Title: Make You Smile
Fandom: Austin & Ally
Pairing: AustinAlly
Disclaimer: Yeah, I don't own Austin & Ally. Even if I did, I probably wouldn't admit it, though. I'm too old for this shit. ;)
-A&A-
They hold hands as he signs the contracts. Austin's left hand clutches Ally's right, and every time he initials a page, he gives it a squeeze. It says many things (there's no way I could make it without you, we're better together, you're always on my mind), but he knows that it will never say enough. Words, they're Ally's thing. She strings them together, and they form a feeling that every listener relates to.
He has the feeling, just not the words to match. So, he holds her hand, and whenever he turns a page in the contract he'd never be signing without her, he hopes—somehow—their entwined digits let her understand, if only for a moment.
Austin's parents are somewhere in the background with the lawyer they hired for the occasion, and Mr. Dawson is conspicuously absent as always. There's a distinct aura of I told you so in the air, but Mr. Moon can't bring himself to intrude upon his son's bliss even to say "I'm sorry."
It doesn't matter. Austin Moon has never needed validation from his father or anyone, really—except Ally. But then again, she's always been his exception. She probably always will be.
He hopes she always will be.
There's something in the way she throws herself into his arms after his record deal is sealed that feels different—different from the slew of other hugs they've shared since they met. It reminds him of their first, just because the feeling surprises him. After the handshake or hug fiasco, he hadn't really been expecting anything from her. So when she does embrace him, it feels good—like it's been a long time coming, like he's arriving home.
This hug feels like the first time. But this time, he realizes just what that means. His eyes widen, his heart races, and his palms sweat. Hives might have been next if she hadn't pulled back then.
Austin's father claps him on the back, his mother gives him a watery grin, and he feels like they're truly proud of him. Then he looks at Ally, and she appears slightly ill as she watches their familial moment. This is something she will never get from her father, something she hasn't gotten from him—not for a long time.
And it hurts. It hurts Austin, because it hurts Ally. Because her pain is his pain. And it's not because she's his best friend or his songwriter, even though she's both of those things in full. It's because he's truly, madly, deeply in love with her, and suddenly he's realizing it.
So he throws his arms around her, pulling her small frame into his taller one, and says, "This calls for a celebration. Let's go to the diner across the street. They'll have pancakes and pickles!"
Ally throws back her head and laughs, and it feels so damn good to have made her smile again that he forgets to wonder how he never realized what these butterflies meant before.
As they exchange bright-eyed glances across their booth, though, he thinks he understands.
He has known in his heart, from the beginning, that it would be Austin & Ally forever. It's simple math. It's a law of physics. Thereisno Austin without Ally. He'd just had to wait for his mind to catch up.
And something in her eyes just then tells him that—in that moment—her heart and head have synchronized just like his.
