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“Tickles!” Jyushimatsu wiggled around, almost out of Choromatsu's reach.
“Jyushimatsu, please.” Choromatsu grabbed his arm and pulled him back closer. He wasn't sure how tying a tie was tickling his brother, and honestly at this point he wasn't going to ask. The interview was soon and he needed Jyushimatsu to be ready.
He finally finished up and turned Jyushimatsu to look in the mirror. “There, don't you look handsome?”
“Not as handsome as me, brothers!” Karamatsu declared as he rolled past them. He was wearing some strange shoes and cut off shorts that were so skimpy the pockets were hanging out from the bottom. Choromatsu wisely decided to ignore him.
“Do you think I'll do good?” Jyushimatsu flapped the ends of his sleeves. Wait! How did his sleeves get so long? Choromatsu had made sure the suit fit properly when he bought it. How in the world…
That wasn't important. He tried to keep an optimistic smile on his face. At this point they needed Jyushimatsu to get a job. Even with only the three of them in such a small apartment, money was running short. They needed another source of income. “I'm sure you'll do fine.” Choromatsu clapped him on the back.
“I believe in you, brother!” Karamatsu shouted as he rolled past once again.
“Karamatsu!” Choromatsu turned and screamed. “Why are you wearing shoes in the house?”
“These aren't shoes, they are Heelys! Trademark!” Karamatsu slid past them again, a smirk on his face. “I no longer need to walk, I can fly like a bird, free in the skies-”
“Don't you have something better to do?” Choromatsu groaned, rubbing his temples.
“My Karamatsu girls are waiting!” Karamatsu rolled right out the door. Thank goodness. Choromatsu had to add a new rule to the whiteboard about not wearing those dumb shoes in the house. Well later. He had more important matters to attend to.
“Okay, do you remember all the tips I gave you?” Choromatsu turned back to Jyushimatsu.
“Be confident! Be assertive! Don't tell him that in five years I'll be sleeping with his wife!” Jyushimatsu giggled and jumped in place.
Choromatsu cocked an eyebrow. Well… that way technically correct. “Okay, but if the interviewer asks what you'll be doing in five years, what should you say?”
“I’ll be sleeping with him!” Jyushimatsu grinned.
“Ugh…”
“I'm kidding nii-san! I think you are more nervous than me!” Jyushimatsu clapped him on the back so hard Choromatsu nearly went hurtling to the floor. Jyushimatsu put on a serious expression. “In five years I hope to still be working with this company, moving up towards a management position.”
“That's good.” Choromatsu rubbed his shoulder. There was probably nothing else he could do at this point to further instruct Jyushimatsu. He just had to leave it up to fate whether he got the job or not. Hopefully he did, though. “Let's go.”
“Yay!” Jyushimatsu raced across the room towards the door, doing a flying leap over the living room table.
Well, if anything his energy and enthusiasm would be seen as a good trait for the package delivery company. Choromatsu made his way across the small room much more calmly. Considering it housed three boys, it was clean and tidy, mostly thanks to Karamatsu. But maybe also due to there not being a lot of space either. It was mostly one room that was both a living space and kitchen, that turned into their bedroom at night. There wasn't much privacy, but after living with his six brothers in one room for his whole life, it actually felt more private than he was used to.
Choromatsu went out the door, making sure it was locked behind him, before going down the stairs and hurrying after Jyushimatsu. They were walking to the interview, it was close enough to not need a train or taxi. Besides, it was a nice day out. Back when he was a NEET, this was the sort of day he would've loved, although he probably would've just lazed around the house anyway.
The apartment wasn't that far from where he used to live in Akatsuka ward, but it felt like a world apart. This part of the city was more urban and had less of that feeling of freedom their old place had. Not that they couldn't visit, they all frequented their old haunts still, but it felt different now. Everything felt different now, of course.
As Choromatsu tried to catch up with Jyushimatsu, who was speeding down the sidewalk effortlessly, he thought back on what he said earlier. How Choromatsu was more nervous than he was. That was true. Choromatsu had been a mess lately. Keeping up with adult life was making his anxiety spike.
