Archive of Our Own ^beta

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“Okay. Starting on my left with one, your number comes up, you go.”

“Just so you know, Jeff, you are now creating six different timelines.”

“Of course I am Abed.”

-

2.

“Annie, why do you have a gun?” Jeff asks a few days later.

“How did you know?” Annie asks. She doesn’t bother denying it, but she puts off answering the question all the same. She doesn’t want to hear the lecture that comes with answering the question.

“Troy saw it in your purse when you went to get the pizza,” he replies. Annie makes a mental note to have a conversation with Troy about respecting her privacy later. “And you didn’t answer my question.”

Annie sighs. She should have known better than to try to outlawyer the lawyer. Ex-lawyer. Whatever.

“I can take care of myself. You don’t need to treat me like a kid anymore, remember?” she insists.

“I know. I just…if something were to happen to you Annie, and I could’ve done something to prevent it, I’d never be able to forgive myself.”

And yes, she knows that Jeff cares about all of her friends, but he’s saying it to her, now, and it makes her wonder if she’s special to him somehow. She can’t imagine him having this conversation with Britta.

“Move in with me,” he says out of nowhere.

Annie stares at him. He doesn’t look away. Did he really just say that? “Are you serious?” she asks.

“Yes,” he says, quickly and confidently. “My lease is almost up. We can find a place with two bedrooms. Splitting the rent will save us both money. And I won’t have to worry about you all the time. Really, you’d be doing us both a favor.” He says the last part likes it’s no big deal.

Annie smiles sadly at him. It’s really sweet, if a little intense, but she knows what she has to say. “Jeff, I can’t move in with you,” she says regretfully.

“Why not?”

For a lot of reasons, but she only says the one that really matters to her.

“Because I have feelings for you. And I think you have feelings for me,” she says quietly. “And I don’t want to ruin what we could have by jumping into something we’re not ready for.”

She waits for Jeff to deny it, to tell her she’s wrong, that she’s reading into things. He doesn’t. Emboldened, she takes another risk. She’s wearing flats, so she has to stand on her tip toes to get avoid straining her neck, but he when he kisses her back, it’s worth it. The other times they kissed were quick, spur of the moment acts of passion. Intense, but fleeting. This is soft and slow, warm and inviting.

A girl could get used to this.

He isn’t willing to let her go yet, so she leans into his chest, letting his arms envelop her. For a moment she’s tempted to take him up on his offer. It feels good having someone protect her. But if she wants more of this, more of them, she knows she needs to be patient.

“Troy and Abed invited me to move in with them. I think I’m going to do it.”

“That sounds like a great idea.”

It’s okay. She’s good at waiting.

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4.

When you know someone well enough, you can say a lot with just a look. Annie and Jeff haven’t known each other that long in the grand scheme of things, but when they share a glance across a room, sometimes it feels like they’ve known each other their whole lives.

But looks can only say so much, and even though Jeff takes well-deserved pride in his oratory skills, there’s something about Annie Edison that leaves him speechless.

“Have you talked to Shirley yet?” Annie asks him.

“Not yet. I tried calling her a couple times. Keeps going to voicemail after a ring or two,” Jeff says with a shrug. Shirley’s quick to anger, but usually quick to forgive. She hasn’t stayed mad at them for this long before.

“I feel terrible.”

Jeff feels, well, not great. The group could have handled the whole baking addiction a lot better, and Jeff was the one that forced the issue in the first place. All in all, not their finest hour.

“She’ll come around,” Jeff promises.

“I hope so.” Annie doesn’t sound convinced.

“Shirley’s not like the rest of us. She has this whole other life outside of the study group and Greendale. I get why that makes her feel like an outsider, but at the same time, she has other people she gets to be close to. But we only have each other.”

Jeff isn’t sure whether the “we” means all of them or if it just means him and Annie. He isn’t sure about a lot of things lately.

“Do you think she was right about us?” Annie asks.

“You mean about the whole ‘googly eyes’ thing?”

She nods. She’s giving him that look again. It feels like she can see right through him. Like no façade, no matter how carefully constructed or meticulously managed can keep her from seeing his soul. Assuming he has one.

What does it say in the Good Book? That the truth will set you free?

“Probably. Yes.”

