Title: Musings on a Hot Dog

Author: SP

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Nickelodeon and Dan Schneider and whoever else own everything.

Rating: K+

Pairing: Drake/Josh

Summary: Drake stared at the hot dog in his hand, struck by a sudden thought.
Author's Notes: Because in "Movie Job" Drake says he hates "ketchup on a hot dog people," then eats ketchup on a hot dog in "The Wedding."

"Jo-osh," Drake said one afternoon as he and the aforementioned Josh sat in the living room watching TV. "C--"

Josh heaved a sigh. "Don't finish. Let me guess. You want me to go get you something, because clearly you are unable to do it for yourself. Well, I'm not doing it."

"You're no fun." Drake pouted. "Come on, all I was going to ask is, could you get me a snack?"

"And once again, I'm not doing it," Josh repeated. "Get yourself a snack!"

Drake reined in his pout, realizing it wasn't getting him anywhere and tried a different tactic. "But you're better at cooking and stuff than I am."

"If you practice more, you'll get better at it," Josh answered.

Finally, Drake pulled out the big guns usually reserved for the bedroom. He looked directly at Josh and said, with intensity, "Please, Joshie."

Josh visibly trembled. "You can't…that's not fair!"

Drake didn't say anything, but he didn't break eye contact either.

"Is that even allowed?" Josh demanded.

Drake still didn't look away, and silently counted down, 3...2...1...

"What do you want?" Josh asked, giving in, standing up and heading to the kitchen.

"A hot dog," Drake replied immediately.

Josh sighed. "All right…and you owe me," he added significantly.

"Anything you want," Drake promised, knowing full well that whatever Josh wanted would benefit him as well.

Barely ten minutes later, Josh retuned to the living room with two hot dogs. "Here, take your hot dog," Josh grumbled.

"I see you made yourself one too," Drake commented, picking up his own and biting into it.

"Well, yeah. It's pretty much impossible to cook a hot dog without wanting to eat one."

Drake thought for a minute, then suggested, "You could always think about what's in a hot dog."

Immediately, Josh snapped, "Okay, shut up right now. I'd actually like to eat this and enjoy it, thank you very much!"

Drake smirked, then took another bite of his hot dog. Ketchup oozed out of the end, dripping onto his knee. Drake set the hot dog back on the plate and wiped at the blob with a napkin, hoping it wouldn't stain--those were some of his favorite pants. He picked up his hot dog again to continue eating it. But instead, Drake stared at the hot dog in his hand, struck by a sudden thought.

"I used to hate ketchup on hot dogs," he said aloud.

Josh looked curiously at him. "So? I used to love meatloaf, and now I can't stand the sight of it."

"Probably because your foot looked like Mom's after you broke it that time," Drake answered immediately.

Josh made a face. "Don't remind me. Is it your goal to gross me out today?"

"Sorry," Drake said. "I'm not doing it on purpose."

"Hmph," was Josh's only reply.

Drake, still stuck on why he had suddenly acquired a taste for ketchupy hot dogs, distractedly took another bite, trying to figure out what had changed.

Josh, he realized suddenly, and nearly choked in his haste to share his discovery.

"It's because of you!" he exclaimed triumphantly.

Josh jumped at Drake's sudden outburst and dropped his hot dog. It hit his shirt upside down, rolled down his chest, and the landed upside down in his lap. "Great," Josh muttered. "I have ketchup all over." He picked up the hot dog and then turned to Drake. "What's because of me?"

"My liking ketchup on hot dogs," Drake replied. "You always ate ketchup on hot dogs, and then you made me try one, and then you made them for me that way, and now I like it."

"Okay," Josh replied. "So my taste in hot dogs rubbed off on you."

"Not just that, though," Drake realized. His voice began to raise as he rattled off his list. "So did a little of your study habits, and some of your helping-people fetish, and your love of video games, and…a lot of other stuff."

Josh looked at Drake like he'd grown a second head. "Well, yeah. We were bound to rub off on each other since we became brothers and started sharing a room. And even more after we became…well, more than brothers."

"So what did you pick up from me?" Drake wondered aloud. His face fell as he realized what it was. "Oh great. All you got from me was the ability to lie and pick up girls."

"Drake," Josh admonished. "I also picked up your taste in music, your ability to actually relax and have fun, oh yeah, and my kissing skills have definitely improved." He grinned at his brother at that last.

Drake brightened. "Good, I didn't completely corrupt you."

"No, only a little bit," Josh reassured him. "And a lot of the corruption was in the best possible way." He punctuated his statement with a wink.

Drake grinned lazily back. "Josh Nichols, are you trying to tell me something?"

"Maybe," Josh replied coyly. "After all, you do owe me."

"Well, you know how I hate to be in debt…"