[zapdragon555]

[Hahaaah yes. I'm doing this. Rip my current obsession. B') All of these are temporary forms!]

"Will you lot quit lagging behind? Honestly, the day isn't gonna last forever!" Todomatsu chided from his place at the front of the line--or rather, haphazard clump--of brothers. The youngest brother sighed through his nose at his siblings' apprehensive looks (and one very vacant one). "You should get out more. Minimalls are great!  They have just about everything."

"Even something mom would like?" Osomatsu asked, arching an eyebrow as he fiddled with a piece of lint in the pocket of his hoodie.

"Even something dad would like, is a better question," Choromatsu chimed in, a nervous lilt to his voice. "Although... it is pretty huge," he murmured as they approached the shadow of the looming building. They weren't used to this sort of thing in their hometown. It was stressful enough piling everyone into one taxi, a feat which was probably the furthest thing from legal they'd done that week, and now they were about to brave a crowded department store just to find something they could afford. Which wasn't much. "They... they've gotta have something. Surely!" he chirped, trying to sound optimistic.

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"Surely! Shirly? None of us are named Shirly, Choro!" Jyushimatsu laughed, slapping his sleeve-covered hands against Choromatsu's back and making him yelp. Jyushimatsu continued to repeat the word in a singsongy voice as the group eased their way past the sliding doors, Jyushimatsu and Karamatsu tugging their despondent brother Ichimatsu by the arms into the building.

"I could've stayed home," Ichimatsu muttered as the commotion of the ground floor of the place hit his ears like a freight train. Eyes glazed in irritation, Ichimatsu spotted a bench near one of the walls of the place, and with a practiced motion he slithered his arms out of his brothers' grip and made a beeline for it.

"Oi! Ichimatsu, hold it!" Karamatsu shouted after him, taking a few steps towards him while Jyushimatsu giggled about how his brother must be part octopus, if he could escape their grip so easily.

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"Hey, Karamatsu," Osomatsu spoke up, holding an arm out to stop him from going any further. The eldest brother smirked slightly, shrugging. "Just leave him. We'll get more ground covered without having to drag him. Yeah?"

Karamatsu frowned at that, glancing over to watch Ichimatsu curl up on the bench on his side, facing away from them. Finally, he shrugged, letting out a sigh. "He's too much of a lone wolf. It bugs me."

"You all bug me! You're all too slow!" Todomatsu hissed from over by the escalator, tapping his foot impatiently on the floor and clearly trying not to make a scene. "Come on! The womens' stuff is up here. We'll get a gift for mom first--that's the easy part. Kind of."

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As it turns out, to six men who likely interact with women on a bi-yearly basis, shopping for a woman was, in fact, not the easy part. Todomatsu quickly suggested they split up and meet back at the escalator as soon as they'd all found at least one thing, and then they'd compare. Todomatsu ran off in the direction of the purses, Choromatsu towards the dresses, Karamatsu in some odd direction that seemed about as haphazard as it could've been, leaving Osomatsu with Jyushimatsu standing bewildered by the escalator. Osomatsu winced as someone brushed past him with arms full of bags, muttering a 'oh, sorry' under his breath, glancing around at the crowds that his brothers had disappeared into.

"You wanna stick together? Jyu--" Osomatsu cut off as he looked over and saw Jyushimatsu was missing, and after the first spike of anxiety, he felt a crawling irritation. "Jyuuushiii..." he groaned, spinning around on his heel to try to catch sight of the baggy yellow hoody and bouncing gait. By some miracle he was able to spot the younger brother dashing through the crowd, an excited grin etched permanently into his face, until he finally spotted a circular rack of clothes and ducked inside, giggling like a madman.

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Osomatsu managed to weave through the crowd with a fair amount of speed until he finally reached the rack of clothes that the younger man had ducked into, embarrassment radiating off of his face at having to climb inside after him. "Jyushimatsu!" he hissed through his teeth, squinting until he came out on the other side of the clothes, blinking at the curled-up form in front of him. "Eh... Jyushimatsu? You okay?"

"Shhh..." Jyushimatsu whispered, covering his head tighter with his sleeves. "Everyone's finding gifts for mom. So I'm thinking of what to get." Osomatsu's eye twitched slightly at that, and he sighed, sitting back on his heels.

"Can't you just think, like... outside the clothes? In the aisles? You're embarrassing, man," Osomatsu mused, but kept his voice down like Jyushimatsu asked. He waited for a few moments, nearly jumping clean out of his skin when someone took a dress from the rack, but somehow didn't seem to notice him inside the circle.

Suddenly, Jyushimatsu's head shot up, eyes wild with excitement. "O-kay! Okay, I got it!" he exclaimed, leaping up and bursting out of the clothing rack. Osomatsu cursed and followed him, gritting his teeth in irritation as he chased after the other boy.

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"Ehh... I wonder if this is too flashy..." Choromatsu murmured, brows knitted as he thumbed the fabric of a sequin-covered red dress. Choromatsu squinted, tilting his head back slightly in thought, then finally shook his head and went to a different rack.

