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Melinda stood in the kitchen, waiting on the popcorn to get finished popping and her tea to finish steeping. While she waited, she decided to grab a pint of ice cream out of the freezer to go with the other snacks she had gathered.
“Movie’s queued up and ready to play!” Phil called from the living room.
She chuckled. There was no telling what movie he had ready - after Melinda had picked on him for choosing a Sandra Bullock rom-com from the 90s on their last movie night, she had a feeling tonight’s movie might be something a bit more exciting.
The microwave beeped, and she loaded her arms full with their snacks and drinks and headed to sit with Phil on the sofa.
Phil helped her unload her arms, and kissed her cheek when she sat down, his stubble rough against her cheek. “Ready for the movie?” he asked with a grin.
She rolled her eyes amusedly as she grabbed a handful of popcorn from the bag. “Depends what we’re watching.”
He leaned over and pressed play on the remote. “You’ll see.”
As it turned out, they were watching Oceans 8 - not Melinda’s first choice for movie night, but she had to admit it was a much better Sandra Bullock movie than last time.
They snacked for a while and before long, Melinda was yawning and curling against Phil’s side.
“Are you going to go to sleep through another movie?” Phil teased as he pulled a blanket off the back of the couch and tossed it over them both.
Her eyes were already closed. “Nope,” she mumbled as she pulled the blanket up and tucked it beneath her chin.
Phil chuckled and put his arm around her, and that was the last thing she remembered before she fell asleep.
As she usually did, Melinda woke with a start as the movie was nearly over - it looked like the ladies had been successful in their heist, as expected. She yawned widely and looked up to see Phil asleep as well, also as expected. He gave her hell for falling asleep at the beginning of a movie, but he was always asleep by the end.
She noticed for the first time how gray Phil’s stubble was these days, and even though it looked sexy and distinguished, it made her a little sad. Not because she thought they were getting old, but because she was thinking of a life they could’ve lived if things had gone even slightly differently all those years ago.
The movie credits were rolling now and Melinda nudged Phil gently. “What’d you think of the movie?” she asked with a sleepy smirk, knowing full well he probably slept through at least half of it, if not more.
Phil smiled. “Sandra Bullock pulled off a jewel heist, so it was pretty good. Maybe a little predictable,” he said with a chuckle, pretending he had stayed awake for the whole movie.
She rolled her eyes and stood from the couch, tugging Phil to his feet so they could go to bed. “I’m still not sure what your Sadra Bullock obsession is all about, but I did see enough of the movie to know Daisy is a better hacker than Rihanna.”
“If we weren’t such honest people, we could pull a con like that and get away with it.”
Melinda scoffed. “We could get away with a bigger con than stealing some jewels.”
They went back and forth about what heists they could get away with and how they would pull them off while they brushed their teeth and got ready for bed, both building off of each other’s plans and laughing at the absurdity of the hypothetical schemes they were coming up with.
Now that they had retired from Shield, it was these little moments that Melinda lived for - weekly movie nights, family dinners whenever Daisy could find time to step away for the evening, having crazy conversations at midnight about how they would rob some of the most secure facilities in the world, and all of the other small moments she had been missing from her life during the last several years. They were actually living life now instead of just existing, bouncing from continent to continent at Shield's every whim.
After they turned the lights off and climbed into bed, the two cuddled close, and Melinda trailed a finger across Phil’s jawline. “You know, I think you look really good with this.”
He kissed her softly. “Daisy called me ‘old man’ when she saw how grey it was the other day.”
“Kid doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” Melinda sighed as she snuggled closer to him, already close to falling asleep again.
“Really?” Phil chuckled softly. “Maybe I should grow it out a bit then,” he said, kissing the top of her head.
Melinda hummed contentedly. “Whatever makes you happy, Phil,” she replied.
The pair of them were both soon driting of to sleep, thinking how lucky they were to have each other.