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fanficsaremylifeline · 5 years

Text

Back to the Future

On AO3:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/20668217

*****

“Dad, Rafe took my book!”

“I’m just borrowing it”, Rafael snickered as he held the book high over his head. His little brother tried to claw at him, tried getting the book back down, but Max stood no chance. It was really funny, Max was so angry that his normally blue face turned purple.

“Rafael, stop teasing your brother”, Dad called from the kitchen.

“I’m not teasing, we’re training”, Rafe claimed, very aware that it wasn’t exactly what they were doing, and it was definitely not his intention to teach his brother any fighting skills.

“Oh, if we’re training….” Max’s eyes lit up and his purple magic-thingy started lighting up all around him.

“Oh, no, no, that’s not fa… AAAAH!”

Max threw himself at his brother with everything he had, taking both of them down.

“BOYS! If you break anything you’ll be in serious trouble!”

Rafe heard Dad walk over, but he was too busy wrestling with his brother, who seemed to be positively buzzing with magic.

“Uh, Max, might want to dial it down a notch, alright?”

“DON’T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!”, Max cried out and all of a sudden, the entire living room seemed to burst into purple flames and Rafe just squeezed his eyes shut, hearing only his brother’s screaming and the magic whooshing around them.

And then it all dropped away. Cautiously, he glinted through and half open eye, finding they were outside, between a bunch of trees; Max was still lying on top of him. Great, another fight-turned-involuntary-portalling. Max really had to learn to get a hold of his magic, get it under control; this was the third time this month he had gotten so mad that he portalled them away.

“Where did you portal us to?”

But his brother didn’t answer.

“Max?”, he tried again. “MAX!” With all the power he could muster up, Rafael rolled Max off him, who lay motionless beside him.

“Hey, ven para acá; open your eyes, you blue idiot!”

But nothing. Thankfully, he had a steady pulse and breath, maybe he just overexerted himself. But while portalling through the city? Taking a better look at their surroundings, Rafe could see that the portal brought them to a field, not far from the institute. During the summertime, they often trained out here, so since they were fighting, his subconscious must have brought them here.

Well, then Rafael’d carry Max to the institute to get him checked out and call Dad or Papa to pick them up. Man, Rafe was strong for a thirteen-year-old, but Max wasn’t that much smaller than him, so it took Rafael twice the time it usually did to get to the institute.

And then it got weird: he couldn’t get in. Normally, the doors would just open for them, their father was head of the institute after all and all wards were created to accept Max’s magic, hell, most of the time Max helped Papa with the wards!

So, he had to wait awkwardly after ringing the bell, kneeling down with Max’s head in his lap.

Finally, the door opened. “What’s going on here?”

So relieved to hear Aunt Izzy’s voice, he looked up, only to stop dead in his movements. That wasn’t Aunt Izzy. Yes, she sounded like her, looked like her, but that woman in front of him was no older than twenty.

“What happened to him?” She kneeled down and gently stroked Max’s head.

“I’m not sure. We were training and all of a sudden we’re here and he’s passed out.” Rafael was close to tears. First Max is unconscious and now Aunt Izzy isn’t really Aunt Izzy.

“Hey, it’s alright”, she assured him, “he’ll be up and running in no time.” She gently took the little Warlock in her arms and motioned for Rafael to follow her. “I’m Isabelle by the way.”

“I’m Rafael. This is Max.”

“Oh, that’s funny, my brother’s name is Max, too.”

Yeah, guess why Blue over there is called that. Wait, was Uncle Max still alive? Dad told them that his little brother, after which Rafe’s little brother was named, died around the time Rafael was born. So, how did Aunt Izzy talk about him like he was still alive?

“Izzy, what’s going on?”

Rafael couldn’t remember a time he was happier to hear his Dad’s voice, even if he sounded super grumpy. He just wanted to run over there, bury himself in his Dad’s arms, let the tears run wild; all while Dad would hold him close, gently tousle his hair, telling him how everything would be alright. But when he turned the corner, his hopes dropped: That wasn’t his Dad, not really at least. Just like Aunt Izzy, he was way too young. He also felt different. Like, he was so grumpy, the pure commanding Shadowhunter, something Rafael only saw on Dad when there was a big mission.

“Who are they?”, he demanded to know and if Rafe wasn’t devastated a moment ago, he was now. WE ARE YOUR KIDS, DAMNIT!

“They were just at the door; we need to get this one to the med bay.”

“Ok, you take him there and you”, he turned to Rafael, “answer me some questions.”

“No”, he refused, “I’m not leaving him alone.”

“It’s just for a little…”

“I’M NOT LEAVING MY BROTHER!”, Rafael yelled and determined, he grabbed the little blue hand.

“Your brother?” Both Izzy and Dad’s face fell at that and Rafe just nodded silently in response.

“Alright then”, Dad shrugged, “let’s get to the medbay while you tell us how a Shadowhunter and a Warlock are siblings.

Because of you, you idiot! Rafe wanted to shout. He’d never say something like this to his Dad’s face, but that wasn’t his Dad, now, was it?

