CHAPTER TEN ;
"  arguments, avengers,
& everything in between "

" 'cause i don't need anyone
    i don't need anyone
    i just need everyone and then some  "
✧   CLEMENTINE
                halsey!

"Are you completely insane?!"

Y-E-S.

I mean, that's what she wants to say and that's what she knows they're all thinkin' but hey, who is she to be honest?

So, Laurie doesn't respond, keeping her eyes on the kitchen table and her arms crossed over her chest - like this is some kind of barrier that can protect her from everyone else around. And really, she kinda does need this kind of protection.

Everybody is ticked at her.

Which is usual.

Let's be real honest here, everybody is usually ticked at Laurie for some reason or another. Like, sure, she'll spend too much money online shopping (who doesn't?), and sometimes she'll eat the last of the rocky road ice cream at midnight, or she'll sneak a pack of cigarettes that she'll never use into her backpack, and hey, maybe sometimes she'll even ACCIDENTALLY end up egging the police precinct even though she swears up and down that it wasn't her.

So, sue her!

But anyway, the point is, she's usually fine with that. She's usually like, 'kay my dudes. right back at cha, my friends'. All in all, Laurie Lang is usually just... unfeeling.

Oh, but it's pretty well-established that she likes to pretend that she is.

But maybe, these past few days, they've slowly taken away her armor, piece by piece, shield, helmet, sword, all of those crazy things slowly were pulled away from her body and now, for some reason, she just feels like she's raw to it.

So, all of the yelling is definitely like slicing open a lil baby nugget of a wound on her baby finger - and everybody knows those hurt the darndest. Sure, Laurie knew that her choice to dive right into a job with Darren Criss-Cross would probs get her into some kinda trouble but the glares from Scott, Hank, Hope, and even the traitor Gordo just feel like lemon juice on an open papercut, at this point.

"You could have completely ruined the mission!" Hank is currently ranting, pacing around the side of the dining room table, "Irresponsible... and dangerous! You could've jeopardized everything!"

Laurie puckers her peach pink lips and plays at her eyebrow piercing, really trying to, like, seem as cool as a cucumber.

But then again, her cool and cucumber-y facade is a little bit lacking lately.

"The entire plan could've gone down the drain, is that what you want?!"

Laurie just rolls her head up and squints a little single eye at them.

Why do people ask that? 'Is that what you want'? Like no, duh, that's obviously not what you want...? Ugh, people can be so exhausting when they're scolding you about something you did that was probably more than likely wrong and definitely more than likely reckless.

"Nooo, I don't want that." Speaking for the first time since this whole shabang shabanged, Laurie grumbles her answers back and pokes at the edge of fancy thick wooden table with her index finger.

"So, why did you do it?" Hope asks with squinted eyes and crossed arms, honestly just wanting an answer as to why Laurie just hopped on the bandwagon of working for Cross.

Scott has remained rather silent up until this moment, but his eyes have not left her since Hoep dragged her back to the mansion for "the burning at the stake" that was bound to occur. He just keeps glaring at her, studying her, watching her like she's a little bug under a microscope, like he's trying to understand her, like he ever could.

ANd it's really really grating on the teenage girl's nerves.

"Agsh!" Laurie finally breaks the small beat of silence that she's let stretch on, "You want the reason? The truth? The whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me God?"

No one responds, choosing to just glare instead.

"I did it because..." Laurie rolls her eyes and throws herself back into her chair before suddenly growing confident when she really shouldn't be, "Poopity scoop, fine! Ya just gotta remember that y'all people asked for the super duper honest answer, alright?!"

Still ridiculously peeved, Gordo just sighs and shakes his head at her as he sits on top of the table a few feet away. He's not really not happy with her at all. Like, sure, she's amazing and he adores her, but he hates her right now. Like, full on despise, except not.

"We'll keep it in mind." Scott frowns back at her with a deadpanned voice.

"Okaaay." Laurie widens her eyes sassily before she rubs at this weird pain she has behind her eyes (she really needs to use her glasses more).

When she peels her hands from her eyes, everybody is still glarin' at her.

Geez, she's not sure she's actually seen so many glares in her entire life! And that's saying something.

