Work Text:
#0
(It was sunny.)
What a perfect weather in the spring to plant sunflowers. Matsuno Todomatsu had put on his straw hat, and he can't wait to see his sunflowers bloom.
Yet no matter how much he had made and planted the seeds, not even once ever bloom. There was always something that had to ruin his seedlings. He didn't count at how many times he had tried to make them bloom naturally and it always ended up in vain.
Doesn't mean Todomatsu will give up, though.
(Because fuck the weather. By afternoon it was a fucking storm coming in and flown his sunflowers seeds away.)
#0.5
(It was considerably sunny, a bit cloudy.)
Everyone is a superhuman.
Okay, maybe not everyone, some does. It's a great world anyway, whether you got superpower or not, you'd still went on with your life peacefully. Those few who are blessed with great powers could be seen flying, throwing winds, and all those amazing, beyond imagination things you can usually see from comic books.
However, most does not have such big powers. It was always the small, little powers that may help with your daily life. It's still convenient; some has the power to lift up glasses from 25 meters away, some other has the power to clean themselves up without have to bother to go to bathroom, and some can rewind enough time in a fixated place to catch up with the TV series episodes that played earlier. So it was still fun, although it's not really living with magic or any kinds of funny things like how Harry Potter novels pictured it, or how amazing the Marvel and DC comics put it.
So the same could be applied to Matsuno Todomatsu. His power is actually pretty special; he can make plants to grow by his sheer power, and he can control it as a deadly weapon, if he wanted to. If he practice it a bit more, probably he could license himself into the law enforcement and be the Special Authority of Super Power or some sort of action-ish job; instead, he decided that he would just open up a cafe by the crossroads, and serving people, while utilized his ability to made the garden behind his house more lively. Compared to being a law enforcer, these were such an easy job, and everyone loves what he had been doing, too. Steady income for Todomatsu, and it made his parents happy for having a quite proper (a.k.a more humane) jobs, and his customers love his coffee so much; Todomatsu's coffee is special, no one knows how he had brewed it, but it was one of the top notch local coffee you can have (he had grown it by himself behind the shop, of course it is good). Besides, Todomatsu is a fun guy to be with. That kind of one who will serve you and will chat with you to entertain, and you'll not be bored, then walking away while still being fawned over his charm.
(The plus side, it made him having a quite extensive knowledge in herbology and coffee quality. So convenient for his occupation.)
His cafe always open at 7 AM, serving their breakfast specialty set along with hot, ready to be take away coffees and teas. Five minutes afterwards, Todomatsu will spotted Jyuushimatsu, always being the first one to buy the bread and coffee to start his morning before he went to the school and started teaching baseball to middle schoolers. He was always sure that his older brother of him must've been late to catch the train; lucky that Jyuushimatsu is blessed with a strong feet, that abled him to run much faster than average. So that's why every morning, before Jyuushimatsu came, Todomatsu had prepared the take-away box for Jyuushimatsu, who would only run just to catch those packages and leave a coin of 500 yen. Todomatsu's breakfast package is pretty affordable, anyway, and not to mention it is tasty, so no wonder that it's the favorite menu in the morning.
7.25 AM, there comes Choromatsu. The third among six was always looking so sharp and serious. He had recently become a lieutenant general at the Special Force for Special Power Enforcement, if Todomatsu wasn't mistaken. His superpower had enabled him to excel so much on being a part of Special Force, no one doubt Choromatsu's ability of telekinesis is one of the best quality ever. Also, it made a reminder not to make Choromatsu pissed off anymore; last time they did that, the rest of the brothers had to witness their house flying. Choromatsu always order the intercontinental breakfast set out from Todomatsu; loving his coffee black, unsweetened, and double. Strong and bitter one, like how he is, if Todomatsu must add.
7.45 AM, there comes Osomatsu. The oldest, kind of alpha guy who had the ability to mind control. The only one who can suppress Choromatsu whenever he had gone mad, so it's reasonable if he had been the general, and made Choromatsu always beside him. Both of his brothers are amazing, they always come with those uniforms that looked so… sexy? He don't know how to describe it, but Todomatsu had to admit, both of his brothers' attires are always sexy. Black straight jacket, army boots, lingered with badges. Osomatsu always order the chicken wrap, with cafe au lait. Simple menu ready to be take away because usually Choromatsu had to pull Osomatsu out and hurried to their base because they might be arriving too much just in time again, and Choromatsu had always preferred to be arriving 15 minutes before. They will bicker for a while, that's for sure. Later on Osomatsu will thanking Todomatsu for the delicious chicken wrap, and he would wave to his oldest brother.
8.30 AM, there goes Ichimatsu. Compared to the others before, he did not have anything quite special, but since he got the ability to be friends and communicate with animals, especially cats, then there was no downside of it. For instances, whenever summer comes and there are pests outbreak in the house, they always called Ichimatsu to shooed all the pests out of their house and that's how they still in the good terms with Ichimatsu, somehow. Ichimatsu had always like to order a warm cafe latte, and Todomatsu will made cat shapes out of the foams. Ichimatsu always loved those cute cat latte art; it always made his morning much better before he goes to the shelter center. He had worked there for about two years and obviously Ichimatsu loved the job so much.
So there was his brothers and… oh, it's already 9.15 AM.
(The sun started to shine brightly.)
