Jack Daniels x F!Reader
Explicit/18+ (Minors DNI please!)
Current Word Count: 114.5k - ✨ Updated After Each Chapter ✨
Series Tags: Second Chances; Angst; Canon-Typical Violence; Description of Injuries; Fluff; Enemies to Lovers; Enemies to Friends to Lovers; Depictions of Grief, Trauma, PTSD, and Depression; Explicit Sexual Content; Explicit Language.
(Each chapter will have more specific tags)
Work is currently unfinished 💙
"Fallout [noun] - the adverse side effects or results of a situation”.
After being seriously injured during the Golden Circle mission, Jack Daniels must atone for his crimes. Placed on house arrest on Statesman grounds, he must prove to Champ and the rest of the team that he deserves a second chance. But when that day comes, he finds a thorn in his side: Agent Mimosa.
Guardians of the Galaxy fanfic | Reader x Guardians (With Yondu and Kraglin!)
Summary: You leave the house and Rocket decides it's time to find some dirt- but did he find something much worse?
Previous Chapter here | Next Chapter Here
Or click here to: Start From Beginning
Author’s Note: Thank you to @allylin05 for the suggestion of the scene with Peter and Yondu. For my records this chapter ends on day 93 of the Guardians living with reader. Enjoy!
Word Count: 4,505
Sat at the kitchen table that morning you felt... open... for lack of better word, as you ate your cereal.
Open to do something you had previously considered impossible, and honestly you weren't sure why you felt differently about it today, but you did. Maybe it was how you recently allowed yourself to be open to other things, like friendships- even those technically forced upon you. Or, maybe it had a little to do with fear of how you would be left once your newfound friends were gone- but you tried to think on the lighter side.
Regardless of why, today you were going to do it. Right after breakfast, you were going to get ready, take a drive, and do it.
The others did not know what "it" was, nor did you elaborate as you stated you were going out for a drive, and that no, you weren't bringing company with you this time.
While Mantis was disappointed she wouldn't get to leave the house again this time, the others simply shrugged and let you be.
Well, apart from Rocket, that is.
The second you were out the door he gets the idea that he would check your desk to see if (what he assumed was) the attic key was still in your desk. With you gone that'd give him plenty of time to look for dirt- any dirt- that he might be able to use to 'persuade' you into letting him back in the workshop.
With the others all doing their own thing downstairs either watching TV or playing cards he had free access to your room, and he quietly slipped in, opened your desk, and found the key right where he last saw it.
Grabbing it, he quickly but quietly dashed to the attic door and put the key in the lock, hoping it would fit.
The key turned and the lock clicked open. Jackpot.
Rocket wasted no time opening the door and climbing up the stairs, wondering what he might find up there that he could use against you.
Some embarrassing photos or maybe a diary would do nicely, he thought. He only hoped he wouldn't find anything "dirty" of yours, because while it would make good "dirt," he wasn't sure he was necessarily ready to traumatize himself in order to find said dirt if it turned out Terrans weren't as prudish as everyone said.
Once at the top of the stairs Rocket takes in the expansive dusty room full of old boxes and furniture. To his left stood an old sewing mannequin, a chair, and some cardboard boxes. To his right several, larger, cardboard boxes and an old-looking chest. Directly in front of him against the far wall hung some shelves with various paint-cans, old tools, and a couple old lanterns, surrounded by even more boxes, some plastic totes, and another old chest that was about half the size of the first.
Dang- you sure had a lot of crap up here- where should he even start?
Glancing around Rocket decides to try the chest nearest to him, but finds it empty aside from what looked like an old board game, some odd-and-end trinkets, and some loose hair pins. "Candy Land" it said on the box, and it looked well-worn. Nothing really worth looking into, so he set it aside and closed the chest, moving on to the boxes.
Those only revealed some dusty toys and some blankets. Again, nothing worth much, so he closed them and moved on to the other side of the room near the mannequin.
These boxes seemed to just be filled with old clothes of all sizes. Some looked large enough to fit an adult, others looked small enough to fit a child, and several articles of clothing looked like they could fit those in-between.
Rocket rolled his eyes- clearly you never threw anything away if you still had all your old clothes and toys up here from childhood- but none of this was the dirt he was looking for.
He quietly moved his way towards the back of the room, noting that the floor didn't seem at all to be weak in any places like you had claimed early on when you told the others to stay out of the attic because it was dangerous. This only emboldened his belief that he could find dirt on you up here somewhere- why else would you lie to keep them out?
In the plastic totes he only found what appeared to be decorations for various holidays, and so he didn't bother digging much through those.
The chest happened to be locked, so he moved onto the cardboard boxes, reasoning with himself that if he found nothing in the boxes then he'd find a way to unlock the chest.
First box was filled with nothing but some old black-and-white framed photos. Second was just more framed photos- this time in color. Third box was empty aside from a couple neckties.
Fourth box, however, had a couple photo albums. He decided to quickly flip through them to see if any of those would give him the dirt he wanted- but no. A few looked like they might have been photos of you when you were younger- boy did you change your hair a lot when you were a kid! Or maybe those were photos of other children? He couldn't tell, human kids all looked alike to him until they got older and started gaining their own features. Other photos of what he assumed were family or friends, and more of those old black and white photos. He barely skimmed any of them, having already decided the albums weren't going to contain any photographic evidence of you doing anything embarrassing.
Nothing left but to try and unlock the chest then.
Rocket examined the lock and after a moment he thought he could probably jimmy it with one of those hair pins he found in the other chest from before.
After retrieving one of the hair pins he shimmied it into the lock and had it open in no time. Silently cheering his success he carefully opened the lid... and boy did he find his dirt!
No, really. He found jars of just... dirt. Or perhaps it was more like sand?
There were also a cardboard box inside containing few bags with old dirty shoes of various sizes, more tiny clothes (also dirty), more big clothes (again, dirty), which he barely looked at because none of it looked interesting- though he was judging you for keeping a box of filthy clothes.
Returning his gaze to the jars he noticed there were five. Two large ones and three smaller ones, all ornate, and all just... filled with weird grey... sand?
What the hell was this? Even if he knew this would be no use against you as blackmail, it still had him curious. The dirt on Terra wasn't grey- at least not that he'd seen. Maybe it was a regional thing? He wondered what part of Terra it must have come from, and why you'd be keeping it in these jars in the attic.
Well, if the 'blackmail search' was a bust, the least he could do was satisfy his curiosity.
Quietly, and listening to make sure no one else was coming, he quickly made his way down the attic stairs and over to his room. When everyone else was asleep the previous night he went to tinker with his device again, and found to his surprise it was already on and working. Dumbly, he hadn't taken into account that the device would need a little time to warm up after being shut off (not to mention taken apart) for so long.
But now it was fully functional and fully ready to use. Take that, SHIELD! Thinking they could keep him from his data pad and it's (possibly illegally obtained-but that was nobody's business) Universal Virtual Network card.
Now not only could he watch Xandarian movies for free (which were way better than Terran Television, in his opinion) but now he also had access to scan and research literally whatever he wanted without needing to rely on the limited (and sometimes vastly outdated) information in those silly Terran books.
He stashes the device in his jumpsuit and with just as much care as before quickly makes his way back to the attic.
Once back to the chest he scans the contents of one of the jars and waits several moments for the device to tell him what region it was from.
The device beeps and Rocket jumps- cursing himself for not silencing the notifications beforehand. Taking a moment to make sure that his device is completely on silent, he then finally reads what the output was, and raises an eyebrow.
He tries again, with another jar this time and with the added light from one of the lanterns on the shelf- thinking that his device did not get a proper scan.
Same result.
Ok, now he knew the reading must be faulty. he decides to do a manual feed. The optical scanner must have become compromised due to his "transport method."
He opens the port on his device and pokes it into the sand so it could get a proper reading.
Same result.
The blood drains from Rocket's face and he backs away from the chest.
There was no way- right? Why the flark would that be up here?
Suddenly his mind goes back to the box of dirty clothes and shoes and he soon finds himself back in said box, this time properly looking at the bags. The stains all over these clothes- That... wasn't dirt... was it?
He opens one of the bags and pulls out his scanner again. The result is just as he feared.
Rocket's head spins for a moment and he sits on the floor. He- to think he was actually starting to like you! But you- You... YOU! Gah! He just got around to the thought that you were buddies! He thought you were cool- but this? This was not normal.
He was so mad at himself for letting his guard down! He had been right in the first place not to trust you! And now he had to stop you before you struck again.
But how? He knew the others would never believe him without proof... how could he show them proof?
He smacked himself in the forehead- of course! He just needed to show them the results on the data pad! They couldn't be mad at him for smuggling it in if it saved their lives!
He better save the readings just to make su- NO!
As he opened the data pad again the screen promptly flickered before turning off completely. Flarking hell! He could have sworn the battery was nearly full just last night! A full charge should have lasted him weeks!
Shit- what should he do now??
Think, Rocket, think.
Okay- he'll call Fury. He'll borrow that "phone" thing Gamora has and he'll call Fury. Guy might be a dick, but Rocket was sure he probably wasn't in on... whatever the flark this was. So, he'll call Fury, and his SHIELD guys will come in, take you away, and send someone else to "guard" them- or maybe they could even convince Fury they didn't need another babysitter at all!
Ok, that's what he'll do.
Stashing the now-useless data pad back in his jumpsuit he ran down the attic stairs, not caring if he was being quiet this time, and ran straight for Peter and Gamora's room where he knew Gamora usually kept that "cell phone" thing.
After a little fiddling he finds the contacts and calls Fury.
It goes to voicemail.
Flark- He tries again.
Voicemail.
Damn it! One more time.
Fury actually answers, and he tells Rocket that this better be important.
* * *
You arrive home surprised to see Fury and Maria just getting out of their vehicle. After parking your own car you get out to greet them. "Hey, I wasn't expecting you guys back so soon. Something come up?" You close the driver's side car door before opening the rear to take out a bag with a few groceries, having decided to stop by the shop on the way home to grab some odds and ends, as well as a little treat for yourself seeing as what you had set out to do had gone so well. A small reward for 'doing the thing.'
"Something like that," Fury answers, "One of your charges called us in."
Eyes widening in surprise you only manage, "Oh- why?"
However, Fury doesn't explain. He just nods towards the house and you get the hint and let them in. He and Maria continue to act quiet and almost shady as they enter the house before you.
You direct them to the sitting room before going to hang up your coat and set the bag in the kitchen. A quick glance inside the room before you departed leaves you surprised to see that the others also look just as surprised to see Fury again so soon, considering he said that they had called him.
You can hear muffled whispering- sounding possibly like arguing- coming from the sitting room as you drop your keys and the bag on the kitchen table, and when you finally join them you see everyone has gathered around a cardboard box on the coffee table. Fury and Maria's expressions are unreadable as Fury whispers something to Maria; Rocket's features are stony, maybe even a little angry; and the others all appear just as confused as you are- which had a little something to do with the fact that Rocket hadn't told them that he had called Fury, let alone the reason why.
After a nod from Fury, Maria leaves the room, and you can hear her climbing the stairs. You give Fury a questioning look, but he does not return with any answers in his own gaze, so you decide to verbally ask what this was all about.
After a brief back-and-forth with you not really getting any answers in return, Rocket speaks up and asks if you had anything to say for yourself. Of course, you had no idea what he was talking about, and you say as such.
Fury starts to look frustrated with the whole ordeal before Rocket suddenly opens the box and points inside, rhetorically asking if any of it's contents looked familiar to you.
The moment you see what's in the box your heart shatters. The world seems to slow for a moment as he holds up a small urn, one you know to be holding the remains of one of your children.
Everything comes crashing back the moment Rocket calls you a maniac, asking something about if they, meaning he and his friends, were to all be your next victims.
Rocket is genuinely surprised by what happens next.
Sure, he had expected you to react and possibly get angry, but the tears? He hadn't expected those.
Or for everyone to be suddenly is yelling at him.
It was actually Peter, Gamora and Drax who spoke first, all overlapping in calling him an idiot, how what he had done was cruel, and what was he thinking- which all confused him well enough.
He looks to Yondu, sure that he would back him up, but Yondu just has a silent mix of horror and sadness in his expression, looking between the jars and you, because he knows what Rocket didn't.
Somehow, Rocket didn't know cremation was a common burial practice across the galaxy, including Terra. Or at least, he didn't know that loved ones would often keep the ashes. So when Rocket examined the contents of what he had believed to be dirt in fancy jars and instead found them to be human remains, his mind went to the worst place possible. Surely, if you were hiding five jars of human remains, you must be some maniac serial killer who vaporized their victims and kept the ashes as trophies.
Unlike Yondu, he didn't know what you had lost.
You however, had seemed frozen despite the arguing between Rocket and his friends, silent tears running down your face.
Fury watched you carefully. Like the others he realized Rocket's mistake the moment he opened the box, and he wanted to see how you would react before stepping in.
And poor little Groot, he sat on Peter's shoulder, utterly confused by what was going on before him and why everyone was angry at Rocket.
For a moment you remained like an anguished statue among the arguing between Rocket and his friends- just staring at the little urn still in Rocket's hand. Watching as he just... waved it around, gesturing with it still in his hand as he argued.
A sound of thumping pounds loud in your ears, and you could be forgiven for thinking it was your own increasingly rapid heartbeat as your expression slowly switched from anguish to anger, but the others in the room would soon find the sound to be Maria, running as fast as she could back down the stairs before bursting back into the room, looking alarmed as she called her director's name with a box in her arms, but soon realizing she was too late.
Before Rocket knows it, Agent Hill is holding you back the best she can and trying to calm you down, having thrown the box she found upstairs onto the floor in order to grab you before you could grab hold of Rocket.
In a rage you start fighting Maria to get out of her grip, causing Kraglin and Mantis to step in in an attempt to help her hold you back so you couldn't get to Rocket and skin him alive- as you were currently threatening to do, among other things.
Groot, still not having a grasp of what was going on, innocently attempted to charge at you when he saw you going to attack Rocket- in his mind believing that he would be protecting his friend dad, but he got no further than jumping off Peter's shoulder before Peter caught him in mid-air and handed him off to Gamora who firmly held him and sternly told him "No." To her relief he surprisingly listened, but to her regret he then started to cry in frustration and from being overwhelmed with the whole scene.
Mantis had only managed to hold onto your arm for a moment before you pushed her away, hard, correctly assuming that she might try to use her abilities to calm you. However, she didn't get the chance before you shoved her. You then almost bite Kraglin when he takes her place before he gets a good grip on you. He motions for Mantis to try again, but Drax won't let her. He had caught her when she fell from your shove, and refused to let her return to you. Whether that was for her own safety, or because he thought Rocket deserved what was coming to him, was anyone's guess.
Regardless, in the moments Mantis did have to read you, she had been able to feel your anger and pain towards Rocket and the reopened wounds of sadness and loss for your loved ones. She felt an overwhelming ache for a lost love, a sorrow for a fallen sibling, and deep maternal pain for the loss of one's children- which might explain why the first words out of your mouth before lunging at Rocket had been, "Don't you dare touch my baby, you bastard! I'll kill you!"
She also caught a glimpse disappointment- though she didn't have enough time to see towards what specifically you were disappointed in, and safely assumed it was towards Rocket.
