#bugborg week

“May I?”

Mantis holds her hand up, palm out, and Nebula eyes her warily.

They’re standing a few feet apart, and although her posture is relaxed, Mantis holds her arm close to her body and hopes the distance will bring some comfort to Nebula.

Nebula is quiet long enough that Mantis starts to feel a twinge of self-consciousness. The fingers of her other hand curl into a nervous fist and she’s about to tell Nebula it’s okay, you don’t have to but as she opens her mouth to speak Nebula beats her to it.

“I—yes, you can…yes.” Her voice is harsh sounding, like it usually was, but she speaks haltingly.

Mantis blinks, breaks into a relieved smile and closes the distance between them until they’re face to face. Mantis reaches for Nebula’s face slowly. Nebula watches with serious black eyes, and there’s an intensity to her expression as she tracks Mantis’s movements that makes Mantis’s heart flutter. She smiles reassuringly before finally cupping Nebula’s face with her hands. Nebula’s breath hitches when their skin finally makes contact and her emotions bloom into life within Mantis.

Mantis doesn’t realize how much closer they’ve gotten until she feels pressure where Nebula’s forehead presses into hers. Her antennae dip close to Nebula’s eyes, and Nebula squints as they flutter across her brow. Mantis gently strokes Nebula’s cheek with one thumb and slowly, so slowly, Nebula closes her eyes and relaxes in her hands.

Nebula’s breathing evens out again, and the combination of that and how she seems to have melted into Mantis’s touch almost makes Mantis think she’s fallen asleep.

“Your antennae are glowing,” Nebula says quietly. When she opens her eyes again Mantis can see the bright pinprick of her antennae’s glow reflected in Nebula’s black eyes. Mantis hadn’t noticed how brightly they’d lit up.

“They glow because you love me,” Mantis replied, “and they glow because I love you.”

Nebula inhales sharply and for a brief instant Mantis can feel the spike of rapidfire embarrassment and denial before she jolts back out of Mantis’s touch.  Just before the connection is severed she catches a tiny glimpse of Nebula’s deeply buried affection and Mantis can’t help the breathy laugh that escapes her as she’s overcome with her own fondness.

When her laughter finally subsides and she can look at Nebula again her cheeks are a deeper shade of blue than they normally are, and she could almost be glaring except for how flustered she looks and Mantis thinks it’s terribly endearing.

She reaches for Nebula again—happy when she lets Mantis cup her cheek again—and rubs her thumb across Nebula’s cheek. “It’s okay,” she assures. “This is new to me too.” Mantis pauses, sends Nebula a rush of affection. It’s a tangled mix of longing and want and joy and everything she feels when she’s with Nebula. “I do not have much experience with romantic relationships, but I think I would like to be with you, if you would like to try.”

Nebula doesn’t reply right away, and Mantis knows she’s struggling to digest her declaration, needs to sort through the overload of emotions, so she waits.

There’s no rush.

She keeps her hands on Nebula’s face, gentle and reassuring and light enough that Nebula can pull back if she wants to, but she doesn’t. The seconds tick past and still she doesn’t break away; if anything, she seems to lean harder into Mantis’s touch.

Finally, Nebula moves closer, pressing her forehead to Mantis’s. She’s still full of uncertainty, but there’s affection there, too. It’s apprehensive and guarded, but it’s there and these feelings Mantis—baffling and startling though they may be for someone like Nebula—outweigh all the doubt and unease and fear.

“I think I would like that, too.”

The first time Mantis tells Nebula she thinks she’s pretty is a mistake. It’s not that she isn’t—Nebula is beautiful—it’s that. Well. They weren’t close and Nebula is…Nebula.

But she is breathtaking both in and out of a fight, strong and quick and deadly, and when she and Gamora have finished sparring and Nebula walks past Mantis can’t stop herself from blurting it out.

Nebula freezes, shoulders tensed. Her expression cycles from surprise to bewilderment to guarded suspicion in seconds and Mantis regrets opening her mouth immediately. Nebula doesn’t say anything, but she scowls, turns away, and stalks off.

Mantis is left with a burning sense of embarrassment at her outburst and she avoids watching any other sparring sessions for a while, even when Nebula is not involved.

Nebula leaves the Guardians again only a few short days later.

-

The first time they speak again after that is after another one of Nebula’s failed excursions. She returns in a smoking ship and with busted cybernetics and Gamora welcomes her back with a tight hug and clear relief that her sister is still in one piece.

