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Jyushimatsu knocks a lot of stuff over. He breaks a lot of door handles, rips a lot of phone chords from walls, and runs into a lot of furniture which scratches up the floor, but he isn’t exactly clumsy. He’s just wild and moves his limbs around as much as possible. He doesn’t ever break people’s private possessions, because he’s never careless enough to run around too close to other people. So the first time he breaks one of his brothers’ things, it’s a little unusual, perhaps, but nothing is really thought of it.
* * * * *
“Jyushimatsu, watch out—!” Jyushimatsu did, in fact, not watch out, and stomped directly on his brother’s mirror in his running around the room. He had knocked into Karamatsu in his previous circle around the room, causing him to drop his mirror, and the next time around, well. Glass was everywhere now.
With his smile strained, upset at breaking his brother’s property, he turned to face Karamatsu, his weight still frozen on the foot that’s stepping on the mirror. “I’m so sorry Karamatsu-niisan! I didn’t mean to break it!”
“Non, non Jyushimatsu, I don’t care about the mirror!” Karamatsu’s face was pinched in concern, his overly defined eyebrows in a deep frown. “You stepped on glass! Are you hurt? Did any pieces get in your foot? Sit on the couch, don’t step anywhere else!”
Jyushimatsu flopped backwards onto the couch, his tension dissipating as his smile became genuine again, and he laughed. “Oh, Karamatsu-niisan, I’m fine! I wasn’t running around barefoot, see?” Jyushimatsu leaned into the back of the couch as he lifted both his legs so his slipper-clad feet were eyelevel with Karamatsu. Karamatsu’s face unclenched, a look of relief briefly passing over his face, only to be replaced by a look of (clearly fake) annoyance a second later. He breathed in deeply, letting out a long, vocal sigh. He brought his hand to his forehead, shaking his head. Boy, was he a dramatic guy!
“Jyushimatsu, my little Jyushimatsu. You must be more careful, buraza! We can’t have you injuring yourself, can we? What would you do with your boundless energy if you couldn’t walk anywhere?” Karamatsu made a big show of removing his hand from his face, placing it down in his lap as he shot Jyushimatsu a knowing smirk with an eyebrow raised. What exactly does he know that Jyushimatsu doesn’t? How mysterious!
Jyushimatsu raises a hand to his thoughtful face*, hoping to think of the answer to his question before Karamatsu says it himself. He narrows his eyes, thinking of things he could do without walking, and comes up with a few. “I know! I could take lots of naps, I could watch movies, I could hit baseballs sitting down, I could still go out and about if someone would give me piggyback rides!! There are lots of things I could do without walking, niisan!”
Karamatsu’s cool look falls off of his face, and the next second he bursts into laughter. “Always looking on the bright side of things, aren’t we Jyushimatsu?”
Jyushimatsu is about to agree, but suddenly remembers why he was looking on the bright side of things, and abruptly stands up, paying no attention to the glass shards on the ground. “That reminds me! I’ll be right back, Karamatsu-niisan! I have urgent business to attend and while I’m gone maybe you should clean up the glass! It’s dangerous to have lying around!”
Jyushimatsu rushes out the door to the closest shop that he knows sells practical items like mirrors. He waves to the shop owner, and speed walks to the back corner where some handheld mirrors are hanging. After a few minutes of searching, he finds a pretty one with light blue gems bedazzled in a grid pattern all over the back that sparkle in the light, and he checks the price. ¥2650. He thinks back to the number he counted to this morning (¥10,712) and figures that should be okay. Quickly paying for it, Jyushimatsu sprints back home with the mirror in a plastic bag and the price tag taken off, bursting through the front door and skidding to a halt in the living room.
Karamatsu is still the only one there, kneeling down with a dustpan and brush, sweeping up the glass. “I’m hoooome!” Jyushimatsu announces exuberantly, startling Karamatsu and almost making him drop the glass back on the ground. He puts a hand to his chest and closes his eyes, dramatically trying to calm down; a few seconds later he looks up at his younger brother. “Back so soon, buraza?” Ah. A brief look at the clock on the wall tells him he’s been gone for about three and a half minutes.
