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Rocket woke up screaming. It was the same nightmare he'd had since they'd killed Ronan, since the dark aster had crashed, since Groot had...
Rocket couldn't even finish the sentence in his thoughts. It hurt too much to think about the events that had happened in the last week. Which made the nightly reminders that much harder to deal with.
He got up and walked over to the small table in his quarters on the ship and grabbed one of the liquor bottles on it. He was gonna have to buy some more soon at the rate he was drinking through them. Quill, having heard the scream, poked his head through the doorway as Rocket took a large drink from the bottle.
"You okay, Rocket?" He asked, eyes scanning the room for danger that might have been the source of Rocket's yell, then noticing the alcohol.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Rocket lied, numbly and unconvincingly. Putting on his jacket, he felt the twig that had been a part of Groot poking at him through the material. His eyes filled with unshed tears as he pulled it out for the first time to look at it since the day he had picked it up off the ground. All of a sudden the walls he had been building since that day crumbled to dust and there was nothing left to protect him from the memories if that day.
Rocket, seeing the scene through the glass of Ronan's ship, pointing Quill's ship directly at it, knowing he would take down the pilots and with them, the dark aster. Groot, stupidly, idiotically wrapping himself around them, knowing he would die. Rocket asking him why he was doing this, why would he sacrifice himself for them. Groots reply, said with so much confidence,
"We are Groot."
Peters hand on his shoulder pulled him out of his thoughts and memories. Rocket immediately shrugged it off. "Don't touch me," he grumbled, trying to sound angry and menacing, but lacking conviction. He suddenly realized his face and snout were wet with tears and he put the twig back in his jacket pocket as he dried his face.
Peter started to comfort him saying, "Rocket, I know that you two were close and-"
"YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!" Rocket shouted suddenly angry. "IF YOU KNEW ANYTHING, YOU WOULD KNOW THAT I'D RATHER DIE THAN LIVE WITHOUT HIM!"
Peter started to back away, apologizing, but Rocket wasn't done with him yet. The anger Rocket felt was focused now.
"If you knew anything you wouldn't have made us follow you into your crazy scheme that was only even 12% thought out! If you knew anything, me and Groot would be on the other side of the galaxy and you would've stopped Ronan yourself! If you knew anything, Groot would still be..." Rocket faltered, the fire abruptly gone, replaced by incredible loneliness, and complete despair.
"Groot would still be..." Rocket whispered, unable to finish the sentence.
"Alive?... I know" Peter said quietly, looking down. "It's my fault he's dead now, I know. If you had never met me, you would both be on I some planet somewhere safe and sound and having no idea what was happening in Xandar." Here Peter looked up, eyes wet, yet still intense, "But that's not what happened. You met me on Xandar, we fought Ronan, and Groot sacrificed himself for us and for the entire galaxy. He died for you, Rocket! Maybe you would be safe for a while somewhere else, but Ronan would have killed you both eventually, if Groot hadn't helped stop him on Xandar. Then you would both be dead, along with the rest of the galaxy."
"That would be better than living without him," Rocket whispered, voice coarse from yelling, staring at the floor.
"But you're not completely without him, are you?" Peter asked, kneeling in front of Rocket and lifting up his face. He saw the tears running uncontrollably down from his watery eyes. Peter reached inside Rocket's jacket and pulled out Rocket's only reminder of Groot left. "As long as you have this with you, Groot is with you too."
Rocket looked at the twig then down to Quill's waist, where both mix tapes still sat. "That's why you carry them with you everywhere you go, isn't it?" Rocket asked, more of a statement than a question. Peter said nothing, just getting up and leaving Rocket alone to cry with his twig and his liquor.
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Rocket didn't know why he put the twig into a pot. It was much harder to carry around. But it made him feel better, as though Groot were still with him. He never let it out of his sight, except while on missions. He had it in his bedroll when he went to sleep and it was the first thing he checked when he woke up.
The first night after putting the twig in the pot, Peter had tried to take it out of Rockets bedroll and put it on the table, thinking it would help Rocket sleep easier in a more comfortable position. As soon as Rocket felt the pot move he had yelled and jumped on Quills face, scratching, kicking, and biting whatever he could until he realized it was just Peter. No one attempted to touch it after that without Rocket's permission.
After a stressful day, or a hard mission, Rocket would sit on his bedroll with the pot and twig next to him, telling it all that had happened, just as he would've told Groot.
Whenever he had to leave it on the ship, he left it in places with as much sun as he could find, knowing that's where Groot would have sat. He also gave it water, simply because Groot would've had some. Every time he came back to the ship, he would run as fast as he could back to it, just to make sure no one had taken it while he had been gone. It went on like this, as Rocket's nightmares slowly began to fade, until one day when he came back from a mission and something had changed.
