Summary: His favourite secrets were the ones where they spent nights together. Having sleepovers and movie marathons, or walks on the beach and that one time at the water-park together. / Backup & Breakups rewritten; AUSLLY. Oneshot.

Disclaimer: I obviously own nothing but the plot.

A/N: I don't know I don't know I don't know.

Secrets

:::

Hey Austin, are you still picking me up for school?

Austin read the text and smiled to himself, leaning his hands against the steering wheel. He looked up at Ally's house, knowing exactly where her room was. He could see the lilac curtains and the beige duvet as clear as day.

I'm outside :) He texted back, locking his phone and staring at her front door. It was yellow, his favourite colour. He hadn't convinced her to paint it that colour at all. Okay so, maybe he had, but it was still a fun day: they had inevitably ended up having a paint war all over her perfectly mowed, grassy lawn.

He saw her open the door with a hurried look. He honked his horn twice and she looked up at him, her features transforming into a bright smile. She ran towards the car and he chuckled at her enthusiasm.

"Hello." She said brightly as she slid into the passenger's seat.

"Hi." He replied. "What's got you so happy?" He nudged her playfully and she smiled goofily.

"My mom called, she says we can video-chat tomorrow, she's borrowing a laptop off of someone." Ally smile widened even more and Austin could practically feel her glowing from beside him.

"That's awesome, Ally." He said honestly. He knew how much she missed her mom sometimes. Austin took her hand in his and briefly gave it a tight squeeze before putting both hands back on the steering wheel and setting off.

A quick glance out of the corner of his eye saw Ally scribbling in her book, brushing her fringe out of her face. He liked the new middle parting, it suited her. The highlights too. He hadn't quite believed it when she'd got them done, he picked her up and spun her round that day, just because he could see how happy she was with herself.

Smiling, Austin hoped for a good day.

Austin was lucky that he had practically all the same classes as Ally. Really, it was thanks to her tutoring that he had moved into all the same classes as her, apart from ones like gym, oh and calculus. Ally was far too good at calculus for his liking, but maybe that was because she sat next to Dallas in that particular lesson.

She sat next to him in all the others.

They walked into the school together. Some people still gave them odd looks but Austin really couldn't care. He knew what people thought of him, thought of Ally; thought of him and Ally, but he certainly wasn't going to give up his best friend because of a few dirty looks, that was for sure.

They walked towards their lockers. Before they had been friends, his locker had been at a completely different end of the school, mostly where the football players had their lockers. However, the instant Austin knew him and Ally were going to be inseparable, he switched with someone kind enough to give him the locker right next to hers.

Sometimes, when he was on what he liked to call an Ally-High, (usually from writing a new song or watching her have a sugar rush) he thought about what it would be like for them to maybe share a locker, but then that led to thoughts of them dating. He tried to keep his mind well clear of those thoughts because he'd managed so far and he wasn't about to stop now if he could help it.

He thought about how Ally used to drink coffee on the way to school, but she stopped when she realised how giddy it made her.

She personally thought she was embarrassing herself in front of Austin. He personally loved how God damn adorable she was.

His minded played a cruel trick on him as they walked towards Trish and Dez. He thought about what it would be like to hold her hand, so soft and small and warm in his own. He imagined that the guys who always check her out would be so jealous and he would be so, so happy.

Austin had admired Ally right from the start, but he thought he most appreciated the changes in her. Not just on the outside (because God was it hot in here or was it just her?) but on the inside too. When they sang together Austin thought his heart may have just exploded out of his chest a little.

Then they heard that Trish and Dez were keeping a secret, and Ally wasn't as outraged as she may have once been.

Austin knew how she hated to be left out of the loop.

But then he was over at his locker, smiling to himself, thinking about the secrets they had and appreciating every one of them. How he was afraid his dad might force him to stop singing, even though it was unlikely now; how she was worried about college and leaving her dad alone.

His favourite secrets were the ones where they spent nights together. Having sleepovers and movie marathons, or walks on the beach and that one time at the water-park together.

Those were their secrets and he loved them.

"I like him, let's hire him!" Austin watched as Ally stood with that cute look on her face and he couldn't help but smile a little. He doesn't know how he got so close to her really, but he's glad he did because he wouldn't want to miss this side of her for the world.

"I think we should watch him dance first." He said laughter evident in his voice and Ally sat down, nodding her head and not even a little bit embarrassed of herself, as she may have once been.

Was it too intimate if he said he was proud?

