AN: Pretty vignette-y. And you can thank cinemasins for this songfic for A: exposing me to the song Issues (Julia Michaels) for the first time, and B: immediately putting it into a guardians of the galaxy context for me thanks to their sins video on GOTG Vol 2.
They both had problems. Individual hangups. They both had things that had happened to them that no one else would be able to truly understand. Even each other.
There were experiences they'd never be able to understand, not really. Things they couldn't even comprehend. There were things the other had been through that they'd never be able to truly understand. They knew that. And they understood that.
That's why... that's why they worked so well together. Why they worked as a them.
They were both pretty messed up, on totally different ends of the spectrum. They had things from their past that led to neither of them having a serious relationship in their life before they met each other. They both had hangups that had always left them on their own. They had problems and enough baggage to the point that neither of them had ever had a real relationship before this- before them.
And their hangups were so separated from the other's- couldn't be more different. The exact opposite even, in some cases.
They both had issues.
Peter knew he'd never be able to understand all the things she'd gone through, all the things she'd seen, all the pain and heart ache- but that didn't mean he couldn't hold her hand in silence when she really needed somebody to be there with her, and really needed to not speak a word for two hours.
Gamora knew she'd never be able to understand all that's happened to him, all that's meant for him, the things he's had taken away, the love he's lost- but that didn't mean she couldn't hold him, softly stroke his hair, tell him everything's going to be alright when he was broken down and shaking.
Sometimes when he pulled a particularly reckless stunt that got him injured or almost killed, Gamora would go off on him and chew him out for hours, shouting about how stupid he was and how he put everyone's life in danger, not just his own. Ranting about how he was supposed to be the leader, and how could anyone trust a leader who made decisions as bad as his.
Peter would just sit there on the bench as she paced up and down in front of him, staring at the floor as she shouted at him for two hours straight, without letting up at all, pissed beyond all means.
Then suddenly she'd fall to her knees on the ground in front of him, bury her head in his lap, ask him, beg him, to never do something like this again, beg him not to leave her, she couldn't lose him too. Tears would fall from her eyes and she'd tell him he was far too important to ever lose.
She couldn't lose him. She just couldn't. Begged him to please not let her lose him.
"You know that's not what was happening!" Gamora called after him, following behind him as he stormed through the halls of the ship.
"Could've fooled me!"
It wasn't too hard to keep up with his pace as he stalked through the halls, away from her, the only problem was that keep up was all she could do- there wasn't enough room in the cramped hallways to walk in anything but single file line, when she really needed him to turn around and face her, which he obviously wouldn't do of his own volition.
"Peter-" she started, catching his wrist, but he ripped it away so hard it hurt.
"I'm fine," he growled, still not even turning back to face her. Just kept walking, jaw clenched, taking his tense and demanding strides.
Those angry strides of his came to a halt though when he walked into the kitchen, momentarily surprised when she appeared in front of him, but soon steeling his face with the realization she circled around to cut him off.
"If you'd just wait a second-"
Peter tried to side step her, but she matched him.
"Move," he demanded, stepping to the side again. Again, she mirrored his movements.
He narrowed his eyes when she was still in his way. "I'm serious, Gamora. I don't want to talk about it. Just leave me alone," he said as he pushed her aside and out of the way so he could get through.
"No, I won't. I'm staying right here, and so are you," she told him, gripping his upper arm and tugging him back towards her.
"Seriously?! What is your problem?!" Peter turned to her, snapping. "Why can't-"
He never finished that sentence though. Because when he turned around she gently raised her hand to his face, warm and gentle, cupping his cheek, the most caring and concerned look in her eyes, and everything fell away from him.
"My problem is that you're upset, Peter. I love you. I hate it when you're upset. I always want to make you feel better. I don't care if you don't need or want my help right now, you're going to get it regardless. And I'm staying right here with you."
His face softened and everything just left him, all the tension, anger, insecurity, self-doubt, and false bravado slipped away. The brave face and false front he projected, everything built up to protect him- all of that falls, leaves him.
The only thing left standing before her was a vulnerable little boy with slumped shoulders, eyes fixed upon the ground.
"Come here," she said softly, but rather than the words implied she didn't pull him closer or try to get him to move his feet to her at all. No, she moved to him, closing the distance between them, bridging the gap. She circled her arms around him, and softly guided his head to rest in the crook of her neck.
Gamora stroked his hair, so soft and reassuring. And for Peter, it felt like the first time he's breathed normally in days.
"Thank you," Gamora sighed, grasping his hand. She was long since exhausted, and knew he must be too. It was a tiring day to say the least, and ended with Peter playing the mediator, providing a solution to the conflict that she still hadn't been able to come up with yet. He was always good at talking people down from cliffs- a skill that Gamora was certainly lacking
Peter just smiled tiredly, squeezing her hand back. It had been a lengthy negotiation even after he stepped in, but it was all over now, and she was beyond grateful.
"Do you ever get tired of it?" She asked with a good humor. "Having to fix things? Having to fix the things that I messed up?"
"Hey, come on, don't be like that," Peter scolded her in the lightest sense of the word. "You know you help me just as much with the things I suck at. We suck at different things. That's why we work so well together."
She couldn't help but chuckle at that, and she didn't make any effort to disentangle their hands. Quite the opposite. She stroked the back of his with her thumb, drawing soft and meandering loops on his skin. She could hardly believe there used to be a time she would have pushed these warm, welcoming hands away from her. These hands that had only tried to help her. Long after they had become familiar, she had still struggled between pushing him away and pulling him back in.
When really, all she had ever wanted was to hold his hands.
She was glad she could do that now.
Gamora still wasn't the best at accepting help, or thanking him for it. She was utterly exhausted at the moment, which helped her let down some of the walls she still had plenty of- right now her tiredness helped her express verbal gratitude for his assistance in an area she felt truly inadequate and lacking in.
It was... nice.
There were still plenty of times she found it hard to express things like this, but that was okay too. At those times she could remain silent and just take his hand, and Peter knew what that meant. He understood.
Because when he looked down at their clasped hands, he saw the same thing too. Saw it from the same point of view.
"Yes," she began slowly. "I suppose you're right."
They still had issues- every member of their small, loving, dysfunctional family had their own baggage they joined the team with.
Lots of times they were left clueless and reeling- stuck in their own problems, or feeling powerless to help the other out of theirs. But they tried. They were always trying.
And- for them, that was what they needed. Someone to try for them.