The one time he managed to remain fully calm was during his own job interview. His father had gotten him the interview, which may have more to do with him getting the job than anything else, but he had been pretty relaxed. Maybe relaxed is the wrong word. Tired. He had been exhausted.
The day prior to the interview was the day that the three of them moved into the apartment. Money was incredibly tight at that point, even with their father paying the deposit and other fees. That was to be expected though, it wasn't like any of them had ever held a job before. It would’ve been cruel to kick them out without any sort of support. Although Choromatsu guessed that being kicked out was the only way any of them would ever get a job, simply because they had no choice. The other three still living with their mother were as lazy as ever.
That was besides the point. After dealing with moving and the emotional turmoil of being on his own, the despair of his parents getting a divorce, and his own personal anxiety that loomed over everything he did, Choromatsu had not slept the night before his own interview. He actually drank some coffee and went in a half daze. His memories of the interview were foggy, but he must've done well enough since he got the job.
With his head in the clouds thinking on the past, Choromatsu hadn't noticed that Jyushimatsu stopped walking and ran headlong into his back. “Oof.”
“Are you okay nii-san?” Jyushimatsu turned to look at his with a bemused expression.
“Fine. Why'd you stop walking?” Choromatsu asked.
“Homura sent me a picture.” Jyushimatsu hid a smile behind his hand.
Oh right, Homura. She was a girl that Jyushimatsu met not long after they moved into the apartment. Jyushimatsu had gone out to practice baseball one day and somehow ended up making friends with her instead. He never spoke of her much, but he did seem more calm with her around. Eventually she had moved back to her home, but despite Jyushimatsu never asking her out or anything of the sort, they remained very close. Sometimes they texted for hours at night! Choromatsu would be lying if he said he wasn't jealous. He wanted a cute girl to text him too! At this rate Jyushimatsu was going to be the first one to graduate from being a virgin!
Ah, but Jyushimatsu had mentioned a picture, hadn't he? “Can I see?”
Jyushimatsu held up his phone for Choromatsu to see, beaming with pride. On the screen was a picture of Homura winking and giving the camera a big thumbs up. Under that was written the words, “Good luck at your job interview!”
That was awfully cute. Choromatsu was practically green with envy that Jyushimatsu had found such a sweet girl. Although if she liked Jyushimatsu she was sure to be at least a little strange. “That's really nice of her,” was all that Choromatsu chose to say.
“Yeah! I gotta do my best for her.” With that, he slid his phone back into his pocket, marching forward again and swinging his arms back and forth with reckless abandon. Choromatsu scurried after him so as to not get left behind again.
“You know.” Jyushimatsu put a hand against his chin as they paused at a streetlight. “I wanna be the kinda man that Homura can depend on. I wanna be worthy of asking her out.”
Resting a hand on Jyushimatsu’s shoulder in comfort, Choromatsu replied, “I think you already are. I mean she's still texting you after all this time. I'm sure she likes you.”
Jyushimatsu shook his head. “No, no! Not yet. I have to get a job first!”
It felt like Jyushimatsu was taking this seriously. Why exactly Jyushimatsu felt like he had to have a job to be worthy of Homura was a mystery to him, but if that gave him more motivation then Choromatsu was all for it. “Let's go get you that job then.”
“Yes!” The light changed and Jyushimatsu powered forward like a man running the last legs of a marathon. He was going to get his suit all sweaty! Hopefully it wouldn't be too noticeable, and in any case Choromatsu didn't want to reign in his enthusiasm. He was going to get this job! Even Choromatsu was getting pumped as he raced after his brother.
That enthusiasm dwindled as they entered the building for the interview. The atmosphere was tense and silent. Already sitting around the room were twenty plus applicants. That many? It might not be so easy for Jyushimatsu to compete against that many people. Not to mention that some of them might even have prior experience.
