It was five days before Christmas and Alec was running down the streets of Manhattan. He was on a mission; to find a Christmas gift to his sister, Izzy, and one to his step-brother, Jace. This may sound easy, but it was far from. Izzy was a really hard person to buy presents to, she was extremely picky and if that wasn't enough, Jace was even worse.

Alec found a clothing store that looked like it had clothes his sister would like, and went inside. But as soon he had stepped a foot inside he wished he hadn't. The store was full of women on last minute shopping and the place looked more like a warzone than a clothing store. Alec turned around and was almost outside again, when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you looking for something?" a velvety smooth voice sounded in his ear. Alec turned to face the voice and was surprised to see a man standing before him. The man was dressed in black fitted jeans and a dark red shirt with a nametag on his chest, which read "Magnus". The man's, Magnus', face was carefully (or at least Alec guessed it was, he wasn't much for it himself) done with a lot of make-up, and his black hair was pointing at every direction and Alec could see silver and red streaks with glitter in it.

"Um…" Alec said, "I was looking for a gift to my little sister, but… It's a little too crowded in here, don't you think?"

"Your sister, I see. Glad it's not a girlfriend of yours, that would have been a shame." Magnus said with a wink at Alec. Alec, of course, blushed. "What does your sister like? Is she an all-black kind of girl or more color?"

"Oh, I… um… I don't really know. A mixture of both I think…" Alec said unsurely. The shop attendant just sighed, shock his head, took Alec's hand and dragged him deeper into the store.

(Half an hour later)

With Magnus' help Alec had finally found a gift for Izzy and he was now about to pay for it. Magnus was standing on the other side of the desk, at the register.

"That's 80$ please."

Alec handed Magnus the money and waited for the man to wrap the gift up. A moment later the white Victorian styled dress his sister was going to get, nicely wrapped and Magnus handed him the bag with the present. Alec took the bag and turned to leave, when he noticed that Magnus hadn't let go of the bag. He faced Magnus again with a curious and a slightly suspicious look.

"What will it take for you to give me your number?" Magnus asked. Alec froze.

"W-why would I give you my n-number?" Alec stuttered.

"Well, for one I think you're really cute and secondly don't think I haven't seen you looking at my butt most of the time." Magnus riced an eyebrow, "So… I'll ask again, what will it take for you to give me your number?"

Alec just stood there staring at Magnus. He thought he had been subtle while checking out the other man, and he had never intended to act on it. He glanced at Magnus who was smirking at him. Alec noticed that Magnus had let go of the shopping bag, and in one quick motion he turned around and darted out of the clothing store.

Alec ran for a few blocks and then stopped to catch his breath. He sent a fleeing thought about that it was lucky no one had stopped him for looking like a bag-snatcher. He saw a coffee shop and went inside.

The interior of the café was really inviting and calming with brown and dark green furniture. The walls were covered with framed planches of coffee related stuff and bookshelves full of books and small plants. Behind the register stood a petite red-head with a kind smile.

"Hello, welcome to Garroway's Books and Coffee." the girl greeted.

"Hello. One Americano, please."

"One Americano coming up. 3,50$ please." Alec handed the girl the money and moved to stand at the coffee waiting area. It didn't take long before his coffee was ready and he want to sit down in a comfy looking chair.

While he drank the coffee he allowed himself to think about the attractive man in the clothing store. Alec wasn't used to people hitting on him, sure it had happened a few times but his siblings had always been with him at those times and they had helped him out. Alec wasn't and had never been good at talking to people he didn't know and he doubted he would ever be.

Alec knew he was gay, and he had even told his sibling not to long ago. Their parents still didn't know and Alec wasn't planning on telling them anytime soon, he knew all too well what his parents thought about "his kind" of people.

Magnus was really attractive and he seemed to know it. The way that he moved and spoke, like he expected people to look at him, like he knew what they wanted to do with him. He thrived at the attention.

Alec shook himself out of those thoughts. He was not going to think about Magnus again, not like that. Instead he returned to the coffee, which was surprisingly good. He decided that he had had enough of shopping for today, but as he still had nothing to give to Jace, Alec went for the easy way out. He walked up to the register and the red-head and bought a gift card for his brother.

"Have a nice evening!" the red-head wished him as he left the shop and went home.

Christmas at the Lightwood mansion passed by quietly. Maryse and Robert, the Lightwood parents, had been home on Christmas Day, but had been gone again the morning after before any of their children had gotten up. Alec was actually glad they hadn't decided to stay any longer because he preferred it when they weren't at home, but Izzy still hadn't learned and was disappointed when she heard that their parents was gone yet again.

