A/N: Ready for it? Here it is. I'm an asshole.

But here's to my first ever chaptered fic reaching completion; I've never made it this far in a fic before, and it couldn't have happened without all you cool kids who reviewed, alert'd, and favorite'd. So here's to you- I raise this heaping solo cup of Jameson to you faithful fans, who keep me going when the going gets rough.
Thanks for the love, and be on the lookout for new stuff from me in the near future.


Movement in the kitchen woke me up.

I heard it, the sound of cupboards opening and pots and pans, through my closed door. Burrowing my head into my pillow didn't help- too late, I was already awake. No going back now.

My eyes opened fully, and I rubbed them, blinking against the harsh light filtering in through my blinds- falling across my dark blue blankets and turning my room the color of the ocean. I yawned, stretched, and with a dramatic sigh, rolled over, letting my arm fall across Zexion's naked torso, half exposed by my sheets and back facing me.

He grunted. It was totes presh.

"Snookerbearrr."

"No." He grumbled and tried to burrow into his pillow like I had earlier.

"But Honeybeeeeee-"

"No. Sleep."

"But baaaaaaabe-"

He let loose a loud sigh and peeked over his shoulder at me. "Yes?"

I just knew I could change his mind.

"You'll never guess what day it is."

His eyes narrowed and I couldn't hide my grin any longer- he went to cover his ears, but it was much too late for all that. I grabbed him around the waist, pinning his arm and pulling him closer, and he struggled in my grasp.

"FROM THE HALLS OF MONTEZU-UMA, TO THE SHORES OF TRIPOLIIII-"

"Demyx, I am going to smother you-"

"WE-EE FIGHT OUR COUNTRY'S BA-ATTLES IN THE AIR ON LAND AND SEAAA-"

"Demyx-"

"FIRST TO FIGHT FOR RIGHT AND FREE-EEDOM AND TO KEEP OUR HONOR CLEAN-"

His body went slack as he sighed in defeat.

"WE ARE PROUD TO CLAIM THE TI-ITLE, OF UNITED STATES MARINE!" From across the apartment, I heard Axel give a resounding, "Oorah!"

"Are you done?"

"For now."

He glared over his shoulder. "I'm going to smother you in your sleep."

I feigned hurt, pouting, "But why? You can't kill me. It's my birthday."

For all his talk about killing me in my sleep, he didn't hesitate to scoot backwards to be my little spoon when he was sure I wasn't going to sing the next two verses of the Marine's hymn. "Your birthday was in January, Dem." He never used my nickname when other people could hear. To this day, it gives me a thrill.

"I'll have you know that I am 237 this year. 237 is a big year."

He huffed a quiet laugh and we lay there a moment, being all cuddly and warm in the morning light. In the kitchen, Roxas- or I assumed as much because Axel is incapable- was cooking breakfast. I heard sizzling.

"So since it's my birthday-"

Zexion gave a sleepy "hm?" and I figured I didn't have much time before he drifted back off to sleep, I plowed on. "You got a gift for the birthday boy, or what?"

He didn't answer for a moment, and I thought maybe he had gone back to sleep- but he rolled over suddenly, and my hand found its way to his hip.

Seeing as how we were both naked below my sheets (dark blue comforter, white everything else), I took a moment to reacquaint myself with his fairly new chest tattoo. The looping script, stretching across from armpit to armpit, read simply, "When love is not madness, it is not love". Glancing back up, I met his sleepy gaze with my own, and he furrowed his brow.

"So what exactly does the birthday boy want for his gift?"

I grinned and wiggled my eyebrows. "Well…"

"Well?" He smirked at me, reaching up to trace his fingers along my cheek before trailing them down my neck, my chest, stopping just before my dick. "That wasn't a particularly informative answer."

Just his hand being that close made it twitch- I was soft, but I really doubted I'd stay that way for long if he kept looking at me like that. I tried to glare, but I wouldn't be horribly upset if it turned out as a pout.

"You know, you're a tea-" and I choked on my words when he, feather light, took hold of me. That smirk was doing crazy things to my mind. He knew, really knew, what got me- hard and fast is great and all, but soft touches could get me from zero to sixty in no time. He stroked me slowly, and I got all shivery, my breathing shaky.

My eyes had closed without my noticing, so I was surprised when he leaned in and kissed me- slowing the movement of his hand a little, and I may or may not have groaned into his mouth. It was a long minute before we came up for air. I opened my eyes to a very self-satisfied Zexion.

"You are so mean, ya know that?"

He grinned. "I just want to hear you beg, Demyx."

I'm pretty sure he felt my dick twitch at that, because he huffed a laugh against my lips. I scowled at my traitorous body. "You sir, are infuriating."

The corners of his eyes crinkled up with his grin. "Don't you mean fucking infuriating?" We giggled at the old joke- just take that in for a second, naked, giggling Zexion- and for a moment, we sat there in silence. Thanks to his light touches, I was hard. I wasn't sure if I could take much more of it, but he continued the slow trailing of his fingers around my member.

"Hey…" Zexion murmured, halting his movements. He had a faraway look in his eyes. Then he blinked and I came back into focus. "You know… You know I'm proud of you, right?" I felt suddenly bashful; I mean, I guess it was the joke that brought it up- a joke we'd shared since we started dating. And it was hard to believe so much time had passed, ten months of therapy and many, many sleepless nights later. But it had all led to mornings where I could wake up with a guy I'm crazy about in a place where I didn't have to be afraid.

"Psh," I said, waving all the serious away, "I haven't done much."

