Title: One Step at a Time

Author: SP

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Nickelodeon and Dan Schneider and whoever else own everything.

Rating: T for underage drinking

Pairing: Drake/Josh

Word Count: 1553

Summary: After a night of partying, Drake just up and kisses Josh. He’s been drinking, and Josh thinks that explains it. At least until the next day. (A companion to/extended scene from “Ladders”, but it’s not necessary to read that to understand this.)

Author's Notes: For folkloricfeel/justinebeckoning. In response to a meme I did, she asked for more of my fic “Ladders,” in this timeframe.

Josh hadn’t wanted to come to this party in the first place. He’s never been the partying type, and prefers to stay home, watching documentaries about vegetables or playing video games. But Drake had insisted that this was going to be the biggest party of the year, and they were seniors so they had to go.

And Josh had gone, against his better judgment. And from the way things are shaping up, he thinks, it’s a good thing he did.

Almost everyone is drinking. Of those people, more than three-quarters of them are drunk, and the rest are definitely buzzed. Josh is one of the few who aren’t drinking, and he’s never been so glad that he’s able to resist peer-pressure. He’s already turned down offers of vodka, rum, and six different types of beer.

The one thing he hadn’t been able to turn down was Drake, who had bounded over more than an hour ago with a jell-o shot in hand. He’d promised it would be fruity and not strong “and isn’t raspberry your favorite flavor?” And it was.

But Josh hasn’t seen Drake since then, and he’s starting to worry. It’s getting close to curfew, and besides that, who knows what Drake’s been doing? He could be getting a girl pregnant right now. Or he could be passed out somewhere, dying of alcohol poisoning.

“Joshie?”

Josh jumps a mile. Or he could be right beside him. “What?” he replies, turning to look at Drake.

“Ready to go home?”

Josh nods. “Yeah. It’s getting close to curfew anyway.”

“Kay. Let’s go.” Drake tries to pivot on one foot and promptly overbalances. Josh catches him before he can fall and then spins him around.

“Drake,” he demands, “Are you drunk?”

Drake shrugs. “A little bit. I’m fine.”

“Oh really? Fine enough to get past Mom and Dad?”

Drake nods. “No problem. I can fake being sober long enough to get up to our room.”

Josh scowls. “What about stairs?”

Drake grins brilliantly. “That’s why I have you.”

Josh sighs. “Okay. Let’s just go.” He leads them out of the house to where their car is parked on the street. Then, ignoring the jeers and catcalls, he gets in and waits for Drake to do the same. When both of them have their seatbelts fastened, Josh starts the motor and pulls away from the curb.

With a sideways glance at Drake, Josh says, “Tell me if you’re going to throw up, so I can pull over.”

Drake pouts, then whines, “I told youuu, I’m fi-ine.” Then he adds, “Seriously, I’m not gonna puke.”

“You’d better not,” Josh mutters.

--

Ten minutes later, they pull into their driveway. Josh shuts off the car and then turns to look at Drake. “Now, truly Drake, are you--”

“I’m fine,” Drake insists.

“Well--”

“Joshie. We’re not gonna get in trouble if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“I--”

“And if we do, I’ll take all the blame.”

Josh sighs. “All right. Let’s just go in.” He opens the door and gets out of the car, then once again waits for Drake to follow. When he does, he sways on the spot.

“Whoa,” Drake murmurs.

Immediately, Josh is at his side, steadying him. “Just how drunk is ‘a little bit?’”

Drake smiles sheepishly. “Completely.”

Josh throws his hands in the air, then slaps them against his thighs. “Well, that’s just great!”

Drake winces. “I’m sorry?”

“Not the point. Come on--try not to stagger around too much.”

“That’s not fair. Are you mad at me?”

Josh shakes his head. “I’m not. I’m mad at me, for letting you do this.”

Drake frowns. “You’re not like, my baby-sitter.”

“I know. Look, let’s just go in, okay?” Josh turns and heads inside, Drake at his heels. Luckily, all the lights are off and their parents are in bed. The boys head upstairs quietly, except for Drake’s occasional stumbling on the stairs.

They make it into their room with no major incident and both boys sink onto the couch.

“The room is spinning,” Drake comments, and Josh shakes his head. “No, really, it is. Look.” Drake tips his head back and draws a circle in the air with his pinkie.

“I think your head is what’s spinning,” Josh replies dryly.

Drake flops his head sideways to look at Josh, his cheek resting against the cushion. “Oh. Really?”

Josh nods.

“Oh,” Drake says again. “I guess it’s ‘cause I’m drunk.”

Josh smiles despite himself. “Yeah, probably.”

Drake shrugs. “Oh well. ‘S’okay. It’s not bad.”

