A/N: Dedicated to Standard_Ang3l and omfgSTFU for listening to me complain about how incompatible Nick and Macy's characters were and encouraging me to write this fic. Please do not flame, I don't mean to offend any Nacy fans, I just think that, canonly, they don't work. Don't like that, then please hit the little back arrow now.
There were looks or surprise and concern, and false words of support, but they both knew no one really thought they'd make it. But they just laughed, talking about how no one really knew and put together a list of how they were compatible.
They are both dedicated.
He spends hours working on a piece, trying to get it just right, and she can get lost in a sport, not realizing the time until it's too dark to see and her team mates have long left.
Brown eyes darted around the room as the curly haired boy continued to stare the page in front of him. It had been so exciting, at first, to watch Nick of JONAS in action as he created another masterpiece, but it hadn't lasted. Watching a lead pencil move over the sheet music as words and notes where scratched out and redone had quickly lost its interest and soon the pint sized athlete was looking for patterns on the ceiling and wondering when the other Lucas family members would be home. In a word, Macy was bored. Her legs itched to move, her fingers twitching with need for action, her body craving the adrenaline rush from a good physical exertion.
After nearly an hour of just sitting there, getting pointed looks asking her to "be quiet please" at every escaped sigh, Macy made a decision.
"I'm going to run to the park for some basketball practice. I'll be back over for dinner." Her boyfriend doesn't even glance up from his work as he lets out a "hmm" in acknowledgement.
They are opposites.
They've both taken science, and his grades are still pristine, opposites attract; this they know.
It's two days before their one month anniversary and Nick's got everything planned; he wrote her a song, just in time to be put on the next album. All the ingredients needed for the meal he has planned are in the cabinets and he's already convinced Joe and Kevin they need to be out of the house until ten.
"Are too." Now if could only get his brothers to be silent for the next few minutes while he works on a paper for English.
"They are not! Nick, tell him that penguins don't count as birds." The curly haired boy opens his mouth to correct Joe, when Kevin chimes back in.
"They are too. They're considered birds and when they glide through the water it's considered a form of flying." Joe just rolled his eyes disbelieving, turning back to his younger brother for confirmation.
"Actually, Kev's right. They are birds, and they can 'fly' through water." His hands come up to put quotes around the word as the older boy gives him an incredulous look. The younger band mate turns back to his laptop in hopes of avoiding being dragged into more of his brothers' argument.
"But flying and swimming are opposites!"
"Opposites?"
"Yes, opposites, as in on and off, up and down, boy and gir-"
"I know what opposites are!" Nick tore his eyes away from the screen to glance at his eldest brother; it was unlike Kevin to snap like that. "Swimming and flying are not opposites. They're different, like..." Green eyes move around the room as he searched for the words, one hand lifting from his side to gesture vaguely at nothing. "Blue and yellow."
He's not going to get any work done, he decides, grabbing his laptop and moving downstairs as Joe comes back with something that sounds like "colors not counting."
They're trying to decide on a movie. Macy flipping through the Lucas family collection. She skips over the talking animal and horror section that's nearly all Kevin's saying she's not in the mood for one of those at the moment and pauses for a few seconds on one of Joe's action/adventure movies before pulling out a romantic comedy Stella left at their house a few weeks back. He's not sure why this surprises him, since he didn't expect her to pick anything from his carefully alphabetized section of favorites, but watching her nimble fingers turn over the slim case as she reads the back he feels something twist in his gut, something he feels he's always known, but is now just out of his grasp.
They're half way through the movie and he's enjoying himself, chuckling lightly at the comedic one-liners and smiling softly as the couple on screen share their first kiss. The girl tucked under his arm coos quietly at the romantic scenes and even sniffs away a few tears when everything seems to go horribly wrong before it all comes back together for a happy ending.
Macy sighs when it's over, popping the disk back onto the plastic button and commenting on how it's a shame that reality doesn't work like that. Nick gives a little start, brown eyes jumping up to lock on hers. "People fall in love." The words are blurted out, quick and full of surprise as he stares in confusion at his girlfriend.
"Well, yeah, but it's never like that. All roses and laughter with butterflies and pink hearts. All that fairy-tale stuff isn't real."
"Then why'd you pick it?"
