Under loves heavy burden do I sink - William Shakespeare, via Romeo Montague
-
it was a pleasant afternoon in the freezing winter of toronto. shawn was enjoying the winter sun, the bitter winter sun that shone into his condo, as he eagerly wrote away lyrics, trying to come up with melodies and beats, working hard for this early a time in the morning.

"dude, you need to chill," brian chuckles, sitting down on shawns couch, his legs finding their way onto the coffee table.

"sorry man, i do have a job that runs twenty four-seven," shawn jokes back, making brian chuckle again.

"you've never been this energetic in your writing, you invited me to hang out," he points out. "oh god, it's alicia, isn't it?"

"aria," shawn corrects with a mutter. "god, you can't even get her fucking name right, can you?"

"well sorry, i just don't know her," brian shrugs.

"exactly! so that gives you no right to treat her the way that you do, in fact, the way that all of you do," shawn shoots back, putting down his pencil and paper. "i'm sick at tired of her crying to me, or wanting to break up, just because of you guys treating her differently."

"if she wants to break up because of us, why are you even with her? if she really loves you as much as you think she does, she'll want to stay with you no matter what. she's a child, shawn, you're just one of those guys she's gonna fall in love with without knowing the true meaning of love. she's not mature enough to understand it, heck she's not even mature enough for you," brian says sternly to shawn. "we all saw her at that party a few weeks back. she's crazy."

"don't talk about her like that!" shawn yells, getting angry.

"it's true though! are you really sure she loves you as much as she says she does? she doesn't even know the meaning of love! she's too young to understand it," brian shouts back, standing up from the couch. "you know what shawn? as soon as your mind has been made clear, and not blinded by your infatuation with her, maybe you'll understand. until then, don't even bother talking to me."

"are you fucking kidding me?" shawn yells. "you're seriously telling me not to be friends with you because i'm in love? can't you be happy for me?" he stands up also, his neck vein popping from under his skin.

"you're not in love with her! you're infatuated with her!" he yells back. "of course you are, anyway. she probably offers her body to you whenever you want it, since she's so dumb and ignorant," he mutters, thinking shawn won't hear.

"what the fuck did you just say?" shawn snaps, his voice pure venom to anyone's ears.

"you heard me, she's a fucking slut. and a dumb one too," brian folds his arms, making shawn start to unsettle his breathing, getting more and more angry as time progresses. "she offers herself to you, she's nothing more than a childish, self centred, immature-"

shawn raises his fist, his hand landing square onto brians face, his rings cutting into brians cheek, making blood start to ooze out. brians eyes go wide, and he hits back, punching shawn square in the jaw, followed by to the side of his head, hitting his temple perfectly. suddenly, shawns entire face goes limp, and he falls to the ground, passing out from the hit brian delivered.

"shit!" brian yells, finally snapping back into reality, and realising what he's done. "shawn, man, can you hear me?" he immediately crouches down, slapping shawns cheek lightly, trying to get him to wake up.

the condo bell is heard, and brian sighs to himself, standing up, and going to answer it, expecting it to be matt or ian, someone who could help him. he opens up the door, his face falling at the person outside. aria.

"um," aria begins, feeling awkward all of a sudden, and her cheeks flushing with embarrassment.

"you can't come in here," brian says immediately, worry filling him. "shawns busy."

"i need to pick up a couple things i left here last night," aria says, looking up at brian.

"you can't come in." brian states, looking behind him, seeing shawn groaning, after waking up from being passed out, rubbing his head lightly, flinching at the places where his skin is tender.

"was that a groan?" aria asks, confused, anxiousness and dread filling her. "move," she says to brian, as he places his hand on the side of the doorframe, stopping her from getting in. "i swear to fucking god, move!"

"a-ari-aria?" shawn mumbles, his voice completely inaudible, as he groans again, his head pounding, and blood coming out of his lip.

aria shoves brian to the side, running into the condo, seeing shawn on the floor, moaning and groaning at the pain on his face. she immediately gasps, running up to him, and falling onto the floor, placing his head gently into her lap.

"a-ar-"

"shh," aria whispers. "we need to get you some help," she stutters, scanning his face quickly. "what the hell happened?"

"b-"

"aria i swear-" brian begins, making the pieces click together in her head. she feels anger flood through her, followed by immediate realisation that they were probably fighting about her. she stands up from the ground, gently easing shawns head back down, this time, onto a pillow. she walks over to brian, anger flaring over her features, before she raises her hand, slapping it firmly down on his cheek.

"a-aria-" shawn stutters, pain filling him, and concern etched over his face. she glares at brian, before turning around, and focusing back onto shawn.

brian quietly slips out of shawns condo, shutting the door behind him, leaving aria and shawn alone, tension filling the air.

"shawn, come on, i'm gonna need you to sit up," aria says gently, easing shawn upright, aiding him to sit properly. "i'm gonna get some ice, okay? stay here, don't move."

"a-aria- i-i-i-"

"shh, i'm just going to the freezer," she stands up, placing her bag down, slipping off her shoes, and heading straight to the kitchen, where she gets some frozen peas out of the freezer, and a first aid kit.

"can you hold this on your head?" she asks him gently, placing the iced peas over the tender skin, as shawn nods, wincing slightly, before holding it in place. "how did you let this happen, shawn?"

"he was insulting you," he whispers, his eyes filling with sorrow. "i-i couldn't just sit there and hear things being said about you."

"shawn, every day i will question where your will comes from," she chuckles, making shawn smiles weakly, before she straddles him, sitting on his lap, and beginning to work on the cut on his lip. "you look sexy with a cut lip."

"i guess i'll have to get in fights for you more often," he jokes, making aria smile sadly, before pouring some surgical spirit onto a cotton pad.

"this might sting," she says softly, wiping away the blood over his cut, as he winces softly, but still lets her clean it up. "why did you fight him?" she whispers, cupping his cheek, after throwing the cotton pad away.

"he called you a slut, i had to do something," he mumbles, looking away from her. her face falls, tears tickling her eyes, but she grows numb to them.

"that doesn't mean you lose your friends over me," she says, kissing his cheeks softly.

"i love you, aria, i'd rather lose the world instead of losing you," her heart swells, as shawn sheepishly grins at her. "so now that you're here, how about we laze around for the day?"

"we will, because i'm not letting you get out of your place until your head is better."
-
"aria, meet camila, camila, meet aria, my girlfriend," shawn introduces aria to camila cabello. after a lot of thinking, shawn realised that aria needs to meet one of his other friends, who may just understand their love for each other, and not criticise it.

"girlfriend?" camila chuckles, going to hug aria. "hi, it's so nice to meet you!"

"you too! i love all of your songs so much!" aria giggles, slightly star struck, and slightly in awe.

"yeah, she's a tad bit of a fan," shawn adds, making arias cheeks flush.

"why didn't you introduce me to her earlier?" camila asks shawn, whacking his arm. aria chuckles softly, before shawn wraps his arm around her waist.

"there's a little bit of a problem," shawn begins, guiding them all the couch, where camila sits down next to aria, aria in the middle of camila and shawn.

"what sort of problem?"

"brian sort of hates her," shawn says simply. "and so do most of my friends."

"they got into a fight a few days ago about me. it was my fault."

shawns face completely softens at his girlfriend, completely heartbroken because of the fact that she thinks she's in the wrong.

then it hits shawn. he's so in love to the point where he's growing weaker.

but he doesn't care, as long as he was with her, everything was okay.