A/N This is written as an early Christmas gift for my sister. She wanted a fic about one of her favorite bromances, so I picked Troy and Abed (plus Annie). Hope you like it!
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters.
Troy unlocked the door to the apartment he shared with Abed and Annie and stepped inside. "Honey, I'm home," he said to Abed and Annie, who were standing in the living area, putting up what appeared to be Christmas decorations.
"Hey, Troy," they answered in unison.
"We got Christmas ornaments!" Annie said excitedly.
"Annie's idea," Abed added. He was wearing his Christmas hat with elf ears attached. Annie wore a red sweater over a white blouse, and a Christmassy plaid skirt.
Troy smiled at them. "I thought you were Jewish, Annie!" He slowly walked into the room and took in the tree they were decorating, a little thing wedged between a coffee table and the couch.
Annie beamed. "I am, but I know you celebrate Christmas, and Abed loves Christmas, so I got Christmas decorations too! I put a menorah on the kitchen windowsill."
"We didn't think we'd have enough room to have a big tree, so we got this little one." Abed gestured to the small artificial tree behind him. "Annie wasn't sure about it because she's never had her own Christmas tree before, but I said it was all right. It's like in the Charlie Brown Christmas special. Their little Christmas tree brought everyone together and helped them remember the meaning of Christmas."
"Sounds good," Troy said, looking around the room. Lights were strung up everywhere and tinsel was draped over lamps, windowsills, and chairs. Troy grinned, imagining Annie and Abed flinging tinsel around the room. A few strands of tinsel still hung from Annie's hair, which led Troy to believe that he'd missed out on a tinsel war.
His gaze finally landed back on Annie and Abed. Annie still wore her bright, happy smile, waiting for his reaction. Abed gave Troy the small contented smile he got when he was really happy. Troy couldn't help but grin back at both of them. Annie had seemed apprehensive and nervous when she'd first moved in with them, but she'd relaxed a lot since them. Abed, too, seemed better than ever. The three of them were so comfortable with each other now; they were like a family.
"This is awesome, you two. Get over here." Troy held out his arms and Annie happily dashed across the room and flung herself into them. Abed followed her and awkwardly placed his arms around both of them. His hand rested lightly on Troy's back, and his other hand on Annie's shoulder. Troy knew Abed had never been very fond of hugs, but he appreciated the effort.
Annie finally let go of Troy and grinned up at him before practically prancing across the room to the couch, where she sat down. She patted the cushions on either side of her. "Come sit down!"
Troy and Abed crossed the room and sat down on either side of Annie, Troy on her right and Abed on her left. Annie squeezed Troy's hand and absentmindedly glanced upwards. She let out a yelp and jumped to her feet. "Abed!"
"What?" Abed said, blinking up at her.
Annie pointed indignantly at something hanging from the ceiling. "Why did you hang mistletoe there?" she demanded.
Abed shrugged. "I don't know. There was a lady out on the sidewalk handing it out. She saw you and me carrying in the Christmas decorations and she stopped me and gave me the mistletoe. I figured it'd be a waste not to use it, especially since mistletoe is such a Christmas staple."
Annie appeared to be conflicted. "But – who was handing out mistletoe? And why did you hang it above the couch?"
"I don't know who it was, and that seemed like the best place for it," Abed answered.
"Dude!" Troy exclaimed. "Are you telling me there's a mistletoe fairy that lives in our building?"
Abed nodded. "Here to spread the Christmas magic." He reached over and he and Troy did their secret handshake.
"You guys!" Annie whined. "I don't want mistletoe above the couch! I don't want mistletoe in our apartment at all! Don't you think that could cause unnecessary complications?"
Abed shrugged. "Maybe."
Annie straightened herself up in a dignified way. "Okay. I am going to go and get the candy canes I bought. When I get back I expect the mistletoe to be taken down." She smiled as if to show she wasn't angry and walked off to her bedroom, leaving Troy and Abed on the couch under the mistletoe.
