The response to that last chapter…fantastic. Seriously, the reviews put a smile on my face. I'm glad I haven't driven everyone off!
Also, notice that my titles all have multiple meanings? Oh, I'm so clever…anyway, I hope you enjoy this next longer-than-expected chapter. Should be pretty easy to pick who this one's focusing on.
Alvin tossed and turned all night. He couldn't help it; his mind was flooded with questions and unwanted answers. It all seemed to come back to one truth: he had a crush on Simon. He missed it at first, and honestly he wished he still did. It would have been so much easier if he just never figured it out; there was more than enough to worry about without this stuck in his head.
Alvin wanted to slap himself over the epiphany. It seemed so clear and certain now. He just wanted to forget he ever thought about it and get back to what mattered.
Everything was perfectly fine before, surely if he just ignored this, things would stay on track, right? If he didn't notice, it wouldn't be a problem; he just needed to put it out of mind.
Of course, that was easier said than done. It felt like it took hours to get to sleep that night, and even when he did manage it, he just woke up a little while later. Again and again he drifted to sleep just to drift awake again by wandering thoughts. Eventually though, fatigue took over, and forced Alvin to sleep.
Hours later, sunlight stirred the chipmunk out of his exhaustive slumber. He groaned and rubbed his eyes, feeling just as tired after the night as he did before it. He couldn't even remember falling asleep, but it was a little mercy that the night was over. With sore eyes, he looked around, noticing neither of his brothers were around him. He panicked a little and shot his glance from side to side. "Simon? Theodore!" he called out.
"Right here!" Simon's hand waved from the balcony doorway. He lingered for a moment out of sight, then walked inside to bid good morning to his brother, crouching at his bedside.
Simon was fully dressed, and it looked like he had been for a while. The sun was brighter than morning too; obviously, Alvin overslept. "What time is it?" He asked.
"Hmm, I would say…" Simon feigned thoughtfulness, "we don't have a clock." Alvin shot him a dirty look. "But I'd guess it's getting close to lunch time now."
"Why didn't you wake me?" Alvin groaned, brushing his hair through his fingers.
"We figured you could use the sleep. Theo and I had plans to work on, anyway. We've decided to do some…renovations over this weekend." He and Theodore had been going over ideas for a while now during a breakfast of the lunches Brittany was thankfully still providing. "We figured we'd need you ready for the more laborious tasks."
"Well I'm up now, let's get to work!" Alvin tried to psych himself into the day, but his macho act lost its touch when he had to blink hard to avoid losing focus.
Noticing the tiredness in Alvin's eyes, Simon sighed. "You don't look well enough to do anything physical right now; you should probably rest a little longer."
"I've had plenty of rest; I'm fine!" Alvin argued and started to get up.
Simon put his hand to his brother's chest effortlessly pushed him back down. "Of course you are. You're just overflowing with energy," he sarcastically taunted his weakness.
Although it was completely innocent, Alvin blushed at his brother's touch on his bare chest; or, rather, the thought of it. The touch was nothing, nothing at all, but after his realization during the night, he wondered: should that mean more to him? Does it already?
Simon pressed the back of his hand to Alvin's forehead and rested it there for a moment. He shook his head and took it away. "You have a fever, Alvin," he misdiagnosed. "You're overworking yourself. Just stay in bed for another hour or two, THEN decide if you're well enough to come down. I won't have you working if you're just going to collapse half way in." He stood slowly and left, leaving Alvin to rest.
Alvin slumped back down against his pillow. As much as he'd love to get some proper sleep, he knew that wasn't about to happen.
Simon threw a sketched floor-plan of the treehouse onto the ground so he and Theodore could look over it together. Beside the two chipmunks was a small set of books, a very basic assortment of repurposed school equipment to use as tools, and several pieces of paper covered in notes. They'd spent quite a while going over what needed changing now that they'd been in the treehouse for just under a week.
"I've organized the suggestions by urgency and then by efficiency, so we can get as much as possible done before school starts," Simon explained. He pointed to a small section of the floor plan. "This room here is pretty much empty; I assume it was used for storage. Since we don't have anything to store, I was thinking we could repurpose it into a bathroom after we sort out some form of indoor plumbing." He didn't need to elaborate on why that was a high priority – it was pretty self-explanatory by now.
