Roommates & Soulmates

1st Epilogue: Magnus's Housewarming

One Year Later

All in all, Magnus thought the evening was going rather well. The housewarming party had been Alec's idea but Magnus had thought it a splendid one. Any excuse to have everyone he loved under one roof was always a good idea in his books. Their guests had arrived around an hour ago and everyone had already helped themselves to the buffet table before naturally breaking up into smaller groups to talk and eat.

Alec was sitting with Jace and Clary nagging them for probably the hundredth time to pick a wedding date. They'd been engaged for a year now, even if they'd only let it slip to their friends a couple months ago. Magnus knew Jace's son had been born recently - though he had to admit he was fuzzy on the exact dates - and he assumed that was keeping them far too busy to think about planning a party. In fact, tonight was the first time he'd seen either Jace or Clary since the baby had been born. Magnus confessed he didn't know a lot about babies, except what Tessa had told him over the years, and by her account the fact that Jace had gotten out of the house to come to a house warming party at all was a miracle.

Simon and Izzy were sitting at the table eating with Jordan and Maia. Izzy and Simon's one year wedding anniversary was coming up and Simon had quite the event planned. Magnus knew this because Simon had gotten a lot of help planning it from both him and Alec. There wasn't much Alexander wouldn't do for his sister so when Simon had asked for Alec's aid he had jumped on the idea at once. Magnus knew Jordan was still working on his master's degree while working part time as a computer tech guy while Maia worked at the grocery store. He often wondered if those two would ever tie the knot. It was funny but once you got to a certain age and had been with a partner for a certain amount of time everyone just seemed to automatically assume you'd get married. The thought made Magnus chuckled lightly. It was ironic that he'd become one of those people. Before Alexander Magnus had always assumed he'd never marry. He wasn't sure why but it had just never occurred to me until Alec's out of the blue proposal.

Speaking of married couples, Aline and Helen were here as well. They were sitting with Tessa and Lucie near the sofa. Aline and Helen seemed quite taken with the little girl and their presence seemed to be giving Tessa a chance to finish her dinner uninterrupted. The two of them being so enamored with little Lucie made Magnus smile. Only a few weeks ago they had invited Magnus and Alec over for dinner to ask them, or rather Alec, if he would donate some sperm so they could start a family. Aline being Alec's cousin meant that technically the child would still be related to both of them if Helen carried the baby. After talking about it together they had agreed that it was a great idea. Magnus knew these things didn't happen overnight, but even so he was quite looking forward to being the fun uncle. Maryse didn't know about this yet but Magnus just knew she'd insist on being called grandma even if Helen and Aline weren't keen on the idea. Magnus could imagine only too well how she'd go on about a great niece or nephew being the closest she'd ever get to being a grandmother and were they really going to take that away from her. Alec would not so subtly remind her that she had two other children before sending her to Aline and Helen to ask what they thought. Just thinking about the strange dynamic almost made Magnus chuckle.

Before Helen and Aline had taken up their positions Lucie minding, Will had been in the role, but Magnus suspected he'd taken the opportunity to get seconds from the buffet table. Jem had been invited too, of course, but when Tessa had arrived she'd explained that he'd crashed early. This didn't surprise Magnus. Hemochromatosis treatment involved removing blood from the body which often left Jem very tired.

Last but not least Jon and Paige were here as well. Magnus noticed Jon had followed Will's lead and could be seen scooping more mashed potatoes onto his plate while Paige, having finished her meal, had headed over to ask Jace about his new baby boy. Magnus could tell Jace much preferred this to being nagged by Alec from the way he'd turned away from Alec to talk to Paige. Magnus was pretty sure wanting to always talk about your kid was a very normal new parent thing. He couldn't help but wonder if being an uncle was similar.