actions, an austin & ally fanfic

Pairing: Ross/Laura
Prompt: One day, I was talking with Chelsea (Rauraholic on Twitter, sprinkleofgold on FanFiction) about oneshot prompts, and she suggested a oneshot about the progressing relationship between Ross and Laura. Also, this is in part inspired by a cold day in december's labels.
Notes: This one is dedicated to Nicole (nicoleeewhat on Twitter); ily kbai.
Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer. No copyright infringement intended.

.handshakes.

The first time they meet, it's all hi-how-are-you's and I'm-excited-to-work-with-you's. Ross, being the awkward boy-man-ape he is, goes around and introduces himself robotically; "Hi, I'm Ross Lynch, I play rhythm guitar and I sing in my family band R5, nice to meet you! Can't wait to start working with you!" And it's the same, superfluous introduction every time.

That is, until he makes his way to Laura. He begins the standard introduction, sticking his hand out for her to shake. However, she interrupts him midway, laughing. "Relax, Ross! No one's going to judge you on how you greet them." Smiling, she shakes his hand firmly.

He rubs the back of his neck, embarrassed. "First impressions, y'know..."

She nods, eyes twinkling in her mirth. "My first impression of you is as an awkwardly tall blonde surfer, so what do you think of me?"

He looks slightly taken aback at her jab at him, then smiles and slips into an easy, teasing mood. "My first impression of you? Okay, I'd say it was of a chirpily short brunette actress."

"...Chirpily? Like a bird?"

Suffice to say, their first meeting is like no other.

.high-fives.

She's always been fond of high-fives; when he asks her why, she just responds with, "They're fun." Later, she explains to him that high-fives have always seemed more natural and genuine to her, as opposed to any compliment or other type of praise. After that, he high-fives her whenever he can, because you deserve all the praise in the world. His words leave her genuinely stunned and she starts to wonder how hard you can fall in just a month.

.smiles.

He's a nervous smiler. It's true; if there's awkwardness or tension in the air, he'll start smiling nervously, and maybe look away a little, the same hesitant smile plastered on his face.

Because of this, it's not a big deal if Ross Lynch smiles at you. Maybe it's a nervous smile, a crazy smile, a happy smile, a bored smile; the puppy-boy can express all of his emotions through smiles.

Laura often catches him smiling off into space, because after two months, she knows that he's a dreamer and his head is stuck in the clouds. On the other hand, she's a realist, and the ground has never been too far away from her head (both figuratively and literally).

So one day she asks him what he's always thinking about, and he just turns his head to her and smiles. "Anything and everything," he says. "And sometimes, nothing at all." She doesn't understand the purpose of daydreaming when you could be doing something more productive with your time, and she tells him this. His next smile is determined as he declares, "Well, then I guess I'll have to teach you how to daydream."

She accepts his challenge, and from then on they become much closer and she learns to read his smiles. Sometimes she'll be tapping her pencil against her chin during on-set school and she'll gaze off into the distance, and then he'll smile proudly because she's finally learning to daydream.

Now, instead of catching him dreamily staring off into nowhere, she'll sometimes find him smiling at her. She'll turn her head, surprised, and when her eyes meet his, she'll smile as well because this is what they do.

One day, she asks him if he gets tired of smiling all the time. "The way I see it, always smiling is like a mask. So, what are you really feeling, huh?" she pokes him in the ribs and the smile falls off his face.

"I don't know," he sighs. They're just three little words, but after he says them he looks like he's going to cry.

Concerned, Laura asks. "Hey... what is it?"

And then she's crushed into a fierce hug as she feels something wet drip onto her shoulder. Her eyes widen and then blink in shock a couple of times. "R-Ross?" Her tone is slightly scared and completely ready to listen.

"I- Do you remember Ellie?" He finally chokes out. She nods, patting his back comfortingly. The kind 25-year-old cousin of the Lynches had gone to a few Austin & Ally live tapings, and Laura remembers liking her(1). "She was in a car accident yesterday and now she's in the ICU and- oh god, Laura, I don't know what to do." His breath catches and her heart aches for him. "Everyone's expecting me to be bright and cheerful and optimistic. They want to hear words of confidence and hope and I don't want to let them down but I can't do it. I can't do that all the time; I can't always be strong, I can't keep this façade up forever, and I can't be the one they look to for reassurance, not always."

