Disclaimer: Still don't own characters or really anything. Sorry; if I did, I would share.
One-month anniversary
Nick liked to think he was spontaneous. He wasn't. Deep down inside he knew this, but he could still pretend that he didn't.
And so, as his one-month anniversary dating the previously bruise-dolling Macy loomed nearer and nearer, Nick decided the last thing in the world he was going to do was write her a song. Writing Macy a song was predictable. And he, Nick Lucas, was not predictable. He was spontaneous. Unfortunately, this meant he would have to find something else to offer his girlfriend.
"You should write her a song," Joe told him, when Nick asked what he should do to celebrate the upcoming occasion. "So easy, and you won't have to find a disguise to go buy her something at the mall."
"Dude, you're totally going to end up writing a song for her," Kevin had answered to the same question.
"Write her a song. If you can make it about four minutes long, that would be perfect for between Love Sick and Why in the next concert," his father had told him with a pat on the back.
"Ahh. One month... My baby is all grown up. And he's going to write his girlfriend a little love song for their anniversary," his mother had said as Nick tried to dodge her hug.
"She's only dating you until I'm old enough for her to date me," Frankie had told him. "Whatever song you write her, we'll play it at our wedding if that makes you feel better."
"You haven't written her a one-month-anniversary song yet?" Stella had screamed.
Despite the fact that Nick felt a growing need to tell each of these people that they didn't know what they were talking about with every answer he got, he was patient with them because he wanted their help, and simply answered that he wanted to do something different for Macy.
"Oh," they had all answered.
They were useless, Nick decided.
***
Nick liked to think he was subtle. Like the time he had asked his mother what she would do if she was falling in love with one of her best friends and his mother had given him advice he refused to follow while waiting for Macy to finally notice him as something more than Nick of Jonas. Obviously, his mother had known exactly what he was talking about and hadn't bothered to hide it when she'd finished her little pep talk with "Just tell Macy," but that didn't mean Nick couldn't tell himself that she'd meant something else and didn't know about his not-so-secret crush.
And so with his other sources proving useless, Nick went directly to Macy.
"So, we've been going out for a little while now, haven't we?"
"One month in a little less than a week," Macy answered with a bright smile. Even Nick couldn't pretend Macy was subtle.
"Right. So... you're probably going to be free that night."
"For whatever we plan to do," she agreed.
"And from your end that would be..."
Macy shook her head. "Just because I know that you're writing me a song doesn't mean you have to know what I have planned."
"Who said I was writing a song?"
Macy laughed. "Nick, you're you. Of course you're writing a song."
"You don't know what's going to happen. I might just surprise you."
"Yeah." Macy rose from her chair with a laugh and a quick kiss to Nick's cheek. "Sure, Nicky."
If anything, his conversation with Macy only strengthened his need to do something original. And to get her to stop calling him Nicky, especially at school.
***
Nick liked to think he was thoughtful. Scratch that. Nick was thoughtful. Mostly.
All right, admittedly there were times when he would get lost in a song or a preoccupation or a game... but he could always be thoughtful in the end. He opened doors, pulled out chairs, helped with jackets... He was Nick Lucas: nice guy.
Truth was, though, unless he had a pen in hand, expressing these thoughts wasn't so obvious. So, he'd picked up a pencil and made a list. He'd made a list of everything he could buy Macy for their one-month anniversary. After two hours, the list consisted of various pieces of sports equipment, items which fell under the category Macy liked to call "Jonas-abelia", and a few standard romantic items like flowers and chocolates. Then, before Nick could realise what he was doing, his list became the first verse of a song about how there was nothing in the world that could be bought to show his love for Macy.
Stupid musical talent, he thought for probably the first time in his life.
There would be no song.
So, even though deep down inside he knew it was a mistake, he figured he'd play it safe and get Macy something from all three categories he had listed, hoping that would cover his bases.
***
Nick liked to think he was good at talking himself out of sticky situations. At least he hoped he was the moment he saw Macy's reaction to her gifts.
The evening had been going so well. Somehow, he'd managed to kick his family out of the house, costing him two tickets to a musical for his parents, two tickets to an amusement park for Frankie and Kevin, and nothing to get Stella angry at Joe for not giving his little brother and Macy the privacy they needed to celebrate "the sweetest thing that ever happened to either of them." Stella's words, not his.
He had cooked Macy dinner, hoping that she wouldn't mind his aversion to going out in public on a night he would rather not have interrupted (also earning grumblings from Stella in what he thought he'd heard as "I wanted that. I even told Kevin.").