Karamatsu must've come by now. Ordering some of the foods that Todomatsu had decorated carefully, and Karamatsu proceed to take some photos of it. He had worked as a photographer in a magazine company that specialized in slow living types, and aesthetically pleasing food is a must-included content in every of the edition. He seemed so ordinary, and always be the one who spend more than an hour to talk and later on wait until Todomatsu closed the shop so that they can get back home together.
"I think I'll have dinner at your place later. What's for today's dinner, my brother?" With his usually painful clothes, he would get closer to the counter… a bit inappropriately.
"Stay away for a bit, ugh. You're too close, bro." Todomatsu looked a bit pissed off. "Some variant of pasta. Carbonara, aglio olio to name some; and a set of club sandwich."
Then Karamatsu proceed to smile. "Made me aglio olio, with extra shrimp if I may?"
Todomatsu smiled. "Sure do."
So ordinary, nothing looked anything special.
The thing is no one really knows whether Karamatsu had a superpower or not; he never really utilized his power, to be honest. They had come to the same class since little, gathering on the bunches of those who got abilities and superpowers, but no one really gets what, or how strong does Karamatsu's superpower could be. They had been amazed that Karamatsu's ability's strength is to be said as par as Osomatsu or Choromatsu, but no one really gets what he does there. He never shows what he can do, and every practical exams come, he was never there but somehow, he's still graduating with flying colors and all.
But Todomatsu had been so observant, and he started to grasp that maybe; just, maybe, and hopefully, Karamatsu's superpower be the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
[Sadly even if it's to Todomatsu, Karamatsu never even bothered to tell him what it is.]
.
(Tonight is quite bright. Todomatsu can see stars above.)
At 10.00 PM, Todomatsu had finished on closing his shop. Every tables had been cleaned, no more trash laying around, and it had been so satisying to see. Oh, Todomatsu always like it if his cafe is always neat. Shame that not every of his employees are able to meet his cleanliness expectation.
As promised, Karamatsu had waited outside. He had eaten the aglio olio that he ordered before; being the last client to come out of the cafe. With a big smile, he got Todomatsu's hand, grabbing it and going home while holding hands. They had done this for years, it's gotten so natural. Todomatsu loved to always be beside of Karamatsu; being the best brother whenever he needed someone to listen, someone that, although sometimes painful, but knows how to comfort people. It's nice to be touchy with Karamatsu, no kinds of disgusted looks or questioning for purpose, and Todomatsu had been so comfortable by his side.
Karamatsu may think so too, hopefully.
"How was today, dear?" Karamatsu always asked how Todomatsu's days had been going. "Is it fun? Tiresome? You need a break?"
"I think I need one. Today had been so crowded!" Todomatsu replied, and then sighing. "People coming in and out non-stop… I barely catch my breath. Great that we can still handle it, but maybe one of my part-timer was quite exhausted. Maybe I should give him a break over the weekend?"
"That'll do. Is that the guy with the man bun?" Karamatsu tried to guess the said employee that Todomatsu mentioned.
"Yeah, he's that one! Oh, and, and listen! Today was really weird…"
And there goes Todomatsu telling his fair share of story. About how there was a girl that insists him to go on a date with him; it was fine at the beginning, honestly, but he was busy and he got, accidentally, snapped at the girl. She had grown quite disturbing for Todomatsu, anyway. "…ouch." Karamatsu patted Todomatsu's back. "You should've call me, they must've leave you immediately. I mean no one can resist this painfully charming me, ain't it true, dear brother?"
(Clouds are somewhat gathering, Todomatsu can't see the stars anymore.)
"I suppose so." Todomatsu laughed. "And then I might grow jealous if you ended up having a date with her. You're mine, brother."
Karamatsu laughed, and snuggled Todomatsu closer to him. "I'm so… pleased, for having to hear that from my lovely brother, nonetheless."
(It got a bit clear after the cloud slowly disappearing. Todomatsu could see some stars started to shine back.)
They had arrived at home, and as usual, the only one who had got back were only Ichimatsu and Jyuushimatsu. They were playing together, and by the time they opened the room to the living room, both Karamatsu and Todomatsu witnessed Ichimatsu had tickled Jyuushimatsu.
It was so ordinary, and that was fun.
For being adult, finally each having their own proper jobs, yet still be able to have fun and all. Todomatsu liked how his family bonds are really strong, liked how everything always been like this. It's like usual, Todomatsu will laugh and proceed to open his phone. Ignoring everything else, while rested his head over Karamatsu's lap.
"Hey, have you decide on where we want to go this Sunday?" Karamatsu asked to his little brother that was laying down his head on his lap. "I think I want to reserve a restaurant at downtown. There was one, just opened last week. I heard everyone said the food is superb."
"This Sunday—a-ah…" Todomatsu just remembered something. He hurriedly stand up, face getting pale as quick as it can be. Shit. He had forgotten his promise to go out with Karamatsu. "…ow, shit. I forgot… brother, I'm so sorry… I made a meeting with the supplier… c-can we do it next week?"
"I'll be going on a trip next week, sorry." As expected, Karamatsu kept on smiling. Expression did not falter, hands kept on carressing his little brother's hair. "It's okay… it's normal for people to forget things."
"Really?"
"Yeah, it's okay. We got a lot of time to think of something else in the weeks to come!"
Todomatsu doubt that, for sure.
(Then it started to rain a bit.)