"Hoi! Choromatsuuu!" Todomatsu called in a voice loud enough to carry, but decent enough to be in a public space. Choromatsu looked up and over in the direction of the voice to see the youngest brother trotting towards him with an elegant pearl-pink purse hooked over his shoulder. "Lookee what I found! She'd like this, yeah?" he said almost rhetorically, turning and striking a pose with the purse.

"Something that light colored would be really impractical. It'd just get dirty," Choromatsu mused, frowning at the color. "You know how mom hates it when she buys things for us and we don't use them. I think it goes both ways--she'd never use it," he murmured, turning back to peer up at the dresses. "Hey, which one of these do you think..." Choromatsu suddenly got an inkling that his brother was not listening, and he glanced over to the space where Todomatsu was, but was no longer. "E-eh? Todomatsu!"

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"Ehh? What's up?" Todomatsu called from over in front of a mirror, hip jutting out slightly as he snapped a phone photo of himself in the mirror with the purse. "Like I said, she'd really like this, so we should--"

"You just want it for yourself, idiot!" Choromatsu snapped, stalking up to the youngest brother and frowning. "Go put it back, if you're going to shop for yourself. Or at least pay for it with your own money."

"What own money?" Todomatsu chided with a prim little smile that was clearly mocking, and Choromatsu sighed heavily, rubbing at his head.

"We're all pooling our savings for these gifts. C'mon, we planned this in advance, Todomatsu," his voice softened slightly, and Todomatsu glanced at him with a rueful smile.

"Yeah. I know. Here, I'll help you look for dresses. Just lemme wear this a little while we look," Todomatsu insisted, and his brother sighed through his nose, but conceded. "This one is a disaster. Actually, most of these are... mm. Oh, but maybe over here...?"

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In the end, Karamatsu had ended up going back down the escalator, empty-handed. He peered over his sunglasses--because wearing sunglasses inside was a thing that only the coolest of cool cats did--at the bench where they'd left Ichimatsu, and lo and behold, the sullen brother was still there, albeit sitting up and looking at something intently in his lap.

"Back so soon?" Ichimatsu drawled, thumbing through what Karamatsu could now see was an unsettlingly large amount of one- and five-dollar bills. "You're the first one."

"The hell'd you get all that?" Karamatsu balked, staring at the wad of cash, sunglasses dipping down the bridge of his nose. "You didn't steal it, did you?" He froze as Ichimatsu gave him a death glare, and he stepped closer, peering at the money.

"Some people thought I was a hobo. I should do this more often," Ichimatsu mused, and Karamatsu held back a smirk as Ichimatsu looked up at him, deadpan. "So what'd you pick out for mom and dad?" Karamatsu blinked at that, then smiled coolly and flipped the fringe of his bangs with a flick of his fingers.

"My eternal love as a son," he said, with purpose. "For what more could a parent really ask for--"

"You're annoying."

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"Jyushimatsu! Mom hates cats, and doesn't care about baseball! What are you doing?" Choromatsu snapped when he and Todomatsu ran into Osomatsu and the offender in question. It was clear the normally level-headed middle brother was on his last leg in the patience department, likely the fault of Todomatsu.

"Ehh, well... I tried to tell him that, but he had his heart pretty set on these things," Osomatsu chuckled sheepishly, rubbing at his nose and shrugging. "That, and the cat sweater isn't for mom."

"I got it for Ichimatsu," Jyushimatsu explained, the sweater and women's baseball jersey pressed close to his chest. "Eh... and the jersey isn't for mom either. Oops..." he said, though he didn't sound very ashamed of it. In fact, he was beaming.

"Why's Ichimatsu special? You're not gonna get gifts for all of us?" Todomatsu whined, though he was mostly joking. He was perceptive enough to know who the jersey was for, and his expression softened. "Hey, that's okay. We can help pay for the jersey... but I'll be damned if I'm gonna pay for that sweater," he suddenly added, all smirks again. Choromatsu seemed to catch on as well, and he nodded at Jyushimatsu, a kind of quiet apology for blowing up.

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That quiet demeanor didn't last long as the four of them piled onto the escalator and Choromatsu noticed for the first time just how much they were all carrying. It seemed Osomatsu had picked out some kitchen utensil that mom had been pining for off-and-on for awhile, Jyushimatsu had his non-mom-related presents, and Choromatsu and Todomatsu together had picked out a modest, pretty dress and matching purse (or as matching as they could get it). He felt his throat go dry--how the hell were they going to pay for all of this?! They'd have to compromise somehow. Which basically meant they were completely and utterly doomed.

But not doomed yet, it seemed. Four pairs of eyes locked on the short man walking away from the checkout and towards the door, and Choromatsu practically leapt off the escalator to sprint over and stop Chibita in his tracks.

"Chibita!" Choromatsu's voice was already pleading. "We need your help." On cue, the other three brothers ran up behind Choromatsu, all peering at the oden shop owner with their best puppydog expressions.

