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Choromatsu is the third born brother of the Matsuno siblings.
There are three things Choromatsu knows for certain: Osomatsu has always been the leader of them despite being the least responsible of them all, Karamatsu grew from being a sweet kid to some painful mess of a person, and he is more responsible than the both of them.
Really, he should have been born the eldest. Though -- what the hell did it matter, anyway? Osomatsu was like, twenty five minutes older than him at most and it’s ridiculous to think that there’s a hierarchy there in the first place. Choromatsu is the one that his younger brothers should look up to.
Though…to be honest, he doesn’t know if he even is the third born. After all, there were six of them, right? Maybe he and Osomatsu had been switched on accident when they were babies. Maybe they had decided at five years old which one would be which. It’s not like their parents would have been able to tell anyway, right? No one could tell them apart until high school. Maybe Choromatsu was secretly the eldest! Maybe Choromatsu was the Real Older Brother and Osomatsu was just a shadow leader.
Maybe… but what the hell did that matter? Osomatsu was still the default! Though, Choromatsu was always second in command… that’s better than nothing, right?
It’s better than his no - good shitty second eldest brother that decided that every day should be as embarrassingly painful as possible, that’s for fucking sure.
Karamatsu is --
How to describe Karamatsu.
When they were kids, when Osomatsu really was the default for the six of them, they were all the same. Karamatsu followed on their shitty plans, acted just as shitty as they all did, laughed and picked on Chibita and helped around the house when he felt like it, which wasn’t often. Karamatsu used to be the same as Osomatsu, as Choromatsu, as Ichimatsu and Todomatsu and Jyushimatsu.
But things weren’t like that anymore, and thank god for that. Choromatsu isn’t mistaken for Osomatsu as much anymore -- as any of his brothers, really -- and all he can say is Thank Goodness. Being a sextuplet is really nerve wracking, blood - pressure inducing, and all around a shitty way to live.
… though, that didn’t stop them all from living together, still, even after all this time. Even when they should be out in the world as adults, as Actual Adults who didn’t fuck up at every turn or be unable to hold down a job or… any of what made them the Matsuno brothers.
Ah, to hell with it. He likes being a shitty NEET sextuplet with no job, no girlfriend, and no future.
That didn’t mean he has to admit it, though. He still has to play the part as the Most Responsible and Best Choice for an older brother, if not for his shitty older brothers, than for his younger ones that still had a chance to change.
(…what was that, about Choromatsu saying there was no hierarchy and no real difference as to which one was born when? Well, this is different!)
Anyway.
Choromatsu is easily the most responsible. Osomatsu steals their money and whines and is a needy little shit, and Karamatsu is painful and… stupidly naïve, and kind. They aren’t brothers that can be looked up to. Ichimatsu is already a mess, and Jyushimatsu is… well, Jyushimatsu. The only one, other than himself, who has anything going for him is Todomatsu, but Totty is such a little shit that sometimes that’s easy to forget.
Doesn’t matter anyway.
Choromatsu is the most responsible. That means that he has to be there for his younger brothers to look up to -- and maybe even his older brothers, if things went the way he wanted them to.
Yeah.
Choromatsu knows how to handle his brothers. He knows that he’s the one who has to make it out of here first.
(who will make it out of here first, he reminds himself)
That’s what he’s thinking to himself that morning. It’s early, earlier than he’d like to be awake, but ten in the morning is pretty late to be waking up when you’re part of the Real World, and Choromatsu likes to think of himself as someone who would wake up early for work, brush his teeth and even eat breakfast. And for now, he can pretend the part.
“Hup, hup, hup, hi - yah!”
Choromatsu’s nose wrinkles a little bit. Ah, Jyushimatsu was the one who was most likely to wake up at the crack of dawn and the last person he’d ever want answering the phone. Rubbing at his eyes, he mumbles ”Who answers the phone like that?” but he’s pretty sure Jyushimatsu doesn’t hear him, so it doesn’t matter anyway. Ah, he feels a little like Karamatsu, being ignored outright like that.
Jyushimatsu, for what it’s worth, is bouncy and loud as always. His arms flap and his fingers fidget as he listens to the other end, and Choromatsu has half a mind to just leave whoever is on the other end of the line to be a victim to Jyushimatsu’s off-the-wall humor but something makes him pause.
“Eh?! Karamatsu-niisan’s…a youkai? What does that mean?”
