youfeelluckypunk | [turkey day, nov 21]

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.

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"I appreciate both the effort you made and the offer, but I think I'll be okay without you replacing my tea," Luke answers with a laugh. "If anything it should be Magnus replacing it, but you know he's only steal some from a store somewhere and magic it into my cupboard and then I'd feel guilty knowing it hadn't been paid for."

He's partly joking, but partly serious, too. Magnus has told him more than once that he can't just conjure things out of thin air, which means if there's suddenly a bunch of new tea in his cupboard that hadn't been there the moment before, they'd still come from somewhere. And then Luke would feel like he had to pay for it all.

Sometimes, the smallest, most unexpected things drew a smile out of him. This time, it was the thought of Luke, staring at his cupboards stuffed full of stolen tea and muttering to himself about Magnus's penchant for stealing whatever he wanted. He could honestly see Luke taking all the tea back to whichever store it had come from and apologizing profusely for the theft in the first place.

"Have you seen his apartment yet?" Alec wondered, glancing (once again) at Magnus. He made sure to keep the look brief and then to let his gaze settle on other people so it didn't look like he was specifically watching Magnus. "I've been wondering if he's magicked a bunch of stuff from the local stores up there to make it look more like his loft."

"No, not yet," Luke says and he's not at all surprised that Alec has. There's something there, he's sure of it, he's seen it in the glances they exchange, in the way they look at each other when they know the other isn't looking and Luke remembers that. He remembers it well. Not that long ago he'd been looking at Reid that way, but before that, for twenty years, he'd looked at Jocelyn Fray the way Magnus looks at Alec.

But it isn't his place to get involved. They'll work things out, he trusts that, and until then, he'll simply be here if one or the other needs to talk about it.

"But I'm sure he's done exactly that," he continues with a soft laugh. "Every time I went to his place in Manhattan, he'd done something new to it. We would take Clary almost every year toward the end and it was always different. All that change would make me dizzy."

Sometimes, Alec forgot that Magnus had known Clary, Jocelyn and Luke for such a long time. He hadn't know Magnus but for a few months and their lives were already intertwined in ways that would take months to disentangle. Jocelyn had been taking to Clary for years and years, building a relationship with Magnus that was complicated and complex, built on deceit and deception.

Alec didn't know what his relationship with Magnus was built off of. He didn't know if there was even a relationship to speak of.

"I'm not surprised that he's always been like this," Alec said, sighing and looking away for a second. It was stupid to even think of Magnus like he was. It wasn't going to happen, not with how he was. No one wanted him like he was.

Alec almost started to ask Luke more about Magnus but bit off the question at the last moment. That, he knew, would be obvious, make it evident that he was fishing for information and he didn't want to be obvious.

"I'm surprised you don't want glitter spread out all over your apartment, Luke. You seem like the type," Alec said, deadpan. The one good thing about suppressing his emotions was that he had a great poker face.

"There's more glitter between these couch cushions than you'll ever know," Luke answers, his voice just as dry, but then he glances over at Alec and smiles. "You know, I've never been so picky about my place that I'm unwilling to change it for the people who spend time here. The spare bedroom... it was made for Clary, but bit by bit, it's gotten a little less like her old room and a little more like a place anyone can stay." The drawing table is still in there, but he's pushed it into a corner, making room for a better wardrobe, changing out the soft blue bedding he'd known Clary would love for something a little more neutral.

"And that space there?" he asks, pointing toward the desk pushed into the bay window. "I used to have a reading nook there, but with Spencer doing so much of his work here, I turned it into a sort of office for him instead."

His smile grows a little and he says, "Which is just a long winded way of saying I can deal with some glitter."

What Alec was hearing was that Luke had adapted, adjusted, and changed for this city. He'd started out set in his ways, trying to hold onto the past and he'd been able to let it go bit by bit. It was never going to be fully gone but he'd made space for Darrow and Reid and even Alec himself.

Alec didn't know if was strong enough to do that especially not when he felt guilty about letting go of certain things but it was good to know that it could be done. He wasn't really ready to stop living how he'd lived in Manhattan but it could be done.

"Thanks for letting me stay here when I need to," he said quietly. "I hung out here a few days after I got back from that...from the other city. Magnus was here and it reminded me of Manhattan."

"You're always welcome," Luke says, because although he doesn't think the words need to be spoken aloud for Alec to know it, he wants to be sure there's never any doubt in Alec's mind that he's welcome with Luke and Reid. No matter what the circumstance, no matter what he needs, he's welcome here.

"I hope you know that already, but if you don't, I'm telling you now. Whenever you might need, you're always welcome here. We've the room and even if we didn't, we'd make room." After the time they've spent together, he hopes it would be obvious, but given the things he'd heard Maryse say to Alec in that other version of Darrow, Luke doesn't ever want to take that for granted.

"Hopefully I won't need it too often but it's good to know that it's there," Alec said, nodding. Back home, if he'd been out of sorts or just hadn't wanted to be alone, he'd have gone to Isabelle's room and stayed there until things had evened out and he'd felt ready to face the world again.

Isabelle wasn't here though but he was finding that Luke's bookstore was almost as good as being with his sister. It gave him a taste of home, let him be comfortable in a vaguely familiar setting and settled him down.

He didn't expect to need that sort of thing too often but it was just good to know it was there, in case. He appreciated it.

[turkey day, nov 21]

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