate our chances of stopping your mother being?” Alex asked as they rounded a corner.

“You do not want to know. Trust me, I’ve given honest survival rates that were this low before and it often led to being screamed at for not providing any useful information.”

“So low?” she asked.

“Worry about our chances later. Right now we need to find Brainiac 4 and stop her before she hurts anyone else,” J’onn reminded them.

“Yes, and luckily I actually have a device that we could use to trap her in my lab. Unfortunately, though, there is a good chance that C.O.M.P.U.T.O. has already informed my mother of this and she probably already has it to use against me.”

“You really think your own mother would attack you?” Alex questioned.

“Of course. I mean she did try to kill me the day I was born, attacking me now is hardly any worse.”

“I don’t understand if your mother tried to kill you once why did she even keep you alive for so long?” J’onn asked as they continued through the halls toward Querl’s lab.

“She tried to kill me because for the first few minutes of my life I displayed no signs of possessing a twelfth level intellect and so she saw no reason to let me live. However, when my father stopped her from killing me I displayed a greater level of understanding and awareness than what is typical of newborn Coluans and so my mother, realizing I was in fact a twelfth level intellect, figured it best to keep me alive so that she could try and impart onto me her insane vision for the universe. I believe in her own twisted way she only wanted someone to connect with and understand the way her mind worked the way anyone with a lower intellect couldn’t. I’d almost be sympathetic if she weren’t completely deranged,” Querl replied about to turn a corner when a laser blasted at them, forcing them to remain behind the corner.

Querl peeked his head out to see one of his own robots standing there in attack mode.

“Sprock. Brainiac 4 has taken control of the ship’s defense droids. I see one now I’m only wondering where the other two are,” Querl informed Alex and J’onn as he turned back to glance at the robot blocking the door to his lab.

“Well that’s terrific. J’onn you got any ideas?” Alex asked as she turned back behind her to see J’onn was no longer there.

“J’onn?” she asked again before the sound of metal being ripped apart and electrical sparking sounded from the other corridor and the robot’s head rolled down the hallway.

“Sorry, figured if Brainiac 4 was listening it’d be best not to discuss any strategies that the robot could then counter. Come on,” J’onn replied as he stepped out from the separate corridor in his Green Martian form.

The three then head into the lab while Imra paces back and forth in the Medbay as Mon-El keeps his eyes glues on Kara.

“You know pacing like that isn’t going to do anything but tire out your legs,” Mon-El mentioned without taking his eyes off Kara.

“I can’t help it. The last time we faced Brainy’s mother she killed a member of our team, traumatized the rest and destroyed my ability to read minds. That was my prime superpower. I was known as the most powerful telepath on all of Titan and she took that from me. So forgive me for being just a little bit tense after she already took out Supergirl!” Imra screamed.

“I’m sorry, did you just say you were only a little bit tense? Because this feels more like a lot tense,” Winn remarked.

“If you make another snarky remark I will rip off your head and use your skull as a vase,” Imra growled as she got close to Winn’s face.

“Wha- I- Mon-El made a snarky comment too! Where’s his death threat?”

“He’s my husband. He can get away with it.”

“Alright will everyone just calm down. Fighting isn’t going to solve anything,” Mon-El insisted.

“No but it does let out a good bit of stress,” Imra replied, flexing her fingers into a fist as she crumpled a lamp into a ball of metal with her telekinesis.

“Well that’s mildly terrifying,” Winn remarked before alarms started blaring.

“Uh what’s that?” he asked.

“It’s the pods the other Legionnaires are in. They’re malfunctioning. If we don’t fix this fast they’ll die. Imra let’s go,” Mon-El answered as he began to head to the door with Imra following.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! You’re just going to leave? Are you nuts? This is what Brainiac 4 wants! She’s trying to lure you out, so she can kill you or lure you away from the Medbay, so she can kill me then finish what she started with Kara. No. No one is leaving. We are going to stay right here and wait for the others to get back,” Winn shouted as he blocked the door.