#1
(It was chill.)
Despite his talkative and painful behaviour, surprisingly, Karamatsu rarely talked about himself.
No one understand even on his superpower, or how does his mind works. Sure, many people liked his presence. They love talking to Karamatsu because he can actually be polite and… elegant, if he wanted to.
But among all those stuffs, Todomatsu believed that none of those traits saying that Karamatsu is an early bird. He's usually waking up a bit late, so it's something really weird to see Karamatsu being the first one to wake up this morning.
"Oh, you woke up early today, Totty."
"I always am." Todomatsu changed his pajamas into his dress shirt. Taking his apron and setting his name tag on his left chest. "Uhm, I'm so sorry that I… forgot for… today—BUT I really wanted to compensate it by anyway possible!" He had said those words with a stutter. Damn. "Is there any way I can compensate for this mistake…?"
Karamatsu thought about it for a while, and then he was smiling, a really wide one.
"I have a challenge for you, dear Totty."
Huh.
That's strange.
"And what challenge would it be?"
Karamatsu's grin was really something that Todomatsu never seen before. It was so… refreshing, he guess, to see Karamatsu made any other expression other than his standard smile—that at this point, Todomatsu realized half of the time he muttered that smile, it was so fake—but this one. This particular one, it is really a sincere one. Todomatsu can't help but to get interested. If Karamatsu had been so excited with this particular challenge that he hadn't describe what it is about. Well, whatever it is, Todomatsu won't let any challenges go to waste, especially it was from Karamatsu.
"So it seems no one—except those in the education department—knows my ability." Ah, he had thought so. It made Todomatsu grew more excited than before. "Well, actually my superpower is nothing really spectacular, to be honest, and I cannot control it. Guess it in less than 80 days, I'll call this even. Sounds like a fun game, right?"
Well that's hard. "Any clue?"
"Clue? It's all around us. Although it'll be easier for you to notice too if we… hang out more." Karamatsu smiled. "Anyway, Todomatsu had always been the one who's the closest to me, you should've realize it in no time. I believe you can!"
That was so fucking vague. How was Todomatsu could get something from that?
Well, for whatever it is, this is a nice game, and Todomatsu surely won't miss this chance of repaying himself while enjoying a fun game in between. He had always been curious with Karamatsu's ability, anyway. How could someone be either so strong yet nothing at some time? Todomatsu never got on the reason why so.
"Indeed, it sounds fun. I'll accept the challenge, then." Todomatsu smiled. "Alright. I'm off now. You want to go with me?"
Karamatsu nodded, get up and changed his clothes in no time.
(It's surprisingly chill today. Small winds fluttering. So comfortable.)
#5
(It's dark, gloomy, perhaps. Also it's cold, chilling to the bone.)
After chasing on deadlines, Karamatsu finally fell sick.
He had been one of avid deadliners, but Karamatsu often forgots that forcing his body for so many times in this month finally had to pay its toll. Well, this is shitty, he could barely go outside. But lucky for him that today was not the day where Totty opened his cafe, so he had there all day long to treat him. At least it's not that sad, he could always tell his coworkers that Totty took care of him so well and not being a sad being with no love as usual. But anyhow it was, Karamatsu should put on his mind that he would soon be old and his body will not be able to stand on this terrible deadline habit of his.
"I told you to sleep earlier since you've been snorting two days ago." Todomatsu sighed, he put the cold towel at Karamatsu's forehead. "Listen to people better next time."
"But I cannot work at days. I'm charged by the power of the moon!" Oh man, now his older brother had to spit out nonsenses. "For real, I could work better if it's night-time. Totty…"
"You got to change your schedule, then. What's the difference between drinking and waking up past 12 PM? Fucking nothing, your body still going to be ruined." Todomatsu laid down beside Karamatsu. His back had been quite strained. "Should I read you a story so that you can just go to sleep already, brother?"
"That should be my part where I sing lullabies and read stories… I want to see your flower tricks instead." Karamatsu smiled. His cheeks had gone quite red. "I missed the sakura shower last week, and today is raining so… do that instead."
Oh, man.
Sakura petals, huh. As expected out of his brother. "Sure do… hmm." Todomatsu tried to concentrate himself on his left hand. Clasping both of his hands, and when he threw his hands into the air, all the flowers are falling to Karamatsu's head.
On a second thought he should probably be a damn magician instead.
"Aww man, I wanna see the real flowers too." Karamatsu sighed. "Yours are so beautiful, Totty. I wish I got such power like you do. What a beauty."
Todomatsu chuckled. In a mere second, sakura flowers are growing out of his hands. He plucked it slowly, and put it over Karamatsu's head. "You asked too much, and I believe you do much better than me. This power is mere aesthetic and nothing more. Get well soon." Todomatsu stroked his older brother's head. "We can go out only if you get well, brother." He then put out his smartphone to type something on his e-mail draft.
“What are you writing? You seemed so serious.” Karamatsu smiled. "Hey, you got time for a picnic? While the sakura is still here, and it seems the rest of them are quite busy this month…"
"It’s for noting everything about you, I said I’ll take your challenge so I should note everything that happens in a day, at least summarizing the whole day would be enough." Todomatsu scooted himself, positioning himself closer beside Karamatsu after he had yawned. “Why not? Let's go. But I'm sleepy right now, let me be here for a while.”
