A/N: This fic takes place right after the events of "A Pinky and the Brain Halloween," which might be the slashiest episode in the series. It's so sweet; I just had to write a follow-up piece!

Disclaimer: Pinky and the Brain belong to Warner Bros. and Steven Spielberg.

Chapter 1:

The shrill squeaking of the exercise wheel awakens me, and I immediately scowl. If Snowball is on Pinky's wheel again, I swear I'll—

"Oh, good morning, Brain! Narf!"

I sit up, the events of last night rushing through my head. Glancing around, I notice that my throne disappeared, and my court has been reverted to a cage; the only change I welcome is the return of the blue-eyed mouse. After five days of separation, Pinky's presence is oddly satisfying, as if a puzzle missing a piece is now complete.

"Uh, good morning."

He bounds off the wheel, falls flat on his face with a giggle, and skips to his toy box. I watch as Pinky puts on a frilly green apron and picks up a thimble sitting nearby.

"I made you tea. With honey and eggplant juice, just how you like it!"

"Eggplant?"

Pinky's white brow furrows in concentration.

"Well, it was an odd little eggplant—all yellow and gone sour."

Hesitantly, I take a sip of tea; a combination of sweet, bitter, and tangy pleases my tongue and soothes my throat.

"I believe that was a lemon, Pinky."

"Definitely not, Brain. Lemons are blue—everyone knows that!"

Rolling my eyes, I take another sip. For all of his ridiculous behavior and unintelligent ramblings, Pinky can certainly make a good cup of green tea. I suddenly feel an unfamiliar twinge of guilt in my stomach.

"Pinky...you are without negative repercussions from recent events, correct?"

Eyes crossed, he stares at me blankly.

"That is...are you ok?"

"I'm as happy as a scallop! Zort! Why?"

"That's 'clam,' Pinky. And...oh, never mind."

It figures that that baffling creature has no problem being tortured; he's the only person I can name who derives pleasure from blows to the head.

"Perhaps I should have left you in Hades." I grumble sarcastically.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Pinky stiffen, then slump with a quiet "poit." He never has understood sarcasm...

My eyes widen as I ponder this occurrence further; if Pinky was that strongly affected by the mere mention of Hades, he couldn't be completely over the incident.

Instead of acting on this realization, I dither awkwardly. Should I attempt to comfort him? I know if the situation were reversed, Pinky would sweep me up in a hug, but the idea of initiating one myself is...well, it's not something I do. Suddenly, an idea forms in my prized brain.

"Pinky, I'm going out. Please try to restrain yourself from coating the walls in chocolate pudding during that time."

"Braaiin!"

Two pink paws latch onto my ankle, making me jump.

"Please don't go take over the world without me! Troz! I need to be there so you can ask me what I'm pondering and bop me on the head!"

Scowling, I pry his digits off my leg.

"It's not even 'tomorrow night,' Pinky! It's the middle of a Saturday afternoon, and I'm just going on an errand. I'm not going to take over the world without you!"

He sniffs loudly, looking up at me with the sky in his eyes.

"Promise?"

As loath as I am to admit it, my scowl wavers at his pathetic plea.

"I promise, my dear Pinky."

"Oh goody!"

The silly creature quickly bounds to his feet.

"In that case, can you pick up some oil and seasoning? I want to make sautéed food pellets for dinner tonight. And we can use the leftovers as juggling pins! Zort!"

I ignore this inane statement and crawl out the mail slot, refusing to be distracted from my mission. Ludicrously high level of pain tolerance or not, Pinky has been through a lot these past few days.

He deserves to finally get his "radish rose whatchamawhozits."

A/N: The tea is a nod to SylviaW1991 and skimmingsurfaces, who were the first to pick up on that sweet little detail in the show. If you haven't read their stuff, I encourage you to do so now! Both of them have so many good PatB fics that it's impossible for me to pick a favorite!