Magnus was terrified, and he had no idea why. He had fought demons galore, he had fought Shadowhunters, he had fought every type of monster imaginable, including his own father. But he was close to swearing that what he was about to do scared him more than anything he had ever done before.
It had been a week since he had finally proposed to Alec, and he was sure that he was more nervous than he had been even then. That thought was utterly ridiculous to him. There was no reason he should be scared over the "family meeting" he had called. The Lightwoods would either say yes or no, and his life would continue on either way.
He was currently sitting in the library of the Institute, simply waiting on everyone to come meet with him. Magnus had never been terribly impatient, immortality seemed to grant you the ability to wait, but the longer he waited, the quicker his heart rate seemed to become. As he sat, he began to relive his proposal, attempting to keep himself calm by thinking of the things that had already gone right in his life.
It had been exactly a year since the Clave had granted Shadowhunters and Downworlders the right to be married in a Shadowhunter ceremony, and Magnus had felt that he had wasted too much time already. He had proposed to Alec in a terribly simple way, trying to focus more on his love for Alec than the ceremony of it all.
That night, they stayed in and cooked dinner together, one of Alec's favorite things to do. After their candle-lit dinner, Magnus had turned on music, and they had danced together and laughed together and simply been in love for what seemed like hours. At that point, Magnus had felt as though he were going to burst if he did not propose to Alec soon.
Before he could work up the nerve to do so, however, Alec had looked up at him with questioning eyes. "Magnus, it's not that I haven't loved every second of tonight, but what's all this been about? We rarely ever have nights like this."
Smiling softly, Magnus had taken Alec by the hand and led him to a seat. The next few minutes had been a blur while he had recited a short speech he had practiced and practiced for days. The next thing he knew he was cut off mid-sentence when Alec's lips found his.
When they finally broke apart, Alec had stared at him with tear-filled eyes and had said through his smile, "Oh, Magnus, of course I'll marry you."
At first, Magnus was entirely certain that he had never been so happy in his long life. But then, he and Alec had made their engagement announcement, and Max had innocently looked at them and asked, "But wait, who is going to take whose name?"
He and Alec had both been too surprised to actually properly answer the question, and Alec had finally said, "Well, we haven't really discussed that yet, Max. But we'll let you know when we do."
Alec had studiously avoided the conversation, and Magnus had not wanted to push him into it. He knew that the subject of family had always been a bit touchy with him, and after everything they had been through together, Magnus couldn't blame him for it. So many people had pointed out how unfortunate it was that the Lightwood name was not going to be passed down from Alec or that his blue eyes would never be inherited by anyone.
Looking up, Magnus was jerked out of his thoughts as Jace and Clary were the first to enter the room. Jace was smiling as though he knew something no one else did, and knowing Jace, he most likely did. Magnus refrained from asking, not wanted to get involved with whatever scheme he had cooked up.
"What is this about, Magnus?" Clary sounded a bit worried, and Magnus couldn't help but smile. He knew that calling this meeting without telling anyone what was going on hadn't really been the best of ideas. He knew that they were all going to have assumed the worst about the meeting, that they were going to assume that something was wrong, but he hadn't wanted to give anything away until the time was right.
"Everything's fine, Clary, trust me. I can't let you know anything until everyone's here, but there's nothing bad going on, I promise." Clary nodded and took a seat, but Magnus could tell she did so reluctantly. The way her eyebrows were furrowed showed that she was still a bit skeptical.
Magnus was spared trying to keep Clary and Jace from asking any more questions when Isabelle and Simon walked in, quickly followed by Robert and Maryse. "What's going on, Magnus?" Robert's voice was harsher than normal, and Magnus was still finding himself surprised at the care he now seemed to have for his children. "Is this about Alec? Has something happened?"
Before Magnus could respond, Alec walked in the library with Max by his side. "No, Dad.," he began. "I'm perfectly fine. And I have as much of an idea about what's going on than you do, which means I have no idea at all."
Alec walked over to Magnus and took a seat beside of him. He immediately took hold of one of Magnus's hands, and when he turned toward Magnus, the question in his eyes was extremely clear. As much as Magnus wanted to back down, he sighed and stood up, knowing that if he didn't go through with it that he would regret it for the rest of his life.
"Before I get to what I really want to talk to everyone about, I want to start by saying that nothing is wrong." As Magnus looked around, he became even more nervous, so he fixed his eyes on Alec, the one person who kept him steady and strong. "I'm absolutely fine, I just have a question for you all, and I wanted to make sure to ask all of you at once."
Trying to swallow the lump in his throat, Magnus focused himself on Alec, attempting to remind himself that Alec loved him and whatever else happened didn't matter. "I have no idea how to ask this, so I'm just going to go for it."
He took a deep breath to steady himself once more and simply dove in. "I've been thinking a lot about what Max asked us last week, about who would take whose name. Now, Alec and I haven't talk about this at all, but I suspect that that's just because Alec doesn't want to have to deal with this thought, and I don't blame him for that."
Magnus looked down at the floor then. He could see the nervousness in Alec's eyes as well, and he prayed that he could express his love in the best way possible. "I'd like to ask everyone's permission to become a Lightwood." He cleared his throat, attempting to look relaxed but knowing he was failing. "It's not as though Bane isn't a made-up name anyway, and it's not really something that needs to be passed to anyone. Above all, it's just that after centuries of looking, I've finally found my family."
As he looked around, Magnus could see the surprise on everyone's face, and he only hoped that they were thinking good things. He finally turned to look at Alec once more, and he was surprised at the look in his eyes. It seemed as though Alec was waiting for everyone else to speak before saying anything.
Just as Magnus thought he was going to go insane waiting for someone to speak up, Max stood up and began talking. "Well, if everyone else is going to be stupid about this, let me be the first to say that I think that's the best idea I've ever heard." Apparently, Magnus looked as surprised as everyone else because Max continued. "You're just as much a part of this family as anyone else, Magnus. You never noticed the effect you had on Alec, but I did. He's who he's supposed to be now, and that's partly due to you. I'd be honored to have you as my brother."
Magnus took a seat once more, suddenly so full of emotion he didn't know what to do. He finally looked back at Alec again, and he saw the same emotion and confusion that he was feeling mirrored in Alec's eyes as well. They were even more surprised when Robert was the next to speak.
"I have to agree with my son on this one. You've meant more to this family than you understand, Magnus. Alec isn't the only one who loves you, and having you as a Lightwood would help complete this family."
At that, Alec got up and walked over to Magnus, immediately wrapping his arms around him. "I don't care what anyone else has to say, Magnus. I want you as a Lightwood more than anything else. You deserve our name more than anyone I've ever met."
That night, as Magnus laid beside of Alec, he replayed the evening in his head. He knew that the thing he was going to remember most about that night was not the fact that they had agreed to allow him to become a Lightwood. Magnus knew he was going to remember the hours they spent together afterward, the hours they spent as a family.
"Magnus?" Alec's voice was soft, but Magnus could still hear the love in it. "What are you thinking about? You're smiling for no apparent reason, but there must be some reason." He hadn't been aware that he was smiling, but Magnus knew it made sense that he was.
He turned to lay on his side and look eye-to-eye with Alec. "I was thinking about you, Alexander. About you and your family. Our family. And about how this is the first time in my very long life that I've been genuinely happy. This is the first time that I've actually had a family at all."
Magnus closed his eyes as Alec reached over to kiss him. He sighed and leaned into the kiss, knowing without a doubt that he was always meant to become a Lightwood.