A/N: I own nothing truly Community related (oh I wish) but I do own Abed's brother and this plot I suppose. Both pale in comparison to whatever Dan Harmon could come up with though. Genius man.

Thanks for the loving feedback on "Missed Moments," it means a lot to me. I invented the character of Cyrus Nadir for that (which will have a second part, promise), but I love the idea of him so much that I had to write more. So here's a story for me to play with him and Abed and Annie (of course, I won't forget to make them and the shippers happy). I've decided to tweak what was in "Missed Moments" and make Cyrus a little closer to their age than he was before (assuming Annie is twenty one and Abed twenty three by the time season four would start, which makes sense in my head, right?). So you can disregard his existence in the other fic for the sake of this one if you choose. Makes sense? Enjoy.

xxx

Summer in the Casa Trobed was exactly what Annie needed. She was working in Shirley's sandwich shop during the lunch rush every day and taking a summer online English course, but since neither of those things took up too much time, Annie was free to hang out with her roommates and catch up on movies and television she had been missing out on. She even got some recreational reading in, which was nice and relaxing. Annie hadn't taken a break like that in years. Ever since Britta had moved in with her and the boys, taking over the room that had been the Dreamatorium, rent was cheaper and the small apartment was always full of music beyond what came from the television screen.

Never mind that Troy disappeared into Britta's room every night, leaving Abed and Annie to themselves in a not-quite-but-still-awkward silence. Never mind that Annie had been nursing a crush on Abed all summer (all year if she let herself be honest) but had kept it quiet. Annie knew better than to expect anything to come of harboring feelings for her best friend. She knew that she didn't have a chance, that Abed was beyond her reach. But she thought about him at night when sounds of pleasure came from the room across from hers and the blue light of the left-on television flooded under her doorway, willing herself to get over it and move on. It was only at night that she wished both for summer to last forever and for school to start sooner, torn between the fun and insanity of summer and the stability and distance that school allowed. Once school started she could allow herself to be distracted from his smile, his kindness, his warmth. But once school started, the intimacy of her time with Abed would be gone, replaced with essays and studying and distractions. Annie wasn't sure which one was worse.

xxx

The sex noises coming from the former Dreamatorium were staring to drive Abed insane. Abed had started to earn money writing film reviews for a local paper, and did his best work late at night, so he was always awake and typing on his laptop when Troy would try and sneak quietly away into Britta's room around midnight. Abed would look to Annie, who was always awake with him, curled up reading a Jane Austen novel or watching some romantic "comedy" that always made her cry. Annie would look back at Abed and shrug, close her book or eject her DVD, and kiss him good night on the cheek before disappearing into her room. Abed would sit quietly with his hand on his cheek until the sex noises started, then retire to the fort with his laptop and his noise-cancelling headphones. Working after a disturbance like that was impossible though, and most often Abed would just go to sleep, dreaming of his best female friend Annie.

Even though Abed had really great self esteem and had dated a couple girls in the past, he logically knew that he didn't stand a chance with her, which is why the dreams confused him. His subconscious was controlling his REM sleep, and he didn't appreciate being teased in his own perfectly controlled mind. Despite the fact that he knew he wouldn't ever be with Annie, he couldn't help but fall for her. She was beautiful and kind and smart and his best friend and it wasn't in the script but he felt for her anyways, which was unfamiliar and unwelcome. Deviating from the script could only lead to disaster, so he kept his feelings quiet. Suppressing his illogical feelings made them go away, he had discovered over the years, and that was exactly what he was doing. He was suppressing his more-than-friendly feelings for Annie, and he was suppressing his rage at Troy and Britta's very loud sexual activities in what had been his personal room for escape and exploration.

xxx

The night before school started, the four roommates were spending quality time together marathoning all three Matrix films. Abed was in his chair reciting every line under his breath, Annie was on the floor at his feet with her back against his legs and sorting her brand-new school supplies, and Britta and Troy were sharing the other chair, asking questions every few minutes about how the world of the Matrix worked. Abed was answering their questions with his usual excitement to show off how much he knew, and Annie was listening to his voice and reveling in his closeness. Tomorrow it would all end, she thought with a certain kind of sadness, and things would go back to how they were before. She was both relieved and disappointed. When Troy and Britta retired to their separate beds at the end of the third film, Abed and Annie were left alone in silence.

Annie dropped her head back onto Abed's knees and looked up at his now- upside down face, which was stoically watching the credits roll. She wished, not for the first time, that she knew what was going through his mind. With a sigh and a stretch that popped several vertebrae in her back and neck, Annie stood up and turned to say goodnight to Abed, but stopped at the uncertain look on his face.

"What's wrong?" her voice was gravelly from going hours without speaking.

"Nothing. Nothing's wrong." Abed stood up quickly, shaking his head. Because she had been standing too close to his chair, Annie was knocked over by his sudden movements. Abed shot his arm out and caught her arm before she fell to the ground, pulling her to her feet uncomfortably close to him. They both gasped a little and looked into each other's eyes.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to knock you down."

"Don't worry about it, I'm fine." Annie whispered, and couldn't stop herself from leaning slightly forward, dropping her eyes to his lips. A sound from the blanket fort brought them both to their senses, and Abed had just dropped Annie's arm as she stepped back when Troy emerged from the fort to make his nightly sneak to Britta's bed.

"Goodnight boys!" Annie said with a little too much force as she practically ran to her room, embarrassed and flustered. She leaned against her door when she was safely on the other side, heart beating fast and head all fuzzy. With a light slap to her own face to snap herself out of it, she climbed into bed, pulling a pillow close to her chest in a tight hug. She didn't sleep much that night.

xxx

Abed was confused, not sure exactly what had happened, but he did know that he couldn't let it happen again. Anything romantic that might occur between them was simulated to end in tragedy, and Abed couldn't afford that. He climbed into his bunk and tried to calm his racing mind, but he didn't sleep much that night.

xxx

The four roommates were in good spirits in the morning, laughing and joking, and if there was any awkwardness between Annie and Abed, no one noticed. Everything was fine as they all piled in Britta's car and drove to Greendale, they even got a great parking spot right by the library. The study group was meeting at nine sharp, so they went straight to the room to wait for Jeff, Shirley, and Pierce. The excitement of starting their fourth and (hopefully) final year had the whole group in high spirits, and when the Greendale Seven was reunited as a whole for the first time in months just outside the double doors of the study room, there was much hugging and laughter. As they stepped inside the room to sit down and catch up before going to classes, they were all surprised to see that the room was not as empty as they thought.

Leaning against the table was a tall, handsome, athletic- looking guy with very dark hair, caramel skin, and a fashion sense that impressed even Jeff. The group went silent and stopped still.

"Hey there you are! Thought for sure you weren't coming."

The stranger approached the group, big smile on his face, and shook the hands of each member of the group, greeting them each by name. When he got to Abed, he embraced him in a hug. Abed looked terrified, but when he spoke his voice gave away no emotion.

"What are you doing here?"

"I go to school here now. Surprised?"

"Abed, honey, who is this?" Shirley asked in her most sickly sweet voice.

Abed turned to the group, confusion and panic clear in his eyes, "This is my brother, Cyrus Nadir."