Truth Be Told

"I'm not ashamed of ya, babe. You're over-reactin'." Rocket yawned as he pulled at wires on a metal box he was tinkering with.

"Oh my God, you know very well I am not over-reacting." Peter threw his hands in the air as he paced around the room. "I just - I just don't like sneaking around like this! And don't lie, Rocky. I know you're ashamed. You're homophobic."

"Who's homophobic?" Rocket groused, pulling on a wire particularly hard, causing it to spark. "I am literally in a relationship of the gayest flavor, thank you very much."

"Yeah, but you're afraid of letting everyone else know, like it's some terrible thing you have to be ashamed of!" Peter collapsed onto the bed, causing Rocket to bounce.

"I'm not ashamed." Rocket reiterated with a sigh. He rested his head on Peter's shoulder, knowing full well that his taller counterpart would appreciate the physical gesture. "I'm just not used to all this, y'know? It's been awhile since I was chained down, n' even then, it was to someone a lot closer to my species."

Peter laid a hand over Rocket's ears to gently stroke them. "So you think the rest of the team won't be cool with us dating because we're so different?"

"I'm thinkin'," elaborated Rocket as he snuggled up to his boyfriend's hand, "is that it's gonna look bad on you, Mr. Star-lord."

Peter laughed at that. "No way, ring-tail. If anything, you're a trophy lover."

Rocket laughed, too, shaking his head. "I ain't sure how you got that idea, Pete. But 'f you really think we'll be received all right, then, yeah, I guess I could see about us... Tellin' the rest of 'em."

Peter lightened up at this, turning to face Rocket. "Really? Like, seriously and actually for real?"

Rocket sent him a wry grin. "Really. As in seriously and actually, for real."

They shared a laugh between their kiss.

When Peter and Rocket walked into the common area, they were holding hands. Drax was fixing a broken handle on one of Gamora's swords while she took it upon herself to water the little Groot. The three glanced up to see the other two entering, nodding to them in greeting.

"Um," Peter coughed, and he felt Rocket's fingers squeeze against his. "We have something to tell you guys."

Gamora and Drax exchanged a quick, mildly concerned look before they returned their focus to their captain.

"Is something wrong?" Gamora inquired lightly, setting down the sprinkler to cross her arms.

"No, it's not anything bad." Peter breathed in, and looked down to Rocket, who nodded up at him. "You see... Rocket and I, we're... We're... We're dating."

There was momentary silence, as Gamora and Drax shared a confused look.

"What?" Drax responded.

"Datin', as in, an item. We're boyfriends, n' all that good stuff," Rocket pitched in, his voice smaller than usual.

The silence returned.

"Listen... Nothing has changed, if that's what you're thinking. We're still the same people. And we're still going to act the same, except now that we've told you, we're gonna be a little more open about stuff." Peter explained, sounding as though he was growing concerned.

The two boyfriends were met with more confused stares, and Rocket's brows furrowed.

"Well? Do you accept us or not? Because frankly, I'd like me and my boy-toy here to stop feelin' like we just confessed to eatin' the last cookie or somethin'!" Rocket snapped.

"Um," Gamora said uncomfortably. "Was your relationship meant to be a secret?"

Peter and Rocket looked at each other in momentary surprise, before Peter cleared his throat. "Uh, yeah?"

"Oh," Drax turned to Gamora with a light smile. "I... Did not know that this was supposed to be something we didn't know about."

Gamora rolled her eyes. "It's not like they weren't obvious about it."

"Wait a sec you - you knew?!" Peter near-shrieked, eyes wide.

"It's pretty obvious with how you look at each other," Gamora commented. "And, these walls aren't soundproof."

"Oh my God," Rocket threw a hand to his snout. "I feel like a jackass."

Drax returned to fixing the handle on Gamora's sword while she continued to stare at them with her expression of mild amusement and superiority for a moment, before she began to tend to Groot once more.

Peter turned to Rocket and for a few seconds they shared a congruent look of bewilderment before Peter shrugged. "Guess that means now I can do this."

And with that, he picked up Rocket and pulled him into a kiss that was very generous with love.