-1Obvious

Pairing(s): Drake/Josh, a little bit of Josh/Mindy. ;)

Disclaimer: I don't own them. I think we all know that by now.

Warnings:

If you don't like slash, don't read it. Simple as that.

I don't mind anonymous reviews, but keep them nice...or at the very least gentle. Remember, it's called constructive criticism for a reason. ;)

--------------------------------------------------

Chapter 1: Conversations in Paper (or "Creature" and Other Insults)

"It's not that I want to make you suffer, dude. Believe me, this is hard for me to write, but I think it'd be harder for me to say. Consider yourself lucky to be reading this instead of hearing it. Anyway, what I was saying before is that-"

"You're lucky, Drake, that I snatched the note out of your hand before you had the chance to write something potentially embarrasing," Drake heard Mrs. Hafer say after reading the note out loud to the rest of the class.

"Yeah," he replied as he looked down at his desk. He turned for a split second and noticed that Josh was blushing even more than he was.

The notes the two had written to each other had the potential of sending them both into a neverending pit of embarrasment. Luckily, what Drake had written was on a fresh piece of paper and Josh had hidden the older one quickly. The both of them figured they'd have to continue this conversation somewhere else and lunch wasn't a good place to do it: Mindy was there. In fact, if it weren't for her, they wouldn't even have to be writing notes to each other in class. That somewhere else, they settled, would just have to be at home.

----------------------------------------------------

"So," Josh said as he closed the door to the room he and Drake shared, "what were you gonna write before your note got 'confiscated'?"

"Oh, uh...well. I just-...umm...you know what? Forget it."

"Wait, what?" Josh said angrily "I thought we had agreed to talk about this!"

"Well," Drake said as he shifted onto his stomach on his bed "I changed my mind." He pulled the comforter over his body and closed his eyes.

"Drake..." Josh started to protest. He stopped mid-sentence when he heard snoring.

All he wanted to know was why his brother always had it in for his girlfriend, Mindy. She and Drake didn't exactly have the greatest relationship. They always greeted each other with insults, and, with few exceptions, their conversations always consisted of fighting over one thing or the other. "You are impossible, Drake Parker..." he said quietly.

-------------------------------------------------

The Premiere was very busy for this time of day, even on a Saturday. Josh began his shift when Drake walked in.

"Hey, brotha!" he said happily.

"Hey, Drake," Josh replied with a surprised look on his face "what are you doing here alone? Didn't you have a date?"

"I did. I just wasn't into her, I guess," he lied. He was really here to continue talking to Josh about his problem with Mindy.

"Well, that's new. I guess-Hey!" Josh said with a grin on his face as his girlfriend walked up to the candy counter.

"Helloooo," she greeted him with a playful smile. "Drake."

"Creature," he responded with a look of disgust on his face. Great. Now how are we gonna talk? While Drake tried to solve this problem by going to sit at one of the silver tables in the middle of the theater, Josh turned and began a little conversation with Mindy.

"So. What brings you here?"

"Oh, nothing in particular," she said "I just wanted to come see my boyfriend." She wanted to give Josh a kiss, but decided against it when she remembered where she was.

Josh gave her a little smile as he wiped the glass on the counter with one hand and held hers with the other. He really wanted to keep talking, but there was a line forming behind Mindy as well as angry looks on his customers' faces. "Umm...Mindy, I uh, I think we should probably continue this later,' kay?"

"Oh, oops." she said with a giggle before giving her boyfriend a little wink and moving to the side of the counter.

Drake became restless sitting at the little table. He couldn't keep his eyes off of the little "lovefest", despite the fact that it was so sweet it almost made him gag. He hated their little public displays of affection, even if he was the type to do that with any girl who crossed his path. Something inside of Drake just wasn't liking this scenario, and even though sometimes he tried to get along with Mindy, there was that something preventing him from doing so. He got up and walked toward the counter again.

"What are you doing here, D-average?" she asked sarcastically.

"Standing here. What's it look like?" Drake answered her very matter-of-factly. "I have the right to stand where I want and if I wanna stand near J- the counter, I'll do that!"

"Alright," she said putting her hands out in front of her body, "there's no need to get so defensive."

"I'm not being defensive!" he responded.

"Of course not. You don't even know what that means!"

Josh looked around and his face twisted into an expression of concern. Please don't let them start fighting here, please. Not now. He excused himself from the customer in front of him who rolled his eyes and sighed heavily. He made his way toward the "situation" and started to say something, but was cut off by the now raised voices of the two arguing teenagers.

"Guys, you can't fight here! Guys!"

"I'm not the one who can't even pronounce the name of the country he lives in!"

"Oh, please. At least I never got locked in the cuckoo-hut!"

Josh ran a hand nervously across his face as his step-brother and his girlfriend continued to hurl insult after insult at each other. There was now a crowd gathering in front of them, watching intently and eating popcorn as if it were a scene in a movie.

"Guys, please. If Helen comes and finds you fighting I'm gonna get in trouble!" he said as he pushed his way through the crowd. " 'Scuse me. Comin' through! Outta the way, buddy!"

He stood directly in front of them both and threw his arms out as he yelled a big "HEY!" It got their attention and caught Drake in the middle of saying something that began with a "b".

" I don't care where you fight! I don't care if you fight. I don't care if you wanna kill each other, but please, can you take it outside or something? You're causing a commotion a-and I have a job to do and if Helen finds out about this I'm in deep trouble and I'll be fired. You guys don't want to carry that weight with you for the rest of your lives, do you?"

"I'm sorry, Joshy," Mindy said apologetically.

"I'm sorry, Joshy," Drake said mockingly before Josh shot him a look that could have killed him. "Sorry."

Drake left the Premiere soon after, but Mindy decided to stay and keep her now-nervous boyfriend company.

"Look, Josh, I'm sorry I started that whole thing with Drake."

"You started it?" Josh asked her

"Well, yes, but I-"

"Mindy, you know how Drake gets. Why would you start anything with him? Why here?"

"I don't know. He just got the better of me. I'm so sorry, Josh. I really am."

"It's okay," he said with a faint smile "so long as you keep it away from here next time...and there's no next time."

"I'll try my best," she said and gave him a little kiss goodbye before walking out the door.