"Yeah…" Theodore avoided eye contact for a moment. "What about this?" He bounced back and pointed to a highlighted part of the main room.
"I thought we could make that part of the room into the kitchen. What do you think?" Simon asked.
Theodore eyed the floor-plan for a moment in analysis. "Hmm…" he pondered. "Does it have to be so close to the window? The food's going to get cold if you have it there."
"I'm afraid so. We'll need to ventilate the smoke, and we can't exactly cut a hole in the roof or rain would ruin it anyway." It would have been great to have a proper stove to work with, but the plan called for what was essentially just a controlled campfire for cooking. It was the best they could come up with under the circumstances. Simon sighed, "It would be a lot easier if we had electricity to work with, but that'll have to work on its own."
Theodore nodded; it was better than nothing. "We can still have the pantry here, right?" He pointed just to the side of the 'stove'.
"I can't see why not."
Theodore pointed to the third and final room of the treehouse; the middle-sized room at the back. "So that would make that the bedroom," he deduced. "Do you think you can put the bed frames back together?"
"Probably," Simon half-answered, "but we're going to need to salvage those for materials, anyway." Simon subconsciously rubbed his back. Sleeping on the floor was incredibly uncomfortable after having a bed for all those years and he was sure it was going to mess up his spine sooner or later, but he had to prioritize.
Theodore chuckled.
That confused Simon. "What? Did I say something funny?"
"No, I was just thinking," Theodore grinned, "this is going to be fun!"
Simon laughed disbelievingly. "Fun? I hope you realise this is going to be a lot of work."
The cheery chipmunk nodded, "I know, but we haven't got to do anything like this in ages."
"Theo, we've never done this before."
"I mean stuff like this but not…well, you know what I mean!"
Simon shared in the grin. It had been a while since they all got together for a big project. Usually it was part of some scheme Alvin concocted, but not always. As stressful as those times were, at the very least they were distracting. Something both distracting and productive was exactly what they needed right now, and having a chance to tinker with something big, useful and challenging…heck, maybe Theodore was on to something. His optimism was contagious, apparently.
"So what do we do first?" Theodore asked enthusiastically.
"First of all, we 'prepare our workspace'," Simon began, but stopped when he noticed Alvin coming down from the treehouse using their recently-installed vine ladder.
"Good morning!" Alvin greeted them with a smile as he slid down the last few meters.
Simon tapped his foot. "Alvin, I thought I told you to get some rest."
"I did-"
"For ten minutes?"
Alvin blinked. He could swear he was up there for over an hour! He held his hand to forehead…maybe he really did have a fever.
Simon rolled his eyes. It was too late to complain now. "Well, as long as you're here, I was just telling Theodore that we're going to have to get our materials before we can get to work."
"Leave it to me!" Alvin pointed to himself proudly, then noticed Simon wasn't done. "Um, so, what materials am I getting?"
"You and Theodore are going to go around and grab anything in the woods that can be useful: vines, branches, thick bark…things like that." Simon listed them off on his fingers. "I, meanwhile, am going to go to the store to buy some nails."
"I'm surprised you know so much about building a treehouse," Alvin observed.
"Well I ought to, I have been studying it from one of your books." He pointed back to one of the books beside them.
'Anatomies of Primitive Architecture' is about treehouses? Alvin didn't know what half the books he grabbed were about; he just figured the bigger the names, the more likely Simon would like them.
Simon continued, "If there's no questions, we'd might as well get started. Make sure to stick together while I'm gone; I'll probably be back before you're done." He turned to leave, but paused to whisper to Theodore first. "Keep an eye on Alvin. He's acting a little strange today."
It's not all bad…it's not like I have to act on anything. He's just there for me if I need him, that's all. So I have a crush on him now, big deal! I've had crushes before; either it'll just go away on its own or-
"Alvin!"
"What!" Alvin snapped at Theodore.
