Subaru shuffles his feet a bit and doesn't meet Aoki's eyes. "It's good to see you well."

"I'm sure it is. Well?"

"Aoki, I'm—"

"You're sorry? You didn't know yourself that well? You didn't mean to lead me on?"

He lets out a breath. "All of the above?"

"Yeah." Aoki sighs, too, then shoves Subaru's shoulder gently. "Stop beating yourself up so much, if you mean to start actually keeping your word then get to it. We were kids, this shit happens, I kinda never expected I'd see your face again but I think I'm happy to, now."

"...you're a lot more mature than me."

"Yeah, well, we're in a very important cognitive development phase and I'm a year older than you, plus I'm an omega. Stands to reason."

"Yeah, guess so. Uh... so... d'you wanna... grab some coffee?"

"Sure. You're paying."

"...sure," he says, with a small smile.

"So, it's been over a year," he says after they've grabbed a table and ordered. "How've you been? Any success with your boy?"

Subaru laughs mirthlessly. "No. He's dating someone, now."

"Huh. Another alpha?"

"No, an omega."

"Huh. And he's not just leading them on until he realises that actually he can't be with an omega after all and goes back to his little elite club?"

Subaru winces.

"I'm just teasing you. You said he's hex?"

"Yeah. Uh, have you heard of the Shikiri demon?"

"Who hasn't, guy's a hero. —wait, your boy's dating Yamada Inori? Yamada Inori is dating an alpha? The Kokonoe heir????"

"Yeah." The waiter shows up and gives them their order: cappuccino latte for Subaru, double black for Aoki. "Yeah to all of those."

"World's crazy," he says, shaking his head and lifting his cup to his lips to blow on it. "So the two of you aren't fucking anymore?"

"—I hope for your sake and Kokonoe's this is an open arrangement because may God have mercy on your souls if you're running around behind Yamada Inori's back."

"Of course it's an open arrangement! He knows all about it. And..." Blush. "We, um, the three of us, last night..."

"...hot. Did you both fuck Yamada, or...?"

"No, Tōkan was the hinge of that vee."

He grimaces a bit and takes a sip of his coffee. "I gotta say I do not understand the appeal of A/A. So, the three of you are fucking but Kokonoe is dating Yamada and not you? This could fuel a romcom, or one of those teenage romance shows."

Subaru sighs. And smiles a bit. "I missed you."

"...I missed you too." Sip sip.

"So how about you, how have you been?"

"Alright. Law school next year, obviously. Parents promise they had nothing to do with it and I believe them but I bet the family name helped. Kinda sucks but such is life."

"Congratulations are in order, then!"

"It's not official, it won't be until finals are actually done and I've graduated, but it would be pretty surprising if they backed out of it. So, yeah, thanks."

Subaru smiles a bit again and starts drinking his own coffee, then grimaces and adds some more milk to it.

"...so, I have a pretty huge favour to ask."

"...ah, there it is," says Aoki, leaning back on his chair and folding his arms. He's trying to look cool but there's clearly a hint of hurt in his features.

"I know. I suck. ...I genuinely did miss you, and... I'd been thinking... I know it doesn't matter, just. I felt embarrassed, and the more time that passed the more embarrassing it got to think about talking to you again until I eventually kinda... just... stopped thinking about it."

"And then whatever it is happened and I was finally remembered. I feel so loved," he says, dryly, but he averts his eyes while hiding his lips behind his cup again.

He closes his eyes but presses on. "This is kind of important, but I can't... You don't owe me anything."

"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 love."

"...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."

"It's... nothing."

"If you wanna be friends again act like it. Spill."

"...I've been... rethinking my sexuality recently..." As of yesterday.

"No. Nuh uh. If you wanna figure out if you actually are into omegas you will need to find another test subject." He's blushing a bit, though. "...but yeah, let's go catch a movie."

Ōta Makino is in the middle of a meeting with a client when she sees her phone light up on the table from the corner with a message from her son. It's not urgent, he'd call if it were, so she finishes the meeting before checking the message.

