summary:
everything leading up to our
favorite drive in movie night
•
if he was completely honest, he didn't think she'd say yes.
scott had been thinking about this for awhile now (if two years is considered 'awhile'), and after the events of the past few days, it always seemed to be in the back of his head.
obviously there were more important things to think about. he'd been off of house arrest for less than a week. he needed to catch up on all of the time he'd missed with cassie, from the park to getting ice cream to the frequent dinners maggie and paxton insisted on having.
but there was also hope.
he hadn't seen her since that day on the pier, when they'd gotten back the lab and brought back her mother. she had to have been catching up on the years they missed together, and he couldn't blame her.
she'd never explicitly told her how much she missed her, but he could tell. after everything they've been through, he knew how to read her (as much as one could read someone as closed off as hope van dyne).
scott had been on house arrest for two years while still seeing cassie, but he still felt like he missed out. he couldn't even imagine how hope and janet felt.
she'd also kissed him that day. he didn't know if she knew he remembered, but he did. how could he not?
the two years alone, locked in his house, were brutal. he was grateful for whenever he saw cassie, grateful for those small interactions renewing him and keeping him going, but it was still exhausting. the days without her were spent sleeping, eating, and, most of all, overthinking.
he'd been drowning in guilt every second of every day, and even though they'd forgiven him (hope had, he still wasn't sure about hank), he couldn't help but still feel bad about what he'd pulled in germany.
if scott was sure about anything right now, though, it was that he'd never do anything like that to her, to them, again.
the idea plaguing his thoughts was at the forefront of his mind as he looked down at his phone. he hadn't spoken to hope at all since then, other than a few stray messages here and there about the fbi, about ava, and about hank.
he missed her. it had been barely five days since he's seen her last, but he missed her more than words could describe.
"daddy!"
his head flew up as cassie ran into the room, face gleaming with a smile. "hey, peanut. you pick out what you want to do tonight?"
she nodded, hoisting herself up into the chair next to him. "can we have a movie night tonight? with popcorn?"
his heart soared at how excited she looked, smile covering her face. "of course, peanut. how about sundaes too? as a treat."
if it was possible, her smile grew even wider. "with chocolate sauce and sprinkles?"
"of course! there's no other way, is there?" he replied incredulously. she giggled, shaking her head as she slid off the chair.
"thanks, daddy!" this time, his heart exploded. every day he loved his daughter more and more, which was seemingly impossible, but it never was. a smile grew on his face as she waved at him, tiny feet carrying herself over to the door.
as he looked down again, his eyes snagged on his phone, and the idea that he'd been so focused on shot right back to the forefront of his mind.
cassie hadn't left the room yet, getting momentarily distracted by something on the floor. he didn't bother to look close enough to see what it was.
scott let out a groan. no use stressing about it if he didn't even try. "peanut?" her head turned as he called out to her.
"yeah, daddy?"
he sighed, already growing nervous at the potential reactions to the question. "would you want to invite hope to our movie tonight? i know she misses you, but it's alright if you do-"
"yes! are you serious?" he froze as she cut him off with a excited gasp.
"can we invite hope?" her eyes started sparkling when he nodded, relief flowing through his body at her reaction.
"i miss hope. i haven't seen her in a long time." cassie said, furrowing her brows as she looked back up at him.
his heart melted at her words, and he slowly leaned down to press a kiss to her forehead. "yeah, of course we can, peanut. i wanted to ask you first, just in case." he said softly.
she was already a step out the door when she responded, no doubt running back to the bins and bins of movies he kept in his living room. "invite her now!"
as he looked down at his phone, scott couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. he was always nervous about hope and cassie interacting. he was nervous about anyone new and cassie interacting, honestly. it just kind of came with being a single father.
he also knew hope wasn't necessarily a kid person, but he couldn't help but disagree when he saw how great she was with his daughter.
that was one of the reasons he liked her so much.
a smile grew on his face as he clicked her contact. if cassie wanted her here, he wouldn't dare disagree.
