"And you can stay there 'til you get rid of that attitude!" Groot stretches out his limbs and slams the door in Peter's face.

"I am Groot." He mocks, sitting down hard on his bed. He pulls out his game console and starts slamming the buttons.

Peter doesn't know a thing about him. None of them do, not even Rocket. They don't know how infuriating everything is, how embarrassing it is to be seen with all these adults who don't have any idea what they're doing, how silly they make him look and feel.

Groot huffs. The other Guardians are so old they probably don't even remember what it was like being a teenager. Much less a tree. And sure, they understand him when he talks, but so few people speak Groot that he's always relying on their translations.

He just feels so misunderstood.

Bwoop bwoop.

"I am Groot!" He yells, throwing his game on the floor. This always happens. Groot stands up and stomps across his room, cutting through leaves and vines on the way. He slides down the wall until he sits with his knees to his chest.

"Groot!" He screams, fists slamming into the floor. His hands snap off with the force. Why can't the others understand how much he feels? How hard his life is? It's no fair that they're finding happiness with each other when he's stuck with the short end of the stick.

Groot regrows his hands and balls them into fists again. He rests them on his knees.

"I am Groot..."

All he wants is for someone to see him for who he is, to accept him. Groot digs his palms into his eyes.

After a moment, he stretches out his hand and grabs his game. He stares at the black screen. This had been Peter's once. It was hard for him to imagine Peter ever doing anything fun, all he ever did anymore was yell at Groot over nothing.

But still. Groot looks at his door and sighs.

Peter was lame, sure, always referencing things on Earth no one understands, always dancing for no reason, but he'd been there for Groot ever since they formed the Guardians. He'd risked his life for him so many times, had helped raise him back from a twig, gave him his first game.

The others, too. They've always had his back, even when they were mean to him. They protected him when he couldn't protect himself. Rocket, Drax, Gamora, even Mantis, they all supported him. (That doesn't make them less weird, Groot thinks.)

Groot starts up his game again, feeling more at ease than before.

The other Guardians may not understand him, he thinks, but they sure have accepted him.