Attempt 2 - Quill and Thor Drinking

[st_arlord]

"And another thing -" He continued. "Why is it always the guy's fault when you run out of toilet paper? Girls use toilet paper like, way more than guys do and yet somehow we're always to blame."

He couldn't remember what they had been talking about except they had been talking about women giving them difficult times. Quill down the rest of his drink and presented his empty glass to Thor to fill. Thor told him that he lost last time. Quill had very little memory after talking about Thanos, but he was sure that Thor was equally as drunk. This time he was determined to have the God of Thunder pass out first.

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[st_arlord]

Quill felt like he suddenly got hit in the gut. He was not prepared for such a revelation. He seemed to freeze where he sat as he stared at Thor.

"What?" He said after a long pause.

His mind began to work through the possibilities. None of the possibilities were good possibilities. He frowned. There's no way I'd let Thanos get off Titan.

"What?" He repeated dumbly.

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor suddenly wishes he wasn't in this bar, that he hadn't resolved himself to tell Quill, that he hadn't elected to trick him into coming here the same way he had tricked him into telling him more about the infinity stones without at least having the decency to tell him why.

"Thanos succeeded," he says, finally, unable to look Quill in the face.

[st_arlord]

"You're lying." He said as a knee-jerk reaction.

Quill tensed up and wanted to punch Thor. He didn't. He realized Thor wouldn't make something like that up, but Quill still wanted to punch him. His hands formed fists on the counter top and he looked down at the counter.

The silence lingered.

"How bad?" He said quietly. "...who's left?"

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor does not protest when Quill accuses him of lying. He doesn't speak again until Loki

"I don't know," Thor admits, looking down at his drink. "The people who were with us on Earth, I know which of them are gone and lost. You and Tony and the others..." Thor feels his jaw tighten. "I don't know."

[st_arlord]

"I don't care about me," He said quickly. I care about Gamora and Mantis and Drax and Pete and even Stark, but... "Rocket and Groot went with you. What about them?"

Quill forced his eyes up to Thor so Thor couldn't lie.

[st_ormbreaker]

"Groot's gone," Thor says, and he's surprised how easily it comes out. "Rocket still lives."

[st_arlord]

Silence permeated the room again while Quill thought. The death of Groot him him hard, but he knew something even more important.

"He's not to know." He said decidedly. "Rocket. He's never to know. Do you understand?"

[st_ormbreaker]

It unnerves Thor to see Quill so serious.

"Even if he asks me?"

[st_arlord]

Rocket'll probably hate me for this

"Even if he asks you. You lie." He answered. "Promise me, Thor. It's the only thing I ask of you. Rocket can't know about Groot. Ever."

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor looks at Quill, his brows furrowed, his lips slightly parted. Two parts of him are warring now: the part of him that's done keeping secrets and the part that understands the importance of hiding things.

He swallows. Then finally, he opens his mouth to speak.

"You have my word."

[st_arlord]

He watched Thor as if deciding if Thor's declaration was truthful or just for show.

Quill's shoulders relaxed as if he decided Thor was telling the truth.

"Good." He said. "He almost lost Groot once - It'll kill him if that happens again."

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor stares out a the space behind the bar and doesn't say anything for a few long moments.

"Tony believes there might be some way to change things," Thor says. "I've been telling him and my brother everything I know."

[st_arlord]

Quill was already thinking about how to prevent what happened.

"Something had to have happened on Titan," he said. "We just need to figure it out. It's a good plan. There's no way it should have failed. Whatever happened, I'll make sure when I get back we follow the plan."

[st_ormbreaker]

"If we go back and remember things, you can just make sure everyone sticks to the plan. You know about it now, so you still might be able to change things."

Thor drains his drink, then pours himself another.

[st_arlord]

Suddenly Quill was hit with a memory and he rubbed his nose. Dammit.

"You planning on telling Pete?" He asked warily.

[st_ormbreaker]

"I'd want to talk to Tony before I do anything," he says. "He considers Peter like a son."

In short, he doesn't know.

"There's Rogers, too, and Barnes. They were on Earth fighting Thanos and his people when I arrived there.."

[st_arlord]

Rogers and Barnes made no impact on Quill when Thor spoke them. He didn't know who they were except that they were fighting Thanos too.

"Avengers?" He asked. "And I wouldn't tell the kid. At least, not yet."

[st_ormbreaker]

"Rogers is," he says. "I've been away from Earth so long that I don't know if Barnes is." Thor hadn't bothered to ask him.

"I doubt Tony will want to. I don't know what he's thinking, but maybe some part of him thinks that if he can change things, he won't ever have to."

[st_arlord]

"Right from the beginning?" he wondered out loud. "I knew Stark was from further back than I was, but is he really that far back to change everything?"

Could I still say Gamora somehow then?

Quill looked at his full glass, but didn't reach for it. He wasn't thirsty anymore.

[st_ormbreaker]

"About four months ago," he says. "My brother came from just a few weeks before everything happened. Rogers is back even further. Barnes... probably around the same time."

[st_arlord]

Quill calculated some strategies in his head.

"Do you think they can stop it all from happening?" He said. "Get to Thanos somehow before he gets the stones?"

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor finishes his drink, pours himself another.

"We know where five of the stones are. We know someone who knows where we can find the sixth. I know where the gauntlet was forged and probably roughly when."

Thor rubs the back of his neck, then settles his hand back around the curve of his glass.

"If they remember when they return, I think they can stop him."

[st_arlord]

"Good," He said.

Quill finally reached for a his drink and downed half of it.

"Then we'll bank on them first," He continued. "Than me second."

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor gives Quill one of his patented, friendly too-hard pats on the shoulder.

"You're all right," he tells him, though he doubts either one of them are.

[st_arlord]

He coughed, but Quill didn't admit it was too hard. He could take whatever Thor threw at him.

"Yeah." He said with a nod. "I am. Super fine."

Quill smiled. He forced it on his lips until it seemed to be natural and he took another draw from his drink.

"Okay," He said suddenly and with enthusiasm. "Let's get back to me beating your butt."