"What in the world is that?"
Hope's voice was down to a whisper as she narrowed her eyes at the stuffed animal that Cassie was currently clutching in her arms. She'd spent time with Scott's daughter a couple times now, but she had—thankfully—never laid her eyes on her companion. Whoever had given her this toy must've have either been blind or a man by the name of Scott Lang. Said man was eyeing her much too innocently as he turned the lights off in the little girl's room.
"What's what?"
"That thing your daughter is sleeping with."
"If you're referring to the rabbit, can I please ask you to rephrase that question? It's giving me horrible flash forwards to Cassie as a teenager. I mean, not a teenager, that'd be absurd—more like a late twenty something."
"Scott, stop rambling, you're starting to talk like Luís," Hope warned him, exasperated but amused despite herself. "And you're avoiding the question."
The man in front of her only managed to shrug. "She just likes it, okay?"
"But why?" she pressed, because seriously, Scott could be even more closed-off than the safes he used to crack.
"Well, not to brag, but probably because I gave it to her," he replied, a proud and all-too adorable smile adorning his face.
The brunette smiled back, asking slyly, "You're not going to let her take that to HQ tomorrow, though, right?"
"Of course I am, why not?"
"Um, because they're going to think you're a psycho for giving her that. It's creepy as hell," she chuckled, shaking her head in disbelief.
"You haven't heard it speak," he mumbled, looking anywhere but at her.
Hope groaned. "It talks? In a creepy murder voice, right?"
Scott was now picking imaginary lint from his sweater.
"Oh God." This just kept getting worse. How had Maggie ever approved of that rabbit? "When did you give this to her?"
"Her last birthday," he answered, continuing when he saw Hope's incredulous expression. "But it has a meaning, you know. I have some taste. After all, I chose you, didn't I?" he added, smirking like the goofball he was.
Hope scoffed but threw her arms around Scott's neck anyway. "You wish. I chose you, Ant-Man."
Scott's hands came up to rest on her waist. "Do you want to hear the story or what?"
Hope's lips curled up as she nodded encouragingly.
"When Cassie was still very young, and not an almost-twentysomething like she is now, when Maggie and I were still together, we decided to let her choose a pet for her birthday. Maggie insisted on getting one from an animal shelter, so we go there and Cassie is running around the place, wanting every animal there, and then she spots this rabbit."
He chuckled as he remembered the moment clearly, and the fondness in his eyes is obvious. "I mean, you should've seen it. It was in a box full of those fluffy monsters and she goes and picks the ugliest bunny in the entire shelter."
Hope couldn't help but laugh at the indignation on his face. "I'm not even kidding," he assured her. "That rabbit was old, had about ten different colours of fur and a chunk out of one ear. I remember Maggie and I looking at each other in horror as she held it up to us, beaming and exclaiming that that was the one she wanted. Maggie tried to persuade her for the next ten minutes, but I knew she wasn't going to give in. And that's how Elroy came to the Scott house. Turns out that the furball from Hell also hissed at anyone that wasn't Cassie. Hence the talking murder rabbit."
Hope was still in a fit of giggles as Scott inched closer to her, eyes shining and roaming her face. She wiped a tear away and stepped forward as well, sobering slightly.
"I conceed. That is a great story," Hope admitted, dropping a kiss on his cheek. "What happened to Elroy?"
Scott's smile faltered and he sighed. "He died when I was in prison," he told her, and Hope ran her fingers through the hair on the base of his neck in what she hoped to be a soothing manner, "Every day I regret not being there for Cassie. That evil bastard meant the world to her."
They both smiled sadly, and once again, his regret shined through his words. You could say a lot of things about Scott Lang, but he would do anything for that little girl of his.
"I have to hand it to him, though," he went on, mirth returning to his voice, "Elroy was a hundred-year-old rabbit, most likely. He had perseverance."
"Seems like it runs in the family," Hope commented.
Scott gave her a bashful smile in return, so instead of speaking, he closed the distance between them and kissed her urgently, which turned softer as the minutes passed.
They both had to catch their breath when they separated, Hope wiping a smudge of lipstick from Scott's lower lip with her thumb.
"You're a pretty good dad, Scott Lang."
"And you're a pretty great woman, Hope Van Dyne. And girlfriend."
She actually tipped her imaginary hat at him—God, she was turning into a dork, just like him—and pecked his lips once more.
"But still, be prepared to deal with a huge amount of Avengers ridicule tomorrow."
After that comment, Scott made an attempt to convince Cassie that "maybe she'd get a new stuffed toy from the Avengers", but she resisted tooth and nail—"I told you so, Hope. She gets her headstrong qualities from her mother."
So Scott's daughter was still clutching Elroy II when they greeted the Avengers in New York the next afternoon.
Scott's appearance in itself was an ice breaker, as he immediately got to tell them the story of how he kicked Falcon's a—butt and that led to a whole lot of war stories and mishaps and soon everyone was mingling.
