Ok, I've alluded to this a few times, but this is the end of Yonduweek, yes I am a bit late. Laptop issues, but here we go. Peter is two, and so adorable.
Fatherhood part 9
The Flashfire
Yondu and Kraglin, though a well-maintained couple fought together, drink together and due to a swift decision by Yondu, now a family. But for the Ravagers, even though they would never voice it out loud, they were having an adjustment period with baby Peter.
Suddenly everything revolved around Peter, even things which never bothered the crew before like cleanliness.
The moment Yondu stuck his head around the door and declared in his twisted growl. "This place looks like shit", meant that it needed to be clean as soon as possible on the off chance anything on the floor could wind up in baby Peter's mouth.
Yondu and Kraglin were settling into a routine and were grateful that Iztel was happy to care for the boy when Yondu and Kraglin were working.
In between their son's naps and play, however, he was often found on the bridge either just watching the stars or running up to every crewmember for a cuddle and attention.
Peter was social and loved being around the crew, and even though they were the hardest bastards in the universe, around Peter, they were more relaxed.
Yondu and Kraglin were pleased that Peter was a good baby, but that evening, after the crew were fed and Peter was looking rested, Yondu scooped him up in arms.
"Ok you, time for bed," He told his son, while Peter instantly began to squirm.
"No, no, no. Daddy, no bedtime. No bedtime".
Peter yanked and pulled away, his arms stretched out, and he was wiggling, looking to jump to see if someone would catch him.
"Peter stop that, you've had a busy day, and you're going to bed right now" Kraglin was coming over, but Peter was adamant that was not going to happen and looked on the verge of having a tantrum.
"No bed time, no bedtime".
"Right that it, you're going to bed Peter".
Peter squirmed and whined, but nothing Yondu and Kraglin said would calm him down, and in all honesty, Kraglin was getting sick of this. He was tired and just wanted to crash himself.
In their quarters, they managed to give Peter a wash and put him in soft pyjamas, but Peter still wasn't having it and squirmed and tried to escape. Going practically mental, when they made their way into the boy's bedroom to get him settled.
Peter creamed and, whined, and just tried to wrestle to get away, as his parents attempted to put him in his box.
"No, Hot. Hot, Hot"., Peter screamed at the top of lungs, his face turning red. "It's hot, daddy". Peter said over and over again, and just looked desperate with fat tears falling from his face
"Hot, hot, hot". He screamed once more, as Kraglin put a hand to the boy's head.
"There no temperature, and he doesn't look sick". Kraglin said to his mate, and Yondu just rolled his eyes.
Perhaps it was nothing, but he knew that if he didn't do something Peter could be having a tantrum for hours, and if he was lucky the medic would give him something to knock Peter out, or perhaps Yondu.
"Were taking him to the med bay", Yondu told Kraglin, and as they turned to leave the room, Peter reached out for his mother's Walkman on a small table.
Oh sod it, Yondu picked it up and passed it to him, the rest of the tapes and everything else was in I main room, and Peter only used it when he slept. Why they hadn't activated it before now was a mystery to both of them, but with Peter in their arms and out of the room, he seemed calmer.
Closing Peter's door behind them, the Udonta family, headed off to the Med Bay, and because they insisted on a full diagnostic on everything. Kraglin and Yondu had to sit them feeling like idiots while their son, lay on a biobed and just giggled. Happy and calm, until he abruptly broke in "Hot", every minute or so.
"Well, his temperature is normal, no sign of any fever. Heart rate is slightly elevated, but nothing to worry about. So he's completely fine" the medic just shrugged.
"So, it really is nothing?" Kraglin asked while Peter was reaching out his arms for cuddles.
"Nope, Peters a perfectly fine, happy babe". Came the reply from the medic while Yondu and Kraglin only shrugged.
"Ok then".
With Peter in their arms, they all made their way to leave, the moment the fire alarm alert flashed overhead, and they were aware of the crews rushing through the deck.
"Flashfire on the crew quarters". Came the overhead voice, and Yondu and Kraglin exchanged a look. Flashfires were rare and deadly caused by invisible gases, filleting through the vents. They were dangerous for this reason alone.
The Elector had a state of the art security and alarm system, but to throw the coldness of space throughout the entire area had to be evacuated immediately. If the fire spread, it was too dangerous and everyone had to react fast.
Tearing through the ship's decks, Peter in their arms just looked bewildered as they turned a corner to see the smoke coming out of their quarters and the Ravagers were piling in yelling Peter's name
"Peter, can you hear me?" Kraglin heard yelling, as the sound of the room was overturned, and it looked like they were searching for him.
"I can't find him. Where are Yondu and Kraglin?"
"I can't see them either", There was cursing, realising that the Ravagers had their lungs filled with smoke as Yarovesky stumbled from the room. His hands burned and then his eyes focused on the Udonta family.
"Guys, there here, there all safe".
A few seconds later, several Ravagers fell out of the door, each with burns to their hands, hair was singed. But they didn't notice or care, and they looked like they were about to collapse at the sight of the baby.
"Seal the room, increase the vacuum" Yondu barked into his communicator, as the shutter came down, and each and every crew member felt a burst of ice from the coldness of space which was putting the fire out.
Yondu reacted quickly at the sight of the crewmen "Get yourself checked out, now" he said at the crew, harsher than he intended, but he was internally trying to deal with this. Peter's' room had gone up, and their baby could have…
Stepping away from the crew, and taking the Walkman from the baby to place in his pocket Yondu made the decision to follow them back to the Med-bay, to see how severe the wounds were.
