WHO: Henry Spencer & Jasper Sampson Spencer. WHEN: BACKDATED: Last Saturday, before Uncle Matt's return. WHERE: A Lake. SUMMARY: Father-Son bonding time. STATUS: Complete.
Jasper pushed the boat, with his Dad already in it, from the shore into the water. Then he leaped into the air, pushing them into an appropriate level of depthness, until he hovered over his seat, and gently sat down.
He picked up his oar, then asked, “Ready to go?”
Henry had his own oar in hand, eyes scanning the water. He was used to Jasper’s powers by now, though he remembered those terrifying first moments of discovering his son could fly. “Yeah, let’s head over to the north I think the overhanging trees will be a good spot today.”
Logically, Jasper could have pushed the boat faster than the two of them could use their oar’s to row the boat. But that defeated the purpose of this being their thing that they did together. “How are the neighbors doing,” Jasper asked, as he helped direct the boat towards the north.
Henry made an unimpressed noise at mention of his neighbors, “Half the building’s moved out over the last month. Recent events I would guess. Still have the same kids across the way though.”
He rowed slowly, thoughts leaving his own circumstances to Jasper. “How’re things with Ryan?” He asked.
Jasper had seen people moving out far more often than was normal too. Especially families with small kids. He couldn’t really blame them, although he could never see himself doing it. Not when he was part of the reason they were moving out - it was a problem he and the rest of the WPD needed to solve the cases that had built up more quickly.
He pushed those thoughts to back of his mind when his Dad changed the subject to Jasper’s boyfriend. “They’re going well,” He answered slowly, albeit a bit briefly. It was hard to figure out how much anyone wanted to know about that. Jasper wasn’t used to being in a relationship he actively wanted to talk about, but he thought that was a good sign, so he continued, “His parents contacted him recently. And I don’t have a good feeling about that. But the two of us are good.” He opening his mouth a couple times, forming a pause he hadn’t really intended, before finally spitting out, “You like him, right?”
Henry glanced over at Jasper surprised, wasn't sure why his opinion mattered much on the matter of Ryan. He was never quite clear with his kids where the line was between opinions they wanted and ones they didn't from him.
“Sure I do Jas,” he said, then frowned that didn't seem like quite the right response, “I don't know him that well, you know, but he seems good for you. He's very earnest.”
The relief on Jasper’s face was evident. Ryan was only becoming more and more important to him which, in turn, meant he wanted to make sure his parents were okay with him. At the very least. “Yea, that’s definitely accurate.”
Henry reached out and patted his son’s leg, only somewhat awkwardly, “Well, I’m glad it’s working out.” He had been unsure when Jasper had come out. When he’d been Jasper’s age, people like that… well, things had changed, he was just glad his son was happy. Even if he didn’t fully understand it. “You said he has issues with his parents?”
“Yea,” Jasper answered, taking a moment to steer them towards the tree’s once they were in sight. “His parents aren’t very accepting of the fact that he has powers, or that he’s gay,” he explained. “It’s why Marceline was taken out of their parents care when they were young. But Ryan was able to hide that part of him better than she was.”
Henry nodded, “That’s difficult, I always felt lucky growing up here..” he paused, “It’s part of the reason your mother and I raised you kids in Woodsbridge.” For all he didn’t understand his children all the time, Henry wanted them happy and accepted for who they were. As a Woodsbridge kid himself, you heard horror stories about Tales born into unaccepting families. Most of them were more myth than fact he was sure, but it didn’t mean things like that never happened.
Once they approached the correct spot he grabbed his pole and gear, threading the hook on and grabbing some bait. Fly-fishing was more up his alley, but you didn’t find much fly fishing around Woodsbridge, and bait fishing was much better for having a good conversation. “Although, I suppose of late it hasn’t been much on the safe side.”
Jasper nodded his head, forever thankful that he grew up in Woodsbridge. Though, he supposed that flying would have been an easy enough power to hide away as well. Still, the idea of having to have control of that right away when he was younger seemed impossible.
He sighed as he cast his own pole. “No, it hasn’t. We’ve been working on it. But there aren’t any solid or even mostly solid leads.” The longer it all went on, the more of a failure he felt. But he tried to keep himself from walking down that line of thinking.
“Don’t beat yourself up over it, Jas,” Henry said, “I had to come to terms with the fact a long time ago that in a town full of Tales you’re always going to find a lot of the unexplainable.” He still remembered his unsolved cases with the pangs of remorse as if they were still fresh. “The key is to do your best to keep people safe now, sometimes you gotta let go of what’s already happened and focus on what’s happening now. A criminal doesn’t think backwards, he thinks forward about what he’s gonna do next.”
It wasn’t much advice and frustrating to hear, he was sure. But of all the things his children experienced, Jasper’s experiences as a detective were the closest to things Henry understood.
“Yea, I’d feel a lot better if our forwards thinking turned out to be right and we could wrap this up before the next abduction happened,” Jasper commented. “But, anyhow, not going to figure that out here on the lake. What about you?” He asked. “Find any new shows to watch, meet any new friends?”
Henry shrugged, as frustrated with his current life as he ever was. “I’m liking that Longmire on Netflix,” he said, “Otherwise, I’m as boring as ever.” He looked out at the water, casting in his bait. He supposed it was embarrassment, but what was he supposed to do? You didn’t restart your life at his age. Henry reached out and patted Jasper’s shoulder, “How about we shut up for a while so the fish don’t get scared?”