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“Alexander,” Magnus called still holding the Christmas string lights. “What are you doing?” Alec seemed to have given up on helping Magnus and was just going through the box of ornaments and picking his favorites. He picked two big pieces in the shape of reindeers, bringing them close to his ears.
“What do you think of these ones?” Alec asked with a grin on his face.
“Definitely a good choice. You look very pretty,” he kidded and Alec chuckled while laying the pieces back in the box.
Alec had invited Magnus over to his apartment so he could help decorate his Christmas tree but after one and a half pizza, three episodes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and on their way to finish the second bottle of wine, they were not in a good shape to be decorating Christmas trees.
Alec finally decided to help him and held the other half of the string. They finished wrapping the tree in colorful lights and moved on to decorating the branches with the ornaments.
“That is not how you decorate a Christmas tree,” Magnus informed after taking a look at Alec’s side of the tree. It had way too many ornaments and the sparkling ribbons covered a big part of the green from the tree.
“I didn’t know there was a correct way of doing this,” he chuckled and grabbed the glass from the coffee table, taking a sip of his wine. “Isn’t decorating a Christmas tree supposed to be about being with the ones you love and just have a good time?”
“Sure it is, darling.” He smiled. “But not when your side of the tree looks like a hundred elves threw up on it.” Alec laughed out loud at his words.
They grabbed the final pieces from the box and Alec stole a quick kiss from him, making Magnus smile widely. They both laughed at some stupid joke Alec made that was not even that funny and Magnus searched for the big gold star he knew Alec had somewhere in one of the boxes. He finally found it and got on his tiptoes to put the star on top.
“Why did you get such a big tree?” Magnus complained as he tried to reach the top of the tree to put the star on it.
Magnus felt himself lose his balance but he finally managed to put the star in the perfect position on the top branch as Alec just laughed at him and did nothing to help.
“Because,” Alec started to explain. “It would look weird with a small tree in the corner of such a spacious room, right?” He gestured his hands around, holding the wine glass in his right hand before drinking the rest of it.
“Right,” Magnus agreed with him, downing the rest of his drink as well and took the empty bottle of wine with him to the kitchen. He opened Alec’s pantry in search for more wine. He looked for a bottle of Pinot noir and smiled to himself when he found it.
He walked into the living room again after opening the bottle and poured himself and Alec another glass.
“I don’t like when you smile like that,” Magnus informed as he let himself fall next to Alec on the couch. His boyfriend had one of those wide grins painting his lips and Magnus knew him all too well to know that when Alec smiles like that, it means he either did something bad or is hiding something. “What did you do?” He squinted his eyes.
“Nothing, dear.” Alec tried to stop smiling but his smile only grew wider. Magnus rolled his eyes playfully and took a sip of his wine, staring at the television that still played the third season of their favorite sitcom that was forgotten a long time ago and now only served as background noise.
He felt Alec coming closer to him on the couch. “I don’t know how that happened, but there’s a gift under the tree,” Alec said in a low voice and Magnus looked at the tree in the corner of the room that had a box wrapped in red paper under it.
“We just finished decorating the tree. How is there a gift under it already?” Magnus stared at him with a suspicious look on his face and Alec simply shrugged like he had nothing to do with it.
Magnus got up and grabbed the box, returning to his spot on the couch a few seconds later. “What is this?”
“A gift,” he answered, stating the obvious. Magnus rolled his eyes and laughed. Alec leaned forward and looked deep into his eyes. A smile appeared on Alec’s lips that quickly reached his hazel eyes, shining back at Magnus behind dark lashes. “From Santa,” Alec concluded in a whisper and Magnus scoffed, focusing his attention back to the box.
“From Santa?” He asked as he took the little white card that was taped to the side of the box. “It’s not Christmas yet,” Magnus observed as he opened the card. He read it out loud in a quiet voice, “To Magnus. From Santa. With Love.”
Magnus looked back at his boyfriend and smiled. “You know, Alexander,” he started in a teasing tone in his voice. “Santa’s handwriting looks suspiciously like yours.”
“Huh. That’s odd.” Alec read the card in Magnus’ hand. “Interesting,” he licked his lips in a failed attempt to hide the grin that threatened to take over his features and sat back again.
He just chuckled at how not subtle Alec is and started unwrapping the gift slowly.
Magnus heard a muffled laugh coming from Alec and he shot a quick glare at him who was trying hard to hide his face behind his hands that are covered by the long sleeves of Alec’s over-sized dark blue sweater.
“This box has more tape on it than has wrapping paper,” Magnus pointed out, trying to remove the tape. “Who knew Santa was so terrible at wrapping presents, huh?” He joked.
“Well, I do think he did a fantastic job,” Alec defended immediately and Magnus laughed at his adorable boyfriend.
When he finally finished unwrapping the box, it looked like a shoebox but it wasn’t heavy enough to have shoes inside. He frowned, staring at his boyfriend.
“Go on,” Alec said in a more serious tone and Magnus could almost notice a hint of nervousness in the edge of the two simple words.
Magnus opened the box only to see a bunch of green tissue paper inside. “Is this a joke?” He chuckled.
“Dig in.” Alec giggled, gesturing to the gift. Magnus started removing all the paper from the box piece by piece, letting it fall on the ground next to his feet. He found a small box in the middle of a few papers and grabbed it.
Magnus opened the box only to see a key inside. He took it in his hand and stared at it for a few seconds before looking at Alec who had a small smile on his face. Magnus’ confusion was clear in his face and Alec cleared his throat to speak.
“Well, this key is… um… the thing is… the other day we were hanging out and then you had to leave because you didn’t have any clothes here to change and you needed to get your laptop to get some work done and…” Alec talked in a rush like he always did when he was unsure of his own words, and Magnus tried not to laugh at how nervous his boyfriend sounded. He stared at his own fingers that played with the sleeves of the sweater and when he finally looked back at Magnus, he gave Alec a reassuring smile so he would keep going with his speech.
Alec shook his head. “My point is… I realized that I never want to see you leave again. Even if it’s only for a few minutes to go get something at your apartment and I guess I just...”
“Alec,” Magnus interrupted placing his free hand above Alec’s knee and squeezed to get his attention. “I’ll move in with you.” He said when he realized what the key in his hands meant.
Alec’s eyes widened as a big smile slowly made its way to his lips and the blush on his cheeks deepened. “Really?” His eyes lit up and Magnus’ heart tightened, full of love and affection for the man sitting next to him.
“Of course.” He smiled and grabbed his keys that were on top of the coffee table in the middle of the living room. He took the key to Alec’s apartment and added it to his keychain. Magnus had never seen Alec smile so wide as he was right now and he didn’t resist in taking Alec’s face between his hands and connect their lips in a slow kiss.
“Magnus,” Alec called and Magnus hummed in response as he left a kiss on Alec’s cheek feeling the stubble scratching his lips. He found Alec’s hazel eyes again and smiled. “I love you,” Alec whispered.
“I love you, too,” Magnus’ lips found Alec’s again in a warm and gentle kiss. “I can’t wait to decorate a Christmas tree with you every year, for the rest of my life,” he whispered with a promise of a future spent by Alec’s side.
Alec grinned and hugged his boyfriend tight against his grip, leaving a short and sweet kiss on Magnus’ forehead. As long as he had Alec, every day would feel like Christmas and Magnus smiled at the sense of comfort and safety he felt for just being in the same room as Alec.