Chapter Text
From what he could see, the sun was setting. It gave the world a beautiful orange glow, and reminded him of the oden underneath him, piping hot and delicious.
The warmth was a reminder that home is where you find the things you love, and for Chibita, well he had basically married his profession.
The sound of one of his curtains flapping was a gentle knock at his door.
"Hello, Chibita," said an all too familiar voice, deep and polished.
"Ah, Karamatsu! The hell are you doing here?" He knew what he was doing here.
Karamatsu visited quite often, more than any of the other brothers. At first Chibita found it strange that Karamatsu visited almost every day, but now the sound of his voice brought a smile to his face.
"Heh," his lips curled upwards in a typical Karamatsu fashion, a look that would be considered painful by anyone (other than Chibita), and he slowly took his sunglasses off.
"Idjit, why are you wearing sunglasses at th- the hell?"
Karamatsu's left eye was slightly swollen, and a deep purple surrounded it. It looked legitimately painful, but he smiled his suave smile regardless.
Chibita's smile faded quickly at the scene in front of him.
"Ah, Chibita. As you can see I've been injured, and I'd like a bowl of your magic oden to heal my wound,"
Chibita would have been flattered if his concern for his friend wasn't so overwhelming (which was strange, since Chibita wasn't exactly innocent when it came to hurting Karamatsu). Recently there'd been a shift in Chibita's perspective on Karamatsu. He used to think of him as some painful guy, but there was something behind it. There was something that he found likeable about Karamatsu, something that made his heart smile when he came to visit. And to see someone so important to him hurt was truly unpleasant.
"What? Magic oden? What happened to you, idjit?" He asked as he reached for a bowl.
"Well you see, my brothers were having a little fun,"
Chibita handed him a bowl of steaming oden, rolling his eyes once he heard "my brothers".
Recently Karamatsu had started talking about his brothers with Chibita, who had never actually known how badly they treated him. It seemed to be getting worse, that they were rude and neglectful, and Chibita wondered how Karamatsu could so easily forgive them for everything they did to hurt him. The past few days seemed especially rough for Karamatsu, from what he told Chibita, but he barely seems bothered by it.
"Thank you." Karamatsu smiled. "Anyways, they were all dancing, having a good time. It truly was fun, until Ichimatsu-niisan accidentally hit me. Heh, can you believe it?"
"Accidentally?" Chibita raised an eyebrow.
His brothers mistreated him so often that it hardly seemed accidental, but Karamatsu refused to believe that his dear brothers would be rude to him on purpose.
"And then he said, oh? Karamatsu, when did you get here?" He let out a small laugh, and Chibita couldn't tell if he sounded hurt.
Chibita's heart tightened in his chest.
"The hell, damnit? That's awful," Chibita poured Karamatsu a drink (as well as one for himself) and took a walk around his oden stand to sit next to Karamatsu. "Awful..." he shook his head, setting the drinks down.
"And so I left because... I realized that I hadn't visited you yesterday,"
Chibita felt a slight conflict within himself. He wasn't sure if Karamatsu's words were genuine (he would be thrilled if they were), or if he was using them to hide something.
"Well, that sucks. Those idjits don't know how to hold back huh,"
"It's fine. I enjoy the fact that my brothers and I can enjoy each others company."
His gaze was sympathetic. He wondered if Karamatsu genuinely couldn't tell that his brothers didn't like him, or if he refused to believe it. He wanted to tell Karamatsu what he thought of the situation, but he didn't want to potentially hurt him more.
He sighed, his eyes resting on the dark bruise on Karamatsu's face. It didn't look too bad, but it sill made Chibita's heart sink.
"Man, that looks like it hurts," Chibita reached out to his face and gently slid his thumb across the bruise.
"Ah..." Karamatsu winced ever so slightly, and quickly turned his head.
"Sorry! Sorry..." Chibita looked at him with concern, but Karamatsu tried to play it off.
"N-Not a problem, my friend..." Karamatsu's cheeks slowly turned red.
Chibita found his reaction slightly strange, so he tried his best to turn the mood around.
"Already got a buzz going? Haha!" Chibita slapped him (gently) on the back. "My oden may not heal you, but booze sure can!"
"Heh, of course," Karamatsu went to push up his sunglasses, which he had set on the table a while ago, and poked himself in the eye. "Ow- ow, ow."
"Haha, you damn idiot!" Chibita finished off his drink, and sighed.
They sat and made idle conversation for a while, laughing the best they could, but Karamatsu seemed to be holding back ever so slightly. Chibita's concern only grew.
He could tell that there was something wrong with Karamatsu, but he kept his face the whole time. Chibita wondered what was going on in there, and he wished that Karamatsu would only trust him enough to talk to him.
The night air chilled Chibita's back, and he hadn't realized how late it was.
"Well, I think it's time to close up shop." Chibita said, grabbing their dishes.
"Of course, Chibita," Karamatsu stood up and put his sunglasses back on, covering up his black eye.
"Will you be alright to get home? I could walk with you, if you like," Chibita tried to mask the concern in his voice with friendliness.
"N-No, I think I'll be just fine." His cheeks had darkened again.
"You sure? You look super drunk, you idjit, your cheeks are all red!"
Karamatsu turned away.
"I appreciate your offer, thank you," The "thank you" was said painfully in English. "I'll be off now,"
"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow then?" Chibita was leaning over his oden, speaking louder as Karamatsu walked away.
"Sure," Karamatsu waved as he walked away.
"Jeez, that guy..."
Chibita wished he had asked Karamatsu about how he really felt, but he felt some security knowing that he would come back tomorrow. Maybe he would ask him then.
He sighed, cleaning out his glass.
He dumped Karamatsu's glass, cleaned it, and packed everything up, and hit the road.
Walking at night with his heavy oden cart was the best time for him to reflect on his day. But he couldn't stop thinking about Karamatsu.
He thought about how Karamatsu was acting, how it almost seemed like he was indirectly asking for help. Chibita felt bad that he only realized this now, that he still might have hurt Karamatsu's feelings by letting everything slide without a question. But he didn't beat himself up over it, because he wasn't sure if that was even true or if he was just making it up to try and make sense of the situation.
And he thought about how Karamatsu reacted to the things he did, how his cheeks flushed, how he hadn't even drank any of his beer.
"Oh... Oh my god,"
And now Chibita had a new whole different problem concerning Karamatsu.