𝑏𝑦 𝑚𝑦 𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 || 𝙹𝚘𝚝𝚊𝙺𝚊𝚔

𝑥𝑖𝑖𝑖: Am I Weird?

"Jotaro's such a sweet boy. I like how I can trust him and Miss Holly with you and nothing terrible will happen. What do you think, Nori?"

The cherry-haired male wasn't paying attention to anything she was saying. Instead, his mind was filled with Jotaro's face when he kissed him. He rested his head on his hand, staring out the car window.

Should I have done that?

"Nori, are you listening?"

He was jolted from his thoughts. "Huh?"

She smiled. "You and your wandering mind. Just what happened between you two? Tell me everything!"

He rolled his eyes playfully, a small smile on his face. "I swear, Mom, you're like the girls that follow Jojo around."

"What can I say? I like to know what my boy is up to!"

He saw the house in the distance. "It wasn't anything particularly special."

She raised her eyebrows. "Aw, so you're telling me not one interesting thing happened?"

"Well . . ."

She parked the car and they got out. "Tell me!"

"We . . . er . . ." He searched for words. ". . . Played video games and watched movies." He looked at the plastic box in his hands. "We helped Miss Holly make dinner, and we studied for the exam, and . . ." He trailed off, lost in thought.

They walked into the house, sliding their shoes off. "How is she, by the way?"

He placed the plastic container on the counter. "Miss Holly? She's well. Smiling as usual."

Fumiko went over to her son and looked over him like mothers do. Then her face changed. She traced over his eye scars with a finger. "Nori, my dear, what happened to your eyes?"

"Oh, these? They're just scars, Mom. Nothing to overreact about."

"When did you get them?"

"During the trip to Egypt. I thought you had noticed before."

Her face was scared. "These are a year old?"

He nodded. "Mom, it's nothing to worry about. I'm doing fine, I promise. I haven't gotten any new scars since then."

She glanced down at his midsection before sighing. "We should have paid better attention to you, Nori. Then you wouldn't have been targeted by that evil man, what's-his-name."

"I also wouldn't have met Jojo. And I wouldn't have made my first friends. Something bad happened, but it ended up being a good thing. We saved the world, Mom."

She nodded, tightly hugging the boy. "Sometimes I forget you're still a teenager. You say such meaningful things." She pulled away, holding Noriaki's face with her hands. He was much taller than her, so she almost had to be on her tiptoes. "I love you so much, my sweet boy."

He smiled and bent his knees so it was easier for her to hold his face. "I love you, too, Mom."

As they walked into the kitchen, Noriaki looked down at his hands, remembering the whole night. He had been thinking about Jotaro the entire car ride home, and now even more so. Fumiko handed him a glass of water, but he didn't so much as acknowledge it. "Something wrong, Nori?"

His eyes trailed up to her, a melancholy look on his face. "I told Jojo I like him last night."

Immediately, she brightened up. "Oh, that's great, baby! I'm so happy for you! What did he say?"