Disclaimer: I don't own Austin & Ally or any characters I didn't make up.
"Ohhh, remember this one?" Ryder asked as he started playing his guitar. Austin, Dez, and Elliot immediately recognized the song he was playing and joined in with Austin on his own guitar and Dez drumming on his seat.
"You got holes in your jeans, and few in your heart, you don't know what it means to me, to watch you fall apart, 'cause you're broken and bruised, but I can hold you through, I'll take you in my arms tonight, just me and you(1)," Austin sang as they played their old song.
"What song is that?" Kira asked after they stopped playing.
"Soldier. They wrote it as part of the You Are Not Alone movement in 2012. They had to rewrite it several times because their label didn't like any of the versions. This was version number 7. During the writing process, they consumed about 3 energy drinks every night to pull an all-nighter to finish it in time. It was their third #1 single and stayed on top of the charts for 33 weeks straight, earning them an award for Best Single of The Year," Ally informed from her seat next to her boyfriend.
Everyone stared silently at her. "What?" she asked cluelessly.
"Well, that's not creepy at all," Dez sarcastically commented. "How do you know all that?" Elliot asked her. She shrugged, "You guys mentioned it in several interviews."
"You watched our interviews?" Austin smiled at her. She leaned her head on his shoulder and nodded, "I watch all of your interviews, the band or just you." Cassidy laughed, "How are you gonna beat that, Austin?"
He was about to reply before they were called by Ally's dad to come inside for dinner. They packed up their guitars and headed inside.
The girls went into the kitchen to help the moms as the guys waited in the living room with the dads. Austin took Ally to the side and hugged her tightly. "What happened?" she giggled as they broke their hug. He shrugged, "To thank you for being so supportive." She smiled, "It's okay. I just watched one one day and couldn't stop. Kind of pays you back for listening to all of my songs and supporting me." He leaned down and kissed her deeply.
A flash went off causing them in pulling away. "Thanks for the privacy, Mom," Austin smiled. "You'll thank me on your wedding!" she exclaimed. The couple looked at each other and laughed awkwardly before Ally said, "We'll see about that."
"What were you kids doing out there all day?" Mimi asked as they all took their seats. "Playing songs on our guitars and sang, I guess," Elliot replied. "We should start playing our old songs at our shows, it would make the fans happy," Ryder suggested to his bandmates. The rest of the band agreed with Ryder before Dez said, "Notice how Mimi called us kids when we're all responsible adults who have jobs and two of us are getting married." Mimi rolled her eyes, "You could be 80 and you'd still be kids to me." Penny commented, "You could be 90 and you'd still be kids to me," making sure to emphasize the number to annoy Mimi.
Mike narrowed his eyes, "Oh, real mature." Lester exclaimed, "Are you saying my wife isn't mature?!" Austin awkwardly said, "Okay, let's just eat now." The parents fell into silence and busied themselves with their meals.
"Austin, stay at the barbeque with our dads," Ally ordered as she brushed her hair in front of the mirror in their room. "Oh, come on!" Austin complained, "Don't get me wrong, I like your dad, but I really don't want to spend another minute around mine."
She turned to face him and crossed her arms sternly, "Would you rather them fighting again and ruining this day?" He thought for a moment before nodding, "Yes, especially if it causes my dad to leave. Actually, I'll go make them fight right now and get this over with."
"Austin!" she stopped him from leaving the room, "You promised me, Cass, and your mom you'd be nice to him." He shook his head, "I promised I'd try." She sighed, "Would you rather stay with the moms while I stay with the dads?" He shook his head, "No, my mom would make me go stay with my dad anyways. But, Ally, I don't want to be with him all day!"
Ally got closer to Austin and sternly spoke, "Listen to me, Moon, you will stay with the dads today and stop anybody from fighting with anybody like I will stay with our moms to stop them from arguing. Got that?"
He nodded in fear before saying, "Dinner last night wasn't exactly an argument." She sighed, "When we went into the kitchen last night, the moms were fighting. And Elliot told me the dads were also fighting." He rolled his eyes, "The things I do for you." She smiled, "Like hang out with your father?" He nodded, "When you know I can't stand him."
She giggled and wrapped her arms around his waist, "I love you." He wrapped his arms around her too, "I love you too." They leaned in and shared a sweet kiss.
Ally hated the position she was in but loved the scene around her. A big table was set up to fit all of them, but the chairs have been moved all over the big garden as everyone split into groups. Some distance away was the barbeque and the dads with Austin in between them. Dez and Ryder were sitting under a tree rehearsing a song. Elliot was with Cassidy near the ocean. Kira and Trish were sitting at the table talking.
