A/n: So, I got the idea for this story way back when I was playing Persona 5 Royal for the first time, which has been quite a while now that I look back. Basically it's an expansion of the events of December 24th for Ren and Makoto, no cutting to black before the romance this time. Probably the only P5 story up my sleeve, but things could change. Also, big spoilers for Royal if you haven't played it.
The Commission Files- File #a1499 Christmas Eve at Leblanc
Characters: Ren-Joker (Persona 5), Makoto (Persona 5)
Based on: a commission by lefocris on Twitter/X
It was the evening of Christmas Eve and Ren was standing with a crowd of people in Shibuya getting ready to cross the street. It was cold and it was snowing a bit, but after what he had just gone through Ren didn't really feel the chill from only wearing a jacket and a light shirt. He was about to make the crossing when he heard a familiar voice call out to him.
"I didn't expect to find the world's savior alone on Christmas Eve." Said Sae Nijima, sister to Ren's current girlfriend Makoto. He wasn't sure if Sae even knew they were dating, he couldn't remember if he told her about it during his interrogation and Makoto never told him if she let her know, but he would have to discuss it sooner or later. Either way he turned to face her. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Of course Ms. Nijima." Ren answered politely but comfortably. He felt like he could trust her after everything that had gone down with Shido and Goro. "What's on your mind?"
"Well, first off, I wanted to thank you for taking my request." Sae started. "With your actions, I can only hope that public opinion changes... It will change, won't it?" Ren could see the doubt in her face, so he decided to answer in a way that would make her more confident about the situation.
"I'm sure it will." He assured her. "It has all the other times, I don't see why it wouldn't this time."
"Yes, I believe so too." Sae responded more confidently. Then she starting talking about Shido confessing and the trouble she would have in finding him guilty. "I'll be blunt, I want you to turn yourself in to the police.
"Turn myself in?" Ren questioned. He could tell Sae was telling him this in good faith, but he couldn't accept having to do that. "I don't think that's going to happen."
"Your testimony will be necessary in order to prove Shido guilty...However..." Sae continued, pausing a bit to collect her words. "That will mean placing you on center stage. You'll be treated as a hero who saved this country." He eyes avoided contact before delivering the next line. "But there's no way that the police or the public prosecutors will let that slide. If you turn yourself in to the police, you'll definitely be arrested."
"You know that's kind of the thing I've been trying to avoid right?" Ren asked, with a bit of shock. "I mean I know my friends and Sojiro will still see me the same, but this is pretty serious stuff Ms. Sae."
"I know, and I wouldn't be asking you this if it wasn't serious." Sae noted. "I'll close all the cases surrounding Shido. I intend to expose them all. It's to prevent society from becoming distorted again. That's what you want to, isn't it?" Sae wasn't wrong. He wanted the world to go back to normal, but getting arrested. He still had to mull it over. "I'll ask you once more. I'd like for you to turn yourself in to the police, of your own accord." Ren gave it a moment of thought. As much as he had been through, he could do this as well, for his friends, for his family, for those he loved. He was about to respond and say he would turn himself in when another familiar voice joined the conversation.
"There's no need for that." The voice commented and Ren did a double take at who was speaking. It was someone he thought had been dead. Someone who he had trusted and who had betrayed him. Someone he wished he had more time with, Goro Akechi.
"You..." Sae responded with great surprise. Goro on the other hand was unphased as usual.
"If they get their hands on the perpetrator, there'll be no need for him to turn himself in, no?" Goro questioned Sae.
"You're alive? But how?" Was what Ren decided to go with after his own shock wore off.
"To think I'd get to see you so surprised. Honestly, it's pretty satisfying." Goro replied, not answering the question in the slightest.
"You said there's no need, just what do you mean by that?" Sae asked, trying to get the conversation to keep moving forward.
"Exactly as it sounds." Goro noted. "I'll agree to testify against Shido and his crimes." Then he turned to Ren. "I assume that works for you?"
