Aoyama Household
Tomoko Aoyama
The viewpoint character, Tomoko is Hiroki and Yuuri's mother and because Akiyoshi is usually out on business, she's the only parental figure the children have most of the time. She noticed Hiroki might be Closet Gay two years before the present, but she keeps it a secret while being supportive so that he may come out on his own.In addition to her household tasks, she also works part-time at a bento store called Hoccari Bento.
- Good Parents: She is an Open-Minded Parent who doesn't mind that Hiroki is gay and the only reason she doesn't tell him she knows is because she wants him to come out to her himself.
- Open-Minded Parent: She knows that Hiroki is gay, but she doesn't mind one bit and tries her best to be supportive of him while waiting for him to come out on his own. She panicked when she first worked it out, but Akiyoshi's rapid-fire attempts to guess the cause of her distress made her realize that it wasn't actually a problem.
- Secret Secret-Keeper: Tomoko sees through Hiroki's Transparent Closet, but chooses to be quietly supportive of him until he's ready to come out to her.
Hiroki Aoyama
The titular probably gay son, fifteen-year-old (and later sixteen) Hiroki is the eldest child of Akiyoshi and Tomoko. He is a sweet and easily excited boy, if not a bit airheaded, and is more than ready to share his mind.Except one thing: His sexuality.
He is well-aware of his preference for men, especially well-built men, but on the other hand he is conscious of his sexuality and the society thinks of it, so he is hiding it. Not that is means much—his nature means it's practically impossible to hide it for years, and up to this point his mother and brother knew it already.
Currently, he has a crush on Daigo, his tenth-grade classmate.
- Bad Liar: In addition to No Poker Face, he often resorts to stock lying methods like ...Or So I Heard or Verbal Backspace to hide his slip-ups, which does nothing to fool both Tomoko and Yuuri.
- Big Ol' Eyebrows: It's not always obvious due to the art style, but his eyebrows are large enough to get bed-head. His middle-school yearbook messages also shows his classmates treat those as his most distinguishing feature.
- Endearingly Dorky: He is a young, easily excited and sweet boy that gets really flustered and is very obviously in love with one of his classmates. It's shown that a number of characters think he is cute too, including his mom, his brother, his brother's friends, and even his crush.
- Friend to All Children: Chapter 15 shows he is good with children; he calms down a crying baby on the train despite having no experience at it.
- Gayngst: Downplayed. Hiroki has a few moments of sexuality-caused angst, most notably in chapters 10 and 16, but that does not change the fact that he is an excitable, sweet boy. Tomoko, however, muses over this issue in Chapter 16, as she noticed Hiroki "probably gives up a lot of things" because he knows he's gay. This is why she'd rather make him more comfortable with his sexuality first.
- Has a Type: He accidentally blurts out what is his type when talking with his mom, though he quickly hides it by saying it is simply the type the girls in his class like. His type seem to be manly, rugged and muscular guys.
- Height Angst: Both Aoyama brothers are on the small side. A Print Bonus page of Chapter 22 shows he has this on top of Muscle Angst, as he heard that muscle training may stunt growth.
- Muscle Angst: In one scene, he compares his own physique unfavourably to the muscular men he finds attractive, so Tomoko gives him some weights in case he'd like to take up training. A Call-Back twenty chapters later shows that he did.
- No Poker Face: He can't hide his sexuality without turning into a stuttering mess and his face turning red as a beet.
- Transparent Closet: He is really, really bad at hiding that he's gay. In the first three chapters we are shown him having a Freudian Slip about wanting to have a boyfriend, leaving his book of male nudes on top of his desk in his room, and blushing like mad when his male classmate texts him.
Yuuri Aoyama
Akiyoshi and Tomoko's younger son, as well as Hiroki's younger brother by two years. Unlike his very expressive brother, he always has a neutral expression on his face coupled with Dreary Half-Lidded Eyes, and is far more perceptive than Hiroki. However, he struggles to understand and express his emotions, especially (and ironically), romance.- Clueless Chick-Magnet: He has always been popular among his female classmates, mainly due to his cool demeanour. However, he doesn't understand the concept of romance, so he has no clue about why they all want to be friends with him.
- Dreary Half-Lidded Eyes: He is always drawn with eyes that look half-closed to match his stoic demeanour, at most softening slightly or getting paired with a Sweat Drop. The one exception is when he was genuinely shocked once at age eight.
