Disclaimer: I do not own Austin and Ally.

Green Eyed Monster

"I'm home," Ally heard her boyfriend call out to her from her place in the kitchen, where she was making dinner.

"I figured as much, considering you are pretty much the only person who is likely to enter our apartment, other than a thief, which, bearing in mind the crime rate in our neighborhood, is highly improbable," she answered him.

"Oh, how I love your witty responses and smartass comments," Austin said as he walked into the kitchen, hugging her from behind and pecking her cheek. "What did such a sarcastic girl like you do to end up with a great guy like me? One that brings his amazing, beautiful girlfriend a jar of her favorite brand of pickles, which is only sold in a deli that is located in a place makes his way to his home and to his said amazing, beautiful girlfriend fifteen minutes longer?"

Ally turned to face him, eyes narrowed. "What did you do, Austin?"

Austin froze, eyes widening in a look of fake innocence that Ally knew all too well. "What makes you think I did something? Can't a guy go buy his smart, talented girlfriend, the love of his life, her favorite food?"

"A guy can do that, but you never do, unless you've done something. The last time you bought me those pickles was after you read my book again, even though the first time you read it you thought, falsely, may I add, that I had a crush on you, leading to the second time you read it, which ended up in you being sweaty, orange and humiliated in front of the entire mall." Ally looked at him with her eyebrows raised.

"Might I remind you that the third time I read your book I ended up with you as my girlfriend, which was something we both benefited from?" Austin mumbled, but she ignored him.

"Moreover, you never compliment me in third person, my amazing, handsome boyfriend," Ally continued, using the words he had uttered before, "unless you want me to do something for you. And if I had to guess, had I not called you out on it, your next sentence would have started along the lines of Ally, my sweet girlfriend Ally." Austin's eyes had the guilty look of a kid eating a cookie after his mother told him not to, proving her right. "So? Get along with it Austin, so I can enjoy my pickles in peace."

"Fine," Austin sighed, "do you remember Piper?"

"Piper as in Piper Fisher? The sister of Carrie, your best friend Dez's fiancée? The girl you dated for a few months before you broke up with her during junior prom because you still had feelings for me?" Austin nodded. "Yes, I remember Piper."

"So anyway, I met her today, and apparently she's back in town for a while and needs a bit of help getting on her feet, and since Carrie's in Tokyo modeling for some new electronic brand or whatever, I, being the nice guy I am…" Austin hesitated.

"You asked her if she wants to live with us," Ally completed his sentence for him.

"Yes. But just for a little while, until she finds her own place."

"Austin! Don't you think it'll be a little awkward living with a girl you dumped for me? And where will she live anyways? And she's a vegan, isn't she? What are we supposed to cook for her?"

"It won't be awkward. When we talked today it was just like talking to an old friend. And we could clear out the spare room and borrow my parents' old opening bed, they bought a new one. And we can give her some lettuce or something." Austin gave her the puppy dog eyes.

Ally could feel herself giving in. He did buy her favorite brand of pickles, after all. "Fine. When is she coming?"

"…Tomorrow."

"Austin!"

"Thanks a lot for letting me stay here, Ally. It means a lot." Piper said as she and Ally dragged her suitcases down the hall. Austin, being his typical self, had run ahead of them, not carrying anything and acting like an excited little kid wanting to show off his new toy.

In all honesty, Ally was exhausted. After Austin had told her that Piper was coming the very next day, she had sent him out immediately to get his parents' old opening couch, while she had set out to clean their spare room. It was a difficult task, considering all of the room's contents, which were several boxes they had never unpacked, a few spare musical instruments and generally anything they didn't have a specific place for.

After Austin had returned with the bed he tried to help her, but just ended up ruining the whatever she had managed to do by knocking over a box full of her old collector's tea cups. When she finally finished organizing, sweeping, washing, and dusting the room, she and Austin had put the bed in place. After that, Austin headed off to bed while she searched for hours on the internet for some vegan recipes, because there was no way she was treating any guest of hers like a rabbit, and giving them 'some lettuce or something.'

She managed to sleep for three hours or so, before waking up and making said vegan recipes, and then she and Austin had to leave to pick up Piper from the dingy motel she was staying at and bring her back to their apartment.

"It's no problem, Austin and I are glad to have you here. I made something for lunch, and the internet said it was vegan but I saved all of the recipes so you could make sure everything is okay." Ally answered, smiling a bit tightly at the other woman. Though Austin was right and talking to Piper was like talking to an old friend, Ally still couldn't help but feel slightly awkward.

