Jasper Lucas (sinsoftheson) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2023-05-29 17:47:00 |
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Entry tags: | #july 2018, gavin, gavin x jasper, jasper |
Who: Gavin & Jasper
Where: Home
When: Tuesday afternoon, 7/10
Status: complete
These days, all Gavin could do was hope the spell from Shayna Mae was working and that he and his sister were safe. It was hard to stop thinking about the Dark Man completely but he had plenty of other things on his mind. Like planning everything for Aaron's wedding which was fast coming up.
Adrian Moretti had stopped by the bar with some ideas of his own for the bachelor party and Gavin had been skeptical at first but it turned out that Mila's brother had a little more zest for life than he did and his ideas weren't half bad. Gavin didn't have much time to get things sorted so it was actually a welcome input and he was going to need to make some calls.
He headed home from the bar, still half expecting the Dark Man to pop out from a near street corner or even appear in the passenger seat of his car, but he made it home in one piece. Amelia and Charlie were out but Jasper's boots were in the hallway and he pushed them aside with one foot before toeing out of his own boots and heading downstairs to check if his son was sleeping. He didn't often go down there, but it didn't seem like Jasper had company today and he had probably only gotten back from work recently. Still, he knocked on the wall as he descended the stairs, not wanting to walk in on anything private.
Jasper was awake, though he was sprawled out in bed, on top of the covers. He’d stripped his work clothes off and was lounging and being lazy for a little while before he mustered up the willpower to get in the shower before bed. He was scrolling on his phone, but he let it drop to his chest when he heard someone coming down the stairs. They were his dad’s footsteps, he knew that even before the little knock. “Hey,” Jasper said once he could see the man. There was nothing really private going on, even though he was in his underwear and a tank top. If it had been Charlie coming down, maybe he would’ve cared about that, but it was just Gavin. He’d seen worse from Jasper.
"Hey kiddo," Gavin said and looked around the little basement area and as usual he found himself hoping it was nice enough and that Jasper didn't feel left out somehow. "How are you holding up?" It was such a loaded question in their lives even if it might sound casual to anyone outside their family. He wasn't just asking if Jasper was having an okay day, he was asking if he was doing good in general and that really wasn't a given. He looked pretty content right now, Gavin got the feeling his work was doing him good, giving him a sense of purpose and Jules was back in his life - where she belonged.
It was definitely a loaded question, and Jasper was sure Gavin wasn’t just asking him how work was -- he would’ve asked that if that’s what he meant. He sat up in bed and gave a noncommittal grunt and shrugged a shoulder. “I’m aight,” he drawled. Jasper wasn’t sure how else to answer that question. He wasn’t in immediate distress, he’d had an okay day with no anxiety attacks or bad nightmares the night before. He was just still traumatized and not handling it super great on his own, but didn’t know how to break out of that and do anything differently. Nor did he really know how to put any of that into words. “How are you?”
'Aight' was actually up there with the good answers these days and Gavin nodded before echoing it with a murmured 'aight' of his own. "I'm uh, planning Aaron's bachelor party," he said as he looked around for something that might need fixing the next time he had time and needed something to do - especially if that was something that might bring him a little closer to Jasper. "Do you want to join us? You're almost old enough, we can make exceptions for you." He knew his kid had started drinking a long time ago, they all had started too young and he was pretty sure most teenagers did. Trying to shield his teens from alcohol just seemed dumb at this point.
Somehow Jasper hadn’t expected to be invited along to any bachelor party shenanigans -- not that he thought his dad and uncles were going to get too wild these days, but what did he know? They were all heavy drinkers, it was in the Lucas blood, but he’d always thought bachelor parties involved strippers and coke and wildness. “Uh ... I mean, yeah?” Jasper answered with a little laugh, sounding unsure. “What kind of stuff are you planning? Just at the Porch? Or am I gonna need my fake ID?” Considering how much liquor was stored at the house and at the bar, Jasper hadn’t needed to use the ID card that said he was twenty-one too often, but if they were going to Cherries or something, he would need it. Unless someone knew someone there and had a hookup, which wasn’t too far out of the realm of possibility.
Gavin couldn't help but smile at Jasper blatantly admitting he had a fake ID but of course he did, Gavin would worry if he didn't. "Fake ID is good," he said, since his plan had only really involved strong-arming people into letting his kid inside Cherries, at least with that crowd he knew it'd work but what if they went somewhere else? "As for plans, well... The usual. We fuck with him a bit, get him drunk and bring him to Cherries." Adrian had had some fun ideas that made Gavin cringe a little but they would probably make Aaron laugh and tickle Caden's sadistic streak. "I don't even know everyone who'll be there," he added and maybe that's why he wanted more of his own family there. Aaron had a lot of buddies and some of them were invited because it was Aaron's party and that meant Gavin had to step outside his comfort zone.