"Take your time, not like we’re going anywhere after this."
“You won’t, but I might be.” Todomatsu sighed. “Man, what a pain you are. Why everybody shouldn’t be at home when you’re sick.”
“Probably fate meant for us to be together, ma Cherie.”
Todomatsu cracked a laugh. “Oh, shut up, you’re such a pain in the neck.”
“And yet you’re still here.” Karamatsu chuckled. “Get some sleep, you said you’re sleepy before.”
Karamatsu smiled, caressing Todomatsu until he was asleep; singing a lullaby with his weak, crooked voice while right hand stroking on Todomatsu's hair. Strangely, despite his crooked voice due to the fever that burned his throat, his voice is still as good as ever. His eyes peered to the outside, and he smiled once again before he closed his eyes, following Todomatsu to sleep.
(It's still gloomy outside; at least it wasn't as chilling to the bone as it was before.)
#9
(For some reason, it was chill, yet sunshine shined brightly. Guess that's cool, not too cold, and not too hot.)
"How was your flower?"
"Seedlings grew quite nice. Lucky that lately we don't have storms or such." Todomatsu chuckled, adjusting his straw hat that was about to fall off from his head. "I'm happy, I hope this time these sunflowers could grow nicely. Can't wait to see a patch of it blooming brightly."
The mentioned patch wasn't that big to be honest. It was only along the trailing of their backyard, and there wasn't much plot to begin with over the said space. "You can made these seeds grow in instant, why do you bother on planting and wait for this?" Karamatsu asked. "You have the power to grow any plants you want, anyway. Sunflowers mustn't be that hard for you, isn't it?"
"Nothing in particular, it's just relaxing." Todomatsu answered. "And when it blooms, it made your heart flutters, I suppose. Like, seeing your effort finally get its result as well as you'd expected sort of sensation."
Honestly, Karamatsu did not know how that felt, so he just nodded and agree with whatever his little brother had to say. It's fun anyway, just seeing this brother trying his best on a thing that may seemed so little, probably some kind of a wasting time activity in Karamatsu's point of view, yet he could totally chill and have fun with it. Karamatsu didn't really understand, for some reason. He doesn't really had any plans in his life, he just do the things he had wanted to do. Whatever seemed fun, he just done it while making sure it doesn't turned fucked up. So that's where he sort of taking his hobby in cooking and taking photography. It'll made Choromatsu and Osomatsu flunk in shame if anyone of their members found out that apparently, their twin is quite a NEET.
No way he's going to bring shame over his brothers. Non, non, non.
"That's good if you can find a joy in there."
Todomatsu just smiled. Somehow it was reassuring for him.
"So we finally have a picnic. What do you have?" Todomatsu peered on the basket Karamatsu had brought. Classic picnic basket, hand-made rattan with blue and pink patched patterned fabric to cover on the foods. It smelled pretty good, and Todomatsu could feel the warmth. Ah, the joy of bringing fresh, newly-made food, especially if it's Karamatsu's cooking. Todomatsu's taste isn't that much different from Karamatsu, anyway. Most likely anything it'll be, Todomatsu will still like it. "Smelled so good… are you making a curry or some sort?"
"Indian curry with naan bread. I bought the naan bread, though. Good sense you got there, dear little brother of mine." Karamatsu smiled, pulling Todomatsu's hand and helping the younger to get up and brushed his brother's hair with his hand after he hanged the straw hat on Todomatsu's neck. "I made the curry a bit salty, you don't like it spicy, right?"
"Aww, you always know me the best." Todomatsu laughed, and proceed to embracing on Karamatsu's right arm. "Let's go! Ah, been so long since I finally had a proper break."
Todomatsu had been quite busy indeed. But it's a good sign. Business going on well, Todomatsu's reputation always increasing as days went on. Karamatsu loved that, seeing his brother slowly tasting the feeling of success and achievement, seeing Todomatsu's happy face always brought happiness to Karamatsu. "At this point you can open a branch shop, you know. Even those coming from different city wanted to try on your coffee, proved that you're already starting to be great at this." Karamatsu said, while keep on walking to the park's direction beside Todomatsu. "Would be nice if you could slowly have a break and be the CEO instead. It sounded cool too, CEO."
"I'm still not sure of that, but I do want to do it." Todomatsu started to get excited. It wasn't long before they arrived in the said park, and he was already so hyped to open the basket. "And by that I hope I can stay closer to you. I kinda missed those times where we spent time together, but I guess there wasn't much to be done at this point, so at the very least I still want to be with you!" Todomatsu put out his phone, proceed to type on his progress one more time. His right hand had been so used with smartphone, now he could type really fast only with his right hand.
So there was that, the day where Karamatsu just realized.
That love towards his family was always the biggest drive on his heart. No wonder he couldn't get to sense what an accomplishment felt like; he doesn't even know what made him the happiest all these times.
“I'll pray so that it'll come true, dear brother of mine.” Karamatsu spread the big cloth, and sat down over it. “Also you might want to help me set this up first; you can write about your… so called progress, later on.”
Todomatsu hurried to putting out all the foods in front of them. “It’s before I forget all of it!” he exclaimed. “But okay, then…”
Holiday was short, but one for sure they got to enjoy it with a great weather and delicious foods.
(The weather is so perfect today.)
#17
(For some reason, the air felt heavy today.)
