To Catch a Thief | Peter Quill

Part 5

It's been one month since SL stole the Space Stone necklace and every day you struggled to find new evidence. Gamora assigned you to watch the Vegas footage to track down some sort of connection to Red Jacket from the Norway heist, but so far nothing. It was making you frustrated, and the only thing keeping you sane was going home and hanging out with Peter.

"So it's your birthday next week," Peter blurted out while you both were watching Netflix. You turned to him on the couch with your mouth hanging open.

"How did...how did you know that?"

"Saw your license."

"Oh god," you groaned, covering your face with your hands. "Please tell me you didn't see my picture."

"I did–" he snickered "–but I thought you looked cute. I mean you always do, but the dark shadows under your eyes, smeared eyeliner, the busted lip, and the wet hair really added to it."

"Thanks for the reminder. It was a long rough night and early morning," you sighed, looking down at your lap to hide your flushed face. This wasn't new for you anymore, Peter made you blush all the time. It was like he enjoyed seeing you embarrassed and flustered, but that was the Peter Quill persona. He could be so charismatic and flirty sometimes that it's hard to fight the rush of color to your face.

"I could tell. What are we going to do for your birthday?" Peter asked, raising an eyebrow. He wasn't going to let this go, but it wasn't a big deal to you anymore.

"Nothing, we don't have to do anything. It's just another day on the calendar."

"Come on, we have to celebrate." Peter nudged your side. "Come on." Nudge. "Come on." Nudge, nudge.

"Will you stop? It's annoying." You pushed him away from you and he fell you the other side of the couch flashing you a cheeky smile. "We are not celebrating and that's final."

"Well, regardless, I'm going to plan something and it's going to blow your mind," he joked with a huge grin. He wasn't going to give up on this, but by the time the day comes around, he'll forget this conversation happened. Besides, he would be at work since it fell on a Friday.

"I'll believe it when I see it."

"Did you never do anything special on your birthday? Didn't your mom and dad ever throw you a party?"

This was a conversation you didn't want to have tonight, but eventually, it was bound to happen. You crossed your arms over your chest and took a deep breath before answering. "Sure, my parents threw me parties, but then I didn't see the point anymore. I ah.... I don't think I ever told you this but my parents died when I was 14."

"Shit!" Peter mumbled, staring at you with wide eyes for a few seconds before looking away. This was the usual response when you brought them up, which is why you never talked about them much. "I'm sorry, I had no idea. What happened or do you know what happened? I mean, we don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

You bit your bottom lip debating. You've known Peter for a couple months now and called him a good friend. Did you trust him? You liked to think you did, but you hated opening up to people and showing how vulnerable you could be. You weren't afraid to tell people what you thought but when that thing was you, you refrained from it. Maybe it was time to finally break the barrier and let someone in.

"It happened when they were driving home from their annual office Christmas party. It was snowing and blowing real bad, and it rained earlier in the day making the roads extra icy. The car ended up skidding on the ice going right through a guardrail and into a river." You could feel Peter's worried eyes on you, but you took a deep breath before continuing.