#itsmntis

there was a sort of permanence to things that rocket wasn’t accustomed to.

how sad was it that he struggled with the same thing that babies did? those little idiots would get surprised when someone moved their hands to make a stupid face at them. they would react like the world had started spinning off its axis just because something that wasn’t there a second ago, was suddenly there. babies were losers.

but rocket was the same way. after escaping the high evolutionary he convinced himself that people weren’t ever going to stick around. that way, they could come and go and he wouldn’t be surprised. he wouldn’t be hurt. he wouldn’t be left to the mercy of his pain and rage. death wouldn’t be able to shock him into cries of despair as he stood over his lifeless friend’s body ever again.

it couldn’t. because he wouldn’t let it. because permanence wasn’t real.

the guardians changed all that. it wasn’t a quick shift, though. rocket wasn’t like clay, soft and malleable. he was like stone, tough and cracked but still holding strong. the guardians chipped away at him with chisels, managing to open him up little by little over the years. the process hurt. they didn’t mean to cause him any pain, he knew that. but every attempt to crack him open got closer and closer to things he had buried away— the soft center underneath the scars. it terrified him.

the guardians taught him that permanence was real. even after most of them disappeared in a cloud of dust when thanos snapped his fingers, they came back. gamora died and somehow even she was back.

they saved his life and being away from them was harder than he was willing to admit. converging on earth was a necessity but the truth was that rocket didn’t need an excuse to meet up with his friends. his family.

seeing mantis again, standing on his ship, almost made him giggle from joy. once he knew they were both on-world he reached out as soon as he could and invited her to stop by.