Colour Splash

I don't have a Tumblr account, but can I make a request? Basically, it's a soulmate one. The reader and Yondu only have seen tints of grey their entire lives. Only when the reader meets Yondu do they see the colors associated with him, such as blue and red, while he only sees their eye color and such. But then, when they fall in love, they see ALL the colors. Smut if you want. And reader is as snarky as possible, which both turns on and p*** off Yondu.

Thx! Arayta, She with Lost Honor.

(Y/N - your name, Y/L/N - your last name)

Warning - language (also this is probably the longest fic I've ever written by a very large margin)

(no smut - may have got side tracked a bit, so there's not much of snarky reader)

You'd seen grey all your life, there was nothing wrong with that - it was normal. It was normal when you were 5 and when you were 10. Some people saw colours by the time they were 15, but not many; though by the time people were 20 there were a lot less who only saw grey. Years passed, as they did, and you turned another year older, again and again, and all you saw was grey. And it was fine. Sure, everyone you grew up with saw in colours now. But it didn't matter. What was life if all you worried about was finding your 'soulmate'? There was so much more to life than some relationship, like memories and experiences and money and treasure and how good you were at stealing stuff. That was important. You were very good at stealing stuff.

You hopped about a lot, rarely staying in one place for long. You went from planet to planet, fueling up, grabbing food, and stealing yourself another small fortune before moving on. It was the life you'd lead for the last 5 years, and you loved every second of it.

You'd docked on Contraxia. It'd been a while since you'd been there last, and you were sure that that one bartender would have forgotten your face by now. You locked up your ship, carefully, knowing full well you weren't the only one there that night to make off with something that didn't belong to them.

Keys now safely stashed away in your inner breast pocket, you made your way to the bars - Contraxia was always a night for drinking. Who knows, maybe you'd find yourself some company for the night. It'd been a while.

Inside, you found, to your displeasure, that the place was full of Ravagers. You took a breath and sighed - you'd have left, but you knew that if this bar had Ravagers in it, so would the rest. Fine, whatever. You could still enjoy your night - rude, dirty, arrogant, loud mouthed Ravagers or not.

You made your way through the crowd to the bar, drawing looks as you went. People could say what they wanted about you, you didn't care - tight clothes were practical, no matter how 'revealing' they seemed, even though you didn't have much skin on show.

You ordered a drink and drank it slowly. You watched as everyone else around you did their own thing. There was the usual commotion, usual trouble - the Ravagers were in amongst everything, as they tended to be. You'd never liked Ravagers, of any clan, they got in the way of your 'day job', and trouble followed them everywhere.

Speaking of trouble. You felt the unmistakeable sensation of someone getting in way to close to you. A Ravager, sloppy drunk, grinning like he'd smoked some really weird stuff, "Hey there Miss, your looking awful lonely" You were genuinely surprised by now coherent he sounded.

You looked round at him, putting in place a vague plan of how to deal with him. He was a Xandarian, tall, skinny, tired looking, with a messy mohawk. "Don't worry, I'm not lonely at all"

"Lemme buy you a drink?"

"I can buy my own, thanks"

"But I could buy it for you. It's a shame to see you all by yourself"

Maybe it was just too loud, maybe it was because this guy was too close, maybe it was because you'd been in a bit of a shitty mood since you'd seen the Ravagers in the first place. Whatever the reason, that last comment tipped you over the edge. You swung for him, your fist colliding with his face, and he dropped to the ground.

You downed the rest of your drink, slamming it down on the bar. Sure, the Ravager was on the floor, but it had kicked off stuff around you. Did he knock into someone as he fell? You hadn't been watching. Anyway, now the entire bar had burst into a fight.

You sighed. So much for 'you could still have a good time'. You ducked out the way of a punch. Funny how someone could deliver the first hit and not really end up involved in the fight that followed.

