Disclaimer: *Sings* I own nothing as usual!

Summary: If Austin isn't man enough to realise he belongs with Ally, then it must be up to Trish and Dez to help him figure it out. There also may be fluff afoot. / One shot. Auslly. Team-Austin!Friendship. Complete.

A/N: Hi! Longer A/N at the bottom. Hope you all like this! :) Oh yeah hi see this here please!: I realise the timeline for GF&GF has been redone here by me, but just go with it please because it fits better this way for the fic, thank you! :)

Credit: Goes to When In Doubt-Write It Out for the ending scene... you'll see. :)

Find The Words We'll Sing In Time

:::

"Hey, dude, can I ask you a favour?" Austin asks into the phone. His hand is wrapped up in Kira's, her smooth hand not much smaller than his.

"Aren't you supposed to be on your date?" Dez asks, towelling his hair dry with his free hand. Going through sprinklers to watch that movie had been so worth it.

"Yeah, I am." Dez hears his best friend shuffle his feet. "But do you mind if me and Kira crash at your place? I mean, you do have an awesome TV."

Dez squirms uncomfortably. He sensed something had being going on with Ally earlier and that she was upset. He didn't really like that. Dez and Ally may not talk as much as she and Austin, or him and Trish, but he knows they get each other; she's like his sister and he doesn't want to betray her with this, even though Austin is his best friend.

"Uh yeah, sure dude." He says hesitantly.

"Yes!" He hears down the phone and can't help but chuckle. "Thanks Dez, see you in a few."

The red head puts the phone down when he hears the dial tone and lets out a long sigh. Then, his phone buzzes and he looks curiously to see who it is.

Sent: 8:27PM
From: Ally
To: Dez

Where are you? :)

Dez rubs his temples because this feels awfully like disloyalty. Austin may have been his friend first but it's hard not to want to comfort Ally when she has her sad eyes. You don't see them often, but Ally's sad eyes are like seeing a kicked puppy.

And Dez would never leave a kicked puppy by itself.

(Even if you know, that one time a puppy did pee on him, but still.)

After a little while of deliberating, he texts back. Dez figures Austin can be the one to tell her about his date, and he doesn't really want to cause tension between anyone right now.

Sent: 8:31PM
From: Dez
To: Ally

At home. Why? :)

The reply comes almost immediately.

Sent: 8:32PM
From: Ally
To: Dez

Oh, me and Trish were having a practice room picnic and thought you might want to join. But if you're comfy at home then no worries!

He doesn't reply, but unconsciously smiles because it's nice to have friends that actually think about you and care about where you are and what you're doing. If you'd told Dez a year ago this was happening, that he'd be best friends with not only Austin, but Ally and Trish; or making number one music videos, he would've laughed.

There's a knock at his door and he realises he's totally unprepared for what's about to happen.

"Hey Dez!" Austin says enthusiastically when Dez opens the door. Kira gives an fervent wave and Dez tries not to compare it to the times Austin and Ally have shown up on his doorstep, Austin with his big grin and Ally with her shy wave.

Dez shakes his head and opens the door wider for them.

"We'll just chill in your basement, yeah Dez?" Austin asks. Dez nods and gets the unspoken message that he isn't really welcome, even though this is his house.

"Yeah man. See you later."

Dez trudges back to his room and vows to get to the bottom of the problem tomorrow.

"Hey Ally." Trish says as she walks into Sonic Boom, trying and failing to stifle a yawn.

"Hey." Ally says softly. "Bit early for you, isn't it?"

"My boss pays in the morning." Trish says, grinning. "Just about to get my pay check and then I'll quit. Be back in ten."

"Okay." Ally says, chuckling slightly.

"We have a lot to discuss, that you successfully avoided yesterday!" Trish says as she walks backwards out of the shop. Ally groans and then Trish is gone, giving Ally no chance to argue.

Ally had been sorting out the guitar rack —trying to decide which colours look best together— when she feels a hand on her back and spins round, looking up to find herself staring into the deep brown eyes of Austin Moon.

"Hello." Ally says as cheerily as she can muster, then ducks her head. She hopes he won't see the puffiness of her eyes, but he's very close and her make up wasn't covering it as well as she thought.

He either ignores it or doesn't notice.

Ally hopes it's the latter.