He kisses her. Partly because he has to, because he can’t stand another moment without kissing her, but mostly because he wants to. What the point in lying to her, lying to everyone else, and lying to himself if no one believes him anyway?

She’s only surprised for a second before she starts kissing him back. They’ve always been a good team. They’re good with words, but they’re even better at this, and honestly words are overrated.

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3.

Annie discretely asks Jeff for a ride home as the party winds down, letting Britta have a little more time with Troy after it ends. Annie knows this will probably earn her another patronizing lecture about her dubious living conditions, but she’s willing to endure it to play matchmaker.

“Do you think there’s something going on between them?” Annie asks on the way to her apartment.

“Troy and Britta?” Jeff asks. He assumes Annie saw the same thing he did. Googly eyes, as Shirley would say.

“Uh huh.”

“Maybe. Troy was checking her out earlier,” he offers. “And they seemed weirdly comfortable with each other when they came out of the bathroom.”

“What do you think they were doing in there?” Annie asks. She regrets it immediately. “Actually, never mind. I don’t want to know.”

“Jealous?” Jeff asks, half-teasing, half-curious, half…something else.

“No.” She’s pleasantly surprised to discover that it’s true. “Troy’s never going to feel that way about me, and that’s okay. He’s a good friend. I’m happy with how things turned out. What about you? Are you jealous?” she asks.

She still doesn’t know what to make of Jeff and Britta’s relationship. She isn’t sure which bothers her more. The fact that the two of them were having sex behind everyone’s back for so long or the fact that it didn’t seem to mean anything to him. Annie’s grown up enough to get over ideas like soul mates or love at first sight, and it’s not like she’s a virgin or anything, but she still believes that sex should mean something.

“God no,” Jeff scoffs. “Britta’s great, but we barely had enough chemistry to warrant the occasional casual hookup, and even that was mostly because we were bored and lonely.” He only meant to say bored. Jeff’s always saying more than he means to Annie. Something about her brings out his truthful side.

“I couldn’t do that. Casual hookups, I mean.”

“I wouldn’t ask you to. It could never just be casual with you Annie,” Jeff says, admitting more than he intends. The air conditioning in his car seems woefully inadequate all of the sudden.

They arrive at her apartment, but Annie doesn’t open the door. They sit together in silence for a few minutes. The neon glow of Dildopolis illuminates half of both of their faces, which are otherwise hidden in shadow.

“There’s something going on with us too, isn’t there?” Annie asks quietly.

Jeff says nothing. He feels his pulse jump.

“I’m not imagining it, am I?” she presses, sounding so unsure of herself it breaks his heart a little.

“Yes, there is,” he finally replies. “And no, you’re not imagining it.”

Making out in Jeff’s Lexus under the glowing neon of a marital aid store late at night isn’t the most romantic, or frankly the safest way to spend an evening, but the heart, which cynics say is code for penis, wants what it wants.

“You know, Britta’s like nine years older than Troy. Kind of puts things in perspective, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah. I guess it does.”

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6.

They were going to kiss. Possibly even make out. She’s sure of it. If Pierce hadn’t interrupted them, terrorizing Troy with that damn Norwegian troll doll, they would have kissed in that bathroom.

And who’s to say what that would have lead to?

Annie doesn’t have much sexual experience and most of what she has is bad. Between an Adderall induced tryst with a deeply closeted gay high school boy and a brief relationship with a sweet, but dopey human hacky sack who talked way too much in bed, she doesn’t have much of a frame of reference. But she has a vivid imagination.

After all, she’s an adult and adults have adult needs.

Which is why she finds herself standing at Jeff’s door wearing something a little slutty. Maybe he’ll just make good on that kiss. Maybe they’ll fool around a little. Maybe they’ll have sex. Annie isn’t sure what will happen between them tonight, but she knows she wants something to happen, and when Annie puts her mind to a task, there’s very little that can stop her.

“Annie, what are you doing here?” Jeff asks. Annie grins when she catches him looking her over. Her little black dress has done its job. Step One, check.

“I was hoping we could pick up where we left off the other night,” she says. She’s nervous, but she fights through it. “Are you going to invite me in?”

“Yeah,” Jeff stammers. “Please, come in.” Step Two, check.

He’s holding a drink in his hand. Scotch, she assumes. They probably need to talk about how often and how much he drinks sometime, but for now she’s glad he’s got a little alcohol in his system to loosen him up. She needs him to see her as a woman tonight.

