[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

[deflectere]

Alec knew that he had to keep the truth to himself because Peter, as nice as he was, as easy as he was to talk to, was still a mundane. Covenant Law continued to forbid him from discussing the Shadow World with mundanes and Alec had yet to let go of many of the Clave's rules. They'd helped mold his life for over eighteen years that deciding to completely ignore something that was of the highest of importance to his people was not easy. Alec didn't know if it was something he could do.

"A bunch of guys who wanted to rob me," Alec said, taking the cider and sipping it carefully. It made for a nice cover of the lie he'd just told. He couldn't very well tell Peter it had been a demon especially in the middle of a dinner like this. "I put up a fight, they knocked me over the head and tried to kill me."

The last part, at least, was true. The demon had tried to kill him but only after Alec had made sure to injure it fatally. He hadn't gone down without a fight.

"I thought this was the afterlife," he corrected. "Where we go once our bodies are dead and our souls are free."

[paper_courage]

Hearing about this kind of violence is unusual for Peter even in a strange place, so he takes a few moments to let what Alec says sink in.

"Wow. That's awful," Peter finally replies, shaking his head as if it may solve the bewilderment he feels about how people can be so cruel. Even if it wasn't some kind of random robbery, even if this has something to do with whatever Alec is training for, the question still stands. Peter can't imagine (partially thanks to privilege but also in terms of his own nature) being driven to steal or to physically harm another person. The most aggressive he gets happens when they topic of Jason's dad comes up, and even that tops out at a stamped foot over a fantasy of punching him in his bigoted face. And yet, to some, violence is the first line of defense. Cruelty breeding cruelty is what it is, he supposes.

It sounds like Alec is talking of Heaven and Peter finds himself studying Alec's face again. Peter, too, found himself thinking about Darrow as the big finish -- in fact, he still does, from time to time. He knows Jason should have been dead. Spencer mentioned he might've been near death. Beth was kidnapped. Now, Alec seems to have a similar story. Maybe there's a train crash Peter doesn't remember, or maybe he doesn't remember taking one of Lucas' little pills and he'd met a fate similar to Jason's.

"You don't anymore?" Peter's voice goes soft, like he's ashamed of the question. Hearing his own suspicions echoed in Alec's, even if only in the past tense, it's disarmed him.

[deflectere]

Alec shook his head very slowly. Thinking this was Heaven had been so easy the first few days after he'd arrived. He'd concocted this fantasy in his head that he would be mourned as a hero, given a Shadowhunter's burial and provided honor to the Lightwood name. The days had passed and each day felt more real, less gauzy, less like a dream. His body was whole and his mind wouldn't stop tossing logical reasons this wasn't the afterlife at him.

"Not anymore," he answered quietly. "I don't know what that might be like but it's not like this. This is all too normal, too mundane. This is life. I'm alive."

That realization had hurt for awhile. Being alive meant he might be seen as a deserter to his family, to his people. The Clave could crush the Lightwoods, do worse than exiling him and it was all his fault. He couldn't go back and he couldn't stop it from happening. He got to live what he guessed some people thought was an idyllic life while people took his punishment for him. He hated being helpless.

"I'm not dead. You're not dead. Jason's not dead," he added after a moment. "We're all alive but that's about all I'm sure about when it comes to this place."