Man, this felt good to write for some reason. It's set around season 4. I'm going to leave this as a "work in progress" since there is a good chance I'll add another chapter at some point. Comments are very much appreciated, it's a really good encouragement for writers. Even if it's just one word. Enjoy.
It was a quarter after ten when there was a knock on Jeff's apartment door.
He had been hanging around in front of the TV all night, mindlessly flipping through the channels and when he heard the knock he groaned quietly to himself, praying that it wasn't the Dean on the other side of the door. Once you opened the door to that guy it was near impossible to get him to leave.
His prayers were answered when he opened the door and found Annie there instead.
He smiled when he saw her, surprised, "Hey, Annie. What's up?"
She was smiling at him a little awkwardly, eyes red, hair looking wind blown, and he knew something was wrong. "Hey, Jeff," she said quietly.
His smiled dropped and he stepped forward placing his hands on her shoulders, "What's going on? What's wrong?"
Annie let out a broken laugh, without a trace of humor to it and covered her mouth with her hand. She squeezed her eyes shut and a tear rolled down her cheek.
Jeff's eyes widened and he was immediately on high alert, pulling Annie to him, tucking her up in his arms and holding tightly, "Hey, hey, it's okay." Her shoulders jerked with every shaky breath she took and Jeff pulled back for just a second to move them inside his apartment, shutting the door. The last thing Annie needed was the Dean hearing them and coming out to investigate.
Once in he wrapped his arms around her again, rubbing her back. "Tell me what's going on," he said softly. He wasn't use to her being so quiet, her crying soft and muffled. He use to shy away from situations like this, but now-a-days he was better at comforting people. Not always successful, but at least he knew how to make an effort.
He felt her shake her head against his chest and she took a step back, her hands covering her face for a second. "I'm sorry, Jeff," she said, wiping her eyes and then wringing her hands in front of her, not meeting his eyes, "I didn't call first and I know I should have. It was wrong of me to just show up like this, I'm sorry." Annie looked at him then with remorse and he wanted to laugh at how unnecessary her worry was.
Jeff waved his hand to the side, "No, hey, I don't care. I just want to know what's going on. Something happened; are you hurt? Did someone hurt you?" The idea hit him hard and he stepped forward again grabbing her shoulders looking her hard in the eyes.
Annie's brow lowered in a frown, and she shook her head, "No one hurt me, per se." She reached up placing her hands on his forearms, trying to calm him down.
Jeff wasn't convinced but he lowered his arms and waited for her to explain.
She started quietly, "I was at my parents house," already Jeff knew this was going to be bad, "They wanted to have supper and it was fine at first, like always. But then they started asking me about every little detail of my life; how's college going? Have you finally found new friends outside of your silly little study group? Still haven't settled on a major? Have you met anyone? No? What a shame. Please tell us you're not still living with those two boys. Thank heavens though that you don't have to ride that bus to your school anymore. Have you been looking for a job at least?" Her tone turned cold and angry by the end but her chin started to quiver as well, "I am so...tired of being my parents' biggest disappointment."
"Aw, Annie," Jeff breathed out and before he could say anything more she kept going.
"And sprinkled in between all that loving support, they constantly brought up all the people in my life that actually have it all together. My cousin who just left for New York to study architecture and my aunt and uncle's floral busy that is just simply thriving," she rolled her eyes and wiped at her cheeks in anger. "Even the stupid neighbors kid down the street that's studying to be a doctor! I couldn't take it anymore. I just got up and stormed off. I didn't even grab my purse! That's why I didn't call. All my stuff is still sitting in their living room." She looked down at the ground dejected and her shoulders sunk even lower.
A thought hit him then, "Wait—how did you get here?"
Annie looked up at him through her lashes, "I walked."
Jeff's jaw dropped in shock, "What the—" Shaking his head, Jeff lead Annie over to the couch and sat her down, "I understand you were pissed, and with every right, but you should have gone back to get your keys at least. I can't believe you walked all the way across town in the dark." Jeff rubbed his eyes with his fingertips, not liking one bit the thought of her walking around town this late at night. He didn't trust the crazy people that chose to live here.
