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Death...

That seemed to be an important part of Peter's life.

His mother died right in front of his eyes.

He was responsible for the death of his biological father when it was discovered that he was trying to take over the universe.

He turned to ashes right on Peter's arms.

Yondu, the dad he always wanted to have but he didn't know he had until it was too late, died saving him, Peter would never forget Yondu's face, as tears froze on his eyes and he delicately stroked Peter's face with the last bit of strength he had.

And now... after years of having a family... people that loved him...

He had to watch them die one by one...

When he was frozen in time...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They found out about Peter's "gift" when a Kree fanatic that was looking for revenge on Ronnan got the jump on them.

The guy was unlike any they had faced before, he knew he would never win a fight against the guardians, so he plotted an unprecedented plan, that involved separating them and hunting them down until at least one of them was killed.

The team would fall apart shortly after that.

The plan would have worked, after weeks of false leads on criminals, countless ambushes from hired mercenaries for no apparent reason, terrorist attacks in every planet they stepped on, the Guardians were worn down, tired... Vulnerable.

That's when the would-be assailant attacked, he separated them, sending countless mercenaries after them, forcing them to split up to lower the number of enemies each one of them had to face individually. The Kree knew he would be dying that day... But he would be taking one of the guardians with him.

After all, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

He found the Terran in a dark alleyway on Knowhere, he was tired, bloody, bruised, but most of all... He was defenseless.

He had already taken out all of his enemies, guess the reputation as a Guardian of the galaxy truly lived up to its name... However, in this state, it was easy to sneak up on him and drive a blade as long as his forearm through his chest, right where the heart is.

Peter easily got away from his attacker and shot him multiple times. Blowing many holes into his body.

The Kree now laid dead in front of Peter, a smile plastered on the fanatic's lifeless face. Peter laid his back to a wall, blackness filling his vision as he tried to call for help using his radio.

"Quill? what's the matter? can't handle a couple of poorly paid thugs?." Peter didn't know who answered, he slid down from the wall that was supporting him, he could see a red puddle beneath him.

"Hal-...hel-..." he was tired, his mouth wasn't working properly.

"Quill?, hey Quill, ya acting weird."

"wound... chest... bloo-" Peter coughed blood, thinking that this would be the end of the line.

"What!?, shit, I huh-, FUCK, I'M MAKING MY WAY THERE!." Peter felt so tired, he thought he could recognize the voice on the other side of the call, yet he didn't have much strength left to say much, there was only one thing he wanted to say if he really was going to die.

He heard the person on the other side of the call say more things, he didn't understand what he was hearing, unconsciousness was getting closer. "Ah jus'... wanted to say... I love you guys."

"PETEEER!" Was the last thing Peter heard before everything turned black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"...ing up?"

"......."

"......"

"....ete?"

"..Pe..."

"...oot"

Peter kept hearing voices... His teammate's voices... But he was supposed to be dead... Why was he hearing their voices?... Where they dead too?.

"I AM GROOT!"

Peter jumped awake, startled, his breathing and his heart were going a mile per second. He took in his surroundings, he was in a purely white room, a hospital, he guessed.

"Peter!"

Before he fully realized what was happening he was being chrushed by the bodies of his friends, his family piling on top of him, some crying, some yelling. Peter realized that he didn't die when he thought he did, something that was obvious by now.

The bed gave away and collapsed under the combined weight of the Guardians of the galaxy, Peter groaned, he appreciated their love but this was gonna break his bones if they kept at it.

"Ahem!" Peter heard an unfamiliar voice to the side.

"Oh crap, sorry doc'" Kraglin said, getting away from Peter. "We'll pay fer it, guys, ah think ye might wanna giv' Pete some space."

After that Peter heard some apologies and his friends went to their original position on the chouches in the room, leaving Peter laying down on a broken mattress, staring up at all of them and the doctor in confusion... What had happened?

"Well, I was going to deliver the news on the tests we ran on Mr. Quill and give him the clearance to leave." The doctor explained.

"Is he ok to leave Doctor?" Asked Mantis worriedly.

"Wait, what happened?" Peter asked before the conversation could advance any further.

"Peter... you were stabbed... in your heart." Gamora said with a sad tone in her voice, Peter saw sad expressions on the rest of his team, except for Rocket, who was refusing to look at him, preferring to look to the side while scowling.

"I remember that much, but how did I end up here?, I don't remember any hospital nearby when I got attacked by that jerk." Peter said scratching his head, confused at the situation and the lack of pain he felt.

"Rocket found you..." Gamora pointed at Rocket with her hand, the Procyon turned his head away from Peter even more. "He stole a ship and got you to the nearest hospital, which was miles away."

"Rather impressive I must say." The doctor said. "A creature of his size was capable carrying of you all the way to the surgery room... After he threatened our staff with a blaster saying, and I quote: 'if anything happens to him, I will personally hunt you all down and pull the innards out of your bodies and feed them to you until you die'... Very rude, I must say." The doctor added with a bored expression.

"Rocket you saved me?, man i-" Peter was gonna express his gratefullnes towards his friend when he was interrupted.

"Not quite..." the doctor cut in the conversation.

"What?" Peter asked, he saw Rocket flinch out of the corner of his eye.

"Even with all his threats, we wouldn't have been able to do anything... it would have been too late anyway, your species doesn't survive an hour after suffering a mortal wound to the heart."

"Then how come I'm alive?" Peter asked.

"You were fine by the time we put you on the table..."

"What?" Peter asked, his breath leaving his lungs.

"The was no injury anymore, even now you can notice there is no scar." Peter looked down at his chest, sure enough, there was no scar to indicate he had been stabbed in the first place, in fact, he had no scars at all... Not even the ones he had before.

"How is this possible?" Peter could not believe any of this.

Peter saw Rocket stomping out of the room, closing the door with strength only a cybernetically enhanced being could muster.

"Rocket whe-"

"Leave him be, Peter... Rocket has taken it the hardest out of all of us." Gamora said, a frown on her face.

"What?, why?..." Peter was not understanding, what was bothering Rocket so much?, he was alive and fine. "What are you guys not telling me?"

"Mr. Quill, I already informed your friends of your condition, the tests we ran on your cells do not fail." The doctor motioned his teammates to leave the room so he could speak to Peter and deliver the news to him.

Peter waited patiently, for his teammates to leave the room, he was starting to get a bad feeling about all of what was happening.

"We ran a stress test on your cells, aging determinants, recovery capacity, mutation detectors, cancerous markers, nutrient, and energy conservation, finally we did a thorough examination of your chromatin and the oxidation levels of your cells... I'm afraid to say there is only one conclusion to the results we got..." the Doctor explained, looking at Peter with cold, profesional eyes.

"Is it that bad?" Peter just had to hear "cancer" to feel preoccupied, he had heard that one was prone to get cancer if one of his parents had cancer.

"Quite the contrary, Mr. Quill... the results were beyond excellent... Actually way too much..." Peter raised an eyebrow, if his cells were in that state why was the Doctor speaking like he was about to declare him with a deadly illness?.

"I'm afraid you are immortal."

What?.

Peter did not believe it, the doctor had surely said something else or Peter must have hurt his head real bad and this was just some hallucination. Peter chuckled.

"You know doc?, it's funny, I thought I just heard you say that I'm immortal." Peter made a rather immature gesture, to prove how absurd all of this was. The doctor's cold expressionless face said otherwise.

"let me be clearer." The Doctor said, getting closer to Peter. Taking a deep breath to prepare himself for what he was about to say.

"You are never going to die... Your cells are virtually indestructible, when they do get damaged they will regenerate... Nor they do age or oxidate their components as normal cells do... You will never get sick from any disease since as soon as one of your cells is affected by any element that could damage others, it gets destroyed by its neighbors...." For once the Doctor showed a little bit of emotion, some sadness invading his alien features. "We believe this is due to the Celestial genes we found on you..."

Ego.

"We ran some tests on your teammates too... To make sure our machines were not giving us false results or were damaged, except for... What was his name?, ah, "Rocket"... He refused to get near any equipment." Yup, that sounded like Rocket, to get him near a hospital there had to be a life or death situation.

Peter would never go through a situation like that anymore apparently...

"The result showed us that except for the Flora Colossus, you will outlive all of your teammates." Peter's whole world came to a sudden stop upon hearing the doctor's words, he didn't know what to make of them... He tightened his grip on the pure white hospital sheets covering his lower half.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter sat still for a long time looking at nothing and lost in his own thoughts, even after his team. No. His family came in to see him, even when they left to prepare the ship for takeoff, Peter kept on thinking, what would he do?... sure being immortal and never having to worry about getting sick was great and all... But what then?, Gamora, Drax, Mantis, Kraglin, and Rocket would die someday, hell even Groot had died once... What would he do without them?, he couldn't imagine his life without them anymore, not after everything they had gone through together. What would Peter do without Drax's loud laughter, cheering him up when he was feeling down?. What would he do without Gamora's temper keeping him from doing something stupid?. What would he do without Kraglin and his undying loyalty, reminding Peter of the responsibility he had with the team?. What would he do without Mantis and her inocence?.

What would he do without Rocket!?

Rocket had saved him more times than he could count, way too many times, Peter also treasured every minute he spend with the Procyon, reminding him of Yondu, always reminding him of who he is. Rocket always fought with Peter, sometimes just for the sake of keeping Peter on his toes, yet Peter couldn't imagine his life without them.

What would Peter do without them?

Even Groot one day might die and not manage to come back. What then?, he would have to spend the rest of eternity all by himself, till the end of times?...

