scott x hope oneshots

let it matter

Hope felt warm. Granted, it was San Francisco in the middle of August, but that wasn't it. Since her mom disappeared, she'd been cold. A cold that settled in her bones and led to her giving up all hope of ever being comfortably warm again. But since they defeated Cross (since she'd met Scott) she'd gradually felt a little less frigid, less like she'd been left in the snow too long. It was like she'd been frozen, and just now she was beginning to thaw.

Part of it, she told herself, was the repair of her relationship with her father. More than that was the hope of seeing her mother again. But most of all, she knew, was the light that was Scott Lang. He was the sunniest person she'd ever known. While she was a morning person, and her father a night owl, Scott was on all day long. He was also light-hearted and fun, bringing her out of the broody moods she tended to find herself in. She found herself letting her hair grow longer, becoming less severe. She'd hidden behind that cold, emotionless, all-business exterior for far too long. With Scott around, she noticed herself smiling, genuinely, which she hadn't done in she didn't know how long.

He was good for her dad too. The other day, she'd actually heard him laugh, something deep from inside his chest that she knew she hadn't heard since before her mom's disappearance. Once, when Scott had to bring Cassie with him for a few hours, Hank actually talked to the girl and made her laugh. Hank didn't like children, didn't seem to know what to do with them, but got along with Cassie like no other. And Cassie, she was just a miniature version of her father, a goofy grin plastered across her face more often than not, with a laugh that was purely infectious. Like her father, Hope wasn't good with kids. She had always been so uninviting to them and wasn't sure how to treat them, but she loved the moments she was able to spend with Cassie. Watching her with Scott thawed her bones just a little more every time, and was starting to work on her heart too.

But Scott. He was thawing her at a rate that was alarming. She'd been so icy for so long that she was afraid that warming up so quickly was going to burst something within her. Like glass that shattered when heated too quickly, she was afraid that soon she would end up in a million pieces on the floor and everyone would just step around her. And then she'd never be whole again. But, god, did he feel good. He was easy on the eyes, even easier on the soul. His kisses warmed her body the whole way through, like drinking hot chocolate after a day in the snow. His arms around her kept her warm throughout the night, despite the fact that every night before, she'd been so cold she'd wake herself up to find herself shivering no matter the temperature in the room. Whenever she was in his arms, she slept so soundly, never waking to nightmares or anxiety about what was to come.

So she continued this thing she found herself in with Scott. Neither one of them really called it a relationship, though she was certain they both knew that's what it was. She was reluctant to label it, since that's always where things started to go wrong for her in the past. She suspected he wouldn't name it out of fear of scaring her off. Either way, as the summer went on, Hope felt herself continuing to thaw, moving from a comfortable warmth to a state of heat. Every time she was with him, she felt the poke of white-hot fire, first starting in her chest, then moving down. And she welcomed it.

Then she woke up one morning to find him gone. Disappeared. Just like her mother. And suddenly, the glorious warmth she'd felt for the last few months vanished, much like Scott, and the familiar cold swiftly took its place. She tried everything to warm herself again. Baths, drinking hot tea, sleeping in his sweatshirt under her large duvet, turning on the heat instead of her A/C. Nothing helped. Finally, she gave up trying and let the cold persist. What was it that insipid movie that Cassie always played said? The cold never bothered her anyway? Sure, she'll go with that.

Even after he returned home, suit intact and bragging about how large he'd gotten, the cold prevailed. She kept her distance, awaiting an apology that never came. And then she found out that what he'd done was illegal against international sanctions and would be on house arrest for two years. Worse still, he had to destroy the suit and wasn't to contact anyone associated with it, leaving she and Hank completely out in the cold. And on the run, seeing as how their tech was also illegal. In the blink of an eye, her cautiously constructed life fell to pieces. She felt like Alice, falling down the rabbit hole, just waiting to hit the ground.