The announcement wasn't anything important, not to him at least, not anymore. He leans against the wall as his mother goes on and on about some big wedding for him. He looks around at the people in the room, it's strange to believe that all of them are related to him.
  A sudden thought hits him, if he gets married to... anybody really, he'll have a kid that's older than some of his brothers or sisters. If his mother continues down the path that she's going down. Women empowerment is good, women domination is not. The same thing can be said about males, nothing in the world makes sense.
  His crimson eyes land on Cracker as their mother continues rambling. His raises his eyebrows, maybe as some kind of greeting, but who knows, before he nods over at Oven and Daifuku.
  Katakuri just pulls his scarf up higher and stares at the floor. What's gotten into him lately? He used to follow his mother's rules so easily and without second thought, but as soon as she mentioned marriage, he hates her? This isn't like him, going behind his mother's back like this.
  "Mama," he speaks up and looks at her, Cracker looking over to his eldest brother and back at Katakuri. "I think there's something you should know, (Y/n) is alrea-"
  "Mama, I think that I should tell you something," Perospero steps in front of Katakuri, changing the older woman's view onto him as Oven and Daifuku push Katakuri out of the room. "Cracker has someone he wants to marry, Perorin♪."
  Everybody in the room freezes. Did Perospero just throw Cracker under the bus to stop me from ratting out myself? What's wrong with my family?
  Before he can hear her response, he's thrown out the doors and they slam shut. He doesn't need to know what she's saying, because he can tell by the yelling that it isn't good. Nothing is ever good enough when it comes to Mama, it's either perfect or you try again.
  Katakuri sighs before he walks away, he loves his siblings, but that's just way messed up. He doesn't understand why they would try and save him from telling her, maybe it's because they knew that she'd just choose someone else.
  Or maybe, just maybe because Perospero just really doesn't like the thought of Cracker being in love with someone. That's crazy, because isn't that what all of this is about, his family trying to get him to realize his feelings and get them married because they're in love. That's so out-of-character.
  Who knows what it actually is, but it was probably just something along the lines of that it was the first thing that came to his mind. He goes to the common area and sits down on the couch. He crosses his leg before he gazes at the ceiling, he can still hear his mother's voice. He lets out another sigh, he feels bad for all the children of this family. Maybe besides himself.
  Brûlée sits on the seat directly next to him, "How goes the proposing?"
  "She's already engaged, Brûlée," he looks over at her and he can tell by the look on her face that she's not satisfied. "I'm not ruining that so that you guys are happy that I'm following out mother's comm-"
  "Don't think of this as mama's wish," she places her head on his shoulder. "Think of it as is looking out for your happiness. We honestly couldn't care less if at what mama wants. If she had said any name other than (Y/n)'a we all would've fought for it. Don't let this chance pass you by... you've found someone who loves you no matter what, I think that's special, Katakuri... you deserve someone like her. Someone we've all seen you with... someone we all trust."
  "Did I tell you she saw my face the other day?" he closes his eyes, but feels her move so she can see his face.
  "No, what happened?" she wraps her arms around his body. "Are you feeling okay?"
    "I'm shocked," he feels her arms tighten around him, like she thought that (Y/n) had reacted badly and now he feels worse than ever. "Brûlée... she... she called me-"
  "You don't have to tell me," she rubs the side of her face into the nook of his shoulder, but he turns his body to face her. She sees the look on his face, so she sits up. "But... it looks like you want to..."
  "She said I was exactly as she remembered," he closes his eyes tightly, there's this squeezing in his chest and he feels like he can't breathe. "She said I was perfect... the word monster never crossed her mind, Brûlée."
"That's amazing, isn't it? It just proves that-" he shakes his head and looks up at the ceiling. "Katakuri... you can tell me anything... you know you can... so just tell me. Why are you so afraid of admitting that you're in love?"
"I've been thinning a lot lately... I don't even know what love is," he mumbles. "I don't think I'm capable of loving or even being loved. I mean... isn't it like genetic? Mama... I don't think she loves us... she loves what we can do for her. If I'm her offspring... wouldn't I be the same way?"
"Katakuri," her voice comes out stern, almost harsh, it scares him. "I love you. Love isn't something passed through DNA, it's something you experience and shape. It never comes naturally, people say that a mother's love is the purest... in our family... that may be true... but you have a chance at making a new family. You have a chance of falling in lo-shaping the love that's already started to form. It might not be any of our business... and none of us really are in love... besides maybe Cracker... but let us help you."
He mulls over it in deep thought for several minutes, the shouting dying down now as their mother realizes that Katakuri and Brûlée are no longer in the room, "It couldn't hurt."

-Chapter 13: Help-