CHAPTER ONE

Hit And Run

"Cause baby you're a firework

Come on, show 'em what you're worth

Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh"

As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Baby, you're a firework

Come on, let your colors burst

Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh"

You're gonna leave 'em all in awe, awe, awe"

3:25 A.M

Theodore Seville was staying up late in his bedroom researching something important to him on his desktop computer. It was rare for him to stay up late because he never had the energy to. However, tonight he had a motive to stay up. He had always been considered naive by his brothers and father, which that was far from the truth. In truth, he was dealing with some very adult issues. Issues to which he was looking to resolve soon. He knew who he was and had been in denial for almost two years. He had finally grown accustom to it after another two years, and he was finally ready to let it be known.

The first person he was going to tell would be his second oldest brother, Simon Seville. If everything went well, he would follow up by telling his older brother, Alvin. However, that would only happen if he could get Simon by his side for moral and physical support. God forbid, what little physical support could his brother, Simon, provide. He knew, however, it would never come down to that, but it would always help to have some comfort to deal with anxiety. Finally, if everything went well and both brothers were supportive, he would then have the courage to tell Dave and the Chipettes.

As of right now, Theodore stared at his computer screen with his sleepy green eyes. At the moment, he was running two windows on his computer screen. The current one is a Word Document with a speech written on the page. The speech was being written to help Theodore explain his issue to Simon. He wanted to make sure he explained it the right way, and knew what he was going to say before he said it. Stumbling and stuttering was not going to help with Theodore's anxiety, and it would be confusing to not only himself, but his brother Simon as well. So writing everything down was one way he could have spoken the issue. Sure he could have stood in front of a mirror and confessed, though, it would have been terrifying to know that somebody could hear him. It was only best to keep it all written down. As the clock ticked and minutes went by, Theodore slowly felt sleepy and kept opening and closing his eyes. Losing the battle, Theodore's eye lids gave and he shut his eyes, causing him to slump forward and rest his head on the computer screen. Five minutes after falling asleep, the screen saver popped up and pipes began running across the screen.

OOO

3:41 A.M

Alvin stirred in his bed, feeling a tingly feeling between his legs. It was at that moment when he realized he had to use the bathroom. He shoved the covers off of him and sat up on his bed. He got up from his bed and sleepily walked over to his door. He opened it and walked through the barely lit hallway. When he got to the bathroom, he opened the door, turned on the light, and closed and locked the door behind him. He went over to the toilet and lifted the covers up. He put his thumbs on his waistbands and pull down his red pajama pants and boxers. He then started sighing in relief once he started urinating. Once he was finished, he pulled up his pajama bottom and boxer until he was covered up. He flushed the toilet and went over to the sink and began washing his hands. He then turned the water off and dried his hands with a towel and set it on the rack once he was done. He went over to the door, unlocked and opened it, and left the bathroom after shutting off the light.

Walking through the hallway wanting to go back to bed, he noticed that Theodore's door had a faint blue light coming out from under the door. Alvin figured that his little brother lost track of time, probably looking up recipes for Eleanor. He smiled at the thought of those two little chipmunks together. They really did seem perfect for each other. Both of them made each other laugh and smile, and Alvin was proud that his little brother found a "special" friend to be with. He continued to proceed down the hall over to Theodore''s door to tell him that it too late be on the computer. When he went up to the door he knocked three times. He was surprised when he heard no response on the other side. Worryingly, he put his hand on the door knob, turned it, and proceeded inside the room. He grinned when he saw Theodore leaning against the screen of his computer. He chuckled lightly at his crazy, but lovable, little brother. Noticing that his neck was at a very uncomfortable angle, he decided to pick him up and put him in his bed. Though he was strong, it was still difficult to lift Theodore into his bed.

