a/n: just a few notes before this story begins! if you're here, you may have read my other johndave fic Hatecrush (if not you can find it on my profile), so if you are familiar with Hatecrush, this fic is drastically different. to start, i began writing this as a side fic to Hatecrush so this fic has significantly shorter chapters, as you will obviously see. it's also far more intense and serious than fluff and funnies. throughout this story there will be mentions of depression, cutting, and abuse so if any of those are triggering for you, i warn you to read with discretion. i'll always have a note at the top here when a chapter will contain lots of triggering stuff. i'd also like to apologize for inconsistencies like if it's in past or present tense, like i said i wrote this as a side project so it's pretty imperfect. that's all for now, so thank you for reading and i hope you enjoy c:
John and Dave meet in group therapy. Dave's there because his bro is never around and he got depressed and his bro found him cutting; John is there because his dad is abusive and thinks John has depression problems because he cries a lot and doesn't talk much. In the first meeting, John shows up just as its starting, late because he had trouble with his dad. He walks in sniffling with tear stained cheeks and a red mark on his cheek. The only seat open is next to Dave so he sits down without a word and the session starts.
The therapist breaks them into pairs to start small and says for them to tell each other why they're here and then after a certain amount of time, they'll go back to their seats and say one thing they learned about each other. Dave and John are paired together and they sit off away from the others in a corner. They're silent at first but then Dave asks John why he's here.
"My dad is a huge douche bag," he says.
"Is that why you came in crying and with that mark on your face?" Dave asks.
John nods and leans against the wall. "How about you?"
"My bro caught me cutting," he says and pushes his sleeves up to show John the few scars and the cuts that are still red and recent. John looks at the marks and feels a pang in his chest even though he'd just met this boy. He reaches over and takes Dave's arm and kisses one of the recent cuts gently.
Dave blushes and waits until John lets go of his hand and leans forward and kisses his red cheek. John blushes too and they smile a little at each other.
They start talking about little things about each other and when time is called, they go back to their seats. When it's their turn, John says he learned that Dave likes to dj and John says that he learned John can play the piano.
After the session, the boys go out to McDonald's and get lunch together, talking about stuff the whole time. Soon though, it starts getting dark and they have to go home. They trade numbers and chumhandles and make arrangements to hang out the next day.