„It’s still raining outside.“ A young Terran boy said. He was staring outside the window, pressing his face against the clear glass from the Warbird, Yondu Udontas personal M-ship. A grey, red and purple ship. It was one of the biggest besides the ship from Quill, he got his own a couple of months ago, but he wasn’t allowed to fly alone.
“We’re at Hax. It rains most of the time.” The Centaurian Captain said while he looked down on his holopad to be still in contact with Kraglin, who was on a undercover mission to get some special data for a client.
With the help from Tullk they infiltrated the First Mate into the building of the queen. She became one of the youngest queens on her planet with only 12 years. Now the queen turned 21 and some of the resident claimed the queen killed her parents by her own, to get everything she wanted.
It happened often in the galaxy. Yondu saw it a couple of times.
But this woman was kind, with a big heart for everyone. Even for the poor and the ex-slaves.
She wasn’t one of the bad ones. In his eyes she was a beautiful and young woman. Brown long curly hair with a golden crown and big purple eyes.
It would make more fun to fuck her instead of these boring, but good, fuck bots.
But he got a special person to fuck.
Yondu shook from his daydeam as the boy yelled again.
“Captain! I’m booooored.” He said and looked straight at the blue man with his big green eyes.
“Shut up. I need to stay in contact with Kraglin. We cannot use any problems, boy. It’s dangerous.”
For a moment the boy was quiet but after a while he screamed again.
“Yondu. I’m hungry!” The Terran boy screamed and hung in his chair like a wet towel.
“Sit upright boy. You will hurt your back like that.”
Quill threw a paper ball at Yondu. The Captain glared angry at the 15 years old.
“Dammit Quill! You’re an annoying little shit right now.” He took his wallet out of his long leather coat and gave the boy some units.
“Go to the town, get you some food or something. You know this place. Come back before the sun sets. It will freeze at night.” Yondu said in his fatherly voice.
“Awesome!” Peter said and jumped upright from his seat.
“But!” Yondu begun and the boy swallowed a bit. “Put your shirt with the hood on and your jacket. It rains like shit out there. And you know how much I hate the smell of a wet Terran.”
It was the Captains version of *Take care of you and don’t do anything stupid.* Peter smiled and nodded.
Since he turned 15 he had more freedom and more responsibility’s. But Yondu had always an eye on him, just to make sure. When Peter is sixteen he would go to his first solo mission. The Ravagers trained the boy good in every tasks.
Quickly Peter changes his clothes and was about to run outside.
“And don’t talk to strangers! They would eat your fricking ass alive and I’m not there to safe you brat!” Yondu shouted after him.
“I will try not to piss someone off!” Peter said and waved to his foster Dad.
As the Captain of a Ravager Crew he needed to look after every member. He had always an eye on them. Yondu looked after Peter till he was out of his sight. A small smile in his face. In a strange way he was proud how the boy would turn out.
He made sure Peter had his freedom and space to find his own way.
The Ravagers couldn’t chance everything of the little Terran boy.
For a moment he thought about what one of the man of his crew said. He said he would get soft on the boy. Instantly he had an arrow through his eyes to teach the other members a lesson.
Even before they got Peter, the Ravagers thought that Yondu was about to get soft, because of the relationship between him and his First Mate Kraglin.
Peter got some food, something to drink and of course a lot of candy. He would share it with Yondu and Kraglin later.
His brown hair was already wet, because he hadn’t wear the hood from his shirt. Right now he didn’t care about what his captain said to him. Peter got wet a couple of times from rain since he was with the Ravagers.
But after he got the first flu in the care of Yondu, he had became more protective. He never saw him that scared. In his eyes it wasn’t that bad, he slept most of the time. And he remembered not every detail.
Kraglin got the data stick and made his way out of the building. It was already dark outside and it begun to freeze. He saw his own breath and felt the cold air. The rain formed now some snowflakes. A beautiful but freezing cold evening.
The First Mate was wearing a black tuxedo with a tie to hide his tattoos on his neck.
“Captain I got everything.” The man with the mohawk said. He walked down the street and loosened this annoying tie.
He never liked these things. A jumpsuit was more comfortable in his eyes.
“It’s so quiet in your background. Is Pete already asleep?” Kraglin asked and raised an eyebrow.
In the end of the line he could hear a snarl.
“I send him to the city to annoy the people there, told him he have to come back before it’s dark outside.” Yondu said in a slight angry voice.
“Did someone kidnap him?” The first mate asked worried.
“No. He is in the city. It’s what the tracker said. Bring him back Kraglin.”
“Yes I will, sir.”
Half an hour of searching Peter, he finally found him. Flirting with some Haxian girls. They had nearly the same skin colour as the Terran. Just the eyes are colourful in pink and violet. Peter was shivering and his clothes and hair are soaked from the rain.