"You're going to turn yourself in, for me?" Ren questioned a bit suspiciously. "Why would you do something like that? I thought you hated me?"
"I have no hidden agenda at this point." Goro admitted, though it was still hard to tell if he was telling the truth. "If I had to explain myself, I'd say it's simply personal principle that I repay my debts."
"For the time being at least, I'll take your word that you'll cooperate with the investigation." Sae replied, also not trusting Goro that much.
"That would save a lot of time." Goro replied smugly. Then Sae turned to Ren again.
"I'm sorry. You can forget everything I just told you." She told him and Ren was glad that she dropped it pretty quickly once another solution was found, showing that she really did care about his wellbeing. "I'll take him in myself." After that Sae turned to walk away and Goro followed her, but the she turned back to say one last thing to Ren. "I won't try to claim that everything will turn out perfectly for you, but I would bet this case will reach it's natural conclusion." Something about that didn't sit right with her though, so she added a bit more to make sure Ren had confidence about the future. "No, in fact, I swear that this will be properly settled."
"Don't worry too much about me, I trust you Ms. Sae." Ren assured her. "Do what you have to and we can talk about things later when it's less crazy and less cold outside. Deal?"
"Deal." Sae confirmed before turning to walk away for real this time. That left Ren alone with his thoughts again. He understood where Sae was coming from with her original stance on what to do, and he would have gone through with it if Goro hadn't shown up out of nowhere. Just how did he get out of the palace in time? How did he survive that fight with his cognitive self? Would he ever get the chance to tell Goro how he truly feels about their friendship? His mind was spiraling into theories and situations that might come to pass, but luckily he got a text on his phone before he got too far off the deep end.
"Hmm, it's from Makoto." He muttered to himself. He had wondered what she had gotten up to after the final mission. And of course he was a little worried about how she was feeling and if she was injured or anything like that like a good boyfriend should be. So he unlocked his phone and looked at what Makoto had sent him.
I know that I should hold back feeling like this, given our situation...
But it's Christmas Eve, I want to spend it together with you.
Do you think we could walk around the city a bit...and then head back to your room?
Ren was pleasantly surprised that Makoto was being so forward with how she was feeling. That's how she normally was with everything else, but with relationship stuff she was still getting the hang of it. And she wanted to spend the night with him? He couldn't think of anything he'd rather be doing. Plus she would probably want to know what went on with her sister and Goro and Ren wanted to tell her so they could both think on it instead of him just losing his mind over it. So he quickly typed out a reply text that was responded to quickly.
That sounds great.
Thank you!
I'm over in Shibuya now. Let's meet up in front of the station.
She was close by, what a coincidence. So Ren walked over to where Makoto wanted to meet and she was easy to find since she was wearing a light blue button-up coat and some brown boots.
"Sorry about this." Makoto apologized like she had done something wrong. "I know it's a special day, but... That's also why I wanted to see you."
"Hey, don't worry about it." Ren assured her. "I was thinking about you too. If you hadn't of texted me when you did I probably would have sent you one myself." After he cleared his mind of all the Goro mysteries of course.
"Honestly. You always have that charm ready..." Makoto replied, moving her hair back a bit. But it seemed his reply had given her a bit more confidence about the situation, which is what he was going for. "But thanks. It's just about time for dinner, so why don't we find a place to eat?" She suggested afterwards.
"Yeah, I haven't eaten anything in a while actually, so that sounds like a great idea." Ren noted with his signature nod.
"Okay, let's go." Makoto told him before getting a bit nervous again. "Oh, uh, come to think of it... well.. it is a cold Christmas Eve, so..." Ren could tell where this was going but he didn't cut in because it was kind of cute to see Makoto trying so hard like this. "Do you want to hold hands?" Ren had to hold in a laugh. At this point they had done a lot more than holding hands, but they were in public and he didn't want to be too disrespectful so he held it in.
"I would love to." He replied with a warm smile. So Makoto offered her hand and he took it. It was quite warm and it did help shake the chill off as they walked to go find a place to eat. "Thank you, I probably should have worn something warmer, but my mind was all over the place still."