His grip on me became more firm in a rather abrupt manner, and I sucked in a surprised breath. His lips turned up at the corner, but his voice was still low and serious. "No. You've done amazing things. Not everyone has the courage to get help. And you've done so much, made so much progress. I really am proud of you."

I let out a shaky laugh, because man, with how strong his grip was, if he started moving his hand, I would probably lose all thought-processing abilities. I spoke before he could make me lose my mind.

"Yeah, well, not everyone has you, do they? You're worth all of it."

He blushed furiously then- first one of the day, and counting- and stuttered, but this time it was me who leaned in for a kiss. "You really are."

Zexion gave me a brilliant smile as he broke away, letting me go and sitting up. I started whining, but he cut me off when he straddled me- and I noticed how hard he was. Guess I couldn't complain.

He sat back on his heels, on my waist- and the pressure felt absolutely glorious on my member. I couldn't keep my hips from twitching, and Zexion smirked as he rested his hands on my stomach. "I'm sorry, is there something I can help you with?"

I growled, because that tease, but before I could flip us, he was standing on his knees, erection leaning out away from him. There was a bead of pre-come on the tip. "Uh. Fuck." What? My brain stopped working. "Zexion." He grinned at me, before glancing to the bedside table. I didn't have to follow his gaze to know he was reaching for lube- just watch as he stretched to get it, leaning back to sit on his heels when he did.

The grin was back, but it had a distinctly more devilish quality to it as he- while keeping his eyes locked firmly on mine- poured the slick stuff on his hand, and reached around to his ass.

I realized I was biting my lip when I tasted blood but I really couldn't have care less.

Zexion's eyes closed and his head fell back as he fingered himself, breath coming out in shaky gasps and sighs. He didn't even touch his dick; just started moving his hips against his hand. "Demyx, Demyx, Demyx…" my name on his lips like that made me just about fuck him into the mattress- and he fucking knew what he did to me, but entranced as I was with the show, I forgot how to move.

He removed his fingers from himself with a wet noise, before grabbing my dick with a slippery hand. I groaned then, didn't care if I was loud or not, and he pumped once or twice, coating me before positioning the head of my cock at his entrance.

It was always like this- he would look me in the eye as he took me in, and I would be hard pressed not to come just from that.

My hands rested on his hips, having found their way there of their own accord. With a quick breath, and that gorgeous, crazy eye contact, he started easing himself onto me. I couldn't think, could barely breath; you'd think the sex would get boring after a while, but it never did, not with Zexion. As he took me in fully, he relaxed, breathing a shaky sigh. I stayed put.

"You good?"

He nodded, closing his eyes as he lifted himself- this time, he came back down hard. And again. And again.

The rhythm we worked up was slow, and hard- he likes it like that, harder, deeper, but not necessarily faster- and we were both pretty quiet. But I like the noises he makes; I love teasing the gasps and sighs, whimpers and the moans. My favorite is my name, of course, but that kind of goes without saying.

I was rewarded with my name when I took hold of his cock, weeping now and spilling onto my stomach. I stroked in time with my thrusts, and Zexion- quiet, composed little Zexion- dissolved into a whispering rush. "Demyx, Demyx, please, don't- I'm going to- please, I can't-" but it was my turn to grin, thrusting again, hard, before he whispered one last "Fuck" as he came in my hand.

Resting his ass on my hips, Zexion caught his breath. I was still hard inside him, but I didn't mind. His hands lay flat on my chest, his eyes closed and head bowed. A drop of sweat fell from his nose.

"You're still hard."

I shrugged, grinning. "Yeah, well, y'know. You have that effect on me."

He laughed quietly but his hips started moving again- and he squeezed me. Hands still on my chest, he looked down at me, smirking, and I was once again incapable of speech.

It didn't take long for me to finish, him riding me, hard- he even got another one, stroking himself as I came inside of him.

When we finished, he slipped off of me, curling up to my side. My arm was his pillow and I can't say I've ever had a better use for it, anyway.

"So how was that for a birthday present?"

I couldn't control my laughter, but when it finally died down, I rolled over and hugged him with my non-pillow arm. "That's exactly how Marines are supposed to celebrate our birthday. It might even be in the Marine Corps Order. Birthday tradition, ya know."

I felt his grin against my skin, and for a few minutes, we soaked in the post orgasmic glow. I'd never felt better.

"I feel so lucky," his voice murmured from my chest, quiet. I felt like the entirety of my existence had led up to this; to him. "I feel so lucky to have found you, Demyx."

The way he said it made me feel like- like we were old friends, like I had known him my whole life, but somewhere along the way, we'd gotten separated. And that he was lost until we met again.

"Ah, get that crazy talk out of here," I replied, voice low in his ear, "I'm the lucky one. Everything I've been through has led to me being with you. I'm crazy about you, ya know, and if it meant I got to be with you, I'd do it all again."

He didn't reply for a while, just buried his face in my neck, laying butterfly kisses against my skin. When he did speak, it was a hushed breath against my collarbone.

"Do you mean that? Really?"

His voice was small even that close to my ear. I hugged him harder, thinking over it all; the heartache, the fear, the sleepless nights, and the mornings with Zexion in my arms, the sound of his voice, and his shy, secret smile. There was nothing I would not have done to be there.

"For you, babe?" I whispered, pressing a kiss to his temple, "I'd go above and beyond."


238 years this year, oorah? Thanks for reading guys, let me know what you thought of this whole thing.

Semper!

-ARA