His parents had left him alone downstairs with his new video games. Matty was still feeling weak and there was a dull throbbing ache in his ear but he could live with it. He'd been in worse pain.

His dad had set it up, so the surround sound was on for the games. His parents wanted him to enjoy the fact that he could hear again. Even though his hearing wasn't perfect it was awesome. He was having so much fun actually being able to hear the sound effects and the video game music.

His brother Jamie came down the stairs, "Holy crap, that is loud, little dude."

Matty paused the game and ran over to Jamie and gave him a big hug. "Hi Jamie. You're home. I missed you, dude."

Jamie smiled, "I missed you too. I came home yesterday but you were sound asleep. I didn't have the heart to wake you up. I'm here for a week. I'm going to stay at Phillip's place though. They have the guest room. Not that I mind sleeping in my old room with you. But Phillip's bed still smells like his feet. No matter how clean the sheets are that mom puts on his bed."

Matty laughed, "Phillip's bed does kind of have a weird smell. It doesn't really bother me. I don't mind sleeping in it. You can have your old bed back if you want."

Jamie smiled, "No, little dude. You're recovering. That's your bed now. When I come home again for the holidays. I'll stay in the room with you. I'll just bring some Febreze and take Phillip's old smelly bed."

Jamie then looked at the paused game. "Holy crap. Is that Death Demon IV? That doesn't come out until next week. Did Lee try to get Conner fired again?"

Matty laughed, "No he took the bribery above Conner's head this time. He bribed the store manager. You want to play with me?"

Jamie nodded, "Hell yeah, I want to play Death Demon IV with you. Are you up for that though? No offense, little dude but you look like crap."

Matty laughed, "None taken. I'm way better than I was. I think sleeping all day yesterday helped.. I really do feel better. It's all good, dude."

They played video games for about an hour, but Matty's battery was starting to run low. "Hey Jamie. Do you mind if we stop?"

Jamie looked at him worriedly, "You're starting to crash, aren't you? I can tell. I almost beat you that last round. I won't be hurt if you want to go take a nap."

Matty looked at him, "No. I mean I do want to go lie down upstairs for a little while. But do you think that maybe you could come up with me and read to me like you used to?"

Jamie smiled, "Yeah of course, little dude. I'd like that. I love reading to you."

Matty saved the game, and they went upstairs. Jamie grabbed the bag of books from Phillip's bed and dumped them out on Matty's bed. Matty looked through them and picked out Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief. Jamie smiled at Matty and started reading it to him.

It felt amazing to hear Jamie's voice again. It really was the voice he used to hear in his head when he was a little kid. Jamie was more soft spoken than his other family members so Matty couldn't hear every word but Matty didn't care. He was reading along anyway. It was so much better than not hearing Jamie's voice at all. Matty fell asleep after the second chapter.

Matty woke up and he was alone in his bedroom.

He looked at the clock it was 4PM. He heard children's voices and laughter coming from downstairs. His nieces and nephews must be here. Then he heard his mother say, "Keep it down. Uncle Matty is sleeping."

Then he heard what had to be his nephew Jimmy's voice, "Oh right. I keep forgetting he can hear now. We could actually wake him up. My mom said Grandpa Lee got him Death Demon IV. Do you think Uncle Matty will let us play it?"

Then Matty heard Irene's voice "Jimmy, I am sure Uncle Matty would be most happy to let you play it with him. Just do not ask to borrow it yet. Not until your Uncle Matty feels better and beats it. Then I'm sure he'll loan it to us. I want to play it too."

Then he heard his niece Mandy's voice, "Oh well that will be by the weekend. Uncle Matty beats games so fast. Why didn't Grandpa Lee get us a copy of Death Demon too?"

He heard his Dad's voice, "It was hard enough getting the one copy. I'm sure Matty will let you play it with him. Just let him sleep right now, alright? He never complains when he's sick and the fact that he is even acknowledging that he still has some pain means it's probably bad. Go easy on him if he wakes up."

Then he heard Mandy say, "I hope he wakes up for at least a little bit before we go back home. I want to hear him speak. We haven't gotten to hear what his voice sounds like yet."

His sister Leann spoke, "Matty's voice sounds exactly like you think it would except he has an American accent. He's very soft spoken and sounds kind of like Jamie, but Matty isn't as much of a smart ass."

