Inori isn't sure why he's dithering.

He thought about the thing Subaru said long and hard, and found something that almost made sense in it, and he thinks... that he's in love. He thinks so. He does. And that was what Tōkan had asked for, wasn't it? Before he'd agree to pairing, Inori had to be in love. And he wants to be paired. Right?

But still he's dithering.

And this is the kind of shit that Tōkan would be great at figuring out but he can't well ask, can he? He's all... compromised.

This is confusing and he hates being confused and he wants to hit the thing he's confused by but he loves the thing he's confused by so he can't hit him and that's extremely irritating and just makes him want to hit something even harder.

"Hey Haru."

        "—oh, good morning, Inori-kun! I didn't hear you come downstairs. Not spending today with Tōkan? 🙂"

"He's studying for finals with friends. Where's Kuroji?"

        "He just left for work, said he needed to finish some stuff at the office. Did you want to talk to him?"

"No, I wanted to talk to you."

        "Oh! What about?"

"How'd you know you wanted to pair Kuroji?"

        "I knew I wanted him from the moment we met~ 😌" he sighs dreamily. "And when we started going out I knew I was going to marry—wait," and he turns around to stare at Inori with horror. "Why are you asking this? 😨"

"What's it got to do with getting married?"

        "Yamada Inori you are expressly forbidden from pairing with Tōkan!! You are both too young! 😱"

"How old were you when you and Kuroji got paired?"

        "That's got nothing to do with anything! 😤"

    The front door opens and closes then Kuroji emerges at the entrance of the dining room. "Hey, I forgot some—oh, good morning Inori-kun."

        "Kuroji, help me tell our son he shouldn't get paired!!! 😤"

    Kuroji looks at both of them for a second then sighs, walks over to Harutsugu, and pulls him in for a kiss.

Harutsugu squeaks and apparently entirely forgets about the conversation for a second, but then Kuroji pulls away and says, in a soft voice, while he pushes some hair away from Harutsugu's face with a finger, "Don't you want Inori-kun to have this in his life?"

    "But—our babies—! 😢"

Kuroji turns to look at Inori, who's been regarding this whole interaction with great suspicion, and says, "What do you want to know?"

        "I was asking Haru what pairing's got to do with getting married," he replies.

    "It's almost as strong a commitment, if you're doing it for the right reasons," he says. "You'll be his special person and he'll be yours. You can't undo it if you regret it. There'll be no one else you'll be able to pair with, forever." Which rings a warning bell in Inori's head. Tōkan wouldn't just... want to be monogamous like that, would he?

        "I'm not ready to give my boy away 🥺," whines Harutsugu.

    "You're not giving anyone away, Haru. We've still got a few years until they'd actually move."

"How old were you?" Inori asks, squinting again.

    "We started dating when I was a sophomore in high school and Haru was a freshman at college, and we paired a year after that then got married two years later."

        "Y-you're giving him ideas!"

    "Stop being so hypocritical," Kuroji says fondly.

    "That's not helping," he sighs, and Kuroji lets go of his husband to walk over to the stool next to Inori and sit on it, facing him.

"What do you need help with?"

    "He said we could pair if I decided I loved him—"

        ("Betrayal!" 😨)

    "—and I do, but now I can't tell him and I don't understand why."

    Kuroji looks at Inori for a few quiet seconds then sighs, puts his suitcase on the floor, says, "I'll finish what I needed to tomorrow," to Harutsugu, and wraps his arms around Inori, who squirms a bit but doesn't protest. He lets go and asks, "Tell me about it?"

"Haru's gonna yell."

    "We can ignore him."

        "I'm bullied by my own son and husband. 😔"

"...that day when we got ambushed and you drove us to Tōkan's apartment, his dad was there."

        Harutsugu pauses what he's doing then turns around to look at Inori with a very concerned look on his face.

    "So... you met him."

    "He called me a low-life omega with no respect for his betters and told Tōkan that if Tōkan wanted a piece of ass to get his dick wet his dad could find him one of better breeding."

