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It was just Osomatsu and Ichimatsu at home that weekend.
Matsuyo and Matsuzo were on a trip, Karamatsu was out with Chibita at an oden-making camp, Choromatsu was at a Nyaa-chan concert with Happi, Jyushimatsu was visiting Homura, and Todomatsu was staying over at Atsushi’s place.
It was… awkward between the two who were left behind. Perhaps it’s because they couldn’t help but remember when the other brothers had left; they were the last ones to stick together.
Ichimatsu felt uncomfortable and nervous when the silences stretched on, as though he expected Osomatsu to revert to that devastated, unresponsive state. Relief washed through him as he snuck a glance at his elder brother who was happily reading manga and crunching on cat snac–
“Hey, Osomatsu-niisan… are those my snacks for the strays?”
Osomatsu affirmatively burped in response and began licking the salt and crumbs of the dried fish from his fingers.
“Niisan… go with me to buy some snacks.”
“Eh? Can’t we just go later–”
The murderous look Ichimatsu sent towards his older brother was enough to make him scramble to put his shoes on.
––––––
“Geez, you’re so crabby sometimes,” Osomatsu pouted, daring to playfully glare at the cat-loving one.
“It’s your fault for eating the strays’ snacks,” Ichimatsu retorts, a laugh hidden under his monotone voice.
He enjoyed this banter. It was light and rare since the pair were rarely left to themselves. Osomatsu normally had Choromatsu to bother and Ichimatsu usually clung to Jyushimatsu, so it was refreshing. Thank Akatsuka that this didn’t feel awkward like his interactions with Choromatsu. Ichimatsu wouldn’t survive the weekend if the atmosphere was like that.
It was still early in the day, it wasn’t time for the lunchtime rush, so the streets were relatively empty and crowd-free. Osomatsu was taking him to a new store that had just opened a few blocks away. They sold a good brand of beer there that only Osomatsu had tried, so he was going to keep it in the fridge for all of them to have.
‘As if the pack is going to last more than a couple hours,’ Ichimatsu let out a snicker at the thought.
Osomatsu looked over at his smirking brother, his eyes shining with love and amazement.
“Oh look at my cute little bro!”
The red brother begins to pinch Ichimatsu’s cheek and ruffle his hair.
“Ugh Akatsuka,” Ichimatsu says as he bats away Osomatsu’s hands, “that was so random, you’re acting like Mom.”
“I can’t help it! You’re so cute when you smile and laugh!”
The eldest goes to hug his brother, playfully tickling his sides as he wraps his arms around the purple one.
“Pbfft– Osoma– hahahaha!”
“Look at this cutie, look how precious!”
Ichimatsu tries to push Osomatsu’s tickling, evil hands away, but fails as he keeps laughing.
“N-no! Sto– ahahaha! S-Stop!”
Osomatsu continues to tickle him, laughing as he feels Ichimatsu slump in resignation, but it was only a matter of time until the fourth-born grew tired.
“Niisan, stop.”
Osomatsu raises his hands, sensing how Ichimatsu was starting to get annoyed by the interaction.
“Heh,” Osomatsu rubs a finger under his nose, “sorry for taking it too far!~”
“You don’t sound sorry at all.”
“You’re so cute though! It was so worth it, my cute widdle bro!~”
Ichimatsu pinches Osomatsu side causing the eldest to let out a pained yelp.
–––––
They arrive on the street half an hour later, the normally ten-minute walk was extended by Osomatsu’s tomfoolery.
The street was cute, the stores and houses were neatly painted, everyone seemed to dress well in this area, and there were so many children.
“Osomatsu-niisan, we don’t belong here.”
“Huh?”
“This place is too pure for pieces of shit like us, it’s as though we’re Garbodor surrounded by Lilligants! The juxtaposition is too much!”
The eldest laughs out of concern as he watches his brother panic.
“Hey,” Osomatsu says as he wraps his arm around him, “if you feel too uncomfortable here, you can wait on the other street and I’ll buy the beer and cat snacks at the store.”
Ichimatsu looks down the street in the direction of the store. The store itself was small and homely, there was a piano outside, some cat wind chimes hanging from the door–
“Let’s go.”
“Huh? Ichimacchan,” Osomatsu is then tugged along by his sleeve in the direction of the store.
It seemed as though Ichimatsu’s anxiety vanished as soon as he saw the cute cat wind chimes. He practically shoved his older brother into the store to retrieve the items as his eyes never left them.
“Do you have money for the stuff? I forgot my wallet at home, teehee!~”
“Don’t act like Todomatsu when you say that crap, makes me wanna barf. Also, I already know you have Shittymatsu’s wallet in your pocket for pachinko later.”
“Darn.”
Osomatsu finally walks into the store and locates the cat snacks in the back left corner near the counter, debating between which ones would taste better (for him of course). He chooses the bags with a design of two cats playing with red and purple string. He figured Ichimatsu would think it’s cute. Next was the beer, the highlight of the trip.