"I know how you feel." Makoto noted. "It almost doesn't feel real, what we did, that velvet colored room, fighting that thing, whatever it was. But it was and now we have to deal with what comes next, one step at a time."
"Well, when I'm stepping with you by my side, I feel like I can take on anything." Ren told her, which made her blush slightly. "Oh, and before I forget, I ran into your sister and someone else shortly before you texted me."
"My sister? What did she want with you?" Makoto wondered. So Ren told her the story of what happened while they continued to search for a place to eat. "So, you're telling me that Goro is alive and he took your place in jail without even telling you how or why?"
"He said something about repaying his debts and that was it." Ren noted. "I would have loved to gotten to play your sister's role and interrogate him a bit, but Sae didn't want to miss out on the opportunity before he decided to change his mind or something."
"That's probably the smartest thing she could have done, knowing how Goro is." Makoto pointed out. "But wow, that just adds even more mystery to the whole situation. Are you going to tell the others?"
"Eventually yeah." Ren commented. "I just wanted to let you know first since you're good with thinking things through."
"Well I appreciate that." Makoto noted with a confident smile. "And I appreciate that you know me so well."
"Hey, I try my best." Ren replied with a smile back. "You are definitely worth it." Makoto blushed a bit again at that one. After that they scoured around everywhere to try and find a restaurant that had an open table, but they didn't have any luck.
"I can't believe we couldn't find a single table." Makoto said with a sigh as they left the last restaurant that was in the area. But she wasn't giving up on this night just yet. "At least we can try to get a cake here, but even this place is so crowded."
"Even if we don't find anything, as long as I'm with you Makoto my night will be perfect." Ren replied, trying to get her to relax a bit and letting her know he didn't really have that big of expectations she needed to live up to.
"Th-Thank you." Makoto stuttered slightly, not expecting that kind of answer. "I feel the same way though." Then she shook her head a bit and her tone changed again. "Wait, focus! We've got a cake to buy! Let's get going." All Ren could do was chuckle slightly to himself as he followed Makoto once again, she was so cute when she got like this. So they walked around for a bit more trying to find a cake shop, but that too was a bit of struggle.
"Over there, maybe they have something." Ren pointed out to a stall where a woman was wearing a Santa hat and outfit. So they walked over to said stall, but when they got there it looked empty.
"It doesn't look like they have anything." Makoto reported with disappointment. "Oh well, maybe we'd better find another place."
"You're not in the market for a Christmas cake, are you?" The woman behind the stall asked them, apparently overhearing their conversation.
"O-Oh, um... We are actually." Makoto replied, slightly taken aback that the woman spoke to her about wanting a cake.
"Ah, fantastic!" The woman noted with a smile. "One of our orders was canceled last minute."
"You're kidding!" Makoto said taken back even more. This was pretty lucky, even for her and Ren.
"I guess it's your lucky night! So, do you want to buy it?" The woman asked the two.
"Well, if it's really alright." Makoto paused, giving a look to Ren. He just shrugged and gave her a nod thinking it was just a lucky coincidence. "Then yes, we'll take it."
"Of course! Just wait one moment while I go prepare your order!" The woman running the stand told the pair before walking off to do just that.
"I'm honestly stunned. This kind of thing never happens, right?" Makoto asked Ren once the woman was out of earshot.
"Well, let's just chalk it up to our good deeds paying off." Ren commented. "Maybe the world just figures we should have something nice for once."
"Sure, we'll go with that." Makoto replied with a bit of a laugh in her tone, but that was just a sign she was happy which was a-okay with Ren. After a few minutes the woman came back with the cake and Ren paid for it with some of the money he had made from his part time jobs. He still wasn't quite sure if the money dropped in the Metaverse was real or not, so he didn't want to risk it and cause a scene. Then once everything was secure he and Makoto took the subway back to the station near Leblanc and made their way to the restaurant. Sojiro had already closed up and gone home so Ren unlocked the door but made sure to keep the lights off as he and Makoto went up to his room.
