Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Despite his early complaints and the loud fight said complains caused, Tony turned out to be a great listener when it came to doing what was hoped to help prevent the end of the freaking universe.

The rest of the day (as far as the endless black void of space could be defined as “day”) was in fact spent preparing for the battle: while Peter, Mantis, Groot and the big bulky alien that had introduced himself as Drax spent some time exercising in the Guardians' training room (Gamora had said it was because she was concerned for the safety of the younger members of their group but Peter had a feeling it was only to keep Drax busy and away from Stark, whom he seemed particularly not fond of), the others had busied themselves with contacting as many of their allies as they could. Quill still opted against contacting the Stakar guy he had mentioned before, but they did manage to communicate with Gamora’ sister, Nebula ("Spider-Man" was starting to sound really lame compared to all of these cool names, oh man), and they were all set to meet her on Titan, their destination.

When Thor and Mr Stark had finally managed to make a connection back on Earth- where they had previously left Doctor Banner, asking him to reunite with the other Avengers- they all had a very long and exhaustive video conference in the cockpit, with Gamora explaining every little characteristic, strength and weakness of Thanos and the Dark Order while everyone silently listened to her without even uttering a word- which was saying something, considering that the majority of Earth’s heroes and half of Wakanda’s warriors were included in the conversation. When at the end of the prep talk Captain Rogers (who looked less like a Captain, nowadays) had happily commented how lucky it was for them to have encountered the Guardians and what useful allies they were, Tony couldn’t help but roll his eyes and resentfully agree.

All in all, it had been a stressful day, thought Peter while absently staring at the holographic screen in front of him where May’s face had been until a couple of minutes before. When the preparation for the battle had finally ended and everyone had started to get ready to rest for the night, he had timidly asked Quill if he could please borrow one of their communication devices to call his aunt and let her know he was alright, at least for now. The captain had smiled at him almost sadly and helped him set the video call, that had obviously, unsurprisingly, ended with both him and May crying their hearts out, wishing they could touch so they could at least share a comforting embrace and hoping that that was not going to be the last time they saw each other. His eyes were now puffy and red and he was a lot more tired than before the call, but at least part of his anxiety had subdued.

He could tell that Quill had been listening to the conversation- they were the only ones left in the room, and it was kind of hard to ignore it- but he stayed where he was, momentarily ignoring the universe; he needed a couple more minutes to compose himself, he didn’t want to do something as stupid as sobbing on this random guy he had literally just met.

Quill’s sudden hand on his shoulder really made that difficult.

“Hey,” he said softly, and just his tone of voice made the tears come down again. Goddamnit, Parker “I know we just met and I’m really not the right person to try to comfort you, but just know that I’m not gonna let anything happen to you, kid”

He gently squeezed his shoulder but didn’t try to turn him around, of which Peter was extremely grateful. He had a reputation to uphold, after all.

“Hell, I know that both ‘Mora and Drax will kill Thanos with their bare hands to keep him from harming another kid, even if that’s the last thing they do” he laughed softly to alleviate the tension a bit "so you can be sure nothing’s gonna happen to you as long as we’re breathing. You got that?”

Peter nodded, sincerely comforted by Quill’s words but not trusting his voice enough to speak. The captain seemed to get it, though, as he playfully ruffled his hair- earning himself a watery laugh- and turned back to the holographic screen he had been examining. Mr Stark and Valkyrie had spent a good half an hour doubting and even insulting these aliens and yet here they were, ready to die for the sake of the universe and to protect Peter, a random teen they didn’t even know the last name of. Space was unbelievable.

He quickly wiped away the remains of his tears, not too roughly as to not make it obvious he had been crying, and turned around to face the room with his shoulders set, just in time for another member of the crew to join them. No need for other people to know how emotional he was.

Quill seemed to recognize the approaching footsteps on the grated floor as his posture relaxed slightly and the corner of his mouth twitched upward. As expected, Gamora walked into the room, looking weary and spent even though the war hadn’t even started yet. Her hair was pulled up into a messy bun and her eyes were less bright than hours before, but she still looked as intimidating as the first time Peter had laid his eyes on her. The sword hanging from her waist probably had something to do with it.

“Peter?”

“Yes?” both Peters answered in unison before looking at each other with raised eyebrows. Gamora couldn’t help the (fairly cute) giggle that escaped her despite her exhaustion and the tense situation.

“I mean the cute Peter” she specified, and Peter moved to make a couple of steps back to let the two grown-ups talk without him snooping on, but Quill’s loud laugh stopped him in his tracks.

“She’s talking to you, man,” he said with a smile before turning back to the holographic screen, and Peter blushed furiously.

“We got your room all set up,” Gamora told him, mercifully ignoring his blush “And I can also give you one of Peter's shirts to sleep in, if you’d like” she then looked him up and down with a tiny smile, reconsidering her decision “Or one of mine”

To be fair, Quill was massive compared to him, so he didn’t take it as an offence. He was also pretty sure Gamora didn’t remotely mean for it to be an offence to begin with.

