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Tweak says, "But its by invitation only."

Peter Quill: Man among Dudes (absolute_badass) wrote in snapthread,
@ 2019-06-06 09:40:00

Entry tags:

gamora (mcu), peter quill (mcu)

Who: Peter Quill and Gamora (mcu)
What: Meeting, again.
Where: Pancho’s
When: Thursday
Rating: Low? Spoiler things?

This hadn’t been what he’d been expecting when Peter wound up in this place - one second on his ship with his crew (and one singularly annoying Asgardian) and the next standing in a courtyard in a place that felt nearly empty and unnatural. Peter was the type to normally take to action before fully investigating, but he’d stopped at the little table anyway, picking up some rudimentary tech and poking at it until he found some communications.

It’d gone downhill from there. Or uphill. He wasn’t really sure, actually.

What he was sure about was that he was a) stuck here, b) engaged to a girl named Kitty in another life which c) would interest him on about seven different levels if d) he’d never met Gamora who e) was here. Even if it was the 2014 version of her who didn’t know him. Maybe she wanted to now though? She’d invited him to drinks. Sure, in order to ask questions, but that was better than her just taking off again.

It’d give them — something. Time, maybe.

One thing Peter had never really needed to feel around Gamora was nervous, but there it was, something in his chest that formed and stuck there. Because he needed to make a good impression. He needed to not come on too heavy or accidentally fall back into the way they used to be, because this wasn’t her. This wasn’t his Gamora.

But it was Gamora. Peter paused in the doorway of the bar that had been incredibly easy to find (there wasn’t much to this place) and spotted her immediately. Not just because she was green, but because— well. It was Gamora. And even if she didn’t know him, he loved her still.

God, he didn’t wanna be creepy.

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why_is_gamora
2019-06-07 10:29 pm UTC (link)

He held out the headphones and Gamora looked at them for a moment before figuring out that he'd been wearing them around his neck so they probably needed to fit over her ears. She carefully brought them down, the sound filling her head. It wasn't what she was expecting and she listened, watching the glasses in front of them. His music wasn't like anything she'd heard before and she found after a moment she was swaying slowly, in time with the beat of it.

It gave her time to be quiet, to think about how they'd actually shared a bed, a room. Gamora found it utterly unbelievable and it sounded like a lie and yet Nebula had told her about them, about that they'd been close.

She glanced up at him, feeling him watching her and okay, maybe Quill was nice to look at.

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absolute_badass
2019-06-07 10:51 pm UTC (link)

When she listened, Peter was basically on the edge of his seat (metaphorically, not literally, he wasn't stupid enough to get up in her space even a little bit). Genuinely, he wanted her to like it. And when Gamora went from hesitant curiosity to swaying to it, he felt himself melt again, in a way he hadn't for a long time now. It was like -- getting something over again, even if it was a first for Gamora.

So, yeah, if his eyes went a little glassy, it wasn't like he could help himself.

He hid it well though, he figured, by glancing away and blinking a bit before finishing off his newly refilled drink. One more, he thought, and maybe he'd be in a place where this was easier. Maybe.

Sam Cooke's Bring it On Home to Me was next, and maybe it was a bit much, considering it was one of the best songs in the universe; certainly one of the most romantic. He'd shared that one with Gamora before, too.

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why_is_gamora
2019-06-08 01:19 pm UTC (link)

What had started as a slow sway ended with Gamora's blinking slowing and then her eyes were closed. The music drew her in and she'd never felt like that before, never heard anything quite like it, hadn't really ever taken the time to. The song ended and she opened her eyes again and looking right into Quill's.

She didn't say anything, just lifted her glass to her lips as well and drained it. One more couldn't hurt, Gamora held her alcohol well, although she was starting to really feel it.

The next song kept her swaying, different now as she listened to the words. She wondered if they'd listened to this together, if she'd felt the way the man spoke of about Quill and how she'd ever managed it. It was a lot and she slid the headphones off and held them back out to him. "That's enough, maybe we can listen to another next time."

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absolute_badass
2019-06-08 04:16 pm UTC (link)

She was beautiful like that, Peter thought. Of course, Gamora was beautiful all the time, in every conceivable way from angry to battle hardened, but there was just something extra about her when she went soft around the edges that made Peter feel breathless.

It was nearly a relief when she handed the headphones back over, because he wasn't -- he just wasn't sure what to do with a version of her that didn't know him when his heart was so goddamned full of things only for her. It wasn't fair. Not to Gamora. And he wasn't going to put it on her.

But it did hurt something inside of him to restrain himself so fully.

