Title: Lemonade for Christmas
Rating: T
Pairing: ZekuRoku
Summary: All Roxas wanted to do was make his boyfriend the perfect Christmas gift.
Word Count: 816
Written To: L'Arc~En~Ciel, KAT-TUN, and Lady Gaga
Author's Lame Excuses: Veronika's Christmas oneshot. Happy Christmas, my love! 333
~*~
Roxas gave a frustrated little growl as he surveyed the kitchen. It was covered in lemon rinds, granulated sugar, and crumpled paper towels. In short, it looked like a lemonade factory had exploded. The sugar canister was open and on its side, a half-mopped up puddle of lemonade on the floor. When Zexion had found the recipe card for his late mother's lemonade, Roxas had wanted to do something nice for him. It was Christmas after all, and what better gift than something much beloved in the past?
This, though. This was a disaster. He'd already tried seventeen times—yes, he'd kept count—and each time was a complete failure. The first time he'd used too much lemon juice and had immediately had to spit the drink out. When he'd tried to compensate with extra sugar in the second batch, he'd given himself a minor sugar high, resulting in five more failed batches.
He could feel the tears pooling in the corners of his eyes but he blinked them back stubbornly. He wasn't going to cry over something as stubborn as this. There was just no way. He scrubbed his face with his sleeve vigorously, setting his mouth into a grim line. Zexion was getting his lemonade for Christmas whether he liked it or not.
Thus, he set to work once more, picking up the lemon rinds and throwing them out, along with the paper towels after he wiped up his spills. He set the sugar canister upright, salvaging as much as he could and pouring it back in, then sweeping the rest from the floor with a broom and dustpan he retrieved from the front closet.
After the kitchen was once more spotless, he pulled three fresh lemons out of the fridge and set them down on the cutting board, carefully slicing them into halves as the recipe instructed. He juiced them over a strainer to catch the seeds and pulp. The card specifically stated that Zexion liked his lemonade pulp-free. After he was done, he checked the measure. A half litre, perfect. He poured it into a pitcher, then added 100 grams of sugar, a bit less sweet than he would have liked, but then again it wasn't for him. Filling the pitcher the rest of the way up with water, he selected a clean wooden spoon and stirred until the sugar was all dissolved.
It was the moment of truth. He poured a small amount into a glass and took and tiny sip, then a larger one. It wasn't awful, as the others had been, but it was... bland. That was the only way to describe it.
He set the glass down and slammed his fist onto the counter, making the pale yellow liquid jump and slosh in the pitcher. The frustrated tears finally spilled over and he bit his lip hard enough that he tasted blood. He couldn't do anything right! All he wanted was to make his boyfriend something special for Christmas...
He plopped down onto the floor miserably, drawing his knees up to his chest and burying his face in them. He could hear the garage door opening, signalling his lavender-haired boyfriend's return home from work.
"Hello!" Zexion's voice called. Roxas didn't respond.
"Hello? Roxas?" Zexion called again as he walked into the kitchen. He spotted the blonde on the floor and immediately went to him, wrapping his arms around the smaller boy and lifting his chin to see his blotchy face, tears still running down his cheeks.
Alarmed, Zexion gently kissed the tears away, stroking his hair until he calmed down enough to stop crying.
"Roxas... What happened?" he murmured gently.
Roxas sniffled miserably,
"I just wanted to make you something you'd love for Christmas... I found your mum's recipe... figures I couldn't even do something so simple... I'm so fucking useless!"
"Lemonade? Oh, Roxas..." Zexion kissed him on the forehead and pulled him up gently, surveying the counter with a critical eye. "Well, let me taste it."
"No, it's awful!" Roxas tried to grab the pitcher away, but Zexion would have none of it. He poured himself a glass and took a sip. Roxas fidgeted at the long silence as his boyfriend stood, contemplating, then barely had time to breathe as he was swept into a lemon-flavoured kiss.
"Oh Rox, its perfect!" he whispered as he broke away, "Just like my mother's."
"But- but I tasted it and everything—"
Zexion didn't let him finish, cutting him off with another kiss.
"Roxas, I don't know what you're talking about. The lemonade is perfect—and so are you. You're not useless at all."
Roxas smiled in relief.
"So... you like it?"
"I love it—and I love you. Now, let's get the kitchen cleaned up and we can go share this in the library, okay?" he smiled again and Roxas gave a brilliant grin in return.
"Okay... Happy Christmas, Zexion."
