Chapter Text
When Poppy and Ian brought up a simple plan of going to the local bar to celebrate Raven's Banquet's release, Brad didn't respond too well. That was the only thing Jo noticed. Brad's eyes went hollow (more so than usual) and his eyebrows furrowed the smallest bit- undetectable to anyone that didn't spend every hour at the office at Brad's side. And then, when David backed the two up and said it was an amazing idea, that the company needs to bond more, (that he would cover everyone's tabs,) Brad spoke up. "While it would be a good opportunity to get more blackmail on you," Brad began, "I don't drink."
So, Jo was running miles through her head. He's definitely lying. All she had to do was figure out why.
Poppy went on to call Brad a 'Harry', Brad went on to call Poppy an 'outback prick', and David eventually chose 'Mom'.
"David! For the last time, I'm not your mum!" Poppy squealed, flailing her arms around for emphasis, "You're like, twenty years older than me!" David, eager to avoid this flashback, quickly apologized, and muttered a time and date before leaving. Ian turned back to Brad. "I've definitely seen you drink, before. Are you sober now, or something?"
"I haven't had alcohol since I graduated." Brad retorted.
"No, I've seen you drinking."
"I also have eleven years of college under my belt. You can do math, if I haven't had alcohol since I graduated, and I was in school for 11 years, then how long have I been sober?"
"Eleven? No, you have a bachelor's in business and accounting. Thats only five." Jo listened in.
"I have a doctorate in film related arts and a bachelor's in accounting, nothing to do with business." ...Film?
Brad Bakshi, with a PhD in film? Maybe he's more creative than he leads on. Is that a good thing?
Ian and Brad went on to argue just a bit longer. It eventually ended with Ian saying something, followed by the word noodle.
When Troy had docked, the only thing he wanted to do was see Abed in all of his glory. He wanted to see Abed, whisper his name as a question, and run in to him so fast that they fall over, like in the movies. Instead, Troy was met with Jeff and Britta.
A lot of mourning happened in a few minutes. Troy was upset that only Jeff and Britta remained of the original Greendale Seven, Troy was upset that his Annie wasn't able to grab his shirt in one of her signature bear hugs- he was upset Shirley had gone back to Georgia- that Chang was now in a study group- that it wasn't even a study group anymore- and who the hell is Elroy?
Troy gave Annie a call on Skype. She picked up before the first ring with a loud 'Troy?!"
They talked for what seemed like days, Troy telling Annie about every little city he visited, and Annie telling him about how she solved a cold case and brought closure to a mourning family. That's when Troy asked.
"So... Where's Abed?" It felt like hot, molten lava burning deep into his skin. He always had known where his other half was. And now he hadn't. Maybe Abed know's he's home, from the tracker, or maybe Abed went low-contact because he's working on the best movie the world will ever know.
"Nobody really knows," Annie slowly spoke, "He moved to Los Angeles for his film career, he was supposed to write and direct a reboot of The Cape. When it was published, it was critically acclaimed, and after that he just... dipped. Wouldn't respond to texts, or e-mails, or calls. Not even paparazzi could find him. He just disappeared."
Troy wanted to speak, but Annie wasn't finished. "I actually was investigating his disappearance, which happened oddly close to this new monetization guy getting hired at this weird video game company. They look pretty similar, and the other guy claims to be half Polish, like Abed is, but I think they're still a little too different to be connected. This guy has a bachelor's in accounting, that isn't exactly something Abed would spend five years of his life studying for."
"...Can I see this guy? Or know his name? Or anything about him?" Troy finally spoke up.
"His name is Brad Bakshi, works at Mythic Quest in LA. Not much about his personal life is known. Same birthday and age as Abed, too, but that's more than likely coincidence."
"Isn't Abed's middle name Bradley?"
"Hm? Oh, I don't know. I'm kind of ashamed to admit, but I forgot a lot about him.. It's been a while."
"But you still know the big things, right?"
"Yeah, his favorite color is green, he talks a lot when he's drunk, he would do.. most.. things for his father's sake." Annie listed all of the things everyone loved about him.
Troy couldn't beat around the bush any longer. "Are you free off of work anytime soon? Now that I'm rich, I can do anything I want. And I want to fly us down to LA, and go to this Mythic Quest place, and find our Abed."
Annie smiled and muttered a simple 'I'll see what I can do.'
The next Wednesday, Troy and Annie were in LA, where Jeff, Britta, and Shirley would meet them in two days. They rented an AirBnB, just big enough to house 6 people- Abed was coming home, whether he wanted to or not.