"Hey Ally." Austin says, all smiles and teeth and Ally's stomach churns. "I just wanted to say I can't hang out with you today. Well I can until eleven, then me and Kira are going on a lunch date."

Her stomach doesn't drop, she notices. Probably because she'd been expecting it. "Don't worry, Trish and I planned on spending the day together anyway."

"Oh." Is all he says and Ally almost feels indignant. What, is he the only one allowed to have plans? Is it so absurd, after a year of foursome friendship that she wants to hang out with her girl best friend?

"Hm." Ally says and goes to stand back behind the counter, keeping a safe distance from her best friend.

Unfortunately, he picks today to not stand on the other side of said counter, but come and invade her personal space, almost trapping her against it. He is so spatially unaware, Ally thinks.

"Are you okay?" Austin asks, looking at her curiously, a small frown on his face.

"Fine." She bites out and knows he's not convinced.

"Ally, don't lie to me. I can read you like a book."

Ally is so not ready to have this conversation and it shows. "Don't you have somewhere to be?" She turns her back to him, but he doesn't move. She can feel his breath on her neck due to their close proximity.

"Fine, Ally." He breathes into her ear. "But I'm here if you want to talk."

Then he heads out and Ally mutters, "Sure you are," spitefully. Austin hears and turns to look at her with a sad face, but just shakes his head and leaves.

Trish passes him on her way back into the store and sees Ally's irritated expression. "Lover's tiff?" Trish enquires.

"Something like that."

"You really need to tell him how you feel." Ally leans her back against the counter, facing away from the door and Trish. The Latina sighs and goes around the counter to do the same, both of them staring aimlessly at the piano.

"I've told you what would happen. Plus he has perfect Kira now, what does it matter?"

"Just because Austin's being clueless as usual, doesn't mean you're not good enough Ally." Trish says with a serious expression.

"You're definitely good enough for Austin. Way more than good." Dez says and both girls spin around to see their tallest friend, standing in the front entrance of Sonic Boom. He has his hands resting in his pockets, a very Austin like gesture, and just shrugs his shoulders in response to their stares.

"I swear I didn't tell him!" Trish says.

"You didn't need to." Dez says chuckling. "It's pretty obvious if you ask me. Plus, did you not see the efforts me and Trish went to yesterday to show how couple-like you and Austin are?"

"You knew yesterday? For all that time?"

"Like I said, just because Austin's blind to this, doesn't mean I am."

"For once, the bozo was observant." Trish says and Dez promptly rolls his eyes.

"Yeah yeah, this isn't about us Trish. Not you or me or my giraffe Larry, it's about Ally and we need to make her feel better." Ally smiles wearily at Dez's usual antics but inclines her head slightly in thanks.

"So, where's Austin?" Dez asks and Ally squirms a little from her place behind the counter.

"We kind of had a fight and," She looks downward, "He went on a lunch date with Kira."

"What did you fight about?" Dez asks and Trish looks at Ally curiously as well.

"I kind of just, put up a wall, really." They look at her confused so she presses on. "He asked me if I was okay and then got all shirty with me when I wouldn't tell him. Then, when he left..." She pauses and looks towards the entrance, "He said I could talk to him if I needed to and I basically just said, yeah right and he heard and now I'm pretty sure he's upset and―"

"Ally!" Trish and Dez cut her off simultaneously. They could tell she was going into one of her rants and her breathing had sped up considerably.

"Jesus, don't have a panic attack." Trish says, resting her hand on Ally's shoulder. She gets an embarrassed smile in response.

"I think we should get out of here for a little while." Trish says. "It's no good for you to work, that doesn't take your mind off of it." Ally begins to protest but then Trish's voice turns stern. "No excuses."

Ally sighs resignedly and prepares herself for the worst.

Dez watches Ally sip her drink quietly, lacking her usual vigour and talkative nature. It was not something he realised he missed until she was subdued.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asks and she looks for a moment before responding.

"What's to say?" She replies and then takes another sip of her milkshake. "I like him, he doesn't like me."

"Sure sure." Trish says. "He does. He just hasn't realised it yet."

Ally scoffs and Trish gazes past her head until Ally turns around to see what her best friend is staring at. "Is that the guy you told I like Austin yesterday?"

"I think so..." Trish says still looking at him. "Yeah. I'm sure it is."

"And you told him... why?" Dez asks and gives Trish a weird look.