Looking around the room with his all too usual frown, Choromatsu spotted some seats near the back wall. He pointed towards them, not wanting to break the silence of the room. He walked past a row of bored looking men and women as Jyushimatsu happily skipped behind him until they reached their destination and sat down.
Jyushimatsu wasn't the best at holding still. He rocked back in forth in the seat, grinning like a madman. His excitement was only enhanced when the chair made a creaking noise like a fart. Laughter erupted from his throat and he doubled his rocking to try and replicate the noise. Several people were giving them annoyed looks.
“Jyushimatsu, try to sit still, please.” Choromatsu leaned over and whispered at him.
“Roger.” He then went very still. Almost like a statue. Was he even blinking? He grew bored of that pretty quickly and instead started sliding down in his seat. Before long, most of his body was no longer supported by the chair at all, most of him hovering in the air as he head rested on the seat.
More stares. “Jyushimatsu, can you sit upright?”
Jyushimatsu huffed out an annoyed breath but sat back on the seat. This was difficult for him, obviously, but it wouldn't be for that much longer. Choromatsu checked his phone for the time. It was still twenty minutes until Jyushimatsu’s interview. Would his brother be able to last that long?
It was a challenging twenty minutes, to say the least. Anytime someone's name was called out, Jyushimatsu sprang from his seat with excitement, only to wither back down again when he realized it wasn't his turn yet. A chorus of “What time is it?” and “Is it my turn next, nii-san?” kept leaving his throat. Choromatsu did his best to reassure him that it wouldn't be much longer. As the time approached he straightened Jyushimatsu’s tie, which had somehow come loose, and rolled up his sleeves so his hands were showing. Not that Jyushimatsu liked that much, unease settling across his face.
“Matsuno Jyushimatsu.”
“Aye!” Jyushimatsu sprang up and saluted. Finally his turn had arrived.
“Good luck in there.” Choromatsu gave him his best, most encouraging smile as Jyushimatsu made his way to the office.
The room felt so quiet without Jyushimatsu fidgeting around. Although, if he listened carefully, he could hear his brother's voice through the door. Volume control was never one of his strong suits. From what he could tell, Jyushimatsu sounded cheerful, so he took that as a good sign.
Just as Choromatsu pulled out his phone to check his Twitter, a loud scream came from the office. Startled and afraid, since he was brother was in there, oh no, was he okay? Choromatsu jumped to his feet, racing towards the office and throwing the door open.
Out of all the things he expected to see, this was probably the last. Jyushimatsu was holding up the interviewer, who was still sitting in his chair, above his head. “Jyushimatsu, put him down!”
“Ah? Okay.” With a grace that Choromatsu had no idea his younger brother possessed, he lowered the chair back to the ground. The man sitting in it looked dizzy and dazed, reaching out to hold his desk, probably scared of being picked up again.
This was a right mess. They should probably get out of here before Jyushimatsu caused more chaos. “Thank you for the interview.” Choromatsu bowed down, putting a hand on Jyushimatsu’s back to get him to bow as well. “Thank him.”
Jyushimatsu bowed down very deep. “Thank you sir.”
The man didn't reply, still too dazed to comprehend them. It was time to go. Choromatsu stood back up, pulling on Jyushimatsu’s sleeve, which had been unrolled and was too long again. “Time to go.”
“Alright! Bye bye!” Jyushimatsu waved as they left the office.
That was a disaster! Choromatsu pulled Jyushimatsu all the way out of the building before pausing. “Why did you lift that man up?”
“He asked if I could lift forty pounds! So I showed him!” Jyushimatsu replied like he had done the most rational thing in the world.
Stay calm. That was a question that hadn't come up in their practice. Choromatsu had never thought about that, but the questions that interviewers asked probably varied from job to job, and he had never interviewed for a physical labor job before. He couldn't expect Jyushimatsu to know how to properly answer and yet-
“You can't just pick people up! You have to be more professional! You can't get a job if you do things like that!” Choromatsu scolded him, throwing his hands up on frustration.