“Yes, thank you,” he replied, looking down at himself and wincing. He had forgotten he was still wearing his normal clothes and two suits over them, but it had been making his skin itch all day “I would really like that”

Gamora smiled again before she turned to Quill, and Peter took the occasion to retrieve his space suit. Rocket had made it out to be something very important when he gave one to each member of their ill-assorted group hours before, and he didn’t want to forget where he left it.

“All set?” asked Quill, finally turning his back to the screen to face Gamora.

“More or less,” she replied, as he scrubbed a hand over his face, obviously tired “Valkyrie drank all of Rocket’s liquor and passed out on the floor, and Strange is floating over his bed” she shrugged “I’ve been told both things are normal"

Quill smirked, amused, “Good, that way Rocket will have fewer chances of drinking himself to death. Is Stark okay?”

Peter’s anxiety perked up at the name, “Wait, what happened to him?”

Both adults turned to him, and simultaneously gave him a pair of comforting smiles. Which would’ve probably been more reassuring if they hadn’t been so scarily coordinated.

“He’s okay, he just seemed very frightened by,” Gamora made a vague gesture towards the wide window and space outside of it “All of this. Mantis offered to help him calm down and now he’s asleep”

Peter nodded, feeling guilty for not having been there for Tony, but at the same time really thankful that Mantis, someone who could actually help in a situation like that, was.

“He even calmed down enough to remove his suit” added Gamora, almost triumphal, which made Quill snort.

“Alright, time for bed, kid,” said Quill more loudly, to shake them all from the moment, as he gently pushed the teen out of the room “Big day tomorrow, gotta be well rested to kick some ass”

Both Gamora and Peter laughed softly as she led the way out of the cockpit, a reassuring hand on his shoulder that reminded him of May, “Your room is next to Thor’s, and if you need any help falling asleep just ask Mantis, she’ll be happy to help you”

Peter nodded, walking down the stairs into the ship’s belly with Gamora by his side, leaving the main area and a confused Quill muttering under his breath, “Does Thor even sleep?"

As it turned out, space was also loud. Incredibly, unnervingly, loud.

He knew, logically, that it wasn’t space itself that was so noisy- he had studied enough astrophysics to know that- but it was rather the Quadrant that was to be held responsible of the noises that kept him awake. His enhanced senses surely didn’t make the question any easier, but anyone could’ve heard the constant humming and buzzing of the ship, and it wasn’t lulling at all. And even if he had somehow managed to fall asleep at some point during the night, the constant, punctual, ominous roar that would rumble exactly every twenty-five minutes (he had counted each second) from somewhere deep inside the ship was bound to wake him up.

He didn’t want to think about what could be causing it.

So Peter spent most of the night turning and twisting in the bed that had been assigned to him, begging his brain to just please let him fall asleep so he could rest, and quickly hiding under the fluffy covers whenever the roar decided to make its presence clear again. Thor’s obnoxious snores from the room next door were surely comforting, but didn’t help him fall asleep, at all, and when he saw Strange’s astral projection walking down the hallway through a wall he bit his fist to keep from screaming out in surprise.

Space hated him, for some reason.

A tiny, childish part of him was begging him to just put his (alleged) pride aside and sneak into Mr Stark’s room, but even he couldn’t sink that low. Mr Stark needed to rest, especially after such a stressful day, and not to look after a sleepless fifteen-year-old.

He remembered Mantis’ offer to help him rest, but he didn’t want to take advantage of her powers, it just didn’t seem right to him. Sure, she had looked adorably excited when talking about her emphatic abilities earlier, and it seemed like she was happy when people appreciated them, but he felt like asking a total stranger to do something so intimate would have overstepped some boundaries.

Maybe he could knock himself unconscious. Or he could ask Thor to just hit him really hard on the back of his head and make him pass out. Either was fine for him as long as it meant he could sleep.

Or maybe- the logical and vaguely not sleep deprived part of his brain suggested, when the sixth roar since he entered the room rang out, loud enough to wake it up- he could ask the Guardians if they had some sleeping pills designed for humans that he could take.

Yes, that sounded right.

He awkwardly stumbled out of bed- almost tripping over the covers but saving himself from a hard fall on the grated ground thanks to his enhance senses-, put on his shoes that had been unceremoniously thrown in the corner, and tiptoed out of the room and into the corridor. It took him approximately twelve steps to realize he was wearing his shoes on the wrong feet.

Walking down the hallway dressed only in one of Gamora’s long t-shirts and a pair of shorts and trying very hard not to trip over his own feet, Peter made his way to the Guardians’ quarters. On his way to his destination he passed Valkyrie’s room- her snores were louder than Thor’s, if possible- and Mr Stark’s- he could see the arc reactor’s light from the tiny gap under the door and he smiled, comforted by the sight- and if he had to be honest with himself he didn’t really know where he was going, why he was going, and what exactly he was doing with his life in general, but 3 am sleep-deprived askew Peter Parker wasn't really the smartest Peter Parker, and he held none of the blame for that.

He was stopped from keep questioning his life choices when he reached a wide metal door with the faded stylized symbol of a fire drawn over it. It was the room he had seen Mantis disappear into, earlier, so he quietly half-opened it, grimacing at the obnoxious creak it produced, and immediately cursed every god in existence when he peered into the bedroom.

