Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Kraglin?” Peter was perched on top of one of the engines. Kraglin was fiddling with something that didn't need fixing. The teen sighed.

“What is it, Pete?” he asked tiredly. Peter frowned. There was something wrong with everyone, and he couldn’t figure out what! For the last couple days, they’d all been moping around as if there was no more ice cream left in the galaxy. And there definitely was- Peter had checked the freezer that morning to make sure.

“How come everybody’s sad? Papa seems most sad of all.” Kraglin froze. Of course the kid would pick up on the crew’s mood. They’d been walking around in a slump since they’d gotten the news. Yondu had holed himself up in his room, leaving Horuz in charge. Poor Peter had sort of bounced from the care of one Ravager to the next. Normally he’d have enjoyed hanging out with all of them, but the entire crew was ranging from horribly depressed to furious. Kraglin had been hoping that maybe Peter wouldn’t pick up on that, but that had been naive. Pete was perceptive.

“It’s kinda complicated,” Kraglin admitted.

“Hedge says I’m pretty smart.” Kraglin snorted. Sure, the kid was bright, but how the hell was he supposed to explain about being exiled to him? Of course this job would fall to him. Of-fucking-course.

“You got a smart mouth, maybe.” Peter blinked at him, missing the joke. “Look. You know there’s other groups of Ravagers, right?” Peter nodded. He’d never met any other Ravagers, but Yondu talked about them sometimes. “Well, the leader of all the Ravager groups- he kicked us out.”

“S’akar?” Peter gasped. “Why would he do that? I thought he was nice. He’s like Papa’s dad.” Kraglin ignored that comment in favor of addressing his first question.

“Well... Our Ravagers broke some rules. We went against the code.” Peter frowned.

“What rules?” Kraglin shook his head. No way was he going there. He’d simplified the explanation as much as he could, but he wasn’t going to try to explain to Peter about his dead siblings.

“’S grown-up stuff. Cap’n’ll be all right in a little while. Don’t worry about him. Crew’s already gettin’ back to normal.” Peter eyed him doubtfully. “’S true. We’re landing on Dakkam tonight, and lookin’ for jobs in the morning. Everything’ll go back to normal.”

“Can I come?” Peter asked eagerly. He knew they were probably going to a bar, and those were Not for Kids™, so he only got to join them on the least seedy planets. Kraglin made a face.

“Ask the Captain,” he said, and then immediately regretted it as Peter ran off. Yondu hadn’t exactly given instructions in regards to Peter, but Kraglin was pretty sure he wanted to be left alone.

Peter slammed his hand on the access panel for Yondu’s room- it had been coded to his biometrics months ago. Yondu gave a start on the bed. Peter noticed he was holding a dark colored bottle, one usually kept on a shelf out of his reach. Any weapons Yondu kept in the room were also kept up there, along with Peter's small stash of bubble soap. (Peter loved bubbles, but he had made one too many messes to be allowed to play with them unsupervised. Kraglin swore his bunk still smelled like bubble gum.)

“Hey, Petey,” Yondu said, giving him a sad smile. He’d nearly forgotten about the kid in his grief, and he was damn lucky he had such a good crew. When he felt better, he vowed to buy them all a drink for helping with Peter.

“Hi Papa,” Peter said, climbing up on the big bed to sit next to him. “Can I go with the crew tonight?” Yondu frowned. He’d suggested to Horuz that they land somewhere and let the crew get drunk for a night. He knew he needed to stop sulking like a child, but the banishment hurt.

He’d been able to keep the investigation a secret from all but Horuz, who he’d needed in order to produce the necessary documents. The proof was there; there were electronic receipts from when Ego had wired them the money. At the trial, Yondu had had no choice but to plead guilty.

And Stakar, the man he’d admired and striven to be like his entire adult life, had turned him away so coldly…

It didn’t help that he’d lost at least twenty crew members over the ordeal. Yondu had given them all the option to leave when he finally ‘fessed up to them. To larger factions, it wouldn’t be a big deal, but Yondu hadn’t had his crew for nearly as long as the other factions. He didn’t blame those who’d left, but he felt the loss keenly. Having a fifth of the crew up and leave was affecting everyone.

“Papa,” Peter whined, tugging at his arm. Yondu blinked.