Troy looked over at Abed. Abed waggled his eyebrows. Troy shook his head. "Don't even think about it, man." He stood on the couch and took the mistletoe down from where Abed had hung it, and set it on the table in front of them.
"Seems a waste," Abed commented.
Troy nodded. "Maybe we can give it to someone!"
"Like who?" Abed asked. "Britta would find it demeaning towards women."
"Jeff would probably say he doesn't need it to get chicks," Troy said, rolling his eyes.
"Shirley's a married woman."
"Pierce would probably take it, but the world would be a safer place if we didn't give Pierce mistletoe." Troy looked at the mistletoe pensively. "Probably best we just leave it alone."
Annie returned with three candy canes. She sat down in between Troy and Abed again and handed them each a candy cane. For a few minutes they all unwrapped their candy canes and sucked on the ends in silence.
"Know what we should do?" Troy said suddenly.
"Christmas movie marathon?" Abed said.
"You read my mind!" Troy got to his feet, candy cane still in his mouth. "Annie, get your P.J.s on and meet us in our blanket fort in ten minutes."
"I have a whole box of Christmas movies left over from childhood Christmases with my mom," Abed added, standing up.
"Good, they'll last us awhile, then," Troy said.
Annie anxiously looked at her watch. "Guys, it's already 8:30! We can't watch a bunch of movies! We have class tomorrow!"
"I don't know if you've noticed, Annie, but 'can't' isn't exactly part of our vocabulary," Abed said. He held out a hand and pulled Annie to her feet.
"We'll start with Home Alone," Troy said coaxingly.
"Great movie," Abed said. "When I was a kid my dad yelled at me because I hit him in the head with a paint can."
Troy and Annie stared at him. Abed shrugged. "It was empty. No harm done. Still made him mad, though."
"Anyway," Troy said, turning back to Annie. "You up for it?"
Annie hesitated, then finally gave in. "Okay, why not?" she said with a smile.
Troy grinned, and did his handshake with Abed again. "Ten minutes," he said over his shoulder as he bounded toward the blanket fort he shared with Abed. "And bring snacks!"
Ten minutes later, the three of them had changed into childish flannel pajamas – Abed in green, Troy in orange, and Annie in pink – and had carefully arranged cushions and bean bags into the optimal movie-viewing positions. Abed sat in the middle, with Annie on his left, a bag of candy in her lap. Troy was on Abed's right. A stack of movies sat next to him with the remote control on top. Troy could tell Abed was already in the zone – he got a certain focused, intense look about him when they watched movies. Without further ado Troy pushed "play."
They watched Home Alone, A Christmas Story, and Miracle on 34th Street. Halfway through Elf, Troy glanced over at his friends to discover that Annie and Abed had both fallen asleep. Annie's head rested on Abed's shoulder. The bag of candy had slipped from her grasp and spilled across the floor. Abed slumped in his bean bag chair, head tilted back and mouth slightly open.
Quietly and with a small smile on his face, Troy turned the movie off. A comfortable silence filled the blanket fort as Troy's eyes adjusted to the sudden darkness. He carefully pulled a couple of extra blankets off Abed's bed and draped them across Annie and Abed.
Abed suddenly grunted and opened his eyes. Quickly Troy put a hand on his shoulder to keep him from moving. "Shh," he said, gesturing to Annie, who was still sound asleep on Abed's other shoulder.
Abed looked down at Annie. He looked a little bewildered, as if he was unused to the physical contact. He looked away from Annie and back at Troy. "Did I miss the part where they sing 'Baby, It's Cold Outside?'" he asked Troy quietly.
It took Troy a moment to realize Abed was referring to Elf. He smiled. "Yeah, but it's all right. We can watch it again another time."
"Cool." Abed yawned. "Cool cool cool."
Troy smiled and climbed into his bed. He looked up at the ceiling and sighed in contentment.
"Hey, Troy," Abed's voice said quietly from the darkness.
"Yeah, buddy?"
"I'm glad you liked the Christmas decorations. We thought you would."
Troy grinned. "I really do like them. Thanks."
"You're welcome. Merry Christmas, Troy."
"Merry Christmas, Abed. Good night."