#shawn menders blurb

[milesfromjapan]

Date Night

A knock at the door signaled his arrival. You loved how he insisted on coming all the way up to your seventh floor apartment, despite the lack of elevator in your building, to pick you up. It was the littlest things that made your heart beat a little faster for him. You grabbed your phone, quickly shoving it in your bag, but not quick enough that he hadn’t already started knocking again when you reached the door.

“Wow, you look stunning,” he said with a lazy smile on his face and his fist still on your door like he had forgotten it was even there because you were there to look at now.

“Thanks,” you laughed, “but it’s just jeans and a shirt.”

“Yeah, but it’s you,” he asserted.

You rolled your eyes before grabbing his free hand and leading him back down the stairs he just walked up to get to you. His long legs made him become the leader before you’d even finishes half a flight of stairs. You huffed in annoyance as he pulled on your arm a little due to how far in front of you he was.

“You can take the stairs two at a time. Cut me some slack,” you told him.

“You know,” he jumped to the sixth floor landing, “I hadn’t really thought about that before. My bad.”

You couldn’t pretend to be annoyed for more than a few seconds as a smile spread across your face. Just looking at his excited face made you smile wide. His hair was curlier today than usual, probably because of the rain that had just stopped. Little crinkles formed at the corner of his eyes from the smile he got from looking at you. His denim jacket hung loosely off his shoulders and his sunglasses were clipped to the collar of his white t-shirt. You shook your head a little to yourself as you started continuing down the stairwell with him.

“What?” he asked you upon noticing your head shake.

“You’re pretty cute, Mendes,” you replied.

“Just cute? Wow. Harsh.”

His free hand went to his chest over his heart to try and show you just how much your statement had bothered him. He couldn’t keep up the act for more than a few seconds because, well, it’s you and he’s too crazy about you to be able to find the words. You chatted about his day as you walk to the lobby.

“You know, you should really move. These stairs are a bitch,” he told you as he held open the exit door for you.

“I thought it would make me exercise more. Pretty sure I exercise less now,” you laughed in reply.

He took your hand in his again and pulled you to the right, the opposite direction of the parking lot. You turned to him with furrowed brows and tilted your head to the side to express your confusion.

“It’s really nice out now and the place it’s pretty close by, so I figured you wouldn’t mind a little walk,” he suggested, his face hopeful.

“I am down for a walk,” you told him, making him smile.

He dropped your hand in order to sling his arm over your shoulders instead. With the height difference putting him at a strong advantage, this was his favorite way to hold you. He liked keeping you close, like he could protect you from anyone and anything if you were right by his side. You put your arm around his waist to secure yourself to him and he gave you a quick hug, pulling you into him more and resting his head briefly on your head before pulling back to ask you about your day. With your arm around his waist, his arm over your shoulders keeping close to his side, you felt like there was nothing you couldn’t do.

You could talk to him for hours and never be bored for a second. You never forced a conversation and you didn’t think you were going to have to anytime soon. You clicked from the moment you met and had been finding out just how well you fit together every day since. His large tattooed hand playing absentmindedly with the collar on your shirt as you walked and talked.

“Oh my god, puppy!” you practically screamed when you saw a cute puppy across the street. “I want a puppy.”

Shawn laughed a little and gave you a tight squeeze and a quick kiss on the head.

“You’re allergic though,” you sighed as you looked up at him. “It’s your biggest flaw as my boyfriend, you know.”

“Well, I’m sorry I’m flawed. I’ll just go,” he mumbled in fake sadness as he turned his body a little away from you like he was going to leave.

You wrapped your other arm around his waist and pulled him back to you. You both were laughing and had stupid smiles on your face. You looked at him and his beautiful smile, eyes that draw you closer and close to him, and a jawline you’d kissed so many mornings already, and you thought that just maybe you’d be able to give up your dreams of being a dog parent for him. Just maybe.

“Oh my god, ice cream!” you screamed when you saw the destination of your walk with Shawn down the street.

Shawn let out a big belly laugh as you started to walk faster in an effort to get to the ice cream faster. Shawn obliged and you practically ran down the street holding his head, both of you laughing the whole way down. You stopped your run just short of the building, not wanting to let the poor high school student on summer break who was about to scoop your ice cream see you running over.

Shawn opened the door for you, as he always did, claiming his chivalry was one of the main reasons you started dating him. It wasn’t; it was just one of a million reasons you stayed. You scanned over the ice cream, trying to decide what you wanted. Shawn’s large hand found the small of your back as your eyes scanned over all of the flavors. His hand moved in smooth, calming circles, making you lean into his side. After a long survey of each flavor and careful consideration, you select cookie dough and chocolate brownie. Shawn ended up with mint chocolate chip and vanilla.

