[But he can. Peter frowns, he has no idea what Flynn's talking about. He looks around him, confused, and scoffs.]
...who?
[--and the sphere shakes, shuddering, as the one inside remembers--
--instant best friends, this new guy loved is mom as much as he did and he seems really great--
--and Flynn's helping him, and they're talking and talking and Flynn's a genius but he actually makes history interesting and he's learning a lot and they're sharing stories about what it was like growing up on earth and Flynn doesn't treat him like an idiot and he's so kind and funny and Peter would kill every last person in town if he even got so much as a scratch--
--and he's his best friend and everything is awesome, they may be stuck in a terrible murdertown but that's okay because Flynn is here, everything is okay because he's here--
--until he's not here because Peter's suddenly immortal and he watches him age and die over and over and over again and he can't stand it, he can't stand leaving him behind, can't stand seeing him die, can't stand the thought of one day he won't come back and he'll be lost forever, and he hates this town, and the hate consumes him, he buries his heart so far deep that no one can touch it because it's better to not care about mortals because this hurt too much--Flynn was a walking dead man--
--and he hated himself for thinking of Flynn that way because it was wrong, it was wrong and he was alienating his best friend, the one person that could save him, his friend he loved so much--
--and he buries his humanity deep in his core, like the center of his father's planet, buries it so far deep that when Flynn becomes immortal, he gets the idea to 'save' him by making him think like himself, and doing that created the retirement home--
--that humanity is screaming, begging, crying but he can't feel it, it's long buried in that sphere and it can't get out, he's a Celestial and above such mortal things--
--and sometimes his humanity escapes, there was a point he was so sorry when he met the old Flynn once again, after Flynn had lost himself--
--but then he gained his powers back when he came here, to this world, combined with the terrible influence of that Flynn, his humanity is lost to the cosmos as he tries to become the cosmos, and in doing so he's destroying the cosmos, so many dead, countless civilizations gone because of him--
--and Peter Quill is just a kid who's trying to cling to what he remembers of his childhood, when things were still good, he's not a god and he doesn't want to hurt anyone anymore, he fought some bullies to save a frog--
--and he misses his friends, he misses them so bad it hurts, he misses Flynn, the old Flynn, and it hurts so bad he can't bear it--
--but he's here. He's here.
Peter suddenly truly awakens in the sphere--the purest part of him, everything that made him good, everything that hated what his father had done--
--Flynn's here and he feels that love and he doesn't deserve it, he should just stay here where things don't hurt anymore, but no--he can't do that, not after everything he's done--his Celestial self has done.
The sphere cracks open and Peter punches through the shell, like a massive pearl or egg, trying desperately to reach for Flynn's hand.
no subject
...who?
[--and the sphere shakes, shuddering, as the one inside remembers--
--instant best friends, this new guy loved is mom as much as he did and he seems really great--
--and Flynn's helping him, and they're talking and talking and Flynn's a genius but he actually makes history interesting and he's learning a lot and they're sharing stories about what it was like growing up on earth and Flynn doesn't treat him like an idiot and he's so kind and funny and Peter would kill every last person in town if he even got so much as a scratch--
--and he's his best friend and everything is awesome, they may be stuck in a terrible murdertown but that's okay because Flynn is here, everything is okay because he's here--
--until he's not here because Peter's suddenly immortal and he watches him age and die over and over and over again and he can't stand it, he can't stand leaving him behind, can't stand seeing him die, can't stand the thought of one day he won't come back and he'll be lost forever, and he hates this town, and the hate consumes him, he buries his heart so far deep that no one can touch it because it's better to not care about mortals because this hurt too much--Flynn was a walking dead man--
--and he hated himself for thinking of Flynn that way because it was wrong, it was wrong and he was alienating his best friend, the one person that could save him, his friend he loved so much--
--and he buries his humanity deep in his core, like the center of his father's planet, buries it so far deep that when Flynn becomes immortal, he gets the idea to 'save' him by making him think like himself, and doing that created the retirement home--
--that humanity is screaming, begging, crying but he can't feel it, it's long buried in that sphere and it can't get out, he's a Celestial and above such mortal things--
--and sometimes his humanity escapes, there was a point he was so sorry when he met the old Flynn once again, after Flynn had lost himself--
--but then he gained his powers back when he came here, to this world, combined with the terrible influence of that Flynn, his humanity is lost to the cosmos as he tries to become the cosmos, and in doing so he's destroying the cosmos, so many dead, countless civilizations gone because of him--
--and Peter Quill is just a kid who's trying to cling to what he remembers of his childhood, when things were still good, he's not a god and he doesn't want to hurt anyone anymore, he fought some bullies to save a frog--
--and he misses his friends, he misses them so bad it hurts, he misses Flynn, the old Flynn, and it hurts so bad he can't bear it--
--but he's here. He's here.
Peter suddenly truly awakens in the sphere--the purest part of him, everything that made him good, everything that hated what his father had done--
--Flynn's here and he feels that love and he doesn't deserve it, he should just stay here where things don't hurt anymore, but no--he can't do that, not after everything he's done--his Celestial self has done.
The sphere cracks open and Peter punches through the shell, like a massive pearl or egg, trying desperately to reach for Flynn's hand.
Help me!]