Imagine If You Assembled the Avengers: Volume 1

Just Let Me Sleep (Peter Quill x reader)

"What's your name?"

"Peter. What's your name?"

"(Y/N). Why are you here?"

"My mom's sick, so we're here to see her."

You sat next to the boy who looked close to the same age as you, playing games and talking, waiting for hours for either one of you to get word from your families that it was time to go. Peter's was called away first, and was gone for a long time before you saw him again, running out the front doors of the building and into the parking lot.

"Are you okay?" you called out to him as you followed.

"Leave me alone," he whispered between his tears. "Just...I want to be alone, (Y/N)."

"Sure, Peter. It's gonna be okay." You didn't know for certain what had happened, but you hoped that it really would be okay for him. Before you reached the doors to go back in, a bright light illuminated behind you; by the time you turned around, your new friend was gone. You took a few steps towards where he had been, and the light returned, this time flooding over you.

~~~

Peter grabbed the cassette and slipped it into the stereo, pushing the play button and feeling ready to dance.

Nothing happened.

"What the...?" He felt a rush of panic, pressing more buttons, taking the tape out and inspecting it, returning it to the player and trying again. Still nothing.

"No, no, no, no, this can't happen!" he yelled, quickly getting the attention of his teammates. "You guys, this can't happen!"

"SHUT UP! I'm trying to sleep over here!"

"Good! Finally an end to that insufferable noise once and for all."

Quill looked back at the group with shock, holding his hand to his chest, clearly hurt. "I thought you guys liked it!" He stood quickly and pointed harshly at Gamora, "I saw you dancing just yesterday!"

"You have no proof," she groaned and rolled back over in her bunk.

Peter turned back to his stereo, his face covered in sadness and disbelief. He sighed when a large hand rested on his shoulder, putting his own over it to accept the sentiment. "Thanks, man."

"I am Groot."

"Yeah," he whispered, "me too, pal. Me too."

~~~

As Peter wandered around the shop in the middle of nowhere, he was disheartened by the lack of anything that could help him fix his stereo. The shelves and broken down tables were filled with various pieces of space junk and items tagged as 'vintage' to attract buyers, when really they were just old garbage. He haphazardly tossed the worthless items around as he searched, beginning to feel like he would never find what he needed.

"Come on, man, it'll be okay," Rocket said, moving alongside him. "Maybe it's time to move on. It's a sign." He jumped up on the table when an item caught his eye, but quickly returned to the floor when he found it to be junk. "It's a sign that it was a piece of garbage to start with," he whispered under his breath.

"That's not the attitude I need right now, alright? Would it kill ya to be supportive in my time of need?" Peter moved towards the back of the old shop, all but defeated now. "I'm never gonna find what I need here," he groaned. He was about to turn around and gather everyone to leave when something caught his eye. He walked up to the old cryogenic tube and pulled away the scrap of dusty cloth that covered it.

"No way," he gasped, "there's no way..."

"What is this?" Drax approached from behind, walking around the tube, tapping his hand on the cover and wiping the dust away from the control panel. "How will this help you to fix your music player?"

"Um," Peter said in a quiet voice, "well, it won't. But I...I think I know this girl." His expression saddened as he stared at you, still in disbelief that you could be the friend he had made so many years ago and so far away.

Quill grabbed the price tag hanging from the side of the tube and gasped, "are you serious? There's no way that I can afford this."

The shopkeeper approached, seeing that the group had gathered around you. "I see that you've found something of interest?" He moved to the foot of the tube and shook his head, "just so you know, there's no way to open this. It was found with no instruction and I have yet to meet anyone who has seen another. It's nothing more than decoration."

Peter hadn't heard a word that the shopkeeper had said, slowly moving his hand over the window that gave him his view of you. "I'll take it," he whispered.

"But you just said-"

He put his hand up to quiet Drax, and looked to the shopkeeper, "it's pretty heavy," he said, attempting to lift one corner and pretending to fail, "you got anything in back that we can haul it out on?" The man looked at Peter and Drax skeptically, but relented and made his way through the back door of the building.

Peter grabbed the top of the tube and pointed at the other end, "alright, big man, grab that end and let's get the hell outta here."

"Are you serious?!" Rocket exclaimed, "you're gonna risk it for a frozen girl that you can never wake up? How desperate are you, Quill?"

"Just shut it and run, would ya?"

The group had just made it to the door when shots began to fire around them, the unassuming shopkeeper now in a full rage and chasing behind them. "Get back here, you thief! Get back here right now!"

"Maybe run a little faster guys!"

~~~

Once back aboard the ship and safely in flight, Peter sat quietly along side of you, resting his chin in his hand and absentmindedly pressing the buttons on the tube with the other. He barely knew anything about you from the short time you had spent together, but he knew that it was the right thing to do to take you from that shop.

"Hey," Gamora whispered, resting her hand on his arm, "you okay?"

Peter took a deep breath and sat back in his chair, still looking at you. "Yeah, yeah I'm good. I just don't understand how..."

"You might never know. You need to be ready for that, Quill."

He simply nodded as she walked away, not knowing how to respond to her. "I wish I could play a song for you," he whispered to you, "but just your luck, the biggest loser in the galaxy had to be the one to find you."

Peter pulled the cassette from his pack and reached over to his stereo, hoping for a miracle. He slid it into the machine and squeezed his eyes shut, pushing the play button down slowly. His eyes opened quickly with delight when the music began.

"Look at that," he said with a smile, "I guess I found what I needed after all."