"What are you doing on New Year's night?" Magnus held the phone to his ear in a nervous sort of way that he hadn't felt in a long time. He could feel his heart racing as he waited for Alec to respond on the other end of the line.
"Well, I had plans to lie around in my bed and contemplate life while eating everything in our kitchen that hasn't been cooked by Isabelle." Magnus could hear the smile in Alec's voice. "But I think I could be persuaded to clear my schedule." When he paused once more, Magnus could feel a smile slowly spreading across his own lips. "But you know, only for the right person," finished Alec.
At that, Magnus couldn't help but chuckle, somehow both knowing that Alec was joking, yet hoping that he would be that 'right person.' This was the first year in a very long that he hadn't felt like throwing an extravagant New Year's party that he wouldn't remember in the morning. The more he had thought about it, the more he realized that he only desired to have Alec by his side throughout the night.
"I was thinking that we might have a night in. Let me cook you dinner, then we can get started on catching you up on all the movies you've never been privileged enough to see. If we can be bothered by it, we might even watch the ball drop from the comfort of my loft."
Magnus listened as Alec sighed, but not in a sad or annoyed sort of way. He sounded oddly contented, and that was something that only widened Magnus's smile. "That sounds really nice, Magnus. I'll see you tomorrow at what, like six then?"
"Wait a second, I have a question, Magnus." Alec's brows were furrowed as he sat close to Magnus the next night. They had had the most exquisitely relaxing meal that Magnus had ever had, talking about everything from Shadowhunting to their favorite colors. Now he was sitting on the edge of the couch, obviously deep in thought.
"If they really loved each other, why didn't they just share the thing she was floating on? It was plenty big enough for both of them." Alec had started watching Titanic with Magnus's arm around his shoulder, but throughout the movie, he had slowly inched his way up to the very edge of the couch, far more caught up in the story than Magnus had ever thought he would be.
"Alexander, it's a movie, they aren't supposed to make any sense." Magnus tried to hide his smile as Alec turned to look at him, his expression both confused and hurt.
Alec began speaking once more, this time slowly, as though carefully working through his thoughts. "That's not the only thing I have a question about. How did they both just magically die at the same time?" Alec had now moved his thoughts to The Notebook, which they had watched first, and Magnus had to force himself to refrain from laughing.
"It wasn't magic, Alexander, it was true love." Alec turned to look at Magnus in a way that suggested he had three heads instead of one. His expression was so absurd, that Magnus wasn't at all surprised that he found it terribly endearing.
"No, no, and no," Alec was shaking his head in earnest. "I'm all for believing in true love, but that's the most ludicrous suggestion I've ever heard: that love can kill people together. No. Movies are the most idiotic things I have ever seen."At that, Magnus finally did laugh, unable to hold himself back anymore. He reached over to pull Alec back on the couch further. "Excuse me for thinking that you would find that movie romantic," he said, not unkindly.
It surprised him when Alec moved in closer, looking up at Magnus with a newfound smile of his own. "Excuse me for knowing a bit more about the real world than the mundanes who wrote those movies," was his response, and Magnus could hear the amusement in his voice.
"So I take it you don't want to watch any more movies, then?" Magnus knew the answer to that, knew that Alec hadn't really wanted to watch any movies to begin with, but that he had because it was what Magnus had wanted them to do.
When Alec chuckled at his question, Magnus found his heart skipping a beat, something that caught him off guard. Every time he realized new emotions that were forming because of Alec, he mentally cursed himself for getting involved with a Shadowhunter, but then he would look at Alec once more and realize that Alec was worth it all.
"Not particularly, but you know what? As long as I'm with you, I can take much worse than these terrible movies." For a moment, Magnus was unsure that he was going to be able to properly respond to Alec. As he looked down into the eyes that he so greatly adored, he couldn't seem to form any competent thought.
Luckily, Alec seemed to realize this because he quickly spoke up once more. "I have a question, though. A question for you, I mean." Magnus simply nodded at him, nervously wondering where their conversation was about to take them. "What's your resolution this year?"
Chuckling slightly, Magnus was caught off guard by the innocence of the question. "I don't really do resolutions, not anymore anyway. When you're immortal, you tend to put off goals for, well, literally forever. So it's easier to just not make goals instead of feeling like a failure for never completing them."
Alec turned toward him once more, an odd sort of expression on his face. "Makes sense to me," he began slowly. Suddenly, Magnus noticed a smile that was creeping across Alec's face, and he couldn't help but stare in wonder at it. "Since I'm not immortal, however, do you know what I've decided my resolution is?"
Magnus simply shook his head, not having the heart to guess at Alec's goals for his life. "My resolution is to make the most of each moment I'm given, to somehow show my loved ones just how much I care, every single day." He paused for a moment, his smile only widening. "And I plan to start with you."
At first, Magnus had planned to say, "Oh, and how do you plan to do that?" but what happened was not at all what he had planned. What came out of his mouth amounted to nothing more than "Oh," as Alec reached over to kiss him. It was so unexpected that for a moment, Magnus didn't move a muscle. Then it was as though a switch had flipped, and he suddenly relaxed and melted into Alec's lips.
There was so much emotion behind Alec's kiss that Magnus was floored by it. He briefly recognized the thought that in his 400 years, this was likely the happiest he had ever been on New Year's. Melting into Alec's kiss was like melting into another dimension. The world around him faded out, he couldn't form a single thought that wasn't about Alec, but nothing else seemed to matter anyway.
They fully broke apart just moments before midnight, both slightly out of breath with the largest of smiles draped across their faces. As soon as the ball had officially dropped, however, they melted into each other once more. One of the last things Magnus remembered from that night was falling asleep in Alec's arms, feeling secure for the first time in a very long time, knowing that the year to come would be the best yet.