Who: Peter Quill, Gamora What: Accidental meeting When: Late January Where: In front of a Starbucks, Ravenmoore Warnings: None. Spoilers for IW, I guess? Status: Complete
It’d only been a few days since Gamora found herself in this strange place called Preya. She’d learned that it was on Earth, which she had heard of but had never been. Actually, being here was a pretty exciting thing for her, considering she’d heard so much about it from Quill and his music. But she’d spent the couple of days she’d been here in hiding--the last thing she remembered before she woke up here was falling. And before that… badness. Lots and lots of badness.
A few days was all she could handle, though, before she would have to do something real here in Preya. She’d have to find more security: food and shelter, perhaps some new clothing. Hers didn’t exactly fit in here. Once she was satisfied that Thanos wasn't coming after her (he'd be here already if he was, wouldn't he?) she finally reached out to the Welcoming Committee and got herself a place to sleep and primitive Earth electronics. She didn't want to stay cooped up inside, though, and kept moving.
Today she was outside of a cafe (What, exactly, was a “Starbuck”? Some kind of water dwelling, female creature?), sitting on a bench with one eye on her surroundings, and the other fiddling with the device. "</i>Cell phone</i>," she said, green fingers moving carefully on the screen. "Show me all your secrets."
---
Quill had no idea, not even one, that Gamora was around. The last he’d seen her was in the grip of Thanos -- and he’d had a gun to her head and a promise on his lips. He’d failed to follow through on that promise and there was no amount of anything in the galaxy that wouldn’t have made him feel guilty about it.
He should have killed her. At least it would have been by his own hand -- something she wanted -- than off and alone with someone like Thanos.
It was fucked. And he’d been trying to shake it off for all the days since he’d arrived here.
Probably would be forever, actually.
So it was -- yeah. It was something of a shock when he was just passing on through and a flash of green held him up.
It was her. Gamora. Just. Sitting there in front of a Starbucks of all things, phone in hand. And no one had ever called him grossly clever (even if he was plucky) but even he felt stupid when he just stood there in front of her, staring and saying nothing at all.
---
Movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. The street had been nearly deserted when she sat down outside the cafe--something that pleased Gamora very much. She didn’t want to have to deal with the natives, didn’t want to have to expend so much energy trying to determine where the threats were, where they were coming from, and how to handle them. She still wasn’t convinced that she wasn’t in danger here. After all, Thanos had the Reality Stone, he could manipulate what she perceived in the world around her. Could she really trust anything she saw, heard, or felt here?
Her head snapped up as she realized what that movement was--she would know that movement anywhere. She’d spent months with that movement, had fallen in love with that movement. In an instant she was on her feet, the forgotten cell phone dangling from nearly limp fingers.
“Peter?”
---
That movement was actually a guy. Although he did sometimes have some good moves and some even better pelvic sorcery -- not that he was doing anything of the sort currently, because mostly he was just standing there like an absolute idiot. He couldn’t have moved even if he’d wanted to. Peter felt like he was stuck in space while time sort of kept moving around him.
It couldn’t be helped. She was dead. She’d died. Thanos had --
They’d--
He had to steel his expression, straighten his jaw out and blink a little too quickly in order to keep his eyes from sprouting any unwanted moisture. Because god, that’d be embarrassing. Gamora certainly wouldn’t appreciate it.
“Hey, you,” he said, and it came out wrecked and ruined instead of casual and fun.
---
It was, indeed, a guy. The best guy. A guy who had promised to pull the trigger when she asked him to. A guy who did--even though it was no use. A guy who made her laugh, and made her dance, and could very well be a figment put into her head by Thanos and his god-damned gauntlet. Gamora wasn't convinced. Seeing Peter actually sent her into a bit of a spin, questioning whether or not she could trust anything she saw all over again. Was this just more of her father's torture? Was this reality? Was it safe? Was she safe?
Two emotions boiled within her, fighting for dominance. One was paranoia--the fear that the last few days had lulled her into a false sense of security. And the other, the one that was winning, was relief. Relief wasn't quite the word, it was something else, some combination of passion and homesickness and calm and family.
Gamora fought back every instinct she had to run to him. Every bit of her wanted to fling her arms around him, bury her face in his neck... but she refrained. She didn't let herself move even an inch as she stared at him. "Is this real?" She asked the question with an uncharacteristic quaver in her voice.
---
Yeah that was… actually a pretty great question, after everything they’d been through up there. Thanos’ abilities with the reality stone made everything hard to question. But he’d been here before and figured well enough he knew the difference. Plus, for him, there was no point in anyone pulling a trick. Thanos had won. Everyone had died. There’d be no point in making up a different setting.