Apparently, Mantis wasn’t the only one who had gotten into that room, as every single Guardian was there, piled onto a large fluffy bed and quietly sleeping, happily unaware of Peter’s turmoils. Gamora was curled up in what he assumed was the middle of the bed (it was so huge it was hard to tell), a calm and serene expression on her face that would have made her look innocent if it wasn’t for the hand under her pillow that he was sure was wrapped around some sort of weapon; Quill was immediately behind her, his face hidden into the warrior’s neck and his arms wrapped tightly around her waist. He knew that Gamora could’ve gotten free of that embrace without effort, if she wanted to, regardless of how bigger Quill was compared to her, but she seemed content in being held by the captain. Curled against Quill’s bended knees- and here Peter was certain he was hallucinating- was Rocket, who was snoring softly, his ears twitching along with his whiskers in response to what he was dreaming about, while Drax had preferred to lay next to Quill facing the ceiling, with his hands on his stomach but his head leaned on his friend’s shoulder, as if he needed that little contact to sleep peacefully.

Kraglin wasn't of the same no-touchy policy as Drax, however, as he snored all wrapped around him, in a position that couldn’t be comfortable. Mantis, on the other hand, was curled up like a cat, facing Gamora; her antennae were glowing softly and Peter could see one of her hands wrapped around the warrior's arm, using her emphatic abilities even as she slept. Groot was the only one of the group that wasn’t laying down, as he preferred to sleep leaning against the wall, but he still had one of his vines wrapped around Mantis’ shoulder, in a slightly detached but still loving way.

The whole scene was so intimate and domestic that Peter felt horrible for prying on it, quickly backing away into the corridor and hoping he didn’t disturb any of the sleeping figures. Of course, he didn’t have such luck.

“Peter?” The boy in question turned around, caught red-handed, and was greeted by Mantis’ big black eyes looking at him confused and exhausted. He felt like a monster for waking her up.

“Hi, sorry,” he rasped back, keeping his voice down and wishing for the ground to just swallow him whole and end his suffering already “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you- I was-“

“You can't sleep?” asked the alien, rubbing her eyes with her free hand while the other remained unmoved around Gamora’s arm.

“I can't,” he confessed, shifting his weight from one foot to the other “I came here to look for some medicine or something that could help me sleep but- I’m sorry, I’ll just go-“

“I could help you sleep” offered Mantis, still whispering, and interrupting Peter’s awkward retreat. He sighed, deciding to just confess his worries to his new friend.

“I didn’t want to disturb you”

Mantis smiled at him adorably, which was a real improvement to her earlier forced grimace.

“It’s no disturb, I’m happy to help people” her smiled faded as she looked down to Gamora, still calmly sleeping “But I can’t move. Gamora was afraid of having nightmares about Thanos, so I offered to keep them at bay, but if I move my hand she-“

“It’s okay,” said Peter, honestly, smiling a bit in reassurance “Really, I’ll find another way to fall asleep, sorry for the trouble” he turned again to leave, but the empath seemed determined on helping him.

“Wait!” she whispered sharply, then tensed as she heard Quill made a soft noise in his sleep. They both held their breath until he went back to his previous snores, mumbling something incomprehensible into Gamora’s hair “You can sleep here with us, where I can reach you”

Peter blinked at her, once. There was a little free space left on the bed, near Groot and Mantis’ feet, where he could probably fit. But it was such a bad idea.

Mantis seemed to catch onto his inner turmoil, “It’s okay, nobody would mind if you did” she reassured him, but he was still hesitant about sneaking into the same bed as a master assassin and someone whose tag name was “The Destroyer”.

And honestly, really, Parker? You have known these people for what, eight hours, and you decide to sneak into their bed just because you can’t sleep? Do you really think that’s going to end well? You barely know their names, for god’s sake, they-

The ship’s punctual roar echoed again, startling him.

Fuck it.

Slowly, and hesitant, Peter made his way into the room, closing the door behind his back as Mantis smiled at him. Tiptoeing to the bed wasn’t a problem, thanks to his enacted sneakiness, as he liked to call it, but once he tried to get on the mattress, it was a different story. The Guardians seemed to feel the lowering of the bed as he carefully sat on it, since Rocket growled softly and Groot made a weird rumbling sound, but once they calmed down he breathed, relaxing his limbs and closing his eyes. He might actually manage to get a few hours of sleep before one of them murdered him. His bet was on Gamora.

Once he had collected his bearings, he turned to Mantis, who had already one hand raised towards him.

“Lay down”, she whispered, and he followed her instructions, placing his head near Quill’s leg and putting his hands on his chest, waiting. Thankfully, there was enough space for him to sleep peacefully, although his feet were dangling down the side of the bed.

Mantis’ face came into vision, and he immediately felt nervous, like he was on a doctor’s examining table. She laid her hand on his forehead and he noticed how cold and soft it was to the touch. He idly wondered if she could feel his emotions right now. Her knowing smile seemed to answer him

“Sleep”, she said, and so he did. 

