A/N: Hi there! Finally got around to writing a story for these two adorable dorks. Not going to take up too much of your time with nonsense, but just a little warning: I am relatively green when it comes to the Guardians universe, not to mention the entire Marvel universe. So I must apologize in advance for inconsistencies or if I take a little liberty in my storytelling. I've only watched the movie (which was awesome by the way, loved Chris and Zoe!) and draw whatever knowledge I can from there.

The way I've written the chapters for the story, they are happening chronological in the order I write/publish them. That being said, this story will be written in the form of one-shots that can be (strictly speaking) read as individual happenings with no relation to each other if you wish, or as a chronological story, depending on what you want to read this as.

I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it! :)

Chapter 1 - Terran Mating Rituals

Throughout her turbulent and eventful life, Gamora had met quite a few weird (to say the least) creatures and aliens, courtesy of being the adopted daughter of the mad titan Thanos and then being put under the charge of the homicidal maniac Ronan the Accuser. But no matter what she had seen or who she had met during her life, nothing could prepare her for the alien called Peter Quill.

The Terran had always been strange to her, doing things she never expected him to. Sometimes he surprised her, and often his unconventional actions seemed stupid. Lately, he had been acting even stranger than normal, if that was even possible. He was asking her the most meaningless and dumbest questions, and then answering them himself. She remembered being alone by the Milano's controls one night when he had walked up to her.

"The stars are beautiful, aren't they?" he had said to her, trying to suavely lean on the control board but instead pushing on a lever and turning on the wipers.

"Yes, quite." She stopped the small smile forming on her lips at his goofiness, instead paying him no attention as she stared straight ahead. He cleared his throat, acting as if his slip-up was nothing big. It was a while before he spoke again, and Gamora sensed his uncertainty. It kind of worried her, Peter was not usually one to hesitate over speaking his mind.

"Hey, Gamora?"

"Yes?"

"Do you have a map?"

This time she turned around to look at him, eyebrows furrowed as she tried to figure out what in the world he meant.

"… why would you wa-?"

"Because I keep getting lost in your eyes," he blurted out before she even finished her question, and she regarded him with a strange look. He licked his lips, his blue eyes wide open and unblinking as he stared at her. It was quite unnerving for Gamora, and she shook her head.

"The veins, irises and corneas in my eyes have unfortunately not been charted out and applied to a coordinate system, Quill. Sorry."

"Oh, okay," he said quietly.

If Gamora didn't know any better, she could have sworn the look on his face was something that resembled disappointment, but she quickly dismissed it as him just doing that pouty face because she didn't understand his Terran concept of 'jokes'. It wasn't until later, when she was trying to understand what the hell Peter could possibly want with a map of her eyes that she actually considered more romantic intentions.

Now, Gamora was no expert on Terran mating rituals, but she was pretty sure this was Peter's (admittedly lame) attempt at getting her into his bunk with him, and it hadn't worked. But the thing about Peter was that he never gave up. A few days later, they were stopping to refuel the Milano, as well as themselves, at a small, sleepy planet that was almost invisible on a map. There was a small, shabby café at the side of the fuel station they had parked at, not exactly a five-star restaurant, but at least it was better than nothing, and they decided to go eat there.

Rocket was complaining over the lack of diversity, Drax was happily recalling items on the menu he had eaten with his family and Groot was in a very interesting conversation with a young fellow who seemed very awed by the tree (although the guy didn't exactly get any understandable answers from Groot).

Gamora bit her lip, having a hard time deciding if she should go for something light since she didn't feel very hungry, or if she should actually have a proper meal since her body would probably make her regret it later if she didn't. After all, she wasn't a robot.

"Hey, Gamora," Peter said to her in that voice that promised something stupid was about to come from his mouth. "What do you think I should go for on this menu? The Me-N-U? Or maybe the U-N-I? Get it? Me and you or you and I?" He pointed back and forth between them to emphasize his point, grinning like an excited Terran dog.

"I don't think they serve Terran dishes here," she replied, ignoring the slight huff of annoyance that he let out. It didn't last long though.

"While we're on the subject of the alphabet, I thought happiness started with an H. Why does does mine start with U?"

"There's more than one alphabet in the Galaxy, Quill. Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go for the 'If-U-Don't-Keep-Quiet-U-Will-B-Sorry' dish."

That seemed to shut him up, but only for that night. His attempt at Terran mating rituals went from the stupid:

"I hope you know CPR, Gamora. Because you take my breath away."

"The only way I could achieve 'taking your breath away' is by actually ripping your lungs out of your thorax, and I doubt CPR would save you then."

"… point taken."

To the very straight forward and not so subtle:

"That outfit looks good on you, but you know where it would look even better? On the floor."

"It would look even better wrapped around your neck, strangling you."

"I'm going to go away now."

And the awkward:

"Do you have a pencil? I want to erase your past and write our future."

Murderous rage burned in her eyes, and Peter looked like as if he wanted the ground to open up and swallow him right there and then.

Only one time had he managed to actually silence her.

"You know, if I had a unit for every time I thought of you, I'd have exactly one unit."

Gamora was unimpressed. "You're not even trying now."

"Do you know why?" he asked, ignoring her statement.

She sighed. "Why?"

"Because lately, you have never left my mind."

She was just about to answer her own question when he said it, and froze mid-sentence with her mouth wide open. She stammered for a while, struggling to form a coherent sentence before gathering enough sense to close her mouth, clearing her throat awkwardly. She couldn't even meet his gaze, because she knew he was staring at her with those intense blue eyes. Gamora knew that this was not another of his silly attempts at getting into her pants, but that he was being completely and brutally honest with her.

Not ready to accept defeat so soon, Gamora didn't know what she should do, so she started to briskly walk from the room, not wanting to say anything more to him for fear that her voice would break. She was just so overwhelmed at his simple statement. As she marched over to her bunk, she could feel his intense gaze burning her back.

Peter had won that battle, but that didn't mean he had won the war. If he was stubborn, she was if nothing else persistent.

It will take a lot more than fancy wordplay to convince me, Peter Quill, or I am not Gamora, the deadliest woman in the galaxy, she thought to herself, determined to not yield to his 'pelvic sorcery' without a good fight.

A/N: And that's the first chapter! Next: The Guardians take a well-deserved break at a local nightclub, but Peter's thoughts are filled with deadly intent. Some creep is hovering over Gamora like a hawk, and Peter might commit murder if the creep makes one wrong move on her...