“I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”

Nebula doesn’t respond right away, but Mantis can see the tension building in her shoulders and knows she has heard her. It’s the middle of the night. Mantis can’t sleep, Nebula is attempting to repair her damaged cybernetics, and they’re along on the bridge.

“The day after your sparring match,” Mantis clarifies when Nebula still doesn’t answer. “It was a few months ago now.”

“I remember,” Nebula says tightly.

There’s an uncomfortable pause. Mantis isn’t sure what to say, or if she should even say anything at all.

“I don’t need an apology. Your mocking means nothing to me.”

“It—I wasn’t mocking you,” Mantis says, a little surprised at the response. “And I wasn’t lying, either.”

“They why apologize?” Nebula demands.

“Because you seemed unhappy with my comment, and you have been avoiding me ever since. I do not want you to be uncomfortable around me.” Mantis forces her hands to stay relaxed at her sides, trying not to look as nervous as she feels.

Nebula stares at her intently, as if trying to determine if she’s being honest or not, then abruptly looks away. Mantis waits a moment longer, then gently says, “I’ll leave you be now,” and moves to leave.

“You can stay,” Nebula says abruptly. Her fingers curl and uncurl into fists. “Or you can go. I don’t care.”

She doesn’t look at Mantis, but she isn’t leaving, or chasing her away either, and so Mantis says, “I think I’ll stay, then,” settles down in a spot near a window, and tries to hide her growing smile.

-

The first time they spend time together—really spend time together, like actual hanging out and not just existing in the same room together—Mantis has somehow roped Nebula into listening to music with her.

Even Mantis isn’t quite sure how she managed that. Nebula has always been outspoken when it came to making fun of Peter (including his music, naturally) and yet despite all the grumbling and scowling she’s now sitting next to Mantis, one earbud in her ear, and letting Mantis show her some of her favorite songs.

She likes to think it’s because Nebula has developed a soft spot for her over the recent months.

“Why do you even have this?” Nebula grouses as Mantis thumbs through the list. “Quill never goes anywhere without his stupid music player.”

“He wanted to take advantage of our downtime and nap for a while,” Mantis says, “so he let me borrow the Zune.”

Nebula grumbles indistinctly, but quiets once Mantis selects a song and the first notes start up. Mantis watches from the corner of her eye, wanting to see Nebula’s reaction. Her expression is carefully blank, and Mantis wants so badly to reach out and touch her arm to know what she’s feeling.

Nebula catches her eye and starts. Mantis tries not to laugh; she reminds Mantis of Groot when he got caught trying to sneak some sweets before dinner. “What do you think?”

Nebula looks like she’s struggling with what to say. “It…isn’t terrible,” she eventually says.

“You don’t have to pretend to like it.” The amusement in Mantis’s voice is obvious.

“It’s not…it’s not bad. It’s very you. Sweet and cheerful—” She cuts herself off abruptly and pointedly avoids looking at Mantis. Her cheeks have darkened noticeably, and Mantis feels her own start to warm.

Nebula’s still not looking at Mantis, but she doesn’t get up to leave, so Mantis risks scooting closer and holds out the Zune. “Here,” she offers. “Let’s find something you’d like.”

Nebula slowly turns and leans close enough to see the screen. Together, they start scrolling down the list of songs.

-

The first time someone says something about it, it’s Peter, and in true Peter fashion he’s a bit of a dramatic dork about it. He catches her in the kitchen early enough one morning, in a rare moment where they’re the only ones awake, and he mentions that Nebula might be visiting soon.

“Oh?”

“Yeah,” Peter says. He has a strange look on his face, unusually scrutinizing. “Gamora said Nebula might be in the area sometime soon, so we might get a visit from our favorite murderous in-law.”

Mantis tries to act casual, but the thought of seeing Nebula again makes her heart flutter a little. “That would be nice. It has been a long time since Nebula’s visited; I’m sure Gamora would like that.”

Peter smacks his hands down on the table and Mantis jumps at the suddenness of such a loud sound in the otherwise quiet room. “Okay, I know what you’re doing and I’m not falling for it.”

“I’m not doing anything,” she protests, flustered.

“You’re pretending you don’t care! Or that you’re not as interested in the news as you really are!”

“I—I don’t know what you mean.”

