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The sun was bright as Delia ran down the sidewalk, her feet slippery with sweat and sliding around in her sandals, and yet she managed to stay a few feet ahead of her brother. She rounded a corner, looking over her shoulder and laughing in delight as she watched her brother keep on running down the first road, clearly having missed her change in direction - and then her breath was knocked out of her in one big oof as she slammed into a pair of legs and tumbled to the ground.
“Delia! Where did you come from?”
She was lifted from the ground and put back on her feet, and looked up to see kind brown eyes staring down at her with worry. “Sorry, Mr. Gray. I was playing tag and I didn't see you, I swear.”
“Don’t worry about me, Delia, it’d take more than a little collision to make so much as a dent. Are you alright?”
“Mm-hmm. Today’s the best day, Mr. Gray.”
“Oh? Why is that?”
“Mama says we’re moving to New York!”
“New York, huh? That’s one of my favorite places in the whole world.”
“It’s the best place ever,” Delia agreed. Her Theia Sophie had moved there before she was born and Delia had visited her twice and had absolutely fallen in love with the city. Her little Greek town was nice, and she’d miss her grandma and her friends and her family’s restaurant; but in New York there was a thousand things happening all the time and Delia was never bored, not even for a second.
“Well, maybe I’ll see you and your parents there sometime and you can all show me around.”
Delia tipped her head to the side, confused. “If it’s your favorite place, why do you need to be shown around? Don’t you know all about it already?”
“No one ever knows everything about New York City,” Mr. Gray said, smiling in a far off kind of way, like when Delia’s grandma talked about her grandpa and what Delia's mom had been like as a little girl. “And it’s been a very long time since I’ve been there. I think you’ll know it better than me soon.”
“Don’t worry, Mr. Gray. I’ll show you around whenever you want. And my mama and I will make you the flounder you like, anytime.”
“I’ll hold you to that, Delia.”
*
“You didn’t warn me.”
“My apologies, Alexander,” Magnus said, pulling an honest-to-goodness handkerchief from his front pocket and handing it to Alec. It was a deep plum and looked expensive, so Alec dabbed very carefully at the tears under his eyes before giving it back as they made their way out of the movie theater. “I just didn’t expect quite such an … emotional reaction.”
Alec rolled his eyes. “I was caught off guard, okay? I thought it was supposed to be a romance. Don’t those always have happy endings?”
“Romantic drama, actually, which is a bit of a different genre. No guarantees there.” Magnus sighed wistfully as he tucked his damp handkerchief back in place. “I cried the first time I watched it, too.”
“I just wanted better for Sabine.”
“Don’t we all?” Magnus linked his arm through Alec as they strolled down the street. “Thank you for letting me choose the movie and introduce you to the work of my friend Baz Luhrmann -“
“Who?”
Magnus sighed. “You need to refine your cinematic palette.”
“So I’ve heard,” from Izzy and Jace and several times from Simon. “Guess you’ll have to stick around and help me with that.”
“Mmm, I suppose I will. In fact, I've been looking at apartments.”
“Wow. That’s … really?” Alec asked, trying not to get too excited. They’d been on six dates in the last three and half weeks, which was almost as many dates as Alec had ever had in his life in total before meeting Magnus. He thought it was going well, hoped it was, was sure it was when they were together and worried he was wrong when they weren’t. He’d joked and hinted about Magnus staying in town every time they went out but hadn’t gotten up the courage to ask what his plans actually were. Magnus was the type of rich that could afford to go anywhere and do whatever he wanted, from what Alec had managed to glean, and he didn’t know why what Magnus wanted to do was watch twenty-plus-year-old movies on a Tuesday night in Brooklyn with Alec, but he hadn’t wanted to risk Magnus changing his mind. So he'd kept things light. No pressure.
“Well, as pleasant as the Hoxton is, I’d like a place of my own. Especially if I’m going to be entertaining.”
Alec ducked his head, hiding his blush and his pleased smile. “Entertaining, huh?”
“Mm-hmm. My friends are considering coming back to town in the new year and I miss having cats. And there’s someone in particular - a tall man with a beautiful smile and a surprising predilection for cookie dough bites -"
"Hey, that's Jace's fault, he got me hooked on them."