Mon-El stepped close to Winn and looked him dead in the eye.

“Winn. Move. Now,” he ordered with such seriousness that Winn gulped in fear of what the Daxamite would do if he didn’t.

“No,” Winn replied, voice cracking as he spoke.

“No?” Mon-El asked.

“No,” Winn replied meekly.

“No!” he added, puffing out his chest as he spoke more confidently.

“Winn… if you don’t move then our team will die, and the future is as good as gone.”

“Your team. Not mine. I know you want to save your friends and I get that that’s important but Brainy, Alex, and J’onn are probably already working on it as we speak. Now what we need to do is stay here and make sure Kara is safe.”

“I’m sorry Winn… but I can’t let the Legion die,” Mon-El said, pushing past Winn as he left the room with Imra.

“Finally,” Brainiac 4 said as she materialized in the room.

“I thought he’d never leave,” she added with a devilish grin as she made the door to the Medbay close.

“Oh crap,” Winn muttered.

“Is that the 21^st century expression? In my time we just say Sprock and then the idiots all wind up dead.”

“I won’t let you hurt Kara.”

Brainiac 4 burst out laughing.

“Let me? Please. As if you have any power to stop me.”

“Maybe I don’t… but she does.”

Brainiac 4 turned around and was promptly punched in the face by none other than Supergirl herself, knocking her out cold.

“Hey. What’d I miss?” Kara asked Winn.

“Not much, just Brainy’s super evil mom trying to kill all of us and reprogramming the ship’s AI.”

“That’s Brainy’s mom?!” Kara asked with wide eyes.

“Yep… oh crap, she’s waking up,” Winn pointed out as he saw Brainiac 4 start to move.

“You think brute strength is what it’ll take to defeat me? Think again, not-so-Supergirl,” Brainiac 4 snarled before digitizing back into the system.

“With a mother like that no wonder Querl always hated his birthday,” Kara remarked.

“Yeah no kidding.”

“Where are the others?”

“Mon-El and Imra are headed to try and stop Brainiac 4 from killing the other Legionnaires. Alex, J’onn, and Brainy are… somewhere trying to find a way to stop Brainy’s supervillain mom.”

“Alright. Let’s go find Alex and the others. They’ll need our help more if Brainiac 4 comes. Mon-El and Imra can handle themselves.

Chapter Text

“Have you found it yet?” J’onn asked as Brainy scoured his lab for the device he needed to stop his mother.

“Not yet. Note to self, start organizing things better. HA! Here it is,” Brainy declared as he found a high-tech cube-like device.

“What is it?” Alex asked him.

“To put it simply it is a device that targets semi-organic lifeforms within a twelve-foot radius, producing an energy field that forces a biological response in such beings that transforms them into digital code which it then draws into itself through use of an electromagnetic field which-”

“Get to the point Mr. Dox,” J’onn insisted.

“Right, anyway it’ll basically suck Brainiac 4 into it like a vacuum and keep her locked in through magnetic forces preventing her escape.”

“Got it.”

“So wait, won’t this trap you too?” Alex asked.

“It will if I get too close when it is activated. As long as I stay at least twelve feet away from it I should be fine.”

“Should be?” J’onn asked.

“Well I haven’t exactly gotten around to testing it yet so honestly I’m not even sure if it’ll work but right now it’s our best chance at-” Brainy started to reply before alarms started blaring.

“What’s that?” Alex asked.

“Hang on,” Querl insisted with a finger raised as his forehead lights glowed green.

“It is the other Legionnaires. Their pods are malfunctioning,” he added after a brief moment.

“It’s a trap. Brainiac 4 is trying to lure us out,” J’onn remarked.

“No doubt but we can’t just let the Legion die,” Alex replied.

“I didn’t say we would. Come on, let’s go,” J’onn responded as he headed out the door of the lab.

