Who: Peter Quill, Anakin, Yondu When: January Where: Yondu’s House What: Peter got into the box of robots Anakin dropped off...it did not go well Rating/Warnings: Low, a few swears Status: Complete
“PETER QUILL WHAT IN THE HELL DID YOU DO?!” Came Yondu's gravelly bellow from clear across the house. Standing in the spare bedroom that currently served as storage, he had his hands on his hips as he towered over the cardboard box with Anakin's note on it, scowling. He didn't know the kid had dropped it off, let alone when, and it was clear upon opening it Peter had gotten his paws on whatever had been inside. What was left were a few spindly legs and two electronic googly eyeballs. It would have been creepy to mostly anyone coming upon the scene - but Yondu didn't get scared easy. Plus he knew Anakin had been building some sort of silly looking security system using those eyes. “GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE, BOY!” The dog came instead, looking at him questioningly, tail waving back and forth with uncertainty about if he was in trouble or not. “Not you, Kraglin.” Yondu muttered, ruffling the mutt's head.
Said boy was in the process of napping, since he had sweet eff all to do. His days comprised mainly of eating, sleeping, bathing (occasionally) and playing on the internet. Yondu’s yell pierced through his slumber causing Peter to jolt on the couch, and subsequently roll off. “Ow,” he said to himself, rubbing his head. With bleary eyes, he looked around the living room confused, trying to figure out what had woken him up. When he heard the second yell, he pieced it together.
“What’d I do now,” he yelled back just as loud. Walking heavily into the spare bedroom, he frowned, his hair standing up in all directions as he squinted at Yondu. Obviously Peter had done something in the spare room but what? He scanned the room, trying to put it all together until he saw the box. “Oh shit,” he said with a little laugh. “I forgot all about that. Millenial kid, Anakin, he showed up a few weeks ago. Last week. Two days ago? I don’t know, I’ve lost track of time. Anyways, there were these robots in there and I meant to tell you but I broke one and then broke a few more and then I made a killer dinosaur.” Peter pointed to the closet. “It’s over there. Can’t do much more than be an alarm, but that was fun. I totally forgot to tell you. Sorry. Can I go back to sleep now? It’s exhausting being a bum.”
Yondu worked his jaw, fuming. It took all his energy not to call his Yaka arrow on the yawning man-child standing next to him.
“Dammit Peter. We been over this. You don’t touch my stuff. It’s that simple. Someone brings a box over, you don’t touch it! It ain’t none of your damn business!” His voice ended in a roar of anger. He pinched his brow and pulled out his smartphone, dialing Anakin. While it rang he went over to the closet to see what the heck kind of Frankenstein beast Peter had made. Opening the door, a metallic thing vaguely resembling a T-Rex tumbled out with some other junk, sounding off as it hit the floor with an irritating, piercing sound. Kraglin howled. Yondu covered his other ear with his hand and kicked the dinosaur, trying to make it stop. “I’M. GOING. TO. KILL. YOU.” He said angrily with every kick, the words meant for Peter.
No stranger to Yondu’s anger, Peter watched dispassionately as his litttle dinosaur friend was destroyed. He almost waved goodbye, but he didnt feel like having his ribs broken. Instead, he waited a beat before swooping in and turning the sound off. “I was really hoping for a more Cat Stevens kind of roar,” he said with a sigh. “Back to the drawing board i guess…..and for the record? Your friend opened his own damn box and showed me his creepy robot things. I only snooped after it was open.”
Anakin was home by the time Yondu called, and he was elbow deep in one of his many projects. This one involved welding so his phone was safely across the room. But, he’d been smart enough to link his noise canceling headphones to his phone. Both safe and practical.
When the sound of Yondu’s call cut through and cancelled the music he was listening to, he stopped the torch and retrieved his phone. Yondu’s face accompanied the words “Yondu – Angry Alien” flashed across the screen.
Yondu?
Anakin wasn’t the best at gauging the passage of time, thanks to his ADHD, so it took him a moment to remember that he’d dropped the box off a week ago. But something about that stretch of time… Oh, that was way too much time for Yondu to take to give him a critique of the robots.
He lifted the rim of his visor and hit the face to face option.
He went straight into the conversation. “Is there anything left in the box?”
