"Damn right I don't," he mutters.

"And I guess if you feel... used... or something, or you never want to see me again, or you just hate me forever, it—I still have to ask."

Aoki doesn't say anything, just keeps watching Subaru and drinking his coffee with a distasteful look on his face.

He sighs again but opens his eyes. "One of the Kokonoe alphas is pressing charges against Yamada for aggravated assault, claiming it was unprovoked. Yamada had been protecting a middle schooler from the alpha. But... he's also beat up other Kokonoe kids and... there's no way they're not gonna join the bandwagon..."

That shocks him right out of his distress into horror. "That could ruin his life."

"Yeah."

"...you got over yourself to come talk to me to ask for a favour to help the boyfriend of the boy you like."

"...yeah?"

"I think I'm not the only one who got more mature over time, here."

Subaru opens his mouth to protest then holds back and looks away again.

Aoki knows what he was thinking anyway. "Yeah, there's no way the you of however long ago would've done the same thing. Well, good. Good, I'm happy for you." He grabs his phone and starts tapping at it. "Honestly, Mother is going to go nuts over this, she's never said so openly but whenever I heard of Yamada helping another kid through the grapevine she seemed super pleased."

"—so you'll help?"

"Of course I'll help, idiot, no matter how much of a complete asshat you are I'm not about to let Yamada Inori go to jail. Do you have his number?"

"Uh, yeah, but he's really bad at using his phone and might miss any texts or calls for days, you'll be better served getting Tōkan's."

Pause. "That sounds concerning. You see how that sounds concerning, right?"

"—it's not like that! Inori would absolutely mow down anyone who tried to control his communications. I'll give you both their numbers, you can call or text both, Tōkan will put Inori on the line if you're concerned."

"So he's 'Inori', huh? Alright, alright, I'll believe you, provisionally. You are right that everything I've heard about this guy makes me think there's no way he'd let an alpha push him around but people will surprise you."

...Subaru covers his lips to hide a smile. "If you ever imply to him that the possibility even crossed your mind he might punch you."

"...he sounds like a cool guy. I wanna be friends with him." He has Subaru give him both numbers and texts them to his parents. "Alright, sent. Tell them they can relax, now, my parents are really fucking good at what they do."

"Yeah. I know. I owe you, big time."

Snort. "You do, and don't you forget it."

"So, uh... do you wanna catch a movie?"

Eyebrow raise.

"Fine if you'd rather never see my face again, but hanging out with you was... fun. I really did mean what I said, if I weren't gay..."

"Little consolation. You are—what's that face."