Grunting over to the bed, Alvin gently placed Theodore on the bed. Being a heavy sleeper he was, Theodore didn't wake up while he was being moved. Alvin covered up Theodore with a blanket and tucked him in. He smiled down at his little brother before planting a kiss on his forehead. He whispered, "Goodnight, Theo." Alvin then began leaving the room, until he remembered that the computer was still on. Dave always got onto them if they left their computers on overnight. Deciding that Theodore staying out of trouble was worth losing a few minutes of sleep, he went over to the computer to shut if off. He shook the mouse on the pad to wake up the computer. A few seconds later, Alvin was taken to something that puzzled him. There was an open Word document titled The Speech. The writing on the document was pretty short, but confusing none the less. It read:

Simon, before I tell you this I want you to know that I understand completely what it all means. I've researched it and I've even seen (note: maybe say:(and I do enjoy)) it. I chose to tell you this for the same reason anyone would choose to tell you. I know that it might be difficult to accept but I need you to know that I'm...

Alvin blinked when he realized that Theodore hadn't finished writing the speech. What has Theodore understood? What has he been researching? Curious, immediately sat down on the chair. He looked over at Theodore who was sound asleep in his bed. Alvin then went back to the computer screen and minimized the document. He then began searching for clues to what issue has been bothering Theodore.

4:01 A.M

Alvin felt like he had been searching for hours, but nothing he found gave him any clues to what was going on with Theodore. He went to bring up the document containing his speech when he noticed another minimized window. He clicked on it and it brought Alvin to an Internet browser. The opened page was titled Wikihow, and the topic was How to Come Out As a Gay or Lesbian?. Alvin blinked in surprise and whispered, "...What?" That was the only thing he could have managed to say at this point. He couldn't believe that his brother; his innocent, kind, and sweet brother, Theodore, was gay. Alvin's mind went into overdrive of what he should do. Part of him is telling him to confront him now, and get it over with. However, another part of him is telling him to talk to Simon and Dave about the situation. The last part is telling him to get up and leave, and let Theodore come out when he was ready. Deciding the last option was the best, he quickly got up off the chair. Unfortunately, this wasn't his lucky night because as soon as he got up, he knocked the chair backwards and down onto Theodore's hand, which was hanging off the bed.

Feeling a shot of pain in his hand, Theodore eyes shot wide open and he hissed in pain. He finally looked up and jumped in shock when he saw Alvin, who was slowly getting up. Theodore was then shocked to see that he was on his bed and not on his chair. Shaking off the shock, Theodore looked up at Alvin. "Um...Alvin?"

Dusting off his pajamas, he gave Theodore an innocent smile. "What's up, Theo?"

Theodore tilted his head in confusion and asked, "What are you doing in my room?"

Alvin gulped as he fiddled his thumbs with nervousness. "I...uh...ya see...this is what happened." Alvin cleared his throat. "I was...uh...going back to my room after using the bathroom, until I saw the blue glow from the computer under your door. I decided to tell you that it was too late to be on the computer, but you were sleeping, so I put you in bed."

Theodore nodded in understanding and gave a nervous reply. "Oh... Okay." It was then he looked up to see that his computer wasn't displaying the screen saver. He quickly got off the bed and walked in-between Alvin and the computer. He began to panic and choke at what he saw. The computer was displaying the Internet Explorer site and not the speech he was working on. That meant that Alvin saw the two pages while he was going to shut off the computer. Tears began to well up in his eyes and he felt himself slip into the "Fight or Flight" part of his brain. He turned to see Alvin who was feeling uncomfortable.

"Theo..." As soon as Alvin started speaking, he felt Theodore's fist collide with his nose, and completely knocked him to the floor. Alvin was so shocked by the action that he didn't feel the pain. However, he did hear the door swing violently open, which made Alvin realize why Theodore had hit him and ran. He was scared that Alvin would hate him, or attack him for it. Holding on to that thought, Alvin felt more pain than he had felt from any sports or fighting injury. Alvin came up with the conclusion that Theodore didn't want to hit him. He was only trying to buy himself some time to escape.

Tears welled up in the older brother's eyes as he quickly got up and ran out the bedroom door to find Theodore. As he kept running down the hall, he ignored his bleeding nose and his brother, Simon, who woke up and asked what has happened. He didn't care about any of those thing. All he cared about was getting Theodore back and assure him that he loved him. Running down the stairs, he noticed the front door was wide open. He ran out and began searching for Theodore. While searching, he began to realize what caused Theodore to think that his older brother would hate or hurt him. He quickly remembered all the cruel, hateful, homophobic jokes he had told in the past. Alvin stopped searching and began to cry. It was all his fault that Theodore ran away in the dark. If he only kept his mouth shut and kept all the jokes to himself, he wouldn't be in this type of situation. He had to let Theodore know once and for all that it didn't matter to him if he was gay or not. He would always love him.