"Thanks, I'm sure everything will be great. By the way, does Austin always leave the suitcases to you, or is this a onetime thing?"

"He always does that. Every time we go on vacation, he always runs ahead to check out the hotel while I have to carry all of our bags, which mostly contain his hair products and shoes." Both women laughed as they reached the entrance to the apartment, where Austin was waiting impatiently. "What took you two so long?"

"Austin, you know I believe in gender equality and all of that, but guys are physically stronger than girls, so would it kill you to help carry the bags?" Ally asked him as she set down the suitcase she was carrying and fished the apartment keys out of her bag.

"Sorry Alls," Austin pecked her cheek and picked up the suitcase she had abandoned in search of the keys.

Opening the door, Ally let the other two in."Okay, Piper. This is your room; watch out for shards of glass, even though I think I cleaned them all. The bathroom is the very next door, and you can have it all to yourself since Austin and I have our own bathroom in our bedroom. Austin's and my room is at the end of the hall, so if you need anything just ask."

"You should probably knock, though. Ally and I might be… busy," Austin interrupted her, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Blushing, Ally, shot him a glare before continuing. "Ignore him. I'll show you the kitchen in a moment, laundry room is in the basement level, and I assume you saw the living room when you walked in. Any questions?"

Piper shook her head.

"Good. Lunch is in an hour, is that okay?" Ally asked.

"Yeah. Thanks again guys. It's such a relief to not have to look for bugs every time I get into bed."

Ally shuddered and opened her mouth again before Austin cut her off. "Come on, Alls. Let's leave Piper to unpack. Piper, if you have any questions or need anything; you know where to find us." Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, he led Ally away.

"The meal was delicious Ally," Piper said two hours later, once they had finished eating, "but you really don't have to go through all of this trouble for me. I bet it took you hours to make all this."

"It did. She was awake at the crack of dawn to make sure everything will be ready in time." Austin interjected.

"Austin! Don't listen to him, Piper, it wasn't any trouble," Ally said.

"If you won't mind leaving me a bit of space in your fridge, I could go grocery shopping for things I usually eat, so you won't have to wake up with the sun every morning to make food, and that way you guys can stick with your regular eating habits. I wouldn't want to impose." Piper replied.

"Yeah, sure. I'll clear out a shelf later."

"Thank you," Piper smiled and began to clear their dishes. Before Ally could say anything, Austin jumped up. "What are you doing?"

"Uhh… the dishes?" she answered.

"Piper, you're our guest, you can't do the dishes. You ladies go chitchat in the living room, I'll do the dishes." Austin took the plates from Piper and walked towards the sink.

Ally looked at him, shocked. Austin never did the dishes willingly. Usually he would pretend to forget that she had asked him to wash them. She and his parents were planning an intervention for the subject.

Austin turned around, and seeing Ally looking at him, frozen, and Piper glancing unsurely between the two of them, shooed the two women out of the kitchen.

"But Ally!" Austin whined.

"No."

"Please?"

"Austin, I hate it. There is no way I'll-"

"Hey guys, what's going on?" Piper interrupted the couple in the middle of the argument.

"Austin and I are having a movie night, and it's my turn to pick the movie," Ally explained.

"But Ally insists on choosing a lame French romance movie instead of an awesome horror movie," Austin finished for her. Suddenly he brightened. "I have an idea! Pipes, do you want to join us?"

Pipes? Ally thought. Since when does he call her Pipes?

"Yeah, sure," Piper answered.

Turning to Ally, Austin continued. "And since Piper is our guest, I think she should pick."

She nodded. "Fine. Piper, you can pick anything from Netflix, while I make popcorn."

A few minutes later Ally returned with two full bowls of popcorn and saw that Piper had chosen a five hour movie. "I know it's a bit long, but it's a really good movie," she said in response to Ally's questioning look.

Ally nodded, setting the two bowls on the table and looked at her watch. It was eight o'clock, meaning that they will finish the movie past midnight. Silently, Ally prepared herself for another sleepless night. She had so much work to do, writing and recording songs for her as well as writing songs for Austin, doing interviews to promote her new album and teach at the music factory. Combined with an added person in her house, Ally barely had time to sleep for the past week, ever since Piper had joined them, five days ago.

Austin came back to the couch after connecting his laptop to the T.V. and pulled Ally to him.

As the hours passed, Ally felt her eyelids becoming heavier. When the movie finally ended she mentally cheered.

Picking up the bowls, Ally decided to wash them before going to sleep. She always hated waking up to dirty dishes in the sink.

