#so Ashborne is stuck looking like the Grinch for the next two weeks

[foodsies4me]

Okay now I’m fully invested in Magnus realising the trainees are to totally in love in love with him. Imagine the trainees defending Magnus’ honour in front of the whole Institute. Magnus blush in the back whilst Alec look on all proud and kinda smug too :)

Well, this sure sparked the muse back to life!

I am putting a line break because this got slightly long again. But here is a "the trainees take revenge on someone for being mean to Magnus" snippet, featuring a stabby Doris, a feral Clara, an Alec who threatens people off-camera, and Max the prankster, who is as always backed up by his three fellow pranksters.

Magnus hadn't paid the insult any mind. William Ashdown, had been the latest Clave envoy in a series of many to be sent to the New York Institute. He'd arrived with slicked-back hair and a sneering frown that Magnus was all too familiar with, looking like every other shadowhunter Magnus had met throughout the years. Magnus had been standing in the Operations Room when Ashdown arrived, checking the wards on Alexander's request after the ward had started to feel "weird". Ashdown's frown turned into a disgusted scowl the moment his eyes landed on Magnus. "Could we discuss this somewhere more private," he sneered, shooting a look at Magnus as he said this, "We wouldn't want to have any unsavory ears listen in." "I trust my shadowhunters," Alexander countered, his eyes turning steely, "-and considering they will be the ones most impacted, I think it's only fair they hear how the Clave has decided to handle Valentine's reappearance." "And the warlock? We can hardly trust one of them with this information," Ashdown sneered and that had been enough for Magnus to turn his focus back to that something his magic had crossed. He wasn't interested in hearing what else the man had to say and that spark of something felt.. drowsy. Tired and old and, dare he say it, strange. Magnus hadn't cared about Ashborne's opinion.

The trainees had been another story. A pained shriek had snapped Magnus out of his trance, eyes darting to the left where Alexander and Ashdown had been standing, only to see Ashborne pull his hand away from a scowling Clara with blood running down her chin. Before Magnus could wonder what had pushed Clara to bite someone, Ashdown raised his hand to try and strike her. Alexander had Ashborne's hand clenched into a death grip before the man was even done raising his hand. "You take back what you said about Magnus!" Doris screamed not a second later, drowning out whatever order Ashborne had given Alexander. She had stomped her way over to Ashborne, hair frizzy and eyes glaring daggers before she'd put herself in front of Clara with her steel practice sword clenched tightly in her hands, "And if you hurt Clara, I will stab you." Clara had only stuck her tongue before biting her teeth together to mimic biting Ashborne a second time. "Head Lightwood, I suggest you get your shadowhunters-in-training under control now," Ashborne hissed as he tried to pull his hand back, only for Alexander to tighten his grip. "And how do you suggest I do that, Mister Ashborne?" Alexander asked, cocking his head to the left and tightening his grip even further. It's when Ashborne's hand started to bend in a decidedly unnatural way that Magnus intervened. "Alexander, I'm sure Mister Ashborne didn't mean any insult," he cut in, placing his hand on Alexander's shoulders to try and calm him down before he snapped Ashborne's wrist, "Right?"

A quick flash of his magic - harmless but enough to make it visible - was all it took to have Ashborne take a stumbling step back and give him a quick affirmative nod. "Then say sorry," Doris had ordered from the same spot she'd been standing earlier, crossing her arms in defiance when Ashborne tried to brush past her. "Say sorry," she repeated, her words being echoed by all of the other trainees present in the room - William, Sarah, two scowling Rebeccas who were busy snapping the staffs in their hands into increasingly small pieces of wood, and a glaring Hideaki that had placed himself between Magnus and Ashborne. Max, who had been sitting closest to them along with Madzie, had been the only one missing from the trainees, though seeing Madzie's absence, Magnus didn't have to wonder where he'd disappeared off to. "Alright, my little beans, let's get calmed down and leave Alec and Mister Ashborne to their discussion, why don't we?" Magnus asked to try and remedy the situation, but the trainees weren't budging. "No," Hideaki whispered, tightening his hand on the straps of his backpack when the others turned their eyes toward him, "he was mean to you and to Madzie. You're our friend. We don't let people be mean to you." "Ki, is right!" Sarah growled. For the first time since Magnus met her, her entire body was still, knees bent and hands balled into fists as she assessed the threat in front of her. Somehow, it was that nearly unnatural stillness that was so unlike Sarah that made the emotions begin to well up in his throat. Ashborne didn't last another five minutes before he muttered an unconvincing apology that Magnus was quick to accept before the trainees decided it wasn't good enough. He then waved Alexander away, telling him to bring Ashborne to his office before Magnus was whisked away by his favorite shadowhunters-in-training. Doris hadn't hesitated before taking his hand in hers to drag him to the table the trainees had been sitting at where Steph had been ready to plop herself down on Magnus' lap. Aloysius, who had been fetched by a still irate Clara, had brought snacks and a cup of - truly terrible - coffee while the other trainees hovered around him in protective fury that threatened to spring tears to his eyes. Madzie came running back not long after Ariadne had joined them, offering Magnus a hug before asking him if he was okay. Max didn't return. The other three members of the fearsome foursome didn't make an appearance either. Not even when Alexander and Ashborne walked back into the Operations Room over an hour later, Ashborne looking far paler than when he'd left, did they show. All four terrors stayed carefully hidden until Ashborne's scheduled portal back to Idriss opened on the institute's doorsteps. Then, all four came running down the institute's pathway, talking among themselves as they tried to balance the different buckets filled with - was it tar? ichor? Magnus couldn't say for sure, but buckets full of something in their hands. All four of them "accidentally" tripped as soon as they were within reach of Ashborne. And all of them "accidentally" spilled the contents onto him right as he fell through the portal. The smile on Max's face when he turned to face him was innocence itself. "Oops?" The smile that followed, was anything but.