Scott Lang wasn't Hope's type.

For one thing, he's an ex-con. Sure, she dated her share of bad boys in her youth, all ways to piss her dad off, but never former criminals. In Scott's defense, he was trying to be a modern-day Robin Hood but still, he was an idiot.

And that's the second thing. He's an idiot who made a vice out of being self-less.

Exhibit A: burgling money from criminals and giving it back to their victims without a thought as to the consequences of getting caught. Exhibit B: risking his life to fight the battles of an old, retired, billionaire who blackmailed Scott into accepting the job. And Exhibit C: abandoning his friends, his daughter, and Hope to aid Captain America in his fight against super soldiers.

The problem with Scott was that most of the time, he thought with his heart rather than with his head. The other remaining time, he let his head think his heart was in the right place.

Oh, it wasn't always bad.

Hope remembered that one time when Scott convinced her to play hooky.

"Come on," Scott pleaded, the twinkling in his eye doing its job of telling Hope that this was a bad idea. "Don't tell me you've never thought of doing it."

"No! Unlike you, I don't skirt from my training. And I definitely don't use those disks as toys." She grabbed the Pym Particles Disks from his naughty hands.

"Who said we're playing with them?"

Hope raised her signature brow. "You want to use the disk to make a giant marshmallow."

Scott waved his hand as if to say that Hope's statement proved his point. "See? Not playing! Eating!"

Hope crossed her arms. "Don't think I don't know what you're planning. I saw the chocolate syrup downstairs. I'm not taking my clothes off and 'eating' marshmallow with you."

"The chocolate syrup is actually for Cassie," he pointed out. "But I like the way you think."

Hope huffed out a chuckle which was a mistake in hindsight, seeing as Scott would always always be successful in exploiting any weakness he saw in her.

He took her hand and tugged. She fit right in his arms which was weird considering how shorter he was compared to her.

"Come on," he whispered. "It'll be fun. And kinky if you want it kinky. The ants can clean up right after."

Hours later, lying on a literal cloud of marshmallow, her chocolate coated body nestled in Scott's arms, Hope had already forgotten why she argued against this idea in the first place.

Scott did that a lot—make her forget things, shake her loose.

"We're gonna get sick, you do realize that." Somehow Hope couldn't stop pointing out things that could break the bubble they've created for themselves.

Scott hummed and licked her earlobe. "We'll let the ants deal with that cleanup too."

And sure she loved sleeping with him, but she loved the domestic moments even more...

...Like whenever they played Rock Band. Frankly, you could put Scott anywhere—mic, drums, guitar—and he'd perform.

Hope's never laughed so much than when she saw Scott playing the guitar a la Tom Cruise in Risky Business,

Cassie took the video.

The thing was Scott Lang just wasn't Hope's type. He wasn't the no-nonsense bachelor who would help her kick her father out of the company. He wasn't the guy who had the flair for the romantic.

He was fruity roll ups and Chuckie E. Cheese. He was Rock Band and candy before dinner. He bought Hope lollipops instead of flowers. He baked her an inedible birthday cake instead of buying her chocolates. With one goofy grin, he could make her laugh breathless. He made her and her father reconcile. He broke all the rules not because he was a bad boy but because it was what he thought was the right thing to do.

So, see? Not entirely the worst guy in the world... except... he broke Hope's trust.

He took the suit and left. Not one word. Not even a coded message or a kiss goodbye.

He was just gone. Like her mother.

And the next thing Hope knew, she and Hank had to go on the run.

And Scott was in far worse prison than before.

And Hope would have left him there to rot... but Cassie... that little girl didn't deserve any of this.

The click clack of heels broke Hope out of her thoughts.

Oh, thank God she came.

Hope rose from her seat to greet Pepper Potts. The CEO of Stark Industries was right on time.

Pepper held out her hand. Hope took it and pulled the redhead in for a hug. "Thank you for agreeing to see me. I didn't know if you got my message, let alone if you would come."

Pepper subtly shook her head. "I'll always have your back."

The two took their seats in the abandoned lobby of Hank's shrinkable lab.

"Did you get any information about what they're going to do to him?"

Pepper smiled and it gave Hope some, well, hope. "The fact that Scott didn't break out of the Raft gave him a few brownie points to stand on. My friend in Homeland Security said that they're going to offer him a deal: 2 years on House Arrest, 3 years of probation. It's up to him to accept."

