Title: Wolverine and the X-Men (Five Times Lucky)
Author: Girlygirl
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Nick/Macy
Summary: She's JONAS' crazy fangirl, and Frankie's babysitter, and possibly the girl of his dreams masquerading as both.
Author's Notes: My little sister is 9. She loves the Jonas Brothers and anything related to them- JONAS is related to them. My cousin is 24. She loves everything Disney station- JONAS is Disney station. I am 23. I love to write, and all good writers know to write about what inspires them- apparently JONAS has managed to inspire me and so I give you this one-shot. I own nothing, not JONAS and not Wolverine or the X-Men (no matter how much I wish for the latter). I must send a huge thanks out to my Beta lilPamie884.
Men of action are favored by the Goddess of luck
-George S. Clason
Wolverine and the X-Men
(Five Times Lucky)
I
It's a Saturday like any other when he stumbles downstairs to find her standing in his kitchen, barefoot and on her tiptoes trying desperately to reach the cereal on the top shelf.
"Almost," Macy mumbles quietly, fingers reaching, stretching, grazing the box unsuccessfully.
When he steps up behind her and plucks the box off the shelf for her, he thinks nothing of it.
"Oh!" She's startled, hands flying to her mouth as she stumbles back into his chest.
"It looked like you could use some help."
She can feel him shrug against the plane of her back and she pulls away as if he's burned her. When she turns to look at him, it's from underneath dark lashes, cheeks colored with a hint of a blush.
There is a broad, naked chest directly in front of her.
"Excuse me." She uses her hip to push past him and he smirks as he presses the cereal box into her shaking hands.
He hops onto the counter and watches her search for a bowl.
"What are you doing here?"
She closes another cupboard and catches him dragging his finger through a drop of water left over on the countertop beside his thigh.
"Stella was supposed to be watching Frankie, but she's not feeling well and asked if I would instead."
"Is that so?" He slides off the counter and pulls open a cupboard to reveal two rows of multicolor cereal bowls (thanks to Kevin and his very unique taste). "And here I thought you were stealing our breakfast cereal to sell on EBay."
She doesn't find that as funny as he does.
"Nope, I'm not that unhinged, regardless of what you or your brothers may think."
She calls out to Frankie as she fills a bowl with dry cereal and moves into the living room where the youngest Lucas is currently watching Wolverine and the X-men.
He's more than a little thrown off as he leans in the doorway and watches her. What the hell just happened? When his brothers stumble down the stairs in similar states of undress as he had, they all hold their breath. Macy just adverts her eyes and remands quiet, opting instead to only speak to Frankie for the rest of the morning.
They all find it more than just a little strange, but not one of them say a thing.
II
It's been three months worth of Saturday morning babysitting and Nick finds that 8a.m. is quickly becoming his automatic wake-up time.
He tells himself that it's the quiet still of the early morning that inspires the song writer in him and not the fact that his mother has decided that Frankie would benefit from more socialization time than three adolescent rock star brothers and a big screen TV can provide.
Plus, Frankie adores Macy.
"Morning."
Three months in and she curses the fact that he still manages to catch her off guard. Without a word her hands brace the counter and he steps up behind her, wraps one arm around her middle and uses his other to grab the cereal box off the shelf.
Everyone has a routine apparently.
"Morning," she whispers, heart beating madly as he presses the cereal into her chest and lets his fingers dance across her side.
"One day you're going to just grab a chair right?"
She turns to him, fingering the edge of the cereal box and feels the rush of heat along her neck.
"I might not always be around to save you."
He flashes her one of his rare smiles, one that turns her legs to jelly, and her mind to mush, and God he really should start smiling more.
"I could have managed on my own." She fishes a bowl out of its designated cupboard and, chancing a glance at him, goes about filling it up with Cinnamon Toast Crunch for Frankie.
"Manage? Is that what you call all the reaching and muttering I walk in on every Saturday morning?" He plucks a bowl out of the cupboard and holds it out to her as well.
She rolls her eyes and fills it up on her way out of the kitchen.
Wolverine and the X-men is starting when he drops onto the couch beside her and Macy has to catch herself so as not to fall into him when the couch dips under his added weight.
"Morning Frankie," he greets through a mouth full of milk and cereal.
His little brother nods in response.
When his cereal is done and he's sucked down the sugary milk, he places it on the coffee table by his propped up feet and toes it further away from him before swinging an arm along the back of the couch.
Macy feels his hands brush the back of her neck and her body tenses.