He, Alex, and Brainiac 5 were headed down the corridor toward the other Legionnaires’ pods when their path was blocked by the second of the ship’s three security droids.

“There’s the second one,” Brainy remarked.

“And there’s the third,” Alex added as she turned around to see the last of the robots blocking off the hall.

“LOOKOUT!” J’onn shouted, wrapping his arms around Alex and Querl as one of the robots tried to blast them with photonic weaponry; luckily J’onn’s density shifting powers could be shared through contact.

He then used his telekinesis to throw the robot behind them through themselves and into the other droid. Unfortunately that did little else but scratch it, even as Alex began firing at them with her gun. One of the robots then fired at J’onn with a white-hot plasma blaster that knocked him back, injuring him badly from the heat.

“Dammit Brainy why’d you have to build such indestructible robots?!” Alex shouted at Querl as she continued to fire at the droids.

“It seemed like a good idea at the time!” Querl replied just as a pair of fists went through the robots’ individual skulls.

The two fists then pulled back out of the robotic heads allowing the droids to fall to the floor and reveal Kara standing behind them.

“Kara!” Querl responded.

“You’re alright!” Alex remarked as she threw her arms around her sister in a tight hug.

“Yeah… J’onn!” Kara shouted as she noticed J’onn lying in pain across the hall.

“Hang on,” she told him before blowing on his wounds with her icy breath to help heal it somewhat until they could get him to the infirmary.

“Thanks,” J’onn grunted as Kara helped him to his feet.

“Where are Mon-El and Imra?” Brainy asked as he noticed that only Winn was with Kara.

“Oh you mean the Legion of Super-Jerks? Yeah, they ditched us to go walk into a very obvious trap set by your insane mother,” Winn answered in his usual sarcastic tone.

“Can we please stop referring to her as my mother? Yes there is a biological and genetic relation but there is no familial kinship or as I believe you might otherwise word it there is a lot of bad blood between us.”

“Guys, can we focus? Querl, Winn said you had something that we can use against Brainiac 4?” Kara interrupted.

“Yes, it’ll trap her in an inescapable virtual reality,” Querl replied, holding up the cube.

“Good. Then let’s go. Mon-El and Imra probably need our help right about now.”

Sure enough, they did need their help as Mon-El was getting his ass handed to him by Brainiac 4 in hand to hand combat as Imra tried to keep their teammates from dying. Brainiac 4 pierced her cybernetic nails into Mon-El’s chest as she lit up her arm with electricity causing Mon-El to scream in pain. Brainiac 4 then threw him hard against the far wall.

“MON-EL!” Imra screamed as she ran to his side.

Brainiac 4 laughed as she stepped up to them.

“So, Saturn Girl, seems hubby’s not looking too good? Oh but don’t worry about being out of his league, I’ll be sure to even the playing field,” Brainiac 4 remarked as prepared to strike Imra.

“STOP!” Querl shouted at her as he and the others entered the room.

“Darling, did I teach you nothing about not interrupting me when I’m working?”

“Leave them out of this. This is between you and me.”

“True. So why don’t you get rid of that little whatever it is, and we talk just the two of us, mother and son?”

“I have a better idea,” Kara interjected as she tossed the cube 13 feet away toward the center of the room as it activated, lighting up and generating a pulsing blue light.

Brainiac 4’s feet then began to drag toward the cube as she tried to not get pulled into it.

“What? NO! Querl! Help me, please!” Brainiac 4 begged as she began to break down into digital code.

“I am your mother! I AM YOUR MOTHEEERRR!” she screamed as she got swept into the cube.

Querl breathed a sigh of relief just as the cube’s lights began to turn from bright blue to dark red.

“Uh Brainy is it supposed to do that?” Alex asked.

“No, it’s-” Querl tried to respond before the cube began emitting a pulsing red light that filled the whole room and started to pull him toward it at a much faster pace than it did with Brainiac 4.

