The Love-Hate Relationship
Feeling weary from his day's work, Simon Seville trudged up the stairs of the basement, heading up to the kitchen while wiping off some oil from his exhands with a cloth. While his latest experiment was a little messy, he hoped that it would help him create an alternative to gasoline to help with America's current dependency on it. Oh, sure, solar energy worked just as well, but did not work well at night, and while electrical energy in vehicles had helped somewhat, he didn't think that the new energy source would last very long. He hoped to create an energy source that would last a lifetime instead of just a few months. Even with the latest alternative energy sources aside from gasoline, people still depended on the substance to get them around.
Thinking that getting something to eat would help him think better, Simon made his way into the kitchen. He walked over to the refrigerator while his little brother Theodore was busy eating his afternoon snack: a banana. He grabbed a bottle of Coca-Cola from the fridge and retrieved two pieces of bread from the cabinet along with a jar of peanut butter and a knife from one of the drawers where the silverware was kept. Despite that peanut buter wasn't one of his absolute favorite things to eat in the world, he decided that it would have to do until Dave got home from work later on.
Hearing some dialogue come from an unknown source, Simon turned his head to look across the room. He saw Alvin sitting on the couch with his eyes fixed on the television in front of him with a half-eaten sandwich in his hands. Simon shook his head and rolled his eyes. When Alvin was watching TV, it was nearly impossible to get him to focus on anything but, including his homework. Getting the boy to focus on his homework was a battle in itself since the chipmunk in the red sweater never wanted to study. His curiosity behind what Alvin was watching wouldn't allow Simon to ignore the urge to investigate. Despite his objections, he made his way to the living room, but not before putting away the peanut butter and setting the knife in the sink. He couldn't ignore his responsibilities as the head of the household when Dave was out. It didn't surprise him that Alvin didn't notice him, even as he sat down on the couch beside his brother.
Simon took a bite out of his sandwich as he too fixed his eyes on the television screen in front of them. The screen showed a baby in red overalls and a yellow shirt and shoes with a football-shaped head mercilessly beating the snot out of a white dog on the screen while shouting over and over again, "Where's my money?" After seeing the baby, Simon couldn't help but remember a certain cartoon show that he'd watched as a child that also featured a boy with a football-shaped head named Arnold, otherwise known as "football head" by one of the boy's peers. The memory made him smile. He took another bite out of his sandwich.
Family Guy. It was one of Alvin's favorite shows, though Simon didn't understand why. To him, the show was idiotic and didn't come close to possessing the comedy of The Simpsons or South Park for that matter. Then again, Simon did have a very dry sense of humor, unlike Alvin, who thought that the show they were watching now was hilarious. As for Theodore, the pudgy chipmunk often had problems getting a joke. It took him a moment or two to fully understand a joke before laughing at it. Therefore, like Simon, it was hard for him to see what was so funny about the show known as Family Guy.
Simon knew better than to attempt to snatch the remote away from Alvin. He knew that Alvin wouldn't allow him to change the channel once he started watching one of his favorite programs. It was for this reason specifically that Simon wanted more than one television in the house, but so far, Dave refused, claiming that such a thing was either not necessary or that they didn't have the money for it. Still, he decided that the idiotic cartoon playing in front of him was better tahn watching nothing. He'd have to do with what he had until he could save up the money and buy a television himself. If he succeeded in purchasing a television with his own money, he was sure to put it in the basement, where he and only he alone could watch it. Of course, if Theodore or Alvin asked him politely, he would permit them to watch it, just as long as they made sure to take good care of it. He knew Theodore would. Alvin, on the other hand, was a completely different story.
Hearing Alvin laugh, Simon looked over at his younger brother and grinned. Even if he hated the show, it was good seeing Alvin getting pleasure out of something. The older, wiser chipmunk couldn't stand it when one of his brothers was feeling down, especially Alvin. It was just unnatural of him to feel depressed, though Theodore had, at times, felt the same way.
Simon looked over at the television screen to see what was so funny to Alvin. He watched as the character known as Brian Griffin tumbled down the stairs after being hit with a golf club by the baby known as Stewie Griffin. He watched as Stewie punched Brian over and over again in the face. A smirk appeared on his face. Even if he thought the show was stupid, he had to admit that watching a character get the snot beat out of them was funny.