Angry. Mad. Livid. Furious. Feeling sore. Hopping mad. Steamed up. Fit to be tied. Flipping their wig. And all those other synonyms to being "ticked off".

Golly jeepers! Boy, does this totally suck!

Laurie whispers inaudibly to herself before shaking her head and then quickly nodding, trying to gear herself up.

And with a deep breath, the fifteen year old FINALLY starts her speech, "I did it because every day I sit in my bedroom or I sit in summer school, staring at a dull computer screen and listening to what I'm told my life plans should be by a mom and a soon-to-be stepdad who think I'm a disappointment and a little sister who expects something amazing outta me, but I can't do anything about that because I'm just... me."

Scott's expression slowly softens and Gordo just stares at her with his crazy big beautiful eyes, honestly shocked that she's being this... real.

And Laurie doesn't stop there, she takes this moment and she sucks it up and she spews out a bunch of honest crap that she's worked into a speech over and over in her head since she was twelve years old. And maybe that's why her hands are starting to shake and why her eyes are starting to burn. Because after three years, maybe she'll finally be heard, and maybe someone will finally understand.

"I'm not gonna get into some fancy-butt college. I'm never gonna get married and give my mom sixteen grandkids. I'll never be some kind of superhero and I'm certainly not gonna save a bunch of lives. I'm not the chosen one, the lost soul, the conscience, the defender, I'm just stupid Laurie Lang who can't get her life together. I'm plain and I'm boring and I'm only half worth-it. I don't make people proud. I don't make people like me.... So, I'm tired of being... mediocre, okay? I'm sick of being me. I needed to do something.

"So, with Hope being more visible because of her connection to Old Man Pym, I just thought I could be useful and I could be a better game piece to shuffle around. You know we needed another way in! And now we have one! So, uh..." Laurie awkwardly glances away from the sad-ish looks coming from everyone, "You're welcome!"

Stifling a groan, Gordo rolls his eyes up at the ceiling.

And she was doing so well...

Rubbing his fingers beneath his glasses, Hank just sighs and shakes his head, "Miss Lang, I cannot believe you did this because you were bored."

Literally just flabbergasted, Laurie's mouth falls open, "Did you not hear a word I just said, my good sir?"

Hope looks sharply at Hank, clearly not liking his interpretation of that whole spiel either.

Gordo lets out a quiet sigh, shaking his head down at the big wooden table.

"Laurie, for once in your life, listen to me, okay?" Scott gets closer to her side of the table, trying to get through to her.

The thing is, it's all fine and dandy to put his own self at risk for this, but it is not okay for her to go ahead and put her neck on the line.

Never her.

Laurie rolls her icy eyes and gives an irritated groan before Scott goes on, eununciating his words carefully so she'll take them to heart, "If you get caught up in this and something goes sideways, you could go to prison!"

"Oh, well, like father like daughter, right?" The fifteen year old suddenly flashes one of her signature and so utterly careless smirks.

Gordo's eyes dart to her, giving his best buddy a warning look that she adamantly and waaay obviously chooses to ignore.

"Oh, don't give me that, Laurie!" Scott stretches her name out, shaking his head at her, "Monkey, I understand your situation, okay?"

Laurie's eyes angrily narrow, "Do you really? That's funny because the only reason I'm in this 'situation' is because of you."

Scott scrunches his lips and gives her a warning look, "I get it, Laurie."

The girl's jaw locks tight. No, Scott does not get it. He couldn't. He wasn't there. How could he possibly get it?

"I screwed up bad, but you can't just keep blaming your problems on me forever!"

"I sure can try!" The girl carelessly snorts.

Scott drags a hand over his face, "Laurie, just.... God, I just-I need you take something seriously for once!"

And just like that, it's gone too far.

Gordo quickly winces and squeezes his eyes shut, looking almost in pain as he scrunches his lips and nose together.

He knows her.

He knows Laurie better than anyone.

And he knows that something within his insane, amazing, stupid, beautiful faker of a best friend just... snaps.

Laurie's hands shake and her chest starts quickly lifting and falling and she can't seem to swallow and she starts blinking quickly, like she's fighting something back, like if she stops she'll die.

"Take something seriously?" Laurie finally repeats in a disbelief, "Hold on, take something seriously?! Are you kidding me? Are you actually kidding me?"

