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The first time Quill kissed Gamora, they were lost. Not emotionally or anything, they both fully knew what was happening when the kiss occurred. No, they were literally physically lost.
In a fucking corn maze.
"It was supposed to be romantic!" Quill had argued, gesturing around them. Gamora scoffed and shook her head, wanting more than ever to kick him in the shins.
"Romantic? We're lost!" she insisted. Quill spluttered, trying to formulate a response while also trying to hold back laughter.
"We're not. We're not lost, okay?" Quill was confident- despite being completely wrong- that he knew where they were in the maze.
Gamora sighed. She knew he was wrong, but also knew that there would be no convincing him of that until he admitted it for himself. "Remind me again why you've brought me here," she asked instead, softening her voice a little.
"I wanted to show you some of the experiences I had growing up, before... well, before my mom died and everything that happened as a result of that." Quill explained again, pausing for a second and reaching for Gamora's hand. "I wanted it to be... something we could bond over, having these experiences as adults together."
As a kid, Quill had loved fall and everything that came with it. Pumpkin carving (something that he was absolutely going to do with Gamora when it was time), apple picking, corn mazes... And Halloween movie night with his mom, during which they'd collect every blanket in the house, bundle them all up on the couch in a nest arrangement, gather every single one of their favourite slightly crappy gas-station snacks, and binge-watch terrible Halloween movies until they both fell asleep in their blanket couch nest. Since his mom died and he'd been taken in by Yondu, he'd not been able to do these things anymore. He was fairly sure Yondu would have a stroke if he tried to explain their movie night tradition, at the very least, so he just... never brought it up.
Now he'd grown up and had someone he could do these things again, Quill certainly wasn't going to pass up on the opportunity to do so. He remembered an old friend from Earth telling him about the snow day tradition she'd had with her dad before he had died, and how she'd recently started up that exact thing with her own children. Quill wanted that eventually, but right now he didn't have any children so he'd simply introduce the woman he loved to those traditions and experiences instead.
That was currently going... certainly interestingly. Gamora didn't seem to like the corn maze- the first activity on Quill's list. To him as a kid, their yearly corn maze outing would always signal the beginning of fall, much like a pumpkin spice Starbucks latte does for a white girl. But Gamora seemed more than a little uncomfortable with the activity.
"The point is to find your way out," Quill explained, gesturing around them. "So we're not lost. Just... playing along." He took the next turn, Gamora's hand clutched in his- to find a dead end in front of them.
"Quill, there are no more paths here. This isn't the way out." Gamora sighed, pulling her hand out of his sitting down heavily on a bench. There were several at various points around the maze in case anyone needed to take a moment's rest- Quill couldn't help but smile to himself when he noticed that, pleased that the organisers had kept accessibility in mind for this.
"Okay, so we may be a little lost. " he conceded.
"A little?" Gamora raised an eyebrow.
"But hey! It's fine, here, let's take a second." Reaching out to take Gamora's hand again, Quill pulled her up and into his arms. "This was meant to be romantic, an adventure that we could share. I'm going to make it that if its the last thing I do," he promised, which made her smile a little.
"Oh, are you?" She hummed softly. "And how do you plan on doing that?"
Their eyes met. Quill suddenly forgot how to breathe- she was so beautiful, and he truly believed that he saw everything he had ever wanted and all that he would ever need in those deep chocolate-coloured eyes.
"I... I don't know yet," he admitted, voice hoarse. He brought one hand up to lightly brush over Gamora's cheek. He could truly look at her forever, especially like this, as the slowly setting sun illuminated her face.
Without truly giving it much thought, Quill leaned in to kiss her.
The response of a soft gasp from Gamora wasn't completely accepted, but he decided that it was an incredibly welcome one, as she pulled him in and kissed back. He'd been expecting... well, he didn't know what exactly he'd been expecting. To be shoved back, maybe? To be punched in the face? Not this... active encouragement.
Not that he was complaining.
Gamora was the first to pull back, gasping for air and letting her forehead rest against Quill's. "Did we just do that?" she asked in a breathless whisper, and the only response Quill could give was a slight nod.
"Our first kiss..." he whispered back after a moment of quiet.
Gamora smiled, and kissed him again, brief and infinitely gentle. Quill felt like he was melting against her lips.
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After the temporary distraction that was their kiss at the dead end, the couple decided to retrace their steps to the last split path to see if they could reach the exit. The energy between them was noticeably different now- Gamora appeared to be enjoying herself more, while Quill had a huge grin on his face that nothing would get rid of at this point.
They walked together, hand in hand, until finally Gamora spotted the lantern glow that illuminated the exit they had been looking for. "Here!" She beamed, excitedly pointing it out to Quill. "We did it!"
"We did!" Quill confirmed. When they exited the maze, still hand in hand and both grinning, Quill chose to celebrate by scooping Gamora into his arms and spinning around with her until he was dizzy and both were breathless with laughter.
As her feet touched the ground again, she swayed slightly- the spinning had made her dizzy too- and recovered herself by crushing her lips to his for another long kiss.
"Let's go home," she whispered.