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."

"...you see the tension between those answers?"

"No."

"Now you're just being contrarian."

"No."

He pulls Inori in close and kisses him on the cheek.

Inori pulls away immediately, covering that cheek with a hand and glaring at him.

"If you don't want me to be sweet at you in public you need to stop being adorable in public."

Glare.

"So, again, how's studying?"

"None of your business. Stop fussing."

"Come on, love, do I have to remind you that I care about you and want your happiness and I worry about you and I am not trying to imply all of the negative things the little gremlin in your brain is telling you I'm implying every time?"

Grump. "How do you even know about the gremlin in my brain anyway."

"You fit a type."

"No I don't! I'm just me, I'm not any types."

"Cm'ere," he says, extending his hand to Inori again.

He (grumpily) takes it.

"From the top, how is your studying going?"

"Dunno. 'M not studying. Class is pointless and boring. Maybe I'll remember everything when I take the exams."

"And if you fail your finals you're gonna need to take remedial ones in the summer..."

"Ugh."

"How 'bout this, I'll help you study while we snuggle."

"You're just gonna distract me."

"No I won't, we can figure it out."

"Don't you need to study? I thought your grades were bad."

"Oh yeah I totally do, this'll be two or three birds with one stone."

"...three?"

"You study, I study, we snuggle. Three."

"Hm."

The place Tōkan is taking them seems to be a gaudy café in green, blue, and red colours with the imagery of various imaginary creatures as well as appropriately thematic food and drinks.

And Inori is going through the menu with an increasingly confused expression on his face.

"What... is all this. Why is there a yellow rat."

"—Inori-kun, oh my god, I need to introduce you to Pokémon."

"The... famous video-game?"

"What do you play all day on your phone if you don't know Pokémon!"

"Sudoku."

"...I don't know what I was expecting but I was not expecting that."

"Well, let your first introduction to the world of Pokémon be some delicious food, then."

Sure, whatever, he can find something that looks nice enough.

    "Good evening, welcome to Pokémon Café Tokyo, do you wish to order drinks?" asks an arriving waitress.

"We'll order everything already," says Inori before rattling off his order.

The waitress turns her fixed smile to Tōkan but after he tells her what he wants she doesn't go away. "Do you... need anything else?"

    "Oh, um, I wanted to confirm his order with you!"

"...what did you just say." The waitress looks at him nervously for a second but then turns back to Tōkan.

"...well I am certainly not going to be the one to choose for him, am I," he says, going from friendly to glacial in a heartbeat.

"Repeat what you just said to my face, dickhead."

On the one hand every single cell in his body is screaming for him to be conciliatory.

On the other hand, what.

"I'd like another waiter, please," he says instead.

    The waitress looks like she's probably about to have a nervous breakdown. "Um. Um. We don't—we divide the restaurant per table—"

Inori gets up, shoots her an even filthier look, and says, "Asshole," before stalking off and through the door.

"I believe we will not be having our meal here, this evening," Tōkan says, getting up too and following after his boyfriend.

...then he has to jog because Inori has not stopped walking and is a ways away already.

"Inori-kun, wait for me!"

He doesn't, but he's not fleeing Tōkan himself, Tōkan can catch up easily.

Yeah, okay, no talking right now, that was actually... kind of wow.

He doesn't look at Tōkan and just keeps walking, by the looks of it not even particularly paying attention to where. Just stomp stomp stomp.

And Tōkan follows behind, nervous but not very worried. Give his boyfriend the time he needs to cool off and all that, but be there for him at the end.

It gets dark before Inori winds down, but eventually he does. He finds a bench and flops down onto it, dropping his lead pipe on the ground with a loud clang.

Tōkan sits next to him after a moment and carefully, slowly, giving Inori as much time to punch him out as he could want, puts an arm around his shoulders.

He doesn't punch anyone, just stays there, breathing heavily, clutching the air in his hands tightly. Not completely wound down yet, apparently.

But he lifts a hand to his face to lower his mask and looks up at Tōkan. "She meant what I think she did. Didn't she. I'm not—not—"

"She absolutely fucking did, she thought we were a 'modern couple' where you'd ask for what you wanted but I'd still be the one to confirm it."

"why is that a thing"

"...I'm sorry. I guess, uh, that place was a bit more upscale than the places we usually go to. And..."

"And fucking rich alphas think all omegas are meant to be property."

"It's... probably something like restaurant policy, she probably didn't personally..."

"that makes it worse!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Tōkan kisses the side of Inori's head then starts lightly running his fingers through Inori's hair in a slow, soothing motion. "Not the best introduction to Pokémon."

Inori storms away from the bench and turns around to glare at Tōkan. "Fuck the video game!!!!" Thankfully they're on a pretty deserted small park so people are not going to show up to make a scene about him making a scene. "In real life that bitch thought that I, I, I belonged to you or something!!!!! And I saw everyone else just, just looking at me like I'm a crazy bitchy omega and, and I must be so much work for you to keep in line and why couldn't you find someone nicer to settle down with, another alpha even, not a crazy, unpredictable omega!!!!!!!"

He gets up and once again walks up to Inori to wrap his arms around him. "I love you. I love you. I want you, not some nice alpha."

"I know!"

