ɪ ᴅᴏ ɴᴏᴛ ᴅᴀɴᴄᴇ

          In truth, he’s not surprised to hear no as an answer. He would’ve been more surprised had she said “yes.” As if coming to a whole new timeline and having a crisis on what path to take next came easy to her. Or anyone for that matter. Rocket just nods silently and downs his shot. He had been trying to cut back on drinking since everyone’s demise, and while he was wasn’t completely clean, he was far better than how he used to be.

          The question returned to him leaves him unsure on how to answer. In truth, with the return of his family, things seemed to have turned for the better. He had almost everything he lost returned to him. Everything except her. The one who understood him above all else. Who knew what it was like to be torn apart and reassembled. To be turned into a weapon against your will. And above all else, the one who never called him animal names like everyone else did, after that night in the bar when she realized it bothered him. 

          It was the first time someone else other than Groot took mind to how he felt. 

          “’M alright.” Plain. Simple. No explanation. “Hope things get easy for ya…might take a bit but…they will.”

          She gave it thought.     PAUSE    lingering in her chest                a predator aiming to strike the prey.         In the    t i c k i n g      of that moment, she raises the glass to her lips. With a long sip, swallowing molten liquid down her throat, she weighs her move with caution. REGRET   is home in her sigh.                  “I need a job,”       she explains haphazardly. Spares him no glance. Doesn’t feel the need to when the hunk of metal she flew in on lay among a scrap heap in some junkyard.    Work for units was    pathetic    among the district they were in. 

       Some thought goes into just    TAKING    what she wants , but there’s hesitance in action.

                                                                    He is the first. 

          Words simple and to the point, not drawing her to be what he wants to remember. He doesn’t speak up for her to remind her of what she’s  not. Treats her for who she is. She’s buying her luck on the  GALAXY’S  back                                   but even that only goes so far.

                                                          Her units are running low.

THIS IS WHAT SHE LIKES          about him,       or she used to like,       or somehow never got a chance to like about him.       as hellbent as he is on recovering his family at full,       the Star-Lord erodes day by day,       doubt dwelling within       (       it’s impossible to tell behind that facade of bravery       &       CONFIDENCE,       that a man like him can feel such thing       ).       he’d already done his research on alternatives.       to the edge of the galaxy he’s been to       &       back with empty hands.       there’s no way to restore memories of a person she never was.       perhaps she       COULD       find her alignment with the guardians once more,       maybe…       maybe       SHE COULD LOVE HIM AGAIN       the way he still loves her.

it’s a weird position to be in.       he thinks he knows her well       &       she has no clue about him.       a mere first impression of a team full of misfits aimlessly trying to       PRETEND       to be something they are not.       that’s what they seem like,       the leader knows.       it’s because they’re supposed to look that way.       

being underestimated is a layer of protection for a group with endless power that comes from their connections to one another.       they’re a lethal bunch,       however in this moment,       they are incomplete.       the edge of the blade caressing his skin with its breeze is nothing to the hybrid.        if anything,       he feels at home seeing the threat in the dark eyes of the zen whoberian.       PROXIMITY OF DEATH       is what makes him thrive.       Peter doesn’t flinch as the assassin makes an attempt to intimidate him,       or whatever it is she’s trying to do.

it isn’t enough to shake him.          

❛          i won’t have a different answer every time you ask that question.       ‘s always gonna be the same one                              ❜          he’s thrown back against the bark of a tree that tickles him through his sturdy jacket.       it’s not fear in his glance,       it’s a tinge of exhaustion       &       desperation.          ❛          YOU’RE MY FAMILY…       even if i’m not yours.          ❜          the way those words burn against his tongue,       akin to rotten fruit,        reminiscent of guilt that eats him alive in the dark corners of his mind for those he was too late to save.       he doesn’t want her to be one of them.          ❛          you belong with      US,       Gam.       why don’t you hear me a out a sec       ?      whaddya have to lose       ?          ❜  

          it makes her falter.   for a split second , victim to a heart beat , there’s a moment when her eyes fail the heat of anger.  fleets to something softer she was once akin to in her youth   ( and perhaps even the present self they knew )           and she’s     V U L N E R A B L E    before her teeth grit and she shoves harder against him.    HARD ENOUGH    to push that feeling of sentiment away.       she’s lost more in her head, staggering through the mazes of what she’s become in ( p r e s e n t )  self.   hearing the stories of who she is     supposed    to be than who she is    now. 

           there’s a low growl before she grunts,  BREATH  left heated to sting against his face in how she lingers. she seeks the true intent he holds within.      S E A R C H E S    aimlessly for answers to what he wants.   ill-intent something hard to hide.  the   lack   of what she does see stays with her.  haunts her in the truth stardust leaves behind.            Nebula’s words stick like tar to the bottom of her boot.       warnings  upon her departure that   he won’t give up  ;  stubborn and   stupid   the   GUARDIAN    nature. 

          with a final shove, she pushes him to the side so he moves away.  ends up behind her on pivoting heels               if he’s smart he’ll give her fleeting form the distance she  c r a v e s.  just a few feet so she doesn’t have to  face the      weight         of her unknown reality.        it is    hardly     the first time she hears it.    an echo from others that shadow over her                            of herself and who she becomes.      chances she doesn’t get to take. choices she will never now make.    the gnawing doubt strikes flames to her unhinged nerves in nightmares that    Thanos    isn’t truly dead.    these                   relationships         she’s formed are but a waste on what    he    will rob her of.   ( or worse that she’ll become the weapon of    their    desire . ) 

@outlawiism​  ASKED :  ❛ tell me how to fix this! tell me what to do! ❜

          “ PETER !! ”    his name is a snapping point on her tongue, piercing in sharp stabs to hinder upon his speech. His pleads become too much since he has found her. Since he started to      B E G       for a return she cannot accept.  The Gamora he    wants     is lost to the hands of Thanos.  The one standing before him just a  mere shell of who he can remember                 or   perhaps   it’s the other way around.      T R U S T       fickle from where she’s from, loyalties rarely spared without a price to later pay.   

@danversiism​ ASKED :  ❛ what did I tell you? ❜

          Her fingers stays      T H R E A D ED    in a poor man’s shirt .  A few overturned stools in the path of   blatant    destruction                consequence to challenge that results from an over-friendly hand and the mistake of his tongue.   He should be    G R A T E F U L    he’s not eating the glass of his drink and bares just a few     bruises   and   blisters on musky skin . She    relents     upon the friendly voice .  Loosening the wraith of her dangerous fist to shove a rough palm upon his chest. It’s   satisfying    as he stumbles, knocking over a table and clawing his way to the exit.          There’s hope it’s a    lesson     he’ll take with him.