PJo

"So, I guess the point of this long run-on sentence that's been the last 10 years of our lives is that the simple act of being in love with you is enough for me."

- Pacey to Joey

PJo is the het ship between Pacey and Joey from the Dawson's Creek fandom.

Canon
Joey and Pacey first met as kids through their mutual friendship with Dawson Leery. At the start of the series, during their sophomore year, they are shown to have a love/hate relationship. Most of their early interactions consist of them bickering and throwing insults at each other. However, throughout the rest of the season, Pacey and Joey are shown to have genuine care for one another and offer support when needed. When the two are assigned as lab partners for a biology project, Pacey develops a crush on Joey and goes in for a kiss. Joey rejects Pacey's advances because of her feelings towards Dawson. Pacey accepts Joey's rejection and the two remain friends. Joey goes on to date Dawson while Pacey dates Andie.

At the start of their junior year, following their respective break-ups with Andie and Dawson, Pacey and Joey's friendship grows stronger as they begin spending more time together. They help each other in various ways, such as fixing up Pacey's new boat, which he calls the “True Love," taking dance lessons, and supporting Joey's sister's B&B. Pacey's romantic feelings for Joey soon return, but he believes they're unrequited as Joey falls for a college guy named AJ. Nonetheless, he continues to care for her and even rents her a wall for her to paint on after her school mural was vandalized. Shortly after Joey ends things with AJ, she and Pacey get into an argument on the road about their relationship. In an impulsive move, Pacey kisses Joey mid-sentence.

Joey kisses him back but then pushes him away in confusion, leading to more arguing. Pacey later apologizes to Joey, calling the kiss a "mistake," and the two agree to remain just friends. However, they are unable to suppress their feelings for each other while on their spring break trip. Pacey tries kissing Joey again, giving her 10 seconds to walk away if she doesn't want him to kiss her. She lets him kiss her, but Dawson's aunt interrupts them. Later that night, Pacey and Joey talk about their feelings at a campfire, leading to Joey initiating a kiss between them.

Following their spring break, Pacey and Joey begin sneaking around so they can make out in secret. None of their friends, aside from Jen, know about their relationship. They both plan to tell Dawson about their romance, but Dawson ends up finding out the truth after Jen accidentally told him. Dawson becomes angry at the both of them and forces Joey to choose between their friendship or her romance with Pacey. There's much tension between the three within the following weeks. Dawson wants to get back with Joey but refuses to make up with Pacey. Joey just wants things to go back to the way they used to be. At the Anti-Prom, Joey and Pacey talk and share an intimate dance, which angers Dawson as he storms out of the building.

As the school year comes to an end, Joey learns that Pacey is leaving Capeside for the summer so he can go sailing on the "True Love." The night before departing, Pacey writes "ASK ME TO STAY" on the unpainted wall he bought for Joey. At Mitch and Gale's wedding, Joey tells Pacey she can't give him a reason to stay. However, after seeing how upset Joey is at the wedding, Dawson finally lets his guard down and tells Joey to go with Pacey. Joey gets to Pacey just in time and expresses her love for him. Joey comes aboard Pacey's boat and they sail off together.

After spending the summer together, they return to Capeside as an official couple. They date for most of their senior year, but not without their ups and downs. They deal with many conflicts, such as their stranded relationship with Dawson, worries about the future, personal insecurities, and pressures of sex. However, they manage through most of it and remain very loving to each other. That is until senior prom where Pacey has a public outburst and the two have a messy break-up. Despite how things ended, the two are shown to still love each other. They're able to make up before going their separate ways after graduation.

After high school, Pacey and Joey remain good friends and are supportive of each other. They have other love interests throughout the college years, with Pacey dating Joey's roommate, Audrey, for a while. The tension between Joey and Dawson continues, and they try to give their relationship a second shot. However, it quickly ended after Joey learned Dawson had a girlfriend when they slept together.

At a party hosted by Pacey and Jack, Joey gets very drunk following her break-up with Eddie. Pacey looks out for Joey throughout the night and Joey even jokes about Pacey not being over her. The two almost kiss during a game of spin the bottle before getting interrupted. Later that evening, Pacey carries a tired Joey to bed and admits that he never got over her. Joey kisses Pacey before falling asleep.