Chapter Text

Peter Parker wasn’t exaggerating when he stated that that was the best night of sleep he had in his entire damn life. He barely rested for a total of five hours when he slowly started to wake up, the ship’s soft artificial light caressing his face through a tiny crack from the ajar metal door, but he would’ve been lying if he said they weren’t the most well-spent five hours of his short seventeen years experience.

He could vaguely acknowledge a soft and muffled melody reaching his enhanced ears, originating from somewhere else in the ship, and he dumbly smiled with his eyes still closed, happy with it, with himself, and with life in general. He was so out of it in his drug-like sleep haze that it took him a good five minutes to notice that he was draped over Quill’s legs like a high sloth, shamelessly drooling all over the poor man’s sweatpants.

Man, empaths were amazing.

He clumsily lifted himself up- which was easier said than done, gravity was a bad bitch and his newly acquired friend’s legs were so comfortable and inviting looking- then proceeded to look around the bedroom, confusedly and sleepily. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was looking for, and why he had even bothered to wake up when so many other people were still asleep around him, but it was cool, it was all so cool.

His brain lazily recognized Mantis and Groot still asleep in the positions he had seen them five hours before. The only difference was that now Mantis had her hands tightly wrapped around her chest, a small happy smile adorning her face, and her antennae were no longer glowing. As expected, in fact, Gamora’s spot on the bed was vacant, and the empath’ skills were no longer required to be active.

Quill, on the other hand, didn’t seem very content with this unexpected plot twist. The arms were the warrior had been previously sleeping in were now empty, and his hands laid uselessly on the covers, slightly twitching from time to time. He could see that Quill perceived Gamora’s absence in his sleep as he was frowning and muttering something under his breath, visibly unhappy. Rocket, too, was missing from his spot behind the captain’s knees, and Peter idly wondered if his own skinny body thrown over the man’s legs had been replacing that absence.

The other two members of the weird group, however, were still where he had left them during the night, with the tiny difference that now Kraglin was halfway down the bed. He sat up a bit to see in what kind of position the space pirate had managed to put himself into and- yep, that was his head laying cheek-down on the grated floor. That couldn’t be comfortable.

Peter gave himself another couple of minutes to try to invoke all of his strength and will before he sat up and put his feet on the floor. If he was awake then there was no point in wasting precious time, and he really wanted to know where that melody was coming from.

He stood up and made a move for the exit door, and only then did he remember that he was still wearing his shoes in the wrong order. The grated floor happily welcomed him, cutting into his skin.

Yep, not comfortable at all.

He quickly pulled himself up and glanced back at the Guardians. None of them seemed to have been bothered by the dead weight of the teen hitting the floor. He took off his shoes and flipped them, before more safely heading outside the bedroom.

Before proceeding in his quest to find the source of the melody he made a quick trip to the bathroom- which he managed to find only thanks to a miracle, probably- where he cleaned himself up with splashes of cold water that not only woke him up a bit, but also made him realize exactly how dishevelled he was. Gamora' shirt had been ruffled during the night, and the foreign logo on it was all crumpled, his left cheek was now showing off a couple of red lines from his earlier adventure with the floor, and his hair was a mess. There was absolutely no hope in fixing all of that up in a bathroom where he could barely find the trigger for the cold water.

He shrugged, deciding that if the whole universe was going to end then his looks surely weren’t going to matter, left the bathroom and walked towards the sound, with absolutely no idea where he was going. The nearer he got, the clearer the melody made itself, though, and he smiled, recognizing it as an Aerosmith song.

“You talk about things that nobody cares, you're wearing out things that nobody wears. You're calling my name but I gotta make clear, I can't say baby where I'll be in a year"

The song put him in such a good room that he momentarily forgot about his dishevelled state as he happily walked into the room it was coming from, and immediately regretted it when four pairs of eyes looked up at him in surprise. He really needed to stop doing that.

Strange was sitting cross-legged directly in front of him, floating over his chair with a cup of some sort of tea-like beverage in his hands. His hair was flawlessly styled and he looked like he just got out of a hairdresser, and a perfectly shaped eyebrow lifted itself up in amusement at Peter’s entrance. Rocket was sitting a couple of seats to his right, disassembling an enormous metallic object on the kitchen’s (Peter decided it was a kitchen, it looked like what he would imagine a spaceship kitchen to look like) table; he didn’t even glance up to acknowledge the teen.

Thor sat at the end of the table, near Strange, and although he looked as handsome as ever, he had the clear shape of a pillow stamped on his face, which somehow made him look more human, regardless of how imposing he was trying to look in his seat, as he regarded the teen with a simple nod. Peter also noticed that the eye patch he had been wearing the day before was gone and replaced by a brown eye. He feared to ask where and how he got it.

The other end of the table was occupied by Gamora, who was smiling at him in a soft, motherly manner. She looked impeccable, her colourful hair cascading on her shoulders and her warrior clothes were back on, minus the long coat, and Peter found himself smiling back at her.

“Good morning,” she said, when he had been standing there in the threshold for a stupidly long amount of time “I hope you slept well”

Peter’s stomach dropped, realizing with a start that she was referring to the fact that he had sneaked into her and her teammates’ bed to rest. That must’ve been an awkward discovery for her, and he was glad he had been asleep when it happened.