But it brought the next problem. He couldn’t just tell them their story; he didn’t even know where they were! Was it a parallel world? But Aunt Clary went to a parallel universe once, and what she told them sounded very differently to this here. The only difference was, that everybody was a lot younger. So, they probably travelled to the past. And that was nothing, he could just explain to them. What was Rafe supposed to say? “Hey Dad, we’re your kids. From the future.” Uncle Simon would believe him, he was enough of a nerd and geek to buy into all that time travel stuff. But that wouldn’t help them get back!

Overcome with a very sudden burst of homesickness, Rafe couldn’t stop the tears anymore.

“Hey, kid, everything will be alright”, Dad assured him and put a hand around the teens shoulder. Even though it wasn’t really Dad, it felt just as soothing and helped Rafe calm down.

“I’m Alec”, he introduced himself.

Yeah, no. Rafe would not call his Dad by his first name.

“I’m Rafael. That’s Max”, he eventually got out. “We’re adopted, that’s how we’re siblings. We were fighting and suddenly we’re out on that lawn and Max is unconscious. So, I brought him here.”

“Very smart, Rafael”, Aunt Izzy praised him. “That must have been one hell of a portal, it completely drained his magic. He’ll be out for a little while, but he’s alright.”

“Good”, Rafael smiled, “I guess we’ll just take over a guest room for the night.”

“Uhm…” Dad hesitated, looking from one to the other. “It’s just, Downworlders aren’t allowed to stay here.”

“WHAT? SINCE WHEN?”

“Since always?”, Dad explained, pulling his face into the same grimace he did when Max introduced them to his imaginary friend Saskatoon. Apparently, he was a green, feathered Seelie, why he was named after a Canadian province, nobody knew. “It’s the same rule as in every other Institute.”

Man. They really landed in the dark ages, didn’t they? Unbelievable…

“Well, I’m not leaving his side”, Rafael made clear.

“Alec, the boy just needs a place to sleep.”

“Yeah, you’re right”, he agreed with Aunt Izzy and carefully scooped Max into his arms. “Come on, Rafael, I’ll show you were you can stay the night.”

After being repeatedly assured that Max was alright, Rafael followed Dad out to the dining hall. Until a few moments ago, he hadn’t even realized how hungry he was, all overshadowed by the worry for his little brother.

“You the little Shadowhunter with the Warlock brother?” Uncle Jace put his spoon down and eyed Rafael curiously.

“I’m Rafael”, he nodded, sitting down next to Dad, just opposite Uncle Jace.

“So, these strange kids just happen to show up when we found the Cup and you let them right in. The fuck is wrong with you?”, he hissed.

“Dude, watch your language”, he answered with a nod towards Rafael. Yup, this was his Dad right there.

“For reals?” Uncle Jace raised his eyebrow, shooting Dad some very quizzical looks.

“Jace, they are kids in need of help. What, I’ just gonna leave them outside?”

“Or maybe Valentine send them to infiltrate the Institute.”

“Says the guy doing the same with Valentine’s daughter”, Dad scoffed.

Oh, they had to be kidding him! What’s wrong with them? “Right”, Rafael interrupted the bickering, “of course we’re working for Valentine. Especially my little warlock brother loves working for someone who hates Downworlders to that extreme a degree. And why wouldn’t I be in league with someone who caused my family nothing but pain and is responsible for me being orphaned and living on the streets for the first five years of my life?” Ok, technically that was on Jonathan. But Jonathan was on Valentine, so… “So yeah, we’re definitely working for him. Dios mio”, he added with a quiet grumble.

At least now Uncle Jace was quiet and Dad patted Rafe’s shoulders. He felt quite proud of himself and happily dug in.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

“Ok, dude, seriously. We have more urgent business than looking after some weird brothers who just happen to show up on our doorstep.”

“Keep your voice down.”

Alec and Jace were leaning against the wall just outside the guestroom, after quickly checking in on the two sleeping kids. The Shadowhunter boy was wrapped around the Warlock kid, holding him close; he was really protective of his little brother. And weirdly enough, Alec felt the same way about those kids. Which went against every fibre of his training, his entire being. He should be worried about Valentine spying on them, but instead he just wanted to call up every institute until he found their parents.

“What, you going all soft and fatherly on them?”, Jace snorted.

“Shut it.”

“No, I mean you are engaged now, domesticity might come in handy. But, if you do want to reconsider”, Jace winked as he walked away past Alec, “looks like the Shadowhunter-Warlock-combination works out pretty good.”

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

When Max managed to open his eyes, he found himself wrapped up in Rafe’s arms.

“Rafa?”

His voice seemed to have woken him he groggily opened his eyes but started to smile as soon as he saw Max. “Hermano! Been sleeping enough, haven’t you?”

Max got out of his brother’s arms and wearily sat up. “What happened? Are we at the Institute?”

“Sorta…” Rafe had a skew grin on his face and stared on his fingers.

“What happened?”

“You portalled us back to the past.”

“I did WHAT?”

