Shadowhunters || Jagnus || How Jace got Adopted by the Kittens || Jagnus || Shadowhunters

Title: How Jace got Adopted by the Kittens – Set-Up by the Guard-Cats

Fandom: Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments

Disclaimer: All rights to the Shadowhunters show reserved to Ed Decter, the books the show is based off and its characters belong to Cassandra Clare. This fanfiction on the other hand is entirely mine. No money is made with this, though reviews are more than welcomed.

Warnings: m/m, matchmaking, fluff, found family, cat POV, pining

Main Pairing: Magnus/Jace

Shadowhunters Characters: Jonathan Christopher 'Jace' Herondale, Magnus Bane, Chairman Meow

Own Cat Characters: Bastet, Harry Pawter, Purrincess Diana, Fidel Catstro

Summary: One rainy night, Jace finds a lonely little kitten and decides to take her home to the loft. The kitten loves him and loves Magnus and she thinks that her two new human fathers should be dating. But all the other cats at the loft are wary; they had seen Magnus get hurt by humans too often now.

How Jace got Adopted by the Kittens

Set-Up by the Guard-Cats

She was small and she was slow. Slower than mama and her siblings. She had lost sight of them a while ago and the strong rain hadn't helped. After a while of trying to catch up with them, she had crawled into the closest space and curled together, mewling miserably in hopes mama could hear.

"Hey there, little one."

Startled, she tried to back off, but there was a wall behind her so the giant human managed to scoop her up. Her family had been running from humans, what if this was one of the bad humans? He held her torso with one hand and rested his palm under her butt, bringing her up to eye-level.

"You're tiny. And soaking wet. And... And all alone." He sounded sad as he said that. "Come here, I'll keep you warm and bring you somewhere dry, mh? I'm sure you'll be more than welcomed, there's lots of tiny furred fiends living, you'll feel right at home."

Meowing confused, she let herself be put into the human's jacket. He pulled the zipper up to keep her in place and keep her warm. Poking her head out, she tried to look at him more closely as he walked them somewhere. He had a kind smile and he was very warm and he smelt like roses. He picked up the pace, hurrying to get out of the cold. They reached his destination soon enough.

"Mag? I'm home", announced Kind Warm Human.

"Puppy? Puppy, you're soaking wet! Come here, I'll get you a towel."

Frowning confused, she looked around for the puppy. She had heard of puppies before. They were fierce and dangerous creatures, mama had warned her to stay away from them. But there was no puppy in sight. Only Kind Warm Human. The voice came nearer and she saw a tall human, his face was all glittery. She liked sparkly, sparkly was good for hunting.

"Meow!" Eagerly, she leaned forward to reach the sparkles in his face, sniffing him.

"Oh my, you're a fierce one", laughed Tall Glittery Human. "Where do you come from?"

He smelt like fire and spices and also like... cat. How very curious.

"I... uh, I found her in the street. She was all alone and soaking wet. You... don't mind, right?"

Kind Warm Human sounded concerned at that and he took the thing the other had called a towel, so he could wrap it around her and rub her dry. It was nice and soft. She liked that.

"Mind? Sweetheart, you've been living here long enough to know that strays are always welcome", chuckled Tall Glittery Human before scooping her up and lifting her high over his face. "Hello there, little one. Welcome to your new home. What's your name...?"

She tilted her head and used the opportunity to paw at Tall Glittery Human's face, making a delighted noise when she got some of the glitter onto her paw. Glitter was nice. The human laughed.

"I... was thinking maybe Bastet?", offered Kind Warm Human.

"Bastet? Now that's not very creative. You don't get to make fun of my cats' names again."

"It's just... You know I used to have a falcon as a kid, right...? And he... I had named him Horus. I... I figured this would be... nice, I don't know. We don't have to name her that..."

Kind Warm Human sounded sad again. She didn't like it when he sounded sad. She had always wanted a name. Cats didn't have a concept for names, they identified each other by scent or characteristics. Naming things was something very human. Mama had always said that one day, she could get her own humans and they would give her a name and that was how she would know that they were hers. So Tall Glittery Human and Kind Warm Human were now hers.

