A/N: I hope this one is better than the last one. Also, I am starting to make good on the promise of this being M-rated fanfiction, so don't be surprised. Thank you so much for the R&R!
Their destination was in the farther reaches beyond the crowded public market. A neighborhood of homes that all looked the exact same greeted the guardians. It lay just over an expansive silver and blue bridge built above crystal clear waters where little orange fish swam past.
There was some variety in size, however. Some homes were bigger than others, and thus "stood out" more. As they moved farther into the dedicatedly clipped lawns of blue grass, Mantis realized that they were approaching one of the biggest of them all.
A soft silver glow seemed to emanate from the building as the setting sun touched its outer walls. She quickly noticed with their approach that, in one of the highest windows, a spot of color not befitting of what appeared to be Xandar's overall theme caught her eye. A red slide had been set up just beyond the double glass, built for a small child.
Mantis had only seen slides, and other large structures built for child's play, from a far distance and ever-sparingly before.
But never inside a home.
The insect girl opened her mouth, ready to ask Gamora if what she was seeing was truly what she thought, but the sound of a button being pounded on startled her. She looked away from the window and saw Peter leaning down to a peculiar box attached to the wall opposite of the silvery door.
"Hey, Dey! We're here!" He called, chipper as ever. Everyone else apart from him and Mantis looked completely devoid of emotion as if they were merely killing time. Gamora even rolled her eyes.
Rocket smashed one hand across the button again. "Open up already! We're starving out here!"
The door slid to the right slowly, testing the patience of everyone outside until a woman appeared in the doorframe.
Her skin was pink - just like the little boy and his mother in the heart of the city they'd just come from - as well as her eyes, surrounded by fledgling lines from years of laughter. The woman was already smiling before they'd come face to face with her; it must have been her natural expression.
"Hello everyone." She said, amused. Her finger rose as she pointed at Quill. "Let's see: Peter Quill, Gamora, Drax, Rocket and -"
"I am Groot!" Groot had pounced from his seat in one of Peter's pockets and latched onto Rocket's shoulder, in time to beam up at the kind stranger.
"And Groot, of course." The lady smiled back. "Glad to see everyone is still alive, even though we haven't heard from any of you for months now."
"Well, we have been busy." Peter harrumphed, arms crossed.
The smile on the woman's lips skewed just the tiniest bit as her gaze darted from the baby tree over to the figure that maintained some distance from the rest of the group. Mantis looked into her large pink eyes for a second before looking back at the ground
"I can see that. Goodness," She said. "You've found somebody new and you've already roughed her up."
The guardians opened their mouths in unison, but stopped short at being interrupted again. Heavy footfalls sounded from within the house, before another person popped up. His appearance surprised Mantis, as it bore a striking resemblance to Peter in terms of skin and hair and eyes. Their friend Kraglin was also similar to Peter in those regards, but she didn't know his species. It made Mantis wonder if this man was Terran as well.
"You made it!" The man's gaze zipped around the odd bunch, and fell on Mantis. "And you brought a friend!"
"This is Mantis." Gamora gestured to her. "Our newest team member."
"Hello Mantis." Pink woman smiled sweetly and waved delicate fingers. Her counterpart did the same with infinitely less grace, but no less cheerfully.
"Hello." Mantis mumbled as she bowed her head.
When she looked back at them, Mantis's feelers pulled back with embarrassment as an array of eyes stared right at her.
"Wow, you…. Are not what I would've expected."
"Roman!"
The man, Dey, shrugged. "It's not an insult to her! I honestly have no idea how someone so nice would wanna be a part of this gang."
"We can be nice." Peter pouted, more likely due to the fact that he hadn't been able to get in a word edgewise for at least two minutes straight.
Dey nodded patronizingly. "Sure, sure. 'Nice' for you guys is apparently leaving your friends with 'just' a broken leg. I see that now."
