Title: Love and Sandwiches, or How I Learned to Transform the Day

Summary: Demyx would turn a completely ordinary day into something special.

Genre: Romance

Rating: K

Date Uploaded: 15 September 2010

Status: Complete

Warnings: Romantic fluff, Demyx singing, and peanut butter cookies.

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belongs to Square Enix and Disney Interactive Studios. The song Cupcakes and Lemonade belongs to Shepard Stern and Disney. The inspiration for this story comes from Lady Karai's contest for her story Come Home, which you should all go read, by the way.

Author's Note: This is my first tentative dip into the realm of writing Kingdom Hearts fanfiction after several years of reading it and lurking about. I have a bunch of half completed stories floating about my computer and my head and have just been lacking the motivation to edit and finish them. I figured that Lady Karai's contest would be good motivation for me to complete a story. I originally wanted to write more than one submission, but my procrastination put an end to that of course. As this was more of a test for me to finish something within a deadline, I will most likely be returning to this story and editing it a lot more as I did this kind of in a rush.

January:

Zexion unlocked the bookstore, grateful for its warmth. Leon must have let Demyx off from closing duties early because he didn't see the man anywhere in the store. He did see that Leon was behind the counter though, probably going through the last steps of closing for the day.

"He finished early, but he told me that he wants you to head upstairs. He had to run out for a bit. Pick something up or whatever. He won't be long." Leon hadn't even looked up to see who it was.

Zexion glanced behind him at the door he had just locked again. "Thank you. He didn't see where he was going?" It was only 6 o'clock on a Sunday. Lionhearted Books closed early on Sunday evenings and tomorrow, it wouldn't even open because of a federal holiday. He checked down at his phone to see if he missed any text messages or phone calls, but there was nothing. He knew it was nothing to be uptight about though, he would just head up to their apartment and maybe make them dinner or hot chocolate for when Demyx returned. That would be pleasant, they hadn't eaten a proper dinner together since last Tuesday. And neither of them had any work or classes tomorrow, they would be able to spend the day together. The idea was already filling Zexion with a warm contentment at the prospect.

"I suppose I won't see you until Tuesday then, Leon, good night."

"'Night."

He walked to the back of the store to head up to his and Demyx's apartment. He usually used the back entrance as entering through the bookstore required more locking and unlocking. Occasionally though, when Zexion finished his classes and work in time, he liked to go through the bookstore and chat with Leon and Demyx as they finished closing up shop. Leon was probably looking forward to having Monday off himself. Even if Cloud wasn't let off work and Sora and Roxas had plans, Leon would be able to spend the day with much less work and his new daughter Xion. It seemed everyone would benefit from the holiday.

Where was Demyx though? Zexion had been upstairs for ten minutes without Demyx returning. When Leon had said that he had run out to get something, Zexion had assumed that meant something from the corner market or drugstore and would be back soon. He walked into their kitchen which consistently smelled like cookies, thanks to Demyx's love of baking.

Mmm, and today it smelled like peanut butter cookies, Zexion's favorite. Maybe if he was nice he would be able to convince Demyx that they should make a new batch tomorrow. Though it would be nice to have some now, preferably with a mug of hot chocolate. Unfortunately, he didn't see any bag of leftovers on the counter. But, wait, there was something on the counter. Not a bag of leftover cookies, but something else.

There was a photograph by the stove top. The image wasn't immediately recognizable though. Zexion knew immediately that Demyx had taken this, probably with a disposable camera. He flipped it over for a clue to what the picture was but there was only a little smiley face on it. Yes, definitely Demyx. He flipped it back to the image. The image was mostly dark with a bright highlight in the center and indistinguishable shapes.

Were those... Were those his dress shoes? The lighting was bad, but did not render the picture unidentifiable. It looked as if a flash had magnified the patent leather of the shoes while dimming everything else around them, presumably carpet and more shoes.

With a lack of any other clue to go on and Demyx still not back, he headed into their bedroom and opened up the closet. He knelt down to dig for his dress shoes. He hadn't worn them recently and the right and left had gotten separated among more casual shoes. He grabbed them both though and stared down at them in his hands. There was another photograph in the left shoe. Demyx was up to something. He pulled out the photograph and squinted at it. This one was much clearer than the one of his shoes and depicted their shelf of movies, showing only about ten of their collection. He flipped it over, another smiley face on the back.

Zexion no longer wondered when Demyx would return, this was probably going to be a solo mission for him. It seemed like his boyfriend had set up a scavenger hunt for him. He vaguely wondered why, but this was Demyx, and his spontaneity attracted Zexion to him. It was a trait he lacked and therefore tried to embrace in his lover, even though it was often a cause of stress in his life. It was sometimes hard to accept traits in Demyx that he so carefully avoided in his own personality, but despite often being led out of his comfort zone, Zexion loved every moment he spent with Demyx. He might never be as socially confident as he aimed to be, but so far he had only benefited from being open to new ideas.

The picture encompassed a short chunk of their movie shelf. He wondered if the photograph was in-between the cases or if he'd actually have to open up each movie and see if the picture had been placed inside. That would be tedious. Zexion quickly tipped each movie out of and back into its resting spot, hoping that the picture would have been slid between two of them. No, of course not, that would be too easy.