What if he ended up like Ego?.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter decided that his condition would not change how they approach things, after finally getting inside the Quadrant Peter called for a team meeting, in it he told his team that they were better forgetting all about that whole immortality thing and not to worry about him, that he would figure things out along the way, for now, it was better if they just continued their lives as nothing happened. Rocket loudly refused the first time, asking how come Peter wanted them to act as nothing had happened.

After seeing that the others were not supporting him, Rocket deflated, looking at all his teammates, how could they think that something like that was okay?. Rocket left the meeting room, angry at all his teammates, he didn't come out of his room for two days after that, and when he did he acted like everything was normal again. Listening to music with Peter. Fixing the ship. Taking care of Groot.

Because that's what everyone wanted... Pretend like everything was okay... Peter's immortality should not worry them so much...

It was just inmortality.

What was the worst that could happen?.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The first one was Drax.

Peter doesn't remember who they were fighting anymore. He just knows that they were a lot of people, it was almost a full-blown war. They were invading Xandar, obviously, the Xandarian empire contacted their local heroes to help them and the Guardians did just that.

Peter sometimes wondered how different would things have been if they hadn't answered Nova Prime's call.

The battlefield... there were gunshots everywhere, explosions every time you blinked, speakers at full blast playing what Peter nicknamed "awesome mix vol. 3"

Rocket was having a blast. Peter could hear his manic laughter over the gunshots, the carnage and adrenaline of an exciting job quickly getting to Rocket.

Peter couldn't blame him. After all, all the Guardians were equally pumped-up, Drax's laughter also sounded strong among all the detonations, Gamora could be seen smiling, having a fun time, Kraglin's whistle was in tone with the music if his face was any indication of something it was that he enjoyed the battle, Mantis and Groot were loudly stating how much fun they were having, even Peter was busting out some dance moves in the battlefield, dancing along to the music...

They were distracted.

Only Drax noticed the enemy soldier creeping up from behind. Only Drax noticed the enemy aim Mantis. Only Drax noticed how her life was going to end.

Only Drax was able to save her.

Peter remembers hearing the shot.

He remembers Rocket shouting Drax's name as he shot down the assailant.

Peter remembers Mantis's sobs.

Peter remembers Kraglin's silent tears as he struggled to keep his composure

Peter remembers Gamora's desperate cries for a medic.

Peter remembers Groot cradling Drax's bleeding body, the Flora colosus trying to stop the bleeding...

Peter remembers Drax's last words.

Peter remembers as he held Drax's hand, how even as he struggled to breathe he managed to get the words out. Peter heard everything, tears coming down his face as he faced the last moments of his friend.

"W-worry not, my friends." Said Drax, pausing to cough some blood, his grip on Peter's hand was so strong, like it was the only thing keeping him alive.

"I chose to take the damage on behalf of her, I am happy that I managed to be part of a family..." he coughed once again, his eyes closing slowly. "I would not be able to bear losing a member of my family again... I hope Hovat and Kamaria welcome me with open arms..."

With that, Drax's grip on Peter's hand loosened, Peter still held onto it as grief took him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The battle was over shortly after that, Xandar obviously won... at the cost of many lives, funerals were held all over the place, a bittersweet victory so to speak. To the Guardians the victory was more bitter than sweet.

The Nova Corps held a funeral for Drax, it was public, everyone that had known of Drax came to the funeral, a statue of him was made, Peter remembers how almost all of Xandar was present, he remembers all the candles that people lit, all the flowers that were placed at the statue's feet, he remembers all the children that now looked up to Drax's statue and said that he was their hero.

He attended the ceremony, they were going to bury Drax on Xandar, some of his teammates said a few words for Drax, Peter doesn't know what they were saying, his headphones were on, playing music from his Zune, the ones that Drax liked the most.

After Drax was buried and the funerals were all over, the Guardians left the place, vowing to return and give a visit every once in a while.

As soon as they entered the ship Peter went straight to his room, he didn't want to be with anyone right now, he didn't believe he could keep the strong leader facade he put on in front of the others, he needed to be strong for them, he was the leader, he had to keep it together for the sake of the whole team... It was just that right at that moment it was so hard.

"You know, I'm usually the one that locks himself up in his room so the others don't see me when I'm down." Peter heard a soft voice coming from the now open door.

Peter stared at Rocket with tears in his eyes, he didn't want anyone to see him like this but now that Rocket was here there was no way around it. Though, Peter wondered how did Rocket get inside, since the door was locked.

"I hacked the lock." Rocket said as if he had read Peter's mind, the raccoon stepped inside the room, with a bottle in his hand and two cups on the other, he sat on the floor in front of Peter's window, he motioned Peter to sit by him.

"Not in the mood, Rocket." Peter said, laying down on his bed.

"Drax would not have wanted you being an idiot right now." Rocket said, Peter groaned and dug his face deeper into the pillow.

"Quill."

"..."

"Peter."

"..."

"Pete... Please." Peter groaned, Rocket sounded sad, sad enough to make Peter stand up and come sit by him. Peter noted that Rocket looked just as bad as him, his fur was disheveled and the fur under his eyes looked wet, it was safe to say Rocket had been crying too since his eyes seemed to be bloodshot.

"He was worried about you." Rocket said as he poured a drink into each of their cups. "Just like all of us."

Peter drank down his cup completely, the alcohol burning down his throat. "Worried about what?"

"This." Rocket said looking at the window, seeing the stars while he drank, he gestured at Peter's current condition.

"I'm fine." Peter said harshly as he poured himself another drink.

"You're not... That's why I'm here." Rocket said.

"Rocket unless you can bring Drax back, you are not gonna change anything." Peter replied, he saw hurt flash across Rocket's eyes before it was replaced with annoyance.

"See?, you are doing exactly what I would be doing, pushing people away so you can keep feeling sorry for yourself and no one notices how you blame yourself... And that's not like you, Pete, you shouldn't feel like that." Rocket's gaze was soft, tired.

"Then how I feel!?, my friend just died!." Rocket winced at how much emotion that sentence carried.

"However you wanna feel, every one of us copes with pain in a different manner... Just, don't bottle it all up, I did that before and I almost lost you guys because of it." Rocket drank again.

"I will lose all of you eventually." Peter said, as a stray tear rolled down his cheek.

"That's why you need to learn how to deal with this pain... Thats what Drax was worried about, what WE are worried about... We need to know that when whatever has to happen, happens, that you will be okay." Rocket stared at his friend.

"How can you tell me this?, you know how much you guys matter to me and you're saying that when all of you die, that I should just forget about it and move on!?" Peter glared at his friend.

"No. I'm saying that you need to learn to live with this pain and to not let it control you!." Rocket said angrily.

Peter thought for a while, he knew Rocket was right, pain could make people do horrible things, Ego's pain about being alone a misunderstood drove him to do what he did.

"Why do you care anyway?" Peter asked drinking yet another cup.

"I care about you more than you'll ever know, Pete." With that, Rocket stood up and left, taking the bottle with him.

Peter remained where he was, looking at the window, he knew why Rocket was worried, what he was afraid of... Rocket was afraid that he would become another Ego.

Peter decided that he would rather die than become that, even if it was impossible for him to die... Or at least it seemed... Maybe Peter was frozen in time, doomed to remain till the end of times. But if his family was not going to be there with him, then what was the point of it all?.

Peter decided that he would find a way. Even a celestial can die. Ego died, that was evidence enough, so if Ego could die...

Then Peter could... He would find a way when the time came.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mantis was second.

Drax's death had been heroic, he gave his life for Mantis, he took a deadly shot that was meant for her, he died in a manner that he would have liked, giving his life for someone he loved. Mantis's death was the contrary.

The Guardians were being hunted down again, they were one member short, the news about Drax's death spread quickly over the years, anyone who had a grudge against them took the chance to try to kill them.

All of them had failed until Mantis.

A cult, some guys from the church of belief or something like that, had come to the guardians, seeking their support to gather more members, the guardians refused, they did not work with any kind of religion, each one of them had their own beliefs and respected each other opinions, besides going around preaching for some fanatics was a delicate subject, one that not even the guardians would do.

The church was furious.

What they didn't know was the kind of power these guys offered their members, mental powers unlike any other, you just had to submit completely to their will.

They captured Mantis while the Guardians were doing a job on Rajaak. Obviously, the guardians came to her rescue, the church had taken her to some kind of city that was powered by a church in the center of it. All their power came from some strange relic in the church, the relic was strong enough that it could power the whole city.

Just like always, a battle was to be had, they fought their way in, got inside that freaking church, and found Mantis, Peter didn't know what these guys had been doing to her, but it had been bad, she was floating on top of a table as a green glow covered her body, the beam came from the relic that was a couple of feet away from her, Peter guessed that the relic was absorbing energy from her.

There were guards taking care of both the relic and Mantis, as soon as they spotted the guardians they opened fire on them, some dudes powered by the relic attacked the guardians as well, objects were thrown by their mental powers. The fight was not even that hard, the guardians would have won sooner or later.

But some idiot shot the relic by accident.

One of the guys they were fighting with, in his or her panic accidentally shot the relic, the problem with shooting something so powerful is that it will probably explode marvelously. As soon as the thing was shot, the beam conected to Mantis withdrew itself into the relic, Peter knew that was a bad sign, the relic was shaking, the church was shaking, the ground was shaking. The cultists wasted no time and started running out of the church, Peter's team started to run away too.

But Peter stayed.

Because Mantis was still there, she was not floating anymore, but she was still on that table, she was still in danger and Peter could save her. So he ran, he ran in the opposite direction everyone was running to. He ran as fast as he could.

