make ya smile

Status: Complete
Published: 29 July 2023
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,105
Rating: Teen & Up
Tags: Mantis/Nebula (Marvel), Mantis (Marvel), Nebula (Marvel)

AO3 Mirror

Opening Notes:

Original AO3 Note: bugborg brainrot has hit me hard these past few months here's a lil fic i've been picking at to try and get back in the writing mood. i'm a little bit rusty at this but hopefully this is a fun read anyways :] feel free to hit me up on tumblr @ bugborgs if you wanna talk some bugborg, i love these idiots so much hehe

don't think too hard about the timeline of events i simply could not tell you exactly how much time passes

Nebula tracks Mantis from the corner of her eye as she approaches. She doesn’t move to properly face Mantis until she’s practically standing right next to her, and even then she only turns her head to look at her. Her expression is neutral-angry, a look that Mantis has come to realize is just Nebula’s default, even when she isn’t.

Nebula doesn’t say anything, but the slight crease of her brow is question enough.

“You should be celebrating with us! Why are you holed up all by yourself?”

“I prefer being left alone, actually. You are all incredibly loud, and obnoxious.”

“It won’t kill you to have a little fun.”

“I don’t consider this fun.”

Mantis narrows her eyes thoughtfully and circles Nebula until she’s standing directly in front of her. Nebula’s expression remains as sour as ever.

“So what do you consider fun?”

“Not being bothered by pests,” Nebula says pointedly.

“I’m serious! There must be something you consider fun. I don’t believe you’re a sourpuss all the time.” Somehow Nebula looks even more annoyed than she did before, and Mantis points a finger at her deepening frown. “Do you ever smile? You can smile, right?” She says it teasingly, playful, but there’s a part of her that wonders. She doesn’t think she’s ever seen Nebula smile before.

“What’s there to smile about?” Nebula snaps, folding her arms across her chest.

“I bet I can make you smile,” Mantis says, a playful mischievous gleam in her eyes.

Nebula bristles immediately, her glare now furiously dangerous. “Use your powers on me and you’ll wish you only ended up with a broken hand.”

“That would be a cruel thing to do to a friend,” Mantis replies easily, not looking the least bit afraid (and that kind of pisses Nebula off, to tell the truth). “And I wasn’t going to use my powers on you. I can make you smile without them.” She pauses briefly, then smiles, almost—reassuringly? “Although, I do have to touch you. Just a little bit. But I promise I won’t use my powers on you.”

Nebula slits her eyes suspiciously and doesn’t say anything. The silence stretches for several seconds before Mantis breaks it.

“It’s okay. If you’re afraid you can’t trust me, I understand.”

“I’m not afraid,” Nebula nearly spits. “And I don’t think you’d take that risk.”

“And I don’t think you’d actually hurt me,” Mantis challenges, lifting her chin defiantly. “But I still won’t use my powers on you.”

She holds her hands out, not yet reaching for Nebula, and waits. After a pause, Nebula pushes off the wall she’d been leaning against and stands just inches away, eyes narrowed.

Still smiling, Mantis reaches for Nebula, pauses inches away from making contact, gauging her reaction. Despite all her bluster, Mantis had expected Nebula to jerk away, swat her hands aside or snap or something. She wasn’t exactly a huge fan of physical contact, this much Mantis knew.

But she also knew Nebula was stubborn, and not one to back down when challenged. And so the only reaction she gave was the slight narrowing of her eyes, as if daring Mantis to continue.

So she did.

Boldly, Mantis touches the tips of her forefingers to the corners of Nebula’s mouth and gently pushes her mouth into a smile that looks more like a grimace.

Creases form in Nebula’s brow and all along the bridge of her nose, and it looked like she was trying very hard not to do something violent. She looked almost offended that Mantis would dare inflict such a silly act on her.

For her part, Mantis was trying very hard not to laugh right in Nebula’s face, but the absurdity of it all—Nebula’s “smile” looking more like a dog baring its teeth, the agitated twitch one of her eyes was doing, the way her eyebrows hooded lower and lower over eyes the more time passed—made it very hard.

“You know,” Mantis says, giggling a bit, “it helps if you don’t look like you want to kill me.” She presses her fingers up just a smidge more. She saw a tiny flash of gums as Nebula’s lip lifted. It didn’t make her look any friendlier.

