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Upon coming back from the bar after celebrating Troy's 21st birthday, the sober birthday boy dropped off Annie at her apartment after a heartfelt conversation with the brunette, and also dropped off a drunk Jeff and Britta to their proper apartments, only leaving him and his best friend Abed, the latter shifted over to the middle space that Britta once occupied. During the car ride from the bar on their way back to campus, Troy somehow sensed that Abed is eerily silent as this was out of character for him in a way while he chatted away with Annie, and an overly intoxicated Jeff and Britta, laughing and talking animatedly about anything. Abed did not take part in the discussion, not even throwing in any TV references or movie line quotes.
A slightly worried and concerned Troy really wanted to ask Abed as to why's he so quiet, but doesn't want to ruin the moment, and rather embraced the uncomfortable silence in the car between him and his friend instead, figuring that Abed would speak until they've arrived on campus, or when they would come to Abed's dormroom. Abed's eyes darted back and forth to whatever that was sliding away from him in the windows, and staring right in the dimly lit road that he and Troy were currently driving on, the duo enjoying the smooth ride peacefully. At last, after parking in the campus' parking lot, Troy and Abed got out the car and walked all the way to Abed's dorm room.
Troy usually occupies the top bunk, but something in his brain clicked and told him to take the bottom bunk for the night, and so he did. Discarding his long sleeved shirt and jeans, he got in his pajamas, waiting for Abed to emerge from the shower in his jammies. Troy was met with a small smile from Abed as the taller guy crawled in first and then Troy second, inching closer for warmth. Finally, Troy broke the long-drawn silence, and whispered to Abed in a hushed tone, the question he had been wanting to ask and soon expected an answer. Abed was aware he kept Troy in suspense enough, yet did not mean to do so on purpose or for fun, perhaps maybe until Annie, Shirley, Jeff, and Britta aren't around.
So, Abed spilled the beans and told Troy the story. Since it was his birthday, Abed felt like he just needed to give Troy some space to enjoy his special night with everybody else sitting at their table having adult conversations, while he had his own side quest until they were done. On listening to this, Troy felt his heart hurt a little at that sentence. Abed knew Troy is slowly maturing to become his own man, to be grown-up like Jeff (he kept that part to himself), but is also worried that he might forget him and won't want anything to do with him never again. Troy looked at his best friend with a somber expression and reached out for his hand resting upon his chest and laced his fingers with that of Abed's, the latter looking very solemn even as he turned his eyes to meet Troy's.
Troy revealed to Abed that he had taught him so much about himself and helped grow out of his high school phase the first day they had met. After much pillow talk, Troy finally confesses his love to Abed, but not from Star Wars which Abed knows, but it's coming from the heart of his best friend - pure, real, genuine, true love. Upon hearing this, Abed's face slowly transitioned into a smile at the same time as Troy's did, too.
Being a man is a lot more than just athleticism on the outside - its about expressing what he feels on the inside, if he feels comfortable in doing so without the having to face the fear or the guilt of being ridiculed or shamed for it, and that could only be possible if he has a good support system of friends, or maybe even just at least one person to hear him out and allow him to speak his mind, singling out unwelcome negative comments and opinions of society.
From what Troy could remember from the bar and in the car, Annie sat in the front seat with him, holding her head by her hand as her elbow kneeled on the arm of the car seat, solemnly looking at anything sliding away from her, a drunken Jeff and Britta were sitting in the back, mocking the birthday boy at the mentions of Abed's name. Speaking of, Abed tuned out the loud, slurring alcoholics with his noise canceling headphones over his ears blasting music.
At first, it was fun for the first few minutes until the teasing jokes of Troy and Abed being an item became unbearable for the birthday boy. Before Abed ventured off on his own, he'd left Troy with his bag, the one and only belonging in there was his noise canceling headphones. Annie wished she could've stopped Jeff and Britta from making it worse as she was tending to her glass of ginger ale, but there's nothing anyone sober can do when a person's had one drink too many. She gave Troy an apologetic look, and the latter somehow understood what message the petite brunette was trying to send.
Sensing the tears about ready to spill from his eyes, Troy excused himself and taking Abed's bag with him, ran to the bathroom, unable to endure one minute more of the former lawyer and anarchist activist's breaths smelling of heavy liquor. In the bathroom, he shut his eyes and let the tears roll out in unbroken streams. Troy suddenly jumped by the noise of a toilet flushing coming from one out of the two stalls and quickly wiping away the salty tears streaking his face, he had to act natural in case of a stranger.
When he saw the door swung open, it's Abed who emerged from it, to each other's surprise. After washing his hands and rinsing his face with soap and water and drying them both with paper towels, Abed noticed that his best friend was unhappy and had been crying about something, but a bathroom of all places isn't a good time to talk about it, even when it is in a bar. Coming out from the bathroom, with Abed alongside him, Troy was determined to not cry again, absolutely not in the presence of any adult peers who just happen to be drunk.
Even in the car, Jeff and Britta kept up their nonsense, and it took a great deal of self-control for Troy to keep his grip on the wheel and maintain focus on the road with the lights guiding him on the way. Something inside him deeply regretted allowing Jeff and Britta to tag along with Annie and Abed. Shirley was tolerable, well, only at least up to a certain degree. All Troy wanted was Abed to come and save him from being the target of Jeff and Britta's gay jokes.
From just ten seconds, to minutes, and what had seemed like almost an eternity when Abed left his best friend and the others to go on a solo quest for himself, Troy instantly felt lonely without him, and Jeff and Britta were not helping in any way whatsoever to make him giggle, but rather make themselves look ridiculously foolish, feeling unapologetic and unashamed. Coming back from the events of the bar, Troy decided it would be the first and last time that he'll ever invite Jeff and Britta anywhere to celebrate his birthday in an indecent, drunk state. Of course Troy could help Annie take care of Abed, no matter how much he has had to drink, he is still his best friend, and loves him very much through the good, bad, and all in-between.
Abed then tells him about an ugly middle-aged white guy he had met at the same bar named Robert. Despite the bad mustache, at first Abed thought that Robert was a nice guy, until his sexually suggestive request to have gay sex with him got promptly rejected, and was met by his drink thrown in Abed's face as a response, and walked out of the bar in anger, and that is why he had to go to the bathroom because his face was dripping of the beverage. Troy was at a loss for words hearing Abed's story and absolutely has no idea what to say. He'd felt his chest flare with rage, and out of anything and everything he could have wanted to say or do, he chose to keep those inside thoughts to himself, internally pushing them very far away to the back of his head.
Nobody should ever lay even a finger on Abed because he is off-limits, Troy thought to himself, as he moved closer to Abed and held him tighter as the latter was in thought of alternative responses to Robert's reaction for his plea for gay sex being turned down from Abed - one that his drink would've been spiked by a sleeping pill or drug, the next a beatdown, or worse. Fortunately, neither of that happened, yet Abed didn't want to tell Troy about the drink splashed in his face because he'd wanted to leave him alone for a while and just let him have a good time with the rest of the group, but Troy did not enjoy himself at all.
Quietness filled the walls of Abed's dormroom for some time, and both boys were still wide awake, fighting off any tiredness which might take over their eyes at any given minute now. Troy leaned over and pressed his lips together with Abed's, and the latter reciprocated that action as their tongues danced in their mouths. Well, who cares about what the rest of their friends would say, do, and react to them now being together after they have sobered up the next day, or week, Abed thought, and Troy couldn't agree with him more, chuckling softly as he nuzzled his nose into the crook of Abed's neck, and with tiredness overcoming them with content smiles on their faces, Troy and Abed drifted off into a blissful and peaceful slumber.