This would be the first bachelor party Jasper got to attend, since all of his friends were too young to get married -- he knew some kids his age did that, but usually only when someone got knocked up and their parents pressured them into it. Jasper didn’t even feel ready to move in with Jules, much less make some legal commitment. Going along with his dad and his uncles like he was their peer would be interesting though. “How are you gonna fuck with him?” he asked, grinning faintly. He wondered if going to a strip club would end with Aaron in trouble with Mila, but that wasn’t his problem to worry about, he guessed. Everybody knew what kind of stuff happened at bachelor parties.
"We're gonna get him arrested," Gavin said with a bemused smile that indicated that had not been his idea, but he had to admit it was kind of funny. It was also not the kind of trick that could be pulled on him or Caden, but Aaron wasn't like them. He wouldn't assault an officer or be pissed off for the rest of the day, he was good for pranking. "Our cops will bring him to us and we'll make him bungee jump - but not really." He'd been ready to just get Aaron drunk and show him some boobs but this did admittedly feel more like a bachelor party. Of course tits were still on the table, everyone knew you had to see some strangers' tits before committing to a pair for the first time. Hell, as far as he knew Caden had gotten married at a strip club so there'd been plenty of naked women involved. "It's a whole thing. Mila's brother had some ideas and some connections so..."
It was going to be a pretty mean prank, but Jasper laughed anyway. His thoughts ran along the same track -- if any of them would take it decently well, it would be Aaron. Aaron wouldn’t try to fight the cops or his brothers over it. “He’ll probably love it,” Jasper said with a crooked grin. “Once he figures out what’s going on, I mean.” He didn’t know Mila’s brother at all, but if he was having ideas like that, this would probably turn out to be a pretty fun evening. “So pranks and then titties? Even if Aaron’s pissed, I’m sure that’ll make up for it.” He knew his uncle had always been a ladies’ man, so he’d seen plenty of tits in his life, but it seemed like almost tradition for there to be strippers at a bachelor party.
Gavin did not want strippers before his own wedding and he didn't even want a bachelor party. He'd had one already before his first wedding, although it had been a sad one, and that was enough to last him a lifetime. He didn't even really like strippers. Tits were nice but the setting they were in was pretty shitty and the girls themselves could be pushy and annoying. Besides, he had a really nice pair to play with at home, attached to a woman he actually loved. But, tradition was tradition and messing with the groom was tradition too. Caden had conveniently bypassed his own bachelor party and honestly, that was probably the best for everyone who otherwise would have been involved. "Yeah, it'll all be pretty simple," he said, matching Jasper's crooked smile with his own. "He'll have a week to recover before the wedding."
Jasper nodded, thinking it was probably smart to do all this a week in advance instead of the night before or something. Aaron’s fiance was pregnant, it was probably better not to test her patience like that. “Did you have anything like that when you married mom?” he asked. Jasper knew his dad had probably been too young to get into strip clubs, and since he was the oldest, it was unlikely that Caden and Aaron had put anything like that together for him, but surely they’d done something, right? Some kind of ‘you’re a man now’ type of hazing? Or maybe the circumstances had been too depressing for it. It was still bizarre for him to think that Gavin had been a father by the time he’d been Jasper’s age. No wonder he’d fucked up so much.
"I honestly don't remember much of it," Gavin admitted but that was tradition, right? Getting the groom to be so wasted he barely knew his name? "I had a buddy back then, Freddie, we drove around and drank a lot. There were some girls, I think he got us into Cherries but I don't remember." Caden and Aaron would have done something more if they hadn't been literal children at the time, it was so messed up to think about it all now. "Don't get any ideas in your head," he added with a mild smile. "I'm not doing that again before my next wedding. One is enough." If someone attempted to throw him a bachelor party that was anything more than just a few guys having a few beers, he'd be miserable and cranky the whole night and he was pretty sure everyone knew that.