Skillfully you managed to get out without getting punched. You sighed, looking round - your 'good night' was more or less over, but that didn't mean you couldn't get on with your day job. One quick look round was all it took to find a suitable ship; it wasn't the biggest, but it was clearly the Ravager ship, which meant, more than likely, that they had their last haul still on board. Whatever it was, it would be valuable.

The ship's security was shockingly bad, you barely did more than walk up to it and the door opened. You knew ships well - you knew where the goods should be. But apparently, there weren't any. You frowned deeply. What in the starts was going on? Surely, with all of them off partying like that, they must have a reason to be out? But maybe not…?

You made your way through the rest of the ship, picking through what you could find. There honestly didn't seem to be anything of value in the ship at all. You made your way to the cockpit, on the off chance that there might be something there, but you were very doubtful at this point.

Other than a series of small figurines, there was nothing there. Not a single item of interest. Defeated, you turned to inspect the figurines, sarcastically wondering if they had much worth. You'd never been on a Ravager ship that was such a time wasting dump. You picked up the little pieces in turn, looking them over. They seemed to mostly be novelty gifts. You shook your head, why in the Stars were these even here?

There was a dull bang. You jumped back to the wall and froze. "Shit" you whispered under your breath. The figurine in your hand was tucked into your pocket.

You could hear a voice, but they were clearly talking to someone else. You cursed as you heard them getting louder, getting closer. You slipped down a corridor, carefully trying to make your way out before you were caught.

"… and what in the damn Stars did ya do in the firs' place ta make a woman hit ya like tha'?" A deep voice filtered through to you, sounding grumpy through the thick accent.

You suddenly realised how close they were, and froze, pressed up against the wall. Shit, shit, shit. Then you could see them. You held your breath. There were only two of them; a Centaurian, broad, older, with a metal fin that seemed to have replaced the one you'd expect to see, and the Xandarian you'd punched earlier. Great.

"I don't know, Cap'n" the Xandarian mumbled. He was holding his face.

Captain? That's the captain. Oh shit, fuck, shit. You wanted to scream. Why had tonight decided to be such on off night for you?

"Git yerself sorted Kraglin, ya drunk idiot" the Centaurian, the captain, said, sending 'Kraglin' off down the other corridor. He stood there and watched him go, shaking his head.

You saw your chance, and slowly moved. If you could get across to the corridor opposite you, you'd be able to get out without being seen. You inched forward, your eyes on the Ravager Captain.

Quick as a flashed he turned to you, and you locked eyes. Shit.

"The fuck are you?!" you growled, angrily.

"Leaving. Bye" You grinned, and bolted. You ran through the corridors of the ship, heart pounding. That was far too close. You nearly fell out onto the ground, scrambling onto your feet and diving behind a stack of crates not to far away.

You could hear the heavy footsteps in the direction of the ship, and could only presume it was the captain, trying to find you. The element of surprise had given you enough of a head start that he hadn't seen you leaving or hiding. He cursed loudly, before heading back onto the ship and hollering for Kraglin.

Too fucking close.

You gave it a bit before you got up and returned to your own ship. You just started it up and left, enough had already happened tonight. Once you were floating in space you relaxed. You leaned back in your chair, giving a deep sigh. You didn't like eventful days, and this had been more than eventful enough.

You fished the stupid little figurine out of your pocket. For all that, you only came away with a dumb little ornament. You turned it over in your fingers, inspecting it. It was a bug-eyed little thing, round and short, probably made of glass. It was a weird little blue thing. …a blue thing.

It was blue. It was… the colour blue. …blue… how could it be…

Your eyes widened. "No, no it can't be" The Centaurian. Had been blue. He had blue skin. You could remember it. It was blue, this was blue. The colour blue. "Oh Stars…"

You looked up and out into space.

Blue… and red… There was blue and red. And grey, still grey too. But now with blue and red.

Blue skin, red eyes and fin. Oh Stars, oh fuck…

Colours. You could see colours.

He would see colours now too. The colour of your eyes, and your hair, maybe…? Would he be able to see the colour of your skin? Of your lips? You had no idea.