She would be right about everything, but only partially correct on the disappointment part.
Despite all the pain you were currently in, somehow you still had room to be disappointed that this was your reward for finally deciding to get closure.
You finally decide to meet with your partner's parents, your in-laws, who had come to your home that one night so many weeks ago to apologize for blaming you for their child's death and the loss of their grandchildren;
You finally try to heal and maybe even repair your relationship after what happened the night that took everything away from all of you-
The night where you lost your family in a horrible car crash caused by an enemy agent trying to take you out.
The night where you had lost your brother, your partner, and all three of your children all at once.
The night said enemy agent had failed in taking your life, but had succeeded in taking your whole family away, all in an instant.
And your reward for finally trying to heal from all of that was to come home and have your heart ripped open by a fucking. talking. rodent.
In all this commotion Fury calmly retrieved the box Maria had retrieved from the attic, and frowned upon reading the words Rocket might have seen if he had bothered to turn any one of the bags over- though even if he had it probably wouldn't have helped him see things any differently.
He wasn't sure what he expected when Rocket called claiming he found "human remains" in your attic, but it hadn't been any of this.
"Evidence" was written on the plastic in big black printed letters.
You weren't meant to have these bags. The police don't return evidence to families when said evidence is covered in blood, and neither did SHIELD.
As Fury is coming to the realization you had somehow stolen back your family's personal effects from the evidence locker, Rocket is finally starting to understand why everyone is attacking him.
It initially took him a moment to register what you had said before lunging at him. He hadn't been facing you, engaging with an argument with the others where he was trying to figure out why they were so mad at him when he had just caught a frickin serial killer.
He had turned just in time to see you coming for him before Maria grabbed you, stopping you from grabbing hold of him by just mere inches.
Angry threats of violence continued to pour from your mouth as you fight to free yourself from her grasp, and it finally registers to him what you were telling him: To put down your baby, or you would kill him.
"Your bab-?" Oh fuck. Rocket feels a rock drop in is stomach.
Oh no.
Oh no.
These human remains... weren't your victims- they were your family. Oh shit- he fucked up bad.
He fucked up SO bad.
His eyes widen as he glanced between the jar in his hand and you, nearly animalistic in your attempts to get to him. He quickly puts the jar back in the box and starts to apologize, backing away from the box with his hands up, but it's like you can't even hear him. You don't care if he's sorry or if he didn't know- you want his blood. You want to rip him to shreds.
And now he gets it. He effectively had just desecrated a frickin grave. Worse than that- he desecrated a child's grave right in front of their mother.
Oh shit-
Oh fuck-
Oh no-
At some point after Rocket put the urn back in the box Fury and Agent Hill were finally able to manage to de-escalate the situation- or as close as they could get, anyway.
Believing you were finally calm enough to not want to kill Rocket on sight, Maria decides she can finally release you.
You lunge forward again.
Only instead of trying to grab Rocket (who jumped out of the way on instinct) you snatch the box of urns, spitting out again for Rocket not to touch them as tears continued to stream down your face.
You then leave the room with the box, followed by the others out into the hall. When you get to the front door you are finally asked where you are going.
"Doing what I should have done a long time ago," you answer, looking right at Rocket as you continue, "I'm going to take them somewhere where people like you can't use them to hurt me ever again."
And with that, you leave- but not before also snatching up the other box from Fury, who surprisingly lets it go without a fight.
Rocket is filled with guilt at your words, and it isn't helped by the fact that all his friends are now staring daggers at him.
Fury and Maria stay so they might do some damage control when you return, and to tell Rocket how he royally fucked up while you're gone.
It's hours later and the sky has darkened before you return empty handed, having spread all the ashes by your favorite tree, and having burned everything else.
Your eyes look tired, and none of your housemates dare speak as you stand in the sitting room doorway, seeming unsure of what you wanted to do next.
Maria is the first to try and speak to you, beginning with asking about your well-being, and when you refuse to answer with anything other than "Fine," she gently transitions into one awkward, but urgent, matter at hand. She chooses her words carefully, but ultimately she gently urges you, or perhaps 'pleads' would be more accurate, to consider not kicking the Guardians out of your home.
However, you stop her with just a wave of your hand, immediately silencing her words.
She expects you to tell her to fuck off, to tell her there was no way you were allowing them to stay and that she had no right to ask that of you after what just occurred- but you surprise her, and everyone else, with your actual response.
Looking just at Maria, but speaking loudly enough that everyone else could clearly hear you, you respond with, "You can tell them that I'm not going to punish the others for Rocket's horrible actions, and that they can stay." Turning to leave the room, you continue, "I'm going to bed now, you and Fury can let yourselves out."
Maria blinked, but you were already heading up the stairs before she could respond, or ask for clarification if what you said also extended to Rocket. She looked at Fury, but he just shook his head and stood to leave. There was nothing else they could really do, that wouldn't make things worse, anyway. It really would be best if they just left and touched base later.
He approaches Maria but stops when he nears the doorway, turning to address the Guardians. Staring primarily at Rocket he simply says, "You fucked up," before he and Maria turn to let themselves out.
The rest of the Guardians then glare at Rocket, who wanted very much to melt into the floor right then.
Guardians of the Galaxy fanfic | Reader x Guardians (With Yondu and Kraglin!)
Summary: What happens when Rocket wants to make amends, but Agent isn't ready to hear them? Or even willing to acknowledge that Rocket exists?
Previous Chapter here | Next Chapter Here
Or click here to: Start From Beginning
Author’s Note: Thank you to @obsessedbigtime for the suggestion of the nightmare scene, as well as all the anons for their suggestions for scenes! For my records this chapter ends on day 101 of the Guardians living with reader. Enjoy!
Word Count: 3,654
You withdrew from the world for several days after what Rocket did.
Well, as much as the others would allow, anyway.
Yondu was the first to wake the next day- or so he thought when he found you in the kitchen, already drinking and halfway to piss drunk at just barely 9:00am. He didn't waste time with talks about feelings or any of that junk. Rather, he simply walked up to the table, nicked your bottle, and continued about his way to the pantry.
Of course, you didn't like that, and you did make an attempt to get your bottle back, but stopped when he wordlessly threatened to dump it by holding it over the sink until you backed down.
He also threw one of the pre-packaged pastries he had retrieved from the pantry at you, which hit you in the chest before you caught it, as a way to tell you to put some food in your stomach before you slunk off to go be alone somewhere else.
Somewhat foolishly, however, he hadn't considered that you would eventually just go to the cellar for another, which he caught you with sometime around noon, and again which he confiscated without a word.
The two of you might have had another silent fight about this, had it not been for a knock at the door.
Begrudgingly you go to answer it, and open the door to see a sharply dressed woman in thick rimmed glasses holding a notebook.
"Hi! I'm Dr. Adams, and I'm a therapist sent by SHIELD to-"
You shut the door in her face and go up to your room.
Gamora and Yondu share a look after having witnessed the exchange, and Gamora considers for a moment letting the woman in herself, but they could already see through the frosted window the shadow of the woman was retreating back to her car, almost as if she had been told to expect that that might happen and not to push if it did.
* * *
That evening Yondu finds you retrieving one of the confiscated bottles from the fridge and takes it again.
You roll your eyes but just start to walk away.
This time Yondu knows where you're probably going, however, and he whistles, sending his arrow to hover right in front of your face. The message was clear. You were not going to go to that cellar for another bottle unless you wanted run through with his arrow.
He thought he'd won, that was, until he could see you were actually considering it, and then he just called his arrow back, sat your ass in one of the kitchen chairs, slapped a glass of water and an apple down in front of you, and sat there with you until you finished it.
(In this process he also gave Peter a heart attack, who came running with Kraglin to make sure everything was good when they heard the whistle- only to then just nod approvingly (and in relief that no one was dead) when they saw him more or less babysitting you.)
* * *
The rest of the night you spent alone in your room, and had fallen asleep by the time Mantis went to bed.
Honestly Mantis was relieved to see you sleeping, and she briefly considered using her abilities to ensure you had kind dreams, but she didn't. She still felt bad for the day before and didn't know if you were already mad at her for trying to break her promise of not using her abilities on you without permission. If so, she didn't want to make it worse- even if you'd probably never know if she'd done it given you were asleep.
She would feel guilty that she hadn't later though, when she was woken by the sound of you waking with a start from a nightmare, and then leaving the room.
Mantis wasn't the only one you had woken. Yondu had also heard you leaving your room in the middle of the night, and, when he heard you going down the stairs, and knowing you were wont for leaving the house in the middle of the night when you were upset, decided to follow you and stop you from going out in the cold-ass night like an idiot.
However, when he got downstairs he noticed you had instead retreated to the sitting room, and you were just sitting on the sofa, in the dark, crying softly to yourself.
He softened then, and decided to sit with you rather than to leave you alone. To his surprise you didn't try to shoo him away or anything, instead allowing yourself to be held in silence as you cried until you ran out of tears.
* * *
The next day was much of the same, as was the day after that.
You avoided everyone, not speaking, barely eating, having your whiskey constantly confiscated. The therapist from SHIELD would show up, and you would shut the door in her face.
On the third day, however, after you once again brushed off the therapist and shut the door on her, she knocked again.
You roll your eyes, but do open the door once more.
"I'm sorry to inform you of this, but Director Fury has made it clear that if you don't accept these visits SHIELD will be forced to terminate you."
You stare at her for a long moment, before shutting the door in her face again for the second time that day.
Peter had heard the entire exchange from the sitting room, and hearing that you were about to throw your whole career away, the one thing that seemed to keep you going and that you were desperate to keep when they first arrived, made him immediately jump up from his seat and rush to the door.
You were already partway up the stairs by the time he flung the door open and called out to the therapist, who was still on the steps, that, "She'll do it! She'll do it!"
Hearing this, you turn around at glare at him from the staircase, but he only turned to meet your gaze in turn and said firmly, "You'll do it." Turning back to the therapist and beckoning her inside before closing the door, he said a third time, "She'll do it. I know she loves her job- she'll do it."
You continue to glare at him and clench your teeth. You consider brushing her off again, but since she was already inside and it was clear Peter wasn't going to let it rest, you just sigh and motion for the woman to follow you to your room.
That said, even after she leaves you still remain withdrawn from the others. In fact, it isn't until the next day that you actually speak a word to anyone, and that was to Mantis.
Mantis had somewhat learned how to use your Terran stove, at least well enough to boil the kettle, in the time they'd all been staying with you.
On this day she wanted to make some hot cocoa for herself and Groot. She had attempted to offer you some as well, but you only shook your head to decline, though you did stay in the kitchen to keep an eye on her under the guise of scrolling on your phone at the table, sat alongside Gamora and Drax- who also had declined the cocoa.
Everything was going just fine, until somehow Mantis burnt herself.
You didn't see how it happened, only heard her cry of pain after the fact which caused you to jump up into action.
"What happened? Let me see- Here, let's run that under some cool water."
All of this half-surprised Drax and Gamora. Not the fact that you jumped to help her, but for the fact that they hadn't heard you say a word in four days now. They were glad to see you talking again, though they perhaps wished it was under different circumstances.
The burn didn't appear very bad, which was good, but you still needed to treat it. As you had her running her hand under the water you retrieved the first-aid kit from under the sink and prepared the aloe and a bandage for her burn.
Once she was all fixed up you opted to finish making the cocoa for her, and deliberated if she needed more supervision around the stove in the future.
* * *
You weren't surprised when Fury showed back up the next day, but you were disappointed to see he brought the therapist in tow.
Part of you hoped he would wait longer before coming back, seeing as he was just there a few days ago, but you also knew you were due for a restock on supplies, so he was bound to stick to his "schedule" regardless.
The visit was awkward, to say the least, though moreso for the Guardians. You begrudgingly had your little therapy session in your room, and the others helped Maria unload the van and put things away for the first ten minutes, answered the basic check-in questions for the next ten, and spent the rest of the hour awkwardly sitting around and waiting for you and the therapist to finish up so Fury and Agent Hill could leave.
The only one who didn't make much of an appearance was Rocket, who had also been laying low the past few days. He wasn't as withdrawn as you, but it was clear to the others that the guilt was eating at him- which was a side they don't think they had really ever seen of him before.
Then again, they also didn't think he had ever fucked up quite like this before, either.
He came out for maybe five minutes just because Fury liked to visually make sure all the Guardians were accounted for each check in, but retreated back to his room almost immediately after.
For the first couple days everyone was mad at him- and they still were- but after a bit they started to see he actually did feel really bad about what he had done.
Not once had he attempted to make any excuses, or say that you had overreacted, or anything else he usually did to avoid taking accountability for his shitty behavior. In turn, this made the others start to ease up on the disappointed and/or dirty looks they would give him. If anything, they were almost starting to feel sorry for him. Not in a "he should be forgiven" way, but because they knew it had genuinely been an accident- a very bad, very stupid, accident- and for the first time since they'd known him, he actually seemed quite remorseful of something he had done.
And they were right about that. Even Rocket couldn't remember a time when he felt this bad for something he did. Those first few days he could barely look any of his friends in the eye, and when he did they either looked back in disappointment, disgust, or a mixture of both. The only one who didn't was Groot, but that was just because he was so young and didn't quite understand what had happened that night.
Rocket mostly stayed in his room anymore, but when he did come out he made an effort to avoid you. He wanted to say sorry, he really did.
But he just felt like he couldn't face you just yet. Maybe he'd try tomorrow.
* * *
Peter had noticed the next evening that you seemed to feel a little better, in the sense that you had actually started speaking a few words now and then. Well, to anyone but Rocket that is- who you seemed to be ignoring the existence of on the rare occasion that he showed his face around you.
Regardless, Peter thought he'd try something to help cheer you up- and he hoped it wouldn't backfire and make things worse.
He was about to find out which that would be, as he watched you enter the kitchen and saw you were heading to the fridge for a drink.
Sitting at the table, he watched you open the fridge door, reach in, and hesitate... before finally pulling out a bottle of juice and staring at it for a moment.
Peter had drawn goofy faces on everything in the fridge.
You turn to him, automatically assuming he was the culprit, and raised an eyebrow.
"Surprise?" Peter said, laughing nervously. "I thought you could use some cheering up?"
"Hmm," is all you respond before pouring yourself a glass of the juice, but Peter could have sworn he saw a slight smile as you shook your head.
He'd consider that a win.
Rocket saw you in the hallway as you were taking your juice to your room. He shied back for a moment, as he had the other three times he'd come in contact with you that day, but decided now he was finally going to try and speak up.
He stepped forward and tried to get your attention as you crossed the hall from the kitchen to the staircase.
"Uh, Agent?" he said softly.
You didn't seem to have heard him, so he tried again, a little louder this time and moving to stand on the first step so you'd notice him.
And you did, but had little to offer him but a half glance before you continued up the stairs without a single word.
"Right... maybe later." Rocket said softly as his ears fell, speaking mostly to the air at that point.
He could try again tomorrow.
* * *
'Tomorrow' didn't work out so well either.
Rocket tried several times to talk to you, even to just say 'hi' or make small talk before trying to build up to the apology. Every time it was like you didn't even notice he was there.
At breakfast he gave you a quiet, "Morning, Agent."
You just turned away with your bowl of cereal, causing Rocket to shrink back and just nibble on his protein bar instead.