...sigh. "I know. It just—fucking pisses me off—Kuroji said it but I didn't, didn't think, it'd never—"

"...you know what?" He unhugs and grabs his phone then starts tapping at it. "Fuck it. Let's have our date right here."

"...huh?"

"I'm getting us a picnic."

"...it's the middle of the night."

"It's the beginning of the night," he corrects. "And we're in a cute out-of-the-way park in the middle of nowhere so we're going to have a nice, cute picnic together. No rude staff making seventeenth-century assumptions about our relationship."

And he slowly lowers down to a cross-legged seat, holding one of Inori's hands and lightly pulling on it.

...yeah, okay. He follows along and gets down to a seat, too, but grumbles a bit. "I still want to beat someone up."

"Maybe we can find a shitty alpha or three on our way home."

Inori spends the next short while leaning on Tōkan's shoulder in silence, wondering if he overreacted. Which is a first, honestly, he's usually pretty on board with yelling at people who are being shits and maybe breaking a couple of their bones.

She wasn't even an alpha, she was just a beta, doing her job. Probably indoctrinated into the whole stupid worldview, but still. She only said the one thing... which he could've misinterpreted...

Except he didn't. Tōkan is never wrong about these things. She totally meant to say that Inori needed his permission to order whatever he wanted, and... he's not sure how other couples would've responded. Normal people are weird and don't get mad even when other people insult them to their faces. So they wouldn't have gotten mad.

And there's couples that would've agreed, he knows that much. And couples where the omega wouldn't even have been allowed to order anything by their partner. Which sends his blood boiling to just think about. He needs to distract himself

...oh. "Tōkan-kun..."

"Yes, my heart?"

"Kuroji said that if you're paired you can never have anyone else..."

"Ah. Yeah, um, that's not... quite true. You remember how he said omegas can only be paired if they're in heat?"

"Yeah."

"And once you're paired you can only get in heat again around the alpha you paired with. Or, probably not only but a lot less often otherwise, your heats are irregular but some people do just stop having heats away from their alphas altogether.

"So you could get paired with someone else, after pairing me, but... I'd need to be there, around you, to induce heat in you to let the other alpha bite you, but I'd also get in a worse rut than I've ever had at the same time which... I don't want to say anything about me here but I'm pretty sure most alphas get really possessive and jealous. So even if you had an alpha that was willing to stay with you for however long it took for you to heat again to get your new partner to bite you, they'd probably change their mind when it happened.

"And since you're much much much less fertile while not in heat..."

Oh.

Oh wow.

Meanwhile alphas can just... never rut again and bite however many people they want.

"I hate this so much."

Tōkan catches some of what Inori's thinking because he says, "For what it's worth, alphas are also a lot less fertile if they're not around a heating omega, that's another reason why alpha pairs have so much trouble having kids. But, um, yeah, omegas got the short end of the stick there."

"Every fucking stick. There's nothing good about being an omega. Nothing."

He's not about to tell Inori the ways in which him being an omega is good for Tōkan because that's the entire fucking point and if he did Inori would rightfully break his jaw.

"...well, there's... the part where we could have kids together someday."

...

Kids with Tōkan.

That sounds terrifying he's not scared of anything.

That one Inori is fully on the "they're too young for that" bandwagon for.

"Could've been a beta girl instead," he mumbles.

"That's true. And I'd love you all the same. Because you're you."

He's really cute when he goes all blushy BSOD like that.

But a car pulls up close to where they are.

"Delivery for Kokonoe-san?"

"That's me, thank you." And they get an honest-to-god picnic basket wrapped in a blanket. He starts setting it all up, and he's included stuff Inori likes: burgers, pies, cakes, lots and lots of sushi, much more food than Tōkan would've thought two people could get through if one of them weren't Yamada Inori.

He eyes the selection for a bit but once the delivery person is properly gone he tackles his boyfriend and kisses him on the grass.

Tōkan is still a teenage alpha so he's just absolutely not going to complain at all. He's not even particularly mindful of decency, Inori isn't in heat so they aren't really in danger of crossing the line all the way to illegal.

After Inori's had enough of it that he's kind of slowed down and no longer has his hand any places it shouldn't be Tōkan pulls away for a second and asks, "What's the occasion?"

"...the occasion is that I love you."

Okay! He guesses it's his turn to tackle his boyfriend and make out until the fire dies down.

...or until he decides to stop because it's actually quite likely that the fire won't die down, he's starting to have dangerous thoughts about risk likelihood of being caught while in a wide open park right next to a road not so empty that cars haven't been showing up every now and then. Dangerous thoughts which he should leave for later when they're at his place.

"I love you too, Inori-kun," he says after he manages to finally wrestle his thoughts away from that. "Is that why you were asking about pairing?" He had an inkling, after Subaru talked to him, but he didn't want to try to pursue it very far.

"...a bit."

"...but you're having second thoughts about pairing."

"Kind of." He pulls away then notices that the food is getting cold and starts scarfing it down.

"Should I not do the 'guess what you're thinking and feeling' thing?"

Inori pauses for a moment, then says, "No. You... should do it. It... helps."

Tōkan should also be eating, he guesses. While he thinks.

"You got it," he says slowly. "Didn't you? The thing about... us being too young. The heat thing, and having kids. You hadn't thought of that?"

