IT TAKES TWO ▹ SCOTT LANG ⁶

two

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𝑰𝑻 𝑻𝑨𝑲𝑬𝑺 𝑻𝑾𝑶
-𝒔𝒆𝒃𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏
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"HEY, I got something for you." Scott said, handing Cassie a blue paper bag. Cassie looked at it. "Can I open it now?"

Paxton nodded. "Of course, sweetheart. It's your birthday."

Cassie opened the present, pulling out a stuffed rabbit that had jagged teeth and red eyes. When she pushed on the stomach of the toy, it spoke. "Haha! You are my bestest friend!"

"He's so ugly!" Cassie exclaimed, making Scott and Christina smile at her. "I love him! Can I go show my friends?"

"Of course, sweetheart. Go ahead." Paxton nodded before Cassie turned and ran off. A short moment later, a small group of collective screams were heard.

"Look, the child support is coming, all right?" Scott said, turning to Paxton. "It's just hard finding a job when you have a record."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out. But for now, I want you out of my house." Paxton said, pointing to the door.

"No way! It's my daughter's birthday!"

"It's my house!"

"So what?! It's my kid!" Scott said before a voice cut him off.

"Scott!"

The three turned to see Maggie; Scott's ex-wife, make her way down the hallway. "You can't just show up here with your girlfriend. You know that. Come on, outside." she glanced at Christina. "You can stay here."

"She's not my―"
"We're not―"

Maggie waved them off, ushering Scott to the front door. When the two excused themselves outside, Christina looked around awkwardly at everyone socializing. Paxton crossed his arms, looking at her up and down. "So, who exactly are you? Scott's girlfriend?"

Christina almost rolled her eyes. "No. I'm his house-mate. He moved in a few days ago."

"Oh, so Scott has a place now?" Paxton said, rather as a statement more than a question. Christina narrowed her eyes. "Yeah?"

Cassie ran down the hallway again. She looked up at her. "Who are you?"

Christine bent down to her level. "I'm Christina. I'm a friend of your dads. You're Cassie, right?" the little girl nodded eagerly. Christina smiled at her. "Happy birthday, hon. How old are you now?"

"Seven!"

"Wow!" Christina gasped dramatically, prompting Paxton to roll his eyes and hesitantly walk away. "You're getting so big! You having fun so far? What'd you get for presents?"

Cassie grabbed her hand before rushing away. "Come see!"

Christina stood, bending slightly as she wobbled off in her heeled boots with Cassie.

"HEY, WHAT'S up, hotshot?" Luis greeted as Scott entered the apartment. He had dropped Christina off earlier before suddenly driving off unexpectedly. Kurt and Dave were there too, Kurt on his laptop whole Dave played with Luis. Christina sat on the counter by the fridge, her long hair tied up in a loose ponytail as she watched the TV screen from a distance.

"Maybe he didn't hear you." Dave mumbled.

"How was the party?" Luis asked.

Christina sipped on a beer, nodding to Scott. "Hey, Scott. Wanna beer?" He nodded, almost angrily. Christina leaned over, reaching in to grab a beer before handing it to him.

Scott took a few gulps from it before nodding at Luis. "Tell me about that tip."

"What?" Luis asked, pausing the game so everyone looked at him.

"I wanna know about that tip." Scott repeating, bringing a smirk to Christina's lips.

Luis abruptly stood from his chair. "Oh, baby! It's on! It's so on right now!"

In a chain reaction, Dave and Kurt cheered him on. Christina chuckled, looking up at Scott as she crossed her legs on the countertop.

"Calm down, all right? I just need to know where it came from, all right?" Scott said, waving his hands down. "It's gotta be airtight."

Dave slapped Luis' arm before pointing at Scott. Luis smiled, nodding. "Okay, I was at a wine tasting with my cousin, Ernesto. Which was mainly reds, and you know I don't like reds, man. You know? But there was a rosé that saved the day. It was delightful. And then he tells me about this girl, Emily, that we used to kick it with. It was actually the first pair of boobs I ever touched."

Christina rolled her eyes, taking a swig of her drink. Scott shook his head. "It's the wrong details. It's the wrong―it has nothing to do with the story. Go."

"So, uh, he tells me that she's working as a housekeeper now, right? And she's dating this dude, Carlos, who's a shot caller from across the bay. And she tells him about the dude that she's cleaning for. Right? That like he's this big-shot CEO. That is all retired now, but he's loaded.

"And so, Carlos and Ernesto are on the same softball team, and they get to talking, right? And here comes the good part. Carlos says, "Yo man, this guy's got a big-ass safe just sitting in the basement, just chilling.". Of course Ernesto comes to me because he knows I got mad thieving skills. Of course, I ask him... "Did Emily tell Carlos to tell you to get me what kind of safe it was?" and he says "Nah, dawg. All she said that it's super-legit and whatever's in it, it's gotta be good!"."

Scott looked at Luis with confusion. "What?"

"Old man have safe." Kurt said, giving him the short-version of the story.

"And is gone for a week." Luis added.

"Wait, then how did you hear about this?" Scott asked, pointing to Christina.

Christina shrugged. "I knew the guy's daughter from high school. He still lives in the same house."

"So we're stealing from your childhood friend more specifically?" Scott asked, his eyes still narrowed.

Christina thought it over before nodding. "Yeah, pretty much."

"All right! There's an old man, he's gotta safe and he's gone for a week. Let's just work with that."

Luis nodded, his smile widening. "You know what I'm saying?"

DURING THE next few days, everyone got ready for the mission. Luis picked up alarm breakers and timers, Kurt got disguises, Dave got a decoy van and Christina tracked out the route. It didn't take long for them to finish the setup.

After two days, the gang waited until nightfall. Kurt was hanging high off a telephone pole. "Landline's cut, cell signal's jammed. No one will be making for distress call tonight."

"Comm check." Luis said.

"Check." Scott replied.

"Check." Dave said.

"Check." Christina said with a nod.

"Hey, if the job goes bad, you know I got your back, right?" Luis said, sitting in the back with Dave.

Scott threw on his hood. "Don't worry. It's not gonna happen."

When Scott exited the vehicle, Luis jumped in the passenger seat next to Christina, who claimed to be the getaway driver.

Luis chuckled. "I love it when he gets cocky."