Even though he was still technically young, it was weird for Jasper to think his dad had ever acted young, driving around drunk and stumbling into Cherries as a teenager. He drank, of course, and had for Jasper’s entire life, but it had always seemed like more of a thing he did out of necessity and dependence than for fun. Even that had gotten better, though, Jasper had noticed. Probably because of Charlie. Funny how women could either turn you to the bottle or pull you away from it. The last bit reminded Jasper of Gavin’s not-so-enthused announcement at his birthday party about their engagement. He hadn’t been thinking about it much. He lifted a curious brow at his dad. “Have you guys decided when that’s happening yet?”
Charlie deserved better than what Gavin was giving her and he was fully aware of that, the problem was that being enthusiastic about things always felt like he was faking it and everyone could tell. No matter how much he loved her and actually wanted to marry her, showing it was hard, especially around other people. She still seemed set on marrying him despite all of that so he had to be doing something right. Or she was just as traumatized and fucked up as the rest of them - just in different ways. "Not sure, it won't be a big affair, we've both been married before." He fished out a cigarette pack from his chest pocket and tapped out a single cigarette, pulling it out with his lips. "You haven't... talked to your mom at all lately, have you?" It was kind of a faux pas to talk about Ollie in the household but he often worried about his kids. She was their mother, for better or worse - mostly worse - and they no doubt had a slew of issues surrounding the way she'd just ditched them.
Even with it not being a big affair, Jasper assumed Gavin would want him and Amelia there, that they wouldn’t dash off to the courthouse to get hitched alone or something. He personally wouldn’t care much but he knew Amelia would throw a fit if that was how it went down, she was pretty stoked about their dad getting married again. The question that followed was definitely not as pleasant, and Jasper’s expression clouded over as he shook his head a bit. “Nah. I even texted her a few days ago ... guess she’s just too busy or whatever.” Jasper tried to sound casual about it and shrugged, but it fucking hurt, and that was kind of impossible to hide. Ollie had pretty much abandoned both of her children when they needed her the most -- hell, she didn’t even believe Amelia was Amelia.
Gavin winced and nodded, because no matter how apathetic his kids' masks were when it came to their mother, he could see through them. It was a vicious cycle of awful parents making traumatized children who then became awful parents. Maybe Aaron and Mila would break that cycle, it certainly was too late for him. "I'm sorry she's your mom," he said quietly. "Not sorry I had you though, just wish I could..." He slowly waved his cigarette around in lieu of words, but it was such a hard topic to talk about and he was already bad at words. "It'll be weird. Having a normal wedding in the family."
Jasper understood what he meant, and appreciated it in a weird way. He knew that having a different mom would make him a different person, but maybe that would’ve been a good thing. Maybe he would’ve been better himself. The most he could do now was try to be better than both of his parents ... once he moved past this state of just surviving, that was. He would try not to have a kid before that happened, either. If ever. “Two normal weddings,” Jasper corrected with a little smile. He didn’t want to dwell on Ollie and what might have been, at least not out loud. His dad carried around enough guilt day to day. “I’m glad you’re finally with somebody who’s good for you. We all need a little more happiness, you know?”
That meant more to Gavin than he could say and he busied himself with moving to Jasper's bed to grab his ashtray. "Well, that's a while away still," he murmured, but he was still smiling faintly because he knew Jasper was right. Charlie was great for him - for all of them - and he was happier than he'd been in... Well. Ever. "Let's see if we can get through this first wedding without any disasters before we start celebrating too hard."
He scooted over a bit to make room on the bed if Gavin wanted to sit down, leaning back against his pillows and headboard and stretching his legs out. “I’ll try to keep you guys in line at the bachelor party,” Jasper told him, grinning faintly. “After that it should all go smooth, right? Not like Uncle Aaron’s gonna ditch his pregnant fiance at the altar.” He wasn’t sure what else could go wrong at a wedding, but admittedly Jasper hadn’t been to many of them. Maybe the cake would fall over or something would catch on fire or some other disaster, but he was pretty sure Aaron and Mila would end up married at the end of the day no matter what.
Gavin could think of a lot of things that could go wrong and he was already planning for some of them. Better safe than sorry and all that. A lot of things couldn't be predicted and the ones he could - well, he hoped Roxy and Caden would behave themselves for the sake of the groom and bride. The big blessing was that Joseph wasn't alive to attend but he knew better than to bring him up to Jasper. "Aaron is the only thing we don't have to worry about, I think," he muttered with a little smile as he sat down, tapping the ash off his cigarette. "You're gonna be on your best behavior, right?"