Later that morning he passed you on the stairs and said, 'Hey-'
You continued climbing as if you had not heard him, leaving him to continue his descent looking dejected.
Sometime that afternoon you were trying to reach something on top of the fridge, and Rocket offered to climb up and get it for you.
You grabbed a nearby chair and got it yourself, never looking at him or acknowledging his presence. Gamora and Peter, who also happened to be in the room, looked at Rocket with pity as he slumped out of the room.
A little later he actually made a point to get your attention in the hall, asking if he could talk to you.
This time you did finally look at him, just briefly, before merely turning away and going to your room.
Rocket's shoulders fell and he looked at the ground. 'Way to go, asshole,' he thought, 'You make a friend, and then screw up everything- just like you always do.'
* * *
Having finally started to come out to join the others more often again, you were relaxing in one of the armchairs in the sitting room after supper. Peter had turned on a random action movie for himself and Drax and you were only half paying attention to it while scrolling on your phone.
At some point Peter pauses the movie to go make some popcorn, leaving you and Drax alone in the room. You happen to glance over while he's gone, and for some reason in that moment you felt like you were really noticing Drax's tattoos for the first time. Which was odd, considering he had started wearing shirts more often due to the colder weather. Today he was wearing a vest/jacket type thing, and you could see the tattoos on his exposed arms.
They were raised, more like scars than tattoos, really. And they were so intricate- you wondered how he got them, or if they had any meaning.
So, you decide to ask, or rather, you asked permission to ask, which Drax seemed confused by initially- because why would one need to ask permission to ask a question? But eventually you got around to it.
He told you that the markings on his body were the story of his life.
Pointing to his right bicep he said, "This one here, my soul union with my wife, Ovette, upon Mount Kylos," he then partially unzipped his vest to point to another on his chest, "This is the day Kamaria, my daughter, was born."
"I didn't know you had any children," you say softly. "Where are your wife and daughter now?"
Drax zipped up his vest. "They were slain by Ronan the Accuser."
"Oh-" your eyes widened. "I'm so sorry-" You thought you remembered that name from a story Peter had told awhile back, but you didn't remember any mention of him having killed Drax's family at that time...
"He is dead now."
"Oh..." That's right- you had forgotten that was the name of guy the Guardians claimed to have killed with 'the power of friendship' (your words, not theirs)
"But he was only a puppet. It's really Thanos I need to kill."
You blink in surprise. "Oh-" That was another name that you thought sounded familiar.
"And I shall do so, once I and my friends are no longer confined to Terra by the Nova Corp and your planet's weak version of the Nova Corp they call SHIELD."
"I... believe you will..." you reply awkwardly, as there was only so many times one could respond with just, "Oh."
"Thank you. And I believe you too shall one day kill the person who has slain your family." Drax paused, as if reconsidering his words. "Or perhaps one day I may help you with the killing- as you are small and weak like Peter. You would be unlikely to succeed on your own."
You weren't sure if he had only correctly assumed what happened to your family, or if Fury had filled them in on the details of why you nearly killed Rocket the other night after you left, or if it was possibly a combination of both, but you just nod your head before responding with something you weren't totally sure if Fury even knew- though chances are he probably did.
"I already have."
* * *
Rocket laid in bed the next morning, just staring at the ceiling and trying to think about how he might be able to get you to talk to him again. You had brushed off every single attempt he had made over the past few days, and he was starting to wonder if he should just give it a rest for awhile and wait for you to start talking to him again on your own.
But what if you never did?
Rocket realized that he and his friends would eventually leave. What if that day came and you still wouldn't talk to him? Not even giving him a chance to say goodbye?
Wait- What was he thinking? Sappy goodbyes were for losers! What did he care if you never spoke to him again?
But he did. He did care. And he hated it. Just like he hated himself for screwing up what might have been a cool friendship.
* * *
A knock sounded at the door and you sighed, annoyed that your morning had been interrupted.
The therapist was back, yet again.
At least you had had the weekend to yourself- but still. How long was Fury going to force you to keep doing this? And/or how long you were going to need to keep up the bi-weekly visits before you were finally at least allowed to go down to one?
Regardless, you let her in and get it over with.
After your session and while you were seeing the therapist out, Yondu could see how annoyed you were with being forced to talk to the shrink. He could also see, however, that since you finally started doing so you weren't nearly as withdrawn as you had been those first few days. Hell, he hadn't needed to confiscate your whiskey at all the past couple, either.
He was also overjoyed to see you smile again, although he nearly missed it.
In the back of the sitting room Yondu and Peter had been arguing over the details of a past job they worked, disputing whether it had been Peter who had given away their position, or if that had been Gef.
Peter, of course, blamed Gef. Yondu, however, swore he remembered Peter having fallen on his ass and knocking over some bins in the warehouse they were looting.
Eventually, growing tired of the argument, Yondu just started responding back to Peter in gibberish- much to Peter's irritation.
It was after responding to Peter's, "Really! We're doing this now?" with another round of, "Bollie Boli bo-" that Yondu happened to glance over just in time to see you sitting in the rocking chair, hiding a grin behind your book and trying not to make it evident that you were listening in.
So, Yondu continued, riling Peter up with his gibberish responses just to see you gently shaking with laughter behind your book until Peter finally had enough and just left the room, rolling his eyes and calling Yondu a 'childish doofus.'
Yondu decided to follow him out and smiled- both in satisfaction at having been able to annoy Peter, and also to see you were able to smile again.
He knew that shouldn't be important to him. This situation was only temporary, after all. Soon enough they should be able to go back- and you wouldn't be coming with them.
But still, it was. Despite knowing better, it was important to him.
It would seem, to his chagrin, that Kraglin might have been right. He was growing attached... but like hell he was ever going to give his first mate the satisfaction of admitting it.
Guardians of the Galaxy fanfic | Reader x Guardians (With Yondu and Kraglin!)
Summary: Pretty much all fluff and some mischief. The guys invite Reader to play a game, and they all just hang out and have drinks after.
Previous Chapter here | Next Chapter Here
Or click here to: Start From Beginning
Author’s Note: Shorter chapter this time. Thank you to @allylin05 for the suggestion of the fluffy scene at the end (though it's been so long since you suggested it you probably forgot that you did- but I finally found a good place to add it in lol) For my records this chapter ends on day 88 of the Guardians living with reader. Enjoy!
Word Count: 3,288
A couple days had past since you begrudgingly granted Peter the title of "The Prank Master," and ever since he had become insufferable.
Every moment you that found the two of you alone he'd smirk and whisper "Prank Master!" before poking you and running off before you could smack him. And every moment you were in the same room, but weren't alone, he'd still give you a knowing grin, which you always returned with a roll of your eyes. Other times, if he needed to ask you something he'd stroll up and proclaim something like, "The Prank Master requests to know where he might find a pen!" (And then you'd un-enthusiastically point to the drawer beside him, because you knew that he knew where they were by now, and that he was just wanting any excuse he could get to rub it in your face that you had declared him "The Prank Master.")
At one point you did come very close to beating him over the head with the nearest chair, after maybe the 10th or 20th time of him calling himself the Prank Master, but lucky for him Mantis called you from the other room requesting help finding some paper.
Then one evening you mused to yourself as you lounged sideways in one of the armchairs with a book, having found a rare moment where the sitting room was empty; There was one benefit- just one- and that was that his annoyingness had helped take your mind off the tunnel situation, which was good considering you couldn't ask anyone about it.
Logic told you it must have been Fury, because it's always Fury, but Reason told you that idea made no sense. Firstly, he'd have to know about it. Secondly, even if he did, how would fixing it up benefit the assignment he tasked you with? Thirdly, assuming he knew about it- or found it when scoping out your place, and assuming it somehow would benefit you in keeping the Guardians here (though you could not for the life of you figure out how it might) -- then why wait so long to do it?
Realizing you were speculating too much again you shook the thought away and tried to lose yourself in your book, only to be rudely torn from it some minutes later when you felt a hand grab your ankle, quickly followed by someone sending ticklish charges through your nervous system as they began scratching at the bottom of your foot.
A shriek escapes your throat and you spasm in the chair, dropping your book to the floor. Said shriek turns to panicked laughter and you begin to kick at Peter, your annoying assailant, who laughs and drops your foot, ceasing his attack only moments after it began and saying, "We're bored."
"Clearly!" you scold, giving him an incredulous glare at how he chose to get your attention as you snatch up your book from the floor and pull your feet towards you and away from any possible re-attack. "And just what does that have to do with me?" You glance to see Drax and Kraglin standing behind him and feel your face grow warm as you realize that you had been so engrossed with your book that hadn't even noticed any of them walk in.
"Wanna play a game?"
Your eyes narrowed slightly. Obviously, you had doubts. "What game?" This better not be anything stupid, or anything at your expense. He was already on thin ice, but at least he hadn't come in touting his "Prank Master" nonsense.
"You laugh you lose."
Your eyes immediately narrow further and you glare at Peter, immediately assuming where this was going, and for good reason, but then Drax speaks up.
"Peter already made her laugh, does that mean the game is over?"
"No Drax, we ain't even started playing yet." Kraglin answers before turning to you and explaining, "We saw a guy playing it on the TV the other day. You watch a buncha these funny clips and whoever laughs loses."
Drax speaks up again, "And we just bet Peter that he could never win against you-"
"-On account he's a giggly little shit and you hardly laugh at anythin'." Kraglin finished, slightly smirking with an unsaid joke about how maybe he was wrong given just seconds ago Peter had made you immediately collapse into laughter. He grinned and nudged Peter, who frowned at him.
"I'm not a 'giggly little shit!'" Peter says exasperatedly, clear that he already had this debate with Kraglin before they came to find you.
You blink, then give a slightly annoyed frown, hiding your relief that your assumption of their game was wrong. "I do too laugh at stuff… not my fault if none of you are funny." You considered asking why they didn't ask Gamora or Yondu to play with them instead, as he probably wouldn't be able to win against them either, but then realized they likely had already turned them down if they had. Figuring maybe it would be fun to take him down a peg for all the "Prank Master" stuff you decide to play along. "And… you kinda are…" you tease Peter, grinning. It was kinda true, if he had a drink in him, but you felt like teasing him anyway.
"Then you're a stick in the mud." Peter countered. Then, with a mischievous smirk he adds, "Except for this-" he moves to tickle you again but you smack him away. He laughs in response, but he doesn't attempt again. "You going to play or not?"
You roll your eyes and stand. "Alright, I'll play- but only because I have nothing better to do right now." Not a total lie. Sure, you could be reading, but again- this was a surefire way to bring the "Prank Master" down a peg.
The four of you head to the couch, Drax sitting on one end and you at the other with Kraglin sitting between you and Peter.
Kraglin pulls up a YouTube video on the television screen titled "Try Not to Laugh Challenge". It was a compilation of different funny videos being reacted to by youtuber you recognized. Before beginning he stated that the compilation he was about to watch was "highly rated" on Reddit.
You considered telling the guys that you could probably find a compilation to watch on its own, but decided you didn't actually care enough to search one out when they already had this one up.
Drax was the first to break, letting out a loud booming laugh when a news anchor ran screaming for his life after a large chicken spooked him.
Peter tried to tease him for losing so early, but Drax merely frowned and stated that he didn't understand why one wouldn't want to laugh at something funny. You grin and shake your head at him, not surprised that he wouldn't have understood the game.
Kraglin lost next, to a clip where a man fell through the ceiling in a store, yet merely prompted a calm exchange of; "Hey Ron." "Hey Billy." pause "… that hurt."
Admittedly you found that one quite funny as well, but you kept it together, having barely cracked a smile the whole time. Hell, if they were going to accuse you of "Hardly laughing at anything" you might as well prove them right if for no other reason than making Peter lose his bet. And, as it'd turn out, that video didn't succeed in making you laugh at all, and since Peter also kept it together, you all opted to let the next video come through the autoplay.
It was from the same creator and title, only this seemed to be #14 in his series.
Peter cracked his knuckles and looked cockily at you as the movie began, to which you merely rolled your eyes. You could almost hear him telepathically telling you that he'd win because he was "The Prank Master," - even if that didn't make sense as a reason why he would win.
Neither of you laughed at the first few clips, although one of a dog letting out a terrible howl made Kraglin jump, which did make you crack a smile.
A clip of a huskie sneezing several times, only to "explode" on the last one nearly made Peter break, and Kraglin could be heard laughing beside you. Since loosing on the last video, Drax had been spending his time going between a thankfully lower volume of laughter and looks of confusion to clips he didn't understand the humor behind.
A clip came up of a cat getting bonked on the head with a bouncing ball, and a wide grin came over your face at the unexpected expression it made, but you pulled it together just as quickly by the next clip. Throughout the next several clips you managed a blank expression, much to Peter's annoyance, as he was having trouble not grinning.
This became worse for him when a clip of a young man asking for a Capri Sun got hit in the face with a full gallon jug (set inside the ATLA opening), and he had to choke back a laugh. And again when the video made a callback to this same clip later but set into a different context.
These seemed to open the floodgates because he then started having trouble holding back with every clip.
You smiled watching him try to pull himself together. It was clear he was falling victim to the whole 'Everything is funnier when you're not supposed to laugh' rule.
It wasn't until a clip where an Animaniac started to sing "The Nations of the World" and only got to "United States" before being cut off by Donald Glover firing a pistol and singing "This is America" did you finally have another reaction, nearly choking as you swallowed a laugh. The others didn't get the reference to Americans and their guns and so didn't find it nearly as funny as you, someone who had lived on Earth to understand various nations politics, but you knew there was bound to be a few clips like that that only you'd really understand. Hopefully there wouldn't be too many if you wanted to win.
You pulled it together in time for Peter to start losing again with a clip of a bouncy parrot and then a howly husky, but he got it together when audio referencing a movie he had never seen played over a Rabbi dunking a baby.
Unfortunately the YouTuber lost at that clip and the video ended, leaving both you and Peter once again undefeated.
Finding that this was actually fun you didn't mind when another video queued up. It was by the same creator as before, but this time #13 in the series.
Several clips go by and Peter is biting his lip not to laugh while you simply sit there unfazed. It wasn't until a clip came up of a sleeping man holding a woman's foot, fingers laced with her toes as if it were her hand, came up that you made any sound at all, but it was a gag of disgust rather than a laugh.
Of course, Peter tried to accuse you of having laughed, but was quickly shut down by Kraglin.
The video continued, again with Peter being frustrated that you were watching with little emotion while he couldn't manage the same, seemingly proving his friends right.
Finally the clip that would make him lose came up. It was a deer that was squeaking quietly, which you weren't even aware they could do. You watched on in confusion, tilting your head to the side as it began to tilt it's own head back when the deer's sudden switch from squeak to awful howl/shriek made you jump in your seat.
It was your reaction that made Peter finally crack with a startled laugh rather than the clip itself, which of course made him contest his loss.
"Shit-! That doesn't count! I laughed at her- Not the-"
"Nah, Quill, y'all lost fair and square." Kraglin chuckled.
"But-"
"Kraglin's right. You laughed, so you lose." Drax said, backing Kraglin up.
Peter sighed in defeat. "Lame." He turned back to you. "Best two out of three?"
You rolled your eyes and grinned. "Sure. Why not."
Suddenly the TV screen went dark, causing Peter to throw up his hands and exclaim, "Really!?"
