Chapter 5: So Explain Already!

Drake and Josh opened their eyes wide and quickly stepped away from each other. They turned around and saw Audrey standing at the door. A look of surprise mixed with shock filled her face.

"Hey, mom," Drake said as he forced a smile. "What's up?"

"What are you...doing?"

Both boys turned to each other quickly and Josh began trying to make up excuses.

"Well, umm...we were-we were just-um..." he gave up half way through when he realized it was too late, looked down and said "Aw, geez."

"I don't- I don't even know what to say, I just-" Audrey gave up trying to address the situation and turned to go quickly down the stairs.

"Mom, wait!" she heard Drake say as both he and Josh ran after her.

Once downstairs, Walter heard the commotion as both boys tried to explain to her what she had just seen.

"What's going on?"

"Why don't you ask your son!" she said angrily.

"Josh, what's the problem?" Walter asked him.

He remained silent for a few moments before he walked towards his father and faced him. "Dad, I- I need to talk to you."

Walter's face became wrinkled with worry at the sound of Josh's voice. He couldn't figure out for the life of him what was happening. That all changed, however, when Josh began to explain why Audrey was acting the way she was.

"Well, dad, um..."

"Yes?"

"Uh, mo-mom caught Drake and I, uh...kissing..." he flinched slightly, thinking the next sound out of his father's mouth would be a loud yell. He paused for a moment when he saw that Walter just had a confused look on his face.

"Kissing who?"

"Dad..." Josh said with an incredulous look on his face, lightly shaking his head. "Us. Me and Drake. That's who? There was no one else there...just us." He looked down a little and tried to turn away, but couldn't; he was curious as to what Walter's reaction would be. To his surprise, he didn't yell or even raise his voice. Instead, he stood up and looked at his son for a while.

"I-I'm going outside for a while," he said quietly before turning around and walking out the front door.

"Dad, wait-" Josh was cut off when he felt Drake put a hand on his shoulder. He knew that he should leave his father to think about what he'd just found out.

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It was too much. It was just way too much. Walter Nichols sat on the front steps of his house. He kept thinking about everything that had just been thrown onto him at once. His son. His own son! And with his step-son to top it off. He sighed a little before he heard the front door open.

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"Mom?" Drake said as he pushed the door to the kitchen open. He wanted to talk to her even though she wanted nothing to do with it. "Mom, wait please," he pleaded with her as she stood up and almost left again. He looked Audrey straight in the eyes. She sat back down at the table as he pulled up a chair right next to her.

"I don't understand, Drake," she said with a sadness to her voice.

"Don't be sad, mom," he replied almost responding to the tone in which she spoke, "I know this is hard for you to figure out and I'm sorry you feel that way...but the fact of the matter is that I love Josh and- and there's nothing anyone can say that'll make me feel otherwise. He just- he makes me feel better than any girl has. He's always been there for me. Girls just look at me and that's all they see. Just another face. Another guy to fool around with," he saw his mother's eyes grow wide at the mention of this, "you know, not-not that I have or anything. Anyway, mom, I guess what I'm saying is that Josh isn't one of those girls to me. He loved me even when I had a hideous facial rash, or I was having a bad hair day."

"I just," she began to talk more steadily "thought that one day my boy would be marrying a beautiful woman and having children with her and-"

"So you wanted to have the perfect family?"

"Yes," she said "for once I thought I would actually get to see a family that didn't fall apart like ours did."

"Mom, I know it doesn't seem like it to you," he said trying to comfort her "but to me this is perfect."

She smiled at him a little and covered his hand with hers before giving it a gentle squeeze.

"I'm sorry, Drake. I overreacted, I should have never yelled at you. I think I've just gotten Josh in big trouble. I better go explain to Walter-"

"Mom, don't," he said as he grabbed her gently by the arm to stop her, "I think Josh can handle this."

"You're right, honey," Audrey responded before giving her son a kiss on the forehead.

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"Is it okay if I sit here?" Josh asked as he walked toward his father.

"Go ahead," Walter replied still shaken.

"Dad, look. I- I know you expected me to grow up and be the kind of guy who would give you lots of grandchildren and a daughter-in-law, but...I'm not that kind of guy. I know it's hard for you to accept who I am and it's going to take some time to adjust to this...you know, if you can at all. I just- I just wish you would give me a chance. I wish you would give Drake a chance. I don't mean to hurt you and I know you wouldn't want to hurt me. I'm just- I'm in love. Now, it's not with a girl, I know and I'm sorry that disappoints you, but that's the way it is. I don't want you to hate me. You can't. I'm your only son on your side. I'm your only child."