"I am okay!" Mantis piped up. Dey and the pink lady continued to look at Mantis sympathetically, and for some reason it made Mantis want to run and hide. "It's no one's fault."
Beside her, Drax frowned. "We did not contribute to Mantis's injuries. A beast caught her during our last mission." He grumbled.
"A beast?" Dey asked, voice slightly raised.
"Uh, well yeah. Like a cyborg wolf thing, actually." Peter said, sheepish. "It got hairy, but we managed to save the day like always."
"We? We." Rocket didn't bother with anymore pleasantries before pushing past their group and finding his footing in the center of the living room. His eyes narrowed into beady slits as he glanced around the spacious home. "By that, he means I saved the day like always."
"You did not!" Peter's head turned so fast he was in danger of whiplash. He was stomping in through the door to follow after, practically barreling the pink lady over.
It didn't appear to phase her at all, only making her step back to allow the rest of them to file into their home.
"I don't recall you fighting tooth and nail in that cave, then havin' ta get pulled away before you delivered the killing blow to that mongrel." The raccoon's tone was smug.
"And I don't recall you anywhere near delivering a killing blow to anything." Gamora answered back. "If I hadn't been there to intercept you, you would have bled out and died."
Rocket scoffed. "Shows what you know. I've survived shit a thousand times worse than a dog bite."
He sneered at everyone in the room, but Rhomann Dey audibly shushed them. "Language!"
"What?" Rocket's arms went akimbo. "I don't see your lil' snot out here! 'Sides, she's just gonna learn it all on her own whether you like it or not."
"Dad!" A tinney voice sounded from farther in the house, then a round of thundering footsteps for the second time that evening.
Rocket muttered, now none-too-subtly power-walking from the center of attention to somewhere out of sight. "Speak of the devil."
A smaller version of the pink lady came bounding into the room to take Rocket's place as the center of attention. She had to crane her neck upward to see them all (apart from Rocket), yet despite the energy seeming to jitter just below her bubblegum skin, the child frowned.
"They're already here and you didn't tell me?" Her accusatory stare in Dey's direction was adorable.
He bent down slightly to get on her level, brows raised. "I didn't know until like a minute ago either."
"We greet our guests before anything else, Duranna." Her mother admonished, heedless to the chaotic vibe beginning anew in her living room.
Duranna all but rolled her bulbous eyes before waving ecstatically, just as her father had done at the door. "Hi!"
Drax's steely expression (which was just a neutral one, as Mantis had come to find) softened. He uncrossed his arms, shoulders relaxing from their normal locked position. "Hello again, small Duranna."
The girl responded with a wide grin bearing pearly-white teeth. All around her, tension started to melt. When she considered it later, Mantis found it fitting that only a happy child could make her and her family feel more comfortable in proper places.
The little girl skipped her way around the group, making Peter forget his inside voice and ruffle her hair. Duranna's appearance sent Gamora into one of those rare moments where she could smile fondly. And Groot was hanging around Rocket's arm, chattering 'I am Groot' over and over again in excitement.
It was a sweet sight, ending only upon her trajectory toward Mantis by the end. When she stopped in front of the shy woman, Duranna's little nose began to wrinkle as the seconds ticked by, fuchsia eyes studying her with unconscionable intent.
It unnerved Mantis, who felt the compulsion to ensure the child's mental safety rising. She involuntarily began to suck in air a little faster, anxiety starting to grow in such an awful and familiar way. She didn't want to scare Dey's daughter, but she also didn't want to be told she was disgusting. Not now. Not today.
"I've never seen you before." Dey's child said simply.
Her words made Mantis blink, stopping dead in the middle of another big breath.
The insectoid paused. "I am called Mantis."
Danna turned to her father. "Daddy, how come I don't have a doll like her yet?"
Rhomann's expression betrayed the fact that he was also startled by the question. Somewhere in the background, Rocket began snickering.
"Danna!" He scolded.
