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Long distance relationships. They say those are the hardest to pull off. The lack of physical presence alone is enough to destroy most of them. Full trust and a complete desire to support each other is essential to make them work and the length of those concepts is something most people underestimate when they decide to make the jump. Peter Quill, a formidable warrior and leader whose legend was known across many galaxies, made that mistake when he fell in love with an earth girl.
Peter belongs in space. Not a planet he calls home, not even his natal earth. No, his home is the never ending cosmos, and the life he has is one not few people would envy. He has it all, one of the fastest and deadliest ships in the galaxy, a group of friends who would die for him if the situation required it, a ship of his own that is pretty fast, an stubborn AI that likes him and best of all, the freedom to go and do whatever he wants, anything at all. Taking down galactic empires, check; going to war with whole planetary systems, check; stealing precious relics from unscrupulous people, check; not even the sky was the limit for him. Of course, these adventures more times than not ended with him in need of some rescuing. Sometimes he had the astuteness and audacity to free himself, sometimes his team had to go and rescue him, but most recently he always requested the help of his terrestrial girlfriend, a girl he had met in one of those self imposed missions to protect earth. The name of the girl in question is Katherine Pryde, but everyone just calls her Kitty. She is one of the individuals who lives on earth and were born with an special gene denominated "X-gene". This gene gave her an special ability written in her genetic code, it wasn't something she accidentally got or something she artificially gave to herself, this attribute was, literally, a part of her. Peter, who himself was born on earth but wasn't hundred percent an earthling, was always interested in mutantkind so imagine his fascination when he got to travel with seven of these peculiar individuals. Yet, during the travel, the only person he found very captivating was Kitty, he felt a kind of attraction he hadn't felt in a long time, maybe never before. Physically she was perfect and her mutation was just as beautiful, but the thing that captivate him the most was her personality: strong, wild, full of joy, but also responsible, kind and mature, she reminded him of his mother, the person he loved the most. And so, when their adventure was over, Peter didn't want to just let her go, he wanted to have more of her, he wanted her, so he took a leap of faith and it paid off, she accepted his request at the dreaded long distance relationship with a nice kiss on the cheek.
Since then, they have been calling each other and talking a lot. First they started with the usual goofy fun stuff that happened in their everyday life. She talked about her many weird adventures with her fellow mutants and he would talk about his many misadventures with his own team, the Guardians of the Galaxy. It wasn't long before they started talking about their likes and dislikes, their hobbies, their favorite food, their favorite planets, even their favorite stories about the other. Soon the conversations turned more intimate, they would talk about ideologies, religion, space politics and earth politics, racism, philosophy and even their kinks and sexual preferences. When they realized it, they knew each other like they knew how to talk. Their life was an open book and Peter liked it. However there was something that was always a burden to them taking the next step and that was the distance. This wasn't a boy and a girl living on different states, not even different countries, they were galaxies apart. It wasn't a thing you just do any day, so, as a way to try and do things together like a normal couple, Peter started taking his holographic device with him on his adventures, soon Kitty found herself always helping Peter to escape from nasty situations. How he always managed to get in trouble, she never understood but she never cared either, she knew how this thing they have worked from the start, so she gave him her full trust and complete support, she never asked the how or why, she was just happy to help her boyfriend and actually do something with him even when they were still millions of miles away. Peter never questioned her involvement either because he liked to see her and if she was helping the better. Their dates now intercalated between conversations and jail breaking, that was, until one day the tables were turned.
It was a normal day for Peter Quill. He woke up in his bedroom and went straight to the bathroom. He never sleeps a lot so he never bothers to change his clothes before going to bed. Jacket off, boots off and he was ready for bed, that way it wouldn't be difficult for him to dress and be ready for any contingency. He was putting his jacket on that day when his communicator began to bleep. He wasn't expecting a call from Kitty that day, he felt puzzled, many questions started buzzing around his head. Something happened? Is she in trouble? Is it the racism again? So many possible reasons for this call, Peter didn't waste another second and answered the call. After the usual connection Kitty finally appeared, she was sitting there in her bed, her expression wasn't one of happiness, signs of tears across her face. Her eyes, full of sorrow, called for his attention.