He hums an affirmative around his food.

"Yeah." He leans close to Inori to kiss his temple. "I love you. We don't need to pair anytime soon. Your parents didn't until one year in, right?" And Tōkan's parents never did, he doesn't say. "We can wait. And until then you're still the strongest and you can still kick the asses of any dumb rapists who thought it was a good idea to exist in public in the same city as you."

He punches the air and swallows his food. "RIGHT ON."

They don't run into any shitty alphas on their way back to Tōkan's apartment, to Inori's chagrin. Inori has barely taken his shoes off and dropped his pipe by the door before he's on his way to the master bathroom, and Tōkan follows on his heels after locking the door and leaving the picnic basket in the kitchen.

When he walks in he finds Inori perched on the edge of the immense bathtub, naked, intently watching it get filled with water.

"You know, many people prefer to be in the tub rather than out of it," he says as he strips.

Inori turns to look at him for a few seconds but then turns back to the water without saying anything, watching it like a hawk.

You know you're in love when you find the most minor, dumb, ridiculous little eccentricities of your partner's endlessly lovable.

He follows his own words and gets in, making sure to grab the soap and the bath salts on his way. Then he positions himself so that he can watch Inori and gets to doing that.

After a few seconds he notices. "What."

"My boyfriend is very pretty and cute and I like looking at him."

"'M not cute," he grumbles, but he's long since given up on getting Tōkan to stop. And maybe he likes it a little bit he is the strongest and most powerful and dangerous and not cute at all.

"Well he's still pretty and I still like looking at him," he says, shrugging. "Although I'd love it if he were a bit closer so I could do that more thoroughly."

"You're just horny."

"I'm always horny."

"I'm not."

"Maybe, but you can indulge me anyway then."

"I'm not in the mood."

"Liar."

"Shitty alpha."

"That story about how alphas have predator instincts isn't completely false, you know."

"Is the big bad wolf gonna chase me?" Inori says, voice dripping with sarcasm. Don't mind the flush on his face, that's just the heat of the steam. And don't mind his growing erection, that's just a physiological event.

"If the little lamb won't be still, he might." Tōkan tips forward to get on all fours in the tub and start slowly stalking towards Inori.

The little lamb does actually stay still. This time.

So the wolf can gently pull it into the water and kiss it.

He gets himself back into a sitting position and pulls Inori onto his lap, Inori's back pressing his cock between their bodies, and starts kissing and licking and biting the skin of Inori's shoulders and neck. "What a tasty little lamb."

Whine. "You're terrible and I hate you," says the man who's leaning back to press himself against Tōkan and give him better access to his skin.

Tōkan wraps his arms around Inori, reaching one hand down to stroke him and the other up to play with one of his nipples. "I love you," he breathes between kisses and bites.

"If you love me put it in you coward."

He laughs but complies—or rather, he lifts Inori up so he can comply. He got lubricating bath salts so the water isn't the annoyance it usually would be, and that plus Inori's own wetness and the past several months of practice makes it easy to get in.

Practice or not it still hurts but he's been Pavlov'd into finding even that to be enjoyable, so the moan is in large part pure pleasure. All this shitty alpha's fault.

Once he's all the way in he reaches back to where Inori had been perching to find the water controls and make the tub stop filling up, then turns on the massage jets.

"You always feel so good around my cock," he breathes into Inori's ear. "Maybe I should keep you there all the time."

"That's," gasp, "impractical," he says in a thin strained voice. "And you'd get bored."

"I'm never bored of you," he says, then resumes his ministrations, adding hip movements to them.

Inori helps, to the extent that he can, although it's always difficult to really properly take actions when he's like this. His brain is mostly mush.

That's fine, Tōkan is not in any rush. He seems to be in a patient phase.

His mouth gets more aggressive, bites getting more frequent as his movements get a bit faster and more forceful. And every time he licks close to the nape of Inori's neck Inori shivers and tenses, but doesn't pull away.

But then he starts actually kissing and sucking and even lightly biting there and Inori jumps every time, takes a quick ragged breath in, whimpers a bit. "Sensitive?" Tōkan whispers.

Inori just nods then shivers again, not really super able to words right this moment.

"I could bite you," he says, then demonstrates, harder than he's been doing but definitely not near enough to break the skin. "Much harder than this. It would be easy... And you taste so good, little lamb."

Another shiver, this time accompanied by a small pitiful whine. He doesn't pull away, though, and actually seems to even be pushing himself closer to Tōkan.

Tōkan bites again, harder, but then licks and kisses Inori's neck. "Not today. When you're ready, my lamb. I love you."

Inori turns his head back and to the side so he can kiss his boyfriend. He's feeling rather very needy right this second.

    "Yamada told you, then."

Tōkan grins. "He did. I'm curious how exactly it went with you."

    "He was trying to buy romance manga to see if it'd help him figure out what love is."

"...that's so fucking cute."

    "He's clueless."

"Come on, Subaru, you can't seriously say you don't think that's adorable."

    "I'm gay, Tōkan."

"And?"

     "...yeah fine it's kinda cute. Not my type though."

"It wouldn't be, would it, your type has a bigger co—"

        "Tōkan-kun?"