Natascha, Maria and Wanda were all over Cassie, as was Barton, surprisingly. And it certainly didn't escape Hope's attention how Bruce Branner kept looking at Natascha with a longing look in his eyes.
Obviously, Tony Stark's personality was the largest, but most of the time, his fiancée Pepper could reign it in.
Glancing at Cassie, Scott could see her eyeing Tony curiously from where she was currently half-hidden behind him. He looked up and saw Pepper grinning at him, and in turn, she nudged her boyfriend next to her.
"Tony, I think you still need to say hi to someone," she told him, indicating Cassie with a subtle nod. Tony looked from Scott to his daughter and smiled, a genuine one instead of his usual smirk. He crouched down and held out his hand.
"Hi. I'm Tony. Or Iron Man, whichever you prefer."
Cassie let go of her dad's hand to shake the billionaire's.
"I'm Cassie Lang."
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Cassie Lang. So you're Ant-Man, huh?"
The little girl giggled and pointed up. "No, my daddy is."
"Oh, sorry, my bad."
"You're my favourite Avenger," she blurted out, casting her eyes down quickly.
Tony gasped, looking around the room. "Everyone hear that? I've got Cassie's stamp of approval."
"Why is Iron Man your favourite, sweetie?" Hope asked her, grinning widely—she'd heard the answer before. She shot Scott a smug smile, and he narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously.
Cassie beamed. "Because Iron Man doesn't have any powers, just like Daddy!"
Tony scoffed lightly, muttering, "Great. She likes me 'cause I'm average."
Pepper put her arm on his shoulder and looked at him sweetly. "No, Tony, she likes you because you're simply human and you still want to fight for the regular people in the streets. She's saying you're just like the most important man in her life."
Scott was grinning like a Cheshire cat as he lifted his daughter into his arms. "That's my girl. Thanks, honey."
Tony cleared his throat awkwardly and kissed Pepper's temple, before walking over to Cassie again. "Well, if you put it like that... You're right, I am the best one," he joked, winking, "but thanks, kiddo."
"You're welcome, Mr. Iron Man."
"Wow, she has more manners than Tony does," Rhodey commented, making the others chuckle.
"Don't mind him. He's just jealous he's not your favourite," Tony countered, spotting the rabbit she was hiding behind. He fluffled its ears and pointed at it. "I like your rabbit. It's very... out of the box."
"His name is Elroy II. But most people think he's weird."
"Very regal name. You know, I gave Pepper here a giant rabbit that looked a lot like this last Christmas, and she thought it was weird too."
"Really?"
"Really. But she loves it now, right, Pepper?" he asked her, turning around with an expectant expression.
Pepper smiled brightly and winked at Cassie. "Oh, yeah, definitely. And let me tell you, Cassie, even if other people don't, you know what it means to you."
The little girl smiled proudly at her dad and Scott was sure he would like being a part of this group. Clearly, they were all genuinely kind people.
Quickly thereafter, Cassie's attention shifted to Mjölnir and Scott introduced her to the rest of the team.
Hope went to stand next to Pepper and smirked. "So, Tony also has a penchant for giving his loved ones inappropriate stuffed rabbits?"
"Yup."
"Good to know Scott's not alone then."
"Definitely not. But I love him anyway."
"Yeah. Me too," Hope agreed, fondly watching Scott with his daughter in his arms.
Scott sat down next to Hope during a quiet moment where Cassie was occupied with all her new friends—right now she was perched on Natascha's hip, both of them attempting to catch Elroy out of the air, where Wanda was moving him around with her powers.
"Hey," Hope acknowledged him, grabbing his hand and lacing their fingers.
"Hi. How are you feeling?" he asked, noticing her tired smile.
"I'm fine, Scott, it's just the day catching up with me."
"Thanks for coming with me today. It means a lot," he admitted, pressing a kiss to her hand.
"You think I would have passed up the opportunity to meet the Avengers?"
"Yeah, probably not," he gave in, chuckling, but Hope squeezed his hand and he knew his message had been received. "And hey, at least they didn't say anything about Elroy."
"They're bottling it up until Miss Cassie's not here, Mr. Lang, I can assure you," the Vision stated matter-of-factly in passing. Scott groaned when Hope laughed, and soon Cassie was bouncing over to him.
"Natascha's going to teach me her flying move to take the bad guys out when I'm a little older, Daddy! Yay!" she squealed, and Hope had to keep from laughing again at the fearful expression on Scott's features.
"Maybe then you can teach me, okay?" she supplied, earning a glare from the man next to her. "That thigh thing might come in handy some time," she added below her breath, winking at him.
"Oh God, you two are going to be the death of me," Scott declared, before his daughter started bouncing again.
"Daddy?"
"Yeah, sweetie?"
"Can I go talk to the pink man next?"
Scott swallowed. What had he gotten himself into?