It was spring and yet the weather is incredibly hot and humid; feels like Todomatsu had gone melting away. Lucky that the air con in his shop was working fine, and thanks to the humidity, his store was quite filled with people searching for some ease of cool air and cold drinks.
His brothers had come earlier, and Todomatsu can't help but to think will they got uncomfortable working in this kind of weather? Especially for Jyuushimatsu, Choromatsu and Osomatsu, they gone for outdoor activities more than the rest of the brothers. Well, it was nothing though, the city had faced weirder condition than today did. Todomatsu had thought that today may be a bad, but definitely not the worst, although he felt like just wanted to lay in a cold bed or some sort if he can.
It wasn't long before Karamatsu came to the cafe. Coming by the entrance of the door, and the bell jingled. Some of Todomatsu's part-timers were greeting Karamatsu loudly, and Todomatsu himself smiled at the sight of his brother. "Hey, brother." Todomatsu looked pretty happy when seeing Karamatsu. "It's rare for you to coming at these hours. Did you skipped work or something? Bad, bad brother…"
"On the contrary, I came early today." Karamatsu sighed. It was obvious that his face shown something not quite right—Todomatsu had yet to figure out why so. "It's just there's this… person, I cannot stand her. I know it's so wrong to hate on a woman but I honestly really, really disgusted by her acts. So unprofessional and… and…"
How Todomatsu shocked at his brother's statement. "What? Did you knocked your head or something?" Todomatsu had been more convinced that he is deaf rather than hearing Karamatsu said a woman's act is disgusting. "…what in the world made you said such thing—so not like you—is this woman is so outrageous or something?"
"Probably some kind of work pressure, it’s usual, nothing to worry about." Karamatsu trying to make himself feeling better or some sort. It was so hard for him not to hate a woman, but some people are apparently quite outrageous when it comes to testing his patience. "I'll get better just in a while. I need some time to rest, that’s all." He walked to a table at the corner, sat down and trying to calm himself down by reading some books he had bought earlier. Weird, Karamatsu found that reading whenever he felt stressful will calm himself down, while… uh, he is not an avid reader in usual. He hated reading long paragraphs, to be honest, but weirdly, it’s one of the best ways for him to unwinding his stress.
For anything it was, Todomatsu knew that Karamatsu won't speak a word about his job. It's funny, how his second-oldest brother had being one of the most talkative among them (and in most cases, they ignored Karamatsu because he often spit things beyond stupidity), yet never once he ever brought up the matter of work to the family. Every day, almost without fail, Karamatsu will always put a big smile no matter how his brothers treated him badly (by either ignoring or physically hurting him. Todomatsu felt bad for had been treating Karamatsu quite unfair actually.), and would never bring up working matters with his family unless it's something like, "I'm going to move to another place for about three months." which happened last year, or instances like, "I'm going to move into different department starting from next week." kind of happening.
No one really asked why Karamatsu would do that way, but once Todomatsu had asked on why Karamatsu never spoke out about how his work was in detail, all he had known was, "I prefer separating myself from personal and professional matters." which is, surprisingly wise as it came from Karamatsu. That, Karamatsu.
Whatever it may be, Todomatsu understood that this may be something quite major. So he decided to take his break, put down his navy blue apron and approached his older brother. Todomatsu brought a cup of coffee and a warm chocolate brownies to his brother, and smiled. "It's on the house." He sat down in front of his brother. "Also free consultation booth with the Mr. Todomatsu over here." Todomatsu put on a wide grin. "So what did my bad, bad brother do? You can tell me your chaotic doing, I won’t judge."
Karamatsu chuckled. It's not Todomatsu's usual to care much about his problems—or basically anyone amongst the brothers, Todomatsu had always been one of the most individual being in the house. So it wasn’t something weird that their relationship had been quite hard to maintain, but they already come a long way where it had started from him being the only one who gave one-sided affection, until one day Todomatsu picked it up and give it back, slowly. Growing up had bring a sense of togetherness among them, and it seems Todomatsu is trying to giving back what Karamatsu had given him. "There was someone I couldn't stand at my workplace, nothing more than that." Karamatsu chuckled. "It's more interesting to talk about those girls… see the ones with heels and heavy make up over there? They had been looking at us since before. Such attention, I'm so pleased." He then winked over the said girls while brushing his hair a bit to the back, and he could hear them shrieked. Damn, so painful as always.
"No, please stop…"
Yet deep down, Todomatsu wasn't sure that this talk would help Karamatsu feel better for the moment. Karamatsu always distracted the conversation into somewhere else, and whenever Todomatsu tried to get back into the original point where it talked about Karamatsu's problem, it's always being turned back into another point.
Todomatsu had forgotten since when Karamatsu had been so swift in his conversations; making Matsuno Karamatsu in his eyes so close, yet so distant at the same time.
(Man, weather is so bad today. Todomatsu hoped that some cool breeze will ease up the dryness.)
#29
(No one expected that today's wind is going to be this strong.)
Karamatsu got a promotion and as usual, no one cares so much.
They did say “congrats” but there was nothing more than that, though. So honestly it wasn’t much, but Karamatsu was trying to stay excited through the day, it’s a promotion after all, he had been wanted himself on the chair of Editor Chief, and after years he had worked hard, he finally obtain it. Hard work and integrity did always pay, shame that not many would acknowledge Matsuno Karamatsu enough in his family.
