What a Pair

He's always been alone. An outcast. Different. And ever since he got out into the universe and claimed a name for himself, the name of Rocket, he's done things his way. What other way would he do them, really?

He steals things, even things he doesn't need, to make others feel the gaping sense of loss he feels. Because he can, and they can't stop him. Because the universe has stolen his choices from him, and it's only fair to return the favor. Share the wealth.

He fights, so someone else can feel his pain and his rage, and he kills so others can have their life taken as his was.

Nothing really helps. Not even when he goes the other direction and builds things.

He does things because he can, because he wants to, and every move he makes is a giant 'screw you' to the universe. He destroys, because men like to create. He builds, to serve his own purpose as he was once built to serve another.

He doesn't make friends, or have companions. Having people around means they can hurt you, tear you apart, stab you in the back. No way will he go through that. He's had enough of it to last a lifetime, and the rest of the universe can go to hell for all he cares.

He makes an exception for Groot, because Groot is everything he isn't. Big, naive, almost innocent in a way. No one 'made' Groot, as near as he can tell. And Groot, with his strange nature and his limited vocabulary (it takes him a while to learn to understand it), is as isolated in the galaxy as he is. So Groot becomes the only companion he allows himself, because he thinks he can handle the giant tree-man, and there's no sense that Groot would ever hurt him. He's not even sure Groot knows how to hurt someone, though he does his best to teach the big galoot the basics.

Honestly, it's like taking care of a child, most of the time. But it has it's perks, and in the void of space, he sometimes thinks that someday he might admit that it's nice not to be alone.

Of course, shit happens, as it always does. His lifestyle catches up to him. He wasn't even doing anything incredibly illegal (well, not much, anyway) but his tussle with Gamora while trying to capture Peter Quill lands him in hot water, and in the slammer.

He escapes. There was never any question he wouldn't. He didn't expect to have Peter Quill, Gamora and Drax along for the ride, but hey, they make good shields in an emergency, and he can turn them in for a pardon or a bounty later if he wants. Peter especially seems to be a wanted guy, and Gamora...well, any daughter of Thanos has more than her share of enemies.

Except it doesn't work out that way. Somehow, through several near-death experiences and some choices he's really not sure he understood making, they wind up being a team. The Guardians of the Galaxy. And they do some really cool shit, like taking down a crazy Cree, saving an entire planet, and using an infinity stone.

Hell, they even get that pardon he was hoping for.

He nearly loses Groot though, and somehow, trying to revive his only friend from a baby twig, he doesn't manage to leave. None of them do. Saving Xandar and the rest of the galaxy seems to meld them all together into a group, one that no one wants to be the first to walk out on.

Not even him. Which is scary, because since when does he have a problem with leaving? He tells himself it's just because Groot is too small to have his back. Pity he doesn't believe it.

He can't stand hoping that he's found a place to belong, can't stand even thinking that he might actually want to belong somewhere. It's even worse thinking (not hoping, he tells himself) that the others might want him. So he fights with Peter, and he snarks at Drax, and he irritates Gamora. He steals random shit and causes trouble, and tries to pretend that the vacuum suits and flight vests he makes aren't his way of apologizing.

He repairs stuff and he breaks stuff, and he tries not to let anyone see that the inside of his head is as screwed up as the half-finished projects he's left lying on his cabin floor.

Then he steals the damn batteries from those freakin 'Sovereign' people, just because he can't stand the way they're looking down on him, like he's some sort of dirt on someone's shoe. Like he's inferior, just because he's not one of them.

Hell, he was born in a freakin' test tube too, if they want to get all snippy about it. Who says his genetic designers weren't better than theirs? At least those douchebags had imagination. Not like these idiots, where everyone is gold and tall and slender with straight hair and crap.

Of course, picking a fight that lands them in thousand-to-one odds is stupid, and he knows it; he tells himself he doesn't care, because the universe is a screwed up mess, and if they wanted to avoid pissing off the Sovereign so bad, why not just toss him out the airlock with the batteries and an apology stuck to his chest? It's not like they care about him anyway.

He keeps telling himself that, as he and Peter fight over the controls before the crash, and snipe at each other after. Because he has to tell himself something. And apologizing is something he'll never do. Not a chance.

And then Peter's dad shows up, and he's some super-powered whack job who can withstand a vacuum and blow up a few thousand Sovereign ships in one shot. And he's got Peter's sense of humor, and they just...well, they fit.

