#this one took me awhile. yes is under the pretense the person can show me their tongue

[caterpillarinacave]

For the yes/no ask game: if it became popular to change the color of your tongue to interesting patterns and all your friends were doing it so you got curious and asked around about it and a close friend shared that all they'd done was take a pill and let it dissolve in their mouth and then a cool new color appeared and they asked if you'd like to try it and you figured why not so you take a pill home and follow the friends instructions but as it dissolves you don't like the feeling so you spit it out into a cup and leave it by the sink and later your friend is curious about how it went but you being embarrassed that you didn't go all the way through with it lie and say you did it but nothing has happened yet and your friend just nods and says it can take a few days but something in their tone actually makes you pause and look at them more closely for a moment but aside from looking a little tired nothing else seems amiss so you move on but later you notice a strangeness among more of your friends and even people outside of your friends, an odd anxious quality to their words, a way of speaking as if they know you even when they don't, the only connection between them all being the interesting patterns and colors their tongues have turned, and by the end of the week you feel as if you're losing your mind and on top of all the strange behavior around you your tongue has been itching like crazy and a fear that these two facts may be related haunts you so you make a doctor's appointment deciding against discussing the strange behavior around you and just sticking with the physical problems and as you explain the itching sensation and admit you may have tried the new pill everyone's trying so maybe you're just allergic and the doctor hums and asks if the reaction started during or after you completed taking the pill so you admit you didn't finish taking it and the doctor nods and says this is a common experience among users who don't let the pill completely dissolve and suggests you take another pill this time letting it go through the whole process which you think is odd advice but the doctor is a professional so you assume it must be sound and as you leave you realize the doctors tongue is purple which sets off all kinds of alarm bells in your mind so now you're sitting at home and in front of you is the pill you'd spit out before still in the cup only it no longer looks like the pill you'd taken but seems to have sprouted out like some sort of fungus taking over most of the cup but seems to be dying without any further sustenance and now you feel certain something incredibly concerning is going on but you still aren't sure what but as you look for answers you take note that whatever this is it is everywhere and there isn't anyone to turn to but you you still reach out to a few people, scientists or other people who have been questioning the new fad, but before anyone responds you still have to go to work and pretend things are fine and one day you get an email back from someone you had contacted saying they agree that things are weird and they have a bunker in the middle of nowhere that they and some others are going to and they're offering to let you join them while the group tries to research what's going on and hide away from whatever is happening. Do you leave everything and accept their offer?

Yes.

#Explantion in tags #this one took me awhile. yes is under the pretense the person can show me their tongue #and can prove theyre all scientists and not murderers yada yada #part of the reason i would go is becuase i would feel so anxious standing around i would have a heartattacke and die #the biggest thing would be my family #however as the tongue people havent turned i would warn my family exstensivley to not take the thing #i likely would not tell them about the fungus because if that got out it might anger the tongue people #though to be transparent #if they were getting aggressive and it was a zombie apocolypse thing? i would take the pill #i am very anxious #i simply could not handle it #but HOPEFULLY #we could figure out whats happening determine if its really dangerous and come up with a fix #so even if my family did get into it that would be the most effective way of helping them #i like these

[disruptedvice]

Summary: “How are you doing?” Peter asked with a tired, self deprecating smile. His voice was still hoarse from all his shed tears.

“I'm okay,” Gamora said immediately, considering that her full and complete answer. She didn't really have much more to say than that. But Peter’s face completely fell at her response.

“Really,” he said, but it wasn't a question. More like a statement of doubt. An unimpressed one. He didn't believe her.

When she saw the worry increase in his eyes and Peter's clearly negative reaction (was he hurt? That he just opened up to her and cried in her arms but thought she wouldn't tell him if she wasn't doing okay?) Gamora realized she should have gone with a different answer.

Instead of that immediate response that was reserved for anyone asking her that question.

Because this wasn't anyone.

This was Peter.

[Post Vol 2 hurt/comfort starmora one shot]

AO3 Link

__________

This isn't the first time it's happened. That a night has found her curled up in Peter's bed, and the two of them… cuddling together.

She just can't leave him alone. Not at night. She feels like she has to be a watchdog, if she's not there, someone's going to take him away.

She supposes it could be worse.

It was a little less weird than it would have been otherwise, now that she had accepted and acknowledged the unspoken thing. They hadn't really done anything about it, but she supposed talking about it was the first step. It was too soon after everything for a second step to take place, but now that she had admitted it to him and herself, she at least didn't have to find excuses to be close to him anymore. Make excuses to be close to him.

She never would have been able to slip into his bunk in the middle of the night before without some sort of explanation. That certainly wouldn't have been “I was worried you disappeared, and I feel like I can't breathe if you're not around because I can't even try to protect you when I'm alone in my room and you're alone in yours. I'm afraid if I leave you alone, something's gonna take you away from me again. I have to stay, and I have to keep you safe, cause that's the only way I can sleep at night.”