He looks over to look at the source of the voice. "Oh, hi, Tami-chan. 'Sup?"

        "Is it true?"

...he doesn't need to ask what she means, from the tone of voice it's kinda obvious, but he does anyway. "What is?"

        "That you're dating an omega?"

Sigh. "Yeah."

        "That it's Yamada Inori? The crazy boy from Yoshikiri High?"

    "Inoue, you are not seriously saying you expected his answer to be in the negative, here."

        "...no, I guess not, just..." She looks at Subaru, then back at Tōkan. "Why? Everyone thought you two were gonna end up together..."

Oh, ouch, why would you say that in front of Subaru, Tamiki, that's insensitive as fuck. He glances at his friend for a second, who is keeping an impassively nonchalant face, but he can see the note of tension. "It's complicated." It's really not, not objectively, but this is fucking Kokonoe High, anyone dating an omega is news.

In any case, he has a pretty good guess about what the next question is going to be.

        "...is it the sex? I've heard stories about—and there was a rumour Yamada Inori doesn't take suppressants—"

"Tami-chan, I beg that you think about who exactly it is you're talking to for a moment. Inori did not seduce me with pheromones and however good or bad the sex is it was never going to be the main reason." And the next thought: "He's not pregnant either."

        "And is your father..."

"He's aware of it," Tōkan shrugs. "You can guess how he feels about it. I've never been particularly fond of the idea of making him proud."

        She chews on her lower lip for a bit, while her face goes through several complicated expressions in a row.

"Also if you could let Naoko know that she can just come talk to me rather than relying on rumours, that'd be appreciated."

        "How'd you—" Sigh. "Yeah I will."

"Thank you. Anyway, uh, sorry if I'm... disappointing or anything. Nothing really needs to change."

        She looks at him dubiously then says, "Okay."

"...on a completely different note, did that book you were looking forward to get released? We haven't caught up in a while, I lost track. It was this month, right?"

        "Oh! Yeah, next week, I'm so excited! I'm gonna reread the whole series this week so everything's fresh in my mind..."

"That bothers you," Subaru observes after their next class; Tamiki occupied all of the rest of their break so Tōkan and he couldn't resume their conversation until now. "The thing with Inoue."

    "Yeah. I knew it was gonna happen eventually, actually kinda surprised if took this long."

"No one really took the idea of the Kokonoe heir actually doing that seriously, I guess, especially with how much you always said that you'd never have sex with an omega."

    "Come on, the fact that we were having sex was obvious months ago, he keeps showing up."

"Yeah and a lot of people took that as a sign that everything you'd said about the subject was just trying to posture about being so modern and actually you were just like everyone else and thought omegas were sex toys."

    He lets his head hit the wall behind him and stares at the ceiling. "What'd I do to deserve this."

"You want a list or..."

    "Fuck off, Subaru."

"You're just whining, you knew about everything I said."

    "I want to live in a world where it's not a fucking international incident that someone from Kokonoe is dating an omega."

"Not just someone, it's you and the demon omega from Shikiri. When Tōta got an omega girlfriend—"

    "Well he definitely thinks omegas are just sex toys, I'm so goddamn sad for his girlfriend."

"By all appearances she agrees..."

    "That makes it worse. You see how that makes it worse, right?"

"I'm not kinkshaming."

    "It's—I mean I guess maybe she does kink on it but it's a whole society thing. Omegas are people, and people aren't toys."

    "I think this might be the hundredth time we've had this conversation," observes Subaru.

"It just keeps coming up."

    "It's Kokonoe High."

"Well I'm gonna fix it."

    "The school?"

"The damn world. ...but probably starting with the school. I am the Kokonoe heir."

    "You think your father's actually gonna let you touch the school before he's dead?"

"I'll finagle something. He's very preoccupied with his image—"

    "Like father, like son..." murmurs Subaru.

"Okay first of all how dare you."

    "I'm not wrong."

"But you don't have to say it." Subaru just offers Tōkan a cheeky grin which he has to respond to with a kiss that makes Subaru squeak. Tōkan feels satisfied enough that he continues. "Anyway, he needs his heir to inherit something, and I'm pretty sure he's not even trying for another one. It would not be like him to cheat on his wife or even get a kid on the side with her consent, I existed already before they got married is the only reason she tolerates me, and she doesn't want to have any kids of her own. Plus she's getting old.

"So the old man's stuck with me, and even if I'll forever be a brat in his eyes it'll still be better if I have something to my name."

    "The school's kind of important though."

"Yeah but he hates it. He has no patience for teenagers and no real training as a teacher or anything like that; he went to business school. He'll be happy to offload it onto me if I frame it the right way."

    "Well good luck with that. Your father's right, managing a school does sound like a nightmare."

"This stupid goddamn world is a nightmare."

hey <

> sup?

wyd after school <

> no particular plans
> mb study (⌐⊙_⊙)

{ಠʖಠ} <
dont do that <

> got a better idea? ♥‿♥

ye <
lets meetup <
u can bring satoru ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ <

> subaru

⥀.⥀ wtv <

> so... not a date?

