#kragula

As per usual, the rest Guardians had gone in on the main mission, leaving Nebula behind to cover their escape, and Kraglin waiting in the drop ship to pilot a quick getaway. And also as usual, things did not go according to plan.

Nebula had been ambushed by five Sakaraan battle hounds. She’d quickly taken down three with a couple precise shots, when her blaster got knocked from her hand by another’s blaster bolt striking her wrist.

A Mercenary, dressed all in black, appeared out of nowhere. They’d sprang forward, kicking her down to the ground as the remaining hounds pounced. Nebula cried out when one of the creatures jaws clamped down on her forearm. She gritted her teeth as she forced a power surge to electrocute the beast.

As she lay there weakened, the Merc stood over her and trained the barrel of it’s gun right between her eyes, “Say goodnigh-”

A bright bolt suddenly blasted into the side of the merc’s head, and they fell over dead. The remaining hound was immediately dispatched as well.

Nebula's head fell to the side in the direction the shots had come from and she saw Kraglin come sprinting through the trees. Lowering his riffle, he skidded to a stop and knelt down beside her. His eyes flicked over her, assessing her injuries.

“Oh Shit Neb! You okay?” he panted.

Nebula growled and tried to get up, but faltered.

“Hey hey hey,“ Kraglin said quickly, concern in his voice as he placed a hand on her shoulder, “Maybe you shouldn’t.”

Nebula knocked his hand away, “Shut up.” she groused. But then grabbed onto his arm and pulled herself up. Kraglin steadied her as she stood and he helped her back to the ship.

(Later back on the ship)

Sparks flew again and Nebula threw down her tool in frustration.

“Ya need some help with that?” a voice asked from the open doorway. Nebula’s eyes darted up and she saw Kraglin standing there with a curious expression on his face. She didn’t know how long he had been watching, obviously long enough to witness her struggle.

“No.” Nebula replied grumpily.

“Alright, just, it’d get done faster with a couple more hands is all, ‘stead of just one…” he remarked.

She stared at him a second longer then rolled her eyes, “Fine.” she relented.

Kraglin scratched above his ear as he stepped forward and sat down on the seat across the table from her. Once settled in, he cleared his throat and reached out, taking her wrist. Then slowly pulled her arm towards himself.

Nebula suddenly felt a strange sensation bolt through her. A sort of tenseness she was quite unfamiliar with. Her eyes darted between Kraglin’s face to where he gently held her wrist. But he kept his eyes down, trained on the breach that revealed the inner workings of her arm.

Outwardly Kraglin seemed nonplussed, but in the back of his mind, it was like he was pulling a thorn from the paw of an A'askavariian wild beast. He worked carefully. He was probably the second most tech proficient member on the team, after Rocket of course, but he sure didn’t want to make any kind of mistakes here.

“Okay, tell me if this hurts…” he said as he moved the tool inside.

“Why?” Nebula asked bluntly. Of all the times someone had operated on her in the past, some cybernetic surgeon hired or forced into it by Thanos; they’d never cared if they had caused her any pain.

Kraglin’s expression was a little confused, “Cause I don’t wanna hurt ya.” he said simply.

Nebula blinked, “Why do you care?” she asked in a slightly more gentle tone.

He glanced up, meeting her shiny dark eyes for only a second before looking back down, shaking his head a bit. “We're a team Neb.” was all he said and went back to working. Apparently he need not explain any further.

After a few minutes, he spoke again, “Alright, how’s that?” he asked, sitting back as Nebula curled her fingers into a fist a couple times. She looked at him. “It’s good.” she told him.

Kraglin nodded and he leaned forward again as she offered her arm to him. He began to carefully close up the panel. She watched intently as he slowly slid his thumbs down along the edges; caressing the fine seem where her skin met metal. He paused when he ended up holding her hand in both of his. Their eyes locked and they stared at each other for a long moment, both unsure why neither seemed reluctant to pull away. Nebula blinked first, Kraglin released a breath he unknowingly had been holding.