“Want to sit?” Shawn gestured to a free high top table in the corner.

“Sure,” you replied. You took a seat opposite him and immediately shoved a slightly too large bite of ice cream in your mouth. He shook his head little at you with a bright, unwavering smile on his face. The smile never went away for you. You were his soft spot and everyone knew it. You looked over toward him and he smiled around a spoonful of ice cream that he was. You giggled and tapped your spoon on the end of his nose with it, making his recoil quickly with a small brown dot of melted chocolate ice cream on the end of his nose. He tried to cross his eyes to look at it with no luck.

“You’re real cute,” you told him as he reached up to wipe the chocolate sauce off his nose with his sleeve.

“Nah, that’s you.”

He got back at you by tapping the end of your nose with his spoon, leaving what was definitely a mint green splotch on the end of your nose. You huffed and wiped it off with your hand, making him smile and drop a quick kiss to your forward.

“The cutest person in the fucking world,” Shawn muttered to you.

You couldn’t stop a big smile from forming on your face. You leaned over the table toward him. He met you the rest of the way and pressed a soft kiss to your lips. You were both smiling into the kiss, which made you feel warm despite the slightly chilly air in the shop. When you started to pull back, he came with you and placed several quick kisses on your lips, making you laugh yet again. He made you laugh and smile constantly, something that hadn’t gone unnoticed by your family when you brought him around for the first time a few weeks ago.

“You’re Shawn Mendes, right?”

You both turned your head to see a girl a few years younger than both of you. Her eyes were wide in amazement that she happened to run across him just out and about in the city. She was clutching her phone, clearly in the hopes of getting a picture with him.

“Yeah, I am. Do you want a picture?” Shawn asked as he dropped his spoon into his ice cream

“Oh my god, yes!” she squealed.

“Do you want me to take it?” you offered.

“You would do that? Yes, please, that would be go great!”

She opened the camera and handed you her phone as Shawn stood up next to her. He towered over her, like he did to you and most other people. You told them to say cheese before talking several photos to try and make sure she got a good photo. He gave her a hug and then you passed her back her phone.

“Thank you so much for taking it,” she said to you before she left to rejoin her parents at their table across the shop

Shawn’s tattooed hand reached across the table in search for yours, which you gave him. He gave your hand a quick squeeze. It was his way of apologizing for the interruption. He knew you said you didn’t mind, but he felt bad each time your dates were interrupted since you didn’t get to have too many of them. You didn’t care. His fans made his dreams possible and that was enough for you.

“Are you ready to go?” Shawn asked you just as you were taking your last bite of ice cream.

“Yep,” you replied.

Shawn grabbed your trash for you and took your hand in his with his free one again. He tossed them away and still beat you to the door to open it for you. As you started to turn to head back to your place after exiting, Shawn’s strong arms wrapped around your waist from behind, pulling you back against his chest. He leaned down to rest his chin on your shoulder.

“I adore you,” he told you before leaving a soft kiss on your cheek. “You’re incredible.”

Your hands rested on top of his and you let out a content sigh.

“You’re amazing,” you said back. “Wouldn’t change a thing about you.”

He kissed your cheek again and you could feel the smile on his lips. His one kiss turned into dozens all over the side of your face and forehead, anything he could reach. You both were laughing by the time he stopped. You spun in his arms to face him so you could give him a proper kiss, pulling him down to you with a hand on the back of his neck. One of his hands left your waist to cup the side of your face, pulling you into a deeper kiss. “Hi there,” he laughed when you pulled away and rested his forehead against yours.

“Hi,” you laughed back.

He kissed your forehead and pulled back. A breeze suddenly passed by, making you shiver. Shawn released you and pulled off his jacket and handed it to you. You tried to push it back to him, but he just pushed it back to. You sighed and took it, sliding your arms through the far too long sleeves since you knew there was no way you were going to win this battle

“You’re so little,” he said as he pushed the sleeve up to grab your hand.

“You’re just a giant,” you replied. “Giant boyfriend.”

“Your giant boyfriend though,” he retorted. “I only want to be your giant boyfriend.”

You smiled to yourself as you started the walk home. His jacket hung off your shoulders and the sleeves puddled around your wrists. You listened to him tell you some story from on tour and you were happy. You loved him. You didn’t know if he loved you too yet, but you hoped he would someday and that hope was good enough for now.