"It's a wonderful name, puppy", whispered Tall Glitter Human gently.

/break\

Tall Glittery Human's name was Magnus Bane. He was what the humans called a warlock. Bastet didn't really understand what that meant, but he could do funny things with his mind alone! It turned out he was also very kind, so it was good she now knew their names.

Kind Warm Human's name was Jace Herondale, or puppy, or sweetheart. It was hard to tell. Magnus seemed to have a lot of names for him, which was confusing for Bastet. But she was learning.

Aside from her two humans, there were so many other cats living here. Apparently, Magnus had been taking in cats looking for a home for many years now. All the other cats were very happy here and seemed to love Magnus a great deal for giving them a home.

The confusing thing however was that most of them – the older ones, the ones who had been with Magnus for forever, like even years – seemed very cautious and suspicious of Jace. Why though?

"I just don't understand it", huffed Bastet, rolling around on the ground.

"You don't understand what, child?", asked Chairman Meow.

He was like the leader of them, the oldest and wisest of the cats. He had been very kind in accepting Bastet into the pride. Bastet tilted her head and pawed at the air, looking at Chairman upside-down.

"That you don't like dad", offered Bastet. "They're both our humans. Mama explained they'll be like human parents. I never had a dad before and now I have two dads! So why do you only like papa and not dad? Dad is kind and warm! He saved me."

"Magnus is the head of this pride. He has taken us all in. Jace however is... new. Newer than most of us cats. He has only come here merely a month before you, child", offered Chairman Meow and stretched out with a yawn. "The golden rule is that... humans come and go. Magnus has a big heart and he takes us in. We stay. Humans don't. Magnus opens his heart to humans and they hurt him and leave him and it is up to us to pick up the pieces."

"...But daddy's not like that", argued Bastet with a frown.

"Who knows", huffed Chairman and shook his head. "Look, kid, I get it. You want to believe in the good of humans. I've seen the bad. I've seen humans use Magnus and leave him when they got what they wanted. This one? Your human? He came here, as much a homeless, hopeless stray as any of us. When his situation changes, he'll just leave and it'll be us again."

Bastet shook herself and sat up. No, that wasn't true. Dad was a good human. And they were her dads now, both of them. Both loved her and fed her and cared for her. How could her dads possibly not love each other? Both were good. Chairman was wrong. He may be older and wiser than her, but he was definitely wrong and Bastet knew that. She most definitely knew that.

/break\

Jace smiled softly to himself as he was laying sprawled out on the couch. Little Bastet was spread out into her whole length, snuggled into the creek between Jace and the backrest of the couch. He was running his fingers through the soft fur of her belly.

"She's gotten big", whispered Jace, tickling her a little.

"Babies tend to do that, Jace", chuckled Magnus amused, looking up from his book.

"I know that", huffed Jace and rolled his eyes. "I just..."

He interrupted himself and shook his head to shake the thought. Bastet meowed and grabbed for his wrist, wrapping her tiny paws around it and pulling it closer. Smiling softly, Jace tickled her little stomach. Such an adorable kitten. He was glad he had taken a detour and found her.

"She is completely enamored with you", noted Magnus, eyes sparkling fondly. "It's nice. I feel like my feline friends don't seem too... fond of you? I was starting to think it's your problem."

Jace tilted his head and looked over to Chairman Meow curled together on Magnus' lap and clearly glaring at Jace. Yeah, he had gotten that feeling too. Though he didn't quite understand why. Maybe he had to make more of an effort...? Tilting his head, he watched the other kittens.

/break\

Bastet had made an ally! His name was Harry Pawter and papa and daddy had found him together and picked his name together. Daddy had said that it was an outrage that a warlock had so many cats with pun-names and not a single one named Harry Pawter. Bastet didn't understand what that meant but she liked Harry, he was a little smaller than her and dark brown with a light-brown spot on his face. The two of them got along really well and they snuggled a lot with daddy.