“You like Nebula,” Peter says. “And she likes you back, and it’s killing me that my sister has a crush and isn’t doing anything about it.”

“I do not!” Mantis exclaims before the second half of Peter’s statement sinks in. “She…she likes me?” She’s almost embarrassed of how hopeful she sounds.

But Peter is Peter; he’s a sweet man and a good brother, and he just nods excitedly at her. “Gamora says Nebula asks about you all the time when they talk. In typical angry, pretending-not-to-care Nebula fashion, I mean. And you guys are always hanging out when she’s here. You’re like, the only person she willingly spends time with. Aside from Gamora, I mean.” He laughs a little. “You two really aren’t subtle.”

Mantis’s cheeks burn. “Am I really that obvious?”

Peter softens immediately and drops the joke. “Aw, hey, it’s not a bad thing,” he assures as he pulls her into a crushing hug. “Having a crush isn’t bad—though, I gotta say, Nebula? I wouldn’t have expected that. “She’s scary man—”

“Peter,” Mantis interrupts, voice muffled against his shoulder.

Peter releases her from the hug but keeps an arm wrapped comfortingly around her shoulders. “Sorry. My point is, nobody’s going to make fun of you, and anyone that does is going to have your whole pissed off family to deal with, okay?”

Mantis smiles weakly at him. “Thanks, Peter.”

“No prob.” He pats her shoulder. “And if you need anything, just let me know, yeah?”

“I will. Thank you.”

“Now, how do you want to do the whole ‘asking her out’ think? ’Cos I’ve always had good luck with music and dancing, but on Earth some people use flowers, and then in space there’s lots—”

“Peter.”

-

Their first real date contains a few other firsts, too.

They’re on a local little planet—ostensibly to refuel and restock the ship’s supplies, but Mantis and Nebula leave that to the rest of the Guardians—that Rocket snarkily calls “boring and pathetic,” Peter says is “simple,” and Gamora says is safe.

“It’s nearby, it’s out of the way, and it’s small,” Gamora had said when the Guardians had been deciding which planet to stop at. “We should have no trouble resupplying and finding entertainment until—”

“The bug and you murderous sister are done with their date, yeah yeah. We all know the reason you picked this town is ’cause you don’t want any cops on our tail if they start shit.”

“Why would we do anything to get arrested?” Mantis can’t fathom their date going that poorly but now that the thought’s been put in her head she can’t help but start worrying.

“Okay, look, nobody is going to get arrested,” Peter started, and that’s when Drax chimed in.

“Yes, Nebula is a fierce warrior. If she does not want to be arrested, she will not.

“Dude, that’s not helping.”

From there the conversation only further devolved into bickering (somehow on an entirely unrelated subject), and it was a relief to Mantis when the ship finally docked and she and Nebula were able to officially start their date.

To say they were both nervous would be an understatement.

They were walking a bit apart as they wandered slowly through the park. Neither had particularly wanted to stick around near the market, crowded and busy as it was, and the nearby park sounded quieter and more appealing anyways, so they had agreed that they would head there first and see where that would lead.

Nebula was…tense. Mantis didn’t have to touch her to know that much, but Mantis had no room to talk. They were both nervous. Mantis, certainly, had never dated before, and based off their past conversations, neither had Nebula.

“We can head back, if you would prefer,” Nebula interrupts her thoughts abruptly, after they’d been walking for a while.

Mantis stops and blinks confusedly at Nebula. “Go back?” She thinks she can hear a bit of panic in her voice; did Nebula not want to be here with her that badly?

“If you are regretting this, we can head back,” Nebula clarifies stiffly. She’s staring straight ahead, pointedly refusing to look at Mantis.

“I—no!” Mantis blurts out, and Nebula seems so startled by her outburst she snaps around to look at her. “Why would you—do you want to head back?”

“No!” Nebula bristles defensively. “But you seem tense. I thought maybe you might have begun to regret this.”

“I could say the same about you.” Mantis doesn’t realize she’s wringing her hands until her nails bite into the back of her hand. They stare at each for a long, awkward minute until Mantis finally admits, “I…am nervous, but it’s not because I don’t want to be with you. The Guardians put some silly thoughts in my head—”

“Idiots,” Nebula growls.

“—and I let it feed my nerves,” Mantis finishes. She feels a bit silly now, having said this out loud.

Nebula clenches and unclenches her hands and haltingly says, “I was nervous too. I thought you might not being enjoying this.”