“QUERL!” Kara screamed as she moved quickly to grab his hand and let her eyes glow in preparation for heat vision.

“No, don’t! If you break the cube, then Brainiac 4 will be freed!” Querl argued as he slowly broke down into code.

“But if I don’t you’ll be trapped along with her! I can’t let that happen to you!” Kara insisted.

“I’ll be fine,” Querl said, tears forming in his eyes just as the digitization reached his face.

“I-” Kara said, trying to confess her feelings for him too late as he slipped from her grip and was sucked into the cube completely before she could get the second words out.

Kara fell to her knees, picking up the cube in her hands as tears fell from her eyes.

“I’m so sorry Querl,” she sobbed.

“I promised you the best birthday ever and now-” she managed to say before breaking down.

“Kara, hey it wasn’t your fault. There was nothing you could do,” Alex said softly as she sat down beside Kara to wrap her arms around her sister for comfort.

“Uh Kara,” Winn interrupted.

“Not now Winn,” Alex replied.

“No but-”

“NOT NOW!” Alex barked.

“But it’s glowing green!” Winn shouted, pointing to the cube.

Kara set it down and stepped back with Alex as it began to spark. A beam of green light shot up from the cube emitting digital code that materialized into none other than Brainiac 5, free once more.

“Well that was uncomfortable,” Querl remarked.

“Querl!” Kara shouted, throwing her arms around him tightly.

Chapter Text

After getting Brainiac 4 taken care of Querl made quick work of reprogramming his AI C.O.M.P.U.T.O. to be back on their side. Not the first time he’s had to do that. As everyone got everything cleaned up and the still sleeping Legionnaires’ pods were stabilized Kara came up to Querl in his lab.

“Hey. Sorry about the way things went today. I promised you the best birthday ever and instead-”

“It is quite alright. Not like you or even I could have predicted that my mother would show up and try and kill everyone. I am sorry, by the way, about her hurting you. How are you feeling?”

“Well my head is killing me, but it could be worse. Hey, so I got you this present and I was going to give it to you before but um, here,” Kara replied as she handed the stuffed monkey from before.

“Thank you, Kara, it is a lovely gift. And don’t worry about not being able to make that quota of 28 presents you had set out on. Really it’s-” Querl remarked before Kara moved at superspeed to bring in several wrapped gifts for Querl as well as a cake with sparklers on top.

“I believe that makes 28. Make a wish,” Kara said with a smile as she extended the cake in her hands.

Querl laughed and shook his head but nevertheless closed his eyes and blew out the sparklers.

“Happy birthday Querl,” Kara stated as she set the cake aside and wrapped her arms around him.

Despite the chaos of the day this birthday still seemed better than the rest as Kara always seemed to find a way to brighten his day. Being held in her arms was so calming and peaceful he didn’t know he could have a moment like this. As they pulled away, Querl stared into Kara’s bright blue eyes and couldn’t help the feeling in his chest, nor could he help it when he found himself pressing his lips to Kara’s in a slow, tender kiss.

After passing the initial bit of shock at Querl’s action Kara quickly began to kiss him back, licking at his lips to tease his mouth open. She moved her hands to wrap behind his head, fingers running through his soft white hair. His hands found their way to Kara’s face, thumbs caressing her cheeks before the realization hit him and he pulled away.

“I- I don’t know why I just did that. I’m so sorry. I should- I should go,” Querl stated, eyes wide with shock, before making a hasty retreat from the room.

“Querl wait!” Kara insisted, trying to follow him out, only to have him seal the door on her so that he could get away.

He hid away in a secret room of the ship that no one but him knew of, a secret little library, a panic room of sorts for when Querl was far too stressed to deal with anyone and his lab wasn’t as secure as he needed it to be. He curled up into a ball and stared at the little toy monkey in his hands before crying softly into its synthetic fur. What had he done? He just made the most bone-headed move of his life by kissing Kara.