"Are they still selling those things?" Gamora asked, irritated. "I thought we'd been very specific about that not being acceptable."
Incidentally, the snickering ceased.
Rhomann laughed uneasily, rubbing the back of his head. "Heh, well you haven't been around here for a while now. I guess people get brave in your absence."
Her smile was gone in favor of lips drawn into a tight line. "They won't be before the end of our stay."
"Call me a skeptic but… I sure as hell don' buy you knowing any 'dealers' of any kind." His chest began to puff as he sneered at Rhomann Dey, seizing him up without issue despite being less than the officer's size.
Rhomann's brow creased in confusion. "Do… Do you think ship dealerships are synonymous with drug and weapons dealers?"
"It's not that hard ta believe." Rocket sniffed. "Nova bein' so militant and all, crime has ta find some real ironic ways to keep under the radar."
They were all sitting around a table, bowls of steaming food set in front of them. Mantis had remained uncomfortable despite the lax approach with which the Dey family and the Guardians interacted with each other. Drax laughed with wild abandon, wolfing down a fourth helping of their meal as Duranna and Groot stuck their tongues out at him. Even Rocket seemed to let go of some of his inhibitions as time went by. He'd been grinning more easily and talking with his hands so much more since they'd crossed the city.
Mantis had barely touched her meal due to discomfort. She played with the spoon that she'd been given for dinner instead, still trying to wrap her mind around it hours later, what with the learned fact that Rhomann Dey was a cop. They didn't like cops, even in the best of times.
Too meddlesome, as Kraglin would say.
Kraglin, who'd wanted to skip their visit, having no love for Nova corps in any way, shape or form.
"Let's play a game!" Duranna grabbed Peter's hand and began to try and yank him out of his chair while he was in mid-chew. He cleared his throat, eyes watering some as bits of food went down none-too-smoothly.
Drax reaching over to thump his back was a thoughtful gesture, if not enough to body-slam the man into the table.
"Are you finished, dear?" Dey's wife - Karman-Kan, actually - looked down at her daughter's plate expectantly. "Oh, not quite. Plenty of green left, I see."
Danna stopped, brow furrowing. "Mom, I can't eat vegetables right now. Groot is here."
Said baby tree, who'd gotten big enough to be the size of a Terran squirrel by that point, swung his stumps for legs over Duranna's shoulder gaily.
"And that matters… why?"
"You can't eat leaves in front of a tree!" Duranna spoke with the patience of a overworked professor. "It's insensitive to his people."
Karman's brow rose. "Mm-hmm."
"It's just one night, Karma." Rhomann chimed in between mouthfuls. "Let 'em play."
Duranna cheered, with Groot following suit (after coming back down from whatever daydreams had crossed his mind). He latched onto the little girl's hair as she ran for the living room and the sound of cupboards flying open and boxes tossed across the floor.
"Everybody has to play!" Danna called out.
Peter shouted back. "Fine. But it can't be the same game as last time!"
"Wha - ? But last time was the best, Quill." Rocket snarked. "Don't tell me you weren't havin' the time of your life in that skirt."
Peter groaned low. "Dude, can you just… not…?"
"You would be a very handsome woman, Quill." Drax said, not even bothering to talk without his mouth being full. "It's unfortunate that the circumstances of your birth left you a scrawny male, instead."
Peter's eyes bulged in offense. "I am not scrawny! I am far from being scrawny. You need to get your eyes checked."
Duranna's head popped out from behind the wall separating the two rooms. "Guys! Come on!"
She stuck out one arm, gifting them with the sight of a toy blaster in one small pink hand. "We're gonna play pirates!"
Gamora stood from her seat, and one of the few places where the table looked anywhere near presentable anymore. "That doesn't sound so bad."
Nearby, Peter's eyes turned dewy and soft. A lovestruck loser if you'd ever seen one. "You're gonna play too, Gamora?"
