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“Daddy, it isn’t fair!”
Hank lifted his youngest onto his lap, smoothing short hairs back from her forehead. It hit her shoulders now, and was sticking to her face due to her earlier exertion. Hank felt his heart twist up in his chest at the distress on Jas’ face, dabbing the beads of sweat from her forehead with the sleeve of his sweater.
“Darling, it’s alright if it takes you a little longer to learn to ice skate,” Hank told her calmly, darting his eyes over to where Logan and Laura were zipping across the rink young Bobby had made out back.
He could hear Laura laughing as Logan mock-growled at her, chasing her around the rink. He only allowed himself a quick look at his family before he was focusing on the daughter in his lap and her distress. The poor thing was absolutely horrible at skating. Jas couldn’t balance for the life of her, and Hank had walked her around a few laps before Jas had asked to leave the rink.
Now they were sitting at one of the picnic tables that had been set up, and Hank felt his heart twice up at the absolutely miserable look on his daughter’s face. Jas made a noise that was pure frustration, and then she threw herself against Hank’s chest.
Oh, the poor thing.
“Laura is enhanced in ways you aren’t, sweetheart,” Hank soothed, rubbing Jas’ back comfortingly. He held her close, rearranging her legs so she would be more comfortable where she was seemingly hiding away. “You just need a little more practice before you get the hang of ice skating, and that’s completely okay! We all learn things at different times, you know that!”
Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to help nearly as much as Hank would have liked, as Jas made a heart-wrenching noise against his chest. “B-But what if Laura keeps doing things that I can’t do? If I can’t do anything then she isn’t going to want to spend time with me and she won’t like to be my sister and then I’m going to be all alone!”
Oh, his poor darling girl.
“Sweetheart...” Hank trailed off, his heart breaking inside his chest as his little girl started crying. “Sweetheart, you will never be alone,” Hank told her seriously, pressing a kiss to her head. “Logan and I love you more than anything else. You both mean the entire world to us, alright?
“I k-know that, Daddy,” Jas whispered quietly, her little fingers tangling around the ends of Hank's scarf.
“Your sister loves you too, Jas, you know that,” Hank told her firmly. The two of them had been through more than any two girls their age should have ever had to go through, so much more than Hank ever wanted to think about, and while it absolutely gutted him, he knew that the two of them shared a bond unlike anything he’d ever seen because of it.
He knew that Jas knew it as well, even with how upset she was.
“But Laura is so cool! What if she realizes that I’m not cool because I can’t skate, or because I don’t have cool powers like she does, or, or—” Jas’ voice broke off into a sob, and all Hank could do was hug her even tighter.
Hank had no idea what to say. He’d never even thought he would be a father one day, and raising two little girls with Logan was not what he had expected out of his life. It was something he would never even imagine giving up, not when it was the absolute best thing to have ever happened to him, but... by God, was it difficult loving someone so much and seeing them hurt without being able to help.
Just as Hank was trying to come up with something that would at least be soothing, Laura skidded to a stop at the edge of the rink and called her sister’s name.
“Jas! Jas, c’mere!” Laura shouted, waving her hands to get her sister’s attention. “Can you make Papa look like a dragon?” Laura’s claws, rather viciously, slid from her hands, and she looked absolutely devious as she growled, “I want to slay a dragon!”
Jas giggled, the sound a balm to Hank’s hurting heart, and jumped right off of Hank’s lap with a squeal. Hank watched, hand pressed against his chest, as Jas ran up to the rink’s edge.
“Slay Papa!” Jas cheered, as Logan... roared and then started skating away. A second later, a huge pair of dragon wings sprouted from Logan’s back that sprinkled purpled glitter each time they flapped.
Hank would never get over how quickly his girls could flip between emotions, but he was glad for it now. He let a smile of his own spread across his face as he watched his family play together, Jas jumping from the rink’s edge and creating illusions as Laura chased her father around the rink. Hank pushed himself to his feet and padded over to stand behind Jas, resting his hands on her little shoulders before tugging her back against his legs to hold her close.
No, Hank might not always know what to say, but he knew one of them always would.
As long as they all had each other, they would be just fine.