Work Text:
They had set up camp on Knowhere for the time being, and they were working with Cosmo to renovate the place and turn it into an actual livable area, by getting rid of the old mining equipment and replacing a lot of the buildings with ones that didn’t look like they were threatening to collapse any second. They only started on the project not long ago, but it was already looking a million times better.
Peter signs some paperwork given to him for a delivery of crates, what was in them, he wasn’t really sure. Cosmo, who was supervising the construction today, had gone off to look for a set of keys that had gotten misplaced and left Peter to sign for anything needed. Gamora had gone to put away some boxes that had been delivered earlier so she wasn’t there for him to ask what it was. He didn’t actually know if she knew either. But knowing Gamora she would probably just point out some shipping label or something of the like that had completely slipped his notice.
Nodding to himself as he looks around the area, Peter spots a band setting up their instruments in the middle of the pathways.
“Hey, Star-Lord!”
Peter turns around, grinning, already in a good mood just from someone calling him by his cool outlaw name.
“Yeah?”
The alien looked happy to have his attention, as he went on to explain, “Well, my band and I got these Earth instruments,” Bzermikitokolok gestured to the guitar in his hands, “And we’ve been working on a little song for the holidays, and we wanted to see what you thought!”
Peter shrugged; how bad could it be? “Okay, sure.” He motioned for Bzer to start.
-
The guitarist strummed a few chords as he sang the lyrics to the song. A bit simple but honestly not bad.
-
“Hey, that’s pretty good, nice job!” Peter complimented, giving him a thumbs up as he turned to get back to his work.
-
…Only to realize that was just the intro.
-
“Hey, uh, sorry but I’m kind of busy. Is this a very long song…?” Peter asked, trying to point to the stack of crates lying on the ground, which were waiting to be put away. He was trying to be polite, but there genuinely was a lot of stuff to do and he didn’t want Gamora to think he had left her alone to do all the work while he went and goofed off.
It was a bit inaccurate and funny, probably because Bzer had asked Rocket and Kraglin for help with the lyrics and Peter somehow doubted they had paid very much attention when he had tried to explain the holiday to them, especially as he ended up doing so every, single, year. Cosmo might be a more helpful source seeing as she was from Earth, but she was also a dog, and that probably didn’t help matters. But it did have a good beat, and Peter found himself nodding his head to the music.
-
Peter did try to cut in and correct the band on the incorrect nature of the lyrics, but he honestly didn’t try all too hard, being used to the rest of his team messing up Earth customs on the regular. He spies Groot dancing around behind a small crowd that had gathered around the band, the tree jumping around happily, and Peter decides that maybe taking a quick break couldn’t hurt.
-
Only a moment later, Gamora walked by, carrying a crate of some kind.
“What’s going on here?” She asks, setting down the crate beside a few others stacked neatly beside a building.
Peter grins, calling out to her, “Gamora!” She looks over at him and he motions her over, the Zehoberei following though not without her own suspicions of his intentions.
He takes her hand and pulls her over to him, it’s more just them swaying then any actual steps since the music isn’t the best for dancing, but Peter’s smiling widely and Gamora’s lips are quirked upwards in a tiny smile as they spin around, so it’s a win in his book.
-
Mantis and Drax are standing on a balcony overlooking the town square down below, Mantis watching as the song ends and Gamora pulls away from Peter, saying something to him that makes Peter look apologetic and follow after her as they went back to moving the crates. Gamora pausing to scan them with a small device before even going near them, – or letting Peter near them either -.
Mantis sighs, her eyes downcast towards the ground. “Peter and Gamora have been so tense since they both came back, like they’re always expecting another threat to jump out of nowhere.”
She looks back at Drax just in time to catch the Destroyer’s confused look. Probably thinking of Knowhere as in the place they were at.
“No… the other kind of nowhere!” She sighs, rolling her eyes as she waves her hand around in an annoyed motion. “Never mind. That’s not the important part.”
She suddenly grins at him, annoyance forgotten as her eyes sparkled with excitement, “What I was trying to say is I have an idea!”
