Alec had been excited all week for his birthday. Even though he had been raised to not celebrate his birthday because shadowhunters shouldn't be distracted by trivial things like birthdays, or so his parents said. But Izzy, Jace and Max always secretly celebrated Alec's birthday and he did the same for them.

Alec was very surprised that Victor had given him the day off for his birthday. Victor had been chosen to be the head of the institute over Alec, because of the bad reputation his parents had from being ex Circle members. Well that was the excuse the Clave had given him, but Alec knew it was because he was an omega while Victor was an alpha.

Usually Victor didn't treat Alec with any respect at all, and had tried to stop him from being a shadowhunter. Saying that omegas should be warming alphas' beds and not be shadowhunters. Magnus and Alec's siblings fought hard against Victor and thankfully had managed to stop Victor from doing this.

So Alec had been very shocked that Victor had given him the day off. Though now that he thought about it Victor probably had wanted to make it seem like Alec was slacking and that he didn't want to do his job. As shadowhunters hardly ever had days off. If Victor could make people believe that he was too lazy to be a shadowhunter and had enough support he could demote Alec.

The thought made Alec angry but he pushed it aside. Today was his 21st birthday and he wanted to celebrate it. Alec made his way from the kitchen after having gotten his coffee to find Magnus wolfing down his breakfast.

Alec shook his head fondly, "Magnus, you don't have to eat so fast we have all day".

Magnus gave Alec a look of confusion and sounded frustrated when he spoke, "What are you talking about?"

Alec felt his heart sink as he realized that Magnus had forgotten it was his birthday, "We both took the day off remember?"

"Why do you think I would be able to take the day off?" Magnus snapped harshly, startling Alec and he felt tears threatening to fall, "I have so many clients Alec, you know it's incredibly difficult to get any time off".

Alec's heart hurt even more when Magnus said Alec instead of Alexander, Magnus only usually did that if he was angry. "I understand that, but I thought you said-"

"My clients are very vindictive people who would try to ruin my career if I cancelled our meetings. I have worked too hard to be where I am to let a day off ruin my career".

"I hardly get to see you anymore Magnus, and today is special we had agreed to spend today together", Alec said tearfully.

A couple of weeks ago he had said his birthday was coming up and that they would need to book time off in advance. Magnus had agreed at the time, but now Alec remembered Magnus had been reading a spell book. Maybe Magnus hadn't heard what he was saying.

"I don't have time for this I need to go", Magnus said angrily and portaled out of the room.

Normally Magnus would have clients in his apartment but since Alec started staying over more, Magnus had his meetings elsewhere. Most of his clients were alphas who would not care that Alec was Magnus' mate. Ever since a client tried to claim Alec against his will Magnus had been very careful about where to hold his meetings.

Alec slumped down on the sofa, feeling miserable and heartbroken. Alec hadn't eaten breakfast but he didn't feel hungry anymore. Now that Magnus had left he let the tears fall. Alec was comfortable crying in front of Magnus but not when Magnus was the reason he was crying.

When Alec had calmed down he checked his phone for birthday messages, but was disappointed to see none from his family. He knew his parents wouldn't bother but part of him always hoped they would. Izzy and Jace said they would send him a message, knowing he wanted to spend the day with Magnus and would join them in the evening. But he hadn't received any messages from Jace and Izzy.

Alec knew it was early but Jace and Izzy had work today, so they would be up. He tried to reason that they probably thought he didn't want them interrupting his time with Magnus. But as the day went on they didn't send him a single message.

The only birthday message he got was from Simon. They had become best friends, Simon had been keeping it a secret that he was an omega. But when he found out Alec was an omega too, he confessed the truth and they had bonded over being omegas.

The message eased Alec's pain a bit, but it didn't stop him from hurting from being ignored by his family, Magnus and other friends. Alec had tried texting Magnus a few times but Magnus ignored his texts. He was hoping that at least Andrew or Cat would message him but they didn't.

To try and forget about his pain, Alec watched the second Avengers film. Simon had been horrified when he discovered Alec hadn't watched any TV and had made him watch a lot of things. Alec loved Hawkeye because he is an archer like him.

Alec was tempted to message Simon and asked him to come over, but he saw a post on Facebook (another thing Simon made him join) saying that Simon was spending the day with his family. Alec didn't want to interrupt that, since finding out about the Shadow world and becoming a vampire, Alec knew Simon hadn't been able to see his family as much as he wanted.

Alec's heart leapt when he saw that he had texts from Jace and Izzy, but it sunk again when he saw they weren't birthday messages. They were trying to guilt him into coming back to the institute to help them even though they knew it was his day off. It hurt that they were doing this and that they remembered it was his day off but not his birthday.