“I'm. I'm sorry nii-san.” Jyushimatsu’s smile faded away and he looked down to the ground. It was like watching a rapidly deflating balloon.
Maybe Choromatsu had been too harsh. He was just frustrated at the situation and their desperate need for money. He didn't mean to take it out on Jyushimatsu though. “No, I'm sorry for yelling. I know you did your best. Let's just go home.”
Jyushimatsu nodded, his smile coming back to life. “I'll do even better next time! I promise!”
Choromatsu grinned back. “I know you will.”
The atmosphere seemed to become more sunny as they both headed back to their house. “Hey, why don't we take a walk through the park, since we are already out?” Choromatsu offered, it was such a nice day, after all. He felt like he spent too much time cooped up either in his office or home lately. A nice walk would be good.
“Yeah! I wonder if the trees are changing colors yet!” Jyushimatsu flung himself forward, running headlong into the park.
It was too early for autumn, but the trees would be nice to look at anyway. He should enjoy these little moments, instead of always letting his stress bog him down. It wasn't the time to think about the botched interview or the bills that needed paying. Relaxation was just as important. A deep breath of the fresh air revived him, making Choromatsu feel much better. He jogged after Jyushimatsu, who was standing slightly behind a bush.
“Choromatsu-niisan!” Jyushimatsu motioned him over, “Look, look!”
Choromatsu ducked under him and looked out. There was a bridge running over a small stream. Several cute girls were milling about, but that wasn't what caught his attention.
Karamatsu was skating past on those stupid shoes, his speed hardly under control as he yelled out to anyone listening, “My! Karamatsu! Girls!”
Couldn't he act normal for once? It was pretty funny to watch him attempt to stop to actually talk to a girl, only to flail wildly as he slid past. This was golden. Choromatsu took out his phone to record this mess, possibly for future blackmailing purposes.
Before he could start recording this failure of flirting, Karamatsu’s insane skating took a turn for the worse. With a loud shout of “Farewell, my Karamatsu Girls!” he went sailing over the railing of the bridge and splashed into the water below.
Choromatsu tapped Jyushimatsu’s arm, “We better make sure he didn't die.”
“Roger!” Jyushimatsu was off again, dashing towards the bridge and splashing into the stream. “Did you die nii-san?”
“I was like Icarus, I flew too close to the sun-”
“He's fine!” Jyushimatsu shouted back.
Choromatsu approached the stream. Jyushimatsu’s nice shoes and suit were all wet now. Wasn't that suit dry clean only or something? He didn't know, his mom usually did the laundry! At least she used to. “Let's go home then.”
Even though no one prompted him to, Jyushimatsu scooped up Karamatsu into his arms. “Time to go!”
“Put me down, my little Jyushimatsu! I can walk!” Karamatsu tried to argue but was met with no response so he eventually gave up, pouting the whole way home.
Choromatsu opened the door, letting his two rather wet brothers inside. “Get changed, and Karamatsu I'm throwing away those shoes, they are nothing but trouble.”
“My gilded wings!”
“Nii-san thinks he's a bird! It's true cause he's a cuckoo bird!”
“What? Just get changed you’re dripping water everywhere!”
And like that another night passed by like it always did with the three of them. Karamatsu made dinner, they had some beers and watched TV, and eventually they all settled into bed. Well Jyushimatsu and Karamatsu did, at least. Choromatsu was still awake. He headed to the far side of the room, looking over the bills they had to pay and the current balance in their bank account.
It really wasn't looking good. At this rate some bill was going to have to be paid late, after he got his next paycheck. Although they usually used that money for groceries. Would they have to cut back on food again? Maybe the rent could wait, he could talk to the landlord. Although that wasn't really a great plan either. It was looking more and more like Choromatsu was going to have to ask one of his parents for help, but his pride didn't want him to. And who knew if they would even be able to lend him some money? It was stressful!
“Nii-san?” Choromatsu turned to see Jyushimatsu rubbing at his eyes with one hand. “Why are you still up?”