"As if you don't do the most random things, wackadoodle." And then: "I'm not very good at keeping secrets."

"Not very good at keeping a boyfriend either." Dez mutters and earns himself a thwack on the arm.

"Shut up, you're so annoying."

"Look who's talking."

"At least when I talk I say coherent sentences."

"Yeah well, at least when I talk I don't look like a fish trying to breathe." Dez mimes opening and closing his mouth obscenely.

"Well, at least I don't have the memory of a fish!" Trish's voice has become petulant.

"Yeah, well―" The distinct sound of laughter reaches to two teen's ears, and they turn to see Ally laughing whole-heartedly.

"How do you... even... come up with... those insults?" Ally asks between breaths. When she's calmed down she says, "You two are ridiculous."

Trish says, "I'm not!" at the same time Dez replies, "Thank you," and Ally gives them a smile.

"Seems like someone's feeling better!" Dez coos mockingly and Ally rolls her eyes.

"Well, if my friends can't make me feel better then I've obviously not picked the right friends."

The conversation stretches into a comfortable silence and Ally begins to feel less anxious, the pit of her stomach churning more slowly as she takes a final sip of her drink.

Austin's distracted all through his lunch date, but Kira doesn't seem to notice. He scowls to himself when the thought that Ally would notice immediately pops into his head.

He's walking home when he decides he wants to hang out with Dez. Austin takes out his phone and calls his best friend, feeling agitated.

The sound of laughter echoes in the background when Dez picks up the phone and Austin frowns.

"Hey Buddy!" Dez says enthusiastically, sounding slightly breathless. "And to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?"

Austin scrunches up his nose and ignores the question. "Who are you with?"

"Oh um," Dez sounds deflated now, at the lack of Austin joining in with his joke. "I'm with Trish."

"And Ally?" Austin asks. His voice sounds jealous and he can't even bring himself to care. He'd stopped beating himself up about thinking about her after the first half an hour.

"No, she had to go..." Dez trails off awkwardly.

"Oh, okay." Austin replies, equally uneasily. "I'll just go then―"

"No!" Dez shouts. "If it's important I can talk to you."

"Well, yeah." Austin starts. "Ally and I kind of had a fight earlier. She was acting weird with me."

"I heard." Dez answers shortly.

It takes Austin a moment to remember that they're all friends, not just him and Dez or him and Ally or Ally and Trish. Ally had probably mentioned it to both of their other friends.

"Do you know why?"

"I think..." Dez says timidly. "I think that's something you should ask her."

Austin bristles. "You're supposed to be my best friend, Dez."

"Austin." Dez says, as if scolding a small child. "You're talking stupid and you know you are."

"That doesn't even make sense." Austin replies petulantly, still angry from being denied information.

"Yes it does. Now," Dez responds calmly. "It's Ally business so why don't you go and ask her about it. And try not to act like a jerk."

Austin hangs up the phone abruptly and feels the anger boil inside him. Everyone just had to turn against him, just when he was happy. He had a number one song, a gorgeous girlfriend and suddenly his friends had teamed up in ruining that for him.

He wheels around, no longer heading for his house but the mall.

He'd speak to Ally if it was the last thing he ever did.

"What did he say?" Trish asks when Dez returns to the food court table.

"Not a lot. I think he's going to see Ally."

Trish's expression is anxious. "How did he seem?"

"Angry." Dez reveals with an awkward quirk of his lips. "Really angry."

Trish shoots out of her seat. "Well then we have to go to Sonic Boom and tell Ally!" She moves to walk away but Dez puts a forceful ―but not painful― hand on her shoulder.

"I think it's best we let them sort it out." Trish sits down again moodily. "Come on, it'll take Austin at least ten minutes to get there. How about we leave in fifteen to check on them?" Trish nods curtly at her red headed friend. "In the mean time, I can tell you all about my new ginger bread house!"

"Ally!" Austin calls into the empty store. She appears from the practice room door with an irritated look on her face and Austin wills himself to ignore the way she seemingly glides down the stairs.

"What, Austin?"

"Why are you so annoyed at me, huh?" He stops at the bottom of the steps, and she stands on the step two from the bottom. She's at eye level with him for the first time in a while. "Why'd you go and talk about me to our friends without telling me first? I thought you were a better friend than that."