Alec was feeling so downtrodden that he gave in, he couldn't bear to be in the empty apartment alone on his birthday. Magnus' cats were all out of the apartment, so Alec couldn't even get comfort from them. Alec made his way to the institute feeling miserable. When he arrived Izzy and Jace were glaring at him.

"About time! What took you so long?" Jace said angrily.

Alec was about to defend himself, many alphas had harassed him on the way slowing him down. But Izzy dragged him off to look at some important files before he could speak. After a few hours of discussing a mission, Victor came over and asked Alec to come to his office. Alec sighed not looking forward to being alone with Victor, he was always so inappropriate towards Alec. But no one would believe an omega over an alpha, even his family.

Alec had wanted to tell Magnus, but Victor had threatened to hurt Magnus if he did. As soon as the door closed Victor slammed Alec against the wall and rutted against him as he tried to take off Alec's trousers. Alec pushed Victor away and tried to escape but Victor grabbed him and pulled him tight against his chest.

"Come on Alec, let me give you my birthday present", Victor said.

Victor spun Alec around to face him and he grabbed Alec's hair to pull his head to the side to give him better access to his neck.

"No! Don't do this!" Alec said, desperately trying to get away.

But Victor just ignored him and was about to give him the mating bite, when a blast of magic had Victor flying across the room. Alec was so relieved and turned around expecting to see Magnus, but was surprised and disappointed when he saw Dot.

"Dot? You saved me thank you".

"I'm glad I got here in time", Dot said, though she didn't like Alec because Magnus had chosen him over her, she couldn't allow Alec to be claimed against his will. Dot noticed Victor get up and try to silently grab Alec again but she used her magic to knock him out.

Alec turned around in surprise, feeling grateful that Dot had magic and was helping him. He knew that Dot had made advances on Magnus and that Magnus had turned her down because he was with him. He was glad Dot didn't let any grudges stop her saving him.

"Thanks again", Alec said sheepishly, feeling foolish for not noticing Victor trying to attack him. He was trained to notice these things. His parents would be horrified if they knew about this. Dot seemed to read his mind.

"I couldn't let Victor hurt you, and you shouldn't blame yourself. I know from some of my omega friends that nearly being claimed against your will is a traumatic experience". Dot herself was an alpha.

Alec smiled gratefully at her, "We should probably go before he wakes up".

"Wait, Victor should be arrested for what he did to you".

"Thank you for saying that not many alphas would, but no one would believe me over him".

Dot sighed knowing Alec was right, "What if I backed you up. I'm an alpha, they are more likely to believe me". Dot felt guilty when Alec's eyes lit up. The real reason she was doing this was because she hoped it would make Magnus like her more than Alec.

Alec happily agreed and Alec called Jace and asked him to arrest Victor. As an omega, Alec wasn't allowed to himself. But Jace didn't believe him, he was friends with Victor and couldn't believe he would force himself on Alec. Causing Alec even more pain.

Alec's heart shattered as he realized none of the other shadowhunters would want to arrest Victor either for the same reason. Even though he knew Izzy wouldn't believe him, he tried calling her in case. But as he predicted she didn't believe him either. Feeling defeated, Alec was going to tell Dot they should give up and go.

But Dot arrested Victor, not caring that she was a Downworlder and not allowed to. Dot ignored the shadowhunters who tried to stop her and she portaled Victor out of the office, making Jace and Izzy were even more angry than when Alec first arrived.

"I can't believe this! First you take a day off leaving us to do all the work, then you show up late and now you're accusing Victor of trying to claim you against your will!" Jace shouted, causing Alec to shrink back.

Through his years growing up at the institute Alec was often yelled at. Usually by his parents, siblings, or alphas who were harassing him. But it didn't stop the hurt. "I was telling the truth Jace. I can't believe you would believe Victor over your parabatai".

Jace scoffed, "Parabatai?" Jace said condescendingly. "I should never have agreed to be your parabatai. I never thought you could do something like this".

"I looked up to you when we were growing up Alec, but now I realize I shouldn't have done that", Izzy said angrily.

Jace and Izzy stormed away leaving Alec feeling shattered. Alec had been looking forward to his 21st birthday for a long time, he had never thought this would happen. Alec still had an hour left of his day, Alec worked alone in his room not wanting to face his colleagues as they didn't believe him.

When Alec had finally arrived at Magnus' apartment at the end of the day, he was hoping Magnus would have been back. But Magnus was still out. Alec curled up on the sofa, the trauma of the almost claiming hit him at full force and he cried himself to sleep.