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Of Dragons and Cat Eyes

Summary:

In which a baby dragon is the Bane of Alec's existence. Literally.

 

(Set after 3x18)

Notes:

Hello hello hello!

I'm sure you're wondering where this idea came to be? Well, I have this little group chat on Twitter and instead of freaking out over anything happening in the episodes leading up to the finale of Shadowhunters, a dear friend of mine and I thought up this magnificent plot.

Magnus having a baby dragon? Yes please.

We spent actual hours coming up with different scenarios that would happen in this situation, and more importantly how it would affect Magnus and Alec's relationship. (In good ways of course.) Thus this was made.

I'm also happy to announce that this will be one of my first collection of stories, it will involve this dragon growing up with Malec, fighting by their sides, being apart of relationship milestones and so much more. I'm certainly looking forward to it!

I hope you all enjoy this humerous little beginning as much as I enjoyed writing it and I hope to see you all in the next part of the series :)

Mo, this is for you.

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

The reality was he wasn't that bad . At least that's what Alec had to tell himself while staring at the tiny dragon perching himself on top of Magnus’ head.

It had been a few months since their break up, he could still remember everything that happened so suddenly after it too. Magnus going dark and opening a rift to Edom, then Alec pulling him from his father's control, and Magnus having to go to back to Edom in order to close it. Alec shuddered at the memories. What a long week that had been.

Somewhere in between all of that, Asmodeus had somehow lured Magnus back to Edom, where he apparently made a few friends. Most consisting of a few dragons that were apparently a thing in Edom. There was one in specific though that had really captured Magnus' heart, and that was the one that was currently living with them in their new home. He's a small thing, scales fiery red, that sometimes when the light hit them right, would shimmer blue. He was tiny, the horns on his head curled up at the tips, and his ears were barely noticeable.

Alec remembers the first time he was introduced to the little dragon. He and Magnus had just gotten back together, the warlock was acting strange until he admitted that there was someone that he'd like Alec to meet. He certainly didn't think much about it under the impression that is was a downworld friend of Magnus'.

Alec couldn't help but gape at the red dragon making itself fairly comfortable on Magnus' shoulder. He shook his head a few times, even rubbed his eyes, because-because; That's a dragon. Not even just a Dragonidae, which Alec believes he could have handled better, a right-out-of-a-fairy-tale dragon.

Magnus stepped close to him, a smile tugging at his lips. "Alexander, this is Maalik. He's a friend that I made while in Edom." He said.

Alec shook himself back to life. "I uh. Hello?" Was his simple answer. How does one greet a dragon?

Magnus giggled into the back if his hand, "Y'know, he doesn't really know what you're saying."

As if it desired to protest to that, the dragon hissed at Magnus, a little grunt and whine being next, before it settled back onto its comfortable position on the warlock's shoulder.

"Oh yes, my apologies," Magnus said and Alec could hear the laugh in his tone.

Now the little dragon had become a permanent fixture in their lives. After the war with Edom, Alec spent a lot of his time making everything up to Magnus. It had taken Magnus a month or two before he was felt like he could trust Alec again and they continued their relationship from where it had ended. Alec spent those few months just showing Magnus that he loved him. He brought him lunch when he was working, flowers when on patrol and took him on as many romantic dates that they had time for. Eventually, Magnus told him that he was forgiven and that if Alec wanted to still, he was ready to resume their relationship.

The dragon- Maalik, had apparently not been so fond of the idea. While Alec was happy, no ecstatic, that Maalik was protective of Magnus, because he could relate to that, the dragon had seemed to see him as a threat to Magnus at times. Or at least didn't seem to like him all that much. For example, the dragon atop of Magnus' head was currently glaring daggers at him. Why? He did not know.

Chances are Magnus had probably spilled his heart to Maalik while in Edom. Alec had heard him talking to the dragon quite a bit, but mostly just meaningless rambling. And while Magnus tended to tell people that Maalik didn't know what they were saying, the Dragon actually did. Which was probably why Alec had spent the past month or so being glared at from a distance.

He truly was a pain in the shadowhunters ass. More times than he could count had the dragon stopped something from happening. He tended to just so happen to flutter down onto Magnus' shoulder when they'd be in the middle of a heated makeout session and would hiss and growl at Alec until they had no choice but to end before anything could start. Not that Alec needed sex to survive but it was certainly something that he missed doing with Magnus.

But of course, there was nothing Alec loved more than the way Magnus would smile when Maalik snuggled into his lap, or laid on the table in his apothecary while he worked. They were attached, their struggles in Edom being what brought them together, and Alec was grateful.

