I.
"Osomatsu!" Matsuyo called from the living room area. He walked in to see her stuffing a very squirmy Ichimatsu into his t-ball uniform. "Can you watch Todomatsu while we're gone?"
Osomatsu opened his mouth to protest but was cut off by his mother. "Your father has to take Karamatsu to dance and Choromatsu to piano, and I'm taking Ichimatsu and Jyushimatsu to t-ball." As if on cue, Jyushimatsu came tearing through the room, bat in hand, nearly smacking Ichimatsu in the face, causing him to cry even more than he already was. She gave Osomatsu a pleading expression.
"I don't know how to take care of him, he's too little," he said, knowing full well that this was a blatant lie. He had been changing diapers and helping with feedings and naps since he was seven years old.
"Good, thank you so much," she said, ignoring his complaint. "He has a bottle in the fridge if he needs it. We shouldn't be gone for more than an hour or two."
Matsuyo finished getting a sniffling Ichimatsu into his uniform and then stuck out her arm to catch a still running Jyushimatsu. She led them both to the front door, calling a goodbye to Osomatsu over her shoulder that was drowned out by Matsuzo saying something about no tap shoes on the floor. And then with a loud clamor of voices, the door shut and the house went silent.
Osomatsu looked to his youngest brother, barely a year old, sitting on a blanket in the living room, seemingly unfazed by the commotion he had just witnessed. He looked to his oldest brother, big brown eyes shining with feigned innocence - Osomatsu knew it was feigned - and then began to cry.
"Don't do this to me," he muttered. "They'll be back later, there's nothing I can do about it."
This only made Todomatsu cry even harder.
"You can stop that, you know. It won't get you what you want," he said, sitting down next to Todomatsu on the blanket. He almost felt bad for talking to a baby this harshly. Almost. At this point, he considered himself very good at figuring out his brothers' personalities from a very young age.
He could even remember back to the point of being three years old and seeing Karamatsu for the first time. He remembered how it seemed like he had two modes and nothing in between: crying and giggling. Choromatsu, he recalled, was the easiest infant to deal with, crying only when hungry or in pain and then otherwise being perfectly pleasant. Ichimatsu was the first one he was really hands on with, and he remembers wondering if he had broken him at one point because Ichimatsu had a habit of just lying there, not moving. Jyushimatsu was the opposite, crawling from an absurdly young age and never stopping, often choking on things he found and placed into his always open mouth.
Todomatsu, he quickly realized, had youngest child syndrome. Which he knew made sense, in a family this big, you could only get someone's attention so many different ways, and acting cute one minute and then like a brat - was it okay to call a one year old a brat? Osomatsu wondered - the next was a surefire way to get at least someone's attention, especially when he was at this age.
Osomatsu lay down on the blanket and picked up the still crying Todomatsu and let him sit on top of his stomach. "I know it's hard being in a family this big," he said softly, vaguely wondering why he was trying to converse with a baby, "but it'll get better, I promise. And besides," he said, feeling the bitterness growing inside of him, "you're the favorite right now."
He knew it was bad to blame Todomatsu, because that's just how things went after all: the baby gets the most attention, because babies need the most attention. But he couldn't help but harbor resentment, thinking back on the nine years of his life that his parents paid more attention to his younger brothers than him. Am I selfish for thinking this? he wondered, but shrugged away the thought, his face softening as he had an idea.
He lifted Todomatsu up over his head so that he was looking directly up at the baby. "But do you want to know a secret?"
Todomatsu sniffled in response, tears still in the corners of his eyes.
Osomatsu brought him down closer to his face so that their foreheads almost touched. "You're my favorite too."
He could have sworn Todomatsu smiled in response, but then he remembered that babies don't smile and that it's more of an involuntary response. But what he said wasn't really a lie; he did prefer Todomatsu's company at the moment. He wouldn't talk back or ignore Osomatsu like his other brothers did now. He knew it would change as time went on, but for right now it was the truth. And he secretly hoped that the smile he had been given was Todomatsu's own way of agreeing with him.
Osomatsu brought him back down onto his stomach and then over his head a few more times, making airplane noises. Eventually Todomatsu began to giggle and babble happily, all trace of tears gone. He then sat him back down on the blanket and stood up. "Wait here," he instructed.
He returned with a handful of sweet cereal and placed it on the blanket in front of Todomatsu. "Don't tell Mom," he said, chuckling slightly to himself at the idea of the baby tattling on him. He knew it was safe to feed him the cereal, though probably not something his mother would be happy about, considering it was mainly sugar.
Todomatsu took a piece and put it in his mouth, eyes growing wide when the sweetness touched his tongue. He chewed in what Osomatsu considered to be a thoughtful way before putting another piece into his mouth.
Osomatsu lay back down on the blanket, closing his eyes and listening to the soft crunch of the cereal, wondering which group would arrive back home first. He almost felt himself beginning to fall asleep when a sticky hand on his arm pulled him back to full consciousness. Todomatsu was holding a piece of cereal out to him and looking at him expectantly. Osomatsu propped himself up on his elbows and cautiously accepted the cereal, wanting to make sure this really was what Todomatsu wanted him to do in order to avoid another crying fit.
When he popped it into his mouth, he could have sworn he saw Todomatsu smiling again before grabbing his own piece of cereal.
II.
Jyushimatsu gripped the bars of the crib firmly as he stared at the sleeping figure inside. He looked up to Choromatsu with a wide grin. He returned his gaze to Todomatsu and began to jump up and down excitedly.
"Careful," Choromatsu warned, placing a hand on his younger brother's shoulder. He often took it upon himself to watch over his younger brothers even when not asked, knowing how quickly they could get out of control. Ichimatsu lay face up on the floor, ignoring the rest of them.
Jyushimatsu stuck his arm through the bars and looked up at Choromatsu again. "Play?" he asked, one of the few words he said at this age.
Choromatsu shook his head in response. "I can't take him out of the crib. Dad's at work, and everyone else is busy. Besides," he said, lowering his voice, "he's asleep."
Jyushimatsu nodded his head slowly, sticking his fingers in his mouth and looking thoughtfully back at Todomatsu. The infant moved in his sleep, causing a delightful squeal to come from Jyushimatsu.
He removed his sticky fingers from his mouth and placed them back on the bar, causing Choromatsu to mutter, "That's gross," and grab a baby wipe to clean up the mess. "And remember, we have to be quiet," he pleaded as Jyushimatsu let out another squeal of delight.
Todomatsu moved in his sleep again, causing one of his arms to come near the edge of the crib. Very cautiously, almost unusually so, Jyushimatsu reached his hand through the bars and placed his own small hand underneath Todomatsu's. When he grabbed hold if one of Jyushimatsu's fingers, Jyushimatsu turned his head back to Choromatsu, smile impossibly wide.
"You'll make a great big brother," Choromatsu said softly, ruffling Jyushimatsu's hair.
Author's Note: These two were requests from my tumblr that sparked this entire story. If you have any suggestions or requests for it, please feel free to ask me on there.