Still just own an imagination and a heart that loves Guardians of the Galaxy.

Friendship Spreads Worse Than Infection

Part One: Push Me Once, Shame on You. Push Me Twice...Thank You

Rocket's feet thunder against the pavement like his heart pounding against his ribcage and he dives underneath a low hanging branch just as the organ drops into his stomach at the sight of what is behind him.

"I'm gonna skin the two of you and I'm gonna start with the furry one! He's going to taste real nice!" an almost delirious voice shouts from behind them, and Rocket manages to catch Quill's gaze in between the trees that separate them from running side by side.

"Next time," Rocket grounds out in his out of breath state, "I get to take the shot!"

"Next time," Quill matches in a pant, "I get to decide who we steal from!"

"We're not stealing," Rocket argues as his foot slips against the ground and he stumbles in his haste. "We're taking back what was already ours which you lost in the first place!"

"I told you- shit!," Quill redirects as a bolt meant for him from a blaster races by him and into a nearby tree.

"Yeah, yeah, you didn't lose it, but you're going to lose a leg in a minute if you don't run faster," Rocket counters and darts to the left around a boulder jutting up from the ground just as another bolt blows it to bits. A piece catches him on the back and he arches at the sting of it and his back leg catches on a mound of dirt that sends him flipping down a slight embankment.

A fallen tree trunk puts an end to his spiral and he's trying to get the world to stop spinning when another blast splinters the end of the piece wood he's leaned against.

"Rolling down a hill doesn't count as running faster," Quill defends his slower pace as he suddenly slides next the raccoon and throws an arm around him before he's back to running.

"I got it. I got it," Rocket protests and pushes Peter's side that he's held against until the man slows down enough to drop him so that he can run on his own again. "This way!"

Quill makes a sharp turn, barely managing to duck as another bolt shoots across the distance between them and the man that wants to kill them and probably eat them, and follows Rocket's winding trail through the trees.

"Hey! You might as well get back here! You're gonna fall to your death anyway!" The man shouts before pulling the trigger of his blaster again. The shot goes too wide to even be considered one.

"What do you think he means by that?" Quill asks, turning around to see how far ahead they've gotten which isn't far enough.

"How the hell should I know? Come on!" Rocket yells over his shoulder, but as he turns back around he starts back pedaling, nails digging into and kicking up dirt as he tries to stop. "Quill!"

Peter turns back to the sound of his name and he starts locking his knees up in order to stop. His shoes slide against thick mud and he stumbles into Rocket pushing him forward with a curse caught in his throat. He reaches out, fingers grasping with desperation to catch the raccoon as his furry comrade teeters over the edge of a cliff with an eighty foot drop into a large body of murky water.

Rocket's arms swing out to side to counter his balance, but it's not enough. He slips over the edge just as Peter lunges to catch him.

Quill's breath escapes him as his chest slams into the ground, but he extends his arm over the side and finally manages to make purchase on a ringed tail.

Rocket lets out a yelp at the jerk, and swings wildly in a panic as he hangs in the air.

"Shit," Quill manages to force out while trying to catch his breath again and pull Rocket back up to safety. He scrambles backwards until Rocket is back on land and watches as he plants his feet in the dirt like a tree growing roots.

"Are you okay?" Quill gets to his feet but remains hunched over, hands on his knees as he regains his breath, and switches from checking on his teammate and looking for their enemy.

"I'm standing here aren't I?" Rocket shouts, but the way his ears bend back as he looks at the cliff tells Quill he's either about to see a brand new side of Rocket or he's going to get an ear full, but before he can find out a, "I told ya so! You're mine now!," echoes from the trees behind them followed by a crazed laugh.

Quill spins like a dog chasing its tail, looking for another way out, but either they keep running into an unknown forrest with who knows what in it until the guy corners and catches them, or, "Yeah, about that. We're gonna have to jump!"

"What? Are you insane?!," Rocket demands, hands coming up to grab at the fur above his eyes. "First, you push me off the cliff and then almost rip off my tail to catch me-"

"You're welcome by the way."

