After he got situated in Atlantis again and saw who all was there, he knew he needed to talk to Daisy. Preferably over drinks, he thought, because he saw that she had her Coulson, which was probably making her exceedingly happy, but he also saw someone he thought might have been her daughter? He hadn’t really interacted with any of the future kids that showed up since none of his had, but he vaguely remembered that Ward was the father. And if she was happy her daughter was still here, well, then that deserved celebration too.
He brought over two shot glasses and a whole bottle of the good tequila to his workshop, which seemed to be permanently attached to Daisy’s presence in Atlantis, thank goodness. He was tired of the yo-yo effect in Lawrence carrying over here, but at least this place stayed. Daisy had taken care of the carne asada tacos, with a couple shrimp and carnitas ones for variety’s sake, and he picked one up. “So you didn’t quake me into next month, which I’m thankful for,” he said with a grin. “This means things are all good on the homefront?”
“Sure, things are pretty good,” Daisy answered as she finished setting up the table where they were going to be eating. She was definitely glad to have her friend back, even if she felt a little awkward about the history they’d shared, both here and in that version of New Orleans he’d told her about his first time here. She knew she’d hurt him that first time and she was honestly glad he didn’t seem to remember it, even if the gossip had done a great job of filling him in. It was something she didn’t think they’d really gotten to talk about before, either time, really, but she was okay with that. She was just glad to have her friend back.
“Good to know,” he said with a grin. He’d come back to find himself with new housing and him and Natasha deciding not to pick up their relationship again, and he thought he should be upset about it but he wasn’t. He knew there had been the future version of him here before he showed up the first time and it had been weird with Daisy because of them getting together in his future, but he was glad he didn’t remember any of that. Daisy had become a good friend in Lawrence, better here, and he was just glad he had that. It’d be more than enough.
After taking a bite of his taco, he looked at her with a grin. “You’re going to be my wingman now that Barton’s here, right? Because I swear, if Nat’s smart she’ll move on to him. Eventually. Which means I’m on the market again and I need your help.”
“If I’m not too busy being Nat’s wingman, sure,” she answered cheekily before biting into her own taco. She and Natasha had gotten to be pretty good friends and she’d heard enough about Clint from her to know there was definitely something there. “I’m not sure those two are smart enough to get together on their own, even if it’s hella obvious they should.” Obviously, it was going to be up to their well-meaning friends to help it along and Daisy was definitely not above some meddling.
“Is it weird I want to play matchmaker to my ex-girlfriend?” he asked, tilting his head. “I mean, come on, you just had to see them in “The Avengers” to know they like each other.” He had some more of his taco. “And I see that gleam in your eye. You already plan on meddling. I can help.”
When he was done he reached over for another taco, this time a shrimp one. “Anyone I should be meddling with in your case, by the way? I’ll be happy to if it isn’t Ward.” He paused. “I know he’s not Lawrence’s Ward, but it’s still weird. I will get used to him one day, I promise, just...not today. Tomorrow’s not looking good either.”
Daisy just shrugged. She was definitely shipping Nat and Clint and she didn’t need to see any of the movies to see it. She figured just about anyone could besides the two of them.
Laughing when he turned his attentions on her love life, she shook her head. “Ohhh, no,” she said. “The last thing I need right now is a boyfriend.” She was pretty sure she was giving up on the concept of dating. She might flirt and occasionally enjoy someone else’s company, but that was different. Actual relationships? Those tended to go really badly.
“A little birdie said there might be someone paying you attention when everyone was Disneyfied,” he said with a grin. He had to admit, Peter Quill reminded him a lot of...well, him in the new universe before his grandma’s engagement ring was tossed back to him by Jo Jo, but he didn’t seem a bad guy. Daisy could have a number of worse guys paying attention to her.
But...he also understood the idea of taking a break. God knew he probably could use one. In his years of universe hopping at this point there’s been back and forth to Jo Jo, and Lagertha and the awkward flirtations with Aria in Lawrence with a dash of Jo Jo complications for a bit, then whatever had gone on with him and Daisy here with the other him and then Nat. Maybe he could do well by taking a break, too.
Daisy shrugged. “I talk to a lot of people, so you’re going to have to be more specific.” Daisy had plenty of friends in Atlantis, some of them guys, but there wasn’t anyone special. There really hadn’t been since Lincoln had left and that was perfectly fine with Daisy. She was happy with her life here the way it was.
“Quill,” he said, taking a bite of his taco. “I mean, I heard he was Disneyfied at the time, but that’s about all I heard.” He grinned. “Something about him being one of the Princes or something was all I got. Was he Eric? Phillip? Charming?” No, he was not going to explain how he knew various Disney princes names, at least not till they had some of the tequila. Then? Maybe.
Daisy grinned impishly around a mouthful of taco and tried not to laugh while she still had food in her mouth. “Prince Charming from Cinderella,” she confirmed. “I gave him so much shit for that. The best part was that Taisia was Cinderella, poor guy. I think he’s still afraid Rose and Dimitri might kill him in his sleep.”
Zane laughed heartily at that. “Oh, damn. Quill doesn’t deserve their wrath for being Prince Charming to their daughter’s Cinderella. Though they should probably be thankful he was Prince Charming and not, like, Flynn Rider. All Prince Charming wanted was his princess.” He paused. “Did he try and give her a glass shoe? Or have her try one on?”
Daisy giggled. “Yes, he totally gave her a shoe at the Thanksgiving ball,” she confirmed. “I don’t think they’d actually hurt him over it, but I can’t help giving him hell for it. Laughing again, she took a drink. “I’m a terrible person. I’m fully aware of this, but you should have seen how much he freaked out when I suggested that maybe he might have to marry her now.”
“Oh no, no, I don’t think you’re a terrible person at all,” he said, finishing off his taco and picking up his drink. “Please tell me there is video somewhere because seriously. You have no earthly idea how badly I want to see how it all went down.”
“It was over a text message, so probably not,” she said, shaking her head. “Still a good time, though. I’m basically going to call him Prince Charming until the end of time now.” Probably a little mean, but she couldn’t help herself. Picking on Peter was one of her new favorite pasttimes.
“At least he gets that nickname and not Princess Peach,” he said. “Lagertha, one of my kind of exes, gave me that one the day she met me. It stuck the whole time we knew each other.” He didn't think about her as much these days, but it was moments like this, bringing up something as simple as a nickname, that really made him miss her
“You realize I’m never going to be able to call you anything else now, right, Princess Peach?” she said, smirking at him. It was great of him to give her some ammunition there.
“I so set myself up for that, didn’t I?” he said, shaking his head. “At least she’s a badass. I can live with you calling me that in public since it’s not Luigi or Wario or something. Girl could hold her own against Bowser, at least in the cartoons.”
Daisy just shrugged as she reached for another taco.