are you with me?
tensions were high on the Benatar. peter was constantly angry about losing gamora and knowing they'd never be back together, no matter how much he genuinely loved her. drax was just...drax, along with mantis, and they'd been causing chaos around the ship much to everyone's annoyance. rocket hadn't come out of his room in three days, and you were just trying to not get caught up in all the emotions.
you were mildly worried about rocket because he'd been locked up for so long. you'd tried knocking on his door, slipping him letters, sitting outside and quietly talking to him. he hadn't responded to any of your attempts at communication, leaving you wondering what the hell was going on.
you tried again. "rocket? are you okay?"
your hand raised, knocking at his door, a three-knock beg for him to not ignore you. "if you want, later, feel free to come to my room. i'm gonna watch a movie and you're my movie buddy."
you heard a soft scuffling from inside the room, and you looked hopefully at the door, hoping to hear that fateful click that would let you in.
as soon as it started, it went away, leaving you no sign of rocket.
you sighed one last time, looking sadly at the door, before retreating to your room to turn on Scream 4. you started to fall asleep during one of the scenes, and suddenly, you heard someone open the door to your room. you sat bolt upright, expecting peter or drax to be there. but instead, the frame of your favorite raccoon (albeit a bit ruffled) stood silhouetted against the light of the ship's hallway.
"rocket!" it came out as a whisper-shout, mixed with fear and happiness. "where have you been?" you exclaimed quietly, throwing off the covers as quick as you could and scooping him into your arms. you could feel his small body tremble against you, leading to you pulling back, hands on his shoulders, face worried. "are you alright?"
he nodded forlornly, leaning into your comforting arms. "can we watch th' movie?" he asked softly.
"of course. do you want to tell me what's wrong?" you asked, lifting him surprisingly easily and carrying him to your blanket fortress. once snuggled in, him resting on your chest, pressing soft kisses to his furry forehead.
"I'm just sad. everything is sad." rocket whispered quietly. "it feels bad but i don't know how to change it. i lost interest in building shit, lost interest in talking to groot-- i even don't want to bully the humie." his paw clutched tightly to your arm, his ears drooping sadly.
"i get how you feel. it's depression. you'll feel better though, just stay with me."
he snorted at that, muttering something about "i ain' depressed" and then almost immediately passed out. you spent a few hours petting his head before eventually, you too fell asleep to the sweet sadistic sounds of scream 5.