“Yep. So ah, you’re welcome,” he quickly let go of her and stood, “I’ll um, see ya later Neb.” he turned and walked out.

Nebula’s head cocked to the side as he disappeared around the corner. She sat there in silence, trying to figure out exactly what had just occurred.

Kraglin was odd, Nebula thought to herself, but so was everyone on the ship in their own ways. He didn’t seem to fear her, and maybe it was because they were both newer members on the team, but he always tired to include her in whatever was going on or make a point to ask what she thought about the plans for their upcoming missions and such.

----

Kraglin had prepared dinner for the group the next evening; some kind of savory soup accompanied by a mix of greens and meat. It was much better than most of the fare they’d had lately.

Drax laughed as he watched Nebula drink down most of her soup in one go. He gestured at Kraglin. “Haha, here I thought Yondu hadn’t taught either of you how to cook a proper meal…” Drax began, “But no, it’s just Quill who is terrible at it.” he commented.

“Hey, my stuff isn’t terrible.” Peter responded indignantly.

“I am Groot.”

“Groot’s right. It sucks.” Rocket affirmed.

“You all ate it.” Peter argued.

“Just because it’s technically edible, doesn’t mean it ain’t terrible Quill.” Rocket spoke out. “How you manage to make it raw on the outside and burnt on the inside I’ll never know.” Rocket shook his head.

“Fine, I’ll admit, cooking is not my greatest skill, but I make up for it by being really amazing at a lot of other stuff...” He turned his head, “Huh Gamora?”

“Huh?” Gamora had missed what he’d said, too taken by her meal.

“We can have dessert later if you want.” His eyebrows popped up at her suggestively.

“Is he talking about sex again?” Mantis asked loudly.

“And there goes my appetite.” Rocket muttered in disappointment before collecting his dish and leaving the table.

“Anyway, Kraglin, this is great.” Peter told him sincerely.

Kraglin smiled. “Thanks Pete.”

Drax, Mantis, and Quill finished their food pretty quickly, leaving just Kraglin and the two daughters of Thanos remaining at the table. Kraglin watched Nebula twirl her fork expertly around her fingers before stabbing it down into a bit a meat. He smirked, “How’s the arm doin?” he asked her.

“It’s much better. I think those wires you bypassed made for a faster response and I no longer have that slight pain sensation in my wrist.”

“Glad to hear it.” He spied her empty bowl, “You uh, want some more soup?”

Her eyes flicked from the bowl to Kraglin, “Yes.” she replied.

“I’ll get it for ya.” He stood and took her bowl.

“Thank you.” Nebula said awkwardly, the words unfamiliar to her.

“No problem Neb.” He replied.

Gamora’s eyes came up and flicked curiously between the two as Kraglin retreated into the galley kitchen. She studied Nebula and caught the tiniest hint of a smile from her sister as she poked at her plate. Gamora tilted her head, her own smile appearing. “I never thought I would see the day...”

“What?” Nebula grumped, her eyes darting nervously.

“Kraglin…” Gamora jerked her head in his direction, “You like him, don’t you?”

“I don’t know what your talking about.” Nebula snapped, not meeting her sister’s eyes.

“Its fine, I get it.” Gamora told her genially. “I was afraid too at first…with Peter.”

“I don’t want to hear about you and Star Lord…and I am not afraid.” Nebula contested.

“Understood,” Gamora nodded as she rose from her seat, “but if you have any questions or ever want to talk about…anything, you know where to find me.”

Nebula watched Gamora leave and scoffed. She was not going to end up like her sister; fooling around in some former Ravager boy’s bed every night.

Nope, she was definitely not going to do that…

Kraglin came back from the kitchen with a bowl only quarter full. “Sorry Neb, this’s all that’s left.” he told her.

“It’s fine.” Nebula replied, too aware of how their fingers touched as he passed the bowl to her.

After a moment Kraglin spoke again, “…So ah, you gonna want dessert?” he asked.

Nebula nearly choked on her soup.