Hey guys, just a quick one shot because I got bored, hope you like it, please read and review xxx
It was a Saturday evening and the chipmunks and chipettes were in the living room watching Meer cat manor. Theodore's and Eleanor's favourite program, Simon and Jeanette liked it the first few times but now they just repeated all of the information they already knew. And Alvin and Brittany sat there, bored to tears. Soon enough Alvin let out a loud depressing sigh and Simon rolled his eyes in annoyance, sat up slowly and checked his watch.
"Wow, Alvin... a new personal record, you went 5 minutes, without saying anything" Simon said sarcastically. Alvin groaned again and looked away.
"Theo, why do you like this program so much?" Alvin asked, Theodore turned quite nervously and looked at his older brother.
"Because, it's interesting" he replied, and then Eleanor turned around to also face them.
"Yeah" Eleanor added, and then Brittany rolled her eyes.
"Sorry Elli, you know I love you... but I have to agree with Alvin" Brittany said, Eleanor tutted.
"You always agree with Alvin" Eleanor protested, Brittany tutted.
"Maybe we should watch SpongeBob" Jeanette suggested, Simon nodded in agreement.
"Oh please, that's for babies" Alvin replied.
"Yeah, we're not kids anymore" Brittany added.
"I would prefer something like Top Gear" Alvin suggested, and then Brittany smiled and faced Alvin.
"Or maybe, Americas Next Top Model" she said, Alvin felt annoyed with this, he hated that program with a passion, Alvin giggled nervously and faced Brittany completely.
"Top Gear is something I think everyone would enjoy" Alvin argued, and then Brittany shook her head still smiling.
"Well, actually ... I hate Top Gear, which is why Americas Next Top Model is perfect" she replied. Alvin lost it then.
"Britt... we're watching Top Gear" Alvin decided, Brittany got more annoyed now that Alvin called her Britt, he only said that if they were about to start arguing.
"Look Alvy... we're watching America's Next Top Model" Brittany protested, giving Alvin a nickname too, both of their faces went bright red like Alvin's red sweater.
"TOP GEAR"
"AMERICAS NEXT TOP MODEL"
"TOP GEAR"
"AMERICAS NEXT TOP MODEL"
This went on for about 2 minutes constantly, everyone was silent and their heads were going back and forth like they were watching a tennis match or something, until Dave came storming into the room, his hair was jelled back and he was wearing a black tux, Dave saw the two arguing and sighed, this was so typical, but he had sort of got used to it by now
"That's enough you two" Dave said sternly, the two kept on going, they didn't even hear Dave. Dave rolled his eyes and walked over to the two arguing chipmunks. He split them apart and even that didn't stop the arguing.
"AAALLLLLLLLVVVVVIINNNNNNN!" Dave bellowed, all of the chipmunks covered their ears and the room was then silent as they all looked up at Dave.
"Good, guys this arguing has to stop... I can't even leave the room for 10 minutes without you starting something off" Dave said disappointed.
"Well... she started it" Alvin protested, pointing to Brittany, her jaw dropped and her eyes narrowed.
"I STARTED IT? I JUST MADE A SUGGESTION!" She bellowed, Dave rolled his eyes while all of the other chipmunks shook their heads.
"WELL IF YOU JUST WENT WITH MY SUGGESTION IN THE FIRST PLACE THIS WOULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED... THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" Alvin replied.
"MY FAULT? OKAY THAT'S IT CHIPMUNK" Brittany threatened, hopping over Dave's hand towards Alvin.
"WELL GIVE ME YOUR BEST SHOT THEN" Alvin replied. Dave now really lost his cool.
"OKAY GUYS STOP IT THIS SECOND IT'S GETTING WAY TOO FAR NOW!" Dave screamed from the top of his lungs, it went silent again and Dave had everyone's eyes on him.
"Thank you... now... Alvin, Brittany apologise this second" Dave ordered, both of them sighed in defeat and guilt.
"Sorry Alvin" Brittany apologised.
"What for?" Dave said sternly, Brittany sighed again.
"I'm sorry for almost punching you" she gave in, the whole time Alvin had a smirk on his face, when he saw a very stern look coming from Dave. Alvin stopped his smirk and then also sighed.
"Fine... I'm sorry for giving a reasonable suggestion that everyone would've agreed on" Alvin said. Brittany then frowned and rolled her eyes.
