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My first Joe/Macy fic. They haven't had much interaction on the show, I realize, but they're so damn cute individually, I can't stand it. I had to. Enjoy ;)

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"Macy, Macy, Macy," Joe overheard Stella getting into lecture mode across the cafeteria table for the fourth time in a row that week. "You need to expand your horizons. I mean look at you; you're cute, your style has vastly improved, thanks to yours truly, you're smart, you're athletic… what guy wouldn't want you? There's more to this world than these JONAS boys," she finished by waving her hand dismissively at her childhood best friends, who all were sitting across from them.

"Hey!"

"What?!"

Nick and Kevin protested. Joe sat and picked at his food, simply rolling his eyes.

"It's for her own good," she said pointedly at them, "and for yours," she added slowly before turning back to her best friend, taking her hand, "no offense."

Macy shook her head in understanding. "No, I know what you mean. I need to calm down. It's been two years! I need to stop freaking out every time I see you guys, or there will be no JONAS left because I've trampled you or hit you all with my equipment far too many times!"

The three guys nodded in agreement and relief.

"See? The first step to recovery is admitting that you have a problem," Stella smiled. "I'm proud of you," she said, hugging her.

Macy beamed and hugged her best friend back.

"OKAY, step two," Stella said right away, turning and looking around the cafeteria. "Finding a cute boy to flirt with and clear your mind," she said in a dazed tone, skimming through the room. "OH, what about Jeremy?"

Macy wrinkled her nose. "Hmm… no, I don't think so."

"What about Damien, he's a babe," Stella arched her eyebrows in approval, staring at the boy.

"Uhh… I think you're more interested in him than I am," Macy said, waving her hand in front of Stella's face.

"Yeah, save that one for the big girls," Stella joked. "Joshua's pretty cute!"

"Hmm, yeah, he is," Macy said.

Joe looked up when he heard her actually sound a little interested. He didn't understand his sudden reaction, but there it was. "He doesn't seem like your type, Mace," he shrugged nonchalantly, popping a fry into his mouth.

Macy turned to him, looking a little surprised that he interjected. Stella scoffed and turned to him.

"And exactly what credibility do you have for knowing what her type is?"

"He's a football jock, doesn't that explain everything?" Joe shot back. Thing is, Joshua sat next to him in chemistry and was a total genius apart from being a popular athlete, but that was beside the point.

Stella rolled her eyes. "Well how about Tonio? He's on the swim team, totally gorgeous," she beamed at Macy, who, Joe noted, had a look of consideration on her face.

"What kind of name is that? Tonio," he scoffed.

"I like it," Macy sighed, "it sounds so… sophisticated and foreign."

"He's from New York," Joe said flatly. His brothers chortled.

"Okay, mister," Stella said, fully turning to him, holding her finger out. Joe raised his eyebrows. Here we go. "If you're so smart and know what kind of guy Macy should go for, then go 'head," she waved. "Be my guest."

Joe's jaw clenched, and he stayed silent for a while, his cheeks slightly flushing as Macy waited for him to do something. "Maybe later."

"Thought so," Stella squinted in victory. Her eyes shot up to someone behind Joe. "Patrick," she nodded.

Macy looked in that direction at the tall, dirty blonde. "Your ex, Patrick?"

"We went out for 3 weeks, that hardly counts," Stella waved it off. "I know from firsthand experience that he's not such a bad guy. We just… grew apart. You're more his type than I ever was," she said quickly. "He's totally into athletic girls; I was bored to death when he kept talking about football and ESPF or whatever."

"You mean ESPN…" Macy said.

"See? You two would be perfect," Stella smiled. She and Macy watched this so-called Patrick with interest, nudging each other and giggling like little school girls. Joe ignored that they were, in fact, school girls and this was totally normal, but he didn't like the fact that Macy was giving this "Patrick" the look that she used to give him when he walked into the room. Damn you, Stella, for expanding her horizons. Her horizons were the perfect length before, thank you, he thought.

For the next week, he had to hear endlessly from Stella how great Macy and Patrick were hitting it off, playing Frisbee and going skating at the park and hanging out during school and after school and blah blah blah. I can be an athlete if I wanted to, Joe thought bitterly. He blinked the thought away as soon as he heard it in his head, remembering that Stella was in front of him.

"Aww, Joe, look!" She was looking behind him with her hands over her heart, looking like a proud mother. He turned and saw Patrick lean down to kiss Macy on her cheek as she smiled.

"Adorable," Joe said dryly, closing his locker, books in hand. "See ya later."

Stella watched him walk off to class in confusion, but went back to cooing over her best friend and her new object of affection in two seconds.

The next day, Joe went to his locker to put his books away before heading to the cafeteria for lunch. He rolled his eyes as he saw Patrick and Macy talking at her locker. The blonde's hand covered her hip and was moving dangerously low towards the bottom of her school skirt. Joe slammed his locker shut and strode over towards them as quickly as he could.

"Mace, you coming for lunch? You said you would help me finish my English paper, I couldn't get to the end last night, what with me being famous and rehearsing and all," he said once he was over there, throwing his arm around her and leading her away from the damn pervert.

"Oh…kay," Macy said, her voice a little high pitched. She looked at Patrick then turned back in the direction Joe was leading her, letting out a small sigh. Is that relief? Joe wondered in hope. He shot Patrick a dangerous look letting him know full well that he saw what he was doing.

