InsaneJournal

Nightmares x 2
Who: Peter and Gamora
What: Bleedovers!
When: Friday night, during the storm.
Rating/Warning: Green



The week had gone surprisingly well. Once everyone (him, really) had gotten a sense of the place, the team had reverted to their usual roles in the group. One apartment for four people was fine, and actually Peter was thankful for it. If he'd had to be by himself at any point, he would've driven himself crazy with his thoughts.

A lot of his good feelings though came from Gamora. They hadn't really had another fight like that first one, and while he wasn't exactly walking on eggshells, he knew he'd kind of screwed the pooch and had to make amends.

The occasional cuddles, and quiet times together all but made up for it. It almost felt like before, when they first started to let their feelings show. There was a comfort to it.

In the early morning, a loud crash startled him, and he woke up suddenly, sick to his stomach. He'd been dreaming of Thanos, of the stones, of Gamora. Blinking heavily, he reached up and noticed his face was wet. Tears? And just as suddenly, he panicked. "Gamora...are you still here??"

This felt more like home to Gamora now; a little noisier, a little more crowded, things taken to the utmost literal meaning, Peter around... Gamora had been feeling less moody by far. Less angry, too. They had yet to see a Broadway show, but Gamora was hopeful. She also needed to not forget to ask Loki for a glamour spell both on Drax and Mantis. But for now, enjoying Peter's company was at the forefront of her mind, even if she would be loathe to admit it.

When the loud crash happened, the thunderstorm outside, and Peter woke up with a start, Gamora had already been sitting by the window for a few minutes. She felt quite like he did. Her dreams had been of the biggest secret she'd ever kept, her most daring defiance of Thanos, of her sister torn apart, of Gamora herself falling off a cliff, screaming so loudly and for so long - all with one purpose: a stone. She had nightmares of Thanos occasionally, but none so real or blood freezing as this one. Gamora had woken up drenched in sweat and desperate for information she couldn't come upon. Behind her eyes she kept falling, and falling...

"Peter?" She answered weakly, going to kneel before his side of the bed. "I'm here."

He sat up and leaned his body over, wrapping his arms around her neck. With his head on her shoulders, he took a deep breath. "Thank God you're here... I had the worst fucking dream. Thanos has more stones, and he took you and I had..." He couldn't even say it without choking up. Even in a dream, the idea of killing <\i> the love of his life.... he couldn't put it in words. "Fuck. But it was just a dream... "

Gamora allowed Peter to drape his arms over her shoulders as she massaged his neck soothingly, glad that the dark didn't let him see the turmoil in her expression. She was prepared to soothe him through a nightmare aftermath when the things he said stopped her in her tracks. Her heart accelerated despite any modifications and her palm wrapped into Peter's curls as a wave of fear washed through her. "I asked you to kill me. But he didn't let you, he needed me alive. He killed me."

I tried though," he said in wonder, pulling away from her so he could look her in the eyes. "I tried to kill you, and the gun, it, it, turned into bubbles?" Peter swallowed thickly and shook his head. "Gamora. I was going to do it! How could I do that? I love you, more than anything,."
Gamora nodded slowly, chin trembling.

"I know, I know..." She murmured. Some part of her was aware of wishing he had done it. But it made no sense, because Thanos wasn't here and he wouldn't know to find her here, not for a long time. It wasn't like this was planned. She looked at Peter and cupped his chin with her hand.

"Because I asked you to, Peter. I begged you to. I told you that." Gamora leaned her forehead against his. "And I have a secret he cannot know. Because you're one of the idiots living in the galaxy. In the universe. I can't let him destroy it."

Now that he remembered what his dream was, he was practically reliving it -- the smell, the Collector's corpse, the tricks.... and then the gun...Wrenching himself violently from her grasp, he jumped up and ran for the trashcan. After several minutes vomiting (and definitely regretting the chili from earlier), he finally pulled himself up. "How do you know what I know... what's happening?"

Gamora startled when Peter ran off, flinching as she heard him throw up. She hugged her knees to her chest, leaning one shoulder against the bed. All she could think about was how she hadn't been able to keep her secret, and had died for it in the most unexpected of ways. Whatever the universe thought, love was not what Thanos had subjected her to. Love was what Peter had been willing to do for her, and what she had done to spare Nebula any more pain. Even if it cost the universe. She had been weak.

"I- I don't know." Gamora finally stammered. "I don't know."