“Hm. Maybe.” Yondu certainly wasn’t letting Peter go without him, but he still felt like lying in his bed and continuing to nurse his whiskey. And he had to be mostly sober if he was going to watch out for Peter…

“Krag told me why you’re sad,” Peter offered, curling up next to Yondu and hugging the arm he’d been pulling. Yondu felt a brief flash of anger, but he knew Peter was going to notice something was wrong eventually. And he hadn’t specified that no one tell Peter, either. Kraglin was doing his best.

“He did?” Yondu asked neutrally. Peter nodded.

“I’m sorry your papa’s mad at you.” Yondu snorted. Try as he might, he couldn’t convince Peter that Stakar wasn’t his father. (“You said he adopted you!” “No, Peter, I said he raised me- there’s a difference!”)

“It’s my fault, Pete. I broke the Ravager Code.” Peter frowned.

“You don’t get mad at me when I break the rules.” You never killed any children, Yondu thinks, but of course he doesn't say that.

“It’s different,” he said after a moment.

“Did you spill something on his console?” Peter asked knowingly.

“What? No. Wait, what did you spill on my console?” Yondu asked suspiciously.

“It was just my juice! Krags helped me clean it up,” Peter said guiltily. Yondu chuckled, shaking his head. Peter peeked up at him meekly, relaxing when he realized he wasn't in trouble. Maybe spending time with Peter and the crew was just the distraction Yondu needed.

“Okay, fine. You can come with us tonight,” Yondu said finally. Peter cocked his head to the side in confusion, then beamed. For a moment he’d forgotten why he originally went to find Yondu.

“You’re coming too?” he asked in surprise. Yondu felt like a piece of shit for the kid just assuming he wouldn’t come. That was a fair assumption though, considering Yondu hadn’t left his room at all in the past few days. Yondu nodded, getting up with a groan. Damn, I'm getting old, he thought.

“Yeah. Now come on, let’s getchu a bath. When’s the last time anybody cleaned you up, anyway?” he muttered, tossing the kid over his shoulder. Peter giggled, shrugging good-naturedly.

Yondu wasn’t terribly concerned with keeping the kid clean on the ship (in his limited experience, kids stayed messy) but anytime they went planet-side, he scrubbed Peter down. Kids were less likely to be snatched if they looked like someone was taking care of them. So, Yondu tried to make sure he was clean and his hair was sort-of combed before they docked.

That night, all seemed to be going well. They’d picked a bar with a restaurant, and the place could almost be considered kid-friendly by Ravager standards, so Peter didn’t stick out much. He was sipping on some fruit juice, tucked away in the corner, learning the very basics of poker from some of the crew. His participation mainly consisted of trying to make matches with the cards, but he knew that if he had several of one kind, he was doing well.

All things considered, things were going well until Stakar’s faction showed up.

Yondu saw them as soon as he walked in, so he caught the full extent of the disgust on Stakar’s face when they made eye contact. Stakar’s eyes swept the room, already ready to tell his men to leave. He wasn’t going to make a scene, and Yondu could keep the fact that they’d seen each other here a secret. That was, until Ogord’s eyes landed on Peter.

“Another one?” Stakar bellowed, stalking across the room towards Yondu. Stakar grabbed him by the collar, glaring down furiously. Somewhere Yondu felt the old, juvenile resentment that Stakar was taller than him. “Are the two dead children not enough to deter you from the practice? Was banishment not enough?” Yondu glared right back. It was easier to get angry than to let himself feel grief at disappointing his mentor.

“He ain’t one of them,” Yondu said fiercely. “All right, well, he was, but-”

“I don’t have time to listen to your lies, Udonta,” Stakar hissed. He motioned for his men to take Peter, holding a knife to Yondu’s throat to prevent him moving. The men didn’t handle him roughly, and Peter, bless him, didn’t notice anything was amiss. He giggled, used to being passed around by Ravagers in coats. He didn’t notice that these men were wearing blue, not red.

“You let ‘im go,” Kraglin demanded fiercely of the man who had Peter, but the burly man just shoved him away. The other Ravagers were rising to their feet, but it was too late. Peter was already being carried away.

“Krag?” he called worriedly, once he realized he was being carried out of the bar. “Krag, where’re they taking me? I ain't finished playin' poker yet!”

“Stakar, it ain’t what you think! Just lemme explain-” Stakar punched him squarely in the face, a blow with enough force to stun him.