They stopped and sat on the steps just a ways away from the cafeteria doors.

"You didn't really need help on that essay, did you?" Macy asked, sitting next to him, facing him as he sat looking straight ahead.

"You should stay away from that guy," Joe said, still fuming.

Macy tilted her head, a small smile playing at her lips as she studied his profile while he sat, fists still clenched and taking deep breaths to calm himself down. "Why?"

Was she trying to piss him off? "Because!" He let out a little too loudly, making her jump. "Because," he repeated, lower and more slowly. "He's not…"

She frowned after he just trailed off. "He's not what…?"

Wow, is she that naïve, he thought. No, she's not; she's just blinded and falling for the wrong guy. "He's just not a good guy, believe me."

She laughed softly. "Thanks, but I think I can take care of myself."

He laughed, too, but it had a bitter edge to it. "Fine. If you really wanna be with him, fine." He got up and started down the hallway.

She jumped up and had practically had to run to catch up to him. "Joe," she said, grabbing the sleeve of his school blazer. He stopped and turned to face her. "What's going on? What did I do? I'm sorry if I did anything to make you mad, you know I would never--"

He placed his hand on her free arm, stopping her from rambling on. "It's not you," he said quickly. "It's me. Well, it is you, but it's that Patrick guy, too. You and Patrick; it's just… I don't think it's very—you know, you shouldn't--" Great, now I'm rambling. Shut up, Joe!

"Okay, okay," Macy interrupted. She looked so confused. Joe couldn't blame her, he was feeling pretty lost right now, too. "I know he's a skeezebag, alright? But can you please just tell me why you're acting like this? You usually don't even care about anything that I do," she said, looking away with a slight glint of hurt in her eyes.

Joe flinched. He felt terrible at the fact that it was true; he never cared before. But throughout high school, he and his brothers have gotten to know the real Macy, not just fangirl Macy, and Joe actually found himself taking a liking to the petite girl. Even she seemed to be getting more comfortable around them, and it was nice.

"If this is because Patrick and Stella used to have a thing, and he dumped her, it's okay! Stella's totally over it. I know you're protective of her because you like her, so--"

"Wait, what?" He interrupted.

She shut her mouth immediately and shrugged.

"You think I'm holding a grudge against Patrick over hurting Stella because I like her?"

"Is… that not right?" Macy asked.

"Not at all…" Joe said, shaking his head.

"Then what is it?" She asked exasperated. "I'm actually trying to move on from being this big JONAS teenybopper by 'expanding my horizons' or whatever," she quoted the air, repeating what Stella said earlier before continuing, "and the first attempt I make at it, a LUCAS BROTHER, out of all people, gets mad at me for it. I'm trying to get over it! Over you guys! What is the problem?"

"I don't want you to get over it!"

"What?" She asked. "Joe, you still have a million fans out there, I'm sure you can find more fansites once I close mine, sorry, Stella's orders… I mean, the internet's a big place…"

Joe sighed inwardly. How long was it going to take before she got the hint? "Okay, let's try this again," he said. He placed both hands on her shoulders, bending down a little so they were eye to eye. "I don't want you to get over me."

She stood there, lips slightly parted. She just stared at him, her eyes following his as he stood up straight, looking down at her. She felt his hands slide down her arms and slide into her own hands. She blinked in realization. "Oh my Jonas," she whispered.

He laughed softly. "There it is."

She shut her eyes in embarrassment. "Right, sorry," she said, flustered. "So… you," she said nodding at him, trying to make sense of it all, "like me? Like… like like?"

"That's what I'm getting at, yes," he nodded, a little nervously. He was kind of expecting her to go back to full-on fangirl mode after hearing that 1/3 of the object of her affection had feelings for her, but to his surprise, despite the "Oh my Jonas" slip just seconds ago, she let out a genuine and beautiful smile.

"You were jealous earlier?"

"A little," he grimaced. She laughed again and squeezed his hands. "I guess I was just so used to you being so into me all the time for the last 2 years, and now that you weren't anymore, I just… I don't know. I never realized how much I cared and liked having that attention from you… and how much I liked being around you."

"I knew it," she grinned.

He blinked at her. "You what?"

"I mean I wasn't so sure before, but then it hit me. I'm not stupid, Joe. How do you think I used to feel when you would talk to other girls or even with Stella sometimes? I know jealousy when I see it. I just wanted to make sure."

"Wow, I didn't know you were so sneaky," he chuckled.

"My JONAS fansite didn't become the number one fansite because of me just standing around, waiting for information," she teased.

He laughed, "Well from now on, anything you wanna know, all you have to do is ask."

"Mmm, thanks," she pondered, "but my super fan days are over."

"Good. But will you still be my number one super fan?" He grinned, raising an eyebrow, moving his body closer to her.

"Do you want me to be?" She asked in quite the seductive tone. Oh my. Yes, he liked the new Macy.

"What do you think?" He said lowering his voice.

She giggled in response.

"So… are we just gonna stand here and hold hands asking questions all day, or…" he trailed off, leaning closer to her.

She smiled and went up on her tip-toes. "I don't know, are we?"

He laughed and captured her lips with his, moving his hands to wrap around her waist and pull her closer to him.

THE END.

aaaand, there you are. Lol, I know Joe's a little OOC… he's totally more goofy than this, but angsty!Joe is way hot, no? Good? Not so much? Review, y'all :)