proving a point

Status: Complete
Published: 22 February 2025
Chapters: 1
Words: 537
Rating: General Audiences
Tags: Mantis/Nebula (Marvel), Mantis (Marvel), Nebula (Marvel)

AO3 Mirror

Opening Notes:

Original AO3 Note: just somethin short and silly :]

Mantis circles her, eyes sparkling in a way that sets Nebula on edge. It’s the kind of look she gets when she’s feeling mischievous, Nebula has learned, when she’s planning something that will definitely piss Nebula off.

Nebula crosses her arms and eyes Mantis suspiciously, shoulders hunching. “What?”

“Nothing,” Mantis says. She looks at Nebula with a smile and overly-innocent eyes.

Nebula doesn’t believe her, and she makes that known with a snort. Fine. Mantis can play her games, but she can leave Nebula out of it.

“Whatever.”

Nebula shakes her head and moves to leave, and that’s when Mantis pounces. She moves quickly as soon as Nebula turns away. Nebula catches a flash of her from the corner of her eyes but before she can react there are arms around her back and under her knees and suddenly she’s been hoisted off her feet.

“What,” Nebula blusters, going immediately stiff.

They’re unbalanced. For one painfully long moment, Nebula thinks they’re going to tip over and fall, but Mantis recovers quickly and smoothly works their momentum into a twirl, laughing delightedly the entire time.

It takes several long seconds for Nebula to process what’s happened. Mantis is grinning broadly up at her, eyes crinkling at the corner. Mantis is giggling at Nebula’s panicked blustering, at the look on Nebula’s face. She looks like she’s desperately trying to make sense of this indignity.

“I told you I could carry you!” Mantis crows, twirling again.

“Quit spinning!” Nebula shouts, and Mantis thankfully complies, but still doesn’t put her down.

“Don’t worry, I promise I won’t drop you,” Mantis teases. The look Nebula shoots her is venomous.

“You’ve made your point, now put me down,” Nebula demands.

“What, you’re not enjoying this?”

“I am a highly trained assassin!” Nebula splutters, furious. “This is exceedingly undignified!”

Mantis laughs again and adjusts her grip to be a little more secure. Nebula’s face feels hot and she’s still tense and stiff and awkward in Mantis’s arms and it’s definitely because of the sheer indignity of it all and not at all because of how closely Mantis is holding her, absolutely not—

Nebula is so caught up in her own traitorous thoughts that she doesn’t realize they’re moving until she feels a lurch and she briefly thinks that this time they are falling but, no—okay, they’re sitting now and this is somehow even worse because now she’s sitting in Mantis’s lap—

She realizes with a start that Mantis is staring at her, amused. Her smile grows wider as Nebula’s face darkens into a deep, embarrassed violet.

“Mantis,” Nebula says stiffly.

“Hm?”

“This is not what I meant when I told you to put me down.”

Mantis hums thoughtfully. Her hands settle on Nebula’s waist. Nebula’s self-control is admirable, because somehow she manages not to react to Mantis’s teasing.

“You could have stopped me whenever you pleased,” Mantis replies. She’s smugly satisfied when Nebula does not reply.

But Nebula does, slowly, let her arms settle loosely around Mantis’s shoulders. “There are easier ways to flirt,” she says eventually, gruffly.

Mantis pulls her a little closer, and delights in the look on Nebula’s face when she does. “Maybe,” Mantis concedes, “but not nearly as fun.”

Ending Notes:

N/A