Mantis slowly unlaces her hands and reaches tentatively for Nebula’s cybernetic hand, which hangs stiffly at her side. “Maybe we could…start over, and try again?”

Nebula’s hand twitches, their fingertips brushing. “I would like that.”

Mantis smiles; she still feels a little jittery, but instead of growing dread in the pit of her stomach she has butterflies. Nebula offers a tiny smile of her own in response and Mantis’s stomach flutters, then flips when Nebula lets her hold her other hand.

“Can I kiss you?” Mantis asks.

Nebula’s cheeks darken slightly. “Yes.”

Their first kiss is brief and clumsy, but it’s sweet and leaves Mantis feeling giddy and warm, especially when Nebula tips her head to follow Mantis and they end up with their foreheads pressed against each other. Nebula lets out a flustered little huff and squeezes Mantis’s hand fondly.

Nebula’s hands are rough and her grip is a little too tight, but Mantis never wants her to let go.

-

The first “I love you” is also the first time Mantis manages to talk Nebula into dancing.

There’s music drifting down from the speakers in the quadrant, and Mantis sits up from where she’d been leaning against Nebula’s shoulder as she read.

“Quill and his stupid music,” Nebula grumbles (because really, if he wants to listen to that blasted Zune all the time then fine, but why inflict that on everyone else by playing it over the speakers?) at the same time Mantis says:

“Oh, I like this song.” Mantis shifts and Nebula can practically feel her staring imploringly at her. “Nebula…,” she starts.

“No.”

“You don’t even know what I’m going to say!”

“You’re going to ask me to dance. The answer is no.”

Mantis leans closer, laying a hand on Nebula’s cybernetic forearm for support. “Oh, please? Just one dance, Nebula.”

“I don’t dance. No,” Nebula repeats flatly.

“Not even for me?”

Nebula finally turns to fix her scowl on Mantis, only to falter when she sees Mantis’s endearingly sweet, pleading expression.

That was a mistake, Nebula thinks. She opens her mouth to refuse again but the words catch in her throat, and—sensing weakness—Mantis smiles hopefully.

Dammit.

They’d only been dating for a few short months—still so early in this relationship thing neither had any experience with—and yet, it seemed, Mantis already had her wrapped around her finger. Nebula wishes she could blame it on Mantis’s powers, but her hand is on Nebula’s prosthetic arm and even if it wasn’t she knows Mantis wouldn’t try to alter her feelings (she wouldn’t do that to her) but the alternative is that Nebula has gone soft and sappy like her sister and she isn’t sure if she can deal with that revelation right now so instead she takes the thought and shoves it to the very back of her mind and tries to forget about it.

“I hate when you do that,” Nebula growls, but there’s no real bite to her tone and Mantis lights up, sensing immediately that she’s won. She jumps out of her seat, tugging Nebula by the wrist and Nebula begrudgingly follows.

“Thank you for indulging me,” Mantis giggles. She pulls Nebula closer and takes her other hand, the one still covered in blue synthetic skin.

Nebula scowls. “Only for you,” she grumbles, and follows Mantis’s movements without complaint. “Just don’t tell anyone. If Quill finds out, I’ll never hear the end of it, and he will wind up with a knife in his throat.”

“Do not stab my brother, please,” Mantis chides, but she’s still smiling, too happy to pay Nebula’s grouchy threat any attention. “But, I won’t tell anyone. I promise.”

Nebula doesn’t say anything else, just follows Mantis’s lead. Not that it was a particularly complicated dance, as they opted to simply sway gently to the music, but Mantis wasn’t complaining. The fact Nebula was going along with it at all more than made up for the simplistic motions.

The song that started this has just ended when Mantis slides her hand up to Nebula’s wrist and gently guides her hand to her waist. She doesn’t protest, but Mantis feels her pulse spike. Mantis steps closer and loops her arms around Nebula’s neck, and Nebula tentatively moves her other hand to rest on Mantis’s waist.

Their movements slow until their swaying dance is lazy, barely a dance at all at this point. Nebula has recovered from her initial spike of adrenaline (gentle touches and physical affection are something she still hasn’t quite gotten used to), and has relaxed minutely, even seems to be almost enjoying herself. Mantis moves close enough to tuck herself under Nebula’s chin. After a moment, Nebula responds by resting her cheek against the crown of Mantis’s head.