"I'll do the bed before going to dishes. Good night guys," Ally knew there was something wrong with what she'd said from the amused glances Piper and Austin had exchanged, but she was too tired to figure it out. Before she could take a step towards the kitchen though, Austin had swept her up in his arms. "You can do the dishes tomorrow. For you it's straight to bed."

Piper took the bowls from her. "I'll wash them."

Too fatigued to argue Ally just nodded. She let Austin carry her to their bed, and fell asleep before her head hit the pillow.

Ally stood at the doorway of their apartment, stunned. The dining table was set with the cutlery and plates, and judging by the smell coming from the kitchen, dinner was ready as well. "What's all this?"

Piper and Austin exited the kitchen, laughing at some joke. "I wanted to say thank you for letting me stay here for the past few weeks. Of course, I could have left earlier if someone would have shut up" Piper shot Austin a dirty look, and he raised his hands in mock surrender. The week before, Piper had found an apartment and had asked Austin and Ally to come with her to look at it. The three were kicked out by the owner after Austin declared the price 'outrageous for such a lousy apartment,' and said that 'it's not worth half the price.' "Anyways, I made dinner as a way to show my gratitude."

"I helped," Austin pointed at himself proudly, and Ally's smile became slightly forced when she imagined Austin and Piper standing side by side, cooking together and laughing.

"Well, it smells great, and I bet it tastes even better," she said, shaking off the domestic scene.

The food was indeed delicious. "This vegan food is actually pretty good. Hey, Ally, maybe we should try to go vegan too," Austin commented, shoveling food into his mouth.

"Austin, you do realize that your favorite pancake recipe contains milk and eggs. And that you love hamburgers," she deadpanned.

"Right… I forgot that."

"Also, people usually don't just 'go vegan'," Piper used air quotes around the words. "They usually start out as vegetarian, and even that's a long process."

"Hey Piper, did I ever tell you about the time one of my dates was almost ruined because I had no idea the girl was vegetarian?" at Piper's shake of head, he continued. "So, she was a lead in one of my music videos, and Jimmy Starr's daughter. I asked her out, but she thought I liked Ally, which I didn't, at the time, and after Trish messed up and gave Ally a ton of flowers, even though I only ordered one bouquet to say thank you for writing me another hit song, she was sure of it. I had to plan the perfect date to convince her to go out with me, and Ally helped me. We even had a practice date and everything. Ally packed me heart shaped salami and pickles, which apparently the girl, Kira, didn't like, so Ally Trish and Dez snuck over to the park where we had our picnic and tried to swap the baskets, only as a distraction Dez set off the sprinklers. In the end we played video games in Dez's basement, and we went out for a while."

Piper and Austin were both laughing; while Ally smiled what she hoped was an amused smile. "Well, the meal was great Piper, but if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go to bed. I'm feeling slightly ill."

Austin stood up and placed a hand on her forehead. "You don't feel warm. Go rest and I'll bring you a cup of tea in a few minutes."

Ally nodded and went to the bedroom. She changed into pajama shorts and stole one of Austin's shirts before getting into bed. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. It was ridiculous, of course, to be jealous of Piper, but she and Austin just acted so much like a couple, Ally felt like a third wheel.

Just as the first tear fell down her cheek she heard a knock on the door. Wiping it away, she called out, "Enter."

"Hey, I brought you some tea," Austin came in holding a mug.

"Thanks," Austin placed the mug on her bedside table and kissed her head softly. He looked down at her and smirked. "Is that my shirt?"

Ally nodded sheepishly. "It's really soft, and it smells like you," she said as an excuse.

Austin rolled his eyes. "One day, you'll try to steal one of my shirts and realize I've run out because you took them all."

As he exited the room, Ally called out, "Austin, wait. Can you stay?"

Austin nodded and closed the door, a soft smile on his face. "Sure, I'll just shower first."

Approximately thirty minutes later- Austin had a very strict policy of lather, rinse and repeat three times, which made him take way too long in the shower- Austin exited the bathroom adjacent to their bedroom, shirtless and drying off his hair with a towel. He got into the bed and Ally rolled over to his side and placed her head on his shoulder, her hand reaching out to rest on his chest as his hands wrapped around her waist. "So what's got you feeling ill?" he asked her.

She wanted to say heartburn, but refrained from it, as the last time she had heartburn was when she thought Austin was going out with the oh so perfect Chelsea, and then, as well as now, it could have been interpreted as jealousy. Which she totally wasn't. Instead she decided to say, "A bit of a headache. To be honest, I'm mostly tired."

Austin got out of bed abruptly and took his phone from the pocket of the jeans he had worn earlier.

"Austin? What are you doing?" she asked him.

