AN: Never thought I'd be writing fic for a twenty year old Nickelodeon sitcom, and yet, here we are. And that's all I have to say about it. Enjoy.
(includes my own headcanons about Drake's biological father)
Drake let out a sigh of relief the moment the warm San Diego sun hit his face. It wasn't that the pool hall had been that cold, but the warmth of the sun on his face when he was finally outside was comforting nonetheless.
"Don't ever do that to me again," Drake said, letting his head loll over to face his brother. He forced a smile. Despite how scared he'd been, he knew that Josh had just been doing what he thought was right. Drake couldn't fault him for that too much.
"Stop hustling people, and I won't have to," Josh replied with his signature sass and a pointed look.
"Come on, let's go home," Drake said as he pushed himself off the brick wall of the building and turned to walk back down the alley they had come down.
"Not so fast."
One of the men from the pool hall had appeared in front of them, and another behind them. Neither one of them had directly participated in Josh's plan against Drake, but Drake was sure that they were just more of Josh's old camp counselors - seriously, what kind of messed up summer camp did Josh go to?
"You can cut it out now, I've learned my lesson," Drake tiredly responded. The whole thing had exhausted him, and he just wanted to go home, but the men weren't moving. "Josh, come on, tell 'em, please." He looked over at Josh, who was staring back at the large men with wide eyes.
"I don't know them," he said.
Drake turned back to the men, who offered him a sadistic grin and stepped forward.
"Woah, guys, we don't want any trouble here," Drake said, holding his hands up placatingly. "We don't have any money."
"I know," the larger of the two men responded. "But you do have that fancy necklace, and according to Chip, it's worth a lot more than $200. So you're either going to give it to us, or I'm gonna make you."
Despite himself, Drake scoffed. "No way," he said. "It's for my mom for her birthday, and no lousy two bit thug is gonna get it instead." Drake was a lot of things, and fierce protector of his mother was one of the most important. He'd been protecting her for far longer than any son should have to, and he wasn't about to stop now, not even over something as simple as a birthday present.
"Drake, maybe we should-."
Josh was interrupted by the larger of the men lunging forward and grabbing Drake by the throat. He shoved him hard against the brick wall and held him there, just as Josh's counselors had done. Only this time, the man started squeezing. He grinned as Drake began thrashing and choking, his lungs fighting for air it wasn't getting.
"Let him go!" Josh shouted, the other man grabbing him and holding him back from Drake. "I'll give you the necklace, okay, just let him go."
Drake tried to protest, but he couldn't even breathe, much less say anything. His hands pried at the fingers around his neck to no avail. He tried to throw a punch at the man's face, but it turned out as more of a weak slap that had no effect. Drake forced his eyes away from the sadism in the man's eyes and towards Josh, who was struggling against his own captor as he reached into his pocket.
"Leave him alone!" Josh shouted, pulling the necklace out of his pocket and holding it up for the thug holding him back. "Here's the necklace, just leave Drake alone. He can't breathe!"
Drake was sure that the fear in Josh's eyes mirrored his own, and he hated that maybe that fear was going to be the last thing he ever saw. His hearing was growing fuzzy, and darkness was creeping around the edges of his vision. The burning in his chest was unbearable, and Drake could only wish that he'd told Josh how much he'd loved spending that time with him playing pool, beyond the money he got from hustling.
It took slamming into the ground for Drake to realize that the thug had let go of his throat, but a swift kick into his stomach kept him from drawing in any more air.
"Leave him alone!" he barely heard Josh repeating over the sound of blood rushing through his ears as both thugs began kicking him again, and again, and again.
Drake curled around himself as much as he could to protect his head and torso, but it only did so much. Every breath was a choked gasp as he was kicked repeatedly. Despite the pain and bruised ribs, he was just glad that it was him, and not Josh. Josh didn't deserve it, but Drake couldn't say the same about himself. Josh was a good kid, the best. Drake was selfish and didn't know how to tell the people he loved how amazing they were to put up with him.
The kicks ended as abruptly as they started.
"Drake! Drake, are you okay?" Drake could only focus on breathing, hoping that the pain would subside. "Should I call 911?"
Drake just managed to shake his head. He was fine, he didn't need an ambulance. Maybe they would go to the nearest precinct to get a report taken for the theft of the necklace, but they certainly didn't need an emergency response.
"You sure you're okay, kid?"
Drake looked up. Josh's camp counselors stood above him. He slowly started to sit up, sure to not move too quickly as his vision swam. He could breathe again, but his throat was killing him, and the rest of his body pulsed with pain.
"I'm okay," he choked out, his voice hoarse and throat hurting even more with each syllable.
"They got the necklace back," Josh added, nodding over at his former counselors. Chip held out the necklace.
"All I had to do was show them this," he said, lifting up his waistband to reveal a small firearm. "Then they dropped the necklace and took off. Don't worry," he said with a grin. "I got a permit."
