Chapter Text
You grabbed the edges of his bowtie, pulling on them to tighten it around his neck. The vibrant blue stood out against the crisp white collar of his shirt and black slacks -- somehow, for a date, Karamatsu wasn’t as gaudy as you had expected him to be. It seemed like he wanted to make a good first impression rather than a flashy one, though you personally wouldn’t have minded either. You smiled at him, snapped his suspenders, then backed away to look at the good work the two of you accomplished.
“D-Do you think she’ll like it, [Name]? Totoko said that her friend likes fancy guys,” Karamatsu turned to look at his backside, making sure that the suspenders were properly clipped on. “Do I look fancy enough? You, might I admit, have a better eye for this kind of stuff than I do.”
“You look fantastic, Kara!” You grabbed his hands and pulled him towards a full length mirror hanging from your wall, ignoring whatever fluttering in your chest. “Look, tell me you don’t look just amazing in this.”
He squinted at himself, putting a hand under his chin as he thought about it for a second. Before you knew it, he was flashing different poses to himself, checking out his entirety. He was making faces now, too. You covered your mouth, trying not to laugh, but he saw you and assumed you were in awe, probably. “You’re right, my dear. I look fantastic. Amazing. Handsome.” He changed poses. “Absolutely fabulous. Though, I do think I’d look twice as dashing had I a partner in crime. Your opinion, my sweet?”
You walked up to him, looping your arm with his and examining the mirror. You in what was practically pajamas, he in his fancy ready-for-a-date outfit -- it was odd, to say the least. Before you could continue to inspect the two of you, he struck another pose, and as such you did too. The two of you continued to do stupid pose after stupid pose until he tumbled over. You caught him, holding him up by only his armpits as he sat there dazed. A mere two seconds later, he began to laugh, and you joined in. He stood up, wiping off invisible dust from his button up, still laughing at your childish act.
“Well, I best be on my way, my dearest. I shan't hold up my date much longer.” He bowed before you. “Thank you for everything. You’ve been much help to me.”
“Of course!” You grabbed his soft cheeks in your hands, pulling his body up straight, and smiled. “You better come back after and tell me everything, okay? I want to know every single detail!”
“But of course, my sweet. I can’t withhold such important information from you!” He shot you a finger gun, popping it up like he shot it and blowing on his fingertip. “You must hear everything, and you will! Every last detail.”
“Okay!” You let go of his face, running your hands over his shirt one last time, straightening out his tie once more and snapping his suspenders. “You’re all set. Bouquet’s on the table, wallet’s in your back pocket, right?”
He pat his butt. “Yep!”
“Then you’re all set.” You smiled at him. “You’re going to do fantastic, Kara.”
“Of course I will!” He gave you a thumbs up.
Now, he was standing in the doorway, back to you, bouquet in hand. He took a deep breath, and slowly, he took his first step into the world. He stood there, unmoving, much like a statue would. He turned to you after a second, his face almost scared. “Hey, [Name]...”
“Yeah? What’s wrong?”
“Are you… is this a good idea?” He looked to the side, to the floor, then back at you. “Something feels off, I think.”
You leaned against your doorway, crossing your arms. “Well, no one says you have to go. If something feels weird, then don’t. Always listen to your gut.” You poked him in the stomach playfully. “What’cha gonna do, Karaboy?”
In response, he looked at you. You felt embarrassed under his stare, face heating up. The way his eyes sparkled as he stared at you, almost like he was in awe, was so intense and confusing. You didn’t know why he suddenly just, looked at you, but once he realized he was, the bright light in his eyes left and he jumped at his own mistake. He then squinted at the floor, thinking hard to himself about one thing or another, and you let out a quiet breath of air. Within seconds, he flipped his hair and smiled. “I suppose it’s just my nerves getting to me. No need to worry, my dearest! All will be safe and well. I shall return before two in the afternoon!” He gave you one last thumbs up before running down the stairs of your apartment complex.
You watched as he ran, excited and jumping in the air, and smiled. You were so proud of him -- not only had he gotten himself a date, (albeit a blind one), he also dressed up rather nice for it. And bought his own flowers to give her. And decided he was going to pay. You’d been helping him save up for the past few days, having him work around your apartment to earn money from you. Originally, you had offered to give him cash for the date, but he shook his head, saying that “I need to work for money! It’s how normal people do it, and now’s my chance to become a ‘normal people’!” He even got all fancy in a sparkling apron while he cleaned.