They watched that Trent kid dance and Austin determinedly kept his eyes on him the whole time, even though his mind was screaming at him to turn around and watch Ally awkwardly dance.

Trish and Dez never knew about their dance from the practice room, the one they shared right before they wrote his song for Cassidy.

Cassidy, God, he had been so wrong back then. Months had passed and boy had his feelings changed.

Or been unearthed, as his mother would've said.

They picked Trent and then Trish and Dez ran off together. Austin was a little confused but he didn't mind. He looked down to Ally; she still wasn't as tall as him, even in those heels that he loved, but it didn't matter.

She smiled sweetly at him and they walked out of school.

"They'd feel the same way if we were dating." Ally said nonchalantly, as if she hadn't just created a ripple in their relationship.

Austin's immediate reaction, the one he had trained his brain to, was denial. "That'd be weird." He said, and then cursed himself because he sounded like a lovesick teenager, and Ally of all people didn't have to know that it was true.

"Yeah, weird." She agreed, laughing awkwardly. Austin, not for the first time, felt a faint spark of hope that maybe his feelings weren't as one sided as he sometimes believed, he shook that thought from his mind and re-entered the conversation just as Ally reminded him how weird it would be.

So weird, huh?

He'd find out, that's for sure.

"You don't need to prove anything to this guy." Ally said, looking at him in earnest. Austin wanted to smash this guys face in, that's what he wanted to do. Not just for Trish, but for Ally, because Trent put her in a difficult position with her best friend and he shouldn't have the right to do that.

But then he'd looked at her, seen the sincerity in her eyes, and for once, decided maybe taking the high road had a point.

It didn't.

He danced like crazy and beat the other guy by miles. He'd gotten a side hug out of Ally from it, but it wasn't really enough for his liking.

So later on, he's asked her what she thought of his dancing.

"I'm about to make your ego explode, but," She smiled. "You were so awesome. I love watching you dance, it's mesmerizing."

"Think it deserves a hug?" He asked, opening his arms wide, for Ally to step into.

"Of course."

They did one of their rare, more intimate hugs, where her arms went around his waist, her face in his chest, and his wrapped firmly around her shoulders, his head resting on top of hers.

"Let go home." He mumbled into her hair.

He'd driven her home from school in his truck. They'd stopped for smoothies on the way, not at Mini's though. Never at Mini's. The car ride was all smiles and laughter and Austin remembered again why he bothered to pick Ally up and drive her home every day.

Austin parked outside her house and she sat there, not speaking for a minute. He looked at her appreciatively until she turned to him.

"I think it's sad about Trish and Trent. I just wanted her to be happy." Austin smiled ruefully.

"Are you happy, Ally?" She looked at him blankly. "You always put everyone else's happiness before your own, I just need to know."

"Yeah... I am." Ally paused. "I would say it would be nice to have someone to be with, but I don't need someone when I've got you." She winked at him. "Thanks for the ride, I'll call you later."

Austin watched in a daze as she clumsily jumped down from his truck and walked towards her house. It was only when she got to the middle of the path that he fully registered what she had said.

"Hey, Ally! Wait!" He called, hopping out of the car. She stopped and turned to him as she stood outside her front door. He ran to her. "Are you really just going to say that and leave me hanging?" He asked when he reached her.

"I wanted to see if you'd run, and you didn't." Ally said seriously. "I thought it was subtle enough that if you missed it, that was okay, but if you got it, that was okay too."

"All that stuff about Trish and Dez dating, about us dating, about being weird." He looked at her somewhat helplessly. "Do you want it?" He looked at her for a full minute before she made a move.

Ally leaned up and kissed him square on the mouth, moving her soft lips against his. He kissed back, sliding both his hands to cup her face and reach into the depths of her wavy hair. She was still grabbing his hips as they parted.

"I want it." She said breathlessly.

"Good, so do I." She laughed despite everything and he laughed too, hoisting her up as she wrapped her legs around her waist, resting her head on his shoulder as he carried her inside her house.

As he shut the door he said, "How about we watch a romance movie?" and Ally laughed.

A/N: Hi. I don't really know what this is, but I like it. I just wanted to say thank you to people like LoveShipper and queenc1 and bookworm3 and When In Doubt - Write It Out, because people who review like you do are the reason I keep writing.

Lately, I don't know, I feel like it doesn't matter to anyone whether I write or not. There are so many good authors in this fandom, such good writers and I don't know if I'm living up to that or not. Regardless, for those of you who want me to write, I will.

Lots of love, leave reviews for me? :)

- Sophie.