Take Me Home

Title: Take Me Home - Part 2

Author/Artist: yuki

Pairing: Josh/Drake, slight DrakexOC and JoshxOC

Fandom: Drake & Josh

Summary: Something happens to Drake after a gig.

Disclaimer: I do not own Drake & Josh.



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It was a fun day when Josh got to play doctor. His dad rarely got sick when he was younger and even Drake and Megan were a couple of the healthiest kids a person would ever meet. Sure, everyone had their moments, Josh just felt that he had more of those moments than anyone else in the family.



Still, he had set his mind on taking care of Drake. He had fixed breakfast and he had everything set out on a tray. It was lovely, if anyone asked Josh. Pancakes and warm syrup and orange slices and bananas. Fresh orange juice and a glass of milk. Josh looked over his arrangement before smiling.



Now...to go wake up Drake. Josh started up the stairs, humming inside his head.



Drake sleepily opened his eyes. His first thoughts were how far away the ceiling looked. His bed was supposed to closer, wasn't it? Maybe not. Drake sighed, pushing himself to sit up before pain suddenly shot through his entire body. He flinched, fell back onto the bed and tensed up greatly. He felt the burn behind his eyelids of unshed tears and he wondered what happened.



His next thoughts were frantic. At first he thought he'd died. Maybe he had been hit by a car, that seemed likely. No, he wasn't outside. Maybe he fell out of bed in a tangled mass of sheets and rolled off the ledge. No, he could feel the soft matress beneath him. Whatever was going on, it had to stop now or the pain was going to make him go insane.



Still, as his hands gripped the sheets and he jerked his legs. He had to get up. Though, when he felt his legs trapped by the blankets, his eyes widened. What he saw wasn't his room. It was much too dark. He suddenly felt cold. He struggled but got no where. His hands pressed back against the matress but it didn't feel like the matress anymore. It felt cold and hard. It felt gritty and Drake could almost feel his clothes being jerked and pulled.



This was so not happening.



"JOSH!"



Drake heard the tray crash in the hallway and it seemed to jerk him out of his trance. His eyes opened and suddenly he felt worse. It felt like all of his insides had been taken away and he was just a shell. A cast of the real Drake Parker.



Josh ran into the room and bent by the bed, panting. "Drake...are you ok--You're crying!"



Drake's head jerked towards his brother and he suddenly looked horrified. He pushed himself up to stand. He ignored the pain. If he moved fast enough he wouldn't limp. Dodging around Josh, Drake winced and shook his head before stumbling up the stairs and running across the hall.



He slammed the door to the bathroom closed and locked it just before Josh's hands jerked at the handle.



"Drake!" Josh yelled. He looked up and down the hall frantically. He took a deep breath. "Megan! MEGAN!"



The door to the purple room opened and a sleepy eyed girl stepped out, her long hair slightly wavy from being unkept. Her look of innocence didn't last long as her dark eyes narrowed angrily at the source of every disturbance in the house. "What?"



"Drake locked himself in the bathroom... Can you help me get him out?"



Megan rolled her eyes and shuddered. "Ew. He's probably going to do boy things in there. I'm going back to bed."



"Megan! Wait!" Josh yelled just as the door was shut. He whined loudly and pressed his ear to the bathroom door.



On the other side, Drake sighed, letting himself calm down before he slumped heavily and slid down to the floor. He looked around, wiping at his eyes and choking back everything he was feeling. He took a deep breath and slowly crawled over to the tub, reaching in to turn on the shower. Sheesh, it was just Josh. What the heck was wrong with him? Josh wasn't going to attack him or anything.



Josh sighed and looked mournfully to the spilt tray on the stairs. Shaking his head after hearing the water, he slowly slid himself over and began collecting the plates and food up. It'd be easier if he could just get into the bathroom to get a wash cloth, but he wasn't going to dare ask Drake for it. He headed downstairs with the tray, put the dishes in the sink and the food in the trash.



Maybe Megan was right...boy stuff. Though, if that was the case why had Drake screamed? Something was not adding up.



Drake managed to get through removing his clothing without wincing and caught a glance of himself in the mirror. He could barely believe that it was him. That body wasn't his. It was like some kind of sick joke. There was no way that was Drake Parker in the mirror.



That man's hair was a mess. That man had bruises and little cuts and there was just no way.



But that man was Drake Parker. The Drake Parker of now. The Drake Parker of yesterday was still perfect. With his perfect skin and perfect hair and perfect voice. The Drake Parker of today was bruised and beaten with messy hair and a nonexistant voice as of yet.