Theodore huffed back at him, "Quit daydreaming! I can't carry this all by myself, you know." After a couple of hours of scavenging, they'd managed to find more scraps than they could carry, so they put together a makeshift wheelbarrow out of branches and leaves. Well, minus the 'wheel' part at least – it took two of them to carry it around.
"I wasn't daydreaming!" Alvin turned defensive. "I was just thinking."
"About what?"
"About…uh, nothing!" Alvin suddenly felt embarrassed by his thoughts.
"You were thinking about nothing?" Theodore couldn't help but laugh.
Alvin missed the humour. How is me thinking about nothing… "Hey!" he snapped, only making Theodore laugh more. To retaliate, Alvin just dropped his half of their stretcher, causing the scraps to fall to the ground. They were pretty much at the treehouse anyway, but that got the message across.
Simon was already there to greet them, sitting by the base of the tree to look over his plans. They had a lot to do, but he was confident they could get it done on time if they stuck to schedule.
"Can we take a break yet, Simon?" Theodore asked while dragging closer whatever scraps hadn't been spilled.
Simon inspected a sheet of paper momentarily before answering. "Almost. We just need to get this stuff inside so we can work on assembling it."
Alvin frowned. "You expect us to carry all this stuff way up there?"
"Not at all!" Simon declared. He grabbed a nearby vine and tugged on it, demonstrating the makeshift pulley he'd managed to install while they were gone. "Just tie one end around a batch and let physics do all the work."
The rest of the day was dedicated to scraping and refining the various scraps to Simon's specifications. He said he was being lenient with the parts, but more than once he made them redo their work. If they didn't have one more search when Theodore went foraging for dinner, they probably would have run out of materials to work with.
Predictably, they crashed early that night. Or that's how it seemed, at least. Theodore had slumped over a branch he was de-leafing and hugged it while he slept. Alvin fell asleep just as early, but stirred awake before it got too dark; Simon didn't stop working just because night time hit.
Alvin couldn't help but watch his brother in silence as he worked. Simon had organized a little work area at the side of the room to carve and nail various pieces together to fit his diagrams. He yawned once or twice, but didn't seem tired at all, from what Alvin could tell. That chipmunk was shockingly efficient when focussed; that would explain why he always worked in private when he tackled his bigger projects.
It was an admirable display, but Alvin eventually slumped over and let tiredness get the better of him again.
The next day played out similarly to the last, except this time it was Simon that didn't sleep. Evident by the piles of scrapwork-parts, he spent the entire night assembling and crafting pieces to use. Either he really wanted to get the project done or he just lost track of time without Dave interrupting him. Needless to say, he got more noticeably worn as the day went on, but he wasn't about to break momentum yet.
In the late afternoon, Simon sent his siblings on another scavenging hunt around the woods; this time for twigs, rocks, and dry leaves, which had the added benefit of being much easier to carry.
By the time they got back, Simon had already managed to put his plans into action. They'd spent the whole morning moving parts back outside of the treehouse and connecting them together, but now a basic network of admittedly crude pipeworks stood from the base of the tree to the top of its nested housing. Gutters had been placed around the roof, slanted slightly to funnel into what would have to pass as a water tank.
The result was unattractive and would probably only hold for a couple of weeks before it'd need repairing at best, but all things considered, it was a monumental achievement.
"Simon, that's amazing!" Alvin praised, looking up at it for the first time.
"Considering what I had to work with, yes," Simon patted himself on the back. "I like to think of it as proof that change can be a good thing, too. But I can't take all the credit; I couldn't have done it without my little assistant." He ruffled Theodore's hair.
"Thanks for the gratitude," Alvin responded sarcastically and crossed his arms.
"And you, Alvin," Simon continued. "As much as I hate to admit it, this was a group effort." He smiled and admired their handiwork. "It took almost two days and we're down to our last quarter, but I must say, it was worth it."
Theodore squealed at a sudden crash of thunder. It got dark early that afternoon as a new storm formed around them, cutting their preparation of the 'stove' short, but it looked like Simon expected as much.
Simon yawned, already in bed. "Don't worry, Theo, the storm's a good thing. By tomorrow morning, we'll actually have some water stored up." The timing couldn't be more perfect if he planned it – actually, he kind of did plan it this way. It was just sheer luck that the plan worked.