“Y-yeah” he squeaked, his cheek as red as the logo on his- her- shirt. Strange took a sip of his tea with a badly contained smirk while Thor just lifted an eyebrow in amusement “Yeah I did, thanks, Ms Gamora”

Okay- where the hell did that come from?

Gamora didn’t seem bothered by his embarrassment as she just smiled, before standing up to walk over to the kitchen cabinets.

“Do you want anything to eat? We should have some Terran-like snacks somewhere here, if Peter didn’t already eat all of them”

It was just then that he realized just how hungry he was. The anxiety and stress of the day had completely overridden his basic needs, as it had been way too long since last time he ate something.

“Yes, thank you” he answered again, dumbly, as he sat down at the table, directly in front of Rocket and his handiwork. He couldn’t understand what the racoon was working on, but the way his tiny paws moved quickly over the metal object in front of him, disassembling and reassembling bits and pieces of it, was mesmerizing.

Rocket seemed to sense his curiosity as he glanced up to shoot him A Look. Uppercases needed.

“Don’t touch it,” he grunted, although Peter didn't really plan on getting his hands anywhere near it. It was emitting a soft hissing sound and an orange light keep blinking somewhere inside of it “It’s a bomb”

He didn’t expect that. And neither did Thor, apparently.

“What are you building a bomb for, rabbit?” he asked, eying his work with suspicion. Rocket didn’t react to the name while Strange murmured, “He’s a racoon, not a rabbit” directed to the Asgardian.

“Don’t call me that.” he said shortly to Strange, and the wizard seemed taken aback by his tone of voice, before he addressed Thor “I don’t know about the rest of you bunch, but if I have to go against a maniacal douchebag I would rather do it with the right equipment. Also, we might come across some moon on our way to our death and I would really like to-“

“For the last time, Rocket” interjected Gamora, coming back to the table with a plate full of food for Peter. His eyes actually sparkled at the sight of it- the colours and shapes were alien looking but it seemed like his breakfast was going to be made up of granola bars, biscuits, and some sort of juice. He gladly accepted the plate and thanked the warrior, who smiled back at him “We’re not blowing up any moon”

Rocket’s ears actually dropped at that, and he went back to his work.

“Aye aye, captain”

Gamora shook her head at him and sat back in her seat as Peter tried his best not to eat the granola bars too eagerly. He already looked like a mess, no need to make it worse. Strange put his cup down after Rocket’s last comment and turned to Gamora, still floating.

“So, I really got to ask-“ he said, looking confused “which one of you is the captain?”

The question seemed to surprise Gamora, but not in a negative way. It surprised Peter too, as he could clearly remember Quill introducing himself as the ship’s captain when they first met. Maybe he had been the only one listening to him as everyone had already been arguing back then.

“There’s no hierarchy here, that’s not how it works” was Gamora’s simple answer “We usually follow Peter’s lead, if that’s what you’re asking”

“But you seem to have more experience” commented Thor, as Peter munched on a granola bar, curiously listening to the conversation “We’re following your lead with Thanos”

“Yes” agreed the warriors, idly toying with the sword still strapped on her belt “But I’m not a leader, I’m a fighter. Peter was the only one who had a vague idea of how to work as a group when we first met, so we have been following him since then”

“How did you meet?” asked Peter, curiously, and to be fair, quite noisily. It was rather rude of them to ask these kinds of personal questions, but it didn’t look like they had anything better to do- and Gamora didn’t seem against the conversation, either.

Gamora smirked at the question as Rocket snickered under his breath, but they were both kept from answering as another voice joined the conversation.

“Funny story, actually,” said Quill’s voice from behind him, and he whipped around in surprise. He had no idea how someone so big managed to sneak up on him but he was more preoccupied with the fact that he had appeared right as he was minding his and his crew’s business. But he didn’t seem bothered by it or by him as he was looking at Gamora with a soft smile “I was just casually minding my own business, trying to sell an infinity stone, nothing unusual, when this one” he pointed to Gamora in mock annoyance, as she smiled at him “tried to kill me for it, and this one” he nodded to Rocket, who was smirking while pretending to not be listening to the conversation “tried to capture me and sell me to Yondu for a crappy bounty, along with his friend. They both failed and we were sent to the Klyn, where we met Drax when he tried to kill Gamora” Peter almost chocked at that “We met Mantis a while after, when my father tried to kill us”

“Lots of killing” observed Strange, before going back to his tea.

“I told you,” said Gamora, as Quill walked into the room and towards her “I did not plan to kill you”

“I still have a scar from where you threw a knife at me, ‘Mora!” he whined, sitting down on the seat immediately beside the warrior, who was still smirking “That didn’t seem very friendly to me”

“I’m sure she had her reasons” commented Thor, his arms still crossed on his chest like some sort of unmoving talking statue “My brother used to occasionally stab me, from time to time. I guess that was his way to show affection, he never meant to actually kill me, just lightly wound”

“I don’t think that’s the same- wait, what, are you okay-“

“Wait,” Peter lowered his juice with a raised eyebrow, turning to the Asgardian “Isn’t your brother the one behind the attack on New York?”