Not in a weird way. Abed's an adult, and if he didn't want to see Troy and Annie again, then.. they'd get by just fine.
"Do you want to wait for the others to get here, or should we start looking for Abed now?" Annie spoke with an obvious sense of excitement in her voice as she meticulously unpacked her suitcase, pulling out what seemed to be five times the amount of items anyone else could have fit in. All Troy did was toss his duffel bag onto their bed (So what if they shared a bed? No shame in cuddling!) and sit down. "Too nervous to talk?" Annie could read him like a book- he didn't need to do anything for her to know the answer was a definitive yes, God yes. Annie shuffled around the bed and sat next to him, a bounce following her, as she took Troy's hand in her own. "We'll find him. I know we will."
Nothing really happened on Thursday. Just researching a lot of hot-spots among LA employee's, and narrowing those down, and down, and down, until they visited a small, woman-owned coffee shop with a list of regulars that read 'Mr. Bakshi’. Annie and Troy both ordered signature drinks- an iced caramel mochaccino, and a whipped strawberry frappe.
"You know," Troy began, cutting himself off with a sip, "Damn, that’s good! One of the things on Abed’s college bucket list was to become a regular at a coffee shop."
Annie took a sip. "Really? That’s a fun goal, I’ve always wanted to be able to walk into, I don’t know, a bodega, and the workers know my name. Can I have a sip of yours?" Troy nodded and they swapped cups, each of them taking a sip, pulling away, and fawning over how delicious non-corporate coffee can be.
On Friday morning, Jeff, Britta, and Shirley arrived. Britta surrendered herself to taking the couch, and Shirley said she didn’t care what room she got, as long as she’ll sleep through the night. Jeff, along with his 3 suitcases and carry-on, claimed the biggest room. The study group collected themselves at the dining room table, where everyone had a nice catching-up session with Troy, and Annie could explain the top few places they could find Abed.
They had ruled out bars, since Abed never really liked drinking- the social pressure of drinking in groups would always get to him. At noon, Annie and Troy walked around the few likely places they could find workers on their break. They saw two girls, one with long braids, and one with black-and-lavender hair holding an aggressive side part. They were walking and talking and the girl with braids had a Mythic Quest employee badge on her lanyard, the other with a Mythic Quest pin on hers. Annie pointed it out, and troy immediately ran over.
Neither of them spoke to him, probably assuming he was another homeless man of Sacramento who traveled to LA in order to pyramid-scheme some money out of workers down on their luck. That is, until he said the magic word, Brad. It got the attention of both girls, but they still said nothing. Maybe Annie was onto something with this whole ‘Abed assumed a new identity’ ordeal.
Saturday flew by, the day full of restaurants, tourist attractions, and the group listening to Troy's stories, and Shirley talking about her sons at Troy's request. It felt like just yesterday Ben was born, and now he was in school. Troy hadn't realized how much he missed.
And then, it was Sunday. In the morning, Shirley went to a local baptist church, and Troy and Annie walked around the city aimlessly. Annie pointed out a music store, saying she wants to check out some of their reeds (something about ones in D.C. being low quality?), and that Troy could just look around. He found his way to the pianos and sat himself down, playing the tune of a song he wrote out of boredom- one he called Heartbeat. LeVar helped him with the sheet music, while Troy wrote the lyrics and maybe he wrote the song about Abed but who else but himself would ever find out?
A small bell chimed, signaling someone opened the front door, someone with a voice that was scarily similar to Abed's, someone who needed a piano wrench, and someone who would be led right next to Troy. He wanted to sing his song- he opted for singing quietly.
I might just text you,
Turn your phone over,
When it's all over, no settling down
He muttered the lyrics as he felt the presence of this mystery man next to him, being pointed around like a dog sniffing by the worker. He needed a tuning wrench that was a size #2. And suddenly, Troy was too choked up to move his mouth. Mystery man had grabbed his wrench and left when Annie had walked close to the pianos and asked "Troy?" loudly.
He was being far too hopeful.
At noon, Troy and Annie were supposed to meet up with Jeff and Britta at the coffee shop 'Brad' frequents. Shirley was going to join them a little after. And maybe it was just wishful thinking, but Troy could have sworn he saw a distinct orange/blue bracelet with a basketball charm on 'mystery man's wrist. One that matched Troy's green/white bracelet with a space ship charm. Troy thought about it the entire walk to the coffee shop, and he eventually narrowed it down to hallucinating.
The week for Brad was uneventful, full of everyone at MQ trying to figure out why Brad doesn't want to drink with them.