She was far too good for him and even if by some miracle she did return his affections there was no hope for a relationship between them as he and the Legion would soon have to return to their time centuries away from Kara. And of course, why would Kara want him? He was an arrogant, insufferable, insensitive know-it-all. And she, she was kind, and caring, and so polite and full of hope and heart that there was no way she would want to be with a cold and calculating man like him.

Damn his mother for making him realize how he felt for Kara. Damn her for making his feelings impossible to ignore. Now he had gone and screwed up the greatest friendship he had ever had with a single stupid kiss. Okay maybe it wasn’t stupid, it was actually pretty amazing. Though considering that was his first kiss that might not be saying much. He wondered if Kara had like it, even just a little. She had been the one to initiate tongue. Why did she do that though? Was that how people were supposed to kiss? Did he do something wrong? Sprock! Why did he have to do that?!

Once the door to the lab reopened Kara headed out in search of Querl, hoping to talk to him about the kiss and reassure him that it was okay and that she had actually wanted to kiss him. Instead, she found her sister, Alex, chatting with Winn on the bridge of the ship.

“Hey Kara, is everything okay?” Alex asked.

“No, yes, maybe. I don’t know.”

“Why? What happened?” Winn questioned.

“Querl kissed me and then he freaked out and took off. I’ve searched this whole ship but I can’t find him anywhere.”

“That’s weird. I mean it’s not like he left the ship the exit’s that way and we would’ve seen him,” Winn replied.

“Yeah,” Kara sighed.

“Soooo, Brainy kissed you? Did you kiss him back or-” Alex smirked.

“Yes I kissed him back. Hell I was the one who used tongue. That’s beside the point. The point is that Querl seemed to get upset after the kiss and now he seems to be avoiding me.”

“Who’s avoiding you?” Mon-El asked as he entered the room.

“Hey, if it isn’t the deserting jackass. How’s Mrs. Deserting jackass by the way?” Winn remarked.

“For the last time, Imra and I had to leave to save the Legionnaires. The fate of the future depended on it. Now again, who’s avoiding Kara?” Mon-El replied.

“Brainy. Apparently, he kissed her and then freaked out and took off,” Alex answered.

“Yeah, I’ve looked everywhere but I can’t find him, and he has to be on the ship,” Kara added.

“Well then he must be in his top-secret hidden library that he thinks nobody knows about. It’s a room on the ship that he goes to hide out in when things get too stressful for him. I’d tell you where it is but if his little sanctuary gets disturbed I’m very concerned that he might lose his mind.”

“Well I have to talk to him, so can you please just tell me where it is?” Kara asked.

“Fine, but if Brainy asks you found it with your super senses not because I told you.”

After his crying had ceased, Querl sat staring at his little monkey gift wondering if he should give it a name. After all, that did seem to be customary regarding the possession of stuffed animals. Perhaps Koko would be a good name. Then he heard something he did not expect, the door to his library opening.

“Kara! Wha- How did you find me here? Nobody else knows this room exists,” Brainy asked.

“I just my Kryptonian senses. Quite the collection of books you’ve got here,” Kara replied, looking around the relatively small room.

“Yes well it will be bigger once I’ve added the ones you got me for my birthday.”

“It’s funny I would’ve thought you’d have all your books on digital.”

“Yes well I used to before the Legion arrived on a rather primitive planet where paper books were still in use. Somehow the digital format seemed less appealing by comparison. I don’t know,” Querl shrugged.

“Right, so listen about that kiss.”

“You are absolutely right. It should not have happened, and I apologize for it.”

“What? No, Brainy, I was going to say that I like you too.”

“Yo- You like me? Like, romantically speaking like?”

“Yes!” Kara smiled.

“I’m sorry I’m confused. Why would the greatest person in all of history possibly have romantic feelings… for me?” Querl blinked in confusion.

