{ warning: things get a bit...steamy in this chapter. This is my first time writing something like this so it might not be up to expectations. Nothing is super explicit, but there are innuendos and it's fairly short. Skip it if you want to or read it. Whatever is comfortable for you! :) }

〘 :*¨༺ 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 ༻¨*: 〙

"Oh, Els. You'll always be the prettiest thing in the universe to me.

ᴺᵒʷ ᵖˡᵃʸᶦⁿᵍ; nothing's gonna hurt you baby - cigarettes after sex

ᴠᴏʟᴜᴍᴇ : ▮▮▮▮▮▮▯▯▯

" nothing's gonna hurt you, baby
as long as you're with me you'll be just fine "

"COME IN," ELLIE called to the knock on her door. She huffed, laying on her side in her bed with her back to the door, her hair sprawled over her pillow. She figured they wouldn't get to Knowhere until the following morning so she changed into her pajamas, which consisted of one of Blake's band t-shirts that went to her mid-thigh and a pair of thin pajama pants with rockets printed on them.

"We're arriving at Knowhere in the morning," Blake informed as he peeked through the door, confirming Ellie's guess. "Peter orders everyone to get some sleep."

Ellie turned over, feeling Blake climb into her bed next to her.

"If we're supposed to get sleep, why don't you go sleep in your bed?" Ellie asked, looking up at Blake as he propped himself on his elbow.

Blake furrowed his brows at her. "Who says we're not going to get sleep?"

Ellie sucked in her lips and raised her eyebrows. Blake only smirked before leaning down and pressing his lips to hers. Ellie couldn't help but hold back a smile and wrap her arms around his neck as Blake turned her onto her back, his elbows on either side of her head. Blake pulled away and smiled down at her.

"Can't I just enjoy a night with my incredibly gorgeous girlfriend without having to sneak around to avoid her psycho raccoon dad?"

Ellie shrugged. "I guess. But don't expect much 'cause your incredibly gorgeous girlfriend is incredibly tired."

"Would it help to wake you up if I spoke in a really low-" Blake lowered the pitch of his voice, imitating Thor as he went to kiss her jaw. "-gravelly voice." he moved down her neck, kissing along a scar that was etched at the base of her neck.

Ellie laughed, sliding her hands to Blake's neck. "I feel so energized," She joked, pulling Blake back to her lips. After a moment, Blake pulled away, looking down at Ellie with concern.

"What's wrong?" he asked, sensing her anxiety.

Ellie avoided his gaze, her thoughts wracking through her brain.

"I just..." She sighed, running her fingers through the bottom of Blake's hair. "I have a bad feeling about this one. With Thanos...it's just got me a little scared is all." She felt small, admitting that she was scared. She was always putting on a brave face, trying to be fearless to keep up with the adults around her.

"Hey," Blake called softly, putting his finger under Ellie's chin and turning her face to make her look at him. "I promise....nothing bad is ever going to happen to you while I am here, Sparky."

"You can't promise that," Ellie whispered, her throat tight and vision blurring with tears.

"Well, I'm going to promise it anyway because I mean it, Els." He wiped away a tear that had fallen down the side of her face with the pad of his thumb. "I-" Blake took a deep breath, getting lost in the chocolate pools of Ellie's brown eyes. "I love you, Sparky."

Ellie's lips parted in shock until a huge smile overtook her features, her dimples making their appearance. Given that it would be the first time they would ever say it out loud to each other, it was a bit of a shock at first, but she already had a sneaking suspicion that he did.

"I love you too, star-boy."

Ellie brought her head up off the pillow, desperate to meet his lips.

The kiss started as just lips and teeth until it slowly grew deeper. A slide of the tongue here and a small bite there.

Ellie moved her hands from Blake's hair to his waist. Her hands gradually slid into his shirt, moving up his abdomen and to his chest until Blake quickly discarded the garment, throwing it to the floor. He groaned when her hands returned to his hair, her fingers treading and giving soft tugs that sent him to another world.

A small sizzling spark of electricity passed from Ellie's lips to Blakes, connecting them even down to the atoms. Blake hummed as it sent a wave of flutters throughout his body.