Drake just nodded. Even if the guy had owned it illegally, in that moment, Drake wouldn't have cared. Chip had gotten the necklace for his mom back, and maybe even saved his life. Maybe they wouldn't even go to the nearest precinct after all. They had the necklace back anyway, and Drake would've rather not had to endure the embarrassment of explaining to cops that he'd been held against a wall, strangled, then beaten.
"Seriously," Josh continued, his voice dropping with his gaze to catch Drake's. "Are you okay? Because Chip can take us to the hospital or I can call 911 or whatever you need."
Drake looked up at him, not having gotten up off the ground yet. Josh didn't quite look scared anymore, but he certainly didn't look alright. He definitely looked concerned, but almost guilty too.
"I'll be okay," Drake tried to assure him, despite how hoarse his voice was and how much it hurt to speak. "If it still hurts to talk tomorrow, we can go to urgent care or whatever, but not until then."
"Then stop talking, you idiot," Josh replied with a sigh of relief. He finally gave Drake a smile, resting his hand on Drake's shoulder.
Drake just nodded, for once listening to Josh's advice.
"Are you sure you're okay, kid?" Chip added, despite Josh having just asked the same thing. "You sure you don't have any broken ribs or nothing like that? Broken ribs aren't something to mess with."
"I think I'm good," Drake forced out. "Thanks."
"Dude, stop trying to talk, you don't want to make your throat swell or something." Josh shook his head, like it should be obvious to Drake what you're supposed to do and not do after you've been strangled by a man twice your size, but grabbed onto Drake's hand and began to help pull him to his feet anyway. "I'll take care of him," Josh continued, looking back at his old camp counselors. "Thanks guys, we really appreciate it," he said. Josh held up the necklace again briefly before putting it back into his pocket.
"Anything for you," Chip replied. "Glad you're both okay."
Drake and Josh just nodded, then turned around and continued on their trek back home, Drake holding his ribs and Josh staring at him like he was going to collapse back onto the cement at any second.
"I'm okay," Drake repeated.
"Stop talking," Josh stressed. "You need to let your throat rest."
Drake gave him a half hearted smile and nodded. He just didn't want Josh to be worried about him. This wasn't the first time he'd been attacked - he quickly forced memories of his father away - but hopefully it would be the last.
"I'm sorry," Josh continued, not meeting Drake's gaze. Instead, he was looking at the ground, barely paying any attention at all to the direction in which they were walking.
Drake looked at him quizzically, the question on his lips just about to be voiced before Josh continued.
"I didn't mean for that to happen. I just wanted to scare you a little bit, just enough to show you that hustling isn't safe, that it can get you hurt. I didn't want to actually get you hurt," Josh said, almost mumbling. He shrugged his shoulders a bit, still not meeting Drake's gaze.
Drake stopped, putting a hand on his brother's shoulder, forcing him to stop too. He ducked his head and forced Josh to meet his gaze. Speaking would only make Josh scold him again, so he put as much fondness as he could into a single soft smile, and, against his better judgment, wrapped his arms around Josh to give him a hug. Drake hated being touched - he had for years now - but maybe Josh could be an exception. Despite himself, Drake found himself relaxing into the embrace the moment that Josh returned it, gripping the back of Josh's shirt and burying his face in Josh's shoulder. They hadn't even been stepbrothers for a whole year yet, and Josh was already definitely taller than him.
After a moment, Drake released his grip on Josh, and they both pulled away. Drake looked around, slightly embarrassed, while Josh cleared his throat and crossed his arms over his chest.
"We should get going," Josh said, nodding towards the way home.
Drake nodded, giving Josh a quick pat on the back before continuing to walk down the alley back towards the road, content in the silence between them now that the air had been cleared.
He knew that Josh never would've done anything to actually hurt him, and had actually been trying to look out for him. Getting jumped hadn't been part of the plan, but that was pretty much exactly what Josh had probably been worried about happening to Drake if he kept hustling, and he was probably right. As much as Drake hated to admit it, Josh was right about a lot of things. His brother had much stronger convictions than Drake did, and Drake would've been lying if he said he wasn't a little bit jealous of that. In some ways, it scared him how much he had started depending on Josh's moral compass to guide him instead of his own, just in the short time that their families had merged. But, as Drake did with most things, he buried that little concern in the back of his mind, and just decided that he loved his brother, loved spending time with him, and was totally okay with living in the moment and letting Josh tell him whether his ideas were crazy, or just plain bad.
Despite himself, Drake threw his arm around Josh's shoulders as the two of them continued on their walk home. He looked over at his brother and gave him a smile as he squeezed his brother's shoulder. Josh looked back at him and smiled that signature Josh smile that Drake had grown to love - not that he would tell Josh that.
"Thank you," Drake forced out, the words already feeling less painful than his previous spoken ones. With a little rest, he would be fine.
Josh looked at him with that look he always gave him when he did something Josh didn't think he should, but quickly softened when Drake held up his hands in surrender.
"Any time, bro," Josh replied, giving him that smile again.
Drake beamed right back at him. Spending time with Josh was actually pretty fun, even if he got jumped in the process. He gave Josh a pat on the back and kept smiling. Hanging with Josh could be rough work sometimes, but somebody had to do it.