The first real memory Peter has of being on the Eclector was being introduced to its captain, Yondu Udonta, a blue alien with a mouth full of metal teeth Peter couldn't keep his eyes off as he smiled at him. A group of jeering aliens of all backgrounds behind him smiling just as wide with teeth just as sharp as their captain. The then cabin boy and current first mate had the honor of holding down the boy who was determined to not go down without a fight (who would complain for weeks about the black eye the little boy had managed to give him) while another member of the crew implanted a chip in his neck to bridge the language barrier between them.
It normally wouldn't be painful, nothing more than a pinch but Peter brought the pain on himself fighting the way he was.
Grieving the death of his mother. Fearing the situation he had just landed himself in. He had every reason to fight but the captain didn't see it that way and told him as much when he was thrown on the ground in front of his boots seconds later.
"Listen here boy," he snarled yanking him in the air by his collar making the boy freeze in absolute terror seeing those jagged teeth up close and personal, "Everyone here on this crew would like nothing more than to beat your scrawny ass, none more than me, we can't kill ya yet but we can make ya wish you were dead. So, do yourself a favor and stop fighting."
Peter hadn't stopped then as he wasn't about to stop fighting now even if his current battle was less life or death and more of an emotional kind.
Peter only knew the names of two people aboard the ship for over six months, the then cabin boy and current first mate, Kraglin, was the only one to offer a proper introduction to the scared little boy who often hid in the vents to hide away from the rest of the crew.
And of course the ship's captain made sure he knew who he was, no one else's name mattered he had been informed, he should only know half would like nothing more then to kick his ass and the other half had never tasted Terran before and would like to get a taste. Yondu promised to keep them in line but only if he behaved.
Peter never thought of these things, sober at least, he didn't like living in the past. He just wanted to keep pushing forward and ignoring anything that still hurt to this day. However, it wasn't so simple today.
For he was the captain now that Yondu should be grateful towards and a part of Peter wanted that pain he caused to fester and let it out on the man he had picked up moments ago on some backwards little planet, left for dead by a member of his crew too cowardly to fight beside his captain.
The problem with that was, Peter was a hero now, not some low life petty thief with a chip on his shoulder about how life had wronged him. Heroes didn't turn people away who needed help. Heroes didn't rub it in the people they saved faces. Even if those people did hurt him, even if all he wanted from those people, this particular person was an apology and an explanation why he did that to a child.
Peter wasn't dumb, he knew somewhere deep down Yondu cared for him, in his own Yondu way, and all he really wanted from him was an explanation of why he did the shitty things he did to him if he did care. What did he want from him all those years ago?
Maybe somewhere in him he was only do this to find out answers, maybe some part of him just wanted to be petty but he wanted no part of him to reveal his complicated emotions to his crew.
When Rocket had demanded why they were letting the bleeding, yelling man still threatening to kill them all onto their ship when they needed to get out of here before the bigger meaner guys chasing them caught up, Peter couldn't answer him right away.
This could be explained away by the fact that the man who raised him was still a very capable fighter even delusional from blood loss and Peter was just trying to keep that arrow off him but even later after settling the man who raised him down into his own bed and he settled down at the table to finally eat, he couldn't quite give his now captive audience an answer.
There was no averting this topic, no playing the radio over their questions, no running and hiding in his room. He had to give some kind of an answer, so he did and none of them bought it.
"Me and Yondu have a complicated relationship. As complicated as a pirate kidnapping a grieving eight-year-old can get and not killing said eight-year-old. Don't think of what we're doing right now for him as an I love of any kind, think of it more like an I owed ya one for helping us save the world."
Whether they bought it or not, it clear Peter wasn't gonna talk about it anymore and they had to settle with him turning the radio up so loud none of them could get any sort of word in.