After finding the new picture four DVD's into his search, Zexion followed the next clue to the coffee maker. Then to the refrigerator to under their living room rug to behind the pillows on their bed to the spice cabinet to an actual photo album to the drawer of office supplies to a stack of coasters- all around their apartment. By the end of his search, Zexion had a total of fourteen pictures spread in front of him, all of various objects with a little smiley face drawn on the back.

The picture clues had gotten progressively harder and hidden. His favorite though, had to be the latest picture Zexion found in the loaf of bread. It had stumped him for almost five minutes and he almost resorted to actually calling Demyx and demanding an explanation, or at least the answer to the loaf of bread picture.

At first he guessed that the picture was under the bag, but when lifting it up, he guessed maybe it had fallen off the counter. After thoroughly searching the immediate area he simply stood in their kitchen cradling the loaf in his hands. Then he saw it, or rather felt it, the photograph had been placed in between the bread slices.

Dear God, Demyx had put a lot of time into this scavenger hunt.

Zexion neatly stacked all of his previous clues and looked at his newest one. Unlike all of the previous photographs, this one was completely in focus and obvious of what it was. Demyx had taken a picture of the café-sandwich shop across the street and had even written an order on the back next to his smiley face:

Ham, Swiss, and tomatoes on rye. Don't forget the pickles! :)

Zexion checked his watch and immediately went to put on his coat and shoes. He had been at this for longer than he thought, it was nearly seven and he didn't know how much longer the café would be open. This time he went out the back door, down the steps, and around the bookstore to the street. Quickly looking both ways, he hurried across the street with his hands stuffed in his coat pockets. With the sun fully set, it was now even colder than when he had first entered the bookstore.

He turned left and felt a swoop of gratefulness when he saw lights shining from 'Wich-Craft Café. He pushed the door open and took a deep breath of the warmth and light. There were a few patrons left within scattered about the tables, but he was the only one at the register. He looked around behind the counter and coughed lightly to get a worker's attention.

A girl with fuzzy hair and an apron scurried over to the register, "Hi, I'm sorry about that, sir. Are you ready to make an ord- " The girl paused and squinted at his face. "Um, sorry, but would you happen to be Zexion?"

Zexion didn't reply right away and simply stared at the girl who had turned a light shade of pink. "Uh, sorry, my bad, it's just that- "

"No need to apologize," he stopped her babbling politely as he could. "I am Zexion. Did someone already place an order for me to pick up?"

The girl seemed relieved and smiled widely, "Yes! Someone phoned in an order about fifteen minutes ago. He said that 'Zexion' would be picking it up soon. An order for- " She fumbled around behind the counter and retrieved a brown bag with a receipt stapled to it. "An order for ham on rye and chicken salad on wheat? Is that right?"

Zexion smiled. Demyx was amazing.

He had nearly completely forgotten the frustration the earlier photo scavenger hunt had caused him. He didn't even really care why Demyx had put this elaborate search together in order for them to have dinner with each other. All he could think of now was that he was dating a creative, loving, funny, and overall fantastic man.

The paper bag was shuffled under his arm while he fumbled to unlock the back door. As he kicked it open with his feet, he noticed that the lights were on. Either he had had a large brain slip and forgotten to turn them off or-

Demyx. Demyx was leaning back in a chair at the kitchen table staring at the ceiling absentmindedly blowing stray hairs off his face. Zexion shut the door loudly with his foot, eyes not leaving his boyfriend. He was rewarded with the sight of Demyx frantically lurching forward, standing up, and scurrying around.

Zexion raised an eye brow as he calmly stepped out of his shoes and walked into the kitchen. He was still watching Demyx as he set the bag onto the table and started to take off his coat. Demyx had grabbed his acoustic guitar and was now strumming his hands over the strings without touching them, furrowing his brow as if to remember the particular motions.

"Demyx, what are- ?"

"Shush, I'm trying to remember this. Okay, now sit down and listen." Strum.

"Once upon a time, a man named Zeeeexion

Went walking down the street

To bring his boyfriend soooomething good."

Demyx was serious, well, not actually serious-serious, but he was legitimately doing... this. This being a ridiculous and silly serenade in their kitchen that smelled like peanut butter cookies and Zexion still wearing his scarf. Demyx was actually serenading his boyfriend with a dopey and exaggerated smile on his face. It was a strangely peppy tune and soundly vaguely familiar to Zexion's ears.

"Love and saaaand-wiches!

Made at the 'Wiiich Café!"

...Oh goodness, Demyx had written his own words to that song Cupcakes and Lemonade. It was a gratingly annoying tune and Zexion had hated it since first hearing it from a CD of silly songs at a toy store years ago.

"It'll be so nice when we cuddle at night

Enjoying loooove and saaaandwiches!

Just then a wolf jumped out from behind a tree,

'Hiya! he said. 'What's in the bag?

Please won't you let me seeee?

Love and saaaandwiches?'"