So content in the moment, Mantis misses Nebula’s first mumbled comment. When she finally registers that Nebula has said something, she shakes herself alert and pulls back enough to look at Nebula, head cocked curiously. “What was that?”

Nebula’s brow creases, and Mantis feels the fingers at her waist curl into the fabric of her clothes with a restless, nervous sort of energy. “I said I love you,” she huffs, a little louder and more flustered.

At first Mantis is too surprised to reply, and then she breaks into a huge smile, cups Nebula’s cheek with one hand, and pulls her into a gleeful kiss, clumsy with the sheer giddy joy of I love you.

Nebula melts into the kiss and when they break apart Mantis presses her forehead to Nebula’s. The hand on her cheek slides down to rest across her chest.

Nebula didn’t like human contact. Usually, it was something that she could easily avoid. After all, his father had been one of the most influential politicians in the History of the United States and, even these days, after having been proved how many terrible things he had done, plenty of people defended him and his shadow grew as larger as it had always done.

This fear didn’t only come from the fact that everybody knew that he seemed to believe he was the only one within the right to harm his step-children, though. It also came from the fact that, even though she had stopped being his hitman many years ago already, but people still knew about her handy-work from that time.

Since then, she had become one of the most successful criminals in the white-globe criminal underground. She had sworn not to kill unless strictly necessary. Not because she cared much about other people’s lives, but because she simply wanted to show Thanos he hadn’t irremediable turned her into a monster.

Of course, that didn’t mean that she didn’t occasionally end some people’s existence if it was absolutely necessary. Alas, her reputation was, somehow, intact in what toughness was referred.

Right now, she was wondering whether it might become even stronger in the violent department, as the contact from Yondu’s Ravangers kept being nice to her.

“Nepo-bug” she grunted, piercing her with her mechanically altered eyes. The other woman, who had some physical alterations done as well (making her shorta kinda similar to the animal she had chosen to name herself after, presumably once she had been adopted by her actual boss), blinked at her, offended.

“That was unnecessary . I’ve proved myself quite capable when it comes to read emotions and reach out to other… Illegal firms . It has nothing to do with who my family is. Also, it is really rude to pray upon another person’s body. Maybe I have good reasons for looking like… this ” after saying that, she made an unconscious gesture, grapping her very own wrist as it hurt.

Nebula understood that language.

  “Dad, why does it hurt so much?”

“Don’t worry Nebula. You will be better once you get used to it. After all, wasn’t your meaty right arm a bother most of the time…?”

 “Fuck, I knew that Ego guy was pretty terrible. I mean, he liked Thanos; but…I won’t say I am sorry, because your current dad still wants to buy my services for far too less than they are worth, but…I get it. What did he do in your head?”

Mantis composed an unreadable expression, completely alien for Nebula, before answering.

“Just sensors to get people better. That is how I know you are trying to get extra money just to prove to your sister that she got payed less because she fancies my brother in the Biblical sense . Also, the money part of business is held by my mom, not dad. Meredith is the best with money, even if not choosing partners, some might say” she smile, and it was genuine. Then, she clicked her fingers and an angry male voice could be heard from behind a wall as all the cameras shut down.

“Lylla! The blue-tattooed lady is going to kill our Mantis if we left them alone. And, then, Drax is going to kill ME !”

“Oh, Rocket, pretty please, shut up or you are sleeping on the couch. I think those two deserve a bit of intimacy…you are alone, honey! Right, Rocket ?”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, but you go next time Floor’s teacher calls, alright?”

A door opened and closed and Nebula didn’t hear the end of the conversation (not that she cared).

“So….terrible early childhood dad, uh?”

“Biological, in my case. He cheated on Meredith with a…I don’t even know who my mother was, or is. Just that I was one of those kids that were already born with an inclination to be genetically modified and, since Peter is too old-fashioned human for it…my existence healed his disappointment . What he didn’t expect was, well…”

“…your mother taking his two children and running away with the criminal he had paid to murder his older yet useless son? I mean, that story is kind of famous in our circles”. It had also been the beginning of the end of Ego’s reign in the underground.

