Much longer chapter installed for everyone's enjoyment! Thanks for being patient with me, and it's good to come back and see so many positive reviews! It really got me going right away :D
So, remember; someone just walked in on Alvin and Simon; the only person who doesn't know out of the two groups.
This chapter was going to be split into two, but, hey – I thought that you deserved a good long chapter after 17 days of nothing, so,
Enjoy!
So Brittany knew, and accepted it; so Jeanette knew, and kept silent; so Dave knew; Theodore knew; Alvin and Simon knew...
Neither of them even planned on telling Eleanor.
She was standing at the doorway, her brown eyes wide in shock. And who could blame her? She had, after all, just walked in on two boys kissing. Even more shocking was that they were brothers – and the worst part was she knew them.
Alvin and Simon, comically enough, both looked as shocked as Eleanor. All three wore the same, terrified, mouth-half-open, ready-to-run expressions. Alvin slowly willed himself to move and let himself move off Simon and stand, even though his legs were warning him he wasn't exactly fit to stand right now.
He'd lost the deer-in-the-headlights look now, and just looked anxious. Simon sat up properly and forced the look away, as well, trying to get his courage up to say something.
'What's going on?' Eleanor asked suddenly, breaking the tension.
Simon cleared his throat. 'Ah...' he began, but decided not to explain. 'What are you doing here?' He asked instead.
Eleanor stumbled a bit as she took a step in the room. 'I don't... I was looking for Theodore,' she told them, 'but, what... what were you two..? Why were you -?'
'Theodore's in the next room,' Alvin said quickly. 'He wanted to read up on a recipe and me and Simon were... d-distracting him.' He blushed.
'I bet.' Eleanor stated.
Simon blushed at that, he sat cross-legged on his bed. 'We weren't doing that when he was in here.' He promised.
Eleanor just nodded. 'Right. Um, are you going to tell me why you were doing it in the first place?' She looked back and forth between the brothers. Now that they were standing apart, she could no longer imagine them like... that. She knew them; they had nothing in common, they fought endlessly. They'd never do something like... that.
'It's... it's complicated.' Alvin told her. 'Very complicated.'
'I guessed as much...' Eleanor insisted. 'But... just, tell me you know how gross it is?'
Alvin looked at Simon quickly, then back at Eleanor. 'Yep.' He nodded. 'Uh, I'm sure Theodore would love to see you.' He smiled a bit too innocently.
'Wait a minute, Alvin,' Eleanor frowned at him, 'why would you of all people be kissing your brother? Don't you have a reputation to protect?' She eyed him suspiciously.
Alvin went bright red. 'It doesn't matter...' he uttered slowly, 'I... I think it's worth it... Simon's worth it...' he breathed. Standing up for someone was proving to be really hard. Eleanor's shocked look was back.
'You guys are... are...' she took a step back. 'You're in a relationship?' She bit her lip. 'What if someone finds out? What if Brittany finds out? Alvin, you'd be dead! Or Dave! He'd be furious! And poor Theodore! I can't imagine what it'd be like for him! Knowing his brothers are fooling around behind every closed door! And, what about Jeanette! She'd be heartbroken if she found out Simon Seville is going around –'
'They already know.' Simon admitted shyly. 'Jeanette saw us, she told Dave and she told Brittany, then Theodore saw us...' he trailed off, 'we're not very good at hiding it...'
Eleanor shook her head slowly. 'I can't believe it...' she murmured. 'I seriously... just can't... you're not!' She looked over their guilty faces rather accusingly, then turned.
'Wait!' Alvin called. 'Please, don't... don't judge us...' he looked down. Eleanor blinked at his behaviour. Alvin Seville, acting like he cared about her opinion?
'I...' she paused, 'it'll take a while to get used to.' She nodded. 'I'm gonna go home now, could you tell Theodore that – well, I suppose you, also – someone just moved in across the street. Could you tell Theodore to come around to bake something for them? I'm sure he'd like that.' She looked at them for their promising nods, and walked out, closing the door softly behind her.
