So I've got this Gotg headcanon going about little Peter suffering from nightmares during his time on the Eclector. The boy has slept awfully since his mum's death and after his abduction from Earth, he used to wake up in the middle of the night, completely drenched in sweat and shivering, looking around his dark room in fear. Whenever he had a nightmare back home, Peter just would've run to his mother, slip under her blanket only to get shushed and comforted by her soft voice.
But now things were different and there was no one who could possibly give him that kind of (needed) comfort. In fact, the boy was on a ship full of cold-hearted cruel pirates, who cared about nothing and no one.
Yet, one night, Peter eventually sneaks out of his room, tiptoeing through the ship's empty corridors and comes to halt at the Captain's quarters.
The boy hesitates first but his fear of sleeping alone after that awful nightmare clearly outweighed that so he opened the door with a creak and as quietly as possible slipped into the generous room.
There he finds Yondu, snoring loudly to himself on his large bed, having no clue that the Terran kid just sneaked into his private quarters as he hasn't heard him near at all.
Peter stares a while at the Ravager captain, then a child's dainty hand lands on the Centaurian's rough shoulder, shaking it while a whisper runs over his lips.
"Yondu!"
No reaction.
Peter tries it once again and this time, he hears a grunt, then a pair of red eyes flap open in a sudden. A hand grabs the child's arm (a little bit to hard) and the boy squeals in surprise, making Yondu raise his eyebrow in confusion when he probably expected a threat but not the little Terran almost scaring him to death.
He sighes almost relieved, lets go off the boy's arm and his tensed muscles relax a bit.
"'s jus' ya, boy."
"What the hell ya doin' 'ere in the middle of the night?"
Yondu pierces the child with his look, expecting a good explanation for all of this. No one would dare to wake the captain after all, right?
"I've had a nightmare... and now I can't sleep."
"An'?"
Peter avoids his glance, ashamed, looking to the side and mumbles some words under his breath.
"I uh, can I sleep with you tonight?"
That was when the boy caught Yondu off guard completely. Another confused look and raised eyebrow alongside with a few hisses makes Peter almost regret coming here in the first place.
"What? Ain't'cha too old for this, boy? C'mon, get outta 'ere, kid, 'm tired!"
The Ravager turns his back to the kid, pretending to fall asleep and simply waits for the boy to leave his room again, but then he hears a soft sniffle and a child's whiny voice.
"Please, Yondu..."
He turns around again, seeing, how few tears glistened on Peter's cheeks and another sniffle follows while big green eyes caught the captain's stern gaze. And he told the kid many times not to put on that look on his face, not to whine or cry, because Yondu hated whenever the boy did that and couldn't stand his crying. But there was also this feeling in his chest that he couldn't quite understand even up until that day and should he be damned for it, hell, Yondu somehow just couldn't kick the boy out.
So with a few reluctant grumbles and repressed self-pride, the Centaurian eventually makes a bit of space on the bed and Peter's tears disappeared in a sudden when the little Terran scrambs up to him under the blanket.
"But don't'cha make any noise! If I'm hearin' jus' a single un, I'll kick ya out, ye hear me, boy?!"
Peter curles into a little ball, snuggling into the blanket right beside the hissing Ravager who then hears some further whispered words.
"I won't, I promise."
Odd as it is, Yondu has laid awake for a while now and the sleepiness just seemingly dissolved with the little child pressed tightly against his back so the Centaurian turns, hearing Peter's soft breaths and little hands clenched into the blanket while he whimpers in his sleep.
If he'd stick to his words before, now would be the moment to bring the kid back to his bed because Peter actually broke his promise to stay quiet all night. But Ravagers don't make promises anyway and if they did, they'd surely break them, don't they?
Boy better learns t' stop making promises he can't keep.
And that sure has nothing to do with the little Terran crying in his sleep nor Yondu's hand carefully pulling the kid a little bit closer to him or that warm feeling rising in his chest when the boy snuggled into his arms.
No, not at all.
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