Chapter Text
"What's this?" Makoto asked, mirth in her eyes and skepticism in her voice as she takes the neatly wrapped box from Ryuji, watching him shift nervously on his feet as he scratched his neck with a free hand.
"Well, y'know, I saw it while I was out! I was with Akira and it, eh..." she nodded gently, urging him to continue. "...it reminded me of you, I guess."
Oftentimes Makoto wondered to herself how she was so lucky as to end up with him, and this was one of those moments. Contrary to the joking jabs of his friends that would imply otherwise, Ryuji had proven himself to be quite the caring soul.
He remembered that she couldn't handle spicy food after the first incident at the ramen shop which, while hilarious to look back on, had been particularly stressful at the time when she had nearly stamped out the floor tiles from freaking out so badly at how spicy Ryuji had ordered his ramen.
He had remembered her favourite soft drink from a passing comment in a Thieves meeting, how she had made an impassioned statement about how Dr. Pepper was the only valid cola due to its genuine diet options and distinctive taste, and so occasionally made sure to surprise her with one post-infiltration (Ryuji was more inclined towards Pepsi, in truth).
He remembered how she was almost deaf in one ear from a time as a young girl when her father had accidentally discharged his firearm next to her in the house while trying to show her how it worked, meaning he always made sure to flicker a light upon entering a room or call out to her in case she was particularly out of it. This habit, in truth, was what touched her heart the most. Once he found out, he made it a part of his habits to always send her a separate message with a transcript whenever any of the Phantom Thieves sent a voice message in their shared group chat. She had nearly cried the first time he did it, thinking of how important it must have been to him that she felt included.
Finally, he seemed to have remembered her affection for Buchimaru.
"Well? Do you like it?" Ryuji asked nervously, twiddling his thumbs as she discarded the wrapping paper and inspected his gift. It... was a new pencil case. Not just any pencil case, however. Thanks to the new reboot of the old children's show the merchandise was more plentiful than ever, and he had gone out of his way to get her a new Buchimaru pencil case. The panda's face looked up at her from one end, and the smooth material opened up to reveal many little pockets and places for her to keep little post-it notes or USB keys.
"Ryuji, I... thank you. Really." She stood up, wrapping him into a tight embrace as his eyes widened a little.
"W- woah, hey, it's just a pencil case! You don't have to..." He trailed off as she started to cry, holding her close in his arms and looking at her head on his shoulder concernedly. "...Makoto? What's wrong?"
"Nothing, I was just... thinking about how lucky I am to be with you."