For Alec

[youfeelluckypunk]

With all the information that's been uncovered for the vampire case, Reid has been busier than usual. Most nights, he comes home exhausted, though he's always grateful that Luke has take-out saved for him or has even attempted to cook him a meal. Today is a rare day off, though it's not one for his boyfriend, and Luke has the store closed for a bit while he goes out to get them lunch.

He should be up in the apartment relaxing, Luke has told him as much, but he doesn't think it'll come as much of a surprise that he's wandered down into the store instead to move inventory from boxes to shelves. Organizing is a form of relaxation, at least for him, though he pauses to get lost in a copy of War and Peace. He's about a quarter of the way through when he happens to glance up to find a familiar face peering through the storefront.

Grinning, Reid returns the book to the shelf and goes to unlock the door, holding it open to allow his visitor inside. "Alec, hi," he greets, "Luke told me you stopped by a while ago." It's been far too long since Reid has seen Alec, and he feels a bit of guilt for that, but he tells himself he'll make more time after the case is over. If ever it does truly end. "He's out grabbing lunch, I'll text him to buy for three."

Comments

[deflectere]

Alec started to say that Reid really didn't have to get him anything but he stopped himself. He figured it would be a lost cause, that he wouldn't win the argument just like he'd never convince Magnus that he wasn't worthy of his attentions. His response was automatic, born of years of standing to the back, to the side, covering himself with shadows and shields that no one could penetrate.

Until now.

"I don't think I've ever let my hair get that long," he said, trying to picture Reid with hair long enough that Alec supposed could be tied back. Isabelle's hair had always been long and he tried to imagine Reid with hair like that and then had to shake himself when the two mental images combined and confused him. "It's been down around my ears before but I keep it short. Easier when I'm working."

[youfeelluckypunk]

"Well, at least you don't have an Aunt Ethel recommending you get a trim the second your hair grows below your ears," Reid says with a wry smile. He hasn't actually spoken to Ethel in years, not since he'd sent his mom to Bennington, and Reid wouldn't say he misses her but she'd still been a part of the life he'd left behind. As a whole, he misses aspects of it, certain people, certain things he doesn't have access to here. Most of all, he wishes he could introduce Luke to his mom, just so she can see how happy he is.

His smile tightens briefly, his eyes flickering to the floor before he meets Alec's gaze again.

"Luke seems to like me the way I am, anyway," he says, "that's good enough for me. It's nice to know there's at least one person in this city who accepts me for who I am, no matter the circumstances."

[deflectere]

"I think Luke would like you if your hair was down to your feet," Alec said wryly. He didn't have a lot to compare it to since Jocelyn had been in a coma for the majority of time he'd known her and Alec had been mooning over from chair beside her hospital bed.

What he had seen was how Luke looked at Reid and how comfortable they were around each other. Alec was acutely observant sometimes and incredibly oblivious at others but even he could notice that. He just hadn't been able to notice someone who had been looking at him the same way.

"I don't have an Aunt Ethel," he confirmed with a shake of his head. "We don't see our family that often. If at all."

[youfeelluckypunk]

It's a testament to how deeply he believes in the strength of his relationship with Luke that Reid doesn't argue with that, merely smiles to himself because he can identify the truth in what Alec has said. Loving someone is different from acknowledging worthiness of another's love, and it's the latter Reid has always had so much more trouble with, at least up until he'd fallen for Luke. Being together is so easy, and that only serves to help remove any insecurities he might have had about being with his boyfriend. He doesn't question their connection like he might otherwise have been prone to do, and Reid feels a sudden surge of affection for Luke that brings a wider smile to his face.

"To be fair, I think the same could be said of how Magnus feels about you," Reid counters. "And I know it's not quite the same thing, but-- but I can be your Aunt Ethel." He pauses, frowning, because that hadn't come out quite as nicely as he'd hoped. "No, forget I said that. I just mean that when you end up somewhere like Darrow, the only real choice you have is to choose your own family. That's what you've become to me."

[deflectere]

Alec sometimes wondered what would happen if his appearance radically changed when it came to Magnus. He was going to age, he knew, get older, lose the shroud of youth that he had now and he wondered. Magnus was always going to look as he did now, always young, but Alec wouldn't and it scared him to think what might happen when he wasn't young any longer. It scared him more than he let on.

"You're not my Aunt Ethel," Alec agreed with a quick shake of his head. He knew he had family out there, mostly in Idris, but they weren't close. He wasn't sure if that was a consequence of distance or because his parents had been in the Circle, had been Valentine's lackeys for awhile and now people didn't want to associate with Lightwoods because of that taint. "I like you better than any aunts I might have."