"If you say so."
"Are you doing any entertaining at the Hoxton for Thanksgiving? Are your friends still in town?"
"No, and they don't care much for the holiday even if they were."
“Well, I’d invite you to ours, but it’s my family’s first major holiday since the divorce was finalized. None of our significant others are coming, not even Luke.”
“Of course, Alexander,” Magnus said, waving his hand dismissively. “I wouldn’t want to intrude.”
“You wouldn’t be intruding,” Alec said, even though possibly he would be. Alec wasn’t sure how emotional his mother would get but she definitely wouldn’t be comfortable being any level of emotional in front of a stranger. “It’s just not the best timing. And I’ve never introduced anyone I'm dating to my mother before so I want it to be the best possible timing, y’know? Plus, my mom and Izzie insisted on cooking together, and I don’t want to put you in danger like that.”
Magnus laughed, pulling them to a stop and putting his hands on Alec’s arms. “My hero.”
“You joke, but seriously, I’m saving your life right now.” Alec leaned closer, kissing Magnus brief but sweet. “But maybe we could hang out on Friday instead? We can watch another movie - maybe with a happier ending this time?”
“Sounds perfect.”
“And then, um …” Alec cleared his throat, feeling the back of his neck warming up with another blush. “Maybe you could meet my family next month - you could come to Clary's art show or something.”
Magnus stared up at him, his eyes wide and vulnerable, and for a second they looked almost golden. “I would love that, if you’re sure you’re ready to take that step.”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
"Well, then," Magnus said, beaming, "it's a date." He leaned up for another kiss, and Alec obliged, something sweet and relatively chaste that still made Alec feel a bit giddy. "Now, I believe you promised me a post-movie dinner."
"I did, but it's a little late to go to the place I planned," Alec said, checking his phone. The plethora of commercials and trailers had put them almost half an hour past when he'd expected the movie to get out. "How do you feel about the best dollar pizza slices in New York?"
*
Thanksgiving was always going to be a disaster. Alec just hadn’t expected it to be this big of a disaster.
“Alec, make it stop,” Izzy whined pitifully as he rubbed circles between her shoulders.
“If you go to sleep like everyone else, it’ll stop.”
“Hurts too much to sleep.”
“Sorry,” he said, gentling his touch, "but why did you eat the turkey if it was still raw?”
“I didn’t think it was! Cooked turkey can be pink, okay, I looked it up. And it was sixty-five degrees like they said it was s’posed to be, I used a thermometer and everything.”
Alec winced. “I think it was probably supposed to be one hundred and sixty-five, actually.”
Izzy glared at him, red-eyed and utterly unimpressed. “Don’t act like you can cook either, I know you can’t.”
“No, but I’ve never given anyone food poisoning either.”
“God, you suck so much right now,” Izzy whined, shoving at him ineffectually. “You didn’t see Mom's face. She was so excited.”
“I know.”
That was the worst part of the whole situation - well, the second worst part after all the vomit. This was the first Thanksgiving since their parents’ divorce, and they’d all decided to spend it with their mother in her new, smaller apartment instead of their father and his mistress-turned-fiancée and her parents, Max included. Alec could tell that their mother had felt some pressure to make the holiday as festive as possible in return - not that she owed them anything, which he’d tried to tell her - and since she didn’t have the money or connections to have the perfect feast prepared, she’d tried to do the next best thing. Cook it herself.
Izzy had volunteered to help, which wasn’t at all reassuring, so Alec had decided to come early to supervise, too, because while he wasn’t a good cook by any stretch of the imagination, at least wasn’t a dangerous one. But someone in his building had managed to set their oven on fire and he’d gotten stuck outside for over two hours waiting for the fire department to let him back in to get his wallet and keys that he'd left behind when the alarm went off. So not only had he not been able to supervise, his family had started eating without him. By the time he got there, Max was locked in the bathroom while their mother’s head was stuck in the sink and Izzy and Jace were arguing over the big salad bowl.