“Next time, I kill you,” he said coldly, and he left with his crew as quickly as he’d come. Yondu tried to run after them, but he was a little wobbly on his feet from the blow Stakar had dealt him. Vaguely, he wondered if Stakar had summoned a bit of his Starhawk strength. The crew, most of whom had been drinking, rushed to follow, but Stakar’s men were faster and unaffected by alcohol.

Just like that, Peter was gone. And there was nothing he could do.

Chapter Text

As soon as they brought him onto the ship, Peter began to squirm and kick. He’d thought maybe it was a joke or something, but when the men took him on a ship, he knew something was wrong. He didn’t know this ship, and none of his Papa’s Ravagers would kidnap him.

Well, Horuz might, but probably no one else.

“I want my Papa!” he shouted, striking at the man holding him. Peter couldn’t remember the name for his race, but he was humanoid, with lots of eyes and purple fur. Peter landed a single, solid hit at one of the shoulder eyes.

“Ouch! Dammit,” the guy muttered, but he just readjusted his grip on Peter.

“I know you do, child,” another man told him, a little regretfully. “Take him to one of the cells for now, Ralts. Make him comfortable,” Stakar added.

“You’re hurting my arm,” Peter said plaintively. Stakar gave the man a pointed look, and Ralts reluctantly loosened his grip on Peter before heading to the brig.

Peter stopped struggling instantly when he saw where he was being taken.

“No, no no! I’ll be good, stop, I’ll be good!” Ralts froze. What did the child think they were going to do to him? What had they done to him on Yondu’s ship?

He made an executive decision. If Ravagers didn’t deal in kids, then they sure as hell didn’t scare them half to death, either.

“Captain?” he called on the comms.

“What is it?” Stakar asked irritably.

“Kid’s scared of the brig. Ain’t sure why, but... it don’t feel right, sticking him in there.” There was a pause. “He’s crying.” Peter sniffled, swiping a hand across his face.

“Ain’t cryin’,” he protested pitifully.

“I’m sending Aleta your way. She’ll take care of it,” the captain said after a moment. Ralts breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn’t exactly cut out for child-minding.

“No brig?” Peter asked, hesitantly. Ralts nodded.

“No brig. Erm... What had you so scared of it, anyway?” Peter wiped his face, jumping from tears to steady conversation with an ease only a child his age could have accomplished.

“Only bad guys go in the brig. I’m not a bad guy,” he said seriously. “I’m a good boy, my Papa says so.” Ralts snorted. He’d suspected Peter’s aversion to the brig to be the result of a traumatic experience on the exiled Ravager’s ship. He was relieved to find it was just a childish quirk.

“Fair enough. Whass your name, kid?” Peter puffed up his chest proudly.

“My name is Peter Jay-son Quill, and I’m four years old!” Ralts groaned inwardly. A baby. They’d taken a fucking toddler!

“Poor child,” came a sympathetic voice from across the room. Peter stared at the woman in the doorway. She was tall, with long, golden-blonde hair. “What have they done to you?” She swept across the room, taking him from Ralt’s arms. “That will be all, Ralts.” Peter looked up at her, surprised. Most of the girl Ravagers on his Papa’s ship dressed just like the men, and wore their hair short. This lady had long, flowing hair and was wearing a dress!

“You smell nice,” he said, surprised. Most of the Ravagers smelled pretty bad. They didn’t bathe regularly, not like Peter did. Peter would be happy to follow in their example, but for some reason it was important to his papa that he had a bath most days. He sort of agreed that it was better to smell nice than to be stinky.

The woman laughed, a light, tinkling laugh. She began to walk towards the mess.

“Thank you, child. Why don’t we get you something to eat, all right? Then we’ll have a chat.”

Normally Peter would like the novelty of being carried like this, but now he was annoyed.

“Lemme down,” he said, frowning. “Please,” he added as an afterthought. Aleta eyed him carefully.

“I hear you gave the men some trouble earlier.” Peter’s lip started to wobble at the reminder, remembering why he’d been upset.

“I miss Papa,” he whispered, tears welling in his eyes.

“Oh, darling. I’m so sorry,” she said sincerely, bouncing him in her arms. She and Stakar had spoken briefly, and they assumed he was referring to a step-father of sorts; there was no way he was referring to Ego. They assumed the father Peter was looking for had died- hell, maybe Yondu’s crew had even killed him. After kidnapping this child in spite of the banishment, they couldn’t put anything passed him.