Annie was looking down at her hands in her lap, still silently crying, "I just couldn't," she looked at him sadly, "I'm sorry."
Guilt smacked him in the face and he sat down hard on the couch next to her, "Don't apologize," he said and sighed, giving her a sheepish half smile, "I was just worried. And I'm glad nothing happened on the walk here." His chest felt tight looking at her. He's never seen her this sad and he didn't like it. This was not his Annie. His was bright and full of freaking sunshine and always smiling at him with eyes sparkling like a damn fairy-tale princess. Ever since he met her he's not been able to handle an upset Annie. It was just wrong and bad for the universe and it always threw everything out of whack. He had to fix the damage her parents did.
"They have zero right to be disappointed in you, Annie," Jeff said with conviction. "I have half a mind to storm over there and give 'em a piece of my mind."
Annie's eyes widened and she grabbed his arm like she was afraid he'd spring up off the couch, "No! Please don't do that. I can't even imagine how poorly that would go."
Jeff tilted his head to the side, squinting his eyes and imagining what it would be like to do just that, "No...no, I think it would be pretty great actually." He looked back at her, "But I won't. You and I both know that you're the most hard working student that Greendale has and they should be damn proud of everything you've done so far. Hell, I'm sure half of us wouldn't have passed any of our classes without you to guide us back on track and whip us into shape. Myself included."
He could see Annie give a small smile at that.
"Yeah, so you made a few mistakes in the past; who hasn't? Your parents are the ones that are disappointing, still judging you for those mistakes. They should be there for you, through the good and bad. And it's their problem, Annie, that they're not doing their damn job." He was pissed to be quite honest. How dare her parents treat her like crap? This wan't the first time that he's heard of their less than stellar treatment of their daughter. Every so often Annie would make a throwaway comment about parents and how they should be loving and understand, not judgmental and cold, and each time he heard it his dislike for them grew, even without having met them.
She was looking at him now, her eyes still shining but she looked a little less down so he counted it as a plus.
"And who needs them? You have a family, remember?" He gave her a winning smile, knocking his shoulder gently into hers, and grabbing one of her hands in the process, "And you're kinda stuck with us, so—"
There it was. Annie laughed and her smile reached her eyes this time. Jeff tried not to look too smug, but he mentally gave himself a pat on the back regardless. A little late, Jeff grabbed a kleenex off the coffee table and handed it to her. It felt good to watch her dry her eyes and put herself back together, knowing that he had a part in it. He was a better man now then he was a few years ago. The Jeff back then would have made a situation like this ten times worse or would have shut the door in her face all together. To say that Jeff felt a bit of shame thinking about his past actions was a vast understatement. Annie had always pushed for him to be the better man and make the right choices and he's glad for it. Because if she hadn't, he wouldn't be sitting with her now, being the one to put that smile back in it's rightful place.
Annie took a deep breath and let it out slowly and he could almost see the giant weight lift off of her. Her lips tilted to the side in the sweetest way and she gave his hand a squeeze, "Thank you, Jeff. And you're right; you're my family now. And the rest of the study group. Your guys' opinion of me should be the one that matters."
"And it's a pretty high opinion, so I think you're safe for now," he teased.
"No doubt, but one wrong move and all of you will make me fully aware of it," Annie said, rolling her eyes playfully.
Jeff grimaced, "Ehh, yeah. Sorry about that, we are a bunch of crazy people. But crazy people who care." Jeff tilted his head and put his hand on the side of her face in a cheesy show of affection.
Annie laughed, "I'm surprisingly 100% okay with that. I would pick you guys over my parents any day of the week."
Jeff chuckled. "Damn right," he said, relaxing back into the couch. He watched as she settled in next to him but frowned down at her feet.
"Is it okay if I take my shoes off? My feet are killing me." She gave him an apologetic look and Jeff rolled his eyes and smirked.
"Annie, what kind of household do you think I keep here? The first thing I do when I step through that door is kick my shoes off. Of course you can take your shoes off." He laughed a bit as he watched her toe her flats off with a look of pure relief on her face. "Better?"
She actually moaned a bit, "You have no idea." She stretched her legs out and rest her feet up on the coffee table, wiggling her toes.
