#starbula

Nebula: Yes?

Peter: Do you need a hug?

quill in denial until mantis and rocket corner him to grill him on it because he’s been staring and listening to even sappier music than usual and it’s so damned obvious

both of them being 100000.00% certain the other would never return their feelings

nebula’s certainty compounded by the ever-present ghost of their gamora, her name on his lips after every drunken stupor nebula used to rescue him from, knowing in the hollowest parts of her soul she could never compare. second place again, always. she’s so tired. she can’t decide if these feelings are more stupid or selfish

quill agonizing over whether or not to tell her, but she’ll definitely kill him, right? he can’t stop blurting out compliments to her though, so it’s bound to spill out eventually. still, she never looks like she believes him

nebula hating her reflection, wishing she was beautiful and then hating herself for the sheer vanity of the notion. as if beauty could trick anyone into loving her. tracing a hand along the raised scars all over her body, the cold edges where metal meet flesh

quill doing a great job keeping his temper in check until the scumbags they’re facing off with call nebula “hideous” and she stays uncharacteristically quiet. he doesn’t remember much after “second-hand gamora-bot”

nebula’s steady bracing weight against him as she drags his sorry ass home from yet another bar fight. “you weren’t even drunk this time, what were you thinking?” she hisses, but he knows there’s no bite behind it. her side presses warm against his

“couldn’t let them say that shit,” quill mumbling like a petulant teenager, hoping she doesn’t take offense to his white knighting

nebula rolling her eyes, “assholes maybe but they weren’t wrong.” quill stopping in his tracks so hard it nearly throws them off balance

quill wanting nothing more than to get it through her head that she’s beautiful. she’s always been beautiful, even back when she was trying to kill them. even more now that she feels like home and the night lamps casting a glow around her right now are just so fucking unfair

mantis rushing out before he can say anything and helping nebula wrap his ankle and busted hand. there’s a second when mantis’ hand brushes nebula’s while they work and he swears a look of such shock and sadness floods her face- but then the sharp sting of disinfectant makes him blink and the expression is gone and so is nebula

nebula spiraling in self loathing - she hates herself, disgusts herself, surely she disgusts him too? and now mantis probably knows

rocket wisely not commenting when she sits down moodily while he works and just. aggressively cleans machine parts. after a while they just relax into familiar, companionable silence

nebula not wanting to risk any of this

Was it casual when she carried him to his room and tucked him into bed while he was drunk?

Was it casual when she went back to the enemies ship just to save him?

Was it casual when he complimented her eyes and even after she said her father put them in he said "well at least he picked a pretty pair"

Was it casual when he looked at her like a sad puppy needing something soft to lie on?

Ok I’ve been meaning to post this FOREVER and life has been absolutely crazy…

But the GOTG Vol 3 art book finally released this summer… and the Starbula crumbs in there are kind of incredible. I don’t have a scanner, so please enjoy my low-tech photos of these pages. 😅

We start off with Peter and Nebula looking gorgeous next to each other on the back cover 🥲 And basically in the front of the group (aside from Rocket, the main character)? Delightful.

Ok, the next page of note isn't actually a Starbula crumb. It is a STARBULA FEAST WTF. Again, sorry for the low-quality picture -- it's super dark and I kept trying to take a picture at different times of day/locations to get a better angle lol. Take a look at this picture and its description:

Reading this for the first time, I literally couldn't stop laughing from disbelief and amazement. Starbula was potentially going to be SO in-your-face in the movie (more than it was already) and I am so happy to know this.

But honestly, I'm also kind of happy this moment wasn't in the film. Instead of Peter and Nebula having this ultra-cinematic, obviously-romantic moment where the world falls away and they stare at each other, the movie's focus is on Peter and Nebula beginning to truly move forward and heal from their pasts. That way, Nebula isn't just a Romantic Lead Replacement for Gamora, but is more of a subtle, farther-in-the-future (and endgame!) romantic partner. I really think that having this moment hidden just underneath the surface is amazing -- since I now totally headcanon that this is what happened in the scene, just off-camera. (In fact, you can actually see Peter run to Nebula's side in the distance of the shot of Nathan Fillian floating away!)

Maybe Peter and Nebula have been increasingly having these intimate, hyper-focused-on-each-other moments during missions, and they don't even notice it's a big deal. We basically saw this happening during the hallway fight near the end of the movie, too -- them being totally in sync and staring at each other instead of the henchmen they were fighting. Maybe some of their teammates are starting to notice, maybe not. But it's happening under the surface all the same. 🥹

Here they are zoomed in a bit:

And the last bit of Starbula content is this Star-Lord page:

Interesting who they decided to place next to Peter to show the different Guardians uniform options... 👀 Also, they look SO FUCKING GOOD TOGETHER