In Pursuit of Happiness

20- Giving

I woke up to someone raising my head and placing it somewhere else. I opened my eyes to see my brother cheesing at me.

"Merry Christmas sleepy head, how are you?" He whispered. I smiled and closed my eyes then nodded my head sleepily. Mark got under the cover and when I opened my eyes to look at the phone, it was some minutes after 2 in the morning. I guess I haven't been sleeping as long as I thought.

"Marky how the hell did you get in? Dad's asleep and Tai can't reach the locks" I asked.

"Dad gave me his key before he left because I told him I was coming over" he said. We were snuggled on the floor like we would do when I was about eight and he was eleven.

"Matai is gonna be so happy to see you butthead, thanks for coming over" I told him.

"Go to sleep little brother and I would do anything for my nephew. Merry Christmas Matty and I love you baby bro." I drifted off to sleep after he said that.

.....................................................

I woke up at about seven the next morning. Dad was already up making breakfast. I got up, went to the bathroom in my room to get cleaned up. I had on fresh boxers and a T-shirt; headed to the kitchen to help dad, but he was already done.

"Merry Christmas Dad" I said as I hugged him sideways.

"Merry Christmas little Matthew" he replied then started laughing. I always hated when my dad called me little Matthew as a kid. It was our special thing, so I smiled at the memory and how good it felt hearing it again after all we went through.

"Ready to get them two lazy boys up? I was thinking we could eat and then go ahead with our little ritual. It would be a perfect time to introduce Matai." I liked Dad's suggestion but, I could tell that he was already deep in thought about it.

"Sounds perfect Dad! I will get them up, you just stay here and eat." I made my way back to the family room, and gently tapped Matai on his nose.

"Baby boy, you gotta wake up now for daddy! Come on wake up" I kept tapping his nose lightly until his eyes slowly opened and he smiled at me.

"Good morning my lil bunny rabbit Merry Christmas! I missed you!" I told him. He climbed in my arms and cuddled close to me.

"Merry Christmas Daddy and I love you! I love Grandpa and Uncle Mark too" he croaked out. I chuckled at him. When he saw his uncle on the floor, he shuffled out of my hands, went over and squeezed his way into Mark's arms.

"Hey little fellow, Merry Christmas!" Mark said, I smiled at their antics and how close they have become. "Merry Christmas baby brother" he told me.

"Merry Christmas Fart Mark" I said with a snicker. Since dad used my nickname he had for me, I thought I would use mine for Mark when we were kids. He busted out laughing at the name and got up.

"You remembered that name? Huh Matty Patty?" he asked, using his childhood name for me. These names were used only when we wanted to tease the other. Dad always made sure it didn't go too far though.

"Why don't you and your nephew go and get cleaned up then come have breakfast?" I asked. They looked at each other and nodded before they marched off to the bathroom. As Matt got to the passage that leads to the bathroom, Matai had the big question.

"Daddy will we open presents after?"

"Yeah we will open presents, but! We take a little trip first before we open presents" I told him and he seemed a little ok with it; though, I could tell he would much rather open his presents now.