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They were halfway through the next galaxy when Tony finally lost it.
"Quill, sit down and shut up or I swear that I'll cut these channels out myself." Although Tony knew the rest of the galaxy was decades ahead of him in tech, the Milano was intuitive enough that he managed to pilot it with minimal jumps. Nebula was in the co-pilot seat, reading off instructions that didn't make it through the universal translator. Quill just hovered around them, making worried noises whenever Tony pressed a button or insisting loudly that the radio needed to be on or the ship wouldn't fly right.
"I'm just worried about my baby, okay? No need to be a douche about it," Quill said, slumping down into one of the nearby seats. Nebula got up to flick something on a wall panel, and Tony was 95% sure she had figured out where Quill was and managed to walk through him on purpose.
"I'm always careful with tech, especially alien tech that's gonna get me back home."
"Well, I gotta go soon and check back in with the others, and if anything's broken when I get back, I'll kick your ass straight back to Terra," Quill threatened. "Tell Nebula she better not touch my snacks."
Nebula looked bored when Tony repeated the message. "Tell Quill to find a way back to the land of the solid and he can try to stop me." Her voice sounded shaky and hopeful, but her face was blank.
Quill let out an offended gasp before disappearing. The ship was silent.
"If Quill's here, why aren't the other Guardians?" Tony asked suddenly. "Drax and the antenna girl. Weren't they living on this ship too?"
Nebula shrugged, having gone to the kitchen and back and was chomping loudly on what looked like a blue root. "No idea, but I'm guessing Quill was the only one obnoxious enough to force his way into another dimension. Besides, he's all over this ship."
"What do you mean, all over?"
"He once told us to use a black light. Now I don't lean against the walls anymore."
"Fuck-" Another bout of silence.
"We should get some sleep. Who knows what else we'll run into on the way to the warp point. First watch?"
"I'll take it," Tony offered. He was too jumpy to sleep, looking around for Quill to appear and relay some more improbable news. It had been- god, it had only been a few days since he had left Earth, and now half the universe was dead, and he was playing astral telephone with a half-human from Missouri and his murderous blue sister-in-law.
Nebula grunted and sat down in the corner of the cockpit, keeping her back to the wall. She finished the last of her root and curled up, nearly whirring to a stop. Tony felt a strange sort of sympathy for her. He knew she was grieving but keeping it together for his sake. He knew she was some sort of mechanic, having maintained her own parts to a polish. He knew she didn't like Trafaldorian meat, whatever the hell that was.
A few hours later, when he had finally stopped turning at every beep of the ship, Tony heard another noise. A strangled shout and then a heaving breath- all too familiar. Nebula had shot to a standing position, her arms raised defensively, her mechanical fingers twitching uncontrollably. "Easy there," Tony said, not moving closer. He knew how the disorientation of post-nightmare wakefulness felt. "You alright there?"
Her face crumpled. "No-no one's ever asked me that before." He stood up and carefully, slowly, reached out. He didn't ask. The pain in her voice didn't afford questions, and the mommy and daddy and every-family-member issues he could pick out from just those words was enough.
"It's over," he said. "For better or for worse, it's over. What you were dreaming of- it was real then, unfortunately, but it's not real now." That was the mantra that had kept him going through the aftermath of New York, Sokovia, Siberia, you name it. It wasn't very reassuring, but he felt like Nebula wouldn't want false reassurances.
"It's over," she agreed, blankly. Then, stronger, "it's over."
Of course, in the middle of that tense silence, Quill chose to reappear. "Stark!"