"No you don't," Ren murmured, wrapping both arms around her. He rested his chin on top of her head, entirely ignoring the heavy steel staff awkwardly wedged between them. "So... about that welcome back?"
Ren slowly lifted his chin from the top of her head. He pulled back just an inch—enough to break the tight embrace but keep her locked securely in his space.
Maki's hands were still tightly gripping the front of his jacket. As he stepped back, she finally raised her head, forcing herself to meet his gaze.
Her face was flushed a brilliant, burning crimson.
Ren didn't say another word. The teasing smirk on his face melted away into something quiet and entirely sincere. His dark eyes searched hers, heavy and warm in the quiet afternoon air.
For a second, Maki looked like she was trying to summon up one last defens, her jaw tensing on pure instinct. But under his steady, patient gaze, the fight simply drained out of her shoulders.
She let out a soft, shaky breath. Slowly, she allowed her eyelids to flutter shut, her dark lashes resting against her warm cheeks. A faint, betraying tremor touched her lower lip as she tilted her face up just a fraction.
Ren understood exactly what she was asking for. He let go of her waist, bringing his hand up to gently cup the side of her face, his thumb brushing over her burning cheek. He leaned down and pressed his lips softly against hers.
As his lips met hers, the last stubborn knot of tension in Maki's shoulders completely dissolved.
The grip she had on his jacket slowly unspooled, the crumpled denim slipping through her fingers. Instead of dropping her arms or crossing them defensively, she brought her hands up. Her palms slid smoothly over his chest, finding the collar of his jacket and moving up to his neck.
Her hands, rough and heavily calloused from years of swinging wooden naginatas and steel staffs, settled gently against the sides of his jaw. She tilted her head, naturally adjusting the angle as she leaned fully into his space, parting her lips just enough to let the kiss deepen.
It wasn't rushed, and it lacked the frantic, consuming heat of their time in the apartment. It was just slow, warm, and entirely grounding. Ren kept his hand softly cupped against her face, his thumb tracing a lazy arc over her cheekbone, anchoring her there in the quiet of the empty dirt field.
When they finally broke apart, it was only by a fraction of an inch. Maki didn't immediately open her eyes. She kept her hands resting warmly against his jaw, her chest rising and falling in a slow, steady breath as the cool afternoon breeze swept past them.
Maki's eyes suddenly snapped open.
The quiet, grounding bubble they had just built popped the second the bright afternoon sun and the complete lack of cover finally registered in her brain.
She let out a sharp breath, her hands pressing firmly against his chest to push him away. She took a deliberate step back, instantly crossing her arms over her chest as her posture snapped back into rigid, defensive lines.
"What the hell are we doing?" she muttered, her amber eyes immediately darting toward the tree line and the dorm roofs, scanning for any sign of an audience. Her face was still burning a deep red, but her tone was sharp, trying desperately to rebuild her usual unbothered edge.
"We are in the middle of the open training field."
Ren let his hands fall back to his sides. The quiet sincerity on his face shifted back into a slow, highly amused smile. "Kissing?"
"In plain sight, idiot," Maki shot back, glaring at him. "Anyone could walk by. Satoru could literally drop out of the sky right now."
She pinched the bridge of her nose, letting out a heavy, frustrated sigh. "You're the one who is supposed to be laying low. And I'm supposed to actually have some situational awareness. Why didn't you stop me? You should have pushed me away."
"Maki, you grabbed my jacket and looked at me," Ren pointed out simply, keeping his tone entirely reasonable. "I am biologically incapable of stopping you when you do that."
"Shut up," she grumbled, dropping her hand. She adamantly refused to acknowledge the compliment, though the flush on her ears stubbornly remained.
She aggressively adjusted her wire-rimmed glasses, forcing her shoulders to set back into their usual, uncompromising stance.
"I'm getting stupid around you. My awareness just completely zeroes out. If Panda saw that, I'd never hear the end of it."
Ren let out a soft laugh, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Hey, your awareness is fine. I checked the perimeter before I walked out here. We're completely alone."
"That is not the point," Maki stated firmly, though the lethal bite was mostly gone from her voice. She leveled a stern, warning look at him. "We are not doing that again. Not outside. Not where anyone can see."
"Understood," Ren nodded smoothly, thoroughly enjoying the stern directive. "So, strictly indoors. My room or yours?"
"Absolutely not," Maki shot back instantly, her voice dropping into a harsh, urgent whisper.
"Neither."
Ren raised an eyebrow, keeping his hands casually tucked in his pockets. "Neither? Boss, you're giving me mixed signals here. You just said strictly indoors."
"I meant indoors outside of Jujutsu High, idiot," Maki clarified, glaring at him as if he had just suggested they juggle live grenades. She aggressively gestured toward the second-year dormitories visible just above the tree line.
"My room is a NO NO. Nobara is literally right down the hall and she completely lacks the basic human concept of knocking. If she walks in on us and we are without clothes... then....."
"Fair point," Ren conceded smoothly. "Kugisaki is definitely a threat. But what about my room?"
Maki looked at him like he had lost his mind. "Are you actually joking? Satoru Satoru is your homeroom teacher. The man has absolutely zero boundaries and can literally teleport into a room whenever he feels like it. You really want to roll the dice on him suddenly popping into your dorm to ask you what your favorite flavor of mochi is?"
Ren actually grimaced at the thought. The mental image of Satoru Gojo suddenly materializing in his bedroom while he was with Maki was enough to instantly kill any romantic tension.
Considering Gojo was the ultimate troll who had already fake-guessed their relationship status just to watch Maki squirm, it was a completely valid fear.
"Okay, yeah. Point taken," Ren muttered, a genuine shudder running down his spine. "