“I’m glad you’re having fun,” Nebula grinds out through gritted teeth, in a tone that distinctly meant she was not, “but are you done making a fool of us both?”

“You are welcome to stop me at any time,” Mantis answers cheerfully.

Immediately Nebula uncrosses her arms and reaches for Mantis’s hands. She swats one away and guides the other off her face by the wrist. Mantis lets her, still giggling, and feeling quite pleased with herself.

“Don’t do that again, or I’ll break your arm.”

Mantis cocked her head to one side, eyes narrowing slightly with amusement. “I don’t think that you would.”

“Try it and find out,” Nebula growled, and then she turned on her heel and stalked out of the room.

“I’m going to go check on Nebula.”

Mantis had been sneaking glances at her all night since she’d extracted herself from the cluster of tables that they had all been gathered at. Now, Nebula was seated at the far end of the bar, away from everyone else, and based on prior experiences, probably minutes away from extracting herself from the dining hall entirely and retreating to her Knowhere apartment.

“You mean you’re going to go bother her,” Rocket says.

“Maybe.”

“Your funeral.”

“If she hasn’t killed me yet for annoying her, then I don’t think she ever will.”

She stands up before anyone else can say anything and sees that Nebula has noticed immediately, and is now watching her approach. Mantis lifts an arm and waves as if Nebula wasn’t looking right at her. Nebula rolls her eyes.

“What?” Nebula asks as soon as Mantis is standing in front of her.

“You looked grumpy, and I wanted to come and see why.”

“You always think I look like that.”

“You do,” Mantis confirms. “Even when you have no reason to be.”

“That’s just what my face looks like,” she deadpans, earning a laugh from Mantis.

“Does it now? Here, let me—” She’s feeling a bit playful, and before she can reconsider she gives in to the urge to tease Nebula a little bit, reaches for her, and then leans even closer when Nebula instinctively jerks back. She hits the edge of the bar counter with a thump.

“Sorry,” Mantis says, not looking very sorry at all.

Nebula doesn’t say anything, just eyes her like she knows what Mantis is thinking, and she probably does.

Giggling, Mantis presses her hands to Nebula’s face, cupping her chin clumsily with both hands and pressing each thumb to the corners of her mouth. Amazingly, Nebula allows this, though the look on her faces says that not even Nebula knows why.

There are two things that are different from the last time Mantis tried this. For one, they’re a little drunk. Tipsy, really, drunk is an exaggeration.

(“Pleasantly buzzed,” Mantis would argue. 

“Sober, in my case,” Nebula would say, “it takes more than that to get drunk with my mods.”)

For another, unlike the last time where Nebula was nearly bristling with indignant fury, she’s now letting this play out with casual resignation. Boredom, maybe. These days, Mantis is a little freer with her touches, and Nebula has, begrudgingly (so she says), grown more tolerant of it. A part of Mantis knows she is of the opinion that it’s easier to go along with it to get Mantis off her case. 

Secretly, Mantis thinks Nebula enjoys it. Just a little.

(Mantis knows she likes being special enough to get away with it.)

And so, this time, Mantis gets away with holding Nebula’s face while she teases her.

Mantis gently presses upwards, pushing Nebula’s mouth into something that could almost be called a smile, if you were feeling generous. It’s a better look this time around. A tiny bit less murderous than last time.

“You look a little friendlier this time,” Mantis remarks.

“Mhm.” Nebula sounds distinctly unimpressed.

“Not a whole lot—you’re still kind of scary looking. But it’s an improvement over the snarling dog look from last time.”

At this Nebula sighs and reaches up to peel Mantis’s hands off her face. “All right, time’s up. Get your hands off my face,” and she shoves Mantis’s hands away from herself. With her thumbs no longer there to force the uncomfortably ingenuine smile, Nebula’s expression slips back to its usual flat affect.

Mantis only beams up at her, looking quite satisfied for some reason. “I’m going to go rejoin the others.”

“Please do.” What Nebula meant was quit bothering me and piss off, but the words come out less threatening, with less bite, than she’d intended, and Mantis didn’t seem to be the slightest bit bothered.

Mantis turns to leave, pauses, turns back to Nebula. “I like it when you smile,” she says, smiling as if to reassure Nebula, as if she had somehow hurt Nebula’s feelings. “And I don’t think you’re scary. Even when you smile like you want to kill someone.”

