#Omf and don’t get me started on your clothing and coloring choices

[anagentinwriting]

To Catch a Thief - Part 14

Summary: Being an FBI field agent was your dream job but having been stuck behind a desk for most of your career you’ve almost given up. Fortunately, a series of robberies with minimal evidence forces you to assist a team in the field to help solve the case. But when the only thing left behind is a series of song lyrics, will you be able to find the perp? Or will the number of obstacles and lack of evidence keep you from solving the case?

Pairing: Peter Quill x Reader

Word Count: 2811

Warnings: Angst, Language, Fluff

To Catch a Thief Masterlist / Main Masterlist

You hit the ground hard and turned around noticing Peter wasn’t moving. “Peter,” you croaked, crawling over to him. “Peter!” You start to shake him forcing him to let out a groan. “Oh, thank god,” you breathed, resting your head on his chest.

“Calm down, sweetheart. I’m fine, it’s not like I got shot or anything,” Peter chuckled, making his chest vibrate. He places his hand on your back slowly rubbing up and down. You turned your head on his chest to see Peter grinning at you. “Cutting it a little close, don’t you think?” Peter piped up with his eyes drifting from yours to the doorway. You whipped your head around to see Gamora and Kraglin with Ronan laying on the ground dead. Wait. What? How?

“Sorry. The Collector and his Trinkets were a squirmy group to get their cuffs on, but it’s done. At least the two of you did good with distracting Ronan,” Gamora replied, holstering her weapon. Kraglin walked over to Ronan kicking his leg to make sure he was dead.

“I’m good at improv. Thought about a dance-off, but decided on a different route,” Peter replied, standing up and reaching down to help you up off the ground.

“What the fuck happened? You arrested The Collector and his minions. How did you two get in here?” You asked, staring at them with narrowed eyes.

“Did you forget about Peter’s earpiece?” Your eyes widened as it dawned on you. “All the way here he was telling us what to watch out for and what path to take. As for The Collector, T’Challa helped us out like he promised,” Gamora smiled, walking over to the paintings nodding at them with approval. You tilted your head sorting through her explanation before something dawned on you.

“Peter, you’re a fucking idiot,” You turned toward him, poking him in the chest. “Why would you push me out of the way? You could’ve died. And why didn’t you tell me the plan?”

“Sucks to be in the dark doesn’t it,” he teased. “As for pushing you out of the way, I wanted to make sure I could do this again.” He put your hands on your hips and pulled you close to him.  He leaned down and kissed you, again. His lips were intoxicating against yours like he was the perfect drink you didn’t want to set down. You leaned into him wrapping your arms around his neck pulling him in closer. He moaned in your mouth sending a shock up your spine and goosebumps to your skin. This time this kiss wasn’t going to be your last.

Kraglin cleared his throat from beside you forcing you two apart. “Why don’t we put some pressure on that wound, so you don’t bleed out.”

“Wound….what wound?” You pulled away from Peter to see his shirt sleeve covered in crimson red. “Peter your arm is bleeding.” Lifting his shirt sleeve, your eyes flashed to the small bullet wound on his upper bicep.

“Huh...would you look at that? That blue bastard shot me.” He rotated his bicep to get a better look at it. “It doesn’t even hurt.”

“It’s the adrenaline, but once it wears off you’ll be a world of hurt.  And from the looks of it, you still have the bullet lodged in there,” Kraglin said, examining his arm.

Kraglin hands you a clean cloth and a small bottle of vodka from his bag.  You cleaned the wound as best you could and tied the cloth snug around his bicep. Peter watches you the whole time unable to can’t keep the adoring smile off his face. You rolled your eyes tying the last knot to hold him over until we get him to a hospital.

“Do you want to see this necklace? I mean, we did come all this way.” Kraglin asked, standing next to the pillar and the goblet.

“He’s right, we did come all this way,” you agreed with a shrug. “We should at least check it out.”

“I agree with my girl.” Peter nudged you on the arm.

“You’re all are idiots. Valkyrie wanted this stone locked away.  She knows what this stone is capable of and I don’t think it’s a good idea to mess with something we don’t understand.”

“Well, you’re outvoted, so let's figure out how to open this other secret passageway.” Peter clapped his hands together, wincing at the sharp pain shooting up his arm.

Kraglin pulled a two-liter bottle of water from his bag and started pouring it into the goblet. “I may have an idea. Valkyrie wanted blood to flow into this, but what she might not have known roughly two liters of water weigh the same as a half gallon of blood. Now, a half a gallon of blood is the amount you can lose before the body hemorrhages and dies. So, as long as Valkyrie was going by weight and not viscosity this should open the door.”

You don’t know how Kraglin knew this random bit of information, but then again, you didn’t know much about him. He was good at keeping up with current events, random facts, and connecting things together most people might miss.  He wasn’t good at research or profiling, but he didn’t have to be. His strengths outweighed his weaknesses.