Brown eyes stare at him for second before her shoulders lift in small shrug. "I can still like a movie even it's not realistic."
He wants to argue, wants to say that it's just because she's never been in love, only she has. Because his songs are about love, the kind found in movies and books and he doesn't see how she can't see that; see it and know it's real. It's odd that they both believe, but not in the same way; he wonders if there's other things like that with them and he's suddenly seeing her in a new light, or maybe just finally in the right one.
He realizes with a sinking stomach and bitter taste that they're not opposites; they're no black and white, no night and day. They're just different.
"Like blue and yellow," he mutters under his breath, but she hears him anyways and the way a crease appears between her eyebrows and her head tilts tell him she's doesn't get the reference; she wasn't there so he doesn't expect her too.
They both like sports.
Well, they both enjoyed golf, and Nick found participating in the occasional baseball game to be enjoyable. He didn't care to actual watch any sport though, and if the athlete found his lack of school spirit and enthusiasm at her games (the few he'd shown up to-in the beginning) to be highly irritating, she kept it to herself. And if he found himself fighting to keep his fingers from fidgeting during the long hour or so it took to get through one game the television, he never complained.
It isn't long until he stops coming to her games (she stopped inviting him) and she no longer asks him to come over during a any televised sporting event (he's started being "busy"). Sometimes though, if he's working on a song or fiddling with his homework after school, she'll turn the television on low and catch the sports updates and they'll both just be for a little bit; and if they pretend the other doesn't exist, neither of them mention it.
She dressed Randolph up as Nick.
She can't bring herself to tell him that one doesn't count. She didn't really know him then; he was still Nick of JONAS and she was just a some crazed fangirl. Stella had asked shortly after if Nick was her favorite of the three band members and she had realized with a start that that was how it looked. It hadn't seemed that way at the time; Randolph and Nick were built so similarly with wide shoulders and small waists that she had just gone for the bag marked "Nick" when she "borrowed" one of the stylist's older creations. She hadn't thought of what that would mean, how either of the poor boys would react to it. She was living out her dream of dating a JONAS, it never mattered which one.
Kevin had laughed in delight the first time she brought out her JONAS books, and Joe had asked if there was one of him when he'd seen the name of his brother titled across the top of the thick binder. She had let them flip through them, watching carefully as the middle brother complained that one of the photos gracing the cover of her homemade Book of Joe was a bad angle and as the eldest band member read over the facts sheet in his own binder before the young girl darts off to find Nick.
It took him two days to get used to the fact that she had a grand total of five binders dedicated to him and his brothers. He refused to look through any of them but the one about their concerts, which only bugged her a little; a lot of work and time went into each of those books and she'd like her boyfriend to see them, but because they're about said boyfriend, one devoted just to him, part of her is relieved he doesn't want to flip through the worn pages.
It isn't until she talks with him about the Randolph thing, and everything that happened there, does she learn that he's not freaked out as she feared.
"It was a little weird, completely threw me at the time, but I'm sure fans have done weirder." It suppose to be comforting, but for some reason it's not. She expected either amused flattery, or uncomfortable vibes from him and she finds his lack of a reaction to be disturbing.
It's only later that night, as she's skimming through the one dedicated to the curly haired vocalist does she see how it's all just a collection of fact and statistics that any fan could collect and create and she's a little sad that she didn't know the boys back then to help her collections be more real.
She once again starts expanding upon her work, adding information and thoughts to the already bursting binders. She proudly reads over the new information on Nick, seeing the details and notes and realizes with a kind of jolt that it's all just more of the same; it hurts to know that she still doesn't really know him.
They balance each other out.
Fights are to be expected, with his short temper and her inability to back down. Neither expected there to be so many. After the two month mark, when the honeymoon had worn off and they've settled into their relationship, they can barely be around each other without a yelling match ensuing.
She hides her tears from him, she's always been the type to cry when she was too angry for word, knowing the guilt they caused him. He never could handle tears and she feels like they give her an unfair advantage; twice she's gotten angry and desperate, not bothering to cover her tear stained face and let them flow until he was left stuttering out an apology. She's the one that's left feeling guilty turn her stomach those nights.
He tries to hold back, not allowing his full anger to be revealed knowing she couldn't handle it. It doesn't always work though, something her immaturity will get to him and he'll snap, saying words he doesn't mean, and some he does, until she's running down the stairs, muffling her sobs as she slams the door behind her.
