WHO: Jasper Sampson Spencer, Ryan Comley & Apsen Sams WHEN: Friday, April 28th WHERE: Hop SUMMARY: Jasper & Ryan meet Aspen for drinks. STATUS: Complete.
There were a lot less factors going into the decision to meet Jasper face to face than there should have been. Running into Ryan initially, and his reaction, had only been followed by more people in Jasper’s life giving similar reactions. The man's own mother had thought he as her son. It did not take elite detective skills to understand that fate was messing with them by making them not siblings but still interchangeable physically. Even after seeing photos of Jasper, Aspen had to admit that what everyone was pointing at was true. No one understood why except Aspen.
When the post had been made, Aspen was initially acting on his need to rant silently. When Ryan commented while Aspen made plans with his childhood friend, he spoke without thinking- not too uncommon for him. So there he stood, at the bar waiting for the couple to get there so they could get a booth and talk. Aspen’s pulse raced with an icy hot nervousness similar to chasing down a criminal or doing his own deals on the side. He would never be ready for this meeting. There was still a chance that they would comment on the similarities and Aspen would still walk out without telling Jasper; he wanted to feel Jasper out first.
Generally speaking, Jasper didn’t even like the idea of being the jealous boyfriend. But even the thought of an issue with Tale Soulmates was easier to shake off than this was. The public comments that went back and forth between Ryan and Aspen the night before still looked like flirting but Jasper bit his tongue about that.
Besides, Ryan would get that disappointed look on his face again. And Jasper wanted to avoid that too. He and Aspen were also co-workers which made it important to have a good relationship rather than one where he constantly felt suspicious of the other.
Jasper opened the door for Ryan, then told him, “Feel free to let me know when you want to go home.”
For perhaps the eighth, ninth, maybe fiftieth time since Ryan had extended the drinks invitation to Jasper, he wondered if maybe this was really such a good idea. His boyfriend hadn’t needed to say anything for him to pick up that something was off, but rather than ask what was wrong (he could guess; he’d reread the conversation he’d had with Aspen, and he was almost certain it had at least a small part to do with that - not entirely, but it was probably a contributing factor, which made Ryan feel guilty despite having done nothing wrong), he’d just smiled and was extra attentive.
Between being married to Rich in a past life and Aspen showing up, he was starting to wonder if something was out to get him.
Ryan past Jasper, hand brushing his waist and grabbing his hand to tug him in with him. “I will,” he promised, squeezing their linked hands before looking around, scanning faces for Aspen Sams.
A weird buzz went through Aspen’s veins before he had even looked up from his drink. It was not like anything he had experienced before with other Tales. Years had passed when he was a young child where he had imagined what twins felt when they were near each other, this was similar to what that kid had dreamt of. Aspen had to wonder if he would have the same reaction to other Talemates, though.
Looking up from the bar, he turned and stared at Jasper. Blue eyes tracing over the eerie self-representation in the other. Swallowing, he put a smile on his face and walked over. “Hey, I've been eyeing a booth in the back. We should hurry up and grab it.” Aspen tried to make it sound casual enough. He had greeted Ryan with a pat on the shoulder and gestured for them to follow.
The Tale Tingle wasn’t an altogether unfamiliar feeling. He’d experienced it with plenty of his other Talemates, and he had known he’d feel it with Aspen. Even though he didn’t know the other man’s exact tale. There was still plenty of evidence pointing in one direction. But as of yet, Jasper’s hypothesis had neither been confirmed or denied.
“Let’s do that,” Jasper agreed, putting on a smile of his own. There was no reason to be rude. It was better if he was relaxed and casual about this. For all he knew Aspen could just be Tinkerbell. Which, though a Talemate, was not the one he’d been wondering about for many years.
Jasper slid into his seat and picked up the drinks menu, as if he didn’t know the thing by heart.
Ryan slid into the booth beside Jasper, offering Aspen a friendly smile before glancing over his boyfriend’s shoulder to look at the menu. Never a big drinker, none of the drinks looked particularly appealing, so he figured he’d just get whatever the server suggested; hopefully it was sweet.
He turned his attention back to Aspen. “Did you have a hard time finding the place?” he asked, hoping that friendly conversation would get rid of the (probably imagined) tense air. “I kept getting hopelessly lost when I first moved here.” GPS on his phone had honestly been the biggest selling point in upgrading from his Razr to a smartphone.