Yondu had trusted the boy, but Peter disappointed him.
“Peter Jason Quill!” The First Mate shouted.
Imminently the boy jumped off the wall he was sitting on.
“K-Kraglin?!” Peter shocked.
“Get your ass moved. You know what Yondu said! And you hadn’t listen like always.” The older man said and grabbed the ear from the boy as he hasn’t moved for a moment.
“Oww! That hurts!” Peter cried out. Embarrassed and angry about the situation in front of the girls.
“The Captain is angry at you boy. Be grateful you’re still in one piece.”
They arrived together in a couple of minutes.
Yondu sat in his chair. Still looking at the holopad.
When the Captain is unusual quiet, not screaming or doing something else, so there is really something to worry about.
He only threw a towel at Peter.
“I didn’t mean to get late Yondu. I’m sorry.” The boy tried to defuse the situation. He rubbed his red and hurting ear, still shaking from the cold.
The Captain eyed him for a moment.
“Get a hot shower and up to bed with you.” He just said.
It wasn’t really late. Peter thought it was a joke.
“I’m sorry.” Peter mumbled.
“Peter. Don’t make it any worse. I don’t have time to deal with your shit right now! Get your sorry ass to the shower and then to bed.” The Captain was angry. But he tried to stay calm.
The Terran nodded, with is head down he went to his bunk for a shower.
Yondu sat back in his chair and stroke his beard. The first mate stood beside him.
“Ya know. It’s hard to be something between a Captain and a fricking father.” Yondu explained. “He is still a child.” A little sigh left his lips. “I’ll deal with him later. But now to you Kraglin. You did an awesome job. We got the data. And-“
“And what Captain?” Kraglin asked with a smile.
“You’re looking good in that tuxedo.” Yondu said and smiled.
Immediately the First Mate blushed.
“T-Thank you.” He said.
**
Peter wasn’t able to sleep for hours. It was too early and he thought about the situation back with Yondu. He laid down on his left side. Next to him was his Walkman and soft music came out of the headphones.
He was still cold, and the blanked was too thin. Even with his long bed clothes on. On his door he could hear the footsteps from his Captain. Quickly he closed his eyes to pretended to be fast asleep. The door opened and Yondu entered the room. He knew it was him because the Yaka-Arrow made a cling under the coat when the Centaurian walked around.
Peter shivered but something soft and warm got lied down on his body. A hand touched the still wet hair and stroke some hair away from his eyes.
“You’re a stubborn child. But I’m glad you’re my boy.” The Captain said softly and left the room.
Slowly Peter opened his eyes and saw the thick fur blanked which Yondu always had in his room for cold nights.
For a couple of days there was everything like normal. The punishment Yondu gave him was not that bad. He had to clean the vents, but without his Walkman. That kinda pissed him off.
Today Peter didn’t feel so good. Since yesterday his throat hurt and he wasn’t able to speak right. And now his head pounded like crazy. He felt sticky and hot in the vents. Still trying to clean them. Nobody knew about his upcoming sickness.
During lunch at the personal captain table he refuses to eat something.
“Not hungry.” He said quietly. Unusual for him. Normally the boy ate his weight in food.
Peter was pale, paler than normal. Everyone could see there was something up with the young Terran boy.
“You should get some rest, son.” Yondu said while eating his steak.
“I nearly finished the vents. Only two are left. Then I will get some sleep.”
“Just an hour, ok? We will see on you later. Be careful.” The Captain said.
Peter tried to clean the rest of the vents. But his vision became more and more blurry. Sweat dripped from his forehead down on the cold metal.
He scraped with all of his strength and while the delirium he hadn’t seen the cliff in the vents which was two meters deep. With a loud noise he felt down and lost his consciousness.
Kraglin heard the loud metallic sound from the vents and jumped up.
“where did that come from?” Yondu asked and rushed to the lower deck.
“Fuck I hope the boy didn’t fall out of the vents.” The first Mate said worriedly.
Together they opened the manhole and saw with a shock the Terran boy without his consciousness lying on his back.
They brought him to the Med-bay. The boy hadn’t any injuries from the fall. But he got the flu and was suffering a high fever.
For the recovering they brought him to his room and took care of him.
After a couple of hours Peter woke up. His head ached even more. Something cold touched his forehead.
“Glad you’re awake.” A very familiar voice said.
“You scared the shit out of us.” Another voice said.
“’m sorry…” Peter said sleepy and exhausted.
He managed to open his eyes completely and saw Kraglin and Yondu.
“I told you to be careful. You fall a couple of meters deep in the vents. We got you out. Now you need to recover. You got a bad flu my boy.” Yondu said and stroke the sweat soaked hair away from the forehead where a washcloth lied to cool the boy.
Peter knew this feeling. It’s the same feeling when he was little back on earth.
