Hey so this is a oneshot Laurwalk request for IRuleUK. Hope it meets expectations. Also I will try update more over the next few weeks, things have just been crazy busy at the moment. If you guys have any prompts feel free to send them my way x x thanks you guys and please review

"5 minutes Lo, hurry up."

"Shh calm down Juls, the live-stream can survive without me for a few minutes."

"Ya but can Walker?" Julia muttered jokingly under her breath, typing furiously, praying that Lauren's laptop wouldn't crash on them. The screen flickered and suddenly the images of six smiling, albeit slightly confused faces materialised before her,

"Hey guys, haven't seen you in ages," Brian called out sarcastically, "if ye want to start while I resend Joey an invite."

"Nick?" Julia suggested, "do you wanna take this one?"

"Sure… let's see," he began uncertainly, "well welcome to our Google hangout. We'll be talking about some more of our upcoming plans later and answering some of your questions because we know some people have been a little confused as to what exactly is happening. Ya…so…start sending in your questions to the Team Starkid twitter or just ask us in the comments box."

"We'll probably end up just discussing poop or reliving drunk memories," Joe chuckled, scanning his laptop screen, searching for a certain face, "Julia, where's Laur… are we missing someone?"

"Lauren's on the phone to some guy, she'll be here soon," Julia informed him with a sly smirk on her face.

"A guy? Who?" Joe asked leaning in towards the computer screen, frowning slightly.

"Just the new maintenance guy, our oven broke and Lauren's having baking withdrawals," she responded, noticing Joe's expression soften as the slightly panicked look evaporated. It was obvious Joe liked Lauren and after almost 6 years of friendship Julia felt it was time he grew the balls to tell her. She had a strong inclination that Lauren harboured some feelings for Joe too, she just hid them better.

"And I have arrived," Lauren declared dramatically, flouncing down on the sofa beside Julia, while a shirtless Joey appeared simultaneously on the screen, arms flailing triumphantly,

"Woo, finally," he celebrated," Brian you seriously suck at this google hangout stuff, this like your 10th one of these and my invite never works."

"Ahem, you accidentally deleted the email…not my fault," Brian retorted, smiling cheekily, "and put on some clothes, ticket promotion isn't until next week."

"Wait are we live?" Joey asked, eyes bulging, grabbing a shirt from the back of his chair and pulling his arms through the sleeves, "hello internet."

Brian smiled and decided it was time he stepped back in as moderator,

"Ok, now that the stripping has ceased, let's get this show on the road. Let's see," Brian said, scrolling through Twitter questions on his phone, "Ok I have one: Starkid101 asked, Have you guys ever received any weird fan mail/gifts?"

"Ah...yes" Lauren affirmed, nodding her head, "but it's mostly the good kind of weird."

"There was that one person last year who made this list detailing all the reasons why Taz and Up should have kissed in Starship," Julia reminded her.

"Oh ya, she seemed genuinely offended that it had been left out and thought we'd cut it from the YouTube version. One of her reasons was just, I want to see Lauren and Joe kiss."

"She tried to get us to reenact what the scene would have gone like," Joe joined, cringing at the awkwardness of the memory.

"But that kind of stuff doesn't happen a lot. Mostly people like to make us plushies or write us letters, which is really sweet."

"I do get a few marriage proposals and prom invites from time to time," Joey admitted.

"Same," Brian nodded, "but they're more flattering than offensive."

"I got a jar of peanut butter from a girl once," Meredith grinned from beside Brian.

"Side note to all fans listening, food makes us very happy," Brian stated.

"Except Redvines," Joey stressed, making a face.

"Make stuff gluten and dairy free and Lauren will love you forever," Joe chuckled.

Lauren beamed and nodded enthusiastically. Joe couldn't stop watching her window on his computer. What was it about Lauren that made her so compelling. It was like she drew him in. It was getting to the point that she was all that he could think about and not being able to act on his feeling when they were together was getting near impossible.

"Joe…"

"Hmm? Sorry? What was the question?"

"What is your favourite rehearsal memory from any of the productions?" Brian read out from his phone.

"Oh let me think… ok I have one. I don't know if it really counts but it was when we were rehearsing for AVPS. Me, Lauren and Darren were the only ones left in the studio and Darren tried to scare us by going up into the attic storage rooms above and making weird noises. "

Lauren smiled as she realised the night he was referring to. Joe met her gaze and continued, "But that building was like a thousand years old, so the floor wasn't very stable and Darren was stomping around. We just heard this big cracking noise and a roar as his legs came crashing through the ceiling. I think I probably laughed my ass off for about 20 minutes straight."

"And Darren was just dangling there," Lauren laughed, wiping tears from her eyes.

Joe remembered that night well. It was the first time he'd realised how strong his feelings for Lauren were. It was the night he knew he wanted more than just a friendship.

Lauren sat up as she heard a loud knocking, "Sshh what was that?" she whispered, a note of panic in her voice.

"Calm down Lo, it's probably just the pizza guy with our food," Darren said, getting up and rolling his eyes.

"Oh…ya," she responded, although Joe noticed she still looked slightly on edge as Darren disappeared out the door.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she sighed, "I always get really paranoid after watching scary movies and that one we watched last night was terrifying."

"You're such a girl," he chuckled, nudging her playfully.

Suddenly a loud thumping noise came from above and Joe saw Lauren tense. Suddenly the lights began to flicker before plunging them into complete darkness. Joe could practically feel the fear radiating off Lauren,

"Joe…" she whimpered, "Please tell me that's just Darren messing with us."

She edged closer to him and grabbed his arm, her fingers digging in to his skin. Her touch sent shivers down his spine and subconsciously he felt his arm wrap around her comfortingly,

"It's just Darren," he hushed, resting his chin on her head and pulling her close, "we're fine Lo, who else could it be?"