He tells himself he doesn't care as Peter and Gamora and Drax leave with Ego. That Peter's parting shot about making everyone hate him didn't hurt. He tells himself that he always figured he'd get ditched when he caused enough trouble, and why not here, on this backwater nothing planet where they've crashed, with the ship in pieces around him. Why not, huh? Why shouldn't he be left making repairs on a ship that's about a thousand times his size, watching a Twig and a prisoner to boot, while Peter goes off with his girlfriend and Drax the nut-job to meet his family?

Family. That thing that apparently, only Peter is lucky enough to get. The rest of them make do with each other.

Not that he cares, of course.

Not like he cares when Yondu and the rest of the Ravagers show up less than 24 hours later, and capture them. With the exception of Nebula, who breaks free and joins the angry Ravagers in staging a rather bloody coup that puts Yondu out of power.

Pity, he almost likes the blue-skinned bastard, if only because he gets under Peter's skin so well.

Trapped, he does what he does best. He mocks. He picks fights. He laughs it up, sneering in the mutiny leader's face (seriously? Taserface? It's gotta be the worst name he's ever heard). He courts death by spacing and he courts a beating, and he tells himself he doesn't care, because that's just the way the universe fucking is. And when he escapes both, he plots an escape, and cracks jokes about stealing one Ravager's false eye, just because he can.

He tells himself he doesn't care about Yondu's stories about Peter Quill as a child. Tells himself he doesn't give a damn about the way Yondu's eyes dart and his jaw clenches at the mention of Ego's name.

He tells himself that he doesn't think about how bad you'd have to be, to make a Ravager, especially one who's broken the Code, upset.

He expects to get taken to the Cree and spaced, or worse, but luck shows itself. Groot, plus one loyal crewman who didn't want the mutiny (now there's irony, given that the douchebag started it, and they'd all be better off if he'd kept his friggin mouth shut). With a little help and a spare fin for Yondu, they break out and raise some hell, and kill a bunch of douchebags, and it's fun. For him at least.

He and Yondu laugh together as the ship goes up in flames. Scary that, how amused they both are. Then they're on a smaller ship, and he tries to pretend that the only reason he wants to go to Peter is because he wants to shove their circumstances in his face, and because he wants to see Peter's face when he finally finds out that his new dad is apparently even more of a douchebag than the guy who raised him.

It doesn't work, but he silences the voice in the back of his head by sniping at Yondu and telling himself that even if he is wrong about wanting to see Peter's face, well, taking out a douchebag that even Ravagers hate is worthwhile. And hell, it's gotta be fun, kicking the crap out of Ego (seriously, the name is almost as bad as Taserface, and the puns and jokes he could pull out of that are endless).

He doesn't know what he's up against, but he'd rather die than show weakness, rather die than admit that he is hurt that Peter left him behind. Rather die than admit he might need help. And he sure as hell doesn't want to admit that he likes Yondu, the sarcastic bastard who makes him feel like he's met a kindred spirit and calls him 'Rat', but somehow not in an insulting way.

He snaps and he snarls and he mocks, but Yondu doesn't act like anyone else he's ever met. He doesn't get mad and snarl insults back like Peter, acting like he's butt-hurt. He doesn't huff in exasperation and walk away like Gamora. He doesn't stare with incomprehension like Groot or laugh and walk away with blunt indifference like Drax. Doesn't threaten him with a beating or an ass-kicking or death like a lot of people he's met.

Yondu does something infinitely worse. He calls him on his shit.

There's no insults, no mockery. Just raw, brutal truth, spoken in terms so blunt and plain that there's no way of twisting them, no way of fighting them or even denying them. Yondu rips away his armor of bluff and snap and snarl and makes him face himself, and he hates it.

He doesn't understand, how a Ravager like him could see him so clearly. No one else does. He doesn't want to hear Yondu's words, the truth about why he tries to drive everyone away, why he's afraid to have friends or family, but Yondu doesn't give him a choice about it.

What he does give him, though, what makes it almost worth it, is a reason. Yondu gets it, because he's been there. Lost, alone, unloved. Making mistakes and fighting with everyone who crosses his path, because he can't do anything else. Because he doesn't want to do anything else. Yondu's the man he'll be someday (minus the blue skin and about 4 feet of height).

What Yondu doesn't say, but he can see, is that sometimes, family is worth it. Even if it hurts. And isn't that why Yondu followed Peter Quill to the ends of the galaxy, even when Peter ran from him and mocked him and stole from him? Isn't that why he's here, with only one crewman left and nothing to lose, ready to charge Ego?

