Chapter Text
December had only just begun and the air was filled with so much Christmas spirit that you could practically taste the Gingerbread and Eggnog as you walked through New York. The weather had begun to get colder and it had started snowing earlier in the day, the snow was slowly settling along the pavements making New York look like a photo from a Christmas card.
Alec walked into Magnus’ loft with a bounce in his step. He was carrying a few shopping bags filled with various festive decorations. Izzy followed behind him, carrying another shopping bag. Alec had seen the way Magnus’ eyes lit up every time he mentioned Christmas and since they had both been so busy being the High Warlock of Brooklyn and Head of the New York Institute, they hadn’t been able to decorate their loft for the Christmas holiday season yet. Alec had approached Izzy that afternoon, he wanted to decorate the loft with Magnus tonight but he didn’t know anything about Christmas decorations. The Lightwoods had never celebrated Christmas or any other holiday for that matter. Alec felt out of his depth but he knew Izzy would help him, she had always wanted to celebrate Christmas.
Alec placed the shopping bags carefully against the sofa, “Thanks for helping me today Iz, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Izzy laughed, a smile taking over her face, “You’d be lost without me big brother. I’m happy to help you surprise Magnus. I love seeing you so happy.”
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Alec paced around the loft waiting for Magnus to return from visiting a client. He was nervous, he hadn’t done anything like this in his life and he knew how much Magnus loved Christmas. He didn’t want to mess it up.
Alec heard a noise and turned around to see Magnus walk through a portal and into the loft. Alec smiled as he watched his boyfriend, the nerves he was feeling suddenly vanishing. Magnus looked perfect like he always did. His hair was spiked up in a way that looked so effortlessly sexy. He wore a purple patterned shirt that fit perfectly around his biceps which made Alec lose focus every time he saw him. Various necklaces hung around his neck and Alec smiled when he noticed that Magnus was wearing an arrow necklace, the same arrow necklace that he had given to Magnus as a gift when they had last visited Tokyo together.
“Alexander,” Magnus smiled as he walked over to Alec, “I missed you,” he said as he placed a soft kiss on Alec’s lips.
Alec kissed him back, feeling all the tension leave his body. Alec always felt anchored whenever he was with Magnus. He felt safe and calm.
“I missed you too,” he smiled as he pulled back from the kiss, smiling when he saw the look of content wash across Magnus’ face. The sun was setting outside but the light still shone through the windows, turning Magnus’ brown eyes the colour of hot chocolate on a cold, winters night that wraps around you like a blank and engulfs you in a warmth that makes you feel at home.
Magnus glanced around the room, his eyes taking in all the decorations that Alec had placed on the table.
A smile spread across Magnus’ face, “What’s all this?”
Alec smiled and grabbed Magnus’ hand, linking their fingers together, “I know how much you love Christmas, and we’ve been so busy we haven’t had time to decorate the loft yet, so I went out and bought decorations for us to decorate with. I thought we could do it together tonight.”
Magnus grinned and Alec felt his heart stutter as he let the look of happiness on Magnus’ face consume him. He knew he’d never get over how beautiful his boyfriend was when he looked completely happy.
“You did all of this even though you knew I could just decorate the loft with my magic?” Magnus asked, a mixture of awe and confusion on his face.
“Of course I did, I wanted to do it together. I’ve never celebrated Christmas before so I got Izzy to help me get what I needed. I wanted it to be perfect for you,” Alec smiled, he would never quite understand why no one had ever done anything like this for Magnus, he deserved the entire world and Alec was going to try his best to give Magnus everything he deserved.
Magnus smiled back softly, “Pretty boy, my Christmas is always going to be perfect if you’re with me.”
Alec felt his face flush. Magnus knew how much he loved it when Magnus called him ‘pretty boy’. Not only did it remind Alec of the first time they had met, but if he was being honest, he just loved hearing Magnus refer to him as pretty.
Magnus kissed his cheek and smiled, “Why don’t you get us some wine while I go and change?”
Alec nodded and went into the kitchen as Magnus went to their bedroom. He opened a bottle wine that had been cooling in the fridge and poured it into two glasses. He looked up as Magnus walked into the kitchen, a laugh escaped from Alec’s throat as he took in what Magnus was wearing.
