Almost a week had passed since the Seville boys returned home. All things considered, they settled back in well. Barely a day in and Alvin was back to his schemes, and they all took back to their family schedule with bravado.

The first movie night was certainly something special. They gathered around and popped in an old favourite – or several, even though they didn't make it that far. They gathered on the couch and Alvin settled at its base with Dave's much-missed hot chocolate and Theodore's triple-fudge cake prepared for the occasional. The Winter air was settling in along with them, but the hot drinks and close company kept them cozy all through the night.

The three fell asleep before the end of the first movie. Simon and Theodore had unintentionally used their father-figure as a pillow while Alvin drifted off in a ball on the carpet. The next morning, they all woke up comfortably in their beds – a welcome reminder that Dave was there looking after them.

It wasn't all the idyllic reunion they wanted though; not for Simon at least. He loved being back as much as his brothers and he committed to the family gatherings just as whole-heartedly, but that last month stuck with him.

That same first movie night, he found himself watching Alvin as much as the movie itself. Not once did Alvin look back at him, of course, but that was probably for the best. It was far from an isolated occurrence; he was doing things like that a lot more than he wanted to.

When he was with his brothers and with Dave, Simon was happy. It was just that sometimes when he looked at Alvin, it reminded him of what they had not so long ago.

On their third night, Simon stirred awake for no reason he could figure – it was probably just the ticking of his brain keeping him awake. He ended up turning towards his elder and watched him for a while, contemplating what was between them.

He knew he was just torturing himself. He almost wanted to get up and sleep with Dave to get away from it, but then he'd have to make up some excuse like 'having nightmares' which would have been more embarrassing than it was worth.

As days passed, he kept building up the urge to just talk to Alvin about it. After all, they'd been through this once before, so surely he'd understand. Then he'd remind himself that there were very good reasons for why they agreed to end things once their situation was over with; the first time was out of necessity, and it was painfully obvious that Alvin didn't need him anymore.

Not that it mattered. Every time Simon would start to give in to his more irrational side, Alvin would up and disappear. He'd shoot out of the room spouting 'not now, Simon!' and some over-eager excuse. That was all it'd take to remind Simon that this was just a situation he had no business getting himself into.

Maybe if Alvin needed him, but that wasn't the case now that he cured his own guilt. Simon was happy for his brother – he really was – but some part of him ached knowing that after everything they went through, things just had to go back to normal.

By the end of the first week, Simon did his best to try accepting that he and Alvin would never be together like they were. They were brothers and they were always close; that could be enough. Raising the issue now would only complicate matters, especially if it turned out Simon was the only one dwelling on the feelings.

He wondered if this was the same thing Alvin went through when he was on the other side. It was easier to understand how he was acting if that was the case.

Despite all the effort, Simon was distancing himself when they weren't gathered as a family. He was a little surprised that no one seemed to notice his mood, but he was even more surprised that that surprised him at all. That was perhaps the thing he missed most; when he and Alvin were together, they were close enough that they'd pick up on all the little things that were usually easy to overlook. Now, they still cared, but the added distance took that intimacy away.

That made him all the more desperate to just put himself on the line and hope for best, but things were never that simple. Even if he wanted to, they didn't have the privacy to really talk things through. He just had to keep reminding himself that it would be best for all of them if he just tried to forget about it. So that's what he'd have to do.

It got easier as time went on. The relentless sense of longing – as Simon figured it was – never fully went away, but save for a few hours left alone while Dave went out for a 'guy's night' with Mr Parrish, he found it easy to stay out of Alvin's way. When they were together, Simon's heart would race for no reason he could determine, which served as a stubborn reminder of what he was supposed to be forgetting. So that was obviously something to avoid.

Thankfully, Alvin seemed preoccupied most of the time himself. He'd run around the house and slam doors shut for his own privacy, which worked just fine for keeping the two effortlessly parted through the day. Night was trickier, since it was as close to being alone together as they got, but Simon had yet to let his impulses get the better of him.

For a while, Simon thought it was working. He and Theodore were spending the afternoon in their room while Alvin was nowhere to be seen.

Then, of course, he came barging through the door.

"I've been looking all over for you guys!" He declared with enthusiasm. "Where have you been?"

Simon just rolled his eyes. "We've been here. Just like we have been for the past hour." Theodore nodded in agreement.

"Oh, right," Alvin laughed.

Theodore raised a brow, just noticing the guitar Alvin was almost dragging along the floor behind him. "Why do you have a guitar?"

Alvin lifted it to his side. "This thing?" He emphasized. "I wrote a new song, and I wanted my brothers to be the first ones to hear it."

"YOU wrote a song?" Theodore asked.

"Hey, I can write songs too, you know!" Theodore got a light chuckle but Simon wasn't so amused.

Alvin pulled out the desk chair and climbed atop it with his guitar, then instructed his brothers to take a seat on the nearest bed – which happened to be Simon's.

Simon was dreading the next few minutes. He slouched and half-hid his face in his hand, hoping Alvin would be more focussed on Theodore or would just get too into his singing to care. Focusing on Alvin wasn't something he could do if he wanted to keep his feelings down.

As Alvin started a steady rhythm of strumming, Theodore leant forward in anticipation and Simon just about cringed with effort at tuning as much of it out as possible.

"When the night has come, and the land is dark," Alvin started to sing.

Here it comes…Simon tensed, worried about what feelings were about to come up.

"And the moon is the only light we see…"

That sounded oddly familiar.

"No, I won't be afraid," Simon blinked and lifted his head. "Oh, I won't be afraid,

"Just as long as you stand…" Alvin looked up from his guitar and locked his eyes to his brother's. "Stand by me."