'Crap, that was bad... that was very bad...' Alvin muttered, falling on the bed beside Simon. Simon nodded.
'It's okay. She'll come around.' He convinced himself. 'They all did.'
'They all think we're forced. Except Brittany.' Alvin pointed out. 'Now everyone knows we... we're...' he looked terrified as he realised Eleanor was right: his reputation among his friends was ruined! Gone!
Simon noticed Alvin's fearful look and put a hand on his shoulder. 'Hey.' He said softly. 'It's okay, Alvin.' He smiled. 'Thanks for saying I'm worth it.' He bit his lip. 'That was really sweet...'
Alvin gave him a glare. 'Don't call me "sweet".' He demanded. Simon chuckled.
'Fine.' He agreed. Slowly, he stood and walked over to the door.
'Where are you going?' Alvin asked sceptically.
Simon smiled. 'We did say we'd tell Theodore what Eleanor wanted, didn't we?' He reminded his older brother. 'You can kiss me later, okay?' He smirked and exited the room. Alvin pouted and stayed where he was. He'd wait.
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It seemed like the boxes would never end.
Cruise Williams watched from his new room as people were still unloading all their furniture after five hours. The worst part was that his mother, or, his mother-figure, was paying them by the hour. And that meant less pocket money for Cruise.
His brown-eyed gaze wandered to directly in front of him, where a beautiful white-cream and red-orange house stood. He could see inside the windows, and wondered if he could be blamed for spying if it was so easily accessible. He squinted his eyes at the middle window, spotting a figure in blue in shadow. He tilted his head until he could see him more clearly. He noticed that the boy was wearing glasses much to big for him, and that the sweater he was wearing went down to the ground. Strangely, though, it didn't strike as a dress.
Cruise let himself continue looking, trying to sum up a personality for this boy. Then the boy looked straight at Cruise.
'Whoa -!' Cruise stumbled back and fell off his new bed on which he was kneeling. He heard a faint laugh behind him and turned, rubbing his back. 'What?' He demanded, finding his half-brother standing at the doorway, smirking at the fall.
'There aren't any girls in that house, are there?'
'Is that all you think about, Chris?' Cruise asked him. His half-brother shrugged.
'I can be curious.' He said slowly. 'Anyways, mum wants your help with your box of toys.' He let the last word hang teasingly.
'They're not toys,' Cruise chided, 'you know full well they're all I have from my real family.' He scowled at Chris, who shrugged again and left with a wicked smile.
Cruise got up and looked out the window again. The boy in blue was gone, but a smaller boy in green was just exiting the room. Cruise slowly followed where the boy was headed, but it ended up he was out the front door. Cruise gasped a little. That boy was a chipmunk!
'Like me...' he breathed.
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Brittany paced her room for lack of things to do. She was bored. And she kept thinking about Alvin, which was even more irritating. She wasn't stupid, she remembered Alvin told her that he fell for Simon because of their half-bond, and the same thing was starting to happen here, to her.
The door opened and Jeanette slowly peaked her head in.
'Hey, Brit,' she greeted.
Brittany gave her a short look. 'Hi.' She said quickly, too bored to talk to Jeanette.
But Jeanette spoke up anyway. 'Brittany... I need your help with something...' she let a worried look flash through her green eyes before giving away much else.
Brittany didn't notice. She'd heard her sister, but she was too preoccupied. 'I need help, too...' she mumbled, sitting down heavily on her bed and resting her cheek in her hand. 'What is it, Jen?' She asked in a bored tone.
'I...' Jeanette sat beside Brittany, nervously looking at her hands. 'I... I really like Simon...' she blushed, 'and more than... a friend... but he's not... interested.'
Brittany put her head in her hands. 'My gosh, we have the same problem...' she groaned.
