Author's Note: Whoops. I put this on tumblr right after I saw the movie, but forgot to slap it up here too. My bad.

-Tri

Tony waited until Peter was out of earshot and Quill's friends were busy exploring before he caught the other man's shoulder. "Hey, need a word with you, real quick."

The Guardian scowled, but nonetheless followed Tony around the far side of a rubble boulder. His annoyance meant he didn't see the blow coming.

"Oof!" It took him a second to recover after being slammed into the solid stone. "What the hell, man!"

"Word of warning," Tony snarled back. "If you ever, ever, so much as lay a finger on my kid again, let alone hold a gun to his head, I promise you will not get to live long enough to regret it. Got that?"

He expected a snarky retort, or some matching threat - not for Quill to blink and suddenly sag in his grip. The man mouthed a silent "oh", before he nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, got it. I get it."

"Good." Tony released him and quickly stepped back, a little taken aback at the quick agreement. He turned to head back off, only for Quill to speak up and freeze him in his tracks.

"Does he know?"

The Avenger shot him a baffled look. "What?"

"Does he know? Speaking as a guy who grew up being raised by an idiot who never actually said how much he cared until a few seconds before sacrificing himself to save my life." Quill pushed himself up off the boulder, speaking, for the first time, without anger in his voice. "If he does, that's great, off we go. But if he doesn't, you might want to let the kid know soon. Before something happens." With that, he strode off, leaving Tony behind, stricken.