Mistletoe, Actually By Taygeta
Author's Note: Auslly One-shot Fluff. Just watched "Mix-Ups & Mistletoe" – what a Christmas Auslly tease. I thought I'd fixed its mistletoe outcome.
Dedication: To my Auslly readers. Happy Holidays.
Disclaimer: These characters are not mine.
Because of the charity event at the beach club earlier in the day, the whole Austin & Ally Team appreciated the after-party that had nothing to do with their own disastrous planning. They had been so caught up in the charity event that they all almost forgot about the party at the mall.
Mr. Dawson had decided to throw a Mall Association Holiday Party – on Christmas Day on the Mall Association's dime. He said it was for the morale of the employees working on Christmas Day. And while he wasn't being completely insincere, it was also a very cheap way to celebrate the holiday.
The charity event made sure that they were all going to be there. Dez's family had gone on a ski trip out of town – his dad was looking forward to testing out some engine-driven skis. Dez had announced this proudly to them all and the team had looked on with looks of concern. Trish's family had driven out to spend the holiday with her extended family and she was planning on meeting them for leftovers and less family the next day. The Moons were co-hosting the Mall Holiday Party before they took off to visit family up North for the New Year.
"It's like we were all meant to spend Christmas together, guys," Ally had said a few days before the almost-beach party disaster had struck.
By the time they had all arrived to the center of the Mall where the party was being held – already conveniently decorated with the Mall's expensive and glittering holiday decorations – they were all less sentimental and simply exhausted. After all, they had hardly slept after having done doll hair salon all night.
Ally had a passing thought that it was odd the amount of all-nighters they always pushed as a team. She made a mental note to bring this up with her Time Management Club, but then walked into the Mall party forgetting it all for later.
"Dad," she said hugging Mr. Dawson, "This is beautiful – it's perfect, the perfect place to have a holiday party."
He grinned and shrugged his shoulders, "Well…I can't take all the credit for it."
Mimi Moon appeared and said, "No, you cannot."
"Now, now, Mimi," said Mr. Moon. "Lester was key to making this all happen. And you have to admit, it was his idea."
She nodded, as if infused a bit by the Christmas spirit, "Yes – excellent idea, Lester. Especially for those working today and having to handle the last minute shopping crowds."
"I thought last minute shopping was reserved for Christmas Eve," said Dez.
"Time is money, Dez," said Trish. "Look – I had to work Christmas Day."
Austin, Ally, and Dez all turned to her and said, "At least you got paid."
Trish threw them a sheepish grin. "Oh look, pigs in a blanket." She made a beeline to the food table and Dez followed. Lester stopped Dez for a second and stuck out his hand.
Dez shook it, "Well hello to you, Mr. Dawson. Merry Christmas."
"Dez…"
"Aww, man," he said with a huff, handing Mr. Dawson two large santa bags. "Fine."
"He learned from the best," said Mr. Dawson, "But this is my party and I get to steal the food if I want to."
As Mr. Dawson walked off, the Moons glanced at each other worriedly and followed him to the food table.
Austin and Ally met eyes and laughed.
"You hungry?" he asked.
She glanced at the table of bickering family and friends and confused Mall employees, "I…think I'll wait."
He nodded, "Good call."
They walked over to sit by the stairs of a gazebo, overlooking the fountain. It was a temporary building made alongside Santa's temporary house.
"I'm gonna be sad to see this place get taken down," said Ally, wistfully. "I sat here sometimes writing after the mall closed down for the day."
Austin looked at her suspiciously, "There's no like goose or goose elf involved that we're gonna try and steal, right?"
She laughed and hit in the arm, "Austin – no." She paused, "I can't believe I did that."
He smiled, "Eh…I can."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I know you had to deal with stage fright for a long time, but when it had nothing to do with that – when you knew you wanted something – you always went after it. 110%. You knew you wanted to save that goose and you did it."
"In retrospect, it probably could have had some planning and thinking involved…"
"I didn't say it was perfect," said Austin as Ally rolled her eyes. But he added, "I know we're very different, but I think that's what makes us the same, that's what makes us work."
"And here I always thought that it was because – " Ally took a deep breath and made an impression of Trish making an impression of her, "'I write, and you rock.'" She completed the impression with a hair flip.
He laughed, "Well, last I checked – especially earlier today – we both kind of rock."
"We do, don't we?" said Ally with a wide smile.
"You do for sure," he said softly and that's when Ally noticed a familiar look. It was like right before he almost kissed her under the mistletoe earlier.
She found herself reaching out for his hand. He was already, as he always was, seated unnecessarily close to her on the wide step. She smiled when his hand held hers, "You know what I think is funny?"
He was looking at her hand in his, her red holiday manicure was slightly chipped by playing piano earlier. On her wrist, he could see the bracelet he gave her peeking out beneath the sleeve of her sweater. With her question, he looked up from her hand and said, "What?"
"How many mistletoes we've stood underneath without doing this…?" she said, leaning in to kiss him.
They pulled away slightly and he looked into her eyes.
"What was that for?" he asked.
"Showing my 110% percent?"
"Oh."
"Or…maybe because we're sitting under mistletoe, actually," she said, pointing up.
Austin looked up to see that there was, in fact, mistletoe hanging overhead. He met her eyes and said, "Well, I'm glad one of them finally worked." Then he asked, "So…do I need to carry around mistletoe all year or stay right here?" He leaned over to give her another kiss. Then he pulled away, "Because, I might have to protest to keep this from it being moved if that's the case."
She laughed softly, "I think we have other options we probably should revisit."
She leaned her head on his shoulder and Austin remembered the practice date they had had, the one that felt so perfect. This felt so perfect.
"Ally, did you really forget to buy me a present until the last minute?" he asked.
"No…" she said weakly. "It's just really late on arrival."
"Well," he said. "That's probably true, but I think it arrived just in time."
"Austin, I haven't even given it to you…" she said looking up and laughing, only to realize he wasn't talking about the present she ordered for him at all. "Oh."
He held her hand tighter and said, "And I really, really like it a lot."
She grinned widely and said, "Me too."
And then there was a kiss that said it didn't matter at all that there was mistletoe.
The End. Happy Holidays everyone.