What were you meant to do now? Your… soulmate. You knew you could find him. You had enough information to do it. A Centaurian Ravager Captain. You would be able to recognise the ship… You wondered what his name was.

Shit. Would you even get on with each other? You'd just stolen from him. He caught you sneaking around his ship. He'd been angry, he'd tried to chase you down. …had he realised quicker than you? Had he recognised colours in an instant and tried to go after you because… you two were… soulmates?

You had never thought of finding your soulmate, not since you were very young. Not everyone found theirs, that was just a fact, it's a big galaxy - at some point you'd just accepted you wouldn't find them, and it hadn't bothered you. But now…

The next few weeks passed in confusion. You got on with your life, but now things were… different. You broke into places the same as you always had, and stole things, the same as you always had, but now you couldn't help but be drawn to items that gleamed blue or red. You repeatedly put yourself at unnecessary risk to get those items, above anything else, even though there were other things closer, that were probably more valuable. You had a small hoard of red and blue things, stuff you didn't want to sell because you enjoyed looking at the colours so much.

Eventually you accepted that you'd track the Ravager captain down. There was a part of you that said you had to. But what you hadn't expected was for him to track you down instead.

A message came up on your comm screen.

'You have something of mine'

You blinked. Shit, fuck - someone had found you. Having no idea who it was at the time, you panicked. You couldn't see any other ships nearby, you couldn't figure out where the message had been sent from. You pivoted you ship round, looking for anyone who might be there.

As you did, you typed out:

'I have many things belonging to many people - which one exactly is yours?'

There was no reply. But suddenly a ship jumped into range. A big, dirty Ravager ship. A surprised smile came over your face. You typed:

'Ah. Hello again'

'Opening the docking door. Come onboard'

'Only if you promise to be nice'

'We'll see'

You laughed. Okay, okay. Really you should have been more wary, boarding a Ravager ship, that you'd stole from, especially a ship with a Ravager that you punched in the face onboard, but you couldn't help it, excitement grew in your chest.

Once your ship was nestled safely in the hull of the Ravager ship, you stepped out. He was waiting for you.

The Captain stood tall, watching you as you stepped closer. Kraglin was standing just behind, his presence wasn't exactly a comfort. But your focus was on the Captain, the bright blue of his skin and the burnt red of his coat and metal fin, the gleaming red of his eyes. You watched him taking you in just the same.

"Well girlie, long time no see"

You smirked, "I know"

"What's yer name, didn't catch it while you was thieving from me"

"Y/N Y/L/N" you said, "Captain…?"

"Udonta, Yondu Udonta"

"Oh, very nice" you teased.

"Well I'm glad ya think so, Y/N Y/L/N - now, like I was sayin', ya've got somethin' o' mine, an' I wan' it back"

"Is that really all you wanted me here for? I'm dissapointed"

"Ya got a mouth on ya girlie, I like that" he nodded, "But gimme back what's mine"

"What's it worth?"

"What d'ya mean what's it worth?"

"What will I get in return? You know, I don't just return things out of the kindness of my heart - I'd be a pretty rotten thief if I did"

"So yer a thief then?"

"And you're a Ravager, what of it"

He stepped forward, confidence oozing from him, "I don't think ya know what yer gettin' into girlie"

Now that you two were closer, and Kraglin was out of ear shot, you said, "I don't think you're talking about your little ornament any more, Captain Udonta"

"And what d'ya think I'm talkin' about?"

"You should really give a girl a chance to get to know you before you go trying to scare them off." You locked eyes for a moment, neither of you speaking - he was giving away nothing. "You know, I quiet like that little trinket of yours, it's a lovely shade of blue" You visibly saw his breath catch in his throat, "What? Did you really go chasing me down when you weren't sure?"

Somehow he replied completely evenly, "Ya know, I thought ya would have been the one chasin' me down" he taunted.