“He was” nodded Thor, regarding the smaller human “You were already born at the time?”

Rocket snorted so hard he almost dropped one of his utensils.

“Hey!” exclaimed Peter, offended, but his protest was drowned by Strange’s exasperated question, “Am I the only sane person on this godforsaken ship?”

“Don’t worry, dear” came a new, familiar voice from the threshold, and Peter immediately lighted up at the sound of it “You’re not alone”

Mr Stark was leaning against the doorframe, curiously looking into the kitchen with a small grin. Although he appeared sleepy and his hair was definitely not at its peak performance, having been obviously ruffled in his sleep, he still held himself casual and nonchalant as ever. He was no longer wearing his suit but rather some comfortable clothes from the previous day that showed off the arc reactor at the centre of his chest. He nodded to every member of his newly formed alliance, in particular to the Guardians, before turning to Peter with a raised eyebrow.

“What the hell are you wearing?” he asked, calmly and curiously. Peter glanced down at his clothes, although remembering about them just then. Gamora was more or less as wide as he was, but she was taller, which resulted in her shirt acting as a nightgown for him. He, without doubt, looked pretty ridiculous.

“I- I didn’t have any clothes to sleep in, so…” he shrugged, in what he hoped was an adorably innocent way, and Tony just lifted an eyebrow, unimpressed. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Thor following the conversation with interest, while Gamora had taken out her sword, switched it open with a soft hissing sound, and was now inspecting it with zest on the table, probably to not pry on the conversation.

“Alright, I’m not gonna question that,” he shrugged, too, before sitting down next to Peter “Are you ready to save the universe? Did you sleep well?”

The teen opened his mouth to answer but Quill beat him to it.

“Oh, I’d say yes” he commented, with a smirk on his lips. He wasn’t looking at them but rather at Gamora, handing her a rag to clean her sword with. The motion seemed so automatic Peter guessed it was a normal part of their morning routine “No doubt about that”

Tony lifted an eyebrow at him, before turning back to his protégé, who was now as red as Strange’s cape.

“I” he gulped, scratching his head under Tony’s questioning look “I may or may not have slept with them”

Strange snorted, and the look on his face said he didn’t do it on purpose.

“I leave you alone for five minutes and you sneak into people’s beds?” asked Mr Stark, incredulous. A low laugh shook Thor at the opposite end of the table.

“This is how you build interplanetary relations” he commented, happily, and Peter wished he could just die right there and then.

“Hey, it’s okay,” said Quill with a small shrug, looking at the teen “I’m glad you at least managed to sleep. And didn’t wake up when Gamora put a knife on your throat”

Tony’s eyes widened comically and Gamora turned around from her work so quickly her hair hit Quill in the face.

“It was an accident!” she exclaimed, her tone apologetic and her eyes wide with worry “It’s just an unconscious instinct, I’m a trained assassin, I couldn’t help it when I felt someone else on the bed”

“This, too, reminds me of Loki,” said Thor, fondly, completely not preoccupied with the topic at hand “And of Natasha, too! Remember when you tried to wake her up from her nap and she tackled you to the floor, Tony? That was truly hilarious”

Tony, on the other hand, looked like he was receiving too much information at once. He looked at Peter, as though to reassure himself that he wasn’t hurt in any way (he wasn’t, he had immediately felt his neck for any kind of cut or bruise but he didn’t find anything of the matter) and then just shrugged.

“It’s way too early for me to be dealing with all of this” he sighed, and Quill chuckled.

“Nobody got hurt, anyway” he reassured them, as Gamora relaxed and went back to polishing her sword “Had you been a real threat, you wouldn’t be here to tell the story”

Peter couldn’t tell if he was reassured that he slept with someone able to do that, or terrified.

They were all silent for a couple of minutes, each of them lost in their little world. Strange had now finished his tea and proceeded to refill his cup with his magic (Peter was fairly sure he shouldn’t be doing that with an infinity stone), and Quill was now curiously inspecting Gamora’s hair, playing with a couple of strands before picking the smaller ones of the bunch and starting a little braid with them. His hands were big and callous but they worked swiftly and expertly on the warrior’s hair, who smiled fondly while not lifting her gaze from her sword.

Tony, on the other hand, seemed nervous, as his leg kept bouncing up and down and his hands were worrying at one of the granola bars on Peter’s plate. Peter was about to offer it to him when he cleaned his throat, turning to Gamora and Quill almost solemnly.

“I wanted to apologize, for yesterday” he started, his tone doing a very bad job of hiding the guilt that had caused him to start the conversation. All three of the Guardians were now looking at him, each of them having stopped their respective work “You have been nothing but kind and cooperative with us and I was being a total jerk to you”

“Yes, you were” agreed Strange, and Rocket smirked at him.

“Thank you, Stephen” Tony winked at him as the wizard went back to sipping his tea, then his face became serious again “So, yeah, I’m sorry for doubting your trust, especially yours, Gamora” he made a shaky hand gesture towards the warrior, who just solemnly nodded back at him “I’m glad you didn’t chuck me out, I would’ve totally deserved it”

“Yeah, you would’ve” laughed Quill, but his tone was light, as he kept braiding Gamora’s hair. The woman in question smiled at Tony in a soft, reassuring way.

