Prompt: First Wedding Anniversary Since Elspeth Quill's birth.
They were nervous, leaving the ship without her.
Gamora and Peter were going to see a movie on Xandar, and the plan was to leave Elspeth with the rest of the family while they both got out of the ship at the same time without her in tow, so they could celebrate their wedding anniversary together, just the two of them.
But it made them both antsy to leave her behind for two plus hours when it wasn't absolutely necessary. When they actually went on missions, usually Mantis babysat her on the ship and ran mission point. Sometimes Peter or Gamora would stay behind instead (or in addition to). But that was on dangerous missions, and not over two hours of pure leisure activity.
They knew they were lucky to have their family. They were probably some of the most well rested parents in the galaxy, considering the it takes a village approach that came with their four teammates/family members who lent the two parents a helping hand all the time.
Drax had been especially helpful when it came to their novice child rearing. They were lucky to have their family. Living with four other adults that love spoiling their baby rotten also meant that they could still have sex pretty much whenever they wanted. They didn't have to plan around naptime or something like some other parents had to do. They always had four reasonably responsible babysitters on hand.
But going out to see a movie, just for fun, made both of them feel uneasy. Made them feel anxious for leaving her behind for something as frivolous as this when it wasn't absolutely necessary.
Hey, they lived on a spaceship for crying out loud. They spent 98% of their time in the same enclosed space with the same four people cause that was just their life. They were both essentially stay-at-home, traveling parents. So maybe they'd developed some slight separation anxiety when it came to their 5 month old daughter. When they made stops on safe planets (like Xandar) they always brought Elspeth with them on their excursions to whatever marketplace or supply run they were making since it was always good to get off ship whenever you could, when most of your life consisted of interplanetary travel, and that was true for their daughter too. Whenever they made port or docked in a safe area, Elspeth always came off ship with them. It was only in dangerous places or when they were actually on missions that Elspeth stayed behind with someone watching her.
The new parents both felt uneasy about being on Xandar and leaving their baby on the ship so they could do something as frivolous as seeing a movie.
"Maybe we could just- bring her with us?" Peter suggested, nervously, looking back at where the Benetar was still parked as they walked away from their ship and their baby on board.
Two hours. They could do this.
Gamora was very tempted to take him up on that. Instead, she grabbed his arm and gave him a gentle pull forward. "Peter, this will be good for us. Besides, the loud noises will scare her."
Peter nodded, trying to internalize what she just said. She was right. He knew she was right. That didn't make it any easier.
He looked back at his wife- Gamora's lips were pressed into a thin line, and the way her posture was so straight and held so even practically screamed tension.
Peter wrapped his arm around her waist, conforming to her side. "Sorry," he kissed her cheek. "I know this isn't easy for you either."
Gamora gave him an understanding smile, snuggling into him as they continued walking.
They've done movie date night before, but it's usually back at home. On their ship. That's where movie night usually happened in their relationship. Romantic date night snuggling together under the covers, maybe getting a little frisky with the lights turned low and their door locked- they've been together for years, and that's what their normal movie date night looked like. They tended to prefer private date scenarios when it came down to it anyway.
It was something that had initially surprised her about Peter when they first struck up a romantic relationship, before she realized it wasn't all that surprising. He'd always liked staying up until the proverbial dawn with her, in those late night conversations and soft talks between the two of them back when they were just platonic teammates on watch.
Like the first romantic moment they almost had back when they first met, when they were on Knowhere with the backdrop of a paint swatch galaxy, swirling stars, and he told her of the legend of Kevin Bacon for the first time. When Peter shared the first real bit of emotional intimacy with her about his mother and the walkman. When Gamora listened to the music and they got real close. When they almost maybe sort of danced, and came so close to kissing before she threatened him with a knife.
You know, that romantic moment.
Gamora herself preferred the quiet moments where it was just the two of them. Instead of being in a crowd of strangers, out somewhere that was loud, public, and full of people.