"Kitty?" Peter asked "Are you okay?"
But she just kept looking at him. Her mouth closed but her eyes still filled with sadness.
"What happened? Why does it look like you were crying?"
Kitty sit there looking at him, as if expecting him to do something. Something he had no idea what it was. Her eyes threatening to burst into tears at any moment.
"Kitty..." Peter's voice trailed off as he sat next to her and looked at her face, fearing the worst, fearing she was hurt or in danger, hell, simply seeing her suffering like that made him feel totally useless and he hated that and he hated the silence, every second of that stupid silence. She finally spoke after what felt like hours but had been actually a few seconds.
"Can...can you please..."
She was trying hard not to cry again, she closed her eyes and turned her head when she stopped talking, stayed like that for a moment and then faced Peter again, decided to finish what she wanted to say.
"Are you close by Peter?" She asked in a weak voice "Can you come here?"
Peter wasn't expecting her to say that and his face described that very well. Eyes wide open and his mouth open, as if trying to come up with words when his brain hadn't even begun processing what he heard. Her eyes were looking away now, maybe bracing for disappointment or just to avoid crying again. Peter was asking himself a thousand questions now but only one made it to his mouth, there was no correct question though, so saying he regretted asking anything almost instantaneously would be an understatement.
"Why?"
Peter didn't want to get into an argument with her, he wasn't an expert on relationship because he never actually looked forward to be in one. He liked the way things used to be, him traveling through the galaxy, meeting girls, having one night stands, it was perfect in his mind, at times even wondering why anyone would deprive themselves of that joy. Yet, after meeting Kitty, everything changed, none of those things felt the same again and now he was suffering for a girl he hadn't even slept with. No, he wasn't an expert on relationships so maybe that's why he was so scared about doing anything. Because for some stupid reason he couldn't understand yet, he didn't want to lose this one.
"I need to see you."
That's what Kitty said after some seconds, she was still looking down and her voice still failed her but her eyes were meeting his again at least. He hated this. He hated the way Kitty felt and he didn't even know what was happening. He got a little closer to her projection, not breaking eye contact, and said.
"I'm a few systems away from the milky way right now Kitty. Just tell me what's happening, I'm sure we can work it out if you just talk to me."
Kitty now closed her eyes again and lowered her head but Peter was still looking at her. Hoping she would speak her mind. He was getting really desperate and his panic wasn't helping either. He didn't know if he should push the issue or just leave it alone. He wanted to hear something from her. Anything! Anything that could take the horrible feelings out of him.
"I understand."
Those were her words. She didn't even lift her head to say them. She kept looking down and then something happened. Of all the horrible things Peter had visualized in his mind, this was the worst of them all. His eyes widened as much as it was possible and he now entered into full panic mode.
Tears started coming down Kitty's face.
Peter was frightened now. Was it something I said? something I did? What the hell is happening? Why now? Why ever? Those questions along with million other ones kept going through his mind as he was trying to process what was happening, however his heart wouldn't wait for his brain and it prompted him to react almost instantly.
"Kitty! No...Why-- please don't cry-- Why are you doing this?"
He didn't know what to do, Kitty didn't respond at all. She just stayed there crying, sobbing from time to time and still with those closed eyes that screamed pain. Peter felt like he never felt before, his body was paralyzed, his limbs not responding at all, his soul scared and tortured by those crying closed eyes.
"I don't want to see you like this anymore. Please tell me what I have to do to not see you like this anymore!"
Peter was almost screaming now. He felt completely helpless and he hated it. He suddenly started remembering all those times he felt like these. Like the biggest piece of useless crap in the universe. The lonely nights at the orphanages, the fights with his NASA partners, the Kree he sacrificed and landed him on the Kyln, his truce with Thanos. All was coming back to him and it was thanks to that girl. Why? why was she doing this to him? Didn't she love him, wasn't love supposed to be about the happiness of the other one. He felt numb now and closed his eyes, not wanting to see her crying anymore, not wanting to feel the pain anymore. It was useless though, the memories kept coming back: his fight against the Fallen One, his deception when he formed the Guardians...and then his memories hit the bottom. His worst memories came up front, those involving his mother, Meredith Quill.
