A/N I was tempted to write this one shot while looking up things for Lylla and Rocket in their comic versions, info for my story 'Not the Only One.' I hope you enjoy, even if it is short. I put some thought into this.
This is partially how I imagine Lylla finally revealing her feelings to Rocket. This idea of her visiting Rocket is all original, but I do not own any GOTG characters or Halfword. I felt good after writing this, hope it made you feel good too.
This MIGHT be a two shot story, so please add this to your follow list just in case if you are interested in seeing them after Blackjack O'Hare supposedly marries Lylla.
Rocket Raccoon sat atop the wall overlooking the one place he knew to be Halfworld. Boring, blunt, no fun, annoying, he had many words he could've used to describe this place, this…. prison.
For this raccoon, it was a joy to be able to finally be allowed to roam freely around the perimeter, free of those despicable machines. It wasn't a joy to be stuck here, however. A little something called electric fencing and a certain lovely implant inside his brain kept him from leaving or going very far, sometimes.
He wasn't about to leave Halfworld just because of his discouragements though. His own kind needed him, and Rocket knew it. Animals, whether raccoon or not needed to stick together. In his mind, they were all in this as a whole.
When it came to his opinion of the 'tin cans?' They could go die in a ditch somewhere for all he cared. After what they had made him go through, resenting them was an understatement. He hated the robots. Every single one of them, trying to keep him contained here. Rocket didn't need help. He didn't need some dumb old crazed mechanical contraption to tell him that he was crazy, because he wasn't. Of course they were too dumb to understand that, so diplomacy was out of the question.
The only good thing on this planet besides the animals, in Rocket's opinion, was Groot. Ever since he'd helped 'get him a drink', the tree had been his best pal forever.
I could really go for some target practice right now…. Rocket thought with a chuckle, looking over the landscape.
A rustle beside him caused by a certain otter was all it took to avert his thoughts. That wasn't a surprise however. Lylla did always act like a daring girl sometimes to him…. and did so just to see him of all people. The hole in the electric fence made it easy for her to access Halfworld though, and Rocket had not reported it just because he would be able to see her.
The beautiful brown furred creature with brown eyes smiled at Rocket as she adjusted her blue robing she often kept on herself, and sat down beside the raccoon. He acknowledged her presence with a small smile and a nod of his head, not really surprised all that much by her coming again. She'd already gone to see him many times before after meeting him while passing by when she had to leave the toy company her father worked at, and Rocket enjoyed her visits often. She made him feel happy, a warm fuzzy feeling inside which the raccoon had experienced around her numerous times in the past and even now. Something about Lylla always seemed no different to Rocket. Perhaps it was that she was getting familiar to him….. she was starting to feel normal to him, coming to see him and to talk to Rocket.
"He- hey Lylla," Rocket stuttered quietly, struggling to let his eyes break her gaze.
"Hello yourself," Lylla replied politely. She cocked her head to the side in that cute little way she did when she was curiously and giggled a bit with a risen eyebrow. "And may I ask why you find my face to be so interesting that you have the need to stare at it?" She spoke so clearly in that intelligent and polite tone of hers.
"Stare at it?" Rocket immediately frowned, trying to be as normal and casual as possible. "What kind of creep you think I am? I ain't looking at you, I was admiring the landscape! Is that such a big crime?" Rocket insisted, narrowing his eyes a bit. They relaxed right after his statement, and he felt a little guilt acting like he didn't like looking at her.
She laughed a bit in reply. "Right, right. How do things fair in Halfworld, Rocket?"
Rocket turned his head away, and started picking at the grass which grew in the decayed cracks of the top of the wall. "Fine," he bluntly responded, "aside from being bored to death about 24 hours each day, I'm just brilliant." He rolled his eyes and sighed, "all it is is guarding and guarding, and more guarding, then a few scan tests, you know, the usual on the menu with a side of more me being bored."
Lylla bit her lip thoughtfully, scooting a little closer next to Rocket and stared to his expression which still looked at the ground. "That sounds quite glum. Don't you have anything else to do on nice days like this….. aside from making objects explode or shooting targets repetitively?"
