A/N: Hi everyone! This is my one shot for NadiaInklover's Malec Christmas Challenge. It's short and fluffy and I had a lot of fun writing it, I hope you have fun reading it. There are no spoilers, and no specific timeline, just Christmas. Yay!

Also, I will be updating revelations ASAP, don't worry, I was taking a break for NaNoWriMo.

Even though Magnus was hundreds of years older than him, Alec often felt like the more mature one in their relationship. He couldn't put his finger on exactly why, but it might have been because he was an older brother. From a very young age, Alec had been put in charge of his younger siblings, he had looked after them when his parents were away or busy. Magnus, on the other hand, had never been in charge of anyone. He had lived with other people before of course, but they had all been adults. This meant that when it came to things like cleaning up, making dinner, and other basic, decent, human behaviours, Magnus was usually about as responsible as a first grader.

Another thing that made Alec feel like he was older than Magnus, was that every once and a while things like this would happen:

It was December 10th, and Alec was dragging himself home after two hours of demon hunting with Jace in the slush. Slush, by the way, was the worst type of weather in the world. It was like the streets were covered in colourless Slurpee. It had been snowing earlier in the week, which Alec was already annoyed about (he didn't like snow; it was cold and wet) and then it had started to rain. The snow was supposed to come back, though, and that meant the slush would freeze, and it would be icy. Even worse.

Needless to say, Alec was not in a good mood.

So he stormed into his apartment just wanting to take a shower. The bottoms of his pants were sopping wet, swishing and dripping like two wet mops and his teeth were chattering so much they could have won a tap dancing competition. Magnus was sitting crossed legged on the floor, putting together what looked like a model train set. Alec couldn't really tell though; Magnus was terrible at building things.

Part of him wanted to just ignore Magnus, wanted to march straight to the bathroom as if he didn't care about what he was doing. He knew that if he showed interest, he would get sucked into whatever crazy project that Magnus had decided to embark on and he wouldn't get his shower. The problem, however, was that Alec always cared about what Magnus was doing. No matter how ridiculous it was.

So, instead of heading to the bathroom, he headed towards his boyfriend. "What on earth are you doing?" He asked. Magnus looked up at him and grinned, "I'm making a model train. Want to help?" Alec raised his eyebrows, "Magnus you're hundreds of years old, why are you building a train set that's built for a five year old?"

"Because it's Christmas!" Said Magnus.

Alec stared at him. "OK, a) Christmas isn't for two weeks, and b) Christmas is about presents, and parties, and the birth of Jesus, it's not about trains." He said. Magnus shook his head disappointedly, "Oh my poor, poor, sheltered Alexander. You Shadowhunters never understand the true meaning Christmas. Christmas is about joy, and sparkly decorations, and being like a little kid all the time. Also it's about sex, and getting drunk off of eggnog."

"Wow, when you put it like that, Christmas must be your ultimate holiday." Said Alec. "It is!" Said Magnus, grinning wildly, "I absolutely adore it." He reached up and pulled Alec down onto the floor, "Now help me with this train."

Alec couldn't help but laugh as he fell towards the ground, and nearly pushed Magnus over. He would never get over how Magnus could make him forget all of his problems with one smile. Alec loved Magnus's smile. "So what sort of track do you want to make?" He asked, trying to push all thoughts of how ridiculous that sentence was out of his mind. "Well it has to be a big circle so that it can run around the tree." Magnus said, as if t was the most obvious thing in the world. "The tree?" Thought Alec, "What tree?"

"Our Christmas tree."

"We don't have a Christmas tree." Alec told him, then he looked around suspiciously, "Unless you've hidden it somewhere."

"I didn't hide the Christmas tree. I hid this." Said Magnus, pulling a giant axe from thin air. Alec tumbled backwards, "By the angel!"

"It's for chopping down the tree!" Said Magnus innocently, "I made sure it was extra sharp."

