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Peter Quill had become quite the cook since he moved back to Earth.
He’d originally thought that cooking was boring, as much as he loved food. Eating the finished product was always much more enjoyable than the process of making it. But once he'd started learning as part of Operation: Learn to Swim, he'd discovered after a rough start that cooking was actually pretty cool. It was like alchemy! But with food! And utensils!
Most of all, he was partial to baking. He'd always had a sweet tooth so what could be better than making treats catered specifically to yourself? He didn't even care that it had caused him to gain some weight (if anyone insulted him because of it, Nebula would abuse her leaderly powers juuuust a little bit to make sure they didn't do it again).
By the time he left Earth to move back to Knowhere after coming to terms with the fact that Earth just didn't suit him anymore, he thought himself a master of the craft.
And when he made his friends some of his baked goods, they agreed.
So of course, now he had to bake for them every time they got together.
He acted like it was an annoyance, but really he loved it, especially once he and Nebula moved into a bigger apartment together that had room for a proper kitchen. Getting all the Guardians- new and old- into the same room was harder these days, so they had to make an event out of it whenever it happened.
And thankfully, even five years after he'd moved back, his friends still liked his blueberry muffins.
Which is why Peter was currently making a batch, humming along to a Jamiroquai song playing through his phone as he scooped out blueberry-filled batter from a bowl onto a baking tray lined with muffin cases.
Peter stopped humming mid-verse when fast-approaching giggling stole his attention away.
He smiled. Of course, his cooking abilities were far from the biggest change there had been around here.
“Whoa, slow down Meredith. Where's the fire?”
The four-year-old girl rounded the corner, skidded into the kitchen, pulled open the cupboard under the sink and smushed herself inside among the pots and pans. She began shutting the door, but before she did, she peered up at Peter, putting a finger to her lips. “Shush!” she hissed, then closed the door with a little slam.
A moment later, Nebula entered the kitchen too, a little out of breath. At first Peter was worried that Meredith had done something wrong and Nebula was looking to scold her, but when he noticed that his partner had a slight smirk on her face, he realized this was just a game.
“Where’d she go?” Nebula asked, and right as Peter was about to say that there was no way he was telling her (that would be cheating!) muffled giggles were heard coming from the cupboard.
They both looked at the cupboard for a moment, then at each other. Peter raised his eyebrows at her as if to say “there’s your answer”, and then went back to scooping batter, filling the last of the muffin cases.
Behind him, Nebula began to move across the room, slowly. “I know you’re in here,” she declared. Her voice was low and sinister, and she was making a show out of dragging her metal fingers along the countertop as she walked. “You can’t hide forever, Meredith Quill. Sooner or later I’ll find you, and then it’s the end of the line.”
As adorable as it was to see Nebula playing with their daughter, he was worried that her villainous performance might be a little too realistic and would frighten Meredith. But no, the little girl continued to let out giggles that Nebula pretended not to hear. Peter looked over his shoulder to watch Nebula playing at being a silly, pretend bad guy. Honestly, he’d never really been able to take Nebula seriously as a bad guy even back when she was actively trying to kill him and the other Guardians. She just hadn’t been very good at it.
This suits her way more, he thought, smiling adoringly at her as she stood in front of the sink cabinet and let out a fake grumble of defeat, rapping her cybernetic fingertips against the cupboard door.
“Peter,” she said with a dramatic sigh, “I think she got away.”
He, of course, joined in. “Well dang,” he pouted, folding his arms and leaning against the countertop. “Now I’ve got one less person to help me eat all these muffins.”
“And Aunt Mantis will be sad when she shows up with her present and she has no one to give it to,” added Nebula, pacing across the room and feigning frustration.
A tiny gasp came from the cupboard.
Peter tried not to break character, but it was hard not to laugh at his daughter’s reaction. “I guess I’ll just tell her to give it to Uncle Drax-”
“Nooooo!” Meredith barreled out of the cupboard, yelling bombastically and causing a couple of pots to tumble out with her, clanging on the floor. She leapt to her feet, stumbling a little, and pointed accusatorily at her parents. “You can't give away my stuff! That's BS!”
Nebula cringed. She'd been trying to get Meredith to curse less. It was a big source of shame for her that her child had picked up the habit in the first place. Peter personally didn't get what the big deal was; Merry was going to learn how to curse eventually what with how frequently everyone in their weird little family did it, so he didn't really care. But it mattered to Nebula and Peter didn't want to belittle that.
“Merry. What did I tell you about saying bad words?”
Meredith crossed her arms. “You said I could use the letters ones."