Todomatsu wasn’t there when it happened, though. So while Todomatsu had been the one who will always get the most excited of anything happened to Karamatsu, he wasn’t there to be by his side during the peak of his happiness. It was weird, that after all these times he now got hit with the realization that he had been lying to himself about being happy.
Weird.
One side it felt so bright in his heart, and the other felt heavy with sadness for being unnoticed. One side felt like he had gotten used to the whole thing of being ignored, the other side felt with heart trying his best to letting out his tears—and sadly the part where he had to look always happy and unconcerned always win and it killed him slowly.
He was so stressed, yet excited at the same time. It’s the weirdest feeling that he ever felt.
So then he picked his phone up, and called one of the only contacts he had there. None other than Todomatsu, obviously.
“Hey, you’re done yet?” Karamatsu asked. He tried to make his voice as cheery as he could.
“Not yet. But I don’t think I’ll be able to gone home with this kind of weather.” Todomatsu answered. “Are you home yet? You sounded so cheerful today. Is there any good news I’d love to hear?”
“Yeah, I got a promotion and here, your brave and the coolest brother will come to save you from this raging storm.” It has gone quite raging outside, the wind, he meant. Karamatsu picked up his jacket, and making sure that he brought one extra. He was going to call on taxi, but seeing on how expensive it might be, he decided to turn the decision down and decided to get on his motorbike—whatever, they both will be going all wet afterwards no matter what they are going to ride with. “I’ll see you later, Cherie.”
It wasn’t all big; a small motorbike enough for two, with a speed no more than 80 km/h. Also an old type, on that note. All those money he had saved enough to buy this small motorbike that he loved was quite satisfying. Yet, it was still a motorbike; nothing really comfortable with the fact that it was raining hard—storm coming up, and his helm lid had been wet with rainwater that kept on splashing towards it. Behind him, he had saved up another extra helmet for Todomatsu later on, hanging behind his neck, down a bit to his back.
That wasn’t supposed to be a long trip; the distance wasn’t that far to begin with, but it was raining hard and his mind had been filled with chaotic emotions. All the rage and excitement mixed into one and honestly his mind may had explode if it could. Karamatsu thanked that Todomatsu wasn’t being too noisy about picking his little brother from his workplace, so it could be a perfect excuse for him to run away from his disturbing feelings.
Maybe he can find a way to unwind himself from his brothers, or something. For whatever means it is, Karamatsu really don't want to meet with the rest of his brothers if he ended up getting pissed off by himself without being able to loath it out. It is much enjoyable to see people utilizing their superpowers to get by any means so that not a raindrop will fall on their body. He could see someone who's able to manipulate wind and making a circle of whirlwind around herself; some kids with power to enlarging matters managed to get their umbrella bigger so his friends could fit together, and many other he hadn't managed to mention.
Yep, this is much more fun than being stucked among his other brothers.
Not long after that Karamatsu managed to arrived on Todomatsu's shop safely. All wet and looked so worn out, but it doesn't matter for him, still felt much better than being ignored. "My brother!" Karamatsu looked so happy when he saw Todomatsu was already waiting with a towel and throw the said towel onto his face. "Ouch…" Karamatsu groaned. "You can just give this with love to me, you don't need to throw this, Cherie…" Karamatsu pouted, but he did brushed his hair with that white towel. What a clean towel, it felt so fresh. The smell of local detergent that they often used could be smelled quite distinctive, also it seemed like it had been just taken out of dryer; felt warm and soft, it's nice.
"Ugh, I just finished mopping the floor and you had to come all drenched and wet." Todomatsu sighed. "You better not getting sick anymore. It's sucks for both of us if that happens again."
Karamatsu went silent for a bit, and smiled. "You said that like you're the only one cared about my well-being, but thank you, though."
It made Todomatsu flinched a bit, moved away behind his counter to make a warm drink before he managed to answer. "Admit it, I do care about you more than them." He said that pretty quick, seemed a bit embarrassed about what he had said--it wasn't really like Todomatsu to had said that, anyway. His hands keep on making the said tea. "Not even you seemed to take care of yourself. No wonder they don't care to the slightest over you."
"And that makes you think that you have treat me better?" Karamatsu laughed, he had sat down before and trying to drying around his neck. "No offense, I'm just simply wondering. Honestly I'm currently so flattered, but no one seemed to care that much about me, you know."
"I feel like I have to be mature enough to love my most beloved brother more than words." Todomatsu offered a warm cup of chamomile tea for Karamatsu. He sat down across his brother, still a bit embarrassed to . "I want to repay for all of my act of immaturity all these times. So what's the good news? You sounded pretty excited before."
Karamatsu put on his excited smile once more. "Yeah, I got a promotion! Finally, I had been wanting this position after a long time and I managed to get it." If Todomatsu could relating on his brother's expression, he'd like to describe it as an expression of a child who had gotten their share of ice cream and balloons. "…and you know, it's satisfying to know that you got a goal and managed to accomplish it. It's… great, to feel this for the first time after forever, you know? I never really had any plan for the future and I didn't expect all the little things you managed to accomplish could bring out this kind of… excitement."
It's great.
Todomatsu felt so… happy. He never really Karamatsu looked so expressively sincere, he guess.
"Well, look at our happy boy right here, you want me to buy you ice cream and balloon--HOLY HELL!" Todomatsu screamed so loud when he heard a signboard flew right to his window. Luckily his window was quite strong, but still it was worrisome. "Uh, should we head back home now?"
