daryls-crossbow-carols-boots:

*Requested – Reader wears high tech glasses due to their poor vision and one day they break. Rocket offers to fix them but takes his time because he wants a way to get closer to them.*

It normally would have taken him about three days, he did have a reputation for being good with tech after all. He watched silently as you staggered across the room, hands out slightly to avoid walking into anything. The sight was comical. Like something from one of those… what was it Peter called them? Martoons? Cartroons? Rocket couldn’t quite remember and made a mental note to ask Peter later.
You had been that way ever since you had your glasses smashed by some thug on knowhere. The Guardians had been treating themselves to a few drinks to celebrate their triumph against Ronan. It wasn’t everyday they saved the galaxy after all. It had been your round and the line had been long so when a guy pushed in front of you just as you were about to order… Well let’s just say you weren’t all that pleased about it. Now, to say that this guy was built like a brick shithouse would have been an insulting understatement. After dealing with bullying due to your vision all your life you had grown tough and confident. You were through with people treating you like nothing so you probably weren’t thinking when you placed the barrel of your gun against the guys back.
“I think I was here first pal. Move along or I’ll shoot.”

You had always wondered what it would be like to fly. However, as you flew through the air after being flung by the brute and the bar wall came closer into view, you couldn’t help thinking it wasn’t as fun as you had first hoped. The contact with the wall was swift and left you crumpled on the floor like a discarded rag doll. Rocket had been the first one out of his chair. Shots were fired and he managed to chase the guy out of the bar. The whole place seemed uninterested by the scene, completely numbed to it after the amount of times these kinds of things occurred. You were thankful for that at least because your face was red with embarrassment.
Drax offered his large hand to help you up. Rocket watched this and scampered over quickly.
“Nah, I got her, I got her!” Rocket shouted over the noise or the bar waving Drax away. Drax raised an eyebrow and backed away.
Rocket instead offered you his small clawed hand and pulled you up into a sitting position. He studied you carefully and noticed a slight cut just below your eye where some smashed glass had caught your skin.
“Ya alright?” He asked.
You sighed heavily.
“I’m fine…” You couldn’t help seeing the cracked glass and glitching software dance across your vision, making Rocket look out of focus and distorted. You remove them from your face and glance down at them. Your blurred eyesight made you grimace and Rocket realised taking the glasses from you.
They were brilliantly designed. Infrared technology, target locking software, facial recognition and very, very expensive to replace. Rocket turned them in his hands and chewed the inside of his cheek in thought.
“I’ll fix ‘em, it will take a while but I’ll get ‘em working again.” Rocket knew it was easy. Brilliantly made they were… for someone on Xander that was. He had developed bombs more complex that those glasses. Not that he’d tell you that.
With a smile, you had thanked him and allowed him to guide you back to the Milano.

What you didn’t realise was there was perks to you not seeing clearly… Not for you, of course, but most definitely for Rocket. You see, with your vision impaired it allowed Rocket to watch you without fear of being seen himself. He was good at hiding behind a veil of satire meaning he had grown good at masking his true emotions as tolerance or annoyance. When no one was watching, however, he was free to allow some of his feelings to slip through the cracks. He felt the tell tale tug on his lips letting him know he was in fact smiling to himself again. He had been taxed with looking after you until your glasses were fixed. Peter thought it would be a good incentive for him to fix them sooner. Oh, how wrong he was. Rocket laughed lightly at the thought. It had been two weeks now and Rocket was still yet to actually take a good look at the true extent of the damage caused to them. If he was being completely honest with himself; he enjoyed the fact that he now spent all of his time with you. With out the loss of your glasses you really had no need for his help.

“You know, if you’re just going to laugh at me I’d rather you just left.” You mumbled under your breath.
Two weeks of feeling useless was really starting to take its tole. You had become irritable from having to rely on Rocket because as far as you knew Rocket was hating every moment. The last thing you wanted was who you considered your closest friend to start to resent you. Rocket never had been the type to help people without making a fuss about it first.
Rocket’s smile faded.

“(F/n), I ain’t laughing at ya.” He said quickly, ears twitching as he spoke.