Gamora hated people. She only liked Peter. She only wanted to spend time with him, and she didn't want people ruining it.
She had initially thought that he would prefer some loud, boisterous activity when they first started dating though, like the bars he used to frequent so much. But he didn't. It became abundantly clear that they both preferred the quiet, intimate spaces where it was just the two of them when it came to romance and dates.
They have had many movie date nights together before. They just weren't usually at movie theaters.
But things were different now.
They weren't 'dating' anymore, not in that sense. They were married. Tonight they were celebrating their wedding anniversary. They had a baby at home now. 5 months old, and she already had both their hearts.
And they knew that if they carried on with their tradition of having romantic movie date night in their bedroom, and if they left Elspeth in the care of one of the guardians elsewhere on the ship, at the very first sound of crying either Peter or Gamora (or both of them) would come rushing out of the bedroom in order to quell their child's tears and assure her that Mamma or Daddy was there. They knew this, because that's what's always ended up happening whenever they tried to get some alone time for romantic datesy stuff at home like they used to.
Especially since Elspeth had been teething lately. Her first one. And she was crying a lot more often from it. They knew they wouldn't be able to turn up the volume on a movie without being crushed by guilt even though they knew the other guardians were amazing babysitters and had everything handled when the teething pain started getting to her and the wailing began.
So movie night, just the two of them, in a theater. Elspeth back at home with Drax and Mantis seeing to her every need, fawning over her and spoiling her rotten, and with Rocket sometimes peering over her to twitch his whiskers in the way that made her clap and giggle in amusement. Even Groot liked to play with her from time to time (they made sure to let him be involved with Elspeth since the day she was brought home so as to prevent animosity and sibling rivalry- instead showing him how to hold and support the head of his baby sister, while they both made sure to have regular one on one time with Groot like always).
Their relationship was still important too- Peter and Gamora. As was celebrating their anniversary.
They did get uninterrupted alone time regularly on the ship, one of the many blessings of having a large family with many adults living together was the child rearing benefits. The new parents still got their alone time.
Just- they couldn't count on it lasting much longer than an hour. Watching a whole two and a half hour movie in their bedroom?
Yeah right.
That's what had them seeing something at a Xandarian public theater for this particular date night. Movies were kinda a thing for them, you know? Tradition.
Going about it this way was new and different, but they were giving it a try.
"This is boring," Gamora whispered, only 15 minutes in to the movie. Excruciating might have been a better word for it. Awful worked too. Gamora usually had patience for things the others (and especially her childish and extremely distractible husband) didn't, but even this was killing her. It would be more entertaining staring at a blank screen than listening to this drivel and trying, just trying to find some semblance of a plot to follow in this droning mess.
"I know," Peter whispered back. "Would've been funner with Elspeth."
Gamora smiled, even though someone in the row in front of them turned around to give them a dirty look for their very quiet whispering.
"Wanna cut our losses and head back?" Peter asked.
"Not yet."
He was confused why then, Gamora stood up and pulled him into standing up with her when she shot down his idea of leaving. She gave him a soft tug on his hand with a smile, so he followed her, no questions asked. Of course he did. He'd follow her anywhere. To the ends of the universe and back.
It seemed like she had changed her mind about leaving when she led him down the aisle of the theater by hand, back down the little hallways on the sides that went under the floor of the seats they were just in, towards the exit.
Safe to say Peter was pretty damn surprised when Gamora grabbed the lapels of his jacket and pulled him into the darkness with her hard and fast, pulled him into her.
He didn't know what was even happening, and the only reason he managed not to let out a surprised yelp or other noise when she suddenly yanked him into the shadows was because her lips on his muffled anything that would've come from his mouth.
Gamora carded her fingers through his hair and bit his lower lip, giving it a nice tug and drawing it out before slipping her tongue past. And he followed her lead. Crowding her against the wall, his body against hers and pressing her into it as they deepened the kiss. Using the point of contact between them to spark something more, licking fire to flames.
