Chapter Warnings: Chapter contains flashback where Adam is referred to as Gracie and with feminine pronouns. Drew makes a poor joke about the L in LGBT because he is a dumb-dumb cakes. Mentions of a sex scandal instigated by Drew.
Notes: I assume that Drew is Audra's biological child, and that Adam is Omar's. It is unstated which biological parent is whose as we only know that they are step-siblings.
Also, this is my favorite chapter of the story by far!
Warrior's Resolve
"Yeah, yeah," Drew called out over his shoulder as he climbed out of his family's van. "I'll clean my room and wash the dishes after dinner," he promised off-handedly to his mother. He groaned as he rushed to the door and unlocked it, before racing to the basement and flopping on the couch. He had been dying for a nap ever since he was made into a ceramwrap sandwich this morning.
His eyes were just closing as he felt a sharp pain collapse on his shoulder. "What the fuck, Adam?" he cried as he saw that his brother had dropped his backpack on him.
"Just seeing if you're awake," Adam muttered nonchalantly as took a seat in the recliner adjacent to the couch. "How was your day?"
"Pretty weird," Drew stated curiously, not understanding how a day like his had happened on anything other than TV.
"Yeah. A bit early in the year for the entire school to see you in your boxers," Adam joked. "It took until spring last year for that to happen."
"Hey, hey," Drew chided. "Those boxer pics last year were never proven to be mine."
"The "Drew's Nudes" jokes say otherwise."
"Still never proven to be mine," Drew retorted.
"You gave me those boxers," Adam replied knowingly.
"And I never told you those pics weren't mine, just that they were never proven to be – and that's what Mom will always hear, got it?"
"Duh," Adam answered. "Mentioning rumors, there is one going on about you at school."
"Ugh," Drew groaned as he buried his face in a couch pillow. "What is it now? It's only week two."
"Well, Clare told me that 'a Drew Torres is gay bashing someone on the football team.'" Adam mocked Clare's words as best he could. "She seemed shocked to hear that we were brothers, even more that my brother would be a homophobe. I have to admit, I didn't expect Clare to be so appalled by homophobia – it's promising for our friendship."
Drew frowned. "It's not like that. I need to be QB, and he is in the way. I don't dislike him for being gay or anything… but… it's a weapon to get what I want."
"That's a bit… cruel, isn't it?" Adam asked.
"What's cruel is the way people treated you at our old school," Drew retorted. "I need to be QB so I am popular enough to protect you. I won't let you be chased out of another school."
Adam frowned guiltily. "That doesn't make being a gay hater any better."
Drew frowned in return. "I don't hate gays," he croaked. "I… what type of brother would I be if I hated people in your group?"
"I'm not gay," Adam nearly shouted.
"No, no, not like that!" Drew said throwing his hands up in defense. "You're the T! The T in LGBT. What type of brother would I be to hate someone in that?"
Adam blinked. "I'm shocked you know that. Maybe you aren't an idiot after all."
"Hey," Drew cried. "I'm not that dumb. You're the T, Riley is the G, and the Ls are hot!"
"That they are!" Adam agreed. "So wait, Riley is the G. The quarterback. Is he the one who sandwiched you?"
"Maybe?" Drew evaded.
"I see," Adam muttered, and silence settled between the brothers.
It wasn't often that they talked about things like this; frankly, they never had before. Drew accepted Adam for who he was without the details or the theory, and Drew knew that meant more to Adam than any amount of research could. That didn't mean he hadn't done it. And while it had done the world in helping him understand Adam, it also served to help him in realizing some things about himself.
"So… uh, Adam. About that LGBT thing," he said, then paused for a moment as they made eye contact. Then he continued in a whisper, "Would you be okay if I were the B?"
"Oh?" Adam questioned with a smirk. "Joining the party?"
"Maybe," Drew murmured. "This stays between us for now."
"Sure," Adam said. "Though if mom and dad are okay with me, I'm sure they'll be okay with that."
"No, Adam, they can't know yet. I need to be the perfect son for them so that they won't try to make you be a girl again. That would destroy you. If I can convince them that I'm the perfect son, that they'll get grandkids, then I can keep you safe at home."
"Drew…" Adam started, but Drew interrupted him.
"Please. Let me protect you. You're the most important person in my life. I'll do anything to make sure you feel safe," Drew promised.
"I don't want you to have to hide yourself for me," Adam said.
"I'm not hiding anything," Drew insisted.
"How would you feel if I hid who I am to make you happy? How do you think it makes me feel that you are hiding yourself in your crazy quest to protect me?"
"I'm not!" Drew repeated. "Well at least not in the same way. You would have to change your very being to hide yourself. All I have to do is not make out with guys; I still like girls and they're all over me. It's not like it's a huge sacrifice."
"Fine!" Adam huffed in defeat.
Drew nodded resolutely.
"So, have you ever… you know?" Adam asked cautiously. "I mean, I'd rather hear about the girly hook ups, but I want you to be able to tell me about these too."
Drew blushed wildly. "Well, haha… uh… not all the way. I'm still a virgin with both sexes. But I made out with a guy." He paused to laugh through a grin at the memory. "It was fun. He pushed me up against the wall and ravaged my face. Ugh, he nibbled at my ear as we rubbed our… you-knows together."
Adam was wide-eyed. "Oh my god, Drew! I'm not ready for this," he joked.
