AN: This is NOT in chronological order. Spoilers for Born to an Endless Night.
Tell me in the comments if you want another story with the Lightwood-Bane family. Maybe the next one will include Rafael.
Jace took one look at his parabatai and burst out laughing. "What happened to you?"
Alec had marker - in a variety of different colors - all over him. His runes were colored in and outlined, and it looked as if a blind alcoholic had attempted to create new ones with glittery gel pens.
Alec glanced down like he had forgotten the marker was there. "Oh. Max did that. He likes drawing."
"Have you ever heard of this thing called paper?"
Alec punched him in the arm. "I'm encouraging creativity in my son. What are you doing with your son? Oh, that's right, you don't have one. So shut up about my parenting techniques and spar with me."
And apparently, his parabatai didn't know how to say no to Max, because a week later he showed up to a Conclave meeting with nail polish and something that looked vaguely like flowers painted on his arms. Each nail - and parts of his skin because Max wasn't too good at staying inside the lines - was a different color. His right thumb was bright fuchsia and another nail was silver and sparkly.
Alec glared at everyone who looked at him.
Jace's abs were aching from laughter.
Alec pushed him out of his seat. "SHUT UP, JACE! I HAVE A CHILD, OKAY? MY SON IS PERFECT AND ADORABLE, YOU TRY SAYING NO TO HIS FACE!"
And as it turns out, Magnus looked worse. Jace visited their apartment the day after, and half his face was scribbled with green marker and his eyeliner trailed down to his chin.
Jace barely even snickered. He was getting used to it. "Max?" He asked.
Magnus nodded, grinning just at the mention of his son. "He's very artistic."
Max gurgled, as babies were wont to doing. Then he clapped his hands and giggled.
Alec smiled at his partner, and Magnus smiled right back. Out of the corner of their eyes, they both saw a sudden burst of blue sparks. Instinctively, Magnus raised his hands, ready to cast a spell, and Alec instinctively reached for the knife he had on him.
But there was nothing there. No danger to be found.
Then Max clapped his hands and let out another infectious giggle, and they saw the sparks again.
"Did he just-?"
"I think so," Magnus said, shocked.
"He's just a baby," Alec said, like that would change anything.
Magnus shrugged, unable to give a definitive answer. "Monkey see, monkey do? I've done magic in front of him plenty of times."
Max clapped his hands again, and the lamp exploded.
Magnus and Alec had started a group text, and they were constantly sending everyone pictures and videos of their son. Jace had a three minute long video saved onto his phone of Max just sitting there. He personally thought it was a good use of storage space.
Maryse's favorite video was short, just fifteen seconds, and it was of her grandson laughing. Robert was inclined to agree with his ex-wife.
Isabelle's favorite was a photo, and it was of Max looking delighted with himself and sitting in a pile of Magnus's glitter that he had knocked over.
Clary left the group chat after Magnus had sent a picture of Max cuddling Alec's leather jacket like it was a blanket with the caption my perfect son, thinking to herself that she would never understand the fascination that all of the Lightwoods had with babies.
Jace immediately added her back into the group text.
When she left it again, he didn't talk to her for the rest of the day.
Max was being especially fussy that day. It was strange how he changed day to day like that. Alec liked to joke that he'd somehow inherited Magnus's dramatic tendencies; Magnus liked to give his partner an unamused look, then flick his forehead whenever he said that.
They had finally managed appease him for a few minutes. Max was crawling around on the floor and playing with yet another toy that someone had bought him. That particular toy was from Robert. Max was going to be the most spoiled child in the history of the Shadow World at the rate the gifts were coming.
None of them saw any problem with that.
Max was looked a little upset when Alec abandoned him. Of course, in his mind, abandonment was going to the other side of the room at the Institute so he could take a phone call. But he had plenty of other people to entertain himself with. The only people who weren't there were Clary, who was visiting her mother, and Robert, who was in Idris.
"This is a kindjal," Jace explained to Max, trying to win back his attention. "It's a type of dagger. Now don't go confusing it with the Scottish dirk. They're similar in shape, but a kindjal is-"
"Can you please stop corrupting my son?" Magnus sighed.
Jace shrugged and put the blade away. "He's going to learn eventually."
"Yes, but he's only a year old. Maybe wait until he's out of diapers to start giving him demon hunting lessons."
"Hey Magnus," Alec called. "Can you come here and talk to Maia for a second?"
Magnus pushed himself off the floor. There must have been another problem. Magnus wondered if they were going to have to meet again - it would be the second time that week. Lily always found it hilarious to watch Magnus and Alec give serious advice while they were holding a giggly baby or getting a finger gnawed on.
To Max, this was unacceptable. Both of his parents in the same room as him, yet nowhere near him? It was blasphemy.
"Dada," he babbled. "Papa." Neither of them looked his way; they were too busy dealing with Downworld politics. "No," he said as a last resort.