Though you were proud, you couldn’t help but feel nervous after his short episode leaving your apartment. He seemed nervous about something, and whatever it was -- though he told you not to worry about it -- worried you too. You didn’t know if, for him, it was just a sudden burst of intuition, or if he had realized something dire, or… maybe he was just getting nerves. You hoped so.
You began to feel uneasy, and to make the awful feeling go away, you shut the door and jumped onto the nearby couch. You looked over and saw Karamatsu’s hoodie sitting there, hung over the back of the couch, so you grabbed it and held it close to you. Inhaling its scent, breathing in everything he was -- the tiniest bit of vanilla, really gross and cheap cologne and that same pine tree scent that he and all of his brothers shared a hint of.
You were worried for Karamatsu. The way he looked at you, with those vulnerable, realizing eyes left you with so many questions. Just what in that moment caused him to stop? You just hoped and prayed that he wouldn’t get hurt; emotionally, physically, you name it. You didn’t want him to get hurt in the slightest, and you were terrified that he would. The thought of him coming back to your apartment in tears horrified you. The thought of him never returning at all was like a stab to the gut.
Having these thoughts would do nothing more than put you in a bad mood and give you unneeded paranoia, so you threw yourself up, the hoodie falling to your lap. You did your best to hang it up back on the couch just as it was before, as to not cause any suspicion when he came back. Pasta sounded good. Some nice ol’ spaghetti. It wasn’t a traditionally Japanese dish, but man, it sounded great. You think you had a box of pasta in your kitchen cabinets.
Fortunately, you did! On the very top shelf, of course, so you couldn’t reach it on your own accord. As you decided that a chair would be best to aid you in the reaching of the pasta box, your ears picked up on a light sound from outside. You looked out of your window and saw the lightest of rain falling from the sky. Since the weather had said nothing of this, you assumed that’s as hard as it would get. No monsoon, no storm, nothing. Just this. In fact, it was supposed to be rather pleasant and warm this spring afternoon, not too hot nor too cold, so even this small amount of rain was enough to surprise you. You hoped Karamatsu was okay on his date with the surprise drizzle.
Blinking and shaking your head, you went back to work, grabbing a chair from your dining room table (that, now that you think about it, was hardly ever used) and bringing it over to the shelf. You stood on it, and now you could perfectly grab the box of pasta. Thank you, chair!
You tried to hop off of the chair quietly, one foot at a time, as to not disturb the neighbors below you. You grabbed a cooking pot from a lower cabinet and filled it with water before setting it on the now heated stovetop. You tossed in a chunk of butter and salted it a bit, letting it boil. As you were getting ready to start on a sauce, you heard a knock at your door.
You looked over to the clock that was hanging up just to the side of you, showing that it was only 12:45 in the afternoon. Well, Karamatsu shouldn’t be back this early, and you didn’t know anyone else that would visit you. An awful, anxious animal gnawed at your insides, and quickly you rushed to the door.
And there he was, hair slightly damp from the light rain from outside, arms behind his back, and eyes big and watery. “Hello, [Name]. I-I’m back.”
“Isn’t it really early for you to be here though, Karamatsu?” You opened the door wider for him to enter as he pleased, but he only stood there. “What’s wrong?”
“Ah, I fear that my date may have contracted some sort of powerful beast that dwells deep inside, keeping her at bay in her beloved castle until she fights it off with what little help she can gather.” He clenched a fist in front of his face, eyes closed as he faced the floor. He was putting on a performance for you.
“Ah, so she was sick.” You smiled softly at him, and deep in your heart you knew she wasn’t just sick -- she stood up Karamatsu. Had she been sick, she would have somehow gotten the word to him before the date, be it through her friend (Totoko, Karamatsu had called her) or by some other means. “I’m sorry, Kara. That’s unfortunate.”
“I-It’s not your fault, my dearest! You fancied me up to my prime, there’s no way she could leave behind a piece of art such as myself~” He struck a pose for you, keeping his charade going as he winked.