Annie takes the drink out of his hand and downs it with one gulp. A little liquid courage would do her some good too. It burns, but she fights her way through that too. Step Three, check.

“I guess I don’t need to offer you a drink,” Jeff quips. He’s both intrigued and unnerved by her behavior, but he doesn’t challenge it yet.

“I guess not,” Annie titters, in a very un-Annie like fashion. It’s enough to break the spell.

“Annie, why are you acting like a mistress in a Lifetime movie?” Jeff asks.

“I was trying to seduce you,” she admits. “Was it working?”

It totally was, but Jeff has enough love and respect for his friend, his best friend to ask, “Annie, are you sure this is what you want?”

Annie’s usually not the one that makes speeches, so she keeps it brief. “I don’t care that you’re older. I don’t care that you’re jaded. I don’t care that you’re a conniving son of a bitch who devised a system where you’d never have to get the pizza. I want you.” Step Four, check.

Later, when they’re a sweaty tangle of limbs under the sheets trying to catch their breath, they have time to talk.

“I need this to mean something,” she whispers against his shoulder. He brushes her hair out of her face and looks into her eyes before bringing her in for a kiss.

“Me too.”

Step Five, check.

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1.

Jeff doesn’t think of himself as evil per say, but dresses for the part. Black suit, black shirt, black tie. The old Jeff could never pull off such a look, but times have changed. He might have lost an arm, but he’s gotten back his edge and then some.

Annie sits at the table in front of him. They let her out of the strait jacket, but she’s still handcuffed to the table. She stares him down with those doe eyes he knows so well, but there’s a manic energy behind them, like a caged animal. The handcuffs are there for a reason. Still, he’s not afraid of Crazy Annie. If anything, he finds her even more alluring.

“You ready for the hearing?” Jeff asks. If Evil Abed were here, he’d say that Jeff is doing a passable imitation of Will Arnett pretending to be Christian Bale playing Batman.

“Let’s go over it one more time. Explain it to me slowly, like I’m a child,” she says coyly.

He smiles. She likes listening to him talk and he’s happy to oblige her. “The facts are bad, between the drugs and the robberies and the stabbings, but the facts don’t matter. We’ve got something better on our side,” he explains. He pauses for dramatic flourish. “Us. There isn’t a jury in this town I can’t win over, and between my words and those beautiful blue eyes of yours, that courtroom will be eating out of the palm of my hand.”

Annie bites her lip. Her eyes flash dangerously “We were always a good team,” she murmurs, reaching for Jeff’s remaining hand with her cuffed hands. He takes them. It’s against the rules, but rules are for the weak and stupid. Soon they won’t matter.

“No touching!” one of the guards yells.

“So, how do you feel?” Jeff asks, leaving the question open-ended deliberately.

“Bad,” she whispers seductively.

Jeff smiles. “Good. See you in court.” With that, he gets up to leave.

As he approaches the elevator, he hearts the rapid tapping of running feet behind him. He turns just as Annie leaps into his arms arm, straddling his waist with her legs as she furiously clashes her lips against his own.

“No touching,” Jeff hears someone shout, but he doesn’t care. All he’s aware of is her. He barely feels the sting of the taser as electricity courses through both of their bodies.

They’re putting her back in the strait jacket as he boards the elevator. He tastes iron in his mouth. He brings his finger to his lips and sees blood when he brings it into view. They catch each other’s gaze as the elevator door closes. Even in a mental ward, they still have their moments.

He laughs malevolently as the elevator descends. It’s good to be bad.

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5.

They run into each other at the grocery store. The group’s gone days without talking. Abed doesn’t seem to understand why they’re all giving each other the cold shoulder and no one will explain to him. They avoid each other on campus, they ignore each other in class, and they don’t go anywhere near the study room.

So when Annie and Jeff run into each other, they don’t know what to do. They’re not angry anymore, just embarrassed and sad and overwhelmed with how much they miss each other.

“I’m sorry,” they say in unison. “No, I’m sorry. No, I’m sorry.”

