So, yeah, here's yet another one-shot. I suppose someday I'll stop writing these, but that's probably not going to happen for a while, so oh well. I came with the idea for this after watching Club Owners &Quincenearas, because as much as I love Auslly (because I really love Auslly), I do find the awkwardness of Dally kind of adorable. So the Auslly in me (as portrayed in this fic by Austin) had a nice chat with the Dally in me (as portrayed in this fic by Dallas) and this is the result.

Enjoy!

P.S. It is super hard to write someone (Dallas) in character when they have virtually no character. A whole four or five lines is really not a lot to go off of. I tried though. So hopefully it's not too bad.

It's a typical day at Sonic Boom. Austin's already told three different people that this isn't the eye doctor, ear doctor, and dentist respectively (he's not sure how so many people get that confused, but boy do they). He's watching the store for Ally with Trish and Dez, because she'd spent all morning working up the nerve to ask Dallas out on a date and when she'd finally announced that she was ready, he had all but pushed her out the door before she had a chance to stall or change her mind. He doesn't mind though, he actually kind of likes working in the store. Any time he gets to be surrounded by music is a good time for him.

He's in the middle of playing the air drums when Ally walks back into the store. He brightens immediately as he sees her. "Hey Ally! How did it go…" he trails off as she looks up and meets his gaze. Her eyes are big and watery, and Austin's pretty sure he has never seen them look so forlorn in all the time he's known her. His heart tugs in his chest and before he can comprehend what he's done, he leaps over the counter and wraps his friend in hug. He's joined by Trish and Dez moments later.

She doesn't cry, but she does stand in his embrace, gripping the back of his shirt like he's her last lifeline. "What happened, Ally?" He asks, pulling back and holding her an arms length away so he can look her in the eyes.

"I asked Dallas out." She tells him simply. "I managed to not embarrass myself and everything."

"And…?"

She shrugs half-heartedly and he knows she's trying to act like she doesn't care. He also knows that she does, she really, really does. "And he said no." She's using that tone that she always uses when she's trying to pretend that nothing's wrong. It's always made Austin's heart hurt, but this time, knowing exactly what's wrong, it makes him angry too.

"I'll be back." He says, as he releases her from his grip and heads to the door.

"Where are you going?" Trish asks.

Austin turns to face them. "To break Dallas' nose." He says simply and then he's gone.

"Oh no!" Ally moves to go after him. "He can't do that!"

Trish stops her by placing her hand on her friend's shoulder. "Let him go. We both know he won't really break Dallas' nose." Seeing that her friend's concerned look doesn't change she sighs.

"Really, Ally." Dez says as he comes and places a comforting hand on her other shoulder. "He's always going to want to protect you. Sometimes, you just need to let him do it."

-/-

Austin makes it to the food court in record time. He's still seeing red and watching Dallas talk to a very pretty female customer doesn't exactly help. He marches up to the only slightly shorter boy and smacks the cell phone case he was showing to the customer out of his hand. "I think maybe you should take a lunch break." He says as the case clatters to the ground and the pretty girl and her friend quickly back away at his tone.

Dallas' eyes nearly widen in shock, but then he shakes his head, like he was expecting this and that makes Austin even angrier, although he can't exactly explain why. "Fine." The tan boy tells him. "Give me a second to close down the cart and actually, you know, get some food. I'll meet you at the table." He points to empty table that's sitting right beside the cart they're currently standing at. Austin narrows his eyes and Dallas holds up his hands in a surrendering gesture. "Look, I promise I'll come back. But since you're making me take my break, the least you can do is let me get my lunch."

"No." Austin bites out, "the least I can do is not break your nose." Dallas' eyes do widen at that. "Which, lucky for you, I'm not going to, because I know that would upset Ally. But you'd better meet me here. Or the next time I see you, I will break your nose."

Dallas nods solemnly. "Give me five minutes." And then he disappears into the crowd.

Austin throws himself down into one of the chairs at the table to wait. He wants to be surprised at his own audacity, but truthfully he knows that there's very little he wouldn't do for his pretty brunette best friend, including tell off the boy who broke her heart. He doesn't even have to wait five minutes before Dallas returns with a burger and fries, setting them down at the table before settling down himself.

"So," he looks pointedly at Austin, "you had something to say."

Austin sits up straighter and nods. "Yeah." He hears himself saying angrily. "What's your deal? Turning Ally down like that? Especially after you guys have been spending so much time together ever since Trish's quinceanera!" His stomach twist unpleasantly at the memory of how much time his songwriter has been spending with the boy in front of him. He must be madder than he realized.

