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Osomatsu, unlike his five younger brothers, had shown no signs of interest in leaving the house today. Having spent his very last yen a few nights ago on pachinko, there was nowhere in particular he'd like to visit right now that didn't require some form of payment. Under these circumstances, Osomatsu would normally just borrow some money from one of the others (obviously with no plans to pay it back). Unfortunately, this method of collecting money had led to a hefty debt he needed to pay off to each of them from the many, many other times that this had happened. So that clearly wasn't an option. He hadn't the energy in him to outright steal from them either.
So home it was.
It wasn't really a rare choice for him anyway—boring as it could be, he found ways to entertain himself. It was just much easier to do so when he had his brothers around to annoy. But as previously stated, all of his younger brothers had cruelly abandoned him in his time of need. Osomatsu was able to keep his attention on some TV shows for the first few hours, but at some point he just rolled onto his back and… stared at the ceiling.
Yes.
This was fun too.
...Why had all of his little brothers left him though!!? This was just cold!! Sure, he himself had decided not to go anywhere, but they could have offered! He was seriously gonna die here out of loneliness—
A deep “I'm home” floated in as the front door was opened and closed.
Or not.
A familiar face (his own face, in fact) popped in as the sliding door to the living room was moved aside. “Good afternoon, Brother,” he drawled in that silly Cool Guy voice of his.
Maybe it wasn't his first choice in brothers, but…
“Ah, Karamatsu!” But he'll take what he can get. “You're home kinda early, don'tcha think?”
“Heh… Hardly,” replied the second eldest as he headed closer and sat beside Osomatsu. “I simply felt that the Karamatsu Girls needed a rest every once in a while.”
“That so?” Osomatsu raised an eyebrow as he followed the other with his eyes, somewhat amused. “It's their first break from seeing you in a couple hundred years—you sure they won't be lonely?”
“Yes, I'm quite sure.” The smile pulling at Karamatsu's lips from the moment he stepped in grew by a bit. “After all, didn't you need some attention too, Osomatsu?”
A snort. Wow, how cheesy—true, but cheesy. “Yeah? And who said that? I'm perfectly fine on my own here.” He feigned nonchalance, sitting up and crossing his arms with a smirk.
Well, of course it would be Karamatsu to come home early just to look after his big bro.
“I see,” Karamatsu laughed, breathy and light. Genuine. “Then I suppose this will have been for my sake instead.”
“Guess so! I appreciate the thought though. Good boy,” he praised, bringing a hand up to ruffle Karamatsu's hair. Paying attention to how his brother leaned into his touch. To how his brother's face heated up. To how his brother let it go on a bit too long before finally jerking back, smacking his hand away in a flustered manner.
Yes, of course it was Karamatsu that came home first.
“Non, non, Osoma—tsu,” he'd chided after regaining some composure while he smoothed down his hair, “please refrain from touching the hair. It takes far too long to achieve this Perfect Look.”
“Hah! Painful.”
Osomatsu, having decided that was enough sitting up for now, laid his head back down.
Right onto Karamatsu's lap.
Karamatsu yelped, thoroughly shocked by the sudden change in positions. “Osomatsu!? What are you—”
“You said this was for your sake, right? I'm just throwing in a little service, y'know?”
His younger brother didn't look particularly grateful, with that glare aimed right at him. But—ah, there it was!—his blush was difficult to miss, and he hadn't gotten pushed off yet, despite the confused and embarrassed noises that followed.
He was so obvious.
After a clearing of his throat, Karamatsu's confident front was back. “I suppose you have a point there, Brother,” he said as he ran a hand through his own hair. Keeping cool.
Osomatsu just smiled.
It really was obvious how Karamatsu felt, wasn't it?
Almost funny how bad he was at hiding it. If his brother were any smarter, Osomatsu would question whether he was intentionally showing it.
But no, his little brother was kind of an idiot. A complete idiot, actually.
He wouldn't be able to mess with him like this otherwise, after all!
Stringing him along like this with affection he only shows behind closed doors—it was all too easy to make Karamatsu feel like he was special. Like he was wanted.
Which, of course, he wasn't really. Osomatsu only ever did things like this when it was convenient, or when he himself wanted attention.
But that couldn't have been so bad, right?
At some point, Osomatsu had closed his eyes.
Sure, he was essentially leading his little brother on with no end of it in sight. And yet Karamatsu, stupid little Karamatsu, who craved positive attention at every second of the day, welcomed this with open arms so long as his needs for intimacy were met. No qualms about it.
Conversely, Osomatsu just wanted a bit of entertainment.
What could be so wrong about satisfying the both of them this way? No boundaries were being overstepped, no rules broken. This sort of relationship had to be the best, didn't it?
As Karamatsu dared to raise his hand and tentatively stroke at Osomatsu’s bangs—he could just picture how flushed the other had to be without even opening his eyes—the eldest Matsuno had to conclude that yes, this was the best relationship they could forge.
Or at least, the best one he was willing to forge.
But that was fine. They were fine like this, in the comforts of an ambiguous and unspoken bond that required little thought and effort. It would last forever if he played his cards right, and Osomatsu always had a few aces up his sleeves.
In his last few moments of conscious thought, he thought he could hear a mumbled “I love you.”
Of course it was Karamatsu.