Disclaimer: Own nothing but the plot that entertains me.
Macy Wants a Puppy
Kevin was like a puppy. He got really excited about things, and he would jump around, and he could be loud at times. He was a big ball of energy and sometimes, there was nothing but a mess left behind him when the excitement was too much and he'd knock everything over.
Macy had always wanted a puppy.
Well, honestly, she'd always wanted a Jonas as well, but the desire for a puppy had come first. Her parents had never caved. They had, however, told Macy that if ever she found a stray puppy that didn't belong to anyone and that she could tame said puppy, she could keep him. Macy had found many puppies, but never one that was without a home or that she could tame.
It was only when Kevin had been busy tuning his guitar and twitching his head back that Macy began to make the connection.
"What are you doing?" she asked him with a giggle as she sat next to him on the school bench.
"For some reason, I just can't get this guitar to sound right. Plus I have this fricken itch behind my ear like you wouldn't believe."
"Well," Macy shrugged, "I can help with one of those."
She was useless on the music front, but her skilful fingers reached out for Kevin and gently scratched the skin behind his left ear, quietly relishing in the feel of his curls between her digits. Kevin's head melted against her hand, his eyes closed and she swore she could almost hear him panting.
"That's so nice," he groaned, even as his fingers continued to try to fix the messy noise of his guitar.
"Just like a puppy," Macy thought. And the analogy had stuck.
***
Macy had taken the time that afternoon to think about how it was that a person could attract a puppy.
Food, she thought.
While she knew Kevin was still wary of cookies after the lesson Nick had taught him, she was also aware of his love for cupcakes and saw her chance to use her extensive Jonas knowledge to her advantage.
So, the next day she had shown up to school with cupcakes and set the open container next to her as she tried to work out the math problems that hadn't made sense to her the night before.
"Are those cupcakes?"
"Yes."
"What are they doing there?"
"Oh," Macy shrugged as she tried to hide her smile from Kevin. "I just felt like baking yesterday, so I brought the cupcakes here in case anyone wanted them."
"Can I have one?"
"Sure." She pushed the container towards him.
Kevin sat next to her and grabbed one of the tasty treats.
"What are you doing?"
"Math."
"You want help?"
Macy's eyes widened.
"I'm actually good at math."
"Sure," she agreed with a shrug.
"All right," he pulled her notebook towards him and concentrated. Macy smiled as she too leaned forward, their heads almost touching.
***
"Kevin, do you want to go to the park?"
"The park?" he asked, and Macy could have sworn she almost saw his ears perk up at the word.
"Yeah."
"For what?"
"I don't know," she shrugged. "I just thought I'd take a walk."
"In the park?"
"Yeah."
"Do you think there will be squirrels?"
"Probably…"
"I'm there."
Kevin grabbed his book bag as Macy sent their friends a shrug and left their confused looks behind. She soon found that like a puppy, Kevin was easily distracted. He chatted on and on as they walked, almost running into a tree and bench as he'd get carried away in his story or watching animals and people walk by.
Macy reached out a few times to stop him before he hurt himself, until she finally looped her arm around his and led him along, guiding him around any obstacles he was too busy to notice. At least, she was happy to see, she didn't need a leash.
"This was fun, Macy," Kevin told her when they reached the firehouse.
"It was. I had fun taking you for… taking a walk with you," she quickly corrected.
"We should do it again."
"Absolutely."
Macy waved as Kevin walked into the firehouse and made her way back home to bake another batch of cupcakes.
***
"What do you mean let's go for a car ride?" Nick asked with a frown as he tried to figure out why he kept getting the number 20 when his math book clearly indicated the answer was seventeen.
"I mean it's a beautiful day out. Let's go for a car ride. A car ride with the windows down and the sun shining, and the wind blowing in our hair…"
"Do you know how long I worked on this hair this morning?" Joe asked in disgust.
"I'm in!" Kevin exclaimed, jumping from his seat.
Macy wasn't surprised that no one else was in even if Stella didn't have a very good excuse to stay back. So, she got in the driver's seat, and Kevin in the passenger's, and they took a ride with the windows down, screaming at each other over the sound of the wind. Eventually, they found a small ice cream shop and stopped for a while. Macy laughed as she watched Kevin lapping at his cone like a puppy lapping his milk.
"What?" he asked at her chuckle.
"Nothing," she answered with a shake of her head.
"What?"
"Nothing," she insisted. "Are you ready to go back?"
"I guess." He shrugged.
They drove back with the windows up. Kevin watching the scenery fly by and Macy feeling a shiver travel up her spine every time Kevin's fingers, which rested on the seat behind her neck, brushed against her skin.