And then she vibrates with a mix of excitement and rage. Excitement because she's such a huge fan of Yamada Inori, and rage because fucking alphas.

She tries calling Yamada, first, but her son's message does mention he might not answer, so after the call fails she stops and takes a deep breath. Calling an alpha. Sure, a seventeen-year-old one, but it's the seventeen-year-old heir to the larger part of the Kokonoe empire.

Why did Yamada start dating him? And it's caused him this headache. Nothing good comes of getting involved with alphas, especially those alphas.

Nothing to it.

"Yes?" answers the voice. A lot deeper than she'd been expecting, and makes it even harder to try to keep a fair even image in her head of Kokonoe being just a boy.

"Hello. This is Ōta Makino. Am I speaking to Kokonoe Tōkan?"

There's a short pause before the response. "Yes, this is him. How may I help you?"

So polite. ...no, Makino, stop projecting. Everyone is polite, this has nothing to do with anything.

"Is Yamada Inori near you? I tried to call him just now and he didn't pick up, but I'd been told he often misses calls and that I should call you if he did. Could I talk to him?" It's extremely suspicious, though.

"Yes, Ma'am. Would you rather call him again? I'll let him know he should look at his phone."

You'll let him know, huh?

...still, a lot more helpful than he could've been.

"That would be ideal, thank you. I will call him in a minute." Then she hangs up and... waits. This kind of maybe-adversarial relationship is still pretty thrilling, though, and one of the reasons she went into Law. Nothing makes her feel more alive than this.

It's not a full minute before she calls again, and Yamada (or someone pretending to be him, not extremely likely but she's been in this career for a while) answers after two rings. "Yes."

"Is this Yamada Inori? I am Ōta Makino."

    "Yes."

"Would it be possible for you to go somewhere Kokonoe Tōkan isn't likely to overhear you?"

    "...why would I want that?"

That's about one of the least reassuring things he could've said. "You may share the contents of this conversation with him at a later point if you judge it safe but I would prefer it if initially it were a conversation between only you and me. If you do not have a safe way to do this, please respond with 'I'm sorry, Ma'am, but I don't think you're talking to the right person'." Plausibly deniable enough unless she's being directly overheard.

There's a moment's pause which based on the tone of voice of what he says next she interprets as incredulous: "Safe...? What, you think this wimp could make me do stuff I don't want to do? Fuck off, I'll kick his ass."

She has to cover her lips to not laugh out loud. That, on the other hand, she likes a lot more.

"That is a reassuring reaction," she says, letting some of the warmth she's feeling for him leak into her voice. "I would nevertheless feel better if you had space for yourself here."

"...fine." Then he apparently pulls away from the phone but she can still hear it: "I'm gonna be in my room, don't go upstairs, I'll break your arms if you do."

She smiles to herself while she waits and eventually she hears the sound of a door closing and he says:

    "I'm alone. What is it?"

"Do you know about Ōta & Ōta?"

"Tōkan said you're a lawyer. A famous one. So what?"

...hm, if Kokonoe already knew who she was then even if Yamada is out of earshot Kokonoe might still press him on details later.

"Our firm focuses on corporate law but my husband and I have a history of activism for omega rights. And when we can, we take cases where rich people—and let's be frank, here, it's mostly rich alphas—are abusing the corruption of the system to oppress omegas."

"I'm not fuckin' oppressed, I just got a shitty alpha on my case 'cause she's mad I beat her up when she was trying to rape a middle schooler."

...yes, that's what she—this kid is going to be a handful. She sighs and says, "Well, we can help with that, too."

"If you need rich person money—"

"We do not," she interrupts, being very firm abou that. "Yamada-san, we do this pro bono. My husband and I, we became lawyers because we wanted to change things and make it harder for, as you say, 'shitty alphas' to get away with all that they get away with. If this goes to trial we'll be there for you, but we want to try to make it not go to trial at all. We're going to need your help. Are you up for it?"

