Title: Dutch Courage

Category: Community

Ship: Jeff/Annie- Mentions Britta/Troy

Genre: Romance/Humor

Rated: PG

Word Count: 1342

Summary: One year later, a another 21st birthday and drunken revelations. Schmoop Bingo: Drunken confession of love.

"Y-you're…very…pretty."

Troy blinked once, twice, as he looked at the older man slouched next to him, amused. "Thanks, Jeff… you, too."

Jeff Winger shrugged or at least tried to. The four shots of scotch he had downed were making things difficult and made his body look like it was having a small seizure as his shoulders moved. "I know."

"You know who…else is pretty?" He asked, looking across the bar table at a fuzzy Abed and then back at Troy, getting dizzy in the process.

"Who?" Abed ask, his gaze knowing.

Jeff, who had been holding his head as he looked around, jerked his head back to the sound of his friend's voice; there were two Abeds now instead of the solo fuzzy one. "Huh?"

Abed's straight face remained, but there was a hint of amusement in his eyes. "You were telling us who is pretty."

"Oh," Jeff answered, frowning as he looked down at the table which seemed to be tilting.

"Jeff?"

"Oh, oh yeah." He whispered in what he thought was a low voice, gesturing for Troy and Abed to lean forward with his hand, hitting himself in the face in the process. "Ow, Annie, Annie is really pretty."

"She does have the classical beauty of a startlet." Abed agreed, looking over to Britta and Shirley dancing with the girl in question. The three of them watched as the girls moved around Annie who was laughing with her 'Birthday Girl' tiara still on her head just as it had at the beginning of the night, only now slightly askew.

"Yeah, she's now a twenty-one-year-old hottie." Troy commented as he continued to look at his friends, smiling when his pretty blond girlfriend caught his eye and winked. He winked back and tilted his head, signaling at Jeff, his smile widening as she laughed and rolled her eyes getting his meaning. "Perfectly legal hottie."

"She is perfect, isn't she?" Jeff sighed as he tried to prop up his chin with his hands, missing completely. "She's a Disney princess."

Troy bit the inside of his mouth to keep from laughing at the sappiness coming out of his usually sarcastic cocky friend, if he only realized what his drunkenness was revealing. "Sure, a princess, she already has the tiara."

"Yeah!" Jeff exclaimed as if just noticing. "She does! I'm going to go tell her!"

Troy and Abed watched as Jeff stumbled to his feet, both waiting to see if they would need to pick up their tall friend up from the floor in case he fell face first. Luckily, Jeff was sturdier than they thought he would be. They watched as he made his way to the girls and pointed at Annie's tiara, his finger getting tangled in her hair when he miscalculated the distance. Britta and Shirley walked away from the couple, making their way back to the table. Britta snuggling into Troy's side as Shirley took Jeff's seat.

"He's hammered." Britta laughed, looking up at Troy as he kissed the crown of her head.

"Yeah."

"That boy is making a fool of himself." Shirley commented, amused but worried. "Maybe, you boys shouldn't have been pushing so many drinks so fast in front of him."

"Please, Shirley, Jeff is an adult," Britta scoffed. "Well, barely, but Troy and Abed can't make him do anything and it's not like Jeff needs to drink to make a fool of himself."

"Britta that's not nice." Shirley motherly reprimanded, getting only a shrug from the blonde.

"Maybe." Abed started as he lifted his hands to frame the scene taking place before him. "But a necessary step… this sexual tension between Annie and Jeff has been going on for over two seasons already."

"Abed..." Britta warned, ready to start in on how real life didn't have seasons.

"Sorry," Abed allowed. "For over a year, and the reason Jeff hasn't acted on it is cause of Annie's age. Ridiculous since a lot of the great cinematic couple have had a vast age difference. Well, now that Annie is legal in all the ways that count, Jeff is faced with the frightening realization that nothing is standing in his way and need some liquid courage or Dutch courage, as the original saying goes, to act."

"Yeah, but will he?" Troy asked the group.

"He better," Shirley said, looking at the couple in question who were standing closely on the dance floor; Annie was looking up at Jeff with a happy smile as Jeff's mouth was moving a mile a minute. "Pierce bet me twenty dollars that Jeff wouldn't do anything about Annie and would probably confess he was gay by the end of the night."

"Twenty dollars, Shirley." Britta smiled.

"He wanted to bet something else but I just hit him over the head with my bag."

xxx

"So, you see… you're a princess!" Jeff said jovially, smiling widely. "Cause of the tiara."

Annie laughed as she took in Jeff's wide eyes and even wider smile. "Of course."

Jeff shifted his feet, stumbling a little as he tripped, causing Annie to reach out, placing her hands on Jeff's biceps and closing the gap between them. Jeff let his hands rest on her waist, pulling her flush to his body as he took a step back. "If you want to dance, all you had to do was ask, Annie."

Annie rolled her eyes but asked anyway. "Dance with me, Jeff?"

"Of course, anything for the birthday girl." Jeff leaned his head to rest against her, his mouth near her ear as they swayed to a soft beat.

They took small, almost nothing steps. Annie, with her face pressed into the side of his neck, let out a contented sigh. The puff of air from her lips dancing over his exposed skin caused it to tickle and his arms tighten around her.

Jeff let out a soft sound that echoed Annie's sigh as he lifted his hand to brush a lock of silky brown hair behind Annie's ear, his mouth now gazing said ear as he spoke again. "You're so pretty, Annie. I told Troy and Abed how pretty you are."

Annie pulled back to look up at him, finding Jeff's face so very, very close as he was already looking down at her.

"They didn't let you, did they?"

She shook her head, her voice lost as she looked into his bright blue eyes which were clearer than she expected them to be for a drunken person.

"Good, cause it was a secret." Jeff brought his finger up to his lips. "Wanna know another secret?"

"What?" She asked, her voice squeaking as his face got closer.

"I'm crazy about you." He breathed and as he said his words against her skin, his mouth lightly pressed the corner of her mouth. "Crazy Jeff went crazy for 'Crazy Annie'."

Annie broke out into a grin as she remembers the words; a happy tear slipping passed her eyes. "Do you have a gun?"

"That question could turn into a really bad 'in my pants' joke." Jeff answered, smirking as she laughed.

"You're not as drunk as you're acting… are you, Jeff?"

Jeff smiled, this time his expression more clear than before. "Wanna know another secret?"

Annie nodded already knowing what he was going to say.

"Not really, but it gave the group a thrill so I went along with it."

"They wanted you drunk?" She asked.

"They wanted me to man up and tell you how I feel." Jeff answered truthfully. "They just thought I need to be drunk to do it."

"So, give them what they want." Annie challenged, a flirty smirk working over her lips.

Jeff smirked back. "Don't mind if I do."

And he kissed her.

xxx

The group watched as Jeff lifted Annie, his arms circled around her waist, hers gripping his short hair, mouths locked together in a passionate kiss. Shirley whipped out her phone, snapping a picture as she mumbled about her twenty dollars and Troy and Britta shared a soft kiss themselves. Abed lowered his hand.

"End…Scene."