"I was thinking about it, but I thought you might be mad at me for taking your toys" He let out a short laugh, loud and harsh, "You didn't answer me before Captain, what is your little toy worth to you?" Somehow, on board his ship, with his crew nearby, with him standing over you, taller and broader and stronger than you by far, you clearly had the upper hand. Or at least you did in that moment. "I could just walk away, you know, disappear off and you'd never see me again."

"Would ya really risk that?"

No, of course you wouldn't, but you weren't going to tell him that. "It's not that much of a risk, not really"

"Oh yeah? A pretty, lil, curious thing like you, gettin' on w' her life, seein' colours that came from someone she ain't ever gonna look back on? I don't think so. I'm willin' ta give it a chance"

"I'm willing to give most things a chance, Captain - but you still need to prove you're worth it"

"Gimme time, I think I can do that" he grinned

And so you moved onto the ship. There had been nothing to tie you down, nothing to stop you from doing so, so you did. There was an empty dorm room next to Yondu's that he set up for you. You were at your own leisure, free to do whatever you wanted whenever you wanted to do it. So naturally, you continued life as normal. You went out and kept your day job, enjoying it all the more now that you had a certain place to land at the end of the day.

You moved the majority of your things out of your ship after a few weeks. It was strange, getting settled in. You hung around Yondu, watching the daily chaos onboard. You made peace with Kraglin - whom you apologized to for punching, only to have him apologies for being a drunken mess and annoying you, which you assured him hadn't exactly been the case. The crew overall seemed to have a mixed opinion of you, but you didn't mind, you stayed out of there way, they stayed out of yours.

You liked Yondu. He was funny, interesting, charming - a dirty old man through and through, but you liked it. He was crude, giving you the filthiest of compliments, but only loud enough for you to hear. You didn't the odd ass grab as he walked past you, you returned the action, and often more, with just as much enjoyment. There had been the occasional teasing kiss on the cheek or forehead for each of you, but otherwise, neither of you had pushed for more. You were balanced, yet the same - Kraglin could watch the two of you interact for hours and not get bored, there was no telling what either of you would do or say. You liked it like that.

Maybe you should have seen the gradual affection coming; buying each other drinks at the bar, saving the last whatever for the other, genuine compliments, softer touches, comfortable silences, and the gifts. You had stolen him a gun, for no other reason than it was big and you knew he'd like it. He stole you a set of throwing knives, because you'd mentioned before you thought they were cool. You stole him a leather wristband, he stole you a ring.

It was a really nice ring. You hadn't imagined for a second he'd ever consider giving you something like that. You were sitting back on his bed, where you spent most evenings before retiring to your own room, when he said, "I've got somethin' for ya"

"Oh, yeah? What?" You sat forward.

He pulled the ring out of his pocket, and presented it to you in the palm of his hand. It was wide, made of some kind of stone, it had streaks through it, of lighter and darker shades. You had stared.

"Try it on, see if it fits"

You picked it up, pleased by the smoothness of it's surface. It fit perfectly on your middle finger. "Thanks…" you were a little lost for words, "What made you take that?"

Yondu huffed, sitting back, staring up at the ceiling, he said. "It's the same colour as yer hair"

"Oh" He didn't look at you, not until you laughed and said, "Damn it, Yondu, does that mean I actually need to start being all cute with my presents too?"

He laughed, loudly, eye fixed on you as he smirked,, "If ya don' like it gimme it back"

"No way in Hell" you laughed.

He dived at you, catching you easily in his arm. You laughed as you struggled to get free. Then his fingers found their way under the edge of your top to your sides, where they started to tickle.

"No! No!" You squealed, unable to stop your muscles from spasming, "Stop it!" you squeaked, laughing hard.

"No way in Hell" he repeated, his voice low and grumbling as he pinned you down and tickled you more.

"Yondu! Yondu! Stop! Please! Stop!"

"Nuh uh"

Once your torment was finally over, you were on your back with Yondu kneeling over you, on all fours, a mischievious grin still across his face. Once you caught your breath you gave him a heavy handed slap against his chest, "Don't take advantage of my tickley sides asshole"

"What ya gonna do ta make me stop?"