He shuddered and stepped into the shower, wincing at the water that was hot enough to make his entire body look flushed within minutes. The positive effect of having water that hot was that it numbed his body. The pain wasn't so drastic and Drake could move with more ease. His hands found the shampoo, conditioner and soap and he scrubbed himself thoroughly.



He just wanted to wash away all the bad memories. Well, they weren't all bad. He talked to Trevor and took one of Trevor's pills. Drake could remember going on stage. He could remember singing. That's when things got cloudy. He remembered hanging out in the club while he waited to get paid. He remembered the guy that talked to him and bought him a drink. He remembered taking the guy to the back to show him his guitar...



Then he was in the alley, picking up his phone and calling Josh. Where the heck were his shoes?



When Josh was finished cleaning up everything he stopped outside the bathroom door. He pressed his ear to the door again and smiled when he heard the shower turn off. "Drake? You didn't get any clothes...want me to get some-"



"Yea."



Josh smiled at the voice on the other end and stepped away from the bathroom door and headed back into the bedroom, searching around for some clothes for Drake to wear. He'd have to wake Megan up again. It had been hard enough to get his parents to go out early on a Saturday but he needed Megan.



Drake turned off the water, arching and stretching himself out and tightened each of his muscles to test where still hurt. His back, his head, his... wait. Drake paused in mid motion, eyes looking around at the white tile of the shower/tub unit. He swallowed.



There.



His eyes widened and he shook his head, stepping out of the bathroom. Someone would have noticed something like that, right? He grabbed a towel, dried himself off briskly before moving to sit back against the sink, wincing faintly.



Grabbing a hand towel, Drake raked it over his face. There was pain. There was only a few explinations for that sort of pain, too... He'd been...



Tensing, Drake shuddered and dropped the towel, throwing himself at the toilet, retching what little bit of anything was left in his system. There was no way. Things like that didn't happen to people like him.



Drake jerked his head to the door, staring at it blankly at the sound of a knock. It was a few seconds before the knock sounded again and Drake shook the thoughts from his head.



"Drake...are you okay?" Josh frowned and glanced at his armful of clothes then back to the door. "You need to open the door so I can give you your clothes."



"Hold on. I'm the phone." Drake said stupidly as he pushed himself up off the floor and rewrapped his towel.



Josh stared at the door like it had gone insane but decided against really saying anything about it. He hummed and waited patiently until the door open and a wet, pale, tired-looking Drake stood before him wrapped in only a towel.



Drake raised a brother when his brother said nothing but shoved away thoughts and just grabbed the clothes, mumbled thanks and closed the door again.



Josh shook his head and instantly wanted to bang his head against something. So, that was what he did. Only, it was against the door and on the third hit the door opened and he fell through the doorway, effectively crushing Drake beneath him.



Drake's arms had wrapped themselves around Josh right before the impact, but that didn't save him from banging his head painfully against the tile floor. He groaned and slumped weakly against the floor. Josh pushed himself off his brother and frowned down at him.



"...I'm so sorry."



"You should be."



Both boys turned their heads towards the voice and saw none other than Megan standing there, her arms crossed. She shook her head. "Though, it's not your fault your a boo-Drake?" She started to laugh. "What happened to your face?"



Drake made a pathetic sound and looked away from his sister and Josh stood up, dusting himself off before pointing at their sister.



"Megan...shut up. There's breakfast downstairs. Go eat."



Megan stared up at Josh, her head tilting curiously before she shrugged and skipped down the hall. "Whatever."



Josh looked back at Drake before extending a hand to help pull him up. Drake dusted himself off and bit and ruffled his wet hair a bit. Josh looked down the hallways before taking in a deep breath and forcing a smile. "Are you hungry? I can go get you something and bring it up for you?"



Drake stared at Josh for a while before shaking his head. "There's something I've gotta do today. I'll grab a bite out later." He turned and left the room, turning into the bedroom to begin his search for lose fitting jeans and a comfortable t-shirt.



"But...I..." Josh watched his brother go before staring at the wall. When it didn't give him a reply, he headed downstairs joining Megan.



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Drake laid on his bed, sighing as he closed his eyes. His little outing had proved one thing: His worst fears had come true. Alright, maybe not his worst fears, but this wasn't a good thing. He heard the door open and closed his eyes, willing himself to appear asleep.



The person at the door was Josh and in his hand he had a small bag. Josh pressed his lips firmly together in thought before he traveled to the ladder and climbed up, seating himself on the floor beside Drake's bed. "I bought you something after my test..."