Jasper made a dismissive noise and looked incredulous for a moment, about to ask how he could possibly act up, but then he thought of multiple ways and his expression turned more amused. “Yeah, of course,” he said instead. “Not gonna get too drunk or push girls out of the way to try to catch the flowers or anything.” He didn’t even know if Mila and Aaron were going to do all of that cliche stuff or not. The only thing Jasper could think of that might actually go wrong around him was the fact that Logan and Jules were both going to be there. Probably. He hadn’t actually confirmed it with Jules yet, and maybe she wouldn’t want to come, he wasn’t sure. “And hey if you need me to play bouncer and kick people out or something, just let me know,” he offered. Gavin was the best man, so he was in charge of a lot of stuff, and making sure everyone behaved was probably pretty high on the list.
Gavin could practically see Jasper's thought pattern there, from denial to acceptance, and it made him grin again and shake his head softly. "I could use help, yeah," he agreed. "I just hope we don't have to kick anyone off the beach." He didn't know all of Aaron's friends well and that was perhaps his biggest worry. He could usually see when a storm was coming with his own family and now that their biggest troublemaker was dead, he wasn't as worried as he might have been. He hadn't read Jasper's mind of course so he had no idea he'd been thinking about his date, but that was where his own mind went regardless. "Are you bringing Jules?" he asked curiously and it felt only right that she be there. Gavin hadn't given up on the idea that she might still become his daughter-in-law one day.
Even if his bouncer services weren’t really needed -- his dad and Caden could hold their own very well, Jasper knew -- it felt really nice to be included and trusted with any responsibility at all. Plus having something else to pay attention to besides his own anxieties about his love triangle might be helpful. The question about Jules brought another shift in his expression, this one a little harder to read, what with his mixed feelings and all. “Yeah, I think so,” he said. “I need to double check with her again, make sure she feels up to it.” He’d told his dad about Jules’s accident, but not the reasons why it happened of course. They already had enough creepy shit to worry about in their lives. Jasper almost tacked on that Logan would be there too, but Gavin naturally wouldn’t get why that would be an issue. He felt like he was hiding so much different stuff from so many people.
Logan was so much a part of Jasper's life that Gavin wasn't surprised to see him pop up everywhere and anywhere anymore but Jules was The Girlfriend and Jasper deserved a proper date to the wedding. Maybe she'd feel weird attending if she didn't know Aaron and Mila well, but Gavin already saw her as family and that made them family to her as well. "Been a while since she came around," he said. "When she feels better you should invite her over for dinner or something. I can throw something on the grill." He probably shouldn't butt in at all with that relationship but it felt important that Jasper knew Jules was welcome in the family, that he could bring her to any family shindig that went down.
“Yeah, we’ve just kinda been ... I dunno,” Jasper murmured, shrugging a shoulder. It felt impossible to really explain to his dad of all people, the on-and-off thing he and Jules had been going through. At least not without outing himself, and he definitely wasn’t ready for that. But even all of his mental complications lately seemed hard to sum up for anyone else, especially a ‘man up and suffer through it’ type of guy like Gavin Lucas. Everybody who kept advising him to talk to the others was probably right. Jasper just wished it would all go away without him having to talk to anyone at all. “I’ll invite her,” he said a bit more solidly, giving his dad a half smile. Things might be a little weird and strained between them, but they were back together now, and maybe spending some normal time around family -- his family who accepted their relationship -- would do them good.
"Good," Gavin said with a little smile. "I like her." He knew Jasper and Jules had a tricky history together but if they could move past it all, he had no doubt they could be good together. Anything that could be good for his kids was something he needed them to hold onto tightly, they'd both been through hell and he was constantly afraid that it would catch up with them and pull them under. Amelia worried him less, but Jasper... Jules was good for him. "I hope she can come," he added. "Is she recovering okay?"
It did mean a lot to him that his dad liked his girlfriend. Jasper hadn’t always been the best at picking those, and he was glad that it sounded like Gavin and Jules had been there for each other to some degree while he’d been gone. They’d both needed the support. He just hoped he could keep things together with her so as not to disappoint his dad. “Yeah, she seems to be healing up okay,” he answered with a nod. “Just kind of a slow process. It’s hard for her to just like, chill out and rest like she needs to, you know? But I think she’ll be fine pretty soon.” A broken wrist and ribs took time to heal, and being patient was probably the hardest part of it all for most anyone.
"Used to being on the go, huh?" Gavin said with a little smile and that didn't really surprise him. Did Jasper keep up with her? Gavin was so used to him just lounging around but maybe he was more active when he wasn't at home. Otherwise he might drive his girlfriend crazy. "Have you heard from Ruby?" he asked, rather than linger on that topic. He'd told her to go to the O'Reilly household but he hadn't heard anything from her since then which was probably a good thing. No news was good news sometimes.
