Sidemen Oneshots

Count To Ten (MiniZerk)

Got the inspiration for this one after Josh mentioned on stream about having anxiety attacks.

I've never had experience with them myself and did quite a bit of research, so I hope it's as accurate as possible.

Their lives were strange. They were always so consistently busy, in what could seem like a never ending cycle of filming and editing at times, but then also there were stretches of time where everything just seemed on hold, like they got to a point when they were so overworked, that it all slowed down into one blurred and uncontrollable motion.

It was at times like this that they knew they needed a break. A holiday for them didn't mean a holiday like it was for most other people. A holiday for them still meant vlogging the trip and pre-recording a multitude of videos that could be automatically uploaded while they were away, and therefore that meant the few weeks leading up to the holiday were some of the most stressful in their lives.

They pushed through it though. Too many times had they ditched trips away at the last second because they were too stressed out by the pressure. This time they were going to make it to New York and have a fucking sick time. Nobody was going to stop them. They'd all given up on sleep recently in order to get enough videos ready and planned the trip down to the last detail so they wouldn't have to worry about anything when they were there, and could just relax and enjoy some rare free time to themselves.

The journey to the airport was a little bit eventful, after Simon and Vik remembered simultaneously that they'd forgotten their passports and had to quickly jump out of one taxi and order another one. Fortunately they'd accounted for events like this and had left the house much earlier than was necessary.

JJ and Josh had been left to travel to the airport on their own, meeting up with the other three there and heading to the waiting area after they'd had their bags sent off and gone through security. JJ was lost to his own world as they found a spot to sit amongst all the restaurants, head all over the place after the past few insanely busy days. He was swiping through Tinder, giving an amusing commentary in an attempt to kill his boredom. The others left him to it. A bored JJ in a busy airport was a risky scenario but at the moment his eyes were still bright and his tone was light as he made teasing remarks about the profiles.

The others also found ways to occupy themselves while they waited for the other two to arrive. Harry and Ethan wondered off to buy some food while Tobi was content to just look at his phone. Josh's expression, however, was anything but content. His jaw was clenched and his lips were pressed tight. JJ continued with his rambling, oblivious anything was the matter, and Josh exchanged an uncomfortable glance with Tobi before also standing up to get food.

He wasn't even that hungry, in fact the thought of eating food made him feel a bit uneasy, but he tried his hardest to ignore the weird feeling in the pit of his stomach. His heart rate was also slightly quicker than normal, had been ever since he'd woken up that morning, eyes heavy with sleep. He was nervous, like really, really, probably unreasonably nervous about this trip. It was stupid of him, he thought, as he got in the queue for McDonald's. There was nothing to worry about now, they were through the worst part, it was all uphill from here.

But still Josh couldn't shake the feeling and it only made him angrier with himself. The others were all fine now, and they'd all been through the same hellish weeks as he had. Why couldn't he just learn to relax and be as laid-back as Vik or Tobi?

Food in hand he returned to their table, struggling to find it at first before he realised Tobi and JJ had also got up to go and buy food, leaving it empty. JJ's bag was left unattended on the seat and Josh sighed internally. That boy was bound to have something stolen from him during this trip if he carried on like this.