? <
idc it could be a date <

> love, dates are between people who are dating

ur fucking satoru <
subaru* <
so it's like dating <

> ...
> I love you but no it's not :P

idc <

> well, fine by me
> you come over to the gates?

ye <

> ( ˘ ³˘)♥
> why are you typing like that anyway
> doesn't your phone have autocorrect?

not on my phone <
im at the school library <

> what for?

studying <

> 𓏗𓏗

stfu <

    Tōkan shows this conversation to Subaru as they pack their things after their last class. He snorts and says, "He's really weird."

"Yes he is," sighs Tōkan fondly.

    "And I presume you want me to come?"

"I think that was the closest he could get to saying he did, yeah."

    "I'm not fucking him."

"Yes, I know, you're gay and he's not interested. Even though it'd be pretty hot to watch—"

    Subaru punches him. Then he hums thoughtfully. "It... He made it sound like he's okay with the idea of a vee, though."

"My worry there is that this would hurt you, I don't want you to feel like you're second place or something."

    "What's even the difference between us being friends with benefits and the thing you've got going on with him?"

"...what's the difference between the way you feel about me and the way you feel about any other friend?"

    "I'm not fucking my other friends."

"I am."

    "Yeah but I'm still your best friend."

"I think you deserve someone who's going to make you their priority."

    "You've been talking about these things a lot more openly recently, you know."

"I'm not saying anything new."

    "No but you used to talk around it a lot more. Like you were trying to spare my feelings."

"I was."

    "And you're not anymore?"

"No, I think it's more that... It feels like the way you relate to those feelings changed? And it doesn't hurt you as much, anymore, or maybe even at all? To talk like this."

    "...hmm. I guess—"

        "Hey, Tōkan!"

Tōkan looks up blinking. He'd been walking on autopilot and was barely looking where he was going so he didn't notice Karato walking in front of him and stopping there facing him. "...hi. What's up?"

        "You're dating Yamada Inori?"

"Oh, has the rumour mill made it official?" he replies lightly, but now that he's paying attention he's noticed Hōji standing nearby, her arms crossed, sporting a venomous glare. And a couple of other kids seem to be paying undue attention to this while a lot of others are standing back. Tōkan does not like where this is going at all. He stops walking.

        "He fucked us up, and he's been doing that forever. He got Narishi and Takuo a while ago, too—"

"You know, giving me a list of classmates that my boyfriend beat up for being rapists isn't about to make me feel particularly moved to compassion."

            "You think you're so much better than us, don't you?" says Hōji. "Even while you're doing the same thing, just grabbing a hot piece of omega ass—"

    Tōkan squeezes his hands into fists and is about to say something when Subaru interrupts her and says, "Boyfriend. B o y f r i e n d. He literally just said. Tōkan isn't just using Yamada, they have a relationship. Had that crossed your mind? That two people might like each other and respect each other and want more than just sex?"

            "Seriously, Kageyama? He left you for that delinquent and you're still defending him?" she says, with an incredulous and condescending tone.

    "Well some of us have the maturity to deal with our relationships and emotions in rational, productive ways."

        "Everyone thought you were gonna get over that stupid stick up your ass about omegas when you grew up—"

"Do you have a point?" Tōkan interrupts with an annoyed sigh. "Was it really that hard to believe that I meant it when I said that rape is bad? Rape. Is. Bad."

    "Rape this, rape that, you've fucked Yamada and you know damn well that omegas in heat like him just want to be stuffed by alpha cock and this bitching is just them feeling ashamed of being such sluts—"

"You did not just call an entire fucking gender sluts—"

    "He's not wrong, though," says someone else—Takuo, that's who, Tōkan recognises him. "It's just basic biology. We're alphas! We are meant to be strong and assertive and to lead others and omegas are just horny all the time and want to be bred—"

"Are we going to get to the part where you guys are so mad at me you try to beat me up? I'm getting tired of this."

        "Fuck you, Tōkan," says Hōji. "That's what I mean, you just talk like you're above all that, well guess what, you're not! You're just trying to play politics, the Kokonoe heir is so modern, he's on the side of the oppressed, never mind that thing in the sports room, never mind everyone you beat up. You're an alpha, Kokonoe, you're one of us, no matter how much you like to pretend you're not. You're just better at pulling strings and hiding it, 'dating' Yamada my ass you just figured out how to make it look like you're not betraying your principles, you sanctimonious asshole."

"I may be a sanctimonious asshole but at least I'm not raping middle schoolers."

Okay he's been waiting outside far too long now. And he doesn't tend to pay much attention but the volume of people leaving school today seemed somewhat less than usual? Maybe something happened.

Also he's been waiting outside far too long and wants to go find his boyfriend. So he swings his pipe up to rest it over a shoulder and stalks into Kokonoe High.

At the end of the day they are alphas, so the scene Inori sees when he walks towards the commotion he spotted in the distance is a fight.

Well, kind of a fight.

Subaru's not very good at fighting at all and is being held in a headlock by someone. Meanwhile Tōkan is being held by two people and rather severely punched by a third.

...well that seems like Tuesday.

And he's not at all in heat so he thinks these people are about to get to know exactly why he's called the Shikiri demon.

The crowd that had been watching and not helping at all and taking pictures and videos also do not interfere when the demon appears and singlehandedly kicks the asses of six different people. At least he broke enough of a sweat that they can say he's probably mostly human.