Wiping a tear from his face, he quickly remembered the only place Theodore was likely to run, which was the Chipettes. Alvin began running, though not far, because he found found Theodore near the Chipettes house. The sight of seeing Theodore made Alvin cry that much louder as he ran to his little brother. He then noticed Theodore had spotted him and saw his little brother climb the tree, all the way up to the Chipette's tree house. Alvin followed him up there and as soon he reached the top, he saw Theodore banging on the door to be let inside. Alvin stayed calm, knowing that the Chipettes were at a concert in Miami. So nobody was inside. After a few minutes of knocking and banging, Alvin saw his brother give up and fall to his knees and began crying and shaking, which made him cry as well. Alvin saw Theodore look up to him, and at that moment he began to gag and vomit. Alvin slowly walked up to Theodore, making sure not to scare his little brother. Seeing his brother in so much pain and tears hurt him so much. It felt like someone had stuck a knife in his heart. However, when he saw his brother look up at him, nothing hurt him the most than the four words spoken from his mouth. It was a response that crushed Alvin, and would haunt him for months.

"P...Pl...Please d...don't h...hurt...m...me..."

At that moment, Alvin quickly fell down to his knees next to Theodore and hugged him lovingly. He began sobbing at the same rate as Theodore. The pain of his own little brother assuming that he was going to hurt him struck him hard. Between sobs Alvin kept muttering, "So...sorry. S...Sorry."

Theodore was shocked because he never expected this reaction from his older brother. Even though was still scared and nervous as he is always, he still let his caring and concerned side through. Pulling back from the hug, he took a good look at Alvin and saw that below his left nostril was coated in blood; the result of the punch he had thrown moments ago. Sniffling, Theodore asked, "Al...Alvin? Why are you sorry?" He looked down with guilt in his voice. "I'm the one that h...hurt you." With that last statement, he broke down with more tears escaping his eyes.

Alvin sniffled and looked up at Theodore's watery green eyes. With tears still falling, he said, "I scared you so much. I made you think I'd hurt or disown you." He suppressed a sob and finished his speaking barley above a whisper. "I hurt you so much already and I never even touched you. The pain you caused me was nothing compared to the pain you felt because of me. Now, there is not enough apologies for me to say to let you know how truly sorry I am. Truly, truly sorry." At that, Alvin sobbed his eyes out, not caring who saw or heard him. The terrible feeling of hurting his little brother was one of the worst feelings you can get. Alvin would rather take a bullet to the heart, rather than hurt his brothers. He truly did love them, especially Theodore.

Theodore couldn't believe he was seeing. His fearless, strong, and athletic brother was crying his eyes out. All emotions from guilt, regret, and love all shown through his brother's eyes. This was a first for Theodore. He remembered when Cookie Chomper III died years ago, Alvin was angry and upset. He even remembered seeing his older brother shed a tear after the incident. However, Alvin was shedding more than tears in front of him. His was shedding emotion and love, something that is rarely done. Theodore then processed what Alvin had said and smiled a little. He was happy to hear that Alvin loved him a great deal, and no matter what words or actions he may have caused in the passed, he will always love his family. It made Theodore think that Alvin was reliable to talk to, and it didn't always have to be Simon or Dave. He never really gave Alvin a chance to prove himself as an older brother who cared. Seeing Alvin now, giving all his love, was all the proof Theodore needed.

Still seeing his brother crying, Theodore carefully stood up and held out his hand to help Alvin up.

Alvin looked at Theodore's hand for a while, before smiling up at a grinning Theodore. He was happy to know that Theodore wasn't upset with him. Taking Theodore's hand, he stood up and said, "Come on, little bro. Simon is probably worried sick."

Theodore smiled and nodded. He followed Alvin as they both climbed down the tree. Losing his balance, Theodore fell backwards, screaming in terror.

