Chapter Text
Magnus was out with his son, Max, in the mall as he was doing a little shopping because it’s been quite a long time since he allowed himself to go out and enjoy himself a little bit. The divorce took a lot out from him - Camille was relentless, but in the end he got the custody of Max and he was very glad about that. Camille was never the mother type, she was always busy going out and taking care of herself, so he didn’t understand why she was going after Max; it was probably because she wanted to show Magnus that she was better than him and wasn’t thinking of their poor son at all. Magnus shuddered and then just smiled as he looked over at Max, who was standing down and looking up at him. Magnus had a shopping cart and he grinned because he knew that Maxie wanted to go in for a little ride. The boy recently turned two and he was the happiest little toddler there was. It was kind of hard being a single father and to be working, but with the help of his friends, he managed to do both of it very successfully.
‘’Maxie, wanna go ride in the cart?’’ asked Magnus and the boy happily giggled and nodded. Max loved being in there and then sorting the items in it, putting it to the side. Max was a very tedious child and Magnus happily leaned down and picked up the two year old, putting him inside of the cart and the boy was already in the shopping mode. Magnus smiled proudly, he got that after him. At least that was what he liked telling himself and he just smiled. ‘’Okay, little man, let’s go out for a little ride. If you see something you’d like, tell Papa okay?’’ asked Magnus and Max nodded. Magnus was spoiling his kid way too much, everyone was telling him that, but what was he supposed to do? He and Camille had just divorced, Max needed something to take his mind of things, even though he didn’t really understand what was going on around him. Still, Magnus wanted to provide him with the best things only!
So, the shopping trip began and Magnus was watching with joy in his heart just how busy Max was with looking around, seeking out the items that they needed. Magnus had the shopping list ready, telling Max to look for different items and he always allowed the boy to find them - it was also a great teaching experience for the toddler; he was picking up new words more and more lately. ‘’Papa, bananas!’’ cried out Max and then pointed in front of him when he finally spotted bananas and Magnus happily smiled, praising his son and he then went over to the fruit section, Max happily clapping as he was very proud with himself.
‘’Very good job, Maxie,’’ said Magnus and then hummed. ‘’Okay next item is milk,’’ he said and Max nodded. ‘’Do you think you can search that for me?’’ he asked and Max nodded happily and he was looking around the place, Magnus cackling along because Max was adorable and he was happily sighing. Times like these really were perfect, spent with only his son and he was going to take a left at the next aisle, but he heard someone crying and he stopped. The crying seemed to gain Max’s attention as well and he started looking around. It sounded like a child crying and Magnus pressed his lips together, slowly walking into the direction of the crying sound and he was soon able to locate it. Not too far from him stood a little boy, his hair was black and curly, and he was alone - where were his parents? Did the poor boy get lost? Max looked concerned as well and he looked at Magnus in the manner of Papa, what shall we do?
It was kind of a tricky situation and Magnus didn’t want to scare the boy away, so for the time being he decided to just stay in the closeness of him, but he didn’t get too close and he just watched; maybe the kid’s parents were just around the corner, but as a few more minutes passed and the boy continued crying, Magnus just had to step in and ask what was wrong. If he was really lost, he was going to need to get help. He would want someone do that the same for Max if the situation was reversed. ‘’Hello,’’ said Max, trying to approach the situation with a smile, but the boy flinched and his crying got even louder. Great. ‘’Hey, it’s okay, no need to cry,’’ he said, trying to remain calm and he slowly leaned down, squatting down. The boy wasn’t much older than Maxie, maybe a year, but not by much and he then clasped his hands together. ‘’Um, where are your parents?’’ asked Magnus slowly and the boy continued crying.
The crying seemed to have an affect on Max as well because he also started tearing up and soon Magnus was in the company of two bawling children and people were staring. Staring, but no one was kind enough to come in for help. People sucked! So, Magnus needed to improvise and he quickly took Max out of the cart, rocking him in his arms, trying to calm him down. ‘’No, no, come on, Blueberry, there’s not need to cry, is there? All is okay and-’’
‘’Owwie?’’ asked Max and pointed at the boy and Magnus finally realised why he was crying; he thought that the boy was hurt and it touched him to the point of crying? Magnus quickly shook his head because the boy didn’t appear to be hurt and he then went to the other child. In the meantime, he stopped crying, but his hazel eyes were still filled with tears and Magnus took in a deep breath and then looked at Max, who has also calmed down. Okay, now let’s try approaching this again!
