Honestly, I'm kinda over analyzing the big, obvious tropes like the 'grumpy/sunshine' dynamic everybody mentions for these two. Yeah, it's there, but the stories that stick with me dig way deeper. It's more about legacy and mutual destruction, you know? Mikey carries the weight of the Toman legacy, and Drake—or Draken, sorry—is the only one who's seen the full cost of that up close from the start. So the romance isn't just banter and fistfights turning into kisses; it's about finding a private language of loyalty that exists outside of the gang's hierarchy. Their shared history from childhood creates this intense intimacy that fanfic writers love to explore through flashbacks, little gestures like fixing a bike, or silent conversations in the rain after a fight. The physicality is a huge part of it, too—not just smut, but the way they communicate through touch because they've been fighting side-by-side for so long. A hand on a shoulder means a whole paragraph of dialogue. That's the core, for me.
Lately, I've seen a lot of 'fix-it' AUs where Drake lives, obviously, and those get really into the domestic aftermath. How do you build a quiet life when your entire bond was forged in chaos? That's become its own major sub-trope. They're often shown running a shop together or dealing with the mundane fallout of their past, which is a fascinating contrast to the canon violence.