"Great, that makes me feel so much better." Alec muttered. Magnus grinned, "Is the shadowhunter afraid of a little axe?" He taunted. "I am when you're the one holding it." Said Alec. "Well then it's a good thing I won't be the one holding it." Said Magnus, tossing Alec the axe and hopping to his feet.

Alec was happy that he had shadowhunter reflexes.

Magnus then grabbed Alec's hand and pulled him to his feet. As Alec rose up he heard a loud crack, and by the time he was standing he and Magnus were standing in a forest. Alec jumped. "OK, where the hell are we?" He asked, staring around at the snow covered pine trees that surrounded him. "Kitimat." Was Magnus's answer.

"Kitimat?" AskedAlec, pretty sure that it wasn't a real word. "Yes, well, just outside of Kitimat. Kitimat, though very small, does in fact have people in it."

"And where is this… Kitimat?"

"Northern BC."

"BC?"

"British Colombia."

"Where?- Wait, do you mean we're in Canada?"

"Yes."

"Western Canada?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Well, every year I like to go to a new place to get my tree, so this year I picked Kitimat." Magnus told him. "Any particular reason?" Alec asked. "Kitimat has the world's largest aluminum snowflake." Magnus explained.

"That's the stupidest reason I've ever heard." Alec shivered, "And it's freezing here." He took in Magnus's appearance; tight boots, earmuffs, and a fur coat that Alec was pretty sure was fake. He looked down at his lack of warm clothing in dismay.

"Whoops, sorry darling." Giggled Magnus, pulling a brightly coloured scarf out of thin air, wrapping it around his boyfriend's neck, and pulling him in close. "There, is that better?" Alec rolled his eyes and Magnus kissed the tip of his nose lightly. Then he held out a holey black sweater with a wrinkled nose, "I also brought this." Alec grinned, "Thank you." He said, putting it on, "Now which tree do you want me to chop down?"

Eventually they settled on a big, bushy Douglas Fir, and Magnus would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy watching Alec's muscles ripple through his tight sweater (ugly as it was) as he chopped it down. His plan was really working out perfectly.

See, a few days ago, they had been lounging around the apartment when Magnus had made a passing reference to Who Ville. A few minutes of Abbot and Costello style conversation had revealed that Alec had never heard of the Grinch, or any other Christmas stories, movies, or songs that weren't carols. So Magnus had decided on the spot to give Alec a proper Christmas. He had gone out and bought a model train and the rest was history.

He was determined that this holiday would be so festive, that even Alec would feel it and be happy.

"This is perfect!" He said as he helped Alec with the tree (and by helped he meant gently lead), "It's like in When Harry Met Sally!"

"What?"

"The movie. When Harry Met Sally… The greatest romantic comedy of all time?" Said Magnus, then shook his head at his clueless boyfriend, "Harry and Sally carry in Sally's Christmas tree together, but then the next year they have a fight and she has to drag the tree by herself. It's very sad." Alec scrunched up his forehead adorably, "You want me to help you with this tree, so that if we ever break up you can drag it by yourself and feel sad?"

Magnus face palmed, which outlined the fact that he wasn't really helping with the tree much, "Nooo, getting the tree together symbolises how awesome their relationship is. Plus at the end they end up together, so it's not sad at all." He leaned over and kissed Alec's cheek. "Magnus!" Alec groaned as he sagged under the weight of the tree. "OK, ok." Said Magnus, and magicked them back to the apartment. He used his magic to move the tree into its stand, within the borders of the train set (he wasn't going to make his boyfriend do all of the work), and then he skipped off to find his box of ornaments.

Magnus had been collecting Christmas ornaments for hundreds of year; he had picked them up whenever he traveled to a new place. The tree would by no means be empty, but he had still wanted something new. Something for him and Alec in their new life together. So, after putting on lights and bobbles, he pulled out his new purchase. "Put this one on first." He told Alec. The boy turned, and reached out to take the large locket that Magnus was holding out. "What is this?" He asked.