It happened frequently when he was a child, her mother would stand or sit close to watch him play with his toys and without warning, she would start crying. He could never understand why, sometimes thinking it was his presence what made her cry and that thought used to kill him inside every day, leading him to sometimes consider leaving and go roaming to stop hurting her. At some point however, he finally confronted her about it and her answer left him with an even worse feeling. "It's not you my dear Peter, it's just...I miss your father so much and...and every time I see you I can't help but remember how wonderful he was...how much I love him...how wonderful is the gift he gave me before leaving."
Peter never shared those feelings, his father probably was everything her mother said about him, but he was sure his father wasn't something, he wasn't there, and he was hurting his mother, HIS mother, the person he loved the most in the whole universe. Peter was unable to help his mother back then and he felt it for the first time in his life, the same horrible feeling he was sensing right now. He did what he does best then, he channelized those feelings and turned them into something else. Resentment. Resentment for his absent father that his mother loved so much, resentment for the man who made him feel like the biggest piece of useless crap in the universe. But now it was different, someone he loved was making him feel like that. What should he do? Should he start feeling resentment toward Kitty too? Is that the only thing he knew how to do well?
At that moment, he heard a sound and opened his eyes quick, Kitty was gone, he turned his head to see what was happening and there he saw Kitty standing, wiping her tears from her face and then, not looking at Peter, she crouched down to pick the projector and was about to turn it off. Peter, reacted fast on instinct and screamed.
"KITTY WAIT!!!"
Kitty froze on the spot, maybe hoping to finally hear what she wanted to hear, yet Peter was as clueless as he was when this started. The only thing he knew for sure was that he didn't want her to leave, he didn't want to leave her alone, not when she needed him the most...not when she needed him the most...
It finally dawned on him. He finally understood everything. The reason for the tears and the memories and the doubt, they all appeared because he finally turned into what he hated the most, he turned into his father.
"I'm sorry Kitty..."
He started saying not looking at her yet, she wasn't looking at him either. She stood up but was still holding the projector close, ready to turn it off.
"I'm on my way now. I'll be at your door in a day, maybe sooner if that bratty ship behaves."
Kitty finally turned to see him, now it was her turn to be astonished. Her eyes wide open this time.
"I finally understand Kitty. I finally understand what this thing we have is about, it isn't about saying cute things to each other or doing naughty thing together or signing a piece of paper."
Peter was looking at her in the eyes now and Kitty was doing the same, very focused on his words.
"It's about being there when we need each other."
Kitty finally smiled and all those awful feelings vanished on an instant. Peter once again felt everything was all right and smiled himself.
"Maybe I didn't understand it before and you can't blame me for that. I mean, I used to go from planet to planet leaving tears flowing and hearts broken but then you came and...when you came into my life, it was hard for me to leave all that behind, but you made it easier every day. Every time I saw you, you always reminded me why I chose you over that banal kind of life. But then I slipped away, I took you for granted, just wanted you to be there for me, left you alone when you needed me, almost became my father."
Peter closed his eyes and turned his head in embarrassment after saying that last part. It was hard to think he almost became what he swore to never be. However, something gave him back his strength, it was a voice, Kitty's voice.
"Peter...are you okay?"
He smiled a little when he realized it was Kitty who was worried now, he opened his eyes and turned to see her eyes again with conviction.
"I'll never let that happen Kitty, you can be damn sure I'll always be there for you as long as you need me."
Kitty was now smiling and tears threatened to come out again, but this time they were different. They were tears of joy. Peter smiled and said.
"See you in a day girl. Hold on until then."
And the transmission was over. Peter had ended it, he left his room as fast as he could and ran to the hangar where his personal ship, the Bad Boy was parked.
A day later, his ship landed on earth, close to where Kitty was living. Peter walked straight to the entrance but even before he could get to the door, Kitty watched him coming through the cameras and went to receive him. They embraced and stayed there, embraced for what seemed and probably were, hours.