A/N: Unbeta'd. All mistakes are mine and I apologize for that.
Magnus Bane was euphoric yet beyond nervous. It took a lot to make someone like him — a four-hundred years old High Warlock of Brooklyn — to lose composure in this manner and yet someone did. And that special someone was currently sleeping peacefully on the soft imported blue silk, unperturbed by the rest of the world. According to the usual timing, in a few minutes his beloved anak-anak however would be awake and would demand all of his and his lover's attention but everything was all set. Breakfast was ready — pancakes, bacons, the boys' favorite cereals, nasi lemak, roti canai — and was made from scratch. There wasn't any magic used at all and he felt rather satisfied with himself for that alone.
The pitter-patter of little feet walking on the hardwood floor made Magnus grin brightly. He was such in a good mood today. In seconds, the loft wouldn't be as quiet as right now and he loved it. He loved how talkative his children were. The once serene life of his, the unobtrusive Sunday was all gone and he didn't miss it in the least. He admitted when he and Alec brought back Max who was only a few weeks old, waking up in the middle of the night exhaust him to the core. He always grumbled that he needed his beauty sleep but even so, he still woke up to placate his son and the boy's needs when it was his turn.
Although he loved his sleep, Magnus Bane loved Max more.
"Ayah!" Max was chirping happily the moment he saw Magnus. "Good morning!"
"Good morning, Blueberry." Magnus picked the blue boy up and kissed him with a loud smack. "Where's your brother?"
"I'm here, Ayah." Rafael approached the two, rubbing his eyes sleepily.
Magnus chuckled seeing his eldest sleepy face. The boy was constantly yawning and Magnus was certain the only reason why Rafael was awake was because his little brother had woken him up from a wonderful dreamland. Rafael by nature wasn't a morning person, just like his Ayah. It was extremely difficult to get him ready for school during the weekdays. Max however greeted the world with a huge smile every morning. Perhaps it was his way to apologize to the entire universe for crying in the middle of the night every night when he was a baby.
Magnus put Max back on his feet and kneeled in front of Rafael to be in the same level with his son. He gave Rafael a kiss just like he did with Max. It was their daily routine. Each and every morning would be welcomed with morning kisses before anything else — before breakfast, before bath, everything — or else their morning would be imperfect. He practiced the same thing with his young Shadowhunter lover as well, only their shared kisses weren't as innocent as the ones he shared with his sons.
Now that the boys were up and ready, he only had to wait for his beloved Alexander to come round. Alec rarely slept in. Unlike Magnus, Alec was a morning person. His life as a born and raised Shadowhunter had thought him significant disciplines including waking up before dawn.
Well, Alec was the only one of the Lightwood siblings to have such discipline because Jace and Isabelle sure as hell didn't.
"Have you brushed your teeth?" Magnus asked when both boys made their way to the dining table.
"Yep." Max replied while Rafael merely nodded his head.
"What about bath?" Magnus inquired even though he knew the answer because Rafael and Max were mutually in their pajamas. Rafael was in his Captain America pajamas while Max was wearing Spongebob Squarepants' pajamas. The color yellow was a great contrast to his blue skin.
This time, both Rafael and Max shook their head.
"Let's take a bath, shall we? We'll fill the bathtub with lots and lots of colorful bubbles and a few rubber duckies will be there too…" Magnus envisioned and led his sons toward the children's en suite bathroom. With his magic, the tub was instantly filled with water, bubbles, and of course, duckies.
"Uncle Jace hates duckies." Max giggled, shucking off his clothes. "He asked me to…to put away the duckies when he was here."
"Did he now?" Magnus laughed, helping Max and the still sleepy Rafael into the bathtub. Jace's fear of the ducks was amusing. That was why most of his sons' toys were consisted of ducks simply to tease the blonde Shadowhunter who often babysit his children.
"I hid one of the duckies and…and I showed it to Uncle Jace and he was frightened and fell down on his butt." Max giggled again, pondering the incident.
"That wasn't nice, Blueberry." Magnus chastised a bit but he couldn't hide the small smile tugging at his lips because he could just imagine it. Well, he didn't have to imagine it actually because he had more than one occasion pulling pranks on Jace. One of them included filling the Shadowhunter's bedroom with real-life ducks and rubber ducks alike which ended up with Jace screaming hell and alarmed the entire Institute much to Alec's chagrin.
"It was funny, Ayah!" There was a glint of mischievousness in Max's eyes.
"You're lucky Uncle Jace didn't smack your bum." Magnus knew Max would turn out to be a rascal but of course as a parent, he would not support such behavior.
