Times Square. New Year's Eve. Millions of people. His biggest dream.

He can't believe that actually happened.

The grin on his face is so wide his cheeks feel like they're going to fall off, and his mind is racing with so many excited thoughts he can't even keep track of them. All he knows is that he just performed at Times Square on New Year's Eve with millions of people watching him and it was the best performance of his entire life and –

He's out of breath just thinking about it.

He hugs Dez – who is a sobbing mess because of how proud he is of his best friend – one more time before walking away in search of his partner.

He sees her leaning on the ledge of the roof they're standing on. She's all alone, her back facing him and everyone else as she stares out at the view of New York below her.

He walks over to her and leans on the ledge next to her. She doesn't acknowledge his presence, but he knows that she's aware of him. He opens his mouth to start talking yet again about how awesome tonight has been, but then he presses his lips together, deciding against it. There's a certain calm surrounding his brunette friend, a still silence in the midst of all the celebrations going on around them and below them. He doesn't want to break it. So instead, he looks out at the vast expanse of buildings and lights below them.

They're on top of one of the tallest buildings in the city, well above the roofs of most of the structures that make up the framework of New York City. It's just the dark outlines of the other buildings dotted with lights coming from the windows for miles, as far as he can see. There are whoops and shouts coming from the street far below them, with balloons and streamers and noisemakers and the delighted laughter of drunken New Yorkers partying their New Year's Eve away. There is loud, excited chatter coming from behind them as their friends relive the past few hours.

But all of that feels far away. Right now it's just him and Ally, in their own little bubble of serenity.

He steals a quick glance over at her, only to meet her eyes for a split second before turning back to the view. He feels his face heat up, but he knows he can just blame the rosiness in his cheeks on the biting New York winter air.

Almost as if she was reading his mind, Ally shivers next to him. He glances over at her again, a small smile gracing his features before he faces forward again. Without looking at her, he nudges her arm gently with his. She nudges him back, and soon they're just nudging each other back and forth with blushing cheeks and innocent smiles.

But then he stops, taking a step closer to her that's so small it should go unnoticed. It doesn't go unnoticed though, by either of them, because they were already so close that now their arms and hips are touching, and with the way they have their elbows resting on the ledge, the backs of their hands are touching as well.

He glances at their hands, acutely aware of every place hers is brushing against his. She shifts slightly, and he quickly averts his eyes back to the city so as to not get caught. But after a few seconds, he shifts his eyes back to their hands (after shooting a quick look at her again to make sure she isn't watching him).

Something about this feels all too familiar, and he's suddenly brought back to all those times at one piano or another when they try to play and suddenly they're both reaching for the same keys and their hands touch and he gets that feeling in his stomach and the tightness of his chest and there's always that breath he has to take because the shock that courses up his arm always, always surprises him.

It's the exact same thing right now, except instead of a shock it's a steady buzz because they haven't pulled their hands away yet and he's getting used to it and he likes it a lot.

He decides to try his luck, so he bites his lip and moves his hand slightly closer to hers, so that instead of their hands just brushing against each other they're now actually touching. When she doesn't move her hand away – or react at all, really – he goes even further and turns his hand so his palm is facing up. The concrete ledge is freezing on the back of his hand, which was so warm just a second ago, but he doesn't mind. Now the side of his hand is slightly underneath hers, but she still doesn't react.

He isn't sure why this is such a big deal to him. Maybe it's the silent tranquility that he doesn't want to ruin, or maybe it's the fact that he's never really thought about all these feelings he gets when he touches her before, or maybe it's just her in general. Either way, he's getting more and more nervous as he continues to test their boundaries.

He brushes his fingers against the back of her hand as he moves them underneath it, and then he takes the leap of faith and pulls her hand into his. His heart pounds again and he always kind of knew this would happen but he really doesn't want to think about what all this could mean.

He feels her gaze on him, so he lifts his head to stare ahead of him. He notices her do the same out of his peripheral, and he takes that opportunity to hesitantly intertwine their fingers and squeeze her hand.

She nudges him gently with her shoulder. He closes his eyes and lets out a silent sigh of relief. When he opens his eyes again, he peeks over at her, once again catching her doing the same to him.

He bites his lip, partly to keep from smiling and partly from embarrassment, and looks away. He feels her head leaning against the side of his arm (because she's too short to lean on his shoulder) and he sighs in contentment.

All the noise around them seems to completely dissipate. The only things he's aware of are their position, the warmth spreading through his body, and her.

He imagines what this would be like if they were in slightly different circumstances, if maybe this was something they did on a regular basis, if this was normal for them.

Ally isn't someone he's ever truly thought of like that, but now that he sorta kinda is…he doesn't know if he'll be able to stop.

When he hears her sleepy, comfortable sigh as she adjusts her head into a more comfortable position, he's struck with a thought so incredibly powerful that it really throws him off.

He lived his biggest dream tonight, the one thing he's been wishing for since before he can remember. But now that he's made one dream a reality, he has to find a new one.

Except standing here, with her, all these new (but not really new) feelings coursing through his mind and his stomach and his heart, he thinks he's already found it.

thanks rj for that convo that inspired this fic i hope i did it justice lol anyway i hope you all liked it!