"Close enough... now everyone on the couch now" Dave ordered, everyone did as told and hopped onto the couch and waited for Eleanor to turn the TV off.
"Thank God, I didn't know how much more of that I could take" Alvin moaned, Dave looked down and shook his head again. He soon looked up at all of the chipmunks staring back at him.
"as you know, me and Claire have started a new relationship and I am going on a date with her tonight to that new Chinese restaurant, and since I clearly can't trust you all at home on your own, and I can't get a babysitter, you're all going to have to come along" Dave announced, all of the chipmunks cheered but Alvin.
"BUT I HATE CHINESE FOOD" Alvin moaned.
"Not my problem" Dave replied, Alvin sat down and sulked.
"You can't make me go" Alvin protested, Dave sighed and shook his head when he then stood up and picked Alvin up. Alvin started to struggle but Dave was stronger. The chipmunks and Dave left and Dave strapped them all into the car, when Alvin finally stopped struggling and gave in, in going to the restaurant with Dave and the others, surely it couldn't be too bad... could it?
They arrived at the restaurant and Dave saw Claire waiting at a table in the corner of the restaurant. Claire saw the chipmunks and sighed.
"I don't think Dave knows what a date is" she said to herself, she turned around and read the clock.
"8:05... he's late by 5 minutes" she added quietly, she shook her head and waited for everyone to come over. Claire stood up and looked sternly into Dave's eyes, once Dave then saw the time he sighed.
"I'm late I'm sorry, I just got a bit caught up in traffic" Dave said, Claire still frowned.
"You really need a new excuse book" she said, Dave frowned and then showed her the big bouquet of red roses behind his back, he gave them to her and she smiled.
"They're beautiful... thank you" she thanked; Dave smiled and sat down opposite Claire. He completely forgot about the chipmunks that were left standing there. The chipmunks all looked around at each other confused when Simon made a small coughing noise. Dave turned around and when he saw the others his eyes grew.
"Oh... sorry guys... the waitress said that you can all sit over there" Dave said pointing to a table in the other corner of the room. They all started to walk away when Dave stopped them.
"Simon... I'm putting you in charge" Dave said, Simon smiled when of course Alvin had something to say.
"Wait, why is he in charge... again?" Alvin asked. Dave rolled his eyes and knelt down to their level.
"Alvin please do this for me... please?" Dave said with wide eyes, as Alvin looked at Dave his ears lowered and he frowned.
"Fine..." Alvin gave in, Dave smiled and the chipmunks walked away to their table. Their table was in the corner, in a booth that was a circle shape, Brittany slid in first, followed by Alvin, Simon Jeanette, Eleanor and Theodore on the end. They all started looking at the menus, well except for Alvin of course, he hated Chinese.
"I'm not really in the mood for any of this stuff" Brittany said.
"I'm never in the mood for it" Alvin groaned.
"You're never in the mood for anything" she replied, Alvin glared at her.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Alvin asked annoyed.
"nothing, Alvin... look I'm just saying... actually, never mind I don't want to start off a massive argument that will end up in Dave getting annoyed and cancelling his date with Claire" Brittany said, Alvin nodded.
"You're right" Alvin gave in.
"Aren't I always?" Brittany asked smiling, flicking her hair, Alvin rolled his eyes.
"Ignoring that comment" he replied, Brittany giggled when a waitress came over to take their order.
"Hello, welcome... May I take your order?" she asked in a strong accent.
"Well, I'm not hungry but we can do drinks" Simon suggested, everyone agreed.
"Okay, well I will have some H2O" Jeanette said, Simon nodded.
"Oh, make that two" Simon added, the waitress just looked down at them confused.
"Oh erm... water" Simon said, the waitress nodded and began writing it in her notebook.
"Ice?" she asked. Both Jeanette and Simon shook their heads, when the waitress moved onto Alvin and Brittany.
"I'll have a sprite please, hold the ice" Brittany said sweetly.
"Brittany, you know fizzy drinks are bad for our stomachs, Brittany only shrugged when the waitress then faced Alvin.
"Coke please... with ice" Alvin said, Simon shook his head.
"You will be sick" Simon warned.
"Si... quit worrying" Alvin said calmly, Simon only faced away, if Alvin wanted to get ill that was fine with him. Finally the waitress faces Theodore and Eleanor.