He didn't even notice it at first. It had been an relativelyeasy mission so he didn't feel like talking about it to the twig so he just said hello to it and carried it back to his quarters where he was ready to go to sleep, as it had been a very late mission. It wasn't until he got into his bedroll and curled around the pot that he realized something was different.
He immediately shot up and inspected his twig. On the side, minuscule, yet so important, was a little green leaf. Rocket stared at it in stunned silence for a few seconds. Then an almost unrecognizable shout of joy came from deep within his throat and he immediately got dressed and brought out the pot to the room outside everyone's quarters. There he waited as each Guardian quickly, yet tiredly and yawning, eventually came out to see what Rocket had yelled about.
Once they were all gathered Rocket lifted his pot as high as he could, then realizing the others still couldn't see, asked Peter to lift up the pot. As Peter picked it up from Rockets clawed hands, he gasped and would probably have dropped the pot from surprise if he didn't know that Rocket would have killed him. He showed Gamora and Drax the small little leaf that was growing out the side of the twig. The while time, Rocket just stared at the lot as Peter showed them.
"Don't you see what this means?" Rocket asked excitedly, "It means he's alive! Groot is alive!"
While it was a cause for celebration and happiness, something still bothered Rocket. There was an emotion that shouldn't be there along with the happiness and joy. For some reason, even though he should be overjoyed, he was still angry. Angry at Groot.
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Rocket wanted to talk to Groot, but not the one-sided conversations he'd been having the past few weeks. He wanted to have an actual conversation with Groot. But that couldn't happen until Groot could talk again or at least say "I am Groot" so Rocket waited. Until then though, it was awkward between the two, so Rocket started to avoid Groot. He let the others watch over the sapling at night and stopped talking to it altogether.
On his part, Groot did grow fast. Well, for a tree. After a week he was as tall as Rocket and was out if his pot. Around then was when he started to hum. It wasn't anything like words, but Rocket knew it would be soon.
A week later Groot was the size of a tall human. The day before he had said something like "ah ammmm oooot" and today for the first time he said the only phrase he could, but he said it perfectly.
"I am Groot"
Rocket happened to be nearby and when he heard it, there was no other inflection, no hidden meaning, it was actually him just saying "I am Groot."
Rocket knew he could talk to him now if he wanted, but still he stayed away. He didn't want Groot to see how angry he was. There wasn't much he could do on missions to stay away from Groot, but there were usually other distractions. They never actually talked about anything unrelated to the mission. Until one day Rocket couldn't avoid it anymore.
There were only four bedrooms on the ship. Groot, almost full grown now, had been staying with Peter because Drax and Gamora had their rooms full of weapons and such. One night though, Peter brought a girl onto the ship. He probably wouldn't have done it if he wasn't drunk considering everyone on the ship would see her come in, but he was drunk and he did bring and they did see. And right then, Rocket knew he was in trouble, because Groot couldn't stay with Quill anymore.
Rocket had gone to his quarters an hour earlier, yet he still wasn't sleeping. He was just waiting for Groot to come in.
He heard a quiet knock at the door. He was surprised. Groot had never knocked before. He sighed. "Come in, Groot" he said.
Groot slowly opened the door. "I am Groot?" he asked.
"Yes of course you can stay in here. Why wouldn't you?" Rocket asked, knowing the answer as he did so. Groot didn't say anything. He just moved over to the corner and sat down, watching Rocket the whole time.
"I am Groot," Groot stated matter-of-factly.
"I know. I've been avoiding you." Rocket hoped that would be enough and Groot would leave him alone and go to sleep, but he knew it wouldn't happen.
"I am Groot?" Why?
Suddenly the anger was there. Rocket had successfully kept it inside and bottled up as he usually did with his emotions, but now it was too much. Groot was sitting across the room and all the anger came pouring out all directed at Groot.
"You didn't think about me at all!" Rocket shouted, "You just thought about saving the galaxy! But this galaxy, it doesn't mean ANYTHING without you in it! I thought you'd be different, I thought you'd stay with me! You left me alone! I was alone for so long!" He stopped. He looked down and just like that the energy was gone, and all that was left, all Rocket felt, was sadness and loneliness.
"You left me alone" Groot made a creaking sound, and Rocket looked up. He realized Groot was crying.
"I am Groooot...I am Groooot." He repeated over and over.
And suddenly Rocket was crying too. "I know buddy I know you didn't mean too, I know you're sorry, I know." Rocket got off his bedroll and walked over to where Groot sat, still whimpering. Rocket pulled on Groot's hand and Groot kneeled down in front of him.
This was new to Rocket. He'd never allowed his emotions to take control like this. Even when he was drunk he still kept some things to himself. Nothing like this. Now he felt exposed as if Groot had seen him without fur, as if Groot had seen him as he saw himself, a lab-created monster.