‘’Are you lost?’’ asked Magnus and the boy finally nodded. Magnus cursed mentally and then started looking around. The boy started tearing up again, but Magnus quickly calmed him down. ‘’No, no, don’t cry, I’ll help you find your parents, okay?’’ asked Magnus and the other nodded, biting onto his lip and Magnus gave him a broad smile. ‘’Good boy. My name is Magnus and this is my son, Max,’’ said Magnus and Max sniffled in Magnus’ arms and then hiccuped. ‘’Come on, wave, don’t be shy, Blueberry,’’ said Magnus and Max slowly extended out his little hand and waved to the boy, who was looking at the two of them and slowly the tears were gone. It seemed that seeing Max in Magnus’ arms helped him calmed down - that man was a father too, so he felt a lot safer. ‘’Do you want to tell us your name too?’’ he asked, but wasn’t going to push it.
‘’Rafe,’’ muttered the boy. ‘’Rafael Lightwood,’’ he continued and pointed to himself. Amazing, he knew his last name too, it wasn’t going to be that hard searching for his parents! ‘’I lost my dad,’’ he said, finally breaking out of his shell and Magnus gave him a little nod.
‘’I promise that I’ll help you look for him, okay?’’ asked Magnus and Rafael slowly nodded, looking at Max. It seemed that Rafael was much more comfortable looking at Max than the adult and Magnus acted quickly. He slowly placed Max onto the floor. ‘’You’ll be soon with your dad, we just have to go to the nice lady that will help us look for your dad, okay?’’ asked Magnus and Rafael froze up. As expected, he didn’t want to leave with him and he then took in a deep breath. He didn’t say anything, but Rafael shook his head. ‘’Do you remember where you last saw your dad?’’ asked Magnus, remaining patient and the boy started thinking.
‘’There,’’ he said and pointed to the aisle with snacks and Magnus rubbed the back of his neck. Maybe they could go looking for his father? Take a little walk around the mall? But that was highly unlikely, he didn’t want to leave with Magnus, he didn’t trust him, which was good actually.
‘’Okay, that’s a good start,’’ said Magnus and the boy beamed - he seemed hopeful. ‘’Can you describe your dad to me?’’
‘’He’s this tall,’’ he said and stepped onto his tiptoes. ‘’My dad is a giant,’’ said Rafael and Max started giggling. His giggle made Rafael smile as well. ‘’And-and he likes colour black and has black hair like me,’’ he said. ‘’He,’’ said Rafael. ‘’Makes yummy food for me,’’ he said. ‘’And he’s afraid of spiders,’’ he said, concluding his story and Magnus was laughing softly.
‘’So, he’s a huge dark haired, scared of spiders giant… who can cook,’’ said Magnus and Max was giggling again. That seemed to bring out a smile on Rafael’s face and he then nodded. It made Magnus relieved that the boy was smiling and he then straightened himself up and started looking around for this… giant. He should be easy to spot. Or not. Magnus was trying to seek out for the boy’s father and Max stepped closer to Rafael, who was looking at him curiously. Max extended out his hands and then sighed. Rafael giggled and then pointed to his hat.
‘’You have a cool hat,’’ said Rafael and Max looked up. He reached up and took off the hat from his head and gave it to Rafe, who was in awe and he placed it on top of his head. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out his car toy and gave it to Max. ‘’Here,’’ he said and Max took it.
‘’Thank you,’’ said the younger boy and then glanced at the car. ‘’I love cars, go broom broom,’’ he said Max.
‘’And beep-beep,’’ said Rafael.
‘’Beep, beep!’’ exclaimed the boy and Rafael giggled.
Magnus was lost in the search for the giant that he didn’t see the boys playing for the first few minutes, but then he smiled broadly when he saw the boys talking to each other and he pressed his lips together. Precious! And just as he looked up, there in the distance by the frozen food he saw a very dishevelled looking giant. ‘’Giant!’’ he hollered out so that the entire mall heard him and the giant glanced over at him. ‘’Yes, you, I have-’’
‘’Oh, thank God, Rafael!’’ yelled out the Giant and came running to them, worried sick. Alec was looking all around the mall. He was shopping with Rafael and at one moment, he was there and then when he turned around, Rafael was nowhere to be seen. He felt horrible, like the worst parent ever, the guilt eating him alive and he was looking all around the store. He didn’t really know what to do, he was worried sick. It would be best if he went searching for help with the staff of the mall, but he wasn’t thinking straight at all. He was running around the mall, looking for his son, out of breath and he was never going to forgive himself for something like that. He was overwhelmed and when he saw that someone was with his son, he ran over to them and Rafael perked up when he finally saw his dad.
