The Breaking Point (Complete)-Shawmila

The Time Bomb

Hey Mendes, get back in there!"

Although only a few inches from his car and thus his escape route, Shawn managed to force himself to stop and slowly turned to face his friend.

Crossing his arms across his wide chest and tilting his head slightly to the right he replied solemnly "No"

Brian had seen this stand off coming and he'd immediately known that it would be up to him to play the part of 'peacemaker'.

Matching Shawn's stance by crossing his own arms over his much more narrow chest, Brian looked into the eyes of his best friend, they had been close since childhood, he had been by Shawn's side when superstardom beckoned and had stayed by it as he lost it all but looking into his eyes at this moment he was horrified to realise that he could almost hear Shawn's soul screaming out for help. There was a shadow covering him these days and Brian knew that ignoring it as everyone was would not help him to move out from under its weight.

Closing his eyes he braced himself as he prepared to address 'The Forbidden Subject'

"Shawn, I know that this is going to be hard for you..."

"It's not going to be hard at all Bri, because I'm not doing it!" His voice was steady and his eyes never shied away from the redheads. He was holding his ground as though it was all he had left in the world "I came, I saw and now I'm leaving!"

"Not good enough"

Silently, Shawn cursed the fact that it had been Brian that had come after him and not Hailey. He felt sure that Hailey would have just let him leave- as sure as he was that Brian would not.

Damn him and his inability to ever win an argument with the man standing in front of him- one thing was for sure though, he was going to give this one a hell of a good shot.

"You know Shawn, this might be difficult for you to hear but Camila, Niall and Justin didn't come back for you. They came back for me, for my birthday not another 'Shawn Mendes Pity Party'"

Brian's face was now as serious as Shawn had ever seen it, he and Justin shared a deep friendship, it was only now that he was beginning to see just how deep it may run and it only made him grieve more for the death of his own friendships.

Brian, his closest friend thought he was throwing himself a 'Pity Party' , he didn't recognise his suffering for what it was and why should he? He was right about one thing though, this week was about Brian- he had never been anything other than a loyal friend and he didn't deserve to be punished for other peoples mistakes.

Suddenly ashamed of his behaviour Shawn dropped his eyes to his feet. Brian recognised his regret immediately and reached out a hand and took hold of his shoulder

"Shawn, you need to talk to Camila and Niall..."

He began to argue but Brian continued, raising his voice slightly so as to draw his attention to the fact that he hadn't finished talking.

"If you don't you are going to be stuck in this goddamn 'prison of regret' that you have built around yourself"

"I didn't do any of this Brian"

"But you're the only one that can free yourself of it, you have to be brave enough to ask them for the truth and then to deal with it- no matter how painful it is. We're all here for you- we want to help you through this but you have to stop running"