"Ahh, I see 😌," and even though the smile hasn't changed at all it is now conveying something along the lines of "so you're a rich spoiled playboy, huh?". He nods to himself a couple of times then asks, "And are you serious about Inori?"

What the fuck?!

Did—did Inori say—what the fuck. And the asshole's just—just eating chips and completely ignoring the conversation. WHY.

"You're serious about dating him?" he continues asking, in the same mild tone, completely oblivious to Tōkan's internal struggle. "You love him? 🙂🙂🙂"

There's something about a bespectacled alpha wearing a sweater vest looking at you like a panther eyeing its prey that is more terrifying than anything Tōkan has ever felt in his life.

"Right," he says, because what else is he going to do? He does his best to suppress the shiver that runs down his spine, though, and keeps his head up and his face serious.

Thankfully, Kuroji shows up behind Harutsugu, apron-clad, and saves Tōkan by smacking the back of Harutsugu's head. Looks like he didn't do it very lightly, either.

"Cut it out, Haru," he says as his husband clutches the back of his head and whines. "Quit trying to intimidate Tōkan."

Inori's little sister, Suzume, hops onto the chair to the other side of Tōkan as Kuroji serves their dinner. "You look very handsome," she tells Tōkan earnestly.

"Thank you," he says, smiling genuinely at her. She has nothing to do with the fact that Inori's alpha dad is scarier than getting in a fistfight with a bear and Inori's omega dad is even scarier than that.

"We didn't ask you to come here to scare you," says Kuroji (although the way Harutsugu is looking at him might lead one to believe that this is not a unanimous opinion in this house). "It's... just that recently, Inori, um... see... how do I put this..." And apparently he chooses to put this in a way that he does not want his daughter to hear because he walks behind her chair and covers her ears with both hands. "A week ago Inori came home looking..."

Oh, god, Inori just straight-up walked back home looking like that, didn't he. Messed up hair and hickeys and Tōkan's scent—

Oh fuck.

"So Harutsugu started freaking out," ("Hey!"), "about how he was going to protect Inori and no one would ever hurt him again..." (And Inori himself offers his dad a cold glare in between bites of the dinner he's already scarfing down.) "But Inori said that he was not hurt," even though Tōkan knows for a fact the hickeys and bruises were completely unhidden, "and that it was mutual."

(...Tōkan thinks Inori tried to communicate something that is not what his dads think he was trying to communicate and he has no idea how to navigate that.)

"He hates suppressants," Kuroji continues after a moment. "No matter what you say. He got side effects the first time he took them, and after that he just refused to ever take any again."

—wait what. What. What?!?!?!?! That was the whole reason?????

He slowly turns to stare at Inori, who... is still eating. What is wrong with that boy.

Nom.

...

?

"We've told him to stay in his room during his heat, at least, but he's... the kind of kid who will escape through the second story window so it's not like we really can keep him here against his will even if we wanted to."

Yeah, Tōkan can believe that. This boy's a demon.

"...so we've always wondered," he continues, "and expected, really, that someday he'd... get into something he couldn't get out of... but we told him that if he ever had a partner we would love to meet them."

"But you should definitely not be having sex before marriage! 😌" Harutsugu immediately interrupts to say.

"You're one to talk," Kuroji says in annoyance. Then he sighs and turns to look at Tōkan again. "...and maybe he's right and it might not be great parenting, but... we're really glad that someone actually likes our piece of work of a son. We hope that everything will work out for you two."

"You talk too much," Inori complains. "Stop saying that cheesy stuff."

"I think Inori needs seconds," Tōkan says mildly.

And Inori shoots him a suspicious look, but doesn't gainsay him.

After dinner, Suzume walks up to Tōkan and grins up at him and says, "Tōkan-chan, are you good with grammar? I'm not good at all and onii-chan isn't either."

"Oh, yeah, Japanese is my best class, actually."

(Suzume calls him onii-chan, that's so fucking cute, Tōkan thinks he might die of it.)

"Oh! Can you help me with my homework? There are lots of rules I don't remember..."