Aspen shook his head and laughed, “Nah, I just used my GPS. Plus, it's a lot smaller town than LA so I memorized it pretty easily.” It also helped when one could fly overhead and get a bird's eye view of the place. Looking over the drink list, Aspen bounced his foot trying to remind himself that he needed to limit looking at Jasper, yet engage in conversation with both. Aspen figured in the same position he'd be jealous, but who knew how the elder twin compared in personality. He was Mister Perfect to at least two people Aspen had spoken with.
Licking his lips, Aspen shook his head at himself. He was torn between jealousy of Jasper (for no good reason) and just wanting to talk with him. Aspen had lost this life's twin at birth and all he wanted had been to know his other half of his Tale was out there. Now, he was afraid and did not want to admit it to himself. “So any suggestions for what to drink, Jasper?”
Jasper looked up from the tap list, then asked, “What kind of beer do you like? This place is known for having a rotating tap of craft beers. I’m a fan of the pilsner they have right now. But Ryan prefers sweeter drinks.” He waited for a response, doing his best not to try to parse out every word and every action the other man made.
He smirked and looked back down at the list while nodding. “Yeah, I like darker beers, personally.” It was not entirely the truth, but he'd make it true for the moment. He glanced toward Ryan. “You do seem like a sweet drink person, but I guess that’s because I met you at the ice cream shop.” The various interactions Aspen had had told him that him and Twin 1 had a lot in common though their tastes were not exact.
Aspen stared blankly at the list his heart thumping harder as he contemplated just pulling Jasper aside and telling him. Jasper’s post about the scroll had felt like he might really want to know, but text on the internet could not be taken at face value.
Ryan shrugged. “I have a thing for sweet drinks,” he said mildly. He looked over at Jasper. “I’m going to run to the restroom. Get me whatever you think I’ll like?” Smiling across the table at Aspen, he slid out of the booth.
The smirk was odd, but Jasper allowed for the possibility that Aspen was the type of guy that only believed dark beers were ‘real’ beers. He refused to react to the flirting, beginning to wonder if it was some kind of test. But Jasper forced himself to stop analyzing, the other man wasn’t a suspect.
He nodded at his boyfriend, already knowing what he’d order Ryan. “I’d recommend the stout as long as you aren’t allergic to nuts. I don’t know the exact ingredients but it has a pretty strong nut flavoring.”
Aspen watched Ryan disappear. The funny thing was, the flirtation was accidental in how his spoke. There was no intention toward Ryan, the guy was cute, but Aspen actually leaned toward more women than men. He would fall under the Kinsey 2 category if he felt like using those labels. The flirtations with the Sheriff’s daughter were far more on purpose.
“No, no nut allergy,” he answered. Chewing on the inside of his lip, his gaze studied Jasper for a moment. Aspen was not normally this awkward, but the situation was important. “So did you ever find your Twin 2?” Though he knew the answer, he kept his face neutral with a touch of curiosity.
Jasper’s eyes moved from the menu, to Aspen’s face. The comment was all but a verification of his suspicion of who Aspen was from his Tale. But it was two detectives facing off. And if Aspen wanted to play this game, then Jasper would go along with it.
“No. No one has shared a memory or asked for their scroll yet.” Jasper shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe they won’t. I can’t claim to know why they wouldn’t but people have different reasoning for all kinds of things.”
Yep, that was a little more straightforward than he had intended. Aspen blamed his nerves. “There were a bunch of people burning their scrolls so it doesn’t seem to be uncommon.” He shrugged. Truthfully, he was curious on the scrolls because they were strange items that only showed the named person their past memories. “Did your scroll memories have anything with them in it?”
“Not yet. I’ve only opened one,” Jasper explained. “It had enough for me to want to parse through before moving onto another. And Brenda, I was a girl that go around, knew about two others that came before her. So I got some other information with that.” He gave Aspen just enough information to seem like he was sharing, but still keeping most of what he’d learned through is scroll to himself. Ryan was really the only person who’d gotten the full story so far.
Aspen could not help but laugh. “A Lost Boy incarnated as a girl? That has to be a weird experience.” He paused. “But I heard Pan was a girl this go ‘round so I guess not entirely strange.” The word Pan seemed strained. His expression one of disdain over that particular person. He had never met Ella, but one of the main reasons he had never wanted to visit the town was the pure chance Pan would be there.
“Brenda didn’t seem to care,” Jasper answered. “She didn’t put much worth into her Tale. Or the gender politics of it. I think she was asked too often by others if she was bothered by it.”
It was easy to recognize the same disdain that Jasper had felt for Ella and the idea of Pan. “She is a girl,” Jasper corrected. “There’s some evidence that suggests that people who cross through the crack don’t immediately die.”
