#cuthley

A/N: Title quoted from S1 Shevine, and the drabble itself is based off these tags of mine.

They just fit together, I don't know. They both went to the same performing arts school (as did Dan & Nathan :) ), and I can just imagine them being roommates and falling for each other. But in other cases, like when it comes to the lovechildren thing, I imagine them as brothers ... but I still ship it either way 'cause they're cute together.

i think i'll make this more of an ot4 fic ('cause somehow i can't write self harm fics w/o slash *shrugs*). but i've never written josh-centric ot4, so, thanks so much for sending this in! <3

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Once Josh was home from a stressful and tiring day, he slipped into his bathroom, making sure the door was locked behind him. The day he'd had was a struggle, since he'd past by fans and paparazzi that morning who had said some not-so-nice things to him, causing him force himself to hold back tears. Luckily, the boys didn't notice, so Josh was able to hide his emotions.

But as he stood there, staring at the blade that he'd taken out and placed on the counter, one of the paparazzi's words stood out to him. Josh, have you gained weight? Josh hadn't thought that he did, and he knew for a fact that he didn't. Yet some people believed that he'd put on a couple pounds, and that made him feel a bit more self-conscious about himself. This also made him begin to dislike himself, causing him to begin to self-harm. Now, as he continuously heard those words in his head, he picked up the blade, his hand shaking as he slowly dragged it across the paling skin of his arm. He hissed at the pain he felt, but he thought about how much no one seemed to like him, causing him to continue on with the cutting.

As he did this, he heard the front door to the flat opening, and a set of three voices gradually getting louder as his bandmates entered the flat. Shit, he thought, but made sure to not say aloud. He was quick to grab a towel to stop the bleeding, struggling to wash off the blood with soap and water. The water stung badly, causing Josh to let out a cry of pain. The boys heard this, rushing over to the bathroom, struggling to open the door, unhappy to find it locked.

"Josh!" JJ called out. "Josh, are you okay in there?" Josh shook his head despite the fact that the boys couldn't see him, tears beginning to stream down his face. He hesitantly unlocked the door, and before he knew it, his bandmates were forcing it open, gasping as they saw the state Josh was in, tears falling down his face, blood dripping down his arm. Jaymi was quick to grab a towel and begin gently dabbing the cuts. George ran in and grabbed some band-aids that he could use to cover up the fresh cuts, while JJ stood and watched, his eyebrows furrowed in worry. George and Jaymi quickly covered up the cuts, and once they were done, they stepped aside, letting JJ step forward, grabbing onto Josh's hands, stroking both of them gently with his thumbs.

"Josh, why did you do this to yourself?" He asked, glancing up at Josh's tear-covered face.

"'C-cause no one likes me." The younger of the two replied, struggling to hold back a sob. "The paparazzi and fans called me fat today and--"

"I didn't hear that." JJ said.

"Well, they asked if I gained weight and that basically means the same thing and--" Josh tried to say, but was cut off by a pair of lips on his own. He blinked a couple times in shock before closing his eyes and kissing JJ back. The older of the two snaked his arms around Josh's waist, pulling him closer. The kiss didn't last very long, since JJ pulled away soon after he had a grip on Josh's waist.

"Don't even listen to them, J." He said as he pressed kisses all over Josh's face, on his forehead, nose, eyelids, and even cheeks. "You're perfect just the way you are, babe. Don't let anyone ever try to change you."

"He's right, you know." Jaymi said, now standing behind Josh, his arms wrapped around the younger boy's torso. "You really are perfect to us, Josh. And we do love you a lot." He then pressed a soft kiss to Josh's cheek.

"You're my little monkey, Joshy." George said from Josh's right side, his arms also wrapped around the older boy. "I can't see my monkey get hurt, right?" Josh began to smile at that, his eyes tearing up slightly again.

"I love you guys." He said, allowing himself to smile even more. "I really, really do. Thank you."

"No problem, Josh." JJ said, pressing another kiss to Josh's forehead. "We'll always be here for you. Anytime you need to talk to us, or just need a cuddle, we'll be there." Josh giggled. "Oh, and we love you too, babe."

"What he said." Jaymi and George said in unison. Josh turned his head and kissed each of them on the cheeks, before leaning forward and giving JJ another kiss on the lips.

Smile

Josh never smiled. He used to, but he stopped after an incident happened during a soccer game, a ball colliding with his mouth, chipping a couple teeth. That imperfection to his once perfect smile caused him to be more insecure, keeping a straight face from then on in every picture he took.

He told this story to his bandmates, and they all seemed to understand, but after already knowing this for years, having been friends with the blue-eyed boy for as long as he could remember, Jaymi felt determined to finally see Josh smile.

For an entire week, he tried his best, doing things he knew Josh loved, trying to make him laugh, but nothing seemed to work. Josh even caught on to what Jaymi was doing, trying to get him to stop. But Jaymi refused to, only stubbornly shaking his head, still wanting to see other boy smile.

So, he finally came to his last resort, having to do the one thing that he knew put smile on everyone's face: tickling.

He got Josh to make his way into his bedroom (since the two were alone in Jaymi's flat), laying down on the bed. Once he could tell that the younger boy's eyes were closed, Jaymi snuck into the room, quickly and quietly jumping onto the bed, straddling Josh's waist, his fingers moving to the other boy's side, tickling him. Josh soon began to laugh, saying a breathy, "Jaymi, stop it!" Jaymi only giggled, continuing despite Josh's pleads for him to stop. He soon felt himself wanting to stop, removing his hands from Josh's side. But he didn't let the younger boy off too easily, his hands moving up to pin Josh's wrists down to the bed.

"That felt good, didn't it?" He asked. Josh nodded, smile on his face, eyes sparkling with glee as he looked up at his friend.

"Yeah, it did."

"And it got you to smile too."

Josh bit his lip. "You and your fucking plans."

Jaymi giggled. "Yeah, you gotta love me, though, right?"

Josh scoffed. "You're lucky I love you, you twat."