She couldn't think of anything a puppy could do that would bring that sort of reaction from her.
***
"What are you doing?" Kevin asked her one day with a laugh while they were sitting on the sofa watching television.
"What?"
"With your hand."
Macy looked down and blushed when she realised what she had been doing.
"Sorry. You just looked like you could use that."
"A belly rub?"
"Yeah."
"I just looked like I could use a belly rub?" Kevin asked with another laugh.
"Yeah. Sorry." Macy crossed her arms over her chest and moved away from him, keeping her eyes focussed on the television in front of them.
"Ahh," Kevin reached out and pulled her against him. "It did feel nice. It just surprised me. No one's ever rubbed my stomach as though I was a dog."
"A puppy," Macy let out between pouting lips.
"What?"
"You're like a puppy. Not a dog."
"You think I'm a puppy?"
She shrugged, loosening herself from his grip.
"What does that even mean?"
"It means you're like a puppy."
"How so?"
"I don't know!" she cried, throwing her hands up in the air. "You're this ball of energy. And you're all over the place. And you're always making noise and accidentally getting loud. And you like being scratched behind the ears and going for walks in the park and car rides, and… Oh, I don't know."
"Have you ever even had a puppy, Macy?"
"No," Macy answered, her pout deepening. "But my parents told me that if I ever found a puppy without a home and tamed him I could."
"But I have a home."
"What?"
"Well, you've obviously been trying to tame me, but I already have a home."
"You're not really a puppy, Kevin."
"I know, but I see what you were trying to do. Well, now I see what you were trying to do, but still…"
"Could we not talk about this, please?"
Kevin watched her for a moment, opening his mouth to say something, but closing it when he saw just how upset Macy was.
"All right. Let's just watch the movie."
***
Macy stopped making cupcakes. She stopped scratching behind Kevin's ear when his head would twitch back. She stopped asking him if he wanted to go to the park or for a ride with her. She stopped everything that she had started to do after she'd realised just how much Kevin reminded her of a puppy. She returned to the Macy she was before she'd helped him that day he couldn't tune his guitar.
Kevin said nothing about the change.
***
"I'm sorry," Kevin said two weeks after Macy stopped being Macy.
She looked around the school hallway in confusion at first, trying to find what it was Kevin could possibly be apologizing to her about.
"What?"
"I'm sorry."
"About what?"
"I'm sorry about whatever it is I did to make you mad, Macy."
"Mad?"
"Yeah. I'm sorry I laughed at you or said that you didn't know I had a home or whatever it was that made you stop taking walks with me and bringing me cupcakes and… and I had an itch behind my ear the other day and you didn't scratch it."
"I'm pretty sure you could reach it yourself, Kevin."
"But your fingers are softer," he all but whispered.
Macy shook her head as she put away the baseball bat she was holding before she accidentally hurt someone.
"I'm not mad at you, Kevin. I just realised that you were right."
"About what?"
"About you not being a stray puppy."
He shrugged and grabbed her bag from her when she almost dropped it to the floor. "But I liked it when you treated me like a stray puppy."
"What?"
"It was nice. The belly rub was a little weird, but even that was still nice."
Macy sighed and shook her head. "What are you saying, Kevin?"
"I want to be your puppy," he told her, his bottom lip sticking out and his eyes becoming sad and wide.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm giving you puppy eyes. Is it helping?"
"I don't know." Macy tilted her head as she watched him. "I'm pretty sure this would be working even if you weren't giving me puppy eyes."
"So you'll scratch behind my ear again?"
"If it's itchy."
"And you'll make me cupcakes?" Kevin gave a little hop as Macy closed her locker.
"I think I can handle that."
"And we'll go for walks?" he asked, taking her hand in his.
"Wherever you want to go," Macy answered, surprised she could contain her excitement at having Kevin's hand in hers.
"And we'll go on dates."
"Puppies don't go on dates."
"Exactly. That's the part that will help you remember that I'm not a puppy."
"Well then we'll go on dates," she agreed.
"And we'll do other stuff too."
"Like wha—" Macy didn't have time to finish her question before she felt Kevin's lips against her. "We'll do other stuff too," she sighed.
She ducked her head and smiled as she let Kevin lead them out of the school and toward the firehouse.
And though she knew she really shouldn't, Macy couldn't help but smile at the possibilities that came with their new standing. After all, eventually, Kevin would have to leave his parents' house, and maybe, if she was lucky, he would remember that she had been the one to tame this stray puppy, and she would finally get what she'd been wanting for so long from a homeless Kevin.
Though for now, what she had was definitely enough to make her more than happy.