"Now you want to jump?"

"It beats ending up like Hansel and Gretel!"

"Who's Hansel and Gre-"

"Nevermind! We have to jump!"

"No," Rocket backpedals away from the edge even further, no longer caring about the man coming after them. "We wouldn't even be in this mess if you hadn't lost one of the Infinity Stones to begin with and missed the shot when Gamora stole it back, and let him take all of our weapons before he started chasing us because he thinks we have it!"

"Rocket," Quill deadpans and gives him a look that causes the raccoon to swallow thickly. "We. Have. To. Jump."

"I...I can't-"

"Why not?" Peter asks, moving forward enough so they're standing in front of one another again.

"Look, I'm not jumping."

"Dude, I'm not ev-"

"I can't swim!" Rocket shouts and the man's quick and heavy footsteps in the forrest crescendo in the silence that lingers and before Quill can respond he appears at the edge of the trees with a euphoric cackle.

"Oh, we're gonna have some fun tonight!"

Peter can feel his heart rattle in his chest and he wonders if this was how Rocket felt at the beginning of his existence, like a caged animal waiting for a hunter to stuff and mount him on the wall. He watches Rocket turn his head to snarl at the man and he glances back at the edge of the cliff behind them a few feet away in the distraction. He hears the man laugh again and he knows that if he survives, he's going hear that sound until his ears bleed.

Rocket hisses again as the man provokes him and Quill notices the muscles in the man's hand bulge as he tightens his grip on his weapon. But before the man can aim and Quill can even hope that this doesn't kill them both, Peter reaches out and shoves Rocket back over the side of the cliff. The raccoon gives a startled curse at the sudden change in direction, but it's drowned out by the sound of the man's blaster firing and before Quill can fully disappear over the edge as he follows after Rocket, he feels a sharp pain electrocute his calf.

Then, he smacks the murky water below.

It all comes back to him in one sharp jolt of pain and he sucks in a breath until water clogs his throat. He coughs once, but manages to keep his mouth closed until he can break the surface of the water. He chokes as he gasps for air and calls for Rocket all at the same time, but as he twists to find him, he comes up empty.

"Rocket," he calls again, before diving back under the water. He opens his eyes, but the water is too brown to even see his hand extended out in front of him.

He breaks the surface again, but this time with even more desperation than before.

"Rocket!," he yells again, and he tries to ignore the sound of his voice cracking in the echo created by the cliffs as he glances up to see that the man after them is gone, too.

He looks to the small shore, but it's empty of everything Quill's looking for and he dives back under the water again, eyes closed, but hands searching just the same until his lungs plead for air.

He grants it to them, but they have to fight for it as his throat tightens up like he's having an asthma attack, and he really starts to think he's having one because he can hear harsh breaths struggling in and out of a windpipe trying to sneak its way past water and it takes him all of five seconds to realize that it's not coming from him.

He twists in the water so quickly his back pops in that high-pitched crack underwater, but his mind isn't focused on anything but the raccoon thrashing in the water behind him.

"Rocket," he yells once more, but the animal disappears underneath the water again before he can even get the second syllable off his tongue. He swims as fast as he can, ignoring the burning sensation tearing at his leg, and sinks back under the water until he's got a furry being in his hands.

They both break the surface, but only one can take in air and Rocket's nails are shredding through the shoulder of Quill's shirt to let him know that it's not him.

"Rocket! Rocket, stop!" Quill shouts as he tries to hold his teammate at arms length so his skin doesn't become shredded like his shirt, but the raccoon swipes blindly at the air, choking on the water caught in his throat, and it isn't until he starts passing out from lack of oxygen that Peter can hold him in one hand and pat his back with the other, mindful of the new found gash underneath his right shoulder blade, to get the water to dislodge.

Rocket coughs weakly at best, but it does the trick as he continues to gag and hack until he can breathe again.

