Chapter Text
Osomatsu loved watching his brother work.
He raised his cigarette to his lips and took a nice, long drag, relishing in the burn in his lungs. He exhaled slowly, letting the smoke out slow to savor the burn, before his attention went back to the center of the ring. Back to where his brother was raking in the cash.
A sudden cheer rang out through the room and two bodies flew out of the ring above the heads of the crowd, their twin groans of pain lost in the enthusiastic heckling and cackling. Another drag of the cigarette and Osomatsu moved from his spot against the wall, the crowd automatically moving out of his way as he reached the middle of the ring.
Blood ran down the side of Karamatsu’s face from where one of the men had obviously managed to get in a decent hit but overall he was barely ruffled. His near manic grin grew when he saw Osomatsu and he straightened up, cracking his neck.
“Slow night,” he said and Osomatsu noticed a hint of blood in his younger brother’s teeth.
“Night’s just getting started,” he said in return. He offered him the cigarette but Karamatsu shook his head.
“After. I’d rather my lungs free from smoke in case someone gets in a lucky chest punch. As you said, the night is just getting started.”
Osomatsu snorted and watched as the people around them exchange money to various hands. ‘Must be some new bidders tonight,’ he thought, if the louder than usual moans going around where anything to go by. ‘Word must be traveling fast.’
A burly looking bouncer walked over to the two brothers, his white security shirt stained with alcohol and blood. “Are we ready for another round or do we need a break?” he asked, more to Osomatsu than the man actually doing the work.
Osomatsu glanced over to Kara, silently asking the same question. As he expected, his brother simply grinned. “No break needed, my good man,” he said, already scanning the crowd for his next potential opponent. “I’m more than ready for the next round.”
“Blood thirsty,” Osomatsu teased but his feet were already taking him back to his spot by the wall. “Try not to kill them.”
Karamatsu paid him no mind as his next victims approached, a wonderfully murderous looking man stepping into the ring along with what looked like a God damned body builder. He watched as Kara bared his teeth and cracked his knuckles in excitement. Osomatsu chuckled and drew his phone out of his pocket, leaning against the wall again.
As the crowd once again began to take their bets and as the cheers started to fill the room, Osomatsu scrolled through his text messages. He already knew what the outcome would be anyways, might as well check up on the others. He raised an eyebrow when a text came in from Choromatsu and he flicked the cigarette butt to the ground, grounding it into the floor with the tip of his shoe.
Choro: Totty needed a pick up.
Osomatsu lips thinned into a frown. Totty wasn’t doing anything tonight, he was suppose to be at the coffee shop. He usually just walked home with no problem. He sent a quick text back, hoping that he wasn’t going to have to drag Karamatsu out of the ring too early.
Oso: Everything OK?
A moment passed as Osomatsu waited for an answer. The sounds of the crowd and the fight faded into the background and as more seconds ticked by, Osomatsu started to suspect the worst. Then, just as he was ready to call Choromatsu and demand some answers, his phone vibrated in his hand.
Choro: It’s snowing and he doesn’t have a coat. He’s fine.
Osomatsu felt the worry that had been beginning to stir in his chest subside and he put his phone away with a relived sigh. Of course he trusted his brothers, Choromatsu perhaps even more so than the others for obvious reasons. He knew that they all were a bit overprotective of the youngest Matsuno. Much to Totty’s chagrin, he was sure but it couldn’t be help. That’s what you got for being the baby of the family.
Oso: OK let me know if anything else exciting happens
A cry of pain from the ring and Osomatsu was again back in the action. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his pack of cigarettes. Choromatsu was going to kill him for going through half a pack in only a night but with the way Kara was going, he’d be more than placated with the night’s winnings.
As he lit another smoke he spied through the crowd the muscular bodybuilder down on the floor, a few of what he guessed were his teeth scattered around him. Osomatsu chuckled and relished in the taste of nicotine on his tongue, listening to the sounds of violence and the cheering crowd.
God damn but he did so love watching his brother work.
The streets were dead silent when the two managed to get themselves home later that night. Or early that morning, Osomatsu didn’t really care enough to check his phone. Karamatsu, not nearly relaxed enough from the night’s fights, had finished off the rest of the cigarettes on the walk home so the both of them reeked of nicotine.