The little chipmunk whimpered a little fearfully, so Alvin threw an arm around him. "Don't worry, we'll be fine," he encouraged. "We're completely safe up here, right Simon?"
"Uh, right," Simon intentionally left out that a tree was probably the worst place they could be in a thunderstorm.
"See?" Alvin smiled at his littlest brother. "Besides, we're right here if you need us. Just go to sleep and it'll all be over before you know it," he guided over to Theodore's bed.
While Theodore undressed and got ready for bed, Alvin wandered half-blind over to his and did the same. They bid each other goodnight and settled in for a well-deserved night's sleep.
Alvin stirred awake again during the night, as was quickly becoming a habit. It wasn't the excessive rain on the roof or the cold air that was keeping him up; his mind kept storing up all these thoughts in the day and let loose as soon as he let his guard down. His head was filled with inner voices bickering and raving at him.
'You're Alvin Seville! You're a celebrity, a singing sensation, a –'
'-little pest! Your 'father', your brothers, your friends, they'll all -'
'-turn you away! You're just not worth it now, it's like –'
'-I didn't want you anymore; I knew you were too weak…'
Leave me alone!
Alvin threw his pillow over his head and tried to drown out his inner voices, but if the storm wasn't doing it, a pillow wasn't going to make much difference. He laid there for a moment, holding on tight, when he heard another sound just over all the others.
He dropped the pillow and turned to face Simon, who was asleep not too far away from him. He could barely make out his shape in the darkness – there was almost no moonlight that night – but he could hear his breathing. The gentle in and out of each breath somehow cut through everything else, and the more he focussed on it, the calmer everything else became.
Before long, all Alvin could hear was his brother's steady breathing. No storm, no voices, just that single calm rhythm. His eyes gradually closed to the sound as he gave in to that moment of peace.
Alvin sat alone at a table in the schoolyard, leaning on one hand and lost in thought. He'd been like this all day; quiet and seemingly well-behaved, when really he was just going with the flow to avoid doing something stupid. His feelings weren't going away. If anything, they were getting stronger. He just felt safer around Simon lately for no reason at all, and that worried him.
Simon walked over to the table and placed a cup of water in Alvin's hands. "Thanks," Alvin accepted it. He looked into it for a moment, but couldn't bring himself to drink it. He placed the cup down and groaned in frustration. He didn't want this crush; anyone else and he could handle it, but this was just too complicated.
"Alvin, are you alright?" Simon asked with concern. "You're starting to scare me…"
Alvin opened his mouth to respond, but nodded instead. He didn't want to talk about it unless he could figure it out himself.
"What's he moping about now?" Brittany walked over with Jeanette by her side. Eleanor had brought a picnic lunch to share with Theodore, so they were nowhere to be seen.
Alvin shot her an angry glare and raised from his seat. "Would you just mind your own business!" He snapped.
"Don't blame me; you're the one putting on the whole 'woe-is-me' act!" She shot back. She noticed Alvin reaching for the cup of water. "Don't you even think about it, buster!"
Alvin stopped and locked eyes with his opponent. "Fine, you're not worth it anyway! But this is your fault, you know!" He backed away from the table. "Just leave me alone!" He shouted and stormed off.
Jeanette looked straight at Brittany. "Brittany, what did you do this time?"
Brittany twitched disbelievingly. "Nothing!" She insisted, "I don't even know what that was about." She looked over at Simon, who'd fallen completely silent in the wake of the sudden argument. "Any idea what brought that up, Simon?"
"I wish I knew," he shook his head.
The chipmunks and Chipettes escorted each other along the sidewalk on the way home, now that they were leaving school at the same time. Simon and Jeanette headed the group, while Brittany, Theodore and Eleanor chatted at the back. Alvin was stuck in the middle by himself. He hadn't done much talking anyway; it wasn't such a change of pace.
To be fair, Alvin felt at least a little bad for snapping at Brittany, but it was bound to happen sooner or later, and it was better her than Simon. She was the safest target, but he did miss being able to talk to her about things; the whole situation's kind of gotten out of hand.
That didn't mean he had to be without conversation though. He kept his head low, but listened in on the conversation ahead of him.