“What?” Drax asked, his Knowhere/nowhere confusion temporarily forgotten.
“We’re going to go to Terra and get Peter and Gamora a present!”
Mantis grabs his arm and pulls him into a side alley, looking around as if someone would appear out of thin air and spoil the surprise.
“Peter’s always telling Gamora the story of Footloose. So, we’re going to go and find the great hero known as Kevin Bacon!”
Drax looked at her, confusion evident on his face. “Who?”
Mantis rolled her eyes, “Oh come on. Peter talks about him all the time! …He’s a hero on Terra?”
Drax was staring at something going on behind her, probably not even paying attention. “Oh.”
“How are we going to get him to come to space?”
Mantis hums, having not thought that far ahead in her plan, “Well… umm… If we tell him that it’s for the ‘Legendary Star-Lord’ then maybe he’ll just follow us back to the ship?” she shrugs, figuring they could just figure that out when it came to it.
They got as far as the stairs down to the ground level when Drax piped up again.
“Wait, isn’t that the weak little dancing man?”
Mantis scowled. “Don’t say that in front of Peter! He loves that story…” She huffs in indignation. “And Kevin Bacon is very cool!” Sure, she had actually met him. But when Peter talked about him, he made him sound very impressive indeed.
-
In a small cafe mostly vacant except for two workers behind the counter and a few other people scattered around drinking the Knowhere equivalent of coffee, Peter and Gamora sit on opposite sides of a small table, covered cups in their hands.
“Do you know where Mantis and Drax went? I haven’t seen them since your little impromptu concert.” Gamora questioned. One eyebrow (well technically one side of the silver markings above her eyes, Peter mused before mentally shrugging that off) raised in memory of that particular spectacle.
Peter thinks back for a moment, before replying, “Mantis asked to borrow the Bowie, but she wouldn’t tell me why.”
Gamora hums in thought, “…It’s probably nothing. I saw her talking to Drax earlier, and she was very excited about something.”
Peter smiled at Mantis’s tendency to look on the positive side of things. And he tried to reassure himself, the fight with Thanos and how close they had come to losing still weighed on all of their minds, making it hard to shake off the paranoia stemming from the two members of the team very likely to accidentally stumble into trouble taking the ship off to gods know where.
“Yeah, they probably just wanted to go buy something.” He sounded more confident than he actually was, but that wasn’t exactly unusual when it came to Peter.
The week before, the Avengers had hosted their own Holiday party, having timed it early to give those who didn’t live nearby plenty of time to return home for their own celebrations, and Peter had actually managed to be polite to Thor for the whole day, even he was still a bit miffed over the Asgardian, at least in Peter’s eyes, trying to replace him on the team. They had since cleared up the whole jealousy thing, (both Peter’s jealousy over Gamora, and his physiology, though the former far more successfully than the latter) and they still had a bit of a one-sided rivalry going, but the God of Thunder was, as much as Peter hated to admit it, actually not that bad.
And of course, it helped that when they fought Thanos, Thor had managed to swing his axe down on the back of Mad Titan’s neck while he had been busy being affronted at a certain half-Terran punching him, and the surprise attack had weakened him enough that the rest of the Avengers had been able to finish him off before he could snap his fingers.
After that, Iron-Man - and people said Star-Lord was a dumb name! - had brought the stones to some sort of highly advanced island called Wakanda where they were later destroyed, though not before they managed free Gamora and reverse-engineer the Mind stone to make a battery for Vision. He wasn’t nearly as powerful as he had been with the stone, but neither him nor Wanda seemed to care all that much.
Peter was honestly impressed at the level of technology on the island, especially seeing as the last time he had been on Earth, computers had only been starting to become widely available. As soon as he had heard they much have a way to bring back Gamora, he had rushed over to where Shuri and the others had set up some sort of device around the stone. And okay, maybe he was a bit distracted when they were explaining how it worked, but what he did overhear? well, Peter honestly wondered if his translator implant had malfunctioned or something because he didn’t even understand half of the technical terms they were using.