Yondu was only briefly startled that it was a video call - his indication being the volume was suddenly on speaker. Pulling the phone from his ear he frowned at Anakin. “The hell do you think?” He growled and turned it so Anakin could see the carnage. “The pup over here got into the box and decided to play Transformers or some shit.” And he panned it over to show the recently stomped dinosaur thing.
Anakin snorted in amusement at first Yondu’s anger and then next at Peter’s form in the background. It made him really want to know what power Peter’s mother had over Yondu.
When he saw the franken-rex he busted out laughing. He wasn’t mad, he could make more.
“Transformers turn into cars,” he pointed out.
“I don't care if they turn into a dang space ship. Peter shouldn't have touched 'em.” He couldn't understand why Anakin wasn't upset at his work being destroyed. Yondu was just irritated he hadn't even had a chance to see what the little things were going to look like. “Can you fix this?”
Peter was only slightly offended that he wasn't being asked to fix it, conveniently forgetting that it was mostly (okay all) his fault that it broke in the first place.
"Can I watch?," he asked Anakin, ignoring Yondu. "It was pretty damn cool even though I really have no idea what half that shit was for. I mean, that little doo hickey? That was connected to the shiny blinky thing? I figured it worked for the googly thinjamabob but i'm still confused about the whatsit."
Things could always be remade. Growing up, how many motocross and motoGP bikes had he cobbled together from broken parts only to crash them to bits again. These were just things. And when you started with junk in the first place, it was easy to watch it return to its primal state.
He shrugged. “Maybe.” He wouldn’t be able to tell unless he was closer to the Dinobot. “But I have a few more that I hadn’t finished before that I can bring over. Do… you want me to come over now?”
“Yeah. It'd be appreciated.” He glared scoldingly over his shoulder at Peter.
Anakin ended the call and pulled off his safety equipment. But from there, he was quick about gathering up his tools, the remaining robot prototypes, and a fidget spinner for Peter.
The Uber ride took longer than he would have liked, but Yondu would just have to accept it.
When he reached Yondu’s place, he had the fidget spinner out and was playing with it. It really did help him with his right, metal hand. Even though he’d had that arm for a few months now, it wasn’t like getting his real arm back.
He knocked, and waited for the angry alien to let him inside so he could show him some robots. Just another day in the OC.
For the life of him Yondu couldn't figure out how or why the kid who knew how to put his spaceship together didn't have or drive his own car. Figuring the longer than usual wait was because of Uber he busied himself with gathering the dinobot and box and setting them in the living room for his arrival, feeding Kraglin and making Peter walk him, and cracking open a beer while watching a random sports game on TV.
When the knock finally came he got up and got the door, shushing Kraglin's barks.
“Bout time. You walk here?” He snarked. But there was a friendly undertone to it. He had taken a shining to Anakin, the kid reminding him to some degree of Peter - mostly with regards to sass and his uncanny ability with technology. But Anakin was a hard worker whereas Peter was….Peter.
Kraglin nosed at Anakin, sensing the robots. Yondu noticed the fidget spinner and frowned. “Damn, thought I'd seen the last of those ridiculous things.” Nevermind the fact he had one or two stashed away on his spaceship. His pension for oddities from the dreams had clearly crossed over.
“No,” Anakin said without a flinch, “But I did wonder if I should try levitating over. If I can do it with objects, the same principle should apply to my own body.” After he said it, and heard himself say it, he realized now was not the time to express the musings of his wandering mind.
The truth about his lack of a car centered around his missing right arm. He’d need a modified car and that involved the sign-off of so many doctors and therapists that he just kept putting it off. If anyone asked him, he’d answer truthfully.
“So…” he glanced around the room. “Where’s the franken-bot Peter made? And… Where’s Peter?”
“Right here, on both accounts.” Peter walked up behind Anakin and gave a little cheers motion. After walking Kraglin, Peter had returned to see Yondu watching television. Again. It was a good distraction to head into the spare room and tinker with his little dino-bot. It was the first thing he'd tinkered with since getting out, and Peter didn't care what Yondu thought -- he was pretty damn proud of himself, "Nice fidget spinner, by the way. I bet we could add it to li'l Rex's tail, get him airborne or something."
“Not exactly how aerodynamics works. It’ll need tilted airfoils, length cut at a ratio of the aircraft gross weight divided by the swept area of the rotor disc.” He gave a guesstimate by first glancing at the dinobot, then holding the spinner in one hand he spanned a distance with the finger of his other hand.
“It could make a good hub for the rotor system.” He handed the fidget spinner over.
