it's been over a year since I've been able to write anything, after getting in a serious writer's funk, so this little fic is very important to me. I wrote it all in one sitting bc I was scared I'd lose the motivation if I stopped. and even though it's not perfect, I'm proud I was able to do it.

this is set during the "Wacky Wednesday" episode but I'm ignoring the part where Alvin tells Simon a secret so he'll believe them. pretend that didn't happen. I've been wanting to write something like this, when the plot for this episode came out I immediately thought of how it could go into some deeper stuff and have had the idea ever since.

if you haven't seen the episode this probably won't make much sense, but basically, Alvin and Jeanette switched bodies because of a machine Simon made.

that's all!

Stay calm, Jeanette. You have to stay calm. This will all be over soon, Simon will respond to reason eventually and realize what's happened, he'll fix it all like he usually does, and you'll be able to go back to saving up to get that spell book replica you saw for sale as your biggest worry instead of this. It will all... be... just fine.

With Jeanette's thoughts going a mile a minute all day, repeating calming mantras to herself tends to help a bit- or at least, it was helping.

It's only been a day and she's not sure how long she can handle all of this. Wearing Alvin's clothes, sitting in his spot at the dinner table, politely trying to decline Theodore's requests to watch Talking Teddy with him without hurting any feelings, doing her best to avoid Simon since he won't believe a word she says anyways.

A sigh escapes her lips as she starts to bounce one of Alvin's baseballs up and down to give her hands something to do.

Simon-that's another thing that's been bothering her-he didn't believe her.

Sure, she can understand why he might not buy such a wild explanation coming from someone like Alvin. He's not exactly the prime example of honesty. But the both of them had tried convincing him and he wouldn't hear a word of it, meaning he couldn't even take a second to listen to what she wanted to say about it.

On top of all of that, all day long, she's had to listen to Simon's various jabs every time she'd see him.

He had snapped at her when she tried looking for a snack ("Don't take any of my breakfast bars again!"), he immediately kicked her out of the basement when trying to find something to do ("If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, STAY AWAY from my stuff!") and any time she tries to even say something to him, he gives her such a miserable look, what's the point in even trying?

She lets the baseball drop to the floor with a thud. All because he thinks she's Alvin.

That sudden thought makes her eyes widen.

Because he thinks she's Alvin.

She rolls over on her bed-well, no, Alvin's bed-as she begins to think harder.

She knows Simon isn't exactly a shining ray of sunshine with anyone. He gets impatient, he gets tired with people easily, and he snaps. She knows that. But she's not so sure she's ever had to be the subject of his snapping so much all at once.

And it's only because he thinks she's Alvin. If he would have believed her, would she still be getting the same treatment? Would she be feeling so low, so upset? He's hurt her feelings more than ever and she's only had to go through this for one day.

Is this what it's like for Alvin every day?

Her thoughts go back to running a mile a minute just like earlier, only this time they're full of all the times she can remember Simon saying things to Alvin, becoming exasperated with him so quickly, and how she never thought twice about it.

It's Alvin, she'd always think, and she's sure the others would too, wondering what he'd managed to do wrong on that particular day. That's always the excuse. Always the reason to not try and stick up for him.

Then her thoughts change, and she begins to think of her own sister.

Brittany can be hard to deal with, and at times hurtful in the way she acts or speaks, but she's never made her feel the way Simon has today. So small. So annoying. So unwanted.

And she's almost positive if it would have been Brittany she'd have gone to over this problem, her sister would have taken her side and eventually believed her just by listening to her.

"Oh, poor Alvin..." Jeanette sighs aloud.

He doesn't have that much needed side of a sibling she does when it comes to Simon, or at least he doesn't get to see it most of the time through Simon's words and actions, and it makes her understanding heart ache.

A twinge of guilt also hits her when she remembers her previous thought, about how she can't blame Simon for not believing Alvin. She has to blame herself just as much for following that same mindset for a moment, just because it's Alvin.

Before she can think any further, the door to the boys' room swings open and Simon himself walks in.

"Don't talk to me," he growls at Jeanette before she even gets the chance to open her mouth. "That little stunt you pulled ruined my entire machine!"

"W-what stunt?"

He sighs, moving to sit down in front of his laptop. "Don't play dumb, Alvin."

Jeanette doesn't say anything, at a loss for words, all of this only making her feel even more sure about her prior worries. She sees Simon look over at her out the corner of her eye and he shakes his head.

