[turkey day, nov 21]

[youfeelluckypunk]

They've graciously been invited to Derek's Thanksgiving celebration on the actual day itself, but Reid had gotten to thinking after Luke had told him of the invitation that it would be nice to throw a small get-together of their own. Halloween at the bookstore had been a success, after all, and in spite of the fact that they'd been sent to a hellish version of Darrow for the next ten days, Reid had really enjoyed planning and decorating for the holiday with his boyfriend. In a way, it also serves as a bit of a housewarming, even if nobody else needs to know that. They've been officially living together for a week now, though the only real difference is that he's handed over his keys to the Dimera apartment back to the landlord.

Still, being able to call this apartment home, knowing that he gets to spend every night with the man he loves, it means something special to him, and he wants to share that sense of home with the rest of the people he cares about.

So he sends out texts to Alec and Magnus, Peter and Jason and Hild, telling them all to save the date for the twenty-first so they can have an early Thanksgiving celebration. Others are welcome, of course, and Reid suspects they'll have more than enough food because he'd made arrangements for one restaurant in particular (one that he visits often and had already been promoting take-out for Thanksgiving Day) to set him up with a turkey dinner early. There are all the expected fixings, though he'd ordered four turkeys because Luke still needs to eat more to make up for all the weight he'd lost in the alternate version of Darrow, plus a couple pumpkin pies and various other desserts strewn out across the table. The wine Peter had given to him on Halloween is out, available for consumption to those who want it, but Reid will be sticking to water tonight.

If anyone asks, he's been slaving away in the kitchen all day long, brewing coffee after coffee as he and Luke make sure everything looks nice and neat for their first Thanksgiving dinner together. The food is set out over the counter in the kitchen, china and utensils and glassware placed at the very end so people can take what they want and find a place to eat in the living room, where they've placed extra chairs, and it isn't until they hear the first knock at the door that Reid finally decides he's satisfied with the way everything looks.

Every single person who will be here tonight has been through so much, seen more than one person ever should, but tonight, Reid is just grateful that they're all still here.

Comments

[paper_courage]

The joy that Peter feels sitting there surrounded by new family and talking about movies and historical context mingles with wonder when Peter's brain wraps itself around what Magnus has just said.

"You were there," Peter says, more confirming it to himself. It occurs to him that he's gaping a little, and he has the good sense to blush, once again. "I always forget you're not just, like, a few years older than me." It sounds so stupid, but it's true: there is very little that is more important to Peter than connection in this new life he leads and they've already forged that. There are a great many things about Magnus that Peter doesn't understand, but he trusts that if he ever wants to know, most likely Magnus would answer his questions. It just doesn't seem too important to know. Maybe he just doesn't want to be like the people that whispered their own questions about him in his considerably shorter lifetime.

"Oh God, his voice," Peter gushes. He takes a sip of wine that slides warmly into his belly, relaxing him more with every drink, not that he's that wound tightly tonight anyway.

"Your turn!" Peter hopes that Magnus will share some of what he did with his Bohemian time, but it's a new friendship and despite all of their progress and ignoring of polite society's rules, he's still moderately afraid of overstepping his bounds.

[high_warlock]

He had to laugh at Peter's ... shall we call it awe? Magnus preferred to live in the moment and for people to take him just as he was in that moment. But the knowledge of his otherness, in all its varieties, never left him. It amazed and relieved him to know that people forgot; that for all the makeup and jewelry, Peter forgot that Magnus wasn't just another young man like him. It was what he had always wanted back home: to be treated like an equal. Amazing that it came easier to mundanes in Darrow than it ever had to anyone at home.

"Only a few hundred years older," Magnus said lightly. "But all that really amounts to is having the ultimate trump card against hipsters." Magnus was always, invariably, had the most vintage gear and had heard of that band before everyone else.

He mulled over their new game as he sipped at his wine. "Mmmm, Hairspray?"