Nick yawns.
"Must be some song," she mutters offhandedly.
"Yeah it's driving me crazy---wait, what song?" He straightens beside her and turns to take in her profile. There is a smirk playing on her lips.
"What do you mean 'what song'? Come on, Nick, I've been watching Frankie for close to three months and you've managed to keep me company every Saturday morning since I've started, no matter how early I get here. Only a song, paired with a strong dose of writer's block has the power to keep you from getting your eight hours of beauty sleep."
"Fan club tidbit?"
She laughs, almost bitterly, and shakes her head at him.
"If there is one thing us crazy fangirls are, it's full of fan club tidbits." She picks at her nails and lets her head drop as the smirk fades from her lips.
He's said something wrong again and he's backtracking to figure out what but she pushes herself to her feet and sweeps both cereal bowls into her arms before he can.
"Shhhh," Frankie gives him a pointed stare as Macy moves around the couch and into the kitchen.
She knows he's standing behind her but refuses to turn to him when he clears his throat.
"How about next Saturday you sleep in instead of 'coming to my rescue'?" It's not so much a request as it is an order. Her voice is cold and steely, but when she finally turns her face to him the orbs of liquid chocolate that are her eyes are sad and hurt.
He feels like he's been punched in the stomach, though he has a feeling that being punched in the stomach feels considerably less painful.
III
It throws them both off guard when his mother asks her to watch Frankie on a Friday night.
She agrees of course and then curses herself when Friday comes and she's halfway home from soccer practice before she remembers.
"Sorry, sorry, I for---" she pants as the front door is pulled open in the middle of her second knock.
It isn't an irate Mrs. Lucas on the other side though- not that she thinks Mrs. Lucas could ever be anything other than wonderfully nice- instead it's the one Lucas brother she's been successfully avoiding for nearly a month.
Until now that is.
What happened to JONAS having an interview tonight?
She feels the air leave her lungs and she stuffs her hands into the pockets of her jacket while looking anywhere but at the dark puppy dog eyes boring into her.
"Hi."
They stand there looking at each other until his mother breezes in from the kitchen and graciously interrupts what could only be considered awkward silence.
"Oh Macy, honey, I'm so sorry! I meant to call you and let you know that you wouldn't have to waste your Friday babysitting. Nick seems to have caught a cold and decided to skip the interview, so he volunteered to watch Frankie instead."
Macy chances a quick glance at the youngest member of JONAS.
"I thought you told me that you'd let her know, Nick?" He has the audacity to duck his head in embarrassment.
"I must have forgotten, seeing as she hasn't been around much."
Mrs. Lucas is completely unaware of the meaning behind his comment.
"You're more than welcome to stay if you'd like, Macy. The boys are going to order some dinner and watch a movie but I'm sure Nick wouldn't mind the company." The smile on his mother's face is brilliant and Macy has to look away as she opens her mouth to politely decline the offer and get the hell out of there as fast as she can.
Unfortunately, Frankie chooses that moment to come bouncing down the stairs, takes one look at her, and catapults himself into her arms.
The force of the impact has her stumbling back with a light "oof".
"MACY!" At lease Frankie knew that she wasn't supposed to be babysitting tonight. "Thank god you're here, they were going to leave me with him!"
Macy can't help but smile down at the head of dark hair and the boy whose face is currently pressed into her middle.
"Thanks for the compliment, Frankie," Nick comments sarcastically, but Frankie pays his brother no mind at all.
"Actually Frankie, I'm not staying- you're brother forgot to let me know that I was off the hook tonight so I was going to head home. Sorry bub."
Frankie blinks up at her and it really doesn't matter that she called him 'bub' like Wolverine does, or that she always lets him eat the middles of the Oreo cookies, because she isn't here to save him.
His eyes pool with water and she backpedals before the waterworks have a chance to start.
"What I mean is, of course I'm staying. There is a Wii and a tennis rematch that totally has our names all over it!"
A smile breaks out across his face and she notes that, unlike his older brother, Frankie all but gives away his smiles free of charge.
"Awesome, I'll go set it up but just so you know, you're not going to beat me." Frankie is halfway into the living room when Mr. Lucas finally descends the stairs.
"Macy? I thought Nick told you that you didn't have to babysit tonight?"
"No, it seemed he forgot to let me know," Sandy flattens her husband's tie and gives him a small smile.