    "You're pathetic, Kokonoe," says Hōji from where she's on the ground nursing a big enough bruise on the side of her torso she'll probably not be able to wear a bikini for a while. "Can't even take it like an alpha without your little boyfriend saving you—"

"Oh, now he's my boyfriend?" Tōkan says with forced casualness from where he and Subaru are leaning against a wall and nursing their own wounds.

"You're the ones who got beaten up by an omega so why don't you shut the fuck up and leave before I decide I want seconds?"

...that is actually scary enough that even the bystanders decide they have very important business elsewhere all at once. The kids who were participating in the fight throw Tōkan, Subaru, and Inori dirty looks and say even dirtier things under their breaths but also skedaddle.

Once everyone is far enough away that no sucker punches are likely to be forthcoming he strides over (...maybe more like limps over) to Inori to pull his mask down and him into a kiss.

Inori flails a bit but squashes his instinct to shove Tōkan away because he's just gotten beaten up and instead just forcefully pulls away. "What's that for?"

"You cannot have missed the fact that I find watching you fight extremely hot."

Inori looks down between them, pointedly, then back up. No, he did not miss how horny Tōkan is, it would be pretty damn hard. "She was right, you know. How'd you let those wimps get you?"

"I didn't try to fight them much. Other than trying to get them to come for me rather than Subaru."

"Why."

"It was a rhetoric move."

"...that might be the stupidest thing you've ever said to me."

    Tōkan grins. "New record."

"Hey, uh, let's go? I don't want us to be sitting ducks here."

Inori looks at Subaru with scrunched up eyebrows then steps away from Tōkan and gets his mask back on. "You really do walk around with your thing down your leg like that."

Subaru looks at what Inori is talking about and blushes.

    "I don't have much of an alternative, do I?" says Tōkan.

"Whatever." Pipe over shoulder again. "Let's go."

The two alphas catch up to Inori to follow him wherever it is he wants to go. "This is why I don't wear swimming briefs, either, even soft—"

    "Can we stop talking about your dick?" asks Subaru, still blushing.

"Why? The two of you are the ones who appreciate it the most, I'm pretty sure."

    "'Cause I don't want to have a bulge down my leg in public like that," Subaru replies, gritting his teeth.

"We could always go somewhere out of the way and take care of it—"

"I'm not fucking him," say Subaru and Inori at the same time. Subaru purses his lips and Inori glares at him.

"You could both fuck me instead," Tōkan shrugs.

    "What?"

    "Not now," says Inori, which shocks Subaru even more. "Did no teachers see the fight?"

Thankful for the change of subject, Subaru says, "This is an alpha school. Teachers see it as healthy for us to get some fighting in sometimes. Better to spend that energy somewhere safe, they say."

    "...huh. That'd be cool to have."

"Of course you'd think that," he sighs.

"So, did you have anywhere in particular you wanted to go?"

"Yes." But he looks at Tōkan with a corner of his eye and stops walking. "You're more hurt than you're pretending you are."

The other two stop, too, then Tōkan grimaces. "Damn it. Was hoping you wouldn't notice."

"You are the dumbest person I've ever met. Also you're rich, just get a car from one of those apps, we're not walking. And sit down."

"I'm not that hurt—"

    "Lift up your shirt," says Subaru.

"I thought we weren't going to be horny now?"

    "Lift up your shirt."

He sighs and does, and... yeah, the other kids only split his lip a couple places and gave him a black eye but the extent of the damage covered by clothes is rather telling. It seems like over three quarters of his skin is covered in bruises, and there's a bit of swelling around the lower right side of his ribcage.

    "Sit the fuck down, Kokonoe."

"I'm fine—"

"If you say that again I'm going to make sure you're not fine myself."

He sighs once more and now that he's no longer working on pretending to be okay that makes him actually wince which in turns hurts more. Fine, he'll go over there farther from the road and sit down.

    "You've got a broken rib."

"Come on, it can't be that serious."

    "We are going to a hospital."

"Ugh."

"Does it hurt when you breathe in?"

"Yeah?"

"How much? Does it hurt more depending on how deep you breathe? How much does it hurt when you press on different spots? Any cracking noises?"

"Uh, it—it's uncomfortable but not like debilitating? Deep breaths don't hurt much more. Pressing, uh..." He pokes himself and grimaces some. "No noises, it... hurts like a bruise... a bit more, the swelling itself hurts."

"Probably not broken but you should go to a hospital anyway to check. Now chop chop, call the car."

"You're nowhere near this fussy about yourself," he grumbles, but he does grab his phone.

"I know what a broken rib feels like. And I don't need any fussing, I know when it's serious."

"Why am I not surprised."

    "You're starting to learn from experience, good job," Inori says, voice dripping with sarcasm, before he shakes his head then turns around and remembers Subaru is there. He throws a glare at the alpha but doesn't say anything.

"...what?"

    "You staying here?"

"He's my best friend, I'm coming to the hospital with you."

    "Hm."

The car Tōkan got sits three comfortably, and they're soon at the hospital. The pain's mostly faded to the dull ache of a recent bruise which is further evidence for the theory that it's not serious.

        The doctor they see agrees with that but also agrees that getting it checked anyway is a good idea. "You've no idea how many alphas I've got coming here with problems that would've been much easier to treat if they'd come earlier," she sighs fondly, probably being herself an alpha. "Good on you."