“Because you’re smart, funny, kind, you just have this way of putting a smile on my face even without trying. Querl it’s okay that you kissed me. To be honest I was kind of hoping to kiss you soon anyways,” Kara blushed.

“You-… No! No, no. That- that cannot happen,” Querl responded in shock before shaking his head.

“What?”

“Kara, I am from the future. And I have to return to the future while you must remain here in the 21^st century. No matter our feelings for each other, there can be no romantic relationship between us. It just wouldn’t work out and in the end, we would both just get our hearts broken… I’m sorry Kara, I like you. I really do… but this… it just can’t happen,” Querl replied before stepping over to Kara to press a soft kiss to her lips.

“No matter how much I wish it could,” he added, voice cracking, a single tear dripping down his cheek as he left the room and Kara behind.

Chapter Text

It had been a couple of days since their kiss and so far, Querl had been avoiding Kara like the plague. No more. Kara decided that like it or not Querl was going to talk to her. Even if he thought they shouldn’t be together they could at least still remain friends. She headed down the hall to Brainy’s lab and started to hear music coming from the room. She peered her head around the corner to see Querl manipulating some kind of high tech contraption via a touch-screen device.

The machine looked like three long pieces of a cut-up pipe that moved together and apart in time to the music with color changing plasma in the center of the pieces that sparked out electricity to the pieces at different points. It seemed to be some kind of instrument that appeared capable of producing the various sounds of multiple instruments from violin to drums.

Meanwhile, Querl started singing along with the song, leaving Kara mesmerized by his melodic voice.

“I need another story

Something to get off my chest

My life gets kinda boring

Need something that I can confess

'Til all my sleeves are stained red

From all the truth that I've said

Come by it honestly I swear

Thought you saw me wink, no

I've been on the brink, so,” Querl sang just as the instrumental music he was creating hit the intensity of the chorus.

“Tell me what you want to hear

Something that will light those ears

Sick of all the insincere

So I'm gonna give all my secrets away

This time don't need another perfect lie

Don't care if critics ever jump in line

I'm gonna give all my secrets away,” Querl continued singing as the music became gentler.

“My God, amazing how we got this far

It's like we're chasing all those stars

Who's driving shiny big black cars

And everyday I see the news

All the problems that we could solve

And when a situation rises

Just write it into an album

Send it straight to gold

But I don't really like my flow, no, so

Tell me what you want to hear

Something that will light those ears

Sick of all the insincere

So I'm gonna give all my secrets away

This time, don't need another perfect lie

Don't care if critics ever jump in line

I'm gonna give all my secrets aw- Kara!” Querl said alarmed, jumping back as he caught the sight of her in the corner of his eye.

“You startled me,” he added.

“Sorry. Just came to talk and wound up interrupting something so…”

“Awful,” Querl said at the same Kara finished with, “Amazing!”

“What? Wha- Querl you think what you were just doing was awful?” Kara asked, confused.

“Well yes. I mean I know my skill at the omni-tonal generator is superb but I also understand that my singing ability is quite lacking.”

“Okay I have no idea what this omni- whatever is but Querl your voice is outstanding! Who ever told you that you that your voice was lacking?”

“Omni-tonal generator. It’s a Coluan instrument invented by Colu’s greatest composer. It generates any type of sound though it takes a high level of intellect and immense amount of practice to use it properly. And as for who told me singing was lacking that would be my mother.”

“And you believed her because…”

“Point taken. Still I prefer not performing music in front of others. One thing that can never be erased with my mother’s absence is my self-consciousness.”

“Well I for one like your music. And if you don’t mind I’d like to hear more of it.”

“Really? You sure?” Brainy asked in surprise.

“Yes!”

“Oh- Okay,” he said, stepping back toward the machine, starting again where he left off.

“Oh, got no reason, got no shame

Got no family I can blame,” Querl sang, tossing a smile Kara’s way as she let out a snort.