Peter boxed her in, his arms beside her head, leaning forward on them to support himself against the wall as he slotted his knee between hers. Gamora shifted, spreading her legs slightly to better facilitate her grinding down on him. Not quite bucking her hips, but really just canting them and rubbing against him because it felt damn good.
She missed this. The making out and heavy petting in a public place, it's been so long since they'd done this.
Yes, oh how she's missed this.
Feeling him like this.
Gamora ran her hands under his shirt, up his back, around his front, just touching his torso however she saw fit. Her hands appreciatively grazing his skin, feeling his warmth beneath her fingertips was an indulgence she always liked to partake in, imbibe in his body.
She trailed her fingers up the dusting of hair on his stomach, inevitably pulling up his shirt as her hands moved up and up, rubbing his chest with both hands. Peter gasped into her lips when Gamora tweaked his nipple, she always liked the reaction she got from teasing him like this. She alternated between rubbing and just tugging on his nipples while she ground down on his leg and kissed him with such desire and such force, all claiming her familiar territory, wanting to be closer too. She was practically shoving her tongue down his throat, and it still wasn't enough and yet it felt like everything all at once.
Peter gripped her hip to pull her higher up onto his thigh so she was rutting against his erection, and Gamora moaned. His hands weren't stationary, not anymore. They were moving up and down her body, feeling her up, kissing her so deeply as he pet her sides, cupping and palming her breasts, and Gamora moaned softly into his opens lips that were just made to catch the noises she was making.
It felt so good, knowing they had to remain quiet lest they risk discovery, knowing there were plenty of people watching the movies, strangers that could stumble upon them as they made out all sloppy and hot and gave in to their bodies calling for each other.
It felt so good knowing there was a whole theater in the middle of their movie right above them, down the aisle, sitting in their seats and completely unsuspecting as they got up to inappropriate things back here. So close.
"God, I love you," Peter panted, his voice a hoarse promise of things to come. He was whispering in that way he did that wasn't quite deep since he put barely anything behind it from his vocal cords (they were trying to be quiet after all), and even though it was more like a silhouette of Peter's voice, it still contained all the strained vocal cues of a very aroused Star-lord and made her spine tingle.
Gamora breathed out a smile, the fondness and warmth spreading across her face even as she kissed him, though smiling like so kinda inhibited their kissing at least a bit, she couldn't help it. She had to smile at that. Smile at him.
Gamora tilted her head down between them, breaking their lips apart and pressing her forehead to his, playing with the hairs at the nape of his neck and choosing to give him one, two, many kisses instead keeping up the long one. It was easier to do the press and mold for two seconds before breaking apart and then going right back for more when she couldn't stop smiling long enough to keep up their hot and heavy make out session.
He clearly didn't mind. The quicker kisses were a little bit noisier, with the sound of their lips sealing together and breaking apart again and again, but so be it. It was nice.
Gamora ghosted her fingers up his back, beneath his shirt, drawing patterns on his skin, encouraging him closer, even though he was already as close as he could be. She loved how solid his body was against hers, how physically there he was, with her. He was hers. Now, in this moment, and forever. She had him for good. And it felt fantastic.
Now this was fun. This was date night.
"How was the movie? How was your date?" Mantis chirped once they got back.
"Eh, it started out a bit rough, but we ended up having fun," Peter shot his wife a wink, and Gamora rolled her eyes.
"How were things here?" She directed her question to Mantis, though everything seemed to be in order. Elspeth was sitting on her baby blanket on the floor, playing with the multi colored cubes and odd shaped blocks Peter had gotten for her. She looked happy as could be, completely absorbed in her play (though she had looked up when she heard her parent's voices).
"Fun! We had much fun here too!"
"Aw, hey baby!" Peter crouched down to swoop Elspeth up, wrapping her in his arms and rising so fast their daughter giggled in delight. "Missed you so much," he said, kissing her on the forehead, wiggling his finger into her tiny grasping palms as he held her.
Gamora stood on, watching her family with a smile on her face. This might be her favorite anniversary yet.