She shrugged and leaned against him. Suddenly there was another round of banging from overhead and an ear-splitting creak, causing Lauren to jump to her feet, "Ok seriously, I'm really freaked out now. Can we just find Darren and go?"

Joe smiled sheepishly at her and begrudgingly clambered to his feet, "I'm telling you it's just Da…"

"Aaaagghhh."

A loud roar echoed around them and Joe threw himself over Lauren as part of the ceiling gave way. Lauren slowly blinked her eyes open as the noise subsided, until it was just the familiar sound of Darren cursing.

"Joe you can let go now," she stated, noticing Joe's arms still wrapped around her. There eyes met for a moment before he broke the gaze,

"Oh," he blushed, quickly letting her go.

"Shit," Darren's voice came from the opposite side of the ceiling and Lauren choked out a laugh as she turned and saw his purple clad legs suspended from above. She looked around and saw Joe on the floor in hysterics,

"Hey Dar, how's it hanging?" he called out, trying to gather himself.

"Ugh, are you serious?" Darren groaned, "now is not the time for lame-ass jokes Walker."

Joe looked up at Lauren and raised an eyebrow, "told you it was Darren."

There was a part of him that night that was sure she had felt something too. He knew the fans shipped them together but that meant nothing: the fans shipped Lauren with practically every team member. His phone beeped and he opened the message,

Dylan: Incoming Laurwalk storm

He caught Dylan's eye on the monitor and saw him smirk playfully. He shook his head in exasperation and turned his attention to the comments.

LAURWALK

OMG JOE AND LAUREN ARE SO CUTE

I SHIP IT! LAURWALK

JUST TELL US, WE KNOW YOU TWO ARE DATING. (I'M LOOKING AT YOU LAURWALK)

He watched the craziness continue as the comments automatically refreshed. Joe's phone beeped again,

Brian: Dude, tone it down on the Lauren love.

He quickly typed back a reply,

Joe: I didn't say anything

Brian: you didn't have to, it's that obvious.

Joe shoved his phone in his pocket. Brian knew he liked Lauren and often he wondered did the others notice too. At cons, fans constantly speculated who was dating who; then there was tumblr and twitter on which fans literally had shipping wars and of course, there was always the argument as to why Taz and Up hadn't kissed in Starship. However whenever it was brought up, Lauren seemed to laugh it off, claiming that it was ridiculous.

For the rest of the live-stream he avoided mentioning Lauren's name and looking at her. He tried to appear distracted when she spoke and even contemplated making up some excuse to leave the hangout. He didn't know how else to deal with the situation. Friendship wasn't enough anymore.

"Byeeee," Lauren and Julia chorused waving at the screen. The live-stream cut off and Julia turned to Lauren,

"What's up?"

"Just thinking," Lauren replied distractedly, "actually Juls, I think I'll go for a walk. I need some fresh air."

She didn't even bother grabbing her coat as she left the apartment and out into the night air. It was unusually chilly for this time of the year but she hardly felt the cold. She strolled through the familiar streets of Chicago, without purpose, allowing her feet to guide her. After about an hour, she stopped, noticing where she was. Starkid Manor stood before and more importantly, inside…Joe. Why was it that she always ended up here? Not physically but mentally, emotionally, often in her dreams.

He was like a beacon of light that her heart seemed drawn too. She had dated numerous guys through the years and she didn't think she wanted anything more than a friendship with Joe, yet there was always something there, lurking in the back of her mind. Sometimes she allowed herself to explore that feeling and it would cloud over every other thought in her head. But… that was the thing; it was all in her head. She sighed and began to turn away, when she heard his husky voice,

"Lauren?"

She spun around and stared at him, "Joe."

He frowned and shrugged off his jacket, placing it around her shoulders. Lauren opened her mouth to protest but he shook his head and hushed her, "your lips are turning blue Lo."

Instinctively she touched her fingers to her mouth, only then realising how cold she actually was.

"What are you doing here?" Joe asked, concern and curiosity written all over his face.

"I…I… don't know," she admitted, looking up at him, "I should probably get back."

"Come on I'll walk you home, "he offered.

As they walked back, Lauren felt Joe's warm hand wrap around her own. She glanced down surprised. It felt nice and she squeezed it gently,

"Joe? The Laurwalk thing….does it bother you?"

Joe stayed silent for a minute, choosing his response carefully, "Yes and no I suppose. I don't mind that the fans ship us or anything, it's just entertainment for them but sometimes…. Sometimes it just reminds me of what I want but don't have."

"What you want?" Lauren echoed his words quietly.

Joe stopped walking and turned Lauren to face him. He seemed to be examining her face, searching for something. Suddenly she felt his arms wrap around her waist and pull her towards him. Slowly he leaned in towards her, waiting to see if she'd pull away. She didn't. Lauren sucked in a breath just as his lips met hers and felt her whole body relax in his embrace. He pulled away after a moment and blushed, "Sorry… well no, I'm not sorry, I've wanted to that for such a long time."

"You never said anything," Lauren accused.

"You're a scary little person when you want to be… and you never showed any interest."

"I'm an actor for a reason," she whispered.

"Lauren… I can't act like I don't care anymore. I can't just sit around and pretend to be happy having a purely platonic relationship with you. It's driving me crazy."

Lauren stared at him as a tear escaped from the corner of his eye and rolled down his cheek. Leaning up on her tippy toes she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his head down to her level,

"You don't have to pretend anymore," she breathed before kissing him softly. She felt her feet leave the ground as Joe straightened up and felt him smile into the kiss. Eventually they drew back from one another, their cheeks flushed,

"Taz and Up finally got their kiss, huh?" she giggled.

"In a way, except we're not fictional," Joe responded, "we get to write our own story."

x x x