I wake up to the sound of Drax, Peter and Gamora arguing.
"Look, we both know that Peter isn't capable of saying the words but Rocket needs to hear it from someone. We need to get him out of this depression." Gamora screams.
"It's not that I'm incapable of saying the words, it's just that I have a fear of losing who ever I say them to!" I hear Peter scream.
"Oh, so you'll drive someone to suicide over your own selfish fears? Some leader you are!" I hear Drax say to Peter.
Just hearing that is enough to change the situation for me. Here I was thinking it was he didn't want to say it to me because he looked at me as an animal but in all reality it was because he was afraid to lose me.
"Will you fucking assholes keep it down? I'm trying to sleep in here!" I scream out and hear a gasp from the hallway followed by the sound of boots coming into the room.
"Listen Quill, I don't want to hear it." I growl out without opening my eyes.
"Don't refer to me by my last name ever again." He says in a growl as I hear him move a chair closer to the table.
"I'll call you anything I want to, shithead." I say in defiance.
"I got the call from Nova Prime about 4 hours ago. They're going to maintain our contract since you could consent to what we did and at the same time are going to reclassify you as 'humanoid' which would remove the threat of it being considered bestiality in the future." Peter says.
"Why should I care? It's not going to happen again in the future. My hole will never be yours again." I about scream at him.
"Is that so? I'm sure you'll change your mind when you're not so pissed at me." Peter says.
"Like I'll ever NOT be pissed at you. You used and betrayed me." I say with tears threatening to come to come to my eyes again.
"I know you enjoyed it too so don't even try to say it was all on me." Peter says, looking down at me.
"You're right. I did enjoy it. But at the same time, like you said, we were both following primitive needs and emotions." I spit out.
"Wow, I didn't think you had it in you to throw my words back in my face." Peter says, practically glaring at me.
"You're lucky that's all I'm doing to your face right now." I say to him, making him back up a little.
"Rocket, you really need to settle down. Kraglin has been trying to keep you stable." Peter says.
"Wait, Kraglin? You've brought THAT asshole from the fucking Ravagers in?" I say getting more and more pissed each second.
"What did you mean by that tone?" I hear a familiar voice say in the hallway.
"Yes, we've been docked with the Eclector for almost a week now since you keep having mini seizures." Peter says before looking down at me.
I hear boots walking down the hallway and they sound heavier than Drax and Peter.
"Boy, your rodent really is a troublesome one." I hear Yondu say as he walks into the room.
"Listen here you blue fucker. Piss off." I growl only to have him put his hand on my head.
"It's because of our technology and Kraglin's training that you're alive for now. He's the only medic or member of this ship that would go anywhere near you after you've bitten everyone on the ship, including him. Show some damn respect." I hear Yondu say as I hear more boots walk by in the hallway.
"Which medical bay am I in?" I ask Peter.
"Look around and you'll be able to answer that question yourself." He says.
I look around and see nothing but medical equipment in the room and no weapons or anything else.
"Oh I see." Is all I say as it dawns on me that I'm on the Eclector.
"Yeah, you're a guest on their ship so show a little respect." Peter says before standing up and turning around to walk away. He stretches and next thing I know I'm met with a blast of hot wind and what has got to one of the worst smells I've ever experienced in my life.
"Seriously? You just fucking farted in my face!" I scream.
"Oh, sorry. We're all still adjusting to their food again." Is all he says before he walks out of the room.
"Okay, time to check your vitals one more time and let's see if we can't declare you stable and send you on your way." Kraglin says as he walks in the room with a scanner.
I decide to be a good patient and comply as I get scanned. He looks at me with a smile.
"Well, your vitals have now been within stable range for 3 days now and that includes your brainwaves. I would say you're completely stable at this point. I'll let Peter and the others know. You'll be going home soon." Kraglin says before turning around and walking out the door.
"He should be ready to go soon." I hear him say to someone outside in the hallway.
"That's good news. We've been swelling like balloons from the gas." I hear Peter say as he walks in carrying a bowl of something.
I take a breath in through my nose and it makes me want to throw up.
"Ugh, what the fuck is that?" I ask.
"I don't know but it was the only thing in the cafeteria since it's between shift cycles right now. Drax and Gamora are on the Milano getting things ready and we're just waiting for their chief medic to give the okay for you to go." Peter says as he takes a seat next to me.
"How can you eat that?" I ask.
"I lived off of it while I was growing up. Drax and Gamora have been mostly eating what we have on the Milano since we docked. They don't really like the food here." He says, laughing at the end.
"I don't blame them." I say, also laughing.
"Rocket, get dressed. You're cleared to go." I hear Kraglin say as he walks in with the blue jump suit I was wearing the last time I was on the Milano.
I take the suit from Kraglin and sit up on the side of the bed. I can feel Peter looking at me and it's making me feel uncomfortable.
"Will you please go to the hall?" I ask.
He looks up at me before shaking his head.
"No can do, Yondu doesn't allow eating in the hallways." He says.
"Then look away." I say but he continues to look at me.
"Fine, be an asshole." I growl as I continue to get dressed. I finish with the jump suit and put my boots on as I hear Drax and Gamora walk into the room.
"I heard we're finally going back to our normal routine. That's good I guess." Gamora says.
