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Magnus walked into the institute, feeling giddy and excited. This was the first time he and Alec can celebrate the Shadowhunter’s birthday publicly. Now that there wasn’t a war going on and he and Alec were public, there was no need to hide his interest in Alec’s birthday. He was glad that he didn’t have to ring the Institute or wait at the Sanctuary anymore, though other Downworlders still weren’t that lucky, but that wasn’t an issue for today. No, today, he had to find his boyfriend.
Once he got into the OP centre that task wasn’t so hard. Alec, with his tall physique towered over everyone. Feeling better at just the sight of his boyfriend, Magnus made his way through the Shadowhunters. When Alec noticed him, his blue eyes lit up and when Magnus got to him, the Shadowhunter pulled him closer and leaned down to kiss him. Magnus smiled into it and wrapped his arms around Alec’s neck. He enjoyed this side of Alec very much, when he was unafraid to show his emotions.
“Hmm, hello Alexander,” he drawled and let his hands fall from Alec’s neck to his chest, “I have come to whisk you away from your job and get you to join me in celebrating your birthday in a way that doesn’t involve hunting demons.”
Alec smiled down at him and started: “Well, that sounds nice. What do you have in-” He didn’t finish the words. Suddenly he tensed up, pushed Magnus behind him and, in the next moment, he was holding an electrum whip in his right hand. The warlock stared, startled, at the end of the whip that attacked them, was Isabelle. Why was she attacking her own brother? And why weren’t any of the Shadowhunters around doing anything to help?
Nevertheless, Magnus summoned his magic in his palms, ready to help Alec. But another confusing thing happened; Alec pulled on the whip strongly, making Izzy loose her balance and pulling her against him. He threw her over his shoulder and while she was lying down, he turned to Magnus and when he saw the magic, he shook his head frantically. “No, Magnus! Don’t get involved! It’s not-”
Once again, he didn’t finish the sentence as Isabelle used the position she was in to kick his legs from underneath him. Alec fell to the ground and Izzy rolled over, pulling his arm behind his back and pushing his face into the ground. “Honestly Izz, this is unfair. I was talking to my boyfriend.”
The strangeness continued when Isabelle answered: “There are no rule to this, and you know it. Everything is fair.”
“Oh yeah.” Alec muttered and then with a blue whisp of magic, blue arrow appeared in his hand. He quickly moved it towards Isabelle who yelped and jumped out of the way, releasing him from her hold.
“Hold on! How can you do that?!” She shrieked as she stared at the arrow that appeared in her brother’s hand.
“Magnus. He enchanted my arrows for me, so I would never run out. They come to me when I need them.” Alec shrugged and dropped down when Isabelle launched at him.
“That is not fair.” The girl said as she continued in her attack.
“You said it yourself, Izz! No rules!” Alec called back and threw back punches of his own. He took out a small dagger and dropped to the ground, cutting at Isabelle’s heel. He successfully damaged it and the other Shadowhunter lost her balance. When she was on the ground, Alec pinned her and with the dagger he was holding, he gently nicked at her hand, drawing blood. Isabelle cursed and Alec let go of her.
“Am I at least winning against the other attempts?” She asked as she drew an iratze on herself.
Alec shook his head and replied: “No. Jace nearly smashed my face against my bedroom door just as I was getting out to go have breakfast. He was definitely the closest.”
“I’m sorry, WHAT?!” Magnus yelled out, because neither of them was having appropriate reaction to Alec nearly having his face smashed by his parabatai.
Alexander winced and turned back to him. “Right, I wanted to explain it to you, but this one wouldn’t stop her fighting for a moment.” That got him a slight smack on the shoulder, “But you see, this is a Shadowhunter birthday tradition.”
Magnus blinked once, and then again and shook his head to try and find out if he didn’t imagine his boyfriend saying that. “I’m sorry. Shadowhunter birthday tradition is to get attacked by others? Is this a joke?”