She flounces off then, excitedly rejoining Peter and Drax and Groot and the rest of their friends, and Rocket, who had chosen that exact moment to saunter over and join Nebula, watches her go. They greet her with gusto, and conversation seems to shift a bit. Peter throws a quick glance Nebula’s way, looking away just as quick when he realizes Nebula is watching.

“I think she was flirtin’ with ya, Nebs.”

“No,” she retorts immediately, “she absolutely was not.”

“Yeah she was. Why else would she be touchin’ all over you like that? She complimented your smile. When was the last time anyone ever complimented your smile? Has anyone ever complimented your smile before?”

“Fuck you.”

“I don’t hear ya disagreeing.” By now Rocket had scrambled onto the stool beside her and was settled comfortably in his seat, leaning back against the countertop.

Nebula lets out an exasperated breath. “She’s always like that! She is disgustingly physical with her affections. Towards everyone.”

“Hugging, maybe, but I ain’t ever seen her get handsy like that with anyone but you. And I ain’t ever seen anybody but Mantis get away with actin’ like that towards you.”

Nebula shoots him a withering glare, but it just makes him throw his head back in laughter. “We’ve been friends too damn long for that to work on me, Nebs. Nice try though.” He continues snickering as she turns to scowl at nothing, crossing her arms and hunching her shoulders in a rather petulant sort of way, in his opinion.

“I think,” he says, once his laughter subsided, “that this is your cue.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” she grits out.

“Yeah you do. You like her. Just come out and say it already.”

“I don’t like her. Not like that.”

Rocket snorts. “Why else would you let her touch your face like that? Anybody else even thinks about doing that and you’d gut them.”

“Did you come over here just to be a pest?” Nebula demands angrily.

“Yeah kinda.” He shrugs and sips on his drink. “It was getting to loud over there. I needed some quiet for a minute or two.”

“I think your minute is up,” she mutters.

“And,” he continues, pointedly ignoring her, “I wanted to check on you.”

“What? Why?”

“What do you mean why? ’Cos you’re over here sulking all alone!”

She makes a face. “I’m not a celebrations kind of person. And you’re all extremely obnoxious.”

“Yeah, I know. That’s why I came to keep you company. And I had to make sure Mantis wasn’t gonna lose a hand or somethin’ for feelin’ you up.”

“Piss off. I have more self-restraint than that.”

“Can never be too careful with you.”

“Ugh.” And as an afterthought, adds, “And she wasn’t ‘feeling me up.’”

“Yeah yeah, whatever.”

They lapse into a comfortable silence. Well, comfortable for Rocket, anyways. Nebula’s still feeling wound up, annoyance prickling all along her spine. She’s not-so-subtly watching the rest of the team make fools of themselves, animatedly detailing some grand adventure, presumably, to the Knowhere citizens gathered around their table, and Rocket pretends not to notice how she stares at Mantis, which Nebula appreciates.

Mantis rolls over onto her stomach, blinks sleepily as she takes in her lover, flat on her back and hands folded leisurely across her belly. Nebula’s chest rises and falls, her cybernetics humming quietly, mixing with the sound of her breathing as she appears to doze.

Mantis smiles, basks in the warm, syrupy joy of Nebula asleep in bed next to her, relaxed and peaceful and content. It wasn’t a new thing—they shared a bed more often than not these days, but her heart still swells at all the little things, no matter how common they had become—the casual way she dozes with Mantis, so unlike the fitful, restless sleep she had been accustomed to for so long. The easy way they tease and joke, and how surprisingly tender Nebula is in private. It was a special privilege to be able to see Nebula’s more vulnerable moments so intimately.

She shuffles closer, pressing into Nebula’s side. Immediately Nebula’s eyes flick open, arm automatically lifting to let Mantis snuggle close, a gesture she quickly takes advantage of.

“Sorry. Did I wake you?” She tucks herself under Nebula’s arm, which slowly settles around her shoulders; it’s a familiar, comfortable weight. She buries her face in the crook of Nebula’s neck.

“Mmmnnno. I was only half-asleep.”

Mantis touches a patch of dark blue on Nebula’s neck, idly rubs small circles into the skin. “I don’t believe you, but I’m sorry anyways.”

“You didn’t,” Nebula snorts. “Go back to sleep.”