You were just as confused, but almost as soon as it had turned off, the screen turned back on again and out of the corner of your eye you just caught sight of Rocket in the hall through the doorway. It was clear the others hadn't noticed him, which is probably why he felt safe enough throwing you a quick smirk and a wink just before he scampered off.
However, when you turn your head back you see Peter glaring at you.
"Wha- Don't look at me!" you exclaim, holding up your hands, realizing that he was obviously going to accuse you of pranking him again.
Peter's glare morphs into an incredulous grin as he replies, "Really?? You're really going to pull this again and think it's gonna go any better for you than last time?!"
He starts to get up, presumably to lunge at you, when suddenly Kraglin puts his feet up on the coffee table, creating a makeshift barrier and causing Peter to pause his actions to give the former first mate a confused look.
"Now hold on a second there, Pete-" he reaches down beside himself. "You was sitting on the remote."
"What- but I-" Peter sputters, looking at the remote. Meanwhile, you realize you just caught an incredibly lucky break. Peter finally looks at you and mumbles an apology before tossing the remote onto the coffee table.
He wound up losing those two rounds as well and you grinned at his chagrin at having seemingly secured his status with the other two as a "giggly little shit."
After this you were in pretty good spirits, and offered the guys a drink to 'celebrate your victory.'
Ok, so maybe you were rubbing it in just a little.
Regardless, they accepted your offer and you all head to the kitchen, the guys grabbing some glasses while you pulled the whiskey from the fridge.
The rest of the Guardians were already in the kitchen so you offered them to join you, and they accepted.
You all sat around the table sipping whiskey- or in Mantis's case, whiskey mixed with soda- and in Groot's case just soda- and talking about random things.
Kraglin told a story of breaking up a past bar fight; Drax reminisced over a memory of starting a bar fight- and winning; and Mantis, not having a bar fight story, brought up how she saw a cute animal in a book the previous day- only to retrieve said book and show everyone a naked mole rat. This made the rest of you laugh in disbelief, though no one corrected her or called the animal ugly.
All in all, everything was pretty fun and chill. Everyone was chatting and getting along. So far no signs of any drunken bickering, despite the fact that Yondu was discussing an apparently embarrassing story about Peter to Gamora, which made Peter groan and cover his face once he realized trying to get the old man to shut up wasn't going to work.
Groot was playing hide and seek with Rocket- using Drax's chair as a hiding spot- to which Rocket put on a show pretending he couldn't see him under there.
Kraglin was just laughing at the scene, and Mantis was doing that strange thing she liked to do after a drink, which was going about and feeling the joy off of the others by placing her hand on theirs and "reading" them- or whatever it was she did.
This was nice, you thought- having people around. You could get used to this...
Except that you knew you couldn't. Not really. This was temporary and you knew th-
That thought was ripped from your mind almost as soon as it appeared when a ticklish feeling on the back of your neck drove out all other coherent thought.
"Hey!" you scold through giggles, scrunching your shoulders and twisting in your chair in an attempt to get away from your attacker, but to no avail.
"Just gettin' your attention!" Peter teased. "This is what you get for ignoring the Prank Master!" As he continued tickling at the back and sides of your neck he further teased, "Geeze, is there anywhere you're not ticklish?"
Still giggling, you twist to smack at Peter's hand away and scold him for being an insufferable brat. "What do you even want, you little pest?!" you ask as he continued to torment you, seemingly emboldened by the others' laughter at your reaction.
Before he could answer, Mantis attempted to touch the hand you were using to brace on the table, but you noticed and pulled away with a "Hey! We had a deal- no empath mojo without consent!" before finally managing to twist in a way that allowed you to grab Peter's hand and push it away.
Mantis just giggled an apology and moved on to do her empath thing to someone else, as your own laughter had taken most of the weight out of the scolding. Honestly you would later be grateful for this, as you would have felt bad had you made her sad when you knew she really meant no harm.
Kraglin snorted. "What? Worried she's gonna tell us that you don't actually hate this?" he teased, tweaking your ribs and making you jump with a squeak as he walked by to the pantry.
"Piss off-" you light-heartedly scold with a roll of your eyes. You might have swatted him if it wasn't for the fact that you were still wrestling with Peter to keep his hands to himself.
Now Yondu decided to chime into the teasing. "Aw, is someone's reputation for being a little grumpy ass being threatened?" he took another sip of his whiskey. "Wouldn't that be a shame- not like we don't already know yer a softy."
You shot him a look that was a mix of "What you on about?" and "Piss off" but unfortunately this made you let your guard down just long enough for Peter to break free and attack your stomach- a distraction you were oddly grateful for, considering that even if there was the tiniest chance that it might be true, you sure as hell weren't about to admit to it. That would be a type of vulnerability they couldn't torture out of you if they tried.
Doubling over in your chair with a laugh you manage to grab his hands and ask again, "What do you want?! You annoying shit!" This, again, was ladened with giggles, which again took all the bite out of your words. Just as well, seeing as you weren't actually angry at him- even if he was an annoying little shit.
"I... actually don't remember anymore-" Peter admitted with a grin, which caused the others to laugh and roll their eyes.
Also rolling your eyes you pinched his sides in retaliation, earning a giggly yelp from Peter before you stood up up and stated you were going to the Jacks then, seeing as whatever he had to say obviously hadn't been that important for him to remember.
He only uttered a mock-indignant "Hey!" as you made your escape, and by the time you came back everyone was already on a new topic of conversation, the previous shenanigans completely forgotten.
As you rejoined the group you couldn't help but think back to your previous thoughts. That all this- the comradery and tomfoolery- this was nice.
And you might as well try to enjoy it while it lasted.
Guardians of the Galaxy fanfic | Reader x Guardians (With Yondu and Kraglin!)
Summary: Rocket decides to pull a prank, but it doesn't end well for him.
Previous Chapter here | Next Chapter Here
Or click here to: Start From Beginning
Author’s Note: Thank you to @allylin05 for the suggestion of the fluffy scene with Peter and Yondu. For my records this chapter ends on day 92 of the Guardians living with reader. Enjoy!
Word Count: 3,927
You had only just appeared in the kitchen doorway when you heard him say it, and you couldn't help but feel like you were intruding on a moment, despite the fact that neither Yondu or Peter knew you were there.
"Sometimes life can be tough- but always remember: so are you, son." Yondu had said before clapping Peter on the back as he stood at the sink washing up the morning dishes. The look Peter gave him in response could only be described as one someone might give if they had just heard something they didn't realize they had needed to hear their whole life.
Yet unseen by the two of them as their backs were turned, you couldn't help but be touched by the scene you had stumbled upon. You considered backing away before they noticed so that you wouldn't risk ruining whatever moment they were having, but everything was interrupted anyway when Rocket comes bursting through the back door, his arm covered in a red-stained cloth.
The three of you jump at the sound of the door smashing against the wall, and you finally fully enter the kitchen when you see the state of Rocket.
"What happened!?" you exclaim before Rocket has a chance to speak.
"I was working in the shed- I slipped! Flark- I think I cut my whole hand off!"
"Holy shit!" Peter cried out, immediately abandoning the dishes and half-ass drying his hands so he could rush over to Rocket.
"There's a first-aid kit under the sink!" You say quickly, motioning to Yondu to grab it as you move quickly to approach Rocket and Peter.
No sooner than you reach them, however, Rocket starts laughing.
"Oh geez! You should've seen your faces!" Rocket laughed, doubling over. He then straightens up, just to wave both his hands- one holding the red cloth, which you now suspected was covered in ketchup- in the air as he said in a mocking tone, "Oh nO! I've cUt my hAnd oFf!"
He then doubled back over in laughter, as Peter, who had knelt down to him, stood up, looking angry.
"What the hell dude! So uncool!"
"Oh lighten up! It was just a joke!" Rocket protested with a roll of his eyes. He and Peter continue to argue.
Yondu says nothing, just glares at the little rat before irritably tossing the first-aid kit back under the sink and grumbling.
You, as one would expect, are absolutely fuming. "That's it- you're grounded." The words are out before you have a moment to think, and even once you hear them you decide you're not taking them back.
The other three stop in their tracks and give you surprised looks. It takes a moment for Rocket to speak up.
"Grounded? What's that supposed to mean?"
You didn't know if he was mocking, or if he genuinely didn't know what the term meant, but you didn't care. "No more workshop. You're done. You've lost your workshop privileges."
Rocket laughs. "Come on now- I know you're not really going to kick me out of the workshop over a jok-"
"Keys," you cut him off, "Now."
Rocket's eyes widen in surprise. "What?"
"Now." you repeat, holding out your hand for emphasis.
Rocket could tell you weren't joking, and his face goes from surprised to disappointed, before finally ending on anger and annoyance as he rolls his eyes and digs the keys out of his pocket and tosses them at you.
You catch them, and to your annoyance and disgust find they are covered in ketchup. As you walk over to the sink to wash them off you tell him, "Maybe you can have these back later if you ever learn how to behave."
Rocket doesn't respond, just goes off to sulk.
As you head out the still-open back door to lock up the shed Yondu and Peter share a glance, deciding if they should be impressed that you handled it, or concerned that Rocket didn't put up much of a fight.
* * *
Rocket had spent the rest of that day and most of the next morning sulking around the house and staying away from you whenever he could. The two of you were supposed to be cool! Why couldn't you just take a joke? And how dare you just kick him out of the workshop over a harmless prank! He was in the middle of making something awesome! Sure- he didn't quite know what it was yet- but still- it was gonna be awesome! You were just being a dick.
He kicked one of your boots in the hall and pouted- though he'd deny that's what he was doing if confronted.
Then a thought occurred to him. Who were you to tell him that he couldn't use the workshop? Yes, he supposed you were the owner... and yeah someone would probably say that gave you the right... but he was unjustly punished for a harmless prank! That should count for something- right?
Right.
Also, what you didn't know wouldn't hurt him. So, he was going to look for the key. He could work in the shop at night as long as he was quiet- and you would never know.
Now grinning at his plan, he set off to look for the key. Knowing you, you probably just hid it in your desk-
Nope. Having effortlessly sneaked into your room, as you were otherwise occupied with Mantis and Groot, he found your desk utterly devoid of the shed key. Damn. He did happen to see what he figured was the attic key- and normally he would have jumped at the chance to see what was in the attic, but he was currently filled with too much anger and spite about being grounded from the workshop to care. He was on a mission and he wasn't taking side-quests. That, and he heard someone starting to come up the stairs anyway.
As he quickly made his way to the other side of the landing to his room he cursed himself. He should have known that you would know that he'd want to find the key- so chances are you would have hid it somewhere else... but where?
He spent the rest of the morning looking for the blasted key in every place he thought you might hide it where he could make it not-obvious that he was looking.
It wasn't in the bathroom, or the kitchen, or anywhere in the sitting room. It also wasn't down in the cellar or in any of the closets or in anyone else's room.
Frustrated he decided to go outside for a walk, chilly as it was, to gather his thoughts.
He leaves out the front door and sits on the stoop for a moment, deciding if it was worth attempting to walk towards the road, or if hunters would still be out. He wasn't exactly looking forward to ending up shot like you had been- even if he did think he'd be more careful that you- so he decided against it, opting instead for just taking a couple laps around the house.
Setting off towards the right side of the house he considers his options.
He could keep looking- but he had practically looked everywhere there was to look.
He could try asking nicely- yeah no that was never going to happen.
Turning the corner he considered that he could try to pick the lock- but... actually no, why hadn't that thought hadn't occurred to him before? That's brilliant! He didn't have his lock picking kit anymore since SHIELD had taken all his "contraband," but it shouldn't be too hard to find something around here to make due. Then again, he should probably practice on another lock first... Terran locks are bound to be fragile as fuck, and if he broke it then there's no way you wouldn't know it was him and then you'd probably find other ways to make his life miserable.
But where would he find another lock...?
As he was contemplating this he was taken out of his thoughts by the sound of music.
No, not music- singing. And as he came to the back garden he found the source of said singing.
You.
You were in the back garden near the tree swing, clearly under the assumption that you were alone, and you were singing something. He couldn't make out the words, but it sounded like it might have been show-tunes.
"Now what do we have here!" Rocket called out, smirking as you jumped. He could have sworn he saw your face start to redden just a bit as he closed the distance.
"Gah- I'm gonna tie a bell to you!" you threatened, swatting the air in his direction.
Rocket ignored you. "Whatcha doing?"
"Nothing," you reply, frowning.
"Didn't sound like nothing," he teased, an idea forming in his head.
Rolling your eyes you tell him to piss off and turn and start to head inside, still cross from the day before and not in the mood for his shenanigans.
"Wouldn't it be a shame if the others heard that you were out here singing your little show tunes?" he asked with a grin.
"What?" You narrow your eyes as you turn back toward him.
Rocket grinned a toothy smile. "I mean... I don't have to tell anyone... if you just let me back into the workshop."
Rolling your eyes even harder than the first time you simply reply, "Do it. See what I care," before turning again to leave him.
Rocket blinked, his tale twitching. "Maybe I will!" he said defiantly, and took off past you to beat you into the house. No doubt he was expecting you to call or run after him.
You didn't.
Instead you simply keep a leisurely pace back to the house and by the time you enter the kitchen he, indeed, was busy telling the others inside that he found you outside singing show tunes.
They look up when you enter; Gamora grimacing, expecting this to turn into a fight between you and Rocket; Peter, Drax, and Kraglin looked amused, while Yondu looked like he was barely listening in the first place; Mantis and Groot looked nervous, signalling to Rocket that you were behind him; but Rocket merely ignored them all and continued.
"Yeah! She was out there just singing away- like she was putting on her own show out there-"
You stop behind him and smile. "Really, Rocket?" you say calmly, causing him to turn around with a smirk. "Making things up because you're frustrated about me taking the shed key away is no way to get what you want."
Rocket faltered and opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by laughter behind him, the loudest being Drax. He whipped back around to face them.
Drax pointed an laughed harder. "She just made a fool of you in front of everyone! You must be so embarrassed!"
This was followed by Peter saying, "Dude- you really made all that up just to get back at her?" He chuckled incredulously and shook his head.
Kraglin spoke up next, wide grin on his face. "How did'ya think that was gonna go?"
Rocket's ears flattened. He didn't understand why they all just believed you so quickly. "Wha- No! She's the one lying! She really was out there singing!"
"Oh Rocket," Mantis said with disappointed pity in her voice before she and Gamora left the room with Drax and Groot. Drax was still chuckling and Groot just shook his head along with Gamora.
His jaw dropped. The fact that Groot didn't even believe him stung.
Rocket glared up at you, and when you gave him nothing more than a sympathetic half-smile he turned back to the remaining Guardians. "No really! She's lying! You believe me, right?" he asked, pointing towards Yondu, who was leaned against the sink with his arms crossed, looking bored.
"Nah, I had a feeling from the beginning you were just tryin' to get back at her, Rat."
Now that one hurt almost as much as Groot- none of his buddies believed him! In frustration Rocket throws one last glare back at you before darting out of the room without another word, leaving you to just give a halfhearted shrug to the others before heading to the pantry for a snack.
To be honest you did feel a little guilty for setting him up like that, but still. You weren't about to negotiate with a little raccoon-sized terrorist.
