Also I have realised that posting during weekdays is impossible 'cause I'm at university, so basically, I'll be posting chapters Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday (in Australian timezone of course). Anyway.

Short chapter, but I wanted to keep the suspense up, sorry I'm cruel -

Enjoy!

A

Oddly enough, when Alvin woke at a reasonable hour of the morning, Simon was actually sitting on the side of his bed.

Alvin sat up in alarm. 'What the hell are you doing in here?' He demanded, self-consciously pulling the covers over his chest.

Simon returned with a sort of calm smile. It made the eldest more wary than ever. 'We need to talk. Don't we?'

Oh my god… Alvin's first instinct kicked in and he froze with what he hoped was an inconspicuous look. 'What do you mean?'

Simon raised a brow. 'Interesting.' He commented, standing with a smirk in place.

Alvin frowned, then. 'What?' He asked. 'What's interesting? What do you want to talk about?' He felt himself get slightly desperate. Does he know..? Is he playing with me for revenge..?

'You know exactly what I want to talk about.' Simon nodded Alvin's way, and purposely gave him a smirk. 'Don't you?'

What the heck is going on here..? Alvin gathered his wits and played it cool. 'I have no idea what you're talking about.' He promised. 'You're a paranoid person. Now get out of my room.'

Simon tutted and moved around the room slowly as if he were interested in the contents. 'I'd like you to play the first move, Alvin…' he said casually. 'Pretend I don't know.' He turned slightly, looking over his shoulder. 'And tell me the truth yourself.'

Alvin's heart went into overdrive. "Yourself"..? Does that mean Theodore told him..? Oh, god, Simon, stop talking in riddles! 'D-did Theodore t-tell y-you..?' He asked before he'd thought about it.

'Hmm?' Simon turned.

'Did Theodore… did he – god, Simon – what –' Alvin lifted his hands to his head. 'What the heck are you talking about?'

Simon advanced on Alvin. 'No, you said "did Theodore tell you?".' He repeated, pointing at his brother curiously, then looking down in calculation. 'And you were stammering.' He frowned at Alvin. 'What's going on, Alvin?'

Alvin realised he'd been tricked. 'I thought you said you knew!' He accused frantically, lifting himself up and standing in front of Simon. 'Did you seriously just come in here and trick me into telling you something's going on? Fine! Yes! Something is going on! You know what, though: when is something not going on?!'

'Usually these things involve all of us!' Simon retorted bitterly. 'You and Theodore are doing something behind my back, Alvin – I don't know what – maybe you told him something important, maybe you're plotting something against me, or maybe you don't want me in on it because I'm such a boring geek! Nothing – not one scenario is there – that I don't have a right to know about!'

'I knew I shouldn't have told Theodore!' Alvin cursed, starting to pace the room in hysterics. 'He sucks at keeping secrets!' He rounded on Simon. 'You don't have any right to know about something that doesn't concern you!'

'I am your brother!' Simon shouted, and watched in shock as Alvin cowered.

Alvin stared at Simon in fear, backed up to his bed; he fell to a sitting position and his eyes searched the room in what seemed anxiety. It was like all of his nightmares. All of them. Someone would always scream at him reminding him that Simon was his brother. When it was Simon doing it, it hurt the most.

This was like living in the nightmare.

Simon kneeled in front of Alvin worriedly. 'I-I'm sorry, Alvin, I know I was too harsh…' he leaned up a little and held Alvin's shoulders, surprised further to feel how violently Alvin was trembling. Peering closely, Simon could see the sapphire eyes glassy and brimming with tears.

'P-please just go…' Alvin murmured, closing his eyes as if he felt Simon's gaze on them.

'Alvin, I don't understand…' Simon went on in concern. 'Is something hurting you? Are you – are you depressed?'

Alvin bit his lip and shook his head, determined to keep the tears from falling. 'Drop it, Simon…' He pleaded.

Simon almost did. But he was so confronted by Alvin's state that he had to go on. 'Why can you tell Theodore but not me..?' He asked gently. 'You know… I…' he pursed his lips. These next words were going to taste sour. 'I-I love you, a-and –'

'Please don't say that,' Alvin looked away.

'What?' Simon pulled back and stood, confused now. 'Why?' If he was totally honest with himself, Simon was actually quite offended by that. 'Alvin, I've never told you that before,' he reminded, 'do you realise how hard it is to say that to you? I-I – don't you – don't you feel the same?'

Alvin whimpered and shook his head down to his lap, a tear escaping.

Simon could almost feel the knife at his heart. 'I-is that what it is..?' He guessed. 'You hate me so much… that you… you don't even feel an ounce of care for me? A-are you saying you don't want me to be your brother?'

'No,' Alvin shook his head and met Simon's gaze as best he could now that tears fogged his vision. 'No, I do c-care about you,' he promised desperately, 'I would n-never ask to change you…' he looked down. 'I promise, Simon… this isn't a-about you…'

'Then say it,' Simon sat beside Alvin gently. 'Tell me you love me.'

Alvin choked back a sob and tried to muster the words. He could – he had them on standby if Simon ever found out – but he could barely find the way Simon wanted to hear them. His brotherly affection had all but disappeared since his feelings developed. One love swapped with another love so intense that it scared Alvin too much.

He screwed his eyes shut and told himself to say it. 'I –' he stopped as Simon put a finger to his chin to face him. Alvin's look pleaded with Simon. 'Simon –'

'I need to trust you.' Simon spoke soothingly. 'We're brothers and we should be comfortable doing this. I want to be sure that you mean it when you say to me that whatever's going on, isn't something I need to worry about… just try and show me that I can trust you.' He smiled softly. 'And I can't tell anything if you don't show me your eyes.'

'S-Simon, I…' Alvin felt as if it was a battle simply to remain in Simon's view. He tried to stop overthinking it. Lord, how he tried. 'Simon, I love you,' he turned away before he could see Simon's reaction, his heart wrenching at the confession.

Simon couldn't help but feel more than reassurance. There was something off about that "I love you", but he couldn't pinpoint it. It wasn't untruthfulness, no… no, Alvin had meant it. The honesty was actually quite shocking. The younger shrugged it off as being an uncommon word in Alvin's vocabulary.

He hesitantly lifted an arm around Alvin's shoulders and pulled him close, resting his head on Alvin's. 'Thank you…' he said softly. 'You know I'll always be here for you… when you're ready, you can tell me what's happening… but I won't beat it out of you again like this…' he promised. 'Brothers have to be honest… but also patient…' He got out a chuckle. 'And I need some practise on the latter.'

Alvin was so relieved it was amazing. He hadn't blown it. Simon was still oblivious! He had to smile, and allowed himself to enjoy Simon's half-embrace. 'And I need some practise on the first.' He replied softly. See, Simon..? Even there we complete each other…

Simon quickly retracted his arm and stood. 'I'll… um, see you later.' He offered a smile.

'Yep…' Alvin nodded, not looking up.

More on its way tomorrow!