Work Text:
Another human stolen away from his planet by aliens. She wasn’t the only one it seemed. Though there was a slight difference between Space pirates and the Kree.
“They’re called Ravagers,” corrected Peter Quill. Carol was starting to find him just the tiniest bit ridiculous.
“Still makes them Space Pirates.” Carol shrugged, bouncing her knee. When her fellow avenger, Captain Rogers, had asked if she could ‘mind’ the leader of the Guardians for the afternoon, she had lead with a ‘pffff, how hard could it be?’ It had never occurred to her that Quill had the mindset of an exited child. And had clearly never occurred to Steve either, or she was sure he would have said something beforehand.
Because who on earth rated FOOTLOOSE as the greatest film of all time? It was mediocre at best. And that was being generous, in her opinion.
Quill looked like he wanted to argue, but Carol gave him a smile that basically conveyed the fact that he was not going to win this conversation, no matter how hard he tried. It wasn’t a smirk... not entirely anyway.
Even though Loki said that it was. But what did he know? (Apart from being the master of smirks, and all other derogative facial expressions. Her personal favourite was the one he gave Thor when the blond god wanted to go in for a hug. It could sour milk.)
Quill stirred his coffee, raising an eyebrow. “So... you’ve been in space a while then?”
“Not as long as you, Star-Prince.”
Quill groaned. “Not you too... Please just call me Peter. Or Quill. You pick. No Star-anything.”
“Alright.”
Carol leant back in her chair, taking in just how quiet the kitchen was. She couldn’t even hear the whetstone scraping from the living room anymore. Silence never meant anything good.
She twisted in her seat, trying to peer through the hallway into the room. This was an impossible feat, seeing as the hall made a sharp bend five feet in.
“Loki, are you still there?”
Quill raised an eyebrow. “Why is the God of Mischief in your house?”
Carol ignored him. “Loki? I’m going to come in there and find you if you keep igno-“
“Relax, darling.” The God came walking out of the side door. His clothes impeccable as always in various shades of emerald and black. A fine eyebrow curved, mouth a slight quirk of mirth. “I was merely putting things away.”
“Hmm.”
“Holy shit.” Quill’s face was undergoing a severe change from shock to disbelief. “Please tell me he’s not the Significant Other that Stark was talking about.”
“I do not know this term,” said Loki delicately. There was a slight gleam in his eye. One that usually meant he was considering a stab at the other party.
“Oi, behave,” said Carol, curling a hand about his wrist to draw him to her side. His arm slid lazily about her shoulders, body leaning ever so slightly against her chair.
Quill was openly staring now. “Erm...well... this is unexpected.”
“Don’t strain yourself, Quill.” Carol glanced up at Loki, tugging on his hand so he looked down. “What’s the time?”
He must have known why she asked, but his angular face remained blessedly calm as he said, “About One-Thirty.”
Damn. She had Quill for another two hours. If she didn’t know better, she’d tell Loki that he could use Quill as a knife-throwing target. Or just something to get him out of her hair. Leaving Star-LORD to his coffee for a moment, she tugged her phone out of her jeans and shot a text off to a certain other Captain.
On the group chat. At least she could bother them all at the same time, and make them rue the day they chose her to babysit. (The fact that she had agreed was irrelevant.)
Danvers: I hate you, Steve.
Stark: What’s Cap done now?
Rogers:...This is about Quill, isn’t it?”
Danvers: I was expecting someone with the mental capacity of a GROWN MAN.
Romanoff: He is a bit childish.
Danvers: I blame the Space Pirates
Parker: Wait, Space Pirates? That’s a thing?!?
Danvers: Oh god, Tooonnnnyyy! Who let the kid onto the group chat?
Parker: Hey! Ouch!
Stark: I have no idea.
Stark: Possibly Loki. Seems like something he would do.
She looked up at the God with a glare.
He laughed. “I’m not even on your group chat.”
Right. There was that snag.
Rogers: Didn’t I give you sufficient warning?
Danvers: No. you could have told me how high-maintenance he is. My goddamn brain is aching already. I need to have a chat to the man that raised him.
Rogers: Um. He’s dead.
Shit.
Just her luck.
Danvers: Steve, you owe me one hell of a bottle of scotch for this.
She stuffed her phone into her pocket and sighed. Loki rubbed a thumb across her shoulder, almost absently. Quill took another sip of coffee. The awkward silence stretched on...
Carol couldn’t take it anymore. “Let’s play a boardgame or something.”
Quill looked relieved at the suggestion. “Yeah, sure.”
Loki rolled his eyes. “I’ll keep score for you.”
She gave him a hug. “Thanks, love.”