A slight pause, then: "Yeah. Fuck 'em."

She thinks about ending the conversation, then, but... she needs to ask. "But on a related matter... Are you okay with Kokonoe Tōkan? Do you need help leaving him?"

"What? Fuck no." He sounds honestly affronted by the question.

Gently, gently... "So... you trust him? You believe you are safe and he's on your side?"

"Of course he is! Fuck kinda question's that, I wouldn't let any shitty alphas tell me what to do."

That's what they all say...

...well, no, it isn't. And also if half the stories she's heard about this boy are true, she kinda does think it's very probable there's no way Kokonoe would survive an encounter with him that he didn't want to have.

Still. She softens, a bit, again. "You can understand my worry, though? He is the Kokonoe heir..."

"He's not his shitstain dad, stop making assumptions about people you've never met. Tōkan is Tōkan, not just some alpha."

She has to stifle a laugh at "shitstain dad". If Kokonoe just is okay with Yamada talking about his father like that maybe he is just straightforwardly a good guy. That'd be so refreshing, someone being straightforward.

"I see. Then I am happy you found someone who's good for you."

"...yeah," he says, and it's his turn to soften a bit.

He sounds like he's in love. She really wishes that were reassuring.

"Well, we'll be in touch to talk about this further on Monday. If there's anything you'd like to discuss or ask, feel free to message me, and for anything urgent you can call me. I'll message you my email and my husband's phone number and email, too. It's been a pleasure to finally meet you."

"Yeah. Thanks." And he hangs up.

She is really hoping that this is what it looks like and there won't be any nasty surprises later. From a purely pragmatic standpoint, if Kokonoe is in fact a good person then the money and influence he'd bring Yamada would be nothing to scoff at. But if he were a really good person he'd be doing something about everything that's an unfair requirement, the kid's seventeen, he hasn't had time to do anything of import if he is that good.

...maybe they should look more closely into him. She sends Inori the contact information she promised him then messages her husband about it. He's got the kinds of contacts that'd let him find out more about Kokonoe Tōkan.

Subaru did mean it when he said he enjoyed Aoki's presence and missed him but he'd forgotten how nice it actually felt from the inside to hang out. Aoki's humour tends incredibly acid, and his murmured commentary on the terrible romcom they picked to watch had him having to hold back laughter in the theater. He has to go home afterwards but they agree to have dinner together on Monday and catch up some more.

He starts his way back home, then, and finally checks his phone to see that Tōkan messaged him.

> hey
> you know who called us today?
> Ōta Makino!
> was that you?

Huh. Aoki was probably right, then; his mum probably is a huge fan of Inori's. That's kind of funny.

oh cool <
that was quick <
yeah that was me <
I thought I would have to be the one to tell you the news <

> well, thank you!
> this is
> I just have no idea what I could possibly say here
> this is just... huge
> like

it's fine <
I was not about to let Inori go to jail <
or even if not jail it would still have been a hefty fine and a criminal record <
but it could well have ruined this life <

> I mean yeah
> exactly
> so you've
> saved us, really

He blushes, and feels a little silly for it. No one's even looking at him. But he still just... really likes being praised by Tōkan. He's still down bad.

I think that's a bit of an exaggeration <
but yeah, I hope it works <
I'll always be here for you, and if you two stay together then I guess that means I'll always be here for him, too <

> ...damn
> Subaru you are the actual best
> lemme treat you to dinner
> or a blowjob
> or both

Fuck.

This does kinda make him a little bit horny, but... but...

no, thank you <

No, that's too abrupt and curt, and it'll be weird. He backspaces all of that.

I think I'll pass this time <

Which implies he won't pass next time. Which, like, yeah maybe he actually won't, he's not sure.

Ughhhhhh.

maybe later <

That still implies the same thing. But he thinks it sounds more natural?

but I don't want to feel like I did this for a reward <
it's just the least I could do, given that I could <

> yeah, how exactly did you?
> like, what's your connection to Ōta?