Simon could hardly breath. Alvin was…singing to him? There was no doubt in his mind that that was meant for him. But why would…

Alvin continued with splendor. "So darling, darling, stand by me.

"Ohhh, stand by me. Oh, stand…" again he looked across into Simon's eyes. "Stand by me. Stand by me…" he echoed.

Simon fought back the urge to tear up, but he couldn't hide the smile that took over his forced indifference. This was how Alvin told him that he still needed him? Through a serenade? It should have been obvious that it'd be something dramatic.

As Alvin sung on, Simon listened with every line further proving to him that this was Alvin's response to their situation. He must have been feeling the same way Simon was, even this time around. A song was such an elegant solution to their evidently mutual problem; Simon was endlessly grateful that his brother thought of it.

Alvin set aside the guitar and pulled out his golden harmonica. He brought it to his lips, then Simon threw up a hand.

"You can stop, Alvin. I get it- uh…I mean, we get it." He smiled alongside Theodore.

Alvin put the harmonica in his lap and turned hopeful. "So, what did you think?"

Barely containing his grin, Simon nodded. "It sounds wonderful."

Alvin's face lit up. "Really? You're not just saying that?"

Theodore piped up, unaware of the hidden messages. "Yeah, it sounded great!"

Again, Simon nodded. "It really did." He waited for a moment to make sure the message got across. It was hard to tell, but it almost seemed like Alvin was blushing. "You should go sing it to Dave, I'm sure he'd love to hear it," Simon encouraged.

"R-right! Good idea, Simon!" Alvin dropped from the seat. "Hey, Theo, give me a hand with this stuff," he gestured the youngest off the bed and dumped the guitar in his hands. The two marched out of the room, but Alvin spared a moment to peek back inside through the half-closed door. "Hey, Simon," he whispered, "you really mean it?"

Simon would have laughed at the persistence if it wasn't so heartwarming. "I wouldn't lie about something like that."

With that and a knowing grin, Alvin took off down the hall.

Simon sat on the edge of the bed in contemplation. He had no idea how things were going to work out with them together, but it didn't seem to matter as long as they got to try. He would still be bothered by not being a 'person' by his own terms, and he was deeply worried about the inevitable problems down the line, but most of all he was happy.

No matter what trouble was waiting for them, they'd get through it together.

Extended Author's Note:

There you have it; the end of 'It's Always Blind'. I sincerely hope you've enjoyed reading it, because I've enjoyed sharing it. It ended up a much more long-term undertaking than I expected, but I'm mostly happy with how it turned out. I do always get a little depressed after finishing a big project though, and I doubt this will be the exception. That might be part of the reason why that last chapter took so long for me to write.

I've been asked if this is 'the end', and it kind-of is. This is the end of THIS story, but I fully intend to do another that takes place afterwards. I'll try to be more regular with my updates on that one.

Anyway, about this one:

I wanted to end on a musical note, but I didn't want to take a song from their latest albums. It was important that the song be very suitable, and that it be one the chipmunks would sing though, so I eventually took a relatively obscure cover that never made it to their albums: Stand By Me, by Ben E King.

Of course, the quality is fairly low and the song was never done in its entirety, so I sought out HuskyInDenial to come up with a remake for me, which he did spectacularly. You can find it at (link on my profile, grr) and I would highly recommend downloading it. (I personally find music to be an excellent supplement to things you enjoy, and it WAS made with the intention of getting featured here.)

In fact, every one of the songs used in this story are chipmunk-available somewhere, which I actually didn't realize at the time. Break My Stride was also done in an episode and never released, and Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head has been covered by my friend over at MunkRecords101 (but is unreleased, at the time of writing).

On another note:

I started writing this story because I loved the community from the sidelines. There's a lot of heart in the fanworks, and it shows. So, I wanted to contribute to the community while it seemed to be dwindling and encourage it to keep going if I could.

I don't know if I did that, and I've seen nothing to suggest I did, but I'm still glad that people seem to have enjoyed my writing. Still, I'd like to give some recommendations to fellow writers who follow a similar theme to this story, out of the hope that maybe I'm passing along readers to them (as unlikely as that may be).

'Truly Seeing for the First Time' by Timothy.C is probably the closest comparison by memory. It's a sweet little story that stays mostly innocent for the genre, so it's a good read if you want something optimistic.

s/6626191/1/Truly_seeing_for_the_first_time

'Spring' by Ginnydabomb1996 has a bizarre premise, but if you get into it, it turns out to be one of the best Alvon-themed stories around (in my humble opinion, of course), and includes some wonderful scenes and a great ending. It's also nearing the end of the second part, so now's a good time to give it a look if you haven't already.

s/7553293/1/Spring

'Dream Lover' by SawyerSeville19 (currently AlvonFan4Life19) was the first fanfic I thoroughly enjoyed. It's particularly sexual and I initially figured it would just be smut, but I actually got invested in it. Also, the ending is one of the most touching things I've ever read. This is a story that's actually stuck with me.

/s/5449670/1/Dream_Lover

That should just about do it. Thanks, everyone, for reading! And those of you who left reviews: Thanks a lot! I rarely respond because of a LOT of bad luck with that in the past, but I read every comment and I really appreciate people taking the time to send me some feedback or just show an interest.

In particular, I wanted to send a thanks to Miss Hal Gibson and Simon Seville for consistently giving me encouragement. And to Hibikins, who doesn't actually leave reviews, but proof-reads everything I write.

I'm rambling. I'll probably take a little break from writing until things ease up life-wise, but in the meantime you can watch me over at DeviantArt as LawlessSquirrel (URL on my profile if you need it) for art attempts or just to send me messages in a way where I can respond properly, since isn't so good for social stuff.

Thanks for reading!