Chapter Text
"It's not that bad, we're gonna get out of here," Peter said, turning his head from one side to the other to look at all of his teammates. The chains holding him up caused his arms to become sore, but he managed to pull through.
"We're captured, hangin' by our wrists in chains that I can't even find a way out of, an' you're saying we're gonna get outta here! If you haven't noticed, that's impossible, Star-Dick!" Rocket shouted.
"Quiet down in there, scum!" A guard shouted from higher up. A silence fell over the makeshift dungeon that held the guardians.
"Anyways, we're getting outta here," Peter said again. "I sent out a distress call--"
"To who?! How!?" Rocket went back to being loud again.
"Well, that green bracelet that I have, Yondu gave it to me when I went solo, he said if I needed him to just send a call and--"
"You called a bunch of Ravagers, who wanted to kill you last time we saw them, to come get us!? We're already captured and cuffed, go ahead and give them an easy kill!"
"No." Peter shook his head and corrected Rocket, "I called my dad to come help me. But if you're sooo keen on dying today, im sure he wouldn't mind killing you with an arrow or two to the skull!"
"Enough, both of you." Drax huffed loudly. "If Quill really did call for help, we should be thankful that we will not die here today. However, I just wish he would've made a more sensible decision and called from someone who would actually help us."
"Hey! What do you guys have against Yondu?!"
"He was going to kill you," Gamora said, finally speaking up and lifting her head. "And possibly the rest of us, too. You traded the orb out on him and gave it to Nova Prime. Perhaps you really did lead yourself straight to death."
"You guys don't understand," Peter sighed.
"Understand what?"
"That--" Peter's reply was cut off by a loud, familiar battle cry ringing out above them. The others squinted up at the grated ceiling of the dungeon, and Peter grinned. "Yondu!"
Above them, the guards leaped in to action to fight against the intruder, but a sharp whistle put them to their dooms.
"Yondu! We're down here!" Peter shouted, grin growing as the blue figure, with extraordinary strength, ripped the grate off the floor and dropped down in to the room that held the group. "We're saved!"
"Thought you were dead, boy," Yondu said with a frown. Peter hadn't heard him speak with such emotion in years. "I saw the Milano..."
"Yeah, I know," Peter nodded, flinching slightly when the captain busted the cuffs around his wrists with his bare hands. Peter dropped the few inches down to the floor and rolled his shoulders to get rid of the ache in his arms. "Got smashed up pretty badly. It's a shame, we just had it fixed up all nice and new." The younger of the two stood to his full height and took a deep breath. "It's a miracle we survived getting shout out of the sky."
"I scouted the rubble, didn't find any bodies. Did, however, find this guy," Yondu reached into one of the inner pockets of his trench coat and gently removed a miniature Groot. "He told me ya lot were still alive. Was gonna come in here an' slay every last one of 'em if they'd killed ya."
"I am Groot!" The tree squeaked, flailing his tiny arms happily.
"Look, we get it! Now, shove all your gross happy family reunion feelings aside and get us outta here!" Rocket shouted.
--------
"Did you bring the Bird!? Please tell me you brought the Bird!?" Peter asked excitedly, using his element gun fire away at anyone who had the misfortune of coming close.
"I brought the Bird," Yondu confirmed, whistling his arrow about.
The Bird was one of Yondu's three ships; It's official title being the War Bird. It was smaller than the average M-Ship, and, when looked at from above, it looked like a metal bird with long wings.
Out of all the ships that'd been stored on the Elector, Yondu and Peter had the largest. The Milano, along with a select few of other ships, was designed to be a somewhat smaller model of Yondu's own M-ship. Of course, after being rebuilt, the Milano was larger that the Captain's red-and-purple hunk of metal. Kraglin, Horuz, and the rest of the Ravagers had smaller, sleeker ships that resembled the War Bird. The War Bird's main body was smaller than that of the other ships', but it's wings were longer. And the two large, circular spots on either side of the ship's pointed beak formed the appearance of an angry owl-like bird. It was Peter's favorite ship (besides the Milano, of course.)
Yondu's third ship was a stealth ship that Peter was not allowed to touch. The Terran had a tendency for destroying things, and that ship was very important to Yondu.
"I also had Kraglin tow your busted ship back to the Elector. You can piece it back together there," Yondu said, taking hold of his arrow and throwing it like a spear. "Use your gun to clear us a path. Bird's just outside those double doors."
"You seriously just parked your ship on their front lawn and busted in here, didn't you?" Peter chuckled, switching the element on his gun to ice and freezing everything and everyone in front of them. Rocket raced passed them on all fours, Groot clinging on to his back, and mumbled about the ice numbing his paws. His claws left dents in the ice from where he had to dig them in to keep from sliding across the floor.
"I thought they'd enjoy a little company," Yondu replied sarcastically, whistling his arrow back into it's holster and following Peter and Rocket out the doors with Drax and Gamora directly behind them.