But a piece of rubble from the ceiling fell on top of him, the piece was big enough that Peter would not be able to move unless the piece was moved. Peter couldn't move his legs, at that rate he would not be able to save Mantis.

But Kraglin returned.

The Xandarian moved the piece from on top of Peter, using all his strength, he helped Peter to his feet.

"Come n' Pete, get the gurl so we can git out o' here!" Kraglin said smiling at Peter. Peter didn't need to be told twice, as soon as he was on his feet he sprinted towards Mantis.

When he got there he quickly checked over Mantis, she was weak, really weak, she fluttered her eyelids open, as her hand slowly found its way to Peter's.

"You came... Thank you..." She smiled weakly. Peter took that as his signal to leave. He carried Mantis bride-style and took off running, Kraglin ahead of him.

They did not get far.

The explosion went off, Peter remembers a sickeningly green glow, followed by his body being launched towards a wall, Peter turned his body so he would take the brunt of the blow and not Mantis... Then everything turned to black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Peter woke up, he was buried under so much rubble, someone was getting all the concrete off of him, probably Groot since he was the only one strong enough to move something so heavy easily.

When Peter was finally dug out he could see his teammates, Rocket was roughed up, he was crying holding branches in his hands, with heavy dread Peter realized that Gamora had been the one to have dug him out of the rubble.

"Where is Groot?, Kraglin?... Mantis?" Peter asked. Terror gripping him from the inside.

"I-it happened again!... Groot... Groot gave his life to protect us again." Rocket sobbed.

Gamora gripped her side with tears in her eyes. "Groot protected me and Rocket from most of the damage, Kraglin is really hurt but in no immediate danger." Gamora said favoring one leg over the other.

Peter realized that Gamora had not told him anything about Mantis. "Where. Is. Mantis?"

Gamora looked away, sadness invading her features, Rocket's breath hitched.

Peter knew then.

Peter was invaded with sadness and horror, how could he have lost someone dear to him once again?, he had not been paying enough attention when it happened to Drax, now he had not been fast enough for Mantis.

"She was too weak from all the energy the relic absorbed... There was nothing we could have done, Peter..." Gamora said.

Peter knew there was something they could do now, the relic... It was used by those... BASTARDS!. As Peter looked around he realized there were still cultists in the same state as his team, wounded, in no shape to fight, but alive.

Rage invaded Peter, his eyes turned the color of outer space itself, only on one other occasion had Peter felt so much energy fill his body... At that time he had wanted nothing more than to spend time with his father, to make a connection, before he learned of what his father had done... Now...

Now he wanted revenge.

Energy tendrils started sprouting out from the ground, the rocks started clumping together on top of the cultists, the small pieces of debris, now razor-sharp, launched themselves at them. The planet itself was bending to Peter's will, because unlike Ego... Peter didn't need to be at the core of the planet to manipulate the "light". Screams and pleas for mercy filled the place as Peter just stood there, in the center of all.

"Peter!"

Peter turned around upon hearing his name, the shock came to his face, the "star eyes" returning back to normal as he realized what he was looking at.

Rocket was holding a gun, aiming it at Peter, Gamora had her sword drawn ready to attack, what put a stop to Peter's outburst was their faces, they looked scared, horrified faces stared at Peter... At that moment Peter understood that in their eyes he looked like Ego.

Peter stopped the destruction he was causing, all energy leaving him as he fell unconscious once again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Peter woke up, he was on a cot laying on the ground, staring up at what Peter assumed was a tent, he heard the movement and clicks of machinery by his side.

"Impressive huh?, these guys managed to set up a nice quick operation to treat all the wounded, in just 2 hours." Rocket comented, Sitting on the ground by Peter's side.

Peter looked at his friend, Rocket's left arm was in a cast, from the middle of his arm all the way to his wrist, his hand had mobility though, he had dried blood on the fur of his head, he seemed to have a split lip also. Rocket certainly had seen better days.

"Don't give me that look, should have seen the guy that managed to put this on me." Rocket lightly joked, raising his left arm to show Peter his cast.

"Is he still alive?" Peter smiled weakly at his friend, Rocket kept tinkering with whatever he had on his hand.

"Well, I think so, he was breathing by the time I left his unconscious ass on the table." Rocket said dismissively.

Peter chuckled softly, he was glad Rocket was here, he didn't know what he would do if he had been alone.

"Thanks." Peter said.

"What for?, beating some nosy doctor that doesn't understand that I don't want to be treated?"

"For being here."

Rocket scoffed. "Had nothing else to do, Gamora can barely walk on her own, Groot is back to being in a pot, so I left him to get some sunlight, Kraglin is still unconscious and..." Rocket trailed off, losing the words he was about to say.

"Is she truly...?" Peter asked, he knew what Rocket was about to say moments before.

Rocket took a deep breath, he stopped his tinkering. "Yeah... She is..."

Peter let a tear run down his face, this time he didn't feel the need to take his pain or anger out on anyone, instead what was left was a silent pain, he accepted what had happened, there was no way to change the past, unfortunately.

"I was talking to Gamora, we concluded that we wanted her to be buried alongside Drax on Xandar... The locals want us out of here as soon as possible anyway... What do you think?" Rocket asked, ears down.

"Yeah, guess it's a good idea, they would both have liked that..." It was hard for Peter to be talking about that, but it had to be done. "Let me guess, the locals want us out because they are blaming the explosion on us."

"I guess it has to do more with the fact that they are scared of the guy that can turn their own house into a living, energy-filled, monster." Rocket said off-handedly.

"Thanks, Rocket, that makes me feel so much better." Peter said with clear sarcasm, rolling his eyes.

"I never thought that I could use this power... Guess I have to be extra careful from now on."

"Look, on the bright, we don't have to rent hotels anymore, since you can make one for us!"

"I don't think I want to use these powers again, to be honest..." Peter sat up looking into Rocket's eyes. "I never want to feel like him again... If I do that again... Please shoot me."

Rocket broke eye contact with Peter. "At least invite me a drink before asking me those questions, geez, I felt like you were proposing." Rocket joked awkwardly.

"Rocket this is serious."

Rocket groaned and rolled his eyes. "Okay fine!, you'll heal it anyway, any preferred spot to get shot at, your majesty?."

Peter chuckled. "Not in the face, I'm too handsome... Also, the crotch is out of the question just because no." Rocket chuckled along with Peter, staring into each other, happy to ease the stress they had been going through.

Someone cleared their throat near the pair, interrupting the moment. It was a paramedic, judging by all the ornaments and decorations on her uniform Peter guessed she was in charge of this whole thing.

"Mr. Quill?, I need to speak with you alone, it's about one of your teammates."

Crap.

Peter looked at Rocket, not feeling like going through it without his friend. Rocket gave him a warm smile.

"It's okay Pete, you'll be fine, I gotta check on Groot anyway, if you need anything I'll be outside." With that Rocket left the tent, Peter noted Rocket was limping a little.

"Ok, tell me." Peter stood up completely, no way around it then.

"Ok, first, is the state of your teammates." She produced a holo projector from her pocket, she used it to make holo images of the whole team infront of Peter.

"Gamora, she presented dislocation of the left knee joint, several cuts and 3 cracked ribs, radiation poisoning from the relic was negative." Gamora's wounds were displayed in detail in the hologram.

"Subject 89p1-"

"Rocket, please." Peter corrected.

With a clear of her throat, the paramedic continued. "Very well... Rocket, fracture on left tibia, left elbow, right ankle, cranial trauma... And he assaulted the guy I assigned to him when he was not allowed to see you..." Peter was surprised by two things, Rocket's wounds and that he had knocked out a guy because the raccoon wasn't allowed to see Peter. "We believe his enhancements will make him recover completely from his wounds, since he also denied treatment aside from a cast, radiation poisoning from the relic was also negative." What did that mean?

"I'm afraid to say the one called Mantis already died on the scene... I'm sorry." Peter took a breath, good thing Rocket had already softened the blow.

"As for you, Mr. Quill, we found your regenerative abilities to be outstanding, you even came out positive on the test of radiation poisoning from the relic, yet as of right now, you seemed to have eliminated any lethal complication on your own." Yay?.

"however your Xandarian friend... Mr. Obfonteri, his wounds are extensive, from fractures, lacerations, contusions, luxations... We have the tech to help him recover from all of that..." Peter could feel the missing "but".

With fear, he asked. "But what?"

"He came out positive from radiation poisoning from the relic... I'm sorry."

"I'm guessing that's a really bad thing since you ran these tests on all of us." Peter didn't know what to make of it.

"Yes, the relic that was destroyed had a peculiarity, when used right and through other focusing means, the relic's energy can enhance the neurons on a host's brain, giving them mental powers or other enhanced cualities... However, that explosion caused the energy to dissipate and act in a disorganized manner, affecting any cells in its vicinity, poisoning them, since the energy could not focus on what to do. In short, your friends' cells will start deteriorating with time, I'm afraid there is nothing we can do since he was so close to the relic when it exploded that 87% of his cells were affected by it, treatment would just kill him... I'm sorry." She said.

Peter held a hand over his mouth, to keep himself from screaming, tears flowed once again, they had already lost Mantis that day and they were going to lose Kraglin too?, Peter bit his hand, keeping himself from letting his emotions take control over him once again.

"How much?" That was all Peter managed to get out of his mouth.

"Less than a Terran year... Maybe much less."

Peter didn't know how, but he needed to make another question, he gathered all the strength he could, to manage to get words through the knot in his throat.

