"Ain't nothing wrong with ordering something different than everybody else. What I don't understand is why you won't just tell them," Chibita spoke, shooing Ichimatsu aside so he could set the bench down in front of the oden stand. The fourth Matsuno brother had, once again, come to thank Chibita for staying quiet about the matter - for some reason, it meant a lot to him, though the smaller man couldn't fathom why.

Ichimatsu shifted in place nervously, averting his gaze entirely as he did. "It's… none of your business." A pointed look from Chibita, however, made him reconsider his words. "They wouldn't understand. They'd probably make fun of me."

Or worse.

"I'm tellin' ya, they don't care about that, dammit! D'ya know how often Todomatsu comes by for a cola every couple evenings or so?" Chibita thrust his ladle in Ichimatsu's direction before placing his hands on his hips. "Everyone has different tastes, so don't be ashamed of that, idjit."

Ichimatsu stayed silent for a while, watching Chibita set up his stand, then glanced down at his shoes. Did he really have to question him EVERY time he wanted to thank him? It was hard enough swallowing his pride to even come out here before the rest of his brothers arrived.

"Still… I do appreciate it. Thank you."

"Whatever, it's no big deal. None of my business what you do either." Chibita fired up the cookers, waving his arms at him. "Now beat it. I'm sure you and the rest of your idjit brothers will be back later tonight to eat up my profits, anyways."

Tough love. That described Chibita to a "T", and the brothers were all somewhat grateful for it in their own ways.

Sure enough, when Ichimatsu returned home, his brothers were already making plans to stop at the oden stand in the evening.

"I hear he's got something new on the taps! We've gotta try it!" Osomatsu announced, with the rest of them shouting in agreement and pumping their fists in the air. Ichimatsu reluctantly held his own fist up in unison, giving an unenthusiastic cheer of his own. Thankfully, such was his usual nature, and nobody bothered to ask if something was wrong.

As evening turned to night, the six of them made their way to where the oden stand was parked in its regular place. Squeezing onto the small bench, Chibita rolled his eyes at his expected company.

"Lemme guess, you idjits wanna try the new stuff, right?"

The immediate yells of affirmation gave him the answer, and as he called out "settle down, dammit!" and passed out their drinks, he gave a sly wink to Ichimatsu, handing him his "usual".

Dr. Pepper. Nothing quite matched the taste of this carbonated drink. Not even the generic brands had that edge to it that Ichimatsu enjoyed so much. Even the color matched the drinks in the rest of their glasses, so no one would suspect he was drinking anything different. He was never fond of the sting alcohol provided, and he always felt somewhat nauseated afterwards.

Would he ever tell his brothers this? Absolutely not.

"Hm? Ichimatsu, how come yours smells weird?" Osomatsu was suddenly very close to him, and he backed away with a small yelp.

"It's… i-it's uhh…"

Chibita's ladle smacked down on Osomatsu's head, paired with a well-deserved scolding, "Idjit! Hasn't anyone taught you about personal space?" The eldest brother backed off with a quiet "I bet it's 'cause you didn't clean the glass right," igniting another argument between the two.

Another thing to be grateful to the small chef for. It wouldn't hurt to keep track of exactly how much he owed the guy.

Their night went on for a couple more hours before they called it quits. Five of them were good and drunk, and one of them was a good actor. In actuality, Ichimatsu could just easily take a nap where he sat, and the rest of them would think nothing of it. But he chose to pretend to sleep, awaiting something he, oddly enough, found enjoyable.

"Drank himself to sleep again, huh?" Choromatsu shook his head at the familiar scene. "Hey, Karamatsu Nii-san, carry him home, okay?"

"M-me? But why?" Karamatsu started before coughing into his fist and straightening his posture as best as he could. "Of course, there are no problems with this, but perhaps another of our dear buraza would like the honors?"

"Yeeeeah no. I saw you order water a few times, Nii-san, so you're the least drunk of all of us. That means you carry him," Todomatsu stated plainly, stretching as he stood up.

"...If he wakes up, though…" Karamatsu murmured to himself quietly. He deliberated his options for a minute, finally shrugging and maneuvering his younger brother onto his back carefully. Ichimatsu remained limp and ragdoll-like, even going so far as to mutter incoherently to help sell the "drunk" look.

"Time to go home! Time to go home! Ha ha ha!" Jyushimatsu grabbed Osomatsu's hand and began nearly dragging him behind, with a petulant "Jyushimatsu, oi! Let go!" from the older.

"Good grief… let's not get left behind this time, okay?" Choromatsu called to the remaining three as he began hurriedly jogging to keep up with them. Maybe he just didn't want to throw up in front of them - he did appear just the slightest bit green in the face, after all. Todomatsu tsked and quickened his pace, not even sparing a glance at the other two behind him.

Now, the quiet seemed to consume them. Not so much in an overwhelming manner, but in a calm, peaceful way. A sort of calm that they could only get when they were home alone.

Just the way Ichimatsu liked it.

Karamatsu bounced him a little, reinforcing his grip, but continued walking silently. It wouldn't do to talk to someone who was drunkenly sleeping, right?

It reminded Ichimatsu so much of his childhood days. The six of them were much closer then, and Karamatsu would often carry him around like this when he was tired or had injured himself. They were the same age, but he was still his older brother, regardless. And being here on his older brother's back always gave him a warm, nostalgic sense of comfort.

It made him feel safe.

He dared not speak about pretending to sleep simply to get a ride home. After all, who could possibly understand? How could they possibly understand? They weren't that close anymore, after all.

And yet…

Yet Karamatsu never spoke a word about it. Not even when, every single time he carried him back home, he didn't smell a single drop of alcohol on him.

This idea slammed into me so hard after I found out that Ichimatsu drinks Dr. Pepper instead of alcohol with the rest of his brothers (from a translated page in his character book). It got me to thinking that, perhaps he sometimes pretends to be drunk so he can secretly spend time with Karamatsu?

Their brotherly love, hard as it is to see sometimes, is just so precious to me. :3