Scott just stares at her, realizing he's said something he shouldn't but not yet realizing why.

"No." The girl determines, slowly shaking her head as her voice begins to grow louder, "Nah, you do not get to even pretend that you're not the one who doesn't take things seriously! You're the one who screwed your family because you wanted some cash, because you wanted to be some janky kind of modern day Robin Hood! I am not the one who doesn't take things seriously!" As she gets to her feet, her voice shakes and she says her next words with more passion than anyone knew she had in her whole body, "That is not me!"

Hope lets out a quiet breath, pursing her lips sadly at the sight of the fifteen year old close to tears and so deep in an anger she knows all too well.

She guesses their deal really is off now.

Scott's face is contorted in regret and he lets out a heavy sigh, "Laurie, look, I'm sorry, I shouldn't've,"

But the girl has got to get it out.

Nah, she can't stop now.

Not when she can make him feel it, not when she finally gets this chance to just say everything she's been wanting to say since she was a little kid that night when her dad got arrested.

"You want me to get serious?" Her icy eyes burn, "Fine. Let's get serious."

Gordo can't watch this. He turns away.

"You left me when I was twelve, Scott! And none of your flippin' letters and your flippin' birthday cards could make up for the fact that you screwed me, Scott!"

The man quickly shakes his head and steps towards her, "Laurie, it wasn't..."

"You made me grow up when I was supposed to be a kid! I was the one who supported Mom when she cried! I was the one who took Cassie to ice cream after pee-wee soccer! I was the one who taught her how to ride a bike and who taught her how to throw a baseball and how to whistle! I took care of her! And where were you?"

Scott squeezes his eyes shut and looks down to the ground, giving a quick and receiving nod as tears that Laurie doesn't give a crap to hide weigh heavy in her eyes.

"We-, no, I needed you, Dad, and you weren't there! So, where were you? Huh?! Where were you, Dad?!"

And, for the first time in three years, Laurie Lang actually admits to herself that, God forgive her, she feels something.

She feels... anger and pain and regret and she feels relief.

So she cries.

And she cries good and hard.

Like, it's embarrassing.

After taking a few hurried steps forward, Scott quickly stops just before her and awkwardly holds his arms just a bit around her, trying to figure out if it's okay or not to touch her. 'Cause he wants so badly to hug her and hold her and tell her, for real this time, that he's sorry. He's so so sorry. The fifteen year old quickly covers her face with her hands, muttering angrily to herself that she's crying and that ends up making her cry even harder and, gosh darn it, she's never felt more like an idiot in her life.

"Laurie, sweetheart, I'm so sorry," Scott takes a chance and gently pulls in her into a hug, trying to comfort her, "I screwed up. I wasn't there and I'm sorry,"

"No, don't!" The fifteen year old suddenly snaps and pulls away from him, keeping her hands over her still crying face, "Please, just don't!"

Scott hurriedly nods and takes just a hint of a step back, trying to give her space, trying to show her that he wants to do right by her.

"I'm sorry..." Laurie chokes out, a sudden overwhelming sense of guilt just dumping over her, "I'm really sorry."

"Hey, hey," Scott tries to peel her hands from her face, "you have nothing to be sorry about."

"I do... I really do." Struggling to swallow back her sobs, Laurie presses her thin fingers into her aching forehead. She just tries to tell herself to stop crying - to just stop, but when she can't manage it, she angrily groans, "Flibbity jibbit! God!"

Laurie angrily drags her hands away from her face, pushing by Scott and then Hank and then Hope and the entire stupid mansion of despair.

Maybe this place is cursed.

There's just been too much sadness within these walls for it not to seep onto somebody else.

Ugh, she's pathetic.

She somehow finds her way into one of the many bedrooms in the weird wonky mansion and plants herself criss-cross-applesauced on the ledge of an open window, hyperventilating like an idiot. And so Laurie just stares out the open window, her bottom lip quivering and her hands clenched tightly into fists.

Maybe there's something wrong with Laurie.

There's gotta be, though, right?

Why can't she just stop lying? To everyone, to herself. She is a human being. She's not emotionless, she's not cold, she has a heart. Science told her so. She's real. She's real. But she didn't want her breaking heart to be a burden on anyone, not when there was Mom and not when there was Cassie. She needed to be strong, to be brave. So, she made the choice to just suddenly stop caring.