"Okay, fine. Play dumb then. The basketball you stuck inside my fruit dispenser machine? It caused the entire thing to blow apart!"

She watches as Simon pushes his laptop away as fast as he'd grabbed it, dejected.

"First the switch machine, now this. That's two failures in one week."

"Maybe I was only trying to help," Jeanette tries to insist, feeling the earlier urge to defend Alvin hit her once again.

"Help me? Please. Since when do you ever want to actually help?"

There it is again, he's making her feel that awful way, and she's close to letting it get to her. She almost shuts down. But another part of her, the part that can't stand to see this technically happening to someone who isn't her, wins the battle.

"Well... well when do you ever do anything that doesn't involve expecting the worst out of someone?" Jeanette snaps, eyes narrowing as she sits up straight on Alvin's bed.

Simon's only surprised for a moment before he turns away.

"I'm not listening to thi-"

"That's right!" she interrupts before he can even start, jumping off the bed. "Because you never listen! D-do you have any idea how that must make Alv- how that makes me feel? I have feelings too, Simon! Don't you get that?"

Jeanette stops to look at him and take in his reaction. By the look of things he's speechless, and that only fuels her more. She begins to pace, throwing her hands up in the air.

"Everyone calls me... selfish, everyone says I only think about myself. Have you ever stopped to think that maybe I bother you so much because it's the only way to get a reaction out of... out of someone like you?"

She's just letting the words fall out at this point, as quickly as they come to her, and she's making her own realizations piece by piece as she continues to do so. It only makes her feel for Alvin more.

"I've had to deal with you being mean to me all day. Why do you always have to bring me down no matter what I do? Can't you ever just say something nice about me for once? I-is it so hard to do something like that?"

Finally she stops, and she can see Simon's still staring in a shocked daze. He opens his mouth, then closes it.

"A-Alvin, I..." is what comes out when he finally begins to say something.

But she's not done. In one final exasperated huff, she says, "And what do you need a fruit dispenser machine for anyway?!"

Crossing her arms, Jeanette turns away, refusing to look at him anymore. For a brief moment she thinks about how she sounds more like Alvin than she has all day, and she's not even trying to.

"Alvin, look," Simon tries again, she can feel him reaching out a hand towards her but she jerks away.

It's only then that Jeanette notices she's shaking, she's gotten herself too worked up, her own outburst getting to her. She can feel the tears welling up in her eyes and she turns to look at him.

Simon's own eyes widen at the sight of her crying-possibly in realization that she and Alvin have both been telling the truth all along-and all she can think is good.

"I need to be left alone," Jeanette mutters, shoving past him and right out the door.

...

This stinks.

It's been almost an entire day and Alvin's still dealing with the horror of being in someone else's body.

At some points he decides it's cool, like he's living and starring in his own episode of Alien Sightings, the next he decides it's the worst moment of his entire life and he's completely ruined and he will NEVER recover, then he just thinks about how bored he is and how much he misses his own room. Ugh.

He wonders how well Jeanette's holding up. They'd both decided there's not much to do with Simon not believing either of them, and they'll just have to sleep on it and figure out a better way to make him believe the truth tomorrow.

He just wishes the whole day would go by faster. It feels like it's been a million trillion years and the worry is starting to get to him.

What if he's stuck like this forever? What if he never gets to be himself again and he has to live out his life as a Jeanette imposter, never even being given the credit he deserves for his beloved acting skills because no one can even know?

The thought alone makes Alvin shudder, but just as quick, he moves onto focusing his attention back on the books before him. At least in his careless digging around the Chipettes room he's discovered Jeanette has nice taste in books.

"The term warlock has been derived from the words 'oathbreaker' and 'deceiver'..." he reads aloud, flipping the page. "Hmm."

He reads further into the book, which does at least help the time go by a little faster. It's easier not to worry so much when his mind is settled on witches and warlocks and not on the fact he's currently in Jeanette's body.

He almost forgets that's even a thing, until he hears someone stomping around and looks up to see that it's Brittany.

"Ugh!" She throws her purse down, none too gently, and to Alvin that's a very telling sign she's upset. "Can't believe him-annoying little jerk-always ruining everything for me!"

The word him grabs Alvin's attention and he pushes the book away. No one had better be bothering Brittany that's not his own self.

