A/N: I don't really like this much but I liked the idea I had in mind so idk lol here
Word Count: 3 326
Valentine's Day.
Every year, Austin finds himself singing some kind of sappy love song written by the very girl he wishes he was serenading, and every year, he finds himself sitting in his apartment and watching old reruns of Christmas-themed films with Dez, because watching rom-coms by himself seems a little bit too pathetic.
It's not that he doesn't have offers. Austin is very popular, in more ways than one. He knows there are a number of very willing girls who would love a Valentine's date with him. But why would he take any of them out, when the girl he wants to take out is always free on Valentine's Day? It has always been a mystery to him how she's always free on Valentine's Day – how has nobody else noticed the way she moves, the way she smiles, the way she laughs? How is the most beautiful and talented girl in the whole wide world single?
Maybe it's because he has never actually asked her.
They have something, he knows they do. It's unofficially official that they have something, something that's obvious to everybody but her. Every year, he plans out how he would ask her – something simple, something classy, like handing her a rose and whispering 'be mine?' Every year, he chickens out, and he has to listen with a doleful expression as she chatters animatedly about the chick flick she and Trish had rented that year.
This year was different.
This year, he had almost asked her.
He had chickened out at the last minute. Again.
So, really, this year isn't any different to the last five years.
"Christmas, Christmas time is here," sings Alvin and the Chipmunks from the flat-screen on the other side of the room.
Austin lets out a discontented grumble and stretches out across his couch lazily, angrily humming along to the Christmas song. A packet of open Cheetos spills out across his stomach, and he peers down at the orange mess before absently popping another chip into his mouth. It's lonely without Dez there – for the first time since Valentine's Day had started to matter, Austin is alone.
Has he mentioned that Dez and Trish are out gallivanting somewhere, being sickeningly happy on a date?
Maybe he isn't angry because Dez ditched him. Maybe he's angry because he was too nervous to ask Ally on a real date. He closes his eyes and puts another Cheeto in his mouth, envisioning big brown eyes and a cute little nose. Mm, he thinks, although he isn't sure if he's content because he's thinking about Ally, or because he really enjoys Cheetos.
He suspects the former.
Before his thoughts can continue in his happy fantasy of those big brown eyes and cute little nose inching closer and closer to his own, he's startled by the sound of somebody very rapidly knocking on the door. Austin lets out a startled yelp and rolls off of the couch, all the Cheetos falling off of his stomach and scattering across the floor, as well as the bag falling and sending Cheetos spinning everywhere.
"Just a minute!" Austin calls to whoever is at the door, who's still knocking repeatedly on the door.
"But Austin!" cries out the person on the other side of the door.
Austin freezes. He knows that voice. He dreams about that voice crying out his name almost daily. (Although, he dreams about that voice crying out his name in an entirely different manner.)
"Ally?" He calls back, his eyebrows raising in panic as he looks at the mess strewn across the floor.
"The one and only!" She cheers, and he can just imagine her bouncing up and down excitedly. (Although, he's imagining her bouncing up and down in an entirely different context.)
"J-Just a minute!" He yells, attempting to scoop up all the Cheetos into a neat pile, grimacing at the cheesy, orange powder it leaves on the floor.
"I've seen you naked before, it's okay!" Ally jokes.
He had almost forgotten about the time she had accidentally walked in on him in the shower on the tour bus. Or that time that she had come into his dressing room without knocking for the chocolate fountain. Or that other time that she had accidentally walked in on him in the shower on the other tour bus. Or that time that the beach umbrella had gone a little out of control and tore his pants away – that had been a bad day not to wear underwear.
"I'm not naked!" He squeaks. "Just give me a moment, okay?"
"But I'm bored," she whines, and before he can react, the door swings open and Ally's hand is over her mouth in an attempt to stifle her giggle.
"You know, I gave you that key for emergencies," he grumbles, his body hunched protectively over the pile of Cheetos on the floor with the orange powder scattered around him.
