"I'll save you, princess!"

"Please, I don't need saving, just kiss me, you doofus."

Peter dive bombed Kitty, leaping onto her as she sat in his small bed. She giggled and kicked at him, phasing her foot right through his face at the last moment. Peter knocked her prone and sat on his haunches above her, a big grin plastered across his face.

Lockheed let out a thin stream of smoke and he rolled his eyes as he chuffed at the scene before him. The space guy was jumping onto Kitty, kissing and nipping her face and neck teasingly, affectionately.

Lockheed sighed and turned his back on the two, just as Kitty swatted Quill away with a warm smile. The star guy, he wasn't so bad. He certainly wasn't as bad as Wisdom, the sardonic Brit who smoked more than Lockheed and seemed to have an innate problem with the purple dragon. Stardork was okay, and he seemed to have a sincere fondness for both Kitty and her best friend (he had fed Lockheed a small dish he prepared fairly quickly and well, a specialty of the Flock), but he was still taking Kitty's valuable time and attention away from Lockheed.

Lockheed has never been overly fond of the men Kitty had seen romantically. After she found him, he spent years watching her be spurned by the likes of Colossus and Alistair. Then he had to watch her shack up with the smoker and the metal giant. And the ice one. He was resoundingly mediocre as a mate. Kitty didn't have the best taste in who she paired with, as far as Lockheed was concerned.

There was also the time she went out with an evil alien and got herself captured. That wasn't something Lockheed had actually witness, but Kitty told him about it when she returned from her trip. He tried to provide solace, cooing and curling up on her lap, but she berated herself for being so foolish and told him she was going to swear off relationships.

But, of course, she didn't. And so Lockheed stood loyally by her side as she made what he knew was mistake after mistake.

Lockheed knew Kitty was the best humanity had to offer. When he thought she had died, he had ran off to space, partially looking for her, partially trying to forget her. And of course, when she returned, she had found him at the SWORD station and had wrapped him in her intangible arms (and told him to stop drinking).

So to see her return to space again, as she had only done for Lockheed before, he knew that the space guy meant something special to her. That bothered Lockheed more than he was comfortable to acknowledge.

Lockheed flapped out of Quill's room-he left the port open, what a fool-and settled himself in a corner outside the room, where he didn't have to be faced with the sickeningly sweet display of affection.

Lockheed sighed internally. If Kitty was willing to face her fear of space for this man, as she had done for him, he would at least have to try to get along with Peter Quill. For the moment.

Rocket Raccoon entered the hallway and leaned against the wall next to the diminutive dragon. "Earthers, am I right?"

Lockheed puffed a cloud of smoke in response.