Brows raised, Aspen took in a breath. “I didn’t mean that in a she’s dead way… I didn’t even know her. And we both know, Pan will never die.” He scoffed, trying to play it off. He had not been there for whatever the hell she did to go through; Aspen could only imagine she had thought herself too brave to cower in front of a crack.
Opening his mouth, he was about to talk about a memory from their Lost Boy days and then stopped himself and shook his head. “Sorry if you were friends with her or whatever.”
Jasper couldn’t help the sharp laugh at the idea of himself and Ella being friends. “No, that was definitely not the case. She was far too much Pan, and I’m really not enough of a Lost Boy for her tastes. But she was close with my little brother, who is far more Lost Boy in personality than I am.”
Aspen smirked. “Yeah… honestly. Just the idea that Pan might be here kept me from this place my entire life. My dad would come to visit family and I would insist on staying home.” Another pause and Aspen fell silent again. Too much relief came with knowing that Twin 1 did not feel that connection to Pan like he did.
The waitress interrupted their conversation to take their order. Jasper ordered the pilsner for himself, and the saison for Ryan. He looked to Aspen, who ordered a Belhaven.
Once she left Jasper turned back to Aspen. “Well, sorry to hear how adverse you are to her. But I guess, in your case, the timing worked out for you.” If he didn’t know better he might have suspected Aspen to be hook with that bit of information.
Aspen shrugged again. “It would have been okay, but I wanted to be my own person-” Aspen pressed his lips together, cutting himself off. His gaze fell to the table before he looked up again. His jaw tight. The Lost Boys were not necessarily their own persons, but the Twins had obviously suffered that idea. “I’ll be back. I need to go to the restroom.”
“It’s back that way to the left,” Ryan said helpfully, reaching the table just as Aspen had spoken. “Careful with the sink, looks like the faucet is broken, so the water is spraying everywhere.” He motioned to his damp sleeves ruefully as he slid into the booth next to Jasper, pressing his thigh against the other man’s out of habit of sitting as close as he could get away with.
Jasper was taken a little by surprise at Aspen’s sudden need for the bathroom. But he was more relaxed as the other man retreated. He gave Ryan’s knee a squeeze, clearly okay with the physical contact.
“Everything okay?” Ryan asked, hand finding Jasper’s under the table.
In answer, Jasper shrugged. “I think so.”
The brunet eyed Jasper, worried, but he pushed it aside. If Jasper said it was okay, then it was probably okay. Plus, pressing him on his thoughts about Aspen now seemed a poor choice considering the other detective could return at any time. Instead, he squeezed his boyfriend’s hand. “So, does he have your taste in beer, too?”
“No, thankfully. It was going to weird me out if he did.” He threaded his fingers with Ryan’s, making sure to keep the contact. “He just skirted around telling me who his Tale is. But maybe he’s not ready. And I guess I shouldn’t push it. Even though I want to know if the age thing is a Lost Boy issue.”
“Ah.” Ryan glanced back towards where the restrooms were, but didn’t see Aspen yet. “He hasn’t found any of his scrolls yet? And can I just tell you it’s weird sitting here with both of you?” The differences were noticeable enough now that he got to see the two of them side by side, but it was still an uncanny similarity.
“Seeing as I have one of them and Jemma has the other, it seems unlikely that he's going to own up to it.” Jasper shifted in a little discomfort. “I don't exactly know how to feel about that either.” It was creepy but if the other man was who Jasper thought he was then maybe it was just another tale related oddity.
“Jemma has the other one?” He already knew Jasper had one, seeing as Ryan had been the one to find it. He bumped Jasper’s shoulder with his. “I think you’re the better model,” he said, mock seriously. “But I don’t blame you for not knowing how to feel about it. I’m still not sure what to make of it, and I’m not the one he looks like.”
Aspen dodged past a few tables to get back to the couple from behind them. “The better model?” He asked when he finally passed by to his seat. “What are you two talking about?” Aspen had recomposed himself and bore a playful smirk in place of his panic. In this life, he had been alone, without siblings, he figured it was his time to be an individual and here he was with proof that he wasn't and a complex about his own failings.
Jasper forced a smile at Ryan’s comment. But there was still something that wouldn’t allow him to be entirely comfortable.
“Ah, nothing important,” Jasper shook his head, grateful that the waitress took that moment to come with their drinks. He thanked her, then turned back to Aspen, glass raised. “Welcome to town.”