"It was his idea," Tōkan says, hiking a thumb in Inori's direction. "I didn't want to come."

        "Oh, well, good job finding someone who won't just let you get away with it." She squints at Inori. "Is he an omega?"

    "Ma'am, that is both irrelevant and none of your business," says Subaru dryly. She purses her lips but doesn't say anything and gets to setting an X-ray machine up for Tōkan.

"I don't need you to stand up for me."

"I'm not standing up for you, I'm just irritated that she was making assumptions."

    "...?"

"She initially thought you were an alpha because clearly only an alpha could stand up to another alpha like that, omegas are too meek and submissive and would never gainsay their partners."

    "I am not—"

"I am aware, Yamada, that's part of what makes it irritating."

(Tōkan just watches this exchange with a vague grin.)

Inori keeps staring at Subaru for a while longer, and Subaru just holds his gaze, holding his chin high, until Inori turns away to grab his phone and start tapping at it.

        They get the X-ray in short order and everything is, as expected, fine; "It'll take more than a little scuffle to really hurt a healthy young alpha like you," as the doctor says, which causes Subaru to grimace again.

"That one was strictly biological," says Tōkan as they're walking out. "Alphas are on average much more physically resilient than betas or omegas."

    "I know, but I feel like six people ganging up on us and using you as their personal punching bag is a lot worse than 'a little scuffle'."

"I suppose."

    "For someone so bent on these social justice issues you sure are pretty forgiving of anyone you see doing anything bad."

"Hate the sin, love the sinner?"

    "If I hadn't seen you in a fight before I'd have said you're too agreeable for your own long term health."

Inori snorts. "He fusses worse than you do," he tells Tōkan.

"But I am, objectively speaking, fine."

    "You don't have broken bones," Subaru corrects him. "You still got beat up everywhere, you have a limp—"

"That was just for a bit!"

    "You're confirming all the stereotypes, let the people who love you take care of you you numbnuts."

Sigh. "Well, fine, you wanna take care of me? Why don't we go to my apartment and I lie down with this ice," gesturing at the pack the doctor gave him, "while the two of you pamper me."

"Sounds good," says Subaru, and Inori nods along with it.

"—wait no you're not meant to agree!"

"Get fucked."

"You said 'not now'."

"That was then. This is now." Subaru splutters and blushes. "Is your rich boy car still waiting for us?"

"—yeah. Uh."

"What? You wanted a threesome, I'm fine with that, if he's fine with that we can do it." Subaru is suddenly taken by a coughing fit and doesn't immediately say anything.

"You're not even in heat. Have I corrupted you that much?"

"Yes. Next question."

Tōkan honestly does not know what to say to that. Also there's the car so he doesn't have to.

They go to Tōkan's apartment because his house might contain his father (well, technically so might his apartment, but his father actually does in theory live in their house) and once they're up there Subaru gently but firmly places Tōkan on a sofa and glares him down.

"So, about that pampering."

"I'll go make dinner," Inori declares, pulling his mask off and dropping his pipe next to the door.

Tōkan sighs long-sufferingly. "I don't want to hold the ice there anymore I'm starting to go numb."

"Show me the bruise."

He does.

"...no you're keeping the ice right there. Take your trousers off. And don't start with the horny comments they're getting old."

He grumbles and obeys.

"...Yamada, get more ice."

"Don't tell me what to do."

Sigh. "Yamada, Tōkan has some other swollen bits that could use some ice."

"Twisting your words around doesn't make it not telling me what to do."

But he does grab the ice because he does in fact love his boyfriend.

"Is he always like this?"

"A bit."

"You must have a fun domestic life."

"It helps that I find it endlessly endearing and that it fills me with fondness."

"...uh huh."

"Also to be perfectly fair he's less bitey towards me than towards you. Except—"

"What did I just say about horny comments."

"I'm kind of excited about the idea of both of you fucking me at the same time, okay, my mind's going places!"

"I didn't actually say I was going along with this idea."

"Aren't you?"

"I am but I didn't say so."

"I am a very lucky alpha."

"Wonder if I'd have more of a chance if I bit your head off for innocuous comments every now and then."

"You don't have the personality to go with it."

"No, I guess I don't."

And here's the ice.

"Thank you, Yamada."

"Hm."

Back to figuring out what food can be made with the contents of Tōkan's kitchen.

"I assume you do your mind-reading thing to properly communicate."

"A bit. Guess I got to understand him better. But it's not like I don't do the same thing to you. I did figure out that him having a fight with you would be the best way to get you two to know each other."

"...right, that. I suppose it worked."

"Hey, Inori-kun, what do you think of Subaru?"

"...what?"

"What do you think of Subaru? Right now, after everything."

"...I guess he's not so bad."

"Glowing praise."

"From someone whose default opinion of alphas is 'kill them all', yeah. The first time we kissed—after that little incident in the sports storeroom—was because he called me acceptable."

"You're really not making it sound like it isn't negging that you're into."

"Look, it's complicated. Words are an imperfect medium to translate information between people, and the ideal is understanding what the person means regardless of the words they used to try to communicate it. When Inori-kun said I was acceptable, what he meant was that it seemed like I had my priorities straight and I actually cared about other human beings for real and not just as a political maneuver or in a sort of abstract way that goes away as soon as it becomes inconvenient, and that I was willing to back that up."

