All I Want For Christmas Is You - a Magnus/Alec fanfiction

Chapter 5 - December 5th - Magnus

December 5th - Magnus

It's still quite early when I get up, so I expect to see Toby still sleeping in the guest room. But when I poke my head around the door, he's not there. However, when I emerge sleepily into the living room, he's sat on the sofa, gazing out of the window.

"Morning, Toby." I say quietly, so as not to wake Alec, who's still sleeping - predictably, as he's rarely up before ten unless he has to be. I suppose Shadowhunting requires a certain amount of early rising. An extra hour in bed is probably the reason he moved in.

"Good morning, Magnus." He replies, looking away from the window and up to me instead. He cocks his head to the side curiously. "You look...under-glittered."

I laugh.

"Yeah, I'm not ready yet. I thought I'd be the first awake. Why are you up so early, anyway?"

"It's my first day of training today." He reminds me.

"It is." I agree. "And...?"

"I'm nervous." He admits. "I might be bad. I've never fought before."

"Don't worry." I tell him, going over to the window beside him. "You'll learn. That's why you're going to training. If you knew everything already, there'd be no point in training you."

He nods, seeming less tense, but I can tell he's still worried. I don't think anything I say could completely take away that apprehension.

"Can you fight?"

"Kind of..." I say ambiguously

"What do you mean?" He asks, curious.

"I..." I think about it, decide I probably ought to tell him, and continue. "I'll show you."

I wiggle my fingers and let the familiar blue sparks web between my fingers, then rise into a sparking swirl above my hand. Toby looks on in awe and I touch my fingers to my palms, dousing the sparks. Toby looks at me like he's just seen the coolest thing in the world, childlike joy lighting his eyes. It makes me smile. I think of when I went with Raphael to see his family, conjuring up images of stars and rainbows and flowers, making magic something safe and non-threatening. I cup my hand and blow, and sparks erupt from my palm, forming a shooting star. Magic isn't often like this, but for an introduction to it, I could've certainly done worse. Toby reaches for the sparks, but they disappear as his hand approaches.

"That's amazing!" He breathes, turning to me.

I laugh. "Thank you. I'll be one second. I'll use the mirror in here to do my hair. Don't want to wake Alec."

I slip past the closed bedroom door, behind which Alec is still sleeping peacefully - or so I assume from the lack of noise - and sweep into the bathroom, grabbing a handful of makeup and hair gel tubes. I poke my head silently around the bedroom door, finding Alec asleep on my side of the mattress, hair stuck up in peaks with tossing and turning. I smile and close the door again.

When I reemerge in the living room, Toby is attempting to summon sparks from his fingertips. I laugh, ruffling his hair as I pass.

"I don't think that'll work, kid." I say, tracing eyeliner around my lids in the mirror on the mantel. It's a practised art, I think to myself, smudging the line gently with my little finger. Perfect.

He sighs. "How come you can do it?"

"I'm a warlock. It's...like a wizard." I add, at his confused expression.

"Like Harry Potter?"

"Yeah, sure." I answer, distracted.

I squeeze a veritable heap of glittery gel into my palm and run it through my hair, spiking it up and simultaneously transforming into a more Magnus-ish me. I carefully tug on one of the spines of glitter-caked locks and hitch it into position.