"Magnus is gone for a couple days so I'm gonna take care of you. I'd appreciate if the sweeping and growling would stop since I'll be your primary food-source", stated Jace playfully.

Bastet and Harry were walking bee-lines around his feet while Jace carried the first tray of food outside onto the balcony. Meowing softly, Bastet brushed her cheek against his calves, making him laugh. Chairman Meow raised an unimpressed eyebrow and watched Jace warily.

"See! See, daddy's taking care of us while papa's gone. Because they're both our dads", stated Bastet seriously, raising her chin at the Chairman. "Because daddy is the best."

"Ye—es. He gave me from his salmon yesterday", agreed Harry eagerly.

"Oh, stop glaring at the children, Meow. Let them enjoy having two fathers."

Purrincess Diana was like the big lady around here. After Chairman Meow, she had the most authority and everyone – including the Chairman – listened to the large, fluffy red cat. Elegantly, she made her way down from the rooftop to head for where Jace was putting down the food.

"You're easily bribed by food", noted Chairman Meow unimpressed.

"And you're too hard on the kid", countered Purrincess Diana, giving him a look. "He's been nothing but kind to us, even brings us treats, sharing his food with whoever asks for a share. He's feeding us now, while Magnus is gone. The last one didn't do that, claimed we could as well just 'catch mice'. The disrespect of that! And he even talks to us. I appreciate that. The last three didn't do that and if they did... it was no good."

"The one who had talked all about how he was going to swindle Magnus out of his money with those 'large baby-blues' of his", snarled Chairman Meow irritated. "This one? He's using his large baby-blues to get anything he wants from Magnus too. And he has been taken in for free. I'm telling you, the moment the boy's getting a chance to return home, he will just leave."

Bastet paused and stared at him with a confused frown. "...Daddy wouldn't just leave."

"No, no, sweetie, of course he wouldn't, he loves you", assured Purrincess Diana softly.

She nudged her face against Bastet's in reassurance while glaring fiercely at Chairman Meow.

/break\

The ridiculously tall one had been over and talked to Magnus in hushed voices. Not hushed enough for Chairman Meow not to notice. The Aldertree had been removed. Chairman had heard enough to know it was the man who was responsible for Jace living here. The ridiculously tall one said that Jace could move back into the Institute now, for a while even. He asked why Jace hadn't.

Magnus had no answer.

Chairman Meow had no answer.

Bastet however... did.

For weeks now, Bastet had been convinced that Jace was here because here was home. Because he wanted to be here. And, faced with the facts... Chairman Meow found it hard to find a different angle than that. Shadowhunters belonged to the Institute, he knew this. Yet this Shadowhunter chose to stay at the loft instead of returning where he belonged. He had taken good care of the cats while Magnus had been gone for days. Feeding them, cleaning the cat-toilets, cuddling, snacks, talking to them. It were the things he said though that baffled Chairman Meow. He talked in soft voices, very much like Magnus, talking about his day, his personal problems.

"No, no, no, no. Don't puke now, Fidel Catstro!", exclaimed Jace distressed. "C'mon, I don't have time for this. I wanna get dinner ready before Magnus gets home. He's been out all day helping the Institute on a big case, he deserves a good meal and some rest. I'm sure he won't have enough magic and energy to summon food. Please, don't puke now."

Fidel Catstro made direct eye-contact with Jace before throwing up at his feet. Chairman Meow huffed amused where he was laying on the kitchen table, watching. Heaving a tired sigh, Jace turned off the stove and went to cleaning up after Fidel Catstro. Chairman Meow tilted his head as he observed. There had been humans, staying here and blatantly ignoring such inconveniences, for Magnus to clean up when he returned home. Perhaps little Bastet was right after all.

"You lot really don't like me, huh?", sighed Jace exhausted. "C'mon. I had a hard day too, you could really cut me a little slack... I clean, I cook for Mag, I feed you lot, clean up after you... I'm just, I'm trying to do my part around here, show Magnus that I appreciate what he's doing for me."

Once the floor was cleaned, Jace wiped his forehead. "Thanks for that, I'll go grab a shower."