His mother spoke, "Language, Leann. And don't call your brother names."

Leann responded, "Sorry, Mom."

Matty started creeping down the stairs. It was kind of fun actually hearing his family instead of seeing them. He wanted to eavesdrop a little more. Then Matty started forming a plan to sneak up on the twins and scare them.

All of the sudden someone was behind him and Matty jumped a little. He turned around and saw Jamie who was smiling at him.
Jamie didn't speak and just tapped on him, "Mom let me watch tv in the master bedroom after you fell asleep. Grandma kicked me out of the kitchen because I kept eating the food. Lee was on the phone with the agency most of the afternoon. Some world crisis was going on. But he ended up not having to leave. Francine is handling it for your dad. She let Phillip come home too but he has to go back to the Agency after dinner. Dad probably does too. Are you eavesdropping on the family?"

Matty tapped back, "Yeah, it's kind of fun that I can do that now without seeing anyone's lips. The twins are so loud. I can hear every word they say perfectly from up here."

Jamie laughed, "Yeah, they are. Do you expect less from Phillip's off springs? Are you sure you are up for the chaos that is going to be dinner? Mom was planning on just letting you sleep even though this dinner is for you. Grandma probably should have waited until next weekend to make the pot roast and succotash. If you just want to go back to bed. I can cover for you. "

Matty smiled, "I can handle it. I want to see everyone. Well, it's more I want to hear everyone. It's so cool hearing what everyone's voice sounds like. Also, sorry I fell asleep on you, dude."

Jamie smiled at him, "It was totally cool. You need to rest. I'll be around the rest of the are going to be so sick of me by next weekend. Are you ready to make your grand entrance?"
Matty smiled back at Jamie, "I'd never get sick of you. I love it when your around. I wish you lived closer. It's nice having at least one sibling that's not crazy. Yeah, I'm ready to make my entrance. Just you go first. Distract Mandy and Jimmy for a minute. I want to sneak up behind them and scare them."

Jamie grinned. "I'm in. Hang on. I have an idea on how to keep them distracted."

Jamie ran into the master bedroom and came out with his camera which he put around his neck. "Perfect way to distract the twins and I feel like you sneaking up behind them and scaring them will be a good photo opp."

Matty smiled, "Good thinking. Thanks, dude."

Jamie went on ahead and Matty waited a minute. Jamie had his camera and told Jimmy and Mandy to pose for a picture.

His niece and nephew were facing the back of the house. His parents and sister saw Matty first. They could tell what he was about to do. All three smiled at him and then went back to talking like Matty wasn't there.

Phillip and Irene were talking quietly to each other in the living room. They weren't paying attention. Irene had baby Dottie in her arms. Baby Dottie made eye contact with Matty and smiled at him. Matty signaled her to be quiet. Baby Dottie seemed to understand he was about to scare her older siblings even though she was not even two years old. She gave him a little smile. His youngest niece was going to be something else.

Matty very quietly snuck up behind the twins, grabbed them both and yelled, "Boo!". His niece screamed and Jimmy jumped about a foot.
Everyone laughed.
Then Mandy turned to Matty with a hurt look, but she was smiling, "Your supposed to be the nice Uncle. We've never heard your voice and that's the first memory we are going to have of you speaking."

Matty grinned, "Sorry, your right. I just thought it would be funny."

Jimmy was grinning, "You got us good, Uncle Matty. You are definitely my dad's brother. I think Jamie got a picture of you scaring us too."

Jamie was smiling, "Oh yeah, I sure did. You want to see. It came out awesome. Both your faces are priceless. And you look totally evil in this picture, Matty. Check this out."

Phillip walked over with a big goofy grin, "What are you all doing to my little monsters? Not that I care they deserve it."

Jamie smiled at Phillip, "Wasn't me. It was your other little brother. I just took the picture."

Phillip looked at the picture and started laughing, "Oh wow, that came out awesome. Matty being evil is such a rare occurrence. I love it. I hope that one ends up in your next gallery show. You'll make Irene and I a copy, right?"

Jamie smiled, "Yeah, of course."

Just then there was a knock on the door. Leann ran out of the kitchen and answered the door. Uncle Joe, Carrie, and Joey came into the living room.
Uncle Joe spoke, "Hello everyone. We brought some wine."