Suddenly curious, Josh asks his brother, “Drake, have you ever been drunk before?”

With a grin and a head-shake, Drake answers, “Nope!” cheerfully. Then, with a more thoughtful look, he adds, “I’ve drinken before. Dranken? Drunken? That’s a weird word. But no, I’ve never been drunk. It’s kind of fun. You should try it.”

“Maybe when I’m twenty-one,” Josh says with another small smile.

“What, you can’t break the rules every once in awhile?”

Josh shrugs. “Sometimes. But not that kind of rule.”

“Jell-o shot,” Drake reminds him.

Josh doesn’t have an answer for that. “It was raspberry,” he says finally.

Drake shakes his head, with a tsk sound. “Joshua. You cannot use food for a ‘scuse for all of your rule-breaking and screw-ups. It doesn’t work.”

“What? I don’t!” Josh yelped.

Drake holds up a finger. “Ah-ah. Why did you go to the Reptile Room with me last year? Because I ‘tempted you with churros.’ Why didn’t you read my first contract with Spin City? Because you ‘were memorized by giant shrimp.’ And why did you do a jell-o shot? Because ‘it was raspberry.’ It won’t work forever.”

“Mesmerized,” Josh mutters.

Drake frowns. “What?”

“Never mind,” Josh sighs.

“Right. So…oh yeah. You need a new excuse for breaking rules. Or, better yet, you could make no excuses about it. Like me.” Drake yawns.

Josh raises an eyebrow. “What, just do bad things all the time for no reason?”

Drake mumbles something around a yawn, then, at Josh’s confused look, repeats, “Things that are against the rules aren’t always bad, Joshie.”

“Oh really? Then if they’re not bad, why would they be against the rules?”

“’Cause people think they’re bad. But really they’re not.”

“Can I get an example of that?”

Drake smiles, a funny little smile, and then he takes Josh’s face between his hands, moves in, and kisses him.

On the lips.

And Josh kisses back.

For like, thirty seconds.

At which point, he pulls away, completely gobsmacked.

“Dude, what--”

“Shh,” Drake murmurs, then closes his eyes.

“But--”

Josh is cut off by Drake’s soft snores.

--

Hours later, with Drake still snoring away on the couch, now spread out and with a blanket, courtesy of Josh, Josh lies awake, unable to sleep.

He was drunk, he tells himself. He was drunk and following some crazy train of Drake-logic. That’s all. It was just a kiss. It didn’t mean anything.

“He was drunk,” Josh tells himself again, aloud this time. “That’s all.”

But even though he knows that’s all, he wishes it wasn’t.

--

The next morning, Josh is woken by the door slamming and Drake groaning.

“Okay dude, never let me do that again,” he says, collapsing onto the couch and burying his head in his blanket.

Josh flings back his covers and joins Drake on the couch. “Hangover?” he asks.

Drake sits up slowly and nods pathetically. “I mean it; don’t let me do it again.”

“So what happened to ‘you’re not my baby-sitter?’” Josh asks.

“I dunno. I didn’t mean it?”

Even though he knows that Drake is in no shape for questions or discussion, Josh has to ask, “So…what else did you say, or, I don’t know, do last night that you didn’t mean?”

Drake frowns. “What do you--oh.”

“Yeah, oh.”

Drake sighs and puts a hand over his face. “Josh…”

“I mean…not that I wanted you to mean it. Or, well, I did--but it’s okay. I was just--”

“Josh!” Drake interrupts, then winces. “Ow…”

“Sorry. But, I mean, it was just the alcohol working, right? It’s okay.”

Drake shakes his head slowly. “No, Josh. Well, kind of. The alcohol probably was what made me decide it would be a good idea to kiss you right then. But not what made me want to do it in the first place.”

Josh feels almost like he has déjà vu, as he stares at Drake in shock. “Seriously?”

“Seriously. Josh, I promise. I’ve wanted to do that for…a long time. I don’t even know how long.”

“So…what now?”

Drake smiles. “Well, first, I get over this hangover. And then…well, we could…” At this point, Drake winks suggestively.

Josh chuckles. “Does that little wink usually work on girls?”

Drake nods, then winces. “Yeah.”

“Well, how about we just move forward, taking one step at a time?”

“Deal.”

Josh grins, then moves in to press a kiss to Drake’s lips.

Quickly, Drake holds his hand in front of his face. “Um, I think you should know that I just puked.”

Josh swerves and kisses Drake on the cheek instead. “Thanks for the warning. I’ll go get you some aspirin, okay?”

“Thanks.”

Josh stands and crosses to the door, stealing a glance back to the couch. Drake sends a smile his way, and Josh exits, closing the door behind him.