Don't Worry

Chapter One

Choromatsu glanced around the living room anxiously, eyeing each of his brothers nervously as he pretended to be focused on a magazine.

"I'm such a jerk..." Choromatsu thought, breathing heavily, yet he still somehow managed to not make a lot of noise to grab his brother's attention. "Why did I ever think it would be a good idea to leave these guys...?"

Choromatsu turned the page in his magazine, as he leaned up against the green sofa, letting out a small sigh. He wiggled his toes uncomfortably in his soft, white socks, still eyeing his brothers from time to time.

"They probably all still hate me, don't they? They've never been the forgiving type. Especially Osomatsu...I'm sure what I did made him hate my guts. I never wanted him to hate me...even if he was a jerk sometimes, he always supported each and every one of us..." Choromatsu thought, his heart beginning to beat at an unsteady pace.

"Hey, Choromatsu?" Osomatsu asked, rolling over on the floor, flicking his brother's socked feet. "what's wrong?"

Choromatsu turned another page in his magazine, pretending he didn't hear a single word.

"If I just pretend to be oblivious of everyone around me, I'll be safe, right? If I just don't say a single word from now up until I die...then everything will be alright. Nobody will have a reason to be angry with me," Choromatsu thought, actually beginning to read his magazine.

Immediately, he noticed a small ad on the left corner of the page that was for the office he had worked at.

"Don't think about it..." Choromatsu scolded himself, a shiver running down his spine as he closed his magazine, grabbing the second one that was beside him.

"Choromatsu nii-san?" Todomatsu asked, putting his phone down on the sofa, lightly kicking his older brother in the head. "Osomatsu was talking to you."

Ichimatsu, who was sitting in the corner with Jyushimatsu am Karamatsu, let out a quiet, "tch," as he closed his eyes, attempting to take a nap.

"O-oh.." Choromatsu stuttered, inhaling. "I see..."

"Hey," Osomatsu said again, this time tapping his brother's foot. "You look really worried right now, Choromatsu. Are you okay?"

"You don't waste a single second, do you? You just dive on in, not caring if I don't want to answer. You idi...no...you're a kind brother..." Choromatsu thought, his heart beating even faster than before.

Choromatsu gripped his magazine tightly, still ignoring Osomatsu.

"Pachinko!" Jyushimatsu yelled out randomly then fell over onto Ichimatsu's shoulder, laughing.

Ichimatsu opened his eyes and rubbed Jyushimatsu on the head, smiling a little.

"Thank you, Jyushimatsu," Choromatsu thought, letting out a sigh of relief. "I really don't want to bother Osomatsu...with my answer."

"We should go play sometime tomorrow, shouldn't we, my brothers?" Karamatsu asked, rubbing his blue cleaning cloth over his black shades. (Like getting rid of the smudges would make a difference in their level of painfulness.)

"I'm all out of money," Todomatsu said, picking up his phone, replying to a text. "But I'll go with you, Karamatsu nii-san."

"What about you, Jyushimatsu?" Karamatsu asked. "Would you go with me?"

"I'm only going if Ichimatsu nii-san goes!" Jyushimatsu laughed, hugging his brother.

Todomatsu suddenly burst out laughing as he continued to type.

"Hey, guys, would you like to hear a funny joke?" Todomatsu asked.

Karamatsu, Ichimatsu, and Jyushimatsu nodded their heads.

"Okay, okay," Todomatsu said, wiping a tear from his eye from laughing so hard. "So someone commented this on Totoko's last post..."

Todomatsu cleared his throat then quoted, "If I wanted to kill myself, I'd climb to your ego and jump to your IQ."

Everyone began to laugh, not even realizing that Choromatsu wasn't the least bit happy.

"I bet he only said that to direct it at me, didn't he?" Choromatsu thought, drawing his knees to his chest.

The room seemed to just be getting louder and louder as all the brothers except for Osomatsu and Choromatsu laughed.

And after several seconds, Osomatsu completely lost it, banging his hands on the table.

"BE QUIET!" he yelled, looking at everyone but Choromatsu.

"No no no no no no no...." Choromatsu thought, vigorously pretending to read his magazine. "Don't ask...don't ask...I don't..I..."

The room grew dead silent, all eyes on Osomatsu and Choromatsu.

Osomatsu sighed then looked to his green hooded brother.

"Choromatsu, why do you look so upset?" he asked for the third time. "What's wrong?"

Anger strangely overcame all of Choromatsu's feelings of anxiety, causing him to snap without warning.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Choromatsu yelled, rolling up his magazine, striking Osomatsu on the head with it. "WHY DO YOU PRETEND TO CARE SO MUCH?!"

And without giving anyone time to respond, Choromatsu stormed out of the living room, slipped on his shoes, and ran outside.

He didn't know where his feet were even leading him, for his eyes had grown cloudy with fear.