"Okay," he said quietly, stopping the tape -- the second awesome mix -- and stowing his cassette player back on the clip of his belt, like it was something precious and important. Which it was.

He glanced away for a moment before nodding a little. More to himself than for her. "Any more questions?"

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why_is_gamora
2019-06-09 01:41 pm UTC (link)

It struck her that she had said next time and meant it, that she would like to hear more of his music and thus perhaps spend more time together. Gamora hadn't expected that of herself, that there would be an easiness about him that when she ignored the pressure of the fact he knew her maybe she wasn't hating it.

There were questions, hundreds of them maybe, years worth of information but she didn't know where to start with it. "Why were you looking for me?" Gamora finally asked as she looked across at him. Was it that he wanted something from her? For her to be what he remembered? Or was it because they wanted to send her back to when she was from?

But despite her questions she didn't shrink back from where she had moved forward in her chair so there was slightly less room between them. "Nebula and I have found a place, next door is empty," she said. "I can show you where, if you like." Maybe it wasn't what he remembered, but for Gamora it was a lot.

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absolute_badass
2019-06-09 08:35 pm UTC (link)

Next time did ring out as something hopeful and important and Quill wasn't going to forget it anytime soon. Sure, he wouldn't pressure her into a next time either, but he'd --he didn't know. Be ready for it when it happened next? Forever carry around his walkman like a sad puppy looking for a treat?

Okay, he already did that last thing constantly anyway so it didn't really matter.

"Because you're one of us," Peter answered immediately, no hesitation or ulterior motive even remotely near. "You're a Guardian, and you're family. And because I love you. Even if you're not the same." That was laying it on thick, but he wasn't lying. He couldn't help that he was a lot, it was just how he was.

He blinked then, slightly surprised. Because he hadn't really thought about finding a place to live, and probably would not have known where to start because finding a house was so outside the realms of something he'd ever had to do, that he'd have been at a complete loss. But there she was, offering help and a place that was close.

Sure, it wasn't a shared bedroom on a cramped little space ship called home, but it was something, and that meant plenty.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'd like that."

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why_is_gamora
2019-06-10 12:59 pm UTC (link)

There was something hopeful, Gamora wasn't making any promises, but she also wasn't not making promises. He knew her, he'd looked for her and that wasn't nothing. Also she did like his music and if nothing else she wanted to know what else was there.

He lay it out, unlike anyone else she'd ever known. Quill didn't hide or play aloof, he claimed her, he loved her and Gamora tensed just hearing it. Nebula loved her, in her way and Gamora loved her back. But Thanos had loved her too, loved her enough to use her and the idea of it, it was too much.

She probably should have stabbed him.

But she didn't, instead she finished her drink. "I'll show you," Gamora said as she pushed the chair back. It was best they didn't stay, that she didn't drink again.

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absolute_badass
2019-06-10 10:46 pm UTC (link)

For being a professional criminal --or having been one, anyway, sometimes he still wasn't sure -- Peter was ridiculously bad at lying. Oh sure, he could twist things a little or embellish if there was something he really wanted to get away with, but it didn't even occur to him to lie otherwise.

Maybe he should have a little. Pumped the breaks just a tad, because it was pretty clear that Gamora didn't love his response. OR she was uncomfortable with it anyway. And that was fair. He was pretty sure he'd also be uncomfortable if someone from the future showed up and started telling him weird shit, too. Especially if that weird shit was about being in love and saving the universe.

He downed the rest of his own drink too, absolutely did not almost choke on an ice cube and then got up to follow her. "Thanks," he said, because --she deserved that. She was offering him something.

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why_is_gamora
2019-06-12 12:35 am UTC (link)

If she'd got the feeling that Quill was lying to her, holding back then she wouldn't have bothered with him. There was something about it though, how honest and open he was, to an inappropriate extent that Gamora found that she appreciated. She was so used to people trying to charm, to manipulate her, that his honesty was refreshing, even if it made he uncomfortable.

That was more because the idea of being loved? It terrified her. The ones who'd truly loved her were gone and Thanos had said he loved them and then exposed them to horrors no children should have gone through. Hearing about saving the universe though, that she liked, to think maybe she could have redeemed herself for some of the bad she had done.

Quill followed her outside and Gamora allowed him to fall into step beside her, leading him back to where she and Nebula had chosen to live for now. "Perhaps your fiance can show you around," Gamora said and while she aimed for casual it came out a little stilted.

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absolute_badass
2019-06-13 02:01 am UTC (link)

It would be fair of her, of course, to be afraid of something that had given her nothing but anguish in the past by people who hadn't used or understood the idea of love properly in the first place. But so long as she wasn't going to comment on it just yet, neither was Quill.

