[It startles him for a split second, the way his response is just immediate like that. It's like punching him flipped a switch, and he crumbled. But Ichimatsu doesn't flinch away, despite his brother's wailing being a touch too loud for him to be comfortable. This was the response he was trying to get, after all. He wanted Karamatsu to be honest, because if he kept pretending and kept shrugging off the hurt it would never get better.]
[It was... strange, really, because he realized in his own way he was caring about Karamatsu to do this. It was an awful way to care for someone, for literally force them to break down about their problems, but it was really the only way he knew how to convince Karamatsu to let it out. He couldn't coddle, even if he was coddled damn-near every day of his life. He had the ability to be nicer, that much was obvious with how he treated all the strays he fed, but... He'd never quite figured out how to be that way with his brothers. He was just hateful and caustic and wretched.]
[And here was the result of it, in his second-oldest brother, sobbing his heart out right in front of him.]
[He drew in a sharp breath and reached out, taking Karamatsu's hands by the wrists and slowly working his thumbs into his palms, pulling his hands away from his eyes in a surprisingly gentle gesture.]
no subject
[It was... strange, really, because he realized in his own way he was caring about Karamatsu to do this. It was an awful way to care for someone, for literally force them to break down about their problems, but it was really the only way he knew how to convince Karamatsu to let it out. He couldn't coddle, even if he was coddled damn-near every day of his life. He had the ability to be nicer, that much was obvious with how he treated all the strays he fed, but... He'd never quite figured out how to be that way with his brothers. He was just hateful and caustic and wretched.]
[And here was the result of it, in his second-oldest brother, sobbing his heart out right in front of him.]
[He drew in a sharp breath and reached out, taking Karamatsu's hands by the wrists and slowly working his thumbs into his palms, pulling his hands away from his eyes in a surprisingly gentle gesture.]
Then why didn't you ever say that?