“Yes, that. However, the Bad has already been done. I…I might be receptive to artificial modifications, but, what I am not receptive to is to read people as most people do. So…it was…challenging, also, the whole not-fitting-with-my-name-thing” Nebula bit her tongue there; the only thing Thanos had done for her was giving her a name she felt matched more than Pompeii (the one her parents had given her, a bit too much for her taste). “I hear feelings, sometimes even thoughts; when the person is emotionally too vulnerable; but I just burst them out loud, I didn’t get that that made people uncomfortable for quite a while. Then, when I chose to be called Mantis, I asked for the modifications so the ones Ego did remained hidden, especially from me”.

“So, you knew what I was thinking so…am I emotionally vulnerable?” Mantis smiled even more (fuck, how much could this woman made her feel comfortable?).

“That is not bad; I think is a kind of language, an especial one. Just as you got what was going on with me because of how I gestured. I think these are ways that made us communicate in ways that nobody else could” all of the sudden, Nebula felt herself blush.

“Woah, bug, that your brother and my sister are doing grown up things doesn’t mean that you and I…”

At this, Mantis blushed even more.

“Oh, no. No . Of course…I didn’t…just friends”.

“ Friendly acquaintances ” Mantis shrugged.

“Well, at least you dropped the nepo bit already. A beginning is a beginning”.

 Nebula stopped the recording and eyed her partner, who was relaxing over her legs. Mantis laughed at her face.

“I know the pain Lylla went through as a teen, but I swear, it will be nothing compared to the one she is going to feel when I catch her. She said they had stopped recording!”

“She didn’t specify …”

“She did!”

“You know she didn’t!”

“Oh, it’s been a while since my mind has been that easy to read” it was true. Apparently, the only thing she had needed to stop being so emotionally vulnerable was…to stop being so close within herself.

Figured.

“ Oi! It is not the only way I have now to understand you” Mantis hit her with delicacy, but certain strength.

She was right, though. They had been together for longer than Nebula had been not only in a relationship, but it good terms in general with anyone (except for Gamora, of course; but shared abuse would do that to you), and every day she realised she could understood Mantis without having to exchange traditional words.

In small gestures, in shared silences, in how she poured water into a glass…even the silliest of gestures could mean a world. And Mantis was catching up, too; for the first time, she was getting someone from the beginning without her unnatural abilities put into use.

They were just perfectly similar, yet not equal enough, for it. Nebula couldn’t have been luckier to have met her.

She would still call her Bug , though; that was something Mantis would never be able to avoid.

For a little while, Nebula was almost completely alone; the rivalry with her sister Gamora being the only thing that kept her apart from total soul-self-annihilation. Then, this group of everything but heroes (including Gamora herself) reluctantly became her family, and she had a home for the first time since she could remember. Later on, the father that had pushed her to become the monster she was certain she could never stop being (not completely, at least) had made sure almost of said family was completely gone, disappearing into literal thin air. She had been left behind with only Rocket, and she didn’t know what she would have done if he had been gone too. What she would have become.

In that time frame, she had also become good friends with Tony Stark, named among other Earthlings as Iron Man (which, from her cyborg perspective, was kind of a bit offensive, but she had bigger fish to fry than to get offended by that particular point). When she had regained her family of strays, it had been at the cost of her new friend’s life, and a Gamora with whom she had to rebuild every single bond they had ever managed to accomplish.

She was starting to think the Universe simply hated her. This was further proved when she realised her stomach acted out all the time she was around Mantis. The younger of the two remaining Children of Ego was annoying in her quirkiness and constantly tried to see the best on people, while still always being on point when reading all the shitty things that went through Nebula’s mind on an almost daily basis.

She hated what a comforting presence she was, without even having to use her abilities. How she was one of the very few people that stood up against her when her nerves got the best of her. Mantis could make her laugh, but also get so serious she was ever so slightly intimidated by the insect-aligned extra-terrestrial.

So, of course, by the time she started to realise that, maybe (and only maybe), her stomach-ache wasn’t actually a bad thing…she had to go.

To find her fucking self, figures!

Deep inside, she understood why she needed to walk the universe alone, but she was on her right to be selfish and be mad that she had left her behind, so inner-actualy-outer-mad that if had surfaced enough for Drax to deduce she had love problems . She would not call it love , but there was a certain infatuation she had grown tired of denying, but only to her deeper self. One day, of course, she hoped she could resolve all these feelings she was trying to hard to silence even from herself.

One day, but not today.

Nor any other day soon without someone forcing it out of her.