[wordsandshawn]

The Platonic Series ~ Responsibility 

This is a part of the platonic series, which I started ages ago. Even though it’s a series, each part can function as a stand alone imagine so you don’t have to read them all to understand this imagine, they’re just all in the same universe where Shawn and Y/n are best friends and have been since they were young. 

Note** Ella is y/n’s 2 year old daughter who she had with an ex-boyfriend who’s no longer in their lives. Shawn has always helped Y/n out with Ella and been there for both Y/n and Ella. Y/n and Shawn have never dated, although they did kiss once ;). 

2020

“Shawn, can you watch Ella tonight?” You ask Shawn over the phone as you walk toward the other end of your college campus for your last class of the day.   

“Yeah, sure, but I’m in the studio so I don’t think I’ll be off early enough to pick her up from daycare.” Comes Shawn’s response through the phone. 

“I’ll pick her up and drop her off at the studio?” You offer as a question.

“Sounds good. I have to go.” Shawn responds and you hear a lot of background noise, so you say goodbye just as you reach the entrance to the building your class is in. 

The hour-long class drags on slowly and when it is finally over, you drive over to Ella’s daycare to pick her up and drop her off at the studio. As soon as you take her out of her car seat, she starts walking straight for the door. You grab her backpack and catch up with her in two big strides since her tiny legs don’t carry her very far or fast. With Shawn recording his next album, Ella’s been spending almost as much time in the studio with him as she has been at home with you. Even though she’s only two, she already knows her way around. 

When you reach the recording room, you greet Teddy and Ryan and see Shawn in the booth. Ella walks right up onto Teddy and motions that she wants to be picked up. Teddy lets Ella sit in her lap and shows her the screen with all the levels on it.. There are a few other people around, so you say hello to them even though you don’t know them well, and you apologize for interrupting. 

You place Ella’s backpack down in the corner where a bunch of her toys already are, and you take a seat on the couch while you wait for Shawn so you can talk to him before leaving. Ella is still mesmerized by the bars and colors moving on the screen a few minutes later when Shawn emerges from the booth. Ella’s face lights up when she sees him, just like it always does, and she wiggles out of Teddy’s lap and runs to Shawn who scoops her up in his arms. 

“Thanks for watching her,” You tell Shawn, “I’ll pick her up tonight.” 

“Did you get called into work?” He questions, shifting Ella in his arms into a more comfortable position. 

You shake your head. “I’m going out,” You pause and then add, “With someone.” 

Shawn’s eyebrows raise, but he doesn’t comment, and you thank him again for watching Ella before saying goodbye to everyone and leaving the studio quickly. It’s already nearly five pm and you still have to get ready because Kyle is picking you up from your apartment soon to take you to dinner. 

Ever since Ella was born, you’ve kind of put off dating completely. You could come up with a million different excuses as to why it wasn’t a good time to date. However, a few weeks ago, you started talking to Kyle, who attends your university, and he manages to make you feel like a college student again. In the two years since Ella was born, you’ve rarely felt like anything or anyone except Ella’s mom. But when you’re with him, you find yourself pretending to be just another college student talking about exams and papers like those are your biggest stressors, and it feels good. 

After going to dinner, Kyle suggests going to back to his apartment for a bit since his roommates and some friends are hanging out. You’ve already met his roommates and thought it sounded fun to hang out with some new people too, so you agreed. When you arrive, there are more people than you expected and a lot of them are drinking. You never really went through a full party stage and were never a big drinker, but you figured one night couldn’t hurt, so you threw caution to the wind, allowing yourself to feel like a regular college student for once. 

It’s eleven pm and you’re considerably inebriated when you remember that you told Shawn you were going to pick up Ella tonight. You realize it’s late enough that Shawn has probably already put her to bed and there’s no point in waking her. You’ll get her in the morning. Ella stays with Shawn at least once a week, so you know Shawn won’t mind. Even though the logical part of yourself knows you should at least text Shawn to let him know you won’t be picking her up tonight and to check in, the thought leaves as quickly as it comes when you realize you’re not sure where your phone is and Kyle is pulling you into another game of beer pong. 

When you wake up at six am with a pounding headache, everyone else is still asleep, and you realize you can’t find your phone. You don’t remember the last time you had it last night. It takes fifteen minutes before you finally find your phone to see that you have ten missed calls and sixteen messages all from Shawn, which is definitely unusual. 