"And how is it?" He could hear Jeanette say.
"I don't know. Better, I think," Simon responded. "I just can't get my head around the bad blood lately."
"Is this about what Brittany said to Alvin?" Jeanette asked. Alvin's head shot up.
Simon looked at her inquisitively, "What'd she say to Alvin?"
Jeanette opened her mouth to clarify, but was interrupted by the eavesdropping chipmunk pushing in. "Jeanette! We never get to talk. We should take a moment to catch up!" He pulled her away from Simon before either of them could object.
Suddenly separated from the rest of the group, Alvin and Jeanette walked slowly side by side. "Is something wrong?" Jeanette questioned.
"Look," Alvin started, keeping his voice low as a precaution, "Simon can't know about our fight. I was hoping you could help keep it a secret."
Jeanette fumbled with her books uncomfortably. "I don't know, Alvin…I'm not sure I can keep any more secrets."
"Come on, it's none of his business anyway!" Alvin came across a little forcefully. "Besides, what good can come from telling him?"
Jeanette thought for a moment, then nodded hesitantly. "Ok, I won't tell him." It was clear in her voice that she didn't want to comply, but Alvin must have gotten through to her.
Alvin let out a breath of relief, "Thanks."
"You really should apologize to Brittany though," she added.
The gratitude left Alvin's voice to be replaced by spite. "Fat chance, she had it coming." Jeanette sighed at the response and continued to walk alongside him, not wanting to seem rude by walking away. Alvin took notice after a corner or two. "That's all I needed to say, you can go back to Simon if you want," he dismissed her.
A few more days had passed since Alvin snapped at Brittany, and since then he seemed to slowly grow vocal again. He probably just needed to vent. It was good that he was getting better, but if anything was going to set him off again, it'd be something soon.
"Alvin, can we talk?" Simon asked after the classroom had cleared of students. Simon didn't want to spring anything on him, but he noticed that Alvin had been pushing this issue out of mind.
"About what?" Alvin questioned curiously. He was a little put off by need for privacy, but not nearly as uncomfortable as he would have thought. "Can it wait until we get back to the treehouse?"
"I'm afraid not." A serious look appeared on Simon's face. Alvin started to worry – this couldn't be good. "Look, I know you don't want to hear this, but I have to ask…"
"Just spit it out, Simon!"
"Today's the day we get to see Dave again. Do you think you're ready for that?"
Alvin's eyes widened, "I'm not going back there. I…I just can't!" he panicked and spun away from his brother. He remembered the way it made him feel; the memories all came at once. The crushing feeling fell back around him and choked away his air. He tried to focus on something – anything – to keep his vision from shaking, but it barely worked. This was just him remembering that place; he couldn't handle the real thing. Not again. It was hard enough the first time without all this new stuff hanging over his head too.
It wasn't even just the pain in his chest that made Alvin lock up this time. It was the shame of knowing that he couldn't get through this. He thought he could do anything when he put his mind to it, anything at all, but this was just too hard.
Alvin flinched at the feeling of a warm hand on his shoulder. "Calm down," Simon's voice came from beside him. He looked away, stubbornly trying to keep his face hidden. "If you keep bottling up the stress, you won't be of any help to anyone," Simon continued. "It's ok to be afraid, you know. That's why I'm asking."
I'm not afraid! It's just that… when I think about that place I…well…
"Ok, maybe I am afraid…" Alvin confessed. That didn't even make sense; it was just a building. What was there to be afraid of?
That was good enough for Simon. "Theodore and I are going to see Dave, and you should come too. It's your choice, but sometimes you just have to face your fears," he offered as advice.
Alvin let out a light groan; clearly he wasn't happy, but he was coming around. Just feeling Simon's gentle hold on his shoulder was calming him down. He really didn't want to go, but he felt better with Simon there. Maybe he could make it through another visit – it was worth a try. "Alright," Alvin nodded sadly, "I'll go."
Simon smiled and took his hand off Alvin's shoulder. He knew this wasn't going to be easy for his brother. "Take all the time you need. If we get there and you can't muster the strength to go inside, we'll understand." He figured Alvin would need an out. The last thing he wanted was to put too much pressure on him. "Just don't worry yourself over nothing, ok?"