- Early Personality Signs: Chapter 11 shows that he was deadpan even as a baby.
- Hidden Depths: Chapter 36 shows he has a hobby of writing down reviews of media he consumes, but he refuses to show them to anyone since he thinks they're too poorly done.
- Oblivious to Love: Since he doesn't understand the concept of romantic love, he appears to have no clue as to why girls always want to approach him. An example is in a flashback in Chapter 37, when a fourth-grade Yuuri has no clue that (1) a female classmate likes him, (2) rejecting her Love Confession would upset her, and that (3) another male classmate of his had a crush on the said girl, and thought they didn't get along.
- Secret Secret-Keeper: It's implied that he bears the same attitude towards his brother's sexuality, which is confirmed in Chapter 18.
- The Stoic: He is quiet, deadpan, and always has a neutral expression on his face. He's a bit confused that some of his classmates find it "mysterious" and attractive, and actually struggles to understand and express his emotions sometimes.
- What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: He doesn't know the concept of romantic love. A flashback shows he understands friendship, but has no clue as to why a female classmate "like [him] if [they] get along". At present day he seems to be able to recognize other people's crushes, but not himself.
Akiyoshi Aoyama
Tomoko's wife, and Hiroki and Yuuri's father. He has been assigned to an out-of-town position alonenote for several years, and so only sees the rest of the family occasionally. As a result, he is quite ignorant of his sons' sexuality (or the lack thereof), and his well-intentioned attempt to apply his own experience on his children's problems causes... its own problem.- Good Parents: While he is often away from home because of his job and unaware Hiroki is gay, he tries to be as much of a supporting father to his sons as he can when he is present.
- Innocently Insensitive: He genuinely wants to bond with his teenage sons, but doesn't know Hiroki is gay and unknowingly makes some insensitive remarks about homosexuals. Fortunately Tomoko is able to defuse the situation and gently tells him to be a bit more open-minded.
- Men Can't Keep House: Averted. He teaches his sons to do household chores in Chapter 10, and gives them demonstrations. This indicates he is adapt in chores as well.
- Parents as People: He spends most of his time away from his family on business and doesn't know very much about his own children, which causes him to make some slip-ups around Hiroki. Nonetheless, he cares deeply about being a Good Parent and gets along well with them.
- Real Men Cook: He cooks dinner when he's home from work trips and encourages his sons to learn, though he makes a misstep by saying it's attractive to women, something neither of them care about.
- When You Coming Home, Dad?: Downplayed. His job is out of town, which causes him to be rather out of the loop regarding his son's sexuality. Despite this, he tries to spend as much time as possible with his children during the time he is home.
Other characters
Daigo Shiraishi
Class Representative of Hiroki's tenth-grade class and Hiroki's best friend, as well as his crush. He is a lot more stoic than Hiroki (but not as much as Yuuri), and is rather straightforward with his speech.- Ambiguously Gay: It's unclear whether Hiroki's attraction to him is reciprocated or even noticed, but he readily compliments Hiroki's looks and, in Chapter 26, Tomoko sees that he uses a picture of himself and Hiroki as his phone wallpaper.
- Everybody Calls Him "Barkeep": Basically everyone calls him "President." Hiroki is the only person who's First-Name Basis with him.
- Class Representative: He is the class representative when he is in the tenth grade.
Asumi Ogawa
A year younger than Hiroki, Asumi is the daughter of a neighbour of Aoyama's, and is a Childhood Friend of Hiroki and Yuuri.- Childhood Friend Romance: She wants to be this with Hiroki. Unfortunately, Hiroki is gay.
Tadanori Toono
A staff at Hoccari Bento who is popular with the female staff, but Higuchi suspects he doesn't swing that way.- Ambiguously Gay: He has a man in his life who's probably his boyfriend, though it's not explicitly confirmed. Tomoko wants to ask him about his experiences but won't, out of respect for both his privacy and Hiroki's.
- Chick Magnet: He is a good-looking Nice Guy who is popular with his female coworkers.
Higuchi
Another staff at Hoccari Bento.- Only One Name: She's the only recurring character so far where the full name isn't known.
- Yaoi Fangirl: She is a huge fan of Koi-Men, a popular in-universe gay romance manga and TV series. She likens their coworker Toono to the story and, unfortunately, sometimes treats him like a spectacle behind his back.
