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“It’s not morning yet,” Yondu grumbled, “Go back to sleep.”
Peter nudged him again. “I heard something.”
Yondu peeked open an eye at the boy, internally groaning and wondering if he had honestly woken him up because he had a nightmare. Peter’s features were illuminated by the faint glow of the fire they had built out in the forest, having had to hike away from the ship in search of a rare and poisonous flower they had been contracted to retrieve. He looked worried, but then again, when did the kid not? That look seemed almost permanently etched in his features the whole week he’d been with them now. Hopefully he’d outgrow that soon. “Gef’s on watch,” Yondu told him gruffly, “If there was anythin’ out there he’d have seen it.” He then turned over and attempted to go back to sleep.
“Gef fell asleep.” Peter retorted, shaking Yondu gently by the shoulder.
Now Yondu sat up in annoyance. Not only was the boy waking him up, but that dumbass Gef had fallen asleep on watch duty. He looked over the sleeping bodies of his crewmen, and sure enough, there was Gef. Fast asleep against the trunk of a tree instead of keeping watch and looking over the fire. Speaking of which, had died down to mostly embers in its neglect, which explained why the light had grown so faint. Damn liability, Gef was. Yondu wondered why he kept him around. He considered throwing a shoe at Gef’s head to wake him up, but decided against it. He was probably more useful asleep, dumb as he was.
Yondu sighed and rubbed his face before looking at Peter. “Alright boy, what’d ya hear?”
A branch snapped in the distance and little Peter jumped. “That!” he whispered-yelled, “I think there’s something out there!”
Exhaling out his nose in annoyance, Yondu had to admit the boy might be right. He pulled his boots on, grabbed his blaster, and told Peter to stay put as he quietly moved towards the sound.
Did the boy listen? Of course not. Yondu had gotten perhaps only a few meters away when Peter, who had been trailing quietly behind him, managed to stumble and fall into the Ravager Captain.
Yondu didn’t cry out, to his credit, but he did jump with a start and turned, grabbing Peter by the collar when he saw who the offender was. “Thought I told ya to stay out!” he growled.
“Buddy system!” the boy insisted in a whisper.
Yondu blinked at him.
Peter then explained how his grandpa always stressed the buddy system when he’d taken him camping a couple times. Never leave the campsite without a buddy, he’d say.
Yondu frowned and released the boy. Sure, that wasn’t what he usually called it, but it was something he had meant to teach the boy anyway so he wouldn’t get lost. If he already knew it, he wasn’t going to make him unlearn it by telling him to turn back now. He wordlessly turned back around to scan his surroundings, prepared to tell Peter there was nothing there so they could both go back to sleep, after he woke up the next person in line to replace Gef’s lazy ass on watch, of course.
A couple more twigs snapped and some leaves rustled. Damn. There actually was something out there. Yondu only hoped it was something small and harmless. He wasn’t in the mood to be shooting anything big or predatory. Still, he aimed his blaster in the direction of the sound, prepared to shoot. He could feel Peter’s little hands clutching at his shirt as he hid behind him. That was another thing he needed to teach the boy. Ravagers don’t cower in the face of danger. But that was a lesson for later, when it was daylight and he had finished sleeping, for one.
It was both a relief and a surprise when it was Kraglin who came out of the bushes, and boy was he surprised to see his captain pointing a gun at him.
Kraglin’s hands immediately flew up in a gesture of surrender, any previous sleepy-ness he might have had now gone as his eyes widened and he halted in his tracks with a startled choked cry.
Yondu lowered his blaster. “Dammit, boy! What’re ya doing? Ya scared the kid.” He gestured to Peter, who had now stepped out from behind him sheepishly once he realized there hadn’t been a monster, only Kraglin.
“Just went to take a leak, Cap'n.” Kraglin stammered as he put his arms down, still a little rattled from what he had come back to.
Yondu sighed. He couldn’t really fault him for that. Instead he turned his attention to Peter. “Did ya not think to look and see if anyone was missing before ya woke me up for this, boy?”
Peter pouted. “Well… you didn’t either!” he retorted, crossing his arms.
Yondu narrowed his eyes. The kid had him there. Didn’t mean he was going to admit it, though. After a moment he settled on, “Just go back to sleep, brat,” and turned to walk back to the campsite.
“Um… Yondu?” Peter spoke up shyly.
Yondu rolled his eyes and turned back. “What now?”
He winced slightly. “I um… I need to go to the bathroom…”
Yondu rubbed a hand down his face and sighed. He just knew that was the kid’s way of telling him he wanted a “buddy” to go with him because it was too dark or some shit. He stared at the boy for a second before looking to Kraglin, who hadn’t quite yet closed the distance between them. He then grabbed Peter by the shoulder and shoved him in Kraglin’s direction saying, “Yer takin’ him.”
“But-” Kraglin started.
Yondu cut him off with just the words, “Buddy system,” as he walked away, leaving his now confused first mate to take care of the problem.