Your breath catches in your throat and you immediately open the messages. Skimming all of them, you realize that Ella had gotten sick the night before and Shawn wanted to know where you were and what he should do. 

Kyle had picked you up for your date last night, so your car is back at your apartment. You consider waking Kyle, but you know that having to explain to him why you need to go to Shawn’s right away is not something you want to do at this hour since he doesn’t even know you have a daughter, and he would be less than thrilled to be woken up at 6am. 

You take an uber to Shawn’s, texting him on your way there. You also read carefully through every message Shawn sent you last night. A few of them asked you when you were coming to get her. A few informed you that Ella was running a fever and had been asking for you. Each text you read breaks your heart even more knowing that your little girl needed you last night and you were too busy getting drunk to realize it. 

He doesn’t reply to your text, so you use your key to let yourself in since you don’t want to wake them if they’re still asleep. The whole place is quiet, so you assume they’re still sleeping, but you make your way toward the bedroom Ella usually sleeps in when she’s at Shawns. The crib in the corner is empty. The next place you think to look is Shawn’s room. His bedroom door is open, and you see Ella curled against Shawn’s side, both of them sleeping peacefully. 

You feel flooded with guilt seeing her there and knowing she was sick and probably had a rough night, and you need to check on her, to be sure for yourself that she’s okay. Making your way to the bed, you reach out and gently touch her forehead to check if she has a fever. She feels warm, but not hot enough to signify a fever. She stirs a bit at the contact and Shawn wakes up immediately looking at Ella, making sure she’s okay. When he sees you, his eyes fall closed again, and you stare at them both for a few seconds until Shawn opens his eyes again. He carefully scoots away from Ella, placing a pillow where his body used to be before leaving the bedroom and motioning for you to follow him to the living room.

“Where the hell were you last night?” Shawn questions, his voice a whisper, but clearly he’s upset. 

“I went to Kyle’s place after dinner and I lost track of time.” You try to explain. Even as the words leave your lips, you know how insufficient an excuse it is. There is no excuse that would be good enough to justify the fact that your daughter was sick and needed you and you weren’t there for her. 

“Did you lose your phone too? I texted you like 20 times.” Shawn responds. 

"I’m sorry. I didn’t think to check my phone, and I didn’t know she was sick.” 

Shawn just shakes his head at you, and you know he’s upset. “Shawn, I said I’m sorry, and she doesn’t have a fever now.” You respond, not wanting him to be mad at you too. You already feel guilty enough without feeling like you disappointed Shawn and let Ella down. 

“That’s because she had Tylenol at four am,” Shawn responds. "I know she was fine. I’m not mad at you for leaving her with me, although you could have at least texted me that you weren’t coming for her last night. I just can’t believe you would be so irresponsible. Who is this guy anyway? He has you ditching your kid and disappearing.” 

“Don’t talk to me about responsibility. All I’ve done for the past two years is put Ella first. Everything I’ve done has been for her. I wanted one night to be a twenty-two year old. That doesn’t make me a bad parent.” 

“I never said you were a bad parent. I just asked who this guy is that’s making you forget you have a daughter.” Shawn shoots back immediately. 

“I didn’t forget about her!” You respond, feeling a surge of anger toward Shawn. In the back of your mind, you know he’s not the enemy, but it sure feels like he’s picking a fight right now. 

“Stop yelling. You’re going to wake her.” Shawn responds, intentionally dropping his voice even lower. 

“Sorry,” You whisper. “He’s just a guy. We have a class together. We started talking about three weeks ago.” 

“I know that much,” Shawn responds as though that information was obvious. 

“How do you know?” You question, your eyebrows knit together in confusion. 

“Because that’s around the time you started leaving Ella with me when you didn’t have work.” 

He’s not wrong, so you don’t say anything, “You never told him about Ella.” Shawn says, as a statement, not a question, and he’s right. 

“It never came up.” You respond, but you leave out the part where you didn’t tell him on purpose. You didn’t tell him because you wanted to be seen as a regular college student. You feared that if he knew you had a two-year old daughter, he’d think you had too much baggage or would be afraid of the responsibility. It felt like you could be a different person with Kyle since he didn’t know, and you worried that would all change if he found out. 

Before Shawn responds, you hear Ella’s voice call out, “Mama!” You turn to see her walking toward you with her arms up. You meet her halfway and scoop her up into your arms. She rests her head on your shoulder and squeezes you in a hug. 