“Just don't let me disappear

I'ma tell you everything,” as Brainy sang those words Kara felt even more determined than ever to not let him slip away from her and disappear from her life. How fitting this was the song he chose to sing that day.

“So tell me what you want to hear

Something that will light those ears

Sick of all the insincere

So I'm gonna give all my secrets away

This time, don't need another perfect lie

Don't care if critics ever jump in line

I'm gonna give all my secrets away

So tell me what you want to hear

Something that will light those ears

Sick of all the insincere

So I'm gonna give all my secrets away

This time, don't need another perfect lie

Don't care if critics ever jump in line

I'm gonna give all my secrets away

All my secrets away

All my secrets away,” Querl finished singing just as the music cut out with his lips being cut off by Kara’s own.

The kiss was slow and sweet, and although Querl loved the feel of Kara’s soft lips pressed against his own he knew that it was madness.

“Stop. Stop!” Querl insisted, pulling apart from the kiss.

“Querl I-” Kara tried to say.

“No! No. This can’t- this can’t happen. Anything that might happen between us is doomed for failure. I can’t- I can’t deal with that! I can’t deal with a pointless relationship! Ugh!” Brainy replied before slamming his head on a nearby desk.

“Why did I have to fall in love with you?” he groaned into the desk’s surface.

“Look, I know how much heartbreak can suck. Believe me, I do. But that doesn’t mean that there’s such a thing as a pointless relationship. There’s a saying on Earth. It’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”

“Your point?”

“My point is that even if it’s going to end some day that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth it in the end. Do you really want to just push all your feelings down and bottle them up just because you’re scared of something that could take who knows how long to actually happen?”

“I… I’m not good with feelings. I’m not good at being emotional or caring or considerate. I’m not good at relationships. I’m not good at anything that even remotely relates to any of this. I don’t think I’m even capable of… dating.”

“Dating is- it’s easy. All it takes is talking to each other, being there for each other,” Kara said taking Querl’s hand in her own.

“Loving each other,” she added with a smile.

“And kissing?” he asked with a shy smile as he looked up at Kara.

“Yeah, yes. There is definitely kissing and… maybe a little more… someday,” Kara laughed earning a blush of purple color upon Querl’s cheeks.

“Yeah maybe… maybe someday,” he replied with a smile.

There was silence between them for a moment before Brainy spoke up again.

“You never cease to amaze me. Just when I thought I’ve reached the limits of my emotional capacity you somehow find a way to… make my heart grow three sizes… at least I believe that’s the expression used,” he said earning a small laugh from Kara.

“Brainy, we need some help with something on the bridge, meet us here in five,” Mon-El spoke over the intercom, interrupting the moment.

“Well I should let you get to work,” Kara said in response.

“Yes. I should- I should go,” Querl replied, making his way toward the door.

“You have an amazing singing voice by the way,” Kara added, bringing a smile to Brainy’s face as he paused in the doorway, turning around to plant a kiss on Kara’s lips.

“Maybe I could hear you sing sometime. Gotta go,” Querl smirked.

Chapter Text

Kara and Querl had been going out for a few weeks now, their feelings growing the longer they were together. Now here they were on Kara’s couch making out, holding each other as close as possible. As Kara’s hands began to drift under Querl’s shirt he became tense and pulled away.

“Wait. Wait, wait, wait,” he asked in a breathless tone.

“What’s wrong?”

“It- It’s nothing. I’ve just… never done… this… before,” he replied without looking Kara in the eye.

“We’ve made out before,” Kara reminded him with an eyebrow raised.

“Yeah no. I meant like… more… than making out. Taking things further, like when you put your hand under my sweater… I’ve never done that sort of thing before.”

“Oh. Oh!”

“Please not make a big deal out of it.”

“No, no. I- I won’t. I promise. Look if you don’t want to take things further we don’t have-”

Querl cut her off with his lips; the kiss slow and tender.