"Uh, Britt?" he speaks up, then reminds himself he's supposed to sound more like Jeanette. "What's... what's wrong?"

Brittany moves around the room, looking for something, not bothering to answer. When it looks like she's given up on finding whatever she'd been looking for, she grabs her purse again, only to throw it back down, the contents inside spilling out.

"It's Alvin!" she finally says, whirling around to glare at what she thinks is Jeanette. "This is all his fault!"

Oh, so it's him she's mad at. That makes Alvin feel much better.

"What did he do?" he asks, trying his best to sound concerned.

He is genuinely curious though, he's not sure which thing she's decided to be mad about. The gum he stuck inside of her locker, the note he taped to her book with a sloppy drawing of her wearing devil horns (he'd worked extra hard on that one, he hopes she at least appreciates the effort) or maybe even-

"He ruined my date with Logan," Brittany finally says, flopping onto her bed. "Logan says Alvin told him I smell like old gym socks and that's why I use so much perfume. To cover it up. Now he won't even talk to me. It took Amber forever to set up a date between us!"

Ohhh. So that's the one.

It's hard to balance between mentally congratulating himself on a job well done, and remaining the Jeanette-like expression he's trying to hold on his face. At least he knows Logan won't be going out with her for sure.

"Oh, yeah, that's just too bad."

"Too bad? Jeanette, it's mortifying!"

Alvin rolls his eyes and hops down from Jeanette's bed so he can join Brittany on hers.

"Britt, trust me, you don't want to go out with Logan anyway. He's the one who smells like old gym socks. Maybe Alvin was just, you know, trying to help you! Trying to be the daring, brave hero like always..."

Brittany slowly looks up from where she'd had her face pressed into a pillow. "Daring, brave hero?" she repeats, and soon after she starts to sneer. "Ha!"

"W-well, maybe..."

"What's the use? It doesn't matter." Brittany turns over, bringing her knees up to her chest, and Alvin starts to feel the fake concern turn genuine. "Alvin's always going to ruin everything for me."

"You don't even like Logan!" He says it partly as an accusation, partly to see what her answer will be.

"No, I don't." That's the one he had been hoping for. "But who cares about that?"

Alvin raises an eyebrow. "Uh, you should. That's the whole point of, y'know, going on a date with someone."

Luckily for him Brittany's too upset to take notice of how un-Jeanette-like he sounds, since he can't even be bothered to keep up the charade when having a conversation like this. Instead she just rolls her eyes.

"It's not the date part I'm upset about, Jeanette."

"Then what is it?"

Brittany grabs her pillow and hugs it to her before she says anything else. "It's Alvin. He flirts with girls all the time. He goes on dates. He gets to do all of that stuff and he doesn't have to care."

"Not care?"

"About me!" she finally snaps, gripping her pillow tighter. "About how I feel about it! So why couldn't he just let me have this one thing?"

Even with how little she's saying, Alvin's finding it hard to keep up.

How she feels about all of that? He's never thought to think about how she might feel... okay, well, maybe he does wonder in the back of his mind what she thinks when he drops a nice line on a pretty girl, or when he goes on a date with someone that isn't her. He's wondered if she would care, but those are thoughts he usually pushes to the back of his head, things he doesn't want to admit.

But he's never thought of it actually hurting her.

Then he thinks about how he had felt when he heard the rumors going around about her and Logan going out. Angry. Upset. Jealous. And maybe even the more dramatic side of him felt betrayed.

No matter how much they fight or disagree or pick on each other, they're always going to be partners-two sides of the same coin-and imagining Brittany going out with some guy, having fun with someone who's not him, laughing at jokes that aren't his...

It's upsetting to think about. And maybe it would have been her way of getting back at him for not realizing that's how things usually are for her, but he wouldn't even let that chance happen.

"I'm sorry," he suddenly blurts out, and Brittany scoffs.

"It isn't your fault, Jeanette. I don't know why I bother getting so upset over someone who doesn't even like me."

Now it's his turn to feel hurt.

"You know that's not true! He does like you. Uh... sometimes. You're friends."

Brittany tosses the pillow she'd been gripping aside, relenting a bit. "Well, yeah, I guess, but sometimes it just doesn't feel that way."

"Why not?"

"He's always picking on me. He's nice to other girls, but me? No, he has to act like I'm some sort of disease or something!"

"Maybe that just means he likes you the most," Alvin finds himself saying, and he's too caught up to even want to mentally slap himself for it. Maybe he's starting to get effected from being in Jeanette's body for so long.

