Nico Minoru - Relationships With Other Runaways

Relationships With Other Runaways

Nico is a very emotional person and has repeatedly expressed difficulty with knowing precisely what she is feeling. Nico admits to Victor that she has a tendency to seek comfort after highly emotional situations or periods of stress. Nonetheless, she is typically very open when trying to express her feelings and has thus been able to connect with many of the Runaways on an emotional level and maintain many close friendships throughout the series.

In the first volume, Nico and Alex share a brief relationship. She kisses him for the first time during the runaways' attempted rescue of Molly Hayes; it's later revealed Alex was Nico's first kiss. She kisses and expresses love for Alex after he saves her from the vampire Topher; it is generally accepted that Nico and Alex are a couple at this point. Despite her professed love for Alex, Nico chooses to side with the Runaways after Alex reveals his plan to bring her to the Gibborim's new world with her parents, firmly establishing her dedication to the team and her strength of character. However, despite the betrayal, Nico demonstrates willingness to forgive when she unsuccessfully tries to resurrect Alex, and states that even though Alex was a traitor, he did not deserve death. It is also revealed that despite everything he did to the group, she still misses and loves him.

Karolina's feelings for Nico were hinted at throughout volume 1, ending with Karolina sheepishly blushing when Nico says she has sworn off boys. However, Karolina's feelings were not explicitly expressed until she attempted to kiss Nico. Nico immediately turned Karolina down; however, when Karolina decides to travel to her home planet Majesdane with Xavin, Nico is distraught for losing her friend. Chase stops Nico from casting a spell to bring Karolina back to Earth, and later catches Nico strewing Karolina's clothes about her floor for remembrance's sake. After Karolina returns, Nico becomes overjoyed and hugs her, saying that she felt all alone with Karolina gone. Their friendship is an occasionally strained one, due to Karolina's unrequited feelings towards Nico and Nico's dislike of Karolina's fiance's gender switching.

Nico admits she provides a motherly role to Chase's rule-breaking persona. The pair maintain a strong respect for each other despite often disagreeing over major group decisions, including Gert's burial site and allowing Victor to join the team. Chase cares for Nico's safety and well-being, as evidenced from when he comforted Nico after Karolina's departure, and when he took the Staff of One from Nico to destroy it to give her a normal life. After Chase bluffed their way out of a fatal encounter with the drug lord, Pusher-Man, Nico kisses him. This causes a rift in their friendship, and into Gert and Chase's relationship. Nico is also the only person that Chase bids farewell before leaving to sacrifice himself for the Gibborim, which Nico interprets as a cry for help. At this point, Chase and Nico's friendship appears more stable now that Chase moved past grieving for Gert. In Volume 3, issue 13, the two share a surprising and intimate kiss.

Gert and Nico had been close friends since birth. After Gert's death, Nico tells Victor (while crying) that Gert had set her My Little Pony dolls in the forest because Gert thought they should be free, and Nico had knit a purple scarf for Gert's thirteenth birthday, prompting Gert to dye her hair that color. Nico also told Gert that should Nico get hurt, Gert would be leader. The pair's friendship briefly breaks after Gert discovered Nico's kiss with Chase after their encounter with the Pusher Man. Their falling out caused much friction in the group. Nico and Gert finally resolved their differences with a short bout of tossing insults. Despite Gert's cynical attitude, she rarely argued with Nico's decisions and was usually prepared to stand by her friend. Nico experiences survivor's guilt after Gert dies, knowing that Gert's murderer Geoffrey Wilder had initially meant to kill Nico.

Nico explains that she seeks physical comfort after periods of stress. While Victor expresses feelings for Nico, she asks for time alone to clear her head and figure her feelings out, much like how she initially dealt with Alex and Karolina after each expressed feelings for Nico. However, Nico admits that Victor is genuinely a good guy and wouldn't mind being in a relationship with him. Victor calls Nico his girlfriend when he attempts to save her from Chase, and although she is in a hostage situation, Nico still lightly scolds Victor for calling her such. The two eventually become a couple. However, the relationship is brief as Victor falls for Lillie, a carefree girl from 1907. Trying to become a better person, Nico, seeing that Victor and Lillie are in love, steps aside, deciding to remain friends even after Lillie decides to stay in the past.