"Are you sure the others are negative?." Peter didn't want another bad news like this to catch him off guard.

"Yes, most of the radiation was absorbed by the flora colossus when he protected Rocket and Gamora, hence why he had to get rid of most of his organic tissue and is small because of that. You and Mr. Obfonteri were unprotected and pretty close to the blast zone... Like I said, your abilities got rid of the radiation... Unfortunately, he doesn't have those abilities."

"If we get him treated, we kill him and if we don't, he dies." Peter let out a sarcastic chuckle, it was all he could do from breaking down. Why was the world so unfair, what had Peter done to deserve this?.

The Paramedic stayed silent. "I'll need a moment alone." Peter begged.

He needed to figure out how to tell the others.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So it was Kraglin's turn next.

He took surprisingly well the bad news, Rocket and Gamora took the news worse than he did, Peter asked Kraglin what he wanted to do, the Xandarian was going to die sooner or later, he had the right to decide if he got treatment and increase the time he had left at the cost of being stuck in hospitals, suffering, or staying with the guardians until the end came. Kraglin obviously chose to stay with them. He had told Peter that he would prefer a thousand times dying among his friends than in a hospital, hooked up to a machine, he also asked Peter to not worry, for the time being.

After some time to recover from their wounds, the Guardians traveled to Xandar, asked Nova prime for permission to bury Mantis along with Drax, the funeral that was held was private, The guardians and a few of the Nova Corps were the only to attend.

That was when Kraglin started showing signs of poisoning. He coughed every once in a while and had minor headaches. He kept shrugging it off, Peter knew better than that, his mother had died from cancer he could recognize the signs of a mortal illness when it was starting.

After the funeral the guardians left, Kraglin wanted to tie some loose ends in his life before the time came. They had to start in Contraxia, which he had stolen from some people back in his teen years, serving under Yondu... He wanted to make something right for the people he screwed over.

On the way to Contraxia, Peter was woken by some angry sounds and curses coming from somewhere deep within the Quadrant.

That's when Peter found Rocket in the engine room, drunk as a skunk, listening to music, trying to work on some design of his... With the level of emotional distress he had, Peter doubted the procyon could have got anything done.

"Are you okay buddy?" Peter asked, getting inside the crowded space from all the machinery and parts.

Rocket hadn't been expecting anyone at that hour to come there, he dropped a few things, patted down his fur, and went to turn off the music, he succeeded but lost his balance along the way due to his drunk state. He quickly stood up, pretending as nothing had happened.

"Quill!, wasn' expectin' yous here." Rocket's words came out slurred, he was standing, yet, two seconds later he tottered to the ground. Rocket burst out in giggles upon hitting the ground.

"Woah!, ranger, you okay?." Peter checked on his teammate, Rocket laughed harder now.

"He asks f' am ok?!, HAHAHAHAHA!." Peter raised an eyebrow at Rocket's drunken words, he looked around and spotted about three empty bottles on the ground.

"Rocket are you ok?"

"Ok?... HOW CAN YEW ASK ME F' AM OKAY?!" Tears threatened to fall from his eyes. "TWO, QUILL, TWO OF MY FRUENDS DIED AN AM BOUT' TA LOSE A THIRD ONE!"

If this were to happen on another occasion Peter would have found funny and maybe cute Rocket's drunken yelling, but the raccoon looked so sad now and the reason for his distress was no funny subject.

"Didn't you tell me that I shouldn't let my emotions take control of me?... Look at you, man, drinking your grief away won't bring them back." Peter tried to calm Rocket, kneeling so he could be at eye level with the Procyon.

"I KNOW!" Rocket yelled before calming down. "I know, drinkin' won' bring em' back, won't heal Kraggles either... It still hurts like hell to lose them." Ears and whiskers down, Rocket just remained sitting on the floor.

Peter sat with his friend, wanting to offer as much comfort as he could. "I know it sucks buddy, we'll figure something out."

"Why do yew keep trying?." Rocket looked away from Peter, mumbling the next part, Peter could still hear it though. "Yew r' gonna forget bout' us anyway."

"Of course not, Rocket, why would you think that?" Peter asked.

"Yew may say you won't, but what's gonna happen in a few hundred years hm?, yer weak Terran brain ain't made to keep that much memories." Rocket looked at Peter as if the Terran had betrayed him somehow. "Drax, Mantis, Kraglin, I could be next, Gamora, then what?... Yew are gonna forget we even existed." Rocket's voice cracked at the end.

"I'm not gonna forget about any of you, if my weak Terran brain is not up to the task, then it will have to suck it up and forget other stuff because you are all important to me." Peter said truthfully. He wasn't going to tell Rocket about his plan of finding a way to kill himself when they all died. "You guys are the most important thing in my life, there is no way I'm forgetting about you."

Rocket didn't say anything, he took many deep breaths, trying to calm himself down, Peter slowly reached out with his hand, hesitating for a moment before reaching out to slowly run his hand through the fur on Rocket's neck towards the back of his head.

Rocket flinched at the touch, almost reacting to bite Peter, yet, the gentle touch felt nice, soothing him. Rocket leaned into the hand after a bit, Peter's hand working wonders on the tense muscles on his neck, enough to make him forget about the grief and anger he was feeling just minutes ago.

"You should be sleeping." Peter said.

Rocket let out a weird sound, enjoying Peter's touch. "Had a nightmare, been having them fer a while now."

Peter didn't say anything, it was hard to make Rocket talk about those kinds of things, not because he didn't trust Peter, it was more that he didn't want to relieve the nightmare. Peter knew about something that may help Rocket out, thought his friend will most likely refuse but it was worth the try.

"You can sleep with me tonight if you want."

Rocket coffed, "The moment yew see me drewnk, yew want me in yer bed... Ok" Rocket giggled and started unzipping his suit... or tried to at least, his inebriated state didn't offer much in terms of coordination.

"I meant it as in 'you can sleep with me tonight so you don't have a nightmare kind of thing'." Peter raised an eyebrow, thinking that Rocket's reply was due to just being horny from drinking.

"Oh..." Rocket remained silent for a few seconds before nodding with his head, "Kay', fine, but don't make it weird."

Peter held back the comment about how Rocket had practically agreed to one night of sex just a second ago, drunk people sometimes did things they would never do if the alcohol was in the middle of the whole thing, so Peter thought nothing about Rocket's comment.

That night Rocket started sleeping with Peter.

And he would do that every night after that, otherwise if he didn't he would just get nightmares and wouldn't be able to sleep at all, Peter enjoyed the company, the warm bundle of fur on his bed served to calm him as well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kraglin's time had come.

The Quadrant was in deep space, ravagers ships surrounding it, Kraglin had wished to have a funeral like Yondu's, that way he could see him again, the man who made him who he grew up to be. The Xandarian had grown weak over the months after getting poisoned by the relic that killed Mantis, his skin had turned a pale sick-ish tone, he had lost most of his hair, his nails turned yellowish, his lips turned a blue hue.

Yet, he didn't seem to be overly affected by his impending death...

Kraglin had dedicated the months leading up to that moment to righting the wrong in his life, the people he hurt or their families. He had asked the others to take him to places he had never seen before, so he could experience what they were like before his passing. Even as he vomited blood on the nights close to the end he would laugh about it and say that he was fine.

Even as Peter held his hand, while he was laying on the bed, unable to get up on his own anymore, Gamora, Rocket, and Groot (a toddler) were close by him, offering as much comfort as they could, knowing this was the end... Even then Kraglin had smiled and told everyone that he was ok with evrything.

"How can you be ok with all this?" Peter had asked finally, after months of suffering for his friend, how could Kraglin be ok with it when Peter clearly wasn't.

"Ah spend these last few months doin' what ah wanted to do mah whole life..." Kraglin spoke with what little strength he had left, pausing to recover some much-needed energy, just talking seemed to take a huge effort. "Not only dat... Ah, get to spend it with the folks ah care bout' the most." Peter smiled. Kraglin had never denied how much he cared about them, often being verbal about it.

Kraglin let go of Peter's hand, using all his strength to place his hand upon Peter's cheek, using his thumb to weakly stroke Peter, taking some of the tears away.

"The captain would be sooo proud bout' ya, Pete... Just like I am." Kraglin looked Peter directly to his eyes, seeing what the Terran had become. "Who would have thought that little brat that got on mah nerves, that cried for days after Obb accidentally stepped on his walkman till' the captain found someone to repair it, the annoying little ankle-biter that made the captain so busy that he couldn' hav' fun with me, would turn into this hero o' the galaxy..." Peter held Kraglin's hand to his cheek when it seemed Kraglin could not hold it himself any longer.

"I'm telling im' all the crazy shit ya did, all the drink ye had, all the places ya took us, all the people ya saved... Is good to finally be able to tell him all o' that, am sure he must have been crazy to hear anything bout' ya."

"I couldn't save you." Peter said, lips trembling.

"Yes, you did, Pete..." Kraglin had tears in his eyes. "When ah lost everything, when a lost... Him." This was it, Kraglin's eyes were getting closed, Peter desperately squeezed the hand on his cheek. "Ya were there, tah give a home, to give me a family... For that... Pete... Ah can only say..."

"Thank you..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After that Rocket had contacted the Ravagers clans, they agreed easily, a word about Kraglin being a guardian had spread, what he had done for the galaxy over the years had made his name something to admire. A proper Ravager funeral was held, to Peter, it was Yondu's funeral all over again, the fireworks, the pain... Peter swore he could see two arrows side by side, traveling to the distance. To Peter, it was like Yondu was greeting Kraglin, after so many years.