"Yeah but I have a feeling it's going to be nothing but tension. Rocket's still refusing to let the past be the past." Peter says, glaring at me.
"Like you're the one to chastise someone for that." Drax says, making Peter flinch. He obviously just ripped a scab off of an emotional wound.
I walk out of the room and almost walk right into Kraglin. He simply smiles and looks down at me.
"Stay strong and remember that the whole time he was on the ship here he never said those words. The closest he ever came to it was when he said that he loathed someone." Kraglin says before walking in and starting to clean off the table.
We get back onto the Milano and I walk towards the room. I am fully intent of sleeping as I open the door.
"I'm going to go take a nap." I say as Peter walks in.
"Care if I join you?" He asks, thinking that things are in the past.
"Go swim in acid. Otherwise I don't care as long as you're in your own bed." I growl out at him.
"Fine, no need to be an asshole." He says as he gets into his bed and rolls away from me.
"Only giving you the treatment you deserve." I say as I get in bed and roll away from him. I can't even stand looking at him at this point.
"You know, I'm sorry for what I said. What else could I say to you to make it up?" Peter says from his bed.
"You already know the answer to that." I say ending with a sigh.
"Fine. I love you. Happy? I said it." He says from his bed with sarcasm dripping from his words.
"First off, don't fuck with me. Second off, that was forced. I can tell so it doesn't count." I say only to hear him sigh.
"Hope you don't act like this on a mission." He says.
"Oh don't worry, I won't. That's business. This is personnel." I say, reaching up and turning off the light.
I wake up after a couple hours to a very musky scent in the room.
"Seriously, you can't keep it in your pants." I say in the dark air of the room.
"Why don't you come over and see how it tastes?" Peter says from the other side of the room.
"I'd bite it off and spit it out the airlock." I say, rolling back over so I'm facing the wall.
"Wow, you really are pissed. Aren't you?" He says.
"Well yeah. It's kinda hard to not be pissed at someone who practically told you that it was a waste of their time to save you." I say into the darkness in a very irritated tone.
"That's what this is about!?" I hear Peter say from the other side of the room, shock more than evident in his voice.
"Well yeah, what did you think it was about?" I say as Peter turns on the lights on dim and I hear him sit up on the side of his bed.
"I thought this was about me not saying 'I love you'?" Peter says.
I roll over and see that he's looking at me with a look of surprise on his face.
"Yeah, I heard what you said about why you're avoiding those words and completely understand that. I just can't get over the fact that you said that it would practically be better for the team if I was dead. That's what's got me pissed off beyond belief." I say after sitting up on the side of the bed. I look over and see that he's getting tears in his eyes. The look of clarity on his face says it all. He stands up and walks over to my bed before sitting down next to me.
"Listen. I was pissed about what happened with the cameras plus your comment after the call from Nova Prime and the fact that you used an entire bottle of Morphine with the intent of killing yourself. Morphine is fucking expensive as hell, even on Knowhere, and we don't really have the money to be able to replace it. I should not have said what I did and if I would have known that was the whole cause of what is going on I would have said this sooner. You're a valued member of this team, even if you do jump to conclusions. You're a friend that can't be replaced and one of the only other one on here that knows how to fly the ship like an expert. You can fix our weapons as well as the ship like no one else other than the Ravagers and I don't want to go running to Yondu every time the engine has a hiccup or we need a blaster repaired. No one could replace you, and I mean it." Peter says, bringing tears to my eyes. He finally saw the problem and said what I needed him to say.
I can't help but stand up and pull him into a hug crying.
"THAT'S what I needed to hear. I could give a flying fuck if you could ever say 'I love you' to me. I want nothing more but to be accepted. I felt like I wasn't accepted after you said what you did about saving me and how I was ripping the team apart. I forgive you." I say into his chest only to feel him running his hand over my back, avoiding the implants.
"How about we get some sleep. We still have watch in a few hours and I know we'll both need our rest." He says before standing up.
"Where do you think you're going?" I ask as I scoot over on the bed.
"What do you mean? I'm going back to my bed." Peter says before it dawns on him and he gets a smile.
"I guess you didn't hear the last 3 words." I say.
"Yeah, I did but I guess they got lost in everything else." He says as he sits down next to me before lying down.
"You know it's going to take some time for all this to finally get behind us but at least we got the foundation of it done." I say before he pulls me close, making me laugh.
"Yeah, it is but at least we got the process started." He says.
Once again in his embrace I close my eyes and wait for sleep. There is just something about him that makes me relax so much and I don't want to admit that while I was pissed at him and I found out we were on the Eclector I was afraid that I was going to be replaced with someone more stable. I open an eye and look across the room at the empty bed and can hear his breathing becoming shallower behind me.
"Hey, before you get too comfortable you need to reach up and turn off the light." I say.
"Yeah, that would probably make sleeping easier." He says with sleep starting to take over his voice before reaching up and pressing the button I had installed on the bottom of the shelf to turn off the lights.
"Sleep well." He says to me before resting his arm over me again.
"You too." I say, snuggling into the blankets knowing that things are going to start getting better. I take a deep breath in through my nose and can smell our scents mingling in the cool air coming from the vent at the foot of the bed. With another deep breath I feel the floating feeling of sleep take me over and I drift into the welcoming world of darkness.