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Gamora was sitting on the porch of the house where they were to spend the night. Luckily for her, the torrential downpour kept her awake. She was spinning in her bed, trying to ignore the only noise in her head. Knocking drops on the window sill.
Now she was outside under the canopy of the house, contemplating the point of contact between water and earth. The source of this monotonous and mesmerizing noise. As if unknowingly, her thoughts flew like a whirlwind into the past, enduring the unpleasant associations of this seemingly calm sound.
Memories of times she could not escape. Too bright in her mind, leaving an unpleasant taste in her mouth. She had reached a point where everything reminded her of certain moments in her life before. Even something a little like hearing footsteps behind her, bringing her back to the times she was attacked without warning. Or when she passed by children playing on a playground. Memories of their voices as she headed for another murder. Or now with the rain that-.
"Hey." Gamora jumped slightly at the voice and turned to see Peter, raising his hands in a sign of surrender to show her that he didn't mean anything wrong.
She took a breath and withdrew her hand from her stowed weapon, which she didn't even know she had reached for.
Peter sat to her right on the bench. "Can't sleep?"
"Yes, but it's not like it's anything new." She didn't look at him, and he followed her gaze, sharing the view. A moment of uncertain silence. Gamora wasn't sure if anything specific was expected of her in this moment, but Peter wasn't the one to hold back the conversation. They both had many times where they just watched each other and that was enough. In which they only looked at the beautiful landscape and enjoyed it. But what was beautiful about this? "Why aren't you sleeping?" she finally asked him.
"I love the rain, it would be a shame to miss it with sleep."
Her eyes shot at him in surprise and disbelief. "Are you serious?"
A short laugh from him at her shocked expression. "Okay, I know it's really easy to sleep at the noise, but that I'll leave to Drax. He was the first to fall asleep. Maybe the fact that his snoring echoes in the whole building contributes to my wakefulness. Maybe I really should have taken from the earplugs Rocket offered me. " When he looked at Gamora again, he saw her contemptuous face, staring out. "What has the weather done to you?" He tried to cheer her up.
"I've always hated rain." She said calmly, but with a touch of sadness. "It's like the clouds are crying."
He looked at her. "That's a very bad interpretation."
She raised a silver eyebrow. "You've got a better one?"
He narrowed his eyes judgmentally with an ambiguous smile. "Maybe they're crying out of joy?"
She tilted her head toward him without changing her expectation. "It's still crying."
"Can't you accept that some people see the positive side of things?" His playful smile not leaving his face.
She looked back at the rain. "I can accept it, but I don't understand it."
Peter took a note of Gamora's expression. Cold, but full of softness and as if nostalgia. Her eyes looked like they were moments away from watering. Maybe she associates it with bad memories, he thought. "What's on your mind?" He asked.
Gamora didn't seem to intend to answer him. It was as if she hadn't even heard him. "C'mon, what's said in the rain, stays in the rain."
"There's no such thing." Voice at least two octaves down.
"Well now there is." He turned his body toward her, facing her with an invitation. "Now tell me."
For a moment her eyes moved on him. She clearly knew that he would not leave her until she told him. It was just who he was. Always wanted to help ....
No. Always wanted to help her. She took a breath and returned to contemplating the natural phenomenon. "Before, Thanos took me to a planet to train there. It always rained because of the climate. Most of the time it was just water. Sometimes ice." Peter kept his eyes on her. The rain didn't seem so interesting to him anymore. "I had to climb a long thin beam over a deep slave. On the other side of the beam stood an opponent I had to defeat. It seemed impossible."
"Fighting on a beam? You don't say."He exclaimed sarcastically.
"It wasn't because of the beam, I am good in balance. It was the rain that kept me from foreseeing the opponent's move because it got in my eyes. Every time I lost and fell down into the wet ground. I climbed again, but my shoes slipped even more because of the mud, and the same thing repeated itself over and over. "It was as if a lump stuck in her throat at the next words." You have to learn to fight in all conditions, little one, he said. Don't bend. If you do, you die. "
Peter's eyes frowned sympathetically. If only he could find that purple grape, God help him. But the last thing he wanted was to keep him in Gamora's mind. Him and those disgusting missions she performed for him. "You don't have to feel bad about feeling sadness or fear." She looked at him with a spark of hope, as if that's exactly what she needed to hear. "It's okay to feel things. You don't stop the rain by telling it to stop. Sometimes you just have to let it pour and soak into your skin."