Holding still, Drake tried to slow his breathing and let his lips open slightly, hoping it would complete rhe look. Josh either didn't believe him, or didn't care.



"It's makeup. I'm pretty sure it'll match. I remember the kind that you used after the dune buggy accident."



"That was a long time ago..." Drake said, giving up the act and returning to his task of staring at the ceiling.



"About three years..." Josh admitted, scooting himself off the floor and onto Drake's bed. "Where'd you go today?"



"The doctor..." Drake said honestly, closing his eyes when he felt Josh staring at him.



"What for?" Josh asked, reaching into the bag, pulling out the small bottle and a triangle shaped sponge.



Drake shrugged, chosing not to see what Josh was doing. "Checkup..."



"Oh. To make sure everything's okay? Nothing serious happened, right?" Josh asked, leaning over his brother, sponge in hand before he squeezed a small amount of the makeup onto it.



Snorting, Drake shrugged. Nothing serious. "Nothing fatal, I guess..." It was true, Drake guessed.



Josh smiled, dabbing the makeup-wet sponge onto Drake's cheek. "Good." He said pleasantly, eyeing Drake when his brother jumped. "Do Mom and Dad know?"



Drake remained still, barely feeling the sponge now that the inital shock of it touching him was gone. Josh was so gentle with him. It was almost like he was afraid to break him or something. "No...they left me alone today."



Josh nodded, staring at the spot where the bruise was and was now hidden behind the foundation. He would have smiled, but he couldn't quite bring himself to do so when he looked into Drake's eyes. There was something there that Josh never wanted to see. He frowned instead.



That was when Drake looked at Josh and Josh looked at Drake. Drake could almost swear that he just knew Josh knew that it had been more than a fight. There was something in Josh's eyes and Drake just knew.



He felt his body twitch once, twice, three times before he started shaking. Drake never wanted anyone to see him weak. He wasn't just some girl but there was something about Josh that made everything else in the world disappear. Then there would just be him and Josh. Josh made Drake break. Josh made Drake do things he'd never do infront of anyone else. Maybe he was a good magician after all.



Drake lifted his hands to cover his face, wanting to just hide. He screamed in his head for Josh to leave. Yet, there was no one else in the world that Drake felt like he wanted to have with him right now. Not Megan. Not Mommy. Just Josh. He made a frustrated sound when he felt the first tears fall and his body jerked with a sob.



Josh could practically feel his eyes widen. Nothing had happened. He looked around the room for a moment, checked that the door was closed before he moved a hand to Drake's hair. Was it because no one had come to check on him? Surely Megan had told their parents something. "Drake...?"



Moving an arm first, Josh swallowed before gently tugging Drake's shoulder forward, trying to ignore those sounds that Drake was trying to choke back. Eventually, Drake moved up into his arms and Josh did all that he trusted himself to do.



He held his brother. He kept his arms loose and pressed a kiss to Drake's hair. He bit his lip and mentally yelled at himself not to start crying, too. Drake needed him. He couldn't be weak at a time like this. When Josh really needed Drake then Drake was there. Josh had vowed the day that Drake messed up the experiment that he would never let Drake get upset ever again. Josh had failed. He had to make it better.



"Shh...it's okay..." Josh said, though, deep down inside him he doubted that so much.



Drake tensed in his brother's arms and shook his head faintly. This wasn't okay. This would never be okay. Still, Drake didn't have a clue how to make it better. All he could do was cling to the one thing he knew had the best chance of making it better. "Josh...no, it won't..."



Josh nodded firmly, closing his eyes. "It will...nothing is so bad that it won't be okay. It might seem bad now...but everything gets better."



"I...Josh, I was..." Drake started, he couldn't say it. He didn't want to say it. He just shook his head and lifted a hand to wipe his face. "You're right. I'll be okay." He lied. He knew he was lying. But he was Drake Parker! Drake Parker could lie to anyone!



Josh nodded but didn't release him. Drake didn't mind. Where would he go? What would he do? He still felt like crap and all he wanted to do was sleep. Sleep until the he couldn't remember what he had been told. Sleep until the pills wore off. Sleep until he looked like nothing had happened and all the reminders were gone. Sleep until he could be the Drake Parker everyone expected him to be. Sleep until everything was better.



So, that's what Drake did. He closed his eyes, letting himself relax against Josh. He knew it was still early but Josh was here. It might not be okay right now...but it was better than before.



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A/N: Okay. I've wrote this chapter...what...three times? Sheesh. I couldn't decide what to put and what I liked. I would have went with what I wrote first...but then I remembered everything that was in the original plan.



I'm sorry, Drake. I didn't mean to.