"Wouldn't you like to know" The pair of you laughed where you were. You grinned up at Yondu, "You did well, old man"

"Glad ya think so"

You smiled softly, looking at the pleased smile on his face. You leant up and kissed him, "Good night, Yondu"

He let you twist out from under him, watching you walk to the door, he said, "N' night, Y/N. See ya in the mornin'"

"See you in the morning"

You had felt a warmth in your chest as you left him, knowing that he was watching you go. You spent most of the time between then and falling asleep examining the ring he'd gotten you, imagining what colours it really was… and quietly hoping you'd see them soon.

The next week you did something for the first time. You went along on a job with Yondu. You'd agreed early on that you wouldn't get into each others' work, but he'd invited you, suggesting that, maybe, he might need the extra back up. Well, he did.

That's how you ended up standing between him and a furious Xandarian, blaster drawn. Yondu had been shot, not fatally, thankfully, but he was injured badly. You stepped in immediately.

"Stand down" you ordered the Xandarian.

"Or you'll do what Bitch" Yondu threw an onslaught of curses at him for calling you that, vowing to kill him.

"Or I will kill you" you said plainly.

The Xandarian raised his blaster at you, "Get out my way, thief"

"No"

He wouldn't shoot- he couldn't. The dozen crates of bombs you were stealing from him were directly behind you. He could risk it, but if you dodged it (as you had when his men had tried to shoot you earlier), he'd blow the lot and neither of you could have it. And him, you and Yondu would more than likely die.

"Now, how about, you back your ass up, let us leave - and you can actually live the rest of your life. Sound good?"

"How dare you-"

You fired your blaster, barely an inch from his foot.

"Dude come on, I'm actually warning you"

"You piece of sh-"

You fired again. It hit his knee cap. He fell to the ground screaming. "Tried to tell you"

You turned your back on him, going to Yondu. "Hey, hey, you okay?"

He was breathing harshly, "'m fine, I'll live. Damn asshole"

"Yeah I know. Let me see that" You knelt by his side and he pulled back his coat, letting you see the blaster wound to the side of his chest - it hadn't penetrated far, but the wound area was large and it was badly burnt. "I'll get you back to the ship, get you patched up" you told him softly.

He nodded. Then panic took over his features, "Y/N!"

You were knocked to the ground, deadweight pinning you down. You cried out as you were assaulted by punches. With all your strength you knocked your attacker off, and rolled onto your back. The Xandarian had managed to get to his feet, and attack you. He launched himself at you again.

"Fuck sake!" You screamed, "I could have fucking killed you, but no, a little fucking mercy and I get this fucking shit!"

You managed to bring your legs up underneath him and kick him as hard as you could with both feet, sending him flying back from you. As you did a sharp whistle cut through the air. You saw the red stream of Yondu's yaka arrow, then the spurting of the Xandarian's blue blood.

You flopped back onto the ground as you caught your breath, "Fuck sake" you sighed.

"Ya alright? Y/N? Ya hurt?" Yondu was trying to get to his feet.

"I'm fine, calm down old man" you called him affectionately.

With a groan you got up, then helped him off the ground. You stood by his uninjured side, his arm around your shoulder, your hand on his back. You started walking him back to your ship.

After a few steps he let himself lean more heavily on you, resting his head against yours. "You're alright" you told him softly, "I've got you"

"Yeah, you do - you do"

Suddenly you both froze in step. The world had turned so bright. Your jaws dropped open as you took in the green of the trees, the brown of their bark; the oranges and purples and yellows and pinks of your ship - Stars it was hideous!

You started laughing, eyes immediately turning to Yondu. He was staring around, wide eyed, his mouth hanging open. "Yondu"

He locked eyes with you, unable to stop smiling, "Y/N" He caught your lips in a bruising kiss. You'd never been happier in your life.