“Shhh”, Rafe tried shutting him up, “nobody can know! It’s the beginning of the Mortal War, Uncle Jace is a bobo and as far as I can tell, Dad and Papa aren’t together yet.”

“I…” Max was completely dumbfounded. What did he do? How, and… Shit. He messed up. He messed up big time! “I’m sorry”, he choked out as the first tears started rolling down his cheek.

“Hey, it’s ok, it’s alright!” Rafa wrapped his arms around Max and soothingly rubbed his back. “We’re gonna figure out how you did this and find a way back home, alright?”

“Ok”, Max sniffled, pressing his face against his brother’s shoulder. Focusing on Rafa’s breathing, he even managed to calm down a little bit and leaned back, wiping the tears off his face. “Wait.” Slowly he processed everything Rafael had just told him. “Uncle Jace is a bobo?”

“Yeah, listen, things are all sorts of trippy. Downworlders aren’t allowed in the institute and they actually think we’re Valentine’s spies.”

“Seriously?”

“I tell you, dude, we landed in the dark ages.”

Downworlders aren’t allowed in the institute? Which was basically his home? Max didn’t even know what to think, much less what to say. He didn’t want this weird, this wrong world, he wanted his Dad, his Papa, his institute, where people were happy to see Max! “Let’s just get home”, he mumbled and climbed out of bed. Rafael was right there taking his hand.

“Let’s go and find Dad, so he can let us out, because the wards don’t accept you yet.”

“This place is terrifying.”

And it was even worse. The looks Max got were pure poison. Rafael had his arm around him and Max tried his best to hide behind his older brother, but it was brutal. Yes, Papa told him that a few years ago Nephilim weren’t really big fans of the Downworld, but this? This was hatred, pure and simple. And for the first time in ten years, he was scared to be at the Institute, a place where he should feel safe and at home!

He was just so damn glad that Rafael kept it together so well, getting them both through this; if it weren’t for Rafa, Max would probably be balled up on the ground, crying his eyes out.

They eventually found Dad in the armoury with Aunt Izzy and Uncle Jace.

“Just remember”, Raf hissed over before they walked inside, “this isn’t Dad, not yet at least, so, just stay calm.”

“Mhm…” It was Dad, though! Looked like Dad, moved like Dad, sounded like Dad... Up until now, a part of him thought Rafa was just messing with him but that was Dad right there, with Aunt Izzy and Uncle Jace; all of them looking so much younger… And it took all of his power to keep from crying and running up into Dad’s arms. His brother seemed to notice and wrapped an arm around him.

“Hey, you’re up!” As they walked inside, Dad turned to them with a wide smile. “How are you feeling?”

Max couldn’t even look at his father and kept himself as hidden behind Rafael as he could, trying to hide as much of himself as he could. “’m alright”, he mumbled.

“We just wanted to say thanks and get going. After all, it’s not like he’s welcome here, so as grateful as we are for all your help, we should go now.”

“No, you’re not”, Jace decided. “Not until we know who you are, where you’re from and what your deal is.”

Rafa was right, Uncle Jace was a bobo.

“Take it down a notch”, Aunt Izzy calmed him. “Though I have to say, he has a point. You show up in the middle of chaos, you just turn up out of nowhere.”

“And no offense”, Jace shot over, “but I was hoping that Simon turning was the only Downworlder issue I had to handle. Besides the wedding”, he added with a scoff.

“Wedding?”

Max and Rafael knew about the story of Simon being turned into a vampire. But if he remembered correctly, there was no wedding.

“Well, I don’t care about Clary’s mundane, or vampire or whatever and my wedding has nothing to do with Downworlders.”

“It should”, Aunt Izzy mumbled, rolling her eyes.

“You are getting married?” Didn’t Rafael say something about their fathers not even dating yet?

“I am. What’s it to you?”, he shot back.

“Nothing.” Apologetically, Rafa raised his hands and sat back down next to Max. “Who’s the lucky one?”

“Lydia Branwell.”

“WHAT?”, the brothers cried out in unison and Rafa just kept going: “You are engaged. To a woman? What the fuck is wrong with you?”

Oh, Dad would definitely ground Rafe for ever for using the F-Word. But seriously, engaged, to a Shadowhunter woman? They never told any of them about that…

“Oh, this is nothing of your concern! So, you all are gonna shut it now, because this is officially too much. We’re gonna check all the wards and you to make sure you’re clean and then you can go.”

“I’ll call Magnus”, Aunt Izzy shrugged.

“And you two just sit and stay quiet.” Oh, yes, now he sounded like their Dad. Thankfully, Aunt Izzy got Papa here, so they could end all of this chaos. They had to, otherwise they might never be a family, ever!

“And here I go again, getting you Shadowhunters out of your messes.” Papa walked in and damn, if it was possible, he was even more dramatic and extra as Max knew him. But he looked the same! Sort of at least, the love he could usually feel from Papa was not there, instead he seemed cold and closed off. And it broke Max’s heart.

“It’s not Papa”, Raf whispered over, but he looked just as distraught as Max felt.

“Who do we have here?” Papa turned to them with a wide smile.

