Maki knew exactly what "essentials" meant. The memory of him walking out of a Shibuya pharmacy with a decoy bottle of green tea flashed in her mind, sending a sudden, violent spike of heat to her cheeks.
Instead of waiting outside like last time, she followed him through the sliding doors.
The convenience store was empty, bathed in harsh, buzzing fluorescent light. Ren walked straight past the snacks and drinks, heading directly for the personal care aisle. He scanned the shelves, his hand reaching out to grab a familiar dark box of standard foil packets.
Before his fingers could even touch the cardboard, Maki stepped up right beside him.
"Wait," Maki muttered. Her voice was dropped to a harsh, urgent whisper.
Ren paused, his hand hovering over the shelf. He looked down at her. She was refusing to make eye contact, her face burning a brilliant, furious crimson under the bright store lights. She was glaring with absolute, intense focus at a display of travel-sized toothpaste.
"Change your mind, boss?" Ren asked, his voice low and patient.
"No, idiot," she hissed, her hands balling into tight fists at her sides. She took a quick, shallow breath, forcing the words out through sheer, stubborn willpower. "Just... get the dotted ones."
Ren blinked, genuinely caught off guard. "The dotted ones?"
Maki crossed her arms tightly over her chest, the flush on her face spreading rapidly to the tips of her ears and down her neck. She looked like she wanted the linoleum floor to open up and swallow her whole.
"I read somewhere online," Maki mumbled, her words rushing out in a defensive, embarrassed blur. "That they feel different. Better. So just... get those instead."
Ren stared at her. His brain processed the fact that the fiercely proud, combat-obsessed Maki Zen'in had been actively using her free time to secretly Google intimacy tips for them. His lips twitched violently as he fought back a massive, entirely charmed smile.
"Is that so?" Ren teased, his voice dropping into a warm, highly amused register. He shifted his hand, picking up the textured box instead. "I didn't realize you were doing independent research."
"Shut up," she practically growled, though there was absolutely zero heat in the threat.
Unable to handle the sheer embarrassment of the brightly lit aisle for a single second longer, she turned on her heel to storm toward the front counter. But after just two steps, she stopped. She glanced back over her shoulder, her amber eyes flashing behind her wire-rimmed glasses.
"And make sure they're the orange flavor," Maki added bluntly. "Obviously."
She didn't wait for his response, quickly disappearing around the corner toward the snack aisle. Ren stood alone in the pharmacy section, a quiet laugh escaping his chest as he grabbed the box and headed for the register.
...
The door of their hotel room clicked shut, the heavy deadbolt sliding into place with a definitive thud.
Maki didn't waste a single second. She marched straight past Ren, making a beeline for the window. With a sharp, decisive pull, she yanked the heavy blackout curtains closed, completely shutting out the neon glow of the city below.
"No peeping toms," she muttered defensively, completely ignoring the fact that they were at least twelve stories up.
She moved to the wall, hitting the switch that killed the harsh overhead lights, leaving only the soft, warm pool of illumination from the small bedside lamp.
The dimmed lighting did wonders to hide the persistent flush still burning on her cheeks, though she knew Ren could probably still read her like an open book.
Ren was sitting on the edge of the mattress, watching her with that same quiet, amused expression from the store.
He hadn't unpacked; he hadn't even taken off his jacket yet. He was just sitting there, perfectly content to let her dictate the pace.
Maki walked over, the thick carpet muffling her footsteps. She didn't pause to overthink it—if she stopped moving and let her brain catch up, her nerve might actually fail her. She sat down right beside him on the edge of the bed, the mattress dipping slightly under her weight, their shoulders brushing.
For a brief, suspended second, she just looked at him. The teasing glint in his eyes had melted away.
Screw it, she thought.
Maki leaned in, closing the gap between them. Her hands came up, gripping the fabric of his shirt, and with a sudden, forceful shove, she pushed him backward onto the mattress.
Ren let out a startled sound as his back hit the sheets, but it was immediately swallowed by her mouth crashing into his. The kiss wasn't gentle; it was demanding, heated with urgency, and entirely fueled by her sheer, stubborn momentum.
He didn't hesitate to kiss her back, his hands instantly finding her waist to pull her closer.
Before he could even fully wrap his arms around her, Maki shifted, swinging her leg over his waist to straddle him. She sat back on her heels, breaking the kiss just long enough to catch her breath. Her hands moved swiftly to the hem of her top. With one fluid, practiced motion, she pulled the fabric over her head and tossed it blindly across the room, letting it land wherever it fell.
She looked down at him, her chest heaving slightly, her amber eyes fierce and challenging in the dim light.
"Well?" Maki demanded, her voice slightly breathless but completely unapologetic as she reached out to grab the collar of his shirt. "Are you just going to lie there, or are we going to see if my research actually pays off?"
His eyes tracking the movement of her breathing as she sat atop him, bold and defiant. He didn't say a word. Slowly, he reached up, his palms sliding firmly over the toned skin of her midriff. Maki let out a sharp, jagged hitch of breath as his touch traveled higher, eventually coming to rest against the silk of her bra.
It wasn't one of the practical, restrictive sports bras she usually wore for training or missions.
Tonight, she'd chosen a deep, forest green lace—a color that made her skin look like pale marble in the lamplight.
Ren's fingers hooked under the wire, his hands spreading wide to fully cup and squeeze her breasts.
The sensation was immediate and intense. Maki's head snapped back, her eyes fluttering shut as a low, guttural sound escaped her throat.
She gripped his shoulders, her nails digging into the fabric of his jacket through sheer reflex.
The sound of her own voice—so raw and completely out of her control—made her eyes snap open.
The flush that had been safely mitigated by the dim lighting returned with a vengeance, burning intensely across her cheeks and spreading down her chest.
Desperate to hide her burning face and shut up the teasing remark she knew was about to leave his mouth, she practically threw her upper body forward.
She crashed her lips against his again, using the kiss as a literal shield to hide her fluster. It was messy, aggressive, and entirely driven by her need to regain some semblance of control over the situation.
She shifted her weight, burying her face into the angle of his mouth and jaw, stubbornly refusing to let him look at her eyes.
Ren let out a muffled, rumbling hum of amusement against her lips. He knew exactly what she was doing, easily reading the defensive panic behind her sudden aggression. But instead of calling her out on it, he happily obliged, kissing her back with a slow, deliberate heat that only made her head spin faster.
His hands didn't move from her chest. Instead, his thumbs began to slowly trace the scalloped edges of the deep green lace, ignoring the way she shivered at the sensory overload.
"Shut up," Maki breathed frantically against his lips, preemptively defending herself against a joke he hadn't even made yet.
"I didn't say a word," Ren whispered back, his breath warm and incredibly distracting against her skin as his grip on her shifted just slightly, pulling her even closer.
"You were thinking it," Maki shot back.