On Wednesday, he visited his favorite coffee shop. He got an iced caramel mochaccino for himself, and got a whipped strawberry frappe for Jo. She typically ordered a double double, because she's devoid of all whimsy blended into fun drinks. But Brad knew she liked strawberries, and Brad knew she would secretly put extra cream in her coffee when she thought nobody was looking, and Brad knew that she had a soft spot for buttercream. On Wednesday, he attended a few meetings, skipped out of lunch, became acutely uncomfortable when sitting in an office where David was eating, went to the bathroom to purge his calories calm himself down before he had a sensory overload, and he was fine.
On Thursday, he visited his favorite coffee shop. He got an iced caramel mochaccino for himself, and got a double double for Jo. It was more like a triple triple, though, because he knows Jo can't stand the taste of coffee, but she said Brad shouldn't waste his time on getting her bullshit drinks. She drank the whole cup and got another during lunch, but he won't let her know he knows. On Thursday, Brad tried to convince Ian that he hates The Cape, and hated the renewal of it even more, and he managed to do it. One less thing that makes him Abed. He skipped lunch, became acutely uncomfortable when sitting in an office where David was eating, put on his headphones, and listened to Linger by The Cranberries. He was fine.
On Friday, he visited his favorite coffee shop. He got an iced caramel mochaccino for himself, and got a triple triple and a whipped strawberry frappe for Jo. He put the strawberry frappe in the company fridge and wrote 'Jo' on it. Jo was secretly appreciative. On Friday, Brad attended the weekly meeting, decided to take a walk outside during lunch with the testers, and eventually strayed away from them when he got bored. They were talking about a weird homeless guy trying to ask about 'Brad from monetization'. Brad shrugged, went to his office, was made acutely uncomfortable when he could smell the remnants of David's lunch, and went to the company break room to fuck around with the company playlist by adding Daybreak by Michael Haggins to it fifty times. Poppy asked Brad if he's okay, and Brad said he's fine.
On Saturday, he visited his favorite coffee shop. He got an iced caramel mochaccino. He liked buying drinks for Jo. He liked knowing what she liked. He liked Jo. Brad Bakshi likes liking things. But he doesn't see Jo today, so he'll buy her a drink on Monday. He walked back home, overhearing a group of five talking about one of the member's kids. The names stuck out to him- Elijah like the prophet, Jordan like the fourteen time NBA All Star, and Ben like the Spanish teacher. He was thinking too deep- all he heard were the names of sons, Elijah, Jordan, and Ben, and he had connected them to Shirley's. But they could be anyone's kids. Brad walked faster and pretended to text someone. He opted for watching the Ducktales reboot while his fluffy white cat, lovingly named Obłok, cozied up to him. He was fine. He was doing a little better.
On Sunday, he visited his favorite coffee shop. He got an iced caramel mochaccino, and gave the cashier a higher tip than he usually does. She deserves it. He checked his to do list on his phone, and looked at the next thing on his list. He needed a new tuning wrench for his piano. He had taken instruments up when he moved to LA, wanting to compose his own music for his director's cut. He needed a size #2. Pushing through the door, he immediately heard a piano playing.
He looked around at the few teenagers holing skateboards or bike helmets picking around at strings and capos, along with the seemingly fewer adults looking for rosin and bow hairs. He slid his way over to a worker in the piano section, asking where the tuning wrenches are. They were next to the piano he heard when he walked in, being played by a man muttering his own lyrics. His hair looked freshly cut, and somewhat freeform. He had a beard, that also seemed freshly cut. He wore a patterned button up with a white shirt underneath, peaking out of the sleeves, along with bootcut jeans and a belt with a statement buckle. He also wore a green and white bracelet with a spaceship charm on it- one modeled after Brad's pajamas from when he started his film studies. Brad wore a matching one- orange and blue with a basketball charm. Mirroring his old friend's pajamas from the same time period. Brad picked up his wrench and went to pay, quicker than he wanted to. He loved the ambiance of music shops- the people, the experience, the beauty of the instruments- but he heard that name, Troy, and he couldn't stand to be there any longer.
On Sunday, he was fyne. He had a good morning full of smiles because he realized he has seen Troy- His Troy.
