So, I was thinking about perfection and how overrated it is, and this just kinda came to me. Hope you like it.

No Such Thing As Perfection

"So we turned the corner and jumped into the janitor's closet and closed the door just in time. A second later, we heard all the fangirls thundering past." Joe said, relating the JONAS boys' latest run-in with the visiting girls' soccer team to Stella and Macy.

Kevin nodded. "It was like a stampede, I would swear I heard zebras and elephants." The girls giggled.

"I wish they wouldn't chase us, I totally pulled my Achilles tendon." Joe complained as he rubbed the back of his calf.

"Fangirls…" Kevin scoffed. "Crazy."

"Hey!" Macy said, eyebrows narrowed. "I resent that. I'm a fangirl myself!"

"But at least you don't chase us," Joe said.

"Anymore," Stella added. Macy had recently learned to (mostly) control the fangirl side of herself - she'd accidentally hit Joe (again) and gave him a bad black eye, from which he was still recovering. She realized that if she didn't learn to control herself, she might end up killing one of them. And she DID NOT want that.

Macy blushed at Stella's reminder, then smiled. She couldn't stay mad at the boys of JONAS.

"Since you're our resident fangirl," Nick began, and Macy turned to him with wide eyes. That sounded like a title. She liked it. "Why don't you explain why we always get chased?"

"Well, duh, Nick," Kevin said, "we're awesome." Macy grinned in silent agreement.

"But there's got to be more to it than that," Nick thought for a moment. "Though that is a perfectly legitimate reason."

"We are pretty awesome, aren't we.." Joe said dreamily.

Stella clapped her hands in front of his face, and Joe jumped. "Not that awesome, Mr. Ego."

Joe stuck out his tongue at her. "You're just jealous cause I'm awesomer than you are."

"Joe," Stella said patiently. "Do you want to know why I'm more awesome than you?"

"Yes, Stella," he leaned in. "Do tell."

"Cause I know," Stella dropped her voice down low, as if she was telling a secret, "that 'awesomer' isn't a word."

Joe straightened up, blushing slightly. "It totally is!"

Stella laughed. "No, Joe, it's not."

"Well, it is now! I made it one!"

"Come on, Joe," Nick said, grinning. "Stella's right. You're not that awesome." He put a hand to his chest and said loftily, "I, on the other hand--" Joe wacked him. "Hey!"

"Oi! Guys, do you want an answer?" Stella asked, motioning to Macy, who promptly stopped giggling.

They nodded, so Macy took a deep breath and started to explain. "You're their idols. You're funny, hot," they blushed, "charming, sweet, kind, polite, and in their minds, all around perfect. They've lifted you up to these standards, made you into their dream guys, only you're not dreams, you're real. The chance to meet someone so perfect is one that no fangirl wants to pass up. And even though I say you're real, the Lucas brothers that they think they know aren't real. They've deluded themselves into thinking that their dreams are reality. They've created versions of you that are so perfect, they don't even see you as people anymore." The guys and Stella were staring at her, and Macy realized that she'd just described what she herself used to think to the boys she used to think it about. She turned beet red and stood up. "I'm sorry, I'm just going to, ah, I'm gonna go." She fled.

The four stared after her. "Perfect, huh?" Joe asked no one in particular.

"Not even people anymore?" Nick repeated.

"I wish MY dreams could be reality." Kevin said sulkily, and his brothers wacked his arms. "Hey! What was that for?"

"Her point was that their dreams WEREN'T reality, Kevin," Joe explained.

"And Kevin, if your dreams were reality, everyone would have a pet giraffe and we'd all live underwater," Nick added.

"But wouldn't that be AWESOME?" Kevin asked sincerely.

"Well, yes, but--" Joe started, but Stella interrupted.

"NO! Think of how hard it would be to coordinate outfits, it would be torture!" She was appalled but the absurdity of it.

"Oh," the eldest Lucas brother looked disappointed. "That's sad." The others ignored him, their minds turning back to Macy's speech.

