The apartment was incredibly loud when the doorman's voice broke through, crackling over the speaker.

"Uh, Mr. Bane?"

The fire alarm continued beeping.

"Yes?"

"Did you know your fire alarm has been going off for twenty minutes now?"

"Um, yes," Alec said, dropping a lid onto the boiling pot of water. It made a loud crashing sound and for a second, Alec thought the glass had cracked.

"Should I call the fire department?"

"No, no, everything's fine," Alec shouted.

In reality, there was boiling water, burning sauce, and bread sticks on the brink of being charred.

"Well, the other residents are complaining, Mr. Bane—"

"It's Alec!" Alec screamed, exhausted.

"Oh— well, Mr.— Alec— I'm going to shut it off, okay?"

"Thank you!"

A few seconds later, the apartment was just a little bit quieter.

Then the spaghetti sauce popped, sending flecks of red flying.

"Damn it." Alec reached for a dish towel and started cleaning up.

Chairman Meow made his first appearance of the day by hopping up onto the counter.

Alec threw the towel over his shoulder and pulled the lid off the boiling water.

Why did it smell more like burning oil?

He dumped a box of cavatappi into the water. The water turned cloudy.

Was it supposed to do that as well?

The phone started ringing.

Alec hurried to grab the phone.

As he accepted the call, he pushed the Chairman, hoping the cat would get off the counter. He didn't budge.

"Hello?"

"Are you busy?" Isabelle asked. She had gotten into the habit of not saying "hello" when she answered the phone.

"Um—" Alec glanced around the kitchen. It looked like a war zone. But if he didn't say yes, he'd risk Isabelle's wrath. "No."

"I think Clary is mad at me."

"Okay, why?" Alec asked. He stirred the pot of pasta and put a lid on the sauce.

Isabelle started telling a story that Alec only half-listened to as he whirled around the room, cleaning, stirring, setting out plates, and panicking about everything that had to be done.

Isabelle finally finished a few minutes later.

"—so what should I do?"

"Apologize," Alec said.

"Apologize? That's all you have to say?"

"Isabelle, you're making a big deal out of nothing—"

Alec turned around. The spaghetti sauce was burning again, smoking billowing out of the pot.

"Damn it!" Alec shouted.

"Alec—?"

"Isabelle, I've got to go—"

"Oh my gosh, it's—"

"Yes, it is," Alec said, through clenched teeth.

"And you're trying to make dinner?"

"Goodbye, Isabelle," Alec said. He could hear her laughs as he hung up the phone and reached for the Chairman, dropping him back on the floor.

"Stay down," Alec threatened.

He started his attempts to rescue the spaghetti sauce.

But it was clear that it was beyond rescuing.

Alec screamed in frustration.

But then he froze.

He heard the front door unlock.

"No," Alec mumbled.

He could hear Magnus' voice even before he stepped into the apartment.

He was humming something, quite loudly, until he must have stumbled across the fat cat.

"Chairman Meow, how is the company today?"

The damn cat hissed and the fire alarm started going off.

Alec scrambled for the burning sauce.

"Alexander—"

Alec couldn't respond.

"Alexander, where are you?"

Alec started stuttering. He turned all of the burners off, including the oven, which was supposed to be cooking the bread sticks.

When he looked up, Magnus' head was peeking into the kitchen.

He only looked slightly horrified.

Alec let out a defeated cry.

"I'm sorry," he said.

Magnus was still assessing the situation.

"I was trying to cook and—"

Magnus stepped into the kitchen, glancing up at the fire alarm. It immediately silenced.

The apartment was dead silent.

Then Alec started crying, burying his face in his hands.

Magnus was at his side in an instant, hugging him.

"Alexander, why are you crying?"

"It's a freaking disaster," Alec mumbled.

"Only slightly," Magnus said. As Alec buried his face in Magnus' shirt, Magnus cleaned up the mess.

"Why were you trying to cook?" Magnus asked.

"It's your birthday," Alec said. Magnus tensed slightly.

"How did you know that?"

"I asked Cat."

"She's betrayed me," Magnus said. He had intended for it to be a joke.

But Alec was silent.

Magnus was just thankful he was done crying.

It was just dinner, after all.

Magnus stepped away from Alec, who looked up at him.

Sometimes he was so terribly small and it was hard to remember that Alec hadn't seen quite as much as Magnus.

"You're kind hot when your eyes are red."

Then Alec was glaring.

Magnus kissed Alec's forehead, lingering there for a minute. Their fingers intertwined in the moment.

"It's the thought that counts," Magnus promised Alec. "But I'm hungry so you better have a Plan B."

"Whatever you want," Alec said.

The Chairman entered the kitchen again.

"He certainly didn't mean you," Magnus said, watching the cat lumber across the room.

Alec smiled.

"I don't feel like going out," Magnus said. "Will you just order takeout?"

"You don't get tired of that?" Alec asked. Magnus held out Alec's hand and smiled.

"The day I hate takeout will be a terrible day."

Magnus disappeared from the kitchen, leaving Alec to execute Plan B.

..........

Dinner was done; takeout boxes were overflowing out of the trash can.

In another part of the house, Magnus' body was parallel to Alec's as their lips met.

Alec's fingers easily undid the buttons of Magnus' shirt.

Magnus' fingers trailed through Alec's hair, until his index finger brushed just behind Alec's ear, hitting something wet.

It didn't take him long to figure out what it was.

By then, he was laughing.

"What—"

Magnus rolled off Alec.

"Magnus, what—"

Magnus pointed his finger up in the sky and in the dim light of the room they could both see red spaghetti sauce.

Magnus tried to suppress his laughter as he tasted the sauce.

"More oregano, next time," he advised. "And maybe a little less burned-in-the-flames-of-hell kind of taste."

"You're an ass," Alec said, wiping away what little was left behind his ear and onto Magnus.

"Hey, it's my birthday," Magnus said, poking Alec's side.

Alec rolled over onto his stomach. He put a hand on Magnus' chest, and rested his chin on Magnus' shoulder.

"Why didn't you tell me about your birthday?" Alec asked, simply.

"Because I don't like birthdays," Magnus said.

"That's not true. You planned the Chairman's birthday party for months."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize two months quantified as 'months,'" Magnus countered.

"Your cat," Alec reminded.

"I don't know," Magnus said. "I find my birthday to be just another day."

"So was today just another day, then?"

"It's not everyday someone burns boiling water," Magnus said. "So congratulations on that one." He smiled sarcastically.

"Well, happy birthday, anyways," Alec said.

"Yes," Magnus said, mindlessly. "Happy birthday to me."

Alec quickly brought him out of his thoughts though and back to reality.

And reality was much better place than his thoughts this time.