"Can I have an orange juice please, with ice" Eleanor asked, she nodded and began writing it down.
"And could, I have a glass of milk please?" Theodore asked, everyone including the waitress just stared at him.
"Really Theo?" Alvin asked.
"Even I'm with Alvin, we're in a restaurant" Simon added.
"Exactly, even Einstein here agrees with me for once" Alvin said, Simon looked at Alvin confused.
"I'm just going to take that as a compliment" Simon said, then facing back to Theodore, who just shrugged, everyone shook their heads and the waitress left. All of the chipmunks were staring at Dave and Claire having a good time.
"You can tell Claire really does like him" Brittany said smiling.
"How can you be so sure?" Jeanette asked.
"Well, Claire's laughing at him and even all of you have to admit that Dave is most certainly not funny... in any way" Brittany explained, everyone nodded and carried on staring at them.
"Dave needs a little help from the love doctor" Alvin said.
"And don't forget his assistant" Theodore said cheerfully.
"Guys don't, Dave's doing fine and besides I'm sure you both remember what happened that last time" Simon reminded.
"True" Alvin said sitting back down again.
"But" Alvin said standing up again, Simon groaned.
"This can't be good" he mumbled.
"That time, they were just friends, now they actually are going out" Alvin spotted, Simon rolled his eyes and pushed Alvin back down into his seat, when Alvin groaned.
"Fine..." he gave in again. Just then the waitress returned with all of their drinks and gave them out on a plate with a fortune cookie on the side. The waitress left and Alvin was confused.
"What are these?" he asked.
"They're called fortune cookies Alvin" Simon sarcastically.
"They tell you your future" Jeanette added smiling. Alvin looked at his cookie and made a face, when he then saw Theodore's and swapped the cookies.
"What's the point?" Simon asked. Alvin shrugged and cracked his open and pulled out the little piece of paper in side.
"Good things come to those who wait" he said.
"Well this is rubbish" Alvin added screwing up the paper and chucking it on the floor.
"Oooo, 5 years bad luck" Brittany teased, Alvin then actually got worried.
"Really?" he asked, Brittany nodded. When Alvin dove to the floor picking up the paper and holding it tight in his hand, everyone giggled and Brittany then cracked her cookie open.
"Loud mouths get you nowhere in life" she said, Alvin burst out into laughter.
"Ha-ha well they got yours right" Alvin joked; Brittany glared at him and put the paper on the table when Simon and Jeanette cracked theirs at the same time.
"Something great is in store for you" Simon read.
"Your true love is closer than you think" Jeanette read, blushing when she looked up at Simon. Everyone smiled at them when another crack of a fortune cookie was heard from Eleanor.
"Always protect your love ones" she read.
"These are so boring, they don't exactly tell you your future" Alvin complained, a waitress walked pass and Alvin stopped her.
"Excuse me, I have a complaint, your fortunes cookies are broken, they don't tell you the future at all..." Alvin got interrupted by Simon covering his mouth.
"Ha ha sorry about that, his brain doesn't quite work properly sometimes" Simon said, the waitress giggled and walked away when Alvin pushed Simon off of him, they both sat down again.
"Wow, you all got really cool things, I wonder what I'll get" Theodore said excited.
"Well open it and see" Eleanor said giggling, Theodore smiled and cracked his cookie open, he took the paper and read it not out loud but in his head.
Your life is in danger; you must leave your home, never return and tell no one about this... no one
Theodore just looked at it with wide, teary eyes.
"Theo, what's wrong?" Simon asked.
"Yeah, what does the paper say?" Brittany added, Theodore was still staring and didn't even hear what they said, Theodore took a big gulp and looked up at the others shaking, everyone instantly became concerned.
"i-i-i-it s-says..." just before he could finish, his drink toppled over off of the table and the milk spilt all over Theodore.
"How did that happen?" Jeanette asked, Eleanor shrugged, and everyone ran to help Theodore.
"Theo, are you okay?" Alvin asked grabbing some napkins, Theodore stood up and dabbed the napkin over his clothes.
"So you were saying?" Eleanor asked.
"w-well..." but just then Theodore tripped on something and he fell off the seat and onto the hard, wood floor. Simon and Alvin ran up to him helping him up. Theodore now got really scared.