He glared half-heartedly at Fidel before heading toward the bathroom. Bastet and Harry Pawter padded in, curiously looking after Jace before joining Chairman up on the table.

"Okay, children. You win", stated Chairman Meow. "I'm buying it. He's here to stay."

"What does that mean...?", asked Bastet confused.

"I dunno. He's weirdly cryptic", shrugged Harry and tilted his head.

"It means that we're going to help your human now", sighed Chairman Meow exasperated.

/break\

When Magnus got home, he found a very confused puppy in his kitchen. Jace just... stood there and stared at the table. He was quite endearing when he was confused, that head-tilt drove home just why Magnus had picked this particular nickname for the pretty blonde. He was like a human-sized puppy-dog, easily confused and rather affectionate once one got close to him.

"Is... everything alright, sweetheart?", asked Magnus slowly.

"The table's set", muttered Jace.

"Yes, it is", nodded Magnus before pausing. "Thank you. It's very sweet of you to cook for me when I've had a long, exhausting day. You know I appreciate what you do around the house, right?"

"No, I mean, the table's set. But I didn't set it", grunted Jace, motioning at the table.

"Ah. So have you lot finally decided to be nice to our roommate?", chuckled Magnus.

There was a stretch of silence before Jace turned to look at him quite disturbed. "Did you... Did you just imply that the cats set the table? Did you get whacked on the head during the mission today?"

"Oh, sweetheart", laughed Magnus and rested a casual hand on Jace's lower back. "Most of them are magic. Literal magic. Many... just stray kittens, yes. But the others are actual magical creatures. All those... talking, useful animals in fairy tales and Disney movies, they don't come from nowhere. There are a lot of magical creatures out there and they tend to... bond with warlocks. That's where the concept of witches and their familiars comes from, you know."

"So you're telling me the cats are magic. You're telling me that after I've lived here for two months. That's something you disclose on like... day two, the latest", grunted Jace.

"Ah, I find it more fun like that", chuckled Magnus and shrugged. "Besides, they usually refuse to be magical while strangers are around. They're very... picky. It seems they finally warmed up to you though and accepted you into the family. That's... nice."

Magnus smiled, trying to cover just how nice he found this. He knew he had been growing fond of Jace, quite a lot so over the past month. He was glad that the kittens started to accept him too.

"Well then, we should enjoy dinner before it gets cold and goes to waste, mh?"

"Yeah... Yeah, we should", agreed Jace slowly, side-eyeing Chairman Meow.

/break\

Magnus woke up to someone very decidedly pawing at his chest. Not the nicest way to wake up, but there were worse. Blinking the sleep away, he checked which one of his little kittens had such urgent business that they decided to wake him up. Smiling, he reached out to caress Bastet's little head. He always had a weakness for the little kittens; young orphaned ones just always... They made him weak. Just like cute, homeless, kicked puppies did, it seemed. Which was actually the reason why Magnus was developing a particular fondness of Bastet, because she was Jace's. Jace had found and saved her, had hand-fed her until she could eat proper food. Seeing Jace care for her and be so gentle with her was one of the things that truly made him fall for the blonde.

What could Magnus say, he was weak for cute boys who could be gentle with animals.

"You... Why are you not sleeping with daddy, papa?", asked Bastet very seriously.

She was still small, had only started to learn how to talk recently. Magnus smiled proudly at her, just to be rather confused by what she said. He scratched under her chin, making her purr.

"I'm sorry, little sweetie, I'm not sure I understand...?", asked Magnus.

"Daddy. Why does daddy have a different room than you?", complained Bastet and threw herself onto her side, pawing the air while rubbing her face against Magnus' chest. "I want cuddles from both my dads! Don't wanna have to decide whose bed to cuddle in. It's unfair."

Slowly, Magnus raised his eyebrows. Huh. Well, she was not the first kitten to call Magnus papa. However, it figured she saw Jace as her father too. That... put them in a peculiar situation.

"That's because... he's not my... mate", offered Magnus slowly.

"But why", grunted Bastet confused, turning to look at him. "He feeds you. You provide by hunting for him. You share your den with him. Both of you take care of us."