 It was about mid of June on Earth when they got a stress call from Quill. Peter communicated with them regularly (especially with Rocket, but with all in general too), but this was different. There was…a sourness to his voice that intermediately worried all of them up to the point that they all agreed that, before going to him, they would told Mantis to get there first.

And to make sure all alcoholic brewages were nowhere to be found in Star-Lord’s household.

 When they all arrived (after having left Adam, Cosmo and Phyla in charge of Knowhere -well, in all honestly; they had left Cosmo in charge and the other two happened to be there-), was just to find Mantis speaking with an old man they assumed to be the Famous Grandad in the porch of a low house in the middle of a row of extremely similar houses.

“ Humans are weird designing cities ” Nebula thought, thinking about the dullness of the street and wondering how their Quill could stand it.

When she saw them, Mantis stopped what seemed to be an extremely animated conversation with the earthling to wave at them emphatically before running towards them.

She obviously hugged Drax first, letting him raised her a couple of feet into the air. Then kneeled to salute Rocket as if he was still just recently put out of a coma (and squeaked with joy when she realised one of the baby racoons had come as a stowaway in the back of his suit). She continued giving a quick hug to both Kraglin and Groot and then…

…then she stopped, slightly uncomfortable, in front of Nebula.

“Hi”.

“Hi” the blue woman answered, lowering her eyes to the floor. “Uh…is Peter alright?”

“I mean, he had decided to teach children at a human school (apparently, the basic physics you have to know to survive in space are more than enough to be an expert in this planet and he’s really good with the kids…). Also; he still has nightmares about…many things, actually. But, yes, his problem is… external ”.

Just as she finished speaking, while giving Nebula a quizzical look she just couldn’t read for dear life, the aforementioned appeared and simply stated: “Humankind lives in the Palaeolithic”.

 “When I left Earth, it was the eighties, which was… many years ago . Back then…I was just a kid, but, uh…I kind of already knew gals weren’t my only…interest”.

“I mean, isn’t that the norm? Like, in my world, my wife was an isolated case for being like that . I mean, she only liked guys, not gals; that was why she loved me. It wasn’t as if she had a wrong perception of me, or that I forced her into anything, you get that, right?” Nebula had to admit, her heart melted a bit every time in the latest times when Drax had been able to speak about his wife and daughter without the pain and sorrow he used to show. He was healing and, if he was healing, that meant she was too; she wasn’t just imagining a temporal improvement that would eventually go away.

“Yes, Drax, yes. But, on Earth, back then, that was a bad thing ”.

“It wasn’t a bad thing, Pete. It was a thing prosecuted by the same people that made it impossible for us to give your mother the kind of treatment she deserved” the grandfather sounded angry, bitter and ready to charge his riffle against whoever those culprits were. Nebula decided she really liked him; “ most Americans ”.

“Grandpa, could I…?”

“Ey! Why do you shut up Grandad Jason and not Drax?!” Mantis said, hitting him in the arm. Nebula raised an eyebrow. Apparently, Mantis had decided he was also her grandfather by proxy and, by the elder man’s face, he agreed.

“Sorry, grandpa. As I was saying, I thought, after a life living in a world with this wasn’t an issue and with the humans we had met so far…that that had changed. Well, it hasn’t. Actually, it had gone worse the last few months and…since Ego’s death…I am just a human. I just get frustrated I cannot help , except by…would you like to come to a special demonstration with me? By, what I mean, at the same time. And then, we can get dinner or something; I am already going with someone” at this, Mantis giggled and Peter almost murdered her with his eyes.

Ah, sibling relationships…She clearly knew who that someone was and, for a second, Nebula’s mind thought about giving Gamora a call; she missed her own sibling.

Then, she decided, she had a better thing to do: she would propose to Mantis to both together alone to the demonstration.

Just to find out whoever Quill was going to so secretly.

Just that.

 “Bug” Mantis wrinkled her nose, clearly annoyed (and not in a fun way), when she called her once they had been left alone. “I have a proposal to make to you. Let’s go together to this demonstration thing, so you can accidentally lead me to your idiotic brother so I can find out who the secret companion is without putting you in the spot. You can obviously say no…you know I have other ways of knowing ”.

“I would like to see you trying them” she replied, with a fierceness she wasn’t used to hear in her voice. Wow, apparently, those months on her own had actually helped her.

“ I hope this doesn’t awake anything on me ” she thought.