"Gotcha!"

Theodore felt Alvin's arm catch him and sighed in relief. He looked up at him with a smile."Thanks, Alvin."

Alvin simply nodded and smiled back at Theodore. "May I carry you home, Theodore?" Theodore smiled widely and nodded enthusiastically, which made Alvin chuckle. He turned and walked to their house, feeling cool wind hit both their faces.

Even though Alvin felt better about what happened tonight. Theodore was still skeptical about one thing. "So...um...Alvin?"

Alvin smiled down at his brother. "Yes, Theo?"

Theodore cleared his throat and took a deep breath. He nervously asked, "Are you really okay with this? You are not ashamed of me or anything...right?"

Alvin shook his head, he asked, "Why would I?" He smiled down at Theodore. "You are kind, understanding, sensitive, and...oh God, you are an amazing chef!" Theodore gave a small chuckle. "So why would I be ashamed?"

Theodore frowned and gave a small shrug. He said, "Because I'm...I'm gay, Alvin. That's why you should be ashamed of me."

"Theodore..." Alvin sighed. He had to try and explain to Theodore what he was trying to say. "...up until the last minute I walked into your room, I was thinking about what a wonderful husband and wife you and Eleanor would make. Saying that this is unexpected was more than an understatement because you two seem to get along so well. However, saying that I wouldn't care or love you would be the biggest lie to the millennium!" Alvin paused and asked, "By the way, Theo; how long is that?" Alvin looked down to see Theodore smile and shake his head. Alvin chuckled and continued, "Sorry, getting off track." Alvin's face then became serious. "You get my point, right Theo?" Alvin saw Theodore nod, so he continued, "Good to know. Just remember Theo, you are my brother and best friend. I will always love, care for, and protect you. If your gay, that is fine by me. If you're not, that's fine by me too. You deserve to be happy regardless of who it's with."

Theodore was shocked to hear all those things from Alvin. He was happy to know that no matter how Alvin has acted towards his brother's, he would still love and protect them. Theodore was truly grateful to have a best friend and brother like Alvin. He smiled up his brother and whispered lovingly, "Thanks, Alvin?

Alvin smiled an spoke with the same loving tone in a whisper. "Anytime, Theo." Alvin became serious again and looked at his brother. "I swear Theo, if anybody, I mean anybody picks on you or hurts you, they are going to see Hell! God forbid, if a boy breaks up with you, I will make him suffer! If a-"

"Alvin!" Theodore yelled playfully, interrupting his protective brother. He saw Alvin smile down at him. "I get it!" Theodore then snuggled into Alvin's shoulder and whispered lovingly, "I love you."

Alvin gave Theodore a warm loving smile, and whispered, "I love you too, little bro."

OOO

Simon paced back and forth in the den, waiting for his brother's to return from wherever they are. It was almost four thirty in the morning, and he has yet to see or hear from them. 'Where are they?' Simon asked in thought.

At that second, he heard the front door open and saw his brothers, Alvin and Theodore, coming inside. He ran up to them and quickly yelled quietly, "You're lucky Dave didn't wake up, and you definitely lucky that i didn't wake him up!" He looked closely at his brothers, and asked, "What the heck happened?" He looked at his little brother. "Theodore, you just ran out in the middle of the night! Alvin..." He looked at his older brother. "Why didn't you tell me what was going on?" He then saw his brother's nose. "What in God's name happened to your nose, Alvin?"

Before Simon could continue, Alvin put his hand up and chuckled, "Slow down there, Speed racer!" He placed a hand on Theodore's shoulder, who smiled. "We are fine, and your question for Theo will be answered when he ready for you to know. Just please don't tell Dave."

Simon sighed in defeat. "Fine." He gave his brothers a smile. "I am just glad you guys are safe."

"Actually, Alvin?" Alvin looked down to Theodore. "I'm ready for Simon to know."

Alvin blinked. "Are you sure, Theodore?"

Theodore smiled and nodded. "I am sure." He hugged Alvin by the side and said, "Especially now that I know I have someone who loves me by my side."

Alvin smiled and pulled Theodore close. He would always be by his brother's side; no matter what.