Those were all very valid arguments. Hard to argue for Magnus. How did one explain to a little child that the two she perceived as her parents were not together like that...? Oh, this was hard. Actually, why wasn't Chairman Meow doing this...? Normally, that was his job, as the cat in charge. And he never failed to teach the young ones not to trust any human aside from Magnus; he was a very suspicious one, that old tomcat. Thankfully, Magnus was saved from answering further questions as tiny little Harry climbed up onto the bed and meowed at Bastet to come play. Immediately, Magnus became uninteresting and the little ones dashed off.

Getting out of bed, since he was now awake anyway, he decided to investigate. He put on a robe and went to find Chairman Meow. He was sprawled out on the couch, with Purrincess Diana elegantly perched on the backrest, overseeing the whole living room.

"You two. We gotta talk", grunted Magnus and sat down next to Chairman. "I'd appreciate it if you had some words with Bastet. The little one seems very irritated that 'her dads' aren't sharing a bed."

"Well, how did you justify that, Magnus?", asked Purrincess Diana curiously.

"I... Wha...", huffed Magnus stunned. "He's our guest."

"He's a guest with his own bedroom. And his own robes in the bath. You trust him to leave him alone in the loft, alone with us. You let him choose cat-names. He tends to you", noted Chairman.

Taking a stuttering breath, Magnus shook his head. "No. Too early in the morning for this."

He got up and returned to his room to crawl into his bed. His cats had officially gone mad.

/break\

Sighing contently, Jace snuggled up to the warm presence next to him. It had been so long since he had last shared his bed with someone. The last one he had brought to the loft had turned into a serial killer and somehow, that put a damper on things... Not to mention, he may or may not have some feelings for his roommate. Serious feelings. When he had first met Magnus, it had been pure carnal desire, but the better he got to know Magnus, the deeper and more romantic his desires turned.

All of that aside... He hadn't taken a lover in weeks, so whose chest was he laying on...?

Tilting his head up, he turned to look at the face of... a sleeping Magnus Bane. Had he been so exhausted after the late-night mission yesterday that he had accidentally walked into Magnus' room and snuggled into the very comfortable bed with the very comfortable warlock as his pillow...?

"Well, well, well. I don't remember taking you to bed", noted Magnus as he woke up.

"I... may have sleep-walked... or something", offered Jace confused and embarrassed. "Sorry."

"Oh, it's no problem. I like waking up to pretty things in my bed", smiled Magnus with a wink.

"Ha, ha, ha. You think you're so funny, Bane. Well, you're not."

He slapped Magnus lightly on the chest before he got up and walked to his own room.

/break\

The first time, it was easy to buy Jace's excuse. The second time it happened, both of them had gotten incredibly drunk the night before so Magnus genuinely couldn't tell if he had coaxed his pretty blonde into his bed after all. The third morning however, they both had fully run out of explanations and by the fourth time within a week that Jace woke up in Magnus' bed, Magnus decided it was time to investigate. And since Jace was blocking him, claiming he had no idea how he had ended up in Magnus' bed either, Magnus figured a different approach was needed. After all, he had to admit that occasionally, he did lose control over his magic when he really wanted something. Perhaps, in the dark of the night, he had used his magic to summon his little Shadowhunter into his bed. To find out for good, Magnus decided to put a camera in his bedroom and film the night to see just how exactly the blonde ended up in his bed.

Predictably, when morning came, Magnus woke up spooning Jace. They had gone through a couple of positions to wake up to and Magnus had to admit that being pressed up against Jace's back like that, with his arms around the blonde and holding onto his delicious six-pack, it felt nice.

"Mornin', Mag", sighed Jace without even opening his eyes.

"Good morning, puppy", chuckled Magnus amused.

They remained like this for another moment and Magnus watched how Jace was petting Bastet, snuggled closely against Jace's side. This was... incredibly nice. Magnus could get used to this – was getting used to it. To lazy mornings waking up with Jace in his arms.

"You want to find out why you keep waking up in my room?", asked Magnus lightly.