Blake's hand went to Ellie's fabric-covered thigh, gently moving his hand underneath his t-shirt that she wore. Ellie pulled away from their kiss, placing her hand over his by the hem of the shirt. She didn't push him away, only stopping his hand from continuing until he touched her skin.

"Are you sure?" She asked brows furrowed as she looked between his eyes. "I'm not the prettiest thing under it all."

"Oh Els," Blake exhaled, kissing her cheek, then her jaw. "You'll always be the prettiest thing in the universe to me."

"Really?"

Blake pulled away from her neck and smiled down at her. "Really. I could show you if you'd like?" He asked, kissing her softly on the lips.

"Okay," Ellie whispered, taking her hand off his. Blake kissed her again before going down her jaw and her neck. Ellie gasped when Blake kissed behind her ear, making him smile at the sound. He pulled her arm from around his neck as he kissed the t-shirt on her shoulder, moving the sleeve to expose her scar-covered bicep.

Ellie watched him as he kissed every single one of the scars down her arm until the scar that was on top of her hand. He placed her arm back over his neck, where she put her fingers back into his hair.

He moved down her body until his face was right above her stomach, where he then used both his hands to move her shirt up. He stopped the shirt just below her chest, his eyes and fingertips tracing the scars that littered her abdomen.

He wanted to cry at the sight of it. Not because of how it looked, his Ellie was beautiful as she was, but because he couldn't bear to think of what she had to go through to get the jagged marks. He wished he could kiss them away and the horrid memories that came with them, but he could try to give her something different to think of when she looked in the mirror.

Blake looked up at Ellie through his lashes, keeping eye contact with her as he started to kiss the scars along her stomach, his warm hands trailing up her sides.

He stopped again once his thumbs reached the bottom hem of her sports bra. His eyes asked his question, leaving Ellie to wordlessly nod, raising her arms above her head. Thank god, Ellie decided to change into a loose, sleeping bra otherwise this would have been a lot harder.

Blake hooked his thumbs into the loose undergarment and removed it with the t-shirt, tossing it to the floor to join his own.

⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

ELLIE INHALED DEEPLY as her eyes began to blink open. From across Blake's bare chest, Ellie read the alarm clock that told her it was 5:36 am.

She sighed, looking up at Blake's peaceful sleeping face.

Her head and hands lay on top of his chest, their legs intertwined under the sheets of her bed, Blake's arm wrapped around her as his thumb rubbed circles on her back subconsciously.

Ellie lightly kissed under Blake's jaw before carefully moving from under the covers and sitting at the edge of the bed. She covered up her bare chest as she reached for one of Blake's shirts, not paying attention to which one she grabbed. She winced and slowed down her movements of putting on the shirt when she heard Blake moving in the bed. She turned to check on him and sighed in relief when he was still sleeping.

She quickly and soundlessly grabbed Blake's boxers and put them on before standing out of bed.

She stumbled a bit, putting her hands out to balance herself from the ache in her legs.

Stretching as she did so, Ellie closed the door to her room and went down the hallway to, what would be, the kitchen of their ship.

She opened one of the cabinet doors, searching for any snack that would satisfy her hunger.

She decided on a box of cereal, opening to eat without milk or a bowl.

"Ellie Maria Rodriguez," a voice spoke from the darkness with a distasteful tone.

Ellie jumped, pieces of cereal flying out of the box.

"Holy shit, Gamora!" Elle whispered harshly. "You scared me."

"I'm not stupid you know," Gamora stated, her arms crossed over her chest as she leaned against the wall.

Ellie furrowed her brows. "What are you talking about? And what's with full naming me?"

Gamora looked the girl up and down. "Boyfriend's boxers, boyfriend's shirt he was wearing the day before, slightly wobbling walk, disheveled hair, collarbone hickeys...should I go on?"

"Geez, Gamora..." Ellied mumbled, shoving a handful of cereal into her mouth to hide her embarrassment.

"As long as you two used protection. I remember my first time-"

Ellie's eyes widened and covered her ears, shaking her head violently at the woman.

Misinterpreting the teen, Gamora's eyes widened back at her.

"YOU DIDN'T USE PROTECTION?"

"SH! Gamora, someone could hear you!" Ellie whispered.

