Chapter Text
Todomatsu quietly slid into the house, glancing at his phone for the millionth time. 4 am already... he sighed quietly before continuing to sneak into the house. hopefully his brothers stayed true to their nature and hadn't noticed he was gone so late. Totty stepped slowly and silently, taking extra care to make sure his return went unnoticed. everyone was asleep, right? he stopped in place for a moment, checking to make sure. yes, he could hear quiet snoring coming from his and his brother's shared room. he continued on with his slow walk. as he passed by the cupboard where most of the food was kept, he glanced over to it just as his stomach rumbled. His whole body tensed up and he froze. No, no no no he cant have that be happening, things are bad enough already... listening closely, he made sure his brothers were still asleep, before clutching his stomach and continuing onwards towards their room. He took a deep breath before sliding the door open quietly. Thank god, they were still asleep. He quietly stepped over and slid into his spot in the bed, careful not to disturb his brothers on either side of him.
It felt like Todomatsu had only just closed his eyes when suddenly the lights in the room came on. Sitting up slowly, he rubbed his eyes and groaned. As he adjusted to the light, his stomach grumbled again, this time coming with a wave of pain, leaving him hunched over and letting out a whine against his will. "Todomatsu." Totty looked up to be greeted by Choromatsu's frowning face, his arms crossed. Totty glanced around in panic before preparing to display his usual 'personality', but... he didn't know what to say. How was he supposed to respond to that? His brothers must know how late he was out, they must have figured everything out already, and how was he supposed to respond when his horrible stomach keeps aching and his head is spinning... He looked back up to Choromatsu, feeling helpless.
Choromatsu seemed slightly surprised that Todomatsu hadn't responded, but his expression stayed the same. "Totty, where were you last night? You were gone when we all went to sleep, and i never even noticed you come in! You've been staying out later and later recently!" Wait... what time is it? Totty fumbled for his phone, grabbing it and almost dropping it immidiately. Great, his hands are shaking. Turning it on, he checked the time and- oh god. it couldn't be 3 in the afternoon he /just/ went to sleep it was /just/ four am... Totty's head was reeling as he vaguely heard Choromatsu clear his throat. oh yeah, he asked a question. His whole body shaking now, Totty looked back over to Choromatsu. What was his question again? Totty's mind felt clouded and he was so dizzy at this point he felt like the whole room was tilting side to side. "Uh.... wh-hatdyou aska.. again?" oh god, even his voice sounds terrible right now. His scrambled thoughts seemed to be able to focus on that, at least. disgusting, he couldn't even hold himself together after just two days of not eating...
Looking back over into Choro's direction once more, Totty noticed that his older brother was suddenly absent. Fortunate, because the pink matsu was feeling more and more like tears were in his near future. Still shaking, he picked his phone back up. He's surely got some easy, simple games on there to distract himself from everything going on right now... alas, he was shaking so hard he dropped his phone before he could find a suitable game. and with that, the tears begin. starting to sob, he can't focus on anything anymore except how pitiful he must be right now. crying because he dropped his phone? that's so horrible, so weak, he should be able to deal with stuff like this or at least be able to act like a reasonable human being, but no. crying at a phone and being unable to answer a simple question. it was probably a simple one, anyway.
Looking up as the door to the room slid open once more, Todomatsu saw one of his brothers walk in, but he couldn't tell who it was because of his clouded vision. The other matsu sat down next to Totty as the pink matsu felt another wave of pain from his stomach. The prescence of another person somehow made him feel worse, as he hunched over and let out another sob. He felt an arm wrap around him in a half hug, and he jumped, already forgetting there was someone beside him. wondering why his brother was being so quiet, Totty rubbed his eyes and looked over. Ichimatsu was sitting beside him, not smiling, not frowning, his eyes giving away no emotion. Totty sniffled, and tried to focus his thoughts and ignore his pain. Why was ichimatsu, of all people, trying to comfort him? Listening closely, he realized he could hear quiet chatter and... cooking, he guessed, coming from the other room. the thought of food made him feel sick, even if it should have sounded appetizing. trying his best to focus on the talking coming from the other room, he couldn't tell what words were being said, but he could clearly hear that choromatsu was one of the voices. he sounded slightly commanding, and... sad? totty thought for a moment before everything suddenly seemed to click together in his mind.