Harutsugu shatters the egg he'd been trying to crack in his hand. "He said what. 🤬"

"I almost bashed his skull in but Tōkan humiliated him and it was very satisfying." Blush. "And after his dad left I tried to convince Tōkan to pair me."

        Harutsugu seems oblivious to the implications as he washes his hands. "I believe I need to have a chat with Kokonoe Tochima. 🙂"

    "Haru, don't get into a fight with one of the most powerful alphas in the country," Kuroji sighs, before turning back to Inori. "Go on."

"He said the same stuff Haru was saying, that it was special, and then he said he wanted me to love him and I didn't know if I did but I do but now that I know I can't just tell him and I don't know why."

    "Inori-kun, I think you're skipping over some important steps. Tell me more about your conversation with Tōkan-kun."

"...he said we should talk about it rather than me trying to just get him to do it, and... I said that that was stupid, it's just hormones, who cares about hormones, and he asked me if I liked having sex with him," (strangled dying cat noises from Harutsugu), "and I said yeah and then he asked me if it felt like just getting off and getting it over with and..."

    "And it doesn't," concludes Kuroji. "It really doesn't, does it?" Inori shakes his head. "Having a relationship isn't just about sex but the sex is important, it's good and healthy and it brings you closer. He told you that, didn't he?" Nod nod. "What did he say next?"

"That he... was afraid he'd hurt me or push me away and if he did that after we were pairs he'd have taken something important away from me that I couldn't have again." That note of discordance is back. "And he told me he wanted me to love him... and I didn't know what that meant so that's why I asked you and Haru."

        "...Inori-kun," says Harutsugu, drying his hands off and walking over to the kitchen counter. "I think maybe you... aren't as sure as you thought you were, that this is really the best decision."

"But it is!!! I love him! He loves me! I'll never find anyone else!!!!!"

    "Your father fell in love with me," Kuroji says quietly, "when he saw me fight off this alpha who was harassing a girl in heat. And then he took three weeks to say anything or even introduce himself, not until I did it again to someone else." Kuroji is flushing slightly and Haru's gone bright and perky and smug.

"...what's that got to do with anything?"

    "Love can find you in strange ways that you wouldn't ever expect. Tōkan isn't the only person you could love, there are others."

"But I don't want others I want him!"

"And that's good! A healthy relationship is one where you want to be together! But the world isn't always so kind as to give us what we want. Each new day you spend with him gets you to know and understand him better. You don't know everything there is to know about Kokonoe Tōkan and he doesn't know everything there is to know about Yamada Inori. And the best world is one where you both love everything new you learn and always want to be together, but there's still a chance.

"So maybe the reason you're waiting is that you want to wait. That there's a part of you that noticed that this could still go wrong."

    "...I promised myself that I would never give up on your father's happiness," says Harutsugu, "and that I would do my best to be your father's happiness. And I got it. So you shouldn't give up on your love. But not deciding right now about the rest of forever isn't giving up."

"...'kay. Thank you." He hops off his stool and sidles off. Then sticks his head back into the kitchen to say, "And call me when the pie's ready," before running back upstairs.

    Kuroji walks around the counter and smiles at his husband. "Want any help?" but Harutsugu looks down at him and hugs him and starts bawling.

        "I DON'T WANT MY BABY TO GROW UP! I NEVER SIGNED UP FOR THIS!!!! 😭"

Later that afternoon Inori's waiting for him again by his school's gate. "Oh, hey, Inori-kun. Didn't expect you'd show up today."

"Hey. And hi, uh... Satoru."

    "Subaru," he sighs, but there's a small smile playing on his lips. "Guess I'll let you two have your couples' fun. See you tomorrow, Tōkan."

"'Sup?"

"Take me on a date."

"...right now? Alright. Where?"

"Dunno. Somewhere with food."

"Alright." He's got an idea, so he starts walking, grabbing Inori's free hand as he goes. "Any reason?"

"Yeah."

...he's honestly not sure what he'd been expecting.

"So, uh, how's your studying going?"

He grimaces. "It's not."

"You... think you're okay for finals?"

"Nah."