Hope was looking at him with those firm eyes, no blinking, just staring like a mad cat and Scott was feeling odd again. They were alone, Hank was about to go to bed and was in the kitchen taking his hundreds of medicine while saying he hated it almost as much as he hated Stark back in the days. But this woman was looking at him like if she has lasers in her eyes and oh god, why? What has he done to her to be treated like this? Okay, sexist old widowed father who chose you to be the one, sure thing It can give you his daughter to be your number one nemesis, but this is ridiculous. They were supposed to have passed this already. She punched him! Multiple times!

"Okay, what?" he finally said, she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Nothing"

Of course it was nothing. Just Hope giving him the death stare, chilling around. So he just kind of run away from her, taking steps to the kitchen were Hank was already finishing with his meds and smiled at him, drinking his water. "You okay, kid?"
"Yeah, just..." should he say it? Should he tell Hank his daughter is an actual demon? He probably knows this already, he is probably proud of it too. "I don't understand at all why Hope hates me so much"
"Oh" he exclaims, leaving the empty cup to wash later, "don't worry about it. She doesn't hate you, she hates me and my decisions. Which is obvious and I agree with her. But, honestly? I would never put her in danger, not while I can do something about it. Don't get me wrong, Scott...-"
"I understand-"
"No" he says, then he smiles again, there's something fraternal about it and It isn't uncomfortable as it should be, right? Right, "I do care about you. But she's everything I have, even when she isn't exactly on my team. But it's okay. If Jan... If my wife were here, things would be different. Good lord, things would be so different..."

He loved her in an almost fantastic way, Scott was amazed by this.

Not because he thought this man was too weird to love or to be loved, but because this was something that wasn't as common as the TV says. This man has been alone for almost 30 years, no girlfriends or second marriage, nothing. Just waiting for his turn to see his wife again, to keep on living until it's time. He could live easily another 30 years more if he wanted. Even with his mental thing (he didn't talk much about it and Scott did not wanted to ask. This was something he shouldn't be putting his nose in), he was healthy and he was strong. In fact, Scott was sure Hank could punch him in the face and make him bleed easily. His dorky sweaters wasn't exactly some kind of 'old man fashion', they were more like a surprise factor of 'old man without fashion sense who can kill you with his bare hands'. His daughter was like that too, she could kill him or anyone with just her hands.

"Would any of you, and by that I mean Lang, help me with this?", she says passing them by, carrying bags of papers they deputed early that day in order to make sense in Hank's lab.
"Yeah, sorry..."

Hank smiled at him once more, then he leave the kitchen saying his goodnight and they were alone again. Good lord. She didn't say a thing, just a weak 'goodnight' that he was sure he wasn't supposed to hear, so he just went to the lab again, taking the two last bags and walking out the house with them. Hope was sit on the ground, her hands on her shoulders as if she wanted to protect herself, so Scott left the bags and walked to her.

"Are you okay there?"
"I don't hate him"

Ugh. This was awkward. Scott sit by her side, the moon shining in the sky and the night call making its thing with the silent.

"You hear that?"
"A lot of other things too"
"Maybe... Well. I don't know. This isn't something I should be putting my ass in, isn't it? You and your dad..."
"You remind him of him before he met mom. I think that's why he chose you"
"Oh. That makes sense"
"He was...", she started with her eyes firm on her shoes. "He was so tall..." Scott stayed quiet, knowing she needed this and maybe he needed it too. "Mom was so tiny, her feets were so small, he could take both in his hands and then kiss them. Mom and I used to sleep with him in the couch during winter, he was big, big, with big arms and a big chest, I loved when he used to hug me. And my mom loved it too, there is a lot of pictures of them hugging. I always wanted to be like her so I can have someone like my dad"
"He was your hero"
She smiled in a melancholic way. "I always knew he was a hero, I was raised by two heroes. Mom always told me stories about dad being some kind of awesome agent and I loved to hear her. I guess, in a way, the reason why I adored my dad was because my mom adored him first. For me, it was normal to love someone with so many problems like him... but then, all of it was gone. Mom was dead and he never came back from it, he spend entire nights on his laboratory and then, then... he was just gone. It was like if I lost both my parents. And when he looked at me he just broke more inside, that's why I think he let me go, because I look like her and he couldn't... She was the best that ever happened to him. Auntie Pegg-- an aunt. She told me. About my dad before he met my mother", she looked at him, Scott has been looking right at her face all this time. "He lost his first wife because someone wanted to steal his investigation. And he felt so bad about his feelings for my mom because he used to work for my granddad, and she was... so young. He was 25 and she was 17, but she always went towards him, always looking at him and talking to him, she did too. She did love him since day one too. And I--- do I love my father after all of this?"
"I don't think---"
"I never stopped", she say in a weak line. "I never stopped".

Scott smiled at her, cleaning her tears and putting his hand over her shoulder. It was fascinated the way she could feel everything and yet not be broken. If he was in her place, he would have been nuts since the beginning. And yet, sometimes she still felt lost and over the edge, like right now. To this day, he doesn't know why, but he leaned into her face, looking at those intense eyes and her pretty mouth; he saw her parting her lips, leaning into him and kissing him first, slowly and almost shy, sweet where there were insults for him before.

Is a nice kiss, the best one he has had since his wedding day and she bit his bottom lip, laughing when he licked at it, then kissed her again. After almost an entire minute, they parted, looking at each other with smiles on their faces and no more words and punches to share.

"You still want that?" he asked in a mumble.
"What?"
"Someone who loves you the same way Hank loves your mom"

Silence. And then, she mouthed a 'yes' before kissing him once more.

"But don't tell anyone", she say after leave him with a word on his lips, walking to the house again. "Goodnight, Scott. See you tomorrow".

Okay. This was going to be interesting.