He felt Izzy relax under his hand, and when he looked at her face, it was slack, her mouth hanging open slightly. Chuckling, he got up, pulling a blanket over her as he went. He walked to the first bedroom to see Jace passed out on the guest bed, his face smushed into the pillow. In the second bedroom, his mother was holding onto Max. His youngest sibling was a junior in high school and almost as tall as Alec, but right now, curled up with his head in his mother's lap and dead asleep, he looked twelve years old again.
His mother smiled at him ruefully. "How's everyone doing?"
"They'll be fine. How are you?"
"Embarrassed, mostly. What kind of mother gives her kids food poisoning?"
"Actually, probably a lot of them, at some point. This might actually be the most normal holiday we've ever had."
"Mission accomplished, then." Max groaned but didn't wake up. Maryse ran her hand through his hair, and Alec felt a pang in his chest. He couldn't remember his mother ever doing that for him when he was a child. She'd always at least tried to look after them while they were sick but she wasn't exactly big on cuddling back then. He was glad Max was being raised by this version of her and she was so much better now, was trying so hard to be the best mother she could that she'd made most of her kids literally sick with it, but it still hurt. He wished he'd had this version of her when he was young. He wished he hadn't had to be this version of her for Izzy and sometimes Jace when they were kids.
The intercom buzzed, startling him from his thoughts. "That's probably Simon and Clary, they said they were gonna stop by to check on the throw-up twins."
"Aw, that's sweet of them. Tell them not to eat the turkey."
About a minute and a half later, he opened the door to let his siblings' significant others in. They were both laden with bags that smelled much better than Maryse's kitchen right now.
"Happy Thanksgiving!" Clary chirped as he closed the door behind them. “How is everybody?”
“Fine. You missed the grossest part of the night.”
“Yeah, that’s my Bubbie Helen's fault. She wouldn’t let us go until she’d made two big batches of soup and filled like a dozen tupperware full of leftovers for when they feel better.” Simon shoved the bags he was holding into Alec’s hands. “Happy Thanksgiving, reheating instructions are on the top, now where is he?”
“Second door on the right,” Alec said, and Simon was off like rocket.
“It’s also my fault,” Clary said, smiling hesitantly. “My mom’s still a little, um, weird about your mom, so she kept finding reasons to keep us there.”
“I understand,” Alec said generously. Clary’s mom had been with Luke so long he was practically her step-father, until they broke up last year and Luke had started dating Alec’s mother a few months later, and the two of them had gotten very serious very quickly. Even with Alec’s tendency to defend his family doggedly in most situations, he could admit that Clary’s mom had reason to feel uncomfortable that Luke might end up Clary’s step-father-in-law instead.
“And my dad was there, which didn’t help,” Clary added, her mouth twisted up.
“Oh. I thought, um …”
“That he was barely around? Yep. Guess he was feeling festive this year.”
“Sorry,” Alec said, awkward but trying. “Guess you didn’t have a fun holiday either, huh?”
“The vomiting would’ve been preferable.” Clary grinned up at him. “So …”
Alec frowned. “So, what?”
“Well, it’s still pretty early. The worst of the food poisoning seems to be over, and Simon and I are here. If it gets bad again, we can handle it. You still have time to have a good Thanksgiving.”
“Oh.” It hadn’t even occurred to Alec to leave his family like this. “I can’t. They need me.”
“They’re adults - well, Max isn’t yet, but almost - and you’re not the only one who loves them,” Clary admonished gently. “And you get to have stuff outside of your family.”
“I know,” he snapped but with no real heat behind it, because he wanted to be annoyed but he wasn’t. Because that honestly sounded nice right now.
Clary smiled at him like she knew. “Call that guy you're seeing - Magnus, right? Or one of your friends if they're in town, or just go home and eat some of Simon’s grandma’s kugel and get some sleep. Whatever you want to do, just do it somewhere that doesn’t smell like puke and burning.”
“Clary?” came Izzy’s weak and warbling call from the couch.
“I’m here, sweetie,” Clary called back, giving Alec one last encouraging nod before quick walking over to her girlfriend. She knelt next to the couch and took Izzy's hand, the two of them smiling softly at each other. From the first bedroom Alec heard Simon's usual energetic chatter punctured by a hoarse laugh from Jace.