"Sojiro told me he's keeping things closed tomorrow so we can have our party, so we don't have to worry about making a mess that customers will see in the morning or anything else." Ren noted as he put the cake on the table near the small couch he had. "But I'd still like to keep things mostly in order for his sake."
"He's a very considerate man." Makoto commented. "I can see why you want to do your best to make things easy on him, all things considered."
"He's been good to me, to all of us, that's the least he deserves." Ren stated genuinely. "Now wait here while I get some plates and brew a bit of tea, it shouldn't take too long." But before he went back downstairs he gave Makoto a cute little kiss on the cheek that got her to blush again.
"Where would I be without you Ren?" Makoto wondered to herself as she put her hand up to her cheek, waiting for him to come back with the tea and plates. "Definitely not here in your room, or any other guy's room to be sure. But being here just feels...right. I like how things have been between us and I hope they continue to get better every day." Soon enough though Ren came back with the tea and then they started digging into the cake they bought.
"This cake is nice, I really like how it tastes." Ren noted after a few bites. "What about you Makoto?"
"It's so good!" Makoto replied with a big smile on her face.
"What a great way to ring in Christmas, don't you think?" Ren commented smiling as well as he leaned back into his seat a bit.
"Right? Maybe it was a good thing all the restaurants turned us away." Makoto chuckled. Then she started to shuffle around in her purse for something. "Oh, right. Here, before I forget. I got you a present." With that she handed it over. And it was a wristwatch, a very nice looking one at that. "I have to say, um...my life's gotten a lot more unpredictable since I met you. But we got through everything so far. And it's made me realize... I wouldn't want it any other way. I thought you might like this watch. Just in case we, ah... lose track of time together." Ren definitely caught the double meaning in her words, but he played it cool for the moment.
"Makoto, I'll make sure to take the best care I can with it, just like everything else you've given me." He told her, hoping that she too would get his meaning.
"It's really nothing fancy, but I'm glad you like it." Makoto replied, nervously playing with her hair. Ren was about to reply that he didn't need anything fancy when he had her, but he didn't have the chance before Makoto spotted something out of place. "Oh, wait. Don't move Ren." She asked of him with a chuckle before reaching over and taking some whipped cream that was on his nose and eating it, grinning at him cutely afterwards. "You had some cream on your nose. How'd that even get there?" She wondered.
"I guess I was just so engrossed with our conversation I didn't really notice." Ren admitted as he rubbed the back of his neck slightly embarrassed, getting Makoto to laugh at his cuteness this time.
"I usually don't laugh this much on Christmas." She told him with a content sigh after she got ahold of herself. "But I guess it's not just the holidays. Meeting you's helped me see so much humor, even excitement in the most trivial things. You helped me find so many new experiences beyond the life I'd known. Thank you, for spending Christmas with me. And... for loving me." Makoto was pouring her heart out to Ren and he was so happy she was comfortable doing so.
"Well, don't let me take all the credit, you've done a lot for me as well Makoto, and not just Phantom Thief stuff either." Ren replied. "You gave me a chance to change your mind about things when you really didn't have to. You've always been there to voice your opinion on my decisions and to give helpful advice when it's needed. Your confidence in yourself and your skills is what allows me to act so confidently because you're always at my side. Without you, I don't think I would have gotten this far into this year without slipping up and ruining everything. So thank you for giving me that chance, allowing me to show you a new side of things, allowing me to show you my love, which I'll always have for you."
"Oh, you." Was all Makoto could come up with as she blushed once again from all the romantic emotions in the air this night. But that didn't last too long as she looked out the window and saw it was snowing outside. "Oh, look!" So the two of them moved over to sitting on Ren's bed so they could get a better look at the snow falling. "It's so beautiful, the snow must have picked up after we got back." Makoto noted with a bit of wonder in her voice. "Coming back to Leblanc really was the smart move. Now we get to enjoy the view."
