Wipping off the last bit of jam that was sticking to his younger brothers cheek, young Chris Arclight smiled fondly down at his infant brother and pecked him affectionately on the nose before turning to the kitchen table to grab the dishes. Thomas was quick to grab at his plate to lick away the crumbs of his strawberry jelly sandwich, which Chris had cut into tiny bite size pieces for his young brother. Thomas had a few sturdy teeth the were capable of working their way through the crunch, sweet bread, but Chris wanted to be extra careful with him anyways.
Picking up the rest of the plates from the table, Chris made his way towards the sink to quickly clean them before his dad left for work. It was the least he could do, his father always worked so hard for them, he wanted to do just the same!
Looking up from his virtually spotless plate, Thomas eyed Chris questiongingly as his older brother scrubbed away quietly at the dishes.
He wanted to see what Chris was doing.
Struggling to stand up from his high chair, Thomas wiggled his way out of the confines of the plastic device, and slid down the leg of the chair. A simple enough task for the innovative child, and he was even quiet enough so his brother didn't hear him over the clatter of the dishes.
Crawling up towards the small stool Chris used to level himself with the sink, Thomas clung to the others leg, trying to reach up and help his brother.
It looked like fun! He wanted to do what Chris did too!
"Wah—Thomas! How did you get down here—no!" Chris cried out, nearly falling over from the fright of finding his younger brother clinging to his leg. Had father taken him down? Father must have…
"Splash!" Thomas cooed, trying to reach up for the sponge, only to have Chris heave him up and frown down at him.
"No Thomas. You have to sit." Chris scolded, only to regret it instantly. The tiny childs face soon contorted into pain, and his eyes began swelling with tears as his older brother scolded him.
"What seems to be the problem, boys?" Byron interjected, much to Chris' relief.
"Thomas is climbing up my leg while I'm trying to do the dishes!" Chris exhaled, allowing his father to relieve Thomas from his grasp.
"Splash! Splash!" the child cried out, struggling from his fathers grip back to Chris.
Chris took his brother back in his arms, thoroughly perplexed as to what he could want. Byron observed the situation for a few moments, noticing Thomas was reaching over Chris' shoulder towards the sink…
"Ah ha! Thomas, m'boy, are you trying to help your brother with the dishes?" Byron cooed down at his youngest son, handing the child a dry sponge.
"Splash! Chris!" Thomas rejoyced, hugging the sponge and nuzzling into Chris' shoulder.
"…a-aww…" Chris couldn't help but blush, tickling the younger affectionately and smiling down at him. He had been wanting to…wow…w-what a great kid…
He was so lucky to have gotten a brother like him, he'd never let anything bad happen to him! His sweet baby, little Thomas.
"Ha ha, yes, now go off and play boys. I'll take care of the rest of these," Byron chuckled, kissing them both on the foreheads. At this Chris' pleasant haze of thoughts ceased, and he frowned up at his father.
"No you have to get to work, dad. I'll take care of them—"
"Nonsense Chris. Now go," he answered, unable to contain his affection for the young boys. How good they were to take care of all these things…as complicated as they were, they still tried—
Of course they did! They were his boys after all!
"Well…"
"Chris!" Thomas grinned, swinging his brothers braid back and forth. At this point Chris had ceased caring about the sticky fingers that constantly berrated him. Thomas was gentle enough anyways, and hair could always be washed.
Nibbling down on his lower lip, Chris nodded and took the younger out of the kitchen to play for a bit. He wanted to get Thomas started on some of his reading exercises again, although Thomas had a tendency to just start drawing whenever Chris gave him a pencil or marker.
Their father said it was the sign of a true artist or something, but Chris never really understood the appeal of drawing or artsy kind of things. They just weren't very practical when it came to real life! But if father said so…he guessed it was okay.
Settling down for the morning, Chris made a quick list of things to do, grinning shamelessly as it was only him and his brother there. Now he could do these things with someone else…he…
Had a friend…
It was nice.