Hello! This is just a little something I wrote to commemorate Magnus's birthday. He's my favorite character ever so I had to do something for his very special day. I hope you like it!

The Best Birthday Ever

Magnus woke up to the smell of chocolate in the air. The other side of the bed was empty and the sheets were cold, so it didn't take him long to come to the conclusion that Alec was in the kitchen, probably making hot chocolate. It wasn't their go-to hot drink in the mornings, they usually drank coffee—black coffee—but from time to time they liked to switch it for something sweeter.

Still a bit drowsy, Magnus got up from bed and put on his robe, slowly making his way to the kitchen to find his boyfriend. He wanted to see him before the latter had to leave for the day. As Head of the New York Institute, Alec had acquired a lot of new responsibilities, some of which forced him to leave first thing in the morning; and although Magnus missed those mornings where they could stay in bed for an hour or two just enjoying each other's presence, he was proud of having such a capable, smart, and responsible man by his side.

Magnus stopped in the living room to pick up his phone—the one Alec had sent flying across the room along with Magnus's pants the night before during their nightly romantic activities—and checked his messages. There were a few from some clients and a couple more from other warlocks, but nothing seemed to require his immediate attention, so he left the device on the coffee table and resumed his way to the kitchen.

The smell of chocolate got stronger the closer he got to his destination and that intrigued him, he wondered if Alec had forgotten to lower the flame and had let the hot chocolate burn again. As incredible as that might sound, it had happened before, Shadowhunters—with their angel blood and precious runes—weren't as perfect as one could imagine, and when it came to cooking they were a mess.

Magnus got to the kitchen, but stopped before reaching the door. Alec was, indeed, there, but he was talking to someone on the phone. He was trying to keep his voice low so as not to disturb the quietness of the morning, but it was loud enough for Magnus to hear what he was saying.

"And then what am I supposed to do with this?" He asked, in that confused tone that he sometimes used when trying to understand the process of things. Like that time when he had helped Magnus with a potion to cure demon poison infection and had spent hours asking the exact effect that all the ingredients had on the wound treatment.

"Wait, alternately with the powdered sugar? How's that?" He asked again. "Oh, okay, I got it. Yeah, it's working, but will it be enough for the cake?"

Cake? Magnus wondered. What cake? Why would Alec-

"Oh…" Magnus muttered when realization hit him. That strong smell of chocolate didn't come from Alec burning some hot chocolate or anything like that, it came from a cake. Alec was baking a cake—a chocolate cake.

A weird, warm feeling formed in the pit of Magnus's stomach. Today was December 8—his birthday—and apparently Alec, his beloved Alexander, was baking him a cake. He couldn't remember the last time someone had done that for him. Well, in fact, he could remember, but it had been so long ago that he wasn't sure if it was actually a memory or just a dream...something his mind had made up to make him feel loved, if only once.

"It's smooth and thick, that's good, right?" Alec said, and Magnus smiled in adoration.

Judging by the bits and pieces he was getting from this one-sided conversation, it was clear that Alec was receiving some kind of phone-coaching in the art of confectionery. Magnus had no idea who the person on the other end of the line might be, but he was grateful for the help they were providing to his boyfriend. He loved Alec with every fiber of his being, but he had to admit that the man wasn't the best cook there was. He was better than Isabelle and Jace combined together, so by Shadowhunters standards he was good enough to feed someone without poisoning them, but even so, he could be a bit dangerous if left unsupervised in the kitchen.

"Okay, got it. It's done, now I just have to spread it all over the cake, right?"

Magnus smiled and decided to make his presence known, entering the kitchen.

"Thanks for the help mom, yes, I'll make sure to tell him tha-" Alec stopped mid-sentence when he noticed Magnus standing in the kitchen door. He was smiling broadly, barely listening to what his mom was probably telling him.

Magnus smiled at him, but couldn't hide his surprise at the fact that it was apparently Maryse Lightwood who was coaching Alec on how to successfully bake a cake for his warlock boyfriend on his birthday. Magnus knew that he wasn't Maryse's favorite person, ever since he had started dating Alec she had made that very clear, but in recent weeks it had become more and more evident that the matriarch of the Lightwood family was trying hard to make amends for her past mistakes and was learning to accept and respect her son's relationship.

"He's awake, mom, I have to go." Alec told his mother. "Yeah, we'll do. Bye...and thanks again." He said, hanging up the phone.

"How's your mom?" Magnus asked.

"Happy birthday!" Alec exclaimed, completely ignoring his question and, instead, running towards him to kiss him in the mouth. "You woke up before it was ready, but I baked you a cake."

"Thanks, Alexander, but you really didn't have to."