He got up and walked over to his laptop, turning it on and bringing it with him so he could sit next to Jace. Jace furrowed his brows and leaned against Magnus' shoulder, watching. Bastet crawled into Jace's lap to get comfortable. The video feed showed Magnus getting ready for bed and then laying down. Magnus skipped forward some as he just slept, until... Fidel Catstro walked into the room, the size of a tiger, with Jace thrown over his back. The tomcat headed for the bed and unceremoniously dumped Jace on the bed, where the two of them gravitated toward each other.

"...What the fuck did I just watch?", asked Jace stunned. "How is Fidel that big...? What...?"

Magnus smiled faintly. He liked that Jace had memorized the cats' names, could tell them apart.

"Oh, you know most of the cats are magic", dismissed Magnus. "Some of them, like Fidel, can change in size. I'd be much more interested in why he did this though..."

"Yeah no kidding, a week ago, he was deliberately puking on my shoes", snorted Jace.

Magnus however was focused on Bastet, giving her a pointed look until she sat up and looked at him determined. "I told you. I want my fathers to share a bed. And the others finally agree."

Furrowing his brows, Magnus turned to stare at Chairman Meow and Purrincess Diana, who were curled together on the cat-three in the corner, watching the bed with pleased looks on their faces.

"The child is right, Magnus", noted Diana. "We have had a council meeting and we have agreed that the Shadowhunter is a part of the Bane Pride now and that he would make an excellent mate for you. He takes care of you, as you take care of him. You deserve that. Accept it."

"Magnus? Are you have a conversation with the cats again? How are they justifying themselves?"

"They... have decided that I should take you as my... mate, because you fit well with the pride."

"...The cats adopted me and want us to date", summarized Jace stunned. "What the fuck. You know, I expected that living with a warlock would be interesting but this beats everything I imagined."

"Well, imagine how adventurous dating a warlock could be", drawled Magnus playfully.

"Do I have to just... imagine it... or are you going to show me...?"

Jace was biting his lip nearly coyly, which should not be as endearing as it was. Slowly did the blonde lean in closer and closer. Reaching out, Magnus curled his hand around Jace's neck and brought him in for a chaste kiss. This was what he had wanted to do for so long now.

"I take it, the cats aren't the only ones who want you in my bed then", whispered Magnus gently. "I admit, I didn't want to... push it, since you are living with me. And I didn't want to make you uncomfortable. As much as I'd like to date you, I enjoy living with you too much to risk it."

"Ye—eah?", whispered Jace back, a smile on his lips as he leaned in closer, resting his hand against Magnus' chest. "I... had hoped I'm not too much of a bother around here."

"A bother? You cook, you clean, you sit with me and talk, we watch movies together. I... It's been a while since the loft felt this lively. I enjoy sharing my home with you. And I'd enjoy... sharing my bed with you, even without the cats dragging you into it."

"I would enjoy that too", hummed Jace pleased and tilted his head for another kiss.

Bastet meowed as she was being squeezed between them. The couple parted and looked down at the cute little kitten. Laughing softly, Jace gathered her up to put her onto a pillow before grabbing Magnus and pinning him onto the bed, straddling the warlock and kissing him deeply.

"Hey. Hey, you were supposed to become mates so you can both pay attention to me!", exclaimed Bastet displeased, pawing at Jace's thigh. "To me, not to each other! Hey! Dads!"

"Let the humans... play around a little, child. Come with us", ordered Purrincess Diana.

Out of the corner of his eyes did Magnus watch how the cats left the bedroom. With a pleased smile did he pull Jace closer, resting his hand on the blonde's lower back. Well done, Bastet, well done.

~*~ The End ~*~

Author's note: This was a looot of fun to write! I love animal POVs and I do love Jace bonding with children, so the best of both! ;D Also, Magnus now speaks cat, because why shouldn't Magnus be able to speak cat, really?

This fic was born from a reblog-thread on tumblr (come visit me at takaraphoenix for future ideas and nonsense!) with Kimmycup where we bounced this idea around until I grew too attached not to write it xD"""