"Why would it mean that?"

Alvin leans back, considering his options. He's certain if she didn't think he was her sister, Brittany wouldn't be so open with him about all of this. He's also sure if he didn't have this chance to hear such an honest side from her, he wouldn't feel the need to do what he's about to do and his pride would get the better of him instead.

But for whatever stupid lucky reason, he has the opportunity to do something he usually doesn't-make things right-and he's going to take it.

"Why wouldn't it mean that? Brittany, you're an amazing girl. You're funny, you're interesting, you're pretty." Really, really pretty, he adds in his head, before continuing. "And maybe treating you differently from other girls means you're the one he really likes."

Brittany blinks, considering those words.

"Do... do you really think so?"

"I have a pretty good idea."

He watches a smile slowly start to come to her face. "Well, I guess that does make me feel a little special," she admits. But the smile almost immediately leaves. "I just wish he wouldn't be so mean about it sometimes!"

"You're mean too sometimes," Alvin shoots back defensively. He expects her to deny it, and for a second her eyes do narrow, until a sigh escapes her and she shrugs.

"Yeah, I guess I am."

She looks down again and it makes Alvin frown. So he's still not exactly the best at making things right, even with the help of being in Jeanette's body- but he's going to keep trying.

"Look, Brittany, maybe you both just need to try a little harder with each other." He shrugs, trying to look nonchalant. "Maybe you both need to show the other that you do care."

Especially you, Alvin thinks to himself.

"You're right," Brittany nods, but Alvin continues before she can say any more than that.

"But that doesn't mean you should stop being yourself! I- I mean, Alvin, I'm sure, likes you for who you are. You're proud and fun and entertaining. Your confidence, even your big mouth, those are some of the best things about you."

He's struggling again to keep sounding like Jeanette, but he feels a wave of relief wash over him at his own words- he's always wanted to tell her that. He just didn't exactly know how.

Finally, he says, "You're way better than all of those other girls. And I bet Alvin thinks the same too."

And he shoots a cheeky smile her way for good measure.

"Trust me."

Brittany's silent for a moment, maybe taking it all in. Then she moves forward and hugs him without any warning. "Thanks so much, Jeanette. You always know just what to say when I need it. Maybe I'll buy you that spell book you've been wanting when I get enough money."

Alvin doesn't hesitate in hugging her back, tightly, grateful for another opportunity he's able to have that day. And he keeps that spell book comment in mind too.

"You're welcome. So, uh," he pulls back, raising an eyebrow at her, "Do you think those same things about Alvin too?"

She rolls her eyes, but there's a smile on her face as she does. "Duh, you already know that."

"Alright!" He pumps his fist into the air, then remembers he's supposed to be Jeanette and winces. "Um, I mean, that's good for him."

Brittany doesn't seem to think too much of it, and Alvin breathes a sigh of relief, both at her not questioning him and for that whole thing being over and done with. He gives himself a mental pat on the back, instead of a mental slap, for managing to fix it.

Jeanette's lucky. He's sure she's not having to deal with so much drama being in his body.

...

It's been at least an hour since she left the room in such an abrupt manner, and Jeanette's starting to feel bad. Well, no, she's been feeling bad, but it's starting to truly get to her to the point where she feels sick.

She doesn't regret what she said, but she does regret how she went about it. There would have been a better way to go forward with confronting Simon on how he acts, and she knows that. She let her feelings get the better of her.

Apologizing is the necessary thing to do, for how she went about things, but just on cue like earlier Simon appears in the living room. Her breath hitches in her throat and she forgets how to speak.

"Um." Simon rubs the back of his neck, looking just as at a loss as she is. Eventually he manages to say, "Can... can we talk?"

"That depends," she keeps her expression neutral, but she knows she can't go on pretending to be Alvin anymore after all of that. "Who do you think you're talking to? Alvin or Jeanette?"

Simon sighs, crossing the room, and then tentatively climbs onto the couch next to her.

"I know it's really you."

"Tried telling you that earlier," Jeanette mutters. She reminds herself she's supposed to be apologizing.

"I know, and I'm sorry," Simon does it instead. "I should have believed you. I... should have believed Alvin, too."

Jeanette nods, looking away. She's not sure what else to say at that moment, but thankfully Simon continues speaking for her.

