Title: The Odd Jobber

Paring: Yondu Udonta X Reader

Warnings: features cleaning, cutesy, fluff, partial nudity, suggestive themes, Peter Quill is a little shit. 

Spoilers: set between Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 1 and Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 2. There are no spoilers for the second movie, because this story happens before it!

Requested By: AshliDinkelman

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You were just a pilot, and yet, you never flew anymore. You'd only joined the Ravagers when you had been rescued from your failing ship on Xandar. It had been the day that the Ravagers and the Nova Corps teamed up to defeat the Kree radical, Ronan the Accuser, which, unlike any day, was something that would forever be fresh in your memory. Maybe it was because that was the same day that when you had been dug out from the wreckage of your ship, you saw him for the first time.

He said his name was Yondu, and ever since, you were smitten. Him and his crooked teeth, kind eyes and cussing like a sailor, and not trying to hide it. When he took you on board his crew's main ship, you told yourself it was temporary, and yet, two lunar months later, you were still on board.

You would offer repeatedly to be a part of the functionality of his crew, and even though you had a lifetime of certified open space flight training, Yondu would refuse your offer as kindly as he could. So, you did what anyone else would do. And that would be to find another place on board his ship that had an opening for work. There were enough people who knew weaponry, and enough people who operated the computers, enough cooks, cleaners, medical experts. Kraglin was already First Mate, and there was not an opening for that, or Second Mate, either.

You became the Odd Jobber.

It began with you tidying up after the Ravagers, putting things back where they belonged, filing in numbers of things that needed to be stocked at the next planet, cleaning out the messes of things crammed into the broom closets. And, you sometimes played a homemade guitar (made from a crate and mechanical wire) at meal times. By the end of the month, it was your official title, and you did your best to live up to it.

"Can you fix my socks? There's holes in them." One Ravager asked, on Monday.

"I need an extra hand carrying these supplies in! __________, can you help?" Another asked on Thursday, after docking planet side.

"Where's my blaster?" Kraglin asked on Saturday, before a battle.

You passed it to him. "It sounded a little blocked last time you fired it," you told him, proud of your work. "I think I fixed the problem with the extra kick in it now."

But, it was the Wednesday after that which proved to be...eventful. It wasn't like everyday wasn't eventful, being a Ravager was enough to always have something happening. But – Wednesday was one which would forever stay marked in your memory. It began the usual way – a hot cup of kaf, a bowl of something mushy. Then, you were approached by Tullk, and Oblo, who handed you a bucket of soapy water, and a mop.

"If y'wouldn't mind," Tullk said, sparing a small smile, "there's a mess tha' needs cleanin'."

Oblo nodded, voice low, "It's in the hallway in front o' Captain Udonta's room."

You didn't need to be told twice. Having once witnessed Captain Yondu's face upon seeing one of the famed messes across the ship, you made way to the location that Oblo sent you to clean up. True to their word, there was a small mess – a charred outline of someone upon the floor, some blood upon the walls of the ship. Gritting your teeth at the barbarity of it, you got to work.

But before you could get half the blood from the wall, you heard a clamour, and luckily for you, you moved out the way in time. Running through the halls was an unfamiliar face, followed by a woman with green skin, a raccoon holding a twig, and a burly man with markings over his exposed skin.

As soon as you heard them, they were there, and then, they were gone. But in their flurry, they kicked the bucket for your mop, soaking you all over your skin and bones, and managed to smear dirt over your area.

"Just my luck," you muttered.

Glancing down, you saw your Ravager uniform was completely drenched, dripping water upon the still-messy floor. Your quarters were across the other half of the ship, and if you walked back to them for a change of clothes, you'd leave a messy trail, and eventually must clean that too. So, sucking up what's left of your sopping pride, you use the spare key for Captain Udonta's room – given to you in confidence and only for emergencies – and hope to the stars that there's nobody inside.

Lucky for you, it's empty.

You make way to his private bathroom, and shedding the clothes, you take a quick shower, and lay out your uniform over the lavatory and shower rail after you're thoroughly cleaned. Stepping out into Captain Udonta's room in only a towel, you realise two things:

His room is a mess. There's battle gear everywhere, hanging from the light fixtures, all over the floor. The sheets upon the bed are chaos, mud is tracked everywhere in the floor, and the window is so dirty you can hardly see outside into space.

And it's laundry day. All his dirty uniforms – and the rest of the crew's – are currently being laundered, because that's what you've worked on since sun up before being approached by Oblo and Tullk.

You shake your head, marvelling at the irony of the whole day. Like you of all people got so unlucky that this streak of events managed to align to create this terrible day. You manage to dry your undergarments with the vent in the bathroom and plucking from an abandoned corner where not too much mess is, find Captain Udonta's captain's jacket. But, losing the lucky streak, you find that there are no pants to be found in the whole bedroom, leaving you wearing just the jacket, and panties.

You thought about what the crew would say if they saw you in these clothes, and blanching at the prospect of being found, and the shame that would follow, you're mortified at the idea. So, temporarily forgetting about the mess left outside the door, you begin to do the one thing you can do as the Odd Jobber, and that is make yourself useful. While you're trapped in the bedroom, you begin to tidy up; pluck all the battle clothes down from its strange places and begin to polish and store it. You take the vacuum abandoned in the closet and suck up all the mud, dirt, and terrible things upon the floor. You strip the bed of sheets, wincing at the scent. They haven't been changed since you were last in here, a lunar month ago.

