Disclaimer: I don't own Austin & Ally.

Austin was convinced that this was no way to spend Christmas. But he had to make the best of it.

He was leaning against the counter at Sonic Boom, trying his hardest to enjoy his nachos and soda while pushing back the bile that kept rising in his throat. The couple in the doorway of the music store were using the mistletoe to their full advantage. It made him ill to watch, but he couldn't look away. Ever since Trish's quinceañera, Dallas and Ally had gotten closer. Sure, they had been on a date or two, and while that bothered Austin enough, it was nothing compared to this.

"Just look away if you're that disgusted by it," Dez said when Austin took his anger out on a nacho by smashing it in his hand.

"That should be me," Austin grumbled and shoved his nacho tray at Dez.

Dex began eating them automatically. "You should have done something earlier. I told you not to wait. But no, you actually helped them get together."

Austin frowned at him. "Dez. Shut up. I know I screwed up, but there's nothing I can do to fix it. I thought getting them together for a little while would fix this problem so I wouldn't be attracted to him, but it just made it worse. Now I have to watch the guy I love make out with one of my best friends."

"He still has no clue?" Dez asked, pausing his nacho-crunching to speak.

Austin shook his head. "Everyday I look at him and just want him to know the truth about how I feel."

Not only did Austin find it hard to endure the torture of seeing Dallas and Ally together all the time, but it made him jealous. He had no one like that to kiss and to hold. He could never tell Dallas the truth, and Ally certainly could never know. It would do nothing but tear any friendship he had with either of them apart.

"Maybe you can tell him someday, Austin," Dez said before finishing the few nachos that were left.

Austin took a drink of his soda and sighed once it was down his throat. "When it snows in Miami...I'll tell him." He gave the rest of his drink to Dez before pushing back from the counter. He ran a hand through his hair and headed upstairs to the practice room where Ally and he usually worked on songs together.

He dropped into the window seat and sighed, propping his head up on his hand. Miami looked about as depressed as he felt. If Dallas knew, would he even return the affection? The likely conclusion was that he wouldn't. If how he kissed and touched Ally was anything to go by, Dallas was as straight as a ruler.

Austin turned his attention to the beach, watching how the water touched the sand. It was gentle today, just a caress of the sand before the ocean withdrew its teasing fingers again to repeat the motion. Austin wished Dallas would touch him like that. His hands exploring his torso. A brush of his fingertips over his inner thigh. A grip from his mouth just barely north of that. Austin had to close his eyes as he shivered, his thoughts making him want the boy just downstairs.

When he opened his eyes, he thought he was hallucinating. His forehead was now pressed against the window, and little white structures were drifting in front of his nose on the other side of the glass. His heart skipped a beat, not sure whether to beat in fear or excitement as Austin rose from his seat and headed for the door. He had just slipped out of the room and turned to rush down the stairs when he found himself face-to-face with Dallas.

"I...Dallas," Austin said, taken aback. He had expected him to still be downstairs kissing Ally. He cast a glance around for her and found that both she and Dez were nowhere in sight. He looked back at Dallas and took a deep breath. "Can I say something?"

"Austin," Dallas said, stepping closer to him. "You don't have to say a thing."

Austin's protest was cut off by Dallas's mouth against his own. He made a soft sound of pleasure when Dallas touched him for the first time, finding that reality was much better than his fantasies could ever be. And standing there in that perfect moment in the embrace of the boy he loved, it took no effort to think of his body as the beach and of Dallas as the steady ocean.