"I wish to partake as well!" Drax rumbled from the other side of the table. It scraped forward a good five feet as he stood and lumbered away.
Karman snorted, pulling her husband up to join the small parade entering their living room. She wasn't sure why, but the atmosphere had become even more easygoing, if such a thing were possible, and Mantis's face lit up with a smile.
If for nothing else, her happiness bloomed from the joy she saw in the others. And the possibility that they might go up and play on the slide that Duranna had built into her bedroom.
The only person immune to it all appeared to be Rocket, who made his way around dining table slowly, reluctantly. He was grimacing, as if he dreaded playing a child's game far more than being tortured and flayed alive.
"Bunch a' morons." He grumbled as he stood near Mantis's chair.
It felt as if there were worms squirming in the doe-eyed woman's belly. She'd kept much of her feelings, as well as her voice, to herself during their dinner, but was becoming aware of how she'd lingered much too long on Rocket at the head of table throughout. Everytime she looked at him, that terrible sickness that caused tingling in her bones and heat over her skin came back.
He hadn't spared a glance at her at all, however. Not until now, as he came around and side-eyed her rather warily. It was a different sort of wary from his usual. The look in his eyes was tired and almost searching.
It was natural that he'd be so put-out that he'd want at least someone else to understand it and not leave him high and dry. Nevertheless, it was Mantis who remained and Mantis whose face flushed with green at the insinuation that he might be in the mood to share with her.
"I don't think it's so bad." Mantis ventured softly. "They won't force us to engage if we don't want to, I'm sure."
"Pfft. Oh yeah." Rocket's ear flicked as he moved to scratch it nonchalantly. "Ya know lady, sometimes I wish I had your dumb optimism."
He sighed heavily. "Let's just go and get this over with."
Mantis's mouth formed into the shape of a small 'o' at his words. Her heart was racing within her ribcage as she took him in, and for whatever reason, Mantis felt lighter than air.
She placed a hand on the back of her chair and pulled herself up, her braid swinging wildly from side to side with the challenge. In her haste, she nearly forgot that she had one bad leg that she needed to steady.
Rocket backed up a bit, eyes growing circular as the chair wobbled under her clumsy attempts. "Ey, watch it!"
Nearly forgot, as in - she had forgotten completely.
One moment it was fine, and in the next - Mantis toppled over gracelessly, and she managed to land on the only unassuming person within fifteen feet. Rocket yelled out indignantly before he fell smack against the floor.
"Sorry! I'm so sorry!" Mantis cried as soon as she was able to look up from her faceplant on the smooth floor beneath them.
They were face-to-face and Mantis had no way of steadying herself as she got a greater look into the brown eyes of her dreams.
Brown eyes that had turned red with fury.
"What the hell is wrong you?" He yelled, making the woman above him wince. "Get offa me!"
Shamefully, Mantis bit her lip so hard she felt tears beginning to fill her eyes. "I-I didn't mean to."
She tried to quell the sting of it, and let herself be shoved back by Rocket's angry claws. And yet, he stopped as soon as he started upon finding his hands were firmly attached to her chest.
It didn't quite register in time for Mantis herself, but for some reason Rocket choked immediately. His eyes widened and paws flew back as if he'd just been shocked. His expression was frozen, only his eyes flitting up from her chest to her face and back. Whatever train of thought going on in Rocket's head seemed to be speeding to get back on track, but his haste to wriggle underneath Mantis to get away from her only made things worse.
"Get - move - flark!" He snarled.
Rocket made to slide out from underneath her, keeping as much distance as he feasible could from her body. He got a third of the way down before being smothered by the woman trying to crawl in the other direction. His limbs flailed, and an angry muffle erupted from behind the cloth of Mantis's suit.