Josh stood up when he didn't hear his father say anything and went back inside. He walked in wiping his eyes from the tears that had began forming and was caught off guard when Audrey rushed toward him and gave him a hug.

"Wha-" he said, but was cut off when she began to explain her actions.

"You're the only person who can make my Drake truly happy and I'm so grateful to you for that." That was all she needed to say. Josh hugged her back and began letting the tears stream down his face. He had never been so happy and so sad at the same time. He looked up for a bit and smiled at Drake before giving him a silent "thank you."

After Audrey had separated herself from Josh, she gave him a sad look.

"How's your father taking it?"

"Not too well, he hasn't spoken to me about it yet, but I tried to talk to him."

As if on cue, Walter walked back through the door. Looking down at the floor, he asked for some time alone with Josh. Drake and Audrey walked into the kitchen and shut the doors.

"Josh, I- I thought about what you said and," he paused briefly "you were right. You're my only son...well, besides Drake, but that's kinda different now," he said with a giggle.

"Dad," Josh chuckled softly as he reminded Walter to get back on track.

"Oh, right," he jumped back in "Well, I just wanted to say, Josh, that- that you're my son and I wouldn't want to hurt you no matter what you choose to be or do or whatever way you choose to live your life."

Josh looked at his dad with grateful eyes. "Thank you," he said quietly before giving Walter a tight hug "you're the best!"

"Josh, you're smothering me."

"Sorry," he said as he released his father, "I gotta go tell Drake! Hey Drake!"

Walter chuckled silently as the boys ran excitedly to tell Megan. He was joined a while later by his wife.

"I'm proud of us, Walter" Audrey said as she sat next to him and he put his arm around her shoulders.

"Yes, I think we did the right thing," he replied, smiling.

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"Oh my God, dude!" Josh said as he sat down on his bed, a huge sigh of relief escaping his body.

"Yeah, tell me about it," Drake responded as he closed the door to their bedroom behind him. He stared at Josh for a moment before leaning over him and giving him a kiss.

"Oh, wait," Josh said suddenly "shouldn't we tell Megan about this?"

"Yeah," Drake said as he bit his lip "just...not yet."

"Oh, I see," Josh said with a giggle as he winked...

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Megan heard a knock at the door and grabbed the remote control to open it.

"What do you want, boobs?" she said as she saw her brothers at the door.

"We need to talk to you about something," they began to explain.

"Look, if this is about you two being in love or whatever, save it."

"Megan!" both Josh and Drake said at the same time, astonished at the tone of her voice.

"I don't mean that, boobs," she said, trying to calm them down. "What I meant to say was that I already heard you talking to mom and dad."

"Oh," Josh said, then a look of confusion filled his face. "Wait, how did you hear?"

"I have my ways," she said with a wicked smile.

"O...kay..." Drake said a little afraid "Well, we'll just, uh, just go now." They slowly backed out of her doorway

"Later, boobs!" Megan said as she closed the door behind them.

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The kitchen was alive again during breakfast. Drake and Josh were engaged in a conversation, while Audrey and Walter hurried to get ready to go to work. Once the boys were alone, they took a little time to give each other a few kisses.

"Gross!" they heard a little voice say as Megan walked by.

"Megan," Josh explained to her "we already told you there is nothing wrong with-"

"I know that," she responded matter-of-factly "I was just saying it to you boobs in general."

They rolled their eyes as Megan grabbed her lunch bag and followed her mom out the door. Josh gave Drake's hand a gentle squeeze and smiled at him. They both giggled at Megan and stood silently. They knew that eventually word would get around at school once people noticed Drake's sudden lack of interest in girls. Even though they were nervous about what would happen, they didn't worry much. What mattered to them was that they'd managed to keep their family intact through all of this and the words of a bunch of kids they'd never see again after graduation weren't that much of a big deal.

"Hey, Drake," Josh said suddenly.

"Yeah?"

"Like, I forgot to tell you that I'm still friends with Mindy," he explained.

"Ugh," Drake said as he rolled his eyes.

"But wait, wait. I want you to at least try to be friends with her, please. For me?" He said making a mock sad face.

"Fine, but only because you want me to."

THE END

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Note: Huge thanks to everyone who read and reviewed the story. It means so much to me! I'm sorry that it was so short, but I really felt that I couldn't drag it on for much longer. I'm working on a short oneshot story next so look out for that. Thanks for reading again!

-Itzel