Conditional Love

Chapter 20

"That's great Jace. I knew you two would be perfect for each other," Alec says with a slight sigh. "You also saved me the trouble of setting you guys up." He's truly happy for his brother. He's just happy in general. Alec hasn't stopped smiling since his birthday.

~oOo~

They arrive at Izzy's apartment in time to see the furniture delivery truck pull away. The drive to Manhattan wasn't terrible, her apartment is just on the other side of the Brooklyn bridge, making it a little under a twenty minute drive. They park and head up to the door, Jace already texting Izzy to let her know that they're there. Izzy lets them in, but not without giving her brothers a huge hug. Jace lets out a very undignified squeak, probably due to Izzy squeezing his healing shoulder too hard. She lets out a frantic 'sorry'.

"And this must be the infamous Magnus. I'm Isabelle, but you may call me Izzy. It's so good to finally meet you." She says as she pulls Magnus into a hug. Alec can't help the fond look he gives his sister and boyfriend.

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well. I must congratulate you on your new job! I absolutely love fashion. You'll have to go shopping with me sometime soon. Maybe we can get your darling brother to join us as well," Magnus says as Izzy finally releases him from the bear hug she pulled him into.

"Yeah, good luck with that one. I used to have to bribe him into shopping with me. Half the time, I would just buy him clothes while I was already out, then sneak them into his closet!" Izzy exclaims, like it was some misfortune to do that for Alec. He knows that she used to love doing it. He also never complained, as long as it kept him away from shopping for hours on end. Before anyone can say anything else, someone clears their throat.

"Oh! You must be Sampson. Alec has told me all about you," Magnus says, causing Alec and Jace to snigger behind him.

"It's Simon actually," Simon has a defeated look on his face, "Anyway, why don't we get started? The moving guys already showed up, and placed the furniture where Izzy instructed, so all we have to do is get the boxes unpacked." He paused, glancing at Jace's injured arm. "Um... Jace... uh... I guess you can do whatever. Watch maybe?"

"I can still help. I can't lift the boxes, but I can take shit out of them though," Jace gives an annoyed huff.

"Hm, okay. I guess you can help me unpack our clothes," Simon gestures Jace to follow him back to their bedroom.

"Fine. But I'm not touching your underwear, and I'm sure as shit not touching Izzy's!" This causes everyone to laugh.

Once Simon and Jace leave the room, Izzy turns to face Alec and Magnus, "Okay guys," she says as she claps her hands together, "Magnus, you seem to know about fashion, does that extend to interior design?"

"Darling, of course it does! You should see my loft. I decorated it myself!" Magnus exclaims. Alec isn't sure how he feels about Magnus calling his sister 'darling' though. He assumed that pet name was reserved for himself.

"Good, you can help me out here in the living room, and Alec, why don't you unpack the kitchen?" Alec nods, kisses his boyfriend on the cheek and whispers 'good luck', then heads to the kitchen.

Once in the kitchen, Alec starts with the opening of boxes and moving of things. His smile grows even more when he can hear his sister and boyfriend chatting away out in the living room. In this moment, he doesn't understand why he was so nervous about them meeting. They have so much in common and it wouldn't surprise Alec one bit if they ended up best friends before dinner. Alec finishes in the kitchen, and receives more instructions from his sister before continuing the task.

After six long hours of unpacking, Izzy's place looks like home. Izzy offers to cook dinner for everyone, but after a resounding 'NO' from the entire group, they end up ordering Chinese take out. To explain the loud no, Magnus is treated to more horror stories about Izzy's cooking.