Chapter One
Alec stared at a painting which was a beautiful sunset covered in multicoloured splashed of paint. He didn't understand the point of the painting; he had seen Clary create the perfect sunset, but she didn't then ruin it by scribbling all over it. It was more than safe to say that art wasn't his forte.
"Why are we here again?" Alec whispered into Magnus's ear,
"I've rejected the host thousands of times and if we didn't come, we'd never hear the end of it," Magnus sipped his champagne, "and there's free unlimited champagne so I don't see why you're complaining."
Magnus grinned and ran his hands through Alec's hair. At least once a week, Alec found himself going to a special event hosted by one of his boyfriend's friends. It was annoying at first, but the little games he and Magnus played while at the events made the whole thing much more enjoyable.
"Magnus, dear, you came," a cheery voice came from behind them.
Alec turned to see a thin, lavender coloured woman with golden hair that had daisies entwined in it. She wore a long pastel green dress with daisies twirling around it and when she put her hair behind her pointed ears, daisy glittering earrings were revealed. She embraced Magnus and kissed both of his cheeks.
"And who have you brought with you?" she looked at Alec as if he were a piece of art,
"This is my partner, Alexander Lightwood. Alec, this is Daisy, believe it or not," Magnus smiled,
"Well, he's certainly an upgrade from the likes of Camille. Do you like my art collection?"
"Erm, I do actually, they all have such different meanings and depths to them, I'm surprised that someone can have such a contrasting collection," Alec let the lies flow from his mouth,
"Why, thank you. You better keep him Magnus, or I'll find myself going after a Shadowhunter again."
Magnus laughed and finished his glass of champagne, "Big question: when is the meal?"
"In a couple of minutes, but I do hope you can stay afterwards for the party, sweetie," Daisy caressed Magnus's cheek,
"I truly wish we could, dear, but we have children to get back to,"
"Ugh, you're maturing Magnus and I do not like it," and with that, Daisy floated off to her other guests.
Alec began to wonder how Max and Rafael were doing. They usually left them with Alec's parents, but as they were on business and Tessa was busy, they had to leave them with Izzy, Clary and Jace. If it was just Clary, then Alec wouldn't be as worried, as she had the ability to stop Max from being so hyper and Rafael loved watching her draw, but Izzy and Jace weren't the best when dealing with children. As he thought about the havoc that may have been taking place at the Institute, Magnus sorted out his collar.
"Stop wondering how the boys are doing, they're most likely sleeping right now," Magnus smiled,
"But they're different when they're not with us," Alec looked into Magnus's eyes,
"That's because we're their parents and they know that we're not afraid to punish them,"
"What if-"
"No. No what if's. They're our boys, they're good boys and they're probably being little angels for them, okay?"
Alec kissed him, "If you say so."
Meanwhile, at the Institute….
"Max, come back here now!" Jace yelled as he ran after the cheeky warlock boy down the hallway.
It was almost midnight and Jace and Izzy had been chasing after Max for at least an hour since Clary and Rafael had gone to sleep. Max had been jumping on the beds, drawing in random books he found, trying on Jace's clothes and then making a mess on them and he had been doing all this when his bedtime was three hours ago. Jace saw Max make a sharp left turn into the training room and dread instantly filled his gut and before he could even make it into the room, there was a massive crash. Izzy darted to the door at the same time as Jace and looked at him with terrified eyes.
"If he's dead, it's your fault. Got it?" Izzy slowly walked into the room.
Max was sat in front of the shelves that should've held all of the training rods. Instead, all the rods had fallen on him and the poor boy looked dreadfully confused. Even though he was a cheeky little bugger that made Jace want to wipe children off of the earth, it made him slightly sad to see such an energetic boy start to cry just from bumping into something.
"Are you okay Max?" Jace asked softly as Izzy pushed the rods off of him,
"Ouch," Max wept,
"It's okay, we'll make it better," Jace sat next to him and Max instantly fell into him as he cried.
As Jace consoled Max, Rafael and Clary walked in. Clary was wearing one of Jace's t-shirts and shorts and did not look very happy to have her sleep interrupted. The seven year old holding her hand looked all snug in his blue silk pyjamas and clutched his teddy as he sat next to them.
"I swear to god, I have been asleep for only one hour. I leave you two with him for one hour and this happens," Clary spoke with an exhausted voice, but Jace could hear the anger in it,
"How much will you pay me to not say anything to dad or papa?" Rafael asked,
"You cannot be serious" Izzy looked down at him with folded arms.
Rafael simply looked up at her, folded his arms and nodded. Clary and Jace laughed at the cunning boy, while Izzy was obviously not impressed.
"I'll buy you that violin that you want," Izzy knew it was an offer that he couldn't refuse,
Rafael considered her offer for a brief second, "Okay," he smiled, kissed Max's head and walked back to bed.
"I don't know what would make Alec madder, Max getting hurt or Rafael getting a violin," Clary yawned as she left the room.
Once Rafael had kissed Max's head, Max seemed to calm down a little and sniffled as he looked up at Jace.
"Can I have hot chocolate before bed? Promise me be good," his blue eyes shone as he spoke,
"Of course you can, but let's not risk aunt Izzy making it," Jace smile as he got up with Max in his arms and took him to the kitchen.