Huh. It’s not his usual routine -- maybe something to spice it up? Choromatsu pauses in rubbing his eyes,
“What,”
He can’t help himself -- a flat “what” is Choromatu’s only response. How the hell is he supposed to react to something like that? And better yet, why Karamatsu of all people? Wasn’t Karamatsu in the room with everyone else? Ah, actually, Choromatsu can’t remember seeing him, so maybe his stupid-no-good second oldest brother did some dumbass thing like usual.
Before Choromatsu can listen in, Jyushimatsu continues, turning his attention to Choromatsu instead of the phone.
“Karamatsu-niisan’s been turned into a youkai.”
“Huh”
He knows that! He knows that, because Jyushimatsu just said it! What was with the repeating thing? Who the hell repeats that kind of statement, like it needs to be clarified?! Choromatsu is vaguely aware that the person on the other end is yelling something else, but he tunes it out.
Ah, whatever. It doesn’t matter.
The routine continues like that, and it winds up where Choromatsu, in order to get some sense of what’s going on, has to grab the phone from Jyushimatsu.
So as it goes, the person putting up with Jyushimatsu’s bullshit on the other end of the line was Chibita, which made Choromatsu feel a little less bad about the whole thing.
Apparently, Chibita was sick of them mooching off him and blowing their tab.
Apparently, Chibita had kidnapped Karamatsu in an attempt to make them pay their tab.
Ah, apparently, even though Chibita had known them all since they were kids, he still didn’t know that the sextuplets lived by one rule:
It was fall behind, left behind, when it came to the six of them.
Besides, even though Choromatsu tried to do something, he had gotten distracted by something better anyway.
Karamatsu would be fine.
--
Karamatsu was not fine.
This and that had happened, trying to gather up money for a few minutes before getting distracted by pears, being told that it’ll all work out fine because Chibita doesn’t have a spine anyway, and then forgetting about it. There were also other things that Choromatsu only vaguely remembers himself doing while half asleep, and then Karamatsu had never showed up for the entire next day while the other brothers went to look for a cat but…
Karamatsu was not fine. Is not fine.
Karamatsu is standing on the corner of the street that leads to their house, and he looks a mess. Cast on his arm, gauze and bandages wrapped around his head, and a bandage plastered onto his opposite cheek. He’s leaning on crutches. His leg looks pretty messed up too.
Choromatsu almost don’t recognize him, and it’s scary because they have the exact same face.
-- what the hell was going on? Was this -- wait. Was Chibita being serious? Did he do this to Karamatsu? Did Choromatsu have to go and find that puny twerp and -- oh
Karamatsu had noticed him. Karamatsu is smiling at him, a cheap sort of smile that you could buy at the convenience store. The shitty kind of smile that is the only thing between Choromatsu and a barrage of tears and oh, god, that kind of actually stings? Choromatsu stares, he can’t help it, he stares until Karamatsu raises his broken (broken, it hits him in the gut) hand in some shoddy, clumsy attempt at a wave.
It hurts. Choromatsu actually might be in pain, and not the joking kind that he and the other brothers say Karamatsu gives them. He actually might be in pain, because Karamatsu so obviously is.
Before Choromatsu can say anything, or even think about moving, there’s someone else there. Karamatsu turns and smiles at him, and Choromatsu sees red.
“Oi! Chibi!”
Chibita’s head turns and Choromatsu would have laughed at how Chibita reacted to that stupid nickname if he wasn’t so angry. Hands reach out on their own, muscle memory from all those times as beating up Chibita as kids, and he grabs at his collar, disregarding the smaller man’s hollering. He shakes his fists, and shakes and shakes and shakes, despite the shouting that’s coming from both of the others. Chibita kicks and fights (and bites?) until he’s able to wrench himself away.
Choromatu’s fists shake. Chibita tenses up, ready for another fight, and spits.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing, damn it?!”
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?! Get away from my brother!”
“Choromatsu…?”
At his name being called, and the first thing that Karamatsu had said, Choromatsu straightens up and turns to his older brother, reaching out to take Karamatsu’s hand, but –
Karamatsu’s expression makes him hesitate.
(Can I touch him without hurting him?)
-- fuck it. Choromatsu reaches out and grabs Karamatsu’s sleeve, careful not to touch any of the bandages or injuries. He turns his head to glare at Chibita, who hisses back. Rolling his eyes (Chibita was always so childish) he turns his attention back to Karamatsu, who is –
Ah.
Karamatsu is looking at him with a smile, but -- his eyes (eye, the other one is swathed in bandages and Choromatsu can’t see it) say something else.