In a way, watching the characters of Brian and Stewie reminded Simon of his relationship with Alvin. While the two of them loved each other deeply, just as Brian and Stewie did, though the two characters would never admit it, there were times when the two couldn't stand being around each other, much less in the same room. It was because of this that the two of them were often seen sleeping in separate rooms: Alvin would sleep in the bedroom while Simon slept on the couch in the living room, or vice cersa. After a few days, the two of them stopped being so sour at each other and ended up apologizing and spending the day together to make up for their argument a few days earlier.
Alvin and Simon often argued over trivial things, such as who was smarter or who was the fatest. It wasn't as if the two of them enjoyed these arguments. If anything, they didn't like fighting. As if this weren't bad enough, Theodore would often get stuck in the middle of it all. After a few times, Simon would request that their little brother leave the room before a fight broke out. They had fought over a game of tic-tac-toe, or at least that's what they had told Dave when he'd come home later on that evening.
The main reason why the two of them fought so much was mainly because of Alvin, who believed that he knew more than Simon. When he attempted to be smarter than the chipmunk with glasses, a fight quickly broke out between the two of them. This helped avoid having to deal with the emotional breakdown that would overtake Theodore later on, and it also helped avoid Alvin and Simon having to deal with feeling bad for putting their little brother through such an ordeal. Still, it was a rare occasion when the two brothers got along since they had completely different views on everything: politics, school, war, religion, and historical events such as World War II and 9/11. Deep down, they loved each other and would do anything for each other, even if it meant giving up their own success. Just like now, Simon was giving up getting to watch his own program since he enjoyed Alvin enjoying himself.
His curiosity about the situation between Brian and Stewie was too strong for Simon to ignore. He looked over at Alvin, who paid him no mind. "So what are they fighting about?" He took a bite out of his sandwich.
"Brian bet Stewie fifty bucks that Mike Tyson was going to win in a boxing match against Carol Channing," Alvin replied, chuckling to himself. "Not surprisingly, Carol Channing won, so Stewie gave Brian twenty-four hours to pay him. After Brian failed to pay him the fifty bucks, Stewie began beating the crap out of him."
Simon watched as Stewie set Brian on fire using a fire-emitting machine. He gave Alvin a confused look. "All this over fifty freaking bucks?"
Alvin laughed. "Yeah. Stupid, right?"
Simon smiled. Maybe his brother was finally starting to dislike the show. He knew that in a few years, the chipmunk would begin to hate it as his tastes in humor and television in general changed. "Very. Everyone knows that Mike Tyson would win in a fight against Carol Channing."
"Well, duh," Alvin agreed. "But it's Family Guy, you know. They always do stupid crap like that."
"Which is exactly why I hate it."
Alvin gave his brother a curious look. "I don't get it. Why do you hate it so much?"
Simon recalled Alvin requesting that he watch a few episodes and give the show a chance before passing jugdment on it. The chipmunk had done just that, and based on what he'd seen, the show was nothing more than a bunch of pop culture references filled in with cutaways and stupid, idiotic songs. True, both South Park and The Simpsons did this, but to him they did it right. He found a lot of the songs in the show completely idiotic that had little to no nothing to do with the main plot of the episode, though at times he found that even a plot was hard to find in an episode or two. He often found himself scratching his head as he struggled to figure out what the plot was. Because of the constant references to pop culture and cutaways, it was hard for him to keep up with the plot of the episode, but that mainly depeneded on if there ever was one.
Seeing Brian getting the snot beat out of him made Simon smile. As if Peter and Stewie weren't annoying enough, he thought that the writers for the show had decided to take Brian, who, at one point in time, had been like Simon and had been the voice of reason within the family, and make him into an atheist smart-aleck. While Simon did share Brian's spiritual beliefs (he wasn't into politics like Brian), he did not go around trying to force his beliefs down everyone's throats like Brian did, nor did he assume that he was correct in his beliefs. He believed that everyone had their right to believe in whatever they wished, which also gtanted him to believe in the idea that there was no such thing as God, mainly because he believed there was no evidence to support the idea that there was a God in the first place.
