Rocket is lonely and jealous. AU post-IW.
He'd been finicky about returning to Terra. Even if they intended to go for some sort of vacation, or whatever the hell Quill wanted to call it, Rocket had protested more than usual.
Peter might've had fond memories of the dirt ball, but all Rocket could think of was seeing Groot disappear before his eyes for the second time.
It wasn't rational, but Rocket was learning as much. Groot wouldn't turn to dust as soon as they landed on Earth, and neither would the rest of their family. But seeing someone you cared for die once was more than enough for one lifetime.
"You sure you don't wanna come?" Peter quipped.
Rocket sat criss-cross on the floor of the ship, idly tinkering with a prism-shaped device. Most likely a weapon. He flicked an ear and batted the air dismissively, barely acknowledging Peter's question.
"But it's Disneyland!"
Rocket bared his teeth. "You've said that twelve flarkin' times already. I don't know what that is, and I don't care!"
Peter's arms went flying up in dismay - the half-celestial couldn't take no for an answer even if he tried - but Gamora was already pulling him out the door with a hard look.
"Peter, he said no. Let's not waste his time." Gamora made a show of rolling her eyes then. "We should go find Drax before he steals all the Disney children."
They pivoted and were off, looking like a properly weird couple as well they should (after all the shit that went down the last time). And for some reason, Rocket spared a forlorn glance in their direction, feeling deja vu as they departed.
The feeling didn't last long. Rocket picked up the sound of footsteps before he could blink. With his ears pulled back, the mechanic's head swiveled to the opposite side in time to see Mantis appear from the shadows.
She stared at him with those enormous black eyes and though he wasn't an empath himself, Rocket understood her default expression was and would always be concern.
Mantis broke the silence first. "You're really not coming with us?"
"Nope." Rocket shook his head. "Somebody's gotta keep tabs on the ship, might as well be me."
The bug woman bit her lip then, swaying from side to side lightly. Rocket couldn't stop himself from watching her every move - he'd memorized every tell she had until Mantis was more than a blueprint in his brain.
That dawning look of worry and sorrow was making his heart rattle as well.
"But... ya know, I might need a partner ta help me..." Rocket ventured. "...You could stay here... with... well, me... if ya want."
Mantis met his gaze and was instantly sporting a charmed smile - soft and sweet and hiding another message that only Rocket understood - but the smile fell off within seconds.
"I would like to..." She wrung her hands together. "But I..."
She couldn't look him in the eye. Mantis didn't want to ever disappoint anyone, but especially not him. "I wanted to see what it was like, too."
The rejection stung deeper than it should've - Rocket had opened himself up ever so slowly and had assumed that his personal insecurities would scab over with time and experience. But, no. Being denied, even reluctantly, hurt.
Mantis inhaled gently. "Peter is so excited to go. And he said that I would enjoy it very much. I... I believe him and..."
The tension built up relatively quickly.
Then, Rocket snorted derisively, and gave her the same apathetic dismissal.
"Well, have fun with Stardork then."
This time, Rocket avoided eye contact. He felt the woman's enormous eyes trained on him but in that moment, it was done. Mantis couldn't spit out the words and Rocket was falling back to a sour disposition that had never fled him.
Perhaps an hour had passed, or only a few minutes, but she was gone with only a quiet "ok" and Rocket found himself all alone again.
Rocket's exterior remained calm and composed at first, but anger quickly welled within the pit of his stomach. Anger at Peter for making them return to this shithole, anger at Peter for trying to drag them around when it was unwanted, anger at the rest of the team for complying so readily.
Anger at Mantis for embracing it. Anger at her for leaving him... when he wanted her to stay.
Rocket dropped the prism haphazardly, and stared at the floor until he could no longer focus on it. He'd gotten so used to having the bug around to help him that, like with Groot, it was hard to accept that she wouldn't always be there. She might want to explore without him.
'But she's supposed to be with me.' Rocket thought.
For a moment the thought was clear and all-encompassing. A single thought that might've mutated and grown into a stranglehold - but though he drowned it out with the unbearable sound of screeching metal, Rocket remembered the thought. The feeling that lingered behind it.