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Makoto Naegi is, as Kyouko is fond of reminding him, an open book. That extends to their romantic relationship as well – he confesses his love to her early on (and he’s the first to say it, of course, because if he’s the type to confess his feelings too early then she’s the kind to wait until it’s long overdue), and the moment he realizes he wants to marry her she smiles, kisses him on the cheek, and starts counting (six months to the day).
Still, though, it’s probably a good thing. He knows how much Kyouko hates it when he lies to her – he got in a lot of trouble for trying to hide the second job he took on to help pay for the ring, and his back has never forgiven him for so many nights spent on their unbearably uncomfortable couch (he’s convinced that sleeping on a bed of nails would be less painful). So the fact that he’s all-but-incapable of lying doesn’t hurt. Hell, he even promises to never hide anything from her again in his wedding vows.
He doesn’t mind that she’s a lot more secretive and reserved than he is, either. That’s just who she is – even during Monobear’s game, she’d preferred to investigate on her own (although he liked to think she hadn’t minded when he tagged along with her – at least, not too much, anyway) and report back with her findings later. After meeting her grandfather a few times (he’s the best person to ask for permission to marry her and join the Kirigiri family, after all), he’s convinced that her secrecy must be genetic – or maybe it’s written in the Kirigiri detective code, what does he know?
Really, he’s willing to accept whatever he can get from her. She’s amazing – he never fails to be awed at her deductive abilities, and somehow she manages to be so smart and pretty and yet caring in her own way. He knows that he’s definitely the one who married up; sometimes people don’t even believe him when he tells them he’s Kyouko’s husband. He knows he’s not who most people would picture her with – for one, she still manages to tower over him in height.
So to think that she loves him too…he can’t explain how giddy it makes him feel. Maybe he’s been permanently stuck on the “honeymoon phase” of this relationship, but he still has to smile anytime he’s referred to as Kyouko’s husband or she’s called his wife. He even takes to responding to Kirigiri-kun relatively quickly, loving the way it seemed to solidify the fact that they were married.
He knows that some people would probably think he’s crazy. Kyouko’s not really big on outward affection, and he does his best to respect that, but it’s easy for people to mistake that for her not caring about him in return. They don’t know how to watch for the small things, like he does – a small smile, a kiss on the cheek, an attempt at dinner when she feels like he’s been cooking too much.
But their relationship seems to work for them, and that’s all that matters.
He waits for her to come home from work eagerly – Kyouko once wryly commented that he was like a puppy, he’s always so happy to have her home – with dinner ready on the table and a hug and a kiss of greeting once she’s had a chance to put away her things.
Today’s a typical day, really, except for one thing – instead of the smooth feel of leather against his scalp, there’s simply warm flesh. It takes him a minute to realize what’s going on, but when he does he’s beaming so much that the kissing can’t really continue.
“Kyouko…”
He can’t put into words how much her trust means to him. He knows she’s been burned before – quite literally, in fact – so the removal of her gloves is a huge step. He’s never thought anything bad about her hands, despite how much shame she seems to feel about the scarring, but he knew better than to be disrespectful of her insecurities. Even when he’d proposed, he’d been certain to give her a chain, so that she could wear the ring around her neck as well if it didn’t fit under her gloves.
“Don’t be so surprised,” she says, but despite the words it’s not particularly chiding. Kyouko’s not smiling, but she has that soft look in her eyes that he knows he’s lucky to get to see. “You are my family, are you not?”
He can’t help but laugh a little at the reminder, to events that happened so long ago, and he’s half convinced that he’ll never stop smiling.
“I love you, Kyouko.” Granted, she’s probably more than aware of it by now, but it’s all he can think of to say to even partially verbalize his gratitude. You’re amazing, I think every part of you is beautiful, I promise I will never hurt you.
He takes her hand in his, marveling at how warm it is (and how exciting it is, really, to see the ring on her finger like that) and resolves to be the person she can trust everything to.
Maybe someday soon, she’ll even let him take off her socks.