Back when they were in school, Jules had definitely been busier, with friends and cheerleading and everything. That seemed to have tapered down to a trickle, but Jasper knew there was a lot of trauma involved, and he didn’t want to get into all that at the moment. So he just nodded and shrugged, then latched onto the subject change to Ruby. “Oh, uh, yeah -- her and Amelia went out there. I guess they did the same thing you and Aunt Kat did, the ritual or whatever.” He’d been told about it from a few different sources now and still wasn’t sure he understood, but that was magic for you. “Seems to be working for her? And you haven’t ... seen anything else?” he asked, a bit of caution in his tone as he raised an eyebrow.
"Not yet," Gavin said because a flat out no felt like a jinx. He still had a hard time falling asleep but when he did, he slept through the night without incident. So far. He didn't know how any of this magic stuff worked either but as long as it worked, he didn't need to know. Shayna Mae felt more like average people than ever Reagan Kelly so he just hoped that meant she was more trustworthy. At least this magic wasn't meant to do harm, he had to hope that meant no horrible repercussions. "Maybe it's working, or maybe he's taking his time," he muttered. "I hope it's the former."
“Yeah, me too,” Jasper murmured back. He shifted his position, bringing his knees up to wrap his arms around them. He felt like the same could be said about almost any other awful thing that had happened to them in this town. Maybe they were safe, maybe things were over, or maybe the evil was just taking its time getting back around to them. Considering his new ability and how weird he felt so often, Jasper was inclined to think there was more coming. Always more coming. If he fell down that mental rabbit hole he would struggle to climb out of it though, so he tried to pull his thoughts away from all the awful possibilities. “Did it feel weird or anything? Getting blood magic done on you?”
Gavin nodded because yes, it had felt weird - even a little suffocating but in a way that was a good thing; Shayna Mae hadn't just sprinkled some mud on them and told them magic had happened - they had felt it and that gave him a little more confidence that it might work. "I think that lady is uh... pretty powerful," he said and wondered what it felt like, walking around with that kind of power. "She's a healer too. I'm... most of my pain is gone." He felt sheepish to admit that, like it was some big secret, but broken ribs not hurting anymore was a big deal. "She cut me right here and you can't even see it," he added, showing Jasper his arm and tapping at the spot where the scar should be.
He peered at his dad’s tattooed arm. The skin looked as smooth as it ever did. Jasper tried to imagine what it might be like to actually be powerful. He bet the witch lady didn’t wake up with terrible nightmares and feel like she was alone and afraid most of the time. If she’d gotten hurt by the fog monsters, she probably could’ve handled it and purged whatever darkness was trying to take over ... but he remembered Max was an O’Reilly and they obviously hadn’t been able to fix him before everything went down, so maybe not. But since she was a healer, maybe she could help his mind heal somehow. Jasper just wanted to forget the past six months, basically. He would be right as rain then. “Maybe ... maybe she can heal stuff that’s not like, physical, too?” he murmured, giving Gavin an uncertain glance.
Gavin thought of Max too, both of how obviously Shayna Mae hadn't been able to save him from the other side - but also about how he seemed okay'ish these days. He supposed that didn't say much, he might just be the kind of guy who didn't wear his emotions on his sleeve but maybe his sister had taken some of that burden from him. Even if Gavin thought it was doubtful that trauma could be 'fixed' with magic, he wasn't going to take that hope from Jasper so he shrugged. "You want to find out?" he asked even as he wondered what else Jasper might want to fix within himself. "I can take you there sometime." He wasn't so sure Shayna Mae would take kindly to him constantly showing up on her doorstep but Max was a good enough ticket in for now.
It was hard not to think about all of the things he wanted to change about himself. If someone could give him a complete personal overhaul, what would he ask for? No trauma, more intelligence and motivation ... if he could completely forget his mother existed, that would be nice ... a removal of his attraction to men. Did he really want that? Jasper didn’t know, but it had only made his life more complicated, even if his experiences had felt good at the time. He just wanted to be normal and functional, and give the people he loved what they wanted from him. Jasper was sure almost all of that would be beyond a witch’s capabilities, but if she could do something about his lingering depression and panic attacks, that would at least be an improvement. “Yeah, I think so,” he said after a moment, his gaze focused somewhere on Gavin’s chest instead of his eyes. “Just to see ... I think I need it.”