* * *
The next day you woke up earlier than you had wanted, but decided to stay up anyway since you knew Fury would be making one of his weekly appearances- and lately he seemed to be sticking to an earlier schedule.
After getting dressed you head downstairs to figure out what you might want to eat for breakfast, but when you reach the bottom of the stairs you hear unexpected noises coming from the sitting room.
Was that... music? It sounded familiar, but you couldn't yet place it. Stepping closer to the doorway the song got clearer.
"He's Rolie Polie Olie! He's small and smart and round!-"
Oh- it was a children's show that you recognized from your childhood! And you used to play it for- nevermind. Point is you recognized it.
Wondering if Groot might be up and watching you move to stand in the doorway to see if you could see him, maybe ask the little bugger if he wanted food.
Only, when you peeked inside the room Groot was nowhere to be seen. Instead, you see Kraglin sitting on the couch, alone, watching the show, quietly singing along with the song and bopping his head to the music.
A smile tugs at your lips at the scene before you, and you can't help a small giggle escaping.
Kraglin, of course, hears this, and jolts with a start, immediately turning to face you with horror in his eyes at being caught.
"It's not what it looks like!"
"I mean..." You bite your lip to keep yourself from outright laughing. "It kinda looks like you're watching a preschool show."
Kraglin looks horrified, but tries to keep his voice low as he cries out, "No!" in protest. "I-I was just flipping through and-and the remote froze up!"
"Relax! It's fine." You wave your hands in a gesture to say 'keep going.' "Let me know if you need a snack or anything- I can cut up some fruit and get you a sippy cup..."
"Cut that out!" Kraglin scolded, shutting the TV off with a frown. "I told you the remote just got stuck for a second is all!"
"Oh, why so grumpy?" You ask innocently. "Oh, don't tell me you need a nap already. It's so early- EEK!"
Kraglin lunged off the couch towards you and you immediately jump back, laughing as he tripped over himself- only to realize you better run as he was still coming after you, a mischievous glint in his eyes.
You took off toward the front door, your closest exit, and immediately run outside, sure that he wouldn't follow you into the cold morning air.
You were wrong.
With an excited shriek you bolted when you saw that he opened the door behind you and was on his way after you. You take off to the left and round the corner towards the back of the house, Kraglin hot on your heels.
"Take it back!" he called after you, a bit of laughter now in his voice.
"Or what?!" you call back, choosing to run towards the treeline instead of rounding the second corner when you reached the back garden.
"You'll find out when I catch ya!" Kraglin responded.
Laughing in response you only keep running, you were about maybe 20 feet from the trees when it only then occurred to you that you did not have shoes on. The adrenaline was keeping you from regretting that so far on the flat grass, but you realized you really shouldn't take your chances running through the woods without your shoes if you could avoid it. If this was life or death- sure. But this was just Kraglin, and honestly what could he really do to you?
So, you think fast, realizing Kraglin was almost on you. You stop short, dropping in a near slide as you scrambled to change direction, and Kraglin, not expecting the sudden stop, trips over your body and rolls somersault fashion onto the ground as you quickly recover and take off toward the house again, only just then remembering that the back door was more-than-likely locked, and so you'd need to make a break for the front door. Luckily you had just bought yourself some ground over Kraglin, with him yelling playfully, "Get back here!"
However, unluckily for you, he was faster than you thought and he actually manages to startle you into letting out a shriek when you feel his hands almost grab hold of you when you reach the shed. Panicked laughter leaves you as you make a hasty decision to round the corner, thinking maybe it could buy you some time.
It didn't really. You made an entire circle around the shed and but hadn't made that much more ground over him.
Kraglin taunts that he's "Gonna get'cha" and you considered if you'd be able to fake him out again.
Probably not, so you decide to try and tire him out with a couple laps around the garden, heading towards the tree-swing, then the clothesline, and then back towards the shed. He didn't seem that in-shape, so he'd probably be tired out before you even reached the clothesline.
Wrong again.
It was when you started heading back towards the shed you realize he was not getting tired. If anything he was gaining on you.
You make the mistake of attempting to look back to see just how close he was, thinking it'd help you decide if you should break for the front yet or fake it and head back for another lap to try and gain more ground, only to be startled by the realization that he was within arms reach of you, and in fact had one arm outstretched and ready to grab you.
"Kraglin, no!" you squealed, tripping over yourself from the startled realization he almost had you. Of course, when you tripped, being so close, he fell into you, sending you both crashing to the cold ground of the side yard with him on top of you, turning that "almost" to "definitely."
"Got you!" Kraglin cried out in victory as he maneuvered himself into a sitting position that kept you pinned underneath him.
"No!" you cried out again, this time laughing as Kraglin wasted no time clawing into your ribs and stomach.
"Take it back!" he playfully demanded, darting his hands wherever he could reach to drive you nuts.
Laughing loudly, you scold, "Kraglin, don't!" as you pry at his hands and kick out behind him. You tried to throw him off, but damn if he wasn't heavier than he looked.
"Then take it back!" he demanded again with a grin, not letting up.
Suddenly, the two of you hear a loud, "Ahem" coming from a meter or two away, and you both freeze in your tracks.
* * *
What Fury and Maria weren't expecting when they came for the weekly check-in was to hear shrieking the moment they exited their vehicle, followed by you being tackled to the ground some meters ahead of them.
They both quickly drew their weapons, prepared to call out to your alien charge to freeze or loose his head, when they heard your laughter ring out from the tussle happening before them.
Kraglin was, apparently, just... tickling you?
They both awkwardly put their weapons away and Fury clears his throat.
"Are we... interrupting something, Agent?"
* * *
Your eyes go wide and the blood drains from your face as you scramble to get yourself up from underneath Kraglin. He also scrambles to stand, offering you a hand, which you ignore as you right yourself up.
"No- No, sir." you stammer, brushing yourself off once you reach a standing position. You stare, wide eyed at your director, suddenly freezing, and shake your head. "No sir, not at all." Wanting nothing more than to change the conversation to literally anything else than what just happened you continue, "Sorry, sir- let me let you inside."
Maria is suppressing a slight smile and Fury just shakes his head and turns to follow you towards the front door. "I trust the rest of your charges are inside and all accounted for."
"Yes sir," you respond, not daring to look back at him, and only assuming that Kraglin had decided to follow you all.
You let everyone inside the house, not looking anyone in the eye- not even Kraglin who brought up the rear.
Nothing is said about the incident for the entire check-in, and the visit is largely uneventful, with you practically rushing Fury and Maria out the door when they were finished.
Afterwards you simply head straight to your room, without so much as acknowledging anyone else.
"What's up with her?" Yondu asked Kraglin, having noticed you were acting strange.
Kraglin just shrugged and said he had no idea. A bit of a fib, obviously, but he had decided he'd rather keep his mouth shut.
* * *
For most of that afternoon and into the next Rocket spent most of his time figuring out how to get you to let him back in the workshop. Well, any ways that didn't involve apologizing, that is.
He couldn't find another lock like the one on the shed to practice on, but it didn't matter since he couldn't find anything worth a crap to use to pick the lock.
He considered climbing in a window, but found that none of them opened- and if he wasn't currently mad at you he would advise you to change that for safety and/or ventilation reasons.
He even considered tunneling into the workshop, but ultimately reasoned that you were bound to notice a hole leading under the shed. Also it sat on a concrete pad, which was a problem.
By the next evening he had given up. He was never getting back in that workshop- and all over some stupid joke!
He flopped on his bed in defeat to sulk, and heard a clinking nose.
Blinking in confusion, he lifted a corner of his small mattress only to find the pieces of that device he had smuggled. He had fixed the parts that required soldering (very carefully) with the gas torch in the shed some time back, but hadn't actually gotten around to putting the whole thing back together once he had distracted himself with tinkering with other things.
It only needed some bits snapped back into place, a few wires plugged in to places, and the casing screwed together, so he figured he might as well do that now seeing as he now had nothing else better to do.
Once everything was back together it was time for the moment of truth- seeing if it would still turn on after everything it'd been through.
He presses the power button.
Nothing.
He tries again, longer this time.
Nothing.
Sighing in frustration, and hearing Mantis call him down for dinner, Rocket stashes the device back where he had been keeping it. He'd figure out if there was anything he could do for it later.
Leaving the room in a sulk, he shuts the door behind him.
Mere moments after, a soft glow emits from under his mattress.
Guardians of the Galaxy fanfic | Reader x Guardians (With Yondu and Kraglin!)
Summary: You know Peter is going to get revenge, but how??
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Or click here to: Start From Beginning
Author’s Note: For my records this chapter ends on day 85 of the Guardians living with reader. Enjoy!
Word Count: 4,946
The room was still dark when you woke. Nervous energy, along with the aid of an alarm, helped you wake early so you might get ahead of Peter, catch what prank he'd have inevitably set up for you during the night.
You checked everything- your boots for grease, above doors for water buckets (noting the advice Yondu had given you weeks ago about how those had been Peter's go-to pranks on his ship.) You also checked your toiletries for dye, just in case he'd revisit one of your best pranks to try and finally pull it over on you.
However, you found nothing. This surprised you, but you suspected maybe he wasn't so motivated that he'd sacrifice sleep to get you back. His revenge must be yet to come.
But it didn't.
At least, you hadn't noticed anything by breakfast, nor after. You kept a watchful eye, but there was still nothing by the afternoon. At most he would grin mischievously at you, or repeat the 'I'm watching you' signal from the day before.
Clearly he was waiting for something, or planning his attack carefully.
Regardless, you knew you needed to get out of the house for your own sanity. Should you stay to keep an eye on him? Probably. Would your absence give him the freedom to do whatever he wanted? Most likely, assuming Gamora didn't reign him in to keep him out of trouble- which she likely wouldn't. Still, you knew you needed a breather before your composure betrayed you. Before your anxiety started to crack your calm faćade and it be known how nervous you were over whatever hellfire would be coming your way.
If nothing else, you wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing you sweat.
So, you decided today would be the day you finally check the tunnel, starting with the door behind your favorite tree. This would kill two birds with one stone. You could get in a 'nature walk', and once you reached the cellar, maybe you could take a minute to 'listen in' and see if you could possibly hear any plotting of Peter's plan while he thought you were away...
Checking your boots once again before putting them on, you started to get ready to go out, doing your best to be relatively quiet so no one would notice you getting ready and ask to join you, as certain members of the Guardians had been wont to do lately.
Luckily, everyone else seemed to be busy doing their own thing, either watching TV, playing cards, or lounging upstairs, so no one was around to notice you putting on your jacket in the hall, or making your way to the back door in the kitchen.
Just as you were about to leave, however, you stopped. It occurred to you that leaving without a trace was bound to concern some nosy someones, so you quickly grabbed a notepad from a drawer and jotted down a quick, "Went for walk. Be back later." before setting the pad down on the table. Surely one of them would be able to read it, you knew you'd seen at least a couple of them reading the books from the sitting room from time to time. And if anything happened, you knew they had a SHIELD phone, of which you were sure must have your number programmed into it.
Hopefully they would call you first, and not immediately Fury.
On that note, you put an earbud in one ear and left.
The walk through the woods was blissfully uneventful. You'd missed this; the leaves had changed color and had started to fall, leaving the starts of a beautiful orange and red carpet on the forest floor; the call of a rook occasionally breaching the music from your earbud; the smell of crisp autumn air...
Though, as much as you loved this alone, you couldn't help but think maybe you should offer to bring the others out here, like Yondu had suggested way back -on the same night he had insisted on following you out here. However, even before that night, the others seemed wary of venturing into the woods once they found out there were hunters in here, and that apprehension almost certainly would now be worse seeing as they had witnessed the aftermath of one having accidentally shot you...
Yeah, probably not a good idea.
In what felt like no time at all you reached the spot of your favorite tree. You looked up at it's mossy branches and considered taking a moment to just relax beneath it. Couldn't hurt, could it?
That thought was quickly brushed aside for the reality that you had already been pushing this off for weeks for one reason or another. Well, years actually, if you wanted to get technical about it...
Better to just get to it.
You let out a breath and make your way to the backside of the tree, where the old door was hidden under some brush. The plan was to open the door, and (assuming it didn't fall to pieces right there) climb down into the tunnel (assuming the ladder was still in good condition) and, if neither of those warranted immediate repair, make your way through the tunnel and inspect it all the way to the house, making a list of any repairs needed.
Bending over, you sweep the leaves and other brush away from the door to inspect the wear- only to receive quite a shock once said debris was cleared away.
* * *
Back at the house Peter was in his room, busy trying to think of the perfect revenge prank- but he couldn't for the life of him think of anything good. Also, it was hard trying to think of a 'master plan' that you'd 'never see coming' while you were in the same house, likely watching his every move in anticipation.
When he thought about it, what really was left that the two of you hadn't already done to each other? Fake spiders, dye in the soap, innocent food pranks, 'misplaced' items, etc. He was running out of ideas, and any he could think of just didn't seem good enough to compare with the remote prank. It was too good. And sure, he technically hadn't 'proved' it was you- and yes, he had never been able to find whatever you were using to do it- but he still knew it was you. Had to be.
Regardless, back to planning.
He wasn't going to try dye again- that really didn't work out for him last time. And bucket of water in the doorway just seemed like child's play. Sure, he could put jelly or something in your boots, but would that really be satisfying?
Should he consider teaming up with Rocket? He usually had good ideas? Then again, last Peter knew Rocket and you didn't get along so well- which might go well in convincing him to team up- but also he didn't want to risk whatever Rocket would plan winding up injuring you. Yes, he wanted revenge, but not like that.
Peter sighed. Maybe a snack would help- who can think of master plans on an empty stomach anyway? He stood up from lying on his bed and made his way downstairs into the kitchen. He'd just grabbed a bag of nuts from the pantry when he happened to notice a note on the table.
After a quick read his eyes brightened. So you weren't home... Meaning that plotting- or setting up- a prank would be much easier. It actually opened up a lot more possibilities! What possibilities? He wasn't sure yet, but possibilities nonetheless.
'Oho- leaving was a mistake on your part,' he thought. He could almost see your face now, coming home to find whatever prank he set up for you.
Now all he had to do was think of one...
* * *
You looked down in disbelief, unsure if you were really seeing what you were seeing.
How was this possible? Who could have done this? Why had they done this?
You rubbed your eyes, just to be sure, but nope. The sight before you hadn't changed.
Someone, you didn't know who, had completely replaced the tunnel door. The old, weathered wood with the flaking paint that you remembered was now replaced by new wood, freshly painted in a color that matched well with the soil it lay in.
After the shock had mostly worn, you cautiously reach down to pull the door open. It was heavier than you remembered, and you quickly saw the reason for this was that the underside was now re-enforced with an aluminium frame.
This was certainly alarming. Who the hell could have done this?? No one knew this was here?? Other than you, the only other people who knew of this tunnel's existence were long dead. Not even Fury knew this was here, and he knew everything!
A glance down the hole showed that the door was not the only thing messed with. The stairs, while seemingly not in need of repair, looked a bit too clean for something that had supposedly been left alone for years underground. Could some crazy person have come along and just... commandeered your tunnel? Oh- that wouldn't be good at all, considering where it led to.
You quickly threw the door completely open and shined your phone flashlight down the hole, though it didn't really help you see much further than the floor directly below you. So, cautiously, you climbed down.