All he had to do, was get the damned thing to like him.

**

Alec had spent way too much time pondering on ways to get Maalik to like him, but it was pure coincidence when he discovered that he might be making a tiny bit of progress.

On some days when he didn't have a lot of paperwork and there wasn't very much demonic presence in the city, Alec would sometimes go to the roof of the Institute and shoot arrows out as far as the wards would allow him. Luckily, Magnus had enchanted his quiver to have a never ending supply of arrows so he didn't have to worry about ever running out. It was one of the more rare days where the warlock had no clients, deciding to spend his afternoon reading some old books, the sound of Alec nocking arrows and their whistle through the sky helping him relax.

Since Maalik was bonded to Magnus he inherited a few magical traits that he didn't possess before, such as portaling. It was no surprise when a portal the size of a beach ball opened up next to Magnus, the small dragon flying out of it. The portal closed behind him as he flew closer to the Warlock. Alec hummed to himself, pausing his ministrations for a brief moment before nocking another arrow, aiming in the direction of a far away building, and then letting it go. He was not, however, expecting a red blurr to rush past him in the same direction of the arrow, startling him.

Alec heard Magnus chuckle, which only fueled his confusion more, before the dragon was suddenly hovering in the air next to him the arrow he'd just shot clutched in it's small jaws. Alec couldn't do anything but stare as the dragon dropped the arrow at his feet and then proceeded to perch himself on the edge of the roof in front of Alec. He stared at the dragon with his mouth agape, listening to Magnus giggling, which was frankly too adorable, behind them before his body decided to start working again.

Alec bent down to grab the arrow, watching Maalik from the corner of his eye. His eyes widened a bit as he saw the dragon's tail begin to wag just like a dog. Despite his utter confusion, Alec nocked the arrow again, aimed and the fired. Maalik was shooting after it not even a second later.

He heard Magnus' laugh grow louder, turning just in time to see the warlock throwing his head back, legs curled up on the chair he was sitting on. Alec felt a smile tug at his lips, unable to stop himself from laughing softly along with the warlocks contagious noises. When he turned back around Maalik was staring at him expectantly, the arrow at his feet again.

Alec shook his head at himself before leaning down to grab it again.

After that Magnus would take them to a large piece of property he owned that contained miles and miles of trees, where Maalik could fly around to his heart's content alongside Magnus' panther form. Alec would train with them, shooting arrows at the targets Magnus would set up for him and others off in the distance for the small dragon to retrieve.

**

While Alec had believed that he had taken a few steps forward in gaining the dragons trust, the little shit was still determined to make it hard for him. Maalik clearly enjoyed playing fetch with Alec and his arrows but would not let it be known to many as he was once again glaring at Alec from the other side of the room.

Since the rift opening up to Edom there had been a slightly elevated appearance in demons. While Magnus had been able to shove most of the bigger ones back in through in the door before slamming it shut, he had not been so successful in keeping little ones from slipping through and staying in their realm. The influx of outbreaks had meant that Magnus had to spent more time at the Institute and since the dragon was attached to his hip, Maalik was stuck there too.

And it seemed he was convinced that was Alec's fault.

"Alec, are you sure he's not going to kill you in your sleep?" Jace asked, their parabatai bond flaring in worry.

Alec laugh as he responded, "No Jace, he's not going to kill me in my sleep. He wouldn't do that to Magnus. Thanks for being so worried though."

"He looks like he hates you," Jace said. "Like he wants to eat your limbs or something."

"Jace," Alec sighed. "He doesn't eat humans. Or their souls."

Jace's mouth snapped shut as Alec stole the words from his mouth. He shook his head, his parabatai could be a child sometimes. Alec had spent the last day looking through the Institutes never ending supply of books about demons, trying to find even just a few pages of the type of demon dragon that Maalik was, something that he could get some leverage with but of course had no luck.

"Alexander."

Alec's head snapped up from the map of pinpointed demon activity at the sound of his lovely boyfriend calling out his name. When their eyes met, Alec could help but sigh dreamily. Magnus chose to wear one of Alec's shirts today, it was just a simple black sweater that the warlock effortlessly made look more elegant than it actually was. It made Alec's heart skip a beat whenever he saw him, his slightly more possessive side was more than pleased. Even with a glaring dragon draped over his shoulder and neck, he was still the most beautiful thing in the world.

Magnus greeted him with a quick peck to his lips, which had Maalik huffing, before speaking. "I believe I figured out who your culprit is this time around."

