Have a Treemendous Christmas SomeSleepySloth! I'm so happy we got talking and I wish timezones weren't a thing :( You're so talented and it's always a pleasure to see your drawings, thank you for sharing ♥
Alec helps Magnus into the Santa Claus costume, giggling a little because Magnus insisted on sneaking a pillow in the coat to make a round belly. They’re hiding in the entry away, near the closet Maryse hides the costume in every year. It’s too high for Max to reach.
“You sure you don’t want to dress up as Mother Christmas?” Magnus asks.
He’s been bugging Alec about it since they’ve started to take turns dressing up for Max. The boy believes in the magic of Christmas still and Alec cannot disappoint his brother. If Max thinks he’ll see Santa Claus tonight, then Max will. Fortunately Magnus was kind enough to dress up with Alec and enable the Lightwoods to pull it off.
“The reason you’re dressing up is so that Max doesn’t notice I’m not here every time he gets his present. Impersonating Mother Christmas would nullify everything we’ve worked so hard for.”
The house twinkles with fairy lights and Alec can hear the crackle of the fireplace in the next room. He crouches to help Magnus tie his shoelaces and ignores the other man’s teasing. They freeze when the door cracks open and exchange scared glances, afraid to get caught in the act.
“What are you guys doing? Max noticed you’re gone Alec!” Isabelle whispers angrily.
Alec jumps to his feet, tugs on the collar of Magnus’ red coat once to make sure the pillow won’t fall out, and rushes back in the living room with his sister. He slides on the wooden floor and affects a surprised expression, pointing at the window.
“Max! I think I saw Santa’s Sleigh outside!”
The boy jumps to his feet and rushes to the window, but Max won’t see anything. It’s Magnus’ cue to enter though and Santa Claus shimmies inside, dragging his sack with him. Max turns around with a squeal of delight and rushes to help.
“Thank you Max, you’ve been very good this year,” Santa gushes.
Alec huffs, more like narrowly escaped the naughty list once again. Max almost set their house on fire just this morning when he tried to climb up the Christmas tree to steal Jace’s chocolate bells. The fire was roaring in the fireplace and the tree nearly tipped over.
“You ate too many cookies this year Santa,” Max replies cheekily.
“How dare you,” Santa exclaims. “Little rascal!”
Jace lets out a bark of laughter and nods eagerly. Santa fakes offense and snatches a gift out of Max’s hands, pretending to put everything back in his sack. Isabelle falls off the arm of the couch because she’s laughing so much and Maryse shakes her head at their antics.
“I’m sorry Santa! Here, have a glass of milk,” Max apologizes.
Santa takes the offered drink and sips slowly, considering. Max creeps closer to the sack and Santa hides it behind him, tutting. Alec chuckles, watching the proceedings, and jumps to attention when he hears his name.
“Alexander,” Santa calls. “You will help me tonight. I don’t trust this one.”
Santa jerks his chin to indicate Max. It’s warm inside and Isabelle managed to make them all wear hand-knitted, shapeless sweaters with a golden L on the front. Alec’s is green, Jace’s is red and Maryse’s is blue. Isabelle’s is pink and Max’s is gray. They all have matching socks too and Alec slides across the living room when he complies, coming over to Santa.
“This is for Maryse,” Santa hands out the gift-wrapped box of chocolates.
Alec passes it to his mother and watches as she nearly slips when thanking them, “Thanks M-my dear Santa.”
Santa winks and grabs the next gift, making a show of squinting and turning it over to try and decipher the name. It’s wrapped in sparkly silver, and the black hand-writing is easy enough to spot, if the shape wasn’t obvious already. It’s Max’s set of comic books and Alec has to hide a smile, almost dropping it when Santa hands it over.
“This is for Max,” Santa chuckles.
“Is it? Doesn’t it say Jace?” Alec frowns, tossing the package to Jace.
“Nah, looks like it’s Isabelle’s,” Jace replies, grinning.
Izzy catches the package and shakes it a little, “Nah, I asked Santa for a new makeup palette.”
Max snatches the gift out of her hands and tears the paper apart to reveal the set of comic books. He squeals again, delighted and ignores his siblings’ laughter to hug Santa around the waist. Alec softens at the sight and glances at Magnus’ eyes behind the Christmas hat and beard.
“Here is for Isabelle,” Santa goes on, smiling.
Alec hands her the small package hiding her makeup palette, wondering what’s different about that one. Izzy already has a lot of beauty products, and Alec stays clear from them, but Jace has snatched hair product from Isabelle’s bathroom more than once.
Jace gets his gift as well and Santa grabs the last package from his sack, handing it over to Alec. He can see Magnus smiling under the beard, eyes twinkling with mischief as he hands over Alec’s gift. It’s a new quiver, but Santa pushes another, smaller gift along with it. Alec turns away from Max and peers at it curiously.
It’s small, like a jewelry box. Alec’s heart races in his chest at the thought.
“Thank you Santa!” Max calls out.
Santa nods and ruffles the boy’s hair on his way out. Alec glances up from the extra gift and stares after him, ready to duck out as soon as possible. He wants to know what’s in the box, too, and will only be able to open it away from prying eyes.
It’s tradition for Alec to help Magnus put the costume away and walk him out. Jace and Isabelle know it well, and watch Alec like hawks, matching smirks on their faces. Alec lingers just enough to see Maryse try a chocolate from the box and hum in delight.
Max buries into his comic book a moment later and Alec takes the opportunity to sneak out, holding the box close to his chest. He finds Magnus in the entryway, still in his costume, and steps closer with a frown.
“Everything alright?” Alec whispers.
“Yeah,” Magnus takes off the beard and points at the ceiling.
Alec doesn’t need to look up to know that Magnus purposefully stepped under the mistletoe. He shuffles closer instead, undoing the buttons of Magnus’ red coat to pull the pillow out. The grand-father clock strikes midnight and Magnus grins as the coat falls to the side, revealing his naked chest.
“I had… forgotten about that,” Alec groans.
“Alexander! How dare you forget about all this, just waiting for you,” Magnus gasps.
Alec grabs the back of Magnus’ neck, fingers tangling in the Christmas hat, and kisses Magnus before they attract unwanted attention to themselves. Magnus slides his hands beneath Alec’s sweater and brings them closer, sighing softly into Alec’s mouth.
“Thanks,” Alec whispers against his lips.
Magnus nudges him, reminding Alec of the jewelry box still in his hand. Magnus looks smug, the red and white hat dangling off to the side of his head. Alec tears the wrapper away and hesitates before opening it.
It’s one of Magnus’ rings on a necklace.
Alec can’t help it, he giggles. Only Magnus would think of giving Alec a ring just in case there is a proposal in the works. It’s quirky and practical, because Alec has Magnus’ ring size now. Magnus steals a kiss, delighted by Alec’s reaction and Alec gets a little distracted, holding onto his boyfriend’s naked waist.
“I knew it!” Max exclaims. “Of course it’s Magnus, he always flirts with Alec.”
They jump away from each other, but it’s too late. Max peers at them from the doorway. The boy grins, insanely proud with himself and Alec realizes they might have been played. Max is getting a bit old to believe in Santa Claus still. Knowing his brother, Alec has an inkling Max likes to see them go through the elaborate charade every year.
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