Hope sagged in relief. "Thank you, Pepper. This is better than anything I was imagining. At least this way his daughter can still see him."

Pepper frowned and sadly looked at her. "But you can't."

Hope shook her head. "It doesn't matter."

"Of course it does," Pepper grasped Hope's hand. "You still care about him after everything he's done. Just like me with Tony."

"I care about Cassie," Hope clarified. "Hopefully, those two years will give him something to think about."

Pepper knew the end of a conversation when she heard one. So, she stood up and gave Hope her best, slipping a package in Hope's hand before departing.

Hope tightly clutched the burner phone and convinced herself not to call the man on the other end of it.

She had her mother's ghost to chase after.

...

She tried to stop herself from monitoring his hourly activities. She wasn't going to become that kind of woman.

...

Two hours in the bath? What in the world could he be doing in there?

...

So, Scott was back... and Hope's working with him again... And he's still an idiot.

Although, he's gotten a little more endearing since the last time she saw him.

She was trying not to get distracted from the main mission.

Her mother was more important here.

It sure helped that the Ant-Man suit was giving Scott a lot of trouble.

Karma was a bitch.

...

Hope could not believe him. The nerve of him to bring his day-job to the lab like he was just inviting a friend over for a sleepover.

Except the lab wasn't even his house and his friend who was coming over spilled the beans to the cops.

Hope couldn't believe she thought this idiot could help.

Of all the times to be utterly self-centered, Scott.

"Can I borrow the suit?"

Hope tried to tune him out. They were so close to getting her mother back. So close.

"I'm just gonna borrow the suit... I'll come back, just tell me where you'll be."

"Don't bother," Hope snapped. "We'll come and get the suit from you as soon as we've found my mom." And I'll never have to see you again, she added silently.

It was almost as if Scott heard her say that because he looked at her, hurt and guilt creating an ugly blend in his eyes.

"Hope," he tried to say.

"Scott, just go!"

...

NO, NO, NO!

STUPID, STUPID IDIOT!

Hope dived into the bay. Spotting Scott's giant form was easy and she managed to fix his regulator. It was finding him when he was tiny that was the problem.

The current could easily sweep him away. He could be eaten by a fish. She could mistake him for kelp or something.

Please, please, please.

"Come on, where are you, Scott?" she didn't like how her voice shook. She didn't like how hard the thumping in her chest was getting.

Her heart almost stilled at the sight of him floating just a few feet down. "Gotcha!"

He fit right in her palm as she rose to the surface.

With both of them back to normal size, she put him in a sitting position and retracted his helmet. She placed her palm on his chest. Her hand was shaking too much, she couldn't feel a heartbeat.

"Scott?"

She shook him, anything to nudge him awake, to see him alive again.

After a few agonizing long seconds, the man's eyes finally opened. His eyelids slowly flitted upward like he had just woken from a long relaxing sleep.

His mind registered her after a few seconds and Scott let out a high, squeaky "Hey!"

Damn it! Maybe it was the near-death experience or he was just that good, but Scott could still make her laugh, the idiot.

Hope had always known that Scott was an idiot. She just didn't know he was her idiot. The idiot she loved despite everything he's done.

So, she kissed him. Kissed him and kissed him and kissed him.

Because her idiot almost died and her mother might not make it and she needed at least one of them to be around.

When she pulled back, Scott had that dumb look on his face. "Hmm. I'm not sure I'm awake. Run that by me again."

Hope hit him and Scott doubled over. "Ow!"

...

Janet, Hank, Scott, Hope, Bill, and Ava ran out of the lab, eyes scanning the street for any place they could go, anywhere they could hide from the cops.

"I have an idea," said Scott, eyes alight with a mischievous glint.

"Are you crazy?" Hank cried when the plan was revealed to use the Ant-Man suit as a diversion.

"We're gonna shrink it back down, honey," said Janet, a hand on Hank's chest, effectively calming him down. "We'll be on standby, Scott."

Hope couldn't help but smile despite the gravity of the situation. She never thought she would see her parents together again and yet here they were.

Scott hopped on another ant and Hope flew alongside him.

"You're not gonna disappear on me again, are you?" she asked him.

