"I'm still a little bit jealous of Yoo-min for that."

"Oh, he can probably still fuck it up. I'm not sure I couldn't, though I've managed not to so far."

"Cricket said that I'm fond of you by luck, not because I have discerning taste. I think he really likes you."

"Did he say that? That's - well, very rude, but such a fun way for him to be rude, he's not always that creative."

"'Fun'?"

Squirm. "Like you said, it indicates he really likes me, because it implies he has in mind some list of legitimate reasons to do so."

"And that he thinks I don't have such a list."

"Apparently he thinks that!"

He kisses Haru's temple. "Dinner, then?"

"Dinner! What are we having?"

"Unless you strenuously object I was thinking of making us japchae."

"I've never had it to object to but I bet it's yummy."

It probably is! Jaeha still doesn't have a ton of appreciation for food due to how his taste buds are pathetic and sad, but he thinks he's got the hang of making nice food anyway. And he can make it perfectly social, too, offering Haru chef's perks and commenting on ideas for more stuff to make in the future, and then they can move on to talking about GiveWell's recent blog post about its updated donation suggestions—turns out a few years back they stopped recommending the AMF due to some disagreements about tradeoffs between transparency and effectiveness but they have since started reccing it again after AMF secured some deals with local distribution centers...

It is a very delightful dinner conversation. Haru doesn't keep up with the GiveWell blog, he has to ruthlessly prioritize his reading, so he had no idea about the blip in the recommendation.

Would reading blog posts together and discussing them be a suitably social activity? Maybe they could ruthlessly prioritise Haru's reading by including some ways to make reading a part of bonding.

"It works if someone reads things to me and I interrupt all the time!"

"I volunteer as tribute."

Mwah. "You're so good to me."

Yes he is and Haru'd better not forget it.

...hm.

"I don't think either of us are under any illusions that it wasn't sheer dumb luck that we met. It's not like we were—looking. Filtering. So, you know, in a sense Cricket is right. But...

"You get what you want. You know what it is and you go after it and you get it. You fistbump people because it's less aversive and comes off as charming and then you find someone you're compatible with and you immediately ask to spend time with them. You want your brain to work right, and you make sure it will, but you also want other things, you want to be a superhero—so you find the ratio of how much you tolerate breaking your brain to be a superhero, and once you can fix it faster you can also be more of a superhero.

"...and I have to say that you getting really mad on my behalf and doing so much so that I can have my brain back had its fair share of attractiveness.

"There's other things but—we've only just met. I'll learn more about them and about you, and I'll like them, too. I'm sure of that."

"eee" and now it is time for makeouts.

All according to his devious plans.

His devious plan was so artful! It looks like you can talk Haru into having sex a third time in the same day with an opener like that!

This was probably possible for him to have derived a priori but he was a bit too scared that if he said the words they'd be too real. And—they kind of are and—he's kind of scared, and he's especially scared that he has no idea what Haru's feeling except he knows Haru doesn't reciprocate, couldn't reciprocate, so he's having to create a version of himself Haru will like so that he will feel safe and not like the floor might open up beneath his feet at any moment and take everything away from him. 

But the sex is fun too.