"D-DAVE!" Theodore screamed running to Dave, Theodore was about to blurt out the fortune when a waitress was coming and Theodore tripped her up, so she dropped the tray, Theodore was covered in lots of food and sauce, Dave heard the commotion and when he saw Theodore he leapt from the table.
"Theodore, are you okay?" Dave asked, Theodore nodded but then began to cry gently when the others then walked over.
"Oh no... Look at you" Dave said holding Theodore.
"Claire, I'm sorry I'm going to have to go" Dave said, hoping she would understand.
"What... you can't leave we haven't even eaten yet" she replied annoyed.
"I'm sorry" Dave said. Claire then got really angry.
"You always do this" Claire said, disappointed.
"I know but, these guys are important to me, they mean the world" Dave said.
"Oh so what am I?" Claire asked. She stood up and threw the roses onto Daves lap.
"Take your flowers back jerk" she said as she stormed out of the restaurant.
"CLAIRE!" Dave called, but she was gone, Dave sighed sadly.
"Oh no, I'm sorry Dave" Theodore apologised.
"It's not your fault guys, come on let's get out of here" Dave announced, no one, not even Alvin said a word until they got home. Theodore hopped in and immediately ran into the bathroom the get dressed again, he opened the bathroom cupboard and pulled out his pyjamas, he was brushing his teeth, when suddenly the thought of Ian came into mind, he didn't know why, it just did. Theodore got ready and walked into his bedroom where everyone else was and hopped onto his bunk and pulled the covers over him, little did he know that there was a bald man outside the house with black, square glasses; this man's name was Ian Hawke.
"I will get them all this time" Ian said with an evil smile. That next day, Theodore woke up to yet again another argument between Alvin and Brittany, he just ignored it, it was probably about something stupid anyway, just then the thought of the fortune cookie came back into Theodore's mind and he immediately got scared again, but he also started to wonder if he should tell anyone, since the paper did specifically say not to anyway. Theodore thought hard, when he finally concluded that he should tell, hopefully nothing will stop him this time. Theodore was about to approach Alvin, but then realised that it probably wouldn't help so he then approached Simon.
"Simon?" Theodore asked, Simon turned around to face his brother.
"I have something to show you... it's the paper from the fortune cookie" Theodore said, getting the paper from his pocket. He gave the paper to Simon who read it eagerly, when he remembered what happened yesterday at the restaurant. Simon finished reading and gave the papaer back to Theodore.
"Is that what all of the worry was about?" Simon asked, Theodore looked sad and shrugged his shoulders, and Simon sighed.
"Walk with me" Simon said putting an arm around Theodore, they were about to hop out of the cat flap when Dave saw.
"Erm... where are you two going?" Dave asked, hearing that, Alvin quickly forgot about the argument and looked at their conversation; Alvin scurried up to his two younger brothers and looked confused.
"Yeah... and without me?" Alvin added, Simon rolled his eyes.
"It's no big deal, I just need to talk about Theodore about something" Simon explained.
"You two are having a private conversation without me? I thought we were brothers, we don't hide things from each other" Alvin said.
"Well then fine, it's okay with me, but you really need to ask Theodore" Simon stated, Alvin rolled his eyes and looked at Theodore.
"w-well, I guess you can come" Theodore said, Alvin smiled and they all hopped through the cat flap.
"Just don't be too long" Dave called. The room was silent and Dave found all of the chipettes eyes on him.
"okay guys...erm, girls I need to get to work on a new song and I can't be bothered, so just make sure everything stays quiet until I'm done... can you do that?" Dave asked.
"Yes Dave" they all replied sweetly in unison. Dave smiled and left to his little music room, he locked the door and sat at his piano while putting the headphones on his head. The girls then went back and sat on the couch.
"UGH... THAT ALVIN, HE'S JUST SO... SO...SO..." Brittany said. Eleanor and Jeanette stared at her with wide eyes.
"CUTE!" Brittany bellowed, they both looked at her confused and Brittany quickly covered her mouth. Eleanor and Jeanette didn't say a word they just smiled, and that said enough, they knew Brittany had some feelings for Alvin, but they never thought she would tell them like that. Once Alvin, Simon and Theodore were outside Alvin turned to face them both.