Once in the tunnel you debated if you should have closed the door behind you, but ultimately decided against it. If there was someone living down here, you might need a quick escape, considering you didn't bother to bring a weapon with you. Closing the door would only slow you down. If everything went well you'd close it on your way back out.
You shone your light down the tunnel, and for the most part it looked more or less how you remembered. Dirt and stone walls with many wood supports lining the entire length. Further in you started to notice that at least one of said supports looked new. This gave you a bad feeling, because the only way that could happen is if someone had been down here. You certainly hadn't been, not for years now.
You continued on, but realized once you came to the door at the other end leading into your cellar that you had found nothing out of place other than two replaced supports. No other signs of life, past or present.
This was truly bizarre. You debated opening up the door/false wall into your cellar closet for a few moments before carefully pulling it open to view the closet door itself, and then carefully opening that as well, doing your best to be as quiet as possible.
You gave the cellar a quick but thorough look-through, already knowing the door to the upstairs was locked from the other side. If anyone was down here they wouldn't have been able to make it into the house without someone knowing.
Finding no one, and nothing disturbed, you quietly made your way back into the tunnel, making sure to completely close the false wall and door leading into it.
You tried and failed to make sense of it as you journeyed back to the other end of the tunnel. No one else knew about this tunnel. You hadn't told anyone, not Fury, not Maria, you didn't even have any living family that knew about it.
Thoughts swirled in your head the entire walk back. Yondu had been the only one you ever brought out to the tree- could he? No. There's no way. Even if he somehow figured it out on his own, there was no way. Surely you'd notice his absence if he went out there, and where would he had gotten the materials from? He didn't seem to have much interest in your workshop at all.
Wait- your workshop... Could... Rocket-? No. That was even more absurd. Would he have been easier to miss tailing you on a walk to find the tunnel? Sure, but you still knew that even if he had, which you were sure he hadn't, you didn't have any aluminium in your shed, and you had doubts he could have pulled the wood out there unnoticed, or without help. He was a raccoon after all. And none of them could just leave to get more materials on their own. So it couldn't have been any of them.
Crawling up out of the tunnel you thought about how Fury found your home despite it supposedly having been kept off the books. He was Fury, and he knew everything. Is it possible that this also included the secret tunnel on your property? They had said he had vetted your property for weeks beforehand.
But he'd never said anything-? Though you supposed that wouldn't be unlike him. And if he did know, why only recently repair it? When you had been out here weeks ago to look at it, it had still been the same old weathered door. This had to have been done after that.
Is it possible he didn't know about it at first? Could he somehow had found out about it later? Or knew from the beginning but only decided to inspect it recently?
You closed the door and re-covered it with brush.
Ok, even if that was true. Why? And How?
Well, for all you knew he had hidden cameras around your property to keep watch while he wasn't there. If that was true- no. No it couldn't be that, could it? Because how would he know to set them up exactly in this area? Surely not even Fury could manage that.
You racked your brain for answers the entire way home, and the concern must have shown on your face as you came through the back door.
"You alright?" Gamora asked from the table, Mantis sitting beside her.
You blinked a moment before answering, undoing your jacket. "Uh, yeah. Just thinking." Clearly, you weren't going to let any of them in on your discovery.
"About Peter's prank?" Mantis asked. "Are you worried?"
You turn to her and raise an eyebrow, before shaking it off. You had been so busy thinking about the tunnel you had actually managed to completely forget about this prank feud with Peter. So shaken up, in fact, that you hadn't even bothered trying to listen in to see what Peter might be plotting while you were in the cellar, as you had entertained doing before you first left the house. Forcing a slight chuckle you ask, "Oh, has he finally figured out what he wants to do?"
Mantis shrugged. "I have no idea. He keeps saying it's a secret."
"Ah," you smile, shaking your head to appear completely unbothered as you left the kitchen to hang up your jacket and remove your boots. In reality, you were honestly a little worried, but you sure as hell weren't going to let any of them know that.
* * *
Over the next couple days no pranks happened, and you got increasingly paranoid.
You did your best not to show it, but it was increasingly difficult considering you had to constantly watch your back for Peter, and you still had the tunnel situation on your mind.
On the fourth day Fury made one of his visits, and you had to admit it was awkward. It didn't help that Maria didn't come with him this time, having been called away on another duty, as that only made this visit longer, which didn't help with your current stress.
For one, you were nervous the entire time that Peter was going to pull his prank while Fury was there- which wouldn't have been good at all. At one point in the visit you even pulled Peter aside and asked him what he was planning, and that he better not do it while Fury was here. He simply grinned in response and said he'd of course be on his best behavior. Little shit.
You didn't trust it, and therefore did your best to keep an eye on him the entire time.
Then there was also the matter of how you suspected Fury had something to do with the tunnel, but you couldn't just ask him because if he hadn't known about it, he would then. The whole visit was you mostly giving Peter side-eye and staring warily at Fury wondering if he knew, how much he knew if he did, and -if he did- did he now suspect that you knew that he knew by your behavior?
If he noticed you looked stressed he didn't mention it. Was that a sign that he knew? Or just a sign that he just did not care whatever antics might be going on because it was clear much of your stress was aimed towards Peter?
Luckily the visit ended soon enough without Peter pulling a prank to embarrass you in front of your boss, which was a relief. However, that didn't stop the paranoia. In fact, when nothing continued to happen well after the visit, combined with the fact that nothing had happened the past few days, it only made the paranoia worse because you knew the shoe was about to drop eventually.
That night you pulled him aside again, once again demanding to know what he had planned, only for Peter to smile and tell you "Oh, you'll know when you see it," and then walk away with a sinister laugh.
You were fucked.
* * *
Once again you woke early, just as you had the past few mornings in an effort to stave off whatever Peter might have planned. Like the other mornings you checked everything in your morning routine to make sure it hadn't been pranked before using it, and like the other mornings nothing had been messed with as far as you could tell.
You made your way down stairs for a quick drink, considering if you might go back to sleep for a bit, when you stepped in something wet in the kitchen.
You groaned and inspected the damage- apparently just a bit of juice. First your tired mind went to thinking Peter finally pranked you, but after only a moment you realized it wasn't a prank. There was an overturned cup on the counter and you realized the actual culprit was likely just Groot having gotten up for a drink during the night again, and being messy with his cup when he was finished, judging by the fact that there had only been a tiny puddle on the floor that you'd stepped in.
At any rate, this still meant you needed a fresh pair of socks, so after tossing your soiled ones into the washer, you set off back to your room to grab some.
However, you couldn't help but notice that all the socks in your dresser were gone when you got there. Instead of being frustrated, you were actually relieved. Peter must have finally pulled his prank.
You could feel the stress leave your body as you exhaled. This was completely mild compared to what you had built it up to be in your head, but you weren't going to argue. That said, you did still need another set of socks. So, not bothering to close the dresser drawer, you leave the room with the intent to search for your missing socks.
However, no sooner had you stepped into the hall did you hear Peter's voice cry out, "YOU!"
He had exited his room a little before you and caught you just as you were leaving your own, but you only looked at him in confusion. Why was he yelling at you like you had just done something to him? Wasn't he was the one who had just pranked you?
You barely had time to react, but knew your three choices were to stay put, move left into a corner, or move right to head downstairs. Naturally, you attempted the third option, but he was on you too fast, quickly grabbing your shoulder to pull you back with a "No you don't!"
Just as quickly he pulled you into a headlock and started going on about "How dare you!" and something about taking his socks.
You started to protest but only managed out a "Hey!" when he then topped the headlock off with a noogie as you attempted to pry his arm from around your neck.
Before you could get another word in he stopped with the noogie and switched to scratching his fingers at your stomach, resulting in you letting out a stream of surprised laughter as he continued on about the unfairness of pranking him yet again when 'he still hadn't gotten you back for the last prank yet!'
You finally managed to speak again, but the most you could manage was a giggly, "Peter! No!" as your senses were overcome with the ticklish feeling.
Despite this, you couldn't help but think that this was definitely a confusing turn of events. You for sure hadn't done anything to him, regardless of what he was on about, and therefore you definitely didn't deserve this punishment. Fortunately this time you didn't have the handicap of two grown men sitting on top of you, so you were able to get out of his grasp easily enough. In no time the tables were turned and soon Peter was pinned beneath you on the floor with his arms behind his back.
You were just about to give him a taste of his own medicine when it actually hit you what he had said, now that you were no longer being tickled senseless. He'd accused you of taking his socks, but you hadn't taken his socks. He had taken yours- hadn't he?
"Hey- quit squirming! Listen- I didn't take your socks! You took mine." you scold as he did his best to try and turn the tables back in his favor.
"No I didn't!" Peter argued, clearly indignant at being accused.
You raised an eyebrow. "This wasn't your prank?"
"No-?" Peter answered, now fighting you less, and with more confusion creeping into his voice. "Wasn't it yours?"
"No." you respond flatly. "Wait- why should I believe you? I thought you were all about plotting a revenge prank on me? Why shouldn't I believe this is part of it?"
Peter stopped struggling now, and seemed a little reluctant to answer. "I uh... well, I was going to, but I couldn't think of one good enough... I was going to just keep stringing you along until I thought of something, and then I just kinda... forgot about it..." He sheepishly chuckled.
"You fecker- you were 'no-prank' pranking me?!" You started pinching his side, making him jolt with startled laughter.
"Wait-wait!" he pleaded, trying to reason through his laughter, "If neither of us pranked, then who took our socks?!"
You halt your torture. He was right- unless this was part of his prank and he was just messing with you, and/or trying to save himself.
Just then, as if on cue, Kraglin came out of his room looking annoyed. "Which one of ya two took my socks?"
You decided then to release Peter, and you both attempted to clear your names as you stood from the floor.
"I didn't touch them," you say, "I woke up and all mine were gone, look at him." You pointed at Peter.
Peter scoffed. "I didn't do it! I told you I didn't do it! Mine are gone too!"
Kraglin rolled his eyes. "I don't care which one of ya did it, but y'all better return my socks now."
Yondu appeared in the doorway behind him and just stood there, staring the two of you down with a glare that clearly said that he wasn't in the mood to mess around. It was easy to assume his socks were missing too, but he didn't feel the need to repeat what Kraglin already said when a decent glare could do the job.
You held up your hands in a placating gesture. "I can't return what I didn't take."
Peter frowned. "Well I can't either!"
Drax now entered the chat. "Mine are also missing. I would like you to return them, Peter."
Mantis now spoke up from behind you, "I can't find mine either, Peter- Why would you take all our socks?"
A strangled noise came from Peter's throat. "Wha- Why do you all assume it was me!" He then started wildly gesturing in your direction as if to say, "She's right here! Why does no one accuse her!??"
Gamora sighed from their doorway. "Because this type of thing is right up your alley.... and I want mine back too."
"Where's Groot?" Rocket asked, moving past Drax to get out of their room. His fur was messed up on one side of his face as if the commotion outside had only just woken him up. He didn't seem interested in the missing socks at all- probably because he didn't wear any.
"I am Groot!" Groot's tiny voice answered from the staircase, causing all the attention to turn to him.
"A fort? Where'd you do that?" Rocket answered, rubbing his eyes as he tried to fully wake up.
"I am Groot." he bounced excitedly. "I am Groot!"
"Can't it wait til after breakfast?"
"I am Groot!" The tree child now seemed to be pleading, like, well, a child. He turned his attention from Rocket to include the rest of you. "I am Groot!"
You couldn't understand him, but you gathered enough context clues from Rocket's responses to get half an idea of what he wanted.
"Sure, buddy. Let's go see." Peter answered, clearly happy for any distraction that took the heat off of him.
To your surprise, everyone else moved to follow- so you did too. Whether it was genuine curiosity or peer pressure that made you do so, you weren't quite sure at this point.
Little Groot lead you all into the sitting room to show you his "fort."
At first you were confused. You expected to see your sofa cushions pulled off and made into makeshift supports for blankets, but you walked in to instead see the sitting room was as clean as it was left the day before.
Then Groot motioned for you all to look behind the sofa, and it cleared up multiple questions from that morning. Firstly, where his 'fort' was. Secondly, you all got to see where all your socks had gone.
Admittedly, his 'fort' was actually kinda impressive, and you found that you weren't even annoyed by the revelation that he had taken everyone's socks to build it. It looked like he had somehow managed to make it two stories, and it even had a wall going about it- all made from twisted together socks and what looked to possibly be some wooden spoons from the kitchen.
"Hey, he's the one who took all our socks!" Drax declared redundantly.
Peter rolled his eyes at him while Groot said, "I am Groot!" indignantly at Drax.
Gamora knelt on the floor to speak to Groot. "Yes, and it's a lovely fort- but you shouldn't take other people's things without asking, ok?"
Groot nodded, almost solemnly. "I am Groot..."
"Yeah buddy, time to give the hummies back their socks. You had your fun." Rocket told him firmly, but followed it up with, "I'll teach you how to build a better one later that doesn't smell like feet."
You wrinkled your nose at that. Hopefully Groot had only taken the clean ones, but just in case you'd probably be throwing yours into the wash once you got them back...
While you waited for Groot to untangle all the socks you and Peter retreated into the hall, both only half-willing to apologize for accusing the other.
"So, um... Guess we could call it a draw? I guess I technically got you back with the 'no-prank' prank. I mean- you did look pretty stressed the last few days." He grinned wide, seeming satisfied with himself.
You weren't about to argue, it was better than worrying about what he had planned, and if he'd execute it in front of your boss. Without admitting to it, however, you reply, "Yeah. Let's call it a draw."
He poked you in the stomach, making you twitch. "Admit it first. Admit I had you stressed and then we'll call the truce." He crossed his arms and grinned at you smugly.
You glared at him, and weighed your options. You could refuse on grounds of pride, and risk him taking it as a declaration of war. Or, you could give in, and save yourself all the trouble that usually came with one of your prank wars.
The answer was made up for you, when you noticed Yondu standing in the doorway behind Peter, clearly having listened in, now staring daggers into both of your souls at any prospect that another prank war might be started when it could be easily avoided at just the cost of your pride.
Concerned that he would find a way to make your life hell, and realizing that he was honestly probably scarier than anything Peter could throw at you, you rolled your eyes and gave Peter an answer.
"Fine. I 'admit it.'" You held out your hand, telling him this time you would shake on it.
Peter grinned and accepted your handshake. Before he left, however, he paused just long enough to whisper some infuriating parting words into your ear, "Told you, I'm the prank master!"
Guardians of the Galaxy fanfic | Reader x Guardians (With Yondu and Kraglin!)
Summary: When your order for spider repellent finally comes you have to go into town to get it, but what happens when your solo trip turns into you bringing not one, but three, of the Guardians with you into town?
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Author’s Note: For my records this chapter ends on day 76 of the Guardians living with reader. Enjoy!
Word Count: 6,992
There was only just enough time for you to register the color blue in the dim light before your would-be punching victim grabbed your wrist to block the blow and in one fluid motion had you spun facing away from them with your arm pinned behind your back. Soon followed the same gruff voice, which you now realized to be Yondu's, saying, "Alright, easy now-"
The two of you stood there for a moment with him pinning your arm firmly behind your back, your breath coming in quick bursts as your heart threatened to launch itself from your chest.
