Disclaimer: Austin and Ally and Ross and Laura aren't mine.
A/N: THIS IS SO FLUFFY IT COULD PROBABLY GIVE DEZ'S ALPACA COAT A RUN FOR ITS MONEY. But hey we kind of need Raura fluff right now right? Sigh.
"Aaaand as usual, I'm ready before you," she says dryly, raising an eyebrow at him in the reflection of the bathroom mirror.
He scoffs. "Please, Laura. This perfection," he says, pointing to his hair, "takes time. You can't rush perfection."
She rolls her eyes. "I can and I will. Come on, we're gonna be late."
He yelps as she suddenly grabs his arm and pulls him toward the door. He stumbles after her, steadying himself by putting a hand on the doorframe, yanking her backwards in the process.
"Ross—" she says exasperatedly, turning her head to look at him.
He grins at her. "You look good. Like, really good. You're wearing my favorite color."
She bites her lip, fighting off a grin. "Yes. Yes, I am."
"I like it. A lot. You look relaxed. And happy."
She frowns. "Did I not seem happy before? Because I was happy," she says, blushing. "I've…been pretty happy lately, actually. The past eight months, to be precise."
His grin gets wider, which she didn't think was possible. "That's when we started dating."
"…Maybe."
His grin slowly fades as he looks at her in that intense way he does, the way that she's still not used to and she's pretty sure that she'll never get used to, the way that makes her stomach clench and heart flutter in the best way possible.
She swallows as he slowly takes her hand in his and closes her eyes as he bends his head closer to hers. He kisses her jaw softly, bumping his nose lightly against her cheek as he pulls back.
"Let's go," he says, squeezing her hand, and she quickly opens her eyes to see that he's looking at her with an almost wistful expression on his face.
"Let's go," she repeats softly.
She turns, leading him down the hallway, when she abruptly turns around.
"Are you really wearing that hoodie?"
He frowns. "Is it that bad? I thought this party was really casual?"
She nods and looks down at the ground, smiling.
"Probably," she answers. She pauses. "But…don't change. Because you um…you look really cute."
They're about fifteen minutes away from the venue when he notices.
"Nice jeans," he says, grinning. "I think I'm rubbing off on you."
"Rips in jeans are not a 'you' thing," she says, raising her eyebrows. "And this party is for denim fashion or something so I thought I'd wear something kinda different."
He reaches his hand to her knee, brushing his fingers against the bare skin that's exposed. "I like them," he teases, as she swats his hand away.
"Hands on the wheel, Ross," she says sternly, but the effect is slightly diminished because she's grinning.
"We're at a red light," he retorts, putting his hand back on her knee and squeezing gently. "We should take a picture. Since you're dressed like me."
"I'm sure they'll take lots of pictures at the party," she replies. "As they usually do. At you know, Hollywood events."
He shakes his head. "I want one for me," he insists. "Please?"
She laughs. "Sure, why not?"
His eyes light up. "Hang on, I'll pull over!"
He drives a couple of blocks before pulling over into a parking lot and he takes his phone out of his pocket as soon as they're stopped.
She exhales, a little tired all of a sudden, and lifts her feet onto the front panel and hugs her legs. "How do you want me?" she asks, leaning her head against her knees.
She smiles sleepily at him and he takes the picture, grinning from behind the camera. "One more?" he requests, and she lifts her head, widening her eyes to look off in the distance, a standard pose that he's come to know as just Laura, and he shakes his head as he takes the second picture.
"You're so dorky," he says fondly, and she hugs her legs a little tighter, tilting her head.
"I know," she says cheekily, and he stares at her for a second, a strange, but welcome emotion on his face.
And suddenly he drops his phone into the cupholder between them and leans forward and cups her face in his hands and pulls her to him.
"Actually," he whispers, his lips inches from hers, "You're adorkable."
Her heart skips a beat when he presses his lips softly to hers, and she can feel just how much he cares for her, how much he loves everything about her, and she lowers her legs so she can wrap her arms around his neck, pulling him even closer.
He kisses her slowly, softly, making no attempt to deepen the kiss, and she lets out a contented sigh, happy to just melt into him.
He pulls back the slightest bit, his lips still hovering above hers, and she keeps her eyes closed as she murmurs, "Let's skip the party."