Ally recoils at the anger in Austin's tone, and her eyes harden. She's glad he doesn't have an height advantage but it probably wouldn't matter if he did. "I'm sorry?"

"So you should be." Austin counters, crossing his arms. Ally picks up on his closed body language and her eyes narrow.

"I don't see why it's any of your concern what I say to my friends. It's not like I said anything bad about you." She tries to move past but he squares his shoulders and keeps her in place.

"Well you obviously don't have something nice to say or we wouldn't be having this argument!" He temporarily removes one arm from its crossed position to fling it into the air in exasperation, whilst the other falls to his side.

"It's not an argument." Ally says, her lips making a thin line for a few seconds. "It's more like a heated discussion."

"Oh stop trying to be so goddamn clever with me." Austin says. Ally winces at the force in his tone. "This is an argument."

"Fine!" Ally yells, tired of his tone and his sudden attack. "You want an argument, I'll give you an argument!" Her hair swings to the side and Austin feels the need to back away, but stand his ground despite it.

"I don't see why you should get to come in here and yell at me after all that happened this morning was you witnessing me in a bad mood." She leans close to his face, not shouting but talking painfully quietly. "Then you storm in shouting your mouth off about me, when I don't understand why you're so angry. I haven't even done anything to you so I don't think you have the right to be screaming in my face."

Ally leans back as she finishes and blows a strand of hair away from her face, irritated.

"Well just because you were in a bad mood doesn't mean you have to take it out on me, and I can be angry if I want to! Just because some of us aren't like little children when it comes to expressing their emotions, if you can even express any at all!"

She looks at him, mild shock written across her features. His eyes widen slightly at what he's just said and goes to reach out a hand to her, but she leans back, stumbling to walk backwards up the stairs.

"Ally I―"

"Don't touch me!"

"No Ally please―!"

"No Austin." She says firmly. He's followed her up two steps but she puts her palms flat on his chest to stop him from coming further. "No. It's not fair that you can make me this upset because I'm so in love with you. So in love with how you dress and how you smile and who you are and the way you think. It's not fair you don't even see me whilst I stand here and love every little thing and flaw about you! So no, it's not fair that you are shouting at me."

Austin feels her whole body freeze and knows his tenses too. She rips her hands away from his chest, spins around and darts up the stairs, into the practice room and away from him. He stays in his place on the stairs, staring, before slowly turning around.

He realises they attracted the attention of a few wary looking customers, and that his other two best friends are standing in the entrance to Sonic Boom, both showing distraught looks.

"Dude..." Dez starts.

"What did you just do?" Trish finishes as Austin slowly meets them in the middle of the room. He runs a hand over the back of his neck nervously. "You just let her run away from you after she confesses that!"

"Well what was I supposed to do?" He says, still agitated. "It's not like I love her or anythi―"

"Shut up." Trish cuts him off. "You seriously cannot be that oblivious."

"But―"

"Austin... You're totally in love with her and everyone knows it..." Dez says gently, placing a hand on his best friend's shoulder. "It's better to embrace it than fight it."

"Dez, right now is not the time for one of your weirdly thoughtful speeches." Austin almost growls, rubbing his temples.

"Well, actually I think it is." Dez argues back and Austin looks up at him. "So, here's what you're going to do: First, you have to admit to yourself that you love Ally―"

"―Then," Trish continues, "You have to break up with Kira. And after that―"

"―You have to go and tell Ally how you feel about her." Dez finishes.

"Now, do you think you can do that?" Trish questions patronisingly.

"No!"

"Do. It." Trish growls.

"I'm in love with Ally." Austin states, his voice tinted with awe but mostly numbness, obeying his friend commands.

"Well done!" Trish coos mockingly again. "Now, you pick up the phone and you break up with Kira."

"Okay." He says dumbly as he sees his friends encouraging smiles. He takes out his phone and dials his soon to be ex-girlfriend's number. "Oh, um hey, Kira, I have something to te―"

"Austin, look, I have to go first." Kira cuts him off. "I met someone else, and we just really click, so I don't think it's going to work out between us."

Austin furrows his brows and swallows. "Who is it?"

"His name is Trent."

The blonde's eyes widen in surprise. His friends ―who have pressed themselves up against the phone― hear this and the looks of shock are mirrored on their faces too.

"Oh, well..." Austin trails off awkwardly. "I hope you're happy together."