Meanwhile Ally was, unfortunately, seated between the moms helping them prepare the meat. She knew Austin wasn't having the time of his life by the look on his face. The reasons their parents argued for were pretty silly for her. She thought they'd at least behave like adults, but no, they weren't.
Austin didn't defend his father a single time when arguments broke out. He always leaned towards Lester, but he never told them that, he just made them stop talking and do their work. And when Lester went to get more meat from the mothers, he wanted to leave him alone, except that he couldn't because he was assigned a job at the barbeque as well.
"Look at us, father and son grilling together. This is an opportunity for us to get closer," Mike smiled at his son. Austin glanced at him from the corners of his eyes, "If you think arguing with my girlfriend's dad is helping, you're wrong. I'm only here to stop you two from fighting and ruining the day."
Lester came back a few minutes later and Austin braced himself for the next witty comment he was about to make to his father, but, thankfully, Ryder walked up to him. "Austin, you need to go run the song over with Dez. We're having some problems with it," he said. Austin nodded, "Take my spot."
Ally glanced at the barbeque to see Mike and Lester laughing with Ryder but growling at each other each time they came face to face. She scanned the garden for her boyfriend to find him sitting with Dez singing. Trish walked up to her, "I wonder what he's singing. Wanna eavesdrop?"
Ally looked at the moms trying to decide if leaving them alone was a good choice or not before getting up and leaving with her best friend. She didn't want to waste the whole day babysitting, she wanted to have fun.
She and Trish stood behind the tree Austin leaned on and listened in on their discussions and his singing. They were discussing the second verse because they didn't think it fit the music. She smiled as a verse she wrote a while ago came to her mind and found out it matched the background music they were playing.
"So hot that I couldn't take it, want to wake up and see your face, and remember how good it was being here last night, still high with a little feeling, I see the smile as it starts to creep in, it was there, I saw it in your eyes," she sang to the music as she walked up to them.
"I was stumbling, looking in the dark, with an empty heart, but you say you feel the same, could we ever be enough, baby we could be enough," Austin continued as he stood up.
Together, they sang the chorus, "And it's alright, calling out for somebody to hold tonight, when you're lost, I'll find the way, I'll be your light, you'll never feel like you're alone, I'll make this feel like home."
They were aware of the moms taking pictures of them dancing and singing together, but they didn't care, they just enjoyed the moment.
Their moment ended when applause erupted around them. The guys surrounded Ally. "You found the verse we've been looking for for weeks!" Elliot exclaimed with wild eyes. "Yeah, Ally, you should be in the song with us!" Austin smiled. "The song would sound amazing with your voice in it," Dez agreed.
Ryder nodded, "The world would love it." Ally shook her head and smiled, "No, you guys can have the verse. Maybe in the future."
The guys booed her as she rolled her eyes, "I swear I have never been booed in my life until I met you." Dez shrugged, "Well, you make a lot of choices we don't like."
After lunch, Dez and Ryder brought out the speakers and played some songs in a medium volume while everyone had a conversation in pairs.
Austin walked behind Ally who was talking to his mom and wrapped his arms around her from behind. "Well, hello there," he whispered in her ear. She giggled as Mimi smiled, "You two are so cute. When are you planning on going public?"
Ally was about to reply but Austin beat her to it, "We're not really sure yet." Ally frowned thinking she might have misheard him because of the songs playing. She broke free from his grasp and turned to face him, "What?"
He shrugged, "I don't think it's the right time to announce our relationship right now." Ally asked, "But I thought we agreed to go public at your album release party." He sighed, "I don't think we're ready. I'd rather we stay a secret for a bit longer."
"Oh. It's not like you're embarrassed or anything, right?" she crossed her arms angrily. They knew they attracted a crowd around them. He quickly said, "No! No! Alls, I'm not embarrassed. I would never be embarrassed of you."
"Then I don't get it. Why wouldn't you want us to be able to go to restaurants, go on walks together, do anything normal couples would do? Do you really like these sneaky dates that much?" Ally spat.
Nobody tried to stop them from fighting, they just watched. Ally was thankful for that, Austin wasn't.
"Ally, I would love to be able to do normal couple things, but we're not normal and you know that," he defended. She nodded, "That's the excuse you're going with. Okay then," she walked past him to the house, "guess I'll never be as important to you as your fans."
(1)Soldier- Before You Exit