“Oh, yes you are. Everyone is.” You threw yourself down on what you hoped was a chair. Luckily, it was.

“Ain’t nobody laughing at ya. What makes ya think that?” His ears had flattened slightly, any trace of his smile completely gone.

You scoffed.

“What makes me think that? I’m completely useless without my glasses. And now you need to baby sit me. I know you hate this Rocket. Just go, it’s my stupid fault for picking a fight with a guy that could quite literally throw me across the room. You shouldn’t have to deal with me. I’m going to buy some new glasses as soon as we land. If done relying on everyone.”

Rocket felt a stab of guilt enter his body. He hadn’t realised you had been feeling that way.

“Nah, don’t spend all of those units. I’ll get ’em fixed by tomorrow. I promise.”

“Rocket it’s been two weeks, I’ve stolen far too much of your time already. This isn’t fair on you. You have more important things to be working on.”

A second stab.

“…(f/n), I haven’t started looking at ’em yet.” Rocket admitted.
He paused waiting for you to shout at him. You remained silent and waited for an explanation. Rocket took the hint and continued.
“I just want an excuse to spend time with ya. ’M sorry. I understand ya just wanted ya glasses back, It was selfish of me.”

“…You never needed an excuse Rocket. I’m annoyed don’t think I’m not but… that’s kind of sweet…” You smiled in his general direction.

“…yeah?” He mumbled, the smile reappearing. He made his way towards you and gently placed his hand on your arm.

“Yeah.” You laughed and scoop him up into a hug. He was just a fuzzy blur at that moment but he was still your Rocket. Rocket never minded you picking him up. He loved being close to you.
“Just please fix them if you can.” You laugh.

“I’ll go now, you’ve waited long enough.” He nuzzled his head into your jumpsuit before running off towards his room.

Later that night, after several hours hard work, he had your glasses working as good as new. He even took it upon himself to add some new features. He held them excitedly and ran off to find you.
You had managed to stumble back to your room and lay on your bed. There was a quiet knock on your door and you called out for whoever it was to come in.

“Hey (f/n), I fixed ’em.” He ran over to your bed and hopped up.

You allowed him to place them onto your face. You watched as the galaxy came into focus once more and your eyed landed on Rocket. His beautiful brown eyes stared back at you and a smirk tugged at his lips.

“Oh Rocket, thank you so much. They’re as good as new!” You pulled him into another hug. He once again snuggled close and smiled. Trying his hardest to wrap his arms around you.

“They’re better than new. Thought I’d add some stuff, y’know.” He pulled away and placed it on your hand. He then extend one of your fingers and guided it up to the metal frame of your glasses. You could feel two small buttons.
“This one,” He moved your hand onto the left one. “Allows ya to detect what weapons someone has. Pretty useful in combat. This one,” He guided you to the right one. He tried to stifle his laughter but still ended up sniggering.
“Allows ya to see the probability of winning in a fight with someone based on build and IQ, so, if it’s below thirty percent ya know ya gonna get thrown across a bar and smash your glasses.”

You laughed and nudged him playfully. “What’s the probability I’ll win against you then tough guy?” You press the right button and writing appears in the corner of your vision.

‘Aint nobody beating me princess, besides, who else will fix your glasses?’

You laughed again at the fact that he had made your glasses as sarcastic as himself.

“Thank you Rocket, I love them.” You smiled and kissed his cheek.

“No problem (f/n), ya waited long enough.” He had a dopey grin on his face and he scratched behind his ear nervously. “Since I don’t need no excuse to hang out with ya does that mean we can go get a drink when we land?” His eyes dropped to your bed sheet. He found that the pattern had suddenly became very interesting to him.

“Of course Rocket, I’d love to.” You smiled when he looked up at you in disbelief.

“Really?” He beamed.

“Really. I think I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t enjoyed your company for the past two weeks.”

“It’s a… It’s a date then?” His grin faded and he regretted the words as soon as he had said them. Had he just blown it? Took it too far? He looked away in fear.

“Its a date.” You grinned excitedly. “I can’t wait.”

His smile returned in full force and he looked back up at you.

“Me neither sweetheart.” He smirked.