Osomatsu considered for a moment giving the rest of his brothers a warning text about it but decided against it. The only ones who bothered to kick the habit were Totty and Jyushimatsu anyway. As the two of them walked up to the door, Osomatsu noticed Karamatsu crushing the empty pack in his hand with a huff. The oldest Matsuno snorted before he pressed the buzzer panel next to their doorbell and said into the speaker, “We’re home and we’re starving. Do we have any of that stew left?”
He heard a sigh of static. “Welcome back,” Choromatsu’s unimpressed voice said from the speaker. “Looks like it was a slow night. We might not have to bring out the first aid kit and it’s not even three in the morning.”
“Slow night but it was made of money,” Osomatsu said, rocking back on his heels. “You’d think that they’d learn never to bet against the house but I’m not complaining.”
As he spoke, a loud click signaled that the door had unlocked and the two oldest Matsunos walked into the house. Instantly, they were greeted with the sounds of something very heavy hitting something very fleshy and Jyushimatsu’s happy cheers from the basement. Cries of pain could be hear along side the happy screaming and Osomatsu raised an eyebrow when Choromatsu appeared from his office to greet them.
“We have a guest, as you could probably already tell by the noise,” the third oldest said, wasting no time in grabbing Kara’s chin and giving him a careful look-over, much to Kara’s chagrin. “Ichimatsu is taking care of it and Totty agreed to take pictures in exchange for the pick up.”
Osomatsu snickered as he watched Karamatsu’s pained expression as he withstood his brother’s mothering. Since there hadn’t been any real competitors that night, Kara hadn’t had a real chance to work out his anger and Osomatsu could tell that he was having a hard time reigning in that all too familiar aggression.
If Choromatsu was worried about the stiffness in his older brother’s shoulders, he didn’t show it. He turned Kara’s chin this way and that way, eyes running over his face before moving on to the rest of him. As he did, he glanced Osomatsu’s way and said, “It’s starting to get cold. We all could use some new winter clothes, not just Totty.”
Oso shrugged easily. “Then we’ll make a day of it,” he said, knowing that if Choromatsu was suggesting it then it probably needed to happen sooner than later.
Choromatsu hummed and, after a few more moments of checking Kara over, finally released his chin. “Go eat,” he all but ordered them, more so Karamatsu. “Stew’s still in the fridge and Totty made rice before he went to bed.”
Karamatsu craned his next to the side and sighed as it popped, walking off to the kitchen without a word. Neither Osomatsu and Choromatsu took their brother’s silence to heart though. They were familiar enough with Kara’s mood swings to know that he was just frustrated. Another cry of pain sounded from bellow them and Osomatsu smirked.
“So is our guest going to be leaving tonight breathing or am I going to have to call in a few favors?” he asked.
Choromatsu shrugged and turned to go back to his office, Osomatsu following him instead of heading to the kitchen. He’d give Kara a few minutes to himself before giving into his own stomach’s demands for food.
“I’m hoping that it doesn’t come to that,” Choromatsu admitted as he sat down at his desk.
Two of the three monitors in front of him flickered with the images of their house from all angles while the other was filled to the brim with spreadsheets and numbers.
“He’s a nobody, just a bug off the street who thought that he could move into town,” the third Matsuno explained, his hands going to the keyboard. “Ichi and Jyushimatsu caught him trying to deal on the corner by Chibita’s. I told them to bring him in and here we are.”
“So you gave him to Ichi and told him to go to town?” Osomatsu asked, his voice dripping with amusement.
Choro shrugged again, hands flying over the keys. “It’s been slow and he was bored. Jyushimatsu can at least go to the park and run off some steam. So I figured that it wouldn’t hurt. If he does end of killing him, you’ve got it taken care of?”
Osomatsu chuckled and gave his brother a pat on the back. “Big brother’s got it under control,” he said, waiting until he felt Choromatsu’s shoulders relax before pulling his hand away. “Just give me a warning next time. I only have so many favors tucked away.”
His brother nodded, giving Osomatsu a small thankful grin, before going back to his monitors. “Go and eat,” he all but ordered and the eldest gave him an exaggerated salute and left to go make sure that Karamatsu hadn’t eaten all of the stew.