It was adorable. And kind of sexy.
Damn her and her black tights. Jeff grabbed the remote that had dropped to the ground when he had gotten up to get the door. He focused back on the TV, still seeing her toes curl and flex in his line of sight. He flipped through the channels till he stopped at an old rerun of Ace of Cakes.
Annie gasped beside him, "Ohh! I loved this show. I had always wished that someday someone would order me one of their cakes. Something crazy, like a hot air balloon!" His Annie was back in full swing and Jeff felt like he could truly settle down and relax now.
"I'd like to see them try to suspend something like that," he said, smiling at her enthusiasm.
"I know, right! I'd order it just to see if they could pull it off. They could though. Duff is amazing." Annie smiled and nodded her confidence in the chef, crossing her arms and leaning back further into the couch.
Jeff kicked his feet up on the coffee table next to hers and they spent the next few hours watching the late night reruns of the show and debating what cakes they could pull off and what ones would fail.
Crisis averted for the night: 1 point to Winger.
At some point during the night Jeff had gotten up and made them some popcorn which they had powered through in record time and now were both yawning off and on with Annie leaning heavily into Jeff's shoulder.
Annie shot up, startled like she had dozed off for a second, "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. It's late I should...I should go."
Jeff looked at her like she was nuts, "Are you kidding me? It's 1am."
Tucking her hair behind her ears she looked at him questioningly, "Well, do I just stay here?"
"Duh," he said in an annoying voice, laughing when she pursed her lips and frowned at him. "I figured you would from the start. I'm too tired to drive you anywhere and I'm sure as hell not letting you walk. You can have my room," he said waving his arm towards his bedroom door.
Annie's mouth dropped open a bit, "I couldn't possibly take your room, the couch is just fine."
"No, really, you take the bed and I'll take the couch." Dismissing her offer like it was nothing. And it wasn't. Jeff had no problem giving it up to her and it had nothing to do with the enticing image that was taking shape in his mind of her snuggled up in his comforter, in his bed.
"Jeff, don't be silly, I'm the guest and the guest gets the couch." She held her hands out like the discussion was over and that was final.
But Jeff was stubborn and he wasn't going lay down easy...figuratively speaking. In a quick move he shoved her forward a little bit, making her huff out a breath in disbelief, and laid stretched out on the couch behind her, pulling himself further down the other end and kicking his legs up on the cushions. "See? Problem solved," he said folding his hands behind his head.
In his move he had pushed Annie off the couch and she was standing over him, "You're joking right? Look at you. You can barely fit. Your feet hang off the end by a foot!" She had her hands on her hips now, giving a pointed look down at his feet that really were hanging off the other end.
"Well dammit, Annie, I'm not letting you sleep on the couch. I'm trying to be a good person, remember? And I'm pretty sure a good guy wouldn't let a lady sleep on a crappy couch."
Annie had that look on her face like she thought he was adorable. He rolled his eyes and got up to stand in front of her, "We could share."
"What?" she questioned, startled..
"The bed. We could share." Before she could freak out he place one hand over his heart and raised the other next to his head, "I swear, nothing untoward would happen. I just think it's silly to argue about this when I have a bed big enough for the both of us in the other room."
He could see the blush spreading across her cheeks and Jeff took a moment to really think about what he had just suggested.
To share a bed.
With Annie Edison.
Well damn, Jeff thought, his heart picking up an extra beat, didn't really think that one through. It would be find, he could handle sleeping next to her in his bed. There was nothing wrong with two friends sharing a bed, nothing wrong at all. Except these two friends had a weird history of kissing and lingering looks and sexual tension that Jeff had been pushing away for longer than he would be willing to admit out loud.
Jeff mentally shook his head, not wanting his own internal freak out to show on his face and in turn cause Annie to freak out. He gave her a crooked smile, laughing a little, "Come on, work with me here. I'm trying to compromise."
Annie looked torn, but slowly smiled and looked up at him shyly, "Are you sure it's okay?"
He mimed crossing his heart and it just made her smile more. "I wouldn't offer if it wasn't."
She pursed her lips, nodding her head once, "Okay. Yeah, we can share."
