Magnus and Alec walk down the hall to the boys' room, looking at each other with knowing looks. Alec reached out his hand to softly knock on the door.
"Max? Rafe? We're coming in now, okay?" Alec said, waiting for a response. When he heard a barely audible, "okay, Daddy," he turned the doorknob to open the door, and him and Magnus walked inside. Alec looked towards Magnus, and nodded his head in a "go ahead" gesture. Magnus nodded in agreement.
Magnus walked over to Max's bed, and sat down. "Hey there, sweetheart," he said in a gentle voice. "You understand why Papa and Daddy had to send you to your room, right.
Max's lip wobbled slightly, and he bowed his head down; though, Magnus could see the slight nod of his head.
Alec walked over to sit down next to them as Magnus scooped the little boy up into his arms, and sat him down on his lap. He looked over at Rafael sitting on his bed across from Max's. "Rafe, sweetheart, you can come over to here too," he said, holding out his arms for Rafael to run into. Rafael jumped into Alec's arms, and wrapped in small arms around his neck. "Hey, you two, no more long faces. Me and Papa have a surprise for you both." Max and Rafe both looked up at Alec with wonder in their eyes. Alec looked to Magnus to continue.
"How would two like to help us make pancakes for breakfast?" Magnus asked them. They both immediately spun their heads to look at him; huge smiles on their faces. "We have a lot of pancakes to make, and me and Daddy can't possibly do it all ourselves. What do you say, hm?"
"Ooh, ooh, ooh! Can we Papa, can we?" Max asked, excitement in his big, brown eyes.
Alec saw Magnus smile brightly. "Of course, Max. How about you, Rafe?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah! Let's go, let's go!" Rafael said, reaching for Alec's hand, and tugging on it.
Alec couldn't help the laugh that bubbled up inside him. "Don't worry, you'll both be able to help out plenty. You just have to promise me and your Papa that you won't fight, or cause any trouble. Alright?"
"We promise," the two boys said simultaneously, nodding their heads.
"Okay. Go ahead and wait for us in the kitchen. We'll be right out," Magnus said to them. As Max and Rafael ran out the bedroom door into the kitchen area, Magnus walked over to Alec, dropping his head onto his shoulder; exhaling a sigh of relief. "Dear God, Alexander. It's only 9:30 in the morning, and we've already had to scold one of the boys for something silly."
Alec wrapped his arms around Magnus's waist. "Yeah, well, it happens. It's all part of being parents, Magnus. My mother used to tell us stories about how me and my sister used to wake her up at 7:00 in the morning because we were doing some ridiculous thing that woke her up. It's a normal thing for kids to do," Alec explained.
Magnus lifted his head up from Alec's shoulder, and smiled up at him, reaching his hand up to cup Alec's cheek. "Hmm. Sometimes I miss the days when Max was still a little baby, and wasn't so eager to learn how to use his magic. It's hard to keep a lid on a child who's so rambunctious. I'm just worried that one day he'll want to try something while I'm not around, and he'll accidentally hurt himself, or someone else around him," Magnus said, a distressed look on his face.
Alec reached his own hand to the back of Magnus's head, trailing his fingers across the short hairs there. He felt Magnus's body slightly shiver at the slight movement. "Believe me, Magnus, I'm just as worried for when Rafael wants to start his Shadowhunter training. We typically start training young Shadowhunters when they're about eight or nine, so he has a few years to go yet, but he can still be curious about it. We just have to make sure to enforce the fact that they can't practice without one of us around, you know? I don't want what happened this morning to happen again."
"You're absolutely right, Alexander. We need to keep our boys as safe as possible while training," Magnus said, leaning his head up to kiss Alec sweetly on the lips. Alec returned the kiss, continuing to trail his fingers across Magnus's scalp. Magnus pulled away, saying, "we should get out there, Alexander. I want to avoid another catastrophe if possible," he said, a smile blooming across his face that looked like he was trying to hold back laughter, but it still looked beautiful on him nonetheless.
Alec smiled back at him, and then, out of nowhere, a big clang! sound sounded from the kitchen, followed by a fit of giggles.
Magnus cursed under his breath. "Come on, let's go!" He said hurriedly, grabbing onto Alec's hand to pull him with him out the bedroom door. Alec couldn't help the cheerful laugh that burst out of him.
I love my family, he thought to himself.
Alec and Magnus rushed out into the kitchen to see Max and Rafael playing with the various pans and bowls that were stocked in the cabinets. Alec let out a sigh of relief. At least they aren't harming themselves.
"Come on, you two, let's clean this up," Alec said, going over to help the boys put away bowls and pans. "I don't want you to accidentally hurt yourselves."
"Okay, Daddy," Max said, helping Alec put away everything, and was soon followed by Rafael going to do the same thing.
Magnus walked over to the kitchen counter to gather up the ingredients he had taken out earlier. "Max, Rafael, front and center!" He said in a mock-official voice. Max and Rafael let out soft giggles at their Papa's antics, and scurried over to the counter to meet him.
Alec got up off the floor, and walked over just in time to see Magnus make a pancake recipe appear in his hand with just a snap of his fingers. He gave Magnus a hard look. "Really, Magnus? You know that our flash drive with recipes is hanging on the refrigerator," he said, trying hard to make a disapproving face, but failing due to his mouth quivering into a smile. It's impossible for him to stay mad at Magnus for long.
Magnus put on his adorable pout. "But Alexander, you know that that's no fun. Why waste time searching through a flash drive on a computer when you can just…" he does a dramatic movement with his hands, "make one appear out of thin air."