Not being recognized by his own Papa was worse than losing out to Rafa every time they sparred. But no, Max would not start crying right now. It was not his parents’ fault that they didn’t know them, it was all on Max. And while Rafael took charge and took care of them, he should at least keep it together, he owed his brother that much.

“I’m Rafael, that’s my brother, Max.”

“Huh.” An amused smile played over Papa’s lips. “A Shadowhunter and a Warlock. Interesting”, he remarked with a side eye to Dad.

“Can you please make sure that they didn’t screw with our wards?”

“Of course. You definitely look like hardened criminals and traitors”, Papa grinned and winked at the boys before turning around and that familiar blue magical flames danced around his fingers. Max felt the tickle, when his Papa’s magic scanned him, and basked in finally feeling something familiar, even homey.

“Well, they are clean, I’ll go and check the wards.” Papa sauntered off, brushing very closely past Dad, who actually blushed. Oh, thank the Angel, they are in love! But why would Dad get engaged to someone else?

“What is going on with Dad?”, he hissed over at Rafael, when the grown-ups were engaged in a discussion.

“I don’t know. And Papa? He’s next level pissed with him. Like, seriously pissed.”

“I know… It was nice to feel his magic, though”, Max smiled.

“You actually felt that it’s specific Papa’s?”

“Yeah”, he nodded, “it feels different from Madzie’s or Catarina’s; it’s like a thumbprint.”

“Cool! I didn’t know that.”

“Figured”, he hissed back. There was a lot of stuff about Warlocks his brother didn’t seem to know or care about, but that didn’t matter right now; they could fight when they got back home.

“Wards are alright.” Papa waltzed back in, making it a point to ignore Dad.

“Great, so we can go, right?” Rafael got up and pulled Max to his feet.

“I guess. Are you sure you’ll be alright, though?” Dad looked concerned and put his hand on either shoulder.

Can you please just give me a hug and say you love us?

“Yeah, we will”, Rafael nodded “Thanks again for everything, we really appreciate it.”

“Sure thing. Stay safe, alright?”

The brothers just nodded.

“Come on, I’ll walk out with you.” Papa nodded towards the elevator, gesturing for them to follow.

“Bye”, Max waved at his Dad, Uncle and Aunt and his hand in Rafael’s, they followed Papa outside and Max was never happier to leave the Institute and all its evil looks behind.

“So”, Papa remarked as they were a bit away from the institute, “something is going on here. Your magic”, he locked eyes with Max, “it’s like mine. We’re literally compatible. How is that?”

Uh… Max felt his face drop and looked up at Rafael, who also seemed like he didn’t know what to say, either.

“I have no idea”, Max shrugged, trying to look innocent and nonchalant, but from the grin on Papa’s face he could see that he looked right through it. Man, even though he didn’t know him yet, his Papa could read him like an open book.

“Mhm, funny coincidence”, he chuckled. “So, where are you heading off to?”

“Home”, Rafa smiled, “I miss my Papa.”

“I bet you do. Will you find the way?”

“Yeah”, Max nodded, “I’m alright with a portal.”

“Of course you are”, Papa grinned. “Take good care then, you two, alright?”

“Always. Oh, and, Magnus?” Uh, it felt weird, hearing Rafael addressing Papa by his first name. “I can tell that Alec is really into you. Completamente enamorado.”

“He is”, Max agreed, “don’t give up just yet.”

“I’ll see you two crazy kids around”, Papa smiled, turned around and disappeared through a portal.

“Uff, that was weird.”

“Tell me about it… Ok, we need to get back home, I want to see Papa and Dad in love and happy and not grumpy.”

“Maybe that’s what you need to think of, when you create the portal, not the place you want to go, but the situation you want to be put in”, Rafe suggested.

“Huh… It’s worth a try. Hold on.”

Max closed his eyes and tried to drown all his thoughts out, only thinking about their fathers and them being in love; thinking about a world where all that was wrong here was fixed; where Dad wasn’t engaged to some Shadowhunter lady and he and Papa were in love, like really in love.

He felt the portal opening and boy, this would be a rough ride.

“Hold on tight!”, he cried out and pulled Rafael in behind him and it was unlike any other portal Max had ever created or stepped through: they were pushed and pulled from side to side, it felt like they were caught in a washing machine, whirled around and all Max could do, was claw to his brother.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

What. Just. Happened? Only a few hours ago, Alec felt Jace dying, their parabatai rune disappeared. And now he was alive and happy, smooching Clary, who wasn’t his sister after all, Valentine was dead and his wish to the Angel never happened.

Magnus had just portalled them to the lawn in front of the institute, straight from Lake Lynn, back home. And Alec was just done. He wanted a nice dinner, a hot shower and then his bed. Nothing else. Maybe not nothing; if Magnus could join him, preferably at all three, he’d be completely content. But that wasn’t gonna happen, was it?

And then he heard the screams.

Just in front of them a portal opened, and two kids stumbled out, screaming loudly, holding tight onto each other. Wait, Alec knew these kids. It’s been a while, but he remembered the little Shadowhunter and his blue-skinned warlock brother.