He hates that he has to be gentle, that tough Macy Misa cracked and broke under yelling anger and shouting matches.
She hates that she has to hold back, that her bubbly nature and child like displays are too much for the boy's patience. He's a 40 year old man trapped in a 17 year old body and she forgets that.
She thought she'd bring out his "fun side," like his brothers do for him. Make him loosen up a bit, but she's goes about it all wrong and is unable to do it right. He finds her annoying, she knows this.
He thought she had a calm side, and in a way she does, but it's nothing like he expected. Turns out her "calm side" is really just tame version of herself and he doesn't know how to be around her. She feels like he holds her back, and he can't figure out how to let her go while still having her.
She leaves in tears after nearly every visit now, and he berates himself for his harsh words. She gave as good as she gets though, leaving him bleeding, broken inside and guilt ridden.
He bits his lip when he's mad, trying to keep even one angry syllable from spilling past his mouth and she sees and tries to stop, but she has no self control when it comes to her emotions and always goes too far. She pushes him past his breaking point
They bring out the worst in each other and that's hard to except.
They look good together.
It's all superficial, but they add it as a joke anyways. It's only half true as it is; he's just a little too tall for her. None of it matters, they both know this, and neither care one way or another, it's just something to laugh about.
He's realized with a growing sense of unease that they're kisses are... ok. He doesn't know how else to word it. They're nice, soft full lips moving against his own, or just a quick press for the cameras before they both pull away, smiles plastered on, but there's no spark, no happy stomach flip or pounding of the heart like he's used to.
There was passion, in the beginning, when it was all hormones and desire and they couldn't get enough of each other; when it was still new. He had mistaken physical desire of feelings and it's hard for think he's still too young to recognize the difference. He still wants to kiss her, wants to press his lips against her skin and run calloused fingers over soft flesh, but it's not real. It's all physical and it's supposed to be more than that.
She knows it's wrong, that she finds herself pressing her lips against his when there's nothing else to do and she's run out of things to say. This is where they work though, mouths moving together in harmony and tongue's dueling for dominance, but even that's not enough. She's been in love, felt it's harsh sting and it's soft touch, and this isn't it; isn't anywhere close. Full lips graze her cheek and she smiles slightly at the touch, but the normal happy glow and ecstatic bubbles are missing. She doesn't get excited to see him.
It hurts when it all ends, which surprises them both. She misses him, but then she's been missing him all this time. She misses they way he'd laugh at Joe's immature jokes, quiet and under his breath so no one would hear, the way he'd return her happy smile with a small amused one of his own when she'd see him and his brothers walking in the halls. She misses the way he'd be referee to her and Kevin's board game marathons, reminding them of the rules when they both get a little too carried away.
She hates that she changes the station when that song comes on; the one he'd written "for he" because it was never really about her. It's all about some idealized version of herself that she's not sure even a part of ever existed. She can't blame him though, he wasn't real for her either.
He misses the way she would pick Kevin's side, when he was doing something particularly out there, laughing along with him, the way her face would light up when one of them spoke directly to her, asking her a question about herself. Before all this started, before he ever asked her out.
He doesn't like that they can't talk, the silence stretching awkwardly between them, and he hates that they never did talk; she can carry on hour long conversations with Kevin about pudding, and can laugh with Joe over the same joke for days. They had never just talked.
It's hard, sitting at the table, conversation flowing easily from all sides, except between the song writer and their number one super fan, between them it's all awkward and unsure and neither know where to begin to fix it and there's the underlining fear that they can't. Three sets of eyes look at them with a kind of pitying compassion and the brunette athlete squirms under their gaze while the quiet boy ignores them, gazing steadily at his untouched sandwich.
They're both too scarred to make amends fully, too hurt by word once said unable to be taken back. They'll never be comfortable around each other and tearing them apart to know that they're friends feel it too. They try, to be normal, to act like it's all ok, but it's not and everyone knows it. It's no surprise to anyone when they both wish they'd never dated. They can list the reasons.
A/N: The "penguins are birds that fly in water" thing is actually from the Discovery Channel.. or maybe it was Animal Planet... either way, I saw it and decided to add it to this little ficlet. It seems like something Kevin would know, considering his love of animals.