It occurred to Alec that for once, he really wasn’t needed. His family had other people to look out for them. And he had someone he'd really love to see.
He dropped the bags of food on the counter and slipped out the door. As soon as he was in the hallway, he pulled his phone out of his pocket. Magnus answered on the second ring.
“Alexander? I didn’t expect to hear from you today.”
“Am I interrupting something?” Alec asked, rubbing the back of his neck. This had been a stupid idea. “I’m sorry, we can talk later -“
“No, no,” Magnus said, sounding amused, “I wasn’t complaining. I was just surprised. I thought you were going to be with your family all day.”
“Long story, but there’s been a change of plans. Any chance you’re free for dinner?”
*
“Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise.”
“I don’t like surprises.”
“You’ll like this one, I promise. I need to make up for the pizza place from the other day.”
“I liked the pizza,” Magnus protested.
“Sure, but you hated the paper plates and the grease on your fingers and folding the pizza in half - and how have you never done that if you lived in the city before?”
“It’s not a crime to eat pizza with a knife and fork, Alexander.”
“Uh-huh.” Alec grinned back at Magnus as he pulled him down the street. Brooklyn's streets was never really empty, but at seven PM on Thanksgiving, the sidewalk wasn't exactly packed, especially as they got further from the main streets. “Anyway, I figured I owed you a place with real utensils this time.”
“If you insist.”
They were laughing as Alec finally steered them through the doors of a small diner at the end of the block.
Alec took a deep breath as he walked through the door, inhaling the familiar smell of grease and warm spices, and felt his remaining stress melt away. Delia's Diner hadn't changed since the first time he'd come here - same tan booths, same sage green paint on the walls, same fall specials on the board. Nothing, not even a failed holiday with a sick family, seemed so bad when he was here.
“Alec, hey!" He looked over to the counter where Lydia Branwell was beaming at him. "Happy Thanksgiving!”
“You, too, Lydia.”
“Didn’t expect to see you here tonight.”
“Mom and Izzy cooked.”
“Ah.”
“Exactly." He saw her looking curiously a little to his right and felt his cheeks heat up as he realized he was being rude. "Lydia, this is Magnus Bane; Magnus, this is Lydia Branwell. Her grandmother owns this place.”
“And what a charming place it is," Magnus said, smiling at Lydia. "Lovely to meet one of Alec's friends."
"Even lovelier to meet you, Magnus," Lydia said, her own smile taking on a wicked edge. "Alec's never brought a guy around here before."
"Lydia," Alec rumbled in warning, "lay off."
"Fine, but only because my grandma needs me in the kitchen. Hope to see you again soon, Magnus."
With a smile for Magnus and a wink for Alec, she headed towards the back of the restaurant. Alec ignored Magnus’s curious looks and led them to a booth by the window.
"What do you recommend?" Magnus asked as he picked up his menu.
“Uh, anything really. The grilled chicken sandwich or the Greek burger, or the flounder. Definitely anything with potatoes - fried, roasted, whatever, they’re amazing. Oh, and the baklava cheesecake. Or the Greek yogurt shakes.”
“Sounds like you’ve sampled the whole menu.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve coming here for years.”
Magnus raised his eyebrows, probably unsurprised by this revelation after the exchange with Lydia; but didn’t say anything, waiting for Alec to elaborate.
He sighed. “Our home growing up wasn’t exactly … comfortable, I guess? Everything was a presentation so we looked good to all the other important families and my parents’ business associates, so our chairs and couches and clothes and food were all expensive and nice to look at, but I didn’t actually enjoy any of it. I started working at the family business when I was fourteen, just as an intern at first, and I’d have an hour to get from school to work but it was only a fifteen minute subway ride. So maybe five or six weeks in, it was a really nice fall day and I got off the train to take a walk around the neighborhood, explore a little to kill time, and I found this place. It felt like I thought home was supposed to feel like.”
“I can see that,” Magnus said looking around at the seventies-style warm wood paneling and vinyl chairs. “Not that I grew up anywhere near this home-y myself. I would’ve liked to, though.”