But the happiness wouldn't last all day- Poppy wouldn't let him weasel out of the bar trip. Brad knew what would happen, everyone drinking would get to him, he would feel weird for not drinking, and he would spill his entire life story. He would talk all about his psychopathic brother, or maybe he would bring up his dearest Kate, who was stripped away from his adolescent fingers before he knew better than to beg for her life. He's going to spill how he can count on one hand all of the times his dear mother told him that he was loved, how he's so reserved because when he inevitably fucks up, he can quit, go back to his old life, and be Director Abed Nadir, responsible for the renewal of The Cape. On Sunday, Brad put on a nice button up, covered it with a nice sweater, put on a nice pair of slacks, paired with a nice belt, and put on his nice pair of Air Jordan's. At 5 o'clock, he left to go to the bar.
The study group had decided to head to a bar. Maybe on Monday they could just go up to the Mythic Quest place and ask to talk to Brad- they were having no luck. They needed to unwind, and this bar had a red door, and was on a street with an 'L' in it's name, so Britta and Jeff made their executive decision. Troy thought about how ironic it was. Then, he thought about how Abed would think about how ironic it was. He fiddled with his bracelet.
They walked to the bar as a group, but Troy and Annie were the last two to enter. All that could be done was Annie taking Troy's hand in her own and gently coercing him inside. It was dark in the bar. Devoid of windows and central lighting. The AirCon could use some work, too. But it was okay, and besides, it was karaoke night. Jeff and Britta went up together, singing Kiss From a Rose by Seal, an excellent callback, as Abed would say. Troy missed Abed.
Troy felt a gust of semi-cold air hit him as the door swung open, a few business-ey people walking in. He didn't really care. He sat on the other side of Annie, watching Jeff and Britta while Annie cheered and Shirley recorded. Jeff walked down quickly, smiling and laughing the whole time, telling Britta to stay up and sing Roxanne by The Police with Shirley, their shared favorite song. Shirley squealed, setting her nursed water down, and clutching her purse before jogging up. Troy should be loving this. But he can't, because Abed should be here.
As Brad stepped into the bar, he couldn't help but think it was funny how it had a red door and was on Lanleira Street. He couldn't help but think about Jeff and Britta. And then he saw heard them. They were singing their song- Kiss From a Rose by Seal. Well, their song should be Linger by The Cranberries, since it's technically their wedding song, right? Brad shoved his thoughts deep down, following Ian and Poppy wherever they planned on going. Brad listened closely as the song shifted from Jeff and Britta's into Britta and Shirley's. Roxanne by The Police. Brad sat down at a table that he followed Ian and Poppy to, where Jo and David and those testers had already been seated. That's when Brad heard it.
I wanted you to know
That I am ready to go
Heartbeat, my heartbeat
I wanted you to know
Whenever you are around,
Can't speak, I can't speak
Brad quickly looked at the mini-stage, seeing Troy and Annie standing together, each of them holding a microphone. He stood up and walked over.
"Hey, drongo! What are you doing?" Poppy shouted after him, to which he held up a middle finger in response.
Brad kept walking, sitting down at an empty table in front of Troy and Annie. They were pulling quite a crowd.
I know what your boy like.
Skinny tie and a cuff type.
He go and make breakfast,
You walkin' round naked.
I might just text you,
Turn your phone over,
When it's all over, no settlin' down
My texts go to your screen, you know better than that
Troy sang a capella, Annie giving him 'oooh's and 'aaah's to work with. Brad was admiring him from so far away, yet so close.
I come around when you least expect me
I'm sitting at the bar when your glass is empty
You thinkin' that this song's coming on to tempt me?
I need to be alone like the way you left me
Brad felt a twang in his core. He and Troy both felt like the other left him, was that it?
You start callin'; You start cryin'
I come over, I'm inside you
I cant find you, the girl that I once had
But the sex that we have isn't half bad
Text say that "It's not fair"
That's code for "He's not here"
And I'ma flirt with this new girl
And I'ma call if it don't work
So we fuck 'til it come to conclusions
All the things that we thought we were losin'
Brad is definitely not a girl. He begins to lose the sliver of hope he had- he didn't know what it was for.
I'm a ghost, and you know this.
That's why we broke up in the first place.
Those were definitely about Britta, though. Troy was bad at communicating with her. He watches Troy's previously closed eyes flutter open just after Annie makes eye contact with Brad. Brad smiles at the two of them.
Theres a brief moment of silence.
"..Abed?"
Troy chokes out, not knowing what else to say. His arms went slack and he just looked at Brad's eyes, but not in an eye-contact way. Annie puts her microphone down and takes a few stifled steps before letting out a small sob and running to her Abed. He stands up just in time for her to wrap her arms around him, grasping at his shirt as if she'll fall fifty feet if she doesn't. Abed gingerly returns the hug, rubbing her back and whispering 'it's okay's and 'I'm here's. He looks up at Troy.
"Hey, Troy."