That would have been the truth, but she certainly wouldn't have told him that.

But now, with their unspoken thing verbally acknowledged by both parties, she didn't have to offer any explanations when she slipped under the covers with him in the middle of the night.

She didn't have to offer any excuses as she felt the relief seep into his bones as she wrapped her arm around him again and pulled him close.

She didn't have to say a word. __________

After everything that's happened, she doesn't think twice about crawling into bed with him and wrapping her arms around him, reassuring herself that he's still there, he's alive, he's still breathing.

Two weeks after Ego, she doesn't even bother trying to sleep in her own room anymore. She gives up the pretense that she could ever be comfortable falling asleep without him, and now just automatically goes to bed with him. It's the only thing that's changed. Since they've acknowledged their unspoken thing.

She doesn't think he's ready for much more than emotional comfort right now.

But it's nice- she doesn't have to make excuses or offer explanations, she can just… be close to him. __________

While she doesn't have to give any explanations, that doesn't mean these nights are always silent. Sometimes they are. But, occasionally, they talk. About things much deeper than the day they had, and about pain that went much further than they had any idea of.

It was one of those nights.

Slowly, bit by bit, Peter had started giving her little pieces of information of what had happened on Ego’s planet while they were apart. What she missed while she was exploring caverns filled with dead bodies with Nebula, all the horrors he’d learned.

She knows there are a lot of unforgivable things that Ego did- one of the worst she found out about was probably giving Peter's mother the illness that killed her. But strangely, that wasn't the thing that upset Gamora the most. It didn't make sense, but of all his crimes, that wasn't the one she was angriest about. That wasn't the thing that hurt the most to hear, as he poured out everything that happened piece by piece over the course of these nights where they talked about hard things in the following weeks.

The thing that had made Gamora’s eyes blur with tears-

She hated Ego for destroying Peter’s walkman. For crushing it right in front of him. She’d never forgive him for that. __________

Tonight wasn't much different. Than the nights they talked.

Tonight, Peter cried, and they held onto each other like a lifeline. She intermittently wiped away his tears, prioritizing holding him over brushing the drops away from his eyes, and throughout every watery word, Peter clung to her like an anchor.

When he seemed to be done letting words out tonight, Gamora just stroked his hair in a soft and simple silence. A gentle quiet. Until he calmed, his breath fluttering beneath closed eyelids that he only opened when his heart rate was back to normal again (it took awhile- long enough that she had already started missing his eyes before he came back to her).

“How are you doing?” Peter asked with a tired, self deprecating smile. His voice was still hoarse from all his shed tears.

“I'm okay,” Gamora said immediately, considering that her full and complete answer. She didn't really have much more to say than that. But Peter’s face completely fell at her response.

“Really,” he said, but it wasn't a question. More like a statement of doubt. An unimpressed one. He didn't believe her.

When she saw the worry increase in his eyes and Peter's clearly negative reaction (was he hurt? That he just opened up to her and cried in her arms but thought she wouldn't tell him if she wasn't doing okay?) Gamora realized she should have gone with a different answer.

Instead of that immediate response that was reserved for anyone asking her that question.

Because this wasn't anyone.

This was Peter.

She didn't need to be strong in front of him.

He already viewed her as the strongest person he knew, even when she was showing undeniable weakness.

Because that is a different kind of strength, she's come to realize.

Gamora thought maybe she should be strong for him.

She exhaled and closed her eyes, running her fingers through his curls, letting the motion soothe her. She still wasn't sure quite what to say, but she knew she needed to say something more. And to return this vulnerability, or at least some of it, because that will help him feel safe. She wanted him to feel safe.

Opening up your chest and having the other person slam the door of their heart in your face never felt good.

When Gamora opened her eyes back up again, she could tell he was already starting to retreat a little, his shoulders curling inwards, and when she met his eyes, he looked away.

He didn't want to push her into talking about stuff if she didn't want to. He should've just left well enough alone.

But then Gamora laid her hand on his cheek and guided his eyes back to hers.

“You are alive, and safe. That means I am okay,” she told him honestly, moving her hand up to play with his hair again. It calmed her.

The words made her feel more vulnerable than any action could, but when she saw the look in his eyes, how they softened with an emotion that made her heart clench, she knew it was worth it.

Peter nuzzled into the crook of her neck, brushing his lips across her collarbone in the softest of kisses.

Gamora pulled him closer suddenly in a move that didn't seem to surprise him but was totally unexpected to her. Wrapping her arms around his shoulders and pulling him to her close and tight because his lips on her clavicle was nice, but the rest of his body was too far away, and she needed him right here, so she grabbed him and pulled him flush against her, and held him tight.

Yes, he was worth it.

He was definitely worth it.

#starmora #gotg fic #Gamora x Peter Quill #peter quill #gamora #fic #fanfic #hurt/comfort #guardians of the galaxy #MCU fanfiction #my GOTG fics #my fic