...Tōkan knows Aoki. They've met once. But for some reason Subaru doesn't really... want... to bring it up. He probably knows that Aoki's family name is Ōta but that's not an incredibly uncommon name so he won't make the connection. Subaru hopes.

He's having some feelings, here.

it's complicated <
or not really <
but uh we can talk about it later maybe <
or not I'm not sure if I want to talk about it <

> fair enough
> don't wanna pressure you into anything that'd make you uncomfortable
> just... thank you
> thank you so much

don't mention it <

Subaru puts his phone away and sighs deeply, turning to stare into the night sky.

He wants to move on.

This is the first time. It hasn't happened before. He told Tōkan he knew his feelings wouldn't be reciprocated, told himself as much, but he didn't really believe it. He was fooling himself, fooling them both. He, he did kind of hope that maybe one day Tōkan would come to love him. Or maybe Tōkan would be aromantic and then it wouldn't matter, they could just be together and it would be fine.

But he's not and it won't be. He's very clearly in love with Inori, and it hurts so, so much to watch. To see, in real time, what exactly it is that Subaru's always wanted, that he burns for, and watch it be given to someone else. And he can't even hate Inori. He can't, he tried but he can't, Inori is actually great, he thinks the both of them could actually be good friends. And he couldn't hate someone Tōkan loves.

He hates himself.

It hurts, hurts all the time. He doesn't want to distract himself from it anymore, it just really hurts. He wants to feel it, to feel the hurt, he wants to, to...

To stop walking, to sit on a bench and put his face in his hands and cry.

stupid stupid stupid stupid why is he so stupid why is it so hard to get over this why is it all hitting him all at once like this he didn't want this he wants Tōkan but he can't have Tōkan he will never have Tōkan he knew this he has known this for years and what he really wants is to just stop. suffering. so. much. he wants to stop he wants this to end god he's being such a pathetic whiny teenager but who cares he is a teenager and he gets to be pathetic and whiny sometimes and it hurts hurts hurts

He can't fuck Tōkan anymore. That's just so fucking obvious he's not sure how he missed it. Not sure how Tōkan missed it, that seems like it should've been obvious to him of all people. It's not just that it feeds his hope, it's that it feels nice, it feels comfortable, it feels affectionate. It feels like getting crumbs of what he really wants, like getting controlled hits of his favourite drug, and it makes it impossible for him to really let go. It's dumb pride, is what it is, it's them thinking all of the rules for other people don't apply and that they can be Mature and Responsible and Emotionally Stable.

Well, he's crying in a park in the middle of the evening because of it. So much for that.

He might need to get some distance from Tōkan, though, not just stop fucking, and that hurts a lot more. The thought of having less of him in his life, the thought of pulling away, it makes Subaru double over and sob. He's making such a public scene.

But he just can't do this anymore, can't hope anymore, can't keep pining.

He just can't.

He's been crying for over half an hour, now, and his selfie camera shows him that he definitely looks like it. Goddamnit. He tries to wipe his eyes as best he can and stays there for a bit longer so the sweat can dry and so his face is less flushed, it would be mortifying to walk around looking like that. Once he's satisfied with it, he gets up again and walks back home.

Subaru doesn't meet up with Tōkan over the weekend, and that works fine for him. On Monday, though, he knows he'll have to face his feelings.

Something is off, though. He can't tell what, some of his friends still greet him fine and don't seem to be acting weird, but... there are looks. Probably the fight on Friday? Weird, though, it's not like fights are uncommon, even if that one was reasonably big, relatively. The reason doesn't really occur to him until it's one minute before class starts and Tōkan is still not there. If he'd skipped class altogether, he'd have messaged Subaru, so...

As expected, Tōkan is on the rooftop. Alone. And smoking, which is extremely unusual. Is... he... stressed? Kokonoe Tōkan, stressed?

"Yo." He walks over to Tōkan and sits next to him, leaning back and staring at the sky.

"Hey."

"Not feeling like school today?"