Just when he thought things were starting to make sense. Peter waited to make sure he wasn't going to throw up anymore before making his way to the bathroom. A few minutes later, he was back, teeth brushed, and two glasses of water. He sat down next to her, hands still shaking a bit as he handed her a glass. "What does this mean? Do you... do you think this is another parallel universe? Or is this a premonition? Damn, did coming back to Earth make me psychic?"

​"It won't have made you psychic if I know everything you know." Gamora pointed out, tears falling down her cheeks independently of her own will. She sniffled and took the glass of water, drinking it slowly. "I don't know what this is, Peter, but it's happening somewhere. We should talk to Strange."​
She leaned into him, trembling slightly. "When I was falling all I could think of was how I would never see you again. How I failed. Don't let me fail, Peter, please. If he comes here..."

"I can't kill you again." Peter was clear on that. Just the idea of picking up the gun again ... he felt nauseous at the thought of it. "I can't do it. I don't know how I got that strength before, but I'm not going there first." He shook his head furiously, and put an arm around her shoulder, pulling her in closer. Fuck, and she was shaking ...or was he shaking too? "Strange is our best option, for sure." Glancing at the bedside table, he saw the numbers illuminated. "It's 4am...do you think you can go back to sleep, babe? Or should we just go watch some TV, wait until it's late enough to call him? There's gotta be a better plan than your death, and I don't want to be widow before I even marry you, so there's that too."
​
Gamora sighed in frustration. While she understood Peter's refusal, she had to make him understand just what was at stake. With or without Strange's influence. "Peter. If Thanos comes here and he finds me, you cannot let him get to me. He will get my secret out of me, and he will kill me anyway." Gamora remembered everything again, and she trembled more, as did her voice. There was rage in there now too. "But I won't die on my terms or for the sake of the universe, I will further his goals and he will kill me while claiming to love me like what he's subjected me to was anything akin to love. There's no bigger offense. First I will fail, and then I will die. And he will have the same control over my fate I fought so hard to get away from."

She scoffed. "I am not going back to sleep only to dream of some alternate fate again and again. You can sleep if you want, I'll wait until morning."

Peter may be stupid, but even he could tell that this argument was useless. If other Peter (and why were there so many fricking Peters?!) caved, then it was likely he would too. It was in him somewhere, even if he was sure it wasn't. "I don't want to kill you," he repeated, even though he was sure his conviction sounded less. "Why can't you tell me your secret? Then Thanos would take me and kill me instead, and you'd be safe. I'd be okay if you were safe." This was an excellent plan .... until he suddenly remembered he'd tried this argument before and lost. Goddamnit, other Peter. "Which wouldn't work, yes, yes, I know, don't start. Let's just watch TV or something. I bet I dream of Jeannie is on or something. And cuddle. Like tons. Cuddle these nightmares away. I don't want you out of my sight right now."


​"And I don't want to die, but I'd rather that than let Thanos win. The universe will be at his mercy, Peter." What he said next made Gamora stare at him in the dark, confused at first, then firmly convinced part of him was still asleep. "He'd know I knew and he'd just take us both, torture us both, and eventually kill me. More people in on the secret is not better, it's worse."

With a sigh, Gamora prepared to get up onto her feet and plop back into bed.

"Fine. I don't know what that is but anything is better than what keeps bouncing around my skull.​" Taking the remote, she turned on the screen on the wall in front of the bed, then put the remote on her leg while she pulled Peter closer to her. She looked at him, illuminated by the light of the TV, and smiled a sad smile. "I love you. Whatever happens."

When she looked at him like that, it took everything he had to not just pounce, wrap her in his arms and cover her face with kisses. Which for Gamora would probably be hell. Instead, with uncharacteric restraint, he allowed her to pull him in, and he gave her a kiss on the forehead. "I love you too. So much. Let's not talk about death, okay? I've had enough people die in my life, I'm in no rush to add to that list. It's not a good list to have. It's already got like three more people than I'd like."

​Gamora hadn't thought of it that way, but Peter really did have a lot of death in his past, some all too recent. It was only natural that he'd rather not talk about or cause the death of someone else he cared about. Gamora blinked slowly, an apologetic expression on her face as she squeezed him to her and laid her head on his shoulder. "I know, I'm sorry. We'll figure this out and fight as hard as we can."

She planted a kiss on his cheek, then another, and then nuzzled him. "You can work the remote, right? Look for something you like and let's... chill, like they say here."​

"Netflix and chill," Peter said, nodding in agreement. He'd heard that on TV the other day and really liked it. He had no idea what it actually referred to. "Just wait until I introduce you to He-Man ." His TV tastes really hadn't changed.