Gamora rolled her eyes in response to the reference. Realizing that there was something true in what he said. "What if I don't want to let my emotions out?" she asked.
"You replace them with better ones. Ones that won't torture you." He said it just like that as if it was easy.
"And how do I do that?"
Peter's eyes flickered in search of an answer. Everyone was different. It mainly depended on the situation and the type of negative emotion. When he was little he was afraid of heights. He was terrified even to look down from a higher floor. He had the feeling that he would fall at any moment. So his mother blindfolded him, and when he could open his eyes, he was on top of a Ferris wheel. It was so high. The first time he had overcome a fear of his own. That was when he learned how. You just jump into it. But now he didn't have a Ferris wheel for Gamora. And he didn't need one. It was a different thing.
A smile flashed across his face as he looked at her. "You hate rain, huh?"
And the next moment, Peter was on his feet, out in the rain.
"What are you doing ?!" Gamora widened her eyes.
"C'mon! Let's have some fun." He spread his arms in invitation.
She did not walk towards him, in fact she even leaned back, crossing her arms. "I don't see how getting an outside shower can be fun."
"That's cuz you haven't tried it!" He responded. His hair already a darker shade, soaking in the water drops.
"If that's the way you try to trick me into doing something incredibly stupid, it won't happen."
"You don't need to. We'll do it together." He was looking at her, confident as always.
She was really pleased that he was trying to cheer her up, but to do something so spontaneous, to go with the flow, even with a man she considered a friend...It was something uncharacteristic of her. "No, I'm good."
But the smile on his face did not leave his face. Only his hands made their way to his pockets, cassualy carrying his weight on one leg. "C'mon you can't leave me standing here like that!"
She raised an eyebrow with an amused smile "I thought you're having fun."
"It would be a lot more fun if you joined me."
She crossed her arms. "Ain't happening, Star Lord."
How he loved when she challenged him. "Well then thank God I got this." He took a silver handle studded with ornaments from his pocket and raised it to the level of his face so she could see it. Gamora narrowed her eyes, taking her time to figure out what it was. And her eyes widened, focusing on the object. Is that my sword ?! Her hand quickly reached for where she was holding it on her belt. It was her sword.
"How did you-"
A mischievous smile on his face. "A thief, remember?"
No she didn't forget, especially since Rocket was constantly complaining that Peter was taking weapons or ammunition from his stockpile. But she was surprised she didn't even feel him taking it. "Give it back."
The smirk not leaving his face even though the water drops falling onto his skin made his eyes close. "Come and get it!"
"What?" Before she could ask anything else, he ran back along the lawn. "Peter!" She rose from her seat, but he was already too far away to hear her.
She knew very well what he wanted. To follow him. He knew she would. The sword was just an incitement. Or insurance. A moment of hesitation in which she thought it through. Maybe that was going to be a mistake.
She thought too much.
Oh fuck it!
She put the hood of her jacket over her head and sprinted across the lawn. Gamora was way faster than Peter, who was slow anyway. Either because this was his usual pace or just waited for her to catch up, soon the two were side by side, galloping through the wild fields under the rain clouds.
For Gamora's surprise, Peter slowed the pace. He just looked at her, as if pleased that he was right. He was sure she would have went for it. Or he was not and the fact that she ran after him in the rain which she hated was a proof that he wasn't actually indifferent to her.
Her eyes sprinted to him as well. She thought he just wanted to get her out in the rain, but then why did they keep going? "Where are we going?" She asked without any breathing problem.
The same could not be said about Peter. "You'll see."
Why did she even expect an actual answer? As is Peter, he rather would allow Drax to shave him than to spoil the surprise he had prepared.
On the way arisen trees among the muddy hill of the resultant forest. They were already far from the house, although it seemed like they had missed for seconds only.
Gamora could not think about anything else except possible endings of their spontaneous marathon. Think, think like Peter. What would he think of? Hidden cave? No, he liked the rain, so why looking for a shelter?
He looked at her. There was no trace of the sad agony from before. Rather excitement could be read on her face. He could even swear that a slight smile formed on her lips when their eyes met.
Rain somehow stripped the veneer of pretense ... the spirit, open to joy, perceptive to love. A walk in the rain with Gamora had innocence, romance, adventure ... all rolled into a single inexplicable emotion.
