The Thing About Jess

Summary: The thing about Jess is that she's crazy. No, it's that she makes him crazy. Wait, that's not it either.

A/N: Hi New Girl fandom! After a weekend long binge-watch session, I'm happy to count myself among you. So here's my first foray into New Girl fanfic - and though it's probably still applicable, I see it taking place sometime before the events of The Cooler, when things were more unresolved than now.

The thing about Jess is that she's crazy. He used to think he had his hands full with Schmidt and all of his issues, but at least he understands how Schmidt got that way. With Jess, it just blows his mind a little that she's such a colorful mess. She lives in a world of social awkwardness and insecurities, like no one ever told her that pretty girls rule the world. Like no one ever told her that she's one of them. Her craziness is both infuriating and endearing and when he's too drunk to filter his thoughts, he recognizes the fact that she's well and truly got him wrapped around her little finger. And he shudders to think that she accomplishes this without even trying.

Actually, the thing about Jess isn't that she's crazy – it's that she makes him crazy. He considers himself a pretty sane man most of the time. Sure, he did some crazy things before Jess, but that was mostly due to heartbreak and alcohol and no, entering that cock fight wasn't his finest hour. But he's got it together mostly. Well, he has a paycheck and a roof over his head, and often enough, a woman in his bed. He thinks things out, he plays it safe. Some may scoff at his life and his choices, but he's comfortable with it.

But Jess shows up and everything changes because she's different than anyone he has ever known. She drives him to do things, to try for more. Before Jess, they'd never lit anything on fire in the apartment or had a bell ensemble and he sure has hell never almost had a three-way with one of his roommates and the landlord. Life with Jess is never boring; it's bright colors and weirdness and fairy tales. Sometimes he likes to believe that she's just naive about the way things work. "Jess, things can't be like the world you live in," he tells her, in not so many words, and she just looks at him and asks, "Well, why not?" That's probably the thing that makes him craziest – for all his talk and certainty, sometimes he thinks maybe Jess has it figured out and he's the naive one after all.

But the real thing about Jess – the thing that scares him the most – is that sometimes she makes him want it. Sometimes he wants to see the world the way she does. He wants to believe that people are good at heart and he wants to be spontaneous. He wants to drive somewhere with her and not know where they're going. He wants to wade into the ocean in the middle of the night and wash away the anger and the cynicism. He wants to be open, to tell Winston and Schmidt and her that he loves them. And that maybe he hasn't amounted to much but without them, he'd be even less. He wants to let it out, live, cry, feel. He wants to give in, put his heart on his sleeve and let her see him truly smile, just for her. He wants to fight and love and let her turn his entire world upside down.

No, the thing about Jess isn't that she's crazy, or even that she makes him crazy. It's that she makes him not want to be sane.