"Not really," Rocket chuckled weakly, working his hardest not to stare at her face, even if the temptation was very strong, "but blowing stuff up gets boring after a while too. I never thought I could, I mean…. It's awesome when you get one of those launcher thingies, then you fire this missile into this car target we have, then you watch it go, KA-BOOM! WHOA! YEAH!" Rocket laughed for a second out of joy at the thought and slapped his knee. "You know what I mean?"
The otter stared at him, her smile suddenly gone for a brief glimpse of a second, her eyes looking perplexed and open wide. "Ummm….. not exactly if I were to be honest." Her smile reappeared a little wider as she chuckled nervously, eyes darting a little until they rested on the grass below them.
Rocket carefully came to realization that he'd made the situation awkward and smiled back at Lylla, attempting eye contact with her, but to his discouragement failing when he saw the grass those beautiful brown beads had decided to eye instead. "Uh, sorry, that was a little weird… I just really like blowing up things. Hence the reason my name is 'Rocket,'" he joked with a smirk.
Her eyes lit up a little at the comment, and she smirked too. "I suppose it is. You live up to the name very well."
"Yeah I do."
"I hope you know your behavior isn't exactly a very alluring trait to ladies." Lylla smiled slightly, looking down at the crease next to them in the wall they sat on.
Rocket quirked an eyebrow at her statement and let out a small laugh. "How would ya know? The only other guy ya see outside yo little toy barn other than your dad is Mister Hoppyitdy Hop!"
Lylla glared at him crossly and crossed her arms. "His name is Blackjack, Rocket, not an atrocious nickname like that!" She stuck her nose in the air and smiled away from him with her arms still crossed, trying to hide her amusement. "And it takes a lady to know a lady.
Seeing her act this way made Rocket frown with discouragement. "I guess. Because there's absolutely nothin' that's very attractive 'bout me of course." He played her pouty game and turned away from her, making Lylla turn to face him instead.
"I- I did not say those words!" Lylla stammered, suddenly feeling her voice rise a little out of anger. Rocket flinched a little bit when he tried to turn around, a little surprised at her tone, since he was used to her usually calm and polite voice. Lylla closed her eyes, sighed, and collected herself with reopened eyes calmly. "I simply said that the way you act is not favorable towards most females, in general. I did not say that the way you acted is not favorable towards myself."
"Well I can't help that I have dang O.C.D," Rocket stated with a huff, "and god knows what other obsessive diseases or whatever else those wacked out tin cans want to call 'em."
"O.C.D is not your fault. I never said it was, and I promise I will never let your condition cloud my judgment of who you are," Lylla calmly replied. "Such conditions are-"
She stopped in her sentence as her fur sudden bristled at the cold wind chill which ran along and through her robes, making her shiver greatly and inhale sharply in a shaky breath. Rocket remained perfectly content with his body condition and frowned when he saw her reaction.
"You okay Ly?" He asked cautiously.
Lylla nodded, struggling to keep her robe fully over her entire body, and started to lightly shake, her teeth briefly coming together as she sucked in more cold air on accident. "A little cold air didn't hurt anybody," she attempted to mention to lighten his mood, trying a smile.
The raccoon's eyes glanced over her freezing cold image, taking in how helpless she looked in only the robes she wore. They started to feel heavy with worry as he came to the conclusion that Lylla wasn't used to the usual cold air of Halfworld, even after about 10 or 11 meetings with him. Fur was usually all Rocket needed to keep himself warm in these temperatures, even with how harsh they could get.
Smiling, nervous as to what she might say in reply to his gesture, Rocket ejected the furry warm cloak he kept inside the back of his suit, and stretched it out all the way from both sides, and waved her over. "Here, you ain't gonna' freeze to death out here on my watch."
To both his delight and surprise, Lylla scooted over to him with a grateful beam on her face, and allowed Rocket to wrap it around her. Awkwardly enough, he could not exactly pull it out of his backpack all the way, so he had to stay wrapped in it with her…. Which was very awkward, but also comforting at the same time.