“You did say that,” Peter teased Nebula. She frowned at him; it got on her nerves when he and Meredith ganged up on her, but he couldn’t help it. In his (admittedly very biased) opinion, his daughter was the sweetest kid in the entire galaxy and it made him happy to see her get her way. Finally, Nebula sighed and rolled her eyes.
“I did say that,” she admitted, and Meredith snickered. She liked winning arguments just as much as her mother did. Nebula lowered herself so she was at eye-level with the little blue girl. “How about we make a deal? You don’t swear in front of your aunts and uncles tonight, and tomorrow we’ll go to the market and you can pick out a new plushie?”
Meredith gasped with glee, her big blue eyes practically sparkling, and she nodded so enthusiastically that Peter worried she’d give herself a headrush.
“You sure about that?” he asked, thinking about the pile of stuffed animals Meredith had in her room. It was big enough for her to bury herself in them. She had more than enough but she loved collecting them. “Don’t you think you have enough toys?”
The girl looked up at him. “No,” she answered, plain and simple, and Peter couldn’t fault her for that. He’d probably been the same way when he was four, confident that he could convince his mom to rent every single movie they had at Blockbuster.
“Welp,” he bent down and scooped Meredith up into his arms, “guess we’re going to the market tomorrow, then. Maybe I’ll buy that dune buggy at the scrap shop?” As much as he’d like to renovate that thing, he wasn’t sure when he’d even use it. It wasn’t like Knowhere had many roads.
“That would cost a looooot of units, daddy. Like a hundred!” Meredith raised a good point there too, even if she’d guessed way lower than what the actual price was. Although, to be fair, one-hundred was probably the biggest number she knew.
He nodded, bouncing her idly in his arms. “Hmm… you’re right. Maybe I could trade something for it? Something like… a little girl!”
Meredith squealed in delight as Peter blew a raspberry on her cheek, wriggling in his grasp.
“We would never actually do that!” Nebula raised her voice over their daughter’s laughter. Peter stopped blowing raspberries and looked at his partner. His heart sank at her tense expression. Meredith was looking at her mother too, confused as to why she sounded so serious. The Luphomoid gave Peter an apologetic glance and moved closer, affectionately brushing some of Merry’s messy, dark chestnut hair out of her face. “We would never sell you, honey.”
Peter didn’t have the heart to tell Nebula that she didn’t need to clarify that. She likely already knew. But knowing what her own childhood had been like, he couldn’t exactly blame her for wanting to make sure Meredith understood how loved she was by her parents.
Their daughter didn’t quite know what to make of the sudden tone shift. She was too young to be told about why Nebula looked the way she did. One day when she was older she'd find out, but right now it didn't make a difference in Meredith's little world that her mom had robotic parts. “Mommy, you’re silly. I know daddy would never get rid of me.”
Hearing it from Merry seemed to put Nebula’s mind at ease better than Peter could anyway. Judging by her softening features, she had realized how irrational she’d been feeling over his joke.
“It’s true, Merry. I wouldn’t.” he said anyway, just to hammer it home. Nebula beamed at him. Even all these years later, receiving a genuine smile from Nebula made Peter’s chest fill with warmth.
“No he wouldn’t,” she leaned over to Peter and kissed him lovingly.
When they parted, Meredith hugged them both around their necks. “Can I have kisses, too?”
“Of course you can, Blueberry,” Peter nuzzled then smooched his daughter on the cheek. At the same time, Nebula kissed her other cheek, and the girl burst into giggles again.
“Daddy, your beard is tickly!” she tried to push Peter's face away with her tiny arms, which only made him nuzzle her harder.
“Okay, that's enough. You'll give her hiccups,” Nebula took hold of the girl and Peter transferred her over. Nebula was still cautious of holding Meredith with her prosthetic (when Meredith was a baby, Nebula had actually kept her prosthetic arm detached from her unless she really needed it out of fear of accidentally hurting her) so she had mastered the art of carrying her with one arm. Merry clung on extra tight to her mom.
A knock at the door stole their attention away.
“Oh shoot, they’re here! Gotta get these in the oven,” Peter quickly opened up the oven and shoved the tray inside. Technology on Knowhere was an eclectic mix of high tech and primitive- it felt like there was no middle ground around here. This oven fell into the latter category, so those muffins would be in there for a while. “Wanna lick the spoon, Merry?”
Meredith nodded and reached for the spoon when Peter passed it to her, gleefully licking the batter off it. He couldn’t blame her. Muffin batter was fuckin’ delicious and he used to lick it all off the spoon himself whenever he baked before Meredith came along. But seeing his daughter happy made his noble sacrifice worth it.