"I get it, Ross," Laura finally says quietly. "Come on over here, come to me whenever you feel the need to just get it all out. Y'know, let me do the comforting and the reassuring this time; I can handle it if you have for so long."

And then they're quiet, but they stay that way for a long time, locked in an embrace.

.hugs.

That hug is the first of the endless number of hugs he'll give her. He's always been a touchy-feely type of person; so what if he happens to hug Laura the most?

He'll hug her when he sees her, he'll laugh and then hug her, he'll hug her out of the blue, and he sometimes he won't want to let go because it feels so right.

She doesn't mind it, either, even if she's never been too big on hugs, because every time he hugs her, something blooms in her chest and her stomach goes into full flutter mode. And that's not unenjoyable.

.touches.

He does like physical contact. Handshakes, high-fives, hugs, he'll go for them all. Scripts in Austin & Ally will say Austin sits down next to Ally and he'll interpret it as Austin sits on top of Ally because why not? She doesn't stop him, anyways, even when he's pressed up against her in the car on the way to Chick-fil-A, stealing her air. The space between them is shrinking, both figuratively and literally, but they don't mention it to each other because dafuq is personal space?

They know they've crossed a line somewhere when they wake up (after scary movie marathons with their families and friends) tangled in each other, limbs thrown every which way, over and under in a big, beautiful mess. They like it though, they like it too much, and that's when they know they've crossed the line between friendship and something else that's scary and uncharted.

But then again, it's her and him and between the two of them, that line has never been too clear in the first place.

.holding hands.

They thought they were fine with all the little touches and hugs and smiles, but they're getting closer and closer and he decides to rock the boat because he's always been a firm believer in acting now and not later when you'll regret not doing it earlier.

So one day, as they're on their way back to the set from on-set school, he gently grabs her hand and threads his fingers through hers. None of them say anything, even though her eyes are wide in wonder and his are set determinedly ahead, refusing to look anywhere else less his ears turn red again in embarrassment. His hand is so large compared to hers, and she can feel the calluses on her fingertips from playing guitar. On the other hand, no pun intended, hers are small and soft and delicate, years of piano shaping them into slender forms.

From then on, he grabs her hand whenever he gets the chance, and she's getting more and more confused as to where they stand in terms of relationships.

.plain old talks.

She thinks that the most intimate thing you can do is plain old talking. To her, talking about your wildest dreams with someone is the closest you can be, because how much do you have to trust and love someone to bare your whole soul to them?

Sometimes they'll lie in the grass, staring at the sky with their hands interlocked between them while everyone else on set eats lunch. They'll talk about everything, from paparazzi to the best place for ice cream. Every once in a while their conversations will get deep and achingly honest, and that's when she realizes she has no idea what she's getting herself into with him.

.kisses.

Everything is a time-bomb, just counting down until the second the explosion happens. The same principle applies to their relationship, because eventually they're going to have to decide what they are, and in this case eventually is now.

It's five minutes before they're supposed to go on their interview, and she needs to know. "Ross, what are we?" she asks bluntly, but he can see her hands trembling and he knows she's nervous.

He thinks about it for a second, but the clock is always ticking, ticking, waiting for no one. "I- We're-" He stops, then tries again. "What we have-" He shakes his head, frustrated. "I don't know."

So then she asks, "What do you want us to be?" because things have been building up lately and there's been multiple occasions where they've almost kissed.

The look in his eyes is vulnerable and she's wondering what his answer will be when he takes her by the shoulders and kisses her. It's wonderful and his hands are scrunched on her back, holding her tight against him. It's everything she could have imagined and more, and her hands are carding through his hair as he mumbles against her lips, "I want to be yours and I want you to be mine." It's as simple as that, because she's everything he's ever wanted and more, and though that used to scare him, now he's sure that he never wants this to end.

Wrapped up in each other, in a blissful world where everything's lips and limbs and sparks and pretty things, is how the curtain opens up on them. The host of their interview is flabbergasted at the sight he's greeted with, but Ross and Laura could care less, because all those actions have finally led up to feelings and that's really the best part of it all.

A/N: FanFic deleted a whole 1k words out of this earlier, so I had to go back and rewrite them. However, it's hard to get 1k words down exactly, and I still feel like something is missing... I'm going to continue to beat myself up about it, even though it was FanFiction's fault.

(1) Ellie is a fictional character.

Anyways, I really enjoyed writing this and I'm really proud of it so if you could spare a minute of your time, please review? And check out some of my other stories, too :)

From,
Sabrina