Not that he really cared though. All he cared about was that Gamora was back, and – physically, at least. Though that said nothing about her mental state. - like she never died in the first place.
He didn’t know if it would be better or worse if she didn’t remember her death.
After finishing their drinks, the two make quick work of cleaning up their table and dumping the trash in the bins near the front counter of the little shop. Once they were done, Peter takes Gamora’s hand as they walk outside and to the streets. Since Knowhere was relatively small inside and had an abundance of ship ports, the main areas like the one they were currently at were mostly just walking paths.
When they turned into an empty side street, Peter wrapped his arms around her in a loose hug, Gamora tensing up for a moment before relaxing into the embrace. She still wasn’t big on PDAs, but she was slowly but surely getting more comfortable with letting her guard down when they were somewhere safe.
Peter stifles a small chuckle, back when they first met Gamora wouldn’t have ever let him do anything like this.
Gamora looks up, giving him a quizzical look. “What’s so funny?”
Great job, Peter. She probably wouldn’t think it was nearly as amusing. “Nothing! Nothing. Just… thinking of memories.” He replies quickly, flashing her what he hoped was a disarming smile as they broke apart.
Gamora still looked a bit suspicious, but she doesn’t press him further.
“…Alright.”
Peter lets out a breath of relief, he’s sure her enhanced hearing picked up on his change in breathing, but she seems content to let it go.
They’re almost back to the main area when Peter decides to speak up again.
“I just… I mean, I thought you were dead, Mora. I didn’t think I’d ever get to see you again.” He mutters. His voice was soft, almost a whisper.
Gamora gives him a sympathetic little glance, her dark eyes downcast at the memories.
For her it felt no time had passed between her death and the Avengers bringing her back, and she still remembered vividly; Thanos throwing her off the cliff on Sakaar, her trying to die by her own hand only for Thanos to refuse her even that semblance of control. Time seemed to slow down as she fell - whether it actually did or just seemed to, she would probably never know -, and images of how Thanos would kill the new family she had made for herself flashing before her eyes.
Shaking herself out of the unpleasant memories, Gamora looked into his eyes. “We’re safe, Peter. We won. We’re all alive.” She’s not quite sure which of them she’s trying to reassure with her words.
Both of them, equally, she decided.
Peter hugs her again, his eyes damp with unshed tears, though neither of them commented on that.
“I’m just glad you’re here, G.”
Gamora just hugs him back. She feels the same about him, it’s just… hard to put into words, at the moment. But Peter seems to understand her unspoken sentiment anyway, he always did.
-
“Hey Cosmo, Hey Rocket.” Peter said, leaning down to scratch the dog’s ears. Cosmo turned her head up at him, panting as her tail wagged behind her. Rocket just nodded in greeting and continued to tinker with some kind of remote in his hands.
“Hello Pytor Quill and Gamora!” Cosmo nods her head to the two of them in turn, before turning back to her lights, tail wagging proudly. “I am finishing up preparations for the winter holiday!”
Peter looks up at the multicolored lights strung across the walls of the buildings facing what was a town square of sorts, they’re a little crooked, but it’s obvious Cosmo worked very hard to get them all to line up just right, and it would look a bit out of place on the mess that was Knowhere if they were perfectly straight anyway.
“Wow! Those will look great when they’re all lit up.” Peter praised, spinning in a circle as he looked around. Gamora at his side voices her agreement as she looks around herself, just less dramatically as Peter had.
Gamora turns back at the dog sitting in front of them, “Cosmo, do you know where Mantis and Drax went? They’ve been gone a while and neither of them informed us as to where.”
Cosmo shakes her head, ears flapping with the movement. “Sorry, comrades. I saw the ship leaving but I was very far away when they were taking off.” She nudged Rocket to get his attention, and he grumbled, but paused his work to answer.
“Mantis was running around all excited about something, but she wouldn’t say what. Some kind of secret.” He shrugged and spun around to hook up the device in his hands to some wires sticking out from one end of the string of lights, effectively ending the conversation.