And that wasn't Scott's fault.

The girl lets out a quiet hiccup, burying her face back in her hands as what she always knew to be true is finally said in her mind.

He's sorry. She knew he was sorry, and she loved him for it. But she wanted to do what was best for everyone. She really did.

So, why can't she just get out of her own way?

"Dear Mercy, are you gonna jump?" A voice finally speaks up from behind her before Gordo climbs over to sit on the ledge beside her, "Dude, from this height, you'll break a leg at best. And then what use will you be to us?"

Wow, so much for Gordo being the pep-talker.

Laurie gives a quiet scoff, staring down the ground that's like twenty feet down, "Real nice."

Gordo just gives a meager and careless shrug, getting comfortable on the ledge and staying silent.

"There is literally no one in the world," Laurie lets out a deep breath, trying to control her tears, "that I don't hate right now."

Gordo still doesn't respond, just raising his eyebrows and staring out at the early dawn sky.

Laurie quirks an eyebrow over at him, asking raspily, "What? You ignoring me, Gordo?"

With a roll of his eyes, the other fifteen year old takes a long time to respond, "I am supporting you by being out here, but I am also angry with you so I have chosen to support you whilst simultaneously giving you the cold shoulder."

"Oh. I see."

"Yeah, so enjoy the winter breeze, Laurie."

The girl forces a small smile even though another tear still slipping down her cheek, "Would it be rude to ask to borrow your jacket? It's a little cold on this side of your shoulder."

Gordo slowly rolls his head over to look at her with a whole look that says 'seriously, dude?'. She doesn't even bother with the puppy-dog eyes and puckered lip, pretty much accepting the fact that she looks pathetic enough on her own. She just had a complete meltdown and her pride is feeling a lil' wounded at the moment. So, like the great dude he is, Gordo heaves a sigh, rolls his eyes, and finally gives a nod, yanking off his favorite jean jacket and then carefully draping it over his best friend's shoulders.

The two sit back in silence, just listening to each other breathe and the birds wake up in their nearby nests.

"This drama is sooo heavy, I don't even know what to do right now." Laurie finally breathes out, shaking her head and pursing her lips.

Gordo just scoffs and throws his hands up, giving into speaking to her again because that's just what happens, "You're really hard to be friends with, you know that?"

She deflates a little, swinging her legs and bumping them against the side of the mansion, "Yeah, I know... I think I'm really hard to be daughters with, too."

"I don't think you worded that right."

"I've been crying for the last half hour, gimme some leniency on my word choice here, Gordo."

The boy gives a quiet sigh, "You wanna know why you're so hard to be friends with?"

Laurie squints at him, "No! Why in the name of Odin's Missing Eyeball would I want to know that?"

"You're so hard to be friends with because you don't let anyone in. You're actually pretty amazing underneath your cold, gruff, unappealing exterior." Laurie frowns. "You got hurt once - and you got hurt bad. So, now, you've been stuck in a limbo where you destroy yourself because you think you're not worth the hard work of actual relationships."

"That's not it!"

"That is it! And you know it. Your dad got arrested, Laurie, but when he left, he didn't just ditch you."

"What the heck are you, Gordon? Some kind of psychiatrist?"

The boy just smirks a little before bumping her arm, "Fine, lemme put it in little kid words so you can understand."

Laurie playfully narrows her eyes at him.

"Scott's awesome. You're awesome. So, just go be awesome together. Got it? Good."

"Yeah..."

He's right. She means, Gordo usually is.

It really wasn't just her that got ditched, she knows that, sure, but deep down, Laurie has always felt that it was just her that he left. She was the one that wasn't enough to make him stay, to do the right thing. Mom got to remarry because she was his wife, Cassie got to forget because she was so little, but what did Laurie get to fix it? Nothing. She never got a recompense, a way to heal the wound.

True, Scott has apologized and they both are awesome.

She just wishes it was that simple.

But hey, why can't it just be that simple?

Why does everything have to be so complicated all the stinkin' time?!

"Hey guys, sorry to interrupt."