Jeanette inwardly worried. 'You like Simon, too, huh?' She asked quietly. Brittany looked up at her, frowning.
'No, I do not like that nerd; I mean Alvin.' She stated harshly, as though it were obvious. 'Simon's just in the way.' She looked blankly in front of her, daydreaming. 'But if Alvin starts to fall for me, then Simon won't be a problem.' She rambled aimlessly. 'Because Simon would stop if Alvin asked, he's too much of a gentleman to force Alvin to him. I mean, Alvin should already be feeling this. It can't be just me. I wish he'd just pull himself together and come to me. He doesn't really want Simon. Surely. He doesn't have the courage to admit that he's gay.' She suddenly gasped and sat straighter, making Jeanette jump. 'That's it! It's all an act to make me jealous!' She smiled at her realisation. 'Ha! That must be it.' She looked to Jeanette for confirmation.
Jeanette nodded dutifully, unsure why she allowed herself to listen to Brittany ramble on about nothing. When Brittany turned away, she allowed herself to roll her eyes.
Eleanor then burst through the door. 'Hey!' She greeted happily. 'Do you want to come with me and Theo to see the new kid?' She watched curiously as Brittany jumped up, full of excitement.
'Will Alvin be there?' She asked eagerly. Eleanor shrugged, inwardly awkward at the mention of Alvin.
'Theodore went to ask the boys.' She replied.
Brittany gave a small "yes" and hugged Eleanor quickly. 'I'm definitely going!' She agreed. Eleanor was still slightly shocked.
'Uhm... are you sure you don't want to just... lie down?' She offered. Brittany shook her head and basically pranced out of the room. Eleanor looked to Jeanette. 'What's with everyone?' She asked. 'Alvin and Simon are gay, Brittany's eccentric – more eccentric.' She scanned Jeanette. 'You're not going through depression or something, are you?' She asked suspiciously.
Jeanette sighed and hugged her knees to her chest. 'I might as well be...' she told Eleanor. 'I think I've fallen for Simon.' She bit her lip. 'I guess you can see the problem there...' she looked up, 'did Theodore tell you about it?' She asked curiously. Eleanor shook her head.
'No, I walked in on them.' She admitted, not liking the memory any better.
'I saw them from here. Outside. Kissing.' Jeanette sighed. 'And I felt like I wanted to rip Alvin off him. Off Simon. I've liked Simon since the first time I saw him.' She sighed. 'Brittany thinks Alvin likes her, but I definitely don't think so; even if it's an act, Simon wouldn't kiss Alvin just so Alvin could make Brittany jealous. Simon's in love.' She felt her eyes gloss.
Eleanor took a breath. 'I saw them in their room, Alvin was on top of Simon,' she began, earning a light groan from Jeanette. 'A-and I know this isn't helping, but they're happy.' She bit her lip. 'Simon doesn't deserve you.' She looked down. 'He's fallen for his brother, and there's no point in going for him. Even if you get him, you'll still remember what he's done, and the memory won't be so sweet.' She smiled and placed a bracing hand on Jeanette's shoulders. 'Wait.' She told her. 'You deserve every happiness.'
Jeanette nodded slowly. 'I... I'll come to see the new neighbours.' She accepted. 'But, I can't stand being around Simon for very long. Well, Simon and how he looks at Alvin, or when he mentions Alvin.' She shook her head. 'His eyes light up like he's found the sun in all the darkness.'
Eleanor nodded. 'Well, we'll be meeting up with Theodore soon, so just take some time.' She smiled. 'It'll be okay.' She turned and left the room.
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'Do you want to see our new neighbour?' Alvin asked Simon. Both boys were lying on Simon's bed, Alvin in Simon's arms as the younger read a book on Physics. Theodore had been in a moment ago to ask them if they wanted to come along. Alvin told him they'd think about it, and Theodore left, rather confused at his two brother's positions.
Simon sighed and turned a page. 'Already saw him.' He replied.
