Sky
"I wanna be Sky." Rocket said.
Rocket... Wanted to be Sky.
No, his memories were gone.
He wanted to be Sky.
He was Sky.
Rocket was gone.
Drax had braced himself against the counter, his mind clouding with panic. Sky. Rocket was gone. Sky. Rocket wasn't himself anymore. Sky.
Then he sees R... Sky. He sees Sky is looking at him. Nervous, confused, worried.
Drax forces his own feelings aside.
Rocket or Sky, he was family... He needed him to be strong right now. Sky was already overwhelmed by so much, clearly struggling, and now he was making an effort to open up, to recover.
He wouldn't fail him.
"I'm sorry, Sky. I just... It's alright." Drax says, and starts to breathe in and out.
In and out. In, and out.
"It's... Nice to meet you." Drax says, trying to keep his voice level.
Sky tilts his head.
"Tell me more about yourself, if you can." Drax says, turning back to his cooking, focusing on that.
He didn't think about how Sky wasn't wearing anything besides the briefs he had under Rocket's jumpsuit, since they had removed the jumpsuit.
That was so not like Rocket.
Openly talking about things so deep as his love for the sky. That wasn't Rocket.
It wasn't Rocket.
It's Sky.
"Um..." Sky begins, Drax can hear him tapping his claw against the side of the stool.
"My stomach hurts. Hungry, I think?" Sky says, and Drax can see him out his hand on his stomach again. "Words are... I don't..."
"It's alright." Drax says softly. "You are correct, it is hunger."
"Ok." Sky says softly. "I smelled what y' were doin', an' it like, made my face..."
Drax hears Sky do some grunts and glances over. Sky has scrunched his face up, crossed his eyes, and is raising and jerking his arms around, bent sharply at the elbows, in a very strange pose.
"hrmbrrr." Sky makes a strange noise to express the way it made him feel.
Drax can't help but smile. "You wanted it."
"Yeah, I think." Sky nods.
"You, or, Rocket... Rocket always enjoyed meat. It was in his nature." Drax explains. "At least, I would assume so. To my knowledge he was omnivorous, so you would be, too."
"Rocket... Omnivorous... Nature..." Sky thinks, and Drax quiets as he lets the little man think.
"Everyone was sayin' about Rocket before, right? Why? I don't think y'all were talkin' about rocket ships." Sky tilted his head almost all the way to the side, it was a little adorable.
Drax looks down.
"Rocket is... Who you... Used to be, I suppose is the way to explain it." Drax sighs. He didn't like saying this to Sky. He had no clue how it'd make him feel, how he'd deal with it. But he wouldn't hide it. "Rocket was part of our family, he... Had his own memories, and was his own person, he got hurt, and his memories disappeared it seems."
"And... You were made? You are very different to him, I do not believe you are Rocket, exactly. It almost seems like you are a reset of who he could have been. It's... Hard. Rocket was my best friend." Drax admits, holding the counter gently. "I don't know if you understand what I mean by that. I will answer whatever you ask."
"Rocket was family, and, though you are... Different, to him..." Drax looks at Sky carefully. "You are still family."
Sky had been deep in thought, but that seems to make him perk up, and his fur puffs up the way Rocket's always did when he was happy.
Drax gives a very small smile back.
Sky looks down. "I don't... Know what all the feelin's are. I know words but I can't place where they go. But you look... Hurt."
Drax's expression falters slightly, and he looks away. "I am... Very... Sad. Sad about Rocket."
"But, I am glad, that... He... Or, you, are okay." Drax turns back to Sky. "I am happy."
Sky looks thoughtful. "He..."
"Like, male. You're male too, I don't know how I know that. But, am I male??" Sky asks, sounding sincere. "I don't know. I don't think I am."
Drax raises an eyebrow. "I am in fact male... What do you mean you don't think you are...?"
"To be clear, I am not saying you are not allowed to not be male, but I am curious." Drax begins.
"In my head, th' definitions for like, male n' female, they talk about stuff I don't think I got." Sky explains plainly, "An'... I dunno, I think I'm not. Either. I ain't got the... Th' stuff, y'know?"
Drax blinks, stunned. This was NOT Rocket.