After the funeral, Peter was left wondering, what now?, Kraglin was gone, so were Drax and Mantis and as he looked around him at what was left of his team a plan started to form in his mind. Peter had been unable to save Drax, he had arrived too late to save Mantis and Kraglin paid the price for it... What if he couldn't protect Rocket?, Gamora?, Groot?. Those three were the only thing he had left, how long until someone else tried to kill them?, word spreads around fast, they were down three members now, an idiot was bound to try to kill them as soon as they found out, Groot was still little he was in no condition to fight, Gamora could handle herself but even she could be caught off guard, Rocket was smart but he couldn't fend for himself when he didn't have access to technology, he was VERY strong for his size maybe even stronger than Peter but still, that strength could not match that of some big foes they had faced before. What then?, Peter the solution was clear, he would do anything to keep the people he loved the most, safe.

Even if it meant The Guardians will be no more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Retirement, as Peter called it, had been easy. After all the shit the guardians had gone through for the galaxy over the years, it was understandable that they would one day no longer be able to do it. When Peter spoke of his decision to Rocket, Gamora, and Groot, they had unsurprisingly agreed, they all had accomplished most if not all their goals while being guardians, heck they even took down Thanos with the help of some earth heroes a few years back, they deserve some peace and quietness for a change.

Peter took his team to Xandar, paying a visit to Drax and Mantis's burial site, then arranging a meeting with the new Nova Prime. What he wanted was simply, there would be no Guardians of the galaxy anymore, they would stay on Xandar, helping with whatever they could help as long as they srpead the information and let them stay planetside.

She had a counter offer.

The galaxy couldn't remain in its semi-ordered state without intergalactic wars if someone wasn't putting out the metaphorical fires and saving a few planets along the way, if what they wanted was retirement because they could no longer risk each other's safety then fine... But they would have to train new people to take the job.

She showed Peter a project she had been working on for years, she didn't have quite the resources to carry it through at that moment, but now that the Guardians may be joining the project she could use that as a lever with the council to get the support she needed for it. Nova Prime showed Peter the blueprints of a huge facility, made for the training of special forces of the Nova Empire, along with the designs of new armors and weapons, even what appeared to be some suit that stored energy and allowed its user to harness it.

They just needed someone to help pick who was qualified enough to bear such responsibilities and powers, some names were already being considered, some already agreed to the project, but none were better qualified than the Guardians of the galaxy.

Peter understood what was being asked of them... In a way the Novas wanted the guardians to train the next line up of people, who would give their life for the sake of the galaxy. That sounded like the best thing ever!, Peter had first thought that they would end up working lame-ass jobs for the Novas, but this was so much better.

He just had to consult it with his friends.

Gamora and Groot agreed easily, Rocket however took some convincing and explaining to get him to agree, Peter had to explain that: No, they were not going to be teaching or training children. No, Rocket was not allowed to shoot his students if they angered him and yes, he had to be responsible and wake up early.

Nova prime also agreed to other things, like giving them a whole building in thanks to everything they had done for Xandar, giving them discounts on the best restaurants among other stuff, they would always be the heroes of Xandar.

"Wait... 70% discount on food every time we want on Xandar's best restaurants and 3 nights a week of free booze in Xandar's bars?" Rocket had asked, eyes going wide. "And the only thing I have to do in exchange is teaching some idiots to not be idiots and get shot in the battlefield!?" Nova prime nodded.

"WHERE DO I SIGN!?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

10 years later.

"Good morning cadets, ready for some more learning?"

"SIR, YES SIR!"

Peter grinned, standing in front of the large group of Nova soldiers made of different species, ages, occupations, and genders. The dark blue and yellow armored uniforms were adorned with yellow lights and the Nova star was adorned with lights that stored a stupid amount of energy in its purest state. At Peter's command, they all stood back straight (the species that had a spine anyway) ready to receive orders.

"Ok, first off..." Peter raised a finger, getting everyone's attention in the huge training station. "Who did their homework on Terran music?, the first 10 that tell me what song this is won't be on cleaning duty for a week!"

The room went silent as the first few seconds of Escape (The Piña Colada Song) by Rupert Holmes started playing. It took only a few seconds for the room to burst out in screams, everyone wanting to be among the first ten. Cleaning duty was terrible and even Peter was afraid of some of the stuff the cadets had to clean when it was their turn.

"Let me see. You, you, both of you, yeah you know the lyrics!.." Peter picked up the ten fortunate people and made them stand by his side.

"I'm disappointed in those of you who didn't recognize the song, WHAT DO I ALWAYS SAY!?" Peter ordered his ten cadets to remind the others.

"GOOD TASTE IN MUSIC KEEPS A CLEAR MIND AND HEART, SIR!" The ten cadets obediently shouted. Peter smiled, getting into position to start the day.

"That's right!, so for today I prepared some obstacles and puzzles for you in the tracks, some stations have also been set up, you will gather in teams of five and figure out how to advance, once you reach a station a song will play, the songs are unique for each team, remember them because when you finish the track you will need to tell me what were the songs that were assigned to you and in what order, fail to do so and you have to do it all over again. Is that understood?"

"SIR, YES, SIR!!" Was the group's eager reply, before getting into action.

"Ona last thing, use your heads and work as a team, Rocket designed the puzzles and the obstacles so keep that in mind." There was a collective groan among the crowd.

Peter agreed, Rocket could be rather cruel with his students, that's why he was in charge of the more theoretical part of things, the Procyon mostly taught the cadets the do's and dont's of every technological gadget they would use or may use in their job, he also did the practical test but not without someone else's supervision, the cadets were afraid of him. If there was one thing Rocket loved is yelling at people and them having to agree to his yelling and obey his orders... Rocke was kind of a little control freak.

"P.Q.!" Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

"Rocket, what brings you around here, miss me already?" Peter asked, watching his friend getting closer to him, the raccoon was showing tiny signs of age, his rich brown fur had grey strands in some places, he looked sturdier from when Peter first met him, the training had helped him fill up on some muscle, even his demeanor had changed somewhat, he was more attentive with his friends, had more patience with them and was overall friendlier and more caring.

He also looked really hot in Peter's eyes.

Now, Peter would have never imagined feeling an attraction to Rocket, but there was... Something about him that always made Peter gravitate towards the raccoon, it was only in recent years that Peter understood that he was attracted to Rocket.

"Say, what will you be getting for lunch?" Rocket asked, climbing Peter's back to sitting on his shoulder, draping his tail around Peter's neck affectionately.

Time, lots of bad experiences, lots of comforting had made Rocket more comfortable with physical affection, only towards a select few people, Peter could count them all on one hand. Rocket had become this... Handsome guy, that was touchy-feely with Peter, gave Peter cute nicknames, was pretty sweet to him... Shocking isn't it?.

"Rocket, the day has just begun and you are already thinking about lunch?" Rocket was eating a lot healthier now, back when they only lived on a ship food had to be rationed, one never knew when the next market that sold edible food would present itself in the vastness of deep space. However now that he didn't have to worry about how much food was left, Rocket had become kind of a glutton, Peter thought that if it wasn't for Rocket working out as a consequence of the training then he would be a very chubby raccoon... Still cute, though.

"Well, you know how my students are all assholes that want you and me to hook up and have babies, even though our biology doesn't even work that way?" Peter snorted, a lot of people had noted how close Peter and Rocket were and gossip started going around about them being a couple or in the process of becoming one. Some of the cadets even had names for them: Roquill, Pocket, Rockstar(Peter's favorite without a doubt), and so on, Rocket's students specifically gave him a hard time about it.

"What about them?, don't tell me they are going to spy on us again?, the first 20 times that happened was so awkward." Really, the little shits followed them everywhere, wanting "shipping material" as they called it.

"I really, really hope they won't, Pete." Rocket leaned his body onto Peter's head, the Terran could feel Rocket's warm body press against his cheek. "No, they kinda did something yesterday and I kinda have to tell you about it." Peter raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"Why, can't you tell me now?"

"Not while sober."

"Ok, fine you pick the place but your inviting drinks later." Peter said, Rocket grumbled.

"It's your turn actually."

"Fine but Gams and Groot will join us." Peter grumbled.

"Which Groot do I invite?" Peter asked, Groot had... for lack of a better word, reproduced... With himself, there were currently three Groots teaching stuff at the Nova special forces academy.

"They are all Groot, whichever comes is fine, or all of them, I don't care."

"You think Gamora will bring Angela along?" Peter asked about Gamora's girlfriend, some Asgardian woman with fiery red hair and spirit that captivated the deadliest woman alive. Their thing started when she graduated as one of Gamora's students.

"Nah, Gamora's lady is out on a mission. Meet me at Sam's?" Rocket asked, that was the name of the restaurant they went to most of the time, it was not a fancy thing but it served some of the best tacos or Boviniar ribs you could find on the galaxy.

"Ok, I'll meet ya there as soon as my break is up."

"See ya there, Baby boo." With a pat on Peter's cheek, Rocket got down and left... After he chased down some cadets that gave him wolf-whistles when they saw his interaction with Peter.

Peter smiled, this was going to be a good day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I tell you, she just keeps getting on my nerves, like, she always, and I mean ALWAYS thinks there is a better design for the plasma dividers we make in the workshop!" Rocket ranted, speaking of his star studen, who happens to also get on his nerves.

"You sound like you like Alice a lot." Said Peter sitting across the table, they had met up at Sam's as they promised.

"Oh, someone sounds jealous." Rocket teased. "I'm flattered, Peter."

