He hated the thought of belonging to someone. To anyone. In fact, the sheer thought of it haunted some of his nightmares, and almost made him sick more than once or twice. He'd decided that after he was let go for being a failure in the eyes of those...those bastards - he'd never be anyone's property. Not ever again. Never. He was his own person, and if anyone even tried to tell him he belonged to anything, he'd lose it. Screaming in rage, threatening to shoot that person, the whole shebang.

Now...well, now, he belonged to a team. Friends. That was kind of a new thing, that. Being treated like an equal and yet in some sense still being in possession of a group. But he wasn't treated unevenly. It was something he hadn't thought hard about, and when he tried to do so, he often got a headache at the whole idea and just forgot about it entirely. The bits and pieces didn't matter, so long as he wasn't being treated like an animal, a freak, something that the universe got one hell of a kick out of pushing around and yelling at so much that he'd started to push and yell back.

And yet there was another person he 'belonged to'...well, more like was a constant burden upon and had constantly bothered. The guy who was too nice to flat out tell him that he was a pain in the ass 90% of the time, to the point where he'd even agreed to a romantic relationship. It was all probably a put-on so he wouldn't get upset and leave. They all had to keep good teamwork, and sacrifices had to be made to keep that bond, and...

Well, to put it simply, he still was a freak after all, and he knew it.

Perhaps that's why he'd covered and said he was going on a solo mission and instead snuck himself off to a bar to get himself plastered off his ass. What a hero. Truly, a valuable member of the team. He was even internally hating himself for running off with a shitty excuse to take pity on himself, as he always did. It was an interesting loop, that. He hated himself for taking pity on himself for hating himself, and...goddammit. He was doing mental gymnastics even when he was slightly buzzed.

He laid his head down onto the bar, grimacing. Ugh.

"-the fuck is this rodent doing in my seat?!"

...on another note, it was perhaps a horrible idea to not have guns on hand at the moment, especially when he was picked up by an intimidating asshole, and-well, especially considering he'd already gotten midway to drunk, he wasn't exactly filtering his comments like he should be. "I don't know, didn't see 'annoying prick' written on it."

"What did you just call me?!"

"Uh-noy-eeng pr-iiiiick. Need me to dumb it down for you, genius?" Yep, he was smirking and looking like a smug asshole when he really shouldn't've been, especially when two other guys hopped up and joined the first one.

"Hell of a mouth on this little beast."

"'Spose you have to have one, living that sort of shitty life as a freak. Maybe ya should just let it go."

"Fuck no! He's getting what's coming to him!" The first growled, tightening his gri-oooohkay that was getting smushed those were bones cracking that was pain a lot of pain. Yep. He'd gotten himself into a fuckton of trouble again.

"HEY! GROUP OF FUCKWADS! YOU THREE!"

-Wait, was that...he looked up in his slightly blurry vision, seeing what seemed to be...was that Pete? How did he...why is he...

"What do you need, humie?!"

"That so-called 'beast' belongs to me, and I want you to give him back to me. Now."

"Oh, he's your stupid pet-"

SLAM. Just like that, one of the guys had hit the floor with a well-placed kick. "He's my boyfriend. Not a fucking pet."

One of them scrunched up their face in disgust. "Animal fucker. How gro-" Another loud SLAM as he too hit the floor, letting out a groan as he landed.

"Any other smartass remarks I have to settle?"

"YOU SICK FUCK, I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU Paaaayy..."

He didn't know how long he was out, honestly. It was at least long enough for them to get back to the Milano, considering the fact that he recognized the room he woke up in, though his vision was still the slightest bit blurry, so he wasn't quite sure WHICH room it was, in addition to his mind in general. "Mmn.." Instantly, however, his eyes snapped open. Pete. Where was Pete?!

Luckily, that question was answered as he realized he was being held. "-oh, thank God, you're awake. Scared the shit outta me." Quill commented, letting out a sigh of relief as he looked down at Rocket. "Seriously, Rocket, what were you thinking? Running off like that, I mean..."

"You don't have to act concerned."

"What?"

"I know damn well that you're just acting like you care about me because you don't want me to leave the team. It's obvious. I mean, I kinda suspected all this time that it was a big joke and that you were one day going to tell me that you were just messing with me, and you'd go and date someone like Gamora or something, someone who you deserve, not...not someone who runs off, causes nothing but problems, and...is a stupid fuckin' animal."

There was brief silence for a moment before Peter responded. "Rocket, I'm not joking about any of this. I wouldn't joke about it. Ever. I mean...it would be really low for me to pull something like that in the first place, and in the second place, you think I'd put up with your shit if I didn't have some kind of affection for you?" That, at least, got a half-smile from Rocket. "I don't care what assholes like those today say. You're not an animal. You're not stupid. I mean, fuck...I'm..." He bit his lip, pausing for a second, causing the raccoon to tilt his head a bit in confusion-

That was until he was kissed. "Mm?!" He blinked for a few minutes, turning bright red before he closed his eyes and kissed in return, wrapping his arms around his lover's neck. "Mmm..." The break inbetween kisses was reluctant at best.

"...I'm in love with you, by the way. That was the end of that sentence."

-Star-Dork wasn't going to let him stop being bright red at this rate. "...mmhmm. I love you too...'m yours, if you actually-"

"Well yeah, duh. You're mine, now. Hardly ever get rid of anything I care about. 'specially not somethin' this important to me."

"You're a fuckin' sap."

"But you like it."

"...Just shut up and kiss me again."