"so... what's all this about?" Alvin asked, Ian was hiding in the bush and thought he heard some voices, so he quickly grabbed his binoculars and started looking at the three outside, Ian laughed quietly to himself.
"Ha-ha, it's like they knew I was here" Ian said, he then started putting his plan into action.
"Go on Theo, show him the paper" Simon said, Theodore did as told and showed Alvin the paper.
"So what?" Alvin asked confused, as to why they were so worried.
"Exactly... Theodore's under the impression that it's actually true" Simon said.
"b-but..." Theodore tried to explain.
"Theo, don't be silly, you know it's not true, they're broken remember" Alvin said, Simon rolled his eyes.
"Not helping Alvin" Simon added.
"Well then how do you expect everything that happened, the milk, falling off the chair, tripping the waitress up and breaking Dave and Claire up.
"Well, these things happen" Alvin said.
"Yeah, it was probably just coincidence" Simon added.
"But but..." Theodore argued when he got interrupted.
"Listen Theo... we're not going to say this again... IT IS NOT REAL!" Alvin bellowed, causing Theodore to fall back. Simon rushed to his side and helped him up, when out of nowhere Ian jumped from the bush and picked Alvin up in his hand. Alvin screamed and took a look at the person holding him.
"I-Ian?" Alvin asked.
"Surprised to see me?" he replied.
"Well yes actually... I thought you were in prison" Alvin added, Ian just laughed.
"Looks like I got out" Ian said, Alvin growled and narrowed his eyes at him.
"Well not for long... my brothers and Dave will get you" Alvin threatened.
"Ha, well... do you see Dave anywhere?" Ian asked sarcastically, Alvin's face then turned sad while Ian laughed.
"and do your brothers look like they're going to help you?" Ian asked, and then Alvin took a look at his scared and cowardly brothers and his ears lowered, Ian then kicked Simon in the stomach leaving him to fall to the ground in pain, tears started falling down his fury cheeks and Theodore tried to comfort him the best he could, Alvin gasped and tried to struggle again, but it was pointless. Ian then started to walk away when Alvin bit his hand. Ian cried in pain and released Alvin; he fell to the ground with a thump and screamed again.
"okay, I' definitely not hearing things" Brittany said.
"Yeah, even I heard it that time" Jeanette added.
"But who could scream that high?" Eleanor asked, they all thought for a while when their eyes got bigger with realisation.
"Maybe we should check on the boys" Brittany suggested, Eleanor and Jeanette nodded and they quickly scurried their way out of the cat flap, Eleanor saw Theodore and Simon and they both ran over to them.
"Oh my gosh Simon, what happened?" Jeanette asked in concern when she saw the state he was in. Brittany looked around when she noticed Alvin wasn't there when she turned around to see Ian and Alvin, Alvin was on the floor and Ian was looking down angrily. Alvin was trying to back away but Ian was too fast.
"That's it, you're gonna pay for that" Ian said, Brittany gasped and turned to the boys and her sisters.
"ELLI QUICK CALL THE POLICE!" Brittany screamed, Eleanor then also saw what was happening and nodded while she sprinted back into the house. Ian had picked Alvin up but his sweater again and threw him on the floor again, this broke Alvin's heart, she had to help. All Theodore could do was stare at the scene in front of them in fear.
"I just don't get it; I thought it was me who was in danger?" Theodore asked himself. Simon was still in tears and Jeanette was just trying to calm him down.
"Simon come on, laying on this hard rough floor won't help, let me take you to the sofa" Jeanette offered, before Simon could even answer Jeanette was helping him stand up and walking inside, Jeanette was struggling a bit though.
"Jeanette, I'll help you" Theodore said, while taking Simon's other arm, Jeanette smiled warmly to say thank you and they walked inside.
"Britt, I have to help Simon" Jeanette said guiltily, Brittany sighed.
"it's fine... I understand... I'll take it from here" Brittany replied, Jeanette smiled and they carried on walking in side, Brittany looked at the horrible scene in front of her once more and gulped, this was her chance. Alvin was backing up again and Ian was about to hit him, Alvin gasped in fear but covered his face when Brittany ran as fast as her legs could carry her and stood in Alvin's way. Ian's hand stopped and looked confused.
"OUT OF THE WAY RAT!" He bellowed, Brittany felt like backing down but then looked behind at the injured Alvin.