There wasn't a single character on Family Guy that Simon liked, much less cared for. He had actually made a list of the characters and why he disliked them. The list consisted of characters that he found the less annoying to the most annoying. He had shown the list to Alvin and he was pleased when the younger chipmunk agreed with him on a lot of the reasons why the characters were annoying. For example, they both disliked Stewie because the baby hated and wished to kill his mother, yet the writers for the show gave no reason as to why that was. The two of them often found themselves trying very hard to figure out why on earth the lad would want to kill his own mother and why he hated her so much, but even with Simon's superior intelligence, they could not come up with a valid reason.
One particular thing that annoyed Simon to no end was the fact that almost every single character on the show enjoyed degrading Meg. Even when the teenager had accepted Jesus as her personal Lord and Savior, the character of Brian Griffin had ended up making her atheist by putting false ideas in her head, such as the idea that God had made her fat with no breasts and had put her in a household where it seemed as if no one cared about her. While Simon did not know a lot about God, he did know that such things were not under His control. He knew that a person's appearance was solely based on their actions.
A prime example of this would be when Theodore had first been born, he had been a healthy skinny chipmunk. Over time, he grew into a pudgy chipmunk with a nice, round tummy. It was because of Theodore's constant gorging on food that he was now slightly overweight. Therefore, God was not at fault for this. It had been completely Theodore's fault that he was overweight, yet this fact didn't seem to bother the chipmunk in the slightest, despite the constant teasing from his peers at school.
The episode of Family Guy fianlly came to a close with Brian pushing Stewie in front of an oncoming bus. Simon shook his head in disappointment when Stewie simply became stuck to the bus. From what he'd seen on South Park, the knew that Stewie's guts would've gone everywhere while his body lay in the street with a puddle of blood if such an event had taken place on the poorly animated comedy show.
Alvin seemed to be just as disappointed as Simon. The chipmunk stared at the television screen with a blank look. He gave Simon an expression on his face that Simon read as him saying, "Did that really just happen?" Shaking his head, the chipmunk faced the television again only to retrieve the remote in front of him and turn the TV off. "That's it? I wasted twenty-six minutes of my time to see a baby get stuck to a bus? Come on!"
Simon nodded his head in agreement as he took a swig of his Coke. He set it down on the table in front of him. Sighing heavily, he cast his eyes down to the floor while folding his hands between his knees. He tilted his head slightly to the left just enough to where he could catch a glimpse of Alvin. "Those two remind me of me and you."
"Brian and Stewie?" Alvin guessed.
Simon chuckled and nodded his head once more. "Yeah."
"You mean how they're constantly fighting?"
"Mm-hmm." He lifted his body and allowed his back to rest against the padded backrest of the couch. He cast his gaze toward the ceiling, as if deep in thought. Without bothering to look at Alvin, he added, "Why do we do it, Alvin? Why are we always fighting?" He turned his head fully to the left this time so he could catch Alvin's gaze. To his surprise, Alvin looked as if he were on the verge of tears, almost as if his comment had brought back painful memories for the chipmunk.
Alvin could see that Simon saw his tearful eyes. Being the self-proclaimed "macho man" that he was, he tried his best to hide his saddened expression to the best of his ability. He shrugged after quickly wiping his eyes with his sleeve. "I don't really know. Maybe it's because I'm a smatt-aleck who needs to learn to keep his mouth shut."
Simon allowed a rude comment to soar through his mind. It was hard for him not to utter it out loud. Despite that he thought Alvin's comment could be no nearer to the truth, he didn't enjoy insulting his brother's intelligence because he knew that the chipmunk was very bright and creative with the schemes that he cooked up. He just wished that his brother would use those tools to better himself instead of hurting people in the end. He felt the fingers on his hand curl into a fist as he fought the urge to say the comment that still lingered in his head out loud. The only thing that kept him from doing this was the fact that he didn't want to hurt his brother's feelings or start an argument that would end up lasting them a couple of days before they finally forgave each other and completely forgot about the situation as if it never occurred.
"And you're a brainac who voices his opinions too often," Alvin continued.
Simon couldn't help but agree with Alvin on that comment. He admitted that there were times when he'd speak his opinion when he should've left well enough alone. Him voicing his opinions often led to confrontation with not only Alvin, and sometimes Theodore, but also a fellow classmate, a bully, or sometimes a teacher. He realized that in order for people to like him more, he would have to learn how to keep his mouth shut when the occasion called for it.