He snapped his fingers, the screen in front of Alec changing it to what looked to be an old page from a book that he had not seem. The look on Izzy, Clary, and Jace's faces said the same thing. Magnus chuckled, waving his hand at the screen.

"Ghouls."

"Ghouls?"

"Ghouls."

Jace attempted to sputter out a response and Magnus looked at them like they were all crazy. "You've never dealt with Ghouls?"

"No. Think I've heard of them from time to time, but had really no reason to believe they were real." Alec shrugged.

Magnus stared at him for a few extra seconds, just because he was that dramatic, before letting out a long sigh. Alec watched as him and Maalik made brief eye contact, before Magnus spun on his heal. With another flick of his wrist, the screen changed to a few pictures of some down right ugly looking creatures. Their heads looked to be too big for their bodies, hunched over and with ratty clothes on their tiny bodies. Their noses elongated and ears pointy.

Izzy stepped closer to Magnus, taking an extra second to pet Maalik, before speaking. "They really aren't the most beautiful things in the word now are they?"

Magnus hummed, eyes fixed on the screen. "No. Not exactly. Now Ghouls are scavenger creatures that for the most part known to live in graveyards but are not easily found there. Which is likely why you've heard rumors about them but have yet to see one for yourself."

He turned back to the group. "They usually only feed on the dead but sometimes they get bored with the usual meal plan and choose to eat living humans instead. You need to be extra cautious though because they can take the form of anyone if they've gotten their mouth on them. Dead or alive. So don't get bitten."

"How do we kill them?" Clary asked.

Magnus smiled, Alec's heart skipped a beat which was entirely inappropriate, "Luckily biscuit, they are easily killed by decapitation."

Jace shrugged, "So this should be relatively easy then. All we have to do is find them."

Of course, as if Jace had jinxed them right there, their search had not been easy. Ghouls had proven themselves to be good at hiding, it didn't help that they could take shape of any human they wanted too. All they knew was that they had a few bodies and hoped that the Ghouls hadn't changed form since their last discovery. It had taken them another week to get an exact location, and when they did come face to face with the Ghouls, chopping their heads off was not easy.

Alec had shot just about five arrows into one of the last standing Ghouls, attempting to keep them from getting too close for comfort to his siblings and Clary. They were all fighting off their own, decapitation proving to harder than expected when the creatures could move quickly and punch if needed. As he shot another arrow into the leg of what looked to be a short blonde man, a portal opened up behind him and he watched a blue ball of magic shoot towards one of the ghouls, knocking it off balance and giving Jace the opportunity to finally slice it's head off.

He felt a solid, warm weight press to his side. "I heard that you all needed a reinforcement," Magnus mumbled, his magic sending tingles down Alec's arm.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Alec huffed, nocking another arrow and letting it go, watching as it landed between the eyes of a Ghoul, Izzy swiftly detaching it's head afterward.

Magnus chuckled beside him, turning in order to go at it with a Ghoul that was trying to sneak up on the two of them. He heard a sickening crunch, a light blast of magic and then the sound of blood hitting the wall next to them. The warlock clearly had everything under control.

In the next second Alec heard a screech from above his head, the warning making him turn just in time to see one of the last Ghouls running at him, giving him no time to pull an arrow or his seraph blade. The Ghoul was foot in front of him when a red blur raced past him, landing on the ghouls head and knocking off its balance. Alec watched with wide eyes as Maalik wrapped his tail tightly around its neck, a ball of fire hitting it right in the face before talons grabbed its head and tore it right off tore body. Maalik screeched again, dropping the now decapitated head on the ground before flying right back onto Magnus' shoulder.

Alec gaped. The dragon just saved his life. Given, it was in an utterly disgusting way and Magnus now had the creatures blood all over his shirt, but he'd saved Alec. Nobody had the time to stop it and Alec hadn't had the time to catalogue hands on combat in those few seconds. He looked at the dragon in wonder, smiling a little even if the dragon was still glaring at him.

Magnus giggled at the look on his face, stepping closer to Alec to press a kiss to his cheek, rolling his eyes at the dragons half hearted hiss.

**

The other time Alec thought that he might be making progress was after a long night of patrolling that ended in a swarm of demons and a few new shadowhunters almost getting killed. The only reason they didn't was because Alec and Izzy were both on the patrol with him. Luckily they were just a few Shax demons that didn't take long for the two more advanced shadowhunters to take out. But Alec didn't come out of the fight injury free. One of the trainees hadn't seen the demon behind her and Alec had no choice but to either jump in between or lose one of his soldiers.