Isabelle snorted, sure, but then she started explaining: “No, the Shadowhunter tradition is to get attacked by members of your family when you least expect it. The way with which you chose to attack and when is completely up to the person attacking and there are no rules for it. It’s total fun!” The black head exclaimed.
Alec seeing Magnus’ terrified face continued: “Well there are few rules. The fight has to be one on one, and the attack can’t be planned by more than one person. And wounds that would take more than one iratze to heal are also forbidden.”
“Well, that’s alright then.” Magnus said sarcastically as he threw his hands up in the air.
Just then, something fell from the ceiling of the Institute and right on Alec’s back. The Shadowhunter dropped to the ground and rolled, causing the attacker to let go, if they didn’t want to get trapped beneath Alec. When the attacker stood up, it became clear that it was actually Clary.
This time, Magnus didn’t try to attack, but he did stare in surprise. “Biscuit! You too?” He asked in disbelief as Clary actually threw a dagger at Alec’s leg. Though luckily his Shadowhunter managed to move out the way.
“What?! Alec said I can and they all said it’s a good practice!” The red head called enthusiastically as she threw herself at Alec again and again restlessly.
Though this time, while Alec was still attacking as efficiently as ever, when Clary made a mistake, he told her how to better it. In the end, Alec drew blood first. But it was clear that two attacks in such a close time frame tired him down.
“You did well.” Alec said as he helped Clary up.
“Right? I think so as well!” Called out Jace as he came up to them and wrapped his arms around Clary.
Magnus eyed him wearily. “Please tell me you’re not here to attack my boyfriend as well.”
Jace laughed at that and shook his head. “No, I already attacked him once. That’s not allowed. So instead, I helped Clary prepare this one.”
At that, Magnus frowned. “I thought you said that helping out in planning is also not allowed.” He pointed out, although he didn’t understand why he was getting so pulled into this strange tradition.
“Well yes,” Alec started, “but there are few expectations. Like children who don’t have their runes yet can seek guidance from someone older or if there are more of them, they can attack together. We thought that since Clary never participated in this tradition, then we would allow her to seek help just this once.”
Magnus nodded and grabbed Alec’s hand. “Well, I’m gonna take my boyfriend away before anyone else attacks him.”
He took Alec on a date in Prague, but he couldn’t stop thinking about the strange tradition. And so, when Alexander kissed him once they were back at his loft, he used his magic to throw his boyfriend back. For a moment Alexander looked stunned, but then he smirked and dropped into a fighting position. “Blood is too messy, so I propose first to yield?” Alec smirked and said: “Oh, it’s on.”
In the end, neither of them yielded as they got distracted along the way.
Bonus Scene 5 years later:
Alec walked into their home and took off his boots and jacket. “Magnus! Max! Rafael! I’m home!” He called out but got no answer. He walked further into their loft, still nothing.
Then he heard a quiet giggling from behind the couch, that was Max, followed by sharp whisper of: “Shh, he’s gonna hear us!” And that was Rafael. Alec smiled to himself, and went towards the couch, though he made sure to turn his back on it. “Hmm, I wonder where those boys are.”
There was a scream that sounded like: “Now!” Suddenly, two little boys jumped on his back, and he fell to his knees. At first, he managed to hold himself up, but with the both of them against him, they soon got him on his back and both of them triumphantly sat on him to hold him down.
“Do you yield?” Rafael asked him and Alec shook his head. “Never.” The boys looked at each other and a spark of mischief passed between them.
They both descended on him, tickling him everywhere they could. Alec didn’t laugh, he was used to it, but after the demonstration lasted longer, he started feeling the tickling and he couldn’t keep the laughter in. in the end he called out: “Alright, alright! I yield!”
At those words, the boys jumped off of him, Max excitedly calling: “Bapak! Daddy yielded to us!” and from the apothecary came Magnus’ voice saying: “I heard Blueberry! Good job boys.” When the warlock came out, Max jumped into his arms and oh, he was so beautiful. Alec stayed lying on the floor and watched the boys jump up and down in excitement at the fact that they managed to defeat him.