“If you want,” You looked behind you, gesturing to your apartment. “I’m making some spaghetti. You could join me for that if you want. I heard its, like, an American thing to eat spaghetti on dates, so maybe this’ll make it up to you for whatever Totoko’s friend might have given you.” You looked back at him and shrugged. “I mean, you don’t gotta do it, but if you want to, it’s an option.”
Before you could barely end your sentence, Karamatsu dropped the bouquet of roses he had bought for his date onto the floor and grabbed your hands. “That would be… absolutely wonderful, my dear.” He looked like he was trying not to cry. “I’d be honored to share this lunch with you. Thank you.”
“The least I could do, y’know?” You smiled at him, and you thought you felt the slightest bit of pressure added onto your hands from his, like he just squeezed on a bit tighter. Though, you were probably just imagining things. You flush pink at the thought that he had for whatever reason, but before he could see the tint you tugged him on in, abandoning the bouquet outside.
“Your clothes are still laying around if you wanted to change, by the way.” You pointed over to the sweater on the couch. “Hoodie’s right there.”
He followed your finger before giving you a quick thumbs up. Karamatsu ran off to collect his clothing, and you made your way back to the kitchen. Your water was already boiling, the bubbles about to pour out from under the lid even, and you quickly pulled it off and watched the bubbles die down. You grabbed your box of pasta and poured it in.
“Do you need any help, my darling?” Karamatsu popped himself around the corner, already wearing his hoodie and jeans that he came to your house in earlier.
“You changed fast,” you commented absentmindedly, but quickly smiled at him. “Could you make the sauce? It’s not hard, just kind of warming it up, unless you wanna make it yourself. But I don’t think I have the ingredients for that.”
“Not to worry, my dear!” Karamatsu put his hand on your head, rubbing it just a bit like a cat. “I will travel far and wide to attain the perfect ingredients for our home cooked meal!”
You snorted, a light laugh following before quieting down. “You don’t need to go that far, Kara. There’s a grocery store just down the street. I’ll give you some money to go buy the stuff, and a list for ingredients.”
“ Non non, my sweet, there is no need! I have the perfect ingredients for our divine sauce, and with the money I’ve been saving up specifically for dates, I can pay, too!” He snapped his finger and pointed a finger gun at you with a wink. “I shall return shortly, my lovely! Stay safe!” And he strutted out of your apartment with flare into the light rain that pattered away on your window.
You were barely paying attention to any of that. What really kept your focus away from him is the subtle hinting at what might just be planned.
“With the money I’ve been saving up specifically for dates, I can pay, too!”
He thought of this spaghetti lunch thing as a date, didn’t he?
You grabbed your hair on each side of your head, face flaring to life with heat. You ran your palms over your cheeks, feeling the warmth before trying to keep it down. He could see it as a platonic date, which was most likely, and thus he wouldn’t even realize that you felt this way. Or, there was the slim possibility that he thought this was a real, romantic date. God, it was hurting your head to think about. So many possibilities, so many questions that had to be left unanswered in fear of a broken heart.
You decided it’d be best to check your pasta than to linger on these possibilities.
It was done before Karamatsu returned, leaving you with only fresh spaghetti and nothing more. You wouldn’t begin eating until he returned and made the sauce, of course, so you hoped that the pasta wouldn’t get too cold. Just as you thought that, loud booming sounded from your front door, and you hurried to open it. Karamatsu shuffled in, arms carrying two or three large paper bags from the local store.
“How exactly do you make this sauce, Kara? You have… so many ingredients.” It almost felt overboard, but you wouldn’t say anything to discourage him.
“At the moment, my darling,” he grunted as he set the bags down and began to remove the contents from each one. “I think that hardly matters. What matters is that I’ve been thinking, thinking long and hard, and I’ve come to a serious realization. I wish to tell you about this, if you please.”
He carried over all of his ingredients, placing them on the counter and turning on the stove. He looked back at you, and you realized you hadn’t responded. “Oh, uh, sure. You know you can tell me anything.”
“And you won’t hate me, correct, my dear?”
“Never in a million years could I ever hate you.”
He smiled and quickly went back to work, and his eyes seemed to only be focused on the task at hand. “You see,” he began. “When I realized, back at the fountain, that I had been stood up by my date, I felt awful, worthless, and hurt. I know she wasn’t sick. Totoko would have told me.”