Alvin looked up in interest. 'Where?'
'He was perving from his window to the window in the next room.' Simon stated. 'Looks like a trouble-maker.' He smiled down at Alvin. 'Just like you.'
Alvin smirked. 'He was perving on you? Yeah, I'd do that, too if I was presented with a view like that.' He agreed. Simon chuckled.
'The house is pretty beautiful.' He said.
Alvin rolled his eyes. 'I was talking about you.' He scoffed. 'Anyway, I think I'll go meet this guy and tell him off for staring at you.' Alvin slowly made to get up. Simon pulled Alvin back and pressed his lips against his.
'I'm coming.' Simon stated, getting up and leaving the room, hand-in-hand with Alvin.
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Cruise heaved the box full of possessions into his newly-furnished room. He sighed as he dropped it in the closet and closed the doors. If anyone took them away, he didn't know what he'd do. Probably lock himself in his room and admit defeat. After, of course, he hounded down the person that took them.
He was tired and jetlagged from moving all the way here, and he knew that Chris and Thalia (his half-sister) were out exploring the neighbourhood. Without Cruise, as usual with anything. Even though his mother-figure, Hailey, had accepted him into the family, there was no denying they treated him differently. He was lucky they moved house with him; they never took him anywhere else.
Downstairs, the doorbell rang. Cruise made a soft groan, since he was just about to lie down, and walked out of his new room, down the stairs and to the front door. Hailey was in the living room, furnishing the house with paintings.
'Could you get the door for me, Cruise? I'm very busy.' She smiled innocently at him and returned to straightening a picture. Cruise rolled his eyes. If he refused, or if he made any comments, she would demand he do it or leave. It was a usual threat Cruise found he'd rather avoid.
He walked up to the oak front door and opened it slowly.
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Alvin's empty threat about telling this new boy off for staring at Simon almost became true. The boy opened the door and Alvin couldn't help but stare. He was really good-looking.
The boy in front of all six of them was a chipmunk, too. He had the same creamy skin, blue eyes that looked almost exactly like Alvin's, and he wore a red button-up shirt with gold trimming, deep blue track pants and black and red shoes.
Alvin blushed when he realised he'd been looking at his pants, but quickly forced himself to get a grip.
'Hi?' The boy said slowly. How weird it was to see six chipmunks standing in front of him. He slowly looked over them all, quickly trying to get his first impression.
'Oh, hi,' most of the six collapsed into saying after a pause of shock.
'I'm Eleanor,' Eleanor smiled. 'We just wanted to say hi, and give you this as a welcome present.' She smiled a full-hearted smile and gave the boy the cake she and Theodore had baked only minutes beforehand.
The boy stared at it; he'd never seen something look so appetising before. He turned. 'Give me a moment.' He said curtly and walked inside.
'Wow.' Brittany commented when he'd left. 'He's... he's...'
'Hot.' Alvin finished for her. He didn't really mean to say it, it just came out. Simon suppressed his laughter.
Jeanette, however, noticed Simon's chuckles and felt herself sadden. Eleanor was right: Simon was happy with Alvin, and she couldn't change that.
'You think he liked the cake?' Eleanor spoke up to lift the unease that followed Alvin's words.
'I think you should have given him a cake that wasn't as good.' Alvin commented. 'And save this awesome one for a party.' Alvin enjoyed the rolling of eyes that followed his comment, smirking.
Only a few seconds later, the boy returned. He stepped fully outside and shut the door. 'Sorry, it's kind of crowded on the porch. Do you know anywhere we can go to... talk?'
Alvin spoke up. 'Yeah, there's a park down the street.' He offered. The boy nodded.
'I'm Cruise, by the way.' He introduced himself. 'Cruise Williams.' He followed the group off the porch and set off down the street.
'Alvin Seville, the one and only.' Alvin announced quite happily, feeling he belonged at the centre of attention. Cruise gave him a confused look.
