Blissful. Overjoyed. Fulfilled. These were all words that Makoto Niijima would use to describe her mood this morning.
The soft light coming in through the window next to the bed and the stillness of the street outside signaled that it was likely still early morning. The thin comforter was bunched at her feet, covering up to her knees and leaving the rest of her body bare.
Despite having been awake for quite some time, she had yet to move from her spot in bed. Instead, her attention was focused intently on Ren's still sleeping form beside her. As she did so, she couldn't contain the smile that had formed on her face since she had first set eyes on him the day before, and had yet to dwindle in the slightest since.
In fact, she might be at risk of being perceived as leering, considering the stark nakedness of the person in question, a result of certain activities they had engaged in the night before. If he were to wake up at that very moment and catch her staring at him the way she was, he would be sure to tease her mercilessly (an activity that was a favorite past-time of his).
But she couldn't help herself. It had been so long since she'd been able to wake up next to him, to touch him, to see him beyond the confines of a screen. It had been an extraordinarily difficult year during which the strength of their relationship had been tested numerous times. Due to both the distance and their hectic schedules, they had only managed to see each other in person during the Christmas and summer breaks since he had returned to his small town. And while they made the most of this time together, it still pained her when he had to leave. Each time they parted, she did her best to memorize his every detail to sustain her until their next reunion. From his scent, to the way his fingertips felt against her skin, to the way his eyes seemed to twinkle when he looked at her and only her.
Except this time, he was here to stay. Having returned to Tokyo the day before following his graduation, Ren was once again taking up residence in the attic above Café Leblanc, despite having been offered a spare room in the Sakura household. He claimed he had grown strangely fond of his old bedroom, although Makoto figured what he really liked was the privacy it afforded them. Especially now that her sister was more accommodating about their relationship and the time they spent together alone (not that Ren believed this, thinking the older Niijima was lulling him into a false sense of security to strike him at his most vulnerable).
Makoto almost reached out to touch him but relented, wanting to let him sleep a little while longer. He deserved it. Instead, she chose to continue her leering. From this angle, she could admire all of him.
Makoto had always known Ren to be handsome. In his early days at Shujin, before they met, she had heard whispers of the infamous transfer student that many of her peers had described as ridiculously good-looking. His bad-boy reputation at the time had only seemed to propel the amount of swooning that was directed his way. It was a sentiment that was often at the back of her mind when she was first tailing him as part of her investigation of the Phantom Thieves and into her early days as part of the team. It didn't help that Ren was way too charismatic and discovered early on in their friendship how susceptible she was to his teasing. Their first outings together frequently left her a bundled mess of nerves. Something that only happened occasionally now that they were dating.
Ren was laying on his back, his head turned towards her with all four of his long limbs stretched out at his sides. His eyes were partially shielded by the familiar cluster of thick and curly black hair, the messiness of which she often criticized him for, but was secretly one of her favorite features of his. Still, she could make out the black circles underlying them, a sure sign of either too much studying or late-night gaming sessions with Futaba. Most likely, a combination of both.
Her gaze lingered on his face to appreciate the softness of his lips which had spent so much time exploring her own body over the year and a half they had spent together. Down over his sharp jaw to his well-defined shoulders and arms. While no longer as active as during his time as Joker, he was obviously still maintaining a good workout routine. Further evidenced by the firmness of his abdominal muscles, the sight of which seemed to always kindle a primal desire within her. Not that she was the only one–she'd often caught others ogling his form when they were at the gym or the beach. And that provoked an entirely different sort of emotion in her, which Ren had jokingly referred to as "Scary Queen".
Her eyes traveled further downward, past his hips to the part of him which, while mostly relaxed at the moment, had been fully alert the night before. A year ago, the sight would have left her intensely flustered, but at this point in their relationship they had been fully exposed with each other so often that those nerves, for the most part, had faded. Still, it was odd, and incredibly overpowering, how she could turn the notorious former leader of the Phantom Thieves into putty just by giving it the slightest attention. She liked to think she had gotten quite good at arousing certain reactions in Ren, although she doubted she would ever be able to render him as flustered as he did her. That was a battle she could never hope to win.
Finally, she looked over his long and lanky legs, which were tangled in the sheets. His feet almost hung off the edge of the mattress, a consequence of his unusual height. At least he fit here. Whenever he stayed over at her place, he had to bend his knees to fit his whole body on her tiny bed. One of the main reasons they nearly always slept over at Leblanc–the other being that he was convinced that Sae was plotting ways to orchestrate his demise should they ever cross paths in the morning.
A small breeze wandered in through the window (left open so that Morgana could come and go as he pleased), interrupting her contemplation. Makoto shivered as she tried to maneuver the comforter from Ren's legs to better cover herself, causing the bed to shift slightly.
As she turned back to her side, she realized that Ren was no longer asleep. Instead, he was staring at her with half-open eyes still heavy with sleep. As their eyes met, he broke out into a contented smile.
"Mmm, my Queen," Ren murmured as he edged closer towards her, wrapping an arm around her and snuggling his face against her neck. "Been awake long?"
"Just a little," she told him, bringing a hand to his head to run her fingers through his messy locks, while she breathed in his scent and leaned into the warmth of his body. "I wish we could stay like this forever."
"That would be perfect," Ren mumbled. He lifted his head from her neck and brought their lips together, kissing her slowly and softly. As they parted, he began to run his fingertips over her skin, tracing a path from her jaw down her side and across her hips, which his eyes followed. It seemed like she wasn't the only one who couldn't keep from leering this morning.
Goosebumps were beginning to form on her skin, no longer from the cold. She nuzzled closer to him as his fingers kept stroking her side. "I missed you."
He smiled against her. "And I missed waking up next to you. And, you know...other things." He kissed the tip of her nose as his grin widened. "Last night was fun."
A heat rose to her cheeks at the recollection. It had been a particularly lengthy session, as they had been making up for the lost time. To her surprise (and delight), Ren's technique had improved considerably since he last visited, which he rather unabashedly admitted was the result of many hours of independent research. And while she lacked the confidence to admit that she had done the same, he was still very appreciative of the results.
It was obvious that she wasn't the only one reminiscing fondly. Ren's length was now fully vigilant against her thigh, awakening the familiar tightening in her gut that was somehow still unsatisfied despite the events of the night before. His hands continued to explore her, sweeping across her stomach and downwards until his palm pressed gently at the junction of her thighs. Ren chuckled as she shifted her position to give him better access, his breath hitting her neck. She hoped she never tired of moments like these.
With a sense of grace reminiscent of his time in the Metaverse, he flipped them so that she was flat on her back with him hovering on top of her. With a quick flash of his trademark Joker smirk, he pushed downward so that their bodies were pressed together. Her toes curled in anticipation.
"Care for a repeat?"
At that moment, she couldn't think of anything she wanted more.