He spoke again. "For yer benefit I'm gonna assume that ya didn't mean that," he was clearly referring to you nearly sucker punching him, "-which is the only reason you're still standing. Now, if I let you go are ya gonna behave?"
Wordlessly, you nod.
"Alright then. I'm gonna let you go and you can explain yourself."
He released your arm and you slowly turn to face him, your gaze not quite meeting his. "Sorry." you say quietly. Then, slightly more loudly, "Did you need something?"
"Well, I was a little curious as to why ya just ran out the house like that, but now I kinda wanna know why ya just tried to knock my block off."
Your face began to grow hot. You had been in such a hurry you hadn't noticed anyone else on your way out. Then again, you hadn't been looking too hard either. Furthermore, what could you say? That you were running away from some spiders? You didn't think you could bring yourself to admit it.
"I- um," your gaze fell to the ground, "Did anyone else see?" you asked, declining to answer why you just swung at him. Again, what would even say?
Yondu let a short laugh out his nose. "Nah, pretty sure I was the only one. Surprised you didn't see me, I was right there in the hall." After a beat he spoke again, "Now come on. Out with it."
Unsure if he still meant why you ran out, or why you about hit him, you reply, "Nothing. What do you care for?" Crossing your arms over your chest, you continue to look anywhere but towards him.
"Just curious. People usually don't run out of a place like that unless something's wrong. Thought I'd investigate to make sure you weren't chasing after something or need backup. Then I find ya hiding behind the shed and ya just tried to knock my block off and so now I figure something must be goin' on with ya."
"I don't want to talk about it," you say sullenly, your face growing hotter.
"Why? It can't be any worse than any of what you've already told me."
Finally meeting his gaze you offer nothing more than a glare.
He rolled his eyes with a smirk. "Alright. Don't tell me then. I also won't tell you about that spider crawling in your hair either."
It had just been a joke- just some good-natured ribbing- but it didn't take long to he realized he fucked up.
No sooner than those words left his lips you reacted very badly, jumping out of your skin and immediately batting at your hair to get the alleged spider off of you. Then you half-collapse onto the wall of the shed and begin quietly sobbing.
He simply stared at you a moment, too stunned to speak. Something was very wrong. It was finally clear you weren't just being moody- but fuck- what should he do?
"Um, hey now..." he said awkwardly, eyes wide.
You didn't respond. Just continued to sob, unable to stop, your cries muffled behind your hands.
"Come on now- I didn't mean anythin' by it," Yondu tried again.
Still, you didn't acknowledge him.
He debated if he should try and nudge you or something, or if that might result in you swinging at him again. Damn. He hated seeing people cry. He needed it to stop. But what should he do? Walk away? Shake some sense into you?
Eventually he rolled his eyes and sighed before saying, "Aw hell, come here-" as he grabbed you and pulled you into a tight bear hug.
Apparently it worked. The shock of it all- combined with the fact he practically knocked the wind out of you- startled you into silence mid-sob.
"What... are you doing?" you asked after several moments, confusion evident in your voice.
"Had to make ya stop somehow, and slapping ya just seemed kinda mean seein' as ya were already crying." There was an edge of humor to his voice that almost made you crack a smile yourself. He spoke up again after a moment. "So, ya done now?"
You sniff and nodded your head the best you could despite being squished up against his chest.
"Alright. I'm gonna let ya go... again... and then I want ya to tell me what this is all about."
He could feel you slump in defeat, but let you go anyway.
Once free, you took a step back and looked at the ground, wrapping your arms around yourself.
"Well?"
"It's- I don't... I mean- ugh." You covered your face with your hands. You just didn't know how to say it, so eventually you settled for. "It was just a rough day."
"Just 'a rough day,' huh?"
You nod, still not looking at him.
Yondu frowned, but said, "Well, it ain't gonna get any better standing out here in the cold. Ya ain't even got any shoes on. Come on." He gestured you back in the house.
You finally look up at him, but instead of following, you stiffened.
Yondu furrowed his brow. "What?"
You again looked down in shame. "I-... I can't." you said quietly.
He raised an eyebrow and looked towards the house in confusion before turning back to you. "What do ya mean ya 'can't??'"
With a groan you look toward the sky. "If I tell you, you have to promise not to say a word to anyone else." Returning your gaze back to Yondu you finish with a, "Understand?"
Yondu chuckles shortly. "Sure, whatever ya say." Finally- maybe you'd finally tell him what this all was about.
It takes you a few moments, but you finally manage to get out a quiet, "There are spiders in my bed."
He raised an eyebrow, his face a mixture of confusion and amusement. "That's it? Ya found a spider in yer bed, and it sent ya runnin' for the hills?"
You frown at him, then mutter that there were, in fact, two spiders in your bed.
"Ah, two spiders. I see."
From the sound of his voice it was clear he was holding back a laugh, and you frown at him.
Yondu crossed his arms. "Well you'd oughtta know that I'd find that at least a little funny, considering..."
A sigh left your nose. Of course you knew he was referring to the fake spider you had hid in Peter's bed awhile back, and that Yondu had confiscated in an attempt to stop you and Peter from pranking each other. The irony wasn't lost on you either. Didn't make you any happier about your situation, though. "Not helping."
"Are ya asking?"
"What?" You raise an eyebrow.
"Are ya asking?" He says again, almost grinning. "Are ya asking me to help ya with yer little problem."
You stammered a bit, unsure what to say. Of course you weren't! Were you? Should you? Absolutely not- you weren't a child... and yet...
With a short laugh Yondu claps a hand on your shoulder and pushes you toward the house. "Understood. Ya need someone to come squish some creepy crawlies for ya."
You pull away. "No- No I never said that."
"Didn't need to." Yondu said with a grin. "It's all over yer face. Don't worry, I won't tell nobody... long as ya make it worth it."
You narrow your eyes at him. "What do you mean?"
"Oh, nuttin much... Let's just say you'll owe me a favor and we'll call it even."
"What... kind of favor?" you ask, hesitantly.
"Well that's for me to know when the time comes. Do ya want my help or not?"
By now most of your adrenaline was wearing off and you were starting to feel the cold. He was right, you couldn't just stay out here all night- especially without any shoes or jacket. However, at the same time you knew you couldn't go back inside to your bed if those spiders were still in it. Damn it. You knew you were going to have to take his offer.
"Fine. Just... don't make it obvious. Please." Eyes squinting, you search him for any signs that he intended to trick or embarrass you, but you couldn't quite read him.
He didn't answer you either, just motioned you towards the house with that half-grin.
Letting out a silent breath, you finally start to make your way back toward the house, hoping to get it over with a soon as possible.
Once inside it was quiet. It appeared that no one noticed at all that you had even left the house let alone what transpired outside. You didn't peek inside the sitting room door as you approached the staircase, but it seemed the TV had been shut off and you heard someone utter the words "draw four," which told you the others were possibly wrapped in game of cards, which at least let you know they were otherwise occupied.
Yondu and you quietly made your way upstairs to your room, and once there, you hesitated at the door. Yondu simply grinned and shook his head, but entered first anyway, you slowly following behind him after a quick glance around to make sure you were alone upstairs.
Once you were both in the room Yondu glanced over your slightly disheveled bed before nodding, seeing that two spiders were indeed still in your bed. Quietly, but not in a whisper, he says, "These here, I take it?"
You nod.
Shaking his head with an amused grin he got down to business. A sharp whistle pierced the air, summoning his arrow and spearing both of the giant feckers in one go before catching the weapon in his fist. He stood there, admiring his kill stuck upon his arrow.
"They bite?" he asked, curious as to why you harbored such animosity towards these little critters in particular.
You shake your head. "Not really," you answer. They could, but you knew they rarely did. Even if they did they weren't poisonous, for that matter.
"Then why is it ya hate them so bad for?"
You frown at him. You knew it was irrational, but that didn't matter. What mattered now is that they were gone.
Yondu didn't mind your lack of answer, and didn't have time to press the matter further as the sound of footsteps could be heard making their way quickly to the stairs from below before Peter could then be heard somewhat apprehensively calling up from the bottom.
"Um Yondu..." he called, letting a pause linger after as if he were unsure. "We heard a whistle- Like a really familiar whistle... I really hope no one's being threatened with an arrow up there... We noticed that it's just you and the Agent that aren't accounted for..."
"Quit yer worryin,' boy! I was just getting some target practice!" Yondu hollered back down.
"That doesn't exactly inspire confidence about what I just asked!" Peter called back up, sounding a little more worried now.
"Everything's fine," you think to answer back, forcing a laugh into your voice. "Looks like he just took out some spiders."
"Ok..." Peter responds. "If that changes let us know..."
"Come on now!" Yondu scolded, seemingly jokingly. "I'm insulted. Thinkin' I'd just go whippin' out my arrow and be terrorizin' a lady for no reason!"
"Don't give me that!" Peter called up. "I've seen what you do when you're bored!"
Yondu actually looked genuinely offended by that, and with another whistle his arrow took off again and it was seconds before Peter could be heard screaming like a little girl, quickly followed by him scolding Yondu that he 'could have at least cleaned the spider guts off it first!'
Admittedly you had to fight a grin, and Yondu was pleased to see it as he called back his arrow, Peter seemingly having retreated back to the sitting room to rejoin the others after yelling back a final, "Dickhead!" He either ignored, or had been given too much a fright to notice, that the arrow had come out of your bedroom.
The spiders were now gone off the tip of his arrow, but you chose to ignore it as he went to holster it. You could deal with the corpses later- you didn't mind so much if they were dead and you had a dustpan.
Yondu happened to glance over at the bed once his arrow was in its place and noticed he had sliced a clean cut in your bedsheets when he speared the spiders. He gestured to it and said with a half-apologetic chuckle, "Looks like we got a casualty."
You shook your head and told him not to worry about it, but stopped him just as he was turning to leave.
"Um, thank you," you mutter awkwardly, rubbing the back of your head.
He simply grinned back at you cockily and replied, "Just a simple transaction is all. Pleasure to be doing business." With that, he turned and left.
His footsteps sounded down the stairs and you turned to look at your bed before carefully reaching to gingerly pull back your blanket, momentarily wondering if you should have asked him to stay longer just in case you found more, but ultimately knowing you would have felt like even more of a child if you had.
Luckily you found no more, but you did completely strip your bed of it's sheets and remade it with fresh ones, throwing the ones the spiders had spoiled with their presence in your hamper to be washed in the morning. Again, you knew it was irrational, but there was no way you'd be able to bring yourself to sleep in that bed with sheets you knew recently had spiders crawling in them.
This also meant you now needed to go upstairs to the attic to fetch a spare blanket, seeing as yours was also now in the hamper to be washed.
Climbing the attic stairs you couldn't help but also wonder what exactly Yondu would call in for his favor, and if you might come to regret this "transaction," or not. To late for that now, you supposed. All you knew know was that as soon as you retrieved a blanket you were hitting the showers and going straight to bed. Hopefully tomorrow would be better.
* * *
Luckily, the next few days were relatively smooth sailing.
Nearly the first thing you did when you woke up the next morning was to think to order some spider repellent online. Fast shipping of course.
All you had to do in the meantime was wait. Fortunately the spiders seemed to be giving you a break for now. What you didn't know, however, was that the reason for this was largely due to Yondu quietly running any he saw through with his arrow under the guise of target practice and boredom if anyone else noticed. Of course he never mentioned it to you. In fact, he'd barely seen you since that night aside from when you'd come up to him when no one else was around to ask him about that favor you now owed him, only for him to flippantly tell you that he'd figure it out later.
Groot might have possibly eaten a couple spiders as well when he was able to evade Rocket's eye. But that was less for your benefit and more because he wanted a snack.
When the morning came that you got the notification that your spider spray was waiting for you at the post office you quickly readied yourself to go back into town.
Your intent was to slip out quietly, but you were surprised by Mantis speaking up from behind you as you were slipping on your jacket.
"Are you leaving?"
You jolt, not expecting to hear her, and turned only to be surprised to see her wearing a pout. Raising an eyebrow, you answer, "Um, yeah. Just gotta run to the post real quick. Did you need something?"
"I want to see the Terran town! Can I go? Pleeease?"
"Oh-" You blinked, puzzled. She had never expressed interest in going before, at least not that you had noticed? Come to think of it, would that really even be the best idea? People would definitely start staring at her completely black eyes and those antennae...
Wincing slightly, you notice Peter and Gamora walking into the hall, and speak up so they might hear. "You're wanting to go into town, Mantis?" You weren't sure what they'd do, but you hoped they might see the impending bad idea and talk her out of it instead.
"Yes!" She gestured over to Peter, who had now stopped to exchange glances with Gamora upon hearing you. "Peter and Kraglin have gotten to go into town so many times! I want to see too!" She now dropped her pout in favor of excitement, and you were now worried she had mistook your question for an offer.
"Did I hear my name?" Kraglin asked, entering the hall from the kitchen.
Mantis nodded. "Yes! You and Peter got to go with the Agent into town many times. I'm going this time!"
Gamora meets your gaze and she seems to be on the same page as you. "Um, Mantis... I'm not sure-"
Kraglin interrupts, clueless. "Ya better hope the Agent has a hat to cover your feelers there, Mant."
Mantis looks confused, but then Peter chimes in before her feelings even have a chance to be hurt. "Yeah, gotta remember we're undercover."
Now Mantis grins wide and turns back to you excitedly. "Do you have a hat!?"
You just stood there a minute. Blinking. Part of you was annoyed they had seemingly made the decision without you. The other part was surprised that you hadn't thought of covering her with a hat in the first place- after all, you had made Peter wear sunglasses the first time he went into town with you, which wouldn't be too bad an idea in this case too now that you thought of it... Wait- what were you saying? You couldn't take her into town! You've seen how easily distracted she can be-
But damn it- that face! You knew you couldn't say no now. Begrudgingly you reply, "I think I might have something in the attic."
Mantis squealed excitedly as you glide your gaze over to Gamora and Peter. For a moment you wondered why she was looking at Peter that way before she met your gaze again somewhat apologetically and you immediately knew what she was about to say next despite you narrowing your eyes warningly.
"Perhaps Peter should go too?" She glanced back at Peter. "Give Agent a break while she runs her errands?"
You continue to glare at her as Peter shrugs and says he won't argue with a chance to get out of here for a bit. Damn it. You knew she likely just wanted some space again and found an out to get some. You attempted to curb your annoyance with the silver lining that this was further proof that she truly hadn't taken Rocket's words to heart when he pulled that stunt of trying to convince her you were gonna steal Peter.
Then, on cue, Yondu walks through from the sitting room towards the kitchen, only to clap Kraglin on the shoulder and say, "Ya should probably go with 'em too then, Krags. Quill may be watching Bug for the Agent, but who's gonna watch him?"
Yondu laughed as Peter protested the insult, and as you turned your glare to him he threw you a wink right before disappearing into the kitchen. Clearly he had heard the previous conversion happening and simply wished to stir the pot. Bastard.
Taking a deep breath, you state you're going to check the attic real quick for a hat that might work for Mantis. Maybe you'd take your time, figure out how a trip alone turned into you now bringing three people with you. You tell the others to get ready to leave while you look as you turn to head upstairs.