"Many thanks, Rocket," Lylla said getting comfy next to Rocket as the heat of the cloak overwhelmed them both. Even Rocket felt the positive effects of it. Her fur against his made Rocket feel that warm fuzzy feeling again, and he couldn't help but blush when she willingly laid her head against his shoulder, and snuggled against his chest. She frowned. "You- you are very warm," she observed, feeling his extremely heated fur on his arm with her left paw. "Do you not feel the effects of how cold it is out here?"
Rocket shrugged and frowned back at her. "Eh, not really. You get used to it after a while, and being at this place as long as I have, I don't feel a thing."
She laid against his shoulder a little longer, then lifted her head, and looked up at Rocket, who was currently staring at the robots moving around the courtyard. He knew she was staring, but at this point, she was so close he could smell her sweet smelling breath, and that he could see her beautiful eyes and facial features much closer than normal. "Don't you wish you could leave sometimes?" She whispered the next question to Rocket.
He couldn't help it anymore. Rocket turned his head to face hers, which was almost too close for comfort for him. His heart beat slowed, his face blushed a little, and his instincts as a male mammal made him understand just how attractive Lylla really did look to him. "Sometimes," he admitted quietly, "but I can't leave. Ya know, it sure as heck ain't perfect, but Groot needs me, the patients need me….. all of the animals here need me. And that's not something I can just ignore overnight." Rocket sighed with reluctance as he finished the words, and tried to stare past Lylla's eyes.
Lylla wasn't fooled. She smiled, and with one paw, she turned his face towards hers forecefully so he was staring directly into her eyes. Rocket became hypnotized by the way she looked at him, and couldn't help but stare right back for god knew how long.
Without thinking, he found himself leaning forward… and pressed his lips against hers. It was a soft brush at first, and when Rocket actually realized what he was doing, his eyes closed, and allowed his lips puckered against Lylla's cold, yet delicate ones. Lylla closed her eyes at the same time, feeling him pucker them tenderly into another kiss until Rocket's presence left her.
His eyes widened a little in bewilderment at what he'd just done, and they eyes darted to the ground, then back to Lylla's face. His heart beat slowed dramatically, and he felt like he'd just ran a hundred meters and skipped about 3 beats in between what had just happened. But it felt good. The feeling of happiness grew even more warm to Rocket, to the point where his fur was on fire almost. He didn't know what it was, but he loved how it felt.
"That must be a very interesting landscape," she remarked, chuckling a little with a sly smile.
"Lylla, look, I probably shouldn't have-"
She pressed a finger to Rocket's lips, shushing him with her mouth silently. "Rocket…. it is fine. Be calm." Lylla smiled a little wider, and moved her face up closer to his to close the few inch gap between them. "And let me."
With that final whisper leaving her, Lylla paused when she'd almost reached Rocket, who kept looking back at her and slowly but surely moved the last inch to her face. As if he'd finally become liberated, Rocket's lips touched Lylla's again. He felt her smile through their kiss when their eyes had closed, and puckered his own lips outwards against hers. Eventually, moving an arm around her back, Rocket kissed her deeper, letting his mouth sink directly into Lylla's. She hummed with pleasure at what she was receiving and did the same to Rocket, enjoying their mouths repeatedly pressing together and the energy it brought to the both of them.
Hesitantly, Lylla broke their kiss, panting a little with Rocket. She leaned forward, letting Rocket hold her in his arms under that blanket and pressed her forehead against his, allowing their lips to touch one last time. "And I need you." Lylla whispered to Rocket firmly. "I love you, to be exact. Blackjack is not who I love. I love you, Rocket, regardless of what challenges you face, and that is the truth."
Rocket pressed her closer to him, lying back against the indent in the wall, letting Lylla snuggle against his shoulder. The eyelids which had once felt heavy were now wide open with understanding, gazing back at her with the same love she had for him. "I won't leave you," he murmured into her ear, "I won't EVER do that to you Lylla. I promise. You, me, Groot, and Wal Rus are going to get out of this. Together. One day, we are going to leave Halfworld together." He paused, putting all of his strength into his words, and firmly kissed his otter on the lips. "And I love you too, Lylla."
They kissed once more.