The best friends turn to see that Hope stands in the doorway, offering an apologetic smile, "Scott's going to head to Howard Stark's old warehouse for the signal decoy early tomorrow morning. I thought you'd maybe like to know."

Laurie quickly nods and wipes her nose before Gordo gratefully smiles, "Thanks Hope."

The woman's eyes dart to Laurie and she can't deny that she understands how she feels. She sort of wishes she herself had let that all out to her own father all those years ago. Things would've become so much easier.

She taps in the door wall and nods, "You got it."

"So," Gordo bumps Laurie's arm with his once Hope is out of sight, "what are you going to do?"

"When? 'Cause tomorrow morning I'm gonna go watch my dad rob the Starks."

"Same, but after that?"

Laurie looks at her best friend with a sad shrug, "Let him in, I guess."

♢ ♢ ♢

The next morning, which is really like six hours later, a small drone is flying through the cloudy cold air above New York. A shrinky dink man in an Ant-Man suit stands on board of the drone, rubbing his hands up and down his arms and looking down at the green ground so very far down below.

"It's freezing!" Scott yells across the comms to the four people who sit safely in a lab all the way back in San Fran, "You couldn't make a suit with a flannel lining?!"

"You're over the target area." Hank ignores him to say into the lab's microphone, "Disengage now, Scott!"

Scott quickly sets the plan into motion, sending out little herds of flying ants into the free air before climbing on the back of his own trusty steed (let's be honest, it's literally just a tiny ant).

"All right, Ant-thony, please don't drop me this time!" The man yells before suddenly leaping off the safety of the drone, "Oh, it feels like a big leap from sugar cubes to this!"

"Stay calm."

"Uh, guys? We might have a problem! Hank, didn't you say this was some old warehouse?" Hank raises his eyebrows in wait before Scott suddenly snaps, "It's not!"

As Scott yells a few choice words into the wind and continues flying on Ant-thony's back, the clouds draw back so that the camera attached to Scott's helmet can reveal the most shocking thing that any of them have literally ever seen. For, below Scott and his sweet buddy Ant-thony, lies an enormous white compound with a very large 'A' painted on top of the roof of one of the many buildings.

"Oh my.... Is that the Avengers?!" Gordo whispers to Laurie with wide eyes.

"Holy Farfegnugen..." Laurie simply whispers in reply, totally in utter awe.

"Scott, get out of there!" Hope can't hide the bit of worry that makes its way into her voice.

"Abort, Scott!" Hank quickly agrees, "Abort now!"

    "No, it's okay. It doesn't look like anyone's home." Scott isn't so ready to give up, wanting to prove himself, "Ant-thony, get me to the roof!"

"He's gonna lose the suit."

"He's gonna lose his life."

"I'm gonna lose my will to live." Laurie mumbles dramatically, dropping her head down between her orange tank-topped shoulders.

Gordo just sympathetically pats her shoulder, "He'll be okay."

"Will he?" Laurie mumbles, not feeling so comforted.

"All right, guys," Scott's voice breaks through their speaker, "I'm on the roof of the target building!"

Laurie slaps her hands over her eyes, peeking through the cracks between her fingers in time to see two shadows suddenly pass over the roof above her dad.

"Somebody's home, Scott!" Hope quickly warns.

And then suddenly the two shadows come to light, dropping their suited bodies down on top of the gravel roof twenty feet away from Scott. A dark-skinned man with wings on his back and a brunette teenager with a black leather jacket.

"What is it you saw, Sam?" The brunette girl lightly questions the dark-skinned man - Sam - beside her, her  blue eyes confused and thoughtful.

"It's the Falcon and the Red Raven!" Scott whispers fiercely, staring up at the two figures with wide eyes.

"Whoa!" Laurie pushes both Gordo's and Hope's heads out of the way so she can get a better view of the screen.

She might have been in a bad mood pretty much ever since she woke up this morning, but hey, that doesn't stop her fangirling-ness.

"I had a sensor trip but I'm not seeing anything." The Falcon answers the Red Raven before freezing and narrowing his eyes down at the rooftop's gravel, "Wait a second."

"Abort! Abort now!" Hank loudly orders into the speaker.

"It's okay!" Scott quickly assures with a whisper, "They can't see me."

"Um, Sir or Madam, we can see you!" The Red Raven cocks her head to the side.