“Me, too.” It feels like betraying his mom to admit that out loud, now when they were finally close, but it was true.
Strong fingers curled around his, and Alec looked up to see Magnus smiling sweetly at him. “Thank you, Alexander,” he said. “I like getting to know your New York.”
“My little Alexander!” came booming from his right. Alec swiveled in his seat to see Mrs Bouras, the Delia of Delia's Diner, hurrying towards them. Her brown-grey curls were barely contained under a Mets cap, her hazel eyes bright and the soft skin around them crinkling up with happiness at the sight of him.
“Little Alexander?” Magnus asked, his eyes sparkling.
“Mm, yes. When he first came here, he was as tall as me and so skinny,” Mrs. Bouras tutted, eyeing Alec like she was noting any part of him that was less than fully filled out.
Alec avoided Magnus delighted gaze, trying not to blush. "Mrs. Bouras, this is Magnus Bane."
"So I've heard. Since when do you have a boyfriend and why have I never heard about him before?"
"Oh, um, well we ... I haven't ..."
Magnus saved Alec from his stuttering. "It's new. We only met a few weeks ago."
"Well, you must be special for him to bring you by." Mrs. Bouras tilted her head, the corners of her mouth thinning suddenly. “Are you sure we have never met before, Mr. Bane?” she asked slowly.
Magnus smiled at her, wide and charming as ever. “I would remember if I’d ever had the pleasure, I’m sure.”
For another moment, Mrs. Bouras studied him; then she shook her head. “You’ll have to forgive an old lady. We think we see faces from the past everywhere - wishful thinking, I guess. He was a lovely man.” She smiled. “I’m sure I’ll like you just as much, Mr. Bane, if my little Alexander likes you.”
"Thank you, and please, call me Magnus."
Mrs. Bouras was called over by another table, leaving Alec alone with Magnus, who was staring at him with soft eyes. He cleared his throat, trying not to blush more than he already was. "What?"
"Nothing. I just think I may have met some of my boyfriend's family on Thanksgiving after all.
He perked up. "Boyfriend?"
"I think it's safe to put a label on it; dating you is the main reason I'm making my return to town permanent, after all. Speaking of which, I think I may have found a place.”
"You have? Already?”
“It’s actually the apartment I lived in years ago. I inquired with the building manager to see if it would be available anytime soon and it turns out the current owners were about to put on the market. It’s almost like fate.”
“Fate, huh? You believe in that kinda stuff?”
Magnus hummed positively, squeezed Alec's hand. “Oh, I’ve always believed in fate. But for the first time in quite a while, I think it might be capable of being kind.”
*
Lydia couldn’t help but sneak glances at Alec’s booth as she wiped down the counter. The restaurant was almost entirely cleared out, just one of their older regulars sitting at a small table in the corner counting out bills for the tip, and Alec and his date. Magnus Bane, what a name. He was the kind of man that demanded attention - immaculately dressed, hands moving animatedly as he spoke, and one of the most attractive people she’d ever seen in real life. Alec seemed to feel the same way, staring at Magnus with a mixture of adoration and awe that Lydia had never seen on her friend's face before. It warmed her up inside, seeing him like that.
And she couldn't wait until she could text Izzy tomorrow to gossip about it.
She hated to break up their adorable date, but she also wanted to get home in time for a late dinner of leftovers with John and the in-laws. She made her way over to their table. "Hey, guys, sorry to interrupt, but we close in ten."
"Got it, Lydia, we'll wrap it up," Alec said, smiling up at her sheepishly.
"And please tell your grandmother that was the best flounder I've had in ages," Magnus added.
"Will do. Happy Thanksgiving, guys."
When she went back to the counter and picked up her rag, her grandma was standing there, watching Magnus with a far off look on her face.
"Alec's new boyfriend seems nice," Lydia said to her as she stated to clean again. "He says he loved your flounder."
“Be careful around him, Lydia. I think something bigger than us is going on with that man.”
“If you say so,” Lydia said with a shrug, used to her grandmother’s superstitions.
“Poor little Alexander,” her grandmother said sadly. “What has he gotten himself into?”