Chapter Text
It was hard to talk to each other one on one after the number of basement residents suddenly rose from anywhere between one and three to anywhere between four and six. But Ichimatsu had to have this talk alone.
"Hey, Todomatsu, can we talk somewhere?"
"We can talk here," Todomatsu suggested, Ichimatsu stared at him as if that was dumbest thing Todomatsu could have possibly said.
"Karamatsu's here," Ichimatsu stated the obvious problem and Karamatsu in response turned away so that he wasn't facing the younger boys, as if that would be much better.
"I swear that I would never eavesdrop! Please Ichimatsu, just pretend that I'm not here!" Karamatsu offered.
Ichimatsu was having none of it, "yeah, no, that's not going to work, Todomatsu, can we please talk somewhere without the others?"
"Oh my god, did you just say please?" Todomatsu feigned surprise and pressed a hand against his chest, "I guess I can't say no to that! I'll be right back Karamatsu nii-san!"
"Of course! You two take your time and enjoy a most meaningful conversation I'm sure, I shall await your return here!" Karamatsu announced, seeming to feel somewhat left out, but still, he wanted to regain the boys' trust, so he would let them be in private.
"We don't need your permission," Ichimatsu spat as he led a still puzzled Todomatsu out of the basement onto the staircase.
"What's wrong Ichimatsu?" the boys sat down on the stairs and Todomatsu phrased his question in a hushed voice, as there was still a chance that someone was straining to hear them from within the basement.
Ichimatsu saw no point in delaying himself, so he bluntly demanded, "why don't you hate Karamatsu?"
Todomatsu slowly blinked his large round eyes as he tried to sort out Ichimatsu's sudden question, "because… he's my brother?"
"That isn't good enough!" Ichimatsu snapped, intensely staring down at his feet as he struggled to understand, "he killed you, and he isn't even your real brother, you have every reason to hate him so why don't you?"
"Ichimatsu… is this about Jyushimatsu again?" Ichimatsu pulled his knees up to his chest and moved his glare to the doorknob, but he didn't justify Todomatsu's guess with a verbal response, "I still don't know him very well, but I don't think that Jyushimatsu's even capable of hating anyone, let alone you, you're his brother."
"I don't deserve to be his brother," Ichimatsu murmured, balling his hands into fists and digging his nails into his palm.
"Oh my god, how many times have I heard you say that? Deserving or not, you're his brother, and he misses you," Todomatsu rolled his eyes to hide his dwindling patience with Ichimatsu, he was sick of the struggle between the brothers and was long ready for them to make up.
"How do you know?" Ichimatsu defensively spat, Todomatsu just sighed.
"Because I'm a little brother too, and I know that when Karamatsu nii-san was avoiding me, it was lonely, I thought that he hated me, I felt… betrayed, not just because he killed me, I know that he would never hurt me on purpose, but because he is my brother, he's the one person that I'm supposed to always be able to count on to be there for me, especially when times are at their worst," Todomatsu couldn't help but feel a discontented churn of emotion as he recalled the time immediately after his death, "I bet that if Osomatsu nii-san hadn't talked to him, Karamatsu nii-san would have kept avoiding me, maybe you should ask him to give you the same speech."
Ichimatsu frowned before he lay uncomfortably back on the stairs to silently ponder Todomatsu's words, however, he was quickly distracted by a realization, "wait… did you just call Osomatsu "nii-san"?"
"No!" the ghost immediately declared, and if he wasn't translucently pale, Ichimatsu was sure that he would be pink with embarrassment, the older boy couldn't help but snicker at Todomatsu's slip up, "ugh, shut up! I was just talking about Karamatsu nii-san and I got mixed up! And Osomatsu sort of acts like a big brother to all of us, you can't deny that!"
"Maybe a little bit, but you don't see me calling him my big brother, and I know him even better than you do," Ichimatsu pointed out.
"You act like you could be brothers, maybe he and Jyushimatsu traded brothers at some point without telling anyone," Todomatsu suggested teasingly.
"Given how shitty Choromatsu and I are at being brothers, I wouldn't blame them for wanting to trade," Ichimatsu confessed dejectedly, and he curled in on himself again.
"I was just kidding," Todomatsu huffed and they lapsed into silence for only a brief moment.
"Do you really think that Jyushimatsu sees Choromatsu as an older brother? I mean, whenever I'm mean to him, that stupid Goddess is the first person that he goes running off to cry about it, and Choromatsu is still horrible, but he's patient with Jyushimatsu and nice to him, but do you really think that it's a brotherly thing?" Ichimatsu wondered, gazing down at the little indents that he left in his palm as he pressed his nails in too hard with a look of distress.
"Aw, is Ichimatsu jealous because Jyushimatsu has another older brother?" Todomatsu taunted with a wide grin, and Ichimatsu had to stop himself from trying to give the ghost a shove.
"I'm not jealous, I'm not his brother anymore," Ichimatsu scowled, most would assume that the boy was annoyed, but Todomatsu could tell that he was just pouting.