"Buddy... I'm... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you, I've just been so lonely. I'm sorry man. I am."
"I am Groot." I don't want you to be lonely.
"I know. I know." Rocket rested his head against Groot's chest.
"I am Groot." I'll never leave you alone again. I promise.
Rocket lifted his head and looked up at Groot, and both of their tears gradually stopped. Groot then did something he had never done before. He started to pet Rocket. Any other person, in any other situation and Rocket would've bitten off their hand. The only other time this had happened was with Drax right after Groot had died.
But Rocket let it continue. He felt Groot's hand travel down the back of his head, down his neck and back, over his jacket, finally reaching his tail, one of Rocket's most sensitive areas. Rocket took a deep breath, then moved a little closer. Groot pet him again and this time when he got to his tail, Rocket almost gasped.
Groot looked inquisitively at Rocket, semi-worriedly. "I am Groot?" he asked.
"Hurt? No no it just... It felt good." Rocket looked down, somewhat ashamed, and realized with a start that he was hard, but Groot kept going and petted him a few more times before hesitating and asking "I am Groot?"
Rocket looked up sharply and saw that Groot had what could only be described as a loving look in his eyes. He thought about the question and realized the truth. "Yes. I think I do. I love you. And I have for a long time"
"I am Groot" I love you too.
Groot resumed petting Rocket again but this time Rocket grabbed his hand stopping him. Wordlessly he started to pull off his jacket. Groot's eyes widened in surprise. Rocket had never willingly left his implants exposed and even Groot had rarely seen them, and now Rocket was letting Groot touch them.
"Just be careful okay? They still hurt sometimes so don't push hard around them."
Groot nodded and started caressing him again, taking care to be gentle around the implants.
Rocket suddenly realized that he'd been rubbing his clawed hands smoothly over Groot's bark. Over his chest and face, over his thick arms and around his stomach, Rocket couldn't stop touching Groot.
Rocket realized then that Groot might not know where this was going, considering how his species reproduced, and didn't want to take advantage of Groot.
"Hey you know you don't have to do anything you're uncomfortable with right? If you don't wanna do this then that's fine." Rocket mumbled nervously, gesturing between him and Groot.
Groot just smiled and nodded and said what he always did before starting to pet Rocket again and slowly helping Rocket out if his pants. Until that point it all could have been dismissed as a joke or just messing around, but as Rocket watched his pants fall away and felt himself spring up he knew there was no going back.
Rocket looked back up at Groot and was surprised to find Groot staring back into his eyes. He figured Groot would be looking down. But he was wrong about Groot earlier. Groot knew exactly what he was doing and had known the whole time. That's why he wasn't surprised to feel Rocket's member as he pulled off his pants. And he knew what he was doing when he started rubbing his hands through Rocket's fur in his chest, then his stomach, then finally down by his erect penis.
Rocket gasped as Groot started moving his hand slowly up and down. He had expected Groot's hands to feel rough or get splinters down there but Groot's hand was as smooth as Rocket's own fur and it felt good.
Groot then, using his other hand grabbed Rocket's hands, which had stopped with the distraction, and guided them back to the bark on his chest. There was nothing special about the bark but behind them was where Groot would produce pollen for reproduction.
Rocket started rubbing his hands all over Groot's chest and saw Groot's eyes widen in pleasure. Groot started making creaking and groaning sounds that Rocket could only assume were sounds of pleasure.
Rocket kept rubbing his hands over Groot as he started rocking into Groot's hand, slowly at first then faster. Pretty soon they had settled into a rhythm of rubbing and rocking they both enjoyed and that was when Rocket looked up and planted a kiss on Groot's mouth. It was somewhat awkward, with Rocket's long snout and Groot's almost flat mouth, yet it was still enjoyable. Very enjoyable.
Soon moans and embarrassing mewls were coming from Rockets throat as well and Rocket could do nothing to stop them. Both Groot and Rocket started to speed up their rubbing and rocking. The pleasure became incredible.
Soon Rocket just couldn't control it anymore and he came, yelling Groot's name. As he was doing so he noticed Groot suddenly sprouting flowers, first on his chest, then all over his body. Rocket watched as luminescent pollen drifted out of all the flowers, light up the whole room.
As Rocket sat there, slowly coming down from his pleasure high he thought he probably should have been grossed out at the glowing pollen filling up the room, but he didn't care, because to him, it was beautiful, just like Groot.
Rocket looked back at Groot and realized that Groot thought the same about him and he knew that Groot would keep his promise. He knew Groot would never leave him again, ever.
"Uuuuh..." They both jumped up and turned at Peter's voice from the door. He was standing there, jaw dropped, staring at them.
"Hey guys"