Peter glared at her.

“That’s a lie! A’cause you guys took me from him!” Aleta blinked.

“What?” Peter was working himself back up into a tantrum.

“I hate S’akar!” he yelled. “He was mean to my Papa, and now he’s being mean to me! I hate him!” Aleta continued bouncing him, unruffled by his outburst.

“Hush, child. You must be confused,” she said gently. “Stakar saved you. It was Yondu that took you.” Peter began struggling against her grip, tender though it was.

“I’m not confused! S’akar kicked my Papa out for breakin’ the rules, and then he taked me while I was playin’ poker!” He paused in his struggle for a moment. “An’ I think I was winnin’, too,” he added thoughtfully. Aleta took a moment to puzzle through that explanation. Udonta was the only Ravager captain to have been exiled recently…

“Are you trying to say that Yondu Udonta is your ‘Papa’?” Aleta asked him in a measured tone. Peter rolled his eyes (he’d picked that up from Kraglin).

“Duh. He came to pick me up after my Mama died and then he ‘dopted me. Bein’ ‘dopted means he wasn’t my first dad, but he’s my Papa now,” Peter explained to her. Aleta put him down, placing a hand on both of his shoulders to look him in the eye. (When she thought back on the conversation later, she laughed at Peter’s assumption that she wouldn’t know what ‘adopted’ meant.)

“Peter. It’s very important that you tell me the truth. Does your Papa hurt you?” Peter rolled his eyes again.

“No way! My Papa’s the nicest Papa ever.” Peter looked at her seriously. “The only one that hurt me was you guys,” he pointed out, frowning. Aleta closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath.

“Okay, honey. Sit right here and we’ll get you back to your Papa soon, all right?”

“Really?” Peter asked, tone consisting of equal parts excitement and suspicion.

“Really,” she confirmed.

“You promise?” he asked shrewdly.

“Absolutely, I promise,” she affirmed.

“Shake,” he ordered. “If it’s a really real promise, you gotta shake hands.” Aleta covered a smile. He was Yondu’s boy, all right. Obediently, she took his small hand in her own and shook it. Most kids held their hands limply for a handshake, but his grip was firm- yep, definitely Yondu’s kid.

“Stay here a moment, won’t you? I’ll just be a second,” she told him, depositing him on a nearby chair.

She left the mess, closing the door tightly behind her. Peter didn’t need to hear this conversation.

“Stakar, we fucked up,” she said urgently into the comm. “Yondu wasn’t trafficking him- he adopted him! I think... I think he found out about him after the truth about the other two came out. I think he was trying to save him.” Stakar’s voice crackled over the comm.

“Are you serious?” he asked after a pause.

“Stakar, when he was asking after his Papa- he was talking about Yondu.”

“Fuck,” Stakar sighed. “Dammit!”

“We have to bring him back,” Aleta said seriously. “By all accounts, we’re the ones who kidnapped him.”

“We can’t return him to Yondu. Even if he wasn’t trafficking him, a rogue Ravager ship is no place to leave a child. We should leave him with the Nova Corp; they’ll find an orphanage or something.” Aleta frowned.

“Stakar, the kid views Yondu as his father... and from what I’ve seen, I don’t think he’s a bad one.” There was a pause. “I know you’re still mad at him, but I’ve got a little boy in here who’s missing his father. You wanna keep him from that?”

Stakar sighed.

“The adoption might even be legal,” Aleta added.

“Bring the kid here. I’ll hail Yondu,” Stakar said reluctantly.

Ten minutes later, Peter was sat with Aleta and Stakar on the main deck.

“I still don’t like you,” Peter said, narrowing his eyes at Stakar. Stakar snorted.

“That’s fine,” he said placidly.

“When I break rules, my Papa puts me in time-out for four minutes. You put him in time-out forever!” Peter added. “I don’t think you’re a good dad.” Aleta didn’t bother to hide her laughter. When the Six voted, only Aleta and Charlie had voted against Yondu’s banishment. Aleta had made her displeasure with Stakar’s vote clear.

Stakar just rolled his eyes. He began to get a clearer picture of what was going on. Obviously Yondu had poisoned the boy against him, perhaps in case of a situation such as this, or maybe just in relaying his grief at the recent banishment. Although the ‘dad’ part was still confusing.

He motioned for his men to leave the room.