Kraglin dropped the last drop of water into the goblet. The mechanism started to tick like it was calculating the weight as the goblet pushed the mechanism down.  The floor in front of the pillar started to recede back creating a dark secret passageway.

“Kraglin does it again.” Gamora patted him on the shoulder. You smiled at him and he nodded in your direction.

You shined your flashlight into the passageway before descending down the ladder on one of the sides.  Peter went in after you followed by Kraglin and Gamora. You beamed the light across the room and spotted the necklace on a headless bust.  You stepped closer to it and noticed this necklace wasn’t like the others in any way. It was a choker instead of sitting loose around the neck, and it didn’t have addition jewels on it, instead, it was only the Soul Stone. It laid in the center of a gold plated chunky choker consisting of engraved lines and symbols around it. It was a simple necklace but captured the orange stone's beauty.

“Interesting. A choker. Did you know the Ancient Egyptians would often put jewelry on the parts of their body they felt needed protection. The throat being the obvious choice along with the head, wrists, and ankles. Crazy enough they believed it gave them special and protective powers,” Kraglin informed.

Looking past the necklace there was a message from Valkyrie in Xhosa:

Ndiyakuvuyela. Uyenzile. Wonwabile? Ngaba ufumene yonke into oyifunayo, okanye ulahlekelwa yinto yonke okanye wonke umntu kwinkqubo? La matye angenza iimangaliso zenzeke kodwa zingonakalisa abantu ubomi. Ndiye ndafumana isandla sokuqala, ngoko shiya okanye ukufa kwakho kuya kuba ngamatye. Valkyrie

“Does anyone here speak Xhosa?” Gamora asked, shining her light around the room.

“Yes,” a deep voice said from behind everyone. T’Challa stood behind us scanning the message before reading it aloud. “Congratulations. You made it. Are you happy? Did you get everything you wanted, or did you lose everything or everyone in the process? These stones may make miracles happen but they can also ruin people lives. I have experienced first hand, so leave it or your death will be by these stones. Valkyrie.”

“Where is she? I thought she would be in here with the stone.” You asked, glancing around the room. The only thing in the room was the bust with the necklace and an exit door.

“She’s right where she wanted to be buried next to the one she loves,” T’Challa answered your question.

“Omf.” Shuri jumped off the ladder helping Meredith down from behind her. Shuri was carrying the five necklaces around her arm but they were no longer broken. How did she repair them so fast?

“Peter, your mother wanted to... Oh, this one is gorgeous. It would look amazing on me right, brother?” She grinned, admiring the necklace. He looked unamused by his sister, forcing you to smirk. “I would rock this. Oh my god, is this vibranium? Wow! She did wonders with it.”

“Shuri, we’re leaving it here,” her brother piped up.

“What, why? Orange is totally my color,” she pleaded, reading the message on the wall. “Oh yes, I understand. I trust her judgment, I mean she knows what these stones can do.”

Meredith came across the room wrapping you in a big hug. Your arms stayed by your sides not knowing what to do. She squeezed tighter until you gave in and wrapped your arms around her.  Peter watched the two of you with a huge grin on his face.

You forgot what it was like to get hugged by a mother.  It felt so warm, comforting, and safe. You squeezed your eyes shut to relish in the moment before she pulled away and held you at arm's length.

“I’m sorry, that was forward.” She held out her hand to shake, which you took with a welcoming smile. “I’m Meredith Quill and you must be the neighbor my son can’t shut up about.”

“Does he ever shut up though,” you quipped, forcing Meredith to giggle. You peeked at a blushing Peter standing behind her staring hard at the floor. “But, yes I am the neighbor, he can’t shut up about. YN LN.”

“This is so cool!” Shuri shouted with excitement.  “The necklaces are glowing. Even the etching on the collar is glowing.” You watched as the glow from the Soul Stone weaved its way through the engravings on the collar making it shine brightly in the dark room. “I wonder what this means?”

“Legend says when Valkyrie stole the five stones she also took away their glow.  You see, they work better together as a team. They can’t perform miracles alone, but as a team, they’re more efficient. If or when these stones were ever united they said it would be unimaginable,” Kraglin informed.

“Is this a good or bad thing?” Peter asked, staring at the shining stones.

“The legend never went that far.”

“Why can’t we destroy them?” Gamora questioned, raising a brow.

“Many have tried, and they didn’t live long to tell about,” Kraglin explained.

“Then, we should leave and return these necklaces back to their rightful owners. It’s not a good idea to leave them all in one place since we don’t know what the outcome could lead to.”

