Magnus Lightwood-Bane 101 (Malec AU)

Chapter 5

A few weeks later;

The sound of a screeching cry had both Alec and Magnus waking up in their messy bed with a startle.

"I got it, I'm going" Alec croaked sleepily as he swung his legs out of bed and rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hand.

Noah might be the quiet one during the day, but he sure as hell made up for it at 4 am.

Alec, in just his greys sweatpants and bare feet, padded out the open bedroom door and to the left into the boys' room.

"Hey, hey hey hey" he whispered as he picked Noah up, held him to his chest and bounced him softly. Nathan started to stir a little too; he was used to the sound of his brother but being in a new place again had left him a little unsettled during the nights.

Alec winced and shuffled over to Nathan's crib to put his pacifier back in his little mouth. He continued to shush Noah softly as he bounced him, settling him back down.

"Come on buddy, you've eaten, I've changed you..." Alec whispered softly.

"Is he okay?" Magnus asked tiredly as he appeared in the soft light of the boys' bedroom doorway.

"He's fine baby, it's okay, go back to bed" Alec tried to tell Magnus. But he had already stepped forward, putting his hand softly on baby Noah's back and leaning down to plant butterfly kisses on the top of his head.

"What is it Monkey?" Magnus asked soft and sweet.

Nathan must have sensed Magnus in the room because he dropped the pacifier in his mouth and let out a heartbreaking little cry.

"Heyyy sweetie" Magnus whispered as he walked over to Nathan and scooped him up, mirroring Alec's bouncing of Noah.

Alec and Magnus both sighed and laughed as they stepped towards each other, needing support. Noah and Nathan continued to babble and let out tired little cries as Alec and Magnus stood shoulder to shoulder, swaying and bouncing them. It took a good half hour or more but they finally got them back off to sleep and laid them back down softly in their cribs.

Alec and Magnus padded tiredly back to their bedroom and fell back down into bed, face first. They snuggled together under the blanket and Alec ran his curled fingers up and down Magnus' back soothingly as they drifted back to sleep.

- - - - - - - - - -

"Good Morning my 3 favourite boys" Magnus chimed as he came downstairs dressed in his black yoga pants and a green tank top, sneakers on and hoodie over his arm.

He kissed each of the boys atop their little heads, breathing in that baby smell that made him so happy he went light-headed. And then kissed Alec, sweet, soft and loving as always and sat beside him on the couch.

Alec had worked out over the last week that the best way to feed both the boys at the same time was to sit them in their walkers, with the brakes on of course, while he sat on the couch to face them. The only problem was it was killing his arms. But the boys guzzled their milk happily and that was all that mattered.

"You have time for breakfast?" Alec asked as he leaned over and rested his head on Magnus' shoulder. He was still sleepy from the restless night they'd had.

"No, I gotta go in a little early" Magnus said sadly as he took one of the bottles, letting Alec rest at least one of his arms for a moment.

"I'll be home by 3 though" he explained when Alec looked a little forlorn.

"I miss you," Alec said, "I hate that we can't both stay home with the boys" he added a little sadly.

"I know baby," Magnus said, "It's not forever. You know how the gym always gets busier at this time of year. Give it a couple of weeks and we'll be going on trips to the zoo" Magnus said, excitedly at the boys, but really still talking to Alec, "We can go to the beach and have picnics" he continued. "Just the four of us, I promise," he said, looking Alec softly in the eye.

Alec just smiled and kissed him again.

"Okay, I gotta go," Magnus said after a while as he stood reluctantly to put his arms into his hoodie sleeves. "You guys have any plans today?" he asked.

"We sure do," Alec said as he picked Noah up out of his seat to burp him. "Uncle Jace and I are gonna take the boys for a walk around the park" he explained, in that same way that made it seem like he was talking to the boys, but obviously they had no idea what he was saying.

"Well have fun" Magnus smiled before he leaned down to kiss Alec's cheek and then Noah's and then stepped to the side to give Nathan a little kiss too.

