"Like," Magnus says, shuffling again so that he's standing right next to Lan Wangji, staring out into the trees. Maybe if he stares really hard at the bark patterns his cheeks will stop burning so hard? "I know I've, like, defeated and/or killed a lot of dads in my time, and it's, like, on sight with a lot of others, but I'm, like. You know. Lucky enough to know what it's like to have a really good parent, too. That's someone who, like, you know. Um, like, looks out for you, and cares about you, and takes on your burdens or whatever, and listens, and helps with what they can. They, like, watch out for you and try to keep you from danger, even if it's danger you can handle. Protective. Upset if you get, like, hurt or whatever."

He wraps his hand around the jade token hanging from his necklace, feeling the stone warm up against his palm. "My mom... when I was, like, five, she got into a huge fight with her brothers about something, and she took me away from Uncle Randolph's house, and we never went back again and she warned me against seeing him ever again. I don't know why, but he did try to sell me out to Loki that one time, so. No idea if there was a relation, but she got a bad vibe, and she was right. And she helped me figure out how to get over my panic attacks, and when I would get in trouble at school and they tried to say I was a bad kid she'd get really mad and defensive and explain at length how they were wrong. And she'd take me camping every weekend so I could have a connection to Frey even though I didn't meet him until after me and her both died." Still staring into the trees, he says, quietly, "You, like, hold me when I'm sad and you teach me things and you don't judge me and you care about me and you pay attention when I talk instead of, like, thinking about just your own stuff, and you give me, like, advice and guidance or whatever. And you obviously have, like, boundaries that you maintain. Which is very adult-shaped adult."