The siblings had spent the days together and in no time it had become New Year's Eve. Izzy had convinced (see annoyed) her brother and step-brother to watch the ball drop at Times Square. And now they were there. Jace had brought Clary along, the red-head Alec had met in the coffee shop. When Jace had made good of his gift card he had met Clary at the same time and they had started talking and so on. Now they were a couple (even if they would deny it if you asked).

A long with Clary had a scrawny looking guy come. The guy, whose name started with an S, but Alec hadn't bothered to remember it, was awkward looking, and apparently Clary's best friend. Jace had glared daggers at him in the beginning of the evening but as he noticed that he had all of Clary's attention he had stopped.

The awkward looking guy, or Rat Face as Alec had started to call him in his head, had been looking more and more awkward as the evening proceeded and Alec thought he would bolt as soon as he could, especially after Izzy had noticed it was really fun to toy and tease with him.

And Alec was bored. So, so bored. He wanted to go home. He would have been fine watching the ball drop from his TV at home. Alec looked over at his siblings and saw that they were to occupied with the red-head and Rat Face to notice if he would disappear. He decided it was now or never. He turned around, and walked right into the person standing behind him.

The man who was a lot lighter than Alec went flying to the ground with a groan.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going." Alec said and helped the man to his feet. Only then did he have a good look at the man and noticed it was Magnus. Of all the people in New York he had to run into the one and only man he had been trying not to (and failed miserably at) thinking about these last couple of days.

Magnus seemed to recognize him too, judging by the light in his eyes.

"Why hello there, long time no see." was the man's greeting, "No need to apologize, I'm rather happy that you ran into me." Magnus was grinning with his whole face. Alec blushed, but couldn't even deny it to himself that Magnus was breathtaking while looking like that. The day to honor Magnus was dressed in sparkling glitter from head to toe. Even his shoes had some glitter on them. His pants were an interesting shade of green that looked like they were painted on him. The matching shirt drove your eyes to his chest and on top of the shirt he had a black leather vest. His dark hair was once again gelled up and the glitter in it was multi-colored.

"H-hello." Alec stuttered and his blush intensified.

"That was quite a dash you made before. Did you suddenly remember a meeting you were late to?" The smirk on his face said he knew that wasn't what had happened. "Or were you to overwhelmed with this" he gestured to himself, "and just have a strange way dealing with it?"

"Um… ah… umm…" Alec didn't know what to say. Too much blood was running through his head for him to think clearly. His breathing was too fast and too short. He tugged at his shirt neck in a desperate try to get more air. His wheezing must have been heard by Magnus, as the man's smirk fell and he started to look really concerned.

"Are you alright? I didn't mean for you to start panicking. I promise I'll lay off if you just calm down. Please don't die on me now…" Magnus placed a hand on Alec shoulder. The warmth of the man's hand actually felt really calming to Alec, and soon he was breathing normally.

"I'm sorry…"

"I didn't…"

Both men looked a bit sheepish at each other as they both started to speak at the same time.

"I'm sorry for freaking you out." Magnus finally said. A sad smile on his face. Despite all that had happened Alec didn't like the fact that he was the reason Magnus wasn't grinning anymore.

"No, I'm sorry for freaking out on you. You did nothing wrong. I'm the strange one here for panicking at some light flirting. No need to apologize." Alec was aware that he was rambling, but he couldn't get himself to shut up.

Suddenly there was a hand covering him mouth, making him stop talking, and he looked up to see Magnus silent laughing at him.

'Great! Now I've made myself look more like a fool' Alec thought angrily to himself.

"You're really cute you know" was all Magnus said, as he took Alec's hand in his and pulled Alec closer.

Alec was too stunned to move away, and after thinking about it he found he didn't really want to move away. Their eyes locked and some seconds passed, that felt like minutes, before Alec looked away.

He looked up see his siblings a bit away laughing together and suddenly a clock started to ring, and the ball dropped; the new year was here.

"Happy new year!" Magnus whispered, and before Alec had a chance to say it back, Magnus quickly kissed him on the lips. Their lips only touched for a few seconds before Magnus back away.

"Happy new year…" Alec said back, very much stunned. He stared at Magnus, who had started to squirm, before starting to smile like an idiot. "Happy new year, indeed" he said and stepped closer to Magnus again. He was still smiling when he took Magnus hand.

"I'm Alec, by the way." And Magnus laughed.

"Nice to meet you." They were both laughing when Alec found a long forgotten pen in his pocket and asked Magnus to give him his hand. Curiosity colored Magnus face as he did as Alec asked. Alec took the pen and started to scribble something on Magnus arm.

"There you have it" he said as he dropped the arm and putted away the pen again, "my number."

A boost of courage filled Alec as he quickly kissed Magnus cheek before he turned around and rejoined his siblings, leaving Magnus with an astonished smile on his lips and a hand touching his cheek were Alec had kissed him.