“What’s so funny, Alexander? You don’t like what I’m wearing?” Magnus questioned, looking down at his Christmas sweater, a ghost of a smile across his lips.
Alec laughed, “Babe, how do you manage to look good in everything you wear?”
“It’s a talent,” Magnus laughed lightly, picking up a glass of wine.
Alec rolled his eyes playfully and picked up the other glass, taking a sip, “I’ve seen you as soon as you wake up in the mornings, you look beautiful without even trying.”
Magnus took a sip of his wine and walked over to Alec, he pressed a light kiss on Alec’s lips before pulling back and looking at his face.
Alec was always a little overwhelmed at the look that Magnus had in his eyes whenever he looked at him. He never thought he would have someone that looked at him with so much love in their eyes every time. Every day Alec was grateful that Magnus had come into his life.
“Let’s start decorating,” Alec said softly, putting his wine glass down and grasping Magnus’ hand in his own, “I might need your help for one thing.”
Magnus put his glass down and followed Alec into the living room. Alec stopped and turned to Magnus and watched as he looked at the decorations, waiting for him to notice what was missing.
Alec chuckled to himself when he noticed the humour glazing over Magnus’ eyes as he realised.
“Alexander, where is the Christmas tree?” Magnus asked, unable to hide the slight laugh in his voice.
Alec blushed slightly and squeezed Magnus’ hand affectionately, “That’s what I need your help with. We didn’t have time to go and get a real Christmas tree and Izzy wouldn’t let me buy a fake one. I thought they were weird anyway, what is with mundanes? Why would they want to buy a fake tree?” Alec rambled, his face wearing a confused look.
“Alexander,” Magnus chuckled, squeezing Alec’s hand.
Alec stopped talking, an embarrassed smile spread across his face, “Sorry” he mumbled, realising he had gone off topic, “Izzy thought you could conjure us up a tree.”
“Of course I can do that,” Magnus replied, a smile in his voice. He snapped his fingers and a tall bare Christmas appeared in the perfect place for them to decorate, “Perfect.”
Alec smiled, content, he grabbed something from one of the shopping bags and walked over to Magnus’ cd player. Alec placed it into the cd player and pressed play. The sounds of Mariah Carey’s, All I Want For Christmas is You began to float around the room.
Alec turned back around to face Magnus, “Izzy made me buy this. She said it would get is in the mood for Christmas,” he shrugged nonchalantly.
Magnus beamed at Alec, “Remind me to thank Isabelle next time I see her.”
“What about me? This was all my idea,” Alec pouted.
Magnus walked towards Alec, placed his hand on his cheek and smirked, “Don’t worry, pretty boy. I’ll thank you later.”
Alec didn’t move as Magnus walked around him towards the boxes of decorations. He thought about all the ways Magnus could thank him later and felt a shiver go up his spine.
“Let’s get started, shall we?” Magnus asked, his voice breaking Alec out of his thoughts.
“I was thinking we should make a plan first before we just put the decorations on randomly,” Alec explained, walking to Magnus. He looked at the tree from head to toe, a look of concentration on his face, attempting to work out where the decorations should go.
“I was going to use my magic for the tree decorations,” Magnus shrugged, moving so he was standing next to Alec, “It takes so much time to get it perfect.”
Alec looked at him and smirked, “You’re going to cheat?” Alec couldn’t help himself, he loved teasing Magnus about using his magic for mundane tasks.
“Cheating? Oh Alexander,” Magnus laughed out loud, shaking his head scoldingly, a smile still on his face, “It’s not cheating, it’s simply the best and easiest way to decorate the tree.”
“Fine then, why don’t you decorate a tree with magic and I’ll decorate a tree my way. I bet my tree will look better than yours,” Alec retorted, wearing a confident smirk. His competitive side coming out in full force.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea? I don’t want you to be upset when you lose,” Magnus challenged.
“Don’t be so sure. Just because I haven’t done this before doesn’t mean I won’t win,” Alec replied.
As soon as Alec had spoken those words, Magnus snapped his fingers and another bare tree appeared on the other side of the living room, giving both of them enough space to move around their own tree.
