So, I got stuck on my other story and went surfing on YouTube for inspiration. I found a Chris Pratt interview and was inspired to write this. I don't know if it's high quality, but this is what my brain spit out. Please enjoy.

Braid-Lord

It was official. Peter Quill was completely and undeniably bored. Even though he had his mix tape playing in the background, he didn't feel like dancing or singing along with it. The self proclaimed Star-Lord didn't know what else to do while he and the other Guardians were drifting through space, waiting for their next adventure to cross their path. He looked all around the Milano's cabin to keep his idling mind busy.

Drax sat in one of the chairs cleaning his knives. Rocket tinkered on a weapon of some kind while seated on top of a silver crate. The small sapling that was Groot dug around the soil in his pot on the table. Gamora sat beside the plant man shifting at the news feeds, searching for a new bounty for them to catch or some other worthy mission to partake in.

Peter flexed his fingers as if they had started itching. Everyone was doing something but him since he had put the ship on autopilot. Sure, he could pester Rocket into letting the bored man take part in his tinkering or ask Drax about his knives, but the Terran knew that the cons far outweighed the pros in those situations.

Rocket could just ignore him or try to blow up the entire ship depending on how far Quill pushed, while Drax . . . would probably go so in depth about his knives and how they should be properly used to slice men's heads clear from their shoulders that Peter would have nightmares for the rest of his existence. So, no, he would not be asking either of them for any form of entertainment. Ever.

Deciding that maybe a snack would alleviate his boredom, Peter trekked to the back of the Milano. After nabbing a granola bar from the cabinet, the man turned to Gamora to ask if she had found any jobs for them yet when he noticed something he never noticed before.

The assassin had beautiful hair!

Blame it on his bored and idling mind, but Peter Quill couldn't stop from staring at the green woman's hair. Silky ebony locks ending in red curls with just the right amount of volume and oh so shiny. This hair would have been just as alluring on a man as it was on Gamora. But he would have to be an exceptionally pretty man in Quill's book.

You know what? Scratch that, tear out the page, and burn the paper. No one could wear Gamora's hair better than Gamora. Those locks made Quill's fingers itch all over. He remembered the way she looked in prison with that messy braid. What would it have looked like if it was neat?

With that thought driving his actions, Star-Lord found himself running his fingers through the assassin's hair, finally ridding himself of the itching feeling that had been bothering him as he began to section out her jet black and crimson locks. How long do you think that lasted?

Not two seconds later, Peter found himself knocked to the ground with a knee crushing his windpipe. Rocket had started laughing uproariously in the background, and the man just knew that Drax was giving his general direction a confused look. Quickly glancing upward, Quill found Groot watching him curiously and a serious-faced Gamora glaring down at him.

Maybe I should have asked Drax about his knives, the Terran thought dully. Nightmare gore isn't that hard to handle.

"What were you doing?" Gamora demanded.

"Trying to braid your hair," the man choked out. Honestly, it came more as a question than a statement as Peter tried to ease her leg off of his throat.

"Why?" The assassin did not budge.

"Because Rocket's isn't long enough."

Rocket, in response to this statement, stopped laughing and indignantly shouted, "Don't even try it, pal!"

"I'm just kidding, Rocket," Peter smirked. "I got a little bored, not suicidal."

Gamora merely raised an eyebrow before standing up from Peter's windpipe. She returned to her seat as the Terran rubbed his throat.

"And you believed that touching an assassin's hair with no forewarning wasn't suicidal?" Drax questioned.

Quill blinked. Well, when you put it that way . . .

"It doesn't matter now," Gamora stated without removing her gaze from the news feed. "What's done is done. If you want to braid my hair, go ahead."

Peter, Drax, Groot, and Rocket simultaneously turned their gazes towards the green woman. Surprise and confusion shone in their eyes.

"What?" Gamora demanded when she realized they were all looking at her. "It gets in my way when I fight sometimes. And the missions that I'm looking at for us require fighting no matter what plan we may put in place."

Only with the slightest bit of hesitation, Peter rose to his feet and once again ran his fingers through her black and red locks. It was silky and smooth, and Star-Lord quickly lost himself in sectioning and braiding it all together. It was such entrancing and methodical work that he hardly noticed that he had garnered the other Guardians' undivided attention.

"I am Groot?" Groot questioned while pointing at the Terran's hands.

At Quill's puzzled look, Rocket rolled his eyes and translated, "He wants to know where you learned to braid hair." The raccoon-like alien let out a snort before commenting, "I want to know how you got away with it with the Ravagers."

