scott x hope oneshots

the walls that guard us

The four times Hope van Dyne (looks like she) has it all together, and the one time she (clearly) does not.

1.

Hope graduates from college at the age of nineteen. That's an impressive accomplishment anywhere, but even more so coming from the prestigious Harvard University.

Hank shows up to her graduation to much of her surprise. He's alone, in a grey suit, and there are dark bags under his eyes. His facial hair is thicker than the last time she saw him (nearly eleven months ago), but he still has the all too familiar look of disinterest and distraction plastered across his aging face.

She remembers seeing that face at her ballet recital when she was eight. The unexpected death of her mother was still a fresh cut on both of their hearts at that point. Her mom loved dance, which was half the reason Hope even put the annoying pink tights and dumb tutu on. She'd much rather be covered in engine grease then glitter. But then, one day her father comes back from work alone, and she knows that something is horribly wrong. A freak plane crash, he had told her. Everyone called it a tragedy that the world lost a great mind so soon, but they seemed to forget that Janet van Dyne was a mother first. And now, her mother was gone, and even with her dad around, she felt all alone.

Staring at her fathers stoic face in the crowd of other parents full of joy and pride, Hope couldn't help but feel alone again. This wasn't her childhood dance recital, this was her college graduation, and still, her dad looked like he'd rather be at work doing god knows what, then watching his only daughter get her diploma.

So, when her name is called, she see's a flicker of shock cross her fathers usually jaded expressions. Instead of Hope Pym being the name that echoes across the auditorium, the speaker announces Hope van Dyne.

Hope accepts her diploma, with a fake smile, trying to ignore the ache in her chest at her fathers momentarily hurt look. Why should she even care what he thinks? If he cared so much about her last name he should have been a better dad, he should have been there instead of sending her off to boarding school when she was still grieving.

She deserved better than his last name, so she decided to change it to her moms without telling him. It would honor her mother, and send a silent fuck you to her dad at the same time. Hope killed two birds with one stone, yet as she waits for the other names to get called, she clutches her diploma like it is her lifeline.

Suddenly she feels like a child again at her ballet recital, full of anguish and anger. Changing her last name hurt her father, but it didn't bring her mother back, and it did nothing to fix the hole in her heart.

Hope was awakened from her thoughts when those around her threw up their caps as the crowd cheered and music played. Hope followed suit, and a stranger would think she looked like any other college student — ready to go out into the real world and embrace success.

Hope spent most her time trying to look like she had everything together, but in all honestly she had no idea what the hell she was doing. Luckily, no one had figured that out yet.

2.

A few years pass, and Hope has moved up the ranks of Pym Technology like no one before. After getting her masters in quantum mechanics and particle physics, she could have gone anywhere and done anything, but she chose the operation that her father built. On paper, she was a perfect fit, but deep down, she naively hoped that working at the same place as her dad would make him proud, and maybe, just maybe, they could reconnect.

Sure, he had done so many things wrong in the past. He never went to any of her soccer games, he forgot her birthdays, and he even accidentally killed her pet hamster when she was away on a field trip. He seemed to love his work more than his own daughter, but if Hope could work with him, maybe he would grow to love her to.