"They can see me." Scott repeats in defeat before suddenly his entire body is shuddering back up to his normal size and then pops his face mask off to proudly announce, "Hi, I'm Scott!"

Hope looks away from the screen in total disbelief, "Did he just say, 'Hi, I'm Scott'?"

Hank squeezes his eyes closed and gives a tight nod.

"Yikes..." Gordo mumbles with a wince.

"What are you doing here?"

"First off, I'm a big fan." Scott responds quickly, "So's my daughter."

"Ask for an autograph!" Laurie pipes up in Scott's headset.

Hope glares at her and Gordo pinches her arm.

"Aw, that's... nice," The Red Raven gives Scott a bit of an awkward and uncertain smile.

"Appreciate it." The Falcon responds flatly, "So, who the heck are you?"

"I'm Ant-Man."

"'Ant-Man'?" The Falcon repeats with a laughing smirk as the Red Raven smiles and raises an eyebrow.

"What? You haven't heard of me?" As Laurie snorts, Scott gives a bit of a snarky laugh and smile before he quickly and sadly shakes his head, "Nah, you wouldn't have heard of me."

He winces awkwardly, squinting in the sunlight.

"You wanna tell me what you want?"

"I was hoping I could grab a piece of technology." Scott throws a thumb over his shoulder, "Just for a few days. I'm gonna return it. I need it to save the world." He awkwardly shuffles around, trying to talk his way out of this and not doing a stellar job, "You both know how that is."

"Yeah, unfortunately it really doesn't work like that." The Red Raven winces at him.

"Located the breach." The Falcon walks towards Scott, reaching out to grab 'im, "Bringing him in."

"Sorry about this!" Scott hurriedly informs him before his body shudders back down and then launches back up to punch the Falcon squarely in the face.

"Whoa!" Gordo slides his wheely chair back in shock as the three people go flying on the screen.

"What are you doing?!" Hank slowly yells.

Landing in the dirt, Scott is in a full out sprint through the tall blades of grass as the Falcon and the Red Raven fly overhead to track him down.

"Breach is an adult male,"

"And he stinkin' shrinks!" The Red Raven quickly adds in.

"This is so cool," Laurie giggles excitedly, tugging on Gordo's arm.

Back on the screen, the two Avengers have dropped down in the grass and now a full out fight is going on between them as Scott keeps yelling all sorts of apologies like the good guy he is.

"That's enough!" The Falcon finally yells, seeming pretty done with the shrinky dinky dude kicking his butt.

As the two men go to punch each other, Scott is knocked back to his normal size and the fight continues on. Scott seems like his butt is getting pretty well kicked by the two Avengers now that there's a more level playing field until finally the Lang suddenly bursts back into existence and then pulls a move on the Red Raven that the one and only Hope Van Dyne taught him.

The woman pauses from where she's been pacing in the lab to give him an impressed expression that he'll never see. And soon the fight takes them inside the facility, into the darkness of a storage room and out of sight of the cameras that have been keeping the others up to date. Those in the lab quickly stand in worry, Laurie's hand suddenly snatching onto Hope's as he fear of really what could happen to her dad settles in.

And then suddenly the Falcon bursts through the wall of the storage room, grabbing desperately at his wings as the Red Raven hurriedly tries to help him.

"He's inside my pack!" The Falcon yells worriedly.

"Sorry!" Scott yells roughly, still yanking out wires and crap from inside the pack, "You both seem like really great people!"

And then suddenly the Falcon and the red Raven go plunging down towards the dirt, the latter catching herself but the former scraping deep into the ground for a few good feet. The Falcon quickly jumps back up and winces, yanking his mask off before a tiny little body jumps off his pack and onto the back of a nearby ant.

The Falcon winces and brings his comm bracelet to his mouth, "It's really important to me that Cap never finds out about this."

Sam Wilson quickly turns to Lisa Stark with a deep frown, "Are you laughing?!"

And then, just a mysteriously as the Ant-Man arrived, the Ant-Man... VANISHED!

♢ ♢ ♢

"That was completely irresponsible and dangerous!" Hank yells a few hours later as the little group of criminals sits around the Pym mansion's kitchen.

"Huh." Laurie leans back in her chair, stuffing her hands in her pockets and keeping her dirty Converses on top of the table, "That sounds familiar."

