NINA WAS AN ARROGANT GIRL. It was a very known fact to everyone who knew her and her alter ego Mendax. Her friends knew that she had way too much confidence in herself and her abilities; like that time that she joined the school's very random hotdog eating fair since the girl was fully convinced that she could beat the longtime winner Ian Kang (she did) and or that time she joined a 12th grade math class thinking she'd ace the material in a day because a random freshman made a comment about her being an airhead (she dropped the class in two days.)
For a long time, Nina was convinced she could do anything. Maybe it was because there was a part of her still detached to reality despite all the shit reality has thrown at her, but Nina was confident in herself. Really fucking confident too.
So it takes everyone, especially Tony, in surprise as Nina shakes her head once the plan was explained to the kids in thorough detail, eyebrows scrunched together in indifference. "No. I can't do that."
Tony clears his throat. Surely, his interpreting this the wrong way, right?
"Nina, I don't care if you don't wanna do it. The entire universe is at stake here—"
"I'm not saying I don't wanna do it," Nina whispers hastily, voice now way softer than it initially was. Her arms were crossed in front of her chest as she eyes their companions for a while, before she sighs and leans closer to Tony so he's the only person who could hear her. "I can't do it. I can't."
"What was that?"
Nina takes in a deep breath, forcing herself to turn around and raise her voice. It was like bitchy boy wizard was urging her to embarrass herself; but even Nina knew that there was too much at stake to keep her thoughts to herself. "I can't do it. I can't immobilize a Titan."
Quill furrows his eyebrows, "But they said you killed the—"
"Yeah, well, he isn't a giant grape with Infinity Stones so I don't know what you're trying to say," Nina cut him off with a glare, "All I'm saying is that trusting me with the responsibility of immobilizing him is a bad idea. If I'm gonna do it, I'll need someone. I can't do it alone."
Mantis, who's a few meters away beside Peter and Drax shyly raises her hand, "I can help you."
"See?" Nina pointed at Mantis, a somewhat grateful smile adorning her features as she glances back at Quill. "She can help me. Her sitting back 'looking for threats' is a terrible idea. I mean, seriously. It baffles me how you're still alive considering there's so much shit coming out of your mouth."
The surprise is evident on Quill's face. More so when his mouth opens as if to say something, but then it shuts close, and instead, his wide eyes catches Tony's, who has a somewhat proud smile on his face.
"She's a little mouthy." The billionare stated, complete with the underlying cheekiness of his tone.
Peter, who watches the whole thing beside his two new companions a few meters away, tries to stop the way his mouth itches to curl upwards.
He fails. Miserably.
Mantis sees the whole thing happen, now finding herself bored at the fight brewing between Nina and Tony against Quill. Instead, she inches closer to Peter, a curious look to her, "Are you two... together?"
"No," Peter answers a little bit too quickly, cheeks turning into a bright shade of red. "I—I'm supposed to hate her."
Mantis looks up at Peter, at his earnest eyes directed at the girl who's currently saying something incomprehensible, wondering how he had entertained the thought that he could ever hate the girl his heart eyes are directed at. "But you don't."
Peter shakes his head, "I don't."
He doesn't notice Mantis' finger tapping itself on his cheek; a small gasp escaping her lips as her antennas light up.
"You're supposed to hate her," Mantis concludes, learning just enough from that single, small touch. "But look at you crossing the fine line. I can feel it."
Peter quirks a quizzical brow. "The fine line between what?"
Mantis nods knowingly, shaking her head softly as she stares at Nina. That single touch - it seemed so little and insignificant yet she understood how Peter felt. It's the pure need to want nothing to do with the girl yet there's a feeling of somehow being irresistibly drawn to her the same time. It's lovely. It's exhilarating. It's interesting. It's exciting.
"I think you know." she mumbles, before disappearing into another area.
Now that makes Peter wonder.
At this point, Nina is summoning a quad blaster, pretending to shoot at a rock while Quill watched with a straight face. Yet, there's an inner dialogue going on his head: I wonder why she makes me feel self conscious and careless at the same time and how my heart flutters when I'm around her. Nina smiles and laughs at Quill (were they getting along now?) which makes his brain scramble. I want to rip off her pretty smile and put it in my pocket for safekeeping so it'll never go away but also how every single thing I see somehow reminds me of her what- oh. Oh.
Oh.
Oh so that's what Mantis had meant.
...
After a thorough discussion of the plan from top to bottom, covering every single detail and every possible thing that could go wrong, Tony had told them to take a breather for a bit before things got too intense; ten minutes, fifteen tops before they all waited at their positions to ambush Thanos.
Nina thought it was a bit stupid, considering Thanos could come at any minute and the chances of him ambushing them when they weren't ready was quite high, but Tony had stressed that a break was necessary and indirectly told her to shut up and just sit.
So that's what she did - sit on a spare rock like a dumbass.
Mantis was jumping around, taking advantage of the abnormal gravity pull, while Peter walked around in circles, playing with his webs until a panicked chorus of no's had left his lips.
"What's got your panties in a twist, Parker?" Nina questions in sheer boredom, her elbows perched up on her knees while her fingers cup her face.
Peter, who's already in the middle of a big crisis makes the stupid decision of glancing at Nina; the sight of her squished cheeks making him lose his mind even more. "I—uh, my web fluid. I was supposed to refill it after the trip and now I'm almost out of it. Now I think I'm screwed."
