Panic Attack

Untitled Part 15

               Groot sat beside his sleeping friend worriedly. It had been almost three days since the operation, having taken over eight hours alone to remove the chip and another three to stitch him back up without damaging the circuitry flowing throughout the raccoon's body. After which, Groot had refused to leave his friend's side, much to the doctors' displeasure.

And over the past few days, Rocket had done nothing more than lie uncomfortably still on the hospital bed, white covers sitting gingerly atop his scarred chest and a bandage wrapped tightly around his neck where the doctors had cut through the raccoon's skin.

The bandages were changed every few hours by one of the many nurses on the Nova ship, all trying to strike up a rather awkward conversation with the second occupant of the room, only to find that they couldn't quite continue one when the creature's only words were 'I' 'am' and 'Groot.' Explicitly in that order. So, in finding that there was really no way and no point to communicating with Groot, the nurses quickly rewrapped Rocket's wounds, and left rather hastily, leaving the two alone in the room again with the uncomfortable sound of silence.

Groot hated the silence. He was a calm creature at heart, and often times relinquished in the calming sense of the quiet. But after meeting Rocket, silence had slowly become less of a pleasure and more like a sense of unease.

The trigger-happy ringtail was never one for quiet, always talking to himself when working strategically on his newest invention, he had even found that he actually enjoyed the constant sound of Quill's music on the Milano, despite how much he hated to admit it. Groot had even caught his friend sneaking out of the cockpit with orange headphones hanging loosely around his neck and Walkman in hand, although he was sure that Peter already knew of the whereabouts of his beloved music player when it wasn't on deck.

Even in sleeping, there wasn't a silent moment for the tossing and turning raccoon. Groot had often times kept himself awake at night to make sure his friend remained asleep for more than a few hours at a time as countless nightmares threatened to take over his mind once again.

So seeing Rocket sitting uncharacteristically still underneath the covers, although it was the most peaceful that Groot had ever seen him, the lack of movement and sleepy murmurs in his unconscious state set the tree creature on edge.

He and the raccoon were polar opposites, and it was obvious to everyone including Groot himself. One a peaceful and strong overgrown plant, and the other an aggressive, snarky, gun toting creature who wouldn't think twice about shooting someone in the face with one of his new inventions were one to even think about approaching him. Yet they had somehow created a friendship stronger than wither of them could have thought possible.

Of course, the Guardians were family, and Groot would have given his life a thousand times over for each and every one of them. He enjoyed their company and the fact that their lack of communication had never seemed to get in the way of their meetings. But Rocket could understand him.

He understood the Flora Colossus in more than just a sense of somehow comprehending the large being's way of speech, but in how he was. Upon first look, Groot was aware that he was no one's first choice in a companion. He was slow, incomprehensible, and in most people's eyes, rather dumb.

And Rocket had never missed a chance to remind him of that, hiding his surprisingly caring nature behind a mask of sarcasm and insults. Yet when Groot had often found himself carrying the raging raccoon away from their latest bar fight, he couldn't help but smile as his friend continued to ramble on about how he would somehow brutally (and often times rather disturbingly) destroy the one who had dared to insult Groot.