Alec pats him on the chest. "Whatever you say, Magnus. Let's take a look at this recipe, hmm?" Magnus chuckled, and kissed Alec on the cheek. As he was reading the recipe, he heard Magnus whispering. "Your Daddy is silly, isn't he?" He heard him say to Max and Rafael.
Alec turned around with a mock-shocked look on his face. "You've turned my own children against me!" The boys started laughing at their own accord, and Magnus even let out some laughs.
"Okay, okay! Enough of this hullabaloo. Let's get started on these pancakes before it's not even breakfast time anymore," Magnus said, trying to stifle his giggles.
Alec watched as Max and Rafe were helping Magnus with pouring the flour and cracking the eggs into the mixing bowl. Magnus loved making pancakes with the boys. And Alec? He loved making waffles with them. It was a kind of a tradition in their family; some mornings they would make pancakes, and other mornings they would make waffles. Family. The word always made Alec feel so warm inside.
Alec was pulled from his thoughts at the sound of Max's voice.
"Ooh, Papa! Can I pour the milk?" Max asked, jumping up and down.
"Well, sweetheart, you've already poured the flour, so that wouldn't be fair, would it? How about we let Daddy pour in the milk?" Magnus suggested, raising his eyebrows at Alec, silently asking for a confirmation.
"I'd love to!" Alec replied over enthusiastically. "Hey Max, how about you stir while I pour?"
"Okay!" Max replied.
"I'll help stir, too!" Rafe said soon after.
Alec picked up the glass measuring cup filled with milk, and began to carefully pour it into the bowl. While Max and Rafe were busy taking turns stirring the pancake mixture, Alec took notice of a small dusting of flour on the edge of the counter. A mischievous idea popped into Alec's head just then, and he discreetly pushed the small pile of flour into his palm. He saw Magnus standing by the cabinets; starting to put some of the ingredients away.
"Hey, Magnus?" Alec called out to him, hoping the waver in his voice wouldn't give him away.
"Yes, love?"
"Come'ere. I need to show you something."
"Okay. Is everything alright, Alexander?" Magnus asked, concern lacing his voice.
Once Magnus got close enough, he opened up his palm, took a deep breath, a blew the dusting of flour right into Magnus's hair. Alec held his breath for a second, waiting to see how Magnus would react.
"Alexander! How could you do such a horrible thing to me?" Magnus screeched, a eyes so wide that it was almost comical. "I just showered, and don't you know that water and flour are a horrible combination? I jus- what are you laughing at?"
Alec was indeed laughing. He was laughing so hard that he was bent over, and clutching his stomach. "By the Angel, Magnus! The look on your face! Ha ha!" Alec exclaimed cheerfully. He saw Magnus's mouth quirk into a smirk, and then he started to laugh.
"Alexander, it's not funny!" He shouted through fits of giggles. He leaned forward to rest his head against Alec's shoulder; trying to catch his breath. "Dear God, Alexander. You're going to be the death of me," Magnus said, leaning up to place a kiss on Alec's jawline.
"I couldn't help it. You're so adorable when you laugh."
Magnus's face lit up at the compliment. "Well, you're absolutely stunning when you laugh, my dear," he said, placing a second kiss on Alec's lips.
"Daddy, Papa! I thought we were gonna make pancakes," Rafe shouted. "You're just standing there kissing."
Alec smiled brightly at that, and walked over to scoop up Rafael into his arms, and spun him around. "Oh, yeah, buddy? You wanna make some pancakes? Well, let's get cracking then," Alec said, scattering little kisses over Rafe's forehead.
Giggling, Rafael said, "put me down, Daddy! Let me down!"
Ten minutes later, Rafael, Max, Alec, and Magnus had made a full plate a chocolate chip pancakes that were stacked about a foot high.
"Oh, these look delicious, you guys!" Magnus exclaimed, looking down at the towering plate. "I don't even know which one to try first."
"Try this one, Papa," Max suggested, pointing to a rather large pancake on the side of the pile. "That is one of the ones I made."
"Alright, here is goes," Magnus said, placing it on his own plate, and drizzling some maple syrup over it.
After they finished their pancakes, Magnus got up out of his seat. "Alrighty. Since your Daddy got flour in my freshly washed hair, I need to go wash it out before we start our day. I'll only be a couple of minutes," he said, playfully glaring at Alec.
As he walked off into the bedroom, Alec smiled cheekily back at him, and got up from his seat.
"How about we clean up the table while Papa is getting ready, hmm? That way we can get our day started a lot quicker.
"Okay!" Max and Rafe said in unison.
As they were placing the dishes into the dishwasher, Alec felt a small boom drift through the apartment.
"What in the world…" Alec said to himself. Right after the rumbling stopped, Alec could hear Magnus cursing out loud from the bedroom.
"Magnus!" Alec called out, running to the bedroom to see what was wrong.
"Magnus, are you ok-"
Alec rushed into the bedroom, and stopped dead in his tracks at what he saw. The entire back wall facing the bed was covered in glitter! Alec was gaping like a fish. He noticed that even the golden bedsheets, that were normally rather shimmery, were lightly coated in glitter.
"Ah...Alexander? I, um, I can explain," Magnus said while standing by the dresser.
"Magnus! What the hell?" Alec asked, truly beside himself.
"Well, you know that glitter bath bomb I bought last month? I finally found it, but I noticed that it was starting to crumble, so I tried putting a spell on it to make it last longer. And, well, you can clearly see what happened," Magnus said, gesturing at the wall.
A/N: Thanks for reading! Make sure you leave a comment below to let me know what you thought. You can find me on Tumblr on malecbane-wood (main blog) and gracietheshadowwriter (fanfic blog).
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