"Miss Lang!" Hank snaps, making Laurie wince and wave in apology before he focuses back on Scott, "You jeopardized everything!"

Scott just takes it, pretty used to the blame by now. Laurie can't help but feel pretty bad for the guy. He's taken a lot of abuse in the past twenty-four hours. But then Scott takes his time to prove them all wrong, slowly pulling out an object from his pocket and then gently setting a strange canister onto the table for all to see.

A canister of exactly what they needed.

And boy, does Scott look smug about it.

"You got it." Hope quietly commentates with a proud and quiet smirk.

Scott just gives a reassuring look to the shocked and impressed three sitting at the table, scrunching his nose and nodding, showing them that he was good for it.

"Wow..." Laurie whispers, a weird like watery, salty substance welling up in her eyes as she smiles a little at Scott.

Scott slowly meets her eyes, giving a small smile back.

The gross-ness between them isn't gone yet. It's still a pile of mucky-muck, to be sure. But for the first time, in a long time, there is absolutely nothing in the way of Scott and Laurie finally finally just... being.

"Good job." Hope smirks, looking up at him from her side of the table.

The older man carefully picks up the canister, studies it and then after a few seconds, Hank gives a small sigh of concession, "Well done."

"Wait a minute. Did you just compliment me?" Hank ignores him so Scott quickly turns to Hope and the teens, "He did, didn't he?"

"Kind of sounded like he did."

"I was good, wasn't I?" Hank contentedly sighs, suddenly turning it back towards himself as Gordo rolls his eyes and smirks, leaning further back in his chair.

"Hey!" Scott makes everyone look at him as he spreads his arms out wide, "How about the fact that I fought two Avengers and didn't die?"

"That was impressive!" Gordo nods and points at him.

"Yeah," Laurie wipes her still stuffy nose, "Gordo and I had a running bet of how long it would take the flock of birds to kill you."

Gordo quickly shakes his head at Scott, trying to make sure the guy doesn't believe it. Scott presses his lips together and shares a head shake back with Gordo, reassuring him that he doesn't. Scott's gotten pretty wise about Laurie in the past like, twenty-four hours especially. By now, the father knows his daughter well enough to know that she really doesn't mean half the things she says and the other half is basically a compilation of made-up words so all-in-all he's really okay with it at this point.

"Let us not dwell on the past." Like the crotchety old man he can seem, Hank moves on from the time of cheer, turning to go back to his study, "We gotta finish our planning."

"Don't mind him." Hope just sighs and rolls her eyes before giving Scott a flirty smile, "You did good."

Laurie and Gordo simultaneously look at each other and obnoxiously gag which obviously catches the attention of the two adults, making them smack the shoulders of the kids or tell them to shut up.

The small lil' group ends up quietly laughing before Hank's voice suddenly cuts into the joy with a word like, "Darren!"

The four still inside the kitchen go absolutely silent as Scott steps slightly closer to Laurie, like he thinks he's going to have to protect her.

"...How did you get in here?"

"You left the front door open, Hank." Darren Cross' voice shoots back from inside the study, "It's official: you're old!"

Laurie swallows back the lump in her throat, suddenly realizing that if she gets caught here, she's screwed too.

"The plans!" Hope panickedly whispers to Scott across the table, realizing that their whole plan is still sprawled out across the study, "He will kill him."

"That's the psycho you decided to intern for?!" Gordo whispers to Laurie in horror.

The girl just gives him a bitter look, "You are not helping."

"Pym Tech, the company you created, is about to become one of the most profitable operations in the world." Darren's voice grows louder as he walks around the study, "We're anticipating fifteen billion in sales, tomorrow alone... You're welcome!"

"You're right." Scott whispers down to Laurie and Gordo, "This guy is a complete jerk."

"I know this is odd, but I'd like you to be there. This is my moment. I want you to see it."

Hank quickly replies, sounding almost out of breath as he does, "Sure, Darren. Yeah, sure. I'll be there."

A quiet lapse fills the air with silence and then whispered words of a man slowly becoming insane comes, "All those years ago, you picked me. What did you see?"

"I saw myself." Hank finally responds.

"Then why did you push me away?"

