particlenumber13:

Okay, Alec turned 18 somewhere between COB and COA. And THB covers his birthday. I did get the feeling that birthdays were not exactly important events in nephilim society, but 18 was a big year because they turned adults. Alec is also known to avoid any kind of special attention.

Magnus was not expecting to see Alec that day; Alec was supposed to spend it with his family. What if Alec ditched them because Simon and Clay were there? And not necessarily because ew, mundanes are ruining my party. But rather, Alec felt really self-conscious that these strangers were around. And I wonder if his birthday was the only day Alec found it socially acceptable for him to be somewhere near the centre of attention, but instead there were these strangers in his home instead.

But what if he actually just wanted to see Magnus? Like … they’re supposed to have a celebration for him and Alec always stays home at his birthday so now he can’t think of any reason to sneak out & he thought birthday is a day you should spent with family so he told Magnus he wouldn’t come to Magnus’ house that day. Then Isabelle, after meeting Magnus, went back to the Institute & saw Alec sitting around rather sad at home because he wanted to see Magnus, so she helped him by made up some stories & asked everyone to celebrate his birthday the day after.