Scrambled Up
Part 4/4

After a rather uneventful shift at the Premiere (uneventful because Crazy Steve had failed to show up for work, something Josh considered to be nothing short of a miracle), Josh headed back up to his room. The way Drake was acting was still bothering him; he had come up with a thousand and one reasons why his brother was having trouble reading, each more unpleasant than the last.

Perhaps he just needed glasses? That wasn't too bad, but Drake would put up one hell of a fit over that.

Depression? Was it possible to be so depressed that you can't read a damn sentence right?

Maybe ADD? He had read somewhere that ADD could make it hard to read.

Drugs. He remembered seeing some kind of late-night documentary about drugs frying brains into primordial goop. How fast could brains become goop?

A brain tumor.

That last one scared Josh quite a bit.

He opened the door to his room and saw Drake strumming his guitar on his bed. "Hey, Drake."

"Hey, Josh." Drake set down his guitar. "Um...look, we need to talk."

More warning bells were going off in Josh's head. If anymore went off, he was going to have permanent auditory damage.

Drake was nibbling at his lip. "Look, Mom wanted me to talk to you about today. She said you were worried. But you have to understand- this doesn't leave the room."

"Yeah- sure."

"Okay, well...thing is, I have dyslexia."

Josh felt nearly dizzy with relief- a reason he hadn't thought of that did not involve anything particularly bad. He simply couldn't choke back the laugh that was rising in his throat. It wasn't as bad as he had imagined. It was okay, he now realized, still chuckling.

Then he saw Drake's face, his expression comically stuck between seriously pissed off and extremely confused. "It's not funny," he said defensively.

"No- no, of course it's not." Josh took a deep breath. "I'm just really relieved. I mean, I was just really worried, and it's just- I'm sorry."

"Wait- why were you worried?"

"Dude, I thought you were into drugs, or you had a brain tumor or something! Why didn't you just tell me?"

Drake sighed.

He shouldn't have laughed. It had put Drake on automatic defense- how he treated the rest of the world, not Josh. And now, Josh was going to have to work to get some answers. He stood beside Drake's loft bed, and wiped every trace of amusement from his face. "Drake, why didn't you tell me?"

"Because-" Drake hessitated, and if he bit his lip any harder, Josh was sure it was going to bleed. Then the words came flooding out so fast, Josh's head spun a little bit, trying to keep up. "Because you're smart, Josh- really smart. And I'm not. I can't even read right, and I can barely pass my classes, even when I try. And you can make straight A's in your sleep. I mean, you deserve a smart brother, and it's easier to be the slacker than the retard. Do you have any idea how stupid I look next to you?"

"Drake, you're not stupid!"

Drake snorted. "Right. Because you always thought I was sooooo intelligent before."

Josh shook his head. "I never thought you were stupid," he said softly, climbing up the step ladders to sit next to Drake on his bed. "And I'm sorry if I made you think that. I do think you're smart."

"I just...I used to try really hard."

Josh nodded. "I remember. Back in elementary, you always did all of your homework. Then when we started middle school, you just gave up."

"It was just too hard. I couldn't keep up with everything, and I just felt so stupid- so I just started working on music instead."

Josh nudged his brother's shoulder with his own. "That's how I know you're not stupid. You're a genius on that guitar."

The corners of Drake's mouth twitched a little bit. "I'm not bad," he allowed. "I just wish I could be better at the stuff people count. Like school."

"Hey- in twenty years, after you hit it big, where am I going to be? Just working my ass off at some job I probably won't even care about. And no one is going to remember me. They're going to remember you- the rockstar."

"Doesn't change how I feel now."

"Okay, fine. Since I'm obviously failing at making you feel better- do you remember that one test we had in Chemistry? The one that you forgot to tell me about after I was out sick for a week?"

"Yeah. You failed it, and you tried to kill me with a blender. How could I forget?"

"Hey. You were totally asking for it, and I didn't mean to attempt murder or anything- the blender was just the first thing I could grab. But that's not the point- the point is I totally bombed that test."

"Okay?"

"Yeah, Drake. Because I didn't have the information I needed to pass it. You can't pass something if you don't know the material. And how can you pass if the only way you get information is all scrambled up? It doesn't make you any less smart, Drake. The thing is, you're not getting the information. And you fail, just like I failed that test."

Drake was staring at Josh.

"Did I just convince you that you're not stupid?"

"Well, no. But I did just consider it, which is a first."

Josh rolled his eyes. "Look. If you want, we can start going over the notes together. I can try to help you out with stuff, maybe do some research and find some ways to help you. I can prove you're not stupid, if you want me to."

Drake nodded. "I don't think I'd mind that."

Josh grinned. "Now that I know I'm not sharing my room with a hospice case or a drug addict-"

"Yeah?"

"Hug me brotha?"

Drake smiled the first real smile Josh had seen on his face all day and buried himself in Josh's arms.

This is the first fic I've ever managed to finish, and it's for Neil, who rocks at being "scrambled".
Anyway, please take the time to review and let me know if you enjoyed it. I'd really appreciate it.
Thanks for reading.