"That's it, buddy," Quill encourages while ceasing to pat Rocket's back in favor of tilting his head away as he vomits into the water. "Alright, don't puke on me. Keep your head that way."

Peter starts to tread back towards land, mostly so he's not swimming in raccoon spew, but also because his leg is burning like there's flames under water and he knows if he doesn't start swimming back to land now, they'll both drown.

Rocket coughs again and wipes a paw down his face while blinking wearily at Quill.

"You done?" Peter asks, but doesn't wait for a reply before ushering Rocket up onto his tattered t-shirt covered shoulder so he can swim them to shore. He feels a paw grasp a few strands of his hair, and he dips his mouth down into the water enough to hide the grimace it produces as he keeps swimming inland.

Before Quill can even stand, Rocket pounces onto the dry shore like a cat catching a bird, and falls heavily to the dirt, whether in exhaustion or relief, Peter can't be sure, but what he is certain of is the pain in his leg as he tries to stand up out of the water.

It shoots from his calf up the length of his leg and back down again like a pinball bouncing around in a game. He falters, falling forward but catching himself with his arms before he face plants, and semi-crawls onto shore.

"Quill?" Rocket's raspy voice asks as the man in question falls down beside him on his back.

"I'm good. I'm good," he assures as he does his best to ride out the pain in his limb.

"You got a hole in your leg," Rocket counters, and only when Peter can feel the sunlight being blocked from his face does he crack an eye open to see his half-drowned teammate staring at a disintegrated hole the size of a grapefruit, but not even an inch deep, in his leg.

"Yyyeah," Quill drawls out and lays his head back down after surveying the damage. "Bastard grazed me with his gun as I was jumping. The disease infested water we landed in hasn't helped either."

"Well..." Rocket breaks off as he eyes the wound for a second more then plops back down in the dirt beside Quill. "That's what you get for pushing me off a cliff. Not once, but twice!"

"I think what you mean to say is, 'Thank you for saving my life'."

"You know how you pitched a fit saying that blowing up Yondu's ship wasn't saving you when he captured you and Gamora? Well, throwing me off a cliff isn't saving me!"

Peter twists his face and turns his head to look at him. "Yes it is. That guy was going to kill us and you're very much alive as I can tell from the annoying anger quality of your voice as you shout at me for saving you."

"Where'd he go anyway?," Rocket ventures as a silent way of saying the thank you he just couldn't bring himself to voice.

"Hell if I know. Probably back to the gingerbread house."

"The what?" Rocket deadpans as he feels the hair on the back of his neck stand on end at the thought that maybe Quill's leg is worse of a wound than he thought.

"Hansel and Gret-, you know what, I'm not even going to explain it to you. How long do you think it'll take the others to find us? They better have gotten my walkman back." Quill sits up to notice that there's nowhere to go unless they either swim, which is a definite no, or climb which is a hell no for Peter because of his leg, and hopes that the man chasing them doesn't come back while absentmindedly feeling the empty place on his hip where he carries his cassette player.

"I don't know. They knew we took off this way. As long as they didn't run into any trouble getting back to the Milano with the stone, it shouldn't take them long. Guy practically leveled the trees with his weapon so it should be easy to follow our path. I mean, learn how to shoot, asshole!," Rocket starts to ramble.

"You do realize that if he could shoot, he would have killed us and probably ate us."

"Well, at least you wouldn't have pushed me off a cliff."

"Okay, I think we've established that I already made up for that."

"Yeah, yeah," Rocket waves him off, and begins rubbing at his back.

Quill notices and remembers the gash below his shoulder he had seen when they were in the water. "You okay?"

Rocket stops rubbing at his back to nod his head dismissively and Peter returns the gesture, but continues to keep an eye on him.

They fall into a comfortable silence that lingers for a few minutes until Quill says, "You know, if I didn't have a hole in my leg, I could teach you how to swim while we wait." His only response is a good sized pebble hitting him in the side of the head.

However, little do they know that waiting is the last thing they can do.

AN: So, part two coming soon. Hope you'll stick around.