Shrugging off his jacket had taken more effort than usual, his shoulder was aching in a way that indicated that he might have either sprained or dislocated it. He deeply hoped for the first. Once he finally was able to get out of his gear, he hobbled to the lofts living room and flopped backwards onto the black leather couch. It took him about two minutes to realize that Magnus was indeed not home yet, fore he would have been greeted already and he let out a loud groan. Hadn't he suffered enough?

Alecs vision was swimming, his head had a constant throb and for the first time since they'd gotten together, he wished nothing more than for Magnus to fuss over him and heal his wounds with his magic. Iratzes could only do so much and while his injuries weren't severe, he still longed for his boyfriend's soothing magic.

Lost in his thoughts, Alec failed to notice the young dragon lying atop of one of the bookshelves across the room. Maalik had smelled the blood and pain the minute Alec stumbled into the loft. He whined quietly to himself before standing and then flying down to where Alec was sitting, startling the shadowhunter.

"Jesus," Alec said, shaking his head. "I'm a shadowhunter, you shouldn't be able to scare me so easily."

The dragon whined again, making Alec frown at him in confusion. Had he not been fed or something? He watched as Maalik inched closer to him, cautiously and slowly crawling into his lap which only served to confuse him further. The dragon settled gently on his lap before beginning to lick at one of the cuts on Alec's hand. He watched in wonder as the skin started to heal, knitting itself together faster than usual.

Alec had vaguely remembered Magnus telling him about how these type of dragons were different to Dragonidae. They had a more gentle side to them, less of a hunger for blood and pain and more of a need to provide comfort and healing. They were rare even in edom, most likely because they weren't vicious enough for Asmodeus. It was pure luck that Magnus had met Maalik. He'd once told Alec that since they wanted nothing more than to heal their saliva contains chemicals that speed up the healing process. It was considered an honor if one of these creatures decided to help and Alec felt his heart warm at the thought.

He smiled down at the dragon, gently petting between his barely noticeable ears. "Thanks, but I'm fine I promise. I can survive until Magnus get home."

Maalik hissed lightly at him, no heat present in it, before fluttering up to Alec's good shoulder. The dragon curled up there, tucking his head underneath Alec's neck, his breath soothingly brushing the shadowhunters skin.

If there was anything different about the situation Magnus walked in to an hour later he would have been angry, would have lectured Alec about how he could have called and then would proceed to heal him with an exasperated eye roll. Yet, he hadn't expected to see his boyfriend and dragon friend asleep on his couch. Maalik was still curled up under Alec's neck, providing safety and comfort and Magus felt his heart skip a few beats at the sight.

He knew that Alec had been working hard to get the dragons approval and he also knew that Maalik secretly loved Alec deeply. His kind had always loved deeply and protected those they loved at all costs and it reassured Magnus knowing that nothing would happen to Alec if the dragon had anything to do with it. And visa versa. He only kept up the grumpy act in order to frustrate Alec because it amused him, but Magnus had seen the dragon slowly begin to accept Alec completely.

Magnus sighed to himself making his way to the living room in order to begin healing his sleeping shadowhunter. He would later give him the usual lecture about how Alec had dislocated his shoulder and was stupid to not call Magnus as soon as possible but it would have to wait. He worked without disturbing the man, but by the time he finished he spotted Maalik looking at him knowingly.

Magnus hummed, smiling as the dragon climbed onto his offered arm and up to his shoulder, nuzzling their cheeks together. "Thank you for taking care of him, my dear friend."

Maalik simply curled his tail around Magnus' neck, eyes trailing down to the sleeping form on the couch.

"How about we all turn in for the night." He suggested, using his magic to transport Alec to their bedroom once Maalik gave him a look of agreement.

**

The next morning Alec woke up to the familiar weight of Magnus curled up half on top of him and just the soft ache of healed injuries and bone from the night before. When his eyes fluttered open he realized that some of the weight on his chest did not belong to his love, but to his dragon. Magnus' head was on his shoulder, legs tangled with his own, and Maalik was sleeping peacefully curled up on his chest.

Alec found himself smiling, pressing a soft kiss to Magnus' hairline and gently running his fingers down the dragons flank. He had the feeling he was making a lot of progress.

And even if Maalik spit fire at him while making breakfast because he had pinched Magnus' ass, nothing could wipe the smile off his face.

Notes:

Maalik is lowkey a pain in Alec's ass, but they love each other so there's really not much that can be done about that.

Alas, I really hope you enjoyed.

Twitter is always a place you can find me (user: babyboymagnus), if you'd like to discuss this story or any of my others do feel free. I always respond as quickly as possible.

See you in the next one!

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