"Uncle Jace won't do that, Ayah. Uncle Jace loves me." Max grinned toothily, knowing very well how much his aunts and uncles loved him.
"Everyone has their limits, kiddo. You don't want to test them." Magnus cautioned Max so that he would not go overboard with his teasing.
"Okie dokie, Ayah." Max nodded and played with the ducks around him. Magnus knew he didn't take it seriously but Max was only three. He would let the boy be a kid for now.
"Where's Daddy?" Rafael who was finally wide-awake asked, noticing the absence of his Daddy.
"Daddy is still sleeping." Magnus affirmed as he washed Rafael's hair.
"Is Daddy hurt?" Rafael's expression became troubled instantly.
Max's eyes widened hearing that. "Wh-What?"
Magnus' hand stopped moving. "No, he isn't, Rafe. Why would you think that?"
Rafael's lips started to tremble. "Daddy is always awake before I did. Daddy only stayed in bed when he was hurt…"
A few months back Alec had gotten hurt during a routine scouting. His injury wasn't that severe, nothing that an iratze couldn't fix but he had come home with a gash on his head, near his hairline. It wasn't big but it was bleeding profusely like a typical head wound often did. The gash could be fixed with a few stitches by a mundane. What he didn't expect when he got back home was that his family waiting for him, all three of them. Max had fallen asleep on the couch, on Magnus' lap but Rafael was still up and the boy had let a loud gasp when he went to greet his Daddy and saw the wound. Alec had assured Rafael that everything was okay, going as far as putting an iratze in front of the boy. But to Rafael's young mind, blood meant something horrible had happened and he had mother-henned Alec that night. He even refused to leave his Daddy and his parents had let him but the moment he was asleep, Magnus had brought him back to his own bed where Max had already slept soundly.
What made Rafael's anxiousness worse was when the next day, he woke up and his Daddy hadn't yet. Alec had unintentionally slept in due to exhaustion from last night but Rafael had a bunch of thoughts of his own. So many scenarios played inside his mind and they were all from his repressed memories when he was a little orphan boy in Argentina. He had screamed his lungs out that day which instantly alarmed Magnus, Max, and the snoozing Alec. It took a lot to calm the hysterical boy but after a lot of hugs, kisses, cuddles, and assurances, Rafael was back to normal.
"Daddy is just tired, Rafe. Nothing bad has happened, okay?" Magnus kissed Rafael's forehead first and then Max.
"Should we wake Daddy now to make sure he's really, really okay?" Rafael seemed reluctant to believe his Ayah's verification.
"Oh, we will absolutely wake Daddy up after we're done bathing because…I have a surprise for him. I'm in need of two assistants though. Hmmm…where can I find two willing helpers at such a short notice?" Magnus pretended to be in deep thought.
"Me, Ayah…me!" Max was so eager, the water splashed wildly in the tub.
"I wanna help too, Ayah!" Rafael raised his hands up and waved to get Magnus' attention.
"Well thank you, children. My plan is fifty percent complete now thanks to you." Magnus said with a huge smile and picked up both his sons out of the tub. He wrapped both of them in big, white, fluffy towels and stood in front of the huge floor to ceiling bathroom mirror. With a snap of his fingers, all three of them were now fully dressed and looking impeccable. Rafael was dressed in a blue t-shirt — the same shade as Max's skin — and light brown khakis, whereas Max appeared dashing in a dark brown t-shirt and navy blue jeans.
Dress to impress.
It was Magnus Bane's motto for himself and his children.
With the exception of Alexander of course, whose choice of clothing was none other than the color black.
"We look absolutely marvelous." Magnus twirled in front of the mirror to make a statement, causing his children to follow his action.
"Marlous." Max repeated, but couldn't seem to pronounce the word correctly. He giggled when he couldn't twirl perfectly like his Ayah and stumbled into Rafael's arms who was always by his side to catch him.
"It's time to wake the sleeping beauty named Daddy." Magnus grinned, carrying Max and Rafael one on each arm to the dining table.
"Good morning…" A deep voiced all of a sudden greeted the little family.
Magnus was beaming when he saw who the person was. "Ah, Alexander…good morning indeed. I'm glad you finally grace us with your presence, dear." He teased.
Alec's face turned red as if he was caught doing something despicable. "Sorry I overslept."
Magnus clicked his tongue in disapproval. "There's no need for you to apologize. All is well. Did you sleep well? I was about to wake you before you showed up."
"Yeah, I did." Alec walked toward Rafael and kissed the boy's forehead. He then took a seat beside Max and kissed the boy too. "Were you being good boys to Ayah earlier?" He asked his sons who seemed fidgety for some unknown reason.