"—oh, so the miasma didn't touch you? Okay, that's a lot less bad than it could've been."

"Miasma?" He reaches for the pack of cigarettes and Tōkan offers him it and his lighter.

"It was kind of funny. I was walking into school and towards class and there was this... bubble. No one wanted to get too close to me. Unreal." Puff puff exhale.

The fuck. The fake cheer is really uncomfortable, here.

"...no, no miasma. Couple of people were looking at me a bit funny but no one was shunning me actively like that. Holy shit."

He shrugs. "It's irritating, and most irritating of all was how it just kinda happened all of a sudden. I'll need to eventually figure out what to do about it but..." He grins, and it's one of the fakest grins Subaru has ever seen on Tōkan's face. "It is rather despair-inducing for stuff to happen like that with no warning."

That makes no sense. "What... would a warning have looked like?"

"Tami-chan telling me that her boyfriend was acting kinda grumpy, and Ishiyo mentioning later that she'd seen him and Karato having an argument the other day. Naoko passing me a note in class. Taro stealing nervous glances between me and Takuo. Hōji yelling at me earlier, she's really not the kind to bottle things up and I have no idea how this managed to just suddenly explode."

How on Earth would that even be informative? "...dude you're kind of scary." He puffs deeply from the cigarette and blows it out. "Maybe she just kind of decided it in the heat of the moment?"

"Nah. Doesn't fit."

"What doesn't fit?"

He takes a deep breath and shrugs. "Dunno. Could try to think about it but a lot of this shit is kinda subconscious, you know? When stuff fits it clicks. When the little models of people I have in my head start saying the same things they said in real life, when everyone makes sense. Everyone doesn't make sense right now."

That... does, actually, make some sense, yeah. In retrospect he was surprised by how everyone was acting on Friday. Before he has a chance to say anything, though, the door out opens.

Two girls poke their heads through it—Tanaka Naoko and Inoue Tamiki—start walking towards the boys. "Hey," says Naoko.

"—hi, Naoko-chan, Tami-chan. What are you two doing here?"

"Vibe's off downstairs," says Naoko, sitting down on the floor. "Feels like someone's died."

    "...dunno that I'd say that, but... yeah. Kinda."

Tōkan's smile wavers, then broadens. "Not gonna lie, I'm really happy the two of you are here."

    "Why?" asks Tamiki.

"Kinda thought I'd have no one left in my corner other than Subaru."

    "Bullcrap, Kokonoe," grumbles Naoko, opening her bag and grabbing two bentō boxes out of it. "You're not gonna find me kissing the ass of Hirune fucking Hōji and her cronies."

"She's got cronies, now?"

    "Seems like it, yeah. Kind of funny that she used to be your crony. What even happened back then, you haven't been together in months and now there's the thing with Yamada and then Friday..."

"—she and Karato tried to rape a middle schooler having her first heat and Inori ran into them and beat them up, I was mad at them, they kept making excuses."

    "You're... dating the guy who beat them up? Damn."

"Naoko—"

    She lifts her hands in surrender. "I know, I know, that was shit of them, just, yeah, I can get why they'd be pissed off." She elbows Tamiki who blinks and also grabs a couple of bentō boxes from her bag.

"Do the two of you always have more than one of those? It's not even lunchtime."

    "I like sharing," says Tamiki. "And Naoko does too even if she likes to pretend she doesn't. She's got an image to keep, see." Naoko elbows her again and she grins.

"...these are for us?"

        "Unless you have your own then this one's mine," says Naoko.

"—uh, yeah, keep it, except, it's not lunch?"

        "Yeah but we figured Tōkan was gonna be bummed out up here and food always cheers me up."

"You were right, I am bummed out." He puts his cigarette out and accepts Tamiki's box. "So, I see you got over yourself?"

    "...you're still fucking Subaru, right?" says asks.

Subaru chokes on his smoke and turns away to cough it out. Damnit, he'd been doing such a good job of not thinking about it until then, and now it's back on his mind and he has no idea what to do about it.