Karamatsu gave the pink helmet to Todomatsu and smiled. Putting it on Todomatsu's head and gave a rain jacket to his little brother. "Yeah I guess we got to now." He patted on Todomatsu's cheek. "Thanks for everything, I'm glad to have you as my brother."
"No problem, but really, should I buy you ice cream and balloons as a celebration?"
Karamatsu smiled. “We can save it up for later; for now we got to hurry up home.”
(There was a typhoon alert issued just now.)
#45
(The sky was blue a minute ago, and now it turned into a dark grey.)
Todomatsu wasn't sure why everytime there is something happening to Karamatsu, he's always not being there.
He had woken up late this morning, and he was about to reviewing on his note to take some writing on some progress about identifying what kind of superpower that Karamatsu might have, it was when he could feel his house shaked quite hard. Weird. He was quite sure no one that would be able to shake houses wasn't here. Todomatsu going down to see what happened, and he had witnessed Ichimatsu looked a bit horror and angry towards Karamatsu.
"That's it, I had enough of you, Shittymatsu! I don't want to see you anymore!"
"No one ask you to live under the same roof with me, brother." Karamatsu had answered calmly, while inhaling on his cigarette. By the acts of it, Karamatsu won't light on his cigarette if it wasn't for a distraction to calm himself down. "
"Hey, dickhead. If talking could get the problem sorted out, I won't scream like this at all!" Ichimatsu clicked his tongue, and shoved Todomatsu from his way to get out from that room. "Fine, you must be sick to see me anyway. Useless Shittymatsu…"
Todomatsu could hear their front door being closed roughly. Ichimatsu had gone to his work with such raging emotion, that must be bad… "Karamatsu?" Todomatsu tried to call on Karamatsu who had opened his window, continue to smoking. "What's happening again this time… that's not okay, this had been happening for too long, right?" Everyone knows that Ichimatsu and Karamatsu never been able to actually get along; Karamatsu had always tried his best to mend their relationship, but always, there were always, something that made a rift within their relationship. A fight or two between them were not something unusual, but this time it seemed quite big.
"It wasn't anything unusual, just the ordinary fight…"
How the fuck it was usual.
"That's not how it works, brother." Todomatsu sat beside Karamatsu, turning on his smartphone before he get out to have some shopping. "Anyway, you want to get out with me? Let's find some fresh air. That before may had exhausted you out, won't it?"
Karamatsu chuckled; his eyes peered to the view outside. He could see his mother and Choromatsu went back from the market. The flying groceries went all around them as they were about to walk inside their house. "I don't feel like I want to get outside today, Totty. Thanks for the offer, though." He tried himself to smile his best. "Where do you want to go?"
"Dept store two stations away from here. They just opened the store last week so I want to check it out. There are lots of opening sale in the stores so I hope I could get something good." Todomatsu wasn't the best when it comes to cheer people up, but he knew that Karamatsu loved a hug as a comforting way after stress. "You need to give yourself a break, brother. It's not good to always be the one who you'll blame yourself over and over; conflicts happened because the two sides play it, it's not entirely because of you, okay?" Todomatsu looked upon his brother and brushed his hair. "Besides you looked much more painful when you're all sad. It'll get better, okay? If there's anything I can do, call me."
Karamatsu smiled back, his tears that had built up on his eyes started to dropping out slowly. "Thank you. You're the best." He said, kissing his brother's forehead. "But I want to stay at home today. If I wanted to get there, I'll call you later, okay? Now hurry up, the train will leave in… twenty minutes from now, right? You won't make it in time to the station if you don't go now."
"Yeah, sure do." Todomatsu kissed Karamatsu's cheek. Fuck, this is still embarrassing. They are adults. Fucking adults. But for the sake of Karamatsu… "Alright, drop me a call, yeah? Get better, brother."
"Sure do. Thank you so much!" Karamatsu chuckled, and he was waving to Todomatsu when he realized something. "And, oh… I think today will rain quite hard. I suggest you to bring your umbrella, Totty."
"Eh? But it's shiny--"
"You may want to believe me on that."
Todomatsu followed on his words, and he didn't regret on listening to Karamatsu's advice.
(That may be one of the craziest rain Todomatsu ever experienced.)
#61
(It's scorching hot.)
It was weird to find out that Karamatsu was seen working from home; but since his promotion, Karamatsu is more often to be seen on the house rather than going out. He's still having his breakfast at Todomatsu's place, but he didn't showed up with his working attire anymore. He had come to the cafe with nothing more than a simple navy blue dress shirt and a 3/4 khaki pants that strangely fitted to his legs. No more oxford shoes, there was more like a mountain sandals kind of footwear that he'd wear occasionally when he hadn't come up to the office. Karamatsu said that it is done to reduce his stress at office; plus, on Fridays there will be usually meetings held outside the office, so rather than spending time on his way to the office and meet somewhere farther, Karamatsu decided to get to his office if deemed necessary on that day.
Todomatsu had to admit that he felt a bit lonely with no Karamatsu picking him up once in a while; but it seemed that it's better for Karamatsu to plunged himself on the workloads rather than having to deal with the cold war of his with Ichimatsu. The said fourth brother was not even at home very often lately, maybe he had been taking care of his business too; few days ago, Ichimatsu did ask several tips on how to managing a cafe. By the looks of it, seems like Ichimatsu was planning to open on his own cat cafe. He said he had collected some capital money to make it, and hoped that he could work and ask for advices from Todomatsu.
