video; @star.lord

[nostalgiabomb]

[ INT. Shared Housing, Floor 13, Room 4 – Very Late Night.

We open on a shot of the living space in one of the many shared housing units. It's dark in the messy room, with a couple of red jackets tossed onto the backs of chairs. Nearby, soft snores are audible.

In frame is a small, wooden creature, his giant eyes squinting with concentration as he stares at the screen. An old, beat-up mp3 player and a Sony Walkman sit beside him on the coffee table. The little creature mumbles a tiny, irritated— ]

I am Groot?

[ —in the same tone of voice someone else might use to ask, “How the hell do you work this thing?” He pokes at the screen fruitlessly for a while, but soon enough, his eyes light up as he shoves his hand forward one last time.

Suddenly, “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” by the illustrious AC/DC shrieks over stereo speakers.

DONE. DIRT. CHEAP.

Sorry about your beauty sleep, Floor 13. And probably Floors 12 and 14.

The sapling yelps, scrambling and panicking to figure out how to stop this crazy thing, just as a sleep-tousled Star-Lord stumbles into frame, flicking on a light. Barely audible over the music, ]

Groot, what are you—?

[ Busted.

Peter picks up the device, sees that it’s recording, and he grimaces. ]

Oh, son of a—

[ Which is when the feed and the music both cut out. ]

Comments

[nostalgiabomb]

He's in big trouble, is what he is.

[ While they're not currently on camera, rest assured that Groot is sulking somewhere, silently mimicking Peter with a sour look on his face. ]

—what's "dad rock"?

[chumpelstiltskin]

Um, I guess it's rock that dads listen to. Generally anything before the 80's, since that's when the dads were at peak rocking before they had kids and went bald.

Unless you're from the 80's in which case it's all very fresh and current music and I don't know what I'm talking about.

[nostalgiabomb]

[ Peter snots out a quiet, unimpressed sound. ]

Nice save.

[ Peter wonders, briefly, if it can still be called "Dad Rock" if a lot of his musical tastes were influenced by his mother. But that's a thought to ponder some other time, when it's not butts o'clock in the morning. ]

Can't it just be, you know, rock? Just straight up?

[chumpelstiltskin]

I assume we have begun to micro-categorise it because rock in the 80's and rock now attracts different audiences.

But I say assume because I left Earth 10 years ago and for all I know the music I liked could be Dad Rap now.

[nostalgiabomb]

[ Oh, okay, that catches his interest. ]

You left Earth?

[ and he casts the words a little cautiously, like he's not sure what sort of answer he's expecting. ]

[chumpelstiltskin]

Yep. I know, who would willingly leave McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts- but Meteors will fuck your shit up.

[A stupid answer is what you get, Peter.]

[nostalgiabomb]

[ A thoughtful pause, then, ]

... I actually kinda miss McDonalds.

[ but it’s no Dairy Queen, since apparently that’s the fast food chain MCU went all-in on.

FAN FOOD, NOT FAST FOOD. ]

What happened with the meteors?

[chumpelstiltskin]

They came from space and destroyed Earth, but that is approximately 100% of what I know about them.

[And it certainly was not something he was accidentally complicit in. No sir!!]

Were you still on Earth when they nabbed you? Are McNuggets still good?

[nostalgiabomb]

[ ... you have a baffling way of talking, guy.

But Peter rolls with it. ]

Yeah. I got nabbed from Earth. And from what I remember, they were...

[ what's the right phrase, here? ]

...I mean, I'm still not all that positive it was actually chicken, but I was a kid, then, and didn't really care.

So, yeah. Good.