“Peter, you get the door. I’ll brush Meredith’s hair so she’s presentable,” said Nebula. Meredith had inherited her father’s messy curls. It felt like no matter how much it was brushed, it would end up sticking out in every which way before long.
“None of them will care, sweetheart,” insisted Peter, making his way to the door in the living room. “We’ll be lucky if Drax bothered putting on a shirt. It’s not like we’re hosting a charity ball.”
Nebula headed off towards Meredith’s room anyway, and Peter chuckled as he heard the girl ask her mother if they had to brush her hair. He knew that the hair brushing was more for Nebula’s benefit than hers. She enjoyed styling Meredith’s hair, even if it wouldn’t stay fancy for long.
The door was knocked on again right as he reached for the handle.
“Alright, hold your damn horses,” he called through before opening the door, and immediately he found himself in a tight hug.
“Peter!” Mantis squeezed her brother around his middle, knocking some of the air out of him. Peter hugged her back, just as tight.
It had been a while since he’d seen his sister in-person. They hadn’t been in the same room since Christmas. She was always so busy these days… or years. Ever since she started traveling around the galaxy doing charity work (and the occasional merc job).
She pulled back from the hug, smiling wide at him. Mantis looked happy- fulfilled. And a little older too. Or maybe that was just because she’d started wearing her hair in a short pixie cut? Peter figured he probably shouldn’t tell her that it aged her.
“How have you been?” he asked, letting her inside.
“Oh, fine,” she answered shortly, then started glancing around. “Where’s my niece?” she asked eagerly, and Peter couldn’t stop himself from scoffing.
“Wow. You’ve been here ten seconds and you’re already bored of your bro?” he teased. Mantis adored Meredith. Peter would never forget the first time Mantis had come to see newborn Meredith; he swore that she hadn't stopped staring at the sleeping baby in her crib for the entirety of her visit. One thing was for certain: if anything ever happened to him and Nebula, Mantis would make sure she was happy and looked-after.
Little footsteps approached rapidly.
“Aunt Mantis!” Meredith rushed into the living room with her hair flying behind her, now tied in a braid with a black ribbon. Mantis gasped with delight and opened her arms for Meredith to run into, picking her up and spinning her around.
“You’re getting so big!” she smooshed her cheek against her niece’s as the little girl gave her a hug around her neck. Mantis’ antennae lit up. “And you’re so happy!”
The sound of a throat clearing got their attention. Nebula stood in the doorway to the kitchen, eyeing Mantis with disapproval. Getting the message, Mantis' antennae lost their glow. Yeah, Nebula had never really changed her stance on the other woman's powers being invasive. The idea of someone finding out her emotions by force freaked her out. After last Christmas, Nebula had bitterly made a comment to Peter about Mantis using her powers on their daughter to see if they were raising her wrong. Peter was pretty sure that wasn't Mantis’ intent, but Nebula was insecure about her parenting capabilities and was just projecting.
But as whole, Mantis and Nebula were past the point in their lives where they wanted to hold conflict with each other.
Mantis set Meredith down and moved over to Nebula, extending her arm in greeting.
Eyeing her outstretched hand for a moment, Nebula frowned. Mantis began to look a little awkward. But right as she started to retract her arm, Nebula moved forward and hugged her. It was brief and stiff, but it was a hug, and by Nebula’s standards that was an intense display of affection. Both women looked a little uncomfortable with the gesture, Peter noted with amusement.
After a few seconds, Nebula pulled back, clearing her throat. “It's good to have you here,” she mumbled. Mantis smiled at her, appreciating that she was trying her best.
Peter watched his partner and sister, pleased that they had come so far. When he and Nebula had first started their relationship, Mantis hadn't approved. She thought that Nebula was a bad match for him and that she would just exacerbate his grief over Gamora. But they'd definitely proved her wrong by now, and Mantis accepted that.
Just then there was another knock at the door.
“Who is that?!” Meredith exclaimed, excited.
A voice rang loud through the door. “Quill! We come bearing a warrior's dinner!”
“Uncle Drax!” cheered Meredith, jumping in place.
Peter opened the door to find Drax wearing gloves (and a shirt, thank god!) and carrying a tray with a large and delicious-smelling roasted bird on it. Behind him were Rocket and the rest of the current Guardians of the Galaxy.