“Yeah! I said it was urgent business, and I took care of it really urgently!” Jyushimatsu skips over to his older brother, whips the mirror out of the bag, and presents it to him. “I broke your mirror, so it was only fair to get you another one as soon as possible!”
The hand on Karamatsu’s chest falters and his face softens. He gently places the dustpan full of glass on the ground, and hesitantly reaches for the mirror. Flipping it over to the back, his mouth makes a little “o” shape at the (probably plastic) gems on the back. “Jyushimatsu, this is… really nice. You didn’t have to get this for me.”
“Of course I did! I broke something of yours, it would be rude of me not to replace it! I thought it would be nice to get you a different looking one, though, and that one’s pretty!” Jyushimatsu had been hoping for enthusiasm, but it’s okay, he knew Karamatsu was just surprised!
Karamatsu gently sets the mirror on the table next to him, and stands up to look at Jyushimatsu. He clenches and unclenches his fists a few times, and then quickly reaches forward to hug Jyushimatsu around his middle. “Thank you,” he says quietly into his shoulder.
Jyushimatsu lets out a loud, belting laugh and throws his arms around his older brother’s neck. “You’re welcome, niisan!”
* * * * *
The second time Jyushimatsu breaks one of his brothers’ possessions, it’s noted as strange. Particularly, because it was another one of Karamatsu’s things—and it happened a day later.
* * * * *
“Ahhh, Karamatsu-niisan, I’m sorry!” Jyushimatsu bursts out of the bathroom, running over to Karamastu to sit next to him on the couch and drape himself over his older brother’s shoulders. “I was trying to move your comb off the counter to the medicine cabinet, but I had just put lotion on and somehow it slipped and flew right at the door handle and it completely snapped in half!” Jyushimatsu could tell Karamatsu thought that was probably a strange way to break a comb (or anything for that matter), but he hopes he won’t say anything about it.
He doesn’t!
Jyushimatsu apologizes exactly fourteen more times, Karamatsu telling him it’s okay every single time, and then he jumps up with his hands on his hips. He extends his right arm fully above his head with a pointed index finger, and declares, “I have some urgent business to take care of!” Before Karamatsu can protest, he bolts out the door, running into the same corner shop he went to yesterday, the little ding of the doorbell indicating that yes, he is in the building!.
He quickly maneuvers his way to the aisle where some combs are hanging, and he immediately grabs at a glittery blue one, but after a thoughtful ponder**, he sloowwwly hangs it back up when he remembers that Karamatsu likes his comb black, since it’s the same colour of his hair. He grabs a nice looking close toothed, jet black comb and looks at the price. ¥1050. He knew combs weren’t that expensive, but it never hurts to check!
He repeats his actions from when he bought the mirror: pay, remove price tag, put in bag, run home. Whipping open the front door and jumping into the living room, he finds Karamatsu looking in his fancy new bedazzled mirror. He likes it!!!!
“I’m home!” Karamatsu seems prepared this time, and spares him a sidelong glance for a few seconds before looking back in his mirror.
“Ah, welcome home. You are quite efficient at taking care of business, have you ever noticed?”
“Yeah, I have! It’s cause I gotta get it done fast so I don’t have to worry about it later!” Jyushimatsu bounds over to the couch, plopping down next to Karamatsu. He dips his hand into the bag, and snaps his wrist up, revealing the comb. He presents it to his brother, proclaiming, “Anyway, here’s a new comb for you! Sorry I broke your other one!”
Karamatsu carefully rests his mirror on the table in front of him (whoa, déjà vu!!) and turns his whole upper body to look at Jyushimatsu and rest his hands on his shoulders. “Jyushimatsu, Jyushimatsu. That’s really and truly very kind of you, but I said it was okay about my other comb, I know you didn’t break it on purpose. You know you don’t have to buy me replacement things, right?”
