Birthday Bash

"Rise and Shine, beautiful!"

Of course, how could I expect Jace to let me sleep in. That's exactly something he would do, because he knows that, though I'd never admit it, his annoying antics crack me up. Not always in the moment, mind you.

I rolled over and pulled the blankets over my head, groaning as I did so. Two could play at that game.

"I'll tickle you. I'll jump on the bed and tackle you and tickle you until you get up. Don't doubt I will. You'll only regret it."

Under the quilt I smiled. Then I leapt into the air, my muscles straining to launch me, and tossed a pillow directly at Jace. The pillow hit it's target. Jace, not to be out done, caught the pillow the moment after it hit him and tossed it back, hitting me midair.

Of course the whole thing couldn't be finished until he leapt, caught me out of the air a foot from the ground, rolled and landed, managing to eliminate the laws of gravity and still look stunning.

He grinned down at me just to rub it in my face. Should I have expected anything less than the normal on my birthday? Feigning annoyance I shoved him muttering, "Show off." As I made to get dressed, he laughed.

I love his laugh, because it is something that he does most in my presence. Knowing that he finds ease expressing himself around me is the greatest compliment. It is a true act of love. He doesn't have to get me roses or chocolate to show me. He just has to be himself around me; it's all I need.

Once I finished dressing, Jace served a delicious breakfast of fresh fruit and granola. We sat right there on my bed and picnicked in my room. The room was cold, just as I liked it at night, but during the day chilled me to the bone.

Jace, ever aware of me, closed the distance between us, sitting with me shoulder to shoulder and throwing a blanket over us. Smiling to myself I leaned in, meaning to kiss him on the cheek. At the last second he turned and our lips pressed together. A familiar rush was sent through my body. Warmth and happiness lit up my every pore. "You sneak." I accused against his lips.

He did not seem in the least bit offended. No, he only grinned in response.

Upon finishing breakfast he brushed of his pants, making sure to get the crumbs all over my bed just to bug me, and turned to pull me off the bed.

"Come on then, if we want to have any chance of doing everything on my list I planned for us to do, we better get going. I won't have you slowing up my schedule." He joked sternly.

"I'll be sure to take that into consideration as I submit myself to your will on my birthday."

"That would be appreciated, dear lady."

Rolling my eyes I let him lead me out of the institute and onto the chilly streets of the bustling city. We walked arm and arm for sometime, twisting and turning throughout the overcrowded streets. Once onto 34th street, Jace reached into his pocket and pulled out a strip of black cloth. I instantly realized what he was trying to do, and I was not happy about it.

"Oh, no, no, no. Where ever you take me, you can take me with my full knowledge. I'm not putting that on, I hope you know that."

"You can say that as much as you want. You and I both know who will win this fight. Let me put it on."

"By the angel, Jace, you keep that away from me."

"Clary, Clary, Clary. Have a little fun. Live a little."

"I know what you're trying to do. It won't work."

"Alright. We can just go home, and when Isabelle asks me why I didn't take you out somewhere for your birthday I'll just tell her that its because you were to chicken to do something as simple as put on a blindfold. Then I'll continue to tell Alec, Magnus and-"

"Alright, fine. Though I just want to let you know, you're a jackass in every sense of the word." I ground out. Like I said, I don't always find him funny in the moment

Again, he just laughed, tying the blindfold tightly behind my head. There was no way I was going to be able to sneak a peak through it, or under it even.

"You frustrate me to no end." I let him know.

He led my slowly and carefully, quietly letting me know when to step up. His hand held mine gently, leading me blindly. I recognized this out of character behavior at once. Though he had stood firm about the blindfold, all he wanted was for me to be happy. He was just trying to give me a good day. At this point I made an extra effort to put up with his antics, because, after all, he was sincere. And I love him for that all the more.

Finally, we stopped. From what I could tell we were still outside, but were were in front of and facing a building. "Alright beautiful, here we are." He whispered in my ear, tugging the blindfold down as he did so.

Wen I opened my eyes, I laughed out loud. It was a pizza shop. I had a sneaking suspicion I knew what we were doing today.

Smiling, he opened the door and held it open for me. Once in, he wasted no time, passing all the empty booths (it wasn't anywhere near lunch time) and heading straight for the kitchen. Passing through the dining area, I recognized it. Luke and my mother used to take me here when I was little. We always sat in a both in the far corner. It was always a good day when we were here.

"Jace, how did you know?" He turned his face back to see me, eyes shining.

"I think your mother likes me more that you think."

"Of course she like you. She likes you because you make me happy."

He stopped and turned toward me, pulling me close to him. "If I said the same to you everyday for the rest of my life it wouldn't be enough." He whispered huskily into my ear, kissing the spot between my eyebrows.

"Love you." I said against his cheek.

"I love you too." He kissed me, softly though quickly.

"I better stop distracting you if we ever want to get through that list." I muttered regretfully. Darn myself for remembering.

"As right as you are, it's a pleasant distraction, love, I assure you." He turned and took my hand, leading me into the kitchen. Upon entering the kitchen a single chef who appeared to be setting up for the upcoming lunch rush glanced up at us. He and Jace exchanged nods and the chef left out of a door on his side of the kitchen.

"You have some of the most bizarre connections." I muttered.

"You never know when you're going to need free pizza."

"You need certain parameters and circumstances for free pizza? How weird. I always need free pizza." I raised my eyebrow at him.

"You make me second guess myself. Stop it." He smiled faintly. "Now, to get back to the task at hand..." He began sifting through the ingredients left out by the chef. "Ahh, here we are." He said, lifting a ball of dough to show me.

"What are you doing?" I asked, confused.

"Well I thought it was obvious. Making a pizza. Would you care to join me?" He asked loftily.

I didn't ask any more questions. It could help my case to not know if the goings on if we got arrested.

"Have you ever made a pizza before?" In answer to his question, I shook my head. "No, I suppose you haven't. Come on, I'll show you. Roll the pizza dough out with your fists. Flatten it out. There you go. Not too thin now." He said, reaching around me to correct my error. He flattened out one half and I flattened out with the other end.

"See, you're a pro already!" He joked, reaching for some flour. He powdered the top of the dough. He seemed to debate what to do with the extra flour in his hand for a moment then proceeded to fling it onto my nice, freshly washed, sweater.

"Jace!" I spluttered.

"Oh, silly me, did I do that? I'm a klutz, I am." Rolling my eyes I issued a swift elbow to his ribs, earning a groan as he leaned over in pain. As he slowly stretched back up, standing to his full height, he kissed my cheek. I smirked. Seeing this he asked, "You're not even remotely sorry about that, are you?"

Pointing at my fifthly shirt I replied with a question of my own, "Are you sorry about this?" He didn't look as if he were, an in fact he shook his head, grinning as he did so. "My answer is the same."

"Fair enough." He laughed.

Disengaging from him, I reached for the tomato sauce, lurching toward Jace with a ladle of it. He skittered back. I laughed, emptying the ladle onto the dough, and dipping again for another.

"That was just low." He accused.

I didn't reply, merely continued to splatter the dough with sauce. When it was well smothered I began to sprinkle cheese and finished with mushrooms, chives and sausage, the way Jace liked it.

Then I transferred the finished pizza into the oven, which had been preheated, apparently. "Done like a true Italian chef." Jace admired bending to kiss me.

"What would you know about Italian chefs?"

We busied ourselves until the Jace reached into oven and pulled out a pristine looking pizza.