“Uwah!~ Suntory All-Free! I can taste the summer.”
As soon as he pays for the beer and cat snacks, Ichimatsu comes running towards him, immediately wrapping his arms around the red-brother in fear.
“Ichimacchan? What’s up?”
Then he hears it.
The sound of a baby crying.
Ichimatsu was never really good with kids, babies, anyone pure, anyone living… he wasn’t good with a lot of things, but especially babies. Their screaming and babbling freaked him out. He was too afraid to drop or scare them, and babies can’t talk for crying out loud! (mind the pun hehe)
Cats couldn’t talk either, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him from disliking babies.
“Osomatsu-niisan,” he looks up at him with tears in his eyes, “please make the baby stop crying!”
Osomatsu didn’t mind, although it wasn’t his business to calm the baby down. If the guardian would allow him to he would.
Walking outside the store with Ichimatsu scrunched up and hiding behind him, Osomatsu sees the source of the problem. A young girl, no older than an elementary student was holding her younger sibling trying to calm them down.
“C’mon, please stop crying! You’re going to make me cry!” the girl pleaded with the baby to no avail.
It was a pretty funny thing to see: a girl pleading a baby to stop crying, and a man hiding behind another with the same face; the hiding man looking like he could cry harder than the baby was at the moment.
“Um... excuse me,” Osomatsu interrupts the girl as she was about to talk to her sibling again, “do you mind if I try calming them down?”
“That would be great! Yes please, take them!”
“I meant I could play something on the piano for them…”
“Oh, what a shame,” the girl looks off to the side, disappointment clear as day.
“Eh?”
“I said thank you for the offer sir!”
Osomatsu was absolutely, undoubtedly sure that wasn’t what she had originally said, but he didn’t want to ask her again, not when Ichimatsu looked like he could pass out any minute.
“Here Ichi,” he gives him the bag of beer and snacks, “you can sit at the bench over there so you can calm down a bit.”
“T-Thank you niisan.”
With wobbly legs, Ichimatsu stumbles onto the stairs and exhales as he’s no longer within a five feet radius from the baby.
The eldest turns to look at the young pair.
“So what’s their name?”
“They’re Osoma…”
“Alright then little Osoma,” he cooes as he looks down at the baby, “nii-chan will take care of you!”
He walks over to the piano and cracks his fingers as he quickly looks over to his younger brother to make sure he’s okay.
Ichimatsu looks dead inside… so, everything is fine?
He always looked dead inside.
Although his eyes looked dead, Ichimatsu regarded his brother with interest. Could Osomatsu play the piano?
The answer was yes apparently as he started to play, the gentle notes ringing throughout the area.
The baby immediately quieted its cries as it looked over in interest.
“ When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are,” Osomatsu began singing, his normally shitty voice was replaced with that of a fucking godsend- holy hell, “ anything your heart desires will come to you.”
Ichimatsu clutched at his heart. To hear his brother sing was just so magical?
Magical would be the only way to describe this experience. It was a bitter reminder that the brothers didn’t know as much about each other as they had originally thought, but to be the first one to know and experience Osomatsu’s singing first hand made him feel special and warm inside. He didn’t expect his brother to sing either, there was no warning. Was he trying to kill him?!
‘Look how cool my brother is!’ was the strongest thought that came to mind at that moment. Although a bit shocked, Ichimatsu felt a surge of pride to be associated with the man who was currently serenading to the baby, who had unsurprisingly stopped crying.
Osomatsu’s voice was soothing. Not too strong, but not so gentle that the song felt like a whisper either. It was the perfect balance, perfect volume- it felt natural. It was unforced, and the only thing you could truly process in such a moment was the amount of love and care put into the lyrics as he sang them.
“Like a bolt out of the blue,” Ichimatsu snaps back into focus, his usual frown threatening to take over his smile as he realizes the song is almost over, “fate steps in and sees you through.”
A gentle smile is thrown his way as Osomatsu finishes the song while making eye contact with him, “When you wish upon a star, your dreams come true.~”
The small crowd that had gathered around them clapped.
“T-Thank you, mister, she finally calmed down!” the girl bows gratefully, the baby still in her arms.
–––––
“So… I didn’t know you could sing.”
The brothers were on their way back home, cat snacks eaten, a beer in hand when Ichimatsu had started a conversation.
“Hm? Oh well, I didn’t know I could actually!”
“Bullshit.”
“No, it’s true! I like to hum and stuff, but I’m always with you guys. I’ve never had time to practice singing.”
Ichimatsu pouts at that. His older brother was a natural at the piano and singing? Gosh.
“It was nice to see that you enjoyed it though,” Osomatsu continued with a light blush dusting his cheeks and ears, “you were smiling for most of the song!”
“Don’t stroke your ego, you’re imagining things.”
He laughs at that before kissing the crown of Ichimatsu’s forehead.
“If you’d like, I can sing it to you as a lullaby later tonight.”
Ichimatsu smiles in response. Osomatsu was a good older brother.
“Yeah. I’d like that.”