Still, he got it. And Gamora being wary was smart of her. Which -- yeah. She was smart. So there was that, he supposed. He moved, finally. Tok a single step forward, because it was best to be cautious when she was unnerved -- Peter Quill wasn’t looking to taste cement today. “Yeah. It’s real. You’re here. Well. We’re here.” A pause, because he didn’t know how not to make this awkward, but he was damned well trying. For the sake of levity if nothing else. “Hi.”
--
Of course, she didn't know that he'd won. When Gamora was thrown off that cliff, he didn't have all the stones. Her worst fear was that he was going to succeed--but he hadn't yet. Falling off that cliff there was only one positive; he hadn't killed half the universe yet. Everything else was bad. Being torn from Peter was bad. Watching Thanos torture Nebula was bad. Being thrown off a cliff was bad. Hitting the bottom would be worse.
Thankfully, she didn't hit the bottom. She ended up here. Standing in front of a Starbucks with Peter Quill.
Gamora took a deep breath and released it, eyes still on Peter. Her shoulders relaxed just slightly, her body becoming less tense. His words sunk in. It's real. You're here. We're here. Together.
"Hi." She responded, stepping forward. "You have no idea how good it is to see you."
---
It felt, a little bit, like he hadn’t seen her in forever, even though it’d been less than a few weeks. It’d just been -- a lot had happened. So much. And he didn’t really know where to start. Because -- damnit, feelings were really hard, and the two of them had spent and awful lot of time not ever feeling like they needed to make the time to have them. Not with each other, anyway.
Or, well, not having to voice them.
“I have some idea.” Which he did. He so, so did. But she stepped forward, and she relaxed and that was -- that was a good thing, he figured. A sign that he shouldn’t be standing there like a complete idiot anymore. So he stepped a little closer too, hand raising like he wanted to touch -- although, he did pause before hand. Because he wasn’t an idiot. If Gamora was stressed she’d just as easily kick his ass. “Can I--?”
---
While she looked up at him with slightly wide eyes, Gamora was trying to figure out all of this. Whether this was real or not, how she’d arrived, how he’d arrived… And then he stepped closer and lifted a hand. She didn’t flinch. It was Peter Quill. Even if this was some dream concocted by Thanos, every fiber of her being trusted him. Loved him.
She may have been stressed, and she could definitely kick his ass, but there was an even stronger force at work here. Her desire for the kind of comfort she’d only known coming from him.
Gamora nodded, eyes still locked on his.
--
Yeah. That nod was all he needed before he was completely in her space -- their space. It was shared, they’d been sharing space for what felt like forever now. It was more weird to be alone and have no one else in it than to be next to Gamora. He’d missed her. He’d mourned her and that insurmountable grief had lost everyone more than he wanted to admit.
He thought about going in for a kiss but that seemed -- not right. Not what either of them needed this second. Instead, he hugged her, arms wrapping easy around her slim waist, his head tilted down low so that he could bury his face into that spot where her neck met shoulder, her hair tickling at his nose. She smelled like herself and it was a rush of relief.
---
There was a part of her that didn't believe it could be true. Even though it was obviously him, she was still expecting the other shoe to drop. It wouldn't be the first time.
But then his arms were around her and his face pressed into her neck. Gamora felt her eyes flutter closed. Warmth filled her, relief calmed her shoulders. Her own arms wrapped up and around him, one hand threading in his hair.
He didn't disappear. She pulled him in even closer, still unable to believe all of it.
“We're going to have to talk about this eventually.” But maybe not just yet.
--
“Yeah, probably,” Peter agreed, his nose still in her hair, and his arms squeezing a little more tightly around her waist. Sure, they’d have to talk about it. All of it -- and it’d probably be weird and awkward and uncomfortable. But it might also be -- well.
Okay.
And Peter could use some okay in his life, if he was being honest.
“Later though. Let’s just do this for a while, okay?” Because this was good and they were both solid and -- it mattered. It just did. He didn’t think anyone would blame him for wanting to keep it going for a while longer.
--
To be honest, that was Gamora's inclination. Her head and her heart were normally on the same page, but right now they were slightly at odds. While her heart wanted nothing more than to stay in his arms forever, her head kept reminding her they had things to talk about. Things to figure out.
Her heart was winning, though.
“Okay.” She said softly, arms wrapping tightly around him. “Just a little while.” Her words were muffled against his skin.