"Plus, Frankie already saw her so it turns out that she'll be keeping Nick company"
They share a look, Nick's parents, and though Macy catches the look itself, for the life of her she has no idea its meaning.
"Oh thank God. I thought Frankie was going to have to be the responsible one tonight."
"I'm still in the room you know," Nick mutters darkly as Macy steps away from the door to let the two adults pass.
Mrs. Lucas pats her son's cheek affectionately on her way out. "Your father's just kidding. Compared to Joe and Kevin you are by far the more responsible one. Call if you two need anything." She gives them a wave as she slips into the car and both teens watch the car disappear down the road before they let the door close softly.
His eyes bore into her once more and she has to remember for next time that Nick Lucas is uber sneaky getting her here the way he did.
She's willing to bet he isn't sick in any way.
Her head falls back and she takes in the firehouse ceiling with a deep sigh. It's going to be a long night.
IV
The halls of Horace Mantis are almost deserted when he spots her sitting at one of the desks by the stairs. It's been almost two weeks since their joint babysitting job.
Her hair is pulled back in a messy bun and she's biting the skin of one of her nails as she twirls her pencil between her fingers. There is a math book lying open in front of her.
Nick closes his locker and pushes his book bag higher onto his shoulder as he makes his way over to her. Enough is enough already.
"Can I sit?"
Her head shoots up and wide round eyes look almost through him before she recognizes exactly who is talking to her and looks away without a word.
"I could help you with question 6 if you'd like. I'm done already."
Wordlessly, she kicks out the chair beside her and Nick smiles as he tosses his bag on the table and drops down beside her.
"Just to be clear, I'm only speaking to you because I've been working on this question all day and I need help. You just happen to be the first person to offer it."
He laughs and nods his head in understanding.
"Well I admire your honesty. Let's take a look at what you've got so far."
She steals a look in his direction as he leans closer to see the messy scribble that is question 6 and she has to remind herself to breathe.
God she is so weak.
"Oh this is so simple," he mutters, taking the pencil she's twirling and erasing one line of her calculations. "You had the wrong number here in the denominator, that's why it wasn't working for you." He fixes the mistake and looks up at her with a smile pulling at his lips. He catches her staring.
Macy glances away quickly and looks down at the corrections he's made and wow she's dumb. It took him .5 seconds to fix what it had taken her all day to mull over.
Well isn't that just great.
"Oh, I--- well, yeah, I see, thanks."
He slides the book back in front of her and places her pencil carefully atop the open page. "Glad to help."
She takes up the pencil the moment it's free and begins twirling it again. They both stare at the blank wall in front of them.
"Okay, well I've got hockey practice in ten minutes so I'm going to go. Thanks again for the help." She stands and hurriedly stuffs her math book and loose paper into her bag before swinging it onto her shoulder, narrowly missing hitting him with it.
Nick reaches out and stills her with a hand on her side.
His next words break her heart.
"Are we done this yet?" He feels her stop breathing under his palm and he knows that touching her the way he is, is overstepping some boundary but he can't seem to care enough to pull away.
"What I mean is, are you done avoiding me?"
She opens her mouth to refute his claim but one look at his face tells her that it would be insulting. They both know that that's exactly what's been happening.
"It's not that I'm avoiding you, Nick, I'm just trying to stay out of your way is all." Her voice is small but she is more than brave enough to bring her eyes up to meet his confused ones.
"Why? Who asked you to stay out of my way?" He swears to God if it was Joe, he'll kill him.
"No one really, but you mentioned a couple times about me being an obsessed fangirl and I thought maybe you'd appreciate me backing off."
A light behind his eyes goes off and he pulls a hand roughly down his face. "So that's what this is all about,"
How did he not see it before?
He feels like the world's biggest jerk.
"Geez, Macy, I'm so sorry. I never meant to make you feel uncomfortable, ever. I don't think you're crazy at all and your JONAS obs---whatever, is adorable. I love that you love JONAS that much. I was just bugging you. I hate that I made you feel like I didn't want you around." He gently takes her shoulders in his hands and bends a little to catch her eyes. She blinks up at him with a trembling chin so he reaches out a takes her chin in his hand to stop it.
"Really?" she asks quickly, almost being drowned out by the bell going off to signal the end of the day.
"Yeah really, I love having you around." He pulls her into his chest for a quick hug and she surprises him by not crying.
"Oh that's good, because it was really hard avoiding you, you know?" A chuckle rumbles deep in his chest as they step away from each other.
