"Isabelle I said no."
"I don't care what you say, mi hermano. We're celebrating your birthday and that's that!" Izzy retorted with equal ferocity.
The two Lightwood siblings were standing on opposite sides in Alec's room — Alec with his arms folded across his chest and Izzy with her hands on her perfect hips. "Come on, Alec! A birthday can be celebrated only once in a year. A whole fucking YEAR!" she tried to reason with him again. Her attempt had apparently succeeded judging from the defeated slump of her brother's shoulders, but not before getting a glare from him for inappropriate language.
"Promise me you'll keep it very low-key," he said in a small voice. Izzy's eyes instantly lit up and gleamed as she happily skipped forward to give Alec a hug. He groaned.
When she pulled back, her expression suddenly turned into a questioning one. "Magnus knows today is your birthday, right?"
Alec scratched his neck and looked down sheepishly in reply. Izzy face-palmed and mumbled 'What kind of a boyfriend doesn't tell his boyfriend when his birthday is?' before grabbing Alec by the hand and dragging him to Magnus's loft.
"Magnus, Alec has something extremely important he needs to tell you. A crucial piece of information that is vital for you two to have a healthy relationship moving forward," Izzy announced and nudged Alec. The flowery words were completely unnecessary, but Isabelle never failed to grab any opportunity that came her way to show off.
"And what might this so-called 'crucial' piece of information be, Alexander?" Magnus asked, turning in the Shadowhunter's direction and cocking a suspicious eyebrow. Alec sighed. "I turn 20 today," he said in a monotone, as if the very fact bored him to death.
The warlock's eyes disappeared into his hairline as he gaped at his boyfriend, who was now looking a little uncomfortable with the situation. "Alexander Gideon Lightwood...Are you telling me that even after all this time of being together, you didn't bother telling me when your birthday is?" he said slowly.
"It's not like you told me yours!" Alec tried to defend himself.
"Oh, please! The Institute's database has my date of birth, which, I'm pretty sure you've seen more than once."
"Alright, alright! I give up! But it's no big deal, Magnus! Shadowhunters don't cel —"
"Well, this Shadowhunter is celebrating his birthday. Tell him, Magnus!" Izzy interrupted.
"I'm sorry, darling. I love you, but I'm siding with your sister on this one," Magnus smiled apologetically and stood next to Isabelle, who smirked in satisfaction. Alec looked at the warlock incredulously, as if he had been betrayed on a deeply personal level.
"You're all paying for this later," Alec informed the two glumly and flopped into the loveseat.
"I have everything perfectly planned out," said the raven-haired female.
"What do you have in mind?"
"Is a picnic at 8 o'clock low-key enough for you?"
"Annoying Red and the vampire are coming along too, aren't they?" Alec moaned.
"Of course they are! They're your friends too!" Izzy sternly reminded him. "Since that's all settled, I better get to work on the invites!" she clapped her hands and made towards the door.
Once Magnus heard the click, he moved to sit down beside his boyfriend. Alec wrapped his arm around the Asian and pulled him close.
"Happy Birthday, Alexander," Magnus whispered into Alec's ear and pressed a soft kiss on his lips. The hazel-eyed boy instantly melted into it.
"I'm definitely going to celebrate my future birthdays if it means getting surprise birthday kisses from you."
Magnus laughed.
The night sky was clear and cloudless with a full moon, it's light shining on Alec, Magnus, Izzy, Simon, Clary and Jace like a spotlight as they walked into Central Park. Clary and Simon were lecturing the others on the importance of celebrating birthdays, causing Alec to immediately groan and for about the 100th time since he met her, wonder what he had done to be cursed with tolerating the pest that was Clary Fray. Maia and Luke had kindly declined to join the festivities in view of the full moon and we're staying in but wished Alec a happy birthday nevertheless.
"Did Robert and Maryse ever hold a party for you, at least when you were kids?" Clary asked Alec.
"Not really, no. We just got the day off and a little special something for breakfast. Like I said, Shadowhunters don't celebrate birthdays," he replied mechanically.
"Poor, fun-deprived Shadowhunters," Simon said sadly.
"We're here! Clary, help me set everything?" Izzy chirped cherrfully and asked Clary, who nodded and started to on the task. Jace snaked his way without attracting attention to Magnus. "Hey Magnus? Could you maybe magic us some food? I saw in the kitchen this morning..." he said fearfully.
Magnus's eyes widened comically. "Oh no, that won't do. We don't want the birthday baby suffering from food poisoning, do we?" he said solemnly and — putting his hands behind his back — snapped his fingers. A faint flash of blue appeared from inside the picnic basket for a second. As Izzy took everything out, the trio saw with a relieved sigh that it was indeed 'food'.
