Summary: Gibson decides to create a special space for Nova to warm up from the cold.
A/N: This is my SRMTHFG! Secret Santa fic for @rararazaquato! I really hope you enjoy it! I was told you like Gibson and Nova, so I wanted to focus on them for you!
This is my first time ever writing for this fandom. I loved it growing up and recently revisited it and I was surprised and thrilled to see others on this site who post about it even today. I found out about this exchange just in time and have been so excited to participate! Thank you @sweetcircuits for hosting! It's been so fun!
Word Count: 1229
~~~
It was no secret that Nova hated the cold. Previous issue with Mandarin notwithstanding, she hated the way it made her shiver and shake like a wimp (her words), hated having to defrost her cruiser every time she needed it in a hurry, hated how it screwed up her focus to the point that it often became all she could think about in the moment.
Monkeys were not meant to live in the cold. She knew that was why it affected her so much, but what made it all the worse was seeing how the others could tolerate it much better than she could. It made her feel less than, and she hated it.
Gibson was the most observant member of the team, second only to Antauri – this also was no secret. But the more he watched Nova during this mission, the more he had to wonder just how dense the others must be not to realize how deep her suffering went.
Thankfully Shuggazoom itself very rarely got cold or saw snow, but out here in the universe when they had to jump from planet to planet to keep up with the Dark One Worm, their chances were just as good as any. They’d only encountered a handful of completely iced-out planets thus far, but every time, Nova shrank in on herself until the mission was over and they were safely on their way into the emptiness of space.
This mission was taking longer than expected, and it was affecting the yellow monkey more and more by the day. Gibson could take it for only so long before deciding something needed to be done, and he was just the monkey to do it.
It had become an unspoken rule on these snow planet missions that should the need arise for one of them to stay with the robot for any reason, Nova would be the one to do it. That way she could keep warm and still feel useful. But on this particular day, Gibson spoke to Chiro privately and asked to swap just this once. His reasons were good, he promised, and his leader believed him.
He was nervous when Chiro broke the news to Nova, but though she grumbled a bit, she dutifully took her place in the lineup and followed the others out into the cold, leaving Gibson with a minimal amount of time to get his plan underway – while also keeping attentive to the team’s needs.
He could handle it.
Most of what he needed was already on hand, thanks to the blizzard that had come through Shuggazoom before. They’d gone out and stocked up on all manner of coats and scarves and blankets before the worst of it really hit, which was all the better, since they didn’t have much time to go shopping out here in the cosmos.
Entering Nova’s room without her permission or even being in the robot felt rather ungentlemanly, Gibson had to acknowledge, but he just had to hope she’d forgive him later when she saw why he’d done it.
~
After a while, the rest of the team returned to the robot. They were all shivering, but Nova looked about ready to collapse.
“S-S-So…c-cold…” she gasped, her words warbled from how hard her teeth were chattering. Then she caught sight of Gibson and leveled him with a glare. “N-Never again…Gibson. Never a-again.”
Gibson felt terrible, but he went to her and gently took her freezing cold metal hand in his. “I’m truly sorry to have subjected you to these terrible conditions today, Nova. But I promise I had a good reason for it. Here.” He tugged her hand gently, urging her further into the robot. “Let me show you.”
The other monkeys and Chiro exchanged curious glances with each other before following after the two of them as Gibson led them to the hall where their rooms were, stopping outside of Nova’s with a sheepish smile.
“I do hope you’ll forgive me for having done this without consulting you first, but…well, just look.”
The door slid open with a woosh, and Nova glanced inside. At first it didn’t look any different than usual, and she was confused. Did Gibson come in here without her consent? It didn’t look like he had. But then her eyes caught on something in the back corner, and she felt her heart begin to race in anticipation. He had been in here. What…?
There was a warm orange glow encompassing this corner of the room. It came from a small space heater that had been turned on ahead of her return so it was already warm for her. The ground was cushioned with the cozy lining of winter coats and pillows, and a makeshift tent-like contraption had been set up out of blankets. It was even built in such a way that Nova could pull a blanket over like a door and fully trap the heat within the tiny space.
She stared at in astonishment.
Gibson gave it a few moments, then nervously cleared his throat. “It, erm…won’t be practically useful for when you’re to stay behind on missions in the future, since you can’t exactly manage the robot’s central computer from here, but—oomph!” He was cut off when Nova nearly tackled him to the floor in a giant hug.
“You’re the best, Gibson,” she said into his shoulder, squeezing him tight.
The blue monkey was obviously flustered, but he tried to brush it off. “Nonsense. Any one of us could see that the cold truly bothers you in ways it does not for us, so I simply did what I felt was logical…” He trailed off when she pulled back to give him a pointed look. He coughed. “And, erm…I wanted you to feel comfortable, and have a place to go when the cold gets too much for you. So…yes. I wanted to make you happy, too.”
Nova beamed at him. “You did, Gibson. Thank you so much. I love it!” She grabbed his hand and tugged him toward the small, warm space. “Come on, you should get to enjoy it too, since you worked so hard on it.”
“B-But this space was meant for you—”
“And now I’m inviting you in. Come on!”
It was a tight fit, but Gibson managed to squeeze into the compact space next to her. He had to admit, actually sitting in the comfy area after going to such lengths to set it up for her was satisfying.
“Hey,” Sparx protested playfully. “What about the rest of us?”
Nova shot him a smirk. “Go find your own!” Then she whipped one of the blankets over as if slamming a door, and everyone laughed.
Later, Chiro and Antauri would compliment him on doing such a great thing for their teammate, Sparx would rib him about trying to score brownie points, and Otto would make notes on his craftsmanship, pointing out things he could have done differently. Gibson took all of it in stride. It simply made him happy to know he’d done something to make Nova happy.
The next time the team had to go out into the cold, Nova grabbed Gibson’s arm before he walked outside and said, “If you need a place to warm up when you come back, I happen to know one.”
Their shared smiles were more than enough for him.
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Happy Early Birthday to my amazing friend Alexis! Drew our childhood memory! ^w^
I love this show to much it got me to want to create stories and comics.
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✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
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