Ally shakes her head with a smile and sets down her bag and – her sleeping bag? – before disappearing into his kitchen and returning moments later with a wet rag, a broom, and a dustpan. She wordlessly hands him the rag and begins to sweep the Cheetos into a much neater pile than the haphazard pile he's made by pushing them together.
"What would you do without me?" Ally teases, sweeping the Cheetos into the dustpan, and picking up the now-empty bag of Cheetos.
"Probably die in a powdery, orange mess," Austin admits, following her into the kitchen. He rinses the rag and squeezes it out as she throws out the Cheetos, and his heart twists at how simply domestic their situation is. He wonders if they could ever live his fantasy, if one day she would clean the kitchen while he cleans the living room, and they would sit down and eat lunch together. She would do the dishes and he would dry them.
"Oh, Austin, look at you," Ally sighs, tearing him from his thoughts. He looks down at his shirt, covered in the cheesy powder.
"Oh," he mumbles, cheeks burning with embarrassment.
She moves to stand in front of him, and her hands move to the hem of his shirt.
"Wh-what are you doing?" Austin splutters, while his brain screams at him – what the heck is he doing, stopping Ally Dawson from removing his shirt? He flinches away, some of the powder flying free of his shirt and floating to the floor.
Ally quirks an eyebrow, unimpressed. "If you take it off, you're just going to fling the powder everywhere and make more of a mess," she points out.
"Oh," he repeats, stepping towards her again.
She stifles a smile and her hands rest on the hem of his shirt again, slowly drawing it up. She seems to roll it as she pulls it up, and she's doing it much slower than she needs to. Austin doesn't mind. He lifts his arms soundlessly and she stands on her tiptoes to pull his shirt all the way off. Suddenly the mood shifts and the tension feels almost palpable as he stares down at her, slowly lowering his arms back to his sides as she carefully bundles the shirt into a ball.
"There," she says quietly, her eyes flickering up to meet his as she drops back onto feet properly, pressing his shirt into his hands. "Go put that in your hamper and put on a new shirt."
He's tempted to stay shirtless. He likes the way her eyes flit over his bare chest when she thinks he's not looking.
"Okay," he replies, shuffling away to do so.
When he returns to the living room, he sees that Ally has unpacked her bag and unrolled her sleeping bag. He notes that she's grabbed spare blankets from the linen closet and made a blanket fort, using various chairs and the couch to hold up the makeshift ceiling. She's paused Alvin and the Chipmunks and she's organising a pile of DVDs, her brow furrowed and her tongue sticking out of her mouth in concentration.
Austin walks over to join her and sits beside her. His presence startles her, and she flinches automatically, before she realises that it's just him and relaxes again, returning to organising the pile of DVDs. She's put them in some kind of order, side by side, and he looks over the titles.
"Ally."
"Hmm?" She asks, peering down at the DVDs with a frown and occasionally changing the order.
"These are all chick flicks."
"Duh," she says. "It's Valentine's Day, hence we watch cheesy rom-coms."
"Ah," he laughs. "So, I'm the replacement Trish this year? Galentine's Day with your best girlfriend, Austin?"
She shakes her head with a secretive smile.
"I never actually got a chance to ask you why you're here," he muses, stretching his legs out in front of him and leaning back on the palms of his hands.
"Well, you're sort of a replacement Trish," she says, giving him a look that tells him he should know better. "But not really. Like, I can't celebrate 'Galentine's Day' with you, 'cause you're not a gal. I mean, I don't think of you as a lady." She shrugs. "I mean, I could have just watched these by myself – but I knew you were alone, too, since Dez went out. So, I mean, I figured we may as well have some Austin and Ally time, y'know?"
A smiles tugs at the corner of Austin's lips. "Sounds like you have this all planned out," he teases, nudging her with his shoulder.