As for Alvin keeping hs mouth shut like the chipmunk had suggested earlier, Simon disagreed with him. The problem with Alvin was that he would often not tell others about how he was feeling or what he was going through. Instead, he would keep his feelings to himself, probably because he felt that expressing his feelings was not manly and that only women did such things. He refused to talk to a counselor or a therapist, claiming that there was nothing wrong with him. Simon and the others quickly found out that trying to get Alvin to talk was a waste of time. After talking to a counselor, she suggested that they not force the chipmunk to talk. She said that when he was ready to talk, he would. However, Simon and the others had yet to see when Alvin was ready to talk to him about what was bothering him.
Due to the fact that it was very difficult to get the chipmunk to talk, Simon suggested that the chipmunk keep a journal in which he could write down his private thoughts without any else knowing. Being that he enjoyed writing, which was ironic since he did plenty of it in school and hated school because he was writing so much, the chipmunk seemed to like the idea. Simon believed that Alvin didn't like writing in school because he was only given the choice to write down what he was ordered to. Rarely did he and the others get a chance to write down whatever they wished. Like Simon and Theodore, the chipmunk loved being creative, which had led to the chipmunk learning how to draw and play the guitar.
"What do you think the real reason is why we fight so much?" Simon questioned Alvin. "Be honest with me." He realized that by asking Alvin to be honest with him, he was asking for a bit much since the chipmunk had a very bad habit of either lying or overexaggerating things to the point to where what he said was completely unbelievable.
Alvin thought about Simon's question for a moment or two before finally gazing up at the chipmunk with glasses. "I think it's because we're both afraid to admit the fact that we love each other." He grinned. "Not in a gay way, mind you, but, you know, in a brotherly love kind of way."
Simon grinned himself and nodded in agreement. He realized that the same principle could be applied to the relationship in which Brian and Stewie found themselves in. The only reason why the two characters argued all the time was because they were afraid of letting their true feelings for each other be known, though at times Stewie had led Brian onto the idea that the baby was in love with him.
"But most of all," Alvin continued, "I think it's because we both know that we'll always be competing with each other, whether it's grades, success, or getting affection."
Simon blinked. For once, Alvin truly was being honest with him, allowing what he thought in his heart to be spoken through his mouth. There wasn't a doubt in the chipmunk's mind that he would grow up to be more successful than Alvin. He knew that he would go on to college and become a world-renown scientist. As for Alvin, the chipmunk would continue to pursue his career in music.
Simon understood what Alvin meant by "getting affection." The chipmunk basically meant that the two of them would constantly be battling for Dave's attention and affection. Due to the fact that he was the responsible one and therefore, was more trustworthy, he was often showered with praise whereas Alvin felt as if he were simply living in Simon's shadow. The only reason why Theodore got any attention or affection from Dave at all was because he was the baby of the family.
Simon's eyes drifted over to a picture that sat on top of the entertainment center that contained the TV, VCR, DVD player, and a series of video cassettes and DVDs that had been collected over the years, though some had been passed down to them through friends and family. The picture was a family portrait. It showed Dave with his three boys. The black-haired man with blue eyes had his arms around Alvin and Simon while Theodore lay in the man's lap. Looking at the picture for the first time, one would think that the four of them got along just fine. They would be considered to be the perfect family upon a stranger's observance of the photograph. However, anyone who knew the Sevilles knew that their family was less than perfect. Constantly, they were getting in trouble because of Alvin and the other two were often dragged down to the ground by him, often getting the same punishment as he did as a result.
Simon's mind went by to the cartoon that he'd watched as a child, the cartoon that featured a blond-headed girl constantly picking on the protagnoist of the show, the protagonist with the football-shaped head. The girl reminded him of Alvin while the girl's older sister reminded him of himself. Like the girl's older sister, he had many talents and was showered with praise. Whereas the girl herself, like Alvin, had many talents herself, but her family completely ignored her and pretended as if she did not exist, leaving her to linger in the shadow of her older sister. He couldn't imagine how Alvin must've felt when his talents or accomplishments weren't recognized. The only time he received any recognition at all was when he got in trouble, and surely that in itself made the chipmunk only feel worse about himself.