"Shit, shit, shit!" Peter hit the brakes, nearly causing Yondu to run in to him. On the other side of the door stood a large guard, and before Peter had time to do anything, the man swung out with his stun baton, hitting Peter in the side. When Peter hunched over in surprise, he swung upward and presses the end of the baton against the soft skin between Peter's eyes, causing Peter's face to flush red as he yelled in pain. "I can't see anything!"
"Hey, now that ain't fair. Ya so eager to go an' zap his eyes out and he ain't even shot at you yet," Yondu grumbled, launching himself forward and wasting no time bringing the man to the ground and snapping his neck. "You alright, boy?"
"I can't see!" Peter forced his eyes to stay shut, gritting his teeth through the pain. "I just--ah--it fucking burns."
"You'll be okay, kid. Just hang in there," Yondu assured as he tossed Peter over his shoulder and sprinted the next few paces in to his ship with the others running after him. Luckily, there was no other guards attempting to stop their escape, so he set Peter down in the corner and set coordinates for the Elector.
"It hurts so bad– fuck! It burns!" Peter blindly rubbed at his eyes.
"Stop touchin' it before you make it worse," Yondu said, working on getting the War Bird off the planet.
"I'm blind!" Peter cried out.
"It's only temporary, ya brat. Now stop before you poke your damn eyes out!"
Reluctantly, Peter pulled his hands away from his face and blinked open his eyes. "It's like looking through a pair of very dark sunglasses."
"It'll be that way for a couple've hours. You'll be fine." Once out in open space, Yondu switched to autopilot and moved to kneel in front of Peter. "Maybe you can get your girlfriend to help you about."
"Gamora's not my girlfriend!" Peter said, hiding his flushed face behind his hands.
"I'm messin' with ya, kid," Yondu settled himself on the floor beside Peter. The shuffling sound of the others, and the large blurry blobs in his vision alerted him that the others also sat on the floor, forming a circle. Peter wasn't sure why, when there was a perfectly good table and chairs to sit at.
"Isn't anyone else a little bit weirded out?" Rocket asked. "Im pretty sure Yondu wanted to kill him last time."
Yondu bit down on his sleeve to muffle his laughter. When a brief moment of calm washed over him, he pulled his arm away from his face, "Kill? Anyone who actually believes I'd kill Quill over an orb after all that happened must have a degree in stupidity."
Gamora interjected, "But you said--"
"I know what I said, girl."
Peter nodded beside Yondu, "Dad's spent the last 20 years saying he was gonna kill me every time I pissed him off. Most of the time, it was when I was a teenager. I was a barbarian."
"He was. Everyone wanted to strangle him on a daily basis, an' he did the stupidest things," Yondu chuckled.
"He has not changed much," Drax said with a smile.
"Oh my god!" Peter sat up "Did Drax just make a joke!?"
"I did, friend Quill."
"Speakin of young Pete," Yondu started, "Did'ja know he used to be terrified of the dark? And he cried a lot."
"Dad, no," Peter frowned on Yondu's direction, but Rocket shut him up.
"Wait, tell us more."
"He used to be scared of the other Ravagers, too. He cried when they joked about eatin' him," the Centuarian reached over and ruffled Peter's hair. "An' when he was real little, he used to hide in the flaps of my coat."
Peter blushed and hid himself behind the collar of his jacket, like a turtle curling into the safety of it's shell, "I did not!"
"Did too. But there was this one time," Yondu chuckled at the thought. "Quill wasn't older than 17--"
"No!" Peter shoved himself in the direction of Yondu's voice, successfully knocking the man over. "Do not tell them that story! Please! If you're gonna sit around and tell my embarrassing childhood stories, do NOT tell them that one."
Yondu had already been laughing at the thought of the memory, and Peter's pleading face only made him laugh harder.
Once he brought himself back under control, he propped himself back up against the wall, Peter leaning on him.
"If hearing the story is invading Quill's privacy, perhaps we should not," Drax said, casting his white eyes in Peter's direction.
"Aw, c'mon! I wanna know what happened!" Rocket protested.
"I am Groot!" The flora colossus waved his tiny arms about.
"What'dya mean stay outta his business?! It's an embarrassing story about Quill, I wanna hear it! I wanna hear all of them!" Rocket replied to the tree.
"That story is for another time," Peter said, pillowing his head on Yondu's shoulder. "A time when you won't all laugh and make fun of me."
"Well I guess we're never gonna get to hear that story," Rocket said with a huff. "But I'm sure there's hundreds of other stories we could hear. Hell, we've even got some to share ourselves!"
"I can't even see your facial expression, but I know you're smirking!"
"Shut up, Peter. I gotta tell Yondu about what you did two weeks ago!"
----
The next few hours had been spent trading embarrassing Peter stories while they waited for the Terran's eyesight to slowly return to normal.
By then, they'd all began to grow tired.