"It's nice how things like this work out sometimes." Ren agreed with a smile and a nod. "This is a really lovely moment I get to spend with the person I care about the most, I wouldn't trade it for anything."
"I didn't know I could be this happy. It almost doesn't feel real." Makoto commented, not knowing just how right she kind of was.
"It is real though." Ren said confidently as he looked into Makoto's eyes. "You and me, this wonderful night, our future together, it's as real as it can get."
"You're right. It's just so different from how things used to be." Makoto noted, thinking back to before she met Ren. But then another thought came into her mind, something a bit more intimate. "Hey, it's getting pretty bad out there. This much snow is bound to stop the train schedules. Hope you don't mind, but I'll be staying a little longer." She said as she rested her head onto Ren's shoulder and he put his arm around her.
"You can stay here as long as you like." Ren told her softly and smoothly. "How about we 'lose track of time' so I can get some use out of the gift you gave me?" After that he leaned in and placed a light kiss on her lips, not lasting too long but long enough that to feel something.
"I think I could be convinced to do something like that." Makoto replied back softly as well. "But let's get out of these coats first, I have a feeling that things are going to heat up pretty soon."
"Probably a good idea." Ren agreed with a smile. So they got up and took their coats off and Ren closed the window so no one could hear what they would be getting up to. Not that he thought anyone would be out by the window in this weather, but you never knew. He got done first and sat on the edge of his bed to wait for Makoto. She didn't take too long to hang her coat up before she walked back over to the bed. Ren expected her to sit down next to him, but she surprised him by sitting on his lap and wrapping her arms around his back to keep steady.
"I hope you don't mind if we still take it a bit slowly, I am still a novice at this subject." She whispered into his ear.
"We have all night don't we?" Ren whispered back. "All the more time to show you just how much I love you." It was moments like this that he was glad he worked on his social skills, him being this smooth was almost second nature to him now.
"That we do." Makoto confirmed as she looked Ren in the eyes. "I think might need some remedial lessons on kissing first."
"My favorite subject." Ren replied with a smirk before they kissed again. And true to what they stated, they took everything nice and slow because they had the time. Kissing, touching, the removal of clothes, foreplay, all of it. Every moment between them special and emotional, showing each other just how they felt and how happy they were to be with each other. Eventually they were ready to move onto the main course and Ren was about to get out of the bed for just a moment to get a condom for protection, but Makoto pulled him back onto the bed with her.
"Wait, you don't need to get that." Makoto told him, knowing what he was going for.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Ren asked slightly confused.
"Well..." Makoto started her explanation slowly. "I figured that since we're probably going to be doing this more often I should take a bit more of a precaution, in case we get into a situation where we want to do this and you don't have anything on you at that time."
"That's... oddly in character for you." Ren commented with a little smirk before he thought of something. "Wait a second, don't you need a prescription for pills like that?"
"Yeah, but luckily we know of a doctor whose kind of alright with bending the rules a bit." Makoto noted.
"You got a prescription from Dr. Takemi?" Ren asked, just to confirm they were both on the same page.
"Took her a bit of convincing, but when I told her that it was you I was dating, she loosened up a bit." Makoto explained.
"Huh, fancy that." Ren replied, mostly for himself. "Well, I mean, if you're okay with it, I don't have any issues with it either." If he was being honest he did kind of want to see how it felt doing it without a condom, so this would be his best chance.
"I've considered all the consequences and I'm okay with whatever may happen." Makoto assured him. "As long as I'm with you I'm sure we can get through anything."
"I couldn't have put it better myself." Ren noted before laying back down on the bed. Makoto figured he'd either get on top of her or he'd ask her to get on top of him, but he surprised her by sliding up to her side and rotating her over a bit as he lifted her leg up.
"O-Oh, you want to try it like this then?" She asked with a blush as she felt Ren's dick rubbing up against her clit and pussy.
"This way I can see every part of your beautiful body as I make love with you." Ren answered smoothly.