...probably nothing. Definitely nothing while Inoue and Tanaka are here, but... Tōkan's got enough on his plate already.

He clears his throat after he's no longer hacking his lungs out and looks at the other three again, trying to catch up with the conversation he lost.

"...suppose you guys know anything about that shit."

    "About what?" wonders Tamiki.

"Hōji suddenly acquiring cronies and getting them to beat me up, the police thing..."

    "Police thing?" Naoko looks equally confused.

"Damn. You really don't know, huh. Hōji is pressing charges against Inori for aggravated assault."

        "...he's an omega. Who in this country would believe her that an omega beat her up? Hell, what cops would believe that, and what cops would even take it seriously? Joke of the year, scrawny omega boy beats two alphas up at the same time, on his own."

"Inori was in heat at the time, too," adds Subaru.

    "...Yamada beat Karato and Hōji up, on his own, while in heat? What the fuck, Subaru."

"The epithet is apt." Boy's a demon.

"Remember the sports storeroom thing back then?"

    "Sto—that was you?" asks Tamiki.

Okay, Subaru... doesn't want to listen to that. He looks away again, tuning their conversation out and continuing to smoke and think. Tōkan was right, it is weird as fuck that all of that happened, in a way Subaru's having a lot of trouble with, now that it's been pointed out. What happened? What changed? It can't just have been people confirming that Tōkan was dating Inori, can it...? It doesn't click.

The conversation suddenly stops, though, when Tōkan's phone rings and he looks—well, kinda scared, is what he looks, when he sees who's calling. "Moshi moshi? ...motherfuckers. Have you called Ōta-san? ...I'll call her. When? ...fuckers. But it's good that it took them this long, I think, means they're struggling to build a case—this isn't legal advice. I'll call Ōta-san. I'll be on may way to your place soon." He gets to his feet right then and starts pacing. "Of course, I'll do that now. Thank you for calling me, Haru."

    Tamiki and Naoko look rather spooked. "What happened?" Tamiki asks.

"My guess is the police decided to detain Inori. Fuck."

Tōkan is already on the phone again, though, and gets straight to business. "Yeah. Inori just got detained by the police." Pause. "I hope so. Thank you so much, Ōta-san." Another pause, then he hangs up and is striding away. "I have to go, I'm sorry," he says, throwing the other three an apologetic look and flying off.

The girls exchange looks, then look at Subaru. "He doesn't mean the Ōta I think he means, does he?" asks Tamiki.

Subaru sighs. "Yeah he does. They're on the case."

"Wow," breathes Naoko. "That's, uh. That's something."

"Yeah. But good, probably. And if Inori was detained... then they have something to do, which is good. The whole thing could end today."

The girls look dubious but don't contradict him and decide to change the subject to something lighter.

Subaru has a hard time paying attention to class for the rest of the day, and to the extent the "miasma" is affecting him he's thankful for it; he's really not in the mood for the alpha teenager version of socialisation. Tōkan texts him when he and Inori's parents get to the precinct, and then much later when Ōta Makino is out of the interrogation room with news. There's something about his texts that makes Subaru think he finally made the connection between the lawyers and Subaru's ex, which he guesses was to be expected, really. But Tōkan doesn't press, and Subaru doesn't go there either, and they end the conversation on the note that Subaru wants to be told of any further developments.

When Aoki arrives at the restaurant he's having dinner with Subaru at he says without preamble, "So your boy's managed to charm the pants off Mother, too."

"—hello to you, too, Aoki, nice to see you, how was your weekend?"

The omega waves a dismissive hand and flops down onto the chair across the table from Subaru. "She's having a little bit of a 'never meet your heroes' moment with Yamada, though."

"Oh?"

"Not, like, awfully so, she said he was very headstrong and stubborn and that that's good because he wouldn't get bullied by cops or lawyers or anyone."

Subaru smiles, a bit. "But also getting him to cooperate is like trying to herd a cat. A feral cat. A hungry feral cat who has just noticed you're made of meat."