"Wow," Stella said. "Girls considering you guys perfect…. I never would have guessed that."

"Yeah," Nick said. "Me neither."

Later that day, Nick sat alone in his room with his guitar. He strummed a few chords, but nothing came to him. His brothers might have passed it over, but he couldn't get the idea of perfection out of his head. It was bugging him. He wasn't perfect, and he felt like it was wrong for fans to have that twisted view. No one was perfect, and just because he and his brothers were celebrities didn't make them an exception.

Lying down, he reached for his phone and dialed a number he'd never used before. It rang once, twice, three times, and then was picked up on the other end.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Macy? It's Nick…Lucas."

"Nick of JONAS??" Macy flipped for a second, and then remembered herself. Yes, Nick of JONAS was calling her, on her cell phone, from his cell phone, without even blocking his number (she double checked to make sure this fact was indeed true), but she couldn't freak out. Breath, Macy, breath. "How- how did you get my number?"

"Uh, Stella gave it to me back when we first came to school here. She said it was a precaution, in case we needed to reach her but couldn't, we should try through you."

"Oh." Stella gave it to him. That made sense. Wait, Stella gave the boys of JONAS her number and didn't tell her?? She'd have to remember to ask her 'best friend' about that later. "So, uhm, why did you call?"

"Oh, sorry, am I interrupting something?" Nick asked. Macy sighed dreamily, ever the gentleman, that Nick. Then she realized he thought she didn't want to talk to him.

"Oh, no, nothing, no, I just, uh, I don't mind, or anything, uh, I'm glad you called, really, uh," she stopped. Deep breaths, she reminded herself. "No, its fine. What's up?"

Nick chuckled, deciding that she was cute when she was nervous. "I've been thinking a lot about what you said earlier, about how our fans think we're perfect."

"I'm not saying all your fans think that," Macy said quickly. "Just some. Or most. Well, probably close to all. But that's just cause you seem that way when you're so polite on TV and so amazing at your concerts. You guys aren't like the celebrities who hang out their dirty laundry for the world to see." When Nick didn't respond immediately, Macy hurried to add, "which is a good thing."

Nick nodded, forgetting that she couldn't see him. He rolled over onto his stomach. "But we're not perfect. No one is."

Macy sat down on her couch and hugged a pillow. "Yeah, and deep down, they probably know that. But it's a comforting thought, for some reason. Don't ask me why, I couldn't tell you."

"They like the idea that there are perfect things in the world?" Nick asked, still a tad lost.

"Yeah. Beyond like, diamonds, which most girls will tell you are perfect. They like the idea that it's possible for a person to be perfect, cause it gives them something to aim for. Not perfection, really, but something close to it."

"Why would anyone want to be perfect?"

Macy shrugged to herself. "I guess, really, they don't want perfection for perfection. They want perfection because they want to be loved."

Nick thought that over for a moment. "That makes sense," he said. "But I think it would be hard to love someone perfect."

"Oh?" Macy's eyebrows went up at the same time that her heart started pounding. Nick Lucas was sharing his opinion with her! "Why's that?"

"Cause you'd always feel like you were worth less than that person. Like you weren't good enough. People need flaws, because it makes them who they are. It makes them human, it lets them learn and grow and change. Why would you need to learn if you were perfect? You wouldn't. What's the point of living if you can't continue to learn?" Nick asked the question, but he didn't really expect an answer.

"You're right," Macy said, surprising him. "A perfect life would be an awfully boring one."

Nick smiled. "Yeah. Where's the fun in anything if there are no risks? Where's the excitement?"

"If you can't make mistakes, then there isn't much you can do at all." Macy mused. "Yeah. Humans weren't meant to be perfect."

"We can leave that to the diamonds," Nick joked, and they both smiled.

The next day at school, Macy didn't freak out when she saw Nick in the hallway. She didn't have to control her breathing when he sat next to her at lunch. She didn't call him 'Nick of JONAS' in her head or out loud. He was just Nick, her friend.

