Picspam > Challenge > Derek/Casey & Drake/Josh
For my first challenge at picspammy, I've chosen to compare two of my favorite ships: Derek/Casey from Life with Derek and Drake/Josh from Drake & Josh.
Meet Casey McDonald and Josh Nichols. Casey is your standard overachieving keener, prone to bouts of hysteria where she needs to breathe into paper bags to calm down. She's valedictorian and was also in poetry club, drama club, and cheerleading. (True, she was only in these for a few episodes, but still.) She also had a job for about thirty seconds.
Josh would be valedictorian if not for the existence of Mindy Crenshaw (his bitter rival and on/off girlfriend), but he's still really smart and does a lot of academic clubs. He also wrote for the school paper in the pilot. He tends to overreact a lot and have big dramatic freakouts which are very entertaining to watch.
Meet Derek Venturi and Drake Parker. Derek doesn't take his schoolwork seriously (but he does fine when he applies himself), but one thing he does take seriously is hockey. And girls. Right away, we learn that he's the most popular guy in school and he's got a reputation as a ladies' man (even though we don't see him on dates all that much.) He has no idea what a ficus is, but ask him to water the fergus and he's on it.
Drake likes to hand in newspapers (with his name in crayon) for his homework, yet everyone still believes he would know how to get a car into a classroom. If he's not being a rockstar, he's out on a date like the man-whore he is. Seriously, I love him, but he probably has herpes. He really only applies himself if he's trying to get a girl, and of course it works, because he's Drake.
In a cruel twist of fate, they wind up as stepsiblings. But, that doesn't mean anything, because they're not really related. And trust me on this, I know what I'm talking about. I'm from Appalachia. Stuck under the same roof (or room) as the person they're meant to be with, this often leads to a lot of conflict. Derek and Casey vehemently deny any and all relation and emphasize the "step" in stepsiblings to everyone who makes that mistake. Drake and Josh accept the circumstances much more quickly, calling each other "brotha" and becoming BFFs, but that just makes it more heart-wrenching when they fight.
Dance is the vertical expression of a horizontal wish, don't ya know. Okay, J Lo was talking about the rumba, but still. So how is it that both of our stepsib pairs end up being partners in dance contests, where a lot of the moves would have real siblings screaming in disgust? Because they loooooove each other, that's why, and dancing is a good excuse to touch each other. And they both win their respective dance contests, which should count for something.
And of course, like all couples, they fight. They fight a lot. And they fight by wrestling around, generally on the couch. Josh even spanks Drake. SPANKS HIM. But, like dancing, it's just an excuse to touch each other. SPANKING. SERIOUSLY.
Trapped in small spaces is often a way to get two people together. Stick two different personalities in an enclosed space (like a bathroom) and watch the sexual tension explode until they can't take it anymore. Sadly, as these shows are both on family-oriented networks, the hot!bathroom!sex is all in our imaginations. But it's still there. Drake and Josh actually get trapped in small spaces a lot. I think they do it on purpose.
Though Derek won't willingly hug Casey and makes it sound like she's infectious, he still touches her. A lot. An arm around the shoulders, a shoulder bump, let's wrestle around on the floor for the remote, how about I dip you in a not at all sexual manner. Drake and Josh willingly hug, on multiple occasions, big running leaps that should be in slow motion. And they touch all the time in between these massive hugs. Because if they don't touch each other, they'll explode. And so will we. GOOD GOD, JUST GET IT ON ALREADY. And I'm sure all stepsiblings stand thisclose to each other all the time.
Nothing says love like a little healthy deception! Casey plans a surprise 16th for Derek by telling all of his friends to "forget" that his birthday is coming up. Drake actually does forget that it's Josh's birthday and throws him the surprise party to make up for it. And causing him to run over Oprah. And get a chemical bath.
Granted, Derek and Casey are usually only in costume during the blue screen transitional scenes, but seeing them dressed similarly is almost as good as Drake and Josh apparently making a habit of renting costumes and picking bad ones, although I'm a big fan of the Irish rabbi.
And naturally, the cute boy plays the guitar! This allows the opportunity for songs that are totally not about the other person in any way, shape, or form. Not at all. Also gives a good reason for our pairs of stepsibs to perform on stage together and show off just how truly in sync they are. And allow for a little on-stage totally platonic grinding.
Dude. Come on. THEY EAT FOOD OFF EACH OTHER'S FACES. Seriously. I don't even eat food off of my OWN face.
They tend to bring out the worst in each other. Derek and Drake always manage to convince upstanding Casey and Josh to break the rules, and when this happens, madcap hijinks ensue. Derek and Casey crash into their parents' car, or break the TV. Drake and Josh get arrested. You know, standard stuff. Drake and Josh get arrested a lot. They must really like handcuffs.
When they screw up, they have to make it up to each other by buying (or otherwise procuring) extravagant gifts that real siblings with no financial means usually don't get. I've never gotten either of my sisters a cell phone (just because) or Oprah tickets/backstage passes. This leads to much gratitude, and sometimes kissing.
Just as they bring out the worst in each other, they also bring out the best. They will go above and beyond the call of duty to help each other out of a tough situation. They will stay up all night studying, they will bust each other out of jail, they will help smooth things over with their significant others (who are merely placeholders until they realize how much they looooove each other). They will help them write songs, be the best band manager ever, or help them out with the group of kids they volunteer with. And yes, part of this can be attributed by the fact that, on paper, they're family. But really, it's love.
They want to be with each other, but they can't. The very circumstances that have put them together (and subsequently made it so they're suited for each other only - no one else) means they CAN'T be together. On a family show. Because, seriously, in real life, they'd totally be on top of each other all the time. That means we get a lot of UST moments like stolen glances and quick touches, smoldering looks or almost confessions because you know that's what Drake was going to tell Josh in chemistry - ha ha, chemistry. Lots of moments for our little shipper hearts to sigh and dream, and wonder what would happen if these shows were on, like... Well, not a family network.
Part 2