"Well. Then I suppose you would be... What is the word... Nonbinary, I think." Drax says. "So you would go by They/Them, or... It/Its, I think are the common ones." Drax frowns, rubbing his chin.
"I... Think They?" Sky shrugs, clearly still unsure.
Drax nods. "I will make mistakes, I apologize now, and I will apologize when I make them." He admits now. "I will try my best to respect you, Sky."
Sky's fur puffs up, and his tail sways back and forth. As Drax flips the steak he's cooking, he sees Sky's nostrils flare, and he-no, they seem to gasp slightly, putting their hand on their stomach again.
Drax can't help but huff out a soft laugh.
"You really are hungry... That makes sense." He turns towards them, and smiles. "This steak is almost done. Normally, we do not eat until dinner is complete. But if you don't tell the others, I will not stop you from having one early."
Sky frowns. Thinks, then seems to perk up slightly. "Can I cook?"
Drax is surprised. "...You want to cook?"
"I got, memories of how t' do things in my head. I can do it, an' if I help, we can get it done faster, right...?" Sky asks hesitantly.
Drax sighs, and shakes his head, that was more like Rocket. Many hands make light work.
"You may help." Drax grins. "I would be happy to have your aid."
Sky brightens, and Drax holds up his hand. "You must either get dressed in your... Or, well, Rocket's cooking sleeves. Or a space suit, both keep minor debris, or rather, hair, from getting off of you, and onto the food. Understood?"
Sky blinks. "Wh... What're those."
Drax sighs. He looks around, there's an emergency box nearby. He opens it, and he takes out one of the little black discs.
He glanced at Sky.
He looks them up and down.
The disc slaps on, but usually, onto clothes. Would it weigh his, or, their undergarments down, and off? Rocket would probably threaten to kill himself. Sky probably wouldn't care. But Drax and the others certainly would.
Was it safe to slap onto bare flesh...?
Drax slaps it into his own bare skin, and...
It doesn't hurt. It seems to use something else to cling on, he can tell it's different to what it does with clothes. Of COURSE Rocket accounts for that.
He fondly remembers Rocket's teases about his 'sensitive nipples'... And yet, after everything that happened, Rocket made him a set of custom Aero-Jets. They were custom made to be thinner on the torso, to avoid Drax's nipples. Rocket had made the adjustment without being asked directly even once.
So of course Rocket had made the space suits able to be worn on bare skin. In case someone was naked and didn't want to get killed by the vacuum of space, probably.
"Here." Drax takes the space suits off, and puts it on Sky's chest.
The space suits blooms over their body, and Drax lingers for a moment.
Sky is looking at his hand, at the space suit, and their chest is.... Rumbling.
Sky is purring.
Happy and content, appreciative.
Excited to be able to help.
Drax gently put a hand on Sky's shoulder. Sky looked at it, and kept on purring, unconsciously, most likely.
Drax lowered himself to Sky's level, and pulls them into a hug.
He was being selfish.
He was being irrational.
It wasn't Rocket. It was Sky.
But who knows how long it'd be Sky.
Drax wanted to pretend it was Rocket for a second. That he was happy and okay.
That he was getting a hug from his best friend, and they were about to cook.
He lets go, swallowing nervously as he looks into Sky's surprised eyes. Sky was purring even more now. "That was nice, what was that?"
"...a hug." Drax's voice is weak and small.
He felt now, like he betrayed Rocket.
Like he used a time of weakness for a selfish wish. A selfish desire. He wanted his friend back.
Which meant he was betraying Sky, too. Using their body for Drax's own comfort, trying to hug someone who wasn't there, through someone who was. Drax's head hurt a little.
"I liked it." Sky says, then looks towards the food.
Drax remembers they were cooking, and he stands up. "We start by washing our hands."
He leads them to the sink, shows how it works, how the soap works. How long to wash, where to dry.
It seemed like Sky had all the information, but needed it jogged loose, or needed to see how the interactions actually functioned, or what they were supposed to interact with.
It was... Difficult... To try to know when to stop and explain things.
Drax led Sky to the stove. "Do not stand on the dark metal parts, you will get burnt."
Sky nods. "Stove... Burners. That one needs fixed." He points at one of the burners, which Drax had known from previous endeavors cooking, had a harder time hearing up.
"Correct." Drax nods in approval.