Ally's cheeks colour with embarrassment. "I – well – yeah. I wanted to surprise you, 'cause I know you get all sad and lonely on Valentine's Day," she says as she pokes his cheek. "And if I'm alone, and you're alone, we may as well spend it together, right?"
He grins at her flirtatiously once more. "Your logic is impeccable, as usual, m'lady."
His grin only seems to grow as she blushes again, ducking her head in embarrassment as she averts her gaze back to the DVDs in front of her. "Anyway, I put them all in the order we should watch them. I thought we should start with something good, like 27 Dresses, and then work our way through them until we get to the really trashy ones around midnight – like Twilight and stuff."
"I don't wanna watch Twilight," he whines, his nose scrunching up with distaste.
Ally shoves him. "You don't get a choice."
"You're so mean to me," he complains, shoving her back.
Ally shoves him again, a gleeful giggle erupting from her lips. Austin feigns pain and lets out a gasp of mock-shock, before he shoves her back. She rolls her eyes and twists so that she's half facing him, her hands braced on his shoulders. She gives him another shove, and he actually topples over because he hadn't been expecting her to push him again. Her hand claps over her mouth as she tries to stop herself from laughing, her eyes wide with shock and laughter, unbelieving that she had just done that. Austin blinks rapidly and looks up at her from where he was lying awkwardly, an amused smirk set firmly in place. Her hands are still on his shoulders, pinning him to the floor, but he finds that he doesn't really mind at all.
"If you wanted me on my back and at your mercy, all you had to do was ask," he jokes, and she blushes so hard that even her ears turn pink.
Her hands quickly retreat from his shoulders, but Austin sees a chance. As she reaches for the first DVD and stands, he grabs her by the wrist and tugs on it. She falls over, her arms flailing as she fights for balance, and she lands with an oof, her butt colliding with his stomach.
He doesn't know why he expected her to fall neatly on top of him, but he knows that there's a searing pain in his ribs and the air is knocked clean out of his body, with her sitting on his stomach and looking shocked. Her legs are strewn out in front of her, and they're in a T-shaped position, and he can barely see her face because she's facing the left, but he has a lovely view of her profile. He can't admire it, though, because he's too worried about the pain lacing through his body and the fact that there was no longer air in his stomach.
"Ow," he complains, finally gulping in a much needed breath of air.
"Hey, you were the one who pulled me," she whines, twisting to face him. He notes smugly that she doesn't get up.
"And you were the one who fell on me," he counters.
She shuffles and slides off of him so that she's kneeling beside him. "Are you alright?" She asks, her brow furrowing with concern.
"I guess," he sighs, rubbing his stomach contemplatively.
Ally hesitantly puts a hand on the side of his ribs, spreading her fingers over it, still looking incredibly concerned. "That doesn't sound very reassuring."
He puts his hand on top of hers. He doesn't know why he does it, but he knows that he likes the feeling of her hand on his chest and that he doesn't want her to take her hand away. "It hurts a little," he admitted.
She frowns, and settles into a kneeling position more comfortably beside him, gently spreading her hands across the lower half of his ribs and stomach. It's not as though she can heal him with her touch, or that gently massaging it would make the pain go away, but he doesn't mind. He places his other hand on hers, holding both her hands to his chest. She doesn't seem to mind.
The thought crosses his mind that maybe she wants to touch him just as badly as he wants to touch her.
"I'm sorry for falling on you," she says quietly, gently gliding her hands down his ribs, across his stomach, and back up his ribs.
"I'm sorry for pulling you," he replies, his hands gripping her wrists as she flits her delicate touch up and down his torso.
She smiles and bites her lip. He smiles at her as well. She doesn't say anything, and neither does he, and there it is again – that palpable tension, that feeling that there was something more happening than what was really happening.
She clears her throat and the moment is shattered, but she doesn't move her hands from his chest. "All better?" She asks quietly, and whilst the quiet tension was gone, he felt something electric fill the air.
"Yeah," he says quietly. A moment passes. Then, "I'm not sorry for pulling you," he admits.