So he knew. Your heart ached, but he continued. “Totoko, even if she isn’t too fond of us sextuplets, has never quite… betrayed us, I wouldn’t say. So I don’t think she set it up for me to be stood up. If I had to guess, her friend decided it’d be best not to go, but she didn’t tell Totoko. For what obscene reason, I know not. I just hope that she is alright.”
You slowly moved yourself over to the kitchen table, taking a seat and resting your head on your palm as you watched him work. You smiled while doing so, because even in his moment of hurt, Karamatsu was still looking out for other people, even though she had wronged him. He was genuinely kind and forgiving, a really rare thing to see in people nowadays.
“Anyways, she did not show up. I tried for a few moments to convince myself that she was just running late, but once the clock hit thirty past our official meet time, I knew she would not show. I thought that she just might be sick, or something happened and I was just not informed, but realization hit me.” He began to shuffle through your drawers for a moment before looking back at you. “Where might you have a grater? My recipe calls for grated lemon peels.”
“Top drawer to your left.”
He opened said drawer. “Ah, thank you my dear. Anyways, I had come to the realization that she was genuinely disinterested in me, even though we had never officially met. Maybe Totoko accidentally told her something that was a turn-off, and thus she did not want to meet me. Maybe, on her own accord, she got a bad feeling and decided not to go, much like I was almost swayed to do.
“And, once I realized that, I sat on the edge of the fountain and kept thinking. Who would even want to get to know me, anyways? Why do I even try when in the end I know it’s futile? Every time I’ve ever tried to make acquaintances with someone on my own, they’ve never tried back. It’s always a one-sided operation. Even though my brothers are trying to get better with being, well, nice to me, it’s a habit for them to treat me badly. And, yes, it’s a bad one, but it’s still a habit, and habits are hard to break. Because of that, they don’t even know me much, I don’t think. Except for maybe Jyushimatsu, or maybe Osomatsu.”
He paused all movement for a second, ceasing to speak or move or anything, really. He had the minced garlic still in his hand, ready to toss in. He then dropped it into his pan, mixing everything, then murmured “I’m getting off track. Sorry.”
“It’s alright, Go at your own pace, okay?” You rested your head on your arms, crossed on the cold table.
“Thank you. By the way, did you notice the rainbow outside?” He added a few more ingredients to his sauce before mixing one more time, and you looked out your window. Sure enough, there was a vibrant, colorful rainbow; all seven colors were bright and visible. You’re almost positive you’ve never seen one so intense in your life.
“So, back to the topic at hand.” Your gaze lingered on the rainbow for just a few seconds more before returning to his back. “After wondering, ‘why do I even try? What do I get out of it?’ and so on, I felt disgusting. I felt completely worthless. I wanted to know why I had even bothered to get up this morning, to do anything at all. I felt like the worst person on earth.”
“You’re not, though. You’re an amazing person, and honestly, anyone’d be lucky to even know you, Kara.”
He paused, chuckled to himself, then sighed. “I’m getting to that, my sweet. Trust me. Anyways, at the fountain, I wanted to cry, and I’m pretty sure I did a bit. But then I remembered that you wanted every single detail of my date, so even though it didn’t happen, I still felt obliged to tell you everything.” He took your spaghetti and poured all of it into his sauce, mixing it all together.
You stood up a bit to look over his shoulder even though there was much space between the two of you. “What are you..?”
“It looked cold, so I’m just gonna mix it with the heated sauce in an attempt to warm it up. So! I stood up, wiped my face of any wetness from rain or tears that may have stuck to my skin, and let my feet carry me to you. And, as they did that, I began thinking more. About you, my dear. I thought about you.”
Your cheeks heated in the slightest. “You… thought about me?”
“So much about you.” He reached up into your cupboards and grabbed two bowls. “I couldn’t stop, in fact. I thought about how empathetic you would be when I brought you the news that the date never happened. How you’d care for me and be supportive of any decision I had after that, be it to try again or to go home. Then, I began thinking about the past. How you’ve always been there for me, even in… really, really dark times. Times I wish never happened, but at the same time, I can’t say I regret them. Back when we first met, I wish it had been different. I wish you didn’t have to see me so vulnerable, so weak, and when you first came up to me I suspected that it was out of pity. Now, I realize it’s not that -- it was empathy. It was hope. You had hope for a brighter future for me, with me.