He didn't reject, though. But the thought that Ichimatsu asking for his advices was pretty weird.
Welp, but the good side Ichimatsu wasn't often at home and had gotten a bit more active on talking and doing negotiations. So that means Karamatsu owned the house only for himself from morning till after lunch before he'd gotten to meet people at either cafe, restaurants, or bars. That also means that Todomatsu could have more time together with Karamatsu; he had decided to come a bit late whenever Karamatsu not going to his office and went to his cafe together. "You brought so much documents lately. I thought you were supposed to be in-charge of designing and doing photographs?"
"As you go on, you'd find yourself having to work harder than it should, and you should be knowledgeable in more subjects." Karamatsu explained. "So that means you will meet many people from different areas, and you gotta study about them, too."
"That's painfully wise. Ugh."
"I'll take it as a compliment."
Yep, they had tried to grow up in some ways or another.
"But it's not like that's in your capability. I reckon you've once said that you're more into a specialist rather than a generalist when you're working over something." Todomatsu said, while trying to evade on a kid who's using his shapeshifting power quite inappropriately. Ugh, kids and their powers. "Aren't you bummed out?"
Karamatsu brushed Todomatsu's hair, and chuckled. "I do, Ma Cherie. But doesn't mean I gotta stop. This position had always been my dream and no matter what, I got to focus on what I should do." Karamatsu had put on a hat this time; he fixed his fedora's position. "Well, I only got to learn stress management and that's that, I guess. I'm still on the adjusting stage in this new position, anyway."
It's weird that among people who will prefer a job that makes out of their superpower the best, Karamatsu sounded so… humane.
"Just don't stress yourself out." Todomatsu sighed, and he opened his phone. He wasn't sure on what should he write regarding challenge from Karamatsu, lately. There wasn't much happening but… let's see if he could identify on what's similar amongst the sixty-one day happenings he had written. "But man, you're really cruel on me, brother. I can't find much about what you're capable of and yet I got this strong aura always coming out of you. I'm dying to know…"
"The challenge is for you to find it out, don't ask me." Karamatsu laughed. "Come on, your writing is fairly detailed. It's pretty spot on, even."
"You said that but I write too many. I don't even know where to start."
"Then try to filter it." Karamatsu touched on his brother's forehead with his fingers and pressed it. "But really, did you make any progress?" Todomatsu groaned over Karamatsu's doing, of course. That hurt.
"Not much but I'm getting there." Todomatsu smiled. "I'm going to tear your secrets wide open, just you see!"
There was nothing more amusing than seeing his own brother glee in excitement.
"Then good luck with that, my darling."
(Lucky that it was only for a moment. Todomatsu had missed this enjoyable chill.)
#79
(There was a sunshower.)
"So? Tomorrow is the deadline. Have you figured it out?"
He found Todomatsu had tend his sunflower patch once again. Few days ago, there was a massive heatstroke and Todomatsu forgot to take care of his flowers, and it died because he hadn't water them. If Todomatsu could blame, then he'd blame on Karamatsu's challenge, he had trying to see what has the past 78 days brought to him and there was always something that aligned perfectly; between Karamatsu's emotion and the local weather.
Tomorrow will be 80th day, and yes, of course Todomatsu finally figured it out. Karamatsu has the enormous power to control weather, that, it seems, sadly he had no control over it. The closest control he had managed was by the sheer emotion that may be strong enough to affect weather. Depression with heavy rain. Excitement of feelings with storms. A scorchingly hot days with stress, and the list goes on.
"If you keep on being gloomy like that, no wonder my flower will never grow. Storms will always coming, and now what, sunshowers? What are you thinking?" Todomatsu chuckled. His face a bit dirtied with the dirts all around his hands. "You and your emotion-driven weather control…"
Ah, so it's true that Todomatsu had found out about it. "So you finally figured it out. I hope you keep it a secret between us." Karamatsu smiled. It was the second time Todomatsu had seen such a sincere smile. "I hope it is not disappointing. Shame, only if I can have a control over it… I would be equally unbeatable with those two."
It sucks when you have the ability to change the weather, yet had no power to control it no matter how much you'd tried. It's like wasting what has been given to him, if Karamatsu could say.
"There was a certain beauty in it, don't be disappointed. It’s cool that the weather, this world loves you so much, no?" Todomatsu laughed, he tried to get a seed of a certain flower. Sunflower, of course. "Except the part where this is the fourth time I had to replant my sunflowers. Hope for the best that this time it'll grow well." Todomatsu scooped a bit of dirt, started to plant the sunflowers one more time.
"Nice to hear it. I'll try not to kill your flowers anymore." Karamatsu laughed quite loud. He had squatting beside Todomatsu and helped his little brother with his gardening hobby. "Is there anything else you got aside from knowing my ability?"
"I guess getting closer with you was the loveliest thing I could get."
Karamatsu smiled, and he looked up to the sky; the clouds are starting to disappearing, and once more, the bright sunshine shone on them.
"I love that part, too."
(And then it was bright. So bright until Todomatsu had to use his straw hat to cover his head.)
End
(It's so comfortable when it gets warm after all these times.)