* ANT / MAN.

“you’re a smart kid, cass.” well...- she wasn’t really a kid anymore, he supposed. she was growing up before his eyes, something that had seemed lost, at a time - and considering just how much she’d missed out on being dead, he didn’t think there were many out there that would have even noticed. he DID, though. he couldn’t help it. “i expect you know that compartmentalizing isn’t the be all, end all. it’ll only work for a while - and eventually, you’ll run outta space in that noggin of yours.” he smiled, a tiny twitch of his lips, upwards. “i just hope you have someone willing to listen on standby, when you do.” and he didn’t mean him. he didn’t want to PUSH himself into that position. so long as she knew she could trust hope, or janet, or.. god, even her friends - as long as she had a SOMEONE, he was happy.

“ain’t that what i do always?” yeah, no. as evidenced by the pointed look she shot his way, hope knew him WAY better than that - and scott knew himself, too. for better or worse, serious wasn’t usually his default - though for her sake, he did try. “i wouldn’t be speaking so highly of parker - i’m afraid we got the regular, cent sized sort. i meant to have ‘em gone by now, but... it’s tough, bringing myself to evict my pals.” 

maybe it was enough, then, that he’d tried to find that path for himself. he didn’t air that particular thought - didn’t think it was really prudent, to lay everything out before kurt - but what had been simple sentiment had made scott really pause and think. he hadn’t been RAISED to be nice. he hadn’t been raised to be cruel, either, but his was a childhood of middles. whatever he was, he’d taught himself... and though his initial thought was that he’d done good, it was hard to be sure. “i agree,” and he never would have not... on ALL fronts. the next generation of heroes was a sore spot, for scott. he was happy that his daughter was a HERO, and he knew, in his heart of hearts, she was already better at it than he ever was. but he’d lost her once. he’d never know, 100%, how he felt about it - though his beliefs were set in stone. “of everyone i’ve ever met - all the heroes - my daughter, her friends... who we’re teaching, here - they’re the best. i don’t know whether that’s just innate skill or whether they’ve learned from all the things we ever did wrong, but... we’re lucky to have ‘em set to save our asses, in the future.” 

[ outgoing text to peanut ] : We don’t know how much he is or isn’t like Doom [ outgoing text to peanut ] : Maybe it’s nothing and maybe they have nothing in common, but they just as easily might have everything in common, too [ outgoing text to peanut ] : I lost you once because of his father, Cassie  [ outgoing text to peanut ] : I don’t care if forgiveness is the trend now, I won’t lose you a second time. I won’t even risk it

[ outgoing text to peanut ] : What happened in the class? What did they say?  [ outgoing text to peanut ] : Scratch that, you can tell me when I get there. Hold on for me, Cass   [ outgoing text to peanut ] : You’re not staying in that class. But we’ll sort it out, we’ll work out a way you can still take it. Maybe they can assign a few students to a different teacher or something  [ outgoing text to peanut ] : I don’t want you in that class. Not with his kid.

“and evidently, why i’ll have to continue being my OWN favorite.” he loved his kids ( plural ). he really, REALLY did. the pictures in his wallet and just how often he found a way to insert them into conversation could attest to that. but sometimes... just sometimes - they really did exhaust him. scott didn’t consider himself OLD ( and technically wasn’t, thanks to some nifty moving forward through time stuff ), but they always managed to make him feel older than he was. “hey - i’m not that dense, stark,” he said, as if he were correcting a wrong assumption ( when they both knew it wasn’t SO wrong ), “i didn’t think pride was a GARFIELD celebration. i don’t even know what i did think. maybe that pride was...- that garfield was a mascot of it? i don’t know. it seemed right at the time.” 

"oof. guilty as charged.” and you know what? scott even FELT a little guilty, too - though he had no idea why. it wasn’t usually so easy for him to get shamed by an eighteen year old, but... here he was. “i never used to let cass play with ‘em. though in my DEFENSE - in my day, we were taught they’d make you wet the bed. you can see why i didn’t want that issue coming at me.”

"far be it for me to be the adult voice in a situation, but... that is maybe not the best way to NOT deal with your emotions, rogers.” scott just never knew with kids these days ( and yes, thinking ‘kids these days’ made him feel incredibly old, but what could he do about that? ). some of them said so called emo things and didn’t really mean them. some DID. he didn’t feel entirely comfy with the idea of not saying something more mature, just on the off chance kurt was the latter. “if you, uh...- if you need someone who’s not cap, to talk to, you know...- my doors open.” 

"stark, you’re a teenager.”well. twenty one. still a teen, in scott’s eyes - but his slip could have JUST as easily been a result of him not really remembering the exact ages of all stark senior’s kids. “whether you identify as it or not, you can’t be an inconvenience to the world. you haven’t been in it long enough. if anything, you’d be a really small BOTHER.”

"now that’s a good sentiment, if ever i’ve heard one.” scott couldn’t REALLY relate. he hadn’t had the greatest of young and impressionable lives, and he certainly hadn’t been raised the same way... but he’d done his part, he hoped, to put that way of thinking into the brains of the next gen. he even went so far as to muse, “i did try to raise my two, to be like that. tried maybe being the operative word, but i think they got there on their own.”

"y’know, janet - i actually enjoy having ‘em.” its not a dig. not an intentional one, anyway. scott had more respect for the woman before him than he had EVER had for hank, and that was really saying something, when the latter had been his mentor. he just didn’t see the benefit in that no emotions life. they could suck, sure - but sometimes things had to be felt. that was life. “not everyone gets to be an unreadable pillar of absolute strength. we can’t all be you, is what i’m saying. i’ve got cassie, finn...- i never really knew what made a good dad, ‘til i realized it’s all just... empathy.”

"oh, man. tell me about it.” at first, he hadn’t been entirely with the others train of thought. NOW, however, this was what his kids would like to call a big mood. “at least road runner prepped me for the reality of actual quicksand. NO ONE prepped me for the other stuff that’d come along and throw me for a number. i mean...- school thought me the powerhouse of the cell, but it did not teach me how to deal with... resurrections or quantum realms.”

"finn.” for once in maybe the entire time he’s been active parent to the boy before him, scott sounded STERN. not in a bad way. never like that. but in a way that demanded attention - because so god help him, finn needed to hear this. “i don’t know whether this is one of you kids ways of being... funny in an edgy way, but - it’s real important for me to tell you, neither of those things are bad. they’re not, okay? you are ALLOWED to be sensitive. you’re especially allowed to be just a little defensive. so long as you know, you don’t have to be with me. you can tell me things. you can open up. you’ve always been able to, and you always will be able to - yeah?”

"kate...” he trails off, voice uncharacteristically soft, and it looks as if, just for a moment, he’s considering saying something of genuine emotion. hell - it even SOUNDS like he might be about to lead into some grand speech. alas, scott was not a man of those sort of displays, and the moment passed quickly. soon enough, his lips were pulling upwards into a HUGE grin, and he nudged her shoulder with his own, playfully, “if everyone can handle barton, then it should be no surprise they’re sticking by you. between us two - you’re miles easier to handle, and... definitely the best of the hawkeyes.” now THAT seemed like a pep talk well done, if he so said himself.

"something up, kiddo?” he hated to be THAT parent. y’know - the overbearing one. the one that had to insert themselves into their kids narrative, all cause they needed to know everything. he hoped that he’d NEVER be like that, and if something was playing on his kids minds - something important - then they’d tell him, themselves. but with such a worrying phrase leaving his daughters lips, scott couldn’t help but feel it was his duty to pry. “god forbid i overstep, cass, but - is there anything you need my help with?”