"I'm texting Trish to tell her to clear your schedule for tomorrow, and to ignore your protests since you're too tired to do anything. And she texted me back say to consider it done, and to put you on strict bed rest for the day. Oh, and now she's adding a few threats of what she'll do to you if you do get out of bed."

"Austin!"

"What? Ally, you're working too hard. You've written three songs, for me this, week, two for you, recorded said two songs, and done like seven interviews-" "Eight," she corrected him dejectedly. "Sorry, eight interviews, and it's not even Thursday yet. You'll tire yourself out if you don't rest a bit." Seeing her pout, Austin got back into bed, this time positioning himself on top of her and supporting himself with his arms, so he wouldn't crush her. "You know I'm right, you just hate admitting it."

"Fine, I'll stay home tomorrow, but just because Trish scares me. Now get off me, you big lump," she told him, trying to push him off.

Austin conceded, albeit slightly unwillingly, and lay on his back again and they resumed their former position, with her head on his shoulder. "But why?" he whined.

"Because if I know you as well as I think I do, I have a pretty good idea where your mind is right now, and we have rather thin walls and Piper's right here…" she trailed off.

Austin harrumphed, and Ally looked up to find a petulant look on his face. "Oh, don't give me that look. You know I'm right, you just hate admitting it."

Austin's expression changed into a full blown sulk. "That was my line. You can't just steal my line!"

"You stole my song, so we're still far from even." She told him.

"You'll never let that go, will you?"

"Eh, maybe someday, in, like, twenty or thirty years."

"Go to sleep, smartass."

Just as she was about to fall asleep, a thought struck her. "Austin?"

"Mmm?" his sleepy answer told her he was nodding off as well.

"Did I ever tell you that the practice date, the one you told Piper about earlier, was the first time I had feelings for you?" she asked him, tracing imaginary shapes on his chest.

"Really? And you still tried to save my date with Kira?" his voice was a little more awake now.

"Of course I did. You really liked her and I wasn't going to ruin your chance with your dream girl just because of a petty crush. And it's not like I had a chance with you at the time, considering you only thought of me as a best friend."

"Well, you were a hell of a best friend, Alls. Still are, in fact. And to think that you were actually the perfect girl for me the whole time. You know, I should probably take you out on that date once. Not every guy knows what his girlfriend's idea of a perfect date is."

"Yeah, consider yourself lucky. Goodnight Austin, I love you."

"I love you too," were the last words she heard before she fell asleep.

Ally woke up to blinding sunlight, something that hadn't happened in quite a while.

Blinking a few times until her eyes were used to the sunlight she checked the clock on her bedside table. 10:37 am. She couldn't remember the last time she'd slept so much.

To her disappointment, Austin wasn't in bed with her, but heard four faint voices coming from the living room. Wait, four?

Getting out of bed, she decided to investigate, and found Austin and Piper sitting close together on the couch looking at Austin's laptop screen together. Ignoring the small pinch in her heart, she brightly said "Good Morning!"

Austin and Piper returned the greeting, and two voices from the computer called out "Ally!"

Sitting down next to Austin, she saw that he and Piper were skyping Dez and Carrie. "Dez, Carrie, how are you guys? How's Tokyo?"

"Tokyo's awesome! In the hotel they give us a new toothbrush every day. Look, I nearly have enough to brush each tooth with a different toothbrush," Dez enthused, holding up two handfuls of toothbrushes.

"That's… great, but what about the tourist sites? And museums? Tokyo has a ton of museums. There's the Ancient Orient Museum, the Min-On Music Museum, the Industrial Safety Museum & Theater-" Dez cut her off with a fake snore. "Fine, I get it, some people aren't interested in fun stuff," she said, ignoring the four incredulous stares pointed her way, "but anyways Dez, when are you coming back? A few parents have been asking when your lessons resume, and if I have the day off I might as well answer some emails."

Dez opened his mouth to answer but Austin spoke first. "No, you aren't working today, and that includes answering emails. You're supposed to rest."

"Speaking of work," Piper said, "I should probably get going. I have a job interview."

Dez wrinkled his nose. "That's what you're wearing for a job interview? Please, even Ally usually manages to dress better."

"Bye, Dez," Austin said pointedly, closing the computer.

Ally turned to Piper. "Ignore Dez. He always has something to say on what someone's wearing."

"Yeah, don't listen to him, you look great." Austin added.

Ally felt the smile slip from her lips. Don't listen to him. You look great. You always look great. The words were almost exactly the same words Austin had said to her the night he had broken up with Piper for her.