“It’s okay, Tony,” she said, and Peter realized it was the first time any of them had used Stark’s first name. She retreated her sword and hung it on her belt again, and threw the rag in the general direction of the kitchen sink. It unsurprisingly fell into it without problem “I didn’t expect you to trust me, given my past, so your behaviour was nothing I didn’t anticipate, or went through on different occasions”

Peter felt bad for Gamora, and apparently, Quill did too as he whispered something under his breath that even his enhanced hearing couldn’t catch and that made the warrior smile, “But I’m glad we figured out our differences and managed to work together. I’m honored to be able to fight alongside you in our battle”

The last bit seemed to catch Tony off guard as he made a soft muffled sound and looked down at Peter’s plate. This time he did offer him a granola bar and he gladly accepted, with a small smile and glassy eyes.

“Apology accepted,” said Rocket in front of them, looking at a large piece of metal with judgement before throwing it over his shoulders, causing a loud clattering sound a possibly breaking something in its path “As long as you get me the metal arm of that guy from the video call yesterday”

Tony smirked at him, “I’m afraid I’m not in good enough terms with him to ask for that”

“Also, more importantly, is that one of our cannons that you’re disassembling?” interjected Quill from over Gamora’s shoulder, trying to distract Rocket from any arm-taking plan he might come up with.

“It is”

“Seems fair” the captain shrugged, going back to his work while sticking his tongue out in concentration. The conversation seemed to remind Mr Stark of something as he quickly swallowed down the rest of his granola bar and turned once again towards Quill.

“So, does everyone in space know English?” he asked abruptly, and the straight-forward manner he asked the question suggested that that was something he had been pondering on for a while and that wasn’t giving him peace. Quill looked at him with a mix of amusement and offence written on his face.

“Dude, you have any idea how many planets and systems exist?” he asked, tying Gamora’s braid with a band he conveniently had around his wrist, and Peter was impressed with how good it actually turned out to be. It must be another part of their daily routine “It’s pretty presumptuous to think English is in anyway important here”

Tony raised his hands up in surrender, “Alright, that’s fair, but how is Rascal there speaking the same language as us? Not to mention Bradamante here”

Rocket growled softly while Gamora seemed unfazed by the nickname, and just lifted her hand to point at the back of her neck, “Translator implants. We all have them”

“You have what?” came Strange’ surprised comment from the other side of the table. Apparently, the matter was interesting enough to distract him from his tea-like beverage. Thor just lifted an eyebrow, unimpressed, while both Tony and Peter looked at the aliens with open mouths, their curiosity renewed.

“Oh, my,” said Mr Stark in the same tone one would use on Christmas morning as a kid “Can I…?”

Quill just shrugged in a ‘knock yourself out’ kind of way as he turned back to Gamora and started another braid. Tony and Peter quickly walked over to Quill to inspect the implant, and he leaned his neck to the side to let them have a go at it.

“Oh my, oh my,” said Mr Stark, again, but more softly this time. Strange cranked his head to see what was the deal but didn’t move from his floating sitting position as the other man stared at the tiny white scar on Quill’s neck and the little bump underneath it “This is astonishing, this could revolution communication back on Earth, can you imagine that, Pete?”

“It’s kind of barbaric, though” commented Peter, poking the scar with a finger, earning himself an amused gaze from Gamora “It’s like those microchips vets put on dogs and cats”

“Hey!” Quill covered his neck with a hand, almost protectively, and glared at the two of them, who quickly jumped back at the sudden movement “A bunch of space pirates gave it to me, they weren’t really the kind type”

“Space pirates?” asked Tony, intrigued, as he sat down next to Quill and Peter followed suit. The captain just rolled his eyes and went back to passively-aggressively braiding Gamora’s hair “Please tell us more”

“Does this look like a sleep-over to you? I’m not telling you my life story, man” snapped Quill, but Tony just smirked even more.

“We all slept in your ship, the kid here is dressed in someone else’s pyjamas and you’re doing your girlfriend’s hair” Quill immediately let go of Gamora’s half-made braid and she picked it up to continue “You might as well share it with us, at this point”

“We’re all going to die, anyway” added Strange, very helpfully, before taking another sip of his tea.

The captain groaned loudly, looking at the two members of his team for support. Rocket pretended not to see him while Gamora just said, “We still have a while before Titan, we have to kill the time in some way”

“Alright, alright” sighed Quill, staring at the ceiling as though questioning his life choices “A clan of Ravagers- space pirates, call them as you wish- picked me up in 1988 and kind of raised me from then on, and-“

“Hold up, hold up, hold up-“ Peter couldn’t help but stop him with a hand wave, shocked “You were abducted?”

Quill opened his mouth to answer but Gamora beat him to it, without looking up from her braid, “Yondu wouldn’t consider it the most politically correct term for it”

“Wait, Yondu is the guy you mentioned yesterday, isn’t he?” asked Tony, his eyebrows raised, as shocked as Peter on his side “Does this guy just, go around killing people and abducting children?”

