Chapter Text
"What did you do to him!?" Yondu shot a glare at the Guardians of the Galaxy. In Drax's arms, there was a small child with a mop of orange-y blonde hair and a pair of unmistakable, large, green eyes. The Centuarian Ravager wasted no time in getting the child from Drax, who gently handed him over.
"It ain't our fault!" Rocket snapped, flicking his tail. "You know how Quill is! Always diving headfirst in to trouble!"
"And what do you want me to do about it!?" Yondu raises a brow and placed child-Peter on his hip.
"Papa!" Peter mumbled happily, latching on to Yondu with his short arms and legs.
"I don't know, find a way to reverse it!? He ain't completely gone, he remembers us, he just aint...all there," Rocket huffed "We tried everything, we don't know what to do."
"He has hardly spoken, we don't know if he is capable of actually speaking completely. We were in the midst of a battle, and Peter disappeared. When we found him, he was like this. We are also unable to determine his age," Gamora informed, stepping up to stop Rocket from continuing his rant. "He does, like Rocket mentioned, remember us, which is good."
"He understands us when we speak, which is also good. And he is most certainly old enough to run away and get lost," Drax said, shooting a small glare at Peter.
"Oops," the child said with a giggle.
"We had to chase him down a couple'a times," Rocket nodded.
"I ain't never trustin' ya with my boy again," Yondu said after a moment.
"Yeah, well, whatever. Can you find a way to fix it? We ain't exactly gonna go to the Nova Corps on Xandar and have everyone know what happened. And we kinda need our team leader back!" The Raccoon snapped.
"And you're sure this ain't no joke?"
"Why would we lie about something like this?" Drax questioned, the other three nodded in agreement.
"I'll...see what I can do. There's some kinds of strange things that ain't got a way to fix 'em, and this...might be one of them. Now get the hell off my ship, you lot of trash."
----
Yondu held Peter on his hip as he strolled down the walkway toward his quarters, thinking of a way to alert the crew of the situation.
No doubt they'd melt at the sight of a tiny child onboard, like the lot of weaklings they are. He himself was taking in this situation surprisingly well, at least he thought he was. Nothing bad had happened so far, which was good.
"Kagun!" Peter exclaimed, reaching a small hand out and pointing behind Yondu.
"Huh?" The captain raised and eyebrow and tuned around to find Kraglin sprinting after them. "Oh."
"Sir! Please tell me you did NOT steal someone's kid again!"
"What?! No!"
"Put it back where you got it from!"
"Kraglin--"
"Why would you steal another kid!?"
"Krag--"
"Children come from the deepest corner of hell."
"That's great an' all that you think that way, Krag, but please shut that jagged trap o'yours and let me explain."
—–-•-–—
"Oh," Kraglin said when Yondu had finished explaining, looking down at Peter who was trying to wriggle his way out of Yondu's arms. "So you basically just stole the same kid over again."
"I didn't steal 'im. They handed him over to me like a bunch of cowards," Yondu confirmed, setting Peter on the floor. The toddler made a happy noise and clung to Kraglin's leg, looking up at the man.
"Where'd they get his clothes from?" Kraglin questioned, reaching down to pull the hood of Peter's sweatshirt over the top of his head. Yondu watched with a fond smile as Peter tugged the hood off and caused his mane of hair to jut out in several directions.
"Either they belonged to their pet, or they did the good hero-type thing and bought him some...rather than stealing it."
"Well, at least he can still recognize us, so that's good."
Yondu nodded, "Although, there are quite a bit o'things he cant remember, from what I've put together."
While the pair was engaged in their conversation (about him), Peter took this opportunity to run off.
While he traveled down the nearest hallway, he got to thinking.
They don't know I'm completely fine in my head, he mused. But…Yondu and Kraglin seemed happier than usual when they saw me. They weren't jumping up and down and hooting with joy, but they didn't seem as tense and tough. Who knew they had soft spots for really small kids?
Earlier had been the first time Peter had seen Yondu smile rather than slyly smirk in a long while.
Maybe they like me as a little kid?
He could see why, he was small, adorable, incapable of being a nuisance.
A small smirk spread on to his pudgy face; he could use this to his advantage. They thought he was a kid who had no idea what was going on, but (by chance) remembered who they were. This could be fun.
Before he could pick up his speed and run again, he was scooped up off the ground by Yondu.
"Get back here, Pete!"
The child pouted and wormed around in the captain's arms, trying to get free.
"Where're you going, kid?"
"Away," Peter replied, slumping his shoulders in defeat. He'd almost gotten away, too!
"Ya can't do that."
"Why?" Peter craned his neck back to stare up at Yondu. "I wan to."
"That's too bad," Yondu tossed the boy on go his shoulder and turned the other way.
"Where we go?" Peter questioned placing a hand on Yondu's shoulder blade to steady himself as he lifted his upper body to avoid looking down at the floor beneath them. Yondu was tall. It was scary.
"To sleep. It's late and I'm tired."
—–-•-–—
Getting a toddler to calm down and sleep was way easier said than done. Yondu figured that out the hard way. Trying to settle down a child that had more interest in jumping on the bed rather than sleeping in it was harder work than he'd thought.
"No tired!" Peter exclaimed, landing hard on the bed before being sprung upward toward the ceiling.
"I don't care if you have the energy of a billion stars!" Yondu grunted, plopping down on to the bed beside Peter, who was still happily jumping. "Go to your own room if you're gonna be a hooligan, boy."
"Can't," Peter said, coming down, then going back up again. "Bed not bouncy."
This time, when he came down, Yondu stuck his arm out, hitting Peter's legs and causing the boy to faceplant in to the pillows. "Beds are for sleepin', not jumpin'. If you sleep now, you can spend t'morra jumpin all day long until both your legs break." He wrapped an arm around Peter and dragged him closer. "For now, sleep."
Realizing he was already defeated, Peter sighed, tucking his head under Yondu's chin. "Okay, papa. I sleep."