And then he turned to Yondu. “Your toys are in this box.” A box which contained six functional prototypes he’d tried to drop off early. “The remote works the same way.”
Yondu raised an eyebrow at Anakin’s mention of levitating himself and tried not to laugh at the mental image. “Right.” He smirked, the crows feet at the edges of his eyes wrinkling with amusement. He took the box, the technobabble Anakin started spouting at Peter going right over his head and said, “Considerin’ I never saw what the damn things looked like to begin with, you might wanna give me the five cent tour.” Peter had gotten to them before Yondu knew they existed, and he saw that AGAIN, the kid had gone into the box when he wasn’t looking to tinker with it as Peter now had the robot in his hands. Yondu worked his jaw; even Kraglin was better behaved.
Anakin nodded and fished into the box for the device that controlled the robots. It wasn’t a sleek design, Anakin was just going for efficiency and quick for demonstrations.
He pointed at the green square on the touch screen. “This one turns them on.” He pointed at another square, yellow. He hadn’t included a description of that in his note because he was sure Yondu would call him before exploring the other buttons. “This one brings them back to where the device is.” And finally he pointed at the red button. “This one turns them off.”
He handed the device over to Yondu. “The data they compile will show up on the screen above the three buttons. Just so you know they are working.”
For the first time that day, Peter was feeling like the petulant child he was acting like. It almost felt like an 'the adults are talking' conversation, which made him want to roll his eyes along with doing something for attention.
"That's so cool," was all he could think of to say. "And totally wasted on this ancient guy. You're going to need like a step by step guide with pictures, audio and maybe a support pet. I vote pig. They can be trained to do all sorts of things."
Yondu’s brow furrowed and his eyes narrowed, a growl starting in the depths of his throat. Kraglin, picking up on his owner’s mood, stood rigid and stared at Peter, ready to growl himself. “How about I train you to shut your pie hole for ten seconds?” He set the box down and took the remote from Anakin to give it a shot. Pressing the green button he waited to see what would happen.
The six robots in the box climbing out on spindly legs, eyes wide to analyze the world was expected. There was nothing like the disappointment of testing your product in front of a client and the system to fail.
Anakin called this a win.
But the clicking noises that also started coming from the dinobot that turned rapidly to smoke and then actual flames was a startling surprise.
“Oh! Shit!”
The six robots spread out, doing their thing, not giving in to panic because they were robots.
“Do you have a fire extinguisher?” Anakin exclaimed.
For all his faults, one thing Peter was good at was reacting quickly. When his dino-bot lit up, he ran for the kitchen, pulling out a dusty fire extinguisher.
Spraying it's contents over the twitching robot, he emptied it freely and happily, only looking at the room afterwards with a wry grin.
"I've always wanted to do that," he explained to everyone. "That was pretty neat. Think I could be a fireman? I look pretty good with my shirt off too."
When the googly eye robots came crawling out of the box Yondu started to grin. Damn those things were weird. He loved it. And he opened his mouth to congratulate Anakin when suddenly the dino robot decided to catch fire. There was yelling, Kraglin barking, scrambling, and he could barely get out a “Peter!” before the young man had disappeared into the kitchen. Worried he'd gotten burned, Yondu rushed to the kitchen only to see it half covered in extinguisher foam - and Peter standing there grinning like an idiot.
He sighed, closing his eyes briefly in relief. The kid was okay.
His kitchen was another story.
Yondu fought himself to keep from yelling, struggling for words and pointing at Peter with a frustrated expression. “Clean this up. And…Anakin you still want that?” He pointed to the blackened, foam covered mess on the floor.
Peter rolled his eyes. First he had to put out the fire, and now he had to clean the mess? Frick, he really was a Dicken’s orphan. “As long as I get my porridge at the end of this,” he mumbled, heading to the storage closet to get cleaning supplies. At least he learned how to clean everything when in prison. Everything. He’d never realized how many fluids came out of a human body until he went there. And damnit if everything doesn’t stain. “Or maybe if I sing, I’ll get some woodland creatures out here to help me,” he called from the hallway. “ Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match...find me a find...catch me a catch…”
“I think… that song summons old, gossipy women,” Anakin observed, returning to a state of unperturbed observation. “Try Once Upon a Dream.”
He looked at the foamy wreck. “Peter, you can keep the dinobot,” Anakin said. “But if you want to fix it up and make it work, you can bring it over to my place.”