He did notice, though Jamsean, Gunnsen, Horuz and Yarovesky were trying to play it down, all of them were visibly shaken by all of this and focused their attention on Peter, who just lapped up the extra attention.
It was after this that all of them went to ascertain the damage.
In their own quarters, and room. Noting had been burned, and everything was intact, but Peter's room which was icy cold from the vacuum was another story.
Yondu and Kraglin knew it was just a stockroom and nothing fancy, but what they had done had been completely gutted.
All of Peter's toys lay in fiery ruins on the ground, all his clothes in the cupboard had disintegrated into ash along with the closet itself, and his box where he slept.
Carefully Yondu put a hand on it, and the small weight made it just collapsed into ash, realising that the flash fire had started at this point. Even if Yondu and Kralgin had rushed in, it would be too late. The flames would have killed their son.
Leaning against Kralgin, Peter just looked up at Yondu and said only one word which they finally understood while his green eyes flashed
"Hot".
In the end, Yondu stepped away from the room, he didn't even want to be in there anymore and instead let Peter rest in their own bed.
In the room, however, Jamsean and Gunnsen were looking over it, and in their minds were beginning to redecorate. "You know, we could put some shelve there, his box there…" the pair seemed to want to do this, but the room would have to be swept and scrubbed, as Yondu peered from, his quarters and just grinned. Perfect
"Proctom" he barked to the crewmen, who was coming through the deck, who just froze in Yondu's wake. It had been a year since he had been cast in exhale, and it was rare that he was even acknowledged and no one ever called him by name.
Slightly stunned, Proctom just stood there while Yondu explained that he would be the one to clean the boy's room the next day and see if anything was salvageable.
From the smoky smell in the air that was impossible, but Proctom would never say anything to the contrary.
With that done, Yondu and Kralgin dismissed the rest of the crew and tried to settle in for the night, but even though Peter just sept with ease. Both his parents were uneasy. The humidifiers had sucked the small of the smoke, but what had happened, was disturbing them.
"He's going to need new clothes". Kraglin said smoothly, too which Yondu just nodded, but Peter now only had what he was wearing, and he was a boisterous young boy, they couldn't have that.
The next day, with Peter being Peter it was impossible to keep his clothes clean, while Proctom after being ordered too, stripped the cleaned the room all by himself.
Proctom said nothing, but Kraglin made it clear that he had to sort the room out, and once again all he got back was a silence and a nod.
In some respect Kralgin was punishing him, every time he bathed that boy, he saw the scar on his shoulder caused by the Xandarian's hands when Peter was new to the ship, and Proctom was piss drunk.
But he was still a valuable, hard-working Ravager even if Proctom was an asshole and no one ever let him forget it.
Even though it was a surprise when after one day, the family had returned home to find the room sparkling clean, with reflective surfaces, bright and gleaming with no trace the fire had ever happened.
Yondu could tell from the marks on Proctom's hands, that he hadn't stopped, hadn't eaten, and the young Xandarian was currently lying asleep on the floor which did cause Yondu a step of pity but didn't stop him from waking him with the edge of his hobnailed boots.
Quickly Proctom grabbed his equipment and rushed from the room, but not before Kraglin spoke up "You did a good job".
Proctom only nodded and rushed out of the door, while Kraglin just exhaled.
The room was clean, but that was other people job. They had volunteers who were going to do that.
Over the next few days, the Udonta family served for places where they could slip in and buy new clothes for Peter, and the one outfit each night was washed and dried, but it was beginning to become an issue.
In the mess hall, Iztel when feeding him, had to be extra careful about spills, when painting, they couldn't get any marks on them. In the end, Peter started going around wearing an old t-shirt a crew member had cut up like a dress. Peter didn't mind it and thought it was fun flapping the material around in the wind, but Yondu and Kraglin were the types of parents who encouraged their son to get dirty and have fun, and neither of them had the heart to tell him to even try to keep clean. He was two, if he didn't get messy, he wasn't playing right.
So Peter got sticky and smelly, and dirty and he loved it
In truth, the Ravagers didn't have a reputation for hygiene, but they had to do something.
Looking for the planets, with lax security the only one Yondu could find was an impressive planet run by a warlord called Lizxona.
Hopefully, the security would be lax, they could just fly in and out, and no one would be the wiser.
"Ok fine". Kraglin stated when Yondu informed him of this, "But we're taking Peter too".
Right now neither of them were in the mood to argue with his, Peter was two and Kralgin was paranoid, and everyone knew that.
But Peter didn't and practically leapt from his parent's arms when the family had gone to the M-Ship Hanger and rushed to sit in the pilot's seat after they all entered the M-Ship.
"Fly, fly, fly" Peter laughed and threw his head back, trying to grab the steering mechanism, while Kralgin took the seat and manoeuvre his son into his lap.
"I've got a bad feeling about this" Kralgin said more to himself, while Yondu turned the Eclector over to Horuz and gave the order for the hanger door to open.
"So what else is new, Kralgin were going to get in, get clothes, get out, and nothing will happen". Yondu said out loud as if was convincing himself, but noticed that as he said it, his son gave him one of his famous eye flashes, but settled down to enjoy some family time with his parents admits the stars.
The End
And this is the prequel to the interrogation
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