Drax uses tongs to flip the steak, using a knife to check inside, and, satisfied, points to a wall of what looks like tiny cupboards. "You will put this into one of those warming cabinets. Careful to only touch the handle, you could burn yourself."
Sky blinks at the cabinets, and seems to process the words, trying to define them in their mind, probably. They take the plate when Drax hands it to them, and they pick a cabinet to put it in.
"Well done." Drax says gently.
"I will show you how to make the steaks while I make the next one. And then we may work separately, to get them done faster." Drax explains.
Sky nods. "Okay."
Drax shows them how to prepare the pan, explaining that, the way he does it, he only re-prepares the pan every two steaks, and Sky pays very close attention.
Drax shows them how to put the steak in, avoiding getting splashed by grease or sizzling butter. Sky watched carefully.
Drax tells them how to watch for when to flip it, and then how to flip it. How Drax prefers to add spices, and at what stages.
It feels familiar.
Drax thinks of when Rocket asked for his help. When he wanted to get better at cooking. Drax thought Rocket was fine, if impersonal. But... He had asked for help because he didn't know how to add that personal touch, how to do things outside of repeating what worked previously.
It was fun. They would work together, cooking for hours, trying new things to learn how to try.
Rocket and Drax made many, many inedible things. Some of the worst cooking either had ever done. But it was a blast.
And Rocket had gotten much, much better.
Now he was closer to being on par with Drax. And the two had fun teaching Gamora and Mantis how to cook, too.
Or, had been.
Now Sky was here, and he had no clue where Sky fell on the cooking skill scale.
Drax watched Sky start their own steak.
They mimicked Drax's instructions perfectly.
Just like Rocket used to.
Drax focuses on preparing the mashed hearts, and starts to prepare a pot for the papraxi. He sets it all up, and then sighs, taking a moment to step out.
"I'll be right back." He assured Sky as he watched them look up at him in confusion as he moved to leave.
Rocket would understand without so much as a twitch of a whisker.
He steps out, into the hall, and puts his hands on his face as he walks to the side.
He huffs into his hands, and again wrestles with his mind. Thinking about Rocket, and now thinking about Sky as a separate entity. They WERE a different person.
Drax thought of how comfortable and lax Sky seemed to be. How sweetly patient, how willing to help.
Rocket had grown so, so much. He had to fight himself for years to get to the amazing heights he had reached today.
He had fought his trauma.
He had fought his instincts.
He had fought his ego.
He had to fight Quill, Drax, and Gamora initially. He had to fight them longer than Drax likes to think about, honestly.
But he was basically reset.
Sky didn't seem to remember the things that broke Rocket. The things that made Rocket bury his true self so deep.
Sky didn't seem to have any problem interacting, making efforts to talk and help.
It made Drax angry, in such a strange way.
It's as if Sky were the deeper, truer, hidden origin. Who Rocket always should've been allowed to be. Who Drax had wished in the past that Rocket could be. Someone who wasn't scared of everything, who wasn't hurting from everything.
It made Drax feel sick that the thought had crossed his mind.
'Should they bring Rocket back?'
All because Sky was so purely joyful.
Drax had instantly regretted the thought.
But he realizes that he already had love for Sky, in part because of his parental instincts, and Sky seeming so childlike. In part because it was still Rocket's body, still his best friend.
He didn't want to imagine a world where he never saw Rocket again. That hurt like nothing else.
Well. Not nothing else.
But it wasn't a pain he wanted to feel again.
But now he had love in his heart for Sky, and for Rocket. He wanted both to get the chance to exist. He wanted both to get to be happy. To be loved. To get to live.
He pictured having to choose one, and knew he would choose Rocket in an instant, but he knew he would hesitate, and that made his heart feel so heavy. Filled him with such guilt. Filled him with so much pain and misery.
He took a breath.
In and out.
They would get Rocket back. They had to.
But Sky would get no less love from him.
He goes back in, and washes his hands, noticing how Sky perks up as he enters.
"Alright, back to work." Drax says, walking over to the stove, and checking how the food is doing.
"Okay." Sky says softly.
The food was doing fine. Just as expected.
Drax looks at Sky.
Expressions so unlike Rocket.
Their physical behavior felt alien.
Drax was struggling with it.
He fears how everyone else handles it.
For their sakes, and for Sky's.