Guardians of the Galaxy One-shots and Preferences

The Hero Behind the Curtain Part 3

Final part of this little one-shot mini-series. Enjoy.

-----------Back on the Ship-------------

"What did you say to Brogen about (y/n)?" Gamora questions Peter back on the ship shortly after they completed their job, "What were your exact words?"

"I am Groot?" Groot inquires of Drax and Rocket. "I believe Quill may have done something most befitting the imbecile that he is," Drax answers. "Couldn't have said it better myself," Rocket adds.

"I didn't say anything," Peter says all defense like, "I mean...nothing the guy could put on the record anyway cause it I definitely told him it was completely off the record." "Really? Completely off the record?" Gamora asks a little annoyed.

"Well..." Peter starts to experience another flashback to his night of old school drinking with Brogen, "Oh...maybe not completely." "Peter!" "Hey the guy got me drunk, you can't pin this all on me!" Peter exasperates.
"Okay, so what was it that you were saying to Brogen last night, Quill?" Rocket questions in, "And how exactly does it pertain to (y/n)?"

"Okay okay," Peter decides to fess up on that part, "Look, you know I'm fond of (y/n), I really am. But...she can be a uptight when it comes to planning out missions and such. And I may have mentioned that to Brogen in a kinda sorta way that maybe doesn't paint her in a such a good light."
"Oh Quill, why?" Drax shakes his head in disappointment, "Why would you do that to one of our own?"

"Look, I know I screwed up," Peter admits, "I shouldn't have said what I said, but I'm gonna fix this. I'm gonna talk to Brogen today before he publishes that article and nobody else will be none the wiser. (y/n) will never know about it."
"What won't I know about what?" you ask, getting the Guardians' attention. "Uh," Peter begins, "I just wanted to make sure we finalized some things with Brogen in the final editing before publication." "And you didn't want to know about this because...?" "I wanted it to be a surprise," Peter offers for an explanation, albeit a lame one which made Rocket shake his head.

"I think you might actually still be drunk from your old school binge drinking last night, Quill," you say, "You may want to avoid any kind of alcohol the next few days...or weeks."
Seeing you bought his story, Peter rushed out of the ship to set up a meeting with Brogen.

--------Sometime later-------------

"You did what?!" you shout at Peter.

The man in question did do as he said he would and met up with the journalist at a local bathhouse. The meeting didn't quite go so well and resulted in Peter punching Brogen in jawline, knocking the guy into the bath.

"Okay, I know it looks bad," Peter says, "Admittedly I could've handled things better, but something needed to be done. I had no choice but to resort to drastic measures." "You have an idea how bad this going to look for us?" you point out, "I may not be fond of the guy, but that man has the power to knock us down a peg when it comes to our reputation as galactic heroes. How many job you think we're going to be taking once word gets out about what you did?"

"I'm sorry," Peter tells you, "But I gotta be honest (y/n/n)...I do not regret what I did."
You shake your head in disappointment, "you're a bigger idiot then I ever could've imagined, Quill."

-----time skip-----------------

"Hey," Gamora knocks on the door to your quarters, "Got word back from the local authorities about the pirates we rounded up. They'll be transferring our payment soon." "Good," you say, "We'll have to make it last since Peter screwed up the article thing." "What do you mean?" Gamora asks.
"Well, apparently in his effort to make things better, he made things worse by assaulting Brogen," you explain.

"Well...the douche kinda had it coming," Gamora points out. "What do you mean?" you frown, feeling confused. "Oh...Peter didn't tell you," Gamora realized. "What didn't Peter tell me?" "Nothing," Gamora brushes it off, "If he didn't say anything, it's probably for a good reason." "Gamora," you coax, "I thought you wouldn't be one to keep secrets from me."

"Okay fine, I guess I'll tell you," Gamora concedes, "So Peter went to the bathhouse to speak to Brogen..."

And Gamora proceeded to tell you about how Peter tried to get Brogen to back off about any things he might have said about you. The journalist in question was going to do so, which Peter was initially grateful for, but then he referred to you by an unfortunate lesbian slur when he told Peter he didn't need to stick up for you.

That was when Peter, who was wishing very deeply Brogen didn't say such a thing, punched the man across the jawline.

After hearing this story, you were actually pretty impressed to say the least. Growing up, you didn't really have many people sticking up for you, even less so when you came out. Now Peter may be your biggest fan, and the two of you had your ups and downs as teammates, but have the guy defend you like that was pretty touching.

"Thank you for that Gamora," you nod, "We should get some rest. Who knows what tomorrow will bring us."

--------the Next Day-------------------

"So, did the article get published yet?" Rocket inquires the next morning.

"Oh yeah," Peter confirms, a knowing look on his face.
"How bad is it?" Gamora asks. "Uh...it's actually not as bad or slanderous as I thought," Peter admits, "but I suspect any jobs we do answer the next few months will be met with laughs of mockery or something along those lines."

"I'm sorry that Brogen wasn't the guy you thought he was," Gamora says, being sincere in her apology. "Oh don't be," Peter answers, "Mother always said never meet your heroes. No matter how badly you want never look behind the curtain. You'll end up being disappointed."

"I am Groot," Groot offers for comfort. 

"Eh, I'll be fine," Peter shrugs taking his book by Brogen about the galactic squad, "Guess I'm done with this book...indefinitely." He tosses the book into the trash can.
"Not good enough," Gamora shakes her head, "You need to go further then that."
"How much further can we go?" Peter asks.

"Ooh I can always take a dump on it and leave it near the ship's radiator," Rocket suggests. "Uh, that is too far. Definitely way too far," Peter grimaces, "I have a better idea."

Gathering you and the rest of the Guardians together, Peter placed the book at a considerable distance and let Rocket take a missile launcher and fire it at the book which exploded into burnt pages.