“Jesus,” Peter uttered under his breath as Drax pushed his way in (immediately carrying the meal he’d cooked into the kitchen), with Kraglin, Rocket, Cosmo, Adam, Phyla and Groot (who was big enough now that they'd had to install a taller and wider door to allow him to squeeze in), all shoving their way in after him. Cosmo immediately bounded up to Meredith and the child dropped to her knees, hugging the dog and letting her lick her face while she laughed. “How come you’re all showing up at once?”
“Rocket said we’d get here faster if we all went with Drax,” Phyla shrugged, not taking her eyes off the communicator device she was texting somebody on. It was actually a big relief to Peter that Phyla had ended up growing into such a typical teenager considering the unfortunate start in life she’d gotten.
He closed the door after everyone was inside, and spoke to Rocket directly. “Why exactly?”
Rocket gave him a look that made it look like this was information he was supposed to know already. “‘Cause no one ever stops a guy carryin’ a roast dinner. People were partin’ in the streets to let him through.”
This only gave Peter more questions. Like how the hell did Rocket even figure this out?
“Hey li’l Merry,” Kraglin beamed when he saw Meredith giving Cosmo scritches under her chin. He squatted down. “Can Uncle Krags get a hug, too?”
Meredith did run his way, but ended up going straight past him. Instead, she ran up to Adam and clung onto him as hard as she could around his thigh. The golden man almost stumbled over, unprepared to have the sudden weight of a child latch onto his leg.
It was no secret in the Quill household how much affection Meredith held for Adam. In fact, not too long ago, she had proudly proclaimed to her parents that one day when she was old enough, she planned to marry Adam, much to Peter’s amusement and Nebula’s horror.
“Dang Adam. Now that Pete’s settled down, it looks like you’re our ladies’ man,” teased Kraglin. Adam’s eyes went wide with alarm and he awkwardly patted the top of Meredith’s head.
“It’s good to see you too, little Quill. But I need my leg right now… for walking, you know.” He bent down and gently pried Meredith off of him and went into the kitchen to help Drax with the roast (which no one had actually asked him to bring but damn if Peter was going to complain about it when it smelled so good). Thankfully, Meredith took no offense to this and got immediately distracted by Rocket’s tail swishing back and forth.
She crouched down and gave his fluffy tail a stroke, which made Rocket immediately jolt in shock and spin around to give her a piece of his mind, grabbing his tail and clutching it against his chest. “Hands off the merchandise, you li’l snot goblin!” he snapped.
Peter was about to tell Rocket not to yell at his little girl unless he wanted to get booted through a window, but instead of getting upset, Meredith lunged forward and trapped the raccoon in a hug.
“I love you so effing much, uncle Rocket!” she cooed. Rocket stiffened in the child’s embrace. In a flash, Peter took out his phone and snapped a picture of the adorable scene. He tried not to laugh but Meredith’s use of profanity had gotten everyone’s attention and all eyes were on her and Rocket, and as soon as Kraglin, Mantis, Groot and Phyla started chuckling, he couldn’t stop himself from doing the same. Peter was sure that beneath all that fur, Rocket was flushing red with embarrassment. What made it even cuter was that Meredith was officially the same height as Rocket. It was like she was squeezing a her-sized stuffed animal.
“Aww,” said Nebula in a mocking tone, leaning against the wall next to the kitchen door where she’d been not-so-subtly watching Drax and Adam to ensure they weren’t making a mess. She didn’t seem so bothered about Meredith cursing anymore at least. Maybe seeing that her friends found it more funny than concerning had put her mind at ease? “You’d better say it back, Uncle Rocket.”
The raccoon gave the cyborg a hard stare, but it didn’t take him long to relent. He released an exasperated sigh and hugged Meredith back, stiltedly patting her back with one paw. “I love you, too.” he mumbled. It was more of a snarl actually, but it was good enough for Nebula. They all knew that Rocket really did love Meredith too, even if he was too much of a hardass to admit it most of the time.
Once Meredith had released Rocket from the hug, she went back over to Mantis, reaching up and tugging on the hem of her aunt’s jacket to get her attention. Mantis knelt down. “What is it, Meredith?”
The girl was swinging her arms at her sides; it was something she’d done since before she was even able to speak and Peter wasn’t sure if it was normal or not that she hadn’t outgrown doing that yet. “Where’s my present?” she asked Mantis.
Peter stepped in, moving over to his daughter and doing his best authoritative voice. “Merry, what’s the word I taught you that you should always use when asking for things?”
Meredith stuck out her bottom lip as she thought for a second, before she came to a realization. Grinning, she looked back up at Mantis.
“Where’s my present, bitch?”