Choromatsu grimaced and looked over all the bills. Jyushimatsu didn't need to know how much they were struggling. That would only make him feel worse about his failed job interview. For now Choromatsu would deal with it on his own. After all he decided to take care of his brothers and he was going to live up to that. “I was just heading to bed, don't worry.”
“Ah, okay. Just come to bed soon, you need your sleep.” Jyushimatsu yawned and headed back to the futon.
It was better this way, there was no reason to stress out his younger brother. Choromatsu took one last look at the pile of bills before he headed to his own spot on the futon and settled in to get some sleep.
Morning dawned and since Choromatsu had the day off he was in no real rush to do anything. He sat at the table reading one of his idol magazines, trying to get the energy up to make breakfast. Jyushimatsu was already up and eating a breakfast that consisted of rice with a raw egg he cracked over it. Normally Karamatsu cooked all the meals for them, but he was still sleeping and Choromatsu was in even less of a rush to wake him up.
Choromatsu was standing up to get something to eat, when a phone started ringing. It wasn't his since he put it on silent on his days off, and it wasn't Karamatsu's because it was the default ringtone instead of the annoying “Karamatsu Girls!” that rang out whenever someone called him. Jyushimatsu was getting a call this early?
“It's the delivery company!” Jyushimatsu had a wide smile.
“Answer it! But be polite.” Choromatsu hoped it wasn't them calling because of the incident yesterday to yell at Jyushimatsu or something.
Jyushimatsu picked up the phone, “Hello! It's Jyushi- errr… Matsuno Jyushimatsu speaking.” Jyushimatsu composed himself, even his wide smile becoming smaller.
Choromatsu tried to listen in, but it was hard to hear the voice on the other side. Jyushimatsu gave a few responses of, “Yes,” or “Okay,” but that didn't clue him into the nature of the call. Jyushimatsu noticed Choromatsu's anxious face and said, “Hold on one second.”
Jyushimatsu put a hand against the phone. “I got the job!”
Choromatsu's eyes grew wide as Jyushimatsu went back to the phone call. He got the job? Despite lifting that man up in the air? Choromatsu pinched his cheek to ensure he wasn't dreaming.
Jyushimatsu stayed on the phone for a few more minutes, getting some details, while Choromatsu sat in shock. With a loud, “Bye-bye!” Jyushimatsu hung up the phone.
“Nii-san! Nii-san I did it! I got the job!” Jyushimatsu jumped up, pumping a fist in the air.
“You did it!” Choromatsu leapt up, grabbing Jyushimatsu’s hands as they both cheered and jumped in a circle. Tears of happiness came to Choromatsu's eyes. This was just the best news. Their celebration lasted for a few minutes before they both started to feel worn out and sat down.
Jyushimatsu dug back into his breakfast. “You know, they said they liked how strong I was,” Jyushimatsu laughed. “Although they said I shouldn't pick up any of my coworkers in the future!”
Choromatsu grinned, “That's probably for the best.” This time, Jyushimatsu’s strange chaotic behavior had really worked in his favor. A pride for his younger sibling welled up in his chest.
“Wassit… was goin’ on?” Karamatsu sat up from the futon, his hair in complete disarray and his nose running.
“I got the job!” Jyushimatsu jumped and tackled Karamatsu who grunted with pain.
“My little Jyushimatsu, I am very proud of you, but uhh…” Karamatsu paused to sneeze several times in a row. “I think I'm sick.”
“Oh no! I'll make you my special super spicy curry! It’ll burn the cold out of you!” Jyushimatsu ran into the kitchen, laughing the whole time.
Choromatsu actually went over and pressed his wrist against Karamatsu’s forehead. He was burning up! Probably from falling into that stream yesterday. “I'll get you some actual medicine.”
“Thank you, brother.” Karamatsu fell back onto his pillow.
Choromatsu stood up to get some medicine from the cabinet. It felt like it was always one thing after another with his two brothers, but he had a feeling that they were going to be okay on their own from now on.