"I'll give her a call," Gavin told him and really, it wasn't a bad idea. There were probably a whole lot of things he could stand to fix in himself, he just didn't know where to start or if it was possible. But if Jasper could sleep easier, look a little less haunted, if that was possible... "See if we can go out there, you're gonna have to talk to her yourself though." Gavin wasn't going to ask what specifically Jasper wanted to fix so he couldn't speak for him and that was how they both wanted it. He still somehow felt responsible for taking him there, not liking the idea of Jasper going out there by himself.
Most people would probably think he was barking up the wrong tree, that he needed therapy and medication instead of magic, and maybe they were right, but Jasper was just hunting around in the dark for anything that could help him. He preferred if he didn’t have to bare his soul to a bunch of people and do a lot of inner work to get there, so magic was a more appealing option at this point. He nodded his understanding that he would have to do his own asking once they got a meeting with the witch -- Jasper wanted that to be private anyway. “Thanks, Dad,” he murmured, giving him a fleeting glance. “Maybe I can ... I dunno, catch up with Max too, if he’s around. Was he there when you guys went?”
"Yeah, he was around," Gavin replied and it had been weird to be in his home, to see him in a different setting where he wasn't drunk, goofing off or flirting with some hapless lady. He'd been well behaved even, but Gavin could see why that made sense when he was with his family. It had been interesting, was all. "You know the uh, the new priest is easy to talk to," he said as he stubbed his cigarette out and then got to his feet, not really sure where he was going with this. "If you ever want to... I don't know. Talk to someone. Neutral. About everything." Jasper wasn't religious anymore as far as Gavin could tell, but he still belonged to the church and the church was always open to him, no matter how he might feel about it. Gavin had never been a big believer in therapy, not sure how all that yammering away was supposed to help, but he had to admit that opening up to Charlie a little bit in the past as well as getting some validation in his last confession had felt good.
Everybody kept nudging Jasper to talk with the others, and he had Greer’s number, but Max could count too, right? They hadn’t had a lot of contact over there, but he’d still gone through the same shit. So maybe he could kill two birds with one stone or something. Maybe Max wouldn’t want to talk about it any more than he did, so he wouldn’t feel so alone in being wary of spilling his guts. Jasper arched his eyebrow when Gavin mentioned the priest, watching him as he stood up. “Priests are neutral?” he asked with a bit of disbelief in his tone. He was pretty sure priests had an agenda to sway people toward God. Jasper didn’t even know if he believed in any of it anymore. The place he’d spent months in had sure felt godless, and after what he’d done, he was probably damned anyway, if it was all real. He knew his dad believed though, so he felt a little bad a moment later. “I’ll think about it,” he added, softer. “Just ... lemme know when, about the O’Reilly’s place.”
"I'll give her a call now," Gavin said and no, he wasn't going to keep pushing the priest thing. Maybe priests weren't neutral, but this particular priest was easy to talk to, believed in the evil of the town and wasn't a family member so if Jasper needed to talk to someone, maybe he might help. The more Gavin thought about it, the less likely it seemed though and he was dismissing the idea already. "The sooner the better, right? You eating with us tonight?" He hadn't really decided what they were having but he and Charlie would put their heads together and think of something. It helped to know how many people would be staying but even when they cooked too much it tended to disappear in the night into one of the teenagers who lived in or frequented their house.
The sooner the better was right. Jasper didn’t feel like he was right on the edge so much these days, but he still wasn’t doing well. If Shayna Mae could help him, he wanted to get it done so he could really start getting better. No matter how it turned out, he was relieved to stop talking about it. “Uhh, yeah,” he answered, nodding a bit. “Just gonna get a shower first and shit.” He offered his dad a small smile. He didn’t always enjoy eating together as a family, it was kind of a weird new thing, but he tried to do it a couple times a week anyway. It was always good to see Amelia, at least. They haven’t gotten to hang out a lot lately, with both of them working. “Just yell down at me if I’m not up there in time.”
"Yeah it's another couple of hours or so," Gavin said and then idly gestured around. "When you're done showering you should bring your laundry up." And that was about all the parenting he was willing to do for now so he shuffled off in a guarded move before remembering he wasn't in pain and didn't need to carry himself weirdly. It was a strange feeling and he hoped the fact Shayna Mae could make physical pain disappear like that meant she could do the same for the mental. It was probably a lot trickier but money wasn't an issue when it came to things like these so if she was willing and able, Gavin would pay her. For both his kids if they wanted it, though Amelia seemed to be doing better than Jasper.