'Sorry, should I know you?' He asked. Brittany started laughing as Alvin frowned.
'Well, I'm sort of a pop sensation around the world, but hey.' Alvin shrugged. 'It's good to step back into civility.' He smiled, but it weakened as Brittany hadn't stopped laughing. 'Shut up, Brittany,' he hissed.
'I never really got to watch T.V, or listen to music.' Cruise admitted, shrugging.
'I'm Theodore.' Theodore put in shyly. Cruise gave him a smile.
'Nice to meet you.' He said. Alvin patted Theodore's arm, walking backwards.
'My little brother, Theodore.' He grinned and walked normally, throwing his arm around Simon's shoulders. 'And my other little brother, Simon.' He presented proudly.
Simon gave Cruise a "he's seriously not putting on an act. He's like this all the time," look and weaved out from under Alvin's arm. 'Sorry, my older brother is a bit eccentric.' He smiled as Cruise gave him a knowing look. 'We're five minutes apart.' He continued. 'And that's only 'cause Alvin's so pushy he just had to get there first.' He smirked.
Brittany dimmed it down to a chuckle. 'I'm Brittany.' She held out a hand to shake. Cruise took it, not really focusing on her. 'I'm the lead singer of the Chipettes, but it's okay if you've never heard of us.' She smiled charmingly. 'This is my baby sister Eleanor, who baked your cake with Theodore's help.' She presented the blonde Chipette, who smiled good-naturedly. 'And my younger sister, Jeanette.' She motioned to Jeanette, who gave a shy smile.
'I have to say it's weird to see so many you on the first day...' Cruise told them, 'I wasn't expecting you all to be... like me, either. I was always the only one in my...' he trailed off, about to say "family", but that would be a lie.
Simon picked up on this curiously. 'What school are you going to?' He asked, not letting his thoughtfulness show.
'Um... Thomas Edison?' Cruise offered. 'Is that right? I thought it was a weird name to call the school. After a scientist.' He shrugged. 'I guess I'll get used to it.'
Simon was liking this guy more and more – he knew who Thomas Edison was.
"""""""""""""'
Alvin and Simon walked home from the park together a few minutes after everyone else. It was strange, really, to Alvin when he realised he just wanted to be alone with Simon for a while. He enjoyed the fact that they could hold each other, and loved the feeling of security and warmth that came with everything Simon said or did. Even if it was an insult, there was just something in Simon's strong, low voice that got Alvin feeling better.
'How do you like the new kid?' Simon asked slowly, pulling Alvin against him as they started walking back. Alvin smiled at the embrace and held Simon just the same, leaning against his chest.
'He's alright.'
'He seems a bit sad.' Simon put in. 'Whenever he goes to say "family", he stops. Did you notice that?'
Alvin chuckled. 'No, I didn't.' He sighed contentedly. 'Did you notice his good-looks?' He looked up at Simon.
'Yes, I definitely did.' Simon said, smirking at Alvin's warning look. 'But, you know, I've got this boyfriend who is just the full package anyway, so I think I'll have to control myself.' He smirked.
'Otherwise your boyfriend will get very unhappy and start screaming at you.' Alvin agreed. He then stood straight and let Simon go. 'Did you just say "boyfriend"?' He asked in surprise. Simon nodded slowly.
'Isn't that what we are?' He questioned.
'Not formally...' Alvin looked down shyly.
'Well, do you want to be?' Simon asked with a small smirk. 'Alvin Seville, will you go out with me?'
Alvin blushed: never in a million years did he expect those words to come out of Simon's mouth. He entwined his fingers with Simon's, still blushing.
'Yes.'
Naw, Alvin's so cute when he's not himself :D
Hope you enjoyed the entry of Cruise, who is fun to write about because his personality and looks do actually closely resemble Alvin's.
I hope you all had an awesome New Years – I know I did – and a great Christmas, thanks all for your support!