The second bell rings and she jumps. "Oh no, hockey practice! I've got to go." She spins around and is halfway down the hall and through the sea of students when his voice stops her.
"So bright and early Saturday then?"
She turns back and shoots him a wide smile as she nods.
He gives her a small wave in return.
V
It's the first Saturday morning since they cleared up the misunderstanding between them and Frankie isn't feeling well. Seems he caught Nick's cold.
Unfortunately, no one remembered to tell Macy. Or someone deliberately forgot to tell her.
The firehouse is quiet as Nick walks into the kitchen, dressed in a pair of grey sweatpants and a white muscle shirt. He's antsy, waiting on her to arrive so he busies himself making coffee and rummaging about in the closet looking for a sweater.
When she finally arrives, she lets herself into the dark house with the spare key his parents leave for her under the mat (in case the boys are all still sleeping when she gets there) and closes the door behind her with a soft click.
He likes that she's that comfortable in his house.
She toes off her shoes to prove his point and hangs her bag on the back of one of the kitchen chairs before flicking on the kitchen lights and letting out a surprised yelp at the sight of him sitting at the table grinning at her.
"Morning." He moves behind her as she holds her chest before reaching out and swatting at him.
"Are you trying to kill me?" she hisses.
He laughs, turning to her and offering her a mug of fresh coffee.
"Kill you? I just managed to get you to talk to me again, wouldn't killing you be counterproductive?"
She rolls her eyes and looks past him into the living room, the strangely silent living room. "Where's Frankie?" she questions, the absence of Wolverine and the X-men blatantly apparent.
"Oh, didn't anyone tell you? Frankie's been sick for the last three days. Seems you don't have to babysit him today; Mom stayed home."
Her mouth gapes open, eyes narrowed. "Are you trying to tell me that I could have slept in today?"
Nick takes a step towards her to defuse the anger directed at him and the mere presence of him has her head spinning.
Damn Lucas boys.
"I guess you could have slept in but where would be the fun in that?" His voice is low and smooth as he reaches up and tucks a piece of dark hair behind her ear.
Macy shivers against his hand.
"I, on the other hand, have a full day of fun planned to make up for all the time you weren't talking to me."
"Really?" she whispers, eyes wide and searching as he smiles and backs her up against the kitchen table.
"Oh yeah, I thought maybe you could help me finish writing a song. I haven't been able to write a damn thing for a while now." He pushes his hips into hers and Macy fumbles with her coffee cup as she tries to set it down on the table without burning herself (or heaven forbid, him).
"What's the problem?"
"Seems I've lost my inspiration." He moves one hand around her back and holds her against his body. She fits against him perfectly and he finds the tremble she can't seem to control amazingly adorable.
Usually, it's her making other people tremble (in fear); he likes the reverse much better.
"What can I do to help?" She's so innocent in her question, astonished that someone like Nick Lucas, a seasoned song writer, thinks that there is anything she can do to help.
"Inspire me." He tilts her chin up and kisses the side of her mouth softly, keeping his eyes open to watch her.
She's like a deer in headlights when he pulls away. Maybe he overstepped.
"Sorry," he mutters, stepping back.
Macy's quick to shake the haze from her head and pushes herself onto her tiptoes to bring her mouth flush with his.
Nick smiles. After he's managed to pull a low moan from her, and the lack of air is becoming an issue for both of them, he slowly drags his lips away from hers.
"So, does this mean you'll help me with my song?" Nick mumbles the words against her mouth as he nibbles her bottom lip.
Macy throws her head back to laugh and ends up bashing his jaw in the process. Nick stumbles back with a pained whine. His eyes start to water.
"Oh! Oh gosh, Nick! I'm so sorry! Are you okay---let me, oh!" She fusses as he holds his jaw and steps away from her.
"Don't," He turns away from her and mouths the word 'ouch' as he hobbles towards the fridge to pull out an icepack.
Macy grabs a dish towel and hands it to him apologetically. "I'm sorry."
"I know." He reaches out to her and she slips into his side.
"What can I do?"
He smiles down at her with a mischievous glint in his eye. "It's not that bad really, I think a kiss to make it better will suffice."
Her mouth gapes open. When did Nick Lucas become so playful? She reaches up to place a soft kiss along the tender ridge of his jaw.
Tomorrow there is going to be an ugly bruise marrying his beautiful face.
"Better?" she whispers.
He smiles down at her as he dips to place a quick peck on her lips. "Yeah, all better."
End
-Girlygirl