Dude looks like a lady!
Peter was being dragged through the floor by the hand. His abductress was simultaneously wiggling to the music and navigating the crowded floor to make it to a door near the entrance.
"Hey George," Darcy said to the guy Peter had talked to before the concert had started.
"Hey, Darce!" George said, happy to see her. "Hey, you know this guy?"
Darcy looked up at Peter; she was still holding his hand. She dropped it now.
"Sort of. Hey, is that upper viewing area open? We're trying to get away from the crazy down here." George looked suspicious.
"You aren't going to be taking advantage of this guy, are you Darce?"
"Um, no." She glanced up at her charge, who was smirking. "NOT helping, Quill." Peter held up both hands.
"Hey, if you want to take advantage of me, who am I—hey, is that a taser?" Now it was Darcy's turn to grin at him.
"That's right, buddy, there will be no monkey business in the upper viewing area." George rolled his eyes.
"OK, fine, I'm convinced. Head on up, but don't tell anyone, alright?" He opened the door to reveal a staircase to the upper level. Darcy grabbed Peter's hand again, and dragged him up the staircase as the door closed behind them.
The upper level was generally only used by staff members for getting around when the floor was packed, or for storage. Darcy had worked for the PAC a few years back and still knew her way around. But there was one section with a railing that looked down on the stage and crowd, and a bench. The acoustics dulled the sound a little bit as well so they could actually hear each other.
"This is great," Peter said. "Although that song is really funny, dude looks like a lady."
"It always makes me think of Mrs. Doubtfire."
"Who's Mrs. Doubtfire?"
"Seriously? What planet are you from?" Peter nearly choked. "I mean, I know some aliens who are pretty out of touch with reality, but I bet you even Thor knows about Mrs. Doubtfire."
It took her a minute to realize that Peter was staring at her like she had 3 heads. "Oh come on, I know it's weird but after New York, don't you think it's more NORMAL that people know that aliens exist? And it's not MY fault that I happened to be interning for a crazy scientist who thought it was a good idea to get tangled up in intergalactic—" she had to stop, because Peter had put his hands on either side of her head, and was kissing her desperately. All she could do was grasp his forearms with her hands and kiss him back. When her brain started working again, she noticed that he was looking at her very intently.
"PLEASE," he said, "tell me that you weren't kidding about the knowing aliens thing."
"Uh… kind of a weird turn on," she started, but noticed that he was still looking like he urgently needed to know the answer. "Yeah, the scientist I work for is kind of dating one," she explained. "Care to share why that's important, dude?" She wasn't sure if she was supposed to call a guy 'dude' after kissing him, but her logic cells were kinda not working.
Peter ran a hand through his hair and wondered how much he should tell her. He decided it couldn't hurt to have an ally to help him find his aunt.
"I was born on Terra, but I've lived most of my life in space," he finally said.
"Terra?"
"It's what everyone not from here calls Earth."
"Oh, like the Aasgardians calling it Midgard." Peter looked confused.
"I've never heard of Aasgard, but yeah, if it's another planet, it's likely that they have another name for it."
"So. Peter Quill, space man." Peter smirked.
"Actually, I go by Star Lord."
"You're kidding."
"Nope."
"Huh. Well you know that doesn't excuse you from seeing Mrs. Doubtfire." Peter looked at her, boggled.
"So just to be clear. It doesn't bother you that I live in space."
"Nope."
"Alright then. So this internet thing…" He put his hands around her waist, intent on kissing her again, but she held up a hand to his chest and pushed him away.
"Hey there, star lord, no monkey business in the upper viewing area, remember?" He brought a hand to his heart, feigning shock.
"I would never."
"Uh huh."
Darcy pulled out her phone, and tapped on it a few times, bringing up a Google screen. "OK, now who are you looking for?"
Peter straightened, gazing at the tiny screen.
"My aunt Kathy," he told her. "My mother told me that she was living in New Mexico, but that was a long time ago." Darcy looked up at him.
"Do you know her last name?" Peter thought a moment. He didn't remember what his mother's maiden name had been, before marrying Jake Quill.
"Not so much." Darcy clicked off the screen.
"Well this will be harder than we thought. Can you ask your mom?" Peter shook his head.
"She died when I was 12." Darcy grabbed his hand.
"Sorry," she said quietly. Peter just nodded. "Well, I can help you research at the library, if you want- it's not far from my apartment. How did you find out about your aunt?"
"My mom made me a tape," he said, fishing an old walkman and headphones out of the inside pocket of his jacket. "I have two tapes, mixes of music she liked to listen to when she was growing up. They're kind of the soundtrack to my life." Darcy nodded- she understood.
She gazed up at him, wondering how someone with such a strange and eventful life could seem so innocent, willing herself not to close her eyes as he reached up to the side of her face and wrapped a strand of hair behind her ear. He placed the worn orange headphones over her ears and grinned, pressing the play button on the Walkman.
The tinny strains of David Bowie singing 'Moonage Daydream' played and she couldn't help from grinning back. Oh he was too cute.
Where are you staying?" She asked. Peter pointed up.
"Space ship." Darcy grinned.
"Of COURSE you are staying in your space ship. How silly of me." He grinned back. "And where did you store this space ship?"
"On the moon."
"Peter Quill, if you are feeding me a line, I will so tase you." Peter laughed.
"On the moon, I swear! I have a suit that can get me up there." Darcy shook her head. She was about to have a bad idea.