~
hope van dyne didn't expect to get a call from him so late. she didn't expect to get a call from him in the first place, really. with how busy they'd both been recovering from the chaos, they hadn't really been in touch as often.
"scott?" as soon as she picked up, she heard a crash in the background.
"yeah? oh, hey, yeah!" she shook her head, fighting back a smile.
"what's wrong? did you do something? why did you call?"
he scoffed. "i can't just call without something being in trouble? thanks for the confidence, hope."
rolling her eyes, she set her phone down onto the desk next to her. "don't make me list of the number of times i've had to save your ass, lang."
"oh, god, please don't. i'm still too emotionally fragile from that whole pier thing." she held back laughter at his clear sarcasm.
hearing his voice reminded her how much she'd missed him. she'd never admit it, to herself or anyone else, but scott lang had managed to slide his way into a special place in her heart.
he'd torn that place to shreds when he'd run off to germany without a word or warning, but after having time to finally sit down think about it, about everything that had happened, she realized was mending. slowly but surely, it was mending.
she shook herself out of her thoughts when he spoke up again. "no, i actually called because i, uh, i have a question for you." she frowned when she noticed the nervousness creeping into his voice.
scenarios started running through her head. what could he possible be asking her about? maybe something stupid about his suit (her dad was still repairing the damage from the pier), something about cassie, or something about security systems.
who ever really knew what scott lang was about to say?
when she didn't respond, he let out a quick sigh. "i was wondering if you wanted to come over tonight. join cassie and i for a movie and popcorn."
her stomach did a flip before her mind had even processed his words. out of every possible question, she sure as hell wasnt expecting that.
"what?" hope hoped she didn't sound as shocked to him as she did to herself.
she could hear the smile in his voice. "cassie and i were wondering if you want to watch a movie with us. you know, those moving pictures with actors and music and plot lines?"
"i know what a movie is, scott." she snapped.
she could hear him laughing at her. the sound sent a warm feeling through her chest, making it hard to focus on what he was saying.
"i know you're probably still busy with your mom and everything, but i just thought i'd ask, since i haven't seen much of you the past few days."
hope sat down with a frown. the sound of a movie night felt amazing, honestly, even if she wasn't the most social type. but she tried her hardest, even before these last two years, not to interfere with the limited time scott had with his daughter.
"scott, i don't know. i don't want to take away your time with cassie." her voice trailed off.
she heard him sigh, knew that he was tired of hearing the same thing again and again. before germany, she'd always semi-avoided cassie, just because she didn't want to infringe in something that wasn't hers.
she knew how it felt to be a second priority, to be unwanted by your own dad, and she never wanted cassie to feel that. hope knew in the back of her head scott would never not be an amazing father, but it helped to have an excuse for herself.
"hope..."
"i'm serious, scott. you've been off of house arrest for what, a week now?"
"five days now, actually." she scoffed as he cut in, clearly picturing the smug smile on his face.
"that's proving my point. you have some family time to catch up on, scott." she paused, looking up at the picture on her wall.
it was a picture from when she was little, on a day when her parents took her down to the pier. six year old hope was standing there, gleaming smile on her face as she held a melted ice cream cone. dad and mom standing behind her, janet looking at her and hank looking at janet.
it was filled with love, filled with memories from happier times, and no matter how mad she was with her father, hope had never taken that picture down.
she looked down at her phone again, blinking back the burning in her eyes. "we both do."
scott let out a soft sigh over the phone. she didn't respond, didn't feel like she had to. there was silence for a few seconds, hope wrapped up in her own mind, but she was shaken out of it when he spoke up again.
"you know, cassie really wants you to come." he said.
a warm glow erupted on her cheeks at his words. "really?"
"yeah." he paused. "i do too." she could hear the smile in his voice, could see the sheepish expression on his face even though they were miles away.
it was like a flip had switched in her mind. hearing him, hearing that...missing him was suddenly the only thing she could focus on, the only thing she could feel. it was the very thing she didn't want to feel anymore.
a smile teased at her lips. "fine."
"hmm? what was that?" she rolled her eyes, not feeling annoyed in the slightest.