Drew smirked. "I touched it too, when I reached to his pocket to grab his phone. I had to give him my number after all, so it was the perfect chance to touch someone else's for the first time."
"Get his phone number? Do you know this guy at all?" Adam asked.
"That's kind of how hookups work, Adam," Drew chided.
"Sue me," Adam retorted. "I don't exactly have much experience."
"Well, I'll keep you informed," Drew said with a throw of a wink. Then his phone buzzed. "Speak of the devil," Drew said as he read the text. "Riley wants to chat."
"Riley!?" Adam yelped. "You're hooking up with the guy that you're bashing to get his position? Does that make any sense?"
"It makes all the sense in the world," Drew insisted as he typed a reply.
"You wouldn't, would you?" Adam queried.
"Wouldn't what?" Drew asked innocently.
"You know… sleep around to get your way?"
Drew held a long gaze with Adam. "I need to be QB Adam. I will do anything to protect you."
With that, Drew returned his attention to his phone.
Two hours later, and Drew was on his way to meet up with Riley. It was the most basic of basic text conversations which left much to the imagination of if they would be pounding each other in one way or another.
Can you meet up, Riley's text had read.
Sure, Drew replied. When and where?
The thought really intrigued Drew. The sooner he got Riley to back down from the QB position the better; though a small part of him enjoyed the manipulation. Manipulation was a game to him. A fun one for sure, and one he had been making sure to perfect since he was a child. He made sure to never forget a single detail of that conversation with his mother.
It was in first grade after he got suspended for beating up another boy for picking on Adam – at the time still known as Gracie. It had been a savage beating on his part, and he remembered his mother's shrill screeches at the fact that if he wasn't rightfully protecting his sister from a bully he would have been in trouble that he couldn't imagine.
"But mom," he remembered pleading through his tears. "You told me I had to protect her."
His mother had sighed. "You're not wrong, Andrew, but you went about it the wrong way. Do you ever wonder what your name means?" she had asked while running a hand down his tear stricken cheek. "Andrew is the name of the warrior, but violence is not a warrior's only weapon. A warrior's purpose is to protect, and violence is rarely the right answer."
It was that day when Drew learned to use people.
"You don't have to beat people up to protect Gracie, you just have to create a world in which she can feel safe."
His mother's words never left him. Ever since that moment his life had been a game of manipulation to keep Adam safe. The next day he went to school and declared himself leader of the class – if only to himself. He was the first to volunteer for everything and quickly became teacher's pet, and subsequently was a shoe-in for class president. Throughout grade school he was in charge, and by middle school many a television show had taught him that sports were the way to rule the school.
As Adam got older and slowly became different and more of an outcast, Drew made sure to fight and scheme to be bigger and better at school; being starter in basketball and QB of his middle school's football team came easy to him, as he worked out to be the biggest and best that he could be. He dwarfed all the other boys, and everyone knew not to mess with him – that intimidation applied for Adam as well. It was power. Complete power that thrilled Drew in a way he knew no one around him understood.
And Drew threw it all away to move with Adam to Degrassi. It wasn't the status or the power that made Drew the warrior his mother wanted him to be – it was making sure that Adam was safe and happy. So he gladly threw away his power to go to a new school with Adam. He would just get the power again; manipulation of the world around him was second nature by now. Degrassi was a school like any other, and he would claim his throne.
He would protect his brother.
These thoughts danced in Drew's mind as he contemplated what his meetup with Riley would be like. It would be the first time he really used his body to manipulate someone; but Riley made it so very easy.
He knew he had a nice body – the girls at school never let him forget. He used that to his advantage to take down the head cheerleader last year, when she had made it her goal to make 'freakie-Gracie' miserable. It was probably a bad idea for her to become close with the brother of the girl who's life she so enjoyed tormenting; she didn't think twice as she sent a nude in response to the boxer-shot and winky emote Drew had sent her.
Jessica had been her name – and Drew saw that name burned to the ground in the biggest scandal of the 2009 school year. Who had time to pick on 'freakie-Gracie' when the former head-cheerleader was a pariah? There was never any proof that it had been him that instigated the scandal – well, other than Adam who now owned that pair of boxers.
By now, manipulating a school was child's play to him. He must protect Adam. It was what drove him to wake up every day, and to make something of himself at school which he otherwise hated. Football wasn't even fun; manipulating was the only thing he was good at, and football was part of the art.
He had never wavered before, but as he stood outside the loft where Riley had told him to meet up, his hands were shaking around his phone. Riley was the one standing between him and power – standing between Adam and protection. If he couldn't coax Riley out of things peacefully, he would have to dip into his true art.
His stomach twisted at the thought. Using one's body to accomplish something was frowned on in society – hell, he had used society's prejudices to tear someone down for crossing Adam – but he didn't care about that as much as he knew he should. He wasn't fond of the thought of using sex as a weapon, but he was willing to. What made it painful was that Riley wasn't a bad guy; a little annoying maybe, and quite probably a coward, but not a bad guy. He didn't deserve to be destroyed.
"But I'll give him an out once all is said and done," Drew whispered to himself as he knocked on the door. He hands played with his phone nervously, and his thumb flicked over the unlock screen. 4:52 PM, 70% battery. Everything was going according to plan.
Hope you enjoyed! As I said, my fav chapter :D Please review if you enjoyed :)
More information on the name Andrew: It comes from Greek to mean manly, which is adapted into warrior often enough. This idea came to this story from an article on tumblr by Welldeservedobscurity on tumblr!