“Are we dead?”, the little Warlock whispered, his eyes squeezed shut.

“You are not”, Jace stated. “You portalled in right in front of the New York Institute.”

“We did?” The two boys looked up at the grownups surrounding them. The smile on their faces, probably at the joy of being still alive, dropped almost immediately, though, replaced with something like defeat.

“Rafael and Max, right?”, Alec smiled, holding his hand out to pull the boys to their feet.

“Yeah”, the Shadowhunter nodded.

“So, you’re back.”

“We’re back”, Max smiled weakly, though he looked like he just wanted to cry.

“Come on in, then. You look, like you could use breather.”

“Are they still anti-warlock?”, Max asked, looking up at Magnus.

“Most of them are, yeah”, he nodded.

“Then I don’t want to”, the boy decided.

“Just glamour yourself”, his big brother suggested.

“Or you’ll come by my place this time.” Magnus opened a portal; Alec could see the living room on the other side. “All of you, get a move on and we can figure out, why the boys didn’t make it home.”

“What do you mean, not make it home?”, Jace threw in, “where have you been all these months since we last saw you?”

“Uh, yeah, long story”, Rafael mumbled, following Magnus through the portal, not letting go of his brother’s hand.

“Here.” As Alec stepped through the portal, he saw Magnus handing the kids a glass of coke each.

“Uhm”, the boys shot each other confused looks, “our dads don’t like it when we have coke during the week.”

“Two dads?”

The boys nodded.

Huh. Two men, adopting a Shadowhunter and a Warlock. That was possible? Alec couldn’t help looking over at Magnus. Fuck, he missed him so much! Alec really messed this one up and he just needed to get him back. Alec was ready to do anything; he loved Magnus after all! And if there could be a little Shadowhunter being brothers with a Warlock, and them raised by a gay couple, then he and Magnus could work this out.

“Are your dads here right now?”, Magnus shot back.

And the boys just turned bright red. “Yeah, you’re right”, Rafael nodded, not looking up at anyone, grabbing the glasses, mumbled a quiet ”thank you” and gave one to Max.

“So.” Magnus sat down on a couch, looking from one boy to the next. “You time travelled.”

“What?” The rest of the grown ups’ faces dropped and Jace started laughing. “You gotta be kidding me! Time travel? Are you for real?”

“Jace, might I remind you, that you talked to an Angel only half an hour ago?”, Magnus remarked and looked back at the kids. “Are you from the past or the future?”

It was silent for a while, the brothers stared on their fingers until Rafael mumbled: “Future.”

“Shit.” Alec’s mind was completely blank. So, time travel. What the fuck?

“What happened?”

“It was my fault”, Max admitted, a tear rolling off his cheek. “We were fighting, and I got so angry with him, because he thinks he always knows better because he’s a Shadowhunter and I’m just a Warlock.”

“What? No, that’s not true!”, Rafael threw in, turning to his little brother. “I know everything better than you because I’m your older brother!” He grabbed Max’s hands, squeezing them reassuringly and looked at the little warlock with all the sincerity in his eyes. “I don’t care if you’re blue, purple or green, I mean, you’re as awesome a Warlock as Papa!”

Wow, those two really reminded Alec of him and his siblings.

“Really?” The little blue eyes went big. “You think so?”

“Of course! You’re awesome, fantastic and my favourite brother.”

“I’m your only brother”, Max deadpanned. Maybe it was because they both were warlocks, but the way Max shook his head at his brother, reminded Alec a lot of Magnus.

“Boys, I’m really happy you guys are making up, but if you could continue…”, Jace urged them.

“You were so right”, Max shook his head, looking up and down Jace.

“Right?”, Rafael nodded with an eye roll.

“Right about what?”

“That you’re a bobo”, they shot over in unison.

“Excuse me?” Jace’s face dropped with insult and the other grown ups bit down their laughter.

“You heard us”, Rafael answered. “Seriously, you’re all so hopeless! I don’t even know what to… wait.” He turned to Alec and looked at him with big eyes. “You didn’t get married, did you?”

Now also Max looked up, and they weren’t just annoyed, it looked like they were actually afraid.

“I didn’t”, Alec shook his head.

“Ugh, thank the Angel!”, Max sighed as the boys felt back into their seats.

“Took your advice”, Magnus smiled over.

“What advice?”, Alec asked.

“Not to give you up”, he shrugged, but barely looked at Alec, his gaze dropped down on his hands.

Fuck. And then Alec goes ahead and gives it all up. He focused back on the boys, who were looking definitely worried about the two.

“Sorry, kids, no need for you to be involved in our drama”, Alec smiled, well, forced himself to smile. “How about you continue your story?”

“Ok… Well, like I said, I was so angry at him, and so we wouldn’t get in trouble with Dad for fighting, he said we were training, so I thought, might as well and wanted to portal us to the training field, because, well, last time we were training in the living room we broke some of Papa’s stuff and he was not happy.”

“But instead of just going to the training field, we landed there a few years in the past…”

“And now I only got us a few months into the future and have no idea how to travel any further.”