Her eyes widen and she looks confused.
Without wasting another moment, his hands slide up from her wrists to her shoulders and he pulls her down. Her forehead bangs against his painfully, and their teeth make a clacking noise, but he doesn't care because he's finally – finally – kissing her. After five years of pining after this wonderful, beautiful, talented girl, he's finally kissing her.
Maybe this year is different to the other years.
She relaxes against his chest, and he sits up halfway so that she doesn't have to lean down at such an awkward angle, his lips never leaving hers. He braces himself on one elbow, the other arm still firmly around her shoulders as he pulls her as close as possible to him. He can feel her hands threading through his hair and she lets out a needy whimper. Austin uses this opportunity to deepen the kiss and all of a sudden it's too much and he wants more – but he doesn't know if she does, so he pulls away and gives her a breathless smile.
"I'm really not sorry for pulling you," he says cheekily, pressing one, final, chaste kiss to her lips.
She looks embarrassed and her eyes are wide, flicking between his lips and his eyes, before her own lips curve into a smile and she slides her hands from his hair to around his shoulders. She leans forward to hug him, turning her face into his neck. He turns his face into her neck as well, tightening his arm around her waist.
"It's about time," she mutters.
"Hm?" He asks, pulling back and quirking an eyebrow at her with a sly smirk. "Ally Dawson, have you been trying to seduce me?"
Her cheeks colour and she rolls her eyes. "I – wh- pfft, no. No, I haven't."
"Oh, really? So you just happened to take off my shirt with a lame excuse? And rub your hands all over my chest, hmm?"
"I – you – you were painful! I – I wasn't – no –"
He cuts her off with another kiss, pressing his lips firmly to hers. He likes how she melts into it, that she doesn't even try to resist him. He tugs at her and she gets the picture, sliding into his lap with a little giggle that makes his heart soar.
"You know, I really don't mind if you wanted to seduce me," he murmurs, pulling his lips away from hers and kisses down the side of her neck. "I wasn't joking when I said that if you wanted me on my back and your mercy, all you have to do is ask," he teases.
She bites her lips, stifling another giggle and swats him. "Austin."
"I love you."
Ally freezes and suddenly he's afraid that he's taken things too far. He can tell from the enthusiastic way she responded to his kiss that she likes him too but he wonders if he should have waited longer to admit it to her. She doesn't reply so he feels the need to continue, something to fill the awkward silence.
"You don't have to say it back," he says, at the same time that she says,
"You love me?"
Austin clears his throat. "Well… Yeah," he laughs awkwardly. "I mean, I don't wanna lay anything too heavy on you, but I've kind of loved you for the majority of the time I've known you."
She blushes and rests her forehead against his. "R-Really?"
She smiles awkwardly. "I walked in on you on purpose."
He looks confused at the sudden topic change. "What?"
"You know, Ally, every year I try to ask you out on Valentine's Day. I always chicken out."
"All those times that I walked in on you. In the shower, in the dressing room. It was kind of on purpose."
His jaw drops. "You're such a pervert," he teases, although he feels mildly proud that she had sought him out on purpose.
She blushes. "It – it wasn't like that! I… I mean, each time, I'd been… I was like, 'Ally, today is the day. Today is the day you make a move.' And I thought, maybe it would be easier if you were naked, because then you would be the vulnerable one, not me, and… and I know that's weird logic, but I chickened out because you're so… yeah." She looks so adorably embarrassed that Austin can't help but pull her to him for another kiss.
"So, you're telling me, that for the past five years, we've both been trying to ask each other out, but we were both too cowardly to actually do anything?"
Ally looks mildly put out and nods sadly. "Yeah."
He grins. "Then we have some lost time to catch up on," he says simply, pulling her to another kiss. She giggles happily into their kiss, and his heart warms. Needless to say, the DVDs lie forgotten, and the blanket fort sees some things that Austin is very proud of.
Yup, he thinks. This year is definitely different to other years.