Peter was absolutely sick and tired of Rocket's bullshit. It's been months, and months of tripping over bombs and pieces of the ship, that was most definitely needed inside the hull. Who did he think he was, scampering around with a handful of the Quadrant's navigation systems? In case he'd forgotten, they kinda needed those!
Holding his foot gingerly, the terran cursed as he removed a small screw from his big toe. This was the last straw. He was going to put his uninjured foot down, enough was enough. Peter picked himself unsteadily off up the ground, and headed towards the main recreational area; tripping a little as he put his sock and boot back on. He figured Rocket would be taking apart more of his ship there.
As he entered the area, he was surprised to find only Gamora, Drax, and Mantis in the room. Gamora was looking through her holographic tablet, Drax was cleaning his knives, and Mantis creepily watched them from across the room while brushing her hair. He figured Kraglin was piloting, and Groot was in his own room (He insisted he didn't need Rocket as a sleeping buddy anymore. Rocket didn't like that so much, he clearly forgot that he now had a teen on his hands nowadays.)
Quietly walking up to the group, he cleared his throat, "Hey guys."
Drax and Gamora calmly looked up at him with half lidded eyes, while Mantis jumped a little at the sudden noise. Poor girl, she was so nervous after everything with Ego.
'I guess I am too, I'm just better at hiding it.' Peter thought to himself.
"Have you seen Rocket? I need to speak with him."
Gamora sighed and shut off her tablet, "He's in his room, but I swear if you start another fight Peter; I refuse to have Xandarian egg yolk stuck in my hair again. "
Quill rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest, "First off, that wasn't my fault. Secondly, I guess I'll try to keep it civil. Although it's always him who starts it."
Peter turned around and headed back down the hallway; he ignored the sarcastic comment that Gamora had muttered back.
When he reached Rocket's room, he heard familiar mumbling coming through the door. He took a deep breath, ready to argue with Satan himself, and opened it. He immediately tripped over something as he walked into the musty area, his injured foot giving out.
"Shit!" Two voices said in unison.
After groaning for a couple seconds on the ground, Peter looked down at what he tripped over.
The thing that made him fall face first into dirty laundry, was Rocket himself.
"Q-quill? Why are you in here?" Rocket said, clearly dazed from having a boot plowed between his ears. Peter stood up as fast as he could, embarrassment making his leather jacket feel warm. The raccoon blinked a couple times before snarling in his direction, he clearly processed what just happened.
"Why didn't you knock, you d'ast idiot," his friend hissed, "Get the hell out of my room, right now."
"Rocket, I didn't know you would be sitting right there! I came in here to talk about-"
"Something really flarking dumb," He grumbled, flinching at the welt appearing on his head, "What's with you and giving me head injuries?"
Peter sheepishly smiled at the joke and slowly sat down on his friend's cot; thinking his buddy must've realized how much of an asshole he was being.
Obviously, he was wrong.
Rocket immediately starting growling, "Did you hit your head on the way down or are you just stupid? I said GET OUT."
Peter flinched as his friend's harsh words. He forgot about the conversation and quickly left the room; Rocket slammed the door behind him.
Retreating back into the large room, he sighed, slipping into a comfy chair at the table. Gamora looked up at him with a frown; Peter knew was she was about to say. Desperately trying to change the topic before they even reached the subject, Peter thought back to the jokes Yondu used to say.
"Uh… I g-guess it's his time of the month, if you know what I mean… haha." He said with a nervous chuckle. Drax lifted his gaze from his weapons and cocked his head.
"I was unaware Rocket was having his rut this week."
Gamora quickly looked at Drax with surprise. Peter just looked confused. They were silent for a few moments, before the human licked his lips and glanced at Gamora.
"A… rut? Isn't that when you get into trouble or something?" He asked. He honestly wasn't too interested about what a rut was, but he figured he had to change the conversation somehow. Gamora shaked her head at Drax, obviously disturbed at what he was thinking about. Peter looked between them like they were his parents; the green humanoid sighed and looked over at the human.
"A rut is the male equivalent to a female's heat. It happens every couple months,because of the natural instinct to reproduce. Depending on the species of animal, it can last for a day to a week," Gamora explained to him, "When it does happen, the male gets an instinct to breed, and it won't go away fully untill they do. It can also make them very aggressive."
Peter was silent for a minute, before busting out an awkward smirk, "So, you're telling me once a month, Rocket gets super horny and becomes even more of an asshole," Peter chuckled at the thought, "Sorry Gam, I'm not buying it."
She rolled her eyes and huffed, "And why is that?"
"I highly doubt Rocket could act more like a dickweed than he already does, not to mention I'd probably notice if he was, well, 'hot to trot' if you know what I mean."
Drax didn't even try to understand the metaphor that came spilling out of his friend's mouth. Instead, he used that energy to prove him wrong.
"Friend Quill, you haven't seen any indication of his reproduction cycle, because he takes care of it at night," Drax said, wiping down his knife. Peter's eyes slowly crinkled in disgust, "Your room is beside his, right?"
"Uh… I guess, yeah. What's your point?"
"The sounds you hear in the early morning are him fixing his rut."
Peter didn't say anything, he sunk into his chair with a queasy expression.
"He does this by mastu-"
The terran suddenly shot out of his seat, his arms curling at his sides.
"Oh my god Drax, that's way too much info," Peter groaned, "I don't need to know that!" He muttered, putting his hands to his face.
"Dammit, that's gonna be stuck in my head for months now!"
Gamora and Drax glanced at each other, confusion on their expressions.
"I thought you wanted to know what a rut was, Peter?" Gamora asked.
"Okay, maybe I did, but I sure as hell didn't want to hear about Rocket foundling his jewels at nigh-" Peter paused mid rant, feeling a presence behind him. He turned around slowly.
Looking up at him, was Rocket Raccoon. His left eyes was twitching, and his claws were imbedded into his paw pads in anger and embarrassment. His lip was slightly risen from his teeth, pearly white canines threatening the human. Peter crossed his arms over his chest, his face still showing signs of shock and disgust. They stared at each other for a few minutes, neither of the two men backed down.
After a while, Peter suddenly put his hand over his mouth and looked back at Drax. His face showed signs of distation, "I can't even look at him without thinking about it, what did you do man!"
Rocket snarled, secretly happy he had fur. Otherwise, Peter would have seen how truly mortified the raccoon was; the feeling of blush spread across his face.