Christmas Babies

By the time Arthur woke up on Christmas morning, the sun was already well above the horizon. And when he reached the living room, it was obvious that the twins had been up about as long. Alfred was surrounded by a pile of gifts and discarded wrapping paper, contentedly munching on a bag of Every Flavour Beans. He frowned.

"Now, Alfred, didn't I tell you to wait for me before you opened your gifts?"

Alfred rolled his eyes. "But Daaaad, you were taking forever. It was super boring."

"Matthew didn't seem have a problem with obeying me. Er." He glanced around the strewn mess of paper. "Where is Matthew?"

"Right here, Daddy." Matthew shyly raised his hand. He was crouched in the corner by the sofa, away from Alfred's toys, knees curled up and clutching his bear to his chest.

"Right, of course you are. Good lad. Would you like to open one now, then?"

"I don't have any," Matthew said quietly, his voice muffled as he buried his face in his bear's fur.

"Come again?"

"He doesn't have any," Alfred repeated, apparently not bothered by this disparity in the least. "These're all mine."

"Nonsense, Alfred, I know you've been taught to share. Give your brother back his presents now, and enough of this foolishness."

"No, they're mine!" Alfred insisted, grabbing the nearest presents with sticky fingers and clutching them to himself. "They'd my name on them!"

Arthur's brows furrowed. "That can't have been; I'm quite sure I bought enough— that is to say, I'm sure that Santa would have brought enough for the both of you."

"It's true, Daddy." Matthew grabbed a few scraps of wrapping paper from the floor and held them up for his father's perusal. To Alfred, From Daddy; To Alfred, From Santa; To Alfred, From Daddy… Bollocks.

"Er, I think what may have happened… that is to say, it's possible that I may have… mislabelled a few gifts." Arthur knelt down among the pile, cursing under his breath. "Let's see here. Ah, yes." He picked up one of the sweaters that Alfred had tossed aside— the red one— and held it out to Matthew. "This one is for you. And what else..."

"No!" Alfred shrieked, dropping the toys he already held and throwing himself on the pile his father was sifting through. "They're mine! They're mine, you can't take them! It isn't fair! It's not fair! They had my name on them!"

And then Alfred was sent to his room.