Demyx's voice dropped several octaves in order to sing the part wolf's part. This entire situation was more than a bit ridiculous and Zexion felt the corners of his lips start to twitch into a smile. He loved his boyfriend.

"'They're for my boyfriend!'

'Made at the 'Wich Café?'

'We live above a bookstore,

I'm taking them to him!'

'It would be so nice, we could cuddle at night

Eating Demyx and, err, saaaandwiches!'

So the wolf dashed off

Fo the bookstore that Zex had said,

Gobbled up Demyx -gulp-

Put on his clothes and jumped into bed.

'I love this masquerade!

For love and sandwiches!

It will be so great!

It will be so good!

Eating sandwiches and Zexion!'

Zexion opened the door and the wolf said,

'Come inside!'

Zex said, 'What big eyes you have!'

'The better to see you with!'"

Demyx leaned especially close to Zexion widening his eyes and not blinking. He shoved his fist over his mouth to keep from laughing out loud. He wanted to see hear what came next.

"'And what a big nose you have!'

'The better to smell you with, my love.'"

Demyx sniffed loudly and obnoxiously over Zexion's hair.

''And what big teeth you have!'

'The better to eat you with!"

He even gnashed his teeth near Zexion's nose.

"And for dessert, I'll eat your sandwiches!'

'Oh, no! It's the wolf!'"

Zexion's laughter burst out of him in a loud guffaw and his eyes started to water. This entire night was just too much. First the ridiculous scavenger hunt where he had looked in a loaf of bread of all places and now Demyx was singing him a ridiculous version of Little Red Riding Hood. It didn't help that Demyx sang different voices for each character and had started swaying back and forth while singing. Zexion didn't even care that his character had a slightly high pitched voice, it made the song funnier anyway.

His head fell into his arms on the table as he continued laughing, "Demyx, Demyx, stop, stop. I'm almost crying, I'm laughing so hard." The words came out breathy and staccato.

Demyx stopped strumming his guitar and smiled down at Zexion, "What, you don't like my song? I wrote it especially for you!"

Zexion stood up and took the guitar from Demyx's hands. He set it on the table and looked into his boyfriend's eyes.

"I love you. You are spontaneous, romantic, ridiculous, and I love you." His fingers gently curled into the back of Demyx's hair as he leaned closer to embrace him.

"If I hadn't gone through so much trouble to get these sandwiches for us, I would insist we go to bed right now. But I don't think that's why you set up this night like this, so I'll continue playing your way." He softly kissed Demyx and turned around to unpack their sandwiches.

He was stopped by two arms swooping around his stomach and a head burrowing against his shoulder, "Love you." A kiss. "Just grab the bag; we're watching a movie tonight. We can eat on the couch. I've already got the cookies and milk laid out." Another kiss.

Peanut butter cookies, a whole batch just to share between him and Demyx. The platter on their coffee table prevented Zexion from taking more than a few bites to his chicken salad sandwich. And Demyx's hand on his leg underneath the blanket prevented him from paying full attention to his favorite movie.

Strange enough, it was actually the DVD that he had previously found one of the picture clues in, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Oh, tricksy, tricksy, Demyx.

"Any particular reason you chose tonight to organize this date-in?"

"Not really, I had thought of the idea a while ago, but didn't remember it 'till sometime this morning. Then I started rushing around during my lunch break to take all the pictures. Leon was really nice about it and had Sora take the camera to one of those one hour developing places. He even let me off early so I could hide the pictures and leave. I was at the café when you got back actually."

It was impressive, Demyx had thrown this all together in the course of several hours and Zexion would remember it as one of the most romantic evenings they shared.

"What about the cookies?" He waved one around before taking a bite of it. "How did you have time to make those?"

Demyx smiled, "Oh, actually, I didn't. Sora was nice enough to do that for me. I'm going to have to payback that kid big time."

Zexion swallowed his mouthful of nutty goodness, "Remind me to do the same. He helped contribute to one of the most creative dates I've... participated in, ever." Kiss "How did you come up with all of those crazy hiding places? I mean, the loaf of bread?"

"Oh, ha, actually I had all the creative ideas first. Once I ran out, I started thinking to hide the pictures in really boring places, like you shoes," Demyx laughed. "My favorite though was on the inside of the lamp shade. I once found a piece of chewed gum in a lamp shade and that made me think of it. The bread idea just sort of came to me while I was standing in the kitchen holding a camera."

He paused, "The song was a last minute idea. Once I saw you leave the apartment, I snuck back in and decided, 'Oh, I want to sing Zexy a song!' Cupcakes and Lemonade was one of the first ones to come to mind. I wanted it to be more, you know, epic, but I didn't know how long you would be. I'm actually kind of glad you cut me off, I don't really know how I would've ended the song."

Demyx laughed again, but Zexion just looked at him solemnly.

"You are my favorite person out of anyone I've ever met." Kiss.

So, yeah. I'm probably going to return to this and edit the heck out of it because I should never submit anything so rushed ever again, but I'm happy I finished it. Please kindly alert me to any spelling, grammar, and punctuation issues so I may correct them as soon as possible. Many thanks for reading!

-Celestial Secrets