"W-Well, when you put it like that, it makes a lot of sense doesn't it?" Makoto blushed some more before Ren moved in and started kissing her again. She moved her arms over her head a bit so they could get even closer and soon afterwards she felt his bare cock slid into her body. "Ahh, it's so warm." She moaned when they broke their kiss slightly.
"You're telling me." Ren agreed since the inside of her body felt quite warm as well. "But it feels nice, natural even. You still okay with this Makoto?"
"I think I might want to get used to this." Makoto replied, which was good enough for Ren. They went back to kissing and he slowly started to thrust in and out, shaking his hips every now and then so he could hit those special spots inside her body. He had been quite adept at finding them over their first few encounters, but Makoto had found his sensitive spots in return just as quickly. That's why they always tried to take things slow, they knew if they went all out at the beginning that it would be over too soon, at least for their current skill and stamina levels. But slowly and surely Ren picked up the pace of his thrusts and Makoto returned the favor by moving her hips in sync with his so they could work together to get the best experience.
"Do you mind if I try something a little different?" Ren asked after a while.
"Of course, I trust you." Makoto assured him. So Ren started moving his kisses down her chin and neck, eventually resting them on her breast. He continued to kiss it tenderly for a bit before sticking his tongue out and licking her nipple back and forth slowly. Almost immediately he saw goosebumps forming on it and he felt Makoto shiver up against his body as he continued thrusting.
"I take it you liked that?" Ren smirked up at her.
"Very much so, keep doing that." Makoto replied. So Ren went back and continued licking and kissing her breasts. Eventually he moved onto sucking on it gently and when he did he heard Makoto's moans start to go up in frequency and he felt she was starting to tighten up on the inside. He was about to ask her if she was getting close, but when Makoto felt him start to move his head away she took her arm and put it on the back of his head to keep him in place. "Don't stop, I'm almost there!" She panted and Ren took that as his answer. He was close as well so he picked up the pace of his thrusting just a bit more as he continued to suck on her breast. They continued on like that for a short while until Ren felt Makoto clench down on him and he couldn't take it any more either.
"Makoto!" He moaned into her chest as he felt his seed begin to shoot out of his cock. This was a new experience for the both of them and Makoto felt even more oddly warm as she felt Ren's seed spill into her. She knew from experience and reading about it that semen was warm and sticky, especially when it was inside a human body, but as it usually was with things like this, feeling it was much different than just reading about it.
"Oh, I can definitely get used to this feeling." She panted as she finally let go of Ren's head and let him come back up for air. "I hope that didn't hurt too much, but I really didn't want you to stop."
"Not an issue." Ren replied with a smile as he tried to catch his breath. "I thought it was kinda hot. I love it when you take control like that, it means you're learning to be more comfortable with moments like this."
"Well, I do have a pretty good tutor." Makoto teased him before they both laughed lightly since they still needed to catch their breaths some. "You know, I'm actually not as tired as I usually am after we finish. I think if I just have a cool glass of water I might be able to go again. What about you Ren?"
"Yeah, I think I could go another round if you give me a few minutes to recover." Ren noted. "See, I told you we'd get some stamina if we kept practicing." He teased her back.
"And here I thought you just said that because you wanted to see me naked more often." Makoto teased some more.
"Well, that is one of the positives, yes." Ren answered when a goofy grin, getting Makoto to push him playfully.
"Go get some towels along with that water to clean up, I'll still be here when you get back." She told him with her own smile.
"Promise?" Ren asked as he stood up out of his bed.
"Promise." Makoto replied. "Where would I go anyways, out the window?"
"Hey, you are a Phantom Thief, known for stealing hearts and then leaving without a trace." Ren joked.
"Perhaps, but I prefer sharing this particular heart with someone special, because I love him." Makoto said a little more seriously.
"Yours is the only heart I never want to part with Makoto, because I love it as much as my own." Ren replied, matching her tone.
"Maybe I don't need that water after all." Makoto commented after hearing that.
"Of course, my Queen."