They stood there awkwardly, not sure what to do now. Jeff finally just reached down for the remote and shut the TV off, "Do you, uh, need anything before bed? Like a glass of water or something?"
Annie shook her head, wringing her hands, "No, I'm good, thank you."
Jeff took in her outfit of tights, skirt and blouse; the normal attire for her. "Here, I'll get you something to wear," he said without thinking and went to his bedroom.
Jeff stood in front of his dresser and raked his hands through his hair, gripping it tight, "What the hell, Winger?" he said to himself quietly.
The thing was, Jeff had never let another woman wear his clothes before. Boxers, socks, and heaven forbid, his button ups; nothing. Once, Slater had tried putting on one of his shirts in the morning and as Jeff walked back into his bedroom and saw her in the process of putting it on, he had ripped it right off her arms without a second thought. He made a lame excuse about needing to do laundry and quickly threw it into his barely half full basket and made a break for the front door.
Aside from his obsessive love of clothes, he's just never liked the thought of another woman wearing his clothes. It implied a level of intimacy that he had never felt comfortable with nor wanted to experience. What next? Sharing each others silverware at dinner? Their toothbrushes? He's seen cliched examples of it on TV a dozen times and each one made him cringe in sympathy, secretly hoping the lead male would take his side on the whole clothes-sharing issue and put a stop to the nonsense.
That's why he was now having a mini freak out, standing in front of his dressing wondering what the hell he was actually doing. The thought of giving a woman his clothes made him slightly sick, but faced with the option not a minute ago of giving Annie his clothes...
He stood there waiting for the nauseous feeling to come, but it never did. Or telling Annie that his entire wardrobe was dirty and he had nothing to offer her, sorry. But he found he didn't want to do that either.
And crazy enough, that was what made him panic.
Why wasn't he freaking out about the thought of her wearing his clothes? Where were his half baked schemes now on how to avoid sharing his things? What the hell was wrong with him? His entire adult life he had lived with this basic principle and now it seemed like it was going up in smoke.
Jeff wasn't stupid. He knew that Annie had always had the annoying habit of making him act slightly out of character and without a doubt outside of his comfort zone. There was just something about her that affected him differently then anyone else. The thought that she would even change this deep rooted neurosis of his had never crossed his mind and it scared him a bit. Was there nothing she couldn't do when it came to him? He was honestly beginning to think not.
He had thought he had gotten a hold of his emotions concerning Annie Edison. In the beginning he had to fight the weird and definitely wrong attraction he felt for her, but that obviously didn't go over well when he decided it was a good idea to kiss her not ten minutes after another woman confessed her love for him.
It had been all down hill after that on the issue of Annie and what she did to him. Some days he felt like he had a handle on it, that she was just a younger, good friend of his that he kissed on occasion. But then other days she would catch his eye and he felt like he couldn't look away. Moments like that he tended to forget what was going on around him but he never let himself dwell on it too much. He knew that it wouldn't be good for his health letting himself get caught up in her. She was young and didn't deserve to be jaded by a man like him. He had been telling himself that for over a year now.
Dammit. Jeff sighed and grabbed the first pair of boxers and t-shirt he got his hands on, slamming the drawer shut. He wasn't mad at her; far from it. He was mad for letting himself slip into the Annie hole he found himself falling down.
No, no, no, he told himself as he walked out of the bedroom, I got this. It's just a friend giving another friend a change of clothes, he lied to himself.
Annie was still standing where he left her, rocking slightly back and forth on her toes, hands behind her back. She smiled when she saw him.
He scratched the back of his head, feeling nervous like a teenager and he wanted to kick himself. "I hope this is okay," he said, handing over his clothes, feeling like he was giving her something else, something way bigger than a simple change of clothes.
She beamed at him, bouncing a bit, "Thanks, Jeff! This will be perfect," she said and made her way to the bathroom.
Jeff let out a big puff of air feeling like he was coming up from underwater. He dragged his hands down his face and headed to the kitchen to get a glass of water, his mouth dry all of a sudden. Gulping it all down he began to pace back and forth, waiting for her to be done and wondering what it will be like to actually see her in his clothes. His heart rate wouldn't slow down and he rubbed his chest in irritation. Does this happen to other people? Or am I really just a crazy person? he questions himself and then he hears the bathroom door open. With one last breath he turned around to look, his eyes trained on the floor at her feet.