Simon thought that having Alvin see a counselor would do the chipmunk some good. It would give him a chance to talk about how he truly felt about his family without them knowing. Under regulation, his counselor would not be allowed to discuss what they talked about in their private meetings, even with her employer. What the two of them talked about was strictly between the two of them, even if it was a serious matter. The only times when the counselor would be allowed to talk to someone else other than Alvin about what they discussed would be if someone was hurting Alvin, if Alvin was planning to hurt someone else, or if Alvin was planning on hurting himself. Luckily, Alvin didn't even come close to appearing to be the violent type.
"I don't like fighting anymore than you do," Alvin went on. "In fact, I hate it. All it does is cause Theodore pain and we end up avoiding each other, refusing to attempt to resolve the issue instead of trying our best to get along with each other like we're supposed."
Simon chuckled. "Actually, if you think about it, getting along isn't part of being brothers. Brothers fight all the time. It's perfectly natural. Theodore fights with the two of us lots of times." He turned his head to the right upon hearing Theodore walking up the stairs having finished his banana. He turned his head back towards Alvin when the chipmunk started talking once more.
"I think we're afraid of the fact that no matter what we do, we'll always be fighting."
Simon believed the same thing. Since they were brothers and since they were always competing with each other, they would always be arguing and fighting with each other, trying their best to win the gold. They would always be trying to outdo each other, whether it was with grades or success. The only time they would ever stop arguing would be when they ended up dying. He wished for nothing more than for one day where he and Alvin didn't fight at all. The only way this wish would be granted was if the two of them avoided each other for one whole day, which was hard to do since they lived in the same house, attended the same school, slept in the same room, and because it was necessary for them to interact with each other throughout the day.
"And to be honest," Alvin declared, "I'm just sick of it. Can you blame me?"
Simon shook his head. For once, the two of them were actually agreeing with each other. "No, I can't blame you, and I imagine Theodore is sick of it as well."
"We need to quit this before it becomes a habit, for Theodore's sake."
"Agreed."
Alvin knew, however, that resisting the urge to state some smart-aleck remark that threatened to make its prescence known would be extremely difficult, just as it would be very hard for Simon to resist the urge to point out someone's mistake and correct them like he always did, even with Dave and some of his teachers. The only good thing about was that he could always rely on Simon to help him when he was in a tough situation, yet it depended on whether or not Simon chose to help him or not. Oftentimes, Simon refused to help him at all, stating that he'd gotten himself in the situation and therefore, needed to get himself out of it. But Alvin also knew that Simon couldn't ignore his brohterly love towards his brother. He knew that his older brother would do anything for him, even help him in a situation that was entirely his fault like it usually was.
Simon recalled the many times that he'd had to get Alvin out of trouble. While this got annoying at times, he knew that had it not been for him, Alvin would be considered a juvenile delinquient by now. Luckily for Alvin, the older chipmunk couldn't ignore the love that he felt towards his brother, which was the driving force behind him helping Alvin out when he was in a bad situation. No matter how much they fought, their love towards each other would never cease. It would remain with them until the very day they died. Even if Alvin ended up impregnating some girl during his teen years, Simon knew that he would be there to help his brohter through the troubling times of teen parenthood, yet it depended on whether the girl decided on whether or not to keep the child.
Being that it appeared that he was the favorite of the family, Simon could easily see why Alvin would feel unloved and unwanted in the Seville family, just as Helga from Hey Arnold felt towards her family. When he realized how much Alvin and Helga had in common, Simon realized that the two of them would've gotten along swimmingly. The two of them were very talented writers and weren't afraid to let their kinder sides shine through at times. For example, Alvin had given his harmonica to a sick boy known as Tommy in the hospital during Christmastime just before he and his brothers were scheduled to perform a concert, and Helga had tried warning Arnold that a cute blond-headed girl was just using him for her own advantage during a summer where she and Arnold were spending the summer on the same beach during a sand castle building contest. Unfortunately for Alvin, Helga was nothing more than a two-dimensional drawing on paper and therefore, not realistic in the slightest.
For the longest time, the two brothers sat in silence, not looking at each other. They kept their eyes forward, as if they were afraid that if they even glanced at each other for more than few seconds that they would end up falling into each other's arms and crying for several minutes. Neither one of them was a crier. Theodore was the crier of the three, just as he was the baby of the three. The two of them were tough. Crying was a behavior that was considered babyish to them. They continued to stare at the television in front of them, still refusing to speak, much less look at each other until they finally looked at each other.