“You saved me. You stopped me before I could take my own life. You showed me that I wasn’t alone, and that I never would be.” He set the bowls down on the counter and walked over to one end of the table. “Will you help me take this outdoors? Right out the front door is fine.”
“What-? What are you doing, Kara?” Your eyebrows knit with confusion. “We can just eat in here, right?”
“No, I have a plan. The perfect plan.”
You looked at him for only a second, determining if you should actually get up and help him move your dining room table outside for whatever reason. You decided, well, this lunch was for him, and you’d do anything to help him feel better, so you obliged and grabbed your end of the table. With a quick countdown, you both lifted the table.
“Then, I kept thinking. For once in my life, I couldn’t stop thinking. My mind wouldn’t go empty with thoughts of you and who you are.” You opened the door, and the two of you carried your table out. “You’re so selfless, putting others before you. You never want to interfere with someone’s personal business, no matter how much help you need. When you lost your cat, you told me not to help you in fear of taking away from my day. You didn’t want help looking for your best friend, one of your companions, because I might have been bothered by it.
“You’re so kind, and gentle, a-and supportive.” He cleared his throat as you both set the table down. “Stay here for just a moment, I’m going to get everything ready.”
“Okay..?”
You watched as he skipped inside, shouting more at you. “Even now, when I’ve just gotten back from a failed date, you don’t fail to instantly try to cheer me up! You invite me for lunch when it was clearly meant for one person! Even during my speech, you’re uplifting me in my darker words!” He ran out with two chairs in his hands. He put one down behind you, gesturing for you to sit, so you did. He pushed your chair in then ran back inside.
“And, The more I kept thinking, the more I realized just how much you really cared about me! How every moment I’m with you, I never feel like garbage! I never feel worthless! I never feel any of those things when I’m by your side!” He brought out a glass vase, picking up the bouquet off the ground and pulling out three of the untarnished flowers and ripping off most of the stems. He set the now shorter flowers into the small vase, prepping them to make sure they looked good. He set the glass right in the middle of the table and ran back inside. “And then, that’s when it hit me -- even if Totoko’s friend had shown up for the date, I was sure I’d never go out with her again. Even if it was a nice date! Even if she had a laugh of songbirds in the morning! Even if she held my hand, told me how amazing I was, or any of that!”
He brought out both bowls of pasta as well as a two candles and a lighter. He set down both pasta dishes and began to light the candles. “That’s because I knew, in that instant, that no matter what hardships you or I faced, we’d be in it together. We’ve been in it together for what feels like years, though it hasn’t even been one. You’re always going to be by my side. And I don’t think I want that to change.”
Your heart lept into your throat as the bowl of spaghetti was set in front of you, and you turned to look at him. He smiled, handing you a fork (how he managed to carry it out here you wouldn’t know) and waited for you to take a bite. You did, slowly and deliberately, and dear god did it taste delicious. “Wow, this is -- amazing! Where did you learn this recipe? How did you remember it all? It looked so complicated!”
Karamatsu’s grin widened as he bowed, not answering your question, and took the seat opposite of yours. “My dear, look to your left for me.”
You stopped chewing the second bite of pasta you had already shoved into your mouth, caught completely off guard. You swallowed and did as told, looking out to your left, and once again you were amazed by the vibrancy of the rainbow. It was still misting, but the sun was out just enough to create this perfect rainbow. And, if you squinted hard enough, you could almost see a second one forming just underneath it.
“That rainbow appeared as I was telling you all of this. It’s appearence in the sky told me that what I’m telling you now, and what I’m about to tell you -- all of it, all of it is fate-driven. It’s supposed to happen.”
You looked back to him, and you’ve never felt so breathtaken. His eyes shone with the midday sun, his face perfectly shadowed as he brought a hand over to your free one and placed his gently over yours. His smile was so big, so earnest, that you swore you’d die in the next few seconds. And, what he said next made you choke.
“My sweet, amazing, dearest [Name]: I think I’m in love with you.”