A/N: this is a silly little one shot I kind of threw around, not knowing if I should post or not, but here it is. An alternate take on how Austin & Ally met, and how it may not have been coincidental on Austin's part.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Rating: K

Corndogs and Courage

He wriggled around the uncomfortable metal chair, resting his chin in his hands. He was waiting for Dez to come back with food. He wasn't that hungry, but he was so bored that he was hoping whatever unhealthy junk his friend was about to bring him would distract him from his boredom.

This summer had been so painful for Austin. With no money or license, he'd basically hung out at the mall every day. It was the closest location to which he could skateboard and he could just wander around aimlessly all day long with Dez making stupid videos and trying to showcase his talents. His only other option was helping out at his parents' store and that was not going to happen. It wasn't that he hated selling mattresses (well, actually he kind of did), but he and his dad had been getting into it more often about his musical aspirations. His father thought his dreams were a complete waste of time, and Austin was getting sick of trying to convince him otherwise.

He wished his parents were more supportive of him. He wished he could make them understand how passionate he was about a career in music. He knew he could sing, he just wasn't so good at the whole getting famous thing. It was harder than it looked on TV.

He sighed, feeling the severe ennui overtake him. His eyes once again led him inside Sonic Boom, the mall's music store, seeing the girl who worked there standing behind the counter talking to her dad. He didn't really know her that well, he'd never even talked to her, but he knew that her father owned the store. She was so lucky! She was surrounded by music all day long, she could play whatever instrument she wanted for free. Her dad was probably so supportive of her.

She was hunched over, scribbling furiously in a little brown notebook. She was always doing that when traffic was slow in the store; he'd noticed that on more than one occasion. He wondered what she was writing. He wondered if it was songs, he always saw her playing the piano in the store and giving lessons. He envied her.

She blew a strand of chocolate brown hair off her forehead, seemingly frustrated. He wondered why. He'd spent a lot of time watching her over the past few months, having started to develop a tiny crush on her. It was dumb, he didn't know her at all, but he felt a little kinship to her. She seemed to love being around the instruments just like he did. Plus she was cute in her awkward way. She was tiny, really small, with quick brown eyes and pale skin, but her looks weren't the only thing that caught his eye. He'd noticed some of her interesting little quirks, the way she chewed on her hair when she was nervous, the way she freaked out whenever anyone got close to that book of hers. It was funny.

She wore stuff that wasn't really like any other girl he had seen, but he liked that she was different. She seemed to always be off in her own world, like she didn't care much about what else was going on around her. He admired that and he could relate. Sometimes he felt like that when he was listening to music, too. He wondered why he had never really seen her around school, but he figured she was the type of girl who always had her head buried in a book. She seemed really nice, at least when he'd seen her interacting with her students or customers, but he also figured she was a little shy, as she didn't do much interacting with anyone else. It made him want to get to know her more.

He had even tried writing a song about her. It was terrible, but at least she had inspired him. He wished he was a better writer, but he figured he could keep practicing and one day he might get there. It was exciting to have a secret muse. He hadn't told anyone about her, not even Dez! And Dez knew everything about him.

There was one flaw in his otherwise perfect girl; she was a horrible dancer. He'd seen her do what could only be described as seizure-like movements when she thought no one was looking. But he saw her. He was a great dancer, maybe one day he could teach her how to dance like a normal person, or at least teach her how to be less spastic.

One day. He'd wandered in and out of the store on multiple occasions, but he'd never been able to even speak to her. It was weird. He was Austin Moon, he could talk to anyone! Instead he'd made up a back story about her, too afraid to actually even find out her name. She made him a little nervous, he needed some way to break the ice, to get her attention. He'd watched her from afar for so long, all he needed was a little courage to go and talk to her. Maybe today was the day.

A plastic basket of corndogs landed in front of his face with a big PLOP. His favorite.

He looked up at his friend as the redhead took a big bite of his own snack. He looked back down at the plate, an idea emerging in his head.

"Aren't you hungry?" Dez asked as he chomped on his cornmeal battered hot dog.

"Nah, but I have an idea. Do you think you could film me playing the drums at Sonic Boom with these? Maybe we could post it on the internet!" he suggested, picking up the two corndogs and starting to pretend drum through the air.

Dez's brow furrowed, "There's no food allowed in Sonic Boom. And I don't think you're supposed to play the drums."

Austin looked at his friend, now he was deciding to follow rules? They'd done some crazy things to try and get famous and Dez hadn't had any hesitation before. He whined, "Come on, it'd be funny, I'm an awesome drummer, and they're corndogs…"

His friend thought about it for a second before his mouth expanded into a huge grin. "That would be pretty awesome. Playing the drums with corndogs, what will you think of next, Austin?" he chuckled.

Austin smiled as he practically skipped towards the store, Dez in tow. This was it, he was going to talk to the shop girl, but he was nervous. He looked down at the corndogs, he could do this. He could feel that something big was about to happen, like his life was about to change.

"Are you really going to eat that?" Ally asked, wrinkling her face in disgust, as she sat down across from him on the bus's kitchen table. She reached across the table to grab a corndog from his plate.

"Huh?" he asked, her voice snapping him back to the present day.

"Earth to Austin. I don't know how you eat these things, they're so unhealthy." She examined the offending food, twisting the stick in her hand.

"Hey, corndogs are my favorite food. They've done a lot for me."

"What have corndogs ever done for you?" she asked, surprised at his declaration.

He snickered, if she only knew. He confessed, "They gave me the courage to talk to you."

The memory clicked in her head. She smiled widely. "Oh yeah, remember when we first met?"

"I was drumming with two of these." He picked up the remaining corndog from his plate and tapped it against the one she was holding. "And to think, without these guys, I would have never gone into Sonic Boom and started playing, and you would've never come over to scold me, and we would've never become partners I would've never become famous, you would have never gotten over your stage fright, you would've never gotten a record deal, and you wouldn't have surprised me on tour, and we wouldn't be sitting here now. Face it, there would be no Austin and Ally without corndogs."

She thought about it for a second. "Hmm, so I guess I owe a lot to corndogs, too. Or maybe not," she smirked.

"I owe these things everything. There's no way I could make it without you, do it without you, be here without you," he sang into the golden brown object.

"Did you just really sing to a corndog?" she raised her eyebrows.

"I can't help it, they made you notice me." He took a deep breath, gripping the stick tightly. He leaned over the table to kiss her gently on the cheek. "These things led me to you, and so they gave me everything."

Her heart fluttered in her chest. "Well then I guess they're my favorite food, too."