"Because I saw too much of myself."

Scott and Laurie slowly look at each other, sharing a strange look before the panic in the other room dissipates when Darren storms his way out of the house.

And then the discussion in the kitchen becomes much less energetic than the one they were having only moments ago.

"He knows!" Hope groans into her hands, rolling her eyes up at the ceiling and pacing around the room, "He's baiting you. We have to call it off."

"We're all taking risks!" Hank argues as Laurie and Gordo sit on the counter, swinging their legs back and forth, "...Except perhaps Godrick."

At this point, Gordo just sighs and drops his head onto his knees as Laurie pats his back.
    "What if he saw me here?" Hope presses angrily, not willing to risk their lives over this.

Not when there's Scott and Laurie and Gordo and her own father.

"He didn't! There's no way."

"How do you know that?" A quick ding ding of a phone makes Laurie jump and Hope quickly turns away from them all, running a restless hand through her chestnut hair to calm down and say, "Darren, hi."

Scott and Hank quickly glance at each other, both on edge.

The conversation on the other end of the phone goes on for a few minutes before Hope just sighs and shakes her head, "Don't let him rile you up. He's just... a senile old man."

Hank's head snaps up at that, a look of mild offense on his face before Scott just scrunches his nose at him and waves the potential of Hank being senile off.

"I don't know..." Gordo, however, isn't so sure, "You can't even remember my name..."

Laurie bumps her foot into his and smirks at his point.

"Great! Good idea." Hope lets out a huge sigh as she hangs up the phone and turns to look at all the waiting faces around her, "He's tripling security. He's lost his mind, and he's onto you!"
    "But he is not onto you!" Hank shoots back a very good point, "And, as much as I don't want to say it, he is not onto Miss Lang."

"Ayyy," Laurie fingerguns.

Scott looks at her with a tired smirk, but it's clear his mind is somewhere else...

"He's adding full body scanners to all entrances and closing exterior vents!" Hope throws her hand out to the man standing opposite her, "How are we gonna get Scott inside?"

"The water main." Scott suddenly offers, his head lifting from deep thought, "You can't add security to a water main. The pressure is too strong, but if we can decrease it, that's how I get in. Somebody would have to reach the building's control center to change the water pressure."

"Hank, Laurie, and I will be beside Cross and Gordo will be hacking into the cameras to jilt the live feed. How are we supposed to do that?"

Scott's eyes light up a little as he quickly begins to explain his plan, "So, we expand our team. What do we need? A fake security guard on the inside to de-pressurize the water system, somebody else to hack in to the power supply and kill the laser grid, and a getaway guy."

Quickly catching on to what her dad is saying, Laurie suddenly gasps and jumps off the top of the counter, "Yes! I concur!"

Scott snaps his index finger and thumb at her, glad to have someone on his side.

"No, no!" Hank quickly shakes his finger at the two excited Langs, "No, no, no! Not those three wombats! No way."

"Who?" The teenage boy makes a face at his best friend.

Laurie just grins and leans her elbow on his shoulder, "Aw, Gordo, you're gonna love 'em."

Whew, okay so that was huge! But maybe we can just call it my apology chapter because how about that hiatus right? College life is busy, you guys, geez. Okay, so let's talk about this chapter. I low key got really heavy there, like whoooa and then I tried to lighten it up but then it felt sorta sad at the end there. I'm not totally certain how I feel about this one but it's been in my backpocket for a while now and I thought it was time! Laurie finally spilled her heart out, Gordo is still amazing (he gets his time to shine in Ant-Man and the Wasp guys, don'tchu worry!), Hope low key digs Scott all the time, and Scott is just... my love. Oh! And hey! We got a cameo from Poison & Wine!! AND HEY WE ARE GETTING CLOSER AND CLOSER TOWARDS THE CLIMAX AND YOU GUYS, I GOT SOME OF IT WRITTEN AND WHEW!

OKAY, SO! I'm a little uncertain about this baby, your thoughts?

ALSO: I am so excited to write Ant-man and the Wasp, is anybody else excited or is it just me? Just me?

Stay tuned for other updates of random other stories on my profile coming soon!

Two Funny Thingamabobs b/c I've missed you guys:

My hero

FIGHT ME ON THIS, I DARE YOU