meet in the middle ♢ t.h.

4 ♢ hotlanta

The cast were hanging out by pool in the sweltering Atlanta heat, desperately trying to cool off. It's the first day of a five day break before filming resumes and, of course, they spent it together.

Hotlanta. How fitting.

But the weather wasn't the only thing that was hot - all the long hours of training and fitness for Agents of SHIELD and Homecoming toned Lani's body and kept her in shape. The girl put in work.

A pick-up game of "basketball" in the pool was quickly escalating. Lani and Tom were a team and Harrison, Tony, and Jacob were another.

"She shoots...and she scores!" Tom yells out as Lani receives a pass from him and shoots the ball into the hoop. Both of them high five to celebrate. Laura and Zendaya whoop and holler from where they're sitting and snapchatting the moment.

"The dream team scores yet again," Zendaya comments.

"There's more people on our team," Harrison frowns. "We shouldn't be losing."

"Sorry, Haz, I guess the dream team is just too good," Lani jokes. "And now you know to never mess with a lacrosse player."

"Oh, he'll remember for sure," Jacob adds.

"I definitely will, dream team," Tony says.

Lani grins in triumph at their words. She hadn't expected to play so well with Tom, let alone get along greatly with him. Even though she had been in the Marvel franchise longer than them, the entire cast made her feel at ease in such a short amount of time.

She had always been the youngest of the cast, whether it was Agents of SHIELD, Age of Ultron, or Civil War. She loved her other cast mates to death, but being part of a cast that were actually around her age was, simply, refreshing.

Everyone went their separate ways to get a drink or to talk and joke around. Currently, Lani was standing in the pool making faces and doing poses toward Zendaya and Laura, who were both laughing while filming her on snapchat. Zendaya was using the flower crown filter and Laura was using the puppy filter.

"Shit, I didn't realize the time."

The girls turn towards Jacob who was looking at his phone.

"Sorry, but I have a flight to New York to catch in a few hours and I still need to finish packing my stuff," He says as he climbs out of the pool to dry off and start packing his clothes in the house.

"Yeah, dude, no worries," Lani replies.

"Speaking of New York," Laura speaks up. "I'm headed back there tonight, too. I'm modeling for a photoshoot for a couple of days."

"Speaking of flights," Tony adds. "I'm flying to LA tonight for an audition."

"And I gotta head back to my family in LA tonight, too." Zendaya says.

"So that just leaves me, Haz, and Lani all by ourselves for the rest of our break?" Tom reiterates.

"Actually, I'm flying back to LA to film for Agents of SHIELD for a couple days," Lani pipes up. "But my flight is tomorrow night."

"Damn, you don't catch a break with Marvel," Zendaya says.

Lani shrugs. "I love my job, even though the only drawback is that I'm not really able to work outside of the Marvel world because it's my priority right now. But it pays my bills, so it's all good."

"And then there were two," Harrison sighs exasperatedly at Tom, who proceeds to roll his eyes.

"Shut up, Haz, I spend too much time with you already," Tom responds. The rest of the cast laugh at the two best friends' attempt to insult each other.

♢♢♢♢

"Don't have too much fun without us," Zendaya says.

"Okay, mom," Lani deadpans.

"Oh, please. Without us, they wouldn't even have fun in the first place," Jacob remarks as he follows Zendaya into the car.

Lani hands Harrison and Tom a backpack and suitcase as they help load the last of the luggage into the trunk of the Cadillac Escalade from Uber that the cast will ride to the airport.

"Can't wait to see how the photoshoot turns out!"

"Take care!"

"Ace that audition!"

Lani, Harrison, and Tom wave goodbye as the car that held Laura, Jacob, Zendaya, and Tony drives off. The trio walk back inside the spacious Atlanta house that Marvel allotted the cast while they film in Georgia. It was much more silent with only three people there. The silence was almost palpable.

The three were standing at the entrance, overlooking the living room. Lani was flanked by Harrison on her left and Tom on her right, almost as if their lives were being directed by Wes Anderson himself.

"I don't know about you guys, but Imma binge watch on Netflix." Lani walks off towards the living room.

"I'm hungry," Harrison remarks.

"We literally just had dinner, Haz" Tom says incredulously.

"And I want food, Tommy."

"I told you to stop calling me that."

"Sure, Tommy."

As Harrison walked away, Tom turned towards the living room. Lani lay horizontally on the couch scrolling through Netflix.

"Find anything interesting?"

Lani swiftly turned her head towards Tom. She gave a small grin at the boy who had his hands in the pockets of his sweatpants.

"Uh, Jessica Jones, Daredevil, typical Marvel shows that I need to finish. And I'm trying to watch Grey's Anatomy, but new shows came out that I really want to start."

Lani makes a face. "And I'm rambling. Sorry about that."

"Don't apologize. Everyone does it. Hell, I do it a lot. Have you seen my interviews?" Tom sits down at the other end of the couch.

"Seen your interviews, Tom? I've done them with you during the promotion for Civil War."

The two share a laugh in the quiet of the living room. As their laughter dies down, Lani catches sight of Tom fondly looking at her. Biting her lip, she looks down at her lap and hopes her black hair covers up her blushing cheeks.

From where Harrison stands in the kitchen, he rolls his eyes at the sight of Tom and Lani. He left them alone solely in hopes that the two would admit their feelings for each other, or that at least Tom would.

But that didn't work.

______

Hope you enjoyed this chapter - all 1043 words of it! LOL It finally turned out into something I liked (took me two weeks but still). Patience is a virtue.

And I made Lani be a lacrosse player... like me... :)

Thank you so so much for commenting, putting my story into your reading lists, voting, and following me! ❤️💕

Comment / Tell me what you think!
-toni