“Ravagers are family?” The young Terran asked.
The both older man eyed each other before they answered.
“Of course. And a Captain need to look after his crew. Explicit for the younger members.”
There was a slight smile on the face from the blue Captain. Peter sighed.
“What’s wrong?” Kraglin asked and changed the now warm washcloth with a fresh cold one.
“It’s just…” he begun. “My Mom used to do the same thing when I got sick….” Peter mumbled while his body screamed for sleep again.
They sat there for a couple of hours to make sure the boy really slept during his high fever.
“He will be okay I guess.” Kraglin said after he arrived on the bridge. He sat down on the co-pilot seat next to Yondu.
“I hope so. I mean on some way it’s his own fault he got the flu. But I still don’t like it when he is sick.” The Captain said and looked at his First Mate.
“Yeah me too.” Kraglin agreed. “Doc said he would sleep the whole night circle. Boy got some good drugs.”
But for his frustration Peter awoke from his sleep. Breathing heavily.
He stood up from his bed. The washcloth fall down on the floor. His vision was still blurry and he wasn’t really awake.
“Mom….” He said with a broken voice.
The boy left half unconscious his bunk and wandered around the Eclector. It was dark and most of the Ravagers slept during the night circle. He was all alone on the corridor.
“Yondu! The boy is gone!” Kraglin said during a long hasty breath.
“What do you mean he is gone?”
“He is not in his bed. I wanted to check on him like the doc said… But he is not there. I can’t find him. What if-“ Kraglin panicked.
The Centaurian imminently stood up from his seat.
“We will find him.” He just said.
They searched every corner around the room from Peter, but no sigh of the Terran.
“This fucking stupid child. The next time he get sick I will tie him on his bed by myself!” Yondu said with an angry undertone.
“Maybe he is sleepwalking during his delirious.” Kraglin said.
A sleepwalking child on a space ship was more dangerous like a normal child on his full conscious. Even when Quill was now a bit older and growed since he got onboard seven years earlier.
Yondu scratched his skin next to the fin in frustration. Then he heard a familiar humming.
“I can hear him. He is in the energies.” Yondu said.
With fast steps they arrived on the Energies Room. “I told them a million time they have to look this fricking door!” The Captain swore.
A whimpered Quill sat in the corner from the hot energies. His face was red from crying and fever. He was never there before.
“Boy. What are you doing here?” Yondu asked softly and kneeled down to get a better look at him.
“I want my M-Mommy..” he said and blinked a few times still unfocused.
“We know buddy.” Kraglin said. “But we are here for you. And we will take good care of you. Nobody can harm you here.”
“But Taserface said he wants to eat me…” The feverish boy sniffled.
“Not while I’m still the Captain here.” Yondu said and got the boy out of the corner. Peter lost his conscious and the Captain lifted him up in his arms. He felt the outgoing heat from Peter.
“You’re burning up my boy.” He said and left together with the First Mate the Energies room.
Right now he doesn’t care if some of his crewmembers saw him with the boy in his arms.
He past Horuz who eyed the Centaurian.
“So you’re going soft on him?” He asked.
Yondu grinned his teeth.
“Shut the fuck up or you will get my arrow through your head. We’re Ravagers. Not Monsters. The Kid is sick. Everyone can get sick. So shut the fuck up!” He gave him a death glare.
Kraglin stroke the soft hair from Peter before he left Yondu with the boy.
Softly he lied the overheating body down on the bed and threw the blankets over him.
“Someday I will become grey because of you.” He said while he got a chair to look over his sleep. And to make sure he would not leave the bed again.
Peter slept till it was morning.
He opened his eyes and saw Yondu next to his bed. Still sitting there and reading something on his holopad.
“Finally awake my boy?” he asked. “How are you?” The Centaurian felt the forehead from Peter.
“Better…” he said and looked at Yondu with his big green eyes.
“You’re still warm. But not as hot like last night. We thought your brain would get fried from the heat.”
The Terran said nothing. Yondu stood up from his seat. “I will get you something to eat. Cook is making Xanderian soup and this Terran thing called pudding for you. She is really spoiling you, boy.” He said and was about to open the door from Peters room.
“Wait!” Peter said and left his bed.
“Boy. Go back to bed. I don’t want another night like the last one.” He snarled but he got surprised by something very rare.
The Terran slung his arms around the chest from Yondu and hid his face. He hugged him.
“I’m sorry about everything. About all the trouble on Hax. And the sickness. I didn’t mean to be bad.” He said and lifted his head to look at Yondu.
Yondu wrapped his arms around the smaller body.
“I know. You’re still young. And you’re still my son.” The Centaurian said and ruffled Peters hair.
“But now go back to bed. I want to you to be healthy in a couple of days.” He said softly and the Terran nodded.
The Captain left the room with a little smile.
To rise this kid was his destiny