“I did say they’re space pirates, what did you expect?” shrugged Quill, in his and this Yondu character’s defence, “And anyway it’s not like he went around abducting kids all day long, he was asked to do that by my father”

The last part of the sentence was spoken coldly, and Peter could tell that was a subject the captain didn’t particularly enjoy. Strange, apparently, couldn’t.

“The one who tried to kill you? Is your father an alien too?” he asked, intrigued, and Rocket snickered beside him, muttering something under his breath that sounded like “You humies really like to mind other people’s businesses don’t ya”

“Again,” said Gamora, obviously entertained by the whole conversation. She had now finished braiding her hair and was casually leaning against Quill “Not the most correct term for it”

“Yes” answered Quill, who now looked resigned at answering their hosts’ curious questions “I’m part alien. Half human, half celestial-“

“Celestial?” it was Thor’s turn to be surprised, and his sudden voice made Peter jump. He had completely forgotten he was there “You are part celestial?”

The atmosphere visibly shifted, as both Gamora and Quill looked uncomfortable and even Rocket tensed while disassembling the cannon on the table.

“Yes.” answered the captain, flatly. Thor looked amazed, to say the least, his eyes almost sparkling.

“Wait, what’s a celestial?” asked Tony, looking at Strange in search of answers. The wizard just shrugged back at him.

“One of the most powerful cosmic beings” answered Thor, his heterochromatic eyes not moving from Quill, who now looked like he was wishing a black hole would just absorb him whole “They have been here since creation itself, they’re incredibly ancient and mighty and- oh this is magnificent!” he made a sudden motion that almost seemed like a fist bump, "I’ve only heard stories of celestials, I would be honoured to meet your father and fight alongside him in our battle against Thanos!”

Gamora and Quill’s faces reached peak uneasiness and they looked like two parents who didn’t know how to tell their kid that Santa isn’t real. Fortunately, Rocket beat them to it.

“We killed him,” he said, shortly, as Thor’s smile fell and all eyes turned to him. He didn’t lift his own eyes from his work but seemed to sense their hosts’ confusion, “Mighty or not, the dude was a dick. He wanted to destroy the universe and rewrite it to his likeness by using Pete” he finally looked up and straight into Thor’s eyes “So we killed ‘im”

The room was silent for an uncomfortable amount of time until Tony decided to break the tension by muttering, “And I thought I had daddy issues"

Both Peters couldn’t help but laugh, the younger one muffling it with a cough while the older didn’t even try to hide it, and Thor rolled his eyes.

“For a moment I had hope we could defeat Thanos, but looks like we will really die” he sat back in his chair and crossed his arms, annoyed.

“Hey, I think we’re missing a very important passage, here” commented Peter, nodding at Quill and Gamora “If they killed one of the most powerful beings in the universe who says they can’t kill Thanos?"

“To be fair, all we did was distract him and keep him busy” explained Quill, absently running a hand up and down Gamora’s arm, which had suddenly tensed up at the mention of their enemy “It was Groot who killed him”

“Amazing” deadpanned Strange, as his cloak straightened itself in annoyance, “I’m on a spaceship with a murderous tree”

“He’s not the only murderous person here you should be worried about” commented Quill, and as if on cue Kraglin suddenly walked into the room -Peter had to keep himself from jumping onto the wall in surprise-, looking concerned and slightly dishevelled. He was dressed into his fighting clothes, with his Yaka arrow- that’s how he had called it the day before while showing it off to an amazed Peter- hanging from his belt, and the mark of the grated floor still on his cheek, although it was barely visible now. He stared straight at Quill and swallowed hard, without looking at anyone else.

“We’re fifteen minutes away from Titan, Pete”

Silence fell over the room. Even Rocket’s work stopped completely and went quiet. They all knew Titan was their destination, and Thanos their job of the day, but they never expected it to reach them so quickly.

Terror settled into Peter’s stomach- he didn’t want to do this, why did he decide to join Mr Stark, he really wanted to be home- and he could see that it was starting to grip Tony too. His face had gone pale, just like Kraglin’s, and his hands were starting to shake in anxiety. Strange, too, had worry written all over his face, as he lowered himself on his chair while looking at Tony, probably in search of reassurance, or hoping to offer it.

Thor was the only one who didn’t seem scared, but rather looked eager to start the battle. His gaze was hard and his jaw was set, his fists tightening involuntarily. All of them looked up at the Guardians, awaiting instructions.

Quill had now gone as pale as Tony and Kraglin, and Peter took that as a very bad sign. As May had once told him, if you’re unsure about a flight all you have to do is look at the stewardesses: as long as they are smiling, everything is fine. The metaphorical stewardesses of this metaphorical plane were not smiling, they seemed as concerned as the rest of them, and Peter knew that was not going to be a safe flight for any of them.

Gamora too, seemed gripped by terror, although she did a very good job of hiding it. She set her jaw and gripped Quill’s hand to ground him, or maybe ground herself, before nodding, once. That seemed to steer the captain forward, as he squared his shoulders, stood up, and looked at everyone in the room, still frozen in their seats.

“Go suit up,” he said, with a tone of steel, his eyes hard and no longer playful “We got some ass to kick"