(no subject)

[longsufferingly]

So. It is my beloved synergic's birthday, and I just recently wrote her some mpreg, so I am not writing that. Instead, I am writing her this. It's not really going to make sense to most of you, so just ignore this post.

To synergic, happy birthday ♥ Pretend the next sentence of this fic is "and then Brainy became pregnant and it was totes hot."

For All We Know
Chase/Brainy, follow up to Fault Lines


Two years, and Brainy finally fixes their ride.

"I thought you said it was impossible," says Chase, blankly. He never thought that it'd happen. He thought they were stuck.

It's one thing ending up with Brainy because he doesn't have anyone else. It's another to choose Brainy. If anyone had asked--not that anyone here would, not that anyone knows they both have girls they're supposed to be in love with--he could have said it was default, unavoidable, something he had to do because they were both in the same situation and had no one else who got it.

If they can leave, if they can look again, then it means something that he doesn't want it to. That he likes this.

That he likes Brainy.

Brainy snorts. "Nothing is impossible, Stein."

Two years here, three at camp, the months in limbo, jumping all the time, and Brainy still calls him Stein.

He kind of likes that, too.

"So she works again?" he says, unnecessarily. She looks as good as new.

"Yes," says Brainy.

Neither of them moves.

Chase speaks Italian now. He's not fluent or anything, but he says Buona sera to Signora Gallo next door when he comes home from work and sees her outside hanging her laundry. He works the lunch shift now, actually waits tables. The alien kids who live in town make him play soccer with him on Saturday mornings, while Brainy tinkers with whatever he feels like and occasionally gets dragged in.

They have a fucking chicken. It just wandered in one day and Brainy likes eggs, so now they have it.

Home, Chase thinks. When was the last time he actually wanted to call anywhere home?

"There are probably," says Brainy hesitantly, "universes we haven't checked."

"Yeah," says Chase slowly.

He could run. He could take this ship and keep looking for Gert. She'd probably be impressed he spoke Italian, laugh at his stubble that he doesn't bother to shave. She might be proud of him.

He's kind of proud of himself, for once. He doesn't feel like a fuck-up here.

"Or we couldn't," he says.

Brainy just raises one eyebrow, like he saw this coming. Not like he's surprised.

"Kids'd miss you," says Chase.

Brainy snorts. "Please. They'd miss you."

"Nah, they like you too."

"You're delusional, Stein."

"I want to stay," says Chase. Then, he goes for broke, and says, "But if you go, I'll go with you, man."

Brainy looks at him evenly, and then looks at the sky. A storm might be coming. Chase never can tell. Brainy says it's obvious and Chase is an idiot.

He'd say it's not like how he thought love would be, but he loved Gert too.

"Not today," says Brainy.

"And tomorrow we've got soccer," says Chase.

"Not tomorrow either, then," Brainy agrees.

"Yeah," says Chase. "Okay."