Mandy and Jimmy went over and hugged Uncle Joe. They both in a strange unison voice said, "Hi Grandpa."

They both knew better than to hug Carrie but again in the creepy unison voice said, "Hi Grandma Carrie."

It was weird hearing the twins talk at the same time. He knew they did it but actually hearing them do it was weird.

Leann had moved so she was standing next to Matty, and she tapped on him, "I told you it was creepy when they did that. They sound like they are straight out of a horror movie, right?"

Matty tapped back. "Oh my gosh, they really do. I thought you were exaggerating."

Leann laughed. "Are you up for all of this? Mom told me to tell you that you can call code purple at any time if it gets to be too much. She'll bring you food in your room."

Matty didn't want to call code purple. He wanted to talk to everyone. He wanted to hear what everyone sounded like. He was tired and he did feel like crap, but he didn't care.

His Uncle Joe came over to him. "How are you doing, Matty? You look a little pale but good. It's wonderful hearing your voice. We are all happy for you.."

Matty smiled and hugged his Uncle Joe, "I'm doing good, Uncle Joe. Thank you for coming. You too, Aunt Carrie and Joey."

His Aunt Carrie smiled at Matty and came over and awkwardly patted Matty on the shoulder. "It is very nice to hear your voice, Matty. Do you see how polite your cousin Matty is, Joey? You could learn some manners from him."

Joey nodded, "Yes, Mom. Hi Matty. It's really cool to hear your voice."

Matty smiled and went over and hugged Joey, "Thanks for coming, Joey. Hey, my dad got me the new Death Demon IV game that doesn't come out until next week. I don't think dinner will be ready for an hour or two. You want to play?"

His Aunt Carrie looked annoyed, "Joey doesn't play violent games like that. Honestly, it's amazing you are so well-behaved with your mother letting you play that garbage, Matty."

Joey looked really nervous and a little embarrassed.

Phillip interrupted what was becoming a very awkward conversation and said hello to everyone then he said, "Joey can hang out up here with Irene, baby Dotty, & I. I don't mind. I'm guessing Jamie wants to play Death Demon too."

Jamie nodded, "Yeah, I kind of do."

Baby Dotty spoke, "I want to play Death Demon too, Daddy."

Phillip looked at his daughter and in a very phony voice said, "I'm sorry sweetheart, but that game is for older kids. When you get to be Jimmy and Mandy's age you can play it."

Phillip was giving his youngest daughter a please play along look. Phillip was trying to prove he was a responsible parent in front of Carrie. Except Matty knew for a fact that Baby Dottie's favorite game to watch them all play was Mortal Kombat which was way more violent than any of the Death Demon games.

Carrie looked at Phillip like she was contemplating which was worse the bad influence of a violent video game or letting her son near Phillip.

Uncle Joe looked annoyed with Aunt Carrie and gave her a look that screamed we talked about this.

Carrie sighed. "Fine, you can watch the other kids play, Joey. I don't want you playing it yourself, though."

Matty tapped on Joey, "I can speak now but I'll keep my mouth shut for you."

Joey tapped back, "Thanks, man. I'm so sorry about my mom."

Matty tapped back, "It's not your fault. Your mom isn't all that bad. I know she's a good person but she's just so uptight. I predict my dad just disappeared down into the basement to grab a bottle of his good Scotch to loosen your mom up a little. That usually helps."

Joey laughed a little and tapped back, "That's why your dad is her favorite."

Matty smiled and tapped back, "I thought I was your mom's favorite."

Joey smiled, "You and your dad both are. It's the rest of us that don't live up to her standards."

Then Matty realized there was no sign of his grandmother, but he did smell the pot roast.

Matty looked at his siblings, "I just realized Grandma isn't here. Where did she go?"

His dad had just come out of the basement with a bottle of Scotch and answered Matty's question. "The lima beans had gone bad for the succotash. She went to go get some fresh ones. She'll be back any minute. I offered to go for her but there's this new buff hunk of a store manager she wanted to get her fresh lima beans from. Her words not mine."

Matty laughed. "So basically, we'll have plenty of time to play Death Demon before dinner while Grandma is picking up the new store manager. Got it."

His dad smiled, "Yeah pretty much, kid. Go have fun with the other kids. But if you get tired and need to lie down again. That's ok. Everyone understands."

Notes:

Next chapter- Matty, Leann, and Joey do some bonding.