"Well at the risk of sounding like Earth Girls are Easy, I propose that you stay on the couch in my apartment tonight- it's a little bit closer than the moon. And then we can go to the library tomorrow."
As if prompted by the question, her phone dinged, and she saw a text message from Lisa.
'Steve taking me home don't worry he's alright.' She smiled and texted back 'OK be safe call if you need me' and turned back to Peter. "And Lisa is ditching us."
-(.:.)-
Peter could not stop smiling. He had not expected Darcy Lewis. There was something about her that made him feel very homey and safe, things that he didn't usually feel when he was on missions or surrounded by the ravagers or his crew. Initially he had kissed her just to stop her rambling, but he found that he's enjoyed it way more than he thought he would.
He sat in the passenger seat of her Volkswagen Golf, watching the way her hair draped across her shoulders and her slim fingers adjusted the radio dial.
"I always like to hear the songs we heard at the concert on the radio on the way home," she said, putting a round metallic disc into the console and pushing play.
Pink, it's my new obsession; Pink, it's not even a question…
He knew that she hadn't intended the song to be seductive, but he couldn't help looking at her lips as the song played.
Pink, on the lips of your lover, 'cause pink is the love you discover…
"Hey, Quill!" Peter realized that Darcy had been trying to get his attention.
"Huh?"
"What was your favorite song?" she repeated. He thought.
"Dream On," he said. "I used to love that song when I was younger. Now I relate to it more." Darcy became pensive. "How about you?" He asked her.
"Janie's got a gun," she said. "I know it's horrible but I love a good revenge story." She was entering traffic now, backed up from the heavy concert attendance. "So when did you leave Terra?" she asked, using his terminology.
"Right after my mom died," he said. "I was abducted by Ravagers, and instead of killing me they let me join their crew. It was 1988."
"So you're in the dark about pop culture after that, huh?"
"Yup. Including Mrs. Doubtfire, apparently."
"Oh, we'll fix that." Darcy smiled diabolically. Traffic started to move, and Peter thought back to what he'd been interested in back then.
Twenty minutes later, Darcy pulled into the driveway of a small apartment building, and parked on one end in an assigned spot. She got out her keys and beckoned to Peter.
"Follow me, Star Lord." Peter cringed at the misuse of his moniker, but followed her into the building. She headed to a door toward the back but on the ground floor. "Home sweet home. Don't mind the mess. I didn't expect company." She put her purse and keys on a hook, and scurried around tidying things, which gave him time to look around. She lived with a homey clutter; photos of Darcy with her friends were tagged to the refrigerator with magnets, and a collection of mismatched teapots were displayed on top of the cupboards. A small living room sported a loveseat and a television, dwarfed by a large bookshelf that took up an entire wall. A hallway led to what he assumed were the bedroom and bathroom.
He did NOT want to squish himself onto that small loveseat to sleep. The bunks on the Milano were roomier. There were two choices; he could either convince Darcy to let him share her bed (unlikely), or he could convince her to stay up for an all-nighter.
Apparently Darcy had the same idea, because she emerged from the bedroom in the back holding a stack of rectangular cases; the top one had a photo of a very masculine looking old woman and the title 'Mrs. Doubtfire.'
"We are now on a mission to expand your knowledge of Terran pop culture," she explained, holding up each title. "Mrs. Doubtfire, of course, classic Robin Williams; Pulp Fiction, some classic lines that you need to know there; Shawshank Redemption, Clueless, and just because I know it will strike close to home, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace."
"And these will update me on everything that has happened since the 80s."
"Oh this won't even skim the surface, but it's what I had handy." She stacked the movies on the coffee table and gestured for him to sit on the love seat. She dug around in a drawer on the bottom of the bookcase and pulled out a fluffy afghan. She put 'Mrs. Doubtfire' into a player underneath the television, slumped next to Peter on the loveseat, wrapped the afghan around them both, and snuggled in next to him, pushing buttons on a controller to start the film.
As the opening credits rolled to comical opera singing, Peter wrapped an arm around Darcy's waist, and wondered how he'd be able to leave Terra without her.
-(.:.)-
"Man, it's not my fault, I tried to get it—"
"Silence, ravager! You think you can hide your dealings from us? Selling the orb to the collector!"
Darcy woke abruptly as the loud foreign words filtered through to her from the direction of her kitchen. She wasn't sure when she had moved from the loveseat back to her bed, but that concern was much lower on the list than who the hell was in her kitchen arguing.
"Hey, watch where you point that thing!" Darcy padded quietly through the hall until she could see what was going on. Peter Quill was backing up toward the living room window, threatened by some kind of creature, with what appeared to be armor and a sponge face. The creature had a spear that was dangerously close to Peter's neck- but then it spotted Darcy and turned threateningly.
"Who is this?"
"You don't need to worry about her," Peter said quickly, glancing desperately at Darcy. "She's just some girl that I picked up. I wanted to see what it was like to be with a Terran."
He made a sudden move toward the window and touched something by his ear. A weird helmet with glowing red eyes appeared around his head, and he mashed a button she hadn't noticed was in his hand. Flames shot out of his boots and he rocketed out the window. The alien creature growled and tore out of the window and after him, taking off with his own jet pack.
Darcy just stood there, in the middle of what used to be her living room, staring at the hole that used to be her window. What the hell just happened?
Just some girl he picked up? Did he mean that?
She picked up the wall phone and dialed a number that she knew by heart.
"Jane? It's Darcy. I need you."
-(.:.)-
A/N: Sorry to destroy the fluffiness!