"Of course not. You just went ahead and grabbed me, kissing me while I was in that vulnerable state. Don't think we're not going to talk about that, missy."

Hope laughed.

...

"Scott! Cassie!" Hope was surprised to see the father and daughter Lang duo at the doorway of her parents' house.

She invited them in and asked, "Weren't the two of you supposed to go and paint the town red or something like that?"

Hope and Scott had agreed to put their relationship on pause for a day for Scott to make time for Cassie.

Cassie gave Hope a toothy grin. "Yeah! But it wouldn't be that fun without you. We're going to watch a movie. Wanna come?"

Hope frowned. "I'm sorry, honey. But I'm still wanted by the police. I can't go out in public."

"What about a drive-in theater?" asked Scott, "We can stay in the car, nobody's gonna look for you there."

Cassie squealed in delight. "I've never been on one!"

"Well, that makes two of us," said Hope.

"You've never been to a drive-in theater?" Scott gasped.

Hope rolled her eyes at his theatrics. "Why do you make it sound like that?"

"Because! It's a thing. Every teenager went to a drive-in theater on dates."

"I was in boarding school," Hope reminded him.

Scott nudged Cassie. "Well, we're going to have to fix that, right, Peanut?"

Cassie nodded.

"And if I get caught?"

"We can improvise," Scott grinned.

...

"Can we shrink again tomorrow?" Cassie asked as they walked in the front door of Scott's house. She was sleeping over tonight in celebration of her dad getting his freedom back.

"Ooh!" At a sudden idea, she jumped, turning to face Hope and Scott. "Let's go giant! Please, daddy!"

Scott chuckled. "I guess I'm gonna have to start looking for someplace we can hide a Giant Cassie. Got any ideas, Hope?"

Cassie looked to Hope with another smile.

"Hmm. I'm gonna have to sleep on that. I'll get back to you in the morning."

Hope turned to leave, but Cassie asked mournfully, "You're not staying? Can you sleep here too, Hope?" The ten year-old turned to Scott. "Daddy, can Hope sleep over?"

Scott and Hope exchanged looks.

"Call your mommy and daddy, Hope," added Cassie. "Ask them if you can stay!"

Scott barked a laugh. "Yeah, Hope. Call your mom and dad."

Hope elbowed him in the side but smiled at Cassie. "Alright. I'll stay."

"Yay!"

Later in the night, after having survived a game of Twister and Monopoly, Scott and Hope were finally alone in the bedroom.

Hope was stretched out on the bed, wearing her pajamas that Scott still had in his possession.

She turned to sigh into his neck. "I've missed this."

"And here I thought you wanted to spend time with me. I should have known you only wanted to use me as a pillow. Hey, hey!" Scott danced away from her fingers which had found their way to his side again.

He snatched her hand and linked their fingers together.

"I've missed you too, Hope," Scott said earnestly. He turned to her, and cupped her cheek, letting his hands move up to her hair where his fingers threaded through it. "You grew it out."

"Yeah. Don't really have time for a haircut when I'm running from the law."

"You're still frighteningly beautiful."

Hope leaned in to kiss him. She sighed into his mouth.

"What is this, Scott?" She finally asked him when she pulled away. They've been meaning to talk about their relationship and this was their chance; they were away from missions, cops, anything that could distract them.

"Are we still just... 'doing other stuff?'" Three years and Hope had no clue what they were. Were they friends, friends with benefits, heroes with benefits, boyfriend and girlfriend? "I hang out with your daughter, I sleep over at your house..."

"Well, we could call it a partnership. You know, out there we're Ant-Man and the Wasp. In here, we're Scott and Hope. And I know I have no right saying it, not after everything I've done, but I like-like you—"

Hope snorted. "Scott—"

"I do." Despite the term he chose to use, Scott was telling the truth. He looked Hope straight in the eyes. "You're my partner. In every sense of the word... If you want me to be."

Hope thought back to that moment where she was sure she almost lost him.

She couldn't go back there again.

"I want you to be."

"Great!" he beamed. "Aren't you gonna say you like-like me back? Because I'm not being needy or anything but people usually say I like-like you back but you didn't and—"

Hope shut him up with another kiss while she turned over to straddle him.

"I love you," she murmured against his mouth.

"Aww, shucks, Hope. You're gonna make me cry."