Everyone agreed it was best to leave the Soul Stone necklace behind and it’s what Valkyrie would’ve wanted. Besides, it was best to leave something alone that couldn’t be explained then mess with something you knew nothing about. You didn’t know if you were the only one who felt it, but when the necklaces started to glow you felt at ease.

When you returned to the States about a week ago, you and Peter picked up right where you left off, but things were a little more than friendly. He also returned your birthday vinyl to you, and it hasn't left your record player since; he did an amazing job with it. Although you and Peter have been hooking up, neither of you haven’t even mentioned your true feelings towards each other. You were beginning to feel like that moment in the cave never happened, and it was all in your head.

Gamora and Kraglin returned the necklaces back to their rightful owners, and The Collector and his Trinkets were awaiting trial. The Collector was being charged with a long list of crimes including but not limited to murder and theft. The case was closed, and your first case was in the books.

Tonight there was a celebration party at Trash Panda, and you promised the others you’d take everything to lock up until the trial. You were putting the last bit of evidence away when you noticed Peter had two copies of his debriefing. One dated the same day as yours and the other was the following day. How did you not know Peter came in the next day? Why didn’t Kraglin or Gamora say anything about it? Out of curiosity you put the disk into your computer and clicked play.

“State your name?” Gamora voice asked not seeing her in the frame.

“Peter Jason Quill.”

“How did you find out YN was on the case?”

“Oh, we’re going that far back.” Peter raised his eyebrows pursing his lips.

“We need to cover all the bases?”

“Let’s see I first got suspicious when she brought home a box labeled Infinity. Then, she invited me over to her place after I picked her lock.” He winked at the camera. “And that’s when I saw the book Rare Gems and Stones from Around the World as well as the lyrics I left behind scribbled on a piece of paper.”

“You befriended her. Was it to get close to her or to keep tabs on the case?”

At first, it was to keep tabs on the case. The Collector and his Trinkets found out she was an agent on the case and my neighbor. After I got back from Norway, they wanted me to get closer to her.  I tried to get information, but she never told me anything. After a while, I learned more about her.  Like, she grew up in the foster system after her parents passed away and has been raising herself ever since.  Everyone she trusted after that ended up betraying her. She even went as far as running away when things got bad or frustrating.  I could relate to what she was going through because that could’ve been me if my mom died when I was little.”

“Do you care about her or was that an act, too?”

“Are you asking as an agent or as her friend?”

“As her friend.”

“Yes, I care about her. She’s an amazing woman. I turned myself in because I didn’t want to put her through having to arrest me.”

“How thoughtful of you,” Gamora quipped out of frame.

“Thanks, I think,” Peter smirked, running a hand through his hair.  “I want her to know I do care about her and I wasn’t lying about that.”

“Of course. Would you say you’re in love with her?”

“Whoa, love. Love is hard. Terrifying even,” he said, staring hard at the tabletop. “Could I see myself falling in love with her? Yes, and I may already be well on my way.” He looked back up to Gamora, biting his lip. “This feels more personal than another debriefing.”

“Oh, it is. This is more for mine and Kraglins benefit. We need to protect our teammate.” Peter waved at the glass behind Gamora acknowledging a hidden Kraglin. “She does care about you, and I want to make sure you don’t break her heart.”

“That’s the last thing I want to do.”

“Good. She doesn’t know about this personal line of questioning I am delivering to you. But, I will make sure she knows you may be an a-hole, but you’re not 100% a dick.”

“Couldn’t have said it better myself.”

“Wait...what,” you exclaimed, staring at yourself in the black computer screen. “Peter’s falling in love with me. Do I feel the same? Am I even ready for this type of commitment?”  You put your head in your hands shaking it. “No. no. no. You’re not. No. I can’t be. Am I?”

You leaned back in your chair rubbing your fingers on your forehead.  What is love? It’s a song by Haddaway, but that doesn’t answer anything.  Sure in the song, he is trying to get this one girl, but she doesn’t feel the same, and he keeps getting hurt. Is it love or a crush? Is that what you're feeling? A crush or is it love? The only time you’ve seen what real love looks like was from your parents. You don’t even remember what that looks like?

“Oh my god! What am I doing? I’m deciphering my life with song lyrics now,” you groaned. “This is solving nothing.”

Your trust issues have always gotten in the way of your relationships. Every time you let someone in they would let you down, so you gave up on relationships and chose to focus on your career. With all the hell Peter put you through, you still trusted him. He may have manipulated and deceived you, but he also saved your life. Is that what love is? Sacrifice. Willing to give up something valuable for something that means so much more to you. Did Peter mean that much to you as you did to him? Were you open to getting hurt if this doesn’t work out? Or do you do what you do best and run.

A/N: Just when you think things are going to work themselves out. There is one more part left, what do you think is gonna happen? Is Peter worth sticking around for, or will she ask Yondu to be reassigned to a different field office? Find out next week and as always thanks for reading!

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