He had had soft, romantic music playing in the background.
They had watched a ridiculously hilarious movie on television because really, though they were a couple, they were still teenagers and knew how to have fun.
He'd had what he was sure was an amazing reaction to her gift of a personalized guitar strap and a signed CD from Elvis Costello. It was, after all, an amazing gift.
And then, he gave her a baseball bat.
"A bat?"
Nick swallowed. That wasn't a happy-Macy reaction.
"It's to show you how far we've come. I'm giving you a baseball bat, and I'm not afraid that you're going to hurt me with it. That's great, right?"
"Yeah..."
She was almost as bad a liar as Kevin was, Nick decided.
"There's more."
"Oh good. I mean..." Macy shook her head at the slip. "Thank you."
"Here."
She unwrapped her present and... he supposed he'd call that expression on her face a scowl.
"A Jonas notebook."
"Cause you like Jonas."
"I do," she agreed with a nod.
"And this." He shoved the last gift at her, dreading her reaction.
"And a chocolate bar."
"It's dark chocolate." As if that mattered.
Macy nodded. Nick winced. They both waited.
"Thank you," Macy finally whispered.
Nick leaned forward so he could get a better look at Macy's lowered face.
"Are you... crying?"
"Not yet," she told him, though he could clearly see the tears waiting in her eyes.
"I'm sorry, Macy. I can get you white chocolate."
"It's not about the chocolate!" Macy cried in a quick fit of rage that sent the chocolate bar flying in his direction. "It's not about the chocolate, or the you're-just-one-of-the-guys baseball bat or the Jonas notebook that you probably got for free and that I already have like fifteen of at home."
"I paid for the notebook," Nick interrupted in a whisper. He knew he couldn't deny any of her other accusations. "But you can still be mad."
"I just... I'm not mad. I'm sad."
"Why?"
She shrugged. "I guess I just..." She took a deep breath before trying again. "I wanted to inspire you."
"What?"
"I wanted to inspire you. I mean, God, you wrote Penny a song after two days and she had a boyfriend and you didn't even know her well enough to know that and when you guys did finally hook up you realised in less than twenty-four hours that you actually got on each other's nerves. I just thought maybe I would be able to..."
"Inspire me too."
She nodded, taking in a deep breath to try and hold back her tears.
"And now you think you don't."
"Baseball bat, notebook and chocolate bar," she told him, holding each object up in turn.
"Macy you're crazy," Nick told her softly, shaking his head.
"Just not inspirational."
Nick moved until he was kneeling in front of her, taking her face in his hands so he could make her look at him.
"Everything I've written since the moment you agreed to go out with me was inspired by you. Everything I've written from the minute I got to know you has been about you. I have written so many songs with you on my mind, and I haven't been able to write so many angry or sad ones because you were on my mind, making me happy. And I just... I thought a song was too easy and too obvious because of how much you inspire me. Never mind a song, you inspire me to think outside the box and take risks. I don't know anyone else who does that."
Macy's jaw hung open. She watched Nick with wide eyes, and he wondered how exactly it was that he could have screwed this up so badly.
"Macy, I'm sorry that you—"
He forgot what he could possibly be apologizing for when her lips collided against his—when her entire body collided against his, sending them both crashing to the floor and narrowly missing the coffee table in front of the sofa she'd been sitting on.
"That is the best one-month anniversary present ever," Macy told him when they finally parted.
"Making out?" Nick asked, confused as to how he'd gone from about to be dumped to giving her the best present ever. He was going to be seriously angry if all he'd had to do all along was give her a kiss and not worry about anything else.
"Confession of feelings from Nick Lucas without it being set to music or for mass distribution? That's the most romantic thing ever."
Nick nodded. "Good."
He wasn't quite sure he understood what had just happened, which he guessed was going to prove problematic in a month when he had to find her another anniversary present, but he wasn't going to worry about it tonight when they were together and happy once again.
Macy smiled and pulled him up on the couch, pushing aside her presents to give them more room. She handed Nick the remote—a rare anniversary concession—and let him find something for them to watch.
"You could have at least signed the notebook," she said as she snuggled against him.
Nick laughed and let the television stop at a show he was fairly certain he would hate, but Macy would love.
***
Nick liked to think he was a lucky man. Actually, looking down at Macy who had fallen asleep in his arms and bringing a finger to his lips as Kevin carried a dozing Frankie in, then as Joe and Stella tiptoed toward them to check if his girlfriend was really sleeping, and finally as his father tried to hush his mother before she could gush so loudly she would wake Macy, he knew more than thought. He definitely was a lucky man.