"...an' if you ain't mindin' your own business, tha's why these things happen, boy," you hear a familiar voice, the voice of the Captain himself. Your heart goes into a bout of beats, and mind racing you realise that you hadn't thought about the consequences of being found looking like you are, inside the Captain's quarters. You rush around, trying to figure out what to do, and end up tripping over your own feet. The door to the bedroom opens, revealing Yondu, and beside him, the unfamiliar man who ran by you earlier, covering you in the mopping water. "what in the stars..."

You look up to the familiar red-brown eyes. They look over you, the room, and once more to you.

"Wow, Yondu, you cleaned up for me?" the stranger says, clapping the Captain of the Ravagers on the back, "I'm touched."

But he shakes his head. "__________, what're you doing on my floor?" He asks, giving you a hand up to get back upon your feet. "C'mon, I'm not angry, jus' curious."

Back on two feet, you feel conscious of yourself. Showing so much skin in front of your captain, and this unknown man. A blush heats your face as you begin to string words together, "I – I was cleaning outside your room, Tullk and Oblo sent me." you stammer, trying to keep your eyes away from their gaze. "and then he and some other people spilt my bucket and covered me in filth, and – I came in to clean myself up –,"

"Wait, you's tellin' me that Peter here wrong'd you?" Yondu asked, placing a hand upon your shoulder. "Don't worry about protectin' this one, he's a shit at the best of times."

You nod.

Peter puts both hands raised in surrender. "The Guardians and I were just coming through the hallway," he protests, "We didn't mean to terrorise anyone!"

Yondu shakes his head, turning to the other man. "Peter, you an' your strays can clean th' mess outside," he looks to you, eyes trailing from your legs up, and then taking a breath, points Peter out of the room to start the task set. "Now, __________ –,"

Two Lunar Months previous

Yondu Udonta was a man of his word. He promised to fight alongside Peter, alongside the Xandarian pilots with Nova Corps, and that promise did not end when his ship failed and was grounded. He fought the Kree radicals with all his strength, all his spite. He had once been a toy to these people when he was younger, a terrible piece of his past that he hated so, so much. He felled every Kree with all he had, for all that he could have been if his worthless parents hadn't sold him off to become a battle slave. He'd just killed the most recent batch of soldiers when a falling ship caught his eye – it was Xandarian, small. And landing nearby to where his ship had plummeted to.

But as he watched, no parachute was deployed in the seconds before it hit the soil. He wasn't a good man, not by some standards, but when he saw the impact of the Nova Corp ship, he ran toward it. Using his arrow, he managed to remove the visor of the small ship and pulled the pilot from the soon-to-combust plane.

As he got the pilot and himself to a distance safe enough from the plane, he stopped to see who he had saved. Was it the asshole corpsman who sassed Quill's every move? The rude one? But when he removed the helmet of the corpsman before him, Yondu's breath caught.

She was gorgeous. A little beat up from the crash, unconscious from impact. Her hair was (h/l), and the colour (h/c), the same as his favourite hue of the stardust in the skies when he travelled them. There was a scratch upon her collarbone, weeping slightly. Fresh. It must have happened in the impact. Yondu reached for his water-skin, and tipping it over his fingers, wiped the blood from her skin. Droplets flew from his fingers, landing upon her lips, nose, forehead.

Her eyes blinked awake, a deep breath taken.

"Where am I?" she said, startled, wincing as she went to move. "What happened? Who are you?"

He explained all he saw what happened, and then, his name. "I'm Yondu Udonta, of the Yondu Ravager Clan. I'm an ally t'Nova Prime...for t'day, anyways."

She nodded. "I'm __________, I'm a pilot. Or, was." She says, regarding her ship which is aflame before them both, with an air of melancholy.

"You don't have to go back to bein' a Corpsman if y'ain't wantin' to," Yondu said quickly, too quick to realise what his words meant. He barely knew the girl, what her past was, what her future would be, what she wanted that to be. The life of a Ravager wasn't for everyone, especially not for people which caught his heart like this. "I mean –,"

She nodded. "You saved me," she whispered, moving to sit up with a wince, "I at least owe it to you to accompany you upon your ship." She says, looking at her fingernails. "I was never cut out to be a corpsman, anyway."

"You checked me out," you tell Yondu, as soon as Peter's not in the room.

He shakes his head. "When?" He says, and quickly, denying, adds, "No, I never."

You raise your eyebrows, placing your hands upon your hips. "Just before – twice! When you came into the room, with that guy, and then when you sent him out!" you say, outraged he's denying it. You swore that when you woke up on Xandar, saved by the most handsome Centaurian you ever did see, that you wouldn't let him get out of your sight. Your heart had been taken at first sight by him, and that was that. Now he's denying he looked at you like that – it's outrageous! "Come on, Captain, can't you tell the Odd Jobber the truth?"

He rolls his eyes. "That name is ridiculous," he sighs, and running a hand over his small fin, admits, "I like you, __________. I was'n sure you'd like an old man like me..."

Your eyes are wide. "I was so shy, I didn't know what to do or say to tell you I admired you!" you cry out.

From outside the door, you hear Peter call out, perhaps through the keyhole, "Another day saved by the Guardians of The Galaxy!"

"Shut it, Pete!" Yondu retorts. His eyes turn to you, and once again, trace your body. "How 'bout we make use of this occasion..." he motions to the bed before both of you.

"Oh, Captain Udonta," You laugh, beginning to strip Yondu's jacket from your skin. "I was thinking the same thing."