A.N- Merry Christmas, guys! This is my first go at writing Malec, as well as my first Shadowhunters fic. Hopefully you guys enjoy it!
It had all been Izzy's idea. Go to the Christmas market, it'll be fun, that's what she'd said. Even if something went wrong, it wouldn't be anything he and Magnus couldn't take care of. After a little bit of convincing, he'd decided to go along with it.
"You know, you're probably not going to need any weapons," Izzy pointed out as Alec was looking through his collection of arrows.
"I'm not taking any chances. There's going to be a lot of people there, a lot of them mundanes. Even if there aren't any problems, it's better to be prepared."
"Fair enough. Just try and have fun, alright?" He frowned at her. "Come on, it's Christmas time, and you're in love. It doesn't get much better than that, does it?"
"Depends on who you're in love with," he replied. She sighed, knowing what he meant. After all, she was the only one he'd told about his feelings for Jace. Everyone else had figured it out for themselves.
"Good thing that's all in the past now. Things can only get better from here, right?" He smiled, thinking she did have a point.
"Yeah." He picked up his bow, blades and a couple of arrows, casting glamours so that the mundanes wouldn't see them. Grabbing his jacket, he left the Institute."
He'd almost expected Magnus to be late, but he wasn't. He was waiting just outside the Institute, like they'd agreed.
"Sorry I'm late, I was talking to Izzy about something," he explained as they started to walk into the city.
"I wouldn't worry too much about that, Alexander. I've only been here five minutes." Alec couldn't help but smile. Magnus was the only one he knew who ever used his full name on a regular basis, and it made the whole thing feel a bit special. Then he looked at him properly.
"Yeah, but it's the middle of winter, and you aren't wearing a hat. Your jacket doesn't even look like it has a hood."
"That's very true, but I try to refrain from wearing things like that. It would only mess up my hair, and this is hardly the kind of occasion when I'd want to do that."
"What if you get a cold or something?"
"I don't think that'll be an issue. Once you live through plagues, the Spanish flu and a whole host of other diseases, a cold seems pretty insignificant." Alec sighed. Another reminder that Magnus was way older and more experienced in pretty much every sense than him.
"Whatever. Let's go get something to drink, okay?" Magnus nodded and they headed off in search of mulled wine.
Everything was going well until Magnus did something Alec hadn't been expecting. As they walked through the crowded streets, the warlock slipped his hand into Alec's. For a moment, Alec just stared at him.
"What are you doing?" Magnus frowned.
"Would you rather I stopped? I thought it would be a good idea since it's so busy, and we might get separated otherwise. If you aren't happy, though, I can let go." He started to release his hand, but Alec held on tighter.
"No, it's fine. I just wasn't expecting it, that's all."
"That's fair enough." He smiled. "I thought all this might take a bit of getting used to. Still, we've got time. Maybe not as much as I'd like, but time nevertheless." Alec sighed.
"You're right, it will take some getting used to. Maybe this'll be a good idea, you never know." Magnus smiled too and they carried on walking, holding hands this time.
A few minutes later, they got out of the crowds and found somewhere a bit quieter. Magnus looked around to see if any mundanes were watching.
"You know, it's a shame that it isn't snowing. It doesn't quite feel like Christmas without it." Before Alec could think to say anything, a small blue cloud had formed in Magnus' hand, and in a second it was snowing.
"Magnus!" Alec snapped. "What if someone saw that?"
"I don't think they will. They won't question it, they'll probably just say it's a Christmas miracle. You know mundanes, they love to find rational explanations for things that don't make sense."
"You'd better be right," he said, and they continued walking through the snow that was now falling around them.
It wasn't until they were as out of sight as they could possibly be on Christmas Eve in New York that Alec turned to stand in front of Magnus. Taking a step closer, he rested a hand on the warlock's cheek.
"You've got snow in your hair," he whispered, before he leaned in and kissed him. They kissed for what felt like an hour but was more like a minute, then Magnus pulled away.
"Well, that was unexpected. I thought you'd need mistletoe or something-" Before he could say any more, Alec kissed him again.
Later, when they got back to the Institute, Alec was surprised not only by how smoothly everything had went, but also by how right it had felt. As cliché as it sounded, he couldn't help thinking that this was the best Christmas he'd had in a long time.