Peter chuckled, he wasn't jealous by any means, he would actually be happy if Rocket pursued a relationship with someone, since Peter can't bring himself to have a relationship with anyone, not because of disinterest, it had more to do with the fact that his partner would die and he wouldn't.

That's why he wouldn't allow himself to try a relationship with Rocket, if he did what would he do with himself when Rocket died?... Peter didn't want to think about it anymore and kept hearing what Rocket was ranting about.

"Anyway, she gets just so annoying, yesterday for example. I made this really hard test, like, unfairly hard and I said that there was no way for anyone to get a perfect score on the test and you know what she did?" Rocket raised his paws, exasperated. "She just walked up to me and said: 'i bet you I can get a perfect score and make you eat your words" Rocket did some funny and exaggerated gestures, mocking her.

Peter chuckled. "Ok, what did you bet?, since I know you from never backing up from a challenge." Peter asked curiously.

"If she didn't get a perfect score then she would have to make me breakfast and lunch every day for the rest of her training until she graduated and when she graduated she would have to give an hour-long speech about how wrong she was and how right I was." Rocket laughed and so did Peter, Rocket was indeed a cruel teacher.

"So what do you have to do?" Peter asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Huh?" Rocket's laughter completely died down.

"You said that was what was going to happen if she didn't get a perfect score... You are here, paying for your lunch... So what do you have to do?"

Rocket went visibly nervous, fidgeting with his paws, "Well, huh, you know how she has this huge crush on you?"

"Yeah, you told me about it."

Rocket gave a nervous laugh, "She, huh, is also one of the crazy people that's obsessed with you and me being together." Peter was connecting the dots already. "Well... She kinda asked for a picture."

"A picture?" Why was Rocket so uncomfortable over a picture.

"Yeah..."

"..."

"Just a picture."

"Ok, what kind of picture, Rocket."

"Haha... You know just normal stuff... People do it all the time..." Rocket started drawing machinery designs on the table with a claw, something he did when he was nervous.

"Like what?" Rocket cringed.

"Like... kissing?" Peter was stunned for a second.

"I know, I know, look, it's just a peck, someone else has to take the picture or it doesn't count... It doesn't have to mean anything or be weird, really."

Peter was gonna argue, but in reality, he didn't see any harm in it, it was just a bet, his feelings for Rocket aside, a kiss didn't mean they were in any kind of relationship much less if it was from a losing bet.

"I will take the picture!" Gamora demanded finally arriving at the table, Groot by her side. She arrived just at the right time to hear everything.

"What?, Gamora where you been hearing everything all this time?" Peter asked, suddenly somewhat flustered.

"I am Groot!" Said the tree excitedly, the original one.

"What do you mean 'get on with it'?, Peter hasn't said anything yet!" Rocket yelled at his friend.

Peter sighed, "It's ok Rocket, it's just a kiss right?, nothing weird or harmful about it." Peter shrugged his shoulders.

"I WON'T D-... What?" Rocket had been arguing with Gamora when he processed what Peter had said.

"Yeah, it's cool." Peter masked his nervousness with one of his smiles.

"See?, he is fine with it, get on there!" Gamora said exasperated.

Rocket looked unsure, fidgeting with his paws for a few seconds before finally deciding to move, he stood on the chair by Peter's side so they could be at eye level. He looked at Peter's eye for a second, trying to decipher what was going through Peter's mind.

"JUST DO IT ALREADY!"

"I AM GROOT!" Gamora and Groot urged them on.

"Petey, you don't have to do this." Rocket started backing out, "look, I'll just tell Alice that we won't be part of whatever stupid ga-" Peter wasn't sure why he did it, maybe it was because he just wanted to get it over with, maybe he just wanted to mess with Rocket or maybe he just wanted to mess with the people that didn't give him and Rocket a break with the whispering and gossips. Whatever the reason was, it was enough to make Peter reach out with his hands, grab Rocket softly from the sides of his face and pull him in quick enough for Rocket to not realize what was going on and slow enough to not get bitten by the raccoon. And kiss him, some gasps were around them along with some rather strange squeals.

Rocket didn't know what was going at first, then he realized and went almost into a catatonic state, not moving an inch and not believing what was happening... Then he kinda went on with it, shifting his lips over Peter's, turning his head to the side so they could have better access, Rocket closed his eyes, enjoying the moment...

He was enjoying himself maybe a bit too much.

"Crap!" Peter pulled back suddenly, holding his hand to the wound on his lower lip, where Rocket's fangs accidentally made a cut, nothing that Peter would not heal in minutes but his lips were highly vascular, so they bled a lot for silly things.

"Shit, sorry... Ya okay, Pete?" Rocket asked, feeling somewhat ashamed that he screwed it up.

"Thought you said a peck." Peter teased, already forgetting about his wound.

"Well, how would I've known that..." Rocket went silent the moment he realized how quiet the place was, he looked around and saw many faces, all looking at them, some with disgust, some had liked what they had seen, some were on the floor having some kind of faked seizure (Rocket recognized some of them as some of the people that wanted him and Peter to be a couple).

"THIS AIN'T A CIRCUS, FUCK OFF!" Rocket snarled at everyone, causing them to quickly return to their activities, years from working for the Nova special forces had earned Rocket a level of respect and authority over the people on Xandar.

"Gamora you took the picture!?" Rocket barked at Gamora only to be weirded out by what he was seeing.

Gamora had the smuggest expression he had seen on her since ever, nodding her head and looking directly at Rocket, nodding her head as if congratulating him on something. Groot was almost beaming, with happiness, Rocket thought that if this was like one of the cartoons Groot liked to watch so much then his eyes would be sparkling.

"Oh, I did more than that." Gamora showed her Datapad to Rocket, she had recorded a whole two-minute video, including the crowd's reaction.

"GIVE ME THAT!" Rocket tried to eliminate the evidence but Gamora was holding the Datapad well beyond his reach...

"FLARKING STUBBY ARMS!" Rocket yelled still trying to Reach the datapad Gamora was keeping out of his reach.

"Rocket let it go, Alice will get what she wants... We going to the bar tonight as always?" Peter changed the subject, Rocket would likely bite Gamora if no one got his mind elsewhere.

"I am Groot!" Groot gave a nod, they all had a routine already were they all, on this day of the week went together to a local bar to spend time together. Until now none of them had ever backed out, always finding the time between their tight schedules to assist.

"Yeah!, what he says, we are obviously going." Rocket added. Gamora sneakily placed the datapad inside one of the pockets of her uniform.

"I hope they still had that Sakarian whiskey that we bought the other time." Gamora said. With the years even the most dangerous woman in the galaxy had gone soft on her tight circle of friends, not fearing to be herself or show affection and comradeship among them. Hell, she even danced with Peter every now and then and she was the one that wanted to dance 35% of the time.

"Of course Peter, remember also that is your turn to pay this week, last time was my turn."

"Damn, are you bringing Angela?, need someone that Rocket respects so he doesn't ruin me by how much booze he orders." Peter said, Rocket actually was somewhat afraid of the fiery Asgardian lady, she carried around such a strong presence that even Rocket wouldn't dare to anger her.

Gamora chuckled, "Peter you are not bringing my girlfriend so she can growl at Rocket... And no, sadly she is on a mission."

"Oh right, I forgot about it."

"I am Groot?"

"Of course Groot, you can bring the other Groots along."

Without much else to discuss, they decided to order their lunch, sitting at the table all of them together, talking, laughing, and having a few arguments.

With moments like those, Peter could forget all about his immortality and just enjoy the moment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Another one!" Rocket ordered at Lou, the owner of their favorite bar.

"Rocket I'm pretty sure you have had enough, if you didn't then my wallet sure did." Peter said, sitting between Gamora and the tipsy raccoon.

"What?, your wallet and I haven't got enough of this." Rocket raised the empty bottle to prove his point, only to clumsily lose his grip on it, shattering the bottle when it dropped from his drunk paws.

Rocket burst into giggles when the bottle broke, even though Lou was screaming at him to clean up his mess. Peter sighed, he was actually used to this happening, knowing he would have to pay for any other mess Rocket made.

"Ya know baby boo, I'll go to the bathroom and when ah get back, we'll do a sequel of that kiss at lunch just with less bleeding... Unless yer into that." Rocket guffawed, Peter slapped his forehead.

"Now is your chance to run, Peter." Gamora said playfully by Peter's side when Rocket left, stumbling towards the bathroom, a loud 'shit!' Was heard when the raccoon surely fell down along his way.

"I wish, we live toghether remember?, if I leave he will likely kill someone or get killed himself." Peter said, in the state Rocket got nowadays when drunk was either highly friendly or highly dangerous to society, luckily today seemed to be the former.

"True enough." Gamora commented taking a swing of her drink. Her hair had grown a little opaque over the years, the rich red streaks were fading to light pink, the strong black wasn't as intense anymore. If Peter looked close enough even her face showed diminutive signs of age.

"I am Groot." Peter heard, one of the Groots say from their table, the group of trees were playing a game of cards, Peter realized that all his team has aged in some way, Groot was basically having children with himself. Gamora was in a steady relationship with someone and from what she told Peter, she wanted to marry one day. Even Rocket looked like he had aged, he had earned respect among Xandarian people, some of them even invited Rocket to dates now that he was being seen as more than just subject 89P13 like they saw him before.

While Peter was frozen in time.

He had not changed at all since he discovered his immortality, he tried not to think about it but sometimes it just got to him, like a voice in the back of his head that said 'hey, you are immortal, remember that'.