“I know I don’t have to, but I want to! Just take the comb niisan, it’s probably better than your old flimsy one anyway!” Jyushimatsu stares expectantly at the blue Matsu, waiting for his reaction.
Karamatsu gives him a soft smile, the stern look in his eyes going tender, and the grip on his shoulders lightens. “Thank you, Jyushimatsu.”
* * * * *
The third time—well, actually, there isn’t a third time. Jyushimatsu doesn’t even wait to break one of Karamatsu’s things before getting him something new.
* * * * *
¥6800! That left him a couple hundred yen left over, and these sunglasses were really nice, too!!! He steps through the front door, and yells, “I’m home!”
“Welcome home, buraza.” Ah, good Karamatsu-niisan was still the only one home!
“I got you something, niisan!” He didn’t bother with a bag this time, but the price tag was at least sitting in a trashcan somewhere. He sat down sideways on the couch so he could fully face Karamatsu, his legs crossed like a pretzel. He takes the sunglasses out of his hoodie pocket and, noticing his older brother’s current pair resting on his nose, slides them on the top of his head, making sure not to mess up his hair.
Karamatsu quirks a filled-in eyebrow and queries, “Jyushimatsu, what is with these gifts of yours? You didn’t even break anything this time!”
In response, Jyushimatsu plucks the sunglasses off his face and promptly snaps them in half.
Karamatsu’s face immediately twists into shock, a small noise of protest escaping his mouth. “What… what did you do that for?”
“Well if you think the only reason I can give you something nice is as a replacement for something I broke, I thought I was supposed to break your sunglasses!!” Processing his brother’s look of despair, Jyushimatsu’s smile falls a bit. “Was that not right?”
Karamatsu shoots his eyes up to meet Jyushimatsu’s, and he immediately puts his hands in front of him, shaking them back and forth along with his head as he says, “Non, non, don’t worry, little brother! It’s okay, really! Those were just a cheap pair I bought at a street corner shop one day, yours are much nicer!” He grabs Jyushimatsu’s hands, cupping theirs together. Jyushimatsu sniffles, but gives his brother a big, closed-mouth smile to let him know he’s okay!
Karamatsu rubs his right thumb back and forth on Jyushimatsu’s left hand for a few moments, and then asks, “But, Jyushimatsu. Does that mean you were breaking my things on purpose? So you could buy me new ones?”
Jyushimatsu laughs loudly, closing his eyes and flinging his head back. He swings his head back to look the second-oldest Matsu in the eyes, and answers, “Yeah, I was! I figured, you’re always so nice to all of us, Karamatsu-niisan, and no one is ever really nice to you! I wanted to get you something to let you know I love you, but Karamatsu-niisan doesn’t ever want anything!” Jyushimatsu starts to swing their arms back and forth, and he pretends not to notice the faint shine in Karamatsu’s eyes. “You were always the one who asked for the least for Christmas and our birthday, and even though you seem like you’d want a lot of stuff, I know you like to give stuff more than get stuff! So I thought I could get you better versions of the stuff you had, but since you don’t like having a lot of stuff, I figured you wouldn’t want two of everything! I didn’t exactly break them on purpose, except for your sunglasses, but I did have the intention of breaking them, I guess.” Jyushimatsu looks down at this, ashamed that he’d purposefully break something of his brother’s. But he perks right back up and exclaims, “But I know it was worth it because now you have nice, new things from someone who loves you lots and lots!”
Karamatsu sniffles, and the shine in his eyes have turned to brimming tears, and then he’s crying out loud—like, really really loud. He grasps at the front of Jyushimatsu’s hoodie and buries his face in his neck, getting snot and tears all over him, but Jyushimatsu doesn’t care; he knows Karamatsu’s crying because of him so he’ll take his gross tears and boogers. He wraps his legs and arms around his big brother like a koala bear, quietly laughing in his ear. Anyone looking in would think they probably looked really weird right now, one crying hysterically, one continuously laughing, but Jyushimatsu doesn’t care about that either. His brother knows that he’s loved, and that’s all that he really cares about!