"n-NO!" She replied, Alvin gasped, why was she helping him, he thought she hated him.
"B-Brittany, what are you doing?" Alvin whispered.
"Well do you think that I want the one I love hurt?" she asked, she covered her mouth again, and Brittany's eyes widened with pure embarrassment.
"y-you what?" Alvin asked.
"I just said that out loud didn't I?" Brittany asked, she turned around and saw Ian's head right next to her.
"Kind of" Ian said Brittany got startled and screamed as she hit Ian around the face; Ian winced in pain and went red in the face. Ian wacked his hand around like the speed of light and hit Brittany, she went flying over onto the concrete, and a look of deep concern reached Alvin's eyes, he never felt this way about her before, maybe he was getting feelings for her, or maybe they were there all along, he just didn't realise. Alvin quickly got up and limped over to her as best as he could.
"BRITTANY, ARE YOU OKAY?" Alvin asked in concern kneeling beside her, Brittany groaned and sat up rubbing her head.
"y-yeah, I'm fine" she replied weakly.
"Well... isn't this a sweet sight, Alvin and Brittany falling in love" Ian teased.
"YOU STAY OUT OF THIS!" Alvin warned.
"What do you want anyway?" Brittany asked innocently.
"YOU RUINED MY LIFE, AND NOW I'M GOING TO RUIN YOURS" Ian bellowed, Ian went to hit them again when he heard sirens coming, and he started to panic.
"looks like we get the last laugh" Alvin said helping Brittany up, Ian glared down at then when police started running out of the cab and started hand cuffing Ian.
"You have the right, to remain silent" a police man said.
"Yeah yeah yeah" Ian moaned before he was taken away, just then Eleanor came scurrying out of the cat flap with Jeanette and Theodore.
"Thank, God you're both okay" Jeanette gasped.
"well it was close, if the police didn't show up, we'd probably look worse" Brittany joked, they all started to laugh when Alvin then pulled her into a passionate kiss, her eyes grew and she could feel her own heart beat, but she quickly returned the kiss, they smiled at each other held each other hand in hand.
"You were very lucky this time... and don't worry you won't be seeing him for a very long time" the police man said, they all smiled.
"Thank you officers" they all replied sweetly, they officer smiled and left when he put Ian in the back of the police car.
"Wait... where's Simon?" Alvin asked.
"relaxing on the couch, he's really hurt, but it's not that bad" Jeanette replied, Alvin started to get worried and they all walked inside, when Alvin saw Simon on the couch he walked up to him.
"You okay Si?" Alvin asked, Simon nodded weakly and Alvin smiled back.
"I'm sorry you got hurt" Alvin said lowering his ears.
"It's not fault Alvin" Simon replied, Simon sat up groaning a bit, and everyone sat on the couch.
"I just don't get it, wasn't it me who was meant to be in danger?" Theodore asked.
"Well, I don't know, I guess it was wrong" Alvin replied, Simon thought hard and something hit him.
"Wait... didn't Alvin switch the cookies?" he asked, Alvin and Theodore nodded.
"That's why then, maybe the fortune belonged to Alvin, but when you swapped, Theo thought it was for him... when it was really Alvin in danger the whole time" Simon explained.
"Well... That makes sense" Jeanette concluded.
"Well, at least it's over now" Theodore said, Eleanor nodded and smiled at Theodore.
"I'm glad it happened really" Alvin said, everyone looked at him confused.
"Alvin, I think you got hit a bit too hard" Eleanor said, feeling his forehead, Alvin pushed her hand away.
"No I'm fine... I mean, if it didn't happen, I never would've realised my feelings for Brittany" Alvin said, Brittany smiled and they shared another kiss, when Dave then walked into the room with excitement. When he saw Alvin and Brittany his eyes widened and he froze on the spot.
Hey guys, what did I miss?" Dave asked.
"Oh nothing" Brittany sighed.
"Well this isn't exactly what I had in mind but at least you're not fighting anymore. Alvin and Brittany blushed.
"Why are you so excited Dave?" Eleanor asked.
"Oh yeah, well Claire gave me a second chance and we're going back to that Chinese restaurant again tonight, do you want to come?" he replied.
"NO!" They all replied.
That the end of my one shot, hope you liked it, went on longer than I thought but oh well, and please review xxx