Annie's standing there, her legs bare, rocking one leg back and forth on her toes nervously. And then Jeff really looks at the rest of her; his striped boxers peaking out from beneath his dark grey t-shirt. She's messing with the hem of the shirt, twirling it around a finger. Jeff rubbed his palms on his jean clad thighs, wondering when all the air in the room got sucked out.
All of a sudden Annie laughed quietly to herself.
The sound snapped Jeff out of his daze, "What's so funny?"
"Oh nothing, I just never thought I'd be wearing a pair of Jeff Winger's boxers," she said smiling. "Was not expecting to end my night like this."
Yeah, me neither, he thinks on both accounts. He clears his throat, "Well, they look better on you, so I'm not complaining. Much." He smirks at her and she rolls her eyes, still smiling at him.
Jeff laughed a bit to himself, slowly calming down and relaxing again. It was the truth, that the clothes looked better on her and he was perfectly fine with that fact. Which if he were the old Jeff, that cared for no one but himself, that would not have been the case.
"I'm gonna get changed," he said walking into his room, tilting his head for her to follow, "Make yourself at home." He felt like a weight had lifted off him and it was much easier standing in front of his dresser this time, picking out a pair of lounge pants. He figured wearing what he normally wore to bed, nothing but his briefs, would freak Annie out a bit.
She was timid when she walked in the room a few steps behind him, looking around in wonder.
He smiled and walked around her to use the bathroom.
Jeff changed quick and standing there looking in the mirror, shirt off, he flexed his arms out in front of him and immediately slapped a hand to his forehead. "Oh, you moron," he said to himself quietly. He got out of the bathroom still embarrassed by himself. Him and Annie were going to share a bed, as friends, and he needed to get the urges to impress her out of his head before he did anything stupid.
She was sitting up on the bed with her knees to her chest still looking around and taking it all in. When she saw him and his bare chest she sucked in a breath and quickly adverted her eyes, "I'm a little surprised, I have to admit."
Jeff smiled to himself not able to stop the smug feeling he got from her reaction, and flipped the lights off, leaving only the side table lamp on, "Why's that?" He crawled into bed on the other side of her.
She slid back towards the headboard and pushed the comforter down so she could slide under as well, "I just expected a more, I don't know, manly room I guess? Weights laying around, pictures of sports cars hanging on the walls or something."
Jeff huffed, "I may be all man, Annie, but I'm not a douche."
She laughed, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to sound douchey. I like your room. It's much better than I had pictured."
"Well. Good." Less offended now that he knew she liked it better than the douchebag version she had dreamed up. He reached over and shut the lamp off and laid back down, moving around a bit to get comfortable. Annie hadn't moved an inch since she got under the covers. "It's okay to move," he said, smirking a bit in the dark.
"I–I know," she stammered out quietly.
Jeff closed his eyes relaxing into the mattress and listened to Annie's breathing. Finally he felt her move and turn on her side and he smiled to himself. He'd been doing that a lot tonight.
"Jeff?" he heard Annie whisper some time later.
"Yeah?" he answered just as low.
She was silent for a while, then, "Thank you. For tonight. It meant a lot."
Jeff rolled to his side, facing Annie in the dark, "Hey. I'll always be there for you and you're always welcome here. Even if you don't call ahead of time," his voice was soft and teasing, but he meant every word. He moved his hand towards her under the cover searching for her hand and was lucky enough to find it.
She gripped it tight and hummed a little under her breath, "Goodnight, Jeff."
Tonight had been a lot of fun, just being lazy and watching TV with her. Annie and him didn't get much time to spend with just the two of them, and it was nice to be away from the rest of the group for a night.
And she had come to him tonight—not Shirley and not Britta; but him—when she was upset and needing comfort and Jeff could admit that it was a good feeling, knowing that she had chosen him.
He closed his eyes and didn't let go of her hand.
"Goodnight, Annie."