A/N: OH MY OTP FEELS.

There might be some suggestive moments here – they're not explicit, but not totally subtle either…so I changed the rating from K+ to T. Let me know what you think – I don't want to go against the policy!

"Austin, are you even listening?"

"Well, just in case you couldn't tell, I'm sort of piggybacking you to shore here."

"Not my fault—"

"Hmm, let me think. Who's the one that can't swim?"

"Oh, you mean Trish?"

"Stop being smart, Ally."

"You know I can't help that."

Silence. He didn't want to ruin the rapport they had established – oh, the irony – but he needed to get them to dry land. Suddenly he realized that he should have kept track of the direction he'd been swimming in, and in a fleeting moment of panic, he froze up and stopped kicking.

"What are you doing?"

"S-sorry, I – uh, I forgot what I was doing."

He started treading towards the nearest strip of sand. She saw how exhausted and desperate he was, so she let him off the hook.

A peaceful silence engulfed the two, sending both of them into a moment of absentmindedness. Then, out of nowhere—

"Um, Ally?"

"Yes?"

"You're clamping too hard on my…um—"

"Oh – oh, I'm so sorry! Seriously, I didn't mean anything by it, I was just trying not to slip off, you know, because then I would have had to—"

"Relax, Ally." His signature smirk crossed his face – after all, he'd just made Miss Ally Dawson incredibly flustered. His inflating ego didn't go unnoticed by his favorite songwriter, however, because –

"Austin, just get us to shore."

"Sure thing, milady."

"Austin!"

"Okay, okay. I'm on it."

"Good."

An awkward pause, then –

"Hey, Ally."

"What?"

"You're still pressing too hard."

A beat of silence, then –

"Relax, Austin, maybe you like it that way."

Peace out, fellow Ausllies! Review…