It had started as a tipsy game of truth or dare. Peter, Gamora, Drax, Rocket, Groot, and Mantis had come Earthside for a meeting with the Avengers. It had somehow turned into essentially a slumber party due to Thor's curiosity about the said traditional Midgardian “ceremony” that he had heard about. No one had the heart to crush the excited look on his face with jokes and barbs like “Sleepovers are for teenage girls” and “What do you expect us to do? Braid each other’s hair?” Instead, they all got into more comfortable positions in a circle, grabbed some snacks and alcohol, and began a casual game of truth or dare.
Bruce was happy that his occasional science buddy Peter was home with his Aunt May, hopefully already asleep. The Avengers were competitive, and their games tended to get intense, dirty, or both, quite quickly. Most seemed hesitant to choose truth, but the dares were amusing to watch, and the mood was pretty light.
Almost immediately, someone dared Bruce to have the Hulk record a Tik Tok dance. He was a better dancer than expected. Somehow, while Groot quietly sang the song that had now become stuck in everyone’s heads, Vision and Steve ended up kissing in front of everyone for a dare. Bucky looked on with a constipated look on his face. Wanda claimed Vision after, taking a seat on his lap. This didn’t last long, as she was soon dared to hang upside down for the rest of the game. The fact that she could use her magic to do so was a source of debate over the fairness of it all.
Gamora managed to open a bag of pull and peel Twizzlers with her mouth- no hands or feet allowed, of course. Tony confidently showed how he was able to tie a knot in his mouth with them, but so could Natasaha, Clint, and Rocket. When pressed on where they learned the skill, Rocket’s excuse was that he knew how to build all kinds of things- out of shabby ancient Earthling technology, food, or anything. Natasha and Clint had the sense to blush slightly at revealing their dexterity, as Tony merely pouted at not besting everyone.
Somehow, Peter Quill got ice cubes shoved down his pants, and no one was quite sure if it had been part of a dare or not. This inspired the discovery that Thor had apparently peed himself fairly recently. He tried to explain the story, but he was too drunk to be entirely intelligible. It didn’t matter much because everyone was laughing too hard to hear him anyway.
As the laughing quieted down, Natasha turned to Tony. “Truth or dare?”
“Dare,” Tony confidently chose instantly with a smirk.
“I dare you to let Mantis touch you for a minute.”
Natasha smiled.
Tony’s face dropped for a second, but you could’ve missed it. “Are you kidding? That’s it? C’mon, you have to do something more exciting. Something harder. Or naked. Always up for ‘strip’ anything.” He finished with an eyebrow wiggle.
“So you’re too scared, then?”
“I didn’t say that,” Tony denied. “It’s not like she can read my mind or anything, just my feelings.” There was a slight pause, but then Tony finished, “Fine, Mantis, come on over.”
Tony’s face morphed into a mask of indifference. Mantis hesitated, but reached her hand out and gently touched Tony. Besides the glowing of Mantis’s antenna, nothing happened for a moment. Mantis cocked her head, furrowing her eyebrows before suddenly freezing. Her eyes weren’t focused, and tears rolled down her cheeks. She still didn’t move, and Tony continued indifferently staring into a middle distance, looking almost bored.
“Mantis…?” Someone quietly said. The jubilant mood from before was definitively permanently gone for the night.
Mantis did not react to her name, but she soon involuntarily let out a deep cry of anguish. Tony looked down and pushed her hand off of him, as she seemed unable to move or respond.
Mantis looked up wide-eyed at Tony, who retreated while mumbling something or other about how they all suppressed their traumatic emotions and how he had some project that he should check up on.
There was a moment of silence before Mantis came to a decision and slowly rose to follow Tony.
She caught up to him in the deserted hallway, reaching out to touch his shoulder. Despite Mantis’s efforts to avoid any contact between their skins, as Tony whirled to face her, he also flinched backwards. He must have been caught up in his thoughts, likely those of the self loathing variety, as she had clearly surprised him.
“You know that I could help for a bit?” Mantis tentatively offered. “And change what you are feeling?”
“I’m okay,” Tony replied, like he had told this lie a million times before, which, to be honest, he definitely had.
“I am being sincere,” Mantis insisted.
Tony smiled a smile that did not remotely reach his eyes, and let slip, “no, thanks. It would only make it worse later.” He turned and left, leaving Mantis to stare at his back in defeat, before she ultimately returned to the others.
The mood back where the rest of the heroes sat had definitely fallen compared to earlier that evening. The Hulk forlornly chewed on a piece of candy as Mantis rejoined the group, failure plain on her face. No one was sure what to do or say. The only seeming courses of action was that that had been taken by Mantis or to do nothing, as they were now. Just when the silence was starting to become uncomfortable, Jarvis spoke up with the best idea.
“I will invite Peter Parker over tomorrow.”