It didn't matter anyway. Eventually she'd learn that he was -- well. Not harmless. Star-Lord wasn't harmless and hadn't been for a long time. But he was soft when it came to her, and when it came to family.

He'd been daydreaming a little bit about having some sort of house (weird), about coming to sit on the porch steps and looking over to see Gamora doing the same thing. It was a nice little thought. Maybe he could invite her over for a drink. Coffee? He'd never had it, but maybe he'd like it and he could share it.

Her words, though, pulled him out of his day dreams. "My what?" He asked, a little stupidly because he was shocked by it, and the way that Gamora sounded genuinely displeased about it but was maybe trying not to. "I don't -- oh. The girl on the thing? No? I don't even know her."

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why_is_gamora
2019-06-13 09:58 pm UTC (link)

Gamora could have not mentioned it, there wasn't a need to bring it up. Except that maybe she wanted him to know that she didn't like it. It wasn't any of her business and maybe she had no right to dislike anything about his life, but she did. Not to mention this whole alternate reality thing was something Gamora didn't know enough about to trust.

She wasn't annoyed, it clearly wasn't his fault but maybe it was the only way Gamora knew to show that she cared about what he was doing, that he shouldn't move on from how he felt.

And that she didn't want to have to stab him for saying one thing and doing another.

"Good," Gamora said as she crossed her arms. "We don't know her, she could be dangerous." It was a stretch, but it sounded good.

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absolute_badass
2019-06-15 09:44 pm UTC (link)

Peter was getting that -- he was a little absent minded sometimes, a little plucky as he'd once been called, but he wasn't stupid. He could pick up what she was putting down, even if Gamora was putting it down fairly subtly. Sort of. A little bit.

He did his very best to not look too pleased by what she was saying, because that felt like -- like being smug, or something. And he didn't want that.

No stabbing was necessary on this front, he figured. Even if he also kind of thought that there was nothing seemingly untrustworthy about Kitty Pryde either. He simply... did not know her. Still. "You've had a look around," he said, daring to glance over at Gamora. "If you have time later, maybe you could give me a tour. Otherwise, I'll just wander around myself. No big deal."

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why_is_gamora
2019-06-16 10:43 pm UTC (link)

Gamora wasn't one to worry about competing with others for attention, the only reason to compete was for a physical victory. Truly she wasn't worried about it, if he found that he liked that Kitty then the love he spoke of certainly hadn't been sincere and that would solve many of her problems. But Gamora didn't want to encourage him to forget her so easily, what she needed was time to get to know him and make up her own mind on things.

He glanced across at her and she looked back, intrigued by him and less self conscious now she was a few drinks deep. "Yes," Gamora agreed after a moment. "I can show you in the morning."

They'd looked through the houses earlier as they'd chosen their own and Gamora knew that the one beside them was empty but there was a bed, a few basics and enough for him to be comfortable. As they started up the street there were lights on in a few others and she wondered just how many people were there and when and where they were from.

"This is Stark's house, he's alive here," Gamora pointed out.

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absolute_badass
2019-06-18 01:10 am UTC (link)

He wasn't going to forget, and he wasn't going to change his mind or opinion. Even if she wasn't here, he wouldn't have. She was it, really. Maybe even if he could never have her again. His Gamora had been --

There wouldn't be anyone else.

"Cool," he said of the tour, and then glanced over at the houses in question. It was weird, all the cute little places all lined up in a row, like they were just waiting for people to come fill them up. If he hadn't had other things on his mind, he might have thought it unsettling.

He glanced at Stark's house, chewed his bottom lip. "Good," he said of the man being alive. "I only knew him a little, but he was a good dude." That funeral he'd attended had been pretty bleak. He'd avoid any of that in the future.

"Well," he said after a beat. "Unless you have any more questions, I'm probably gonna turn in."

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why_is_gamora
2019-06-18 11:19 pm UTC (link)

She wasn't sure that she liked the houses here, for one they were houses and she'd never lived in one. All her life she'd been on ships, where things were small and you were always on the move. That's where she felt comfortable. So this? Stuck on the ground? She felt like a target.

Nebula had told her that Stark and Peter had spent time together and Gamora knew any warrior would be glad to know a member of their team had survived. Thanos had always been cold, he'd sacrificed his children without any kindness, but she'd never been able to be so detached even if she appeared to be.

"I might have more tomorrow," Gamora said with a little shrug. "But you should get some rest, I should check on my sister." She nearly just walked away, because what else was there to do or say? The way he looked at her, something about him had her linger and she placed her hand on his forearm and gave a squeeze. After a beat she withdrew and headed next door.

At least he'd be close enough to keep an eye on.

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