It was a comical scene. But as her bad leg dragged across the floor in their scuffle, Mantis was blind to the world. The dining table in the Dey household was a flimsy thing that, when first molded had bled out into sharp points that still needed grounding through the floor. It wouldn't survive another brush with death after Drax had
"Don't - !" Rocket's shout alarmed her, being so close that it reverberated from within before traveling to her eardrums. At the same time, Mantis turning her head down to stare at him had her cast stopped short of bumping into the table's leg.
She squeaked when she felt his hips angled between her thighs. With one push upward in the perpetual desire to get away from her, Rocket thrust up against her. A shallow gasp made him freeze for the second time, and for a moment Mantis could feel something hard pressing against her.
Another thrust with enough power flipped her over onto her back, and Mantis yelped as she rolled across the ground before landing. Rocket remained in the same spot, slightly panting and getting to his feet faster than perhaps she'd ever seen him. His fur stuck out in crazy directions.
Mantis's whole body burned when she spared a moment to stay in place. She wasn't a telepath by any means, but she was on the spectrum of consciously transmitting and receiving sensations. And Oh. The slightest touch between her and Rocket in that moment had made quite the impression.
It was their compromising position that had sprung it; some basic instinctual desire flaring up due to a coincidence of epic proportion. But she was so certain now - now she knew that her previous fears were correct.
Dey cleared his throat, drawing attention away from the fiasco and to the entryway. His face was almost entirely flushed in baby blue. At his side, Karma was blinking rapidly.
"Uh, everybody okay here?"
The two looked up at the speed of lightning, embarrassed in tandem. Rocket groused, teeth baring, before stomping out.
Danna and Groot were spending the night in Danna's room, and Dey and his wife had been gracious enough to give the Guardians space in both a guest room and their living room. Something about the atmosphere changed the way their team interacted, and Mantis found it off-putting. Nobody appeared to know how to act normally anymore, or what was normal for them at least.
As she'd come to know them, Mantis had observed that her teammates had a habit of sleeping just about anywhere that pleased them. The Quadrant that they'd resided in wasn't really small, per say, but it didn't have as much in the way of separate rooms for all of them. It wasn't uncommon for her to find Drax snoring and curled up to one of the others out in the open, or to see Rocket falling asleep at the helm of the ship.
Here, things were on a different social plane entirely. When the kids were gone, it became apparent that that stifling influence of good citizenship and being guests in a nice house killed their inherent vibe.
Come bedtime, it didn't matter to Mantis. In the dark and among cool sheets, Mantis tossed and turned. She was sweating profusely as what felt like waves of heat in her stomach, and was dipping in and out of sleep since lights out.
Blurring arms and legs, like her mind couldn't focus on just one thing. All that she needed to concentrate on was the savory tingling between her legs and the pressure under her navel.
Mantis's hips jolted up from her bed as her body searched for something to rub against. Claws wrapped around her arms and restrained her, she gasped. The weight atop her form was perfect, just what she'd wanted. Something warm and hard, and then familiarly sharp as nails digging into her breasts until it was bordering on painful.
She craved friction. Friction was good. Sparks danced and muscles clenched, Mantis couldn't catch a breath. She just needed more.
Mantis was out of breathe as she sat up from the cot. The alien quickly made a grab for her blanket and clutched it to her chest as her breath evened out.
In the back of her mind, Mantis knew something was wrong. She tried to keep it at bay, but now fully awake, her senses had grown keen again. An uncomfortable sensation, sticky and spilling, was between her legs. Mantis was too afraid to look down and see what was there, but she eventually pulled the covers away from her legs to see a dark spot over the crotch of her pajama pants.
She forced herself to move. Undoing the string tied around her hips and slowly moving her hand below, Mantis's fingers dug beneath her bottoms and down to a zone that she never dwelt on for long. There, she gasped shallowly at the sudden feeling of touching her nethers and feeling wetness the further she reached.
Face burning, Mantis pulled away quickly and stared at her fingers, grimacing at the contradicting feeling of wet and thick substance between them. She feared that if she probed any further, she would find out that the guest bed the Dey family had so kindly given her was ruined.