When that failed to bring his parents back to him, he started crawling toward them. However, that wasn't getting him where he wanted to go fast enough, so he grabbed onto the nearby table and used it to stand up.
"Oh my god, Alec, Magnus, look!" Isabelle exclaimed.
Their heads swiveled toward their son. "Oh my god," Magnus echoed. "He's taking his first steps."
"He's perfect," Alec declared, not for the first time. "Come on, Max, come to daddy!"
Max took two shaky steps, then fell.
"That was great!" Magnus hung up the phone, barely remembering to add, "Sorry Maia, gotta go," before doing so. He scooped his son up off the floor and beamed at him.
"Hi," Max told his parents.
Alec looked like he was about to burst with pride. "Hi, Max. You did such a good job."
Jace huffed and crossed his arms. "I want one," he said to no one.
Simon snorted and texted Clary ur bf is coming down w/ bby fever, watch out.
Isabelle didn't even realize that they were arguing at first. That probably had something to do with the fact that they were speaking in the kindest, most gentle voices she'd ever heard from two people fighting.
Alec was smiling softly. "I swear on the Angel, Magnus, I will fight you. I am a warrior, a trained Shadowhunter. I fight creatures from Hell for a living, I burn runes that give me superhuman abilities into my skin on an almost-daily basis, I could win any mundie Olympic event."
Magnus took a deep breath, smiled at the baby he had on his lap and proceeded to say in a soothing voice, "I can do magic. I'll kick your lovely ass, darling. I'm an eight hundred year old warlock-"
"You're four hundred, dear."
"And what are you? Oh that's right, you're not even twenty three yet," Magnus retorted, sweet and condescending all at once.
"What's going on?" Isabelle demanded. "And why are you guys talking like that?"
Her brother looked at her like she was an idiot. It made her want to punch him. "We can't yell around Max. Babies are sensitive to those things." He said the word yell like it was some kind of reprehensible crime.
"What are you arguing about?" Sue her, she was curious.
The couple exchanged looks.
Magnus bounced Max on his knee. He was babbling gibberish. "He said daddy and we were arguing over who he was talking to."
Isabelle blinked, then gave them her best you've got to be kidding me look. "You're both idiots," she announced, snatching her nephew away and flitting out of the room to take him away from the overwhelming amount of male egotism and petty need for validation.
She was going to play peek-a-boo with her nephew whether his dads liked it or not.
"My leg! You've wounded me!" Alec cried.
Max, now several years old, brandished his wooden sword, similar to the one Alec held in his hand. Alec had stolen a couple from the Institute. He had fond memories of using them train when he was younger; they had used wooden swords because they weren't as heavy as metal swords, didn't require any runes like seraph blades, and were less dangerous than either.
Max pretended to stab Alec in the chest. "Arr, take that, matey."
Alec took that as his cue and fell to the floor, clutching at his 'stab wound.' "No! Arr, you win this time, Captain Max. But I'll be back," he added seconds before his dramatic 'death.'
Max adjusted his eye patch and planted a small foot on his dad's chest and lifted his sword into the air. "The Evil Lightbeard is dead!" He declared. "At last, I have defeated him!"
Then Magnus walked in. He froze in the entryway and glanced at his son, who was wearing the pirate costume they'd got him for Halloween, and his boyfriend, who was pretending to be dead. "What did I miss?" He asked, amused.
"Ayah!" Max exclaimed. "We're playing pirates."
"Our son killed me," Alec added. "Avenge me, beloved." Then he died. Again.
Magnus made a mental note to tease Alec about being a dramatic idiot later. For now, however, Max was clearly having fun, and he didn't want to do anything to discourage him.
He hummed, examining the room. "If you're going to play pirates, at least do it right." He waved a hand and the apartment was suddenly transformed into any pirate-loving child's ultimate fantasy. There was even a plank that extended out over a sea of pillows.
Max's eyes widened when he gasped. His own magic had slowly been revealing itself over the years, but he couldn't do much more than create a few sparks or vanish a mug.
Something was missing though.
Magnus snapped his fingers, and the view outside the window changed. There was nothing but water as far as the eye could see, and rather than seeing city lights in the distance, one saw a sandy shore. It was just a simple illusion, but judging from the grin on his face, Max thought that it was the most amazing thing in the world.
"So," Magnus said, stealing the wooden sword from his fallen boyfriend. "Should we make this scoundrel walk the plank?"
"Yes!" Max jabbed his sword into Alec's ribs. "Get up, ye scallywag and walk the plank!"
Alec locked eyes with Magnus, and they silently agreed on one thing: Their son was perfect.
The second to last scene was inspired by this Tumblr post by canonizes: Head canon that when Max says "Daddy" for the first time Magnus and Alec argue for hours over who he was saying it to. Btw "Ayah" is Indonesian for father, I can't remember where I saw it though.