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Tomoko Higashikata knew that this day would come. After all, her son was seventeen now… just a few years younger than she was when she’d gotten pregnant with him. Not only that, but Tomoko saw the way that girls looked at Josuke while they were out on shopping trips. More importantly, she saw the way that Josuke’s best friend looked at him while they were alone together. It was, in fact, a look that she often noticed her son reciprocating.
Despite having been mentally preparing herself for this conversation for quite some time now, Tomoko still nearly choked on her sponge cake when Josuke skulked into the kitchen and, scratching at the back of his neck as he always did when he was nervous, said: “Ma, I have to confess something to you…”
Call it mother’s intuition or just plain basic observational skills, but she knew exactly what was coming next. Still, she played dumb and turned on the angry mama act. “Josuke! You better not have gotten into another fight.”
“No, ma! You have to trust me, geez!”
Internally, Tomoko Higashikata smiled. She knew her own son far too well to ever mistrust him. “Well then, what is it?”
“I… uh… what would you do if I, like, wasn’t straight?”
“Support you, Josuke. You know that already.”
“Well, um, good!” He wiped a bit of hair from his brow that’d been sticking there with sweat. Tomoko was one of the privileged few to be granted the sight of an un-pompadoured Josuke. “Because I think I might, like, really like someone? And I just don’t know what to do.”
Based on Tomoko’s observations, ‘really liking someone’ was an understatement. It seemed that just like his mom, when Josuke fell in love he fell hard. She had been watching her only child pine over the boy across the street for far too long now.
“Hmm…” Tomoko parsed her words for the right way to prod without revealing how much she knew. Josuke hated when she became overbearing, and now was the time for sensitivity. “Have I met this person before? They need to be up to my standards.”
“Oh, god, ma. It’s…” He giggled to break up the awkwardness of his stilted confession. “It’s Okuyasu.”
No longer able to keep up her act, Tomoko grinned. “I’m proud of you, honey. He’s a sweet boy.”
“Yeah, but I dunno what to do! I can’t hold it in anymore.” Josuke took a bite of her sponge cake without a permission. In any other circumstance, she would’ve been pissed, but this time Tomoko let it slide.
“It sounds like you have to say something then, sweetie. You can’t let this chew you up forever.”
“But ma, what if he says no?”
“Trust me, Josuke. Your mama knows best… and if you’re honest and show your heart to that boy, he’ll open right up in return. I see the way he stares at you.”
Josuke tried and failed to hold back a wide smile. “Really? How does he look at me?”
Tomoko took her son’s hand in hers. “Like you’re the only person in the whole world. I promise you, you’re a beautiful person. On the off chance I’m wrong, Okuyasu would be making the biggest mistake of his life to say no to you, okay?”
“Okay, ma!” Josuke was still smiling, riding that high of knowing that there was a chance his crush felt the same way. “I’ll… I’ll tell him tonight, I think! When he comes over to stay the night.”
She should’ve known that Okuyasu would be coming over tonight. After all, during these cold winter months it became a given that the boy wouldn’t want to stay in that shitty, uninsulated house with its lack of power and broken windows. Last year, Tomoko made a promise to her son’s best friend that there would always be a place for him to sleep at the Higashikata household. Upon hearing that, Okuyasu had looked at her like she’d just given him a few million yen.
“Good. I’m happy for you, honey. Now, let your mother finish her damn sponge cake in peace.”
—
Okuyasu was bright eyed and bushy tailed as he always was when he showed up at the front door with his backpack and a grin. “Hiiii Miss Tomoko! Y’look pretty today!”
“Oh, thank you Okuyasu. You’re always such a sweetie.” The boy peeked around the living room in search for his friend. “Josuke’s in his room if you want to go grab him. Want some coffee or tea?”
“Ooh, tea’s great!”
“Great, you get settled and I’ll make up your bed in the living room, ok?”
“Thank you so much, Miss Tomoko.” The kid’s eyes were practically gleaming. That was one thing Tomoko loved about Okuyasu. Whenever he said thank you, she could tell he really, truly meant it. It probably had to do with his upbringing she’d heard swatches of stories about now and then… but she didn’t like to dwell on that.
—
Once Tomoko finished putting in place the blow-up mattress she’d bought ever since she realized Okuyasu was staying the night far too often for her to let him sleep on the couch with a clean conscience, she boiled some water in the kettle and steeped two cups of green tea. Although the process didn’t seem to take too long, she knew that she was interrupting something when she opened her son’s bedroom door, steaming mugs in hand.
It was all rather innocent, really, but it was quite the tender moment to wedge oneself in the middle of. Sitting cross-legged and face to face on the bed, Josuke was holding Okuyasu’s hands in his and seemed to have been mid-speech when Tomoko entered. Both of the kids were blushing. She damned herself for forgetting to knock.
“Erm…” It took a moment to catch her composure. “Tea for you, boys!”
Her son glared at her for just a moment (she didn’t blame him), but softened his gaze upon realizing she had made them both hot beverages. “Thanks, ma! Could you close the door, please?”
“Sure, hon. I hope the sleepover’s going well.” It was a rather on-the-nose question, sure, but she’d never been good at subtlety. The way she acted around Joseph Joestar was proof of that.
Rather than angry (thank god), Josuke was actually pretty receptive to the prodding. He smiled… a genuine one, not a ‘look good for mom’ smile like in family pictures, and muttered “Yeah, it’s going great, ma!”
“Good! I’ll leave you to it then!” As instructed, Tomoko shut the door behind her on the way out. She was tempted to be nosey, to listen in through that temptingly thin sound barrier of the door and see how the love confession was going, but stopped herself. She was going to be a good mama today and mind her own business, that’s what Tomoko Higashikata was going to do.
—
When Tomoko said her goodnights around 11 PM that evening, Okuyasu was all smiles and starry eyes while he lay on his blow-up bed. “Goodnight, Miss Tomoko! Thank y’for lettin’ me stay here… I’m jus’ so happy to be around.”
“Oh, my! Goodnight, Okuyasu.” What a sweet kid. If only Josuke were more like this one. Maybe it’d rub off once they started dating?
Josuke was already asleep on the couch, but she managed to sneak a kiss goodnight on his forehead anyway.
—
The next morning as she passed through the living room on her way to make her ritual morning coffee, there was a small but undeniably adorable change in the sleeping arrangements.
Tomoko’s heart seemed to receive a small kick when she saw that Okuyasu was no longer alone on the blow-up mattress. Curled up beside him under the covers, arms around his friend’s side with his head pressed to Okuyasu’s shoulder, was her son. Tomoko Higashikata held a hand in front of her mouth to hold back a bittersweet sob. Her own sweet, beautiful, greedy, goofy son had grown up so fast that he’d already found love, and with a boy who truly deserved to love and be loved.
Call it mother’s intuition or just plain common sense, but Tomoko knew that this was going to last.