I always like to picture Steven Yeun as a human Rocket. I saw someone else say the same in a fanfiction years ago, and it just stuck ever since.
The first thing Peter did when the Guardians got back from their month long stay at Nova Corp's best hospital, was grab Rocket by the hand and lead him into Peter's room on the upper level of the Milano. He was careful with the slightly tanned man beside him, knowing he was still weak and slightly sick from all he'd gone through the past few weeks, and the last thing he wanted was to push him too hard when he'd just managed to come home with them. Peter smiled as he took in the sight of his partner. Slightly slanted eyes, black hair that barely reached his ears, clean shaven and a little shorter than himself. It took a lot of getting used to, but he finally felt elated by the change. He and Rocket finally had no barriers.
"Pete?" Rocket said, rubbing at his eyes tiredly.
"You okay?" Peter asked, and Rocket shook his head.
"I feel really dizzy." Rocket said, swaying on his feet. Peter wrapped his arms around his partner, hooking his arms underneath his legs and lifting him up. Rocket was clearly much heavier than he had been as a raccoon, but he was still far lighter than Peter thought he should be. He walked slowly the rest of the way to his room, careful not to jostle the man and make him feel any worse than he already did.
"Rocket?" Peter exclaimed as Rocket's head fell limp, his body loose in his arms. Rocket let out a tired grunt, allowing the taller to sigh in relief. Once he made it to his quarters, he laid Rocket down gently on the bed, pressing a gentle kiss to the man's forehead.
"How is he?" Peter turned his head to see Gamora standing in the doorway, eyes worried as she took in the sight before her. It had been nearly a month since they'd rescued Rocket from Halfworld. The lunatic aliens inhabiting the planet deciding that creating a sentient raccoon wasn't enough. They had spent the years Rocket had been away plotting new types of experiments, only to capture their small friend on a routine trip to a planet not far away from that area. It had only taken them three days to find where they had taken Rocket, but by that point, their experiment had been completed.
Peter will never forget walking into the lab and finding Rocket's body dead, his head busted open and cleaned out. Nothing had remained in the small cavity, and he couldn't have imagined what they wanted with Rocket's brain and small bits of his spinal column. It was disgusting, and he was livid. The human had torn the facility apart, no pause as he shot and killed anyone who stepped into his line of sight. He ignored the cages upon cages of animals either whining or pleading for his help, only focusing on the fact Rocket might be dead or dying. Only when he found yet another lab did he momentarily cease fire, two humanoid creatures bowing down in surrender.
"He's inside this room, but he is not how you remember." The creature said, and Peter's teeth grinded together.
"We needed to finish our experiment. He escaped before we could." Wrong answer. Peter blasted the two where they sat, opening the unlocked door to the lab behind them. Inside were two other humanoid creatures bent over a lone figure covered by a white sheet, blood staining the fabric so much that could have been the color of the sheet in the first place. Peter kept his gun by his side, waiting for the two to look up and notice his presence. The male looking one was the first one to look up, hands thrown above his head as he took in Peter's angry stature and gun to his side.
"Please, we're almost done!" He screamed, and Peter lifted the gun. The only thing that stopped him from pulling the trigger was Gamora running into the room behind him, screaming for him to stop. "If you don't let us finish he will die." Peter lowered the gun back to his side, tears burning at the back of his eyes. He was too late.
"You're going to die the second you're finished with whatever you're doing." Peter said, tears choking up his speech. The man nodded, aware of his fate as his partner put down her tools and faced the others. Peter knew despite the submissive attitude, he should be prepared for a fight. No one went down with a nod and an okay.
"We are not sure if the procedure will work. It might need adjustments." She said, but Peter was having none of it. Gamora placed her arm on his once again, pointing outside the hallway where another familiar humanoid species was walking inside, clad in their typical blue uniforms and scowls permanently etched on their faces.
"Nova will handle them." Gamora said, Drax soon standing next to Peter's opposite side. Even after the Nova Corp apprehended the two, the group stood still, unable to see what they had done to their friend. Peter was the first to move, slow, calculated steps until his eyes laid upon something that certainly wasn't Rocket. It was a man, one that Peter assumed could have easily came from a continent called Asia on his own planet. His hair was shaved clean off, the largest and messiest cut Peter had ever seen sliced all the way down his head. Peter felt sick as he took in the sight before him. What had they been trying to do?
"Sir, we were given information that they attempted to transplant your friend's brain into this body. If this is true, we need to get him to our hospital immediately for proper treatment." An officer said, and all Peter could do was nod.
"What about-" Peter coughed, tears once again burning his eyes as they slowly made their way down his cheeks. "What about his body?" The officer sighed in understanding as a team of medics came in and gathered up the man's body.
"We will allow you to decide." Peter nodded and turned back toward his friends. They all had such solemn looks on their faces, Groot whining as he stared at the man's limp body before him. Peter almost wondered if he could sense Rocket inside him, a little bit of hope welling up in his chest.
"Would you like to meet us there or come with us?" The officer directed at Quill. Quill looked to Gamora.
"You drive the Milano and meet us there. I'll ride with them in case something happens." Peter said, making his way out of the room with the rest of the Nova Corp still present in the building. Gamora nodded in return, the group making their way slowly to the ship.
It was nearly a week later that Rocket finally opened his eyes, Peter right next to him as he took in his surroundings. Peter prayed silently, begging whatever existed that his Rocket was still in there. Eventually, brown eyes landed on Peter's own, and the human held his breath.
"Pe-" Rocket swallowed heavily. "Peter?" Peter practically screamed as hope flooded through his entire body. Tears fell silently down his face as he placed a soft kiss on top of Rocket's forehead, the shorter man looking at him in a confused trance. "What-?"
"I'm sorry." Peter cried, hand moving to cover his eyes. Rocket gingerly placed his hand on Peter's shoulder. "I couldn't get there in time."
"It's okay." Rocket said quietly, rubbing his thumb idly over Peter's shoulder. It felt strange, different, but still oddly comforting. It was still Rocket, he knew that. That was why he felt so comfortable, but then, why was it still so hard to come to terms with? "I knew what they were going to do." He said, and Peter slowly removed his hands from his eyes. Rocket was looking back at him with half lidded brown eyes, exhaustion sweeping over him once again.
"And you're not upset?" Peter asked in surprise. Rocket chuckled, shaking his head.
"Upset? About what?" He responded. "Not being called a freak anymore? Being the same height as my boyfriend? Being able to walk around without being stared at? What a nightmare. I have to admit, they did me a favor with this one." Peter chuckled as Rocket spoke, his hand wrapping tightly around Rocket's own.
"You were never a freak." Peter whispered, and Rocket smiled lightly at him in response.
"I can go to Terra with you now and fit in." Rocket said as he allowed his eyes to close, Peter pressing a kiss to Rocket's soft lips.
"Yeah, yes you can." Peter smiled. Hopefully Rocket wouldn't all but explode when he truly came around again. He always had been a bit more docile when he was tired. The way Rocket spoke however, proved to Peter that what had happened was in Rocket's favor at least a little bit. Illegal as it can be, but if the creatures hadn't started illegally experimenting on animals in the first place, he wouldn't have Rocket at all.
Now nearly a month later, Rocket's head had almost fully healed, his black hair growing easily around his head thanks to Nova's medics help. Once Gamora left to go work on her own projects, Peter laid down next to Rocket, arms wrapped tightly around his partner.
"I love you." Peter whispered into his partner's ear, breathing in deeply as he allowed sleep to claim him.