Chapter 7

Did your string come undone?

-Radiohead

Josh stepped off of the last stair, his hand trembling slightly. He realized how unreasonably anxious he was now that he was about to finally talk to someone about him and David. Stopping at the bottom of the stairs, a wave of relief washed over Josh as he realized the pros of Drake being the first one to find out about his...ambivalence.

1) Josh could gauge his reaction, and hopefully try to imagine the reactions of the rest of his family.

2) Drake knowing was a huge weight off of Josh's shoulders. He hated keeping this a secret from his brother. He hated keeping anything from Drake. Josh would only do so if absolutely necessary. Stuff like surprise birthday parties, where the candy was hidden (the fact that he was gay).

3) And most importantly, Drake would keep this a secret for him. Josh could kind of feel it. Drake might hang it over Josh's head a little (what's a few months ((years)) of science homework?), but Josh could handle it. Drake wasn't completely vicious; unlike his demon of a sister.

Josh shuddered at the thought of Megan even suspecting him of what was going on between him and David.

The fact that pictures weren't plastered all over the internet signaled to Josh that Megan was oblivious to everything.

Josh took a deep breath and tried to calm the nervous fluttering of his heart, gathering his courage to move beyond the hallway in front of the stairs.

"Now or never." Josh thought and all but flung himself from behind the wall that concealed him, expecting Drake to be standing in the foyer. Only to find something blaringly missing. Drake. Could you say 'Anti-climactic'? Shrugging Josh headed towards the kitchen.

As he was walking through the foyer, Josh was startled by a car peeling out down the street. He thought absently about how some people (Drake) can be so irresponsible, and how Drake drives with a complete disregard for the law, or any kind of safety.

("Why," Josh inquired, "do you drive so freaking fast?!" He remembers always having a death grip on the dashboard. Drake had looked at him as though he were a little slow on the uptake.

"Because we're late." He spoke slowly.

Josh stomped on an imaginary brake in the floor as Drake sped towards a stop sign. "Well, we would have been on time if you had hurried upOHSHI-!" Drake came dangerously close to bumping the Sedan in front of them before abruptly switching lanes.

"Josh, look at this hair," Drake pointed for emphasis, "look at this outfit," pointing again. "Does this lo- are you looking? Does this look like it could ever take less than thirty minutes?" He never got an answer; Josh had been too busy screaming obscenities.)

Josh rolled his eyes at the memory, and thought of how David always drives just three miles over the speed limit.

("Fast enough so we won't be late; slow enough so we don't get caught." David had reasoned with a grin.)

Drake?" Josh shouted, "You in there?" He was yelling in the direction of the living room as he glanced out of the window above the sink in to the backyard. Josh thought he might have missed Drake sitting on the couch.

Still no Drake.

Just to be sure, Josh walked through the swinging door. He stood listless in the empty room.

Drake had left.

Josh knew (all too well) that Drake was a bit flaky, but wasn't this pushing it a little? Drake had asked him to come downstairs. He was the one that wanted to talk. Drake was almost expected to forget...or ignore other people's requests.

But his own?

This was new for Drake and Josh wondered if he should be worried about this development. Only for a moment, though, because David's soft voice pulled him from his reverie.

David was standing on the second stair; looking adorably anxious. He was obviously worried that Drake was still there.

"Hey," Josh stood up and gestured for David to come over. "Drake's not here."

David relaxed visibly and flitted over to where Josh; almost as if he were dancing. Josh marveled at what seven years of ballet had given him.

Josh scooped him up into a hug, all of his nervousness melting away.

David was like his very life-size stress ball. Josh buried his face in his black (almost blue) hair, sniffing the familiar, wonderful smell; he made a contented sighing sound and David giggled. Nowadays, Josh was practically worshipping Mindy for getting them together.

At first, Josh had been wary of the mischievous grin on her face as she introduced them to each other at the Premier.

("Josh, David," She turned to David, "David, Josh.")

But she pulled him aside when she realized that Josh was obviously confused and uncomfortable. She explained that she already knew he was gay.

("Okay, look," She made some serious eye contact, "I already sort of suspected that you were... different. It just kind of took a while for me to confirm it." At Josh's slack jaw, she added, "Why did you think I broke us up?" Josh sputtered for an answer or retort of some sort, but Mindy cut him off. "Hey. You need to relax. I mean, you are gay, right? I'm not just making things up?" Josh nodded slowly; defeated. He hadn't actually admitted it to anyone yet; barely even himself. "Well, okay," Mindy said brightly, "David already thinks you're cute," Josh perked up at this, and glanced behind him at David, who waved, " So all you've got to do is turn on the charm that you hooked me with." Mindy smiled assuringly, and grabbed Josh's arm; dragging him back to the table; blushing and grinning.)

Josh gave Daivd one last squueze and let him go, plopping down onto the couch. David settled himself into Josh's lap. David was pretty tall; he came up to about Josh's nose, but sometimes he felt so small. Like he was built to fit the mold for Josh's body.

"Drake sent you a message." Even with David's soft tone, Josh could feel the vibration in his vocal cords.

"Huh?"

"A text." David waggled Josh's phone in front of his face.

"Oh." Josh hadn't realized he'd been holding it. He grabbed the phone and glanced at the display screen before flicking it open.

Sure enough, 'Text Msg: Drake', lit up the little screen.

The message read: 'We'll talk later.'

Josh's eyes widened in suprise.

"What?" David asked, confused.

"He spelled everything right." Josh knew that that would make no sense to David, so he showed David the text.

"So?"

"Well, Drake only ever uses chatspeak, you know? It's weird." What the text message would have normally looked like was, 'Wel tlk l8r.'. Josh didn't really know what to think of this.

Fisrt: Drake flakes out on himself. And then: HE USES PROPER GRAMMAR AND SPELLING?

Josh was extremely confused.

"Maybe he realizes that this is a serious situation? Do you know why he left?" David. Always the voice of logic, and reason. Alot like himself, Josh thought absently.

"No. He just left." Josh shrugged, still holding tight to David.

"Hmm. Just let him think this through. This is alot to handle. You are his brother."

"You're right," Josh sighed and then a mischevious grin spread across his face. "I think I'm in the need of some consoling." Josh craned his neck to kiss David, worry for Drake still tugging at his nerves.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Okay guys, thanks a bunch for reading and reviewing! I really appreciate it. I've been working really hard trying to make these chapters really good.
I wouldn't be able to do it without my beta, Elena. She's amazing. She make my muse turn into a freaking chatterbox. Lol.

Anyway, I'm moving soon and I don't know when I'll find any kind of computer, so it might be a while before anymore chapters get put up. I apologize in advance, but, what can I do, you know?

Anyway, please review, and enjoy!