All My Heart

12th June 2008
Weybridge, Surrey

"Dan's coming over in ten, 'said he's got something he has to do first." Josh said as he reentered his living room, gently throwing his phone on the couch and then flopping down onto it, next to Max.

Matt snickered, "Wanna bet he's shagging some girl?"

"You think so?" Josh asked amusedly, eyeing his mate as Matt's eyes never left the telly screen; in which they were playing Fifa.

"You never know with Dan," Chris spoke up, glancing up from his phone screen to shoot a smirk over at his mates as they snickered.

"Ten pounds says that he'll walk in with love-bites." Max spoke up, grinning madly.

"What if the love-bites are somewhere... Else...?" Josh raised a brow, before they were all silent and then, as though scripted, shivered. They didn't really need the mental image of their best mate getting it on with a random girl, and since none of them had ever walked in on a scene like that before – thank God, – it was all up to their imaginations.

"I actually think he's really got something to do," Chris shrugged his shoulders.

"What if Dan brings the girl he just shagged over here?" Matt asked with wide-eyes.

"Wow," someone deadpanned, making them all swivel around to face the owner of the voice. "I'm touched to know how highly you lot think of me," he raised an eyebrow, blinking at them, completely unimpressed.

The rest of You Me At Six were silent then, eyes darting over his neck and collarbones. They thought they were inconspicuous, but they really weren't. "I didn't just shag someone!" He exclaimed loudly, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah?" Matt raised a challenging eyebrow. "Why were you late, then?"

"I went to go pick up this person." Dan grinned, glancing over his shoulder and leaning forward, only pulling back once he'd grabbed something – or rather, someone.

Next to him was a rather shy-looking brunette with hair tucked snug into a beanie, dressed in skinny jeans and a Ramones t-shirt. The boys' eyes widened at the sight of the girl, and Matt almost jumped up and shouted "I fucking told you he might bring her over!", but he didn't, thankfully.

"This is Aria," Dan introduced with a little side-smirk, slinging an arm around the shorter girl.

"Aria, as in, the one that you do all those stupid things with? The one you're usually texting and sending stupid photos to? That Aria?"

"Yes, Max." Dan nodded patronisingly. "That Aria."

"So we finally get to meet the infamous best friend?" Matt teased, getting to his feet to properly greet the girl.

Dan shrugged, "Figured since you guys are probably gonna stick around in my life, you might as well meet the other person who's gonna stick around, too."

Aria scoffed softly, earning a look from Dan. "What?" He asked with a smirk across his lips and a perfect eyebrow raised.

"When you get all famous and stuff, I'll probably get left behind."

"When I say you're sticking around, I mean it," Dan grinned. "Even if it means I have to use a rope to tie you to my arm, or something."

Aria nodded mockingly, "And how exactly will you drum if I'm tied to your arm?"

"I'm talented."

"And how will you do normal stuff?"

"I'm talented," he repeated, a smug little grin taking its place on his lips now.

"And you're gonna wank with me tied to your arm?"

And that was when the rest of the band lost it – practically falling over themselves, laughing from how blunt she just was with him. From their experience, teenage girls would cringe and squeal and then run away at the mere mention of the word 'wank', but Aria? Hell, she was the one who said it first.

"You know what, Aria?" Max spoke up before Dan could retort with something else. Both of them turned to face him. "I think you'll fit it just fine."

***

24th April 2013
New York, NY

"You're stupid."

"You're stupider."

"Says the one in a band," Aria snorted and Dan gasped in offence, bringing a hand to his heart.

"What's that supposed to mean, you twat?!" He exclaimed.

"It means that you're stupid, duh."

"That's offensive to all of us, Aria!" Alex's voice joined their conversation from where the pair were sat mucking around while on stage.

The rest of You Me At Six weren't there for their sound check yet, though Dan and Aria were about a half hour early, since they didn't know what to do, both of them being too lazy to go about exploring in New York again, like they had the day before.

Aria diverted her attention to the American singer, her smile stretching across her face as she spotted the blonde who's hand he was holding. She subtly raised a brow, silently asking if he was going to propose to her anytime soon, and he shook his head in response, mouthing the words 'I'm waiting for the right moment' when Riley was too preoccupied with looking at her surroundings. Aria jumped down from the stage then, walking towards the couple and greeting them with a grin.

"You must be Riley," she smiled cheerfully. "I'm – "

"Aria, right?" She interrupted, her voice soft and shy – like she wasn't used to talking. The younger girl nodded. "'Lex told me about you."

Aria raised a brow, looking at Alex's cheeky grin before turning back to Riley. "None of it is true."

Riley laughed lightly, shaking her head. "Only good things, I assure you."

"Oh," she blinked. "Then okay, they're probably true."

The American couple laughed, Alex bringing a hand to Riley's waist, pulling her in and then gently kissing her cheek while the blonde blushed and pushed him away half-heartedly.

"I'm Dan," the drummer introduced, coming up beside Aria and slinging a casual arm around her shoulder.

Riley subtly raised an eyebrow, quickly glancing towards Alex, as though asking a silent question, to which Alex responded with a small smirk and affirmative nod. The two younger people noticed their exchange and gave each other equal 'what is happening right now' looks, before turning back to Alex and Riley.

"Riley," she smiled, outstretching a hand for Dan to shake, which he did. "Big fan of You Me At Six."

"Thank you," Dan replied bashfully. "I'm a big fan of your boyfriend."

"Are you a big fan of the person or the band?" Aria interjected, raising a brow.