"He really likes you... And not as you and me like eachother..." Gamora said, serious.

Peter sighed, taking a swing from the drink in his hand, hearing the bar's music for a while before replying, "I know, he's better off with someone else, though."

"What makes you say that?"

Peter shrugged, "Look at me Gamora, I look exactly the same I did over 10 years ago when we formed the Guardians, I will probably look the same way in another ten years, you really think Rocket would want to spend what's left of his life with me... Even if he wants it, it would be best if someone who, you know, actually grows old is with him."

"Peter..." Gamora was using that tone, the one she used when she was about to give Peter an earful.

"Rocket has been sleeping with you since we set foot on Xandar and-"

"He's been sleeping in MY room." Peter felt the need to clarify.

"And in YOUR bed."

"Well. Yeah, but you're making it sound like we are doing something more than sleeping. Which is totally not the case, nothing like that has-"

"Uugh, Peter!" Gamora interrupted, running out of patience. "What I'm trying to say is, if Rocket wanted a relationship with some else he would have by now, instead, he chose to stay with you and keep sleeping in YOUR bed with YOU in it." Gamora's glare dared Peter to interrupt her. "Are you really that blind to what he feels?."

Peter sighed, giving up on trying to fool Gamora. "I'm not blind about it..." Peter stared at the yellowish liquid in his hand, as if it could hold the answer to all his troubles. "I know what he feels... I know what he wants... I kinda want the same."

"Then why don't you do something about it?" Gamora looked confused. "Why not tell him?"

"What am I going to do when he dies?" Peter asked suddenly.

"What then?, do I just move on and find somebody else to fuck with until they die as well and I have to repeat it again for all eternity?" Peter was increasingly distressed with every word.

Gamora remained in stunned silence, she hadn't been expecting this kind of reaction or pain coming from Peter, the Terran had always spoken of his immortality like it was no big deal. Gamora could see now that it was clearly affecting him.

"I guess I just don't want to get more attached and... Make it easier to move on?, I don't know, Gamora..." Peter took deep breaths, keeping himself from having a breakdown.

"I know these are just the first years of my really, really, really, really, really, REALLY long life. But that doesn't make it easier knowing what's coming." Peter downed his drink in one go, clearing his throath when he was done with it.

"Peter, I'm sorry, I didn't-"

"Don't worry Gams, needed to get that off my chest one day or another." Peter stood up to leave, telling Lou that whatever Gamora and Groot ordered were charged on his account and he would pay it later, he was calling it a night already.

"Peter, i... Be safe, ok?" Gamora changed her mind on whatever she was going to say, deciding Peter already had enough for tonight.

"Yeah, you too okay?, tell Groot I said bye when he stops playing with... Himself?, god that sounds weird." Peter went to find Rocket, he had grown way too used to sleeping with the Procyon, he could not sleep if he didn't feel warm fur at least near him.

Something that he would have to overcome someday.

Finding Rocket wasn't difficult, he was on the bathroom's floor, he seemed to have fallen down and didn't have enough balance to stand up again and decided to remain there.

"Howdy, Baby boo, ready tah get some of yer ol' pal Rocket?" Rocket's attempts at flirting while drunk were endearing at best, especially with his head lolling to the sides every now and then.

"We're leaving, pal. Here." Peter picked Rocket up, intending to sling the raccoon over his shoulder, Rocket however hugged Peter's head to his body for balance as he sat on Peter's nape.

"As long as we're leaving together, then s' fine by me." Rocket dug his nose in Peter's hair, curling on himself to drape himself over Peter's head, holding onto him for dear life.

"Rocket you are not that small, you are also heavy, you are gonna break my neck if you keep trying to be an oversized hat." Rocket reached about to Peter's hips, and Peter was a tall guy, coupled with Rocket's healthier diets and mass he had gained from training made for one really uncomfortable living hat.

"Shut up and take me home Starboy!" Rocket giggled, Peter rolled his eyes at the choice of words. "Bet ya heard that one before."

Peter spent the trip to the building where the personal of the Nova special forces slept hearing Rocket's awful pickup lines, puns, bad jokes, giggles for no apparent reason, and rubbing his body on Peter's head.

Getting inside their shared room was calmer since Rocket seemed to be falling asleep, their 'room' was as big as a millionaire house, many bathrooms, living rooms, and a whole bunch of other rooms, like the 'reward' room (Rocket kept all the things he stole from other people there). Peter led them to the only bed they had, since Rocket alwasy slept with Peter even before staying planet-side on Xandar they only needed one bed anyway.

Peter laid Rocket down on the bed taking Rocket's uniform off, they had done this plenty of times, they were beyond feeling irked about lack of clothing when they slept, granted the first few months were awkward as hell.

"Taking me clothes off fer me?, what a gentleman, Baby boo." Rocket could barely be heard as he was more in the land of drunken dreams than in this world.

Peter stripped down and put on his pajama pants getting in bed with Rocket, the raccoon immediately snuggled up to Peter's chest, making some type of growling noise that sounded like he was content.

"Good night Rocket." Peter said closing his arms around Rocket, pulling his friend onto his chest.

"G'night, Petey... Love ya." Rocket said, after that, he just passed out, losing his battle against sleep.

Peter was left thinking about what he told Gamora back at Lou's, about being scared of getting too emotionally attached, as he stroked Rocket's fur Peter wondered.

What if he already was too emotionally attached?.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Several years later

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All good things must come to an end, even the universe itself would collapse someday.

Peter knew that either Rocket or Gamora had to die next, age had been creeping up on the both of them, sooner or later it would be time for Peter to part with them Groot had produced more of himself over the years, Peter guessed it was due to the relic's energy they encountered all those years ago, there were so many that Novas were hiring all the Groots for public jobs, they all happily agreed, of course, wanting nothing but to help people. The original Groot had been lost among all the Flora colossus that lived on Xandar, there is a saying: "Nature will reclaim the earth", in this case, Xandar.

There would be one day when all that remained on the planet would be Groots and Peter... No one else.

So Peter waited.

Days.

Weeks.

Months.

Years.

Decades.

Peter was sure it had been over one hundred years since he left earth, time seemed to pass so quickly now, he was in a hospital, sitting beside a bed, on it was Gamora, her age made her almost unrecognizable from the threatening woman he had met. She was thin, her once vibrant green skin seemed to be so pale now, so frail, she now was far older than what her species would usually live.

Gamora was dying.

Not out of any disease, an attack, or any kind of thing like that, she was dying of age, her body even with her upgrades could not keep up with the deterioration that old age caused... Yet she was smiling.

Peter was smiling too, though sadly.

Peter was sad that Gamora had to go, there was no way around it now... But they both were happy somewhat, Gamora had lived a full life, she even got married and lived happily with her wife for a long time until Angela passed away. Peter guessed this was how he would have wanted to die, having lived a full life, having gotten married, done all kind of crazy shit to take with him as he laid tranquil in a bed, waiting for the soft embrace of death... No illness, no mortal wound, no pain. A truly peaceful death.

Still, Peter felt sad, because today was Gamora... Then next up was Rocket... And Rocket may not have the peaceful death that Gamora was having.

"That fool... I knew I would end up winning the bet." Gamora softly said, barely any strength left in her voice.

Her hair was completely silver now, her hand in Peter's as she squinted at him, her eyesight not the same as it once was.

"Who?"

"Rocket... I told him some years back..." she had to pause to gather more air, even talking at her slow pace seemed to be draining. "That he would outlive me... He said that it was... The other way around..."

"What kind of messed up bet is that?" Peter asked, frowning.

"We were drunk... It was at Angela's funeral... His upgrades are better than mine... They would allow him to live far much longer than what he was supposed to..." Gamora said.

"Who bets about who is going to die sooner?" Peter asked

"We did, Gamora was feeling down, I thought I could lighten up the mood a little." Rocket said, coming inside the room while perched on top of one Groot.

Rocket had gone out to get snacks, his implants demanded more energy currently, as he got older his implats started to malfunction, only Peter dragging him to medical check ups and cybernetic experts had kept Rocket alive and semi-healthy up to this point. His fur had gone completely gray, his whisker dropped, and he had a slight limp. There was so much science and medicine could do, even the most advanced.

"I love you four so much..." Gamora had whispered closing her eyes.

Rocket and Groot quickly went by her side crying, Peter was in no better shape, silently letting out tears.

"I'm not dead yet, you fools... I'm trying to sleep..." Gamora had said with her eyes still closed, a small smile on her face.

"Gamora, what the hell!?" Rocket had said.

"I'm old... Old people sleep a lot."

"I'm old too, yet you don't see me pulling this crap."

"I am Groot!" Groot agreed with Rocket.

Peter allowed himself to chuckle, thinking that dying of old age, surrounded by the people you love wasn't as bad as he thought, even while being yelled at by an angry old raccoon and a tree.

"The only thing I regret is dying before you two got married to each other." Her sense of humor seemed to remain intact though.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gamora had passed away one day during her sleep.

Rocket and Peter along with the whole Nova special forces held a funeral, she was highly respected and many looked up to her, Many of their old students who had started out as young adults were now full grown-ups, many had come with their children, wives, husbands and many more telling them stories about the woman who had been the deadliest one alive at some point, yet she always had a heart of gold, doing what was right and knowing what was needed to be given up in order to protect what she cared about.

Peter paid his respect to Gamora, having spent most of her life with Peter, he knew that in the end, she got the love, care, respect, and the family she always deserved. Peter felt happy about that but...

Gamora's passing only meant that Rocket was up next.

