Chapter Text
> From: Totty ☆彡
> To: Painful
Karamatsu-niisan!!! (((ಠ_ಠ))) For the millionth time, I'm fine. See? Here's a picture of me in my new place. So stop coming around, trying to get free coffee! More importantly, you shouldn't wear those shoes, OR those pants, much less together. I know you didn't ask about them. I can just tell.
> Sending file...casa_de_totty25.jpg
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The others had tried to talk it down, but his old apartment is--charming, filled with character. Todomatsu's like someone out of Maison Ikkoku, or any of those other manga or dramas about adults finding a new life out on their own. That's how he sells it on social media at least, his Instagram filled with carefully staged shots of silhouetted sunsets and interesting shadows on the worn tatami and the few interesting architectural details in the place.
The scarier parts--the cracked and mildewed tiles of the shared bath, the years of caked-on grease in the shared kitchen, the creaky, pitted ceiling and filthy, drafty windows--he takes less-careful photos of, though he hasn't quite figured out who to send them to. The faceless impersonal masses of his Twitter feed are out. Complaining to his mother or the suddenly weirdly protective Karamatsu will only make them ask him to come back home. Someone like Atsushi or Choromatsu will just laugh at him, or worse, pity him. Jyushimatsu wouldn't understand, it's even odds if he's ever aware of the world around him.
Honestly, the best person to complain with would be Osomatsu, but--
...Well.
Who needs to complain, anyway! Not anyone as successful as Todomatsu! He's living on his own, and he has an awful lot of friends, his Line feed is proof enough of that. So what if he's ended up with more time on his hands? Without his brothers to drag him down, of course he'll be more efficient. His jogs are almost up to 5k, and he's started taking every free class at the gym, to boot. Even work is getting better, now that people have finally stopped reminding him of that disastrous mixer that no one needs to talk about again, and his boss has given him a few more hours. He meets up with various Line contacts as often as possible, meeting up for drinks or coffee whenever he can. It's great, everything is great.
It's just that he doesn't remember there being this many hours in the day, much less through the night. His futon is too cold and too quiet and too lonely. He could go back home, he knows. But that would mean admitting he'd made the wrong decision, it would mean that everything they'd ever said about him being a crybaby and a wimp and unable to survive without people to manipulate would be proven true. It would mean dealing with Osomatsu, and he can't-- He won't.
So he balls up his anger, screws it into courage, and forces himself down the hall to the bathroom at night, if only after waiting so long the only other choice is wetting himself. He works out how to turn frozen food and retort pouches into sad meals for one, and gets a small radio to cut through the crushing silence. Because this is where his life starts. Because he was right to have left--he left for the right reasons--and he's far too proud to turn back now.
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> From: Totty ☆彡
> To: Fappyski-nii
Choromatsu-niisan~ How's working life? Making lots of money? :3 Find any cute OLs yet?? Make sure you introduce me! (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧
I guess I was inspired. I got my own place, too! It's toootally sweet! Now that we've cut off that dead weight, we can break into the popular caste together! So take me out for a drink sometime, 'kay? If you get any time off this year, lol!
> Sending file...ur_awesome_bros_latte_art.jpg
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One day at sunset, he finds himself low on petty cash and unable to pick up any more hours at work, and reluctantly heads back to his house (it's been weeks and he still has trouble calling it a "home"). He happens to see a familiar silhouette down the corner, messing with one of the neighborhood's stray cats. "...Ichimatsu?"
The figure turns, then straightens. He has an unfamiliar coat, his hair is shaggier than usual, and he looks somehow--gaunt, but it is indeed his elder brother, and Todomatsu rushes over with more honest emotion than he usually would be caught dead showing anyone.
"Hey," Ichimatsu replies, and Todomatsu is desperately afraid he might hug him.
"What're you doing here? Did you come to see my new place? Let's get dinner! You should stay the night!" Stupid, stupid, he can hear the desperation in his own voice, but he's just so lonely, and even quiet, mopey Ichimatsu would do. At least, if he doesn't take the opportunity Totty had just handed him on a silver platter to tease and needle and insult him instead. (It was still better than no interaction at all.)
His elder brother's eyes widen the slightest bit, and he hesitates before speaking. "I was just in the neighborhood." It answers nothing, but it doesn't shut anything down either, and Todomatsu decides that's close enough to yes.
"There's a great tempura place down the street," he declares, hooking onto Ichimatsu's arm and practically dragging him along. Thank heavens that Ichimatsu doesn't resist; he's way stronger than Todomatsu, and he really isn't sure what he would've done to be left alone after this.
The tempura isn't really all that great, but it's the right price. And while he and Ichimatsu have never been incredibly close, Todomatsu decides that their silences aren't uncomfortable, not like the ones when it's just him alone. They share a futon, and it's almost like old times, the space between them not quite filled correctly, the space behind him still too empty, but it's warm for once, and that's almost enough.
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When Ichimatsu leaves, Todomatsu sends him off with a Sutabaa gift card and an invitation to come back anytime that is a little too heartfelt for comfort. but Todomatsu decides he's not going to care. He is successfully beginning his life on his own, seeing his brother didn't change that, and he's great.
"Hey, Niisan." A pause. There is one thing he has to check in on, one thing texts with the others can't be trusted to answer. "Um, Osomatsu. Did he ever..."
Somehow understanding what Todomatsu was referring to, Ichimatsu gives a slight, brief shake of his head. Todomatsu frowns until, after a beat, Ichimatsu gives him a ginger pat on the shoulder. "Everyone has their own pace... I guess."
He stares back at Ichimatsu, at Ichimatsu's hand on his shoulder, before turning his expression light. "Yeah...I guess!"
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> From: Totty ☆彡
> To: Osomatsu-niisan
> MESSAGE DELETED
> From: Totty ☆彡
> To: Jyushimatsu-nii
Hey hey Jyushimatsu! Guess who!!! Bet you're jeaaaaloussss~
> Sending file...6-4_5ever.jpg