Chibita leaned away from the brothers, bewildered, before his expression grew hot and irritated. "Oh, no. Not this time, you idjits. Do you even know how high your tab is?! Do you think I'm a charity operation? Huh?"

"Nooo! No, nothing like that, Chibita," Osomatsu butt in, a pointed laugh in his voice as he gave Chibita a grin. "Nah, see, we do have the money. We do. It's just the darndest thing, Karamatsu was supposed to hold it for us, but he left it in his other weird leather jacket." Chibita only seemed mildly convinced by the lie, if at all, and Osomatsu bowed his head, a desperate look on his face as he clutched the boxed kitchen appliance to his chest. "We will pay you back! Please, it's for our mom!"

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Chibita opened his mouth to say what each brother was sure was a refusal, but Jyushimatsu hopped forward and put his face in Chibita's, startling the smaller man. "If you help us out, we'll come to your oden stand tonight and eat a ton of it! All of it! We'll clear it out!" he exclaimed, bouncing on his heels, and Todomatsu smacked his hand to his forehead, groaning internally at what he figured would only make Chibita angrier.

"Eh... mm..." Chibita mused, peering up at Jyushimatsu's sunshine smile, and after a long moment of his mouth working between scowling and smiling, he finally laughed and shrugged. "Alright. I'm holding you to that promise!" he warned, reaching into his pocket as the other three brothers blanched at the exchange that had just gone on. The oden stand owner was certainly easily swayed. He pressed five twenties into Jyushimatsu's sleeve-covered hands, and Jyushimatsu beamed, patting his hand on Chibita's hairless head. "Hey! Quit it! Gah, you idjits. I'll see you tonight, though. All of you," he said pointing a finger at the brothers as though a serious meeting was being planned.

"I wonder why Chibita did that..." Todomatsu murmured, rubbing the back of his head as he watched the short man trot towards the door, affectionately elbowing Karamatsu in passing.

"He probably thinks we'll have the money to buy out all of his oden," Osomatsu murmured, a doom-filled look in his eyes. "We're dead. We're so dead."

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Choromatsu had by now gently taken the money from Jyushimatsu, still utterly dumbfounded, and combined it with what he had in his pocket. After a few short words he gathered the other two's, and stared into space as he calculated. Crap, they were still short! "Oh, Karamatsu still has some..." he murmured under his breath, and without waiting a moment longer he hooked the dress over his arm and dragged his brothers towards the last two.

"Oh, there you all are," Karamatsu said, spinning on his heel to face the others once he'd waved goodbye to Chibita. He opened his mouth in a smirk to say something, before it fell, brows raising above his sunglasses. "Can we afford all that?"

"No time to explain, give me your money. Also, we're having oden tonight, so don't eat anything until then," Choromatsu said rapidly, holding out his hand, the rest of the bills very visible in his other. Karamatsu eyed both, brows raising even further, then fished into his pocket and pressed his share of money into the other man's hand.

Ichimatsu watched the exchange with a disinterested stare, eyes flicking around until he met Jyushimatsu's eyes, which were staring at him with that same dopey grin. Ichimatsu's deadpan expression flickered with discomfort; whenever he stared at him like that, he was planning something, usually nothing that worked out in Ichimatsu's favor. After a moment, his ears perked to the conversation, and Choromatsu's frantic disbelief that they still didn't quite have enough. The middle brother glanced down at his pocket, then sighed heavily through his nose and pulled out the money that had been thrown at him.

"Hey, shitheads," he drawled in a deadpan voice, the insult making Choromatsu's glare even hotter, until Ichimatsu pulled out the wad of cash. "Don't ask about it. Just take it," he muttered, glancing down at his sandals, and he waited until the weight of the money left his hand before returning both to his pockets.

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"This is..." Choromatsu breathed, eyes wide, and he quickly made a few more calculations before his face broke into a grin. "This is enough! We have just enough! Oh, this is great! Thank goodness..."

"Ichimatsu saved the day!" Jyushimatsu cheered, pumping his fists in the air and causing a few weird looks from passersby at his volume level.

"Hey, don't discredit yourself man--without you smooth-talking Chibita, we wouldn't have anywhere near enough," Osomatsu said with a grin, clapping Jyushimatsu on the back, and was met with a delighted laugh.

"Eh... I just have one question," Todomatsu spoke up, thumbing the edge of the purse strap on his shoulder in thought. All five brothers turned to look at him, and he looked them all square in the eyes, a hollow look in his own. "What are we gonna do about dad's gift?"

A silence fell over the brothers, each one looking at the other as realization settled in. Karamatsu slowly reached up to take off his sunglasses, blinking his eyes a few times before a self-assured expression overtook his face. "Our eternal love as sons?"

"Shut up, Shittymatsu," Ichimatsu muttered as the five began walking towards the checkout area without Karamatsu, the new responsibility of everything that had transpired and would need to transpire in order to find their dad a gift weighed heavy on their shoulders. Karamatsu just shrugged and followed. Surely, things would work out eventually. Surely.