"I second Groot and Rocket's curiosity," Drax stated without removing his eyes from the sure movements of the other man's hands.

Peter paused in his braiding and softly said, "My grandpa taught me how to braid my mother's hair before she got cancer. I was pretty good at it, I guess."

It wasn't easy for Quill to talk about his former life on earth, and he doubted that it would ever get easier. Gamora, Drax, Rocket, and Groot knew this. He tried to tell them what was hard for him to say anyway. It helped with team contiguity or some crap like that.

To liven up the now dampened mood, the Terran smirked and drawled out, "As for keeping up with my skills, do you remember that A'askvariian I told you about?"

Gamora groaned. Rocket barked out laughter along with Drax. Groot, however, looked confused. Sorry, Groot. Ya snooze and miss an attempted prison murder; ya lose the humor in this reference.

"Yeah, she wouldn't let go of me, so I kinda tricked her into letting me braid her tentacles," Peter gained a thoughtful look on his face as he flopped a section of hair in his hands. "I think she liked it, which is both cool and disturbing."

"What's disturbing is this conversation," Gamora countered, slightly turning her head towards the man messing with her hair.

"Oh, alright," Quill sighed in teasing exasperation as he continued with her braid. "Did you see any jobs for us?"

"There are two escapees from a high security prison terrorizing a colony in an asteroid belt," the assassin stated. "Are you nearly done?"

"Almost," Peter sighed as he saw that the sections between his fingers were getting shorter and shorter. "Do you have a hair band?"

"No, the one I had was actually burned up in the battle with Ronan."

"That figures," Rocket commented.

"Why don't you just tie it in a knot?" Drax questioned.

"Because that will break her hair," Peter stated simply. If there was one thing that Star-Lord knew about women it was that it didn't matter what species they were, one did not mess with a woman's hair and escape unscathed. Evidently, Drax understood this unspoken reasoning and nodded. Maybe it was because he had a wife and daughter and they were the same way.

"I am Groot," Groot said. In his twig like arms was a small vine dotted with tiny white flowers. He was holding it out to Peter. He had grown it without any of them noticing.

"He's saying to see if his vine will work," Rocket explained with a little surprise. He shook his head with a small laugh. "The first thing he grows since he was put in that pot, and he makes a vine to hold back Gamora's hair."

Peter took the small thin vine with great care. It was the first thing that Groot had grown since being reduced to the size of a twig, and the Terran didn't want to hurt the Flora Colossus's feelings by messing it up.

"Thank you, Groot," he said with a sincere smile. "It's perfect."

Groot nodded with a smile. Quill held one end of the vine in place with his thumb at the end of Gamora's braid and deftly wrapped three loops around, tying the ends together in a firm knot. He made a small humming noise as he straightened up the braid and adjusted the improvised hair-band before stepping away with a smile.

"And done," Peter stated with a nod. "Go check it out."

Pulling a two blades from their sheaths, Gamora held one in front of her face while she whipped the other behind her head, nearly taking Star-Lord's nose clear off in the process. Peter didn't take it personally. But that didn't stop him from backing off while she inspected her new braid.

It began at the top of the back of her head, sections being added as it descended to the bottom, and ended with a black and red ropelike ponytail. The braid was much neater than what she could do to herself.

"What kind of braid is it?" Gamora asked as she scrutinized Quill's work.

"French braid," the Terran stated.

"I can't believe it," Rocket muttered.

"Can't believe what?" Peter asked.

"That you would have made a better beautician than a Ravager," the raccoon-like alien laughed out.

Peter seemed to wilt at that before giving a smirk and saying, "I never told you how I got away with my braiding skills with the Ravagers."

"And," Rocket snorted through his laughter, "and how is that?"

"Some of them had longer hair and would have me braid it for two reasons," Peter extended two fingers. "One, it got in the way when they fought, but they didn't want to cut it off. Two, it made a great whip."

That cut off Rocket's laughter right quick. Gamora had a considering countenance as she took a second glance at her new braid.

"So who wants to catch some prisoners?"

And so, even as the Guardians of the Galaxy kicked the dangerous prisoners' butts and had them returned to jail, Gamora's French braid stayed pristine; and Peter Quill had the new name Braid-Lord added to his list of nicknames.

In all honesty Drax was rather difficult for me to write, so he played a minor role. Tell me what you thought and what could be improved upon. I shall hear what you have to say and attempt to fix my flaws accordingly. Also, there will be more chapter's added, but this story will be marked as complete because it's basically just a bunch of one-shots.