“Get away from him!”
Choromatsu is brought out of his trance by Chibita’s shout. The stocky oden man’s fists are clenched, like he’s ready for a fight, but it’s only then that Choromatsu notices the bag that’s clenched in his fist.
Matsumoto Kiyoshi Pharmaceutical.
This was –
Choromatsu looks at Karamatsu, before back to Chibita, and then to Karamatsu again. Really, for a guy who was quick to react to his brothers and their dumb ass ideas, he was at a loss for words right now. Karamatsu, to his credit, has shifted his line of sight so Choromatsu can’t see the painful (ha! He would laugh if he could) expression.
“…Karamatsu?”
“I said leave him alone!” Chibita pushes his way between Choromatsu and Karamatsu, and Karamatsu looks so surprised that Chibita is there. But then his eyes are back on Choromatsu and Choromatsu can’t look away. He doesn’t have to, though, because Chibita grabs at his plaid shirt and drags him down so his line of sight is blocked, anyway.
“What – what did you do to him, Chibita?”
“What did I do?!” And oh, that was probably the wrong thing to say, because Chibita is back to hissing and spitting like some abandoned cat, “What did you do?! You shitty -- do you even know what you did?! Did you or any of your stupid brothers -- ”
“That’s enough, Chibita.”
Choromatsu and Chibita pause, and Choromatsu has to relax his fists because he had been ready to pounce at Chibita and beat the answers out of him, to look at Karamatsu. He looks really uncomfortable, stuck between a rock and a hard place, and his shoulders are shaking. He looks like he’s trying not to cry. Choromatsu’s heart sinks.
“Kara,” and Chibita’s voice has lost all venom, and maybe that hurts even more than Karamatsu trying to speak while very desperately trying not to cry.
“I said that’s enough. My dear brother Choromatsu -- ah, my dear brother Choromatsu,” and he’s stuttering, repeating his words, because he’s a dumbass and Choromatsu is just standing there, slack jawed, while his older brother tries to find words, and why can’t he say anything, god damn it “My brother Choromatsu, I’m sorry you felt the need to rush to my rescue. It was delayed, but as they say, it’s better late than not at all,” and Choromatsu could just smack Karamatsu right then because he’s still smiling and it’s infuriating to watch a grown man struggle to hide the tears that were already leaking down his face, and if Choromatsu didn’t feel like the worst person in the world, then he would probably be a pretty fucking close second.
Regardless of how Choromatsu feels about all of this, Karamatsu continues to speak, and every word is like another punch to the gut
“I want to let you know that I understand! I know why none of you came to rescue me. It was because Chibita’s acting was flawed! Truly, I must apologize on his behalf. He was only doing what he could for his stand, as you know, free Wi-Fi does not come cheap, after all!” and Karamatsu has the fucking nerve to laugh, and Choromatsu wants to scream because the lies are so obvious but he can’t even open his mouth; he’s frozen.
Karamatsu’s rambling pauses, and it almost looks like he has something else he wants to say, but instead he simply changes tactics, grinning and waving his uninjured arm. His hands are shaking.
“Please do not worry! I do not want to become a burden on your heart, nor on any of our brothers. Chibita has so graciously offered to let me stay with him for a little while as I recover, but I ask that you do not tell any of the others this. After all, Chibita lives in a place with very little room,”
(And Choromatsu knows that’s a lie because the first thing Chibita fucking did when he bought that apartment was dragged the Matsuno brothers inside to show off, and it was really well off considering the guy was living in pipes most of their childhood)
“So please, do not crowd outside his home! I will be back in a few days and things will go back to normal,” and he hesitates there, of all fucking places, “-- I promise.”
Ah.
Ah, god, that hurts. It hurts so much that Choromatsu might start crying if Karamatsu doesn’t. He doesn’t know what to say. He doesn’t know what to do, and after a few seconds of tense silence, Chibita sighs.
“Kara, go on. Head back to my place,” he says, and the voice he uses is so gentle and kind and safe that Choromatsu’s heart catches in his throat. It’s never a voice that he’s heard Chibita use before, especially not directed at any of them.
The second born Matsuno gives a quiet nod, before turning his attention back to Choromatsu and pulling up the corners of his mouth again. It’s not anything close to a smile, not with those wet eyes and that battered face. Choromatsu wants nothing more than to reach out and hold his brother right then and there, but -- no, that’s impossible. Chibita had grabbed Choromatsu’s sleeve to prevent him from leaving as Karamatsu shrunk away, turning tail and walking down the opposite end of the street -- toward where Chibita lives, Choromatsu realizes.