It wasn't very hard to detect what the other was thinking. In fact, being that they were brothers, it was fairly easy. They were both considering making a truce with each other for Theodore's sake, but also because the two of them were so fed up with arguing with each other. It seemed extremely important that they both make up with each other for the sake of their family. They needed each other, and they both seemed to realize this fact. It was almost as if it was their duty to look out for each other, to love and care for each other.
Sighing, Alvin stretched out an open hand and smiled at his older brother. There was no forcing the smile; it was sincere. "Truce?" He waited patiently for his brother to respond, unsure about whether or not his brother would comply with him.
"Truce," Simon agreed. He tightly gripped Alvin's hand and shook it. "No more fighting?"
Alvin shook his head. "No more fighting."
The two of them turned back to the television screen.
Clearing his throat, Alvin leaned forward and gripped the remote and extended it to Simon. "You, uh, wanna watch anything?" He shook the remote to the television, as if tempting his brother to attempt to take it only to
jerk it out of his brother's reach. That was what he woudl've done ordinarily, but now that they'd made an agreement with each other to try their best to get along, Alvin was trying his best to be nice to his brother for once in his life.
Simon grabbed the remote and turned the TV back on before hitting the "guide" button, which brought him to a menu with a list of channels and programs that were currently playing on each channel. He began scrolling down the list, trying to find something suitable for the both of them to watch so neither one of them was bored. However, accomplishing this task was like trying to find a needle in a hay stack since both he and Alvin had different tastes when it came to pretty much everything: TV, music, hobbies, and interests, not to mention foods and beverages. He liked scientific programs like Planet Earthwhile Alvin liked cartoons like Family Guy and American Dad.
"Theodore's favorite show is on," Alvin pointed out. "Degrassi."
"He knows Dave doesn't like him watching that show," Simon added. Dave specifically didn't like the show due to its controversial content, such as abortion, homosexuality, teenage pregnancy and sex, doing drugs and alcohol, and resolving to violence to resolve one's problems like Ricky had done in the episode in which he'd brought a gun to school to resolve his conflict with the bullies who harassed him.
It wasn't just Theodore that Dave monitored. When it came to TV, movies, video games, or music, their father figure was very strict on things that they could watch, listen to, and play. If it had anything that wasn't suitable for a child, then chances were that he was against. The only TV shows or movies that they were allowed to view were shows and movies rated PG. The same went for video games in the sense that they could only play games with the rating known as E or lower. As for music, Dave allowed them to listen to classical music and some other types of music just as long he got a chance to listen to the album himself before deciding whether or not it was suitable for one of his children to listen to.
"Ah, here we go," Simon said, grinning as he hit the "select" button a program that he, Alvin, and Theodore enjoyed: Dragon Ball Z. Despite its excessive violence, Dave allowed them to watch it since it was rated TV-Y7. Unknown to him, however, Alvin had purchased all nine seasons of the anime series on DVD that included not only more violence but also some nudity and mild profanity, though some more profanity was used in the Japanese dialogue.
Alvin grinned. "Finally, something good. I didn't think this show came on anymore."
"I thought it was cancelled," Simon added.
"It will in a few years. Just you watch. With each new generation comes a new wave of cartoons. The old cartoons of yesteryear will go away, just like all the others and be replaced by something that the next generation will find entertaining. You know, like our generation."
Simon nodded in agreement. "You got that right." He sighed and leaned forward, resting his elbow on his knee and placing his chin in his open palm and allowing his fingers to tap against his mouth as he pondered about the pros and cons of the next generation that Alvin had told him about. He knew that there would be new advances in technology and everything would be new: movies, music, TV, video games, and the education system would undergo a dramatic change due to the extreme changes to technology. No longer would students learn through a textbook, but they would learn through technology, he predicted. He hoped by then that he and Alvin had become more than just bickering brothers.
Hearing Alvin sigh caused Simon to look over at his brother.
"I'm gonna miss the things of our generation," Alvin stated.
Simon grinned at his brother and patted him on the back. "So am I, Alvin. So am I." With the thought that he and Alvin would be friends within the next couple of years, the chipmunk had a positive outlook on the future.