Isn't that really why he followed the blue-skinned Ravager?

Faced with someone who knows him far too well, even though they've only met a handful of times, it's a little easier to admit. He's here because...well, because the other Guardians are his friends. Family even (though he'll never admit it). Because if Ego is as bad as Yondu has implied, then he needs to be with the people that matter to him, and he needs to help them.

Of course, he still has to stop for a moment, when Yondu makes the quip of 'we're the fools that are gonna take on a planet, I reckon'. A planet? How the hell does that even work?

Then he's exasperated. Of course Peter Quill, Star-Munch, would have a freakin sentient planet for a father. And a psychotic one at that. Par for the course.

Nice to know his favorite douchebag is as screwed up as the rest of them. And to think he thought Peter was the normal one out of their little group.

Then there's no more time for thinking. Just action. Time to rescue Peter and Gamora and Drax, plus the little moth-chick that Drax has somehow gotten attached to, and Nebula, who apparently came all this way to fight Gamora...again.

Kicking planet ass still gives him time to hear Yondu's confession about why he kept Peter around. And about what it means to fly the crimson arrow.

Then they're fighting for their lives against Ego and the Sovereign ships that someone sent after them, and in between shooting everything in sight, trying to keep Ego asleep, and worrying that Groot is going to kill them all, he doesn't have much time to think.

Of course, moth-girl gets knocked out, because life can't be simple and just let them kill the freakin' planet in his sleep. Cause of course that would be too easy, and how could they be the Guardians of the Galaxy if saving everyone didn't nearly kill them in the process?

And of course Peter gives Drax his flight vest and sends him on ahead, back to the waiting ship, because he's such a noble jerk. And naturally, that's when Ego wakes up and starts beating the crap out of them again.

But this is Peter. The idiot who grabbed an Infinity stone out of the air in their last galaxy-saving stunt. Peter, whose dad is a freakin planet and whose mom was from Earth and taught him to love people and 80s music and stupid shit like that.

A little advice from Yondu, and Peter's up and fighting again. Fighting Ego. He's got stones, and he's got power, and he's got imagination. There's no denying that. It's even kind of impressive, in a weird way.

Too bad there's still a good chance that Groot will kill them all by pressing the dead man's button on the bomb.

Too bad that Ego and Peter are working off the same power supply, and blowing up Ego is probably gonna turn Peter into the lame-ass human he was before. You know, without the super-powers that might let him survive this little crash-up.

Too bad Peter no longer has his survival suit, or his rocket vest, because he gave them to Drax.

Too bad he only has one set of spares. Sure, his own gear will get him to the surface, and Gamora looks like she's got herself and Nebula covered (and how weird is it to see those two working together?). But that still leaves two people without equipment, and that's one person too many.

Damn it, he just got around to allowing himself to admit, to believe, that these people could be friends, could be family. Could be what he's always wanted in the universe. People who want him and understand him and care about him.

He doesn't want to leave without Peter, but Yondu makes the point. He's got Groot, and he's the only one who really understands Groot right now. Sure, Drax knows how to be a father (that's a weird thought, but true), and Gamora and Peter are good in their own way, but still. He's been with Groot for so long, he can't imagine leaving him. He's got a kid (or twig, or whatever you want to call it) to raise.

He doesn't want to leave without Yondu. Because Yondu understands him and he's been there, and maybe the old blue-skinned bastard could help him make sense of all these tangled up emotions and feelings. Could help him make amends and apologies and figure out what he wants to do with this strange, mismatched group he calls his friends and family. Yondu helped him admit how he really feels, backed him into a corner until he had to face himself, and he feels like he still needs that. Where will he be, without someone to hold up a mirror and make him face the truth, until he gets comfortable with it?

But then he sees the smile. Hears what Yondu says. Give him this, because he's never done anything right his whole life.

It's not true. Yondu raised Peter Quill, and that was right. But he understands that there's been a lot of bad blood between the two. Yondu's here to make his own amends and apologies to the boy he raised, the man he taught to be a man.

Yondu feels about Peter like he feels about Groot. And like, maybe, older Groot once felt about him. How can he deny the Ravager the choice he wants so desperately to make himself?

He passes over his spares, and he says good-bye. And he agrees with Groot, as they both give Yondu the only gift they really can.

Welcome to the Freakin' Guardians of the Galaxy. Welcome to the family, you blue-skinned bastard.