It didn't take you too long to find a hat. There had happened to be one hanging on an old coat rack near the top of the attic stairs. Only thing was it wasn't exactly... subtle. It was an old wide-brimmed sunhat that you think might have belonged to your mother, but you weren't sure. All you know is that you had never even bothered to wear it to play dress-up as a kid, which is probably the only reason it was still in decent condition with as old as it'd have to be.
Without bothering to look around for anything a little less... noticeable... you grabbed the hat, beat off the dust, and headed back downstairs. The faster you'd get all this over with the better. You were just going to pop in and grab your package after all. How much trouble could they possibly get into?
You return downstairs and find that Gamora had left, leaving Peter, Kraglin, and Mantis waiting for you in the hall. She was already wearing the sunglasses and beaming excitedly over how she'd finally get a turn to leave the house. Someone, likely Peter, had already managed to locate them and gave them to her. However, unlike Peter who had put on his jacket and Kraglin who was currently slipping his poncho over his head, Mantis didn't appear to have anything of the sort. When you questioned this, as it wasn't very warm out, she informed you that she didn't have one.
You frowned and handed over the hat, which she put on gleefully. "Wait here a minute. I'll grab you something." And back up the stairs you went, knowing that you had a cardigan or two in your dresser. You pulled out a brown one and went back downstairs to hand it to her. "Ok, now is everyone ready?"
Mantis nodded excitedly as the other two shrugged their affirmatives. They, of course, were happy to get out of the house for a change, but they were no where near as excited as Mantis.
With a sigh, you motion them out the door and off you went.
* * *
Mantis was a chatterbox the whole way into town. She gushed over the trees as you drove past, and pointed out every animal she spotted- mostly livestock- and asked what they were from the back seat.
Admittedly it was a little endearing, her innocent excitement. She didn't even ask "Are we there yet?" throughout the long ride, too enamored with the scenery to care.
Mantis gasped when you finally approached the town, right before she joyously squealed that she was finally getting to see a Terran town. You couldn't help but grin at her enthusiasm as you pulled into a parking spot at the post office.
Rightfully assuming she'd want to come inside to ogle the post office interior, you didn't even bother asking if the others wanted to come inside or stay in the car. Hell, Mantis had practically jumped out before you even parked.
...And started off down the street.
"Mantis!" you yell, causing her to immediately turn around, nearly losing her hat as she done so. "Don't run off, I don't want you getting lost."
"Oh-" Mantis said, before nodding her head with a smile and coming back to rejoin the group and following you into the building.
There was no line today, which you took as a blessing. Wouldn't have to worry about too many people gawking at your housemates as Mantis busied herself ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the postcards in her out of season sunhat and sunglasses getup while Peter and Kraglin watched over her fondly as they glanced over some old magazines, waiting on you to retrieve your package.
Within a few minutes the woman behind the counter handed you over the box with your spider repellent and you thanked her before turning back to the others and gesturing them to follow you out.
The second the four of you were out Mantis piped up asking excitedly where you'd all be going next.
Truthfully, you had only planned to grab your package and head back home, but something about the excitement on her face made you preemptively feel bad to disappoint her. Before you could decide what to do, Mantis announced she spotted some flowers in a window box and then promptly stepped into the street, right in front of an oncoming car.
Luckily Peter was quicker than you in that moment and snatched her back before anything bad could happen, though the driver of the car did yell some choice words at her as he drove by. Mantis wasn't even phased, though Peter did scold her for walking out in front of a car. Perhaps it was good he and Kraglin came after all…
With a stern look you tell Mantis and the others to get in the car before someone actually did get run over.
Sensing that you were displeased with what just happened, Mantis didn't argue, but that didn't stop her from asking again what they could see next.
You thought for a moment... what could it really hurt to stay in town for just a little longer?
"Say, what do you guys think about bringing pizza back for dinner?"
"I mean, I'm game," Peter replies for the other two, "but the cheese might be a problem..."
"Ah shit, right. I forgot about Yondu." you say, frowning, but then a light bulb goes off in your brain. "Oh wait- I can't believe I didn't think of this before! There's medicine for lactose intolerance. We can pick it up right from the shop."
Kraglin raised an eyebrow. "Lactose intolerance? I thought it was that 'dairy' stuff he couldn't have? The hell is 'lactose?'"
"Yes- I mean, lactose intolerance is just what they call it when you can't have dairy. Look-" you shake your head as if waving off the conversation, "If you guys want to try pizza we can pick him up some of that medicine so he can have it too, or we can not do that. Your choice."
Mantis and Kraglin look at Peter for his opinion as he would presumably know if this 'pizza' was worth trying, and so he shrugs and nods. "Sure," he says, the other two deciding to nod with him, Mantis smiling wide- obviously excited to try some new Terran food.
"Alright. We'll stop by the shop first and pick up the medicine. There's this one pizza shop nearby that should be good for carry out."
With no arguments from anyone, you set off for the shop.
Mantis behaved liked an excited toddler. She ran off no fewer than 4 times in what was supposed to be a short visit to just grab some over the counter lactose intolerance medication. Sure, it was still a little endearing to see someone clearly so happy and excited to see so many new things, but also a little exhausting since Peter and Kraglin didn't seemed too concerned with her running all over the place. Some help they were.
You finally check out - with a few extra items like soda and napkins alone with the medicine - and get everyone rounded back up in the car to head off towards the pizza shop.
When you get there you figured three large pizzas would be more than enough to feed everyone, and let the other's look at the menu to decide what they wanted to try and what they thought the others would eat.
In the end the order wound up being one pepperoni and peppers (mostly to have a safe choice),
one vegetation with peppers, tomato, mushrooms, and onions, with pineapple and sweet corn on half (Mantis insisted she wanted to try that, and you supposed she could pick them off when she realized that wasn't a great idea),
and one loaded up with meats like pepperoni, sausage, ham, bacon, and even chicken (they figured that would be more enjoyed by Rocket, and probably also easiest to be filling for Drax.)
The place wasn't very busy at the moment, but it still would take a little bit for them to make the pizzas, so you decide to take the others outside to walk about while you wait.
Just like with the post office and the grocery shop, Mantis was amazed with everything, even though you personally didn't see anything particularly special about most of it. Then again, you were used to all of it. To her this was a completely new place. Again, endearing, but increasingly exhausting trying to keep up with her.
Exhausting to the point that you took a moments pause and looked over at Peter who was just chatting to Kraglin with a blasé attitude. "How do you guys keep up with her?" you ask, a littler perturbed that they weren't help keep track of her as was supposed to be their reason for coming. Well, Peter's anyway. You supposed Kraglin was technically holding up his end since he was staying with Peter, though you knew that whole "If Peter's watching Mantis, who's gonna watch him?" was just Yondu messing around.
Peter shrugged. "We mostly don't. I mean, she's never gotten lost before. She always turns back up sooner or later."
Well that explained why they didn't seem too concerned that she kept running off.
You simply sigh in response and look back in the direction you last saw her, only to see that unlike each time she'd wandered before, this time you had completely lost sight of her.
Eyes wide, you get Peter's attention again. "She's gone."
"Don't worry so much. She'll turn back up. She always does."
You scoff at him and turn to look all around you. You couldn't see her anywhere for a good thirty seconds before finally spotting her by her hat down an alleyway across the street. "Shit. You two stay right here, I'm gonna go grab her."
Not waiting for an answer you took off, quickly avoiding cars as you crossed the street towards Mantis. You were glad it wasn't dark yet, unless you counted the storm clouds that had started moving in on an otherwise overcast day. Last thing you would need was for the sky to open up before you all got back to the pizza shop. But no time for worrying about that now, because you just fully noticed where Mantis was walking.
She was heading toward what appeared to be a white, unmarked van, and you didn't like the looks of it. It was parked at the back of the alley where the alleyway turned, and you could only see the back half, as the front half was obscured by a building.
Rarely does something good ever come from an unmarked van. Especially in an alley. You knew from experience, both from working jobs where you had to find people who used them to kidnap the vulnerable, and from working jobs were you were the one inside the van, tracking those who might do harm. Sure, you might have been the good guy, but what happened to the assholes wasn't exactly nice for them either.
"Mantis!" you call out, picking up the pace, but she doesn't seem to hear you. So, you start jogging as Mantis continued getting closer to the van. You call out her name again, but again, nothing. Damn it. Switching to a full run, you notice the back lights turn on, like someone had just turned the ignition key. If there was someone unsavory in there and they grabbed her they could take off down the rest of the alley and you'd never catch them. What if they were traffickers? What if the people after the Guardians had found them and they were stalking them in that van?
Ok, so maybe you were catastrophizing, but better safe than sorry.
You finally catch up to Mantis and grab her, startling her as you jerked her away from the van. As you start pulling her back in the direction that you came the van pulls away. Perhaps this wasn't 'one of those vans' after all, but still. You had every right to be worried.
"Didn't you hear me call you?"
"No- I'm sorry!" She winced, knowing she messed up. "I didn't mean to run off again- there was just this pretty insect and I didn't want to lose it!"
Whatever the insect had been, it was long gone now, but your anger wasn't. "You just can't keep running off like that. You could have gotten lost. And don't ever go near an unmarked van, do you hear me?" Your tone was harsh, scolding.
"Sorry," Mantis replied, nodding. She looked sad from getting yelled at, but you willed yourself to ignore it.
The two of you were quiet for a moment after, you just focused on getting her back to the others, before Mantis spoke up again. "Agent? Why were you afraid?"
"What? I wasn't afrai-" It was then you realized you were still holding her hand, and you promptly let go of it. "Thought we talked about you not doing that without asking," you scold, irritated.
Mantis apologized again. "I didn't mean to- I promise! You startled me and I just... sort of did it on instinct?"
You toss her a quick glance and see she genuinely just looks so sad to have disappointed you that you can't bring yourself to stay angry. Irritation now softened, you just repeat what you said earlier, "Never go near an unmarked van, 'kay? They're just not safe." You hoped she wouldn't ask why, as you weren't sure you cared to explain just what sort of horrible things you'd seen them be used for in the past.
She didn't. Mantis simply nods and the rest of the short walk back was silent. You considered texting Maria about the van so they could look into it just in case, but if it turned out to be nothing or wasn't even actually 'unmarked' (since you only saw the back half of one side) you didn't want the fallback, so you didn't.
When the two of you reached Peter and Kraglin you suggested that you all head back to the pizza shop to wait. They got the hint that you needed to cool down a little and so didn't speak much on the way back. Even Mantis restrained herself from her former excited antics, walking quietly beside Peter with her head down, and honestly you were starting to feel bad for yelling at her. Yes, she needed to be more careful, but she was just excited.
The pizzas were ready pretty much as soon as you walked through the door, and after paying you and walking to the car you asked Mantis if she wanted to be charged with the task of holding the pizzas on the way home. She seemed to perk up a bit at having been given a job, and you cracked at smile when she remarked how warm they were in her lap.
Mantis was less excited on the way home, and at first you thought she was still sad, but a glance backward made you smile when you realized the reason for her silence was that she had fallen asleep.
You guessed the heat from the pizza boxes combined with the rain that was now coming down around you, was just cozy enough to put her to sleep.
The rain had mostly let up by the time you got home and after Peter woke Mantis and brought the pizza's inside, you placed the pizzas in the oven to heat them back up a bit before eating, as the ride from town to home wasn't exactly short.
While you waited you presented Yondu with the lactose intolerance medicine.
"What's this?" he asked, looking at the bottle.
"It's something to keep you from shitting yourself to death after eating dinner," you reply cheekily.
Yondu narrowed his eyes at you.
"It's up to you though. You can always find something else to eat if you don't trust it."
He could smell the food, and it actually smelled pretty good. He also didn't feel like making something else for himself if there was already food made, so he shrugged his shoulders and took a dose. "This better work," he said, washing it down with some water.
"Yeah, for all our sakes," Peter quipped from behind the two of you, earning a glare from Yondu before exiting the kitchen with Kraglin and Mantis to tell the others you guys brought food back.
Now that it was just the two of you, you thought to ask, "Um, if it does work, I don't suppose this will count towards whatever favor I owe you?"
Yondu just laughed and shook his head before leaving the kitchen.
"I guess I should have expected that..." you say after him in response, slightly cringing at how obvious you were making it that you were nervous about what he might ask for in return for his 'services.' You weren't used to owing other people. It felt weird.
* * *
Dinner went pretty well.
Everyone enjoyed the pizza, even Yondu who'd made the previous complaint that 'Terrans put that 'dairy shit' in everything.' And surprisingly to you, Mantis actually didn't wind up pulling the pineapple or sweet corn off her pizza. Neither did Kraglin, who also had some of that half of the pie. More power to them, you supposed.
On the flip side, unsurprisingly Groot didn't eat much, considering his tiny size. He mostly picked the toppings off one of Rocket's slices. Or was it his own slice? You couldn't tell. All you knew was Rocket put two slices on one plate and sat Groot down with him on the countertop where Groot ate the toppings off the slice Rocket left on the plate and Rocket finished off the slice when Groot had his fill of the toppings.
Also, luckily for everyone, the lactose intolerance medicine worked for Yondu.
Well, mostly.
You all weren't run out of the house like the previous incidents, but every so often throughout the evening as you were winding down in your room you could hear Kraglin loudly complaining and Yondu laughing from their bedroom across the hall, each time preceded by fart noises. You couldn't help but laugh and be grateful that the smell didn't waft over to your side of the hall, and that your door was also closed if it did.
Mantis was holding back giggles as well when Kraglin could be heard proclaiming that he was gonna go sleep in Drax and Rocket's room after the third or fourth time. Yondu was only heard laughing in response and making some quip about having the room to himself.
The two of you shared a look and you could tell she no longer thought you were mad at her for running off earlier, and you were glad. It made you feel better knowing she was no longer sad about the situation, but you still took the time then to apologize for yelling at her, and in turn she apologized for running off so many times.
All in all, the day seemed like a success to you. Nothing truly bad happened in town, no one argued at dinner, and you sprayed the house down with the spider repellent that evening so it was very unlikely you'd be finding anymore spiders in your bed anytime soon.
Speaking of spraying the repellent, it seemed Gamora had either convinced the others to tidy up around the house while you were gone, or she had done so herself as perhaps a thank you for agreeing to take Peter into town to give her some space, because you noticed the house definitely seemed cleaner than you left it as you went about spraying in the corners and windows with the repellent. You made a mental note to thank her in the morning.
You were in a pretty good mood, all things considered. Much better than the other day when you nearly punched Yondu in the face.
And with the house already seemingly cleaned, the only thing really left to do was to think about what you wanted to do tomorrow, but now that you thought about it, there wasn't really anything pressing that needed done. You could maybe try and take some time to do an inspection of that tunnel like you had been meaning to? Or you could just take a day to just do nothing? Spend the day outside, taking a walk through the woods while you can before the weather really starts getting colder?
Oh wait- Fury should be coming tomorrow for another check-in and restock. Guess that means both a day-long walk or tunnel inspection are out of the question. You should really be around and available when he shows up- whatever time that could wind up being. One of these times he's probably going to come at midnight just to keep you on your toes.
Although, thinking about it some more, it has been a few days since you played the remote prank on Peter... that should be able to keep you plenty entertained while you wait for Fury and Maria to come and go.
You should see about getting the remote back from Rocket tomorrow.