"Hey, you know what?" Dan asked, turning to her. She asked him a silent 'what?' with her facial expression. "You should shut up." He nodded to himself, using his free hand to cover her mouth, earning a yelp of surprise and then muffled laughter as she tried to pull his hand off of her face – since he decided that just covering her mouth wasn't enough.

Dan sighed contentedly, "Ah, peace, at last."

Aria pinched his side, then, causing him to yelp in surprise and ultimately, let go of his hold on her. "You better run, you knob head!" She exclaimed just before he started to run, laughing as he did so.

-----

"Yup, they're in love."

Alex turned to face Riley, wide-eyed, eyebrows high and jaw dropped open slightly. "I know, right?!" He exclaimed, running a hand through his hair. "I want them to just fuckin' get together already. And I've only known them since tour started!"

Riley chuckled, shaking her head in amusement as she settled down on the couch in the back lounge. "And now you know the feeling of every one of your fans."

"What do you mean?" Alex asked, confused, as he sat next to her on the couch.

"Have you never heard of Jalex?" She raised a brow and at Alex's involuntary pout and frown, she laughed, turning her body so that she could cuddle up next to him.

He wrapped an arm around her. "We do not speak of that," he said in a mock stern tone, earning her light giggles and an instant curve of his lips. "But seriously. Do you not see what I see?"

"I already said they're in love!" She protested, pulling back to shoot him a flat look.

"Yeah... But... The way they look at each other..." He trailed off with a small sigh.

"Let them get together by themselves. Don't be a nosy asshole."

Alex sighed heavily, pouting at her. He licked his lips then, looking at her with thoughtful eyes. "You know that scene in Tangled? When they're in that tavern and then one of the thugs makes little unicorns and he makes his little glass unicorns kiss?"

"Um... Yeah...?"

"I want to do that with Dan and Aria."

"Alex," Riley sighed, shaking her head in amusement.

"No, I'm serious." Alex insisted in a determined tone. "Get me voodoo dolls of Dan and Aria. Imma make them kiss and stuff."

"I don't think voodoo dolls work like that, babe."

"I don't care! I just want them to kiss!"

-----

The few girls who were chatting freely with Dan glanced over at Aria who was a metre or two away, and had a small smile playing along her lips as she watched Dan. He glanced back at her, rolling his eyes playfully as he edged forward, wrapping his large hand around her wrist and then tugging her towards them. She let out a small laugh, throwing her head back slightly as she let her body be tugged towards Dan and the You Me At Six fans wanting his photo and autograph.

"Are you his girlfriend?" A brave one asked, looking at Aria.

Her tone wasn't laced with snakiness and she didn't look at all displeased with Aria. In fact, her tone was only tinged with genuine curiosity and apart from the questioning look in her eyes, she also had a tiny smile on her lips – as though she was proud of the fact that Dan could actually get a girlfriend.

Aria let out a snort then, leaning her elbow on Dan's shoulder. "He wishes he had a girlfriend as cool as me," she grinned adorably as Dan scoffed, pushing her elbow off while Aria laughed heartily.

It wasn't hard to see the smile that Dan was trying to contain.

"Go talk to other people and stop bothering me," he ordered in a mock stern voice, pushing her gently away to the other girls who perked up at seeing Aria – this group probably familiar with who Aria exactly was in Dan's life.

She laughed but she did so anyway, smiling kindly at the other girls who were looking nervous to approach Dan. She chatted them up and they let out small laughs, making Dan glance over. He licked his lips, letting his eyes linger on the girl that he'd come to fall in love with. She was so kind, so nice, so beautiful. Just looking at her made him want to smile and as whipped as that made him out to be – he couldn't really give a bigger fuck.

"Yeah," he mumbled under his breath, practically forgetting that there were three or four girls standing right in front of him, watching him as he watched her. They knew that look, and they couldn't help but smile and bite back their little squeals of joy.

"I do wish."

"She likes you, too, you know," One of the girls spoke up and Dan's neck almost snapped as he turned to face the owner of the voice.

His blue eyes widened as he realised that he'd spoke aloud. Then his eyes widened even more as he realised what she'd said.

"Um... What?" He played it off dumbly, taking the other girl's phone case that she was offering to be signed.

"I can see it," she smiled softly. "We can all see it."

"I..."

"You like her, don't you?" Another one asked, a proud smile on her lips – as though she was happy to discover that Dan wasn't a total man-whore.

"Um..." He trailed off, blinking his eyes a couple times. "Anything else that you want me to sign?" He changed the subject, making the girls giggle.

"We're glad, by the way."

"Huh?"

"We're glad that it's her," she spoke again, nodding over in Aria's direction in which she was joking around with a couple of girls probably a year or two younger than herself. "She's beautiful and she's really nice."

Dan smiled as his eyes followed to her figure, "Yeah... Yeah she is." Then he bit down of bottom lip, turning his gaze to his shoes with a weak smile, and then turning back to look at the girl that he'd come to realise he was madly in love with. "But she'll never see me as anything more than a best friend, so she'll never love me as much as I love her and.... It hurts." He turned to face his shell-shocked fans.

Now, normally, Dan would realise what he'd said and play it off as him playing around and not meaning anything he'd said but he realised – these people were basically his family. They already liked Aria, so there was no reason for him to just lie to them even more than he was already lying to his bandmates who still didn't know about the 'epiphany' he'd had.

He sighed softly before painting on a smile and reaching to take the phone case that someone else was holding up to him. "It hurts so bad."