“Hi baby, how do you feel?” You ask, and she doesn’t really respond. You feel her forehead again, and she’s still warm, but you don’t think she has a fever. This conversation or argument with Shawn is going to have to wait. You sit on the couch holding Ella in your arms. She’s still sleepy, so she rests in your arms without moving. 

Your eyes fall closed and you feel relieved for at least a few moments of peace since yours and Shawn’s argument was interrupted and he had left the living room. A few minutes later, you hear the sound of footsteps signaling he’s back. When you open your eyes, you see Shawn with a glass of water in his hand. He holds it out for you, which you take gratefully, and he also hands you two pills. When you look up at him questioningly, he just nods knowingly and you realize he knows you’re hungover even though you never mentioned it to him. 

“She can have another dose of Tylenol in an hour. It’s on the kitchen counter. I’m going back to sleep.” He says all in one breath before turning and walking away without waiting for a response, and you make a mental note to thank him later. You owe Shawn more than just a thank you, truthfully. 

Ella is still cuddling up against you without moving, so you rub her back gently, the conversation between you and Shawn weighing heavily on your mind. Shawn had to grow up quickly because of his career and you had to grow up quickly because of Ella, so it was easy for you two to get along, especially after you had Ella. Since you were suddenly learning how to manage the responsibility of being a mom while supporting both yourself and your daughter with no help from her dad or your parents. Shawn was the one person who never wavered in his support for you, and he loved Ella from the very first moment he met her.

Ella falls asleep again in your arms and you have no doubt that she didn’t sleep much the night before. The silence coming from Shawn’s room lets you know that he’s probably fast asleep because he didn’t get much sleep either. You remain on Shawn’s couch somewhere between awake and asleep with Ella in your arms until she starts stirring about an hour later. You check the time and realize that Shawn said she was supposed to take more medicine at this time. You realize Ella’s awake, so you stand up with her in your arms and make your way to the kitchen where the medicine is on the counter right where Shawn said it would be. 

You sit Ella in her high chair and pour some cheerios on the tray. It keeps her occupied while you pull the pancake mix out of the cabinet. Fifteen minutes later, Ella is munching on a pancake and you’re cooking the last of the batter when Shawn reemerges from his bedroom, looking every bit as sleepy and grumpy as he did earlier. 

You place three pancakes on a plate and grab some strawberries from the fridge. You hand the plate and a bottle of maple syrup to Shawn, saying, “I’m sorry for yelling at you.” 

He takes his plate to the table and sits down, reaching out to pull Ella’s high chair closer to the table before finally looking up at you and saying, “I’m sorry for calling you irresponsible.” And just like that, things are back to normal. You still feel guilty for not being there when Ella needed you, but at least you know Shawn isn’t upset anymore. It’s hard for him to stay angry when you make him pancakes, a peace offering that has worked for you several times in the past. 

You’re plating your own pancakes when your phone buzzes on the counter, catching your attention. You glance at the screen to see a message from Kyle, Hey where’d you go?

You place some straberries on your plate, putting a little extra so you can share with Ella when she’s done with her pancakes, and then pick up your phone, pondering your reply, but you put it back down without typing a response. 

Taking your plate, you sit down next to Shawn, sharing your strawberries with Ella as you dive into your pancakes. “So this guy, is it serious?” Shawn’s voice cuts through the silence, but by the hesitancy in his tone, you know that he’s not trying to fight this time, unlike an hour ago when he brought up Kyle. 

“I only started talking to him a few weeks ago.” You respond, shrugging. 

“I don’t mind watching Ella,” He says softly. “I know that’s not what it sounded like earlier, but I didn’t mean it like that. She was sick and upset and didn’t want to eat anything and she was so warm and I couldn’t reach you. But it turned out okay, and you know I like having her here.” 

“Thank you, and I am really sorry about last night. I should’ve checked in.” 

He nods, a silent way of accepting your apology, and you realize you didn’t give Ella her medicine since you wanted her to eat something first. You grab the medicine from the counter and take the syringe from the dishrack. You measure the proper amount, and turn around to see that Shawn has taken Ella out of the seat, and he asks, “Do you want me to hold her or give her the meds?” He asks, and you hand him the syringe, silently answering his question. You take Ella from his arms and sit down. 

He kneels in front of you, and he starts speaking softly to Ella, telling her all about the medicine and how it's supposed to make her feel better. Magically, he gets her to open her mouth and take the medicine without any fight, something Ella never does for you. 

Your phone vibrates on the counter again, probably another message from Kyle, but this time you ignore it, placing Ella back in her high chair and giving her some strawberries.