white noise (feel)
Status: Complete
Theme: Day 06: Feel
Published: 09 February 2019
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Rating: General Audiences
Tags: Mantis/Nebula (Marvel), Mantis (Marvel), Nebula (Marvel), fluff, Oneshot, Illustrated
Opening Notes:
Original AO3 Note:Admittedly this fic and art combo are Kind of a stretch to fit the theme but I tried my best! This ficlet is the least edited of them all bc of the timecrunch so please forgive any grammar mistakes that's have slipped my notice. Thank you in advance for reading!
Mantis sighs happily as she falls into bed, happy to finally be in bed after a long day and smiles into her pillow as she settles comfortably into the mattress. Nebula lets out a little “oof” from where she’s lying beside her, jostled by Mantis’s dramatic flop into bed.
“And I thought I was violent,” Nebula mutters. “What if I had been asleep?”
“But you weren’t. And you only got into bed a few minutes ago; I know you did not fall asleep that fast.”
Nebula grunts, and Mantis finally rolls over to face her. “Sorry,” she giggles, unable to help herself at the way Nebula’s nose scrunches when she tries (and fails, in Mantis’s opinion) to scowl. “I didn’t mean to disturb you.”
She holds one hand up, palm out, and waits expectantly as Nebula eyes her grumpily. After a long pause she gives in with a huff and leans into Mantis’s touch. Mantis giggles again at the way Nebula melts into her touch and shifts close enough to press a kiss to her lips.
“Forgive me?” she asks, a teasing lilt to her voice.
“Mmph. Yes,” Nebula answers and leans in for another kiss, which Mantis happily returns.
They eventually break apart and settle into bed. It doesn’t take long for them to doze off, the quiet hum of Nebula’s cybernetics barely discernible in Mantis’s ear.
-
Mantis sleeps easily that night, and the several nights that follow until Nebula leaves again. She doesn’t sleep poorly when Nebula is away, but it does take her longer to drift off without her, which is one reason (among many) why she’s so enthused when Nebula announces her arrival over the comms.
That first night she’s back Mantis drops happily into bed and Nebula starts her usual grumblings when the bed jostles, to which Mantis replies, “You weren’t even asleep.”
“Are you even capable of getting calmly into bed?” There’s a hint of fond amusement in her voice despite her otherwise monotonous tone and somewhat grouchy expression.
“Nope,” Mantis responds cheerily, all too happy to keep playing along with their now-familiar game.
Nebula grunts but before she can reply further Mantis tucks into her side and snuggles close with a happy sigh. Nebula huffs out a quiet laugh and loops an arm her waist and Mantis falls asleep with the faint hum of Nebula’s cybernetics in her ear.
-
Once, after a particularly grueling excursion, Nebula returns in a smoking ship and with enough new cuts and bruises to make Mantis and Gamora both fuss over her (much to Nebula’s annoyance). She comes back in one piece, at least, and after a quick trip to the medbay to take care of the worst of her latest batch of injuries (at Mantis and Gamora’s insistence, of course) she lets Mantis drag her over to the ship’s couch with only minimal complaining.
It’s the least she can do after worrying her so badly.
Mantis is curled into Nebula’s side, their fingers laced together and her antennae glowing softly in contentment. Nebula’s tended to the worst of her injuries, but some part of her cybernetics has been damaged. What is usually little more than white noise is now an audible, droning hum. It isn’t serious (or at the very least, it isn’t fatal, Nebula had said when Gamora asked) but she does think something has been knocked out of place or might need fixing or replacing, and she isn’t sure she has the energy or tools to do that tonight.
The noise doesn’t bother Mantis, but she can feel the tension in Nebula’s shoulders and see the tight frown across her face. She’d long-since gotten used to the noise of her body mods over the years to the point of tuning it out, but recent damage had dragged the noise to the forefront of her mind again. Nebula had almost forgotten how grating it was.
Mantis peers up at her thoughtfully, and when Nebula notices she slits her eyes suspiciously in a silent question. Mantis opens then closes her mouth, shakes her head a little and laughs.
“What?”
“It’s just…do you know what a cat is?”
Nebula’s scowl changes into a look of confusion. “What?”
“They’re a Terran species—“
Nebula huffs. “You’ve been spending too much time with Quill again.”
“—species of animal,” Mantis continues, ignoring Nebula’s grumbling. “Peter says they do something called purring.”
“…Purring,” Nebula echoes, eyeing Mantis. She isn’t quite sure where Mantis is heading with this.
Mantis nods, trying and failing to hide her growing smile. “It is a vibratory kind of noise. Apparently, it is a sign of contentment and relaxation.” Nebula glares. Her cheeks flush a darker blue even as Mantis teasingly finishes, “It sounds like you’re purring.”
“The increased noise is the result of a fault in my cybernetics,” Nebula retorts. “It is nothing so saccharine.”
“I think it’s cute,” Mantis says, resting her head against Nebula’s shoulder.
“You are ridiculous,” Nebula growls embarrassedly.
“Maybe,” Mantis concedes. “But I distracted you from the noise.”
Nebula blinks at her, and then makes a face. “I suppose,” she mutters, slowly moving to lay her cheek against the top of Mantis’s head. “…Thank you.”
Mantis hums happily in reply and lets the fluttery, irregular thrum lull her further in relaxation.
-
Mantis notices, over time, that the best position to hear Nebula’s cybernetics (and therefore her favorite) is when she sprawls across Nebula, ear to her chest.
Nebula notices, too.
“Doesn’t it bother you?” she asks one night as Mantis gets ready for bed. Mantis looks at her questioningly as she gets comfortable, gradually nudging Nebula onto her back with her shifting. “My cybernetics. The noise,” Nebula clarifies.
“Why would it bother me?”
“Isn’t the noise…bothersome?” Nebula sounds genuinely baffled, and now it’s Mantis’s turn to be confused.
Mantis carefully settles across Nebula, crossing her arms across Nebula’s chest and resting her cheek on her arm, head angled to meet Nebula’s gaze. “I think it is comforting. It relaxes me.”
Nebula looks skeptical. She remembers how long it took her to get used to the endless, constant drone of her body mods, to learn how to tune it out. She remembers how maddening it was to never have a single second of silence to herself.
It takes a minute for Mantis to collect her thoughts, and when she does, she says slowly. “On Ego’s planet, there was scarcely any noise. We were the only living beings on his planet, and the silence when I was alone was maddening.”
Nebula doesn’t interrupt, but brushes her hand across the back of Mantis’s neck in quiet reassurance.
“But now,” Mantis continues, smiling at Nebula’s comforting gesture, “I am rarely alone, and when I am, there is always some kind of ambient noise to remind me of that. And you”—Mantis stretches until she can press a quick kiss to Nebula’s lip—“are my favorite.”
Nebula makes quiet, embarrassed sort of huff and Mantis settles back down with a giggle. Mantis feels Nebula shift beneath her until she’s comfortable, and then feels her arm settle across her waist.
“Sentimental fool,” Nebula mumbles. She’s quiet for a long time, long enough that Mantis almost thinks she’s finished speaking. “I sleep better with you, too.” She says it quickly and quietly, but there’s affection in her voice despite how flustered she sounds and feels.
Mantis smiles, rubs her thumb gently across Nebula’s collar bone. “And you claim I’m the sentimental fool.”
Ending Notes:
N/A