(Epistemic status: Contains use of the trolley problem, eventually / the whole time, so what do you expect?)

(I'm aware that there are a lot of good, practical reasons to try and figure out whether someone likes you, and that many of these inform the weird extra-importance we place on knowing for sure that we're liked. Try to ignore those strictly practical reasons, if you can, in favour of thinking about why and how we should worry what our friends think on principle)

You are travelling through time when you notice that one of your relationships is heading towards...a hangout? Maybe? Looking back, you had foreseen a hangout at around this time every week, and steered towards it, and it seems again like there is a potential hangout ahead. You like hangouts, so you begin to type up a request to your relationship co-pilot to steer your mutual relationship towards the hangout, but something compels you to stop just before sending it.

It occurs to you that maybe you don't actually have to make a request? Maybe the hangout will occur without you having to do anything at all this time? After all, your hangout requests have been mostly approved so far, and, having arrived at the requested hangouts, and engaged in the associated hangings out, they all seemed pleasant and genial for both you and your co-pilot. Perhaps your co-pilot, to whom you have been making these hangout requests, does also foresee this hangout, and does also wants to steer towards it. Perhaps they will make a request to you this time to steer towards the hangout.

That, you think, would actually be kind of nice. There's always a bit of tension when you make a request to your relationship's co-pilot; you always worry that they'll say no. True, they've agreed many times before (and when they haven't their justifications have seemed unrelated to your mutual relationship), but still you wonder: what if this time they say no to your request?

That would suck! You quite like when your relationship leads to these hangouts, and you don't think it's just you; it seems like your co-pilot has liked them as well, like they genuinely enjoy piloting this relationship with you. That said, you're not their only co-pilot, nor they yours. Both of you pilot many other relationships, relationships which you co-pilot with other people, relationships which occasionally...

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