Fandom: The mortal Instruments / Shodowhunters TV
Characters: Alec Lightwood & Robert Lightwood
Relationship: Malec

Rating: G

Disclaimer: Not mine, but CC's and those guys from the Shadowhunters TV show.

He stood outside the door, hesitating to knock. He had seen them coming in – his son, his daughter and Jocelyn's daughter. Demon blood and dirt was coating their clothing, but what really made him look up was the ashen colour of his son's face and the way he touched his side tenderly just above where Robert knew the Parabatai rune lay.

He sighed and knocked, waiting for the muffled voice of his first-born to tell him to come in. The older man opened the door and walked right in. Alec was sitting on his bed with a book resting on his bent legs. He looked up at the intruder – knowing that it wouldn't be Izzy as his sister seldom knocked – and was about to stand up and take his stand next to his bed as it was integrated into his whole being. Robert shook his head, indicating that his son should stay in bed.

"How are you?", asked Robert taking a seat on a chair nearby.

Alec just shrugged, not having been asked that particular question by one of his parents in a long time. He was taught to function, to be a soldier – emotions were just a distraction.

"I didn't think I would see you ever wearing one of your old sweaters again. When you turned 18…"
"What do you want, Dad?", interrupted Alec before the older man could lounge into a lengthy recollection of the day the dark-haired youth decided to get dressed in a more mature – and soldier like – clothing style.

"I'm just concerned of your well-being", answered Robert sighing loudly. Alec crossed his arms over his chest. He nibbled on his bottom lip – a habit he had never outgrown – and looked his father in the eye – which was a new development and Robert thought he had Magnus Bane to thank for. "When you kissed the warlock" "Magnus. His name is Magnus." "When you kissed Magnus in front of all the people from the Institute and the Clave, do you know what I thought?" Alec just shook his head, not wanting to voice his thoughts. "I thought that this was very brave, foolish, but brave."

Alec looked away, hugging himself, not wanting to look at his father. The man had never praised him before – not when Alec had become an excellent archer and killed his first demon or when he stood up to his peers who were whispering behind his back about his parents (he hadn't known that it had been about his parents' past in the Circle) and certainly he hadn't been called 'brave'.

"So what? Now that I'm out, you think I'm 'brave'? Just because I – for once – did something for me? Mother thinks I'm selfish and naïve for trying to be happy once in my life."

And suddenly Robert saw his first-born again, the child he held in his arms as a new born who wasn't bigger than his two hands. The boy – at 20 years he was still so young – who took the weight of his family's mistakes on his shoulders.

"Because standing up for oneself is sometimes the hardest and the bravest thing you can do."