“Not sure we need to, though, the way things are looking”, Rafael grumbled.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”, Clary asked.

“Nothing”, Max quickly threw in, “nothing you need to know. Not yet at least.”

“Wait, so you know us?”

Silently, the brothers nodded.

“How?”

The boys stayed quiet, just shaking their heads. It was probably smart, they wouldn’t want to influence or even jeopardize their future.

“Wait.” Magnus sat up straight, his eyes wider than Alec had ever seen them. “You’re from our future and did you just say that your dad is a warlock?”

“No, our Papa is a warlock”, Max clarified.

“And our Dad… he’s a Shadowhunter”, Rafael quietly added, looking up at Alec. And all the thoughts just disappeared from his head.

“Uh, are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Izzy asked, just as in shock.

“Kids, now might be the time to tell us your last name”, Clary tasked them.

They looked at each other before answering in unison: “Lightwood-Bane.”

Alec was very aware that his chin was somewhere on the ground right now. He was gonna marry Magnus? And have kids with him?

“Hi Dad”, Max waved shily. “And hi Papa.”

Ok, Alec had to sit down right now, otherwise he’d probably faint. The only two options were either next to Magnus or next to the kids. His kids. He trudged over and sat down next to the little blue warlock. “You’re my… I mean, our kids?” Alec felt a giant grin on his face. “I’m gonna be a dad?”

“You’re a pretty cool dad”, Rafael nodded with a proud grin, “even though you’re probably going to ground us, if we ever make it back to the future…”

Alec looked up, right at Magnus, who was beaming over, his eyes shining brighter than the glow from raising the Angel. They were gonna get married. They were gonna have a family! A real family!

Magnus got up and walked over, sitting next to their Shadowhunter son. “Alexander, I have the feeling, we’re gonna hit the jackpot in our future. It definitely explains, why your magic is like mine.” He looked over at Max, who flushed a little purplish.

“You taught me”, he shrugged. “And Dad, you should see Rafa with a bow and arrow!”, he added with a proud grin and now it was Rafael’s turn to blush.

“You know, I can’t wait to see you with that one day”, Alec smiled. Wow, his heart was so full of love right now. He still didn’t know these boys any better, but Alec already knew there was nothing he wouldn’t do for his kids.

“I’m gonna be Aunt Izzy!”

Only now, Alec remembered that the four of them weren’t sitting by themselves and saw Clary, Jace and Izzy sitting on the opposite couch, beaming and smiling from ear to ear.

“And you’ll be Uncle Jace, and you’ll be Aunt Clary, and there’ll be Aunt Catarina, Aunt Maia and Uncle Simon and…”

“So the vampire is part of our future, great”, Alec deadpanned, with a grin, though. He wasn’t a bad guy and even though he’d never openly admit it, he came to like him.

“Of course”, Max nodded, “he is married to Aunt Izzy.”

“What? You’re gonna marry the Daylighter?” Wow, Mum and Dad would have a field day with their kids marrying Downworlders…

“Nah, by then he’s a Shadowhunter”, Rafe explained.

“The Daylighter will be a Shadowhunter?”

“Alec, please a little more respect for my future husband”, Izzy snickered.

“How does that work?”

“It involves a trip to Edom, our asshole demon grandpa, it’s a long story, and now that I think about it, we probably shouldn’t tell you all this”, Rafael admitted, his face getting red.

“Actually, you can”, Magnus clarified. “Once we send you boys on your way, I’m gonna have to wipe our memories of you, not to jinx your existence or anything.”

“I have to forget we’ll have a future, a family?” Even though it was filled with so much love, Alec could feel his heart breaking right now, as he locked eyes with Magnus, who shot him a small smile in return.

“I does look like we do find our way back to each other, I strongly believe in that.”

“You better, otherwise we’ll be right back to kick your asses”, Rafael made clear.

“Good. I wouldn’t want to miss out on any of this”, Alec smiled, gently patting the boys’ shoulders.

“So, Izzy, Alec and Magnus the only happily married ones?”, Jace asked, a little sheepishly.

“No”, Max nodded, “Uhm, are Uncle Luke and Aunt Jocelyn hitched yet?”

When Clary shook her head, Rafael continued. “Well, they are the next ones to get married. And yes, Uncle Jace and Aunt Clary, you also live happily ever after.”

“Aunt Clary, you’ll also get a parabatai! Uncle Simon.”

“I mean, they are almost parabatai already”, Izzy chuckled, “the rune is really the only thing missing.”

“And, important side note, Max is crushing on Madzie.”

“Am not!”

“Are too.”

“AM NOT!”

“Boys”, Magnus interrupted and they both looked up with wide eyes. Huh, he really was a dad…

“It sounds like our future is pretty great”, Alec smiled.

“We can’t complain. Which is why we’d like to get back there. Even though you’re probably gonna ground us”, Rafael admitted.

“That’s something for our future-selves to decide. But yes, I can help you get home”, Magnus nodded. “I assume the reason you landed here so many years ago was that you didn’t just think of the training field, but were mostly angry about a Shadowhunter, who was supposed to love a Warlock, being really mean. Sound familiar?” He glanced up at Alec, who felt himself flushing.