Choromatsu must have felt bad for Totty, and sent Ichimatsu to make him feel better. Well, totty decided, im not going to take any pity from people who don't understand, and /especially/ not from people who didn't feel it in the first place. Scowling, he shoved Ichmatsu away. Ichi seemed surprised, but not unhappy. God, why didn't ichi ever feel anything? Angrily, todomatsu tried to stand up, only to have his legs go weak almost immidiately, causing him to fall back down. As he hit the floor, something inside him broke again, and he started crying for the second time, only scarcely aware of Ichimatsu standing up and walking towards the door, stopping only just in front of it. He looked back and simply said, "Sorry." before walking off again.
Totty lay on the floor, trying to cope with the pain, for what felt like an hour. Suddenly he heard footsteps again. Great, another one sent to stand guard so that he wouldn't feel bad. How could that possibly help? he sniffled again, wiping his face from his second tear-fest. As he breathed in, however, he caught the smell of teriyaki. Sitting up slowly, still shaking, Todomatsu's head was spinning. No no no no food is the /last/ thing he wants right now, oh god he feels disgusting. bracing himself and turning around, he saw Jyushimatsu standing in the doorway holding, yep, some teriyaki. As totty looked over, Jyushi took a step forward. "Totty! I have some food for you, Choromatsu-niisan made it-..." The yellow matsu's voice cut off as Todomatsu shook his head slowly. "U-uh, i'm supposed to give it to you, n...no matter what, so..." Todomatsu shook his head more forcefully, trying to deal with the groaning from his stomach. Jyushimatsu was still smiling as he walked towards totty, but he didn't seem happy. Totty tried not to gag as the smell of food got more intense. He was getting a pretty bad headache by now, and he could only whine in pain and fear as Jyushimatsu set the teriyaki down on the ground in front of him. "Todomatsu... please eat something! I don't want you to be sick..." Jyushimatsu was no longer smiling as he backed away before turning and running out of the room.
Todomatsu stared quietly at the plate on the floor. He wanted to eat it, but he couldn't. just the thought of eating made him feel disgusting. But his stomach was still aching, and his headache and dizziness were starting to get impossible to bear. But he couldn't eat. He groaned as yet another one of his brothers walked in, and god, it had to be /karamatsu/. How could anyone so painful even think of trying to help? As karamatsu sat quietly down beside him, Totty had to stop himself from groaning again. He already felt sick, and whatever karamatsu was thinking of trying wasn't going to help that, surely. As karamatsu opened his mouth, todomatsu tensed up, expecting the worst.
"Todomatsu, you... you have to eat something. We're all worried about you and you can't keep doing this to yourself! Y... you're gonna really get hurt, if you keep this up. I don't want that! None of us want that. I don't think even you want that."
Todomatsu turned to look at karamatsu, not knowing what to say. Karamatsu leaned in to hug Totty, before walking off, looking a lot less sure of himself than normal. Todomatsu watched him leave before turning back to the teriyaki. "m-maybe I should...." He heard conversation going on outside, and he listened to the muffled voices for a while, unable to understand them but finding the sound comforting as he tried to decide what to do. soon, the conversation ended and the sound of footsteps coming towards the room returned. Oh no. if all of his other brothers had visited already, that means that this must be...
Nope.
All four of the brothers who had previously visited returned to the room. Todomatsu stared at them blankly, almost wanting to cry again. There was a few moments of awkward silence, the only sound being Choromatsu muttering under his breath, "darn. i thought he would have eaten it by now, at least..." Todomatsu decided to ignore the comment, instead asking a question. "Where is osomatsu-niisan?" his brothers glanced at each other for a moment before karamatsu responded. "We're... not sure. He's-" karamatsu was cut off as Jyushimatsu interrupted. "That's not important! What's important is you getting some food into your body!! so, are.. are you gonna eat it?"
"Yes... I will."
Todomatsu's older brothers cheered.
Todomatsu smiled. "But... only if you'll share it with me."