Chapter Text
Troy Barnes got the call during a game. That is, his agent got the call and passed it on to him once the match was won and over and he was freshly showered and changed.
Abed Nadir did not receive the news as a call but rather an email from his agent, midway through editing his latest short movie for youtube. Abed’s agent knew him well enough to end her email;
‘Please let me know what you think, Abed, although I am sure your response will be a positive one, if I know you at all.’
She was right. That was how Abed and Troy turned up at the Community Network offices for a meeting at 11am, and sat on the chairs in the hallway waiting to go in. It wasn’t the first time they’d met, but the second. They had mutual friendship in Britta, who was an actress featuring in many of Abed’s films. In fact, Troy had even been in one of Abed’s films when he showed up one time with Britta.
So they weren’t exactly strangers. Which was probably why Troy found it so easy to agree in the first place. If this proposal was him and a stranger, well he would have had to give it a slight bit more thought. But he liked Abed, alot, actually. Since meeting him, he’d kept up with all of his movies, read every single one of his blog posts (in which Abed reviews movies) instead of simply contacting him to hang out again.
In the hallway they were quiet. Troy was nervous, not entirely about the meeting but also seeing Abed again. Abed wasn’t the best at conversation, either, and Troy’s silence only made him wonder if perhaps he did not want to talk.
“You were in one of my films once- Messiah- to be precise.” Abed tried. Troy nodded hurriedly.
“I know. It was fun,” he glanced at him, his stomach doing flips of nervousness.
Thankfully a door opening saved Troy from any further awkwardness. A bald head popped out a doorway and grinned at them. He wore black glasses, was skinny and tall, his shirt light and stripy.
“Troy! Abed! Come in!”
Troy and Abed glanced at each other before following the man into the room.
“I’m Craig Pelton,” the man said, breezing across the room to sit behind the desk. Troy and Abed glanced at one another before sitting down in the two seats on the other side of the desk, “But I suppose you can call me Dean. I’m kind of like, the Dean of the Community Network.” he explained with a laugh. Troy and Abed glanced at one another again.
“ Anywayyy , I’m sure you both know a little bit about why you’re here, but I’ll just-”
“You need a new morning show on your network. You want me and Troy to present. We’re somewhat known to the public but not too expensive for you to get on board. Plus we’re neither of us white, which probably looks good for you.” Abed raised his eyebrow. Troy remembered how much he liked him.
Craig Pelton withered a little but quickly shrugged it off. “Well, yes , Abed, you make a good point. But it’s down to the both of you! How would you like to host a new morning show on the Community Network? It’ll take place in the Greendale Studios across the road and you’ll be on every weekday morning, we think, from eight thirty to eleven thirty in the morning. But that’s not set in stone yet.”
“Eight in the morning ?!”
“Right. It should be earlier, at eight we lose half the morning.” Abed replied. Troy shot him a look that took him a second or two to decipher, “Oh I see,” he said, “you meant eight was too early for you.”
“The time doesn’t matter!” Craig said, raising his voice a little. He forced a smile. “I just mean, we can sort that out later. If you’re in on this…”
Troy glanced at Abed and smiled, then back at Craig. “We’re in.” Abed backed him up with a nod.