Todomatsu wondered when the two of them had become close enough that he could tell the difference?
"Right, you're Osomatsu's little brother now, aren't you?" Todomatsu couldn't help but snicker.
"Shut up," Ichimatsu grumbled, but he didn't object.
"Hey Ichimatsu, if Osomatsu's sort of like a big brother to me, and sort of like a big brother to you, would that make you sort of like my brother too?" Todomatsu realized.
"I don't want to be your brother," Ichimatsu quickly declared.
"Too late, and Karamatsu's my brother, so if you're my brother, that would make him your brother too," Todomatsu added, "and Osomatsu is Choromatsu's brother, who is Jyushimatsu's new brother, so I guess that makes all of us brothers."
"I don't want to be brothers with at least half of those people," Ichimatsu insisted against Todomatsu's reasoning.
"You don't get to choose your family Ichimatsu nii-san!" Todomatsu sang teasingly.
"In this case we kind of did," Ichimatsu continued to disagree, "also, never say that to me ever again."
"What do you mean nii-san?" Todomatsu knew perfectly well what Ichimatsu was talking about, but he had every intention of milking the taunt. What was the worst that Ichimatsu could do to him? He was already dead.
"You're the worst Totty," Ichimatsu scowled and Todomatsu simply giggled at his newly declared older brother's irritation.
"Aw, is that any way to treat your baby brother? I am the youngest you know, you should all be spoiling me rotten!" Todomatsu eagerly suggested.
"You're already a spoiled brat, what do you need four more older brothers for?" Ichimatsu demanded.
Todomatsu shrugged, "you can never be too pampered! Especially when you're worth it like I am!"
"Whatever," Ichimatsu grumbled, he rolled his eyes and shifted a little bit so that he faced away from Todomatsu.
They just sat there for a long while.
Ichimatsu considered Todomatsu's proposal for a long time. Five brothers. That was a lot of brothers to disappoint. But the more he turned over the idea, the less horrible it seemed. Sure, he could do without Karamatsu, he was annoying. And he barely knew Choromatsu at all, but what he did know, he didn't like. He wouldn't mind Osomatsu being his older brother at all, and Todomatsu wasn't quite as terrible a little brother as Ichimatsu had initially pegged him as. The real problem was Jyushimatsu.
"What if I hurt him again?"
Todomatsu sighed, "Ichimatsu, I know that you're scared to be a big brother again, but this? You avoiding him? That's what's hurting him, and if you want him to have the brother that you think he deserves, you're going to have to try. Besides, he has three other older brothers now, if you can't protect him, one of them will be able to."
Ichimatsu sucked in a deep breath and he held it for a long moment before he addressed Todomatsu's advice, "you know, I think that I like ghost Todomatsu better than I liked human Todomatsu."
"What? But it's the same Todomatsu? I haven't changed, I just died," Todomatsu furrowed his brow and scowled in confusion.
"No, ghost Todomatsu is definitely smarter and more helpful than human Todomatsu was," Ichimatsu said and a small smile formed on his face, which Todomatsu was quick to mirror.
"It's no problem," Todomatsu said and rose from the step that he was sitting on, "should we head back in?"
"Yeah," Ichimatsu nodded and he stood up as well.
Todomatsu waited for Ichimatsu to open the door before the two of them returned to the basement. He still hadn't quite come to acknowledge that he could go through doors that were closed, but he would catch on eventually. With a small encouraging smile, Todomatsu went back to Karamatsu, relieving Osomatsu from an agonizing conversation with the boy, Jyushimatsu was playing some sort of word game with Choromatsu. At first, Ichimatsu took a nervous step towards them, then he changed his mind and approached Osomatsu instead.
"Osomatsu I… I want to talk to everyone, it's about the Jyushimatsu thing," Ichimatsu quietly said.
Osomatsu nodded knowingly, "sure thing, do you want me to get everyone's attention?"
Ichimatsu hummed in agreed, but before Osomatsu could call the others he had a question to ask. "Osomatsu wait! Um, I was wondering something."
"Sure, ask away."
"Would you… would you ever want to be my older brother?" Ichimatsu asked, his face was red and he felt like he was going to cry with embarrassment but Osomatsu just laughed fondly and pat Ichimatsu on the head.
"Aw, Ichimatsu! Of course I would! You're practically the little brother I always wanted already!" Osomatsu said, Ichimatsu somehow managed to turn even redder with the praise.
"Thanks Osomatsu… nii-san," Ichimatsu added after a moment of hesitation.
Osomatsu looked ready to burst, "aah! My little brother is the cutest!"
"Shut up! Don't say that!" Ichimatsu cried and punched his newly declared brother as hard as he could. But Osomatsu just laughed at the effort and playfully pat Ichimatsu.
"Are you ready to talk to the others now?"
Ichimatsu faltered, but in the end, he tentatively nodded.
It was time to be a big brother again.