Mantis props herself up on her elbows with a little huff, Nebula’s arm still slung loosely around her shoulders. Nebula’s eyes have shuttered close again, though Mantis knows she hasn’t dozed off that quick.

“Go to sleep,” Nebula says flatly, eyes still shut.

Mantis ignores her, brushes her knuckles across Nebula’s forehead and watches for a reaction. Her nose crinkles very slightly, but she doesn’t say anything else, and she keeps her eyes firmly shut. The lack of reaction is basically a greenlight as far as Mantis is concerned. She sits up, shrugging out from under Nebula’s arm and slings a leg over so she’s straddling her hips. Nebula grunts, slits one eye open to briefly glower, only to huff and go back to pretending to be asleep when Mantis smiles sweetly at her.

She places a delicate fingertip to one of the silvery seams separating the different shades of blue on Nebula’s face and begins to trace the line with deliberate, languid strokes. Mantis does this a few times, following the line to its end, to Nebula’s jaw or cheek, behind her ear to down the length of her neck, and then she picks a new place to start all over again. Nebula just lets her, the slight twitch of her mouth the only indication she hasn’t yet fallen asleep again. The next line she traces leads her to Nebula’s cheek again, and Mantis stops to stroke with her thumb. The motion tugs at Nebula’s mouth, and after a few seconds of this her eyes finally flick open again, and she fixes Mantis with a deeply unimpressed stare.

“What are you doing?”

“Enjoying the view.” And when Nebula makes a face, adds, “And amusing myself. Don’t look so grumpy. Here—” Before Nebula can stop her, she’s pressing her thumbs to the corners of Nebula’s mouth and pushing it up into a smile. There’s a bit of gum showing, the way Mantis is pushing on her mouth, and it makes her look a little like a disgruntled dog, but any terror the bared teeth might have otherwise instilled was undercut by Nebula’s tired expression, looking for all the world like she was a little dead inside.

Mantis giggles even as Nebula exhales noisily, exasperated, and rolls her eyes. “Really? This again?”

“Mhm. I am enjoying this immensely.”

“I smile for you all the time!” Nebula exclaims, and Mantis immediately leans down, crowds Nebula against the bed and peppers her with kisses until she’s making cute, flustered little noises in the back of her throat.

“Yes, I know, and I love when you smile,” Mantis assures in between kisses, relishing in the rush of warmth in her belly at how easily she can fluster Nebula. “And I especially like it when you smile just for me. It is soooo cute.”

She says that last bit in as an exaggerated, gooey-sweet tone as she can manage, drawing out the words, knowing the reaction to come, and Nebula does not disappoint. The next sound she makes is louder, a whine somewhere between indignant and embarrassed that makes Mantis giggle again, makes her want to tease her, rile her up just to hear more.

Nebula squirms underneath her. “Ugh. What happened to ‘I’m sorry I woke you’? You don’t seem very sorry right now.”

“You said I didn’t wake you, remember?”

Nebula frowns, brows hooding low over her eyes. “Gods, you’re a pest.” And before Mantis realizes what’s happening, Nebula has wrapped her arms tight around her waist and rolls suddenly onto her side, bringing Mantis down with her. Mantis lets out a surprised little shriek as she hits the mattress, and almost immediately Nebula has curled close, arms locked firmly around her waist and face tucked against her neck, buried in Mantis’s hair.

“Hey! Let me up!” she protests, reaches back to try and peel Nebula’s hand off her waist. “You’re too strong, that’s not fair.” Nebula doesn’t react, just keeps breathing slow and steady against Mantis’s neck.

“I know you’re not asleep,” Mantis grumbles. She squirms, tries to wriggle free of Nebula’s grip, but she doesn’t budge, and Mantis eventually has to give up. Begrudgingly, she settles, tries to get comfortable. Nebula takes pity on her and loosens her grip enough for Mantis to shift and squirm and adjust their position until she’s comfortable.

“Sleep now.” It’s not quite an order, but Nebula speaks in a way that leaves little room for argument.

Mantis drapes her arms around Nebula’s shoulders with an exaggerated sigh. “Fine, fine. Sleep now,” she agrees, and Nebula softens.

“Sleep, and we can fool around later,” she promises, and Mantis laughs.

“Is that what you think I was doing?”

“That’s exactly what you were trying to.”

Mantis just hums innocently, the corners of her mouth tugging into a smile. 

Ending Notes:

N/A