And off he goes. Knowing that he's leaving behind two people he cares about, one established member of his family and one new one. He'll only get one of them back, and that's if he's lucky. He's too cynical to hope for miracles, and even if he weren't he figures they've used up their quota for the next century or so.

Of course Gamora and Drax try to go after Peter. They love the idiot too. But there's no time, no way they can all survive the collapse of Ego. They've barely made it this far. So he stuns Gamora, and he ignores Drax's bellows, because he's being completely honest when he says he can only afford to lose one person today.

He just now learned to admit he cares. How could he endure losing the people he cares about? One will be bad enough. More than that...he just might not survive. He wouldn't want to survive, not even for Groot.

Twenty minutes later, Ego is dying and collapsing in on itself. And because he's watching, he sees the bright trail of the rocket vest as it shoots through the atmosphere like a dying star. And he knows that Yondu got to Peter, brought him out. Doesn't know yet which of them lived and which of them died, but he knows they've made it out of Ego's grasp, and he'll only lose one friend. One member of his family.

When they get around to the rescue, Peter's alive and sobbing. Yondu's gone. Death by spacing, which is honestly just a nasty way to go. Still, the Ravager looks...peaceful. Content even. Maybe even happy. Like he did everything he wanted to do.

And maybe he did. He saved the boy he called his son. And from the way Peter cradles his body, with tears streaming down his cheeks and sobs hiccuping through his chest, they reconciled.

He listens to the speech Peter gives as they hold the funeral. A speech about fathers and sons. About an ideal and a reality. A speech about finding the things you want being right there with you, even when you didn't realize they were there. And as they consign the Ravager to the flame of the engine core, to be cremated and sent out to space, he thinks about family.

His family. This little rag-tag band of people who have saved the galaxy twice and fight each other as much as they do others. He thinks about a man who's still a boy, with an Earth girl for a mother and a planet for a father, who is lost and alone. About a woman, raised alone and fighting to survive, so much she couldn't even call her sister a sister until now. About a beat up, scarred warrior who lost everything, and who seems almost suicidal, and yet somehow manages to be exactly what they need, because he's blunt and honest and sometimes, he knows how to sit and comfort others in silence. About a baby tree who was once a giant and gave up everything, including his life, and who relies on all of them to raise him.

He thinks about himself and Yondu. What a pair they were. Lost and alone and fighting with everyone and everything because they didn't know how to do anything else. Wouldn't want to do it any other way even if they could. Bitter, sarcastic bastards who were afraid of the vulnerability that family and friends could bring.

But Yondu got past it. He doesn't know if he will. He doesn't even know if he can, now, with all the fights he's had with Peter. But he wants to try, if only to prove to Yondu that one of them can make it, can make a home and a family for themselves.

He sends a message to the Ravagers, telling them what Yondu has done. Because the Ravagers were Yondu's family once upon a time, and he wants to know if they'll forgive the old bastard. Wants to know if reconciliation, even for breaking the Code and doing stupid things is possible. Because it's the last and only gift he can give the blue bastard, a return on all the things Yondu told him.

And what do you know. They show. As Yondu is consigned to space in a glittering cloud of particles, the Ravagers show. Not just one or two ships, but all of them, releasing a blaze of fireworks into space. Like beacons to welcome Yondu home among his brethren.

Looks like it is possible to be forgiven after all.

When Peter comes to thank him, he doesn't apologize. But he can't help mentioning the batteries that started this whole stupid mess. The batteries he stole. And even if he tries to make it casual, tries to pass it off as a random reference, he can't help being afraid of what Peter will say. After all, his daddy died for them.

And what do you know. Peter forgives him. Swears they'll never abandon him. And he can tell that the idiot is sincere. He has a place with them, he's a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy. A home among this rag-tag bunch of idiots, this family that grows by adopting random lost characters and bringing them in. Like how he's pretty sure they'll be adopting this Mantis chick (who Drax seems to have a crush on), and the lone Ravager of Yondu's crew, and maybe even Nebula.

He and Peter will probably always butt heads. Just like Peter and Yondu always fought. But they'll still be family, and when the universe goes to hell, they'll have each others backs.

Him and Peter. Peter and Gamora. Him and Groot. Drax and Mantis. Gamora and Nebula. Groot and Drax. Peter and Groot. Gamora and Groot. Him and Drax.

What a pair they make.

What a family they make together.

Author's Note: The raccoon made me...