"Sleep space is limited. This ship's only got two sleepin' rooms. One's mine, the rest of you can figure out how to divide the other one among yourselves," Yondu said, standing up and stretching his sore limbs. "It's a particularly small room with one equally small bed, so...y'all are pretty much fucked. G'night."
Peter rolled his eyes as the man strolled to his room and left the group sitting in a circle on the floor.
"I guess we should sleep now," Peter said, getting up. "I'll grab us some blankets from the other room."
The others laid themselves out on the floor, awaiting Peter's return. It was silently decided that they would just sleep where they were rather than squeeze themselves into the tiny room.
"These are probably the softest blankets you will ever sleep on," Peter said, dumping three blankets and multiple pillows on Drax. "Yondu keeps the best quality stuff on all his ships. You guys should see his M-Ship, the purple and red one. Everything in there is top brand. And he didn't steal any of it, if that's what you're thinking."
Together, the five built a makeshift nest of pillows and blankets (Peter had to run and grab several more blankets).
"Are you sure he didn't steal all of this?" Rocket asked, raising a fuzzy brow.
"He didn't. I promise you," Peter laid down between Drax and Gamora. "Yondu doesn't need to steal stuff, guys. He's actually rich. He has millions of units."
"Millions!?"
"Yeah. He doesn't share 'em with anyone, though. He's got them all stashed up."
"Then why does he steal things?" Rocket Questioned. "Does he not know he's rich!?"
"Because stealing is fun," Peter said, folding his arms behind his head. "Also, he's stolen a chunk of that money, so..."
"He leads a crew of thieves."
"Yes. When people join the Ravagers, they don't do it because Yondu promises them a life of luxury. They do it because they're misfits who are looking for a place to finally fit in. They probably don't have a family, and they don't mind stealing things and becoming part of a crew. Everyone gets their share of money from missions, anyways, so they can spend it how they like, or hoard it all and become as rich as their captain someday. The Ravagers have a reputation for being thieves and junkers, and all-around savages. The captain deciding to be generous and sharing his money with everyone so that they'd all live like kings without hard work or adding on to that reputation would defeat the whole purpose of the Ravagers." Peter shrugged and pulled a blanket around himself. His comm bracelet flashed with an incoming message, and he lifted his wrist to his face to read it.
It was from Yondu.
'learn how to whisper you jackass. they can probably hear you all the way in the next galaxy'
The screen flashed again with a second message
'or you could just shut the fuck up and go to sleep too'
Peter blushed lightly, feeling like a kid who got reprimanded for being too loud during a sleepover (which is pretty much what really just happened).
'Fuck off old man' Peter sent back before rolling over on his side and curling up to sleep. Gamora pressed against him from behind and slung her arm over him, also hunkering down for sleep. He was wedged between Drax's solid side, and Gamora's thin frame, but that only made him feel content and comfortable. A few moments later, the warm weight of Rocket crawling over him notified Peter that the not-raccoon was joining the puppy pile. He settled for curling around Groot on top of Drax's chest.
It looked awkward and uncomfortable to an outsider, but it was they way they slept while they were all in close quarters. It made them all feel safer. Peter always slept curled up, it had always made him feel protected to curl himself up underneath a blanket with his face hidden in his forearms while he slept. Gamora, with her arm slung around Peter, felt as if she was protecting her Terran from any danger that might come in the night. Rocket slept on top of them most of the time when they puppy-piled. His ears were trained to pick up on any unusual and threatening noises, even while he slept, while his body curled around tiny Groot, who didn't really sleep, but dozed and kept his eyes shut from time to time. Drax slept somewhat normally. The only thing was that he had one arm stretched out, to allow Peter and Gamora room to ball up against him. He slept like that so it was easy for him to jump up and into battle if anyone every attacked them while they slept. He'd already lost one family, he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he lost this one because he was unprepared to defend them.
The sleep pile/position was a shock to Yondu, who'd come out of his room in search of a good beer. He didn't expect them to be the type of people to sleep grouped together like that, seeing as they were all pretty psychotic and sometimes looked as if they would slit each other's throats out of rage. It was kind of...cute. Unexpected, but cute.
From the top of the pile, Groot straightened himself from his slouched position and looked over, waving happily and causing his whole body to sway from side to side.
He definitely needed a picture. Especially for blackmail. The way Gamora was spooning the hell out of Peter would totally help his side of the argument— she was obviously his girlfriend. No matter what Peter said. Who else would be able to be spooned by Gamora, the most dangerous woman in the galaxy, dance with her, french braid her hair (there's no doubt that Peter french braids her hair), and hug her, other than her own boyfriend? No one, duh.
He quickly took the picture, chuckling to himself as he did so, then waved bye to Groot as he returned to his room. The been could wait til later (he wasn't up for wall-crawling around the group to get to the fridge). And he still had to make a call to Kraglin and let the first mate know approximately when they'd arrive to the Elector.