Following that night, Joey accompanies Pacey at a business party. While driving back home, Pacey and Joey stop at a Big Kmart but get locked in after the store closes. The two find various ways to keep each other company as the night goes on. They have many conversations about their relationship and lives, which soon leads to the romantic sparks between them reigniting. However, their second chance at romance gets cut short when Joey chooses to get back with her ex, Eddie. Joey and Pacey able to remain on good terms but once again go their separate ways. Pacey stays in Capeside as a chef and Joey heads off to Paris.

Five years later, in 2008, they're reunited at Gale's wedding. Joey is still unsure about whether she wants to be with Pacey or Dawson. Jen, who has been hospitalized and is slowly dying, asks for Joey to make her final choice between the two boys. Pacey later tells Joey that he loves her deeply but is willing to let her off the hook. However, Joey tells him that while her relationship with Dawson is special, Pacey is the one she really loves and wants to be with. The two officially rekindle and live together in New York.

Songs

 * seasons of us | MARY BETH MAZIARZ
 * pacey watches joey sleep


 * daydream believer (cover) | MARY BETH MAZIARZ
 * joey kisses pacey


 * my invitation | SARAH SLEAN
 * i remember everything


 * promise me this | PANCHO'S LAMENT
 * ask me to stay


 * this year's love | DAVID GRAY
 * on the boat


 * takes my breath away | TUCK & PATTI
 * their first time


 * say hello, wave goodbye | DAVID GRAY
 * meeting in boston


 * beacon street | RED CHORD
 * joey jokes that pacey isn’t over her


 * my friend | ANNIE PALMER
 * pacey tells joey he’s not over her


 * juliette | VANESSA DAOU
 * joey shaves pacey's beard and they kiss


 * have a little faith in me | JOHN HIATT
 * pacey kisses joey at gale’s wedding

Fanon
Pacey/Joey is one of the most popular couples in the Dawson's Creek fanbase. While having a decent following early on in the series, they soon overtook DJo as the fan-favorite couple once their romance was further developed in season 3. The kiss between Joey and Pacey in Season 3's "Cinderella Story" is credited toward the continued success of the series and changing its trajectory for the remainder of the show.

During the run of the show, the fan wars between "DJers" and "PJers" were legendary. In efforts to influence and convince the writers and producers to favor their ship, DJers created "Operation Daisy" and PJers "Operation True Love". Dawson/Joey fans sent the writers room daisies and Pacey/Joey fans sent paper boats.

Since the early days of the fandom, the Pacey/Joey ship was known simply as PJo or PJ and its fans "PJers". However, with the popularity of portmanteaus and with the re-release on Netflix in 2021, new fans have adopted, albeit somewhat contentiously, the ship name "Jacey". As such, TikTok more commonly uses this term. The literal ship name "True Love" is also associated with the couple. It is common to use the tag #paceyjoey to avoid confusion.

The majority of fan fiction for the pair was posted across message boards, fansites and LiveJournal. The "True Love Awards" honored favorites amongst the fandom. There have been efforts to restore and archive as many works as possible, and thousands of stories have been shared amongst the community. Pacey/Joey are the most written relationship in the Dawson's Creek tag on AO3, with currently over 400 works — the majority of which have been written in the last decade.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Pages of True Love — Pacey and Joey Fics Message Board
 * Pages of True Love — Pacey and Joey Fics Message Board

IG

TUMBLR

TWITTER

TIKTOK

WIKIS
 * Pacey and Joey on Dawson's Creek Wiki

Trivia

 * Joshua Jackson advocated for Joey and Pacey to end up together in the finale. Katie Holmes also wanted Joey with Pacey rather than Dawson.
 * PJo placed at 20th on Entertainment Weekly's 'The 100 best TV romances of all time.'
 * Katie Holmes and Joshua Jackson dated during the show's early run.
 * The two characters have a cameo in Muppets In Space (1999).