"Everything you said was correct. I should listen more. And... try harder sometimes. With Alvin. I know that."

She looks back over at him to gauge his expression, and the look on his face makes Jeanette feel bad all over again. He looks like he's more than taken her words to heart. She decides that's enough.

"Simon, I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings. It's... it's just..."

"No, you were right." He nods firmly. "I needed to hear it."

"But not the way I went about it," she says, chewing on her lower lip. "You're not... entirely to blame. Alvin can be difficult. But he does have feelings. And- and you have feelings, too. I'm sorry I wasn't thinking of yours."

Simon's eyes roll, but there isn't any mean intent to it, she can tell. Especially with the slight smile now on his face.

"There aren't any hard feelings. Like I said, I needed to hear it."

"Okay," she breathes, nodding. But she still doesn't feel satisfied, so after a few beats of silence she adds, "You're not a bad person, Simon. I hope you don't feel that way."

He doesn't say anything. She figures she owes it to him to continue.

"T-that's not what I meant at all earlier. We all have our problems. Sometimes I wear the wrong shoe on the wrong foot and don't even realize it until the day is over."

Simon gives her a strange look, so she tries to build her point back up again by moving on quickly.

"What I mean to say is, you are a good person. There's just some things you have to work on. It's like that for everyone."

He falls silent again and it makes Jeanette worry, wondering if she chose the wrong thing to say, but she doesn't have to worry for long.

"You know, Jeanette, you really are the smartest one out of us all."

That one sentence makes her heart drop and now she can't find the words to speak again. Simon just smiles and moves down from the couch.

"Now let's figure out how to get you and Alvin back in the right bodies."

...

It's been a few days since the body switching incident, and all things considered, things mostly have gone back to normal. Normal, with a bit of help from the situation to help turn things around more.

Alvin had been going on about his new idea for a genius robot that did your homework for you, with Simon putting in his best effort to listen. There's still a few times he's almost had the urge to let out an exasperated sigh, but the excited tone of Alvin's voice and Jeanette's past words in his head stop him from doing so.

"It would be so great! We wouldn't have to do our own work, and Miss Smith would be none the wiser! Maybe we could work on it together after school. Well, I mean, you could work on it and I could supervise."

"Yeah, maybe we can," Simon nods.

"Wait, what?" Alvin stops his rambling, looking over at him in surprise. "Really?"

"Sure, why not? I'm thinking a machine that helps rather than does all of the work would be better, but we can work out the end results together."

A bright smile lights up on Alvin's face at the sound of that, and Simon can feel a rare one appearing on his too, a slight weight lifting off his shoulders all at the same time.

The two begin walking up the steps of the school together, passing up Brittany, who was walking with Amber and a few other girls.

"Hey, Brittany!" Alvin suddenly shouts, causing both Brittany and the girls and Simon to stop in their tracks. "What are you doing tonight?"

Brittany stares blankly for a moment, taking a glance at Amber and the other few girls standing with her. She clears her throat and holds her head high, regaining her cool composure. "I don't know. I'll have to check my schedule."

"Well, check it. And make plans to go to the movies with me tonight." Alvin grins. "It'll be my treat."

Brittany looks stunned again, nodding slowly. "O-okay." She shrugs. "Sure. Fine."

"Great," Alvin moves forward to link his arm with hers. "Want to walk to class with me?"

Her nerves starting to ease, Brittany lets herself smile and she nods. "Okay," she says, more sure of herself. "I'd like that."

Amber and the other girls begin to part in a sea of hushed whispers, their eyes locked on Alvin and Brittany as he leads her through the school door. Simon smiles knowingly and follows behind them, on his way to class too.

He passes by Jeanette, who he makes sure to wave at, and she waves back. She takes it as a good sign.

Jeanette makes note of Alvin and Brittany walking together too, and she can't help but smile herself. She turns to open her locker and pull out her books, but is taken aback at first when she sees a heavy, unfamiliar, definitely-not-a-textbook book inside.

She pulls it out, realizing it's the spell book she's had her eyes on for so long. On top of it is a note that reads "THANKS FOR HELPING- EVEN IF YOU DON'T REALIZE YOU DID" in Alvin's handwriting. The smile on Jeanette's face grows as she gently places it back in her locker. She's not sure if that means he knows what she said to Simon or if it's something else. It doesn't matter, she decides.

The rest of their week is going to be much better for everyone, she thinks.