Trust

Status: Complete
Published: 29 July 2018
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,111
Rating: Teens & Up
Tags: Mantis/Nebula (Marvel), Mantis (Marvel), Nebula (Marvel), Fluff, One Shot, Suggestive, references to intimacy, nothing super overt or even nsfw but there's like kissing

AO3 Mirror

Opening Notes:

Original AO3 Note: Hello friends! This little piece is my first attempt at writing & posting fic in a good number of years, but this ship has its claws in me deep and I have a really hard time not creating content for them. Hope you enjoy!

Mantis breathes quietly, peacefully, against Nebula’s skin, her cheek pressed against the cool flesh of her sternum, and listens to the gentle hum of Nebula’s cybernetics, allowing the familiar noise to lull her towards sleep. Nebula is threading her fingers idly through her hair and Mantis shifts into Nebula’s touch, the corners of her mouth tugging into a smile.

“Someone’s in a good mood,” Nebula observes, a smile of her own threatening to overtake her.

“I’m always in a good mood when I’m with you,” Mantis responds immediately, the all-too-familiar response falling easily from her lips, and Nebula huffs out a laugh and leans down to press a kiss against Mantis’s forehead.

“Sentimental sap,” she mumbles against Mantis’s skin, allowing the kiss to linger.

“Maybe, but you’re even worse than me.” Mantis changes positions, laying one arm across Nebula’s chest and propping her chin on her forearm so she can look at Nebula. She’s smiling still, but the humor from their teasing has faded, leaving behind only fondness.

Nebula had settled back against her pillow by now, eyes shut in lazy contentment. She was still smiling too, but Nebula’s smile was smaller, more subdued. She still had her fingers in Mantis’s hair, fingertips lightly brushing her scalp each time she ran her hand down the length of Mantis’s hair. Nebula repeats the motion for a bit, before her movements slow and then stop. Her hand rests against the back of Mantis’s neck, still entangled in her soft black hair.

She cracks open an eye, having felt Mantis’s gaze. “What?”

Mantis can’t help but giggle at the sight of her girlfriend, peering down at her—both eyes now slitted open—and trying very hard to look grumpy but utterly failing. “Nothing, just—“she reaches up with her free hand and gently strokes Nebula’s cheek with her knuckles—“thinking.”

Nebula’s eyes flutter close briefly and she leans her head into Mantis’s touch. Then her eyes open and the hand at Mantis’s neck slowly begins to move again, finally completing its last sweep through her hair. “What about?”

Mantis shrugs slightly, still looking into Nebula’s eyes. Nebula holds her gaze for a moment, but then her eyes slide shut and she goes back to running her hand through Mantis’s hair. Mantis moves her hand to cup Nebula’s cheek and traces a line along her jaw with her fingers.

The seconds tick by as Mantis’s hand comes to linger just below the side of Nebula’s jaw, near her throat.

She can feel her pulse.

Finally Mantis breaks the silence. “I’m just—” She pauses, starts over. “I was just thinking of how far we’ve come, regarding us. Our relationship.”

Nebula stares at her, and Mantis can feel her confusion bubbling slowly to the surface, but curiosity too so Mantis continues, wanting Nebula to understand what she means.

“I just mean, there’s trust between us now. A lot of it.” She runs her fingers her fingers down Nebula’s throat, tracing the silvery scar that was the seam between real and synthetic skin, and Nebula, almost unthinkingly, moves her head along with the motions of Mantis’s touch, angling her head and allowing easier access to the vulnerable flesh of her throat. “You wouldn’t have let me do this when our relationship first started.”

Nebula stills beneath her, her cheeks darkening, and Mantis can feel the complex tangle of her emotions fizzing and bubbling with nervous energy. “No,” Nebula says. “Her voice is rough and quiet. “I wouldn’t have.”

There’s some tension to Nebula’s voice, and body. Mantis can feel it. She runs her rubs her thumb reassuring across skin. Slowly, Nebula starts to relax again, and although she still seems flustered and her cheeks are a darker blue than they normally are, Mantis can feel the tension gradually drain from her girlfriend’s body. She changes positions again and noses her way under Nebula’s chin. Nebula finally disentangles her hand from Mantis’s hair and slides both arms down to loop around Mantis’s waist.

“Do you remember when we were first becoming intimate?” Mantis asks quietly. “How tense you used to be?”

Nebula lets out a little huff at the memory, and relaxes a little bit more. “Yes. I didn’t like you touching my abdomen. Or throat.”

“Especially your throat,” Mantis agrees. “But now it’s one of your favorite places to be kissed.”

Nebula makes a quiet noise as Mantis does exactly that, pressing quick kisses against the sensitive flesh there. “This is hardly fair,” she grumbles, trying not to squirm and somehow succeeding. “Going for the throat is a dirty trick.”

“You would have done the same,” Mantis answers playfully in between kisses. Nebula exhales sharply in response, but she can’t exactly argue. Mantis lets the next kiss linger thoughtfully, and when she speaks again her voice is sincere. “Thank you for trusting me. It makes me happy that you do.”

Nebula makes as if to speak again, but falters, the words lodged in her throat. Mantis doesn’t press her, just waits patiently. She rests her hand against Nebula’s collarbone and gently rubs her thumb across the soft skin there and sends Nebula all of her love.

Nebula tries again, and her voice is thick with emotion when she manages to get the words out. “I would trust you with my life, Mantis.”

And she does. It’s kind of a funny thought, when she really stops to think about it. Just a few years ago the thought would have never crossed her mind. It would have just been something to sneer at, a childish idea held only by fools. And, hell, maybe even as little as a year ago it would have been something to be leery of but—

“I love you, Nebula.” Mantis’s voice is soft and sweet and full of so much affection it makes Nebula want to burst even as it shakes her from her thoughts. Mantis’s antennae are glowing softly with contentment, and Nebula can feel the feathered ends gently brush against her jaw line with each breath Mantis takes.

It takes her a moment to collect herself enough to respond, breathing out a quiet, hoarse “I love you, too,” though she knows Mantis knows that she does even if she didn’t vocalize it, and not just because of her powers. It feels nice to say it though, and to hear it, Nebula thinks, and she knows Mantis agrees from the way she presses closer and murmurs sweetly in response, her voice muffled against Nebula’s skin.

They lapse into an easy, languid silence. The only noise now is the quiet thrum of Nebula’s cybernetics and the sound of breathing as they slowly drift towards sleep.

Ending Notes:

N/A