"sure, scott. i'd love to come." she said, voice unusually shy, even to her.
it was obvious he was wearing that huge grin of his when he responded, excitement creeping into his voice. "great. we'll see you in a few." the phone clicked off, the room filling with silence again.
hope didn't move, too busy trying to fight back the smile threatening to grow on her face. she chided herself for feeling like that, for acting like some stupid teenager in love. she lost, though, and the smile stayed on her face the entire way over to his house.
~
she regretted coming the minute she'd stepped foot through the door.
"and so then we tried to go catch it, right, because when else would we find a stray cat? but we didn't realize the stove was still on, so we came back in to find the popcorn burning and the smoke alarm going off."
she looked at scott in disbelief as he recited what had gone down from in the kitchen, not even comprehending what was happening at the moment.
the remaining smoke was finally drifting out of front door, two of them holed up in the living room as it cleared out. hope hadn't even gotten to take her shoes off before something had gone wrong.
"it was so funny, hope. but we didn't find the cat. i think the alarm scared him off." she looked over at cassie, the little girl bouncing excitedly in the armchair next to her.
hope didn't notice the smile blooming on her face as she watched her, but scott did. it was the only thing he noticed as he peeked in from the kitchen, already starting a new batch of popcorn. hope had offered to do it, uncomfortable with the idea of being alone with the little girl, but he'd insisted.
"that sounds crazy, cassie." she leaned forward, cupping her mouth with her hands. "you know, your dad almost burned down our lab in his suit one time." she whispered.
the girl gasped, giggling as she looked over at her dad. "what did she say about me?" he looked at hope as he walked in with the big bowls. "what did you say about me?" he said again, glaring at hope as he sat down.
she shrugged, a smirk on her face as she looked over at cassie. shooting the girl a wink, hope stifled a laugh as scott frowned, clearly disappointed with being left out of something.
the next few minutes were a blur to her. scott had asked her to bring the case of cars, so she'd had some suspicions about his plans. luckily, she'd remembered the remote (she was usually on top of everything all the time, but she'd understandably been a little...flustered while getting ready), and soon they had a complete drive in movie setup.
well, a drive in movie sized perfectly for ants.
she didn't even know what the movie was until a few minutes in, really. it was something cassie had picked, but hope hadn't been listening to the two of them chatter while setting up the computer. she was too distracted with the fact that she was really there, sitting next to scott and his daughter in a shrunken down car.
after germany, she never thought she'd see scott again without killing him.
now look at her.
"daddy!" her head flew up as she heard cassie speak up from the backseat.
he glanced back at her with a concerned frown. "what's wrong?"
"we forgot the popcorn!" she cried. hope held back a smile when scott let out a dramatic gasp.
"shoot! you want to go run and get the popcorn, peanut? we'll pause the movie until you get back." he said.
"promise?"
a small smile grew on her face when she literally saw scott melt in his seat. "promise. now go run, i'll time you." he said, grasping his daughter's little finger with his.
hope looked up as cassie ran past her, through the back door and back inside, no doubt desperate for the snack they'd been through so much to make.
and then they were alone.
she could feel him looking at her, eyes burning into her side. she didn't want to look at him, but she couldn't help it, head turning on it's own accord.
a smile teased at his lips as he met her eyes. "hey."
"hi."
the smile broke through on his face as he watched her. "i missed you." he murmured.
she could hear the honesty, hear the emotion in his voice. it made her stomach turn over itself. "i missed you too, scott." she confessed, twisting her fingers to force herself not to close up, not to retreat back into her comfort zone of indifference.
if possible, his smile grew even more, but then just as quickly disappeared. she watched as his brow furrowed, inner turmoil reflecting clear in his eyes.
"scott?" he suddenly turned to face her, any trace of intimacy or longing gone.
"i'm sorry, hope. i'm sorry about all of it. i'm sorry i ran off, i'm sorry i didn't ask you, i'm sorry i made you and hank lose everything. i was trying to keep you safe, but clearly i did the opposite."
her mind flew with all of the things he was suddenly saying. for the first time, she couldn't comprehend anything, stuck sitting there as he rambled on, too fast for her to follow.
