Shawn Mendes Imagines

Take Me Away

Request for @shannon1300. Hope you enjoy x

In which Shawn needs a break, and Y/N helps.

- - - - -

"Ready for tonight?" I ask, threading my fingers through chestnut curls where Shawn is sprawled across my lap. I watch his face carefully, hating the furrow between his brow that seems to have taken up residence lately. I scratch his scalp lightly, winding the soft hair around my finger and watching it spring free.
He hums in appreciation, cracking an eye open to look at me."As ready as every other night, I guess." He sighs, reaching up to take my unoccupied hand and lace his long fingers through mine.
"How did rehearsal go?"
"Not great," he sighs, his frown deepening. "I kept messing up the bridge to Nervous and my voice keeps cracking when I try to hit the higher notes. It's so frustrating." He sits up beside me, playing with our fingers as he avoids eye contact. "Does it make me a bad person to say I don't want to go on tonight?" His voice is quiet. Wary.
"Of course not, hun. Honestly, I don't know how you do this every night so flawlessly and work so hard during the day without breaking down. You deserve a break." I nudge his shoulder lightly. "You're amazing, you know that?"
He hums, wrapping his arm around my shoulder to pull me into him, but I can tell he doesn't believe it.

*****

The deafening screams of thousands of fans ring in my ears as the arena is plunged into darkness, the only light emitting from the phones and flashlights littered throughout the audience. Cries of confusion pierce through the black and I feel like joining them.
"What happened?" I shout to be heard, grabbing the arm of a stage hand who had the misfortune to be running past me at that moment.
All I get is a helpless shrug and something indecipherable about a fuse before the harried man runs off, no doubt to find the back up generator. The cruel thing is that the concert had been moving along perfectly, after all of Shawn's worries from rehearsal not a beat was out of place or a note out of tune, yet something had to happen to ruin it. Of course it would be the lights that went - something uncontrollable. I've got to find Shawn.

The mania only increases as the seconds pass and I blindly feel my way through the hundreds of wires into the hall where the dressing rooms are, fighting to keep my cool against the frantic orders being shouted around me, knowing that succumbing to the madness is the last thing that needs to happen.

Shawn is the first person I see when I burst through the double doors into the harshly lit hallway. His long frame is hunched over on the ground, hands tugging his curls as Cez, the tour manager, hovers uncertain nearby, trying to comfort him as best he can. I give Cez a small nod when he meets my eye and he nods back, pointing down the end of the hallway to where he'll be waiting.

"Shawn?" I place my hand tentatively on his tense back, rubbing small circles in place.
"I messed up." His voice cracks but he doesn't look up. His knuckles turn white.
"You didn't do anything wrong, sweetheart. Someone said something went wrong with a fuse."
"I knew something would go wrong," he mutters to himself, ignoring me.
A wave of anxiety rises up but I push it aside.
"It'll be fixed soon, don't worry." I reach out to him and slowly pry his grip away from his hair, holding his hands in mine.
"I let them down." For the first time, I can see his face as his red eyes meet mine. Tear tracks trail down his flushed face, catching in the cloth of his shirt collar.
"Who, baby?" I ask softly, gently swiping away his tears with the back of my hand.
"The fans. They came all this way to see me and I-" he voice catches and he shakes his head. "I let them down."

In my three years of knowing Shawn, I've never known him to break down like this over something so small as a broken fuse. He has always been strong, steady, someone I could trust to see the good in every situation and remain calm. Even when he does get upset, it's never without an important reason. But as I pull Shawn in and he collapses against me, his face buried in my neck as tears stream down his face, I can't think of any reason to warrant this. And judging by the shake of Cez's head when I catch his eye - he can't either.

My heart aches as my boyfriend shakes against me, knowing that me simply being there with my lips pressed against his temple isn't enough. I feel helpless.

"What do you need?" I murmur in his ear so only he can hear me.
"Home," he says after a pause.
"Okay, we can go home. I can call someone to set the heat so it'll be warm by-"
"No," Shawn interrupts, he pulls back to look at me. "I want to go home to my family."
I smile to hide the moment my heart breaks a little at his words. Home. His family. Of course.

"Okay." I kiss him softly. "Okay."

*****

The next two hours pass by in a blur as Shawn does what he can to salvage the remainder of the concert when the lights are fixed, while I talk to Andrew, Shawn's manager, about getting him time off from work for the next few days. He's not happy, understandably, but he can see as well as anyone that Shawn needs this break. Thankfully, the next concert isn't for another three days so, with a heartfelt promise to return in two days, Andrew grants Shawn time off to go see his family.

Before I know it, we're boarding a plane heading to Toronto, hands clasped tightly between us as if we're each afraid the other will drift off. The journey is smooth and passes quickly, and even though he's tired, Shawn refuses to sleep. "Not when I'm so close to seeing my family again," he says.

The moment the plane touches the concrete and all the lights are turned off, Shawn jumps out of his seat into the aisle, holding his hand out for me to take with a tired grin on his face. He grabs our two bags from the overhead before gracefully saying goodbye to the charmed flight attendants and guiding me off the plane.

Cool early morning air hits me like a slap to the face when we reach the ground, causing me to pull myself into Shawn's side tighter. The soft wool of his jumper feels comforting against my skin as we make our way quickly towards the airport doors, the light of the rising sun glaring off the glass ahead.

Shawn stops abruptly when we enter, eyes widening in shock as he lets out a sharp gasp.
"Go," I say, smiling as I push him lightly.
He doesn't need telling twice and I watch in awe as he greets his waiting family, hugging them firmly in turn and then altogether. I thank God that I had the foresight to text them about our oncoming arrival because this, watching the love of my life shed hasty tears of sheer joy as his family hug him tight, is so beautiful to behold.

*****

Shawn nudges me on the ride back to his home, jerking me awake from where I was falling asleep on his shoulder in the back of the car.
"Mmm I'm up." I run my eyes, turning to face him.
"Sorry for waking you, sweetheart." He kisses my forehead gently. "I just wanted to thank you for doing this. You have no idea how much this means to me."
"I didn't do much." I laugh lightly, running by thumb alone the inside of his palm. "But you're welcome."
"You did more than you'll ever know." His eyes are earnest, loving.
I lean in, pressing a lazy kiss to his lips. "I love you."
"I love you too, with all my heart."

It's only when I've resumed my position on his shoulder and am nearly asleep when he speaks again.
"I didn't mean what I said earlier, y'know? When I said I wanted to go home? I was already home, Y/N. You're my home."
I succumb to the darkness with a smile on my face.

- - - - -

This is so bad I'm so sorry. Would you believe me if I told you I've been writing this in pieces for the last week? Because I have. And it still sucks.

I hope you're all doing good. Remember if you ever need to talk about anything, I'm here (even if I'm not updating).

Thanks for reading xx