Stella noticed. "Okay, what happened?" She demanded in the hallway after lunch. "Something happened between you and Nick, I know it. Tell me."

Macy smiled. "Oh, Stella, you're overanalyzing. Nothing happened, we just talked is all. We had a really nice conversation, and now I see him as Nick, not Nick of JONAS."

Stella squinted. "That's not all that happened, is it?" Macy blushed. "I knew it!" Stella exclaimed, and declared in a singsong voice, "You have a crush on him!"

Macy shushed her. "Shh, Stella, gosh, tell the world will you?"

Stella grinned even wider. "And not a celebrity crush, either, a real crush."

Macy blushed harder. "Maybe." Then she glared at her friend. "Why didn't you tell me you gave him my phone number??"

Stella laughed. "Macy, you would have gone crazy thinking that they boys of JONAS had your number and you would have been disappointed every day they didn't call you."

Macy stopped glaring. Stella was right, as usual. "Why are you always right?" She asked rhetorically.

Stella smiled and flipped her hair. "Cause I'm awesome."

Macy shrugged. She wasn't even going to try to deny that.

At home a few days later, Macy turned on the television just in time to catch the last few minutes of a JONAS interview on the news. She'd missed the question, but Nick was answering, and what he said sounded eerily familiar.

"We're really not perfect, nobody is. We make mistakes, we grow, we learn, we're only human. Where's the fun in life without the risk of taking a wrong turn or messing up? I think life would be pretty boring if it were supposed to be perfect. We're just three guys, doing what we love. Our flaws just make the trip that much better." He smiled into the camera, and Macy thought he meant that smile for her. And then she slapped herself. (Figuratively.) That was a silly idea, she should get her head out of the clouds.

The anchor made some comment on how philosophical Nick was and then moved onto the topic of their upcoming show. Macy watched the rest of the interview, but couldn't remember any of it afterwards. She'd been too distracted thinking about Nick.

It was strange how quickly her perspective of him had changed. Sure, she still saw him as a superstar in the back of her mind, but her prevailing view of him was now just what an amazing guy he was. He wasn't perfect, as he'd told her, but she liked that. Back when she'd thought he was the picture of perfection, she'd also thought she wasn't good enough for him. He'd been right when he'd said that, even though he'd meant it generally. But now, he was just human. Hot, talented, friendly human, but still human. So that meant she might have a chance. Right?

No, probably not. He wasn't perfect, but he was still Nick of JONAS. He could still have any girl he wanted. Why would he want her?

Her thoughts were interrupted by her cell phone's ring. She picked it up, and was surprised to hear Nick's voice on the other end.

"Hey," he said. "What's up?"

"Not much," she told him, giving the standard teenage response. "I saw the end of your interview a few minutes ago."

"Oh, did you see what I said about perfection?" Nick asked, eager for her opinion.

Macy smiled. "Yeah, it was great. That interviewer definitely did not expect you to be so philosophical."

He laughed. "I know, it was funny. But I was actually calling to see if you were busy tonight."

"Oh, uhm," Macy wracked her brain to think of what she had on her agenda. "I'm working til 6, but after that, nothing."

"Great, I'm free tonight too. Want to do something?"

"A superstar free on a Saturday night?" Macy teased. "How unusual!"

"Oh, ha ha," Nick responded sarcastically. "But really, want to hang out?"

"Sure," Macy said, adding silently I could never say no to you.

"Great, I'll get you at the store at 6 then?"

"Mhmm. See you later, bye."

"Bye Mace." He hung up, and Macy promptly freaked out. No, not over the fact that she was hanging out with a member of JONAS later, nor because it was NICK FREAKING LUCAS, but because it was Nick, her crush, and she had no idea what to wear.

So, next is the date sceen. I've already got most of it written, but if you guys want to make a suggestion or two (or three or four or five...) I'll try to fit it in! Thanks for reading!