"scott-"
"and i know it's not fair for me to apologize now, after so long. i know that. but i needed to apologize to you, because it wasn't fair of me to even do it in the first place."
her heart dropped. "scott-"
"and i still need to apologize to hank, because god knows how much damage i did to that suit on the pier. it wasn't even working well in the first place, and all i did was make it worse than it alr-"
"scott!" she grabbed his hand, finally done with being lost, trying to make him shut up.
he froze mid sentence, eyes wide as he looked at her, down at their hands on the console, then back up to her. "what?"
hope let out a soft laugh, shaking her head, not surprised in the slightest. "scott, i've forgiven you already. you don't need to apologize." she said, a smile tugging at her lips.
he closed his jaw, slowly sinking back into his seat. "oh. oh, okay. okay."
she hesitated for a moment, trying to decide if she wanted to voice her thoughts. "you know," he looked up at her, "i forgave you the minute you came and got us out from the fbi." hope confessed, already feeling uncomfortable with how intimate it was getting.
she couldn't help the blush from dusting her cheeks, and for once she was glad it was dark out, hoping the night sky would hide it from him.
he definitely still noticed, though, and his smile grew as he watched her. "yeah?"
she nodded, finally letting herself smile. "yeah."
they sat in silence for a bit, just watching each other. hope didn't feel uncomfortable, though. she never felt uncomfortable when she was with scott. he had a way of calming her down just by being in the room (she'd never admit that to him, obviously, she didn't want to inflate his ego even more).
she knew she was still blushing like some giddy teenager. she could feel the heat in her cheeks as she looked the man next to her. again, she thanked the stars that it was too dark for them to see clearly, because she knew that he'd never let her live it down.
their gazes flew from each other when they heard the door slam. hope looked back to see cassie sitting there, giant bowl of popcorn balanced precariously in her lap, and she chided herself for not noticing earlier.
hope didn't look at scott after he started the movie again. she didn't have to to know he was staring at her, stealing looks every so often. it made her heart her all fluttery, and she knew she didn't trust herself not to get distracted by him again.
finally, she broke the silence as cassie let out a giggle at a ridiculous scene. she'd chosen an ant movie, something hope wasn't even surprised about considering who her father was.
"so, cassie, what do you want to be when you grow up?" hope tilted her head back to look at the little girl. she could see scott turn to watch them, too.
cassie didn't look away from the computer screen, not even having to think before answering. "i want to help people. just like my dad."
glancing at scott, she saw the pride blooming in his eyes, saw the way his chest puffed a bit. she stifled a smile, looking back to the girl as she spoke up again, chomping on her popcorn.
"i wanted to be his partner, but he said he wants you."
she stiffened up when she heard cassie's words, clearly surprised, but just as quickly sunk back into her seat. looking up, she saw scott shrug in confirmation, obviously holding back a smile.
a warm feeling spread through her chest. "is that so?" she said, glancing back at cassie for a split second, but the girl was already focused on the movie again.
hope looked back at scott, meeting his eyes with burning cheeks. she could read him in an instant, but she was slowly realizing that he could read her just as well. it should have scared her, how quickly he'd broken down her walls, but it didn't. it made her feel warm inside, a foreign feeling that she found missing whenever they weren't together.
her head fell back against the seat's headrest, top teeth catching her lip as she looked at scott, getting wrapped up within her own thoughts once again.
hope van dyne wasn't someone who was easily scared. the opposite, actually. but something about being with scott, being around him and with him, terrified the shit out of her.
but it was the good kind of fear, she thought, the type giving you a thrill that had you addicted forever. she'd always been scared of the future, scared because of the uncertainty that came with involving other people, but she knew that scott was different.
sure, he might be unpredictable, impulsive, and a bit immature at times, but she knew him. she knew scott, and she knew that no matter what, partners, colleagues, or more, that he was in for the long run.
so as she looked at him, as she saw the affection flood his eyes as he watched her and felt the smile grow on her face, she knew they'd be alright.