He doesn't answer but instead leans forward again, pressing his lips chastely to hers in agreement.
Her eyelids flutter open when he finally pulls back and she gives him a small smile.
"That's so unlike you," he says, his expression a little awed. "Everyone's gonna be mad."
She shrugs. "It's one party," she says. "Come on, I want ice cream. Don't you want ice cream? Let's go get ice cream."
With that, she steps out of the car and he scrambles after her, quickly pulling the keys out of the ignition and locking the door as he catches up to her.
"Whoa, Laura, where are you going?" he asks.
She smiles. "There's this place a few blocks up from here. I used to go all the time as a kid. It has the best cookie dough ice cream ever."
He raises an eyebrow. "Best cookie dough ever?"
She nods. "Best. Cookie. Dough. Ever."
"I'll believe it when I taste it," he says doubtfully, and she smiles.
He takes her hand in his as they walk together and a comfortable silence falls between them.
This is one of her favorite things about their relationship, she decides. That they can talk for hours late into the night (something that never fails to make her feel guilty since he gets so little sleep as is) or be just as content not saying anything for long stretches of time, happy just to be in each other's presence.
They're so different, she thinks, as she takes in the feeling of his warm hand completely surrounding her smaller one. He's sometimes quiet and intense and thoughtful, especially when it comes to music, while she's a little more spontaneous and cheerful. That's not to say he isn't happy, because she knows he is, that he loves his life and everything about it, but it's just his personality, as is hers.
And he works so hard and never complains, to the point that it blows her mind and all she wants to do is wrap him up in her arms and tell him to just sleep.
Which is mostly why she wanted to skip the party tonight, because there are bags starting to form under his eyes and his voice sounds tired and she can just tell that he needs to take a break and that he's needed to take a break for a long time.
"My sister's the only one home tonight," she says suddenly. "And she said she'd probably be staying out."
He looks at her in surprise. "Are you—"
"You should stay over," she says quickly, blushing as she looks down at her feet. "Sleep over."
He grins and leans down to press his lips to the side of her head. "Awesome."
He pauses. "Can we still get ice cream first?"
An hour and a half later she's changed into her pajamas and under her covers waiting for him to come out of the bathroom. She stares at the door a little nervously, because she's never spent the entire night with him and even though they're just going to be sleeping, she feels like it's a big step.
He comes out wearing boxers and a T-shirt and he quickly gets in next to her and turns on his side to face her. His eyelids are already hooded, like he's about to fall asleep any second, and she knows skipping the party was the right decision.
"You're the best, Laur," he says sleepily. "You knew what I needed."
"I know, I'm the smart one," she whispers back, smiling as he laughs quietly.
He turns onto his back and she moves over, throwing an arm over him and nuzzling her face into his shoulder. He lifts his arm to wrap it around her, pulling her even closer, and she can feel the steady rise and fall of his chest underneath her hand.
She tangles her feet with his and he takes in a deep breath, his body completely relaxing after what she thinks might be months. She tilts her head up and kisses his cheek softly.
"I don't know how you do it sometimes," she says. "I'm really proud of you."
He huffs out a breath. "I could say the same thing to you," he says. "You're about to start college and a music career while we're still filming."
She sighs. "Am I ever gonna see you when school starts?" she asks, tracing her fingertips absentmindedly across his chest. "Outside of set, anyway?"
"I'll always have time for you," he says softly.
"That's easy to say now. And what about in a few months when the show is over?" She doesn't know why she's suddenly talking about this now but it's been on her mind for some time and she just needs to know what he's thinking.
He doesn't say anything for a few minutes and she thinks he might have fallen asleep. She's about to lift her head to see but then his arm tightens slightly around her and he starts talking.
"I don't want to make you any promises," he says quietly. "Because that would be too hard with our lives. But I um…" he trails off, his voice hesitant. "I uh, I hope you know that you're more important to me than any of it."
She nods into his neck and holds him a little closer as her chest tightens almost painfully. "That was a very Austin Moon thing to say," she whispers, and he laughs.
He kisses her forehead. "Who says I was ever acting?"
That was weird and SO FLUFFY and I wrote it in like an hour and a half so yeah.
Please review though, I'd love to see what you think!