"Ok," Alvin nodded.
The prison visit went much the same way as the first. Mr. Parrish led the boys to the visiting room to meet with Dave, and then they spoke about nothing in particular beyond mutual concerns for each other. Alvin couldn't help but huddle up near the wall again, but Simon lied and said he was just sick. It was hard to tell if Dave bought it, but he didn't push the issue.
The visit was more than twice as long as the last one; Alvin barely got through it without freaking out, never mind being able to speak. On their way home, the guilt sunk in. He really tried this time, but he still couldn't do it. Dave does so much for them, but he doesn't get so much as a word out his oldest boy in his time of need…it made Alvin sick. "I can't believe I let you talk me into that…" He blamed Simon.
"It was for your own good, Alvin." Simon responded. "Besides, no one forced you to come."
"You might as well have," Alvin uttered under his breath. Simon turned like he heard, but thankfully he didn't respond.
Alvin thrashed awake that night, gasping for air. His heart ached so suddenly that he couldn't bear to sleep through it. It was something his thoughts said…he couldn't even remember what it was, but it hurt. He just stared into the moonlit room, wide-eyed and struggling to catch his breath.
Whatever was causing this, it was getting worse. It was faint at first, starting around the trial, but it was getting alarming now. Alvin sighed through the aching and looked over at the still-sleeping figure of Simon. Any other time, he'd go to Simon about something like this. Even if he couldn't fix it, he could try to explain, run some tests, or do something at least.
Maybe this wasn't such a strange circumstance though. The crush didn't matter; if Simon could help, it had to be worth trying.
Clumsily, Alvin got out of bed and stumbled over to his nearest sibling. He dropped to the floor and leaned over Simon, held out a hand to shake him awake, then stopped.
There was that sound again. That calm rhythm of breathing that put Alvin at ease. He couldn't help but watch as Simon's chest gradually moved in the moonlight. After the abrupt awakening, this moment felt so hypnotic and surreal.
Alvin gently spread his hand over his brother's chest – to wake him, he tried to convince himself. He could feel the warmth of his body, the softness of his fine fur and the steady beating of his heart. That pulse and the gentle up-and-down of Simon's breathing made Alvin's aching melt away. As crazy as it sounds, it just felt so…real. He closed his eyes and focussed on calming rhythm, unable to tear himself away.
Simon shifted and noticed Alvin on top of him. He sat up and looked at him drowsily. "…Alvin?" Alvin pulled his hand away and just looked into his eyes. "Alvin, what's wrong?" Simon didn't even bother reaching for his glasses yet.
Butterflies built up in Alvin's stomach. This was all real, and he couldn't believe just how significant everything felt. As he stared into Simon's faded-blue eyes, he felt like didn't want help anymore. He just wanted this…whatever this was. Whether it was a crush or not, there was something there. He was sure of it. He wanted nothing more than to let Simon know what he was feeling… but the risk was just too high. He didn't want to risk changing everything; they'd been through so much together, he couldn't bear it if things went badly now.
'Change can be a good thing, too…' Simon's voice whispered from his memory.
But…I'm afraid of what might happen.
'Sometimes you just have to face your fears.'
'Don't worry yourself over nothing, ok?'
Alvin could hardly breathe. Was Simon giving him advice for this the whole time?
Simon shifted to reach for his glasses, but Alvin caught his hand and stopped him. Alvin opened his mouth to speak, but there was nothing to say. Instead, he leant forward onto his brother and pressed their lips together.
Alvin kissed Simon tenderly, but purposefully. For a moment, he felt Simon's lips shift onto his and kiss back, before hesitantly pulling away.
Slowly, Alvin lowered himself back down, unable to hide a newfound smile. That was worth everything. Alvin's heart was racing; it just felt so right, and he was sure that Simon felt something too. He could feel it in his lips. In that one little moment, he knew that he made the right choice.
"A-Alvin, I…" Simon's voice quivered.
'Yes, Simon?' Alvin tried to speak, but the words wouldn't leave his mouth.
"…I think you should sleep outside tonight."