"Bye Papa. We love you" Alec cooed, waving Noah's little hand. Nathan wriggled in his seat and thrashed his arms, giving Magnus a big gummy grin.

"Bye bye my babies" he blew kisses as he walked towards and out of the front door.

He sighed as it shut behind him. It broke his heart every morning when he had to leave them, but with two growing boys, they knew they'd need the money.

Back inside, Alec scooped up both the boys and walked back upstairs to get them dressed.

He laid them both in Nathan's crib and opened up the closet.

"What are we feelin' today boys? Elephants?" he asked, turning back towards them where they just looked on and babbled, wringing their little hands and kicking their legs.
"No?" he asked, with a little pout. "How about.... spots and stripes?" he asked as he pulled out two onesies with integral vests, two pairs of tiny white socks and two little hats from the drawer.

He draped the clothes on the side of the changing table and pick Nathan up first. He laid him on the soft little changing mat and changed his diaper while Nathan was fixated on the little rubber sheep Alec had handed to him to keep him from thrashing and trying to roll over. He slipped his chubby little legs into the footless white and green striped onesie and fastened the poppers before slipping his tiny feet into his socks and pulling the little green hat onto his head.

"Look at you my handsome little man" Alec cooed as he held Nathan around his middle and stood him to look him over. He kissed his little cheek and sat him back in the crib before picking up Noah to dress him too.

He repeated the process, dressing Noah in a footless blue onesie with white polka-dots, white socks and a matching blue hat for his little head.

"And you; my beautiful little boy" he cooed, equally as smitten with Noah.

"Can Daddy get dressed now too? Yeah?" he smiled at the boys as he sat Noah back down in the crib.

He let them sit and play with their toys in the crib while he quickly went to his and Magnus' bedroom and threw on some jeans and a T-shirt.

He came back in and scooped the boys up and walked carefully back downstairs with them both in his arms and sat them in the playpen to carry on playing while he ran to the kitchen to grab a protein bar and a glass of milk for breakfast for himself; no time to put on coffee, Jace would be here any minute.

As he shovelled down his quick breakfast, he sat at the edge of the playpen talking to the boys, loving spending time with them and making them smile, but he was desperate for some adult conversation.

A knock at the door had him hopping up to his feet.

"Hey" he greeted Jace with a classic bro hug and a pat on the back.

"Hey man," Jace chuckled in response and hugged him back.

"Hey boys" Jace cooed as he walked into the living room to see them sitting and bouncing in their playpen.

"You guys ready to go?" Jace asked.

"Sure are, the stroller is in the hall, just gotta get them strapped in," Alec said, scooping Noah up.

"Need some help?" Jace chuckled as he saw Alec struggle getting the diaper bag onto his shoulder while holding Noah and trying to keep hold of his little rubber boat toy between his teeth.

Alec looked at him pleadingly. Jace just laughed a little and took Noah and the little toy from him so that Alec could pick up Nathan.

Between the two of them, they managed to strap the boys safely into their stroller, put their blankets over their laps, hang the diaper bag over the handles and put some toys and extra blankets in the basket underneath.

"One sec," Alec said, dashing off to the kitchen to grab 2 bottles and some mashed banana and peach from the fridge and 2 little spoons. He walked back with them and tucked them into the lined 'Cool-pocket' of the diaper bag.

Alec put his black hoodie on and slipped into his beaten up old brown boots.

They struggled out the door with the double stroller and set on their way to the park.

"You wanna stop by Java Jones on the way?" Jace asked as he tucked his hands into his jeans pockets.

"God yes!" Alec said, widening his eyes.

They talked and caught up on the way to the coffee shop; it had been weeks since Alec had spent time with Jace, what with the wedding and the honeymoon, the adoption, Clary's pregnancy, life was getting pretty busy, but the 6 of them would always find time for each other when they needed it; they made that promise a long time ago.

"How's Clary feeling?" Alec asked.

