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Magnus’ laughter rings through the apartment, making Alec grumble in protest. Max and Rafe’s giggles joining the mix don’t help either.
“It’s not that funny, guys. I didn’t learn how to do this stuff as a kid, okay! Halloween was for keeping all the people running around safe while out on missions, not for...” Alec trails off, gesturing at the four pumpkins sitting on the kitchen table in front of them.
Max and Rafe had watched some mundane movie that Simon introduced them to when he babysat over the weekend. And apparently some kids in the movie were carving pumpkins, so that’s all they had been excitedly talking about doing since. Magnus had promised them they would do it all together as a family, with no magical help from Papa, and Alec had come home tonight to four pumpkins in the apartment and three pleading faces that he didn’t have the slightest chance of resisting.
And look, Alexander Lightwood is good at the lot of things. He can send any demon back to hell with a perfectly aimed arrow, get a stele from his pocket to a rune in the blink of an eye and lead a whole team single handed like it’s nothing. But carving a pumpkin is clearly not one of those things.
He had been working on his pumpkin while Magnus was kneeling on the floor and carefully carving out the funny faces that the kids had drawn in sharpie. His first mistake was that he decided not to draw it out beforehand, thinking how hard could this possibly be? Except, when he steps back to look at his work, he sees a mess. Not a cute one either, just a horrifying mess of shapes that don’t look like anything close to a face by any stretch of the imagination.
Hence, being ridiculed by his own family when Magnus finished and all of them looked up to see what he had done.
Magnus stands up after a moment, schooling his face into something resembling inquisitive and looking at the pumpkin with a hand on his chin. “It’s... it’s not bad, Alec. It’s um,” Magnus bites his lip, trying to control the mirth threatening to burst out again. “It’s cute!” he says, finishing his thought with difficulty.
Rafe nods empathically, patting Alec on the back in a sympathetic gesture. “Yeah, Dad, it’s cute!”
Max, their youngest, who still hasn’t quite grasped the idea of softening the blow, wrinkles his face. “It’s really bad,” he whispers too loudly to Rafe.
Alec sputters, joining in the laughter this time when Magnus is unable to control himself anymore. The two of them make the mistake of glancing at each other, which makes them laugh even harder, until tears are streaming down both of their faces. The kids use the opportunity to add to the cacophony by jumping up and down and giggling along.
“Hmm,” Alec says with a look of mock seriousness on his face when they both finally manage to stop laughing, “I guess I’ll just have to steal someone else’s then.”
He leans in and snatches up Max’s pumpkin, pretending to examine it. Max squeaks in protest, jumping up and down to try to grab his pumpkin back.
“Dad no! I made that and it’s mine,” he whines, trying to jump higher as Alec moves the pumpkin up towards the light, as if he needs to see it better. Magnus watches them fondly from where he is leaning against the table, shaking his head. Rafe on the other hand, is alert and on protection duty, raising his arms slightly so he can use his body to cover his own pumpkin that is still on the table.
“Okay, okay, I’ll let you keep it, even though you called mine bad. Because I’m nice like that,” Alec says, kneeling down to hand Max’s pumpkin back and ruffle his hair. The kid grins widely and sticks out his tongue at Alec, clutching his returned prize against his chest like he’s afraid someone will try to grab it again.
“Alright, my little troublemakers, let’s put these outside with some candles in them and then it’s bedtime,” Magnus says, moving to grab his and Alec’s pumpkins.
Alec squints down at his sad creature that definitely deserves to be tossed in the trash. “Even mine?”
“Of course,” Magnus says, nodding with a mock serious expression, “no pumpkin left behind on my watch.”
“My hero.” Alec rolls his eyes, putting his hand to his chest dramatically.
Once they put out the pumpkins as per the request of Max and Rafe, who wanted everything to be done just like in the movie , Alec takes them for their baths while Magnus takes care of the clean up with his magic and gets ready for bed.
They had realized that Magnus was a little too indulgent of all the games the kids wanted to play for weekdays while in the bath and before he’d know it, it would be an hour later, and the two would come out all pruney and way past their bedtime. Alec was the no nonsense parent, when he needed to be, so they were in and out, squeaky clean and dressed in pjs in no time. Magnus meets them in the bedroom that the kids share, the two sides of the room dedicated to each of them. Rafe is obsessed with space these days so his side has posters of NASA, glow in the dark stars on his ceiling and model rockets. Max is in his dinosaur phase so everything is dinosaur themed, down to the pjs he’s wearing that night.
Magnus watches them from the door as Alec reads them a story, the three of them too wrapped up in the tale to notice him as he takes a moment to bask in the feeling of peace the sight brings him. When he replays the events of the night in his mind, he can hardly believe how ridiculous their lives have become. But they also fill his chest with a buoyant sense of joy and rightness that let him know he wouldn’t choose any other life but this one with his Alexander, Max and Rafe.
Alec looks up when the story is done and notices him standing there, his face breaking out into a warm smile. He closes the book with a soft snap and eyes the kids who look ready to start pouting about how that story wasn’t enough and they need another one.
“Alright, you two have stalled enough. Papa looks like he wants to tuck you guys in and then it’s lights out.”
The two of them start to protest but a look that means business from Alec is all they need to quiet down and settle into their beds. Magnus smooths his hands over the blankets, tucking them in fully. He gives them each a kiss on their foreheads and a whispered “I love you”. Alec follows with the same before wishing them goodnight and turning out the lights. He lets out a relieved sigh, leading Magnus by the hand down the hall to their room.
They settle into bed, finding their comfortable positions against each other easily, their bodies trained to do so through practice.
“We have got to stop letting Simon babysit. He always fills their head with some random Mundane stuff that we then have to indulge.”
Magnus chuckles, carding his hands through Alec’s hair soothingly. “You’re just saying that because you’re a pumpkin destroyer.”
The joke earns him a jab at his side but also a bark of a laugh.
“Whatever, I’m good at a lot of other things. I don’t need to be good at carving some stupid pumpkins.”
“Mm, well, I can think of at least one thing you’re really good at that might take your mind off things,” Magnus replies, tilting his head back to grin at Alec mischievously.
Alec rolls his eyes at his ridiculous husband and closes the distance between their lips.