"I do not remember thinking all of that when I said it."

"Sure, a lot of it was subverbal, but is that an unfair description of what you did mean? Or at least, what you in retrospect think you meant?"

He refuses to answer this question.

"The silence is assent," Tōkan mock-whispers to Subaru.

"I see. So me not being so bad means...?"

"That you have a kind of rough exterior and probably some unexamined instincts influenced by the society you grew up in but despite that you're managing alright in terms of trying to shake them off and work past them, and you do have some good qualities hiding under the surface that you seem to sometimes actively try to hide."

"...I was definitely not thinking all of that."

"You were not, but do you disagree that this is a good summary of your position and that 'not that bad' is the overall colour of it?"

Again with the irritated silence.

"...huh. I... think I'm flattered?"

"By which you mean you don't really understand why this from Inori in particular is doing it but it is making you feel very warm and fuzzy inside and there's a part of you that is a little bit embarrassed by it, like, how silly is it to feel proud of something so small, but on the other hand you are kind of proud of, if not the actual place you're at right now, the long-term trajectory of the life you're aiming for, and this is a sign you're succeeding at least right now."

"God damnit Kokonoe."

"Haven't you had a decade to get used to it?"

"I think I'm just never going to get used to it."

"He just likes showing off."

"If you had a cock this massive you, too—"

Subaru flicks his forehead, hard, then gets up to go to the kitchen. "Want any help?" he asks Inori.

"...sure."

Subaru tries to strike up conversation a few more times, but his attempts are all met with grunts or barely any acknowledgement (and with Tōkan's insufferable mirth) so eventually he just settles down into working in silence with only the occasional request exchanged. Which... actually works pretty well, to be honest. Inori does not act like a feral boy when they're just companionably sharing silence, and Subaru is getting the impression that a lot of the barbs in Inori's speech patterns can be mostly ignored; he's (mostly) not actively trying to hurt people with his words. Subaru thinks if he wants to hurt people he'll use his fists (or his lead pipe) and otherwise the words are just kind of a different way to converse. Sort of.

It does seem like Inori is kind of angry nearly all the time but Subaru can honestly not fault him for that.

What Subaru can fault him for is just how much he uses the "chef's perks" excuse to eat half of the ingredients they're working with before they even get to be used. How this boy isn't twice his weight is a complete mystery to Subaru.

Eventually they're done, though, and they bring the food and bowls to Tōkan and kneel around the sitting table to eat.

Tōkan has the silly idea that he might be allowed to also kneel there but Inori's hand on his chest is like steel for all that he can move under it. "Come on, I'm not an invalid!"

"We're pampering you," he replies, as if that explained everything. And to be fair, he does in fact seem to be feeding Tōkan himself, with his own chopsticks.

...that's kind of cute.

"Cute" should not be a word ever associated with the Shikiri demon.

What the fuck.

(And obviously Subaru is jealous of the casual affection, but... surprisingly little, actually? This feels pretty homey.)

Tōkan gives up on struggling because he has ever met his boyfriend and he knows that once Inori puts something in his head it will not go away without a fight that is likely to leave him even more beat up.

"So, I'm curious. What was it that you wanted to do today?" he asks Inori.

"Cat café."

What the fuck.

"Any particular reason?"

"I like cats. And I like you."

It's been a pretty long while that they've been dating and it still throws Tōkan every time Inori says things like that. It's not even surprise, really, it's more something about how he doesn't say it in the way someone says "I like you" to their partner, usually; he says it in the same way he says "I like cats". It's just a fact about the world that explains his actions and there is nothing more to it. And it feels very nice.

"And the reason you invited me...?"

"I didn't invite you."

"The reason you explicitly didn't disinvite me, then?"

"Do you dislike cats?"

"...no..."

"That's why."

...he really actually means the shit he says.

"He's more straightforward than you," Subaru tells Tōkan before taking a bite of his onigiri.

"It's kind of impressive."

"...?"

"Don't worry about it."

...shrug.

Tōkan tries to get up and Inori once again places an unmovable hand on his chest. "I want a drink!"

"Grab him a drink," Inori tells Subaru. "And a straw."

Oh so Subaru can't tell him what to do but he can tell Subaru what to do, is that how it is?

...somehow he feels like in Inori's twisted sideways logic this might not be an inconsistency.

Also he doesn't really mind. So up he gets.

"You know, I was just as hurt that time the eight kids ambushed us."

"But I wasn't pampering you then. Now I am."

"Starting to look like you're just bossing me around."

"Bossing you around so you don't do things."

"Why didn't you take me to the hospital last time, then?"

"No rib bruises."

"...that, specifically?"

Inori rolls his eyes. "Stuff like that. You know what I mean."

Here's his drink.

"You get into a lot of fights?"

"You ask as many stupid questions as he does."

"That was not—whatever. What I meant to ask is, how come you do that? I mean I get the stuff about rapist alphas, but Tōkan mentioned there were betas in that group, too."

"Sometimes they piss me off, too."

"In a way where you beat them up?"

"It's not just shitty alphas who look down on omegas," he spells out slowly.