"Of course, Daddy." Max gave his Daddy the side-eye. He appeared a bit offended.
Alec chuckled seeing his youngest son's reaction. The kids must have been very well behaved since he barely twitched in his sleep prior. Usually he would be woken up by their loud chatter or the noises they would make when they were playing. Nevertheless today, he hadn't heard anything. It was either he was incredibly exhausted the night before or the kids were indeed in a good manner.
Alec would always choose the latter.
"Breakfast is served!" Magnus conjured his magic easily and in seconds, the dining table was filled with food. "Bon Appétit!"
"You made Nasi Lemak!" Max was literally bouncing in his seat. His eyes were sparkling in delight. The Malaysian based dish was his all-time favorite.
"And pancakes too!" Rafael barged in, clapping his hands.
"M-Magnus!" Alec sputtered in disbelief. He didn't share the same excitement as his children.
Magnus rolled his eyes, knowing exactly what was on Alec's mind. "Don't fret, love. I didn't summon any of them from any eateries if that's what you worry about. I cooked them myself."
Alec appeared taken aback. "You cooked?"
Magnus rolled his eyes again. "Yes, Alexander…is that so hard for you to grasp?"
"W-Why?" Alec stuttered. It wasn't that Magnus a bad cook, he was actually a great one but he rarely cooked for breakfast. In the years they were together, Alec could count exactly how many times Magnus had cooked breakfast. He often conjured them from someplace though so that didn't count.
"I can't cook for my boys now?" Magnus narrowed his eyes but there wasn't any heat in them. "I can't feed my boys till they're full and happy anymore?"
"Of course you can."
"Then, what is the problem, Alexander?"
"There are so many foods!" Alec let out a very unmanly shriek. "The four of us certainly can't finish all of these!"
"We can always call Jace over to finish them…" Magnus said nonchalantly as he finally sat next to Rafael.
"Why did you cook so much?" Alec was still flabbergasted seeing all the food in front of him.
"Eat, Daddy." Max mumbled, with mouth full of food. "It's good."
Alec wiped Max's mouth with a napkin. "I'm going to, buddy."
Munching happily, Rafael glanced at Alec. "Hurry, Daddy. We got plans."
"Are we going somewhere upscale? You and the boys are all dressed up." Alec rubbed the back of his neck nervously as he ate a piece of bacon because while his family was in immaculate clothes, he was only in his boxer.
Unearthly blue glow appeared from Magnus' fingertips and the lights in the room were instantly turned off, replaced by candles all over the dining room floor. Max and Rafael promptly abandoned their food to observe the candles closely. Alec sucked in a deep breath as Magnus got up from his seat and stood in front of him before getting down on one knee. It was a miracle he didn't choke on the bacon he was eating.
Alec could feel his heart beating wildly. "M-Magnus…w-what are you…what are you d-doing?"
Kneeling on the floor, Magnus took Alec's hand in his trembling one. "Alexander, you're the best thing that had ever happened to me in 400 years. When I first saw you all those years ago, I was instantly captivated. You were so shy and oblivious back then and it only made me want to try harder just so that I can get to know you. You give me love, you give me a family…something I hadn't had since I was two. It takes me 400 years to finally meet you and I'm not planning to let you go. I've made the mistake once and I'm not gonna be the fool who let a man as precious as you slip through my fingers. I'm never gonna let you go ever again."
Magnus stared into Alec's stunning hazel eyes. The exquisite hazel orbs seemed like they were hiding the secrets of the universe. "You told me that I was your firsts of so many things, that I'm your first love. You aren't my first, but I want you to be my last, Alexander. I know I want this and I'm sure about it but I wanna make this right, the way you deserve." He paused briefly. "I know how much you hate PDA, how you don't like strangers interfere with your life but you love your family so much…especially this little family we've created together. I wanna the entire world to know that you're mine, Alexander, so…"
Seeing their Ayah in that position, Rafael and Max ran back toward their parents and stood beside the kneeling Magnus. Alec tore his gaze away from Magnus for a moment. Only then he noticed his children's outfit. Both boys were wearing the same printed shirts but in different colors.
And written on those shirts in bright yellow neon was…
Daddy, will you marry our Ayah?
"Alexander Gideon Lightwood…will you marry me, Magnus Bane?"
A/N 2: Anak-anak means children. Anak means a child. :)
A/N 3: Thank you so much for reading. I truly appreciate it. Comments, kudos, bookmarks, subscribes, etc. are always welcome. :)