She found out that their destination was approaching, because Peter slowed and she followed. He removed several branches of the way as he walked in front of her. Through the holes between the pale leaves, Gamora differed mild flashes of light.
Shortly after, before them was revealed a breathtaking view. The trees spreaded their branches over the exposed area, in the middle of which laid a whole light show. On the spots where the drops of rain were hitting the ground, were formed light pulses into the ground. As if it was water. As if they were in the middle of a magical lake. The light reached the trees, making it visible inside the tree.
Peter smiled at Gamora's amazed face. "You like it?"
"Yes." She answered. Eyes not knowing whether to look at him or at the beautiful glowing roots.
"That was the real reason I was awake. I couldn't miss the opportunity not to show it to you after I saw you didn't go to bed."
"Peter ..." She couldn't take her eyes off of the beautiful glow that created the illusion that the trees themselves were pulsing. The whole place was alive. "It's beautiful."
"Yea, do you know why?" He caught her attention by taking a few steps toward her. "The soil feels the rain."
Puzzlement on her face. "Feel?"
He smiled and paraphrased, "I mean, it reacts on the contact with it and causes this. I've come here a couple of times just to see it again." And this one is the most special one of them all. Her eyes flew through the glowing traces of rain in the mud, admiring the beautiful view. "You see? Rain is not that bad after all."
"No, but-"
Her words were interrupted by Peter's sudden movement, grabbing her arm and pulling her close to him. His other hand on her waist to make sure she wouldn't slip. "No 'but' ."
Their heads inches from each other. Peter admired the way the glow reflected on her silver markings and beautiful dark eyes. He wanted to kiss her so much. But he deliberately waited to see if she would. He always loved it when she leaned fist. It showed him that she wanted him as much as he wanted her. And this was one of those times. Gamora rose slightly, taking the initiative to kiss him first.
Hand moved to his face. And the back of his head. His completely wet hair between her fingers as she made sure there was no part of his mouth she hasn't reached.
A kiss in the rain, cool and hot at the same time, feeling different as the raindrops streamed across their faces.
The steady noise around them seemed more and more distant with each and every second. A drop slid down one strand of Peter's darkened hair and fell on Gamora's cheek. Soon he felt the contact with it on his own as their kiss deepened.
So far, Gamora has always associated rain with uncertainty, danger. And she does still. But it wasn't the only emotion that was awake in her by the thought of rain anymore. Not in this specific moment. Fear and hate were probably the last things on her mind right now. She felt safe. Because he was there.
And Peter .. He had almost forgotten about the rain. Yes, that was the reason he was out there at all, but it was mainly for Gamora why he actually came out under the drops. Holding her into a tight hug. Feeling her sweet breath into his mouth. The feeling was so good, it was almost overwhelming. He never wanted it to stop. It felt magnificent.
Perhaps that was the reason romantic movies showed kissing scenes in the middle of gun battles and catastrophes. The idea of being so into a person that you forget your surroundings.. The couple placing their desire for each other ahead of whatever risk or inconvenience they were experiencing.
No anger. No fear. Just them.
Normally people would try to get to somewhere dry when it's pouring, but when she kissed Peter, maybe for the first time, she forgot how annoying and frustrating standing in the rain could be.
Some things just could not be explained. They could only be experienced.
Since time immemorial, rain and love have been intertwined ... one would expect the raindrops to cool the ardor and wash away the romance ... For Gamora and Peter, however rain only deepened their love and the feeling of togetherness as they walked hand in hand, matching step for step into a scene that seemed as fertile as the soil before them appeared to be - swathed in wetness, full of promise ...
And then he realized it. It wasn't the Ferris wheel that helped him with his fear .. It was the person who led him through it. His mother. And now it was him who helped Gamora to overcome hers. Well maybe not overcome but weaken... Hopefully.
"So ..." Peter pulled away quite a bit, barely, just enough to tell her something. "Here's your first happy rain-memory."
Still with closed eyes, she brushed her nose to his, lips curved into a smile. "Now, will you give me my sword back?"
He was quick with one of his typical responses. "Will you kiss me again?"
A light chuckle escaped her lips. Eyes looking at him like he was the first person who had ever made her feel anything worth remembering. "Damn you, Peter Quill."
The same loving expression on his face. "I love you too." And there their lips locked together one more time.
Kissing in the rain..What a beautiful cliché.