He genuinely looks like he's freaking the hell out; and a small part of Nina is enjoying this but the other part is concerned, not only for Peter but for the possible repercussions it may make for the rest of the universe.
Nina stands up, dusting the dust from her knees. "Your web fluid is technically a weapon, right?"
Peter struggles to breathe properly at the close proximity and tries to ignore the sirens ringing in his brain. "Yeah I guess? I mean, I use it as an assault weapon at times."
What happens next both equally terrifies and makes his brain mushy even further. Due to his dialed senses, he picks up Nina's soft voice whispering "web fluid" and almost instantly, the solution appears on her nimble fingers, all with the proper container and everything.
"That's so... wow. Thanks," he breathed out, taking the bottle from her fingers.
"You're welcome, Spider-Boy." The low timbre of her voice made him pause, and he sucked in a shuddering breath. Chest heaving, Peter dragged his gaze to the girl's face for the first time and was met with familiar brown eyes and pillowy lips.
Peter thinks he's losing his mind.
"How come you've been abnormally nice to me lately?" The boy stutters out, brain uttering a delayed reaction of electric shocks running through his body when his fingers brushes against hers.
"What do you mean?"
"You just seem nicer than usual," Peter mumbles, ears beginning to grow a dark shade of red.
"I'll punch you in the face is thats what you want?" Nina raises an amused brow. Peter doesn't fail to notice her once steady heartbeat slowly growing faster as each second passes.
Hearing her heartbeat in his proximity is always the push he needs.
"What I want," Peter counters back with a rush of sudden confidence, "Is for us to talk about—"
"No." The girl shoots before he could even finish his sentence.
Peter steeled his jaw, searching Nina's eyes, wishing she would just listen to him. That fifteen minute mandatory break wasn't going to last forever.
"We need to—"
"—no." she said, shoving past him to leave. He blocked her way, catching up with her.
"Why do you keep running away, Nina?" Peter argued back, "What's so wrong about liking me? You're acting like you killed someone when we just kissed." He was upset with her, obviously. His words cut deep, like a sharp knife thrust into her flesh.
Nina snorted rudely, staring at him as though he had lost his mind. "Because I'm not supposed to, Peter!"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Peter hissed in annoyance, now way closer to the girl. Nina was reminded, suddenly, of how intimidating he could he when he's pissed.
"It means that I tried staying away but I can't." Nina shoots at him, shoving his hand down. "No matter how hard you try, you can't hide. No matter how much you duck and run, I would be able to pull you out of a bustling crowd. No matter how much I distract myself with people you're still in my head. No matter how hard you try to keep your head down and blend with other people, you don't. You stand out like a goddamn star. That's what irks me the most."
The first thing Nina feels after her inner monologue is relief. Then, that relief quickly gets replaced with overwhelming anxiety.
In that moment, staring into her burning brown eyes, Peter entirely forgot how to breathe. He stared at her, blinking once, twice, his lips subtly parting as he registered her words. His mouth worked, but at first no sound came out. When he finally spoke, his voice was barely audible. "... What?"
Nina let out a short, pathetic bubble of laughter. It wasn't a comical sound by any stretch of the imagination. "I like you. Is that what you wanna hear? I like you, Parker. You happy now?"
Peter froze, staring at her with widening eyes. She watched as the hard line of his jaw slackened, his wonky brow softening even further, his hands steadily unclenching at his side. It almost looks like... relief.
"Fifteen minutes are over!" Tony yells over somewhere - he was way too far for Nina to know where exactly he stood.
Nina turns and leaves. Stupid. Stupid stupid stupid stupid. Stupid. You're so fucking stupid jesus christ what the hell is wrong with you you dumb—
"Nina!"
Peter softly grabs her wrist, forcing the girl to look at him just in time before she could yell a harsh, "What? You gonna laugh how pathetic I am? Or is your ego stroked now that you know that Nina Viotto likes you back despite the fact that you hate my guts and—"
They glared at each other, heaving breaths hard and sharp as they mingled in the air.
It was irresistible. She was irresistible.
And then, suddenly, his mouth was on hers.
Nina was tense, frozen, not responding to her lips on his for a painfully long few seconds. And just when Peter was ready to pull away, march out the field, and never look back until Nina's hands hit the rock on either side of Peter's hips as she responded with a scrape of teeth across the superhero's. Nina crowded into him, pouring out her frustration into the contact of lips brushed against lips, her heart thundering so loudly in his throat. Peter could feel it.
This was the second time he was kissing her, and somehow, it still didn't feel real.
She was kissing him back. Hard.
They kissed like they were going to war (they technically were, but still), heads tilting to get closer, pressing in so far they hit teeth. Nina dug her nails into Peter's shoulders, pulling him in harder, then wound a hand up into his hair to make sure he would stay there.
When Peter pulls back from the kiss, he's still glaring at Nina but there's less annoyance to it.
"So there," Peter says a bit breathlessly. "That's what I think about you. You have no idea how long I've wanted to hear that."
With that, he turns on his heels and swings towards his designated area, leaving behind a very confused-looking Nina.
...
NOTES:
sorry for the short chapters :( next ones r gonna be longer i promise!