Alec shook his head in disbelief, they were really going to do this. They both took a second to look at the two tall Christmas trees that were standing in their living room. Alec started taking out some lights from their box, but he slowly realised that putting these lights on the tree by himself was going to be a little challenging. Alec started his attempt at putting the lights around his tree, he continued to walk around putting the lights on each layer of the tree. He heard a giggle to his right and looked over, Magnus was staring at him, a laugh escaped his lips as he met Alec’s eyes.
“What?” Alec asked, confused.
Magnus giggled again, “You’re going to trip if you’re not careful,” he pointed towards Alec’s feet.
Alec looked down and noticed that the lights had begun to tangle and somehow wrap around his legs, “Oh,” he mumbled, stepping out of the lights and untangling them.
Magnus chuckled and snapped his fingers making the lights appear perfectly around his tree.
“Show off,” Alec murmured, igniting another laugh from Magnus.
Once he was able to untangle the lights, Alec continued to wrap them around the tree until he was completely finished. He stepped back and looked at his work, smiling to himself. He took a peek at Magnus’ tree to see him placing the decorations on the tree using his magic. Alec took a moment to think of his plan for the decorations and then began placing them on the tree, one by one.
Alec continued to place the decorations on the tree, subtly looking over at Magnus’ tree a few times. He noticed that Magnus was super focused, Alec saw a look of attentiveness on Magnus’ face. It wasn’t until Magnus looked Alec’s way that Alec felt his breath being taken away. He couldn’t look away to finish his tree. Magnus had been so completely focused on trying to beat Alec that he hadn’t noticed that his glamoured had slipped. Whenever Alec was lucky enough to see Magnus without his glamour, it took his breath away. As much as Alec loved Magnus’ whiskey brown eyes, nothing compared to his golden yellow cat eyes. They looked like honey basking in the sunlight and it had quickly become Alec’s favourite colour.
It took Magnus a few moments to notice that Alec had stopped decorating and was now staring at him, “What’s wrong?” he questioned, looking puzzled.
Alec shook his head and advanced towards Magnus, closing the gap between them. He grabbed Magnus’ face softly and then captured Magnus’ lips with his own. Alec heard Magnus’ breath hitch in surprise before he kissed back. He felt Magnus’ fingers slide into his hair and Magnus tilt his head back as they deepened the kiss. Alec pulled away when they were both out of breath, he let his eyes trail over Magnus’ face, happy to see that his glamour was still down. He couldn’t help but lean in again, the Christmas tree competition is long forgotten as they stood there in the middle of the room, content with sinking into each other.
Magnus pulls away this time, both of their breathing is a little heavy.
“What was that for?” Magnus asked, looking into Alec’s eyes, “Not that I’m complaining.”
“I love you a whole lot,” Alec breathed, pulling Magnus into him until he had his arms wrapped around him and Magnus’ face buried into his shoulder. The soft material of Magnus’ Christmas sweater rubbing against Alec’s arms making him feel even more relaxed than he already was.
Magnus wrapped his arms around Alec’s waist and Alec felt him press a gentle kiss against his deflect rune.
“I love you too, my angel,” Magnus responded, smiling up at him.
Alec dropped a kiss into Magnus’ hair as they both continued to stand there feeling at peace in each other's arms.
“I say, we ditch the Christmas trees for the rest of the night, go get our wine from the kitchen and put on a Christmas movie and then snuggle together on the sofa for the rest of the night. How does that sound?” Magnus proposed.
Alec beamed down at him, “I’d say that’s one of the best idea’s you’ve ever had.”
“I’m full of good idea’s,” Magnus joked, pulling away from their embrace.
Alec grabbed Magnus’ hand, intertwining their fingers as they walked to the kitchen. He was about to step through the doorway when Magnus tugged his arm, bringing him to a standstill.
“Nuh-uh, where do you think you’re going, pretty boy?” Magnus questioned, as he stood in the doorway of the kitchen.
“To get the wine,” Alec responded, confused. Isn’t that what they were meant to be doing?
Magnus smirked but didn’t respond, he pointed above them, “You have to kiss me, angel. We’re standing under the mistletoe.”
Alec didn’t know why that meant he had to kiss Magnus, or how the mistletoe had even got there but he wasn’t going to refuse a kiss. He chuckled softly and leaned down, kissing Magnus once again feeling completely overcome with bliss.