“Maybe we should go one at a time,” Jeff says carefully. “You first.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know why I said that. I don’t know what I was thinking,” Annie stammers. She’s on her way to a minor meltdown in the produce section, but she doesn’t care. “You were being so nice to me and I just feel so safe and protected and warm and happy when I’m with you and then we kissed and then I got in my head and I panicked and I blurted out the first thing I thought of and of course it was the worst thing I could have possibly said and I feel so stupid.” She’s sobbing by the end of it.

Jeff pulls her into a tight hug. “It’s okay Annie. Trust me, you’re not the only one with daddy issues,” he sighs. He wishes had thought of a less Britta-like way of phrasing it, but it is what it is.

“I really do like you Jeff,” Annie insists. She doesn’t know how to fix this.

“I know. I like you too,” Jeff admits. “But if I’m being completely honest, I’m still really uncomfortable with our age difference and when you compared me to your dad of all people, all of the sudden I felt old and gross and like I was taking advantage of you. And instead of talking to you like an actual mature adult, I got angry and I lashed out instead. I’m really sorry Annie.

“It’s okay.” She’s disappointed, but it’s better than she could have hoped for. “Friends?”

“Friends,” he replies, and for the first time in days there is warmth between them.

They hug. It’s a good hug, the kind that lingers, that leaves a person feeling warm, safe, and loved.

They didn’t mean to kiss. The first time, at least.

“Sorry about the bubblegum lip gloss,” Annie says awkwardly.

“You know what. It’s growing on me.”

They mean it the second time.

Chapter Text

Jeff doesn’t say much after he returns with this pizza. He doesn’t sing and dance with the group. He doesn’t play Yahtzee with them, opting to stand off to the side pretending to text someone. And when Annie looks for him, trying to catch his eye whenever Britta says something weird or Pierce does something inappropriate, it seems like Jeff makes a point of avoiding eye contact with her.

Annie knows the wallflower routine when she sees it. She spent all of middle and high school perfecting it.

The others don’t notice when Jeff slips away, but Annie does. She catches him waiting for the elevator. “Leaving already?” she asks.

Jeff shrugs noncommittally. Something seems off with him. “Yeah, you know, it’s getting kind of late. Tomorrow’s leg day, so I’ve got to hit the gym early.”

He’s lying. She know him well enough to catch it. He doesn’t have many tells, but the fact that he won’t look her in the eye gives it away.

“It’s not even eight o’clock,” Annie presses. “What gives?”

Jeff sighs. Of course Annie isn’t going to let him off easy. She never does. “I was just feeling like a seventh wheel I guess. You guys were having so much fun and I felt like such a buzzkill, I thought you’d all be better off if I left early.” It sounds just as embarrassing saying it aloud as it did thinking it.

“Really?” Annie asks. She’s reminded of Little Annie Adderall all over again, the anxious, friendless, nobody that was so mired in her own self-loathing that she failed to notice her own addiction. “Jeff, no one thinks that. I certainly don’t.”

“You guys don’t need me,” Jeff insists. He tries to sound like it’s no big deal, like it doesn’t bother him. Annie doesn’t buy it. “I’m sure you like having me around, but the truth is, when I’m not there, you don’t miss me. It’s fine. Really, I get it. Karma, right?”

It occurs to Annie that despite his cocky attitude and devil-may-care persona, maybe Jeff Winger doesn’t like himself very much. It makes her sad. She likes him. Very much.

“Jeff, c’mon. Come back up to the party. Please?” she asks. She pouts and blinks and uses basically all the tricks in her Disney princess arsenal to change his mind.

Jeff, for his part, appreciates what she’s trying to do. “Annie, it’s okay. I’m fine. I promise. You don’t need to worry about me.”

“I can’t help but worry about you, Jeff,” she says sincerely. “You’re very important to me.”

She kisses him. It’s a quick kiss, but it lingers just a bit too long to write it off as a friendly peck.

“What was that for?” Jeff asks, pleasantly surprised.

Annie shrugs. “I thought it might cheer you up,” she says matter-of-factly. “Did it work?”

It’s not the right time to talk about the Annie of it all. Right now, Jeff needs a friend. And even though he pretends he doesn’t believe in such things, Annie is his best friend.

Jeff rolls his eyes and throws up his hands in mock surrender. “Okay. You win. I’ll come back.”

As he follows her back inside, he realizes that even though he doesn’t deserve her, she seems to want him anyway and that one of these days he should do something about that.