st_arlord | Attempt 2 - Quill and Thor Drinking

"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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From:

st_arlord

Quill squinted.

"Why?" He asked. "I mean, I'm all for telling them if they want to know, but they'll live it soon enough."

From:

st_ormbreaker

"Well, Loki died before the two of us even met." Thor finishes his drink at that, then pours himself another; he grabs a second glass for Quill, even though he hasn't asked for it. Thor's sure he'll need it soon enough, anyway.

"And when Thanos arrived on Earth, he had all six stones."

Thor swallows and forces himself to look at Quill. He waits for the other man to react to act in turn because Thor doesn't know what to do next and he's hoping that if someone else does something, the right words might suddenly dawn upon him in an epiphany.

From:

st_arlord

Quill didn't remember Thor mentioning his brother. Quill remembered not paying a lot of attention to Thor when he woke up in the ship because everyone else had been obsessed with him. He almost apologized for Loki, but then Thor continued to speak.

He squinted again while he thought. That doesn't sound right. Why doesn't it sound right?

He thought about back home. Six stones

Clarity filled the once-muddled expression of Peter Quill. He lifted his head and looked at Thor. Quill suddenly looked a lot more sober.

"That's impossible." He said. "He didn't have six on Titan."

From:

st_ormbreaker

Thor can feel the words piling up in his throat, but still, he's not able to dislodge them from where they sit. He drinks, trying topush them down so they don't get caught on their way back up, and somehow that manages to work.

"He acquired the last one on Earth," Thor says, setting the glass down. "A few minutes before he used them to wipe out half the universe."

From:

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.

From:

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.

From:

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?"

From:

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."

From:

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.

From:

st_ormbreaker

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

From:

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?"

From:

st_ormbreaker

It unnerves Thor to see Quill so serious.

"Even if he asks me?"

From:

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."

From:

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."

From:

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."

From:

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."

From:

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."

From:

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.

From:

st_arlord

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

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

From:

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.."

From:

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."

From:

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."

From:

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.

From:

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."