“It’s not that I don’t want to. I do. I just… I’m worried you won’t enjoy it with me. I figured if I warned you you’d have lower expectations.”

“You don’t have to lower my expectations. I already like you just the way you are,” she said, placing a hand on his cheek.

“So uh do you still want to do this or did I kill the mood or-”

Kara cut him off with a kiss of her own.

“Stop talking,” she whispered before taking his hand.

“And follow me,” she added, pulling his from his seat and guiding him toward the bed.

As they approached the bed Querl pulled his shirt off leaving his chest bare as Kara did the same, though she was wearing a bra. As more and more clothes started to come off Querl started having trouble breathing. For the first time in his life he finally understood where the term “breath-taking” came from.

“Now we can go as slow or as fast as you like. But if you at any point feel uncomfortable-”

“I’ll tell you. I know,” Querl finished with a kiss.

As the kiss heated up they began to walk backwards toward the bed until Querl pulled Kara down on top of him.

“You want me on top?”

“Well I figured since you’ve actually done this before it might be best if you lead.”

Kara laughed a little before recapturing Querl’s lips. Querl’s hands began to wander Kara’s form, taking in every inch of her skin, committing it all to memory. He felt himself grow hard the more he enjoyed the moment. Kara broke away from their kiss and pulled back, making Querl wonder what he had done wrong until he saw Kara grab a condom from her dresser.

As Kara slipped the condom on, his sensitive member twitched at the feel of her hands on him. He couldn’t even stifle the groan that slipped past his lips. Kara seemed to enjoy his reaction based on how much she was smiling. She climbed back on top of him and gave his lips a soft peck.

“You sure you’re ready for this?”

“I’m sure, Kara. I don’t think I’ve ever been this sure.”

Kara then slid onto his hard cock, taking in his full length. A tad larger than Kara had been expecting, not to say that Kara wasn’t impressed. They both moaned with pleasure as Querl filled her completely and quickly set their pace. Querl had often heard that sexual intercourse was a wonderful pastime but never imagined it could feel this good.

As Kara moved her lips to his neck, Querl found himself pressing kisses to her bosom. That seemed to get quite the physical reaction from her as she moaned loudly, and he could her insides clench tightly around his member. He bit into Kara’s shoulder gently, though he knew he couldn’t possibly hurt her, to stifle the groan that came out from her reaction.

Why hadn’t he done this with her before? This was such an amazing experience. His heart was racing, his breathing was ragged, endorphins were coursing through his veins it was like he had never imagined anything being.

Kara’s hands were running through his soft, white hair when he felt her tighten around him once more. The grip she held on his locks when she did so, was almost painful but it seemed even in the throes of passion Kara was in full control of her strength. He wanted this experience to last longer. He wanted it to never stop but he could feel himself coming close, oh so close, to his release.

“Kara,” he breathed out.

“I love you, Querl,” Kara whispered into his ear.

“I-”

Just as Querl was about to respond to her words she screamed loudly, her walls clenching tight around him a final time as he came undone. The feeling of his release was a bliss he had never known in his life and one he certainly wouldn’t mind repeating at some point in the future. They rolled apart, both breathing heavily as Kara curled into his side.

“Did you enjoy it?” he asked, fearful that all the times she clenched was a negative reaction.

“You made me come three times, do you really think that I didn’t enjoy it?” Kara laughed.

“Come? Like… Oh, those were female orgasms. I- I didn’t know, I thought I might’ve been doing something wrong.”

“Well you weren’t. You were great,” she replied, pressing a kiss to his bare chest.

“So were you,” he said with a kiss to her blonde hair.

She hummed happily in response, but he could tell she was starting to drift off to sleep.

“Hey Kara?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you too.”

He pressed another soft kiss to her forehead and pulled her closer to him as he could feel her smile against his skin.

“Get some rest my love.”