"But I wanted to." Alec said. "I also made you breakfast, pancakes, bacon and eggs, your favorites, but I set everything so that we could be on the terrace. It's a bit cold, but I figured you could use some magic to keep us warm, I know how much you love having breakfast there."

Magnus smiled. Alec was the sweetest, most caring person he had ever met and it was on days like today that he realized how lucky he was to have him by his side. "Nothing beats having breakfast in the clouds, my love."

"I know, and we can go there in just a second, just let me take the cake out of the oven so it can cool a bit, okay?" Alec said, already taking the cake out of the oven and placing it on the kitchen counter. It looked absolutely delicious and Magnus couldn't wait to eat it.

"That looks really good, did you become a chef overnight?"

"No, my mother guided my every move...it's her special recipe, so it must be good."

"I'm sure I'm going to love it as much as I love you." Magnus said. "Ugh! Was that too cheesy?" He asked when he realized what he had just said.

Alec laughed. "Probably, but I loved it…as much as I love you."

"We're disgusting!" Magnus admitted. "Anyway, I love everything you're doing and I'm thankful for the cake and the breakfast, but aren't you supposed to be in the institute in like an hour?" Magnus questioned, quickly glancing at the kitchen clock. He loved the idea of having breakfast with Alec for his birthday and eating that delicious cake, but he also knew that his boyfriend had responsibilities to fulfill.

"No, I'm taking the day off." Alec said, grabbing from somewhere behind him the pancakes, bacon and eggs he had already prepared. Shadowhunters weren't supposed to be able to do magic, but sometimes Magnus questioned if that was entirely true.

"Actually," Alec added, "I'm taking the whole weekend off."

"Really?"

"Yes, Izzy is taking over in my absence."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you taking the whole weekend off?"

"To celebrate with you, of course." Alec replied as if that were the most obvious thing in the world. "I don't know what you want to do or where you want us to go, but the other day you mentioned that you wanted to visit Indonesia again, so I thought that maybe we could go there this weekend. We wouldn't have a lot of days to explore the whole country, but we could visit where you were born and maybe one or two more places."

Magnus didn't know what to say, since he had met Alec, the man had kept surprising him in every possible way. Either with his blunt love confessions or his heart-melting gifts, but he always made Magnus's world to turn upside down. It was refreshing and unsettling, all at the same time.

"Of course, if you don't want to go, we can stay here. I can see why celebrating your birthday after all these year isn't something you'd be very excited about. I mean, you did say once that you celebrated it, usually throwing a big party and inviting the entire shadow world, so if this more intimate celebration sounds boring to you we could-"

Magnus placed a finger in front of Alec's lips to silence him. "I'd love to go with you to Indonesia this weekend to celebrate my birthday." He said. "And before you say anything else, I want you to know that this..." Magnus pointed to the cake and the breakfast that Alec had so lovingly made for him, "...this means more to me than you can even begin to imagine. What I told you about my birthday is true, for centuries I've celebrated this day by throwing big parties and getting drunk until I can remember my own name, but all those parties were just for the sake of celebrating something, Alexander. They were an empty and shallow attempt on my part to overshadow the fact that I was celebrating yet another year of my immortal life and had no one to truly share it with. You changed all that, you came into my life and made me see things differently, made me appreciate every moment I have—good or bad. You taught me to live every day as if it was my last, so no, an intimate celebration doesn't sound boring at all, in fact, it's just the opposite...it's exactly what I want."

Alec smiled visibly relieved. "Then that's what you'll get, I have everything ready, the whole enchilada."

Magnus grabbed Alec from his shirt to pull him closer to him. "Why, Alexander, you never cease to amaze me." He whispered to him. He had already lost count of how many times he had told him that, but the fact that he had said it repeatedly didn't make it any less true. Every second, of every minute, of every day, Alec always found a way to surprise him in the most unexpected way.

"Well, I certainly hope to keep doing it for a very long time." Alec said. "Happy birthday, babe! I really hope you have the best birthday ever."

Magnus gave one quick look at the cake, at the still-warm pancakes and at the man himself and felt the happiest he had ever felt on his birthday. "It already is." He said, because that little statement was nothing but the truth.

This was by far the best birthday he had ever had. It was the first time since he was a kid that he felt cherished and loved, that celebrating his birthday didn't turn into a day to remember all the people he had lost along the way, but into a day to look forward to all the good years he still had to live.

"I love you." Magnus said, taking Alec's cheek in his palm and stroking it tenderly.

"And I love you too, birthday boy. Now, let's get you feed! We have some serious celebrating to do and you could use the extra energy."

Magnus chuckled. Perhaps it had taken him some centuries and a lot of heartbreaks, but today, as he got ready to celebrate another year around the sun, he realized that spending this special day with the love of his life made all the difference in the world.