Chibita doesn’t move. Neither does Choromatsu. Only after another few seconds, and after watching his brother’s (broken) body turn a corner, does Chibita let go of Choromatsu’s sleeve. The first thing Choromatsu wants to do is grab Chibita and resume their brawl, but for some reason, he can’t move.
“So you really don’t know, then?”
Choromatsu glances at Chibita, confused, and the younger man sighs, rubbing at the back of his head awkwardly, and it dawns on Choromatsu that maybe Chibita feels a little pity, and that sort of makes Choromatsu want to kick his ass a little more.
“Don’t know what?”
--
How was he supposed to remember something that happened at three in the morning? How was he supposed to realize it was real?
The brothers never stayed up past eleven o’clock -- a routine from when they were in high school that they never seemed to break -- and so Choromatsu couldn’t have remembered.
He couldn’t have known that he and his brothers --
To Karamatsu --
It wasn’t a dream. It had felt like a dream, so Choromatsu had never even thought otherwise.
(It wouldn’t be the first time that Karamatsu had died in his dream, but that could be said of all of the brothers.)
There’s no way.
There’s no way but the way Karamatsu looked, the fear (and it was fear) and the hurt (more like betrayal), there was -- there was no honest way for Choromatsu to say that…that Chibita was lying.
It’d been two days. Karamatsu still hadn’t come home. As he had promised, Choromatsu hadn’t said a word to the others… how could he bring that up in a conversation?
“Hey, so do any of you remember having a dream where all of us killed Karamatsu? Well, it was real, and we’re huge dickheads.”
See, even in his own head, he sounds stupid. Choromatsu digs the pencil into the crossword puzzle he’s been staring at for three hours and grinds his teeth. The five of them are holed up in their rec room, all sprawled out and doing their own things, but Choromatsu can’t get Karamatsu out of his fucking head.
“Ah, it’s nice out today, isn’t it… What do you wanna do?” -- a statement from Osomatsu, not a question. Ah, so they were doing this routine again. Choromatsu waits, as the silence falls on them, like they’re expecting someone else to chime in. After a few seconds of letting the silence fill the room, Choromatsu forces his voice to rise up, embarrassed by the quiver in his tone.
“What should we do, Ichimatsu?”
Ichimatsu pipes up next, picking up right where Choromatsu left off, “Eh…what about you, Jyushimatsu?”
“Hmm…” Jyushimatsu adds, and Choromatsu could scream because it’s like they didn’t even notice that their routine is missing someone, “What do you think, Todomatsu?”
“Well, Jyushimatsu-niisan,” Todomatsu pipes up, “The air feels really fresh today, so we should go out… maybe it’s because we haven’t seen Painful in a while.”
So they did know?! And they went through almost the entire routine before going about acknowledging it in the most roundabout way possible?!
These assholes knew the entire time that Karamatsu was gone and they haven’t once worried? Not even a little? Choromatsu was tearing out his hair here – he might even get a bald spot with all this worrying and hair pulling. Gripping his pencil tightly, Choromatsu presses a little harder.
“Ah, you’re right, Todomatsu”
“Yeah, you’re right”
“Right!”
“I know I’m right, that’s why I said it”
“Will you guys shut up already?”
Everything stops. Choromatsu digs his nails into his palm, hand clenched around the pencil, as the words come without him meaning for them to. Osomatsu sits up, eyebrows raised. Ichimatsu looks at him like he just pissed on a cat. Jyushimatsu doesn’t look any different, but his open smile is somewhat tensed. Todomatsu blinks at him, indignant, before his mouth curls into a sour frown.
“What the hell is your problem, Choromatsu-niisan?”
“What the hell is your problem, Todomatsu?” Choromatsu grits back, face twisted and angry, “Karamatsu’s been missing -- ” and he has to swallow there, because he knows exactly where Karamatsu is, “ -- for three days and you can’t even manage to care a little bit?!”
The third born looks at his brothers for any sign of help. Osomatsu has gone back to reading his manga, only occasionally glancing at the others, just in case. Ichimatsu, over this already, has gone back to playing with the orange cat in his arms. Jyushimatsu is the only one who’s paying attention, and his mouth has closed. Choromatsu turns his attention back to Todomatsu, who looks shocked more than anything.
Why.
Why were his brothers –
No.
Why were all of them such jackasses?
