Jeff looked around. "So this is the…?"
"Dreamatorium. Yes." Abed replied quickly. Jeff focussed his attention on the other. The room seemed to dwarf them both.
"So…"
"This used to be Troy's room, but since he's sleeping with Annie now it seemed redundant for them both to have rooms. Now Troy sleeps in Annie's room, and I got to restore my Dreamatorium."
"Ah." Jeff wasn't quite sure how to respond to it all. Abed was looking at him expectantly. Not wanting to disappoint his boyfriend, Jeff pretended to be invested in their surroundings. "So what are we doing?"
"I'll activate a program," Abed told him. It was hard to tell if Abed was happy or not, so Jeff nodded. "Where do you want to go?"
"Um…" He stepped towards Abed, making sure not to step on any of the yellow lines of tape. "What are the options?"
Abed tilted his head and opened his mouth, then changed his mind. "I'll run the restaurant scenario." He walked over to the side of the room and pressed on a cardboard computer screen. "Activate Restaurant Scenario."
"Creative name," Jeff said, and instantly felt bad. But at that moment it was either make fun of the name or get completely weirded out by the whole experience. Of course, he'd had to get used to a lot of weirdness attending Greendale, and even more dating Abed.
Luckily Abed just glazed over it.
"It's not supposed to be creative. If the name is overly complicated it makes the system files harder to find. I find simplicity best."
"Oh."
Abed pointed to something. "Sit."
Jeff looked at the empty spot. "A-h."
Abed blinked and walked over to the 'chair' opposite Jeff's and mimed taking it.
"Ah." Jeff said again, looking doubtfully at his chair. He'd done weirder, he reminded himself, and copied Abed's movement. No moment especially came to mind, but he was pretty sure there were ones.
Abed let his arm rest on an imaginary table.
"Maybe we should sit on the floor?" Jeff offered.
"That's not part of the simulation."
"Right."
Abed's brow furrowed slightly. "If you want to change the scenario-"
"No it's fine." Jeff quickly interjected.
"Cool. Cool, cool, cool." Abed said distractedly, focussed on the 'table'.
There was a silence.
"So what happens next?"
"We could order." Abed suggested, looking up.
"Right. And how do we…?"
Abed jumped up suddenly, and his posture changed. "May I take your order?"
"Uh…"
Abed quickly switched back to Abed. "I'll have a burger." He looked at Jeff.
"Just a… salad."
Instead of focussing on the awkwardness and general embarrassment of the situation, he focussed on Abed. He tried not to think about the beauty of his lover, because that wasn't cool. He still couldn't help himself noticing the cute way that Abed's brow twitched slightly. On impulse Jeff reached over and took one of Abed's hands (making sure not to pass through the table so that Abed's illusion remained).
Abed's gaze followed from their intertwined hands up to Jeff's face.
"Hey," Jeff said.
"Hi." Abed said with a frown.
Jeff laughed.
"What?"
"I was just thinking." He gestured to the empty black room. "A few years ago, if you'd told me I was going to be in a …. Virtual simulation of a restaurant with my boyfriend, I would've had you put away in a mental asylum."
Abed shuddered slightly at the idea of a mental asylum. Jeff tilted Abed's hand. Abed was an odd partner, he thought. He never needed anything, which he supposed was a good thing, but sometimes he felt as if he was somehow letting Abed down. Which was why he definitely wasn't going to ruin this Dreamatorium thing, or somehow turn it into a sex thing (which almost invariably happened on their other dates). He looked around and ignored the cramping of his legs.
"So what other programs do you have?"
"Inspector Spacetime simulations mostly," Abed admitted. "A few based on our world too."
"Do you come here often?" He was invested in this. He definitely wasn't now thinking of sex.
"Depends on your point of view. I used to come here more often, but I've been trying to limit it. Plus…" he gestured at Jeff with his free hand. "I've had other activities to focus on."
Jeff smirked and lifted Abed's hand for a kiss. Yeah, perhaps sex was running through his mind just a little bit now.
"Service is a bit slow," he prompted.
Abed blinked and looked embarrassed. He jumped up again and pretended to serve the food.
"Sorry for the wait."
"No problem," Jeff said with a smile. He glanced over to where Abed was sitting just a moment before Abed retook his spot.
Jeff looked at his imaginary plate, and decided faking eating food was perhaps one step too far. He looked around once more. "So, are we alone?'
Abed looked around too. "No." He gestured to the corner. "There's a couple over there." He shot them a quizzical look. "The woman's dressed in pink. An actress?" he shrugged. "And the man's a lawyer."
"Anyone I know?"
"I doubt it, they're from out of town. New York."
"I've met lawyers from New York."
Abed frowned at the couple. "Do you want to go introduce yourself?"
Jeff shook his head with a smile. "No, they're having lunch." He looked around and pointed to another spot. "What about them?"
Abed turned slightly to look in their direction. "A group of teenage girls." He pulled a face. "They're being rather loud."
"Don't worry, I'm sure the manager will sort it out." Jeff assured him.
As Abed watched the empty corner, Jeff wondered just what it was that Abed was seeing.
Abed turned back to Jeff. "You were right."
"I usually am. So, are these people who are usually…in this scenario?"
Abed shrugged. "Sometimes. I don't usually focus on the background characters. They're rarely important. Though sometimes it happens on a police procedural or a detective show, and even then they make a more considerable contribution to the storyline before being revealed. Background characters are really only background characters, so I rarely learn their backstory."
Jeff shifted his leg slightly.
"Are you okay? I'm not being boring am I? I can't read facial expressions very well. Is that boredom?"
Jeff smiled and shook his head. "No."
Abed gave him a suspicious look. "Then what is it?"
Jeff shrugged.
Abed stood up suddenly. "End program." He walked to the other side of the room to the cardboard monitor.
Jeff frowned and straightened, groaning as the blood flow returned to normal in his legs. "Abed?"
Abed was still tapping on the cardboard and wasn't looking at him. "I think we should stop now."
"But…" his mind raced. "We didn't pay."
"Doesn't matter."
"Abed… are you okay?"
Abed looked up at him. "It's fine. I understand that most couples have interests that don't overlap."
"I wasn't bored Abed."
"Yes you were. This isn't your type of hobby. I understand."
"Abed…" He had been telling the truth; he had been enjoying himself. It was interesting to see into Abed's mind a bit more.
"It's okay." Abed walked towards Jeff. "If all our interests overlap…" he faltered slightly.
Jeff's eyes widened and he stepped forward to embrace him. "Abed, I really was having fun."
Abed returned the embrace, tilting his head so he could look Jeff in the eyes. "Really?"
Jeff nodded and leant down to kiss him. Abed responded warmly. As Jeff pulled him closer, he realised this was going to be another date that ended in sex. He could live with that though, he thought.