Mushy

"You know, Keeler," Austin Tucker said when he walked into the Rock the Monday after his diaster of a pool party. "You really should have yourself tested for some sort of disease."

"Excuse me?" Payson snapped at him from where she stood on the balance beam. It was 5:30 in the morning, and Payson had been alone in the gym since five when she had arrived. Kaylie, Lauren, and Emily had obviously decided to wait until the mandatory 7 A.M. to show up at the gym.

Austin laughed. "People that have ADD have trouble focusing on things, but you have like the opposite of that. You can't stop focusing."

"When you're an elite gymnast, Austin, that's a good thing," she snapped.

Austin threw his gym bag down on the ground near the door and started to walk over to her. Payson performed a diffecult dismount then saluted by habit. She regretted it as soon as she heard Austin clapping. Even his applause sounded sarcastic.

"I'll give you a 7 for the dismount, and a nine for how cute you looked doing it," he said with that smirk of his that made her weak at the knees.

Payson casually leaned against the beam, trying to appear uninterested in talking to him. "What are you doing here?" she asked in an annoyed tone.

"You mean besides distracting you?" he asked, still smirking.

"You aren't distracting me."

"Then why did you stop practicing?"

"I thought it would be rude to not speak to you for a moment."

"You going to speak to everyone that walks in the gym today?"

"No."

"Then I am a distraction."

"You are not. I can practice with you in here. I do it everyday."

"Not while we're alone."

"That's because you're never here before or after practice. You're a slacker. I'm not."

Austin laughed. "And I have an Olympic gold medal, a gold medal from Worlds in '06, and four National Championships. Do you have any of that?" Payson looked away from him so that he could not see how much his words hurt her. "I didn't think so."

"You don't deserve any of that, though. You don't work anywhere near as hard as I do. You're just like Kaylie," Payson snapped at him.

"How am I just like Kaylie?"

"You get everything handed to you."

"I'm here everyday of the week, just like you are. I've trained in some of the best gyms in the country since I was five years old. I never had a childhood, my family lived in a van in order for me to be able to train," he stopped his little tyraid when he saw the guilty look on Payson's face. "So no, Payson, I do not and did not get anything handed to me."

Payson sighed. "I didn't know that."

"You shouldn't judge people before you know them," he told her.

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I can understand why you would think that. And I understand why you resent Kaylie."

"I don't resent Kaylie. She's one of my best friends."

"She won after you got hurt. It's only natural," he said.

"Maybe I do resent her. Okay?" Payson whispered, not looking at him. "I should the National Championship, and I should be able to at least be able to try out for the team that goes to Worlds."

Austin demeanor changed immediatly. He stepped toward her and leaned beside her on the beam."You can still win the Olympics," Austin said, trying to get away from the subject of Kaylie. "If anyone from the Rock can win the gold, it's you, Keeler."

"Really?" she said, turning to look at him.

"Of course. And I can't be the first person to tell you that."

"You're the first to say it after my accident."

Austin smiled. "All the gymnastics greats in that video at the awards banquet said it."

"They said no one should count me out. Not that I had a better chance than Kaylie, Lauren, or Emily."

"I've won the Olympics, and it's not easy. Now that you know how hard getting where I am now was for me, you probably think I turned into a slacker, but you're wrong. I work just as hard, if not harder, than you do. Just not here."

"Then where?" Payson asked him curiously.

"At the local YMCA. I donate money there, and they let me use the gymnastics equipment afterhours."

"Why not save your money and train here?"

Austin laughed again. "To the public, I'm the normal guy that just happens to be an Olympic gold medalist. Everyone thinks I party all the time, have a different girl every night, and that I really won the Olympics with a hangover. I wouldn't be as popular if I was just another 'robo' gymnast."

Payson nodded in understandment. "I'm glad to know you work hard."

"Why?"

"It makes me feel better about myself. I work harder than any female gymnast in the country, yet I can't even win Nationals," Payson admitted to him.

"You said it yourself, Keeler. You should have won. Not to sound like a mature person or anything, but everything happens for a reason. Maybe you just needed to face some hard ships to be able to make your dreams come true."

Payson suprised him by bursting out in laughter. "What?" he asked in confusion.

"Sorry, but that sounds like something out of a fortune cookie," she told him, still laughing. " 'You will face adversities, but they will only make you stronger' or something like that."

"I can be deep, Keeler," he said, but the grin on his face contredicted him.

Payson just kept laughing. After both gymnasts had regained the ability to speak coharently, Payson smiled up at Austin, the look on her face telling him immediatly that her next statement was not going to make him laugh.

"After everything that has happened, I've never truly believed I could win the gold in 2012, but you made me realize that I can do anything as long as I work hard," Payson whispered to him softly.

"I think that's rather fortune-cookie-ish," Austin told her, trying to lighten the moment.

"I'm serious, Austin. Thank you," Payson told him earnestly.

Austin reached down and took her hands in his own. Payson blush a little as he laced his fingers with hers. He lifted their hands upward so that they were directly in between them, four inches from her shoulders and four inches from the top of his abs. "Don't get all mushy on me," he whispered to her.

Payson grinned at him just before she felt his lips against her own. After about five seconds, Austin pulled back from her and leaned his forehead against hers. "I think that qualifies as mushy," she told him, a smile on her face.

"Then maybe I like mushy."

Just a sweet, fluffy Payson/Austin fic. I am completely in love with this couple. I might even like them better than Payson/Nicky.

I had to get this story out of my system before I started on my 'J' word for the Alphabet Challenge I'm doing with Love's Crash Test Dummy. My word is Jealousy, so you guys can probably count on either A) Payson/Austin, B) Nicky/Kaylie, or C) Nicky/Kelly Parker to go along with the required Payson/Nicky. I'm not sure which couple, but I think it'll probably be P/A.

WE NEED MORE PAYSON AND AUSTIN FICS! So if you like them as a couple, write your own story about them.

PLEASE REVIEW.