Isabelle was not amused.
And then came the coveted birthday cake, magicked by Magnus and yours truly. Perhaps it would be best to leave how the layered pastry looked to the imagination of the reader. But Alec was staring at it, eyes shining in the same way a little boy's did when he was in a candy store.
"Do you like it?" Magnus asked his boyfriend softly.
Alec conveyed his reply with a peck on the warlock's lips. Jace coughed loudly and said, "Get a room you two!".
Magnus — with another snap from his fingers — summoned twenty candles and ordered them to arrange themselves in shape of the number 20, which they obediently did.
"Okay...What do I do now?" Alec asked, confused.
Clary and Simon were trying their hardest to not laugh. "You blow out the candles," Simon managed to say and the hazel-eyed boy did just that. Everyone clapped and cheered.
As per mundane rule, it was tradition to give someone who was celebrating their birthday presents, Alec found out. Clary presented Alec with a portrait of him in all his archery splendour, Izzy gave him a new sweater, Jace — a new quiver and Simon played a happy tune in his guitar that he had composed for the occasion.
Magnus — for his present — got up from his place beside Alec on the checkered red picnic blanket, taking him by the hand and dragging him in a particular direction. "Where are we going, Magnus?" the black-haired Shadowhunter asked curiously. "You'll see," Magnus said mysteriously.
They reached a deserted clearing. Alec was partly surprised at the fact that such a place existed in Central Park. He wondered how Magnus knew this area.
"It's one of the more secluded, heavily glamoured areas in New York. I come here sometimes when life gets a little too hard to handle. It helps me keep my peace of mind," said Magnus, as if reading his mind.
The Shadowhunter took a moment to absorb his surroundings. There were a lot of trees and a vast field of fresh green grass decorated with colorful little wild flowers.
Suddenly, he felt two strong arms push him backwards and against a tree he had just noticed was there behind him. Magnus was fiercely kissing him. And hard. Alec eagerly reciprocated it and for a while, it was just the two pairs of lips fighting for dominance and savouring how the other tasted.
"What was that for?" Alec asked dazedly when they pulled back, eyes cloudy with lust. Magnus simply shrugged. "Can't a guy kiss his boyfriend?"
A smile curved in said boyfriend's lips. "He can."
"Do you have your bow?"
"Yeah, why?" the Shadowhunter asked but complied to the strange request, extending his hand and summoning his glamoured bow. He handed it to the warlock who took it carefully, as if it was a fragile porcelain doll.
Magnus put his hand into the pocket of his coat and pulled something out. The object was square-shaped with a thread attached to it and it was all too familiar to the younger man.
It was an omamouri.
The cat-eyed Asian then made a few graceful hand movements, causing the charm to float in mid-air before tying itself around Alec's bow. " This one's for precision and protection. May all your arrows always stay true to their target. Let your weapon protect you in the direst of situations and make sure you come back to me safe and sound. Happy Birthday, my love."
Alec remained quiet, taking the green and yellow charm in the palm of his hand and caressing the silk cloth with his fingers. "What if I lose it in battle?"
"You won't because I've cast some very powerful spells. No demon or angel can remove it."
Alec looked at Magnus with so much love and adoration in those hazel-green eyes that the warlock feared they wouldn't be able to contain it. "C'mere, you," he said and kissed the warlock again. They slid down and Magnus leaned against the tree, Alec resting on his chest as the warlock gently stroked his hair.
"Wanna know why I don't like birthdays?" Alec asked. Magnus nodded.
"At first, to me it was just some mundane tradition that I didn't care about. But then you came into my life. After that, birthdays to me just meant that every year I grow older and one day, I'll be gone. And you'll...move on I guess. Find someone who'll be so much better than I ever was," Alec's voice broke and tears welled in his eyes. He buried his face into Magnus's jacket.
The warlock's heart broke. Was that what it was?
"Alexander, look at me." And Alec hesitantly did. "I will never move on after you because you're the one. My one and only true love. And know that what we have right now is better any of what I had with all those 17000 lovers. I can't promise you much except that for as long as you live, I will never leave your side, my love. I know we don't have much time and that you will leave me one day, but I want to make the most of it until you do so."
The Shadowhunter was too emotional to say anything, so he just nuzzled into the crook of Magnus's neck and sighed. "And I promise you the same."
The warlock touched his lips to Alec's forehead and hugged him closer.
And in that quiet moment, he had never been so sure if their love.