Dallas sighs and Austin is surprised to notice that he looks more dejected than Ally does. "Look, Austin," he says after a minute, "I really like Ally and I'd really like to go out with her but…I'm not an idiot."

"Huh?" His voice does that high-pitched thing it almost always done when he's confused. He hates it usually, but he's more concerned with what's just been revealed than the odd things he voice does.

"I'm not an idiot." Dallas repeats. "And I'm definitely not looking to get into a relationship that's going to be doomed right from the start."

"You can't say that!" Austin wants to hit the boy in front of him still. But now it's more in a 'let me smack some sense into you' kind of way as opposed to the 'the more blood I see, the better' kind of way it was before. "You guys could end up married with little awkward dancing children for all you know!" There's that stomach twist again. Jeez he didn't realize exactly how angry he was at this guy.

Dallas shakes his head. "I'm not an idiot." He looks pointedly at Austin again. "But you are."

Wow, this conversation is not going at all how Austin had pictured it. "Um, what?" For starters, he'd expected to be able to get out more than one or two word sentences.

"You and Ally. I'm not stupid enough to be the one to come in between you two."

The blonde groans. "Not this again. How many times do we have to tell people that we don't like each other like that." He crosses his arms and feels like his annoyed look is perfectly justified. Dallas, however, must not, because he just laughs and shakes his head.

"You really don't realize it do?" At Austin's blank look the cell phone accessory peddling boy sighs. "You and Ally, what you have is different. Everyone can see it."

"That's not true. We're just friends and partners."

"Right. Because I am willing to give up my dreams for my friends. And they're all willing to face their biggest and most crippling fear just to make sure I can keep my dream." Austin opens his mouth to argue this, but Dallas plows on, not even giving him the chance to. "I always greet my friends like I haven't seen them in weeks, even when it's always been a few hours. Don't take this the wrong way, man, but you're kind of like a puppy around Ally."

Austin's eyes narrows and he will take that the wrong way, thank you very much. He is not a puppy. "I am not."

Dallas raises an eyebrow and Austin shuts his mouth, pouting. Just because Ally tended to make him excited and hyperactive and he liked to follow her around (only because it was fun to bug her) did not mean he was like a puppy. He just really liked spending time with his newest friend. "I am not." He finally repeats, but it sounds anything but convincing.

"It's not just you." Dallas admits. "Ally becomes this totally different person around you. She's supposed to be a terrible dancer-"

"She is a terrible dancer." Austin mutters, but Dallas hears him anyways.

"Not when she's dancing with you." He tells the blonde boy. "And she, I don't know, lights up when you're around. You do too. Light up when she's around you." He adds at the almost famous singer's confused look." He finishes his burger and balls up the wrapper, stuffing it into the already empty fry container. "Look, I'm not going to try and explain point by point what I'm talking about. Mostly because my break is almost up and I just don't have time."

"I'm just saying, if you can pull a person into your lap and not bat an eye at it, if almost everything you do is revolved around the other person, if you have to write a freaking "not" love song about them, then you should probably at least take a closer look at your relationship."

He throws his trash away, returning to the table briefly. "I'm really sorry that I hurt Ally's feelings. It wasn't exactly fun for me to turn her down either. But I'm not who she really wants, even if she doesn't realize it. And it wouldn't be fair to either of us if I settled for second place."

He turns to leave but Austin sits up a little straighter, calling after him. "Wait!" Dallas stops, turning back to face him. "How do you even know all this stuff?"

Dallas grins slightly, shaking his head. "I'm the cell phone accessory guy in the middle of the food court. I see a lot more than you'd think."

And with that he goes back to his accessory cart and Austin knows the conversation is over. And he's still not entirely sure what exactly just happened.

-/-

He walks back into Sonic Boom, his head still reeling and his stomach still doing that annoying twisting and clenching thing. Ally is standing alone, writing in her book and humming lightly. He smiles at the sight of her and the clenching in his stomach loosens just a bit. Ally looks up at him as he walks in, smiling as she meets his gaze.

"Hey." She says, sounding much less dejected than she had when he'd left.

"Hey yourself." He can feel himself returning her smile. "You seem to be doing much better."

Ally nods. "I am. Dallas is just a boy after all." She shrugs and this time he can tell she means it. "I'll be okay. And the important thing is that I tried. Besides," she beams at him and the clenching in his stomach disappears completely with her next words.

"It's hard to be too upset when I've got someone as amazing as Austin Moon looking out for me."

Well there you have it. Hope you guys enjoyed. I've seen so many fics where Dallas is a bad guy but after Club Owners & Quinceaneras, I honestly just cannot see him as one. He seems so adorable and awkward and I kind of love him. Just, you know, not with Ally.

Let me know what you think. Reviews make my day!