‘’Dad!’’ he cried out happily and he ran up to his dad, giving him a big hug. Alec scooped him into his arms and just gave him a tight hug. Rafael wanted to tell him about his new cool friends, but Alec was too busy with apologising to him that he didn’t really give his son the opportunity to speak. Alec was on the verge of tears and Magnus sighed there next to him - he could feel just how much the man loved his son. And he was a giant after all because damn. Tall! A few moments have passed before Alec finally stopped and reminded himself that he needed to thank the man. He placed Rafael back down and then sniffled, wiping away the tears and he huffed.
‘’I’m… I… thank you for being with my son, I,’’ he said and then looked at the other boy. ‘’As a parent yourself, you must think that I’m a terrible father, huh?’’ he asked and then puffed his cheeks. The tears were still coming to his eyes because he couldn’t calm down after all. ‘’I’m so embarrassed, I just,’’ he was stammering and Magnus sighed softly, but Alec didn’t really give him the chance to speak as well. ‘’I didn’t even… it all happened to suddenly. I took him shopping and I turned around and he must’ve wandered off while I was looking for something and I just… I’m so sorry,’’ he said and then shook his head. ‘’Being a single father is no fun, it’s-’’
‘’Calm down, Mister Giant,’’ said Magnus and then gave him a little smile. ‘’As a single father myself, I know ,’’ said Magnus and Alec glanced up to him and then sniffled, exhaling out and then he bit into his lip. ‘’The mall is busy, kids wander off all the time, and you’re only human, so don’t be too hard on yourself,’’ he said and then gave him a little wink. ‘’So, keep your chin up,’’ he said and Alec sniffled again and then nodded. It was good to finally run into someone that understood how it was. ‘’ Breathe .’’
‘’I’m trying,’’ said Alec and then nodded. ‘’Huh? A giant, I-’’
‘’Oh, your son described you like that,’’ said Magnus and chuckled. A cute giant, this one.
‘’Oh,’’ said Alec and laughed breathlessly. ‘’I’m Alec,’’ he said and then extended out his hand and Magnus gladly took it, shaking it. ‘’And thank you so much for before!’’
‘’Magnus,’’ said the other and Alec held onto his hand for a second too long and he quickly withdrew it. ‘’Your kid is adorable, certainly has your eyes,’’ said Magnus and then smiled softly. ‘’I’m just glad everything ended up well,’’ he said and Alec nodded because if something other happened then-
‘’If my ex ever found out, he’d go ballistic and probably take me to court again,’’ said Alec and sniffled again. Magnus gave him a little look of understanding and he pressed his lips together. Also, did he say ‘he’? Magnus was interested and then rubbed his palms together because he would most certainly want to spend more time with this adorable… giant.
‘’I feel you, dislike my ex too,’’ he said and shuddered.
‘’So we have more in common than we think, huh,’’ commented Alec and then Magnus gave him a little nod. Alec finally smiled a little bit, but he was still looking rather pale and Magnus needed a plan. He needed to… calm this one somehow. The fact that he fancied him maybe gave it more meaning, but still. The cute giant needed TLC. ‘’I’m really sorry, I think we should, um, probably be going,’’ said Alec.
‘’How about if you and your son join me and Max for a drink?’’ offered Magnus because it would be such a shame. Alec perked up and the flush on his cheeks said it all. ‘’If you don’t mind it that is,’’ whispered Magnus - given that Alec was spilling so many private things to a complete stranger told him that a drink would do him good.
‘’Are you sure?’’ asked Alec, because he couldn’t believe that such a hot stranger was asking him out on a drink. It’s been more than a year since the divorce and he was single since then, but he was craving for a new start. Still, he didn’t trust people, but this one seemed to get it. And he was good looking. And kind. And was good to Rafe already and- Magnus then nodded.
‘’I’m sure.’’
‘’Rafe, how about we go on a drink with Magnus and-’’ started Alec, but Rafael already nodded and then looked at Max again. ‘’Okay, I guess he’s fully on board,’’ said Alec and awkwardly laughed. Magnus grinned and then nodded because the boys were precious. Magnus and Alec finished off their shopping at first, the boys walking in front of them, holding their hands so that they didn’t get lost! Magnus couldn’t help smiling and Alec there by his side was just flushing… also stealing glances at him, and keeping his eyes on the boys! And for the first time in a long time, Magnus experienced the full thing; pounding heart, feeling giddy inside and… ready to give love a second go.