girlofprey: (R for raygun)
[personal profile] girlofprey
That fic I was talking about.

Title: People Management
Fandom: Guardians of the Galaxy (movieverse)
Pairing: Peter + Yondu
Warnings: Mentions of underage stuff, grooming, violence.
Disclaimer: I don't own them and am not making any money off them.
Summary: Yondu is a good Captain (pre-movie, when Peter's about 13/14)

He heard it like he heard most things: by listening. It had never failed to pay off for him when it came to knowing if trouble was brewing, and he was never quite sure how many of his crew even considered that he might do it.

“I’m telling you, he didn’t know shit.

The voice was low, but excited. Yondu pricked up his ears immediately. He never did like secrets on his ship.

“Not at all? How long’s he even been living with us?”

He was pretty sure the second voice was Jakoce, out doing maintenance in the hallway. He sounded amused but more laid-back than his companion. On the edge of ‘uninterested’.

“No-one’s ever shown him the ropes before, obviously. It’s a real shame, I thought we were all supposed to look out for each other?”

“You looked out for him, though?”

“Surely did. I’d say it’s about time. When do Terrans finish growing anyways?”

Quill, then. He seemed to be a sticking point for a lot of the crew.

“I don’t know, who knows shit about Terrans?”

“Well, I know what their junk looks like now. Damn near frightened him half to death when I caught him. It’s pretty weird, down there but the same basic principles. I gave him a few, y’know. Pointers.”

“He let you?”

“’Course! Who doesn’t want to know how to do that better? When the urge strikes…and it’s striking. How is it with Terrans, anyway? They go into heat or what?”

“What’d I just say? I don’t know. Go ask the doc if you’re that interested.”

“Oh I’m interested. He’s turning out pretty, haven’t you noticed? Don’t come crying to me when I get first pop at him.”

“You think he’ll go for you?”

“Sure. I helped him out, didn’t I? I’m sure he’ll let me show him a few other things.”

“Best not let the Captain hear you say that.”

“Why? Kid’s just another one of the crew, isn’t he? We get to mess around with each other.”

“When we want to.”

“He’ll want to. I’ll show him he wants to. I’ll be good to him, don’t worry.”

There was a pause in the conversation, which so far was the only bit of it Yondu liked.

“I don’t know,” Jakoce finally said. There was a touch of unease in his voice now. “He’s young still. And he’s crew.”

“Boy has to grow up sometime.”

The conversation went quiet after that, despite a few half-hearted attempts to get it going again. Eventually he heard the clunk of boots – which he was sure now belonged to Uitha – pounding away down the hallway.

Yondu tapped his fingers on the console in front of him. The arrow vibrated under his coat, but he ignored it. He just tapped his fingers and stared at the wall.

* * *

It was pretty straightforward, really. A quick supply-run to a barely inhabited planet, an order for Uitha to accompany him as they picked through some nearby ruins, looking for anything that might be valuable. Uitha didn’t even complain about doing a junker’s job. Just one of the many joys of being Captain.

Then, as they were walking back along a ravine, a sharp whistle and his arrow went straight through Uitha’s throat, at the exact right moment for his body to collapse gracefully off the edge of the cliff. It meant he lost Uitha’s uniform and weapon of course, but sometimes you have to operate at a loss.

When he got back to the ship they asked where Uitha was, naturally.

“Damn fool fell off a cliff,” he replied, not even stopping to look at them. “Man was a liability. I’m not wasting time giving him a funeral.”

The crew glanced at each other, but they didn’t say anything more. Just got back on with loading the supplies. Yondu didn’t miss the flash of relief in one young Peter Quill’s eyes though, before the boy shook himself and got on with his job. He also didn’t miss Jakoce staring at him from across the hangar.

Yondu locked gazes with him hard, and for a moment he could almost believe that his message about how the note of unease in Jakoce’s voice was all that had kept him alive had somehow gotten through. One way or another, Jakoce nodded very slightly, and Yondu knew he’d be making it clear to the rest of them that they only messed about with each other when they wanted to. They had a code, after all.

A Captain had to look out for his crew.
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