God. He really is an idiot. He was so focused on his little brothers that he forgot about Karamatsu. Karamatsu, the idiot who wouldn’t be able to get angry at someone (or at least to someone’s face). Karamatsu, who got picked on just a little more than the rest of them. Karamatsu, who always cares for his brothers, always putting others before himself --
God fucking damn it. Now Karamatsu was staying somewhere, where he didn’t have to see them, and it was -- it was all of their faults.
Especially Choromatsu’s.
For a responsible brother, Choromatsu can be pretty fucking eager to pass the blame. Even now, he doesn’t want to admit that this is partially his fault.
If only he had convinced his brothers…
If only he hadn’t gotten distracted by pears…
If only he had heard Karamatsu calling out to them!
God, god, god…
“-- niisan?”
Choromatsu blinks out of his thoughts and back into the real world. Jyushimatsu is sitting in front of him, staring at him with wide eyes. He blinks, before swallowing and taking a breath, trying to smile for his little brother.
“Ah? What is it, Jyushimatsu?”
“Did something happen to Karamatsu-niisan?”
A pause. Jyushimatsu waits for Choromatsu to answer, only to be met with silence.
The others shift uncomfortable. Ichimatsu’s eyes trace upwards, watching the others, poised and ready to act if needed. Osomatsu had sat up sometime between when Choromatsu had last spoken and now, comic forgotten, was watching without pretending otherwise. Todomatsu, instead of looking enraged like before, is -- worried? Maybe surprised. Choromatsu yells a lot, sure, but never like this. The third born shifts uncomfortably as Jyushimatsu repeats himself.
“Did something bad happen to Karamatsu-niisan?”
What should he do? What can Choromatsu do? It wasn’t his place to say. Choromatsu had promised not to say where Karamatsu was –
“Y…yeah. Something bad happened to Karamatsu-niisan,” Choromatsu replies quietly. The others stay quiet, waiting, but Choromatsu bites his lip. Jyushimatsu closes his mouth again.
“Can you not tell us?”
“No… I can’t. I’m sorry, I promised him I wouldn’t”
“What? Did he run away again? Is he having you tell us all this stuff because he wants us to come after him? What a little attention -- ”
“Todomatsu! That’s enough!”
The one who yells this time is not Choromatsu, but instead Osomatsu. They all look up at their oldest brother, stunned, and Osomatsu looks down at all of them. The first born brother’s eyebrows are drawn down, a frown stitched onto his face. Todomatsu looks about as flabbergasted as Choromatsu feels.
Disregarding them, Osomatsu slides down from his position on the couch and joins Choromatsu and Jyushimatsu on the floor. Todomatsu and Ichimatsu look at each other, before silently standing and shuffling over to join them, sitting down.
The five of them form an incomplete circle. Choromatsu wants to cry -- is crying, he realizes, when Osomatsu’s hands reach out to pull Choromatsu’s chin up, thumb swiping at the small tears beading in his eyes and down his cheeks.
“Choromatsu,” Osomatsu says, in a quiet voice he only reserved for terrible situations, like the time they found out that Chibita got really sick because they stole his coat one winter when they were children,
“What happened to Karamatsu?”
--
Choromatsu is the third born brother of the Matsuno siblings.
There’s no way to really confirm that. The brothers might have been mixed up when they were babies (after all, they were six babies with two new parents and that was bound to happen at least once), or they might have all decided on which one was which when they were children and forgot about it. They might have decided it would be funny one day to switch names and it had gone on so long that they decided it was better this way. Hell, they might just have gotten the wrong birth order at the hospital! (who the hell names their oldest son “Oso”, you know?)
But Choromatsu feels like he’s perfect in the middle. He used to want to be the oldest -- even if it was by title only -- but now, he feels differently.
If only for the reason that Karamatsu’s forgave the brothers so easily when they came to pick him up from Chibita’s. If only for his reaction to them apologizing to him for everything being “you didn’t do anything wrong”, if only for the fact that the older brothers had to be strong in a way that something Chromatsu doesn’t know he’d be able to do.
When Choromatsu apologized to Karamatsu, the older brother had laughed it off. He was still looking just as bad as he did the first time they’d met after his disappearance; but his smile was real and it hurt a little to look at.
Things would go back to normal by next week for sure; Karamatsu would continue to be picked on and ignored a little bit more than the rest of them. Karamatsu wouldn’t mind it, he wouldn’t even give it a second thought.
But Choromatsu would remember. And it would be a unforgiveable if Choromatsu ever forgot that Karamatsu deserved the title “second born” than any of the others.