Mantis stared at her eyes, and she stared back; four completely black orbs facing each other in the middle of a suburban neighbourhood in Boring-AF-USA. Time elapsed and, without even noticing it, they found their feet being far closer to the other than originally intended.

Nebula stepped back, uncomfortably, suddenly finding how a scrawny child brutally fell from his bicycle extremely fascinating. Mantis huffed and approached her until touching her arm and, to her very own surprise, the instinct of pulling away didn’t kick in.

She remained still, feeling the fingers of oddly texture of Mantis against her unusually thick skin, all of the sudden feeling as if it had become extremely thin, the other woman already reaching her deepest flesh and bone.

Was Mantis manipulating her emotionally? Or reading her? As she thought that, she noticed a puzzled look in her eyes, just as her antennae were doing some jerky movements she had never seen before.

She was just as paralysed and lost in the moment as Nebula herself. She shrugged trying to break out of their half-vegetative state.

“Bug! Answer my question… please ” Mantis was suddenly out of the moment’s spell.

“Fine, I will go with you…but just because you have a funny way of saying the word please ”.

“Fine”.

“Fine”.

As Mantis went inside, called by Jason to help with the dinner (the man was making a terrible mistake, if anything of what Mantis had cooked back in Knowhere was anything to guide her opinion by), Nebula shook her head and jumped on her own feet, trying to get rid of a certain type of nervousness she wasn’t at all comfortable feeling.

She turned to a moment, to see how the scrawny child (now with both knees covered in a disgusting mix of mud and his very own blood) was clearly laughing at her attitude.

A simple look was enough for the kid to crawl back into his house, screaming for his mother.

Nebula smirked; she hadn’t lost her touch. At least, not for everything .

 Mantis and Nebula poorly excused themselves to get away from the rest (which, actually, even included Jason Quill, who was carrying his riffle in case the cops got stupid with some of the younger kids ; definitively, iconic behaviour) and starting very casually wondering among the crowd, with Mantis pretending not to be going towards where she knew her brother would be standing.

As they walked among a group of people so colourful Nebula couldn’t help but wonder if, since things were so fucked up back here on Earth, they wouldn’t be better coming back with them to Knowhere (they could always use some more helping hands, after all). After about twenty minutes of tense silence, Mantis cleared her throat.

“I…I wanted to visit you guys in a couple of months…how…how are things going?”

“Rocket and the rest of the Guardians come and go. But you are in the same group chat as your useless brother, so you already know that…I miss you in Knowhere. I mean…you are literally the only one that can handle Drax sometimes, it had been a bit of a headache”.

At this, her friend scoffed.

“Funny that you would say that, because Drax has told me you are getting along almost too well for the person he thought you were ” she looked back, and her smile grew again. “So, you actually missed me ?”

Nebula grunted.

“Yes, maybe! Maybe I got used to you being there, about you always caring, even if nobody asked you to do so. Maybe I realised that speaking with you was only more pleasant than it was annoying. Maybe I have realised insect-like features are cutter than I was raised up to believe they were…FUCK, IS THAT THOR ?!”

Mantis took a couple of steps back to reach her height in the street and nodded, playfully.

“Yep, that is him. And the kid he kind of adopted; Peter is her teacher…and the dark haired kid too” she pointed at a girl with raven hair and a crocodile (with a bloody helmet, who knows why) between her legs, holding a pink-white-purple-black-blue flag. She was next to three adults: a blonde woman, a man with very similar dark hair and one with the type of hair she had heard plenty of people in the Blip Years calling Silver Fox Hair .

Nebula was still processing that she had just seen her idiot Peter kiss the fucking God of Thunder when Mantis held her by the arm, with a smile filling her whole face.

“So…you missed me?”

“You are reading my mind, Mantis, you know I feel it ” how she knew Mantis was reading her mind, she wasn’t certain. It was just…it just…for once, it felt as a right intromission and her whole body was telling her to make something so it didn’t stop.

“Yes, but…I wasn’t looking for your missing-me feelings” Nebula frowned.

“Weren’t you? Then, what on Earth…?”

“…I was looking about your me-kissing-you feelings”.

“And what are they?” her question was genuine. She had locked that part of herself so deep within her soul she wasn’t truly able to reach it.

For all answer, Mantis kissed her and people around them cheered. Usually, this kind of intromission in her personal life would have maddened Nebula, but, right now, a kind of happiness she wasn’t used to feeling clouded everything else.

She would let them go.