“I don’t think you have a clear picture of the situation, child. It’s a little more complicated than that.” Peter frowned.

“He’s gonna be real angry you took me, you know. I’m real important ‘cause he’s only got one of me.” He paused. “If you’re his dad, does that mean you’re my grandpa? ‘Cause I don’t want you to be my grandpa.” Stakar lowered his face into his hands just as Yondu answered. Yondu spotted Peter on the screen immediately, ignoring Stakar and Aleta for the moment.

“Petey! You doing okay? You hurt?” Yondu asked worriedly. Peter shook his head.

“I’m fine Papa, but your dad’s a jerk.” Yondu winced.

“I tried to tell him, there’s a difference between raising someone and being their parent... He’s on a family kick lately,” Yondu said sheepishly, addressing Stakar for the first time. Aleta gave him a little wave, which he returned with a nod.

“Sounds like he ain’t the only one,” Stakar said evenly. “Where did you pick him up?”

“Look, how’s about we discuss this without my boy around? More like, with him back on my ship.” There was a steel to his tone, one that Stakar hadn’t heard before- at least, not directed at him. This was probably as close to threatening his mentor as Yondu would get.

“Of course,” Stakar said. Another pause. “Would you like to come collect him?” Yondu nodded, swallowing a lump in his throat. He knew it was a big deal for Stakar to allow that. He’d never expected to be invited aboard the Executor again.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m on my way.”

Stakar cleared his crew out hangar bay, so that he and Peter were alone to greet Yondu when he docked on the ship in the Warbird. Aleta stayed behind, sensing that Yondu and Stakar were going to need a minute alone. Peter ran up to him eagerly, and Stakar watched with interest the tender look on Yondu’s face as he scooped the boy in his arms. Where had Yondu learned that? Certainly not from him.

Yondu talked with him a moment and then sent him to sit in the Warbird- but not before handing the child a trinket from his pocket to amuse himself with. Finally, Yondu turned to Stakar. The older man might have been offended at not having been acknowledged before if he hadn’t been so fascinated.

“So. What do you wanna know?”

“Why did you keep him?”

“Called that bastard Ego, asked about the kids after he gave me the third job. I figured once was odd, two was a coincidence, and three was somethin’ shady. He didn’t recognize either of the kid’s names.” Yondu had clearly rehearsed this explanation on his short journey over, but Stakar didn’t doubt it’s validity. “He’d already called me to pick up Peter. I figured if I didn’t, he’d just send someone else to get him. So we took him, and I was gonna drop him on Xandar... only I didn’t.”

“He grew on you,” Stakar guessed. Yondu nodded.

“I know it don’t change anything, but I’m sorry. I was stupid, and greedy, but I never meant for those kids to die.” He sighed. “Thanks for looking out for my boy,” Yondu mumbled, stepping back towards the Warbird.

“Yondu,” Stakar started, his voice filled with emotion, “I take no pleasure in banishing you.”

Yondu jerked his head into a nod. He recognized the statement for what it was- as close as Stakar would get to saying he’d missed him. Stakar couldn’t unbanish them- there’d be too much pushback from the other 99 factions. Not to mention, four of the Six had voted him out. Stakar was the head of the Ravager’s, but he didn’t make decisions like that unilaterally.

“I know,” he said hoarsely. Stakar stepped forward, gripping Yondu’s shoulder tightly. The two of them stood there a moment- this was the closest thing to a hug they’d shared since Yondu was a teenager. After a moment, they stepped away.

“Maybe you and the kid can call sometime,” Stakar said, in a forced casual voice.

“Yeah. Yeah, maybe we can.” Yondu grinned. “He don’t care for you, much.” Stakar grinned back.

“He’s a good kid. You’ve done a good job,” Stakar admitted.

“Well, see you around, old man,” Yondu teased. His words were a little flat, awkward on his tongue, but Stakar was still smiling.

“See you around, son.” And damn it if Yondu wasn’t still riding that high hours later when he put Peter to bed.

“I was scared,” Peter admitted quietly. He felt comfortable voicing his fears now in his little bed with the nightlight shining comfortingly in the corner.

“I was scared too,” Yondu told him honestly. “But you’re safe now. Ain’t nobody gonna take you from me again, got it?” Peter nodded sleepily.

“And if they do, you’ll come for me,” he said drowsily. Yondu nodded.

“I’ll always come for you, son. Always.”