"Thanks, Austin." Kira says before hanging up.

"Well," Austin says, slipping his phone back into his pocket. "She's welcome to him."

The Latina only shakes her head. "Now, step three; you go and tell Ally you're in love with her. Or at least do something."

"On it." Austin calls, already jogging towards the stairs. As he closes the door behind him, Trish and Dez lean on the counter behind them, high-fiving and puffing out breaths of relief.

"Hey Ally." Austin says, coming sheepishly into the practice room. "Sorry I made a scene back there. And for what I said, I didn't mean it."

Ally shakes her head. "It's okay, I guess."

She runs her nimble fingers along the white keys of the piano and Austin's eyes follow the movement. He stays standing in the middle of the room, not sure if going to sit with her is safe territory.

"Did you... Did you mean what you said, back there?" Austin asks and she looks at him for the first time since he entered. His expression is timid and Ally doesn't know how to deal with that.

"Yes..." She trails off, not knowing what else to say.

"Oh." Austin says and Ally blinks her eyes tightly together when her back is turned to him.

"Yeah. Oh."

Austin slowly comes to join her on the piano bench, lightly knocking his knee with hers. "That was really cool, what you said, you know."

"Was it now?" Ally asks dully and his looks at her with sad eyes.

"Yeah. No one's ever said anything like that to me before."

"Huh." Ally says but doesn't say anything else. The room is so still Austin can hear every breath she takes clearly. He swallows suddenly and she looks at him, frowning, before ignoring him again.

"Which is why..." He continues, "Kira and I broke up. It's a... weird story. I'll explain it to you later."

Ally's head snaps up at that and her gaze remains. "Are you serious?" Austin nods and gives her a small smile. "But I thought you said Kira was the perfect girl?" Ally asks and wills her hands not to shake.

"Yeah well, when am I ever right?" Ally doesn't giggle so Austin speaks again. "Plus, I remember Trish saying that sometimes, the perfect girl is closer than you think." He bumps shoulders with her and she feels a faint blush starting to form.

"Trish knows things." Ally says decidedly and starts to play softly on the piano. It's not a song he recognises but he joins in anyway. After a few minutes of playing their hands brush and their gazes lock.

He takes her hand in his delicately.

Ally looks at their hands and starts to remember the first time this happened. Over a year ago, when all she knew was he was a blonde boy with endless energy and a drive to be a rockstar. She remembers how shy she felt in his presence, how embarrassed she had been to be so intimate with someone she barely knew.

"Sorry." He had apologised awkwardly afterwards and she had shrugged, her hands feeling slightly clammy as she began to play again. She soon got lost in the bridge of the song and tried in vain to forget his close proximity.

"What are you thinking about?"

"The first time we brushed hands on the piano." She admits and his face takes on a nostalgic smile.

"I remember that." Austin says. "Our first all-nighter."

"And you still managed to embarrass yourself by falling off of the piano bench." Ally giggles.

He squeezes her hand affectionately. "Hey, don't lie, you totally thought that was cute."

She smiles but says nothing and he feels like this is a good time to start saying important things.

"I'm sorry I didn't see what's been in front of me this whole time." He admits.

"It's okay." Ally says but she stops looking at him and he mopes.

"But I do now."

Ally turns to look at him, finding his face a lot closer than she thought it would be and his eyes shining, looking happily into her own.

"You do?"

"Yeah, I do." And then he kisses her.

A/N: Because Ally and Trish are so comfortable talking about the whole Ally-Austin-Kira thing in front of Dez, I'm figuring he knows. Maybe not right at that moment, (in GF&GF) but I figured after Austin and Kira's first date he would've known. This kind of started because I wanted to show how that happens. :) Plus, Dez and Trish are total Auslly shippers and how could this not have happened.

Also: I didn't want to make Kira seem like the bad guy but I also didn't know quite how to get rid of her so... original idea? :)

AND I HAVE TO SAY: I swear to God I started writing that ending bit BEFORE the promo for Campers & Complications came out. The whole writing a song then hand touching leading to a (potential) kiss is totally psychic powers on mine and Carlie's (When In Doubt-Write It Out) part and I did not steal that, okay? Okay. :)

I realised this is weirdly like a blend of the last episode and the upcoming one and that was not intentional, haha. Please don't forget to review, it lets me know if you all want me to keep writing :)

-―Sophie.