-
A few hours later, Peter was double-checking a pile of electronic equipment with a list of serial numbers on his tablet when he heard the hum of a ship engine. Looking up at the sky, he watched the Bowie land in a warehouse not far from where he was. Putting down the tablet, he decided to go and investigate.
By the time he got to the main area the rest of the team were already there. Gamora was talking to Nebula, Rocket and Cosmo were standing near the main switch for the lights, and he spotted Kraglin and the Ravagers waiting nearby them. And Mantis and Drax were standing near a large box standing upright on the ground, covered in wrapping paper.
Mantis clapped her hands excitedly when she saw him coming, and she motioned for Rocket and Cosmo to hit the power switch. The entire square was covered in decorations. Lights flickered to life across every surface, multicolored bulbs illuminating the area. It really was impressive, and Peter noticed that most of the decorations looked like they were from Earth, if his memory served him right. And he wondered if that was what Mantis and Drax had left to get.
“Woah… What’s all this?” Peter looked around at the area with wide eyes. Mantis ran over, excitedly directing his attention to the giant box as large as him.
“Wow… Did you guys know about this?” Peter gasped, turning toward the other members of the team.
Gamora shook her head, and Nebula laughs from beside her, “You were with him for most of the day, we didn’t trust you not to let it slip. And anyway, Mantis wanted it to be a surprise for both of you.”
“Oh?” Gamora nodded in acceptance, that must have been why Cosmo sent her and Peter off into the further parts of Knowhere. Although she was still a bit annoyed at Nebula insinuating that she would be bad at keeping it a secret from Peter, and she glared at her sister for that as she walked over to where Mantis, Drax, and Peter were standing.
The wrapped box shook from side to side, startling all of them except for Drax and Mantis. Peter cautiously moved closer, and quickly opened the box in one swift move as he jumped backwards in preparation.
“It’s Kevin Bacon!” Mantis squeals, she’s watching impatiently to see his reaction.
“Kevin… Bacon?” Gamora questioned. Not only did he look older than Peter’s stories, which she did suppose make sense considering how much time had passed since Peter would have watched those movies as a child. But he was from Terra, how did they get him up to Knowhere?
“Hey! You must be Peter, and Gamora!” He grinned, looking all too comfortable for someone surrounded by unknown aliens, especially considering he had likely never even left his home planet before. “You know, at first I was scared about the idea of being a present for a bunch of space people, but then Mantis over there,” He nodded his head toward her, “talked to me a bit, and I feel great about it now! Merry Christmas you guys, seriously.”
Peter and Gamora were listening to this little speech with matching shocked expressions, …Peter’s own just with a little more hero-worship visible.
“Mantis. What did you do.” Gamora turned toward the girl, her tone was low and acted as a warning.
“Well… I… got you guys a gift…?” Mantis muttered, her voice raising in pitch at the end of her sentence. She knew she messed up somehow, but she was having a hard time remembering the specifics. Maybe going to that party with Drax wasn’t a particularly good idea after all…
“Mantis, please, just… reverse whatever you did to him.” Peter sighed. He didn’t want to have to deal with Kevin Bacon freaking out but it was still better than leaving him hypnotized. Mantis winced as she used her powers, and he snapped out of the trance with rapidly widening eyes.
“…Woah. What the- “ Whatever swear word he was going to say dissolved into a scream as he looked around at the group gathered around him.
“And there it is.” Peter let out a long sigh. “Alright, so, first of all Mr. Bacon I’m a big fan of yours- “ An annoyed look from Gamora quickly snapped him back to the problem at hand. “And, uh, I know you must be freaking out. I actually know what it’s like because I was taken from Earth when I was younger. But I’m going to let you go now, just don’t freak out, okay?”
The other man nodded, somewhat calmed by the presence of another human in this alien planet, and Peter dropped his hands from where he had been holding his shoulders. Kevin Bacon did stay calm for a moment at least, but as soon as he saw an open path, he dashed away in an attempt to escape. Peter mostly just stood in place, not feeling like he had the energy to run after him after the events of the day had turned out.