"Open it." Magnus told him. Alec undid the clasp and fought to hold back a smile, "It's us." He observed. Magnus nodded, "It's our "couples first Christmas" ornament."

"That's a thing?"

"Absolutely."

"That's really cheesy."

"Absolutely." Magnus agreed, and he leaned in for a kiss. Alec kissed him back then reached out to hang the ornament front and center on the tree. Magnus clapped gleefully and turned on the Christmas station on the radio; 24 hours of holiday tunes. Then he magicked up some rum and eggnog.

"Aren't we supposed to be decorating the tree?" Asked Alec dubiously, as Magnus started measuring out shots. Magnus rolled his eyes, "You cannot decorate a Christmas tree without music and drinks. It's against the rules."

"There are rules to Christmas?"

"Oh yes. Like you have to drink this whole glass of eggnog, whether you like it or not." Alec took a sip and nearly choked, "This is awful!" He sputtered.

Magnus grinned gleefully, "Yes, yes it is."

"Another rule about Christmas is that you have to watch holiday films." Said Magnus, about an hour later. They were lying on the couch together, legs tangled, and staring at the tree, which Alec had to admit was pretty. It was shiny, and colourful, and was somehow to make him feel nostalgic for something he had never had. That didn't really make sense. Maybe it was just the rum from the eggnog speaking (Alec was feeling a little buzzed). The bizarre drink had grown on him and he had ended up drinking another glass. Magnus had had two.

"Holiday films?" He asked, playing with Magnus's fingers, "Like what?"

"Well my personal favourites are Love Actually and Olive the Other Reindeer." Said Magnus, holding up two DVDs. "What are they about?" Alec asked. "Well, Love Actually, is about a bunch of different people, in the five weeks before Christmas, traveling the world and experiencing love in all it's different forms. From romance, to family, to friendship, to sex, and everything in between."

"Huh," Said Alec, "and the other one?"

"Oh, it's about a dog, who wants to be a reindeer, and a penguin who sells counterfeit watches."

The two movies both sounded completely ridiculous to Alec but Magnus was looking at him like he was supposed to decide which one to watch, "Ok. Well… It's so hard to choose, I don't really know…"

"Great! We'll watch both!" Magnus decided. Alec sighed fondly and braced himself.

Four hours and two bags of popcorn later, the second movie ended. Alec had actually enjoyed them much more then he expected. They had been funny, and strange, and at sometimes touching; he could see why Magnus liked them.

Back at the Institute, Christmas had never really been a big deal. But now, snuggled up on the couch with his boyfriend, he could see why people liked celebrating it so much. "And there's still two more weeks until the big day." Magnus reminded him. Alec hummed contentedly, feeling his eyelids droop. Magnus's chest was a very nice pillow.

"Hey Alec?" Said Magnus, almost in a whisper. "Yeah?"

"There's one more Christmas rule that we haven't discussed."

"Hm, what."

"If you're caught under mistletoe, you have to kiss."

Alec looked up at the ceiling, where a spiky green plant had magically appeared. He laughed and scooted so that he was sitting on his boyfriends lap, "Well, if it's the rules…" He teased before being cut off by Magnus's mouth on his.

The kiss started slow but before long it became hungry and heated. Magnus scooped Alec up in his arms and carried him over to the bedroom, where he deposited him on the bed, and straddled him, "So. Have you learned what Christmas is really about?"

"It's about joy, and sparkly decorations, and sex, and getting drunk off of eggnog, and being like a little kid all the time." Alec recited. Magnus nodded, "My teaching is complete." He decided, rolling off of him so that they were lying side by side, holding hands.

"You know…" Said Alec sleepily, "I was having a bad day before all this… And I can't even really remember why."

"That, Alexander, is the true magic of Christmas."

"Mmm. Merry Christmas Magnus." Murmured Alec, as he fell asleep with his head on Magnus's shoulder.

"Merry Christmas Alexander." The Warlock replied similing. "Mission accomplished…" he thought, "Now I just have to find the perfect present… Crap."

Merry Christmas Malec Lovers!