The room went dead silent. Peter cringed. He felt Nebula’s disappointed eyes on him before he even looked her way.
“You taught her that?” she asked, voice level, but in a decidedly deadly way.
Peter smiled sheepishly. “Can I say something in my defense?”
Nebula raised an eyebrow. “Go on…”
“Hearing her say it is really funny.”
It looked like that wasn’t good enough for Nebula, but just like Peter assumed, everyone was amused by Meredith dropping the curse word, and no one was acting like it reflected badly on their parenting.
At some point Cosmo had settled down on their couch, resting her head on the arm. “This sofa is very nice, Pyotr Quill. When Nebula makes you sleep on it tonight, you will be most comfortable.” the dog snarked.
“Nah,” Peter shook his head. Nebula wasn’t that sort of partner. “All I gotta do is bat my eyelashes and Nebs will forgive me.”
“That is not true,” insisted Nebula.
Suppressing a smirk, Peter gave Nebula his best puppy dog eyes. He knew that Nebula had a weakness for them, and he really did bat his eyelashes a little, too.
Maybe it was because they were in the presence of others, but this time Nebula didn’t budge.
That is, until Meredith looked up at her too, giving her mother her own set of puppy eyes. No one could deny the resemblance between hers and her dad’s. “Please forgive him, mommy. I won’t say bad words anymore.”
For a few seconds, Nebula tried to resist, but her resolve was quickly worn down under the adorable stares of her two favorite people. She sighed and rolled her eyes. “...you promise?”
“Hmm…” Meredith rocked back and forth on her heels. “Yes. For the rest of today, I won’t say bad words.”
Nebula knew that this cheeky response was the best she was going to get. She turned around to hide her smile. “I’m going to check on Drax,” she dismissed herself.
She walked past Groot (whose head brushed their ceiling), who leaned over and whispered loudly to her.
“I am Groot.”
“I am not whipped!” Nebula bit back, and Groot snickered to himself as she grumbled on her way into the kitchen.
Later that evening, they all sat around in Peter and Nebula’s living room after eating an awesome roast dinner courtesy of Drax.
“Muffins are ready!” announced Peter as he entered the room with a plate loaded with the baked goods. To his delight (and his ego), he was immediately met with a bunch of compliments about how good they smelled. He set them down on the coffee table in the middle of the room and grabbed one for himself, Nebula and Meredith. He always made sure that Merry had the biggest one since she was a growing girl (and it made her happy). Peter sat on the couch beside Nebula, who had Meredith sitting on her lap playing with the stuffed abilisk plushie Mantis had brought her. He handed his daughter a muffin and she started happily eating it.
“Yummy!” she spoke with her mouth full, spraying a few crumbs. Peter booped her nose and gave a muffin to Nebula too.
“Blueberries for my blueberries,” he said, smooching Nebula on the cheek and Merry on the top of her head. In the back of his head, he still expected Nebula to chastise him for his public display of affection, but she’d gotten more and more used to it over the years. He knew deep down that she loved it when he showed his love for her in front of people, even if she was too proud to admit it.
They all sat around, chatting and catching up while they ate. Peter, Nebula, and Meredith on the couch with Kraglin. Mantis sitting on the floor to the right of them with Cosmo draped over her lap to receive pets. Drax manspreading on the armchair opposite them as he ate a muffin whole, with Phyla sitting on the arm of the chair, alternating between talking to them and checking her tablet. Groot sitting on the floor to their left, taking up a good percentage of the room with Rocket perched on his shoulder. And Adam, sitting right beside the coffee table, already on his third muffin and beginning to get the sugar shakes.
Nothing made Peter happier than when they were all together like this. It felt like old times. Not that he didn’t love his life in the present, but it was only human to be nostalgic for the past.
He felt a weight on his shoulder, and looked to see that Meredith had dropped off to sleep and was slumped against him. It was around her bedtime now so he couldn’t fault her for being exhausted.
Not wanting her to sleep at an uncomfortable angle, Nebula gently pulled Meredith back against her so that her head was resting against her chest. Cradling her similarly to how she used to when she was a baby.
Peter’s heart melted as he gazed at Nebula and Meredith. The woman he’d given his heart to after years of thinking it was too broken to love again; and the precious daughter they’d raised together, who he would move the highest mountains for.
This was not the perfect sitcom life he had once wanted. His younger self would never have guessed this was how his life would turn out. But that was okay, because sitcom endings didn’t really exist. Just the right people at the right time.
Peter watched them and the rest of his friends as they bantered and laughed into the evening.
His family.
He loved these assholes more than anything.