Piper noticed her sudden frown. "What's wrong, Ally? Do you agree with Dez? Should I change?"

"No, no!" Ally tried to think of a lie quickly. "I was just thinking that… if you have time, I could do your hair."

"Oh, thanks, but I should really be off, wouldn't want to be late. And also, I'll come back later than usual. I'm checking out a new apartment this evening." with a quick wave Piper left.

"C'mon, do you want me to make you breakfast?" Austin asked Ally.

"Pancakes?"

"Naturally."

"I don't know, Trish. It's not like he actually said or did anything, but I just feel like the awkward third wheal around them." Ally said later that day, lying on the couch. Austin was teaching at the Music Factory and Piper was still out, so she was finally alone for enough time to talk to Trish about her worries.

"Are you sure, Ally? Maybe you're just reading too much into things. Austin loves you, and he makes that pretty obvious just from the way he looks at you," Trish replied through the phone.

"I'm sure you're right, but they act so much like a couple, I'm kind of worried Austin will realize that he made a mistake all those years ago, and that he belongs with Piper and not with me."

"You really think that?" That voice came not from the phone, but from the door. And it was way too low to be Trish's. Oh, shoot.

"Uh… Trish I have to go, I'll call you later. Bye," Ally quickly hung up and sat up, turning to face Austin who was standing at the door. "Austin, what are you doing here? Why didn't you tell me you were coming home early?"

"My last student canceled, so I thought I would surprise you. Now stop trying to avoid the subject. Do you really think I'd leave you for Piper?" he sat down next to her, expression unreadable.

"Yes. No. I don't know. It isn't like I'm doubting your feelings for me, it's more like I'm doubting your feelings, or lack of them, for Piper." Austin started to talk, but Ally hurriedly cut him off. "And I know you won't actually do anything, at least not without breaking up with me first, but you seem really happy around her, and if you're happier with someone else, I love you enough to let you go and be with that someone else."

"Ally…" Austin sighed. "Why didn't you say something? If I'd known that you were feeling this way, I would have done something."

"Because it was stupid. It's ridiculous for me to feel jealous, especially when you didn't actually do anything. And what could you have done? Kicked Piper out? I thought that if I ignored the feeling it would go away."

"Last time you tried to ignore your jealousy you ruined a little girl's birthday party," Austin commented, giving her a pointed look, a ghost of a smile on his lips. "But you're right; it was ridiculous of you to be jealous. I get it though; I would feel the same way if you brought an ex of yours to live with us."

"Actually, I met Gavin the other day, and he needs a place to sleep for a while, so I offered him the couch," Ally told him, trying to keep a straight face.

Austin opened his mouth furiously, but stopped when he saw Ally giggling. "Very funny, Dawson," he scowled, but after a few seconds chuckled along with her.

When their laughter subsided Austin pulled her so that she was sitting on his lap and said "I love you, you know that right?"

Ally nodded against his chest and wrapped her arms around his neck, clinging to him tightly. "I love you too."

They stayed that way for a little while, his arms around her waist and her arms around his waist, rocking lightly, until Austin broke the silence. "I was thinking-"

"Uh-oh," Ally cut him off.

"Shut up, smartass, I have great ideas, you just fail to see their brilliance. Anyways, as I was saying before someone rudely cut me off, I noticed that Piper isn't here right now, so it doesn't matter that we have thin walls…" he trailed off suggestively.

She let out a small laugh and tightened her arms around his neck. "God, you're an idiot."

"But I'm your idiot."

Oh, my god. I am so happy to have finally finished with this. I started it about a month ago, but then there was school and my schedule this year is crazy. To be honest, the only reason I started this was for the Star Wars reference (in case nobody got it, Piper's last name is Fisher, making it Carrie's, her sister, last name as well. Carrie Fisher is the name of the actress who plays princess Leia). I actually had to cut out a few scenes, but I felt it's long enough, so whatever.

Thank you so much for reading this, I hope you enjoyed it. Constructive criticism is always welcome.

For clarification, Piper isn't trying to steal Austin away or something, she seems like a really nice character in the show and I don't think she'd do that kind of thing.

For those of you who voted yes on the multi-chap in "Unwanted Affections", I'm currently debating between three or four ideas, and it kind of depends on which one I can actually turn into a story. If I can narrow it down to two ideas I might put it up for a vote.

I'm writing another AU one-shot at the moment but it will take a while since I'm hand-writing it and usually work on it during school when I have a boring lesson or some spare time.

Now I better go do something I should actually be doing like my math homework. Or sleeping.

Thanks again for reading this.

P.S. I'd love to hear how school has started for you.