“I guess…”

“How did you get to this time, right now?”

“Rafe said I should think about the situation I want to be in, you know? So, I thought of you being in love, and not engaged to some Shadowhunter lady and that brought us here. But I guess, it didn’t work because you’re still not in love!”

“Don’t worry, Max, they are very much in love, they’re just being idiots”, Izzy shot over.

“Oh, thank the Angel!”, Rafe sighed.

“Yeah…” Alec locked eyes with Magnus and well, Izzy was right, they were being idiots. Well, mostly Alec was being an idiot. Magnus’ eyes beamed and it looked like Alec could actually hope for a reunion, could hope for them to figure all of this out, be happy and actually start a family!

“Ehem.”

Well, Alec really lost himself for a moment, Jace’s harrumph brought him back into the living room where everybody stared at them, especially the kids had wide beaming grins on their faces.

“Sorry…”

“Don’t be”, Rafe smiled, “I’m really happy that you’re being gross.”

“Anyways”, Magnus cleared his throat, “let’s get you two back home, your real home I mean.”

“Yes, please! Do I need to get angry again?”

“No”, Magnus shook his head, “I’ll help you powering up the portal. Might need some Shadowhunter strength, though.” He smiled up at Alec and his heart didn’t just skip one beat.

“Sure”, he nodded, feeling himself getting all flustered.

“Perfect”, he grinned. “Max, this is not going to be easy. I need you to imagine the apartment, the situation you were in before you left. Imagine exactly what your Dad looks like, what I look like, our future appearances, I mean. Think of how much we love you two, and how you feel about us.”

“We love you, too”, Max smiled and shit, Alec just wanted to cry.

“That’s really wonderful to hear”, Magnus beamed, Alec noticed his eyes getting wet as well.

“When you’re ready, start imagining all those things and open the portal. Then I’ll pour all my magic in it so it can send you far enough, alright?”

“Ok”, Max nodded.

“Well, I guess we’ll see you soon”, Rafael grinned at the aunties and uncle, who waved back.

“I can’t wait to finally, properly meet you”, Izzy smiled.

“Yeah, me neither”, Alec agreed. And before he knew it, the little Warlock had wrapped himself around Alec.

“You two, get in here”, he smiled at the rest of their family and Rafael and Magnus joined in their group hug.

“Boys, you’ll see us in no time at all. I guess, we have to wait a little while longer, but man, it really will be worth it, hey?”

“Totally”, Rafael agreed.

“Alright, you two, you should get going.” Alec pulled back but put a kiss on either’s head. He’s never done this for anyone who wasn’t his sibling ever before, but it felt right.

“Dad is right”, Magnus nodded, wiping a tear from his eyes and Alec felt all the butterflies at being addressed as Dad! “Alright then blueberry, you got this.”

“Yeah, I do!” He closed his eyes and Rafael held tight. Moments later, he opened a portal and Magnus held out his hand, shooting all his magic into it. Alec quickly offered his hand, his strength and with a smile, Magnus grabbed it. Alec could feel their combined power juicing up the portal and from one moment to the next, their boys were gone.

As the portal closed, everybody just fell back and they sat in silence for a while, Alec wasn’t sure how long. He was gonna have a family! He and Magnus would have a family together! This was incredible, Alec never thought he could have this.

“Ok, I need to erase our memories right now or I’ll start bawling my eyes out.” Magnus cleared his throat as he stood back up and before he knew it, his blue magic whirled through the room, pulling on all their memories.

“Don’t worry, Alexander”, he called over the whooshing of his magic, “we’ll find our way back together!”

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Magnus needed quiet and calm. He was currently busy mixing up a potion for a customer, a pain concoction for a Vamp with dental issues, which was a delicate procedure.

Unfortunately, when you had two kids, quiet and calm was not an option. And if one of those kids had magical abilities that he liked to use during a fight, it was downright impossible. They often practiced to control Max’s powers, but at ten years old, there was still a lot to learn.

And currently, the magic surging through the apartment was off the charts, the air was positively buzzing with it. Oh, that could not end well. A loud bang echoed through the loft, momentarily steeping everything in purple. That was not good. Magnus put all his utensils down and made for the living room.

Alec was already there, looking around the mess that up until a few moments ago had been their living room; but no sign of the boys.

“What happened?”

“I have no idea”, Alec answered, “they were arguing about some book and bam. Gone.”

“Alright…” Part of controlling Max’s abilities included practicing not to accidentally open portals when angry. They could be halfway across the city by now… Before he could ask for it, Alec already handed him an actionfigure of theirs to track. “Thanks.”

As often as this happened, it still didn’t make Magnus feel any easier about that. So far they had been lucky, but an uncontrolled portal could be seriously dangerous and every time Magnus had to track them after a fight, he was worried to no end where and in what state he would find them.

But no amount of anxiety could have prepared Magnus for this: they were gone. Completely gone. “No, no, no”, he stammered. He felt all the colour draining from his face and turned to Alec, who stared back with big eyes.