“Someone go get him.” Peter said, and Nebula immediately unholstered her gun, Mantis and Drax following after her as she stalked off in the direction Kevin Bacon had gone.
“You can’t run, Bacon!” She yelled out as she readied her weapon of choice.
Gamora sighed, and she went to follow after the small group. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t kill him.”
“Thank you.” Peter nodded towards her. He was grateful Gamora would watch over the team because he really needed a break right now. He slumped down on a bench facing the street, the day started off so peacefully, and now it was a complete mess. It wasn’t that he was mad at Mantis, he doubted she even thought about the consequences she could cause. And at least it was a relatively easy problem to deal with. This was just definitely not what he expected he would have to deal with when he woke up in the morning.
Peter looked up to see Nebula dragging Kevin Bacon back to the main area, though thankfully he looked unharmed. And honestly? He lasted longer than Peter would have guessed he would.
Peter stood up from the bench, asking the group in front of him, “What are we going to do about him?”
“Well, he can’t stay here.” Gamora said. She went over to stand on other side of a scared Kevin Bacon, just to prevent any further escape attempts.
He looked around at them with wide eyes. “Ok, look. I don’t know what you guys want, but…”
Gamora turned to Mantis, rolling her eyes at the chaos around her. “Mantis, make him sleep for now.” She ordered.
Mantis darted forward, placing her hand on the back of his head before he can even realize what’s going on.
“Sleep.”
He slumped forward immediately, and Mantis propped his body against the wall before walking back over to join the others.
“No, ugh. We have to bring him back home. Like, right now!” Peter exclaims.
Gamora sighs. “This is kidnapping, Mantis. You can’t- “
Drax cuts her off with his own question, “Why not?”
Gamora turns around, glaring at him for interrupting her. “Because it’s a crime, and if you got caught, the local planetary law enforcement would try to put you in jail. Again!”
Drax just starts laughing maniacally, causing the others to stare at him. “The Terran law enforcement is very weak!”
“How do you- ” Peter starts, before sighing and deciding he doesn’t care enough to bother. “Whatever, that’s not the point. We are trying to lay low right now! What were you thinking?! And getting Mantis involved- “
Mantis butts in, not wanting Drax to take all the blame. “It was my idea. I’m sorry, Peter. I just wanted to make you happy for Christmas…” Her eyes were downcast as she apologized to him, guilt evident on her face.
“Mantis, it’s not that I’m sad, I just- Well, it’s been a long year” He shakes his head, Peter hated the idea of the girl he thought of as like a sister being upset because of him.
Seeing Peter and Mantis fall into an uncontrollable silence, Gamora took the oppertunity to get their attention again. “What are we going to do about him?” She gestured to the unconscious body slumped against the wall, bringing their attention back to the problem at hand.
“Well… we can just drop him off where someone will find him, and Mantis can use her powers so that he won’t remember anything- “
Gamora raises an eyebrow, “And how are we going to bring an unconscious body into a town filled with people? We’ll have to park the ship somewhere secluded; an alien spaceship would cause way too much panic.”
“I… hadn’t thought of that.” Peter acknowledged, frowning in thought.
“No, we found him at his house, he was alone.” Drax added in.
“Oh, well that does makes things easier.” Peter said, looking around at the group. While he knew why Mantis had wanted to bring him Kevin Bacon as a gift, and it was definitely very cool to see him in person, it would just ruin the holiday if they had run away and hide from the police.
…And maybe because Peter was a bit scared. After all, Ego had taken on the form of David Hasselhoff and after that whole thing, it was understandable why he might not want to meet another of his childhood heroes.
Peter snaps himself out of his memories to see the others looking worried over him having spaced out for a moment. Well… Gamora and Mantis at least. Since Drax had gone over to take a closer look at the unconscious form of Kevin Bacon and Rocket was pointing out something to Cosmo on the other side of the street.
Gamora looked at him, a silent question in her eyes, Peter sighed, running his hand through his hair, “I’m fine, just… thinking.”