"—that's evocative. Something like that, yeah, she didn't say so but she never says shit, I just guess it anyway." Shrug. "She's optimistic, though."

"That's reassuring."

"Yeah, there's like obviously money involved—not that she can say that, not to Kokonoe or the Yamadas—but money can only do so much." He smiles, a thin predatory smile that would be jarring on Aoki's boyish face if it didn't somehow also perfectly fit. "Spinning a story can do a lot more. Mother knows how to tell a story, and Father knows how to find the best people to listen."

Subaru shivers. "Your parents sound terrifying, you know that?"

"Oh, they are. You really don't ever want to be up against them." He sounds very proud. "There are a couple of people in the country who could put up a fight, in some cases, but none of them would take this case, not even if Kokonoe Tochima himself is the one backing—why are you pulling that face."

"That snake," Subaru hisses. "That slimy snake."

"Context for the uninformed?"

"It is Kokonoe Tochima who's behind all this, fuck."

"...Kokonoe Tochima is trying to go after his son-in-law?"

"Yeah."

"Come on, that's too assholish even for an alpha."

Subaru shakes his head. "He could not countenance his son dating an omega. A poor omega—middle class, but to Kokonoe Tochima everyone else is poor—and one with such a reputation besides."

"So he wants to put Yamada in jail?"

"From everything Tōkan's told me about the man? Yeah. People have their places in society's well-oiled machine and leaving one's place is just as bad as committing a crime. Same kind of thing, to him."

"Wow is my mother going to enjoy crushing him."

Subaru lets out a strangled laugh.

Aoki grins that same sharklike grin again. "She eats men like him for breakfast. That kind of mentality right there? That makes it personal. And I wasn't joking when I said not even Kokonoe Tochima has enough money to convince anyone who can stay toe to toe with my parents to work this case. It is too obviously going to fail."

"I hope for Inori's sake you're right."

"Hey, hey, stop that." Aoki snaps his fingers in front of Subaru's face a couple of times. "You're on a date with me not with Yamada," and he's blushing a bit as he says that, "so let's change the subject from him."

He blinks a few times. "Date?"

"Oh please don't tell me you fell for my lie on Friday, do I have to make everything explicit? If you tell me you're exploring your sexuality again after growing up a bit and I tell you I'm not letting you experiment with me obviously you should plausibly deniably experiment with me anyway."

Subaru bites his lip. "Aoki, I don't, don't want to lead you on again and end up disappointing you—"

"We'll just be grownups about it, then. Take it slow, not jump to any conclusions, that shit."

"Why?"

"'Cause I have feelings for you, numbnuts. And you have feelings for me, too, you may be totally in love with your boy but you're not zero in love with me."

Subaru grimaces. "I'm not, I'm, I want to get over him."

"...okay that makes this sound a little bit more like a bad idea."

"Yeah."

Aoki harrumphs but the waiter chooses this moment to ask them what they'll want for dinner. They scramble to look through their options on the menu, which they've been ignoring so far, and eventually Subaru picks for both of them since Aoki sucks at making choices.

When the waiter's gone he says, "Nah, let's do it anyway. We're teenagers, now's when we get to fuck up and pick up the pieces afterwards if we break. Which is not to say we shouldn't still be smart about it, obviously, like I dunno maybe you do need a big fat knot to get sexually satisfied—"

Subaru chokes on his spit and starts coughing.

"—but if that's the case that doesn't mean we can't still be friends. Ride it, figure out who we are, you know?"

After coughing some more and drinking some of the complimentary water to clear his throat he says, "You know, I think I know what my type is."

"Your type?"

"Yeah."

"And what, pray tell, is it?"

"Dominant, emotionally intelligent, straightforward people."

Aoki snorts. "Well thank you. My type is clearly dumbasses."

"Ouch."

"You deserved that and you know it. I got a whole year of payback stored up."

Subaru smiles a bit. "Alright, I can take it."

Aoki smiles back. "I know you can."