"Well did you?" Gamora asked frantically in a whisper, pushing herself off the wall.

"Yes, mom. Me and my boyfriend used protection." Ellie muttered, her cheeks burning from embarrassment. "You're not going to tell Rocket are you?" Ellie asked slowly, a wave of shame fluttering in her stomach.

Gamora's gaze went to the ground, being reminded of what they were about to face in a couple of hours. What she knew would happen to her once they met Thanos.

"No, honey. I'm not going to tell Rocket. I want Blake to live out his life rather than be killed by a miniature psychopath." She quipped, sending the teen girl a small smile.

"Yeah," Ellie let out a short, airy chuckle. "Is it really that obvious?" She asked, gesturing to herself as she put down the cereal box.

Gamora tilted her head. "Come on, we'll start with your hair."

⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

ELLIE WAS SILENT, sitting sideways in her chair at the front of the Milano. Gamora stood behind her, already working on Ellie's second French braid as the morning grew closer...as the inevitable grew closer.

"I can't believe how much you've grown," Gamora spoke softly, breaking the silence. "It feels like just yesterday you were that little girl sticking up for me in that prison cell."

Ellie blew her bangs out of her eyes, grimacing at the memory.

"Those guys were assholes." She grumbled. "Remember that guy that had puss dripping from his eye? Ugh!"

Gamora laughed, nodding her head. "And that guy with the deformed nose,"

"Man, there were some creeps in that place." Ellie sighed. "Anyways...what's going on with you and Peter?" she asked, leaning her head back to look at the green-skinned woman. Gamora pushed the young girl's head back forward, hiding her smile.

"We don't have a label on anything," Gamora trailed off, suddenly reminded of the discussion she had with Peter the night before.

"I say it's love," Ellie sighed dreamily, emphasizing her phrase by putting her hands into a heart in front of Gamora's face. "Soulmates."

"Like you and Blake?" Gamora quipped, raising a brow.

Ellie smiled, dimples on display as her hands fell to her lap. "Yeah," she sighed. "Like me and Blake."

"He treats you right, yes?" Gamora asked, coming to the end of finishing the braid.

"Oh, yeah." Ellie giggled.

"Good. You deserve the best." Gamora wrapped the elastic around the end of Ellie's raven hair.

Ellie turned around in her seat, her expression becoming more serious as she stood up in front of the woman.

"You deserve the best too, Gamora."

Gamora gave her a tight-lipped smile, fixing the girl's braids on her shoulders and brushing away her bangs.

Gamora pulled the girl into a hug, wrapping her arms tightly around her shoulders. Ellie pulled herself out of her shock and confusion to hug the woman back.

"You were the first person to not see me as a monster," Gamora whispered, shutting her eyes as they began to sting.

Ellie squeezed the woman tighter, her eyes beginning to burn. "And you were the first real mom I ever had."

Gamora squeezed her even tighter, squeezing her eyes to hide the tears that began to fall. Both women took a deep breath as they separated, turning away from the other as they quickly wiped the tears that had snuck through.

"I'm gonna go wake up Peter."

"And I'll go wake up Blake."

They went their separate ways, ignoring the bad feelings in the pits of their stomachs of what was to come.

Ellie sighed, walking back into her room. Smiling as she looked over to her bed where Blake still slept, turned on his stomach with his arms on either side of his head, his face buried in one of her pillows. Ellie climbed back into her bed, laying right on top of Blake, causing a groan from the boy.

"Els," He grumbled in a husky sleepy voice. Ellie hummed at the sound, pressing a kiss to his bare shoulder.

"Wake up sleepy head," She whispered in his ear. She rolled off his back and was about to get up to change when two hands grabbed her waist, pulling her back down to the bed.

Blake wrapped his arms around her, pulling the girl to his chest.

He huffed, tightening his grip as he dug his face into her neck. He breathed in deeply, taking her in. "Just a few more minutes baby,"

Ellie smiled, heat rushing to her cheeks as she rubbed her hands over Blake's forearms.

"We have to get up though," Ellie said, trying to squirm out of his grip weakly.

Blake groaned, pecking a kiss below Ellie's ear then let her go so she could get dressed.