Gamora gave him a minuscule nod in return, she had probably guessed what he was actually thinking of.
Mantis grabs his hand and pulls him toward where they had parked the ship. Peter looked over his shoulder, Gamora was following a few paces behind them, trying to give the adoptive siblings a bit of space to talk. He could see Drax carrying Kevin Bacon up the stairs to the ship, and he took a guess that Rocket and Cosmo were already inside or at least nearby.
“I’m sorry it didn’t work out how I wanted, Peter.” Mantis said. She slowed down her pace a bit, and her eyes were glued to the path in front of them.
Peter just sighed, shaking his head. “Mantis, I know you had good intentions, and I really appreciate you trying to do something special for me. But I just… I don’t think I can deal with any new disasters for a while. The battle with Thanos…”
Peter was still holding her hand, having forgotten about her powers, and the contact just served to intensify her own emotions. Grief at temporarily losing Gamora, the stressful battle with Thanos that they would have very likely lost without that very lucky moment, yet finally, relief at them all being safe and together.
With that final thought, they made their way onto the ship and set a course for Peter’s home planet of Earth, or Terra, as the rest of the galaxy called it.
-
They dropped Kevin Bacon outside the gates of his house, and after Peter apologized to him and got Mantis to do the same and explain she didn’t mean to scare him, he even seemed to forgive them and wished them a ‘happy Christmas’ for real. Though they did have Mantis make sure he wouldn’t go to the police and get them in trouble just to be safe.
“Hey, while we’re here anyway, I have something I want to show you guys before we go back” Peter turned to grin at the other guardians, a mischievous look in his bright green eyes.
Peter remembered the one time his mother had brought him into the city to look at the displays of Christmas lights, and he thought that would be a nice way to turn the trip into something positive. It took a bit of asking around and a few instances of getting lost, but they eventually managed to find a nicely sized park that was decorated with all different kinds of twinkling lights. By the time they got there a thin layer of snow had built up on the ground and trees around them, but Peter said the weather was ‘a very special Christmas thing,’ and the other Guardians did have to admit it did add to the overall atmosphere.
“Peter?” Mantis spoke up. Peter turned to her, noticing her shifting from side to side nervously.
“Hm?”
“I… have something to tell you.” She admitted.
Peter looked slightly worried, hoping it wasn’t that she or Drax had kidnapped someone else as well.
“What is it, Mantis?”
“Ego, he… Well, I think he is…” She sighed, deciding she may as well just come out with it. “Actually, I know he is, …I’m your sister, Peter.” She muttered; her voice was soft, and unsure.
Peter blinked in confusion, tilting his head. Failing to catch on to what she was trying to say. “Well yeah, of course you are? You’re like the little sister I never had.”
“No, that’s not what I- ” Mantis shakes her head. Even if he already thought of her as his adopted sister, she was still scared he might react differently if he knew the truth. “Ego… I think… He’s my father, too.”
“Oh.” Peter’s eyes widened. Noticing her nervous demeanor, he rests a hand on her arm, trying to comfort her.
“So…You’re my sister? Like, really?” Mantis nods, still a bit nervous.
“Mantis, that is the best Christmas gift you could ever give me.” They’re both crying now. Mantis in a mix of joy and relief. And Peter pulls her in for a hug, spinning her around as the rest of their family walks back over to them to investigate the commotion. The lights twinkle behind them, illuminating the streets with a multicolor glow.
“Merry Christmas, Mantis.” He whispers into her hair, hugging her tightly.
She smiles, her face lighting up with happiness. “Merry Christmas, Peter.”
He catches Gamora’s eyes as he and Mantis break apart, and they share a soft smile, just happy to be with all of their not-so-little-anymore family.
Peter watched his family gaze around at the display of lights, with a promise to return to Knowhere when they were done to have their actual celebrations there, and he smiled to himself. He had never returned to Earth when he first got his own ship because of the fact that his last memory of the place was… well, it was probably best not to dwell on that and ruin the festive air. But now, with his team – his family, maybe they could make some new memories, together.
~End~