He then pulled out his phone and pulled of the notes app, turning to Yondu. “Thoughts about the Ambulatory Diagnostic System 2.0?”
“Literally do not want to know how or why either of y'all know those songs.” Yondu drawled dryly. He and Anakin moved back into the living room to where the spindly bots were still exploring, one on the table, one halfway up a wall, another climbed off from its perch on a chair and started approaching Yondu curiously. He frowned and backed up, only for it to follow. He stood still, slowly knelt, and held out a hand for it to climb into. The spider like bot gingerly stepped onto his hand and examined it and Yondu's face with a big, wondering eye.
“Rocket would take this thing apart and turn it into some sort of weapon in a heartbeat.” He mused aloud with a chuckle. “Crazy rat.” He poked an inquisitive finger at the robot. “Things are almost cute. Seem useful enough. Assumin’ they stream video and whatnot? But we ain't callin’ it that long ass name. Need somethin'...catchy.”
Anakin rolled his eyes, and mumbled something about Americans. The name was perfectly adequate for the purpose the robot’s played. They were ambulatory, and they were part of the greater diagnostic system of Yondu’s ship. Thus, it was quite descriptive. But Anakin didn’t object, he just shook his head.
“You can name them whatever you want.”
He handed the remote to Yondu. It had a small display that could be broken down to show the six individual robot’s feeds or made to show one at a time that a user could swipe thorugh.
“They can be set to focus on the visible light spectrum, infrared, or focus on other electromagnetic wave ranges. They can also record sound. You can use them purely for safety purposes or for diagnostic purposes because they can be build small enough to get into cramped spaces on your, uh, ship.”
He defaulted to just ship because clearly Yondu hadn’t burst Peter’s bubble.
“You tell me what you want them to do, and I’ll see if I can make it for them.”
Yondu was impressed. It might not be abundantly clear as he often kept that reaction close to the vest, but he really was. “This size seems good for now. Maybe a few smaller ones for the more tricky areas, like the...engines.” Using the more complicated term for his space ship's technology would tip Peter off they weren't talking about something that floated on water.
“How about some that can do basic repairs? It's not like I got a crew right now.” Man he missed his crew. They were a band of idiots but they were his idiots.
Yondu noticed that Peter had gone quiet. “You still breathin’? Cuz I don't hear no cleanin'.” He smirked despite the gruff question and poked his head into the kitchen. “Kid. Got a name for these buggers?” He held out the one that was still perched on his hand.
Peter was quiet because he was eating a sandwich. In his defense, he’d scrubbed at the mess on the floor and had to get clean water. While waiting, he decided he was hungry, and helped himself to what was in the fridge. When Yondu peeked his head in, Peter gave him a wide-eyed stare, mid-chew, as if he totally had forgotten for a moment that Yondu existed. “I vote for Spider-Bot because that basically says everything you need there.” The silence he received in return made him wolf down the rest of his sandwich before grabbing the bucket again, heading back to the mess. Cleaning before eating, them were the rules in this horrible orphanage. And for once, Peter had no sass -- after all, his mouth was full and he did have some manners.
Anakin did not like that name. But he had plenty of avenues of creative out-put at work, and he got to nickname projects and parts of projects all the time.
“Software with interactive protocols, like doing repairs, will take some time to design and put into use. Along with designing physical parts to do the repairs. But,” he shrugged, typing on his phone, “I’ll work on it and let you know.” Strictly speaking, he knew how to do it, thanks to his Dream Self’s experiences, the biggest hurdle was living on non-futuristic Earth where individual components had to be made by himself. He kept quiet on that, though. Peter might know about his arm, but talking about futuristic robotics might be skating too close to the OC Truth that Yondu was keeping from the other man.
“I’ll contact you directly next time,” he said, putting his phone away. “You guys can keep these to play with. I don’t need them back. Have fun Peter.”
In all truth, Peter liked Anakin and he liked pissing Yondu off so this was perfect. He'd fix his Dino-bot yet.
Peter stopped scrubbing the floor long enough to wave and grin, sitting back on his heels. "Y'all come back now, ya here? Plus for real, I do wanna see you put one of these together. It's like.. right on the tip of my brain, these things and it's driving me bonkers. Maybe if I see you in action, it'll trigger something. Cool? Cool."
And now there was still another scorched piece of carpet to clean. Sigh. At this rate, he was never going to make it to the ball.