“What’s going on? Where are they?”

“I don’t know.” It was barely a whisper, and Magnus tried again, tried searching for his boys, but they weren’t there; nowhere to be found.

“What do you mean, you don’t know?” Alec’s voice rose with panic and he grabbed Magnus by the shoulders. “Where are they?”

“I don’t know!”, Magnus shot back, “I have no fucking clue! I… I can’t see them anywhere.”

“What does that mean?” Alexander knew exactly what it meant, he just wouldn’t want to accept it until Magnus would put it into words.

“They are not on this earth.”

After hundreds of years, Magnus thought he knew what pain and fear felt like. But this managed to annihilate the last records into nothing; it felt like all his innards were pureed.

“Ok, then we have to do something. Anything.” Alec went into overdrive, determined to save their boys. Once, Magnus fell in love with his willpower, that grit, now it only made him sad. There was nothing they could do. How was Magnus supposed to track somebody who had disappeared from the known realm? They could have ended up in Edom, or worse, stuck in Limbo. Or they were…

Magnus slumped against Alec. No, no, his angels couldn’t be… Alec wrapped an arm around Magnus. “They are alright. They always find their way back home.” He kept on repeating this little mantra, but with every repetition his voice went more desperate and the confidence died away. Magnus couldn’t fight the tears anymore, he just bit down on his tongue to keep from bawling out loud; feeling how Alec’s chest shook and heaved with suppressed sobs didn’t help.

And then, a purple flame flickered just besides them.

“MAX!”, Alec cried out, “WE’RE HERE!”

“COME ON, BLUEBERRY, YOU GOT THIS!”, Magnus yelled along.

“Can’t you help him with the portal?”

“If I send magic this way, they’ll be pushed back to where they came from”, Magnus explained. “He’s got to do this on his own.”

Magnus had to believe that Max would do it, find them again. And he did. In one big bang, the portal spewed out Max and Rafael, holding onto each other for dear life.

“Oh boys, thank the Angel!” The fathers quickly dropped down in front of the boys. “Are you alright?”

“Dad? Papa?”

“Yeah, it’s us, honey”, Magnus smiled.

They glinted through half open eyes.

“Hey”, Alec smiled at them and immediately the boys jumped up, tackle hugging them.

“It’s ok, it’s alright”, Magnus reassured them, sandwiched between their dads. “You’re safe, back home.”

And cue the waterworks. Both broke out in tears, Max sobbing against Magnus’ shoulder, Rafe against Alec’s and it almost broke Magnus’ heart.

“We got you”, he whispered, gently rubbing Max’s back. “We always got you.”

“I know”, the little warlock sniffled, “even when you don’t know us.”

Alec and Magnus shot each other a confused look. “When we don’t know you?”, Alec repeated.

“Well…” The boys leaned back a bit. “We found out that you can time travel with a portal…”

“Oh my god.” Magnus’ stomach just dropped to some very uncomfortable places.

“Yeah, it’s not like we planned it… When I portalled us, I was a little extra emotional and that kicked us back about fifteen or so years”, Max estimated.

“It was really weird. We went to the Institute, but you were all so young and you didn’t know us, and everybody was so damn unfriendly to Max, just ‘cause he’s a Warlock and then you’re engaged to a Shadowhunter lady?” Both boys looked up at their Dad, shaking their heads just like Magnus always did when Alec screwed up.

“Yeah, what’s the deal with that?”

“A big mistake I thankfully didn’t go through with”, Alec shrugged meekly.

“Yeah, you’re welcome by the way.” Proudly, Rafael puffed his chest out.

“What did you do?”

“Told Papa not to give you up. And he listened to us”, Max grinned.

“I just know when I’m talking to a genius”, Magnus winked, and Max’s cheeks flushed slightly purple.

“But seriously, the Institute was a mess! I mean, you were bad enough.”

“Not as bad as Uncle Jace, though.”

“Yeah, he was a real… bad word that I won’t say right now, because we’re probably already grounded enough”, Rafael snickered nervously.

“And then we tried to get back, but we only managed to travel a few months into the future and you two weren’t together, again”, Max groaned. “Seriously, you are like that daily soap that Papa likes so much.”

“You mean the one Papa likes in secret”, Magnus finished the sentence, blushing a little.

“Only that it’s not a secret”, Alec shrugged, grinning at his husband.

“Fair enough. But yeah, your Dad and me can be a little dramatic.”

“Understatement”, Rafe rolled his eyes. “After we told you who we really are, things got really emotional and then you, I mean the past you, helped give the portal enough power so we’d make it all the way back here.”

“Oh wow.” Alec was very lost for words.

“That sounds like we had two little guardian angels all along”, Magnus smiled, kissing each of the boys on the cheek. “Wow, we are so lucky.”

“Papa is right”, Alec beamed, “who needs Raziel when we got you two?”

#shadowhunters #max lightwood-bane #rafael lightwood-bane #izzy lightwood #alec lightwood #jace wayland #magnus bane #clary fray #alec lightwood-bane #magnus lightwood-bane #timetravel

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