"She's okay, the morning sickness stopped a couple of weeks ago, so she's feeling a lot better than she did in the beginning. Only four months left to go" Jace smiled, excited but a little nervous. "Now we're both just anxious. You got any tips 'Dad'?" Jace laughed as he bumped Alec's shoulder with his own while they walked.

"Buy a lot of diapers," Alec said, jokingly but also being completely serious, "And then when you think you have enough... double it" he added. "Keep spare ones at your Grandma's house, at Jocelyn's house... hell, keep some at our house" he finished with a laugh.

Jace nodded, smiling. He was taking it completely seriously, he made a mental note to head over to the superstore and fill a cart; 'Can't get started early enough' he thought to himself.

"Hey, guys!" Raphael chimed as they walked into Java Jones, squeezing the double-wide stroller through the door. "Hey boys" he smiled, leaning over the counter to smile at the little ones.

"Hey dude, can we get 2 Americanos to go?" Alec asked.

"Sure thing" Raphael replied, turning towards the new espresso machine and getting to work.

They paid for their coffee and headed towards IdrisPark. Usually, they would head towards the gardens, maybe toss the football around a little, but now they veered off to the right and headed for the playground.

"So have you guys talked about names yet?" Alec asked as he and Jace found a bench and sat for a while, handing the boys their toys to occupy them.

"Yeah, we've narrowed it down to a few. Clary likes 'Charley' but, I don't know, I'm kinda stuck on 'Hazel-Rose' so I don't know... maybe we should get everybody to put names in a hat" he chuckled. "Do the boys have middle names?" he added before he sipped his coffee.

"Mmhmm" Alec nodded, taking a sip of his too. "Nathan's is Joseph and Noah's is Jackson," he said as he held his finger out for Noah, who was reaching forward for it and babbling.

"Can they even go on anything here?" Jace asked, looking around at some of the older children and babies, realising that the twins were much younger.

"No, not really, except maybe the little slide if we hold onto them. I just thought it'd be nice to get out of the house for a couple of hours" Alec explained, leaning back on the bench and savouring the sweet fresh air and sunshine.

An older woman, maybe in her early 50s walked by and caught sight of the two happy, chubby little boys in the stroller and stopped to coo over them.

"What beautiful boys" she smiled as they looked up at her and continued to babble.

"Thank you" Alec smiled, proudly.

"Your Daddies are very lucky aren't they?" she said softly to the boys, making Alec choke a little in laughter on the sip of coffee he'd just taken.

"Oh, we're n..." Alec started to say until Jace leaned back and wrapped his arm around Alec's shoulders.

"We are. They have my eyes" Jace smiled and Alec just pouted his lips, trying to hold in a laugh.

The woman frowned a little but smiled politely as she looked at Jace and then at each of the boys, wondering if maybe Jace was seeing something that she wasn't.

"And you have their brain capacity" Alec muttered as he sipped at his cup again, still trying not to laugh.

"Ah ha ha, Oh sweetie" Jace fake laughed and leaned over to kiss Alec's cheek" to which Alec chuckled and batted him away with his hand.

"Okay, you guys have a great day" the woman smiled, very confused as she started to carry on walking.

Alec rolled his eyes with a laugh and Jace unwrapped his arm from Alec's shoulders, chuckling too.

"Wait 'til my husband hears about you trying to claim our children" Alec joked, his eyes wide but his lips threatening a little smile.

"Are you saying you don't wanna have my babies Alec?" Jace fake pouted.

Alec just cracked up. He'd missed this.

"Should we take the boys over to the slide?" Jace suggested after they'd finished laughing.

- - - - - - - - - -

"I'm home" Magnus called as he closed the front door, taking off his hoodie to hang on the bannister end.

"Shh shh shh," Alec begged as he ran out into the hallway "I just got them both down" he whispered.

"Shit, sorry" Magnus winced and whispered.

"Hey" Alec whispered back, pulling Magnus close to him by his waist.