Months after the funeral Peter was reminded of that fact.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Even at his old age Rocket still worked as a trainer for the Nova special forces, he loved that job, people had moved on from trying to get Peter and Rocket together, they all just assumed that they were married or something, Peter couldn't blame them, even though he and Rocket were not a thing, how they behaved around each other and how much time they spent together it was a no-brainer that they had deep feelings for each other. As much as Peter had wanted to have something with the raccoon he could never bring himself to do that, he was content with what he had currently, spending as much time with his friend as possible even working with him most of the time.

Speaking of work, the Nova had wanted them to take their recruits to a forest area, their test were all made on known grounds so it would be nice for the recruits to learn how to take care of themselves and others in a completely unknown place.

The trip to get there had been peachy, 100% top-rated flight in a new prototype ship the Novas gave Peter and Rocket for their trip. Peter had driven all the way there, blasting all the Earth music he had gathered from exotic vendors on Xandar over the years, his cadets had grown to like his taste in music, all in all, everyone had a good time, even Rocket was singing along, being caught up in the moment.

The trip back to the base, however...

It was nighttime by the time they decided to return to the base, all the cadets were loaded in the massive ship, since Peter drove the ship from the city to the forest it was agreed that Rocket would drive from the forest back to the city.

That's when everything went to shit.

One of the engines failed, after that everything else started failing, it was no one's fault, an error in the design of the ship, the metal surrounding the main core was not strong enough to withstand the heat.

They plummeted to the ground, leaving a trail of destruction as the flaming ship skidded to a halt, normally that kind of accident would not have been serious so long as they did not plummet at 90° to 75° degree angle, but the ship was bigger than the average ship, having many energy sources within itself... All of them are a potential bomb... And almosts all of them exploded...

When Peter regained consciousness he realized he had been impaled by a large piece of metal, he was reminded of the wound that led him to learn of his immortality all those years ago, the bleeding would not kill him obviously but it would knock him out until he could regenerate.

"Pe... Pete..." Peter's blood ran cold when he heard Rocket's voice.

He spotted the old raccoon laying against what remained of a tree, a pool of blood beneath him, a small metal piece had embedded itself on his side, his head was bleeding and his left arm seemed to not work at all.

"Rock-... Rocket..." Peter barely managed to get the words out, black dots forming in his line of sight. He dragged himself with what strength he could muster.

"No... Rocket... No..." he sobbed, every time his hand went out to grip the dirt in front of him darkness seemed to grow in his eyes...

"I thought... I thought I had time..."

"Shut up... You still... have time..." Peter could see how the blood loss was affecting Rocket, his fur was more red than gray, the raccoon gave a dry weak laugh.

"I never told you... How much..." he coughed out some blood...

"Shut up... keep your energy buddy... I'm almost there..." Peter was getting closer to Rocket, to his dismay the raccoon's wounds were worse than what they looked like from afar.

"I gott-... Say it, Pete... I can't... Keep going..." Rocket choked on some more blood before he let it drool out, his breath was ragged and erratic, his eyes struggling to stay open.

"Yes, you can!... Rocket please..." Peter begged, sobbing like a little kid, he almost couldn't see anymore, there was so much black in his vision, he was so near Rocket yet his body was not able to go on any further. "You're all I got left..."

"I never... Showed you... How much... I love you, Peter... Not as a friend... Much more than that... Even... More than...My own life... Then the whole universe, actually..." Rocket let his head hang, his breathing slowing down.

"Rocket no!... No... No..." Peter extended his hand as much as he could, he couldn't feel his hand nor the tears falling down his face, his legs, or anything at all, the pain he was feeling was a different kind of pain, unlike any other, he had felt before.

"Rocket, please... I love you too... I love more than anything... Please... Don't leave me!... I'm sorry I never told you... please!." Peter begged, his hand was laying on top of Rocket's, yet he could not feel it, he squeezed it, waiting for a reaction from the raccoon but none came.

"Rocket?... Rocket?... No..." Peter could not see anymore, his head could not stay upright, there was no more breathing from Rocket, no more mean comments, no more sweet nicknames, no more snarky remarks... No more Rocket...

This was not a world worth living.

"I should have told you... I should have done something about it... I'm sorry Rocket..."

Then it all turned to black...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter woke up with a gasp, he was in a hospital, a heart monitor was connected to him, there seemed to be some bandages wrapped around his wounds, which was strange they should have healed by that time.

"I am Groot!" Peter quickly was enveloped by wooden arms as a happy Groot tightly hugged him.

"Groot?, what happened buddy?, I just remember getting hurt and-" Peter remembered everything that had happened, tears filled his eyes as he squeezed the Flora colossus for comfort.

"Quit crying, you big baby boo, yer gonna make Groot cry too."

Peter froze.

That voice.

Peter looked around trying to find the owner but he was not able to spot him. Was he imagining things?.

"I know I'm short but I'm not THAT short."

The hospital bed Peter was on was indeed kinda elevated from the ground, Peter peaked to one side and he could not believe his eyes.

"Rocket?... OH MY GOD, ROCKET!!" Peter jumped from the bed, launching himself at Rocket in an attempt to hug his friend, the joy he was feeling was next to none he had ever felt in his life. What Peter did not think about was about the number of monitors he was hooked up to, much less about how some of his wounds had not yet healed. All the machines and monitors fell to the ground unceremoniously along with Peter, he ended up tangled with the many cables from the monitors, making a mess of everything, the pain stopped him from moving as some of his wounds flared up with renowned pain.

"Ow..."

"You idiot, you'll fuck yourself up again, Groot get him up on the bed!" Rocket ordered, sitting comfy on a chair beside the bed.

"I am Groot!" Groot agreed, scolding Peter in the process. "I am Groot. I am Groot!"

Groot used vines to lift Peter from the floor, untangling him from the mess he had made. With care that only Groot is only capable of, he deposited Peter on the bed, carefully checking his wounds and repatching the ones that started bleeding through the bandages.

"How?. When?. What?" Peter asked, confused beyond belief.

"Hey slow down Pete." Rocket said smugly, he looked like when Peter first met him, the rich brown fur with his signature black and white pattern was back. Why did he look so much younger?, more importantly, how was Rocket even alive?.

"I... We crashed... I saw you..." Peter choked back tears remembering that awful moment. "How?"

Rocket sighed, a warm smile on him. "You."

"Me?"

"I am Groot." Groot added.

"What do you mean Rocket was fine by the time the help came?" Peter frowned.

"As I said, it's because of you..." Rocket reached out and grabbed Peter's hand in his. "I was dying when you reached out and grabbed my hand... I can't explain it in detail, but as soon as you blacked out this weird blue light started flowing into me." Rocket paused to softly stroke Peter's hand with his thumb.

"I felt like new again, my wounds were gone and... I don't know, even the implants were gone, even the scars. EVERYTHING, Peter, everything had healed... I even had enough energy to pull the remaining cadets out of the burning ship, none died by the way."

Peter was beyond confused, Rocket was... Very much alive, but he felt better than ever... How?

"How?"

"Well after I carried you to this room-"

"Wait, YOU carried me?"

"Yes, I'm much stronger than before actually." Rocket gave a shit-eating grin. "As I was saying after I got you here, some dudes ran tests on me. God knows I only let them because I was just as confused as you are now... Turns out I'm part Celestial now!"

"What?" Peter asked.

"I am Groot." Groot repeated what Rocket said.

"I know what he said, I just mean... What!?" Peter made hand gestures, searching for a way to ask the question but not finding a way to.

"You kinda made me immortal when ya held my hand back there, it must have taken quite the toll on you since it slowed down your usually fast recovery."

"So you're saying I made you part celestial by holding your hand?"

"Yeah, that's about it..."

"..."

"..."

"... You also said you love me..."

Peter groaned, he had never planned this, he was kind of disturbed that he turned Rocket immortal but he wasn't able to do that for his other friends, maybe because he didn't know how to but it still bothered him and now Rocket also knew that he had been attracted to him. While knowing of Rocket's feelings and never did a thing or say anything about.

"You're a douchebag..." Rocket told him.

"I know."

"You're a dick."

"I know."

"You're the biggest A-whole in the whole fricking galaxy."

"I know."

"You're the love of my life."

Rocket got up from the bed and hugged Peter, digging his face in Peter's chest. The Terran was stunned for a few seconds before grasping Rocket tight in his arms, the emotion of the moment was cut off by Rocket.

"Groot take these units, go find yourself something nice, lock the door when ya leave." Rocket ordered, handling Groot all the units he carried with him.

Groot happily took the offered money and did as Rocket instructed.

"What was that about?" Peter asked, suspicious, what was Rocket up to?.

Rocket grinned like a devil, slowly reaching for the hidden flaps in his uniform. "You know, you have been giving me the worst case of blue balls for years." Rocket got on top of Peter, straddling his torso.

Peter's eyes opened up the size of plates, "What!?, dude, you can't be serious, I'm still hurt!"

"Oh, I know." Rocket pulled Peter to him using the Terran's hospital gown, their lips so close that they were grazing, he stared at Peter's eyes with a hungry gaze. "I've been waiting so much for this, I thought I would never get the chance... Now that I know that you feel the same way I do, I can't wait anymore, be grateful that I will give you a choice at least." Rocket said in a low